Hour 3 - MN Fraud Isn't a One-Off

Summary

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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 3 – MN Fraud Isn’t a One-Off

Date: May 21, 2026

Podcast by iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

In this packed third hour, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton dive deep into systemic government fraud, specifically highlighting the verdict in a massive Minnesota COVID relief scandal. The pair use this as a springboard for a broader discussion on government waste, the ballooning national debt, and the lack of accountability in public finances. The episode also explores the politicization of sports, athlete activism, and the prominent role of faith among athletes, via an insightful interview with sports journalist and author Steve Eubanks. The hosts ensure plenty of humor, cultural references, and listener engagement to keep the conversation sharp and lively.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Massive Government Fraud Exposed in Minnesota (03:57–05:55)

• Headline: Amy Bach, mastermind of the Feeding Our Future scandal, sentenced to over 41 years for orchestrating the theft of nearly $250 million in COVID-19 relief funds meant for feeding hungry children.
• Buck's Reaction: Outraged by the ease and scale of government theft and slow justice, Buck sees this as part of a larger, nationwide trend.

  “You could steal $250 million so easily... and this isn't a one-off, this is... lots of people are stealing millions and millions of dollars from the government.” (04:32, Buck Sexton)

• On Sentencing: Surprised at the length for a “nonviolent crime,” Buck compares Bach's 41 years to Madoff’s 150 but underscores the impact of such fraud.

2. Government Waste, Debt, and Accountability (05:55–12:10)

• Clay’s Numbers: Clay highlights the mind-boggling explosion in national debt, noting that $30T was added in the last 16 years (from a total $10T between the nation’s founding and 2010).

  “In the last 16 years, we have added $30 trillion in national debt.” (05:55, Clay Travis)

• Wasteful Education Spending: Referencing Jeff Bezos’ analysis, Clay points out NYC spends $44,000 per public school student with poor results.

  “We’re not only spending money like drunken sailors, we’re getting awful results. And much of it is stolen.” (09:17, Clay Travis)

• Buck on Consequences: Buck warns of potential crises if investor confidence in U.S. debt evaporates, linking it to standard of living and national security.

  “A loss of investor confidence could trigger a major recession.” (10:03, Buck Sexton)

3. Frustration Over IRS Priorities & Everyday Americans (13:43–16:58)

• Auditing Disparities: Clay recounts his IRS audit for underpaying $35, while the government misses huge frauds.

  “The government can catch me… owing $35, and they can’t catch people stealing $35 million.” (14:20, Clay Travis)

• Business vs. Government: Both hosts, referencing Bezos’ Amazon analogy, argue that few elected officials—especially Democrats—have true business experience requiring efficiency or profitability.

  “How many of our elected officials ever run a business that had to make a profit in their lives?” (16:03, Clay Travis)

4. Sports, Race, and Activism (22:11–25:24)

• Sunny Hostin’s Call for Boycott: Hosts ridicule Hostin’s suggestion that Black athletes boycott SEC schools over a Supreme Court redistricting decision.
• Clay’s Response: Argues race does not determine job performance, citing prominent Black GOP politicians from SEC states.
• Economic Activism in Sports: Buck and Clay see calls for athlete boycotts as misguided, unhelpful, and out of touch.

5. Athlete Faith and Cultural Influence – Steve Eubanks Interview (25:17–34:56)

• The “God Ball” Phenomenon:
  • Athletes as Faith Messengers: Steve Eubanks discusses the surge in athletes openly expressing religiosity and how COVID-era disruptions made many athletes eager to speak about their deepest values.

    “You can’t watch an event now without seeing the first thing out of a player’s mouth being speaking about their religion and their faith.” (26:42, Steve Eubanks)

  • Impact of Supreme Court Ruling: The Kennedy v. Bremerton Board of Education case, allowing public prayer, has empowered athletes.
  • The Tim Tebow Standard: Tebow is described as the modern era OG (original driver) of open faith in sports.

    “Tebow was really one of the original drivers of this.” (30:52, Steve Eubanks)

  • Why Faith Resonates: Eubanks argues most young people know athletes, not religious leaders; thus, athletes shape culture and the faith conversation.
  • Male Leadership: Eubanks notes men are currently more outspoken about faith in sports, tying it to traditional leadership roles.

    “Men are supposed to lead in the church and in the family. And as a result... these guys are stepping forward and doing that, but doing so in the love that was preached in the gospel.” (33:47, Steve Eubanks)

6. Listener Talkbacks: Fact Checks, Corrections & Emotional Listener Messages (42:25–45:45)

• Listener Corrections: Mark from Texas corrects Clay’s flag history (the “Come and Take It” vs. “Don’t Tread On Me”).
• Cultural References & Humor: Buck and Clay riff on Ghostbusters’ anti-regulation theme, referencing the EPA as the real villain and linking to their point about government inefficiencies.
• Cuban-American Listener Reaction: Emotional message from a listener about the Raul Castro indictment and the hope for Cuba’s future.

7. Community & Personal Reflections (40:34–41:30)

• Clay on School Community: Clay expresses gratitude to local teachers, faculty, and law enforcement as his sons finish elementary school—tying school culture and security to broader social values.

  “Just I can’t be more thankful that we had the opportunity to have the teachers, the faculty and the police support that we did at that school.” (41:16, Clay Travis)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Government Waste:

  “We're not only spending money like drunken sailors, we're getting awful results. And Buck, much of it is stolen.”
  Clay Travis, 09:17

• On the National Debt:

  “A loss of investor confidence could trigger a major recession.”
  Buck Sexton, 10:03

• On IRS Auditing:

  “Imagine how much money was spent for the government to collect $35.75 back from me.”
  Clay Travis, 14:20

• On Open Faith in Sports:

  “Tebow was really one of the original drivers of this. Prior to him… they were afraid they were going to be called Bible beaters… Tebow was one of them. And… now you can’t watch an event where that doesn’t happen.”
  Steve Eubanks, 30:52

• On Listener Engagement:

  “If we get anything wrong about guns or history… we know that you will, you know, just burn our butts over the hot coals for it.”
  Buck Sexton, 44:21

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Minnesota Fraud Sentencing & Reaction: 03:57–05:55
• Debt, Deficit & Government Waste: 05:55–12:10
• IRS & Everyday Americans: 13:43–16:58
• Sunny Hostin, Race & NCAA Activism: 22:11–25:24
• Steve Eubanks Interview ("God Ball"): 25:17–34:56
• Clay’s School Gratitude & Reflections: 40:34–41:30
• Listener Talkbacks, Corrections, and Cuban Hopes: 42:25–45:45

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Tone and Style Snapshot

The episode blends sharp political critique—often laced with sarcasm and humor—with passionate expressions of concern over fraud, government inefficiency, and threats to American prosperity. The hosts frequently reference popular culture (from Stranger Things to Ghostbusters) and highlight their rapport with listeners, even when listeners call out their factual slips.

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Summary Takeaway

This hour provides a critical, often irreverent look at systemic issues in government spending and accountability, showing how these failures impact average Americans. The hosts argue for fiscal discipline, more private sector-minded governance, and strong community and faith values—while spotlighting the frustration many feel watching small taxpayers scrutinized while large-scale fraud and inefficiency go unchecked. The sports and faith discussion brings an uplifting and culturally relevant close to the conversation, tying public life and personal convictions together.

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Transcript

[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome in third hour play and Buck kicks off right now. And we got a couple of things right off the bat here, Cuba. Looking at this as a, well, a moment in time where it seems increasingly clear to everybody that something's going to happen here, something's going to give, something's going to change. And we will look at that with you momentarily. We've also got Sonny Hostin stepping into Clay's sports analysis Thunderdome, which I definitely want to hear his take on that one. But in the meantime, this is actually over at FOX News they had a breaking news on this one. The great Harris Faulkner here reading the breaking news. I just want to let you hear it. This is about what just happened in Minnesota. Listen to this play.

[Clay Travis]

32 breaking news. A Minnesota judge has just sentenced the mastermind behind the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, Amy Bach. She just got more than 41 years in prison. The prosecution is asking for a 50 year sentence and her defense about three years. So that's somewhere in the middle that they got that. But closer to what obviously the prosecution wanted, the scheme involved theft of nearly $250 million in Covid funding. That money was meant to feed hungry children.

[Buck Sexton]

So there's I got a lot here on this, Clay, because people are paying attention to this fraud thing. Now. First of all, you know you have Mamdani clapping back, if you will, at Jeff Bezos saying I know a bunch of teachers who disagree and they think of your taxes meaning Bezos were higher, they'd be in better shape. That's wrong. Mamdani is an economic illiterate. But all, all communists are economic illiterates. They just have a religion of power and taking from other people and that's all that really matters. But Clay, I gotta say, people when they see things like a $250 million fraud and this person is Just now, what is this? Years later, six years later, having justice catch up with her, but that you could steal $250 million so easily and such a large sum of money. And this isn't a one off, this is. Lots of people are stealing millions and millions and millions of dollars from the government. And Democrats want to talk about raising our taxes. Democrats say that we're not paying our fair share. If you're a high earner, it just goes to like, what are we even doing here, folks? $250 million claim, by the way. 40 years in prison. I think Madoff got 150. 40 years in prison for a fraud, for a nonviolent crime is a long prison sentence.

[Clay Travis]

Make it more. I mean, I, this is, this is really the key. And I give credit to Senator Ron Johnson who has just hammered this and, and it is so important and it probably is something that should be said every day, every hour of every day. We have a. You were talking about this off air. $40 trillion budget deficit now. And every year we're adding one and a half trillion, $2 trillion to that budget deficit. And when the Tea Party got fired up and started, it was when we were approaching $10 trillion in national debt. So just a little bit of math for you. From the founding of the country and the signing of the Constitution and federal government being able to borrow money all the way up to 2010, we had run up a $10 trillion national debt since 2010. So what is that? 16 years. In the last 16 years, we have added $30 trillion in national debt. Let me repeat that. The whole history of the United states up to 2010, we ran up a $10 trillion national debt. We have added $30 trillion in national debt in the last 16 years. Both parties have done it, everybody's guilty, and there's just a magical era as if there is no consequence. And it would be one thing if a lot of us sat around and said, you know what, the government's really good at things. But I thought, Jeff Bezos, maybe we can pull it back again. I encourage you to go watch the whole Jeff Bezos interview that he did with cnbc. He pointed out that New York City buck spends an average of $44,000 a year per public school student. 44. $4,000 a year, and they get awful results. If New York City had unbelievable outcomes, maybe we would sit back and say, hey, you know what? They actually don't test well. The performance of the average New York City public school kid is not great. And it's way More even than kids get spent in Chicago. And Jeff Bezos, we can grab that ran through all the math. We're not only spending money like drunken sailors, we're getting awful results. And Buck, much of it is stolen. So it would be better if we just cut half of all government spending. I don't think there would be a negative result if our budget just got cut in half. And what is our budget now? 7 trillion. I think if we went to 3 and a half trillion and we just said, hey, we're cutting half of everything, I think that most people out there would have almost no significant impact. It wouldn't change average education. It wouldn't change average health care. And by the way, don't even get me started on Social Security and the way that we're applying it and the fact that it's not going to be there for me and Buck who are putting a lot of money into Social Security. If you're in your 40s, if you're certainly if you're in your 30s, Social Security is not going to exist for you. So you're putting all this money in there and it's just a broken system and it's not going to work for you and they're giving you inflation era returns. And that's only if you live long enough to get it. It's the fact that nobody goes after Social Security. To me, in terms of the brokenness of the program and the fact that it's an awful deal for most sane, reasonable, responsible Americans. It's crazy to me that we have just accepted that Social Security as if it's a great program for a lot of people. It's a disaster really. You're just rolling the dice and hoping that you live a long time. If you die beforehand, you get nothing.

[Buck Sexton]

That's me on the so at some point that was good. When you're fired up, it's good. Speaking of fired up, we're going to get that sunny hosting clip about oh yeah, that go. But the we're almost at 40 trillion in debt, everybody. And the reality is that when it's clear that there's a real crisis because of the debt and a lot of it is just confidence, confidence that investors have confidence that the rest of the world has, including China for example, which buys a lot of our Treasuries and some of these other countries buy U.S. treasuries, a loss of investor confidence could trigger a major recession. And if you have a, you know, treasury auctions all of a sudden, don't give us the kind of Financial wizardry that we've gotten used to our whole standard of living and the way that America operates, it all changes very rapidly. And if you're asking me what is the biggest, other than internal divisions from endless, wide open, illegal and too much legal immigration. Another conversation for another time. But a too rapidly changing American population from outsiders and the left becoming so insane that you start to get. You start to wonder how far we are from, like, separatist movements and things like that forming. That's one. That's a real threat that I see in this country. I don't see it tomorrow, but I see it over the next 20 to 30 years. I think also the debt is a real threat to our standard of. I'm not saying that the debt is going to, in the middle of the night, show up like the boogeyman and capture you and, you know, take you down into like, the netherworld or something. But that would be kind of a bad horror movie. Like, the national debt comes for you now, you know, But.

[Clay Travis]

But I like Stranger Things. Except debt, it kind of is.

[Buck Sexton]

It kind of like the national debt kind of is a giant smoke monster, except it's going after America, not a bunch of little kids. Wait, is it a smoke monster? No, that's lost. Whatever. I get these things.

[Clay Travis]

Smoke monsters. Great. From loss. No, it's the Demi Gorgons, primarily. There you go.

[Buck Sexton]

Nerd.

[Clay Travis]

Nerd alert in Stranger.

[Buck Sexton]

And I'm just saying that we have shown no willingness to look at this seriously. And I think it's one of the biggest problems that we have. But why are we talking about this? Also because of the fraud situation. What does it tell people who are busting their asses and who are calling in and saying, hey, I work a 9 to 5 or maybe a 9 to 7 or a 5am to noon shift or whatever you're doing, all of you. And you're saying, you know, buck, I'm. I pay my bills. I don't run up big debts. But, man, is it getting tight on the monthly budget, man, of the gas price plus the food price, plus the, you know, the cost of a mortgage, the cost of money, the amount of money I had to have to put into this house, all these things. And then you hear there are people that just get magic money from the government, hundreds of millions of dollars for. For pretending that they're feeding children. I mean, that's what just happened here. $250 million. If it were $250,000 of fraud, I would say, you know, ugh, no one's really paying attention. $250 million. It just feels like we have an unserious government when it comes to our finances, to our money, and to the treasury. It feels like no one pays attention, no one cares. The whole thing is a scam. Meanwhile, you know, I get audited by New York State every second that I spend in New York City. You know, it's just. It's like if you play by the rules, the rules are everywhere and constantly just, you know, just. Just chipping away at you and all. All these crazy. Or you can just get $200 million for pretending to feed starving kids, and no one seems to figure this out.

[Clay Travis]

What did I see? If you can producer Ali find. I. I don't remember my audit. I believe that I owed $35. The IRS came after me, and I think it was like $35.75 that I had underpaid my taxes. So. And by the way, that is a tiny percentage of the tax dollars that I had paid. They told me, I think I settled. They were like, hey, you underpaid your taxes. Accountants. God knows what I paid in accountant fees to do my audit.

[Buck Sexton]

You thought you were going to get away with half of a Chick Fil a order on Uncle Sam's dime, Clay.

[Clay Travis]

Imagine how much money was spent for the government to collect $35.75 back from me. And by the way, I'm sure that I didn't actually owe it, but I think I wrote it for, you know, 36 bucks, rounded up just to help out. Right? And meanwhile, all these people out here are running hundred million dollar, billion fraud, and we can't catch it. The government can catch me. They think not paying $35 that I owe, and they can't catch people not paying, stealing 35 million. I just think it's about. It's about who you want to focus on. And they told me as soon as we took this show buck, they said, get ready to get audited every year. And I get audited every year. By the way, here's Bezos, especially when Joe Biden was in office. Here's Bezos talking about what would happen using the New York City school budget as an example. Cut 34. The New York City school system, right. They spent $44,000 per student. 44,000. That's 30% more per student than other big cities like Chicago, L.A. and Boston. And it's three times more than Miami and Houston. And by the way, New York City doesn't get better outcomes. So what this. Listen, let me. Let me just say if, if, if

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[Clay Travis]

City runs their school system. Right. Your packages would take six weeks to arrive. We'd have to charge you $100 delivery fee. And then when the package did finally arrive, it have the wrong item in it anyway.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, yeah.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, I just think the math here we need, and I give credit to Bezos. I want more super smart guys who are good at math looking at the way that our government spends money and calling it out like this. Because Bezos had to. Whatever you think about Bezos, I don't even know what Bezos current politics are. He had to make a profit. Right? He has to run a business to make a profit. How many of our elected officials do you think have ever run a business that had to make a profit in their lives?

[Buck Sexton]

I'll make it easier for you. How many elected officials who are Democrats have done that? Because I can actually think of Republicans who have, who come from business. You got a lot of Democrats who just come from running for office, basically running for one.

[Clay Travis]

They come from the public sector. Government, public sector. They've never actually had to sit down and make a profit ever. And there used to be Democrats that had some business backing. Now there are none.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. This reminds me of the discussion in Ghostbusters when Columbia University kicks them out and Venkman is telling everybody that it's going to be okay. But then Ray is like, I've worked in the private sector. They expect results. You remember that? Oh, yeah, yeah. It's real. By the way, Ghostbusters, very pro capitalism movie, very anti regulation. Who are the bad guys? The epa. The epa.

[Clay Travis]

They're trying to keep the ghosts out of the, out of the atmosphere. And the EPA comes, shuts them down.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

free [e-mail] after reaching over $5,000 an ounce, gold prices have softened. What does that mean for you? It means this is a buying opportunity. Whether you haven't yet diversified your savings into gold or maybe you just want to buy more, Birch Gold Group can help you. The fundamentals are still out of whack. Surging oil prices keep inflation high, the national debt is still soaring and central banks are still buying massive quantities of gold. That's why my belief in gold hasn't changed one bit. Educate yourself. Birchgold will send you a free info kit on gold when you text my name Buck to 9898 98. There's no obligation, only useful information, including how you can own gold in a tax sheltered retirement account with an A rating with the Better Business Bureau and tens of thousands of happy customers. See if buying the dip makes sense for you right now. Text Buck to the number 989-898. Claim your free info kit and diversify your savings with gold. Text Buck to 9,898 98 all right,

[Clay Travis]

Sunny Hostin, biggest moron on the View, which I'm going to be honest with you, is a tough diabolical battleground to determine. She wants black athletes to not go to Southeastern Conference schools because of racial gerrymandering being ended by the Supreme Court. Listen, I think that there has to be strategy. I mean, you know, athletes have been involved in protests and politics for a long time. Yeah, remember the Olympics and you had John Carlos and you had Muhammad Ali. But these were athletes that were established already. These college athletes stand to get a free education. They stand to make money because of the NIL now. And so I think it is asking a lot, but I think it's economic damage and economic economic harm has long time been a very effective tool in the civil rights, you know, reason. All right, so Buck, this is an argument. The NAACP is asking for black athletes to not go to SEC schools over this racial gerrymandering redistricting decision from the Supreme Court. This is bonkers even by bonkers status. First of all, race does not determine whether somebody is good or bad at their job. With that in mind, Tim Scott is one of the senators from South Carolina. Byron Donalds, I believe is going to be elected governor of your home state now of Florida. That's pretty significant in the sec. I mean, the state of Florida's governor is probably one of the top 15 or 20 most important jobs, I would imagine almost in the country right now. I want to tell you, if you're in the middle of unfortunate tornado season, which a lot of us are, you might lose power and you might need the ability to stay in touch with your friends and family. And that's what Rapid Radios is all about. One month from today is Father's Day and you're probably thinking to yourself, what would my dad like? Dads are oftentimes very hard to shop for. What about a protection so that they can stay in touch with all of their friends and family nationwide? Plus you get over $300 in free gear with your order, including a tactical radio bag, an EMP Faraday bag and more. 30 day money back. Guarantee they come out of the box ready to roll. Rapidradios.com from Michigan right to your house. Rapid Radios, the Father's Day gift that keeps you connected. Steve Eubanks joins us now. Sports journalist offer author of God Ball. First book to seriously examine the modern surge of public Christian faith in American sports. Gonna get to that in a moment. But first, you have six kids and 14 grandkids. Steve, I don't know how you had time to write a book.

[Steve Eubanks]

Well, geometric progressions, work, clay. I mean once you've had six kids, the next step gets, it's a lot bigger.

[Clay Travis]

That is awesome. Well, congratulations on that. Now I feel like a lot of people that are listening to us right now have grown accustomed to the amount of athletes that mention their religion that thank God in a post game interview. Sometimes in a pregame interview, athletes are some of the most religious public figures anywhere in the country by far. But it doesn't really get talked about that much. Where did the inspiration, where did the idea to write this book come from?

[Steve Eubanks]

Well, I think it came from what you just talked about. Like you, I watch a lot of sports and you couldn't watch a pregame press conference or a post game interview without seeing people speak about their faith. And I was thinking to myself, surely I'm not the only person who is seeing this. And as I began to do some research and look into it, we'd always had it. I mean, going all the way back to Roger Staubach. We had athletes who would, who would say they wanted to thank their Lord and Savior after a round or after a game. But it became something that grew exponentially and really over the course of the last six years or so, it exploded. And you, you can't again watch an event now without seeing the first thing out of a player's mouth being speaking about their religion and their faith.

[Clay Travis]

We were just talking about the Southeastern Conference and the fact that Sunny Hostin wants there to be a boycott. I wrote a book inside of the University of Tennessee's football se season, and the amount of prayer before and after games really stood out to me. I don't know that your average fan notices it that much, but whether you can have a pregame prayer has turned into a big debate, unfortunately. Fortunately, the results have actually been very positive. What can you tell us about that? I know as a high school coach out on the west coast, if I remember that they got fired over this.

[Steve Eubanks]

Yeah. And I'll tell you, two things happened and you guys talked about it in the first hour. The radicalization of these athletes around Covid cannot be understated because they realized that everything that they had worked for their entire lives could be taken away from them. And as a result of that, they felt like they. They really owed it to their fans and to themselves to go out and talk about the things that are important. And for many of them, the things that they realize are deeply important is their faith. And so they were going to use their platforms to talk about that. That coincided with the Supreme Court decision that you're just talking about. Kennedy vs. Bremerton, Board of Education. It was at Washington High School. Coach, he goes to midfield to pray. Some students see him, they join him at midfield. The school system fires him for doing this. He takes that case all the way to the supreme court. It takes 10 years and he wins. And as a result of winning, the rules for all of that sort of thing in terms of prayer in public settings like a football game, have changed. And I think those two things coalesced to bring about the confidence that these athletes have now to go out and speak about this.

[Clay Travis]

You interviewed a bunch of high profile athletes, among them Scotty Scheffler, Kirk Cousins, Jonathan Isaac. Coaches Dabo Sweeney, somebody I know pretty well works with me at Outkick. Riley Gaines. What did those athletes tell you about the importance of religion?

[Steve Eubanks]

It's the most important thing. What they have realized is, especially when you have worked as hard as they have to reach the pinnacle, you win the trophy, you win the championship, you get the ring. The hollowness that comes immediately after that, where you're asking yourself, really, is this it? I've worked my entire life and I got this euphoria, and it was momentary, but what's next? What's after this? And a lot of them have realized that what's after this is far more important than what has come before it. And so that's why they feel like they are the messengers now to go out and preach the gospel.

[Clay Travis]

People, some maybe even listening to us right now, will say mixing God in sports feels frivolous, because why in the world does God tell care in any way about a sporting event? How would you respond?

[Steve Eubanks]

God cares about his people. And the athletes today are driving the culture. I mean, look, take anybody under the age of 30, maybe under the age of 40, and ask them to name five prominent religious figures. You're going to get zero. I mean, there's a zero percent chance they can do that. They may name one. You ask them to name five prominent athletes, they can do it in a second. They may not be able to name 50. So athletes are driving the culture. And as a result of that, they're the people that. That they recognize that. And they're using their platforms to spread a far more important message to than who won the game last night.

[Clay Travis]

Tim Tebow. We were talking about SEC football. I know he played in the NFL, but everybody who's a college football fan knows Tim Tebow. I would submit that he may be the best of the modern era, almost in the entirety of the 21st century in terms of using the sports to help spread his faith. I think he's done a pretty phenomenal job of it. Does he jump out to you as one that may be at the absolute apex of what you're talking about?

[Steve Eubanks]

He was. He was really one of the original drivers of this. Prior to him, there were a lot of Christian athletes, but they didn't feel comfortable going public. They were. They were afraid they were going to be called Bible beaters. It was kind of a slur that was used against these athletes that tried to go out and make these public professions. Tebow was one of them. And if you will recall, there was a lot of controversy and derision when he would go out and kneel what became known as Tebowing. Now, you can't watch an event where that doesn't happen. I mean, just go down the list. Trayvon Henderson, Aaron Judge, C.J. stroud, Fernando Mendoza, Bucs. Favorite Running back, Saquon Barkley. I mean, these guys are. These guys are all out there speaking about their faith openly. So you can't watch an event now where that doesn't happen. And I think Tebow was one of the original drivers.

[Clay Travis]

He was the og when you think about this in the book, I encourage people to check it out. I want to make sure I get it right. God ball. Steve Eubanks, when you. You mentioned Tebow, all of these other things, I think one reason that athletes are outspoken is it's hard to be on the public stage. I like the example you gave where you win a Super bowl, you win the national championship, whatever the apex of your capability is, there can be a hollowness that follows that pursuit if there isn't a foundation under girding it. And I feel like, particularly in the social media age, where we are suffused, all of us, oftentimes in negativity. And if it's not negativity, it's envy, that the ability to have a strong foundation, that is your base, matters now maybe more than it ever has before.

[Steve Eubanks]

You know, you were talking to Ryan in the last hour about a lot of the anxiety that young people are feeling right now. And they are. That can go. And because of that, that is led by a collapse in institutional trust. Now, that can go one of two ways. You can either be radicalized by that on a bad side, as we talked about with the assassinations and these talks of that, or you can go the other way toward faith. And I think the athletes are attempting to move people in that positive direction because it's the one institution over two millennia that continues to be strong.

[Clay Travis]

Last question for you. Young men seem to have more of a religious bent of late than young women. Did you find that to be true? Some. In the world of athletics, and you've got six kids, and I believe it was 14 grandkids. Might have been 16 grandkids. You got a bunch. I'm curious if you're seeing that in any of your own family. And do you think women are coming to this later, or do you think women maybe are grappling with this new societal norm of what it means to be a woman, maybe even as much or more than men are?

[Steve Eubanks]

I think it is men that are driving this at the moment. Now, again, I say that there were you mentioned Riley Gaines, who has become a good friend and was tremendous in helping me with this book. I talked to a number of LPGA players who are very strong in their faith and very outspoken. So they are out there. But the numbers are overwhelming on the men's side. And I think it's because they recognize their role as leaders and that goes back to Christian foundations as well. Men are supposed to lead in the church and in the family. And as a result of that, these guys are stepping forward and doing that, but doing so in the love that was preached in the gospel.

[Clay Travis]

Outstanding stuff. I hope you have a good long Memorial Day weekend with all those kids and grandkids. And I would encourage everybody out there that father of six, grandfather of 14, author of God Ball, Steve Eubanks I'm assuming people can find it everywhere. Amazon's always an easy place to go. What will people find if they read this book?

[Steve Eubanks]

They're going to find out how this revival started, why athletes, and why now.

[Clay Travis]

That is a good tease. We appreciate the time. Thank you sir.

[Steve Eubanks]

Nice luck.

[Clay Travis]

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[Steve Eubanks]

Very cool.

[Buck Sexton]

Because I'm out tomorrow. I'm. I'm taking a day off to be with the family and do some things. Clay will be steering the ship solo, so it is likely there will be solo cups and kegs and other festivities

[Clay Travis]

involved, especially going into a long weekend. I can't, can't promise there won't be.

[Buck Sexton]

So there'll be some festivities on the air tomorrow with Mr. Clay Travis and yes. And I hope you all have a Remember, they always say we should remember what Memorial Day is about and of course, honor that sacrifice of those and think about it and be humbled by the fact that we had so many people who gave their lives for the freedoms that we have before us. But as all the veterans that I think you'll talk to will say, I know it's different than Memorial Day, but they would all say the whole point is that you go and enjoy your time with your family and you, you know, you make good use of the time as well as reflect over the weekend. So go crack some beers, have some barbecue. But think about those who paid the ultimate price. Before you want to get into some talkbacks?

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, I wanted to also, as we dive into the talkbacks, I want to actually say that kind of builds out of what you just said. I meant to mention this earlier in the week. My son finished fifth grade today, so he is done with elementary school. My middle son is finishing his last exam. So my kids, we get done with school early here. But this is. I'm gonna. It's kind of a sad day. This is the last year, that last day and last year that my sons will be in elementary school. And I never really want to name schools because obvious reasons with what's going on, but this school is great. My kids have finished their Perry Creek elementary in Williamson County, Franklin, Tennessee Public School. I just want to say thank you. K through 5, pre K as well. We had such an amazing collection of teachers, faculty, and also the police that have been there protecting these kids, they love them. They were given high fives today for the final day. I always have said, buck, I think it's so awesome to have armed security police in these schools because kids at young ages learn that they can trust police and learn that they're there to help make everybody safer. So I just want to say the school is amazing. Thank you to everybody that's taking care of my kids. 11 straight years we've been going to that public school with my boys and I Just I can't be more thankful that we had the opportunity to have the teachers, the faculty and the police support that we did at that school. So thank you. And I know schools are coming to a close thanks to a lot of of people out there putting their time, energy and effort into educating everybody. Now, I'm sure people are mad about some of the things that we have said. So let's jump into the talkbacks. Buck, after that, super nice for you, Memorial Day and super nice thanks to the teachers and everybody else for me. What are people mad about? Let's see.

[Buck Sexton]

Podcast listener Michael, this is D. Michael from Ohio. Hit it. Buck is a million percent right. Clay is a million percent right. Trump is just smart. Think we all understand that from the get go we know exactly what needed to be done. Not that they needed to not have nuclear power. It's we're going to have to go

[Clay Travis]

in and take this and it's going to get ugly.

[Buck Sexton]

But you have to have the public perception be they've been given so many options. This is the only way. We can't just tell them that. They have to see that we've extended the olive branch how many times? Time to go. Interesting.

[Clay Travis]

What do you make? I think we're going to. I agree with him. I just think we're going to have to take it if we want to have it.

[Buck Sexton]

But he's saying that this is actually not unexpected to Trump that, that he wants to show that everything was tried short of going in to take it.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, I think that's true too. I think this is a good take and again, I think people need to prepare for it and it's going to be a little bit dangerous, but I think it's going to be well done. And this is what I said, Bach. I think I started saying this when we had to rescue our guy from the mountain after the, the parachuting in. We basically built a brand new. We had to abandon some airplanes. Yeah, we built a brand new air base and defended it. I think it was an interesting test. This is a nerdy correction. I may have gotten this wrong Mark from Texas History. Nerd alert.

[Buck Sexton]

Listen, Clay, gotta call you out on the Gadsden flag. That is the don't tread on me flag. The come and take it flag is referring to the Gonzalez Texas flag when the Mexican army was coming calling for

[Steve Eubanks]

their to give up their cannon.

[Clay Travis]

He's right. That is. I don't know what percentage of people get that. I got that wrong historically and would have corrected it. But I gotta say this audience. We talk about it sometimes. Buck, this audience is in the 99.9 percentile for historical knowledge. I whiffed there.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. If we get anything wrong about guns or history, particularly history that involves warfare, don't worry. We know that you will, you know, just burn our butts over the hot coals for it. So. But Clay, you know the Molan Labe, the original, original Molan Labe was leonidas of the 300. The pass at Thermopylae fighting Xerxes. And Xerxes demanded they throw down their weapons. And Leonidas yelled have you seen the.

[Clay Travis]

The versions of that with all of the different. What's the. The Ellen Page like had been in the 300. This is how I was like have

[Buck Sexton]

I seen 300 the movie? About 300 times. I love that movie. But yes, the new versions of it different.

[Clay Travis]

So can we finish? Not all of this, but it's a good way to end. We'll run out. South Florida 33 reacting to Raul Castro indictment Walk us through the emotions that you've experienced today. What can I say? I mean like just my heart beating. My just feeling finally I've been here since I was 2 and just feeling

[Buck Sexton]

like it finally like maybe we can

[Clay Travis]

have, you know, be able to visit our country again.

[Steve Eubanks]

Where I was born.

[Clay Travis]

I have never been able to get. Go back and just, just I can't. Just an array of emotions so intense that I can't describe it.

[Buck Sexton]

A brighter future for Cuba. We'll see. Clay. Have fun tomorrow.

[Clay Travis]

Speaking truth and having fun. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

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