Hour 3 - The Gov't is Stealing Your Money

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show — "Hour 3: The Gov't is Stealing Your Money"

Date: May 7, 2026
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton take on major political and economic stories with their signature blend of analysis and humor. The hosts focus on the seismic impact of redistricting battles in the South, government fraud (particularly in Ohio’s healthcare system), and broader themes of government inefficiency and overreach. Special guest Mahek Cook, a national security and legal analyst, joins the show to dissect the Ohio fraud scandal and discuss national security issues surrounding Iran. The episode is sprinkled with listener talkbacks, commentary on Democrat Party strategies, debates from California, and an examination of claims about wealth and the American meritocracy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Southern Redistricting & Supreme Court Rulings

Timestamp: 03:01 – 17:00

• Tennessee’s New Congressional Map

  • Tennessee passed a new congressional map, splitting Memphis and Nashville into three districts each, aiming for “nine exclusive Republican seats" (03:10).
  • Clay notes: “Every district is now a Republican plus 8 district, at least in the way that they have redrawn it.”
  • Lawsuits are expected, as the deadline for ballot printing for overseas and military voters looms.

• Broader Redistricting Changes

  • Other Southern states, including Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia, are all engaging in map changes after the Supreme Court’s recent rulings on racial gerrymandering.

• Legal Complexity and Party Power

  • Clay says, “It’s hard to predict who’s going to win control of the House if we don’t even fully know what the House districts are going to look like.”
  • Both hosts agree judicial outcomes will shape party power, possibly determining if Democrats can block or attempt to impeach Trump again if they retake the House.

• Supreme Court Analysis

  • Buck: “To me, Clay, it brings me back to my initial reaction to the Calais case, which was... this is an unworkable mess with a lot of arbitrariness and political nonsense going on.” (07:20)
  • Critique of the Voting Rights Act approach to race-based districting, with reference to Justice Thomas’s view that everyone should be treated equally under law.
  • Notable Quote — Clay: “Get ready for the histrionics because they’re going to try to play the race card… the response is: there’s a white Jewish guy who’s representing Memphis right now.” (09:54)
  • Both discuss Democrat efforts to delay changes to district maps, with Alito's forceful opinion highlighted:
    • Clay, quoting Alito: “Our decision represents an unprincipled use of power that is groundless and utterly irresponsible… The dissent rhetoric lacks restraint.” (14:09)

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2. Government Fraud: Ohio’s Home Health Care Scandal

Timestamp: 25:10 – 34:43

• Mahek Cook’s Investigation

  • Mahek describes widespread Medicaid fraud involving over $1.6 billion in Ohio’s home health sector, with particular concentration in two zip codes in Franklin County, mostly involving Somalian, Bhutanese, and Nepali communities.
  • “Doctors… were being forced to rubber stamp paperwork… most of these patients never needed home health care. So the doctors said no, so they started threatening them.” (25:41)
  • The government response has been weak — “Our governor came out and said it’s the cost of doing business.” (26:25)
  • Prosecuting this fraud is hard because state government is slow to provide evidence and data; Mahek blames a lack of urgency because “this isn’t their tax dollars… they want to just continue to funnel money out the door as long as they’re paid.” (28:07)

• Political Implications in Ohio

  • Despite being seen as a red state, Ohio could shift back to purple, with Democrats energized and outspending Republicans (“Sherrod Brown brought over $100 million the last time… this time it’s going to be much worse”).
  • Mahek is “terrified in Ohio,” warning complacency could cost the GOP control of key races. (29:45)

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3. National Security & Iran

Timestamp: 30:48 – 34:43

• Iranian Negotiation Stalemate
  • Mahek outlines how Trump’s administration holds cards over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil chokepoint, but doubts Iran will negotiate in good faith (“Their bottom line is ‘Death to America’… they’re hoping that at some point, when Trump is gone, a new president comes in and they can continue to build nukes.”) (31:29)
  • She prescribes a “maximum pressure campaign” — even advocating aggressive options like targeting the Iranian electric grid if necessary.
  • Buck raises potential economic risk (higher gas prices), but Mahek points out gas prices are still better than under Biden, credits Trump-era policies, and calls for domestic energy production for independence. (33:22)

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4. California Politics & Culture Commentary

Timestamp: 34:05 – 36:37

• Reality TV Meets Politics
  • The LA Mayor and California Governor debates are discussed, with a tongue-in-cheek focus on reality TV star Spencer Pratt’s campaign:
    • Mahek: “To see Spencer Pratt run from where he was on The Hills to where he is today just tells you that the younger generation can be saved…” (34:43)
  • Worries over California’s “replacement strategy” — replacing fleeing citizens with illegal immigrants to rig voter rolls (“There is a replacement strategy where they want illegals to vote.”)
  • Mahek calls for “sanity to come back to California” but remains deeply concerned about voting integrity.

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5. Listener Talkbacks: Middle-Class Taxes, Pull-Ups, & The Hills

Timestamp: 21:13 – 44:21

• Taxes & Working Class Realities

  • Diane from Tucson calls out the myth that “lower wage earners do not pay federal income tax,” saying she pays a significant sum each paycheck (21:22).
  • Clay clarifies the difference between payroll taxes (Social Security, Medicare) and federal income tax, noting most people under $50k annual income don’t owe federal income taxes but do pay payroll taxes (21:51).

• Pop Culture & Audience Jokes

  • Pull-up competition among middle-aged men—Scott from Utah brags about doing “18, almost 19 dead hangs in a row at age 48” (41:47).
  • “Save some ladies for the rest of us,” Buck jokes in response (41:55).
  • Multiple female listeners weigh in on whether they watched The Hills, challenging Clay’s generalization about age and reality TV fandom; playful back-and-forth ensues (42:09–43:18).

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6. Class Envy and Meritocracy: Ocasio-Cortez’s “You Can’t Earn a Billion Dollars”

Timestamp: 43:30 – 44:49

• AOC Soundbite Analyzed
  • Clay and Buck play and react to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claiming, “You can’t earn a billion dollars… you can get market power, you can break rules, … you can abuse labor laws, … but you can’t earn that.” (43:40)
  • Clay: “This is Democrat party orthodoxy… there’s a war on meritocracy, a war on success, and it has to be utterly defeated.” (44:25)
  • Buck: “She’s a Marxist general in the war on successful people.” (44:49)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On VRA Litigation:
  “To me, Clay, it brings me back to my initial reaction to the Calais case… this is an unworkable mess…”
  — Buck Sexton, 07:20

• On Race and Districts:
  “We have people that are Americans who vote, who live in places. And the states are determining what the districts are. And the race or the gender… should not make any difference…”
  — Buck Sexton, 09:31

• On Ohio Fraud:
  “Let me tell you in Ohio, back in December, I started knocking on doors… I uncovered millions of dollars of fraud… So they started threatening [doctors]… Our governor came out and said it’s the cost of doing business.”
  — Mahek Cook, 25:10

• On California Demographics:
  “They’re doing this replacement theory where they’re trying to get rid of Americans… There is a replacement strategy where they want illegals to vote.”
  — Mahek Cook, 34:43

• On Government Attitudes:
  “They want to just continue to funnel money out the door as long as they’re paid. That’s the problem in America today.”
  — Mahek Cook, 28:07

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Important Timestamps

• 03:01 — Redistricting analysis begins (Tennessee, Supreme Court implications)
• 07:20 — Buck critiques VRA and the logic of the Supreme Court’s decision
• 09:31 — Race vs. districting: “Americans who vote, who live in places…”
• 14:09 — Clay reads strong language from Justice Alito’s dissent
• 21:22 — Diane (listener) responds on taxes and working-class burdens
• 25:10 — Mahek Cook begins in-depth discussion of Ohio health care fraud
• 29:45 — Mahek warns about complacency in Ohio election
• 31:29 — Iranian regime and Strait of Hormuz national security segment
• 34:43 — Mahek and the hosts riff on Spencer Pratt, L.A. politics, and voting integrity in California
• 41:47 — Light-hearted audience talkback: pull-up contest
• 43:40 — AOC’s “You can’t earn a billion dollars” gets dissected with humor

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Takeaways

• The mechanics of redistricting remain a major, understudied driver of congressional and national power struggles, with Supreme Court litigation central to outcomes.
• Massive government inefficiency and fraud, especially in healthcare spending, are pervasive and rarely addressed at the state level.
• Party complacency, especially among Republicans, is a key risk in midterm dynamics.
• The hosts and guests are deeply skeptical of the Democratic Party’s approaches to race, election integrity, and economic policy, often characterizing their tactics as seeking power through identity politics and undermining meritocracy.
• Listener engagement is high, with audience stories and jokes playing a major part in the show’s engaging, fast-moving tone.

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For listeners seeking a critical, spirited breakdown of U.S. political gamesmanship, government waste, and cultural debate, this episode offers a lively, in-depth discussion on all fronts—backed by audience contributions and memorable soundbites.

Transcript

[Mahek Cook]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

in Clay Travis BUCK SEXTON SHOW all right, let's dive into where we are. We talked about the California governor's debate, the craziness there. Spencer Pratt, Big night in the LA Mayor debate. A lot of discussion about what's going to happen in the wake of Calais versus Louisiana, the Supreme Court case that effectively ended racial gerrymanders. And Buck, some news coming out of my home state of Tennessee. While we were on the air today, the state of Tennessee has passed a new map that ends the Memphis Democrat district and will now lead to a theoretically nine seat exclusive Republican control of all nine seats. Nine Republican seats in Tennessee. I was doing some research on this last night and I was making some calls around to find out. They feel like every district is now a Republican plus 8 district, at least in the way that they have redrawn it and they have cut up the city of Memphis into three different districts. City of Nashville is also cut up into three different districts under this new map. To be honest, I'm not 100% sure what congressional district I will be in because the county that I live in, Williamson county, is also sliced and diced a bit. But the end result is 90 in favor of Republicans. Uh, there's also a story out saying that there are potentially 14 different districts that have been racially gerrymandered in the south that are going to be changing. We know Florida has changed their map. Tennessee has changed their map. So that's five congressional districts talk. Louisiana will change, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia. There's a lot of different movement that could still happen in the south where all by and large these racially gerrymandered districts are. Now. I also talked to people who said there's going to be so many lawsuits filed over these that it's hard to know what they're going to look like when we actually get to primary season. And I was talking to people and I imagine this will be true in multiple different places. But the ballots have to be printed, in particular for military members and for people overseas who are getting the primary ballots sent to them. And so there is a deadline by which the districts must be finalized for purposes of sending out these ballots. And I was told it's soon in Tennessee. So I would expect there will be multiple lawsuits filed in Tennessee probably as soon as the governor signs this bill, which could happen before the end of the week. And all of this is currently playing itself out in a very significant fashion because it's really kind of hard to predict who's going to win control of the House if we don't even know fully what the House districts are going to look like. And. Or Buck, also, we're still waiting to see what the Virginia Supreme Court is going to say about the gerrymandered supreme. The gerrymandered districts that went from 6, 5 in favor of Democrats in the relatively purple state of Virginia to 10, one in favor of Democrats. So I would say this is the biggest story to follow right now in terms of who's going to be in control of our government, in the House in particular, because, Buck, we know that if Democrats take back control of the House, they're just going to block everything that President Trump tries to do and they're going to impeach him. So we will get impeachment 3. And to a large extent, in terms of being able to pass congressional acts, the Trump presidency will be over if the House flips back to control of Democrats and certainly if the Senate does as well. So how closely are you following this? I. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm kind of obsessively interested in what the courts are going to say. Unfortunately, it feels like everything that's going on in politics now, something happens, and then we just sit back and say we'll just have to see what the courts say because it's. It's hard to project exactly what's going to happen.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, to me, Clay, it brings me back to my initial reaction to the Calais case, which was essentially the same as Justice Thomas's view of this whole thing, which is this is an unworkable mess with a lot of arbitrariness and political nonsense going on, because there was a decision made in the Voting Rights act or various decisions made in the Voting Rights act to start treating people differently based on skin color. And that's a problem. And you can say it was necessary because of the emergency of previous discrimination at the time. You can make that case. I still think we would have been better off if we had just made the law, actually treat everyone like equals. But we decided to go in the other direction, and now we're still dealing with the legacy of those decisions. And a Supreme Court that now has said affirmative action is not allowable for college admissions, for example. Same thing should be true and is true constitutionally about, you know, government set asides for minority loans and hiring and all these things. I think UCLA actually right now is in trouble for discriminating against white applicants. I'm sure they're doing that. Yes, because the people in these admissions committees are deeply, ideologically committed to violating the Constitution or violating the Supreme Court's, you know, more recent decision as it pertains to Constitution about this stuff. Same thing with this notion of the Voting Rights act in Section two and having to. Having to sort of protect people's voting power based upon race. No, no, this is never going to be what, you know, this is never going to work out cleanly because you're discriminating. You're making discriminations about people based on skin color. So then that was Thomas's dissent, right? The others, the others in the majority, Clay, in the six, three were much more, you know. Well, you know, the. They put too much emphasis on it and the test and this thing, and they. They got very into the legalistic mechanisms. You know, Supreme Court nerd stuff. Gets you excited, keeps you up at night. But. But the basics of this from Thomas is just like, what do you mean?

[Clay Travis]

We have to have a congressional district

[Buck Sexton]

that protects black votes. We have people that are Americans who vote, who live in places. And the states are determining what the districts are. And the race or the gender or the gender identity of people in any district should not make any difference to what the state is doing. That's actually where. And by the way, we're not there yet. Cause of VR. Voting Rights act section 2. But we should be there.

[Clay Travis]

We are going to get a lot. In the wake of this map being ratified by the House and the Senate in Tennessee, soon to be signed by the governor, we're going to get a lot of, oh, my goodness, this is racist. Why can't Memphis have its own district and have the ability to elect black representatives? A white guy represents Memphis right now and has for years and years. Steve Cohen. So you're going to hear, I do think it's kind of funny. Oh, they're taking away black representation. Oh, they're not going to allow black members of Congress. There's a white guy who represents Memphis right now. And he's 70 some odd years old.

[Buck Sexton]

He's a white Jewish guy.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, white Jewish guy. He's been in office for a long time. So I do think just get ready for the histrionics because they're going to try to play the race card. But the response is, well, there's a white Jewish guy who's representing Memphis right now. You're not exactly taking away a black representative to the extent that you want to play race based dynamics. There's also another big part of this and I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more attention. Buck, it seems like the Democrats held this case as long as they possibly could to try to keep redistricting from occurring before the 2026 midterms. And I don't know how many of you have have seen this story because I don't think it got anywhere near the amount of attention it should have in the. So first of all, there was a request that the actual impact of the, of the judgment be held for 32 days. And Alito effectively said no, we're not going to hold this case. And he also said in the writing that this case was argued seven months ago. I believe Democrats have been trying to run out the clock and we kind of hinted at this. They didn't want this Calais, Louisiana decision to come out. And then they were trying to add another 32 days to make it impossible for any of the Southern states to actually adjust their overall, their overall lineup. And some of the language, I'm trying to find it in my, in my feed.

[Buck Sexton]

This is, this is where Katanji Brown Jackson is just like hey come on man, like why don't we just let it go for another 35 days? What's the big deal? Let's let a little delay happen. Let's let this election happen with an unconstitutional map because you know, reasons is not good. And Alito was very, very forceful in his slapdown of this clearly partisan logic.

[Clay Travis]

Yes. And I do think it's significant that you are seeing what is usually pretty collegial opinions in many ways, like there are disagreements. But these guys have to work together for decades at a time. There are lots of people out there I think on the Supreme Court, both justices and people who work at the court that are just fed up with Katanji Brown Jackson. And you can see it in the way that they are responding now. Even Amy Coney Barrett, we talked about it when it came out, took a two by four to, to Katanji Brown Jackson and Amy Coney Barrett is, it seems to me, just a super nice PTA mom in terms of what her interpersonal relationships are like on a day to day basis. And so the way that they have teed off here, I think is representative of everybody just kind of being fed up with her overall. So, again, this is a big story. We don't know what the courts are going to say here. I finally found that I was trying to scroll through and find it. The dissent, this is from Alito goes on to claim our decision represents an unprincipled use of power that is groundless and utterly irresponsible. Charge. What principle has the court violated? The principle that Rule 30, 45, 3, 32 day default period should never be shortened even when there's a good reason to do so. The principle that we should never take any action that might unjustifiably be criticized as partisan. The dissent accuses the court of, quote, unshackling itself from constraints. It is the dissent rhetoric that lacks restraint. Um, and again, I understand, you know, some of you are like, man, that sounds super nerdy. This is one lawyer basically walking up to another lawyer and slapping him in the face and saying, you're insane. That's about as aggressive of a language as you're gonna get. And again, there seems to have been a concerted effort on behalf of the Democrat representatives appointees to have held this case as long as possible to try to avoid impacting the 2026 midterms. We told you that that was likely going to be the case, but the way that this is written kind of lets you know that that was in fact likely to be the case.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, that's the situation right now. It's going to continue to be litigated out in the courts and we'll see where people end up with this one. But ultimately, Clay, it's just. It's a fight over power because as you aptly noted, Democrats turn the House of Representatives into nothing but an opposition machine to Trumpism the second that they can and they will be entirely unhinged. I have seen. Think about it this way. The only moderating force you've seen on the Democrats is really since 2024, has been Fetterman.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, you're right.

[Buck Sexton]

Fetterman is about to become either an Independent or caucus with Republicans or he's really not welcome in the Democrat Party anymore.

[Clay Travis]

That's correct.

[Buck Sexton]

What does that tell you?

[Clay Travis]

I was having a conversation about this going forward. He basically can't run as a Democrat in the 2028 cycle because he's not.

[Buck Sexton]

He's not acting like a lunatic.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

Right. You have to be down with the lunatic stuff to be a Democrat in good standing. And so that means that you're going to continue to have people pushing for these policies and these decisions that I think are manifestly

[Clay Travis]

wrong.

[Buck Sexton]

And on top of that, this is a reminder to everybody. You know, you're seeing a lot of infighting on the right these days and all this other stuff. I'm telling you, Clay, once people realize what the commies have in store for us, the good, the bad news is that they'll be trying to destroy the country. The good news, it will be very unifying on the right. Well, there'll be less squabbling among your favorite podcast hosts, I can assure you.

[Clay Travis]

One more sentence here that I wanted to hit the dissent. This is Justice Alito's opinion. The dissent would require the 2026 congressional elections in Louisiana be held under a map that has been held to be unconstitutional. That really kind of gets to the essence of it. But they held it so long that they hoped the politics would be such that they would not be able to take. And I do think that is very, very significant.

[Buck Sexton]

I agree with that. So we shall see. Oh, yeah, running out the clock, by the way. Something the libs do on the Supreme Court now all the time. Even when there are other justices whose lives are in jeopardy because of the delay. As we know, we talked to Molly Hemingway about that with her great new book. So yeah, they are ruthless. Don't ever forget it. Okay? If you receive unexpected communications about unemployment benefits from the government, don't fall for it. It's the latest scam attempt by cyber criminals working to get your information and steal your identity. Online hackers often buy email addresses and cell phone numbers from data brokers. That's what they use to contact you with some made up scheme. These schemes are very sophisticated. Honestly, the bad guys are getting better

[Clay Travis]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

welcome back into Clay and Buck. We're going to rack and stack some talk backs here. Diane from Tucson, Arizona. First up, talk back a hit it

[Mahek Cook]

playing Buck it makes me so angry when I hear people say that lower wage earners do not pay any federal income tax. I've never made more than $45,000 in any given year, usually less than that. And I pay a significant amount in federal income tax every paycheck, every time. And my state income tax is based on that.

[Clay Travis]

I again, I don't need to get into every single person's tax returns. Those are payroll taxes and payroll taxes are different than federal income tax. And again, if you want to dive into a deep dive on the tax code, payroll taxes tap out, I believe around $185,000. In other words, if you make $200,000 a year, your obligation to continue to pay payroll taxes, which is Social Security, Medicare, that is different than federal income taxes, which you owe. On top of that, most people who make $50,000 or less do not pay federal income taxes. Payroll taxes, in theory, Buck, you would get back one day. Social Security money is being taken from the government by, taken from by the government.

[Buck Sexton]

But, but it is regressive, to be fair. And you're getting a terrible return on that investment if you, I mean, don't.

[Clay Travis]

That's a whole started, that's a whole other, that's a whole nother story.

[Buck Sexton]

We have, we have like 50 talkbacks. We've gotten to one. Let's see if we get to one more. Terry in Tennessee F I just wanted to say I just got done reading Manufacturing Delusion and very informative and I, I would recommend it. And that's all I wanted to say. Well, Terry, thank you very much and I think you have excellent taste in books. Go get your copy of Manufacturing Delusion, everybody, if you haven't already. And also one fun thing, Clay Jack Carr, as I said, my first, one of my first readers, he blurbed the book on the back and actually he read the book and then blurbed it. It wasn't just like, you know, some slack.

[Clay Travis]

Very, very cool.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

All right, we come back me Cook on the latest in Iran and also that Ohio scandal with the amount of fraud being spent. In the meantime, whether you're already familiar with the name or not, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews doesn't take long to learn about effectiveness in Israel. They're doing all they can to provide aid to the population's most vulnerable, the IFCJ on the ground working under difficult circumstances. They're not deterred by the threat of missile or drone attacks. They're committed to providing medicine, food, other essential supplies, especially to the elderly and disabled. This is an organization, the ifcj, that has built a bridge between charitable Christians here in the USA and so many of the Jewish faith living in Israel. If you want to have an impact and help to do great things for people there, as I have seen them do, go to ifcj.org that's ifcj.org 888488 ifcj welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton SHOW Mahek Cook with us now, senior national security and legal analyst for the Daily Signal. She's done a ton of work in the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of Ohio. You probably have seen her on television a decent amount. And so let's kind of dive right in off the top here. The Ohio fraud story, you worked on this, some of the numbers coming out on it are unbelievable. What should we know about that investigation and how commonplace at this point should we consider health care fraud like this to be if it's taking place in a red state like Ohio, too?

[Mahek Cook]

Clay, thank you so much for having me on. Look, this was the tip of the spear. When you saw in Minnesota what was happening, I immediately knew anytime you have a welfare program, there's going to be fraud because government is so complacent. Let me tell you in Ohio, back in December, I started knocking on doors and asking home health care questions, the same place that the Daily Wire went and I uncovered millions of dollars of fraud. Whistleblowers were coming to me. These are people in the industry, doctors that were being forced to rubber stamp paperwork for the Somalian, Bhutanese and Nepali community, all saying we, we want home health care services. So it's hidden, right? It's behind a door. You don't really know what's happening. But most of these patients never need needed home health care. So the doctors said no. So they started threatening them. They started pushing for other doctors to rubber stamp it. I'm going to give you a statistic that's going to shock you right now. Ohio has spent $1.6 billion in home health care. Franklin county alone. Columbus, Ohio, largest Somalian population next to Minnesota, where I live alone accounts for 38% of that, which is about 6.8 million. Two zip codes again where I live, two zip codes account for out of that, 608 million, 40% of that. So it's about $283 million. At some point the state of Ohio has to say what's going on in these two zip codes. Mostly owned by the Somali, Bhutanese and Nepalese community. But they didn't. Our governor came out and said it's the cost of doing business. So we're going to see people like JD Vance actually coming in to, to save our tax dollars because our government refuses to do that.

[Buck Sexton]

Hey Mahak, it's Buck and thank you for joining us here. You're talking about the scale of what seems to be a very broad apparent fraud going on. Assist a system, systematic fraud, systemic and systematic enforcement against this. JD Vance has been tasked to do this, but that's going to take some time. Financial crimes in particular on the federal side can be somewhat long in terms of the start of the investigation to the actual bringing of charges. Why haven't we seen more deterrence prosecution of this in Ohio? It would feel like this is pretty easy. This would be low hanging fruit for some AUSA to say you're completely ripping off the taxpayer, you're defrauding the American government and this has got to stop. Why aren't they doing that?

[Mahek Cook]

Buck, it's such an easy question, but this is a loaded question. It's because a U.S. attorney's office or any prosecutor actually needs the evidence. I've spoken to the U.S. attorney's office. I used to work down the street and they're looking for evidence of fraud. So that lands squarely with the governor's office and the Attorney General. The same places that whistleblowers have gone and said there is fraud happening. The governor's office since January 15th his agency has refused to give us the amount of dollars that we're even giving to these home health system. So when you knock on doors, most of these people are in the Somalian community. They don't speak English. So I'm wondering how they're even providing services. But the governor's office is not giving information. The only state official in Ohio that's actually looking into this is our auditor, Keith Faber. Let me tell you something. He has also asked for information and the governor's office and his agency is slowly trickling that information. So Audits take a lot of time. It's hard to understand what type of fraud is actually happening and how much. But all you need is to knock on a door to realize they're not providing home health care services. They don't even speak English. People are complacent in the state of Ohio and so many other agencies because this isn't their tax dollars. I mean, it's ours. They're just rubber stamping it. They don't care about Ohioans, they don't care about Americans. They want to just continue to funnel money out the door as long as they're paid. That's the problem in America today.

[Clay Travis]

Primary in Ohio just happened on Tuesday. Open governor's race and a Senate seat that is up for grabs as well, featuring a 30 year Democrat trying to come back into power. Sherrod Brown going up against Houston, who is someone that a lot of people don't know that well. Ohio has been moved very much in the direction of the Republican Party over the last generation. How nervous you're in Ohio, how nervous should people be who are looking at Ohio as sort of a canary in a coal mine, so to speak, for what might happen in the midterms? And how competitive do you think those governor and Senate races will be in the end?

[Mahek Cook]

I'm glad you asked. I am terrified in Ohio. Yes, we're a red state, but we could easily shift back to purple. Vivek Ramaswamy won every single corner in our state, but guess who got the most votes? It was Sherrod Brown. The Democrats are amped up this cycle. They want to make sure that they take the Senate back, that they take the House back, and they eviscerate President Trump's policies. So when I was voting in Franklin county, every single individual around me, Democrat ballots. And this is a problem again. We have a complacency problem in America. Republicans think Ohio is just a red state and we're going to win. Sherrod Brown brought over $100 million the last time against our state Senator, Bernie Moreno. This time it's going to be much worse against John Husted. And I think Ohioans really need to understand that this is an election of a lifetime for us. And Democrats are going to be pushing strong. And then we have many doctor, Dr. Fauci running. You guys saw Amy Acton and what she did, she locked down our state.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, she was like a little, a little Fauci disciple, which is very disappointing. Hopefully she's not going to lock it down in the future for some kind of a Hantavirus outbreak. So talk to us about national security, if you would, for a minute. I know you have a national security background. As of today, the Iranian regime has not accepted the Trump administration's offer for a full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. There's reporting from Axios that we may have some kind of an outline of a deal to be figured out in specifics later. What do you think about where we stand right now with bringing Iran to heel and getting this situation solved so the gas prices can start to come back down?

[Mahek Cook]

I think we're going to need a maximum pressure campaign. Look, I think Iran should understand the scoreboard that President Trump holds all the cards. We have control of the Strait of Hormuz, which is 90% of the oil supply. Supply. But Iran really doesn't have their act together. There are so many different factions that are trying to negotiate. And when you have death to America as your bottom line, they're going to continue to stall. But the problem today is for Americans to realize is we have to start pushing for all of our Gulf states. We have Saudi Arabia and Kuwait that's actually opened up the air base. All of the other Gulf states need to get on board. And then China, Japan, India, the fact that India is sitting on the fence when they need oil just as much as some of these other countries. But I think President Trump has put a lot of pressure, and this is not going to end well for Iran. I don't think that they're going to negotiate in good faith. I don't see this MOU really happening. I think they're stalling, and they're hoping that at some point, when Trump is gone, a new president comes in and they can continue to build nukes and continue to work on their death to America strategy. So I'm hoping that President Trump just uses the nuclear option because that's what's needed today. Take out their electric grid. Look, let's look at the Strait of Hermuth in terms of putting a plan in place where other countries start to shepherd and to own that area. And then we also need to look at Carg Island.

[Clay Travis]

That would be aggressive. That would be stepping things up in a significant way. How concerned are you about the impact in the midterms of high gas prices? And are you concerned that if you step it up, as you suggested, we need to do that, that could lead to more significant consequences economically, since a lot of people do judge the state of the economy based on what it costs them to fill up their car.

[Mahek Cook]

Well, Clay you posted yesterday on acts that gas prices are lower today than they were a year ago. And if you look at the Obama administration, I mean we are on par if not doing better. President Trump was able to turn around a 40 year inflation within after Joe Biden got the heck out of office. So I know that we have an American energy independence here and we need to start getting creative about gas prices because you're right, most Americans don't think about what was happening under Biden or even Obama, but those are the facts. So I think where we need to be is not only accelerating what we're doing in Iran instead of continuing to give them a grace period, but also figure out what else we can do in terms of energy independence, drilling right here in America.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, two parter here. I don't know if you watched any of the California LA mayor debates featuring the, the candidates that are kind of really kind of going at it with Spencer being the sane one out there. And then also we had the California governor's race going on. So first part, did you ever watch the Hills? Did you see Spencer Pratt back in the day? This is a question. You're in that ballpark age where I think you may have watched the Hills. Did you know Spencer Pratt before this? What did you think of the LA debate? What did you think of the California debate? Is sanity possible in terms of voting results in that state?

[Mahek Cook]

So I did watch the Hills. I watched his wife Heidi very closely. And to see Spencer Pratt run from where he was on the Hills to where he is today just tells you that the younger generation can be saved, especially when we're fighting against Democrats. I mean, he came out with an epic ad. It's what everybody wants. What Republicans talk about today is somebody who come in with options, that superhero mentality. And what Democrats want to do is just burn everything down and assassinate us. But you see that bifurcation. So I think where Spencer Pratt is going is genius. And the fact that Democrats today continue to act like they're not in control for the last 16 years as they're burning down California just made me laugh. But my favorite moment I got to talk about the gubernatorial was Katie Porter. Everybody's saying she said the quiet part out loud and we know that. But I think what Democrats continue to do is redefine English like boys or girls. Now it's everybody's a Californian, even if you're an illegal alien, which is technically legally the right word for these people that are here. But they're doing this replacement theory where they're trying to get rid of Americans. And you both know this. So many people in California have laughed between I've looked at stats between the last couple years, over 400,000 individuals, but they're just replacing them with illegals. So the real question you have to ask is what are they doing with those voter rolls? Because there is a replacement strategy where they want illegals to vote. I don't think Harmeet Dillon has been able to get those voter rolls out of California. I'll have to check that. But I think that's where Democrats are trying to win every single election by replacing us. And I think Californians have a clear choice. Steve Helton knows what it means to work hard. He knows what it means to deliver change. I really hope that sanity comes back to California. I'm praying. But I also worry about illegal voters.

[Clay Travis]

Amen. Mahek Cook we appreciate the time. First time on the show. Keep up the good work.

[Mahek Cook]

Thank you so much.

[Clay Travis]

Look, we had Frank Siller on the show yesterday talking about the fact that the 25th anniversary of 911 is rapidly approaching. And we also posted that segment up at the YouTube page for those of you who want to take a look and hear the story of how Frank came to found Tunnel to Towers after losing his brother, Firefighter Stephen Siller. But that's not the end of all the people that have made great sacrifices for sure. And Tunnel the Towers continues to find and honor people. Heroes like United States Navy Chief Technician Shannon Kent. Her service was inspired by the 911 attacks. A decorated warrior and a mom, Shannon served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. She lost her life in a suicide bomb attack in syria in this 25th year of 9 11. Her sacrifice reminds us of of the cost and lasting impact of that day. Shannon left behind her husband Joseph and two young boys. Tunnel the Towers paid off the Kent family's mortgage, giving the family the security of knowing their home is theirs forever. Help even more families like the Kents. We owe a debt of gratitude to brave first responders and those defending our freedoms. Your donation to Tunnel the Towers can make a world of difference. Donate $11 a month or amplify your impact with a car or land donation. Go to t2t.org that's t the number two t.org miss the show while you're on the go wind down your day with the Daily Review podcast. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.

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[Buck Sexton]

Code free [e-mail] welcome back into Clay and Buck. We are closing up shop here for the day. A great time to remind you all. Please check out the Clay and Buck Podcast network which Hour by hour the show goes up on. Also we got so many other great shows. Dave Rutherford, Carol Markowitz, Tudor Dixon. I can't. Ryan Graduski. We got so many people on there. Go check them out. They're doing great work. We get a lot of talkbacks, Mr. Clay. And if you have any live, you have the live screen right in front of you. If you have any of those, by all means, let's start rolling.

[Clay Travis]

Let's start rolling through some of these talkbacks because we got so many of them that have stacked up and you guys can always come and join us and, and get your attack talk backs into the program as well.

[Buck Sexton]

And let's do, let's do A. Scott from West Valley City, Utah, this is B on the talkbacks.

[Clay Travis]

Hey Clay and Buck. I heard you talking the other day about how many pull ups a middle aged man could do. A typical middle aged man I'm pleased to report.

[Mahek Cook]

Last week I did 18, almost 19

[Clay Travis]

solid dead hangs in a row. 48 years old.

[Buck Sexton]

Okay, that's a lot Scott. Save some ladies for the rest of us.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, no kidding, that's good. This is funny, Buck. Spencer Pratt, how many people know him from the Hills? Catherine Birmingham says she's 68 years old.

[Mahek Cook]

Listen, 68 year old woman here. I watched the Hills and know who Spencer proud of.

[Buck Sexton]

Now if she was 68 and from Laguna Beach I'd be like yeah, of course. But 68 from Alabama watching the Hills threw me for a loop.

[Clay Travis]

Who we just heard from, I would bet. I don't guessing on people's age but I would. Maheka's in that window of women that I said I would have expected to know but one of our listeners. So you just heard from Birmingham? Of course I watched the Hills. Here is Baton Rouge, Louisiana saying 36 year old listen.

[Mahek Cook]

Hey Clay and Buck listen every day. Huge fan. I just wanted to say Clay, we're gonna have to change that 100% of all women between the ages of 35 and 36 have seen the hills because. Nope, wrong. 36 year old here, never seen it, never had any desire to see it. Not my cup of tea but I mean I know you probably think it's just fabulous, but don't be lumping all of us girls together.

[Clay Travis]

Wow.

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Wow.

[Buck Sexton]

There was a, there was a last minute roundhouse kick there. I did not see that coming.

[Clay Travis]

She took me out. CATHERINE In Birmingham, 68 watched it, the other one did not. Let's see, let's have some fun with this as we go to break to for the vibration.

[Buck Sexton]

Breaking for a 24 hours. Yes.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. 24 hour break. 22 hour break. I guess. 21 hour. AOC says you can't earn a billion dollars. Buck 34.

[Mahek Cook]

There's a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned, right? You can't earn a billion dollars. That's right. You just can't earn that. That's exactly correct. You can. You can get market power, you can break rules, you can do all sorts of things, you can abuse labor laws, you can pay people less than what they're worth, but you can't earn that right. And so you have to create a myth that since you didn't earn that, you have to create a myth of earning it.

[Buck Sexton]

There's Kamala's future vice president there, by the way. Fuck.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, I mean, we can all roll our eyes at this point, but this is Democrat party orthodoxy. She's not standing outline outside the bounds of what they consider to be. Look, I mean, I think the best way to put it on there is a war on the meritocracy. There's a war on success in the Democrat party and that's unhealthy and has to be utterly defeated.

[Buck Sexton]

She's a Marxist general in the war on successful people. There you go. Life is full of challenges, but you don't have to face them alone. At InTouch.org you'll find powerful sermons from Dr. Charles Stanley, Daily devotionals, and resources designed to strengthen your faith and bring hope into your everyday life. Whether you're searching for encouragement, biblical wisdom, or practical guidance, InTouch.org is here to help you grow closer to God. Discover truth that speaks to your heart. Visit intouch.org today.

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[Clay Travis]

Go to PureTalk.com Clay that's PureTalk.com Clay PureTalk America's wireless company.