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- [00:00]
iHeartRadio Announcer
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:05]
Propane Advertisement Voice
The US electric grid is approaching a breaking point. As demand soars from data centers and home energy use, our aging infrastructure can't keep up. And the Department of Energy warns that without action, blackouts could surge 100 fold by 2030. The good news? One solution is already here. Propane. It's American made, stored on site and always ready, powering homes and businesses with cleaner, reliable energy that that doesn't depend on the grid or the weather. Learn more@probane.com wishing the holidays could come early.
- [00:36]
Ben Ferguson
If you own or manage your business, they can. With help from iHeartradio. People are already shopping for their loved ones and hunting for deals wherever they can find them, including right here. They're listening to the radio. They're listening to podcasts. They could be listening to you. Don't wait for everyone else to kick off the holidays. Get your best season of the year up and running today. Call 844-844-IHEART or visit iheartadvertising.com.
- [01:05]
Leon Neyfakh
When I told people I was making a podcast about Benghazi, nine times out of ten they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked why Benghazi?
- [01:17]
Ben Ferguson
The truth became a web of lies.
- [01:19]
Leon Neyfakh
From prologue projects and Pushkin Industries. This is Fiasco Benghazi.
- [01:25]
Fiasco Benghazi Promo Voice
What difference at this point does it make?
- [01:28]
Leon Neyfakh
Listen to Fiasco Benghazi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:35]
Ben Ferguson
I'm Ben Ferguson.
- [01:36]
Ted Cruz
And I'm Ted Cruz. Three times a week we do our podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz.
- [01:41]
Ben Ferguson
Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
- [01:43]
Ted Cruz
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
- [01:53]
Ben Ferguson
And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
- [01:55]
Ted Cruz
We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
- [02:01]
Ben Ferguson
So download Verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
- [02:06]
Clay Travis
Welcome back in Clay Travis, Buck Sexton Show. One bit of breaking news here as we go into the third hour of the program. A new poll has just been released by Quinnipiac in the New York City mayor's race, now down to three since Eric Adams has dropped out. According to this poll, Zoran Mamdani, 46% support. Andrew Cuomo, 33% support. Curtis Sliwa, 15% support. So that is, that is how all of this is, is breaking out. And I would say, Buck, the story in New York City continues to be that so long as there are three candidates that are running, then mom Donnie is going to win and mom Donnie is probably going to win comfortably. We will get into the Virginia race. We're going to have Jason Miarez who is dealing with the J. Jones Democrat nominee and the awful text messages that have come out from the Democrat nominee. But you got the Virginia race, you got the New Jersey race. And we are sitting about almost exactly three weeks away from the official election day of 2025 with all of those being very important races. But we talked about, as we were going to break, the way that X has changed the conversation in the country right now. And I wanted to play for you, Harry Enton on CNN talking about what the makeup is of Twitter now in the wake of Elon Musk buying it. When did he buy a buck 22, if I'm not mistaken? I think it's been about three years that Elon has run Twitter. Here is what the data reflects.
- [04:01]
Ben Ferguson
You go back to 2021, the party ID margin, you're 37 points more likely to be a Democrat on Twitter or X than a Republican. Jump ahead to this side of the screen. It's completely changed around. Oh my goodness gracious. Now it's a 14 point lead for Republicans on Twitter X. We're Talking about a 51 point shift in the margin. You know, there are a lot of folks that I know who are on the left side of the aisle who ran over to Blue sky or ran over to threads. But here's the deal. The bottom line is those are minuscule compared to Twitter or X. Use this social media. In 2025, 21% of Americans are on Twitter or X threads. It's just 8% lose guy. Even smaller, just 4%. You add together the four plus the eight that gets you to 12%. That is only about half the level that are on Twitter. Slash X.
- [04:51]
Clay Travis
So the impact is real. Buck. And I think it has been utterly transformative in terms of how the nation debates and discusses the biggest issues in the country.
- [05:01]
Ben Ferguson
Well, it shows you that Democrats are unable to win arguments unless they've got us just out platformed and outnumbered. Right. This is like if you're going to get into a, if you're going to get into a scuffle with somebody, there's one on one and there's 10 on one. And even if you're a really good, you know, really good fighter, quite honestly, two on one is really hard. But if it's ten on one, you're not going to, you're not going to win that battle. And that's what Democrats have had with social media and with a lot of the legacy media systems that they've had and long established control of. So we've seen a break in that. And people will rightly point out, well, hold on. They still, you know, TikTok is still left wing dominated. You know, Facebook is, you know, Facebook is like, okay, right now. Because I think Zuckerberg realizes that you don't want to get Trump upset at you, but the fact of the matter is they can't suppress stories. The days of the Hunter Biden laptop media fiasco are, at least for right now, gone. They would not be able to do what they did do, which was, let's remind everybody, there was even more stuff about this that just came out, documents showing that they didn't. That Biden, the whole thing with Biden going to Ukraine, the obvious corruption, the obvious handout for his family and the payoffs for Hunter Biden and everything, it was all true. All the stuff that the right was saying about this, that we've been talking about Clay on this show for years, was all accurate. But when they tried to hide the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020, they were able to largely do it because of the control they had of the online media ecosystem, which is now the new public square. Elon Musk has broken the back of that, and that is a huge benefit. I think it made an enormous difference in Trump's election, and I think it makes an enormous difference in the left. Doesn't even want to fight us anymore publicly. Like, they won't actually try the stuff that they used to because they can't count on having us outnumbered and ambushed online.
- [07:08]
Clay Travis
I used to feel attacked all the time on social media. I remember the last time somebody really came after me. And I think partly it's algorithmic, so you see less of that. I think that's probably by design, but. But the marketplace of ideas is real. My, my concern is on Twitter. X my concern about YouTube and TikTok and Facebook. Facebook's a good example because it's existed for a long time. Mark Zuckerberg moves in whatever direction the political currents move. I don't think that he has a consistent core. If Barack Obama's in office, he's going to do things that make Obama happy. If Biden is, he's going to do things that make Biden happy. And now Trump's in office and he's going to do things that make Trump happy. My concern is there is no core principle that you can point to at Facebook, other than we're going to make the party in power as happy as we possibly can. I do think Elon has demonstrated that he's willing to take the slings and arrows of attack and even when it has a significant financial component associated with it in a way that the other leaders of these media companies have not. Now, I'm somewhat cautiously optimistic that the new Paramount leadership, the Ellison's, because Larry Ellison, the, the, the second richest man in the world has been pretty stubborn and been willing to have people attack him before. And he is a Tim Scott backer who has been active in Republican politics before. So I'm cautiously optimistic that he's going to provide some legacy media backbone there. We know Rupert Murdoch has taken slings and arrows for generations with the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal and Fox. But do you agree with me, the Zuckerbergs of the world? I mean if, if Kevin Newsom wins in 20, God forbid, in 2028, I think he'll go right back to whatever makes Gavin Newsom happy. I don't think there's a principle there.
- [09:19]
Ben Ferguson
I'm 100% in my mind at least certain that that is the case, that a lot of what we've seen with these social media companies, I think that Elon, who can be a mercurial guy on some things, but I think that on the issue of free speech and free exchange of ideas, he is deeply devoted to that and I think that that's the best you can ask for. People say, well now it's just at the whim of Elon Musk on X. Well, it's the whim of a guy who truly believes in the principle. I think that that's the best you can ask for because it's not a public utility and they're not going to be able to regulate it like one. And now it's not a social justice left wing woke loony bin. So it's better, it's a lot better than it was. And we got to take the wins where we can on this to the.
- [10:09]
Clay Travis
Point that it is. And this is where Rush read from you saying billionaires need to get involved back in the day. And it's a, like I'm far from a billionaire, but it's why I founded Outkick. The best thing you can do is put your money where your mouth is. If you, if you are listening to us right now and you've been frustrated over the way that media and the way that politics has and culture has been influenced in this country the best thing you can do is put your money on the table and try to impact that. And I believe Elon is going to remain committed to free speech. The challenge here is there's only a couple of guys and right now they're all guys that are truly committed to free speech. And we this is why I come back to as good as Trump is and as great as Trump 2.0 has been so far, what is ailing our country is going to take 20 years to fix. And mention, by the way, President can't make it happen.
- [11:06]
Ben Ferguson
The team actually has that cut of Rush. This was back in June of 2020 talking about this exact problem. Cut 31. Many of you might remember the former guest host on this program, Buck Sexton of the CIA. Buck now tweets a lot. Does he have his own show now or. Yeah, he does. Wait, wait. Buck has been on a tweet storm and had to put it in one of those, one of those thread apps because there's so many tweets. And he's ticked off at at how conservative everything has just given up, has just seated the country, seated Hollywood, seated music, seated television, seated the media, seated everything, doesn't understand it. If one of the conservative billionaires out there has any stomach for saving their country from this mob, they should buy.
- [12:06]
Clay Travis
And flip a major media platform or fund a new one and make it.
- [12:10]
Ben Ferguson
An unsinkable aircraft carrier of true free speech. That is what Elon did. Yeah, he did it about two years later, Clay. But that was the only answer. And that's why Russia, I think, seized on this right away. That was the only way we were going to break. It was essentially a speech blockade that they were running.
- [12:29]
Clay Travis
And also this is where sometimes builds your own just doesn't work because the scale of success required to truly influence society. They tried with Blue sky, they've tried with Threads, nobody cares. And that's not because they're not trying to do it with those platforms. It's because they aren't going to reach the same level of influence because it's very hard to get an influential app built and you can't just build a new one.
- [12:58]
Ben Ferguson
I try to tell people also, you've got to be careful even if you are an occasional, an occasional viewer and user of Blue sky, because as a guy, your testosterone level will immediately drop down to that of like a 12 year old girl and you'll start to sound like Brian Stelter. You'll be walking around the house be like, I was just on Blue sky and I'm so upset about Trump's fascism. So just be careful, Blue sky only in limited doses, if you want to see how crazy the left is. But you know, Clay, it's like. It's like trying to clean up the nuclear reactor. The longer you're in there, the more exposed to the fallout you are.
- [13:39]
Clay Travis
And I would point out too that you went on there to your credit, after the Charlie Kirk assassination. Those platforms are far more toxic than Parler, for instance, which they decided was the cause of of the January 6th event, and they shut it down and suddenly you couldn't even get on the Internet. And to a large extent, there is no pressure to regulate them in any way. And you know where now, honestly, the most fervent left wingers go together is Reddit. That is their platform of choice. That is influential. I don't think Blue sky or threads are remotely influential. I don't ever see anybody building stories around the arguments made there. Reddit is where you go, if you are a far left winger, to hang out online. So again, nobody can guarantee any commitment to principle of free speech over time. But I do believe that Elon is going to continue to allow Twitter to flourish as a free speech platform. And what I think is coming back, and I've talked about this a little bit, but I bet you kind of see it too, is ultimately all of AI is going to be a function of the input of AI and so there will be supremely woke AI which will be very popular with the MSNBC viewers. I think Elon's X AI is going to be popular with what I would call sane people. And this idea that AI is going to be some sort of utopia, the algorithm is going to tell you what AI gives you and. And the Elon algorithm, I am confident, will be more likable and acceptable in terms of its answers to many of the people listening right now than will many of the other AI.
- [15:28]
Ben Ferguson
Yes, this will continue to play out. In the meantime, I do get a kick out of having my burger brought to my house sometimes by a little robot. That's pretty fun that that happens. Oh, yes. We have little robots in Miami beach that deliver our food now.
- [15:42]
Leon Neyfakh
Really?
- [15:43]
Ben Ferguson
You see them? Yes, I'll take photos. I'll show it to you. You see them on the street, they're just kind of buzzing along like Johnny five number. Number five from the what's Short Circuit. If you remember that great underrated movie from the 80s. Johnny Five is alive, man, and he's bringing this star. It's like just in the last six months, I would say, oh wow.
- [16:04]
Clay Travis
I didn't even know that.
- [16:05]
Ben Ferguson
Oh, next time you were in my studio in Miami beach, we are having your Clay loves ceviche. This is the way I get him to come to Miami Beach. He does love, love ceviche. I'm going to have our ceviche delivered by a tiny robot.
- [16:17]
Clay Travis
That's amazing. I didn't know that was happening places. That's pretty incredible. Well, you know what's happening and is also incredible. Cozy Earth Bamboo Sheets I had these on over the weekend when I was just gone for the past several days. My wife, I don't know how many boxes she ordered, but we have Cozy Earth bamboo sheets and they're incredible. I'm not gonna lie. Nicest sheets that I have ever slept on in a home. They feel amazing. They are fantastic and they've got a price that is affordable compared to what a lot of these high end retail stores try to charge. And because there's no middleman, Cozy Earth smart to make the sheets as price accessible as pop as possible. I'm here to tell you down in Florida where Buck is get pretty hot in those sheets. The fabric very breathable. Moisture wicking, temperature regulating whether you run hot or not. These will keep you cooler during the night. You're gonna love them. Durable enough to last for years, soft enough to feel brand new after a wash a hundred night sleep trial. You don't have to take my word for it. You can try them out for yourself. 10 year warranty a hundred nights plus 10 years upgrade the place you spend the most time your bed. Visit cozyearth.com my name Clay as the code for 20% off. That's cozyearth.com code Clay and if you hit the post purchase survey tell them you heard about Cozy Earth at Clay and Buck. Again. C o z y cozyearth.com code clay for 20% off off news and politics but also a little comic relief.
- [17:58]
Ben Ferguson
Clay, Travis and Buck Sexton.
- [18:00]
Clay Travis
Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
- [18:05]
Fiasco Benghazi Promo Voice
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- [19:05]
Propane Advertisement Voice
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- [19:32]
iHeartRadio Announcer
Learn more@probane.com run a business and not thinking about podcasting? Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ads supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers are into true crime, sports, comedy, culture, they'll hear your message. Plus, only iHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. And all this reach means everything. Just think about the universal marketing formula. The number of consumers who hear your message times the response rate equals the results. Now let's get those results growing for you. Think podcasting can help your business? Think iHeart streaming radio and podcasting. Let us show you at iheartadvertising.com that's iheartadvertising.com or call 844-844 iHeart one more time, call 844-844-IHEART and get podcasting working for you.
- [20:35]
Leon Neyfakh
When I told people I was making a podcast about Benghazi, nine times out of ten they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why Benghazi?
- [20:48]
Ben Ferguson
The truth became a web of lies.
- [20:50]
Leon Neyfakh
It's almost a dirty word, one that connotes conspiracy theory.
- [20:54]
Ben Ferguson
Will we ever get the truth about the Benghazi massacre?
- [20:56]
Leon Neyfakh
Bad faith, political warfare and frankly, bullshit.
- [21:00]
Ben Ferguson
We kill the ambassador just to cover something up. You put two and two together.
- [21:06]
Leon Neyfakh
Was it an overblown distraction or a sinister conspiracy?
- [21:10]
Clay Travis
Benghazi is a Rosetta Stone for everything.
- [21:15]
Ben Ferguson
That'S been going on for the last 20 years.
- [21:17]
Leon Neyfakh
I'm Leon Naifak from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries. This is Fiasco Benghazi.
- [21:24]
Fiasco Benghazi Promo Voice
What difference at this point does it make?
- [21:27]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, that's right.
- [21:28]
Ted Cruz
Lock her up.
- [21:29]
Leon Neyfakh
Listen to Fiasco Benghazi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [21:35]
Ben Ferguson
I'm Ben Ferguson.
- [21:36]
Ted Cruz
And I'm Ted Cruz. Three times a week, we do our podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz.
- [21:41]
Ben Ferguson
Nationwide. We have millions of listeners.
- [21:43]
Ted Cruz
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
- [21:52]
Ben Ferguson
And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
- [21:56]
Ted Cruz
We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
- [22:01]
Ben Ferguson
So download Verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back into Clay and Buck. Just an update here on the story. Maybe we'll talk a little bit about California here in a few ways. And this is it's not a surprise, but I did want it to go on our record here on the show that now federal officials have arrested somebody that they say was the arsonist behind the Palisades fire, that at least one of them that was so destructive really burned an entire neighborhood. And this guy is essentially a pyromaniac based on the details they have on him already. But Clay, things like this were said about it at the time when this, when the actual fire was raging. NBC News conditions that fueled California fires due to climate change. Climate change, increased wildfire disaster. How did climate change start the Los Angeles fires? The role of climate change over and over and over again, all about climate change. Clay, it was a guy with a lighter. Yeah, that's what actually happened. A crazy person with a lighter. It was not, in fact, whether you drive an EV or ride a bicycle or recycle the that caused the fire. Everybody, not a surprise, but worth saying.
- [23:26]
Clay Travis
And a lot of the attention is going to fade. But they didn't actually have to acknowledge as much as they should have, the failure to have enough water, the failure to allow the fire department to do their jobs. They tried to immediately turn this into, well, how in the world could we possibly have been able to handle this with climate change? We had one of the congressmen on who did a really good job discussing this on the program at the time and, and wrote a great editorial for the Wall Street Journal that laid out, in fact, fires have become far less common in the years since Southern California became very civilized. Look, I want to tell you price picks code, clay, you get $50 when you play $5. And I've got a pick for you. That starts tonight. Jalen hurts more than one passing, more than one half passing. Touch all these guys to have one passing touchdown. All right. More than one half. Jalen hurts Jackson Dart and Cam ward more than one half. That means they have to have one passing touchdown. You win. Plus Drake may more than one and a half. If this hits 4.5 times your money, you can play along. That would mean if you put in $5, you would get back 2250. Did I do the math there right? I think I did. You want to play along. You're going to love it. California, Texas, Georgia be tweeted out again. More passing, all touchdowns. It's easy to play. Get signed up today. Prizepix.com Code Clay that's prizepix.com Code clay for 50 bucks. Welcome back in Clay. Travis BUCK Sexton SHOW okay, we've got awfulness and we'll talk about this tomorrow. In the attorney general's race in Virginia, the Democrat candidate sent all sorts of violent wishes via.
- [25:21]
Ben Ferguson
I thought you were going to talk about California awfulness, but yes, there's awfulness in Virginia Democrat stuff, too.
- [25:26]
Clay Travis
I was going to go coast to coast. So on one side in Virginia, we've got awfulness. On the other side of the country, Katie Porter is running for governor to replace Gavin Newsom. She lost to Adam Schiff in the Senate race. She is a congresswoman right now, and it seems she is basically despised by much of the staff that has worked with her over years and years and years. And she had an interview with a local CBS News anchor that went mega viral in the past couple of days. And we're going to play that for you here. But I think in many ways what's actually going on is this is a, this is a function of rarely having any pushback at all. So there is now additional, there are now additional videos coming out. This is 1 from 2021 of Katie Porter yelling at a staff member to get out of her shot. The staff member was in the background. Cut 32.
- [26:36]
Katie Porter
So I'm on the Oversight Committee, you might know. And that is where we did a study recently, this fall in September. And what it showed is if we don't electrify our transportation sector, that we're going to lose more than half a million Californians dying prematurely to air pollution and other problems and the state could lose for out of my shot.
- [27:01]
CBS News Interviewer
I wanted to tell you that that's actually incorrect. It's not that it's electric vehicles.
- [27:05]
Clay Travis
It's that if we don't meet the.
- [27:07]
Ben Ferguson
Commitments under the Paris climate accord.
- [27:09]
Katie Porter
Okay. It does. Okay. You also were in my shop before that. Stay out of my shot.
- [27:16]
Clay Travis
Okay. This is what it sounds like in and during the radio show with the video. Just so you know, nobody better get in my shot or buck shot either. But the clip yesterday that you were playing two Buck was emblematic of the fact that there isn't really.
- [27:35]
Ben Ferguson
You want to get it going again? The team can pull it. It was on the sheet yesterday.
- [27:39]
Clay Travis
I just sent it to Greg so we could pull it again. But she may be the next governor of California and she sounds like pretty much an awful person.
- [27:49]
Ben Ferguson
I described her online and then on the show as over ogre.
- [27:53]
Clay Travis
Ish.
- [27:53]
Ben Ferguson
And that seems to. Has. Seems to have caught on with people. An ogre is a bullying presence who is unkind to people. And I think that that is, that is quite accurate. She is, she is very much a bully. And, and also I think if, if somebody who is your spouse has ever had to say under oath that, that you threw boiling potato water at them, you might have a temporary, you've got a problem. I think I'm going to throw that out there.
- [28:23]
Clay Travis
I mean, that is. Here is what happened yesterday. If you missed this, and this is a CBS interview just being asked, hey, you know, Donald Trump has a lot of support in California as well.
- [28:34]
CBS News Interviewer
Listen, what do you say to the 40% of California voters who you'll need in order to win, who voted for Trump?
- [28:41]
Katie Porter
How would I need them in order to win?
- [28:43]
CBS News Interviewer
Well, unless you think you're going to get 60% of the vote, you think you'll get 60 all. Everybody who did not vote for Trump will vote for you.
- [28:51]
Katie Porter
That's what you're in a general election. Yes. If it is me versus a Republican, I think that I will win. The people who did not vote for.
- [28:58]
CBS News Interviewer
Trump, what if it's you versus another Democrat?
- [29:00]
Katie Porter
I don't intend that to be the case.
- [29:02]
CBS News Interviewer
So how do you not intend that to be the case? Do you. Are you going to ask them not to run?
- [29:07]
Katie Porter
No, no. I'm saying I'm going to build the support. I have the support already in terms of name recognition. And so I'm going to do the very best I can to make sure that we get through this primary in a really strong position. But let me be clear with you. I represented Orange County. I represented a purple area. I have stood on my own two feet and won Republican votes before. That's not something every candidate in this race can say. If you're from a Deep blue area. If you're from LA or you're from Oakland, you haven't, you don't have an experience.
- [29:32]
CBS News Interviewer
But you just said you don't need those Trump voters.
- [29:34]
Katie Porter
But you asked me if I needed them to win.
- [29:36]
CBS News Interviewer
So you don't need.
- [29:36]
Katie Porter
I feel like this is unnecessary, argumentative. What is your question?
- [29:40]
CBS News Interviewer
The question is the same thing I asked everybody that this is being called the empowering voters to stop Trump's power grab. Every other candidate has answered this question. This is not argument.
- [29:50]
Katie Porter
I said I support it.
- [29:52]
Ted Cruz
So.
- [29:52]
CBS News Interviewer
And the question is, what do you say to the 40% of voters who voted for Trump?
- [29:57]
Katie Porter
Oh, I'm happy to say that it's the, do you need them to win Part that I don't understand. I'm happy to answer. Answer the question as you have it written and I'll answer.
- [30:04]
CBS News Interviewer
And we've also asked the other candidates, do you think you need any of those 40% of California voters to win? And you're saying no, you don't.
- [30:11]
Katie Porter
No, I'm saying I'm going to try to win every vote I can. And what I'm saying to you is.
- [30:15]
CBS News Interviewer
That, well, to those voters. Okay, so, so you.
- [30:18]
Katie Porter
I don't want to keep doing this. I'm going to call it. Thank you.
- [30:23]
CBS News Interviewer
You're not going to do the interview with us?
- [30:25]
Katie Porter
Nope, not like this I'm not. Not with seven follow ups to every single question you ask.
- [30:29]
CBS News Interviewer
Every other candidate has answered.
- [30:30]
Katie Porter
I don't care. I don't care. I want to have a pleasant, positive conversation which you ask me about every issue on this list. And if every question you're going to make up a follow up question, then we're never going to get there and we're just going to circle around.
- [30:44]
CBS News Interviewer
I am an investigator.
- [30:45]
Katie Porter
I have had to do this before.
- [30:46]
Ben Ferguson
Ever.
- [30:47]
CBS News Interviewer
You've never had to have a conversation.
- [30:50]
Katie Porter
With, to end an interview.
- [30:51]
CBS News Interviewer
Okay, but every other candidate has done this.
- [30:54]
Katie Porter
What part of I'm me, I'm running for governor because I'm a leader, so I am going to make.
- [31:00]
CBS News Interviewer
So you're not going to answer questions from reporters. Okay, why don't we go through. I will continue to ask follow up questions because that's my job as a journalist, but I will go through and ask these. And if you don't want to answer, you don't want to answer. So nearly every legislative.
- [31:13]
Katie Porter
I am. I don't want to have an unhappy experience with you and I don't want this all on camera.
- [31:18]
CBS News Interviewer
I don't want to have an unhappy experience with you either. I would love to continue to ask these questions so that we can show our viewers what every candidate feels about every one of these issues that they care about.
- [31:28]
Clay Travis
Okay, so, Buck, is it wrong that I dislike both of these people?
- [31:33]
Ben Ferguson
Because I think that's the correct. I think the correct read is, first of all, what I know what she was the journalist. And anyone who even calls himself a journalist these days, I think it's pretty funny, right? I mean, it's technically still a thing, but we all know, right, that it's not really a thing. It's different, at least than what the journalists say it is. But that, that she was saying, she was trying to say, well, aren't you going to have to win every vote from everybody? You know, it was like speaking to a coach before the big game. Like, well, your offense is going to have to come through, so is your defense. And then Katie Porter's like, I can just win on defense. Like, shut your face. You know, like, well, yeah, yeah, but just play along, right? I mean, you're supposed. It doesn't really. The point wasn't the 40% or whatever she just got stuck up on, you know, stuck on this issue. But also they both, you could tell they don't like each other. I mean, that comes across in the interview. But also Katie Porter has a temper and is an ogre who is mean. And people don't like that. So this is not a good look for her. And she can't afford, I think, to. Let's just say she has to have a nice personality. So that would be. It would be to her benefit to have a good personality.
- [32:43]
Clay Travis
Voters get this. This is why you have to go around to diners and shake hands. This is why you have to show up to speaking engagements where There might be 15 people there in New Hampshire or Iowa. Remember our guy whose name I'm forgetting that was the actual only Democrat that would point out that Joe Biden didn't have the mental or physical capacity. Dean, Dean, whatever his name was, when he showed up in New Hampshire. And not one person, not one person came to his event and he said, sometimes, you know, basically you can, you can't make people come. And it was probably the most attention he ever got on his entire campaign. But over time, if you meet with a lot of voters, people get a sense for what you're actually like. This is what I think Katie Porter's like. I think she is a not particularly likable brat who is a bully. Now, I also thought the interviewer was not very Likable either. This was a conversation that I can't imagine watching. It's one person asking questions you don't like, answered by somebody else answering questions you don't like. And, but this is how they treat every single Republican candidate. And that is where I think the story really lies, is that very few Democrats are actually able to handle contentious interviews because most of the time they get the. What flavor ice cream did you get, Mr. President? Why do you like chocolate chips so much? These are the kind of questions they get when left wing journalists ask them questions.
- [34:19]
Ben Ferguson
Well, also, I think that, and one of our callers pointed this out yesterday, it was an entirely fair question to ask. But the fact that the journalist who's a little, she's a little huffy about her whole journalism thing, like, slow. Your old lady. It's a CBS affiliate in Los Angeles. Like, you know, you're not, you're not. Thomas Payne, calm down. But she's doing her, her journalism thing. And she asked this question. You would generally want someone, first of all in the Katie Porter role here, if they're going to be the governor, who can just take a beat and be like, okay, look, we had a little, a little misunderstanding there for a second. She keeps making it worse and then in a very passive aggressive way, tries to make it seem like she doesn't. She goes, I just want to have a nice, nice situation. You don't want to have a nice situation. You're really nasty. But also, the journalist asking questions in the way that she did made it seem like she was trying to push, even though there was really nothing to push on. And I think that Katie Porter looks at her like, you're supposed to help me win the election. Like, stop doing this thing where you're pretending anything else. And so there was, that was part of the miscommunication that was going on there.
- [35:26]
Clay Travis
How did she get elected as a congresswoman? You ever see some of these people and think to yourself, how did they win? I don't understand how people in Orange county saw her and heard her and interacted with her and said, this is our girl.
- [35:44]
Ben Ferguson
I mean, increasingly, Clay, especially for people think of this as their, as their career. What would it take for you to run for Congress, my friend? I mean, I wouldn't do it. No chance. I mean, the money figure that it would take. And I know you can't do that, but I'm just saying, like, like the, the way that, you know, someone would have to convince a person who's happy with their life to run for Congress these days, it would be. It would be crazy.
- [36:11]
Clay Travis
First of all, you and I, I like to think, have more influence than the average congressman or woman does. There's 435 of them. There aren't that many people who talk to an audience as big as we are fortunate enough to do every single day. So I would argue we're more influential than the average congressperson. So that goes in there. But in Orange County. In Orange County, I'm just surprised there's not a Democrat who is more likable and better at representing his or her constituents than her. The fact that she's in a primary.
- [36:43]
Ben Ferguson
She'S a hardcore leftist. She is somebody who. We might even have had the sound bite yesterday. But she has said, you know, the thing about inflation is you have to make choices, and people need to be able to make choices, like have more abortions because, you know, food's more expensive at the grocery store. I mean, she's a. She's a psychotic leftist. And she's not just a mean person, by the way. Those things go hand in hand. I've never met a psychotic leftist who is also a really good, nice person. I've never. That's never happened. I've never seen it. I've never come across it. So she's a true believer, I think, in that respect. I also, though, Clay, speaking of how to encourage people to do things they may not, might not otherwise want to do, you know how you're going to swim from Alcatraz?
- [37:28]
Clay Travis
Yes.
- [37:29]
Ben Ferguson
You know, and we've talked about this. I. My. My brother told me he has a friend that did this swim from Catalina, Catalina Island. I've heard about this, the Catalina island swim. I don't know what the race is. Somebody will tell us in a second. But I said, you know, nighttime swimming. Now, you do have somebody coming who's along with you in the kind of a launch boat or something, along, you know, kayak, whatever, to make sure you're okay, but you're still in the water and it's nighttime. And I said, I don't know if I would do that, you know, that someone got bitten by a great white shark. That just happened. Just.
- [38:03]
Clay Travis
I just saw this, which is. My wife saw it, and sometimes I think she would like me to be bitten by a great white shark. But she saw this. She was like, this came up. I mean, this is my fear. My fear on the swim from Alcatraz, Buck, is that I would be so slow that I would look like the injured seal. That is an easy one. To take, like, snap, you know, I haven't seen people.
- [38:28]
Ben Ferguson
I haven't seen your strokes yet, but I'm thinking injured seal is probably how you flop around in there. I'm just throwing that out there.
- [38:34]
Clay Travis
And if you were just a shark and you were swimming around in San Francisco Bay and you saw 100 or 300 or 400, whatever it is, swimmers all in one pile, it would be hard to get one. But you see me sort of floundering, looking like, you know, the. The injured seal. I feel like I'm basically just the. The morsel there begging to be eaten. Not good.
- [38:58]
Ben Ferguson
I'm not. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not doing the swim. This is.
- [39:01]
Clay Travis
The guy died. Did a guy die?
- [39:04]
Ben Ferguson
No, he was okay. He was okay. It was often with great white sharks. A lot of people are fascinated by shark attacks, right? Even though they're super rare. And Jaws and we've all seen these movies often with great white sharks. The first bite is. Is what they call an exploratory bite because they want to see what it is. They think it's prey. And then it can. It can sometimes be the second bite that is the more so I think it was. First of all, it's probably a pretty small shark, and it might have been. Exploratory bite makes it sound like it, like, pokes you in the side with its pinky finger. No, it's biting you. I mean, you can still die from that bite. But, yeah, I think the guy was fine, but it wasn't my brother's friend. But Keats had a friend who was doing that race, and somebody else in that race got bitten by a great white shark. So in the same heat or whatever. So that's a. That's a luck of the draw situation, man. That's a. That's a tough one, all right. All this travel has me really looking forward to being home tomorrow night with Carrie and Speed and Ginger Spice, that's her full name, and a good rancher's steak. Good Ranchers is the company connecting our families with American ranchers and farmers raising cattle, chicken, pigs, in the best ways. If you haven't treated yourself to a shipment of their products, subscribe today@goodranchers.com now through Thanksgiving, Good Ranchers is encouraging families to sit down and share a meal every Thursday. If that meal includes good ranchers, all the better. You're gonna love Good Ranchers if you haven't tried it already. But the main thing here is just to be at home eating together. And here's the fun part Every week, one lucky winner will win a free Thanksgiving ham just for sharing a photo of their gathering on their Instagram story, tagging OOD Ranchers and using hashtag Back to the table. So that's OOD Ranchers hashtag Back to the table on your Instagram visit good ranchers.com use my name Buck as your promo code. Goodranchers.com promo code Buck for an additional 40 off your initial order plus free meat for life. That's code Buck for 40 off plus free meat for life at good ranchers.com.
- [40:56]
Clay Travis
Want to be in the know when you're on the go the Team 47 podcast drop highlights from the week, Sundays.
- [41:03]
Ben Ferguson
At noon Eastern in the Clay and Buck podcast feed.
- [41:06]
Clay Travis
Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [41:12]
Fiasco Benghazi Promo Voice
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- [42:11]
Propane Advertisement Voice
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- [42:38]
iHeartRadio Announcer
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- [43:41]
Leon Neyfakh
When I told people I was making a podcast about Benghazi, nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why Benghazi?
- [43:54]
Ted Cruz
The truth became a web of lies.
- [43:56]
Leon Neyfakh
It's almost a dirty word, one that connotes conspiracy theory.
- [44:00]
Ben Ferguson
Will we ever get the truth about the Benghazi massacre?
- [44:02]
Leon Neyfakh
Bad face, political warfare, and frankly, bullshit.
- [44:06]
Ben Ferguson
We kill the ambassador just to cover something up. You put two and two together.
- [44:12]
Leon Neyfakh
Was it an overblown distraction or a sinister conspiracy?
- [44:16]
Clay Travis
Benghazi is a Rosetta Stone for everything.
- [44:20]
Ben Ferguson
That'S been going on for the last 20 years.
- [44:23]
Leon Neyfakh
I'm Leon Naifak from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries. This is Fiasco Benghazi.
- [44:30]
Clay Travis
What?
- [44:30]
Katie Porter
What difference at this point does it make?
- [44:33]
Ben Ferguson
Yes, that's right.
- [44:34]
Ted Cruz
Lock her up.
- [44:35]
Leon Neyfakh
Listen to Fiasco Benghazi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [44:41]
Ben Ferguson
I'm Ben Ferguson.
- [44:42]
Ted Cruz
And I'm Ted Cruz. Three times a week, we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
- [44:47]
Ben Ferguson
Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
- [44:49]
Ted Cruz
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
- [44:58]
Ben Ferguson
And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
- [45:01]
Ted Cruz
We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
- [45:07]
Ben Ferguson
So download Verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in to Clay and Buck. I know we're just talking about Clay's Alcatraz swim. Don't worry, I will be in the launch next to Clay, urging him on, telling him to go faster, drinking hot cocoa. And if a shark swims close to Clay, I will totally say shark. So you know what I mean? You're good. I don't think you need to worry.
- [45:33]
Clay Travis
I. The number of people that would celebrate me being eaten by a great white shark is. I'm not gonna lie. It's not ideal. And when I saw that story. I thought to myself, do I? I don't want to go out in a way where everybody gets to do cartwheels over me getting killed by a shark. So I gotta think about this shark danger. And I need experts in some way to let me know what I like to know the odds. I would Han Solo.
- [45:59]
Ben Ferguson
I would totally throw things at the shark if it was trying to eat you from the boat that I'm in. Just, you know, I would throw whatever I could at it. Clay. I'd help you out. Dd this is podcast listener Kyle from Kansas. Play it.
- [46:11]
Clay Travis
Hey, guys, it's Kyle from Kansas. Love the show. Can't help but notice haven't heard anything about 100 mile per hour serve in a while.
- [46:18]
Ben Ferguson
I think it's time for Buck to.
- [46:19]
Clay Travis
Go ahead and pay up while he's in Nashville. Keep up the good work.
- [46:21]
Ben Ferguson
Whoa. Settled. Settle down, Kyle. Settle down. First of all, we already clocked it at 97. Okay? So margin of error here, very tight. Second of all, it's tennis season again in Miami because the hurricanes have pretty much. It's out of hurricane season. There will be videos, my friends. I will not be denied on this one. I'm going to get to 100 miles an hour and Clay is going to swim from Alcatraz and hopefully not get eaten by a great white shark.
- [46:47]
Clay Travis
I don't want to jinx it, but are we actually out of hurricane season yet? Because it's been very calm so far. I'm afraid I think I just jinxed it.
- [46:54]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, I might have just. Don't blame me, everybody, but it's been calm so far.
- [46:57]
Clay Travis
We'll talk to you tomorrow.
- [47:01]
Ben Ferguson
Wishing the holidays could come early. If you own or manage your business, they can. With help from iHeartRadio, people are already shopping for their loved ones and hunting for deals wherever they can find them, including right here. They're listening to the radio. They're listening to podcasts.
- [47:16]
Ted Cruz
They could be listening to you.
- [47:18]
Ben Ferguson
Don't wait for everyone else to kick off the holidays. Get your best season of the year up and running today. Call 844-844-IHEART or visit iheartadvertising.com.
- [47:31]
Leon Neyfakh
When I told people I was making a podcast about Benghazi, nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why Benghazi?
- [47:43]
Ben Ferguson
The truth became a web of lies.
- [47:45]
Leon Neyfakh
From Prologue projects and Pushkin Industries. This is Fiasco Benghazi.
- [47:51]
Fiasco Benghazi Promo Voice
What difference at this point does it make?
- [47:54]
Leon Neyfakh
Listen to Fiasco Benghazi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [48:01]
Ben Ferguson
I'm Ben Ferguson.
- [48:02]
Ted Cruz
And I'm Ted Cruz. Three times a week, we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
- [48:07]
Ben Ferguson
Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
- [48:09]
Ted Cruz
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
- [48:18]
Ben Ferguson
And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
- [48:21]
Ted Cruz
We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
- [48:27]
Ben Ferguson
So download Verdict with Ted Cruz now. Wherever you get your podcasts.
- [48:31]
iHeartRadio Announcer
This is an iHeart podcast.