Hour 3 - The Story Mainstream Media Won't Cover

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 3 - The Story Mainstream Media Won't Cover
Date: May 12, 2026
Summary of Hour 3

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Overview:

This episode centers on stories and perspectives that, according to hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton, are underreported or misrepresented by mainstream media—particularly regarding racial gerrymandering, media coverage around COVID-19 vaccine safety, and the geopolitical response to Iran under President Trump. The hour also features an extended interview with Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), who shares his concerns about medical transparency, government accountability, and ongoing geopolitical crises.

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1. College Football, White House Visit, and Racial Gerrymandering

(03:17-07:04)

• Clay recounts visiting the White House for Indiana's 16-0 football team, sparking a debate on the greatest college football teams ever.
• Transition to President Trump’s departure for China and his Q&A with the press on the South Lawn.
• Discussion shifts to racial gerrymandering and the Supreme Court essentially ruling it unconstitutional.

Key Quotes:

• Buck: “It's kind of racist, really.” (05:42)
• Clay: “It is, in fact, racist, arguably, to be drawing things based on race.” (05:45)

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2. Media Narratives Around Race and Representation

(06:03-13:32)

• Clay plays a CNN segment with Bakari Sellers who likens the current moment to Jim Crow, saying:
  “They swapped out Klan hoods for Brooks Brothers suits.” (06:03)
• Hosts criticize this view, arguing the decision does not affect voting rights but reduces racially motivated gerrymandering.
• They discuss Memphis Rep. Steve Cohen (a white Jewish Democrat) representing a heavily Black district, routinely defeating Black challengers.
• Focus on Tennessee State Rep. Justin Pearson, using his college-era interview versus present-day rhetoric to highlight shifts in political style.
  • Buck: “From Carlton Banks to Malcolm X in the blink of an eye.” (11:55)

Notable Discussion Points:

• The idea that media personalities adopt more radical personas for political gain.
• Clay: “The lack of racial gerrymandering, I think, in the long run is going to be much better. We'll get better quality of representatives.” (13:32)

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3. Mainstream Media Omissions and Republican Representation

(13:33-15:49)

• Clay and Buck challenge the narrative that minorities' power is being "ripped away," noting successful Black Republicans like Tim Scott (Sen-SC) and Wesley Hunt (Rep-TX).
• They highlight Clarence Thomas as soon becoming the longest-serving Supreme Court justice, countering narratives of racial disenfranchisement.

Key Quote:

• Clay: “The Bakari Sellers of the world— in his own home state of South Carolina, you can point to someone who disproves that [narrative].” (15:25)

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4. Trump’s Breaking News: Iran and Pakistan

(20:56-23:38)

• Clay reports breaking news: FDA Commissioner Marty Makary’s resignation.

• President Trump, en route to China, fields questions about Iran:

  • Trump claims U.S. military superiority and discusses options for a deal with Iran.
    “We're only going to make a good deal... I believe that one way or the other, it's going to be very good for the American people, and I think actually very good for the Iranian people.” (22:26, Trump)

• On Pakistan’s role:
  “The field Marshal and the Prime Minister of Pakistan have been absolutely great.” (22:51, Trump)

• On Iran intervention:
  “I don't think we need any help with Iran. We'll win it one way or the other. We'll win it peacefully or otherwise.” (23:11, Trump)

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5. Interview: Senator Ron Johnson on COVID, Big Pharma, and Accountability

(25:00-40:44)

5.1. COVID Vaccine Safety Signals

• Sen. Johnson shares new findings: FDA officials allegedly ignored early warnings about safety signals related to COVID vaccines as early as March 2021.

  • “If you had a loved one who was injured or possibly died of the COVID injection after March 1, know that that didn't have to happen.” (27:00, Sen. Johnson)

• Media blackout: Attempts to publicize this report on major media (CNN included) were canceled or ignored.

Notable Quote:

• Sen. Johnson: “It's a nationwide massive state of denial and that's what we're up against.” (29:56)

5.2. Media, Pharmaceutical Influence, and Reform

• TV ads for drugs: Johnson argues direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising skews news coverage and scientific discourse.

  • “Big Pharma runs the show. And we are practicing medicine based on Big Pharma prescriptions.” (32:03, Sen. Johnson)

• Accountability and possibility of reform:

  • Sen. Johnson insists he won’t give up on accountability, but Buck expresses skepticism.
  • On reforms: Institutions have not changed, and a future Democratic administration might implement restrictive COVID measures again.

Quote:

• Sen. Johnson: "Nobody wants to admit they're wrong... but I'm not going to move on because I am advocating for the COVID injection injured people…” (29:56)

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5.3. Geopolitics: The Iran Situation and U.S. Strategy

• Sen. Johnson warns of Iran’s existential threat, referencing the risk of an EMP attack.
• Praises Trump for taking decisive action but says the job must be finished:
  • “Victory for him is they can never have a nuclear weapon. ... keep assets offshore, surveil them, hit them if needed.” (33:41, Sen. Johnson)

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5.4. Domestic Politics, Senate Outlook, and Filibuster

• Wisconsin voters focus on gas prices and the war with Iran.
• Johnson worries about the GOP’s slim Senate majority and advocates for ending the filibuster, predicting Democrats will do so if given control.
• Argues that bold action is necessary to prevent a one-party state.

Notable Exchange:

• Buck: “Is there anything you are super optimistic about right now?” (39:50)
• Sen. Johnson: “If Trump succeeds in Iran, think of how that resets geopolitics… these would be masterstrokes.” (40:03)

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6. Listener Feedback—College Football Throwback

(45:25-46:14)

• Listener Susie (Minnesota): Calls in to highlight Nebraska’s dominant historic football teams, ribbing Clay for omitting them in his “all-time best” conversation.

Memorable Banter:

• Buck (to Clay): “She just spiked the football on you there, buddy.” (45:57)

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Key Segments & Timestamps:

• Opening, Football, Racial Gerrymandering: 03:17–07:04
• Bakari Sellers/CNN critique: 06:03–13:32
• Memphis District & Justin Pearson: 07:33–12:46
• Supreme Court & Black Republicans: 13:32–15:49
• Trump on Iran & Pakistan: 22:26–23:38
• Sen. Ron Johnson Interview, COVID: 25:00–29:56
• Pharma/media influence: 32:03–33:08
• Foreign Policy (Iran): 33:41–36:45
• Senate Majority, Filibuster: 37:19–39:24
• Listener football segment: 45:25–46:14

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Tone and Language

• Engaging, conversational, often irreverent.
• Hosts mix humor and seriousness, frequently using pop culture and sports analogies.
• Direct criticism of mainstream media and political adversaries, with pointed rhetorical questions and sarcasm.
• Senator Johnson is earnest, sometimes blunt and pessimistic, but resolute.

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Memorable Quotes

• “From Carlton Banks to Malcolm X in the blink of an eye.” — Buck Sexton (11:55)
• “Big Pharma runs the show.” — Sen. Ron Johnson (32:03)
• “It's a nationwide massive state of denial and that's what we're up against.” — Sen. Ron Johnson (29:56)
• “If Trump succeeds in Iran, think of how that resets geopolitics.” — Sen. Ron Johnson (40:03)
• “[On Bakari Sellers' claims:] This is pretty shameful, Buck, even for CNN, because this doesn't directly impact anybody's right to vote.” — Clay Travis (07:04)

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This hour delivers pointed conservative commentary on under-covered political topics—racial politics, media bias, vaccine safety concerns, and international threats—framed with characteristic banter and skepticism toward prevailing media narratives.

Transcript

[Buck Sexton]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Clay Travis]

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[Clay Travis]

hour number three, Tuesday edition. Clay and Buck. I am up in D.C. i was at the White House yesterday, saw a lot of our friends Buck as indie Indiana was given the presidential seal of approval for their 160 football team. Perfect day on the South Lawn. A lot of fun. Good, good crowd.

[Buck Sexton]

And are they the best college football team of all time? Are they the best college football team of all time? Is that fair?

[Clay Travis]

They are the the first college football team since 1894 I believe to go 16 0. Having said that, if you ask me right now who I think the best college football team of all time was, I think it would have been 15 and oh, LSU with Joe Burrow as the quarterback, a bevy of incredible talent on that team that won the national championship, I believe in 2019. That was one of the, the last events before COVID shut down everything. Buck LSU won the national title in New Orleans in the January, mid January, mid to late January of 2020. Then the super bowl happened and, and then all hell broke loose with COVID So good question. I think I would go 2019 LSU Some may agree, some may disagree, but I think I would say that's the best team that I've seen. 2001, Miami, which actually was also an incredible team. Those would be a couple that I would put right near the top all time. Okay, we got a couple of different things that are going on out there. President Trump, I believe guys has boarded Marine One to head. He was fielding questions on the South Lawn en route to the airport as he gets ready to leave for China. So President Trump under underway on his way to fly. He's still taking questions according to producer Ali. And we're we'll see, we'll monitor this and see if there's any major news that comes out of him taking questions before he embarks on that long plane trip to China. Okay, Buck, I wanted to play this for you. We talked earlier about the fact that racial redistricting, racially motivated gerrymandering has been essentially ruled to be unconstitutional, essentially. They didn't completely override it, but effectively they have.

[Buck Sexton]

It's kind of racist, really.

[Clay Travis]

It is, in fact racist, arguably, to be drawing things based on race. And so that was basically what the Supreme Court said. Here is cnn. Bakari Sellers. This is the argument he made last night. Listen,

[Bakari Sellers]

if somebody fell asleep in 1896 and woke up today in 2026, they would simply say, the only difference is now Negroes have a TV show and we wear nice suits. They. They swapped out Klan hoods for Brooks Brothers suits. And that is the problem. I mean, Plessy v. Ferguson was 7:1 and it gave birth to 50 years of Jim Crow. What we have with this court right now, what we're seeing is watching people who have fought and died and bled so that we would have access to the ballot box, so that we would have access to our voices being heard in Congress being ripped away. And I think that there is a casual laughter from people we believe to be our friends on the right who are showing us true colors today. Because the most sacred or one of the most sacred acts you have in the United States of America is the ability to cast a ballot and elect someone and send them to Congress, the state House or mayoral seat that represents your interest. And now black folks throughout the south are being silenced. And I don't find that to be a laughing matter.

[Clay Travis]

This is pretty shameful, Buck, even for cnn, because this doesn't directly impact anybody's right to vote. And you'll notice that they got embarrassed because in Memphis, which is a district that has been redrawn, now you have a guy named Steve Cohen who is a white Jewish guy that has been representing Memphis for a long time. And you know who he usually beats in the race when he represents Memphis.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, black guys, black Republicans, black

[Clay Travis]

woman has been the last couple of times the nominee to run against him in Memphis. So this racial dynamic is pretty nasty of Bakari Sellers. I also think I wanted to play this because this is a guy named Justin Pearson. He is a Tennessee state rep. Buck is laughing because he has seen these clips, but I just want to play these for you. This is the guy who is in Memphis and is saying that, that he is so terribly upset about what has happened. And I want to play for you a couple of different things here. This is Justin Pearson in 2016 being interviewed, and I want you to listen to him. He went to. What's the school that Mom Donnie went to? Colgate. Where did Mom Donnie go? Northeastern School. We'll look it up. He went to it.

[Buck Sexton]

Did he go to Bowdoin? I forget. Where did mom Donnie go?

[Clay Travis]

He went to an elite, expensive northeast school. Same school Bowdoin.

[Buck Sexton]

I nailed it. Nailed it.

[Clay Travis]

All right, here's a good. Before we play this clip, Buck, I don't know if you're going to get this. Who is. What is the Civil War connection for Bowdoin College in a significant way that we have talked about this month on this program?

[Buck Sexton]

Well, clearly it was General Bowdoin who helped Grant in the Vicksburg campaign. No, I have no idea. I think I should just get credit for knowing that it's not Bo Dwine or whatever. It's.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, I would never have been able to correctly pronounce it except for the fact that Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who led the charge on the battle of Little Round top for the 20th Maine, he was a. His alma mater. He was a professor at Bowdoin College when he left to go to go lead the 20th Maine. And. And then he came back and ended up being elected governor of Maine in a post life zone.

[Buck Sexton]

You know who plays him in your favorite Gettysburg movie, which is based on the novel that you made me read or told me to read. It's very good.

[Clay Travis]

Made is the wrong. The Killer Angels.

[Buck Sexton]

Killer Angels, Yes. None other than Jeff Daniels, who also plays the smug media guy in the newsroom who says that America is not the greatest country in the world.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

Big surf from saving the union at Gettysburg. Round Top or whatever.

[President Donald Trump]

Little.

[Clay Travis]

Round Top. Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

Little thank you. Little Round Top to America is not the greatest country in the world. When a beautiful blonde woman asks him why it is the greatest country in the world. So how the mighty have fallen.

[Clay Travis]

I would also point out while we were, you know, taking shots at Jeff Daniels. Dumb and dumber. The range of Jeff Daniels, to be fair, is pretty incredible. And now a lot of people see him. He does those pure Michigan commercials. He's the guy on the talking about how awesome of a place Michigan is to go visit. Okay, so this is where Justin Pearson went to college. Bowdoin College. Buck, I would bet is. What do you think? 85, $90,000 a year board tuition. I mean, it's one of the most expensive colleges in America. And here is Justin Pearson speaking when he was on campus in Maine, 2016.

[Justin Pearson]

Listen, Justin J. Pearson, and I'm running for president of bsg. There are a few reasons that we're running this campaign this year. One has to do with represent. How can we represent all voices in a conversation? I wanted to do this by Partnering with organizations from the Bowdoin Democrats to the Bowdoin Republicans. I want to bring together different voices, dissenting voices, voices that may be more liberal or more conservative in order that we can reach a point of sort

[Senator Ron Johnson]

of the radical middle here. You've had three strike laws, mass incarceration denied us of who we are and we are still here. And today you will take the only

[Justin Pearson]

majority black district from us. But I want you to know, and

[Senator Ron Johnson]

I want my nephew, sons and the future to know no matter what you do, no matter how much you try and break us and make us bid and make us quit, we will still be here.

[Clay Travis]

Same guy, 10 years apart. That is in the, in the space of buck just a decade.

[Buck Sexton]

From Carlton Carlton Banks to Malcolm X in the blink of an eye. Pretty amazing.

[Clay Travis]

That is a great the Carlton Banks to Malcolm X comparison. It sounds ridiculous. You play it. What does it say? That there is not a political future for the first guy but there is a political future for the second guy. I would submit to you that that is not a sign of things going better. And look, here he is again. This district that he's so angry about is represented by a white Jewish guy in Memphis. Here he is, cut 31. Tennessee has now put a new map in place. We'll see if it's legal. There's lots of challenges going out there to make Tennessee a 90 state so that it resembles more so the Northeast which is all Democrat. They don't allow any Republicans. Here's cut 31 from Justin Pearson.

[Justin Pearson]

This is the stealing of congressional districts. This is the stealing of people's voice to literally rig it so that he can win. You have the most unprincipled people who are in political offices right now. The same people who say they care about democracy and this is a republic and people should be able to choose their elections. Elected officials, their elected officials shouldn't be able to choose them. Those same Republicans who would say those lines are now the, the co conspirators along with this white supremacist president of the United States to take and to steal this election because he doesn't want to be impeached, because he doesn't want to be held accountable for the American citizens he killed with these ICE raids and the deportations that he has caused. He doesn't want to be held accountable. So they are literally rigging and stealing elections and congressional seats.

[Clay Travis]

So he sounds a little bit more like himself from Bowdoin College there in that argument. But again the lack of racial gerrymandering I think in the long run is going to be much better, right? We'll get better quality of representatives. And this argument that we're in 1896, I mean, it's particularly pernicious, I think, Buck, from a guy like Bakari Sellers, who is from South Carolina. Tim Scott is a black senator from South Carolina. So you actually have in the state of South Carolina one of the three most powerful guys or gals, the governor and the two senators, I would argue probably are the three most powerful politicians in South Carolina. Tim Scott's been winning overwhelming election in the state of South Carolina. A guy that we have had on a lot on this program, Wesley Hunt represents a majority white district in Texas right now. He ran for Senate, did not win. We got a Senate runoff going on in Texas. But I think he's been actually very eloquent talking about people want to have someone who will advocate for their interest irrespective of what the color of their skin is. And I think that is a strong message that has been sent in South Carolina. That's a strong message been said in Texas and the Bakari Sellers of the world, I mean, in his own home state of South Carolina, you can point to someone who disproves that, Eric. And one other bit in that same geographic region, that's where Clarence Thomas came from. And Clarence Thomas is soon going to be the longest serving Supreme Court justice in the history of our nation. He just in the last week or so, Buck, we talked about this some, but he has moved into the second longest Supreme Court justice serve. And I believe in 2028 he will become the longest serving Supreme Court justice ever. So I actually look at those as very positive stories and the fact that CNN would of course not cover that aspect of this or that nobody on CNN would point back to Bakari Sellers and say, wait a minute, Tim Scott's kind of got an important job in your home state. Why have you not talked about him? I think speaks to the dishonesty of the much of the rhetorics surrounding this.

[Buck Sexton]

I think that is all very accurate. I agree.

[Clay Travis]

I'm just right now, Buck, scrolling through to see if President Trump has made any more news as he's got a bunch of things.

[Buck Sexton]

We're going to dive into them here in a second. We have a bunch of clips from President Trump just now speaking to the press. We will bring you up to speed on the latest after a word from our sponsor. Clay.

[Clay Travis]

Yes, and our sponsor is the ifcj. And there's going to be some news coming out of the Middle east and we will see what ends up happening with everything having to do with that negotiation. As President Trump's about to take a super long flight. Hopefully we will be able to limit the amount of bombs that are dropping in Israel. But right now the IFCJ is in the business of actually doing something really important. They help build bomb shelters, they help build hospitals that are more secure. They help build cars that have protection in them so that everybody can be taken care of. IFCJ on the ground in Israel delivering food, caring for the vulnerable, reminding those they serve that they're not alone. You can help with prayer, donations, advocacy as well. Visit the website to help prayifcj.org that's prayifcj.org, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Prayifcj.org Level up your brain mental mogging

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in here to Clay Anne Buck. We'll be joined by Senator Ron Johnson momentarily. We'll be talking to him about everything going on with the Speaker Senate, with Wisconsin politics in America, you know, all the important things. Looking forward to that conversation is always Clay is in our nation's capital right now. I was just there, Clay, I've got to say, I do maybe it's confirmation bias because we know what the numbers are, but you do feel like the streets of D.C. at least in downtown, the main areas, a little safer. I didn't see any homeless encampments out. You know, those are things that you would be very aware of in previous years, even walking around the District of Columbia. It turns out that just like a lot of other cities, our nation's capital does not have to be a place of fear and squalor.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. And look, coming up on the 250th anniversary of the country, I think it's pretty fantastic that we're in a situation where DC Is on track to be the safest from a murder perspective than it has ever been. And I think that's a great sign. By the way, bit of breaking news. Marty Makary has resigned as the FDA commissioner. There had been a report from the Wall Street Journal that he was on his way out. President Trump said, let's see, he's a great guy. I don't want to say whether or not he forced him out. That is Trump as he prepares to go to China. So and he has just departed, as we speak, for China. We'll talk about that with Senator Ron Johnson when we come back. And he just came in and sat down and gave me unmasked how Biden health officials purposely turned a blind eye towards COVID vaccine safety signals. I can't actually wait to read this and I want to dive into some of those details about everything related to Covid as we continue to unfortunately realize that much of what many of us said was 100% true. By the way, we've got some of these talkbacks from President Trump. Cut 40 is him saying about Iran, we're going to make a deal or there's going to be something devastating happens to him. Cut 40. At what point are you done negotiating with Iran?

[President Donald Trump]

Well, we're going to see what happens. We're only making a good deal. We have, their military is gone, it's wiped out. And we're only going to make a good deal. We'll see what happens. But I believe that one way or the other, it's going to be very good for the American people and I think actually very good for the Iranian people.

[Cindy Crawford]

Are you reconsidering the Pakistanis as mediators?

[President Donald Trump]

No, they're great. I think. I think the Pakistanis have been great. The field Marshal and the Prime Minister of Pakistan have been absolutely great.

[Clay Travis]

One more cut here, Buck. He says he doesn't think we need any help with Iran. Cut 41.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Do you think he needs to intervene

[Clay Travis]

at all with the Iran? I don't think he can help in any way.

[President Donald Trump]

I don't think we need any help with Iran. We'll win it one way or the other. We'll win it peacefully or otherwise. Their navy's gone. Their air Force is gone. Every single element of their war machine is gone. They've killed a lot of people. They've killed 42,000 people at least over the last month and a half. We're going to. We win no matter how you cut it.

[Buck Sexton]

Meanwhile, Iran is publicly demanding a deal that would make it seem very much like they won this whole thing. Like we are the ones that need to get out and they have withstood the onslaught and are getting concessions from us. So we shall see where this goes. All right, imagine this. Your cell phone bill being only 34.99amonth, and that includes unlimited high speed data, cell phone service, along with unlimited calls and text messaging. That's likely a huge savings from the plan you're on now. You can save at least $35 or $40 a month, if not more. Pure Talk's new plan allows you to have 100% unlimited high speed data along with unlimited calls and text for just 34.99 PureTalk services on the same towers and network. As one of the better known companies in the wireless cell phone space. You get the best 5G nationwide service there is, but for less money every month. There's no contract to sign, no cancellation fees to endure. You keep your phone, keep your cell phone number, Switch to Pure Talk. This is the cell phone company we trust. In fact, I have been a Pure Talk customer on my primary cell phone for five years running. Starts with you picking up your phone and calling Pure Talks US based customers customer service team. Dial £250 say the keywords clay and Buck to get unlimited high speed data for just $34.99. Again dial pound 250 say Clay and Buck. To switch to Pure Talk, America's wireless company. Dial £250 say Clay and Buck.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show Our friend Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is with us now and the pamphlet you handle handed me unmasked how Biden health officials purposely turned a blind eye towards COVID 19 vaccine safety signals. We talked about this with Alex Berenson a bit yesterday and we were talking with you off air. Let's start with this. It seems like the general American public, even though there isn't a lot of discussion surrounding it, has all come to realize that the COVID shot doesn't make a lot of sense and nobody effectively is getting it at this point. Is that fair to say?

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Yeah. Well, first of all, according to Rasmussen poll, 24% of Americans believe they know somebody who died after taking the COVID injection. So people saw with their own eyes. Plus there have been courageous doctors who've spoken up. People like Peter McCulloch and others who talked about this should have been pulled from the market immediately. What we found in those 11 million pages of documents that Bobby Kendi, because his dedication to radical transparency, we found that the head of the FDA department CBER that approves vaccines and does the safety surveillance, knew by March of 2021, less than three months into the emergency use authorization and administration of these injections that their algorithm they are using to analyze VAERS was going to hide and mask safety signals. 26 days later they got a report with a new algorithm. 49 cases of extreme masking, 25 safety signals including things like, oh, I don't know, sudden cardiac death, a pulmonary infarction, Bell's palsy, different types of strokes. They kept getting warned, they kept getting updates every month of other sudden death and that type of thing. They completely ignored the person warning them. They told that Person to cease and desist. And we interviewed her. She said, yeah, I was a pest. I was Persona non grata. So if you had a loved one who was injured or possibly died of the COVID injection after March 1, know that that didn't have to happen. If you administered this to a child. I mean, and we know children died

[Clay Travis]

right now, March 1st of 2021.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Yeah, 2021. So we.

[Martha Stewart]

We know.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

And I'm trying to get this. Just sent a letter to Bobby Kennedy yesterday. I want the documents on the 10 autopsies that the FDA reviewed and said, no, those children died of the COVID injection. Again, that understates the problem. 39,000 people globally reported as dying from the COVID injection. We know the CDC Commission study with Harvard, the Pilgrim study. Less than 1% of adverse events are reported on VAERS, so it's a huge under reporting factor. Of those 39,000, though, 24% occurred on the day of vaccination or within one or two days. Now, I had a loved one, got that injection, died the next day. I know what I would blame. But of course, FDA goes, oh, well, VAERS doesn't prove causality. So we are up against basically a nationwide state of denial. I issued this report two Wednesdays ago. Not one major network has covered this. I actually was scheduled to be on CNN last weekend. We were on break or last week. I send the report like you have right here. And they canceled the interview now, so. Oh, no, we want to go in different direction. Yeah, they didn't want to cover this.

[Buck Sexton]

Senator Johnson, appreciate you being with us as always. I think we can skip past accountability as a question for this because I just don't think there'll be any. And if you disagree with that, please let me know.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

I'm not. I'm not giving up. I'm not giving up on accountability.

[Buck Sexton]

Okay.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Again, there are so many protections protecting the federal government and federal employees. But there are some laws we can maybe do, some tweaks, highlight this. I mean, this is criminal. These guys turned a blind's eye and people went ahead and listened to their lies, got the shot. Some of those people are no longer with us or permanently disabled.

[Clay Travis]

No, they.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

They need to be held criminally reliable.

[Buck Sexton]

I wish you the absolute best on trying to get that accountability. And it's good to know that people are trying for it. I still think you're running up a very steep hill, which is something you do. So thank you. Thank you for that.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

That.

[Buck Sexton]

But on the reform side of it, meaning making sure this doesn't happen again. You're in the Senate. We have this whole body known as Congress and we have an executive branch now that has sanity on this issue as well. Have there been actions taken so that this wouldn't happen again? I mean we had about a 24 hour news cycle with the hantavirus scare for a second, which I don't. I think people knew was not going to turn into some huge thing, but it was just a reminder of oh wow, there are things out there that are very dangerous, very deadly and if they go from zoonotic animal based to human to human transmission, we could have a big problem. One of my big reasons for still talking about COVID is I think that if you had a Democrat administration and you had a similar situation, they would bring it all back. Masks, distancing, all of it. I don't think that they have actually changed the CDC at all. I don't think that they've changed the culture of these institutional medical places. What do you make of all this? Is there any change?

[Senator Ron Johnson]

So I agree and very little. And part of the problem is whether it's the news media, whether it's federal health agencies, whether it's the vaccine manufacturers, whether it's members of Congress, whether it's the doctors, all these people pushed it. I mean you had members of Congress doing videos, you know, get that vaccine. So nobody wants to admit that something they suggested or pushed or mandated killed people or permanently disabled them. It's a nationwide massive state of denial and that's what we're up against. No, nobody wants to admit they're wrong. Quite honestly, people who got the shot, they don't want to hear about the DNA contamination. They don't want to hear about the turbo cancers. They just want to move on. But I'm not going to move on because I am advocating for the COVID injection. Injured people who part of how sick this is. Also In March of 2021, the NIH was beginning to treat, first of all, diagnose people with the injection injuries. They're starting to treat them, but they told them be quiet. In the end they treated about 23 people, told them all to stay silent. Oh no. We're going to do a study. Let's gather all the information so we're not giving misinformation to doctors. But we're going to publish the study so the doctors will acknowledge these injuries and all these people on your support groups can be treated. They never issued the study. To this day, they've never acknowledged these injuries. They keep saying oh no, we're not denying injuries, but they're generally rare and mild. No, I mean dying the day got shot. I mean, you've. You saw the videos of sports people dropping, you know, dropping dead on the field of plates, newscasters, that kind of stuff. We had to come up with a whole new term for it, right? A whole new acronym. Sads. Just like sids, by the way, in my voice. The vaccine injured parents with children died of sids. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. They all talk about vaccines. The medical establishment doesn't. The parents do, because they know they had their kid get a vaccine all of a sudden. Sudden infant death. So we had Sudden Adult Death Syndrome during COVID And they were all baffled. Like, what? We can't figure out what's going on here. Yeah, this thing is pretty obvious.

[Clay Travis]

So how much of this do you think has to do with drugs being able to be advertised in media? With the blackout from a lot of places talking about this?

[Senator Ron Johnson]

I think it has all to do because the. Since 1992, with them, we're only one of two countries that can advertise in the U.S. right? So if you ever watch one of those ads, if you actually listen, there's no way you'd ever take that drug. First of all, you have no idea what they're for. But you said death, you know, all these horrible side effects. No business person would ever run an ad like that to sell a product. They're doing it to buy the narrative. And they have done it wonderfully well. But it's not just the media they're buying. They have. They fund scientific journals, they fund universities, medical education. Big Pharma runs the show. Okay. And we are practicing medicine based on Big Pharma prescriptions on things, and it's not being run. Well, you know, as opposed to what Casey. Callie means with these folks are pushing in terms of. No, be healthy. Eat good food.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Don't. Don't allow yourself to become chronically ill. Big Pharma loves chronic illness because they're just treating. And unfortunately, there are too many Americans who just give me a pill, let me run an awful lifestyle. Let me eat and drink anything I want to. I'm just looking for that pill that's gonna solve out. Doesn't work.

[Buck Sexton]

Speaking of Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Senator, if I could just take our attention to the latest from President Trump here on Iran. He's saying we're gonna get a deal or we're gonna, you know, kick their asses even more. It's the middle of May now. We're beyond the timeline. We don't have the deal. I know people sometimes don't like to hear any negative talk as it pertains to anything Trump has ever done, but we're being told that this is so great, but it doesn't seem like it ends the way that it would have to for it to be such a great move. What do you make of this?

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Well, seeing as I've been warning about a potential EMP attack for literally over a decade, when I was chairman of Homeland Security, that was a real concern of mine. We haven't done very little. We haven't done the large power transformers, bought those as spares in case we have an EMP attack. But I always viewed Iran as an existential threat. Maybe not imminent, but an existential threat, which is why every president, I said, we can't allow them to become a nuclear power because they got missiles. Plant a barge off our shore, throw up a nuclear weapon, blow it up, we wipe out electrical, grilled. It's existential. So I for one, appreciate the fact that President Trump made a very tough decision. He had to know this was not going to be easy. You got 800,000 people, the most brutal human beings on the planet. They got the guns. The Iranian people don't. You can hope that they get toppled, but they haven't been. So this is going to be a, you know, this was not going to be easy. He's taken them out, but I just. He has to finish the job. He's kicked the cornice nest. He has to finish the job. And possibly finishing the job means keep assets off offshore, surveil them. Anybody goes by those nuclear sites, hit them again, you know, keep mowing the grass. I mean, that's not the best solution. But, you know, I for one, appreciate the fact that Trump is not caving. He's not agreeing to a false victory. Victory for him is they can never have a nuclear weapon. And that means they got rid of the nuclear stockpile. They have to get rid of their enrichment capability. They can never do that. And by the way, we ought to be watching their missile buildup and drone build up as well. I would love. I would love to see regime change. I only regret when he went into this, that that wasn't one of his major goals. Understanding how difficult it really is.

[Clay Travis]

What is your. What, you're in an ultimate swing state of Wisconsin. I think it was the closest state in the 2024 presidential election of any state that President Trump won. What are your constituents talking about?

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Gas prices? Oh, yeah. I mean, we just did an hour long telephone town hall. It was all gas prices and they ran war. Yeah, and they're really not. It has to be explained to the American public what an existential threat Iran was and why this is well worth it. I mean, people do not understand what an EMP attack would be like. I mean, Ted Copper wrote a book on this. It would be catastrophic. Okay, so we can't allow an apocalyptic crazy regime, evil regime like Iran do this. So you had to do it. And the rest of us at least have to sacrifice that amount of. Look, the finest among us, they go out there and they sacrifice their lives in law enforcement, in the military. All we're asking to eliminate an existential threat to America is, okay, we have to pay higher gas prices. Now, I realize that hurts people. I got that. But that has to be explained in the American public. And like I say, I for one grateful that President Trump made this very tough decision. I truly believe he is in my lifetime, I'm 71 years old, he's the president least likely to, to get us in some kind of long term military conflict. He hates it, he doesn't want to do it. He is a president of peace. But he realized that this was an existential threat that had to be dealt with.

[Clay Travis]

Do you think the voters can be

[Buck Sexton]

convinced of that in time for the midterms? Or you think that we're going to pay a big price and maybe it's one you think is worth paying, but.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Well, I think I think it is worth paying. We probably will. I mean, I hate to say that. I mean, you take a look at what happened in Wisconsin, the last two Wisconsin Supreme Court races, they were crucial. We had miserable side. We just got our clocks clean. So I'm not the most uplifting character to talk to, but that's the reality situation. And Trump dealt with reality. And I for one appreciate the fact that he made the incredibly tough choice and he's sticking by it.

[Clay Travis]

You just mentioned midterms and how they may go. Small Senate majority right now. Are you confident Republicans contain, retain control of the Senate? What sort of briefings do you hear? What do you see on the map?

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Well, again, listen to the pundits. It looks like we're in pretty good shape to maintain a slender majority. I mean, I'll still make the appeal. We ought to end the filibuster. And not because I want to end the filibuster. I just know the Democrats will do it. So I've got way too many colleagues who are denying that reality and also don't want to vote to give them the tool when they have the power, when they run the table. But they're going to take it anyway, right? It's kind of like if his gun's sitting right there and you got some murder right there, you better grab that gun before he grabs it because he's going to use it against you. So use it in self defense. But if we could end the filibuster, we could pass the Save America Act. I mean we could make sure that we could lessen the chance of Democrats cheating and turning America into one party nation. But that's what they'll do when they end the filibuster. They will turn D.C. puerto Rico into states. There's four more Democrats, senators. They will nationalize elections, automatic registration, mail in balloting, you know, they will completely reopen the border. They'll pack the Supreme Court. I mean, game over. It's a one party nation at that point in time. I view that as a reality. I'm trying to prevent that reality. And unfortunately we don't. It's not John Thune's fault by the way. Don't get upset at John. He just doesn't have the votes to do it. And quite honestly, Trump, he keeps talking about it. But what he needs to do is he, and he should have done this months ago, make the case and the filibuster pass X, Y and Z. These are. And again he's making with Save America Act. But there's some other things we can do too that you know, that we need in order to do it. We really need the leadership as a moment of hope. We didn't have the votes to end the 60 vote threshold on nominations last fall until Democrats were so obnoxious, so obstructionist, all of a sudden we had 53 Republican votes. So it's possible, but it's getting pretty

[Clay Travis]

late in the game.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

We're only going to be in session, I think 13 weeks before the election. It's not time to do a whole lot and we've got to pass funding for CBP and ICE for, you know, through fiscal year 2029. So again, I'm not, I'm not a real, I'm not a real fan of Congress. I mean I'm just not a fan.

[Clay Travis]

Every time, every time we have Senator Johnson here, he just reminds me, I think I've said this analogy before. You're like the dad when the kids come home from college and they have the credit card bill and you just look at it and you're just like, how could you possibly have spent because I know you're fired up about the budget too, but I just see you with glasses on looking at the credit card bill printed out in front of you. Like, how could you have spent this much?

[Senator Ron Johnson]

On my green visor. Yeah, yeah, I'll bring one of those in next time.

[Clay Travis]

But so, so yeah, we need the green visor. Do you have anything can you give us? Buck oftentimes is the pessimist on the show. I tend to be a little bit more optimistic. Is there anything you are super optimistic about right now?

[Senator Ron Johnson]

If Trump succeeds in Iran, think of how that resets geopolitics. I mean, just, I mean, he's already done with Venezuela. He does not get credit. He doesn't get credit for the Abraham Accords. So now these would be masterstrokes. I mean, he would go down in history as somebody who stabilized, you know, global politics and brought world peace and stability for generations. I mean, this would be such a positive thing. So again, I was concerned that he was going to agree to a false victory. It doesn't sound like he's going to do that now. Again, I don't know how this exactly ends, but he's dedicated never to let them have a nuclear weapon. And I know what that means. That means, you know, the stockpile's got to go, no enrichment, and we've got to keep monitoring them.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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All right, let's hit some talk backs quick. Susie from Minnesota D. Okay, Clay, I got a little bit of football for you. Nebraska 1970, 11 and oh beat LSU 197113 0. Beat Alabama 38 to 6, 1994, 13 0, beating Miami 199512 0, beating Florida 62 to 24. Those are some pretty dominant Nebraska teams. Just want to let you know. Thanks. I love that she just spiked the football on you there, buddy.

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She did spike the football on me. That is the ultimate Fargo accent. Notice. Unfortunately for our Nebraska listeners, those games happened a very long time ago. Cornhusker football. It's been a long time.

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