Hour 3 - Riley Gaines Smokes Clay

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show Episode: Hour 3 - Riley Gaines Smokes Clay
Release Date: July 18, 2025
Host/Authors: Clay Travis and Buck Sexton
Platform: iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction and Current News

Clay Travis and Buck Sexton kick off the hour by addressing recent headlines and ongoing political narratives. They dismiss a particular Wall Street Journal story as "crap" (00:00) and shift focus to the White House's response, mentioning comments from Caroline Levitt, the White House Press Secretary. The hosts also briefly touch upon local politics, referencing Mamdani and questioning whether Trump has the authority to influence his position, highlighting the roles of Eric Adams, Cuomo, and Sliwa (00:00).

Declassified Presidential Daily Briefing and Russia's Election Impact

A significant portion of the discussion centers around a declassified Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) from December 8, 2016, which assesses that Russian and criminal actors did not impact the 2016 U.S. election results. Buck Sexton introduces this topic, emphasizing its importance given the ongoing narratives about Russian interference (01:24).

Notable Quote:

"We assess Russia and criminal actors did not impact recent U.S. election results... making it highly unlikely it would have resulted in altering any state's official vote result." — Presidential Daily Briefing, Dec 8, 2016 (02:20)

Clay Travis echoes Buck's sentiment, asserting that the declassified PDB reinforces the notion that the Russia collusion narrative was "a lie" and "a fabrication." He draws parallels to other political cover-ups, such as the "Biden dementia cover-up," suggesting a pattern of suppressed truths within Democratic circles (03:58).

Media Critique and Narratives

The hosts delve into a critique of mainstream media, accusing them of "laundering" stories to fit partisan agendas. Buck highlights how media outlets propagate certain narratives without transparency, thereby shaping public perception inaccurately. He specifically points out the ongoing efforts to associate Trump with Epstein-related scandals, questioning the motivations behind these attempts (06:03).

Notable Quote:

"They laundered this through people who should know better. A lie. And they basically tried to destroy the entire first Trump term over it." — Buck Sexton (07:50)

Stephen Colbert's Late Show Cancellation

Transitioning from political discourse, Clay shares breaking news about Stephen Colbert's "Late Show" being canceled next May, marking the end of late-night television as they know it. Both hosts lament the loss, attributing the demise to Colbert's pivot towards "left-wing, anti-Trump propaganda," which they believe alienated his audience and undermined the show's success (18:12).

Notable Quote:

"He removed the Late Show, and I think he destroyed late-night television." — Buck Sexton (18:32)

Alcatraz Swim Challenge and Host Banter

The conversation takes a lighter turn as Buck Sexton introduces an entertaining segment involving a challenge proposed by Riley Gaines on Sean Hannity's show. Riley, a renowned swimmer and advocate for women in sports, announced her intention to swim from Alcatraz Island to the mainland, metaphorically "splashing a cannonball" at Clay Travis. The hosts humorously debate Buck's own ability to undertake the same challenge, reflecting on his swimming skills and teasing potential outcomes (21:03).

Notable Quote:

"I'm going to swim it. I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it on behalf of all the haters, all the doubters of whom there are many." — Buck Sexton (29:19)

Discussion on Prison Abolition and Defunding Police

Clay and Buck transition into a serious discussion about the left's stance on criminal justice, specifically the abolition of prisons and police forces. They argue that activists aim to dismantle these institutions, replacing them with social workers, a move they claim would lead to societal chaos. The hosts draw comparisons to fictional portrayals of anarchy, such as Gotham City's Arkham Asylum scenario, to illustrate the potential consequences of eliminating law enforcement structures (26:29).

Notable Quote:

"The left actually believes we need to get to a place where there are no more prisons. And also there are no more police. There are just social workers." — Clay Travis (26:46)

Conclusion

The episode concludes with Clay and Buck reinforcing their commitment to countering opposing narratives and maintaining their stance on political and social issues. They invite listeners to engage with their content, share their viewpoints, and participate in ongoing discussions about media integrity, political accountability, and societal structures.

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Timestamps

• 00:00 – Introduction and dismissal of the Wall Street Journal story
• 01:24 – Introduction to declassified Presidential Daily Briefing
• 02:20 – Reading and discussion of PDB content
• 03:58 – Clay’s analysis of the PDB's significance
• 06:03 – Buck’s critique of media laundering stories
• 07:50 – Buck continues critique on media narratives
• 18:12 – Announcement of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show cancellation
• 18:32 – Discussion on the impact of the cancellation
• 21:03 – Introduction to Alcatraz Swim Challenge
• 26:29 – Transition to discussion on prison abolition
• 26:46 – Detailed analysis of the left's stance on policing
• 29:19 – Buck commits to the swim challenge
• 30:15 – Clay and Buck banter about the swim
• 33:12 – Final thoughts on the swim and hosting dynamics
• 40:35 – Buck shares personal anecdotes related to swimming
• 41:32 – Closing remarks and promotion of Family Freedom from T-Mobile

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This episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show offers a blend of political commentary, media critique, and engaging host interactions, culminating in a humorous yet symbolic challenge that underscores the show's dynamic and often confrontational style.

Transcript

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast. Third hour of play. And Buck kicks off right now. Last hour of the week, everybody. Thanks for rocking out with us for as many days as you have. Or if you're just joining. Welcome to the party, pal. We've got a lot to discuss with all of you here. We talked about that Wall Street Journal story. It was. It was crap. So I think we can kind of leave it. Leave it there for now. Nothing really. Nothing really worth reading about or getting too deep into, but the White House has responded to it. They've gotten into it. Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, has some interesting things that she has said in the last 24 hours, which we may dive into here to bring us up to speed. I don't know how much more Mamdani we will do today. Mamdani the commie. Will Trump send him back to mommy? Well, I guess it's not up to Trump. It's really up to Eric Adams, Cuomo, Sliwa. Those guys have got to figure out something because all three of them staying in means that Mamdani is the mayor. But we'll get on that maybe another time. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stories to hit as well. But Clay had something that just happened that he wanted to bring to my attention. I don't even know what this one. This is like, you know, when. When you pick, like the secret square on Hollywood Square or whatever, I have no idea what's going to come out here. What have you got for us?

[Buck Sexton]

So I want to get your reaction to this. This is from Greg Price, Tulsi Gabbard, who you met with, because they would not let me in the White House for to refrain.

[Clay Travis]

They were like, look at this guy wearing flip flops in the old executive office building and shorts. What kind of a ruffian is he?

[Buck Sexton]

To be fair, I still do not have a real id. They would not allow me in the White House. I do have a passport, so that's how I can get in. But.

[Clay Travis]

And he was wearing a suit. To be fair, I just like to throw shade. Go ahead.

[Buck Sexton]

I think a jacket. I definitely got ripped for not wearing a full suit, but it was nice pants and a jacket, which basically is about as dressed up as I get anywhere. But this is from Greg Price. Dni Gabbard just declat. I'm reading his tweet. Greg does really good work. Dni Gabbard just declassified a draft presidential daily briefing. You used to be involved in some of these back in the day, which.

[Clay Travis]

Is why I want to wrote Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

I want to get your read on this from December 8, 2016, in which Obama's intel community assessed Russia did not impact the 2016 election. And I'm going to read a opening here and I want to get your take on it. We assess Russia and criminal actors did not impact recent U.S. election results. By conducting malicious cyber activities. Russian government affiliated actors most likely compromised an Illinois voter registration database and unsuccessfully attempted the same in other states. Election monitoring and the type of systems targeted infrastructure not used to count or cast votes make it highly unlikely it would have resulted in altering any state's official vote result. Criminal activity also failed to reach the scale and sophistication necessary to change election outcomes. And possible government affiliated Russian actors could have extracted voting data. But again, we don't think Russia really impacted the 2016 election. This is significant, I think because they laundered this through the media to create the idea of Trump is the Manchurian candidate. Vladimir Putin put his scale on the election. That's why Trump won. How would you assess what I just read to you in your experience on the Presidential Daily Briefing? How important would this lack? It's being declassified by Tulsi's team. I don't know.

[Clay Travis]

I.

[Buck Sexton]

Would you tell me what you think about this? This was supposedly from December 8, 2016.

[Clay Travis]

Well, it's, it's useful. I'm glad she's declassified it. But it goes in the we already knew they were lying and it was all a fabrication. So how much does this really do to move the conversation or move perception? It's another data point for something we already know. It doesn't change our mind. It just solidifies what was already quite clear and has been for years, which is that not only was Russia unable to do anything meaningful to affect the 2016 election, but the Democrats knew that, didn't care and lied about it. So to me, Clay, it's a little bit like the Biden dementia cover up stuff, except this is now going back almost 10 years. The Biden dementia cover up still has more psychological and therefore political importance to the American people because it was in the most recent election and so it doesn't tell us anything we don't already know. For example, someone else just pleaded the Fifth to your thesis about them being worried about maybe they are getting a little bit worried. There was a third now Biden White House staffer who has pleaded the Fifth or it's come out that he's pleaded the Fifth. So to me, is it significant that there was a PDB in 2016? Yeah, it would have been really significant from 2016 to 2020. So we could have avoided the whole Russia collusion absurdity which, which did hurt the country and was used unfortunately somewhat effectively against the Trump administration. The process is the punishment. You know, one of my favorite phrases. But this, this is a little bit of. Yeah, of course. Do you know what I mean? This is in the. Yeah, of course. File. The intelligence community was aware of this at some level and yet it was suppressed. And Democrat partisans, the deep state within, decided to run publicly with a very different storyline.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, I think that's maybe the biggest part here. And I, I want to, I feel a little bit sometimes on the show, like one of the things that we can provide particular benefit to you on is you have the intelligence background, which why I wanted to ask you about the pdb, something that I've never been involved in. I. And you're involved in media as well, but from running media company. Running a media company. The degree to which, and this is something that even stunned me that I would not have known beforehand. But seeing it, like, what do they always say? Like people who have seen how the hot dogs and the sausage is made would never eat it. Like if you run a meat packing plant, you are not excited when you get to a ballpark to say, hey, give me a hot dog. Because you've seen like how nasty it can be behind the scenes and what actual is involved in a hot dog. That's kind of how I feel about the media. And the thing that I would say the general public doesn't understand enough is they launder stories even if they know they're not true through partisan hacks in the media to then use to cite for the truth of the matter. And that might sound a little bit confusing, but it make. Once you start to see it, you can't not see it. In other words, it's one thing if they would come out and say, hey, based on our background research, here's a video of candidate X saying Y. They don't do that. That's actually way more honest. Hey, Kamala said this. Let me share it. When they do that, it's very transparent. They will go to the media and they'll say, hey, we're going to hand you this. Can you write it at the New York Times? Can you write it at the Washington Post?

[Clay Travis]

Can you write.

[Buck Sexton]

And then we're going to cite your reporting as if we didn't create it ourselves. They launder stories. And when I see this with the DNI that now Tulsi is Bringing out the really diabolical thing is when they launder stories that they know are untrue. And here, the entire Russia collusion, Trump is 100% right about this. And yet we still haven't had a lot of accountability, frankly, any, based on these documents that are coming out. They knew that Russia didn't somehow rig the 2016 election. I have told you on this program, we bought Facebook ads. I ran a media company. Facebook ads are expensive. Some of you out there have small businesses. You bought Facebook ads. If I could spend $100,000 and turn my business into a billion dollar business, it would be the most effective ad campaign of history. If Russia could spend $100,000 when people are spending billions and swing the election, it would be the most influential intelligence buy in the history of mankind. It didn't happen. They laundered this through people who should know better. A lie. And they basically tried to destroy the entire first Trump term over it. My reason why I bring this up, are they trying to do the same thing with Epstein now? Are they? When I saw that Washington, this Wall Street Journal story, it actually made me think. We talked about it some in the first hour. Trump was criticized for saying this is the Russia collusion hoax all over again. But I think when you look at it in retrospect, he knew this story was coming and now they're going to try to attach him to Epstein in a way to knock his momentum down. Even if they know it's not true. Is there a connection there? How can we learn from history and think about what they're attempting to do now? I think that's a really, to me, prescient analysis that you could be putting in place here, thinking about what they did before.

[Clay Travis]

We are reminded though, of the, the line from Omar in the wire, if you come at the King, you best not miss. They have come at the King many times, including shooting at him as we, as we know and have missed, or in that case, well, missed by enough that he's ok. But they've come at him legally, they've come at him medically, they've come at him spiritually. I mean, they've thrown everything at Trump. So I would say this Clay, even if, if what you're saying is true, and maybe it is, maybe there are elements now that are realizing, because one thing about this is they can't take Trump down. They know they can't take Trump down while he has MAGA behind him. It just doesn't work. They cannot separate. They can't their attack. It doesn't matter what they say. They will not take MAGA away from the Trump side of the equation. They think maybe on this one, they can create some daylight or they can, you know, get into those fissures. They can exploit the gaps. But I would say the other side of this is they've. They've thrown so much at Trump so many times that I think that the likelihood is this all just gets filtered. This gets filtered through the. Yeah. Of another. Another time they're trying to smear this guy. Another time, they're trying to manufacture something to create some delusion here and use it for political ends. And I think that MAGA has seen it too many times, and they're not about to fall for it now. That's. That's my real sense of it.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, I question. Second question for you. President's daily briefing. To be fair, I said. I think I said this was like December 8, 2016. The Daily Briefing can change based on what the intelligence shows. Right. So you could give. I'm guessing, you tell me, the briefing on December 8 could be very different than the briefing that you get on December 15th. Is that fair to say? Because the intelligence gathering can continue to shift. So maybe there is some report out there where they said, hey, we do think Russia had a more impactful. But we're not kidding.

[Clay Travis]

Well, do you want me to put my. Do you want me to put my little CIA bureaucrat hat on for a second? Oh, this is Clay. This PDB is just a snapshot in time. There was more information, more intelligence that came in, raw intelligence that after it was further verified and analyzed, was much more substantively pointed in the direction of Russia interfering. You know, oh, the interagency process. And we were doing our coordination. We were looking at the various. Various verticals here of where this intelligence was coming from. And with our source verification, we came to the conclusion that, you know, they'll just talk you in circles, man. I mean, the whole. They'll come up with whatever. Whatever they want to say at the end of the sentence was the conclusion. They'll find a way to get there. Trust me. So that's the other part of this, too. This is a data point that they will say is among many. You know, just look at what they've said. Oh, my gosh. George Bush, he didn't do anything about bin Laden determined to attack in the U.S. well, that's a pretty broad thing, everybody. It's a big country.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

And it's a long time to just know that somebody wants to hit you like If I told somebody hey there's a guy out there and one day he's going to walk up to you and punch you. Ok. When? Where? How so there's a lot of ways to manipulate the. The. The PDB as the snapshot in time depending on which way you want to go when you just did and I've briefed the PDB to the president so trust me, I know when you just.

[Buck Sexton]

Did the bureaucrat double triple speak there it just. I hate.

[Clay Travis]

I know your head hurt. You were.

[Buck Sexton]

It makes my head hurt. I hate meetings. Anytime somebody's like hey can we get together for a. No, I don't want to meet on anything. If you can't text it to me I don't need to know it. I just. I think that meetings almost always are a colossal waste of time if you actually do something for like do they have meetings at mechanic shops? Like like hey we got cars to fix but first let's have a meeting where we sit around. Do they have lots of construction meetings if you actually build something. To me meetings are almost always worthless or fix something or. Or are constructive in any way towards making something that didn't exist before. I just. I might be the most anti meeting person on the planet and all I see every time I walk into a government building I'm like it makes the hair stand up and not a good way where I'm like they're. They have so many meetings here. I just. I cannot imagine having meetings all the time. Every home has a. I don't. It makes me feel sick to my stomach. Every home has a fire extinguisher usually in the kitchen. No brainer. But what about self protection tools in the event of a home invasion that should be a no brainer. You can get them from our sponsor Sabre Spelled Sabre website is saber radio.com Sabre makes the number one pepper spray brand trusted. Trusted by law enforcement. Pepper gel projectile launcher man non lethal. You're going to love this. Just trust me on this. We have every one of their products. 50 years of family owned business. Go right now and just look at everything they have. I guarantee you're going to like a lot of it. Saberradio.com just go look 15% off right now. If you go to S A B R E radio.com dodge your meetings and go to saberradio.com instead. That's 844-824 safe 844-824 safe sometimes all you can do is laugh and they do a lot of it with the Sunday hang join Clay and buck as they laugh it up in the Clay and Buck podcast feed on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton show we mentioned pbs NPR defunded with your taxpayer doll can compete in the open marketplace of ideas like everyone else. Stephen Colbert also canceled. We've been having some fun with that. Here he Here he is. We didn't play this right. I just want to make sure here he is, cut 16 announcing next year. It's all done next May. Listen, before we start the show, I.

[Clay Travis]

Want to let you know something that I found out just last night. Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending the late show in May.

[Buck Sexton]

And yeah, I share your feelings.

[Clay Travis]

It's not just the End of our show. But it's the end of the Late show on cbs. I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away. And I do want to say, I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners. I'm so grateful to the Tiffany network for giving me this chair and this beautiful theater to call home. Okay, he killed the Late Show. Can we just say it? He killed it. He killed the Late Show.

[Buck Sexton]

Not only stone dead, not only his show. I think he destroyed late night television. I think that is his legacy because he had success in the first Trump term just turning his show into left wing, anti Trump propaganda. And everybody followed him because the initial ratings suggested that's what they should do. I think the similar thing happened at cnn, msnbc, the New York Times, Washington Post. They destroyed themselves on the rock of Trump. They dashed their own brains out. And I just, I don't know that it comes back. I was thinking about this during the commercial break we had at the end of the hour. I love late night television. I like the idea of comedians making everybody laugh by ridiculing and lampooning everybody across the entire political and racial and sexuality, whatever spectrum there is. Can it come back? Can it ever come back? I don't know. I don't think it would have died. Certainly not now. But for Stephen Colbert's destruction of this. Trump destroyed his, his entire existence as a show. I really think I want to tell you guys about our friends at Tunnel to Towers. They have been absolutely, absolutely phenomenal in so many different things that they have done to change so many people's lives. Ali Dwyer and her three sons lost their hero. Steven. As a dad who also has three boys, this story hits home flying helicopter, serving our country with Steven's passion. He died in a Blackhawk helicopter crash over the Mediterranean Sea. He was awarded the Bronze Star medal among many others for his service in the army. Ali says Steven will always be the love of her life and her boys, real life superheroes, thanks to friends like you. Tunnel the Towers helped Ali with a mortgage free home giving security and hope in the darkest hours. It's what Tunnel the Towers does help more families like the Dwyers. Join us in donating $11 a month to tunnel the [e-mail] that's T the number two.

[Clay Travis]

And then we get something even more serious, get thrown over the transom all of a sudden. Like it's delivered by a passenger pigeon or a carrier pigeon, rather passenger pigeons. I think those all went extinct because we shot them all But. But carrier pigeons are still around. And out of nowhere, producer Greg attaches to the pigeon's little leg, little scroll. The scroll lands on my desk. And it tells me that on the Sean Hannity television program, Riley Gaines, esteemed swimmer, patriot, and defender of women in sports, decided that she was going to just splash a cannonball, if you will, right in Clay's face. On Sean Hannity's show, in the discussion about whether Mr. Clay Travis would make it from Alcatraz to shore in the one piece, our own Riley Gaines not holding back at all, not even waiting for the starter's pistol dove right in. This is 27. Play it.

[Buck Sexton]

Are you going to swim to Alcatraz? Yes, I'm actually in San Francisco right now. Tomorrow. I wanted to prove the theory. Can we escape Alcatraz personally? Look, I did this last year, actually. Granted, I was not nearly 31 weeks pregnant at the time. I did. Let me tell you, Sean, more so than I'm scared of the sharks or any of the current or anything else. It is so cold. So do I think prisoners have escaped? No chance. Clay Travis was actually just on with Jesse Waters. He thinks he could escape? I don't think so at all. I think Clay Travis, quite frankly, would drown if he tried to escape Alcatraz. But I'm doing it tomorrow. But we'll keep you updated.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, wow.

[Buck Sexton]

I think I agree with you.

[Clay Travis]

I think every bet I've had with Travis, I win.

[Buck Sexton]

And I'm putting all my money on you making it and him failing dramatically.

[Clay Travis]

And him having to be saved by the boat that's hopefully following behind him. This is Hannity with the flying elbow off the top rope. I didn't even know Sean was going to throw you down like that.

[Buck Sexton]

That's like the most popular show in America. First of all, I hadn't seen that. Riley actually texted me and told me, hey, I just obliterated you on Hannity. And. And I was like, send me the link. And I hadn't seen it and I had totally forgotten about it. And I don't know that I've been tagged in this. Producer Greg, you can certainly share that. I mean, I think that I would. I'm going to have to swim it. I'm going to have to swim it. And maybe Sean needs to be in the boat, like watching, reporting minute by minute.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, I will get in the launch boat alongside. It'll be the safety boat to make sure when you start to drown, we'll pull you out and Sean can just be there with the bullhorn. Trying to motivate you.

[Buck Sexton]

He is right that I've had some bad bets with Sean. I think I owe Sean like a thousand dollars on sports bets over the year. He hasn't tried to collect yet. And so I've been trying to avoid him because I don't have a lot of cash on me all the time. So I don't want him to bankrupt me there. But I, I didn't even know that, that I had been just attacked so savagely on Fox News last night.

[Clay Travis]

And speaking of Alcatraz, there's alligator Alcatraz, which we've been discussing, talked a little about yesterday here in Florida, South Florida, where they're holding migrants and now or illegal aliens. We should start to use the proper term again. Now, in actual Alcatraz, Trump just sent some senior officials there. They really are trying to use this facility again, if I understand correctly, AG.

[Buck Sexton]

Bondi was there yesterday along with Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. So I think on the org chart, Alcatraz would be under the viewership and auspices of Doug Burgum. And so which, by the way, since I often have brilliant ideas, I need to text Doug and suggest my national monument at Butler. If you missed it earlier, Dave McCormick, senator from Pennsylvania, was on. He liked that idea. I didn't even think about texting. This is a good idea. I'm going to text Doug Burgum because I think he actually has the ability to help to declare what is and is not a national monument, because that's under his purview in the Cabinet. But yeah, the reports are, I was reading this morning that it's going to cost a billion dollars to retrofit or more. But that Trump wants the symbolic nature of Alcatraz as a prison that is obviously an efficient and effective prison because of the distance, which I could easily swim between Alcatraz and San Francisco Bay. And that he's going to go through with it and he wants to do it quickly. Now, the challenge is it's hard. I would imagine many of you out there in California know it's typically hard to get things built very rapidly in the state of California. And I would imagine Trump would want this complete before we actually get to the end of his term. So but as a monument to symbolic edifice to reflect American embrace of prisons, which is the exact opposite, we should play this because I do think it's a cultural disconnect. Our boy, Mamdani the commie. Did you see this, Buck? Because I can tie it in with the Alcatraz. He says he doesn't even understand the purpose of prisons and that he doesn't think they should exist. We have that audio, but I think it's a perfect contrast with what Trump is attempting to do, not only symbolically, but also from a prison perspective with Alcatraz. Listen.

[Clay Travis]

Our Prisons Obsolete. Coming through with the quotes, with the titles of the books. I have to read that, actually. I haven't read that as yet, but I think that, frankly, I mean, what.

[Buck Sexton]

Purpose do they serve? Right?

[Clay Travis]

I think we have to ask ourselves that. Okay, can I walk everybody through this for a second real quick? Because I think this is important. So I was deep diving into this back in the days of BLM 2.0, the George Floyd riots and all of that, the defund, which they walked away from because it was politically a hugely, you know, soon after the riots happened, it was a hugely unpopular idea, and it's a crazy idea. Defund police Clay is not the actual end that the left seeks in this country when it comes to the criminal justice system. They want the abolition of police and the abolition of prisons. Abolish prisons and abolish police is what the true activist left seeks as their goal for the criminal justice system in this country. And they choose that term abolition specifically because they are trying to tie it to the morally righteous crusade of abolishing slavery in this country. So they choose that word very intentionally, right? Oh, it's abolition. Abolition. The abolition, when you refer to somebody historically this country is an abolitionist. They're. They're on the right side of history. They're a hero. They're a good person. When you hear about abolished prisons, you would generally think this person is insane. That is what the left actually believes in. Mom, Donnie, as a leftist, as a commie, thinks that we need to get to a place where there are no more prisons. And also there are no more police. There are just social workers. We'll see how that goes for everybody. You guys have seen, like, the Batman movies where. Where, you know, Arkham Asylum gets. Or the cartoon, the actual comic strip, or Arkham Asylum is let open and the whole city turns into chaos in bedlam.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

This is actually what they want. And again, this is why I said yesterday, I think we should let the rest of the nation, Commie mom, dummy, win. And then, unfortunately, as a great swimmer, I understand that some of you are not great swimmers. Some of metaphorically, New York would have to drown in crime, but we would potentially win the House of Representatives back. Sad. But sometimes you got to leave the guy behind. Sometimes you do have to leave a man behind. I understand the general rule is no man left behind, but caveat if. You know, I got to say, I.

[Clay Travis]

Think Riley Gaines and Sean Hannity are going to leave you behind if you can't make the Alcatraz swim. I think they made that one as well.

[Buck Sexton]

First of all, by the way, that's you. I'm just accidentally hit you on the. On the. You should go subscribe to the Clay and Buck feed. But Riley just tweeted that she completed the swim. She is 31 weeks pregnant with a baby girl soon to be a mom, and she just completed. I just scrolling through Twitter while I was talking to you, while I was dealing with the scurrilous attacks levied against me by both Sean Hannity and Riley Gaines. And I have made a pledge, and it is an important pledge. I am going to swim next year when they have the Escape from Alcatraz swim. I'm going to escape from Alcatraz. They have a yearly thing where they do it literally. I think this is what Riley was doing. Next year at this time, I am going to make the swim. I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it on behalf of all the haters, all the doubters of whom there are many. Riley, Sean, this is a good.

[Clay Travis]

This is a good show. Audience really enjoys it. I don't know if we got a. We got to do like a daily eulogy for the. The buck and the guy formerly known as Clay Travis until a great white shark ate him show. Like, I don't know if we need to do that.

[Buck Sexton]

I would be thinking to myself, there are way too many people rooting. I don't think there's that many people that would root for me to drown some. I think there's a lot of people that would root for me to get eaten by a shark. I think that they would think that there is some poetic justice in, given all my animal talk over the years, me getting eaten by a shark. So I would be a little bit nervous because it's not a good way to go.

[Clay Travis]

You're really going to do this?

[Buck Sexton]

I think. I think I'm going to try it.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, you could always doggy paddle. You know, you could go slow and eventually you'll make it. You might end up in Oakland or something because the currents will take you pretty far.

[Buck Sexton]

But, you know, Oakland is at least on land. I'm way more nervous about getting swept out of the Pacific. That's, you know, my, my corpse ending up in. In Hawaii.

[Clay Travis]

I Can't let you do this. I got to get out and obviously I'm going to be there in the stands or even better, I'll be in one of those launch boats, nice and warm. I'll probably have some hot cocoa in my hands and I'll just be yelling at Clay. What are the yells of the sled dogs? Mush. Mushroom.

[Buck Sexton]

Why would on the face Sean Hannity just immediately assume that I would drown? I mean, he's never seen me swim. Like, he just has no faith whatsoever in me. I mean, maybe he's going to have to adopt.

[Clay Travis]

Sean didn't hesitate.

[Buck Sexton]

Sean didn't hesitate at all. That's what I'm saying.

[Clay Travis]

Like Riley, he just took the measure of your swimming ability and he, he, he's an honest guy, man. He couldn't hold back. He decided you weren't, you weren't, didn't have the necessary buoyancy.

[Buck Sexton]

I've definitely got the buoyancy. Like I've got too much buoyancy right now. I need to lose some buoyancy. So I need or 12 pounds off the, off the body. But right now I think I would just float. I think I would just.

[Clay Travis]

You got to keep that as brown fat. You got to keep the, you know, it's like the, the, the deep layer fat. You want that, that's insulation and buoyancy. You don't want to lose.

[Buck Sexton]

Speaker 2 I am a little bit nervous about how cold the water is because I was just up in Michigan and that water is cold. And I definitely think that, that jumping in and being in there for a few hours, which probably how long it would take me to swim. I'm more concerned, other than the shark attack, of potentially dying of hypothermia. I don't know how long it took Riley, but I think it would take me.

[Clay Travis]

There are people watching this, this swim. I don't, I don't think they just like let people out there and, and they, they do.

[Buck Sexton]

But what I'm saying is that most of those people are able to swim rapidly. I don't know what the rule is for how long you can be in super supremely cold water without hypothermia setting in.

[Clay Travis]

You know what's going to end up happening and it's going to be a great moment for women in sports. You're going to have to like wrap your arm around Riley's shoulder and she's going to like tow you in. You know, she's going to, Riley's going to pull, pull your ass into shore because that's the kind of gal she is.

[Buck Sexton]

Because you're going to, you're going to run out of halfway through while eight months pregnant. She's got a baby and she's got me on her back, like just kind of swimming across I By the way.

[Clay Travis]

Pregnant Lady, Pregnant lady saves Clay Travis from from Drowning in charity. Swim is the headline we all need to see.

[Buck Sexton]

That headline would probably do numbers. I'm not going to lie.

[Clay Travis]

It probably would. We'll take some of your, we'll take some of your calls here. Oh, man. I know what some of you are going to say, too. You're going to say, buck, are you going to do this swim? I'm going to think about it. I'm going to think about it. The best steaks we've cooked this summer are from Good Ranchers. Just had a steak night last week courtesy of Good Ranchers. American Ranchers raising cattle here in the U.S. good ranchers. Beef is absolutely delicious. No antibiotics or added hormones. Right now you can subscribe to any Good Ranchers box. Get your pick of free meat for life. That's free Wagyu burgers, hot dogs, bacon or chicken wings in every box for the lifetime of your subscription. It's a great value, a great deal. Get an extra 40 off your first box when you use my name Buck as your promo code at checkout. Go to goodranchers.com use promo code Buck. That's goodranchers.com, promo code Buck. You can get free Wagyu burgers, hot dogs, bacon or chicken wings in every box for the lifetime of your subscription. Use promo code Buck plus you get $40 off. So go to goodranchers.com pick out your box. I just got my new box a little over a week ago. I love Good Ranchers. Go to goodranchers.com use that promo code Buck. American meat delivered.

[Buck Sexton]

Keep up with the biggest political comeback in world history on the team. 47 podc Clay and Buck highlight Trump replays from the week, Sundays at noon Eastern. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Buck Sexton]

I will have you know not all of America is filled with haters. In fact, this text I just received from my 10 year old, this is Nash. Unlike the haters I believe in you. Don't give up and practice. There you go. That's what you want to hear. Everybody else doesn't have my back. 10 year old, he's like Dad's got this. To be fair, this all started when I took my 17 year old to Alcatraz. We were on a visit to San Francisco looking at colleges all over the place and we were standing there looking at out across San Francisco Bay and I said I think I can make this swim. And my 17 year old said no, no no no dad, you would drown. And then we argued about whether or not I could make the swim. That's legitimately where all this started. But I've always thought my 10 year old was smarter than my 17 year old and he's right. I would make that swim and I'm going to train and I'm going to make it happen.

[Clay Travis]

I might die now I feel like I need to train and make it happen. So I don't know.

[Buck Sexton]

I don't even know how you train for a Swim that long, by the way. Like, I think I'm a lot. Yeah, but in a pool or do you go to a lake? Is there a. I mean, if you ran, like, I did a half marathon, it was miserable. You, it turns out to run a marathon, which is not fun, you also have to spend a lot of time training to run the marathon, which is even less fun. And. But it's easy, right? In theory. You know, there's lots of places you could run long distances. Here's the way running works. You just start like Forrest Gump, and then at some point you can just stop and it's miserable. And my argument, which always gets the runners angry, is I think running is for people with really low self esteem because they're like, I don't know if I can do this. Oh, look how far I ran. I, Oprah, ran a marathon. I am more athletic than Oprah. There's no doubt in my mind that I could run a marathon. The problem with running a marathon is you have to train for it for a long time. But there's lots of places you could train. How do you train to swim, like, a mile and a half? Do you even. I mean, I guess you could do like a hundred laps in the pool.

[Clay Travis]

You get in the ocean and you swim.

[Buck Sexton]

But how do you know how far an ocean distance is?

[Clay Travis]

Well, I mean, you, you can. Like, I'm thinking about a Miami beach, for example. You start in front of one hotel, basically, and you swim down to South Point park or something, and you look at the, on the GPS and you can calculate it. Come on.

[Buck Sexton]

Is what. But there's tides. Like, is water distance impacted? Like, I feels way more complicated. My wife. This is.

[Clay Travis]

Come on, Copernicus, we could calculate this. All right. This isn't that bad.

[Buck Sexton]

My wife is of the opinion that I would drown. When we were in the Bahamas, she had me swim a decent distance. And I don't even know if I talked about this on the air. She was like, moron, you are going to drown. I want you to swim in the bay. All this distance. And so I was doing the backstroke. I was. She had no confidence that I could do it. And I did it pretty easily because, again, I'm not saying I'm a great swimmer. I'm just saying as long as I didn't drown, I would end up on the shore. This is the thing that people don't understand. Like, if you swim long enough, eventually you get to where you need to go. I can do it.

[Clay Travis]

All right, well, there we go. I like where your head's at on this one.

[Buck Sexton]

And by the way, this is up on the Sunday Hang. We had some fun with this, producer Ali said. There's lots of fun stuff if you're on the road. Go subscribe to the podcast Lots of Fun Sunday Hang things. I hate you, Sean Hannity. I also hate you, Riley Gaines. You're off the Christmas card list.

[Clay Travis]

I just want to be clear. Kerry insists that I go and make sure that you don't drown and so then Laura can be certain that I will make sure you don't drown off of alcohol.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast.