Hour 3 - Toxic Leftwing Empathy

Summary

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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: “Hour 3 - Toxic Leftwing Empathy”

Date: May 11, 2026
Host: Clay Travis
Guest: Alex Berenson

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis welcomes journalist and author Alex Berenson to discuss his recent legal victory involving the federal government’s role in social media censorship during the COVID-19 pandemic. They dissect the implications of government-coerced censorship, the aftershocks of COVID-era public health policies, and the rise of conspiracy theories — particularly on the political Left. The show also delves into crime data trends, the concept of “toxic empathy,” and broader questions about free speech, COVID vaccine risks, and accountability for public officials.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Mother’s Day Reflection and Setup

• Clay opens with a warm greeting and offers belated Mother’s Day wishes, noting the sometimes-overlooked obligations dads acquire once they have kids.
   [03:19] Clay Travis: “I had no idea what I was signing up for...once you start having kids, it turns out that the young kids aren’t able to thank mom, and so you...are suddenly doing double duty.”
• Alex Berenson shares his personal experience with Mother’s Day as a father of several children.
   [04:45] Alex Berenson: “My oldest is 13 and, and she's very on top of things. And so no, we got it done. It was a successful Mother's Day.”

2. Alex Berenson’s Lawsuit Against Government Over Social Media Censorship

Background:

• Clay recaps Alex’s long-running legal fight, noting Berenson was an early and persistent critic of lockdowns and mandates, and was de-platformed by Twitter in 2021 for questioning COVID vaccines.
• Berenson details his experience, the initial support from Twitter, and then the crackdown following federal government pressure.

Lawsuit Developments:

• Berenson v. Biden ends in a settlement, with the government admitting it violated the First Amendment and paying a six-figure sum.
   [05:01] Clay Travis (reading Berenson’s substack): “The government said that the government did in fact violate the first amendment by exerting substantial coercive pressure on social media companies such as Twitter to suppress disfavored speech like plaintiffs.”
• Alex recounts how his case marked the first time a social media ban for speech was meaningfully challenged and partially overturned.
   [06:45] Alex Berenson: “It was an on, it was a sharply disliked position. And in 2021, you know, I started raising questions about the MRNA Covid vaccines...then in August 2021, they banned me. Okay. And I was like, this is wrong...”

Limits of the Settlement:

• Clay asks if Berenson’s win establishes meaningful legal precedent.
   [11:37] Alex Berenson: “Question one, is there a legal precedent here? And the answer, unfortunately, is no, not. There's not.”
• Berenson is continuing his lawsuit against Pfizer, alleging the company worked closely with the government to silence dissenters.
   [12:31] Alex Berenson: “Correct. And so maybe I'll get more documents that will show just how like much collusion there was...”

Call for Legislative Reform:

• Berenson and Travis agree that clearer laws are needed to restrict federal interference with social media content moderation, and to create avenues for citizens to seek redress when rights are violated.
   [12:31] Alex Berenson: “If we want to change this in the future, there really has to be some laws passed that will more clearly state what the government can and can't do...”

3. COVID Vaccines: Risks, Efficacy, and Current Reality

• Clay asks for Berenson’s view on the long-term health impact of mRNA COVID shots.
   [19:36] Alex Berenson: “It’s over. People, if you look at the side effects on these shots, they're so much worse for most people than the, than the disease itself. It's crazy to get it...I think what concerns me, people like my mother...who got shot after shot after shot and who's older, I think some of those people may have suffered kind of long term consequences, especially stuff like cardiovascular issues.”

• Berenson acknowledges that “if you got two shots in ‘21 and your head didn’t fall off the next five years, you’re probably okay,” but is more worried about those who got repeated boosters.
   [19:36] Alex Berenson: “I'm pretty optimistic that there's not going to be some huge cancer impact, for example, at this point, I think if that were going to happen, it probably would have happened.”

4. Should Dr. Fauci Be Charged?

• Clay broaches the topic of criminal accountability for Anthony Fauci, referencing calls for his indictment.
   [21:02] Alex Berenson: “I don't think so. I don't think he's going to be...charged because it might make some people who really hate him happy, but it will just add to this perception ... and a lot of people really like him. So, you know, honestly, like what? If you're interested in getting some justice here, you should hope my lawsuit goes forward.”

5. Rise of “Conspiracy Era” and Erosion of Public Trust

• Travis highlights polling showing large swaths of Democrats believing recent high-profile shootings were staged, attributing this to cascading distrust resulting from COVID-era misinformation from authorities.

• Berenson ties the proliferation of conspiracy theories (on Left and Right) directly to public acknowledgement that many COVID-related official claims were false or misleading.
   [22:13] Alex Berenson: “We were lied to that this couldn't possibly be a lab leak. We were lied to that masks would, you know, help, and we had to close schools, and we were lied to that, you know, two shots of this MRNA and you'll never...get Covid...All this proves not to be true.”

• Both express hope that measured alternative media voices can help restore some trust.
   [23:09] Clay Travis: “I think it's because sanity is so rare that there are a lot of people out there that just want to have measured, reasonable common sense.”

• Berenson reflects on being a pariah for dissenting views in 2021, and how much has shifted:
   [23:46] Alex Berenson: “Yeah, you're right. I mean, and I do think people like you, people like me...those out there who want the truth, and sometimes, you know, they want the truth even if it doesn't always agree with their ideology.”

6. Crime, Safety, and “Toxic Leftwing Empathy”

• Clay celebrates record-low homicide rates in major US cities, attributing it to renewed policing, reduced illegal immigration, and changing attitudes toward crime.  [28:23] Clay Travis: “Baltimore murders are down...83% over last year. Suffolk County, New York...down 73%...Omaha, Nebraska...down 71%...even D.C., where I am sitting, down 64.7% compared to last year.”

• He examines the recent viral story of a subway assault victim refusing to press charges to avoid “putting another black man in jail”—with tragic results—and denounces what he terms “toxic empathy.”
   [31:51] Clay Travis: “This is an example of toxic left wing empathy. Democrats and leftists have convinced people, oh, it's unkind to be angry or to seek some sort of penalty against someone for committing a crime...here's the reality, the toxic empathy. If you want to use it, use your empathy to think about future criminal victims.”

• Emphasizes need for consequences and law enforcement, and labels reluctance to prosecute as “unkind” to future victims.

7. Political Endorsements and Quality of Urban Life

• Clay reacts to Magic Johnson’s endorsement of LA Mayor Karen Bass, claiming LA’s quality of life has dropped drastically due to leadership, and credits cross-partisan support for challengers seeking to “clean up” the city.  [35:50] Magic Johnson clip: “She’s doing a tremendous job.”  [36:18] Clay Travis: “Not a good mayor. I think she has a 25% approval rating in LA right now.”
• Commends tough-on-crime stances by officials and the Trump administration for improvements in city safety.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Censorship & Free Speech
   Alex Berenson [06:45]: “Even though I had to sue in San Francisco, federal judge...said, hey, this guy actually got promises from Twitter...and I think that Twitter broke its contract with him, and that was a huge win. It’s the first time ever that anybody was able to sue for being thrown off a platform...”

• On Legal Precedent
   Alex Berenson [11:37]: “Is there a legal precedent here? And the answer, unfortunately, is no, not. There's not.”

• On Hundreds-of-Billions Pharma Profits
   Alex Berenson [06:45]: “Pfizer was making like $100 billion, no exaggeration, selling these. That's what they made in 2021, 2022...”

• On COVID Vaccine Safety
   Alex Berenson [19:36]: “If you look at the side effects on these shots, they're so much worse for most people than the disease itself. It's crazy to get it.”

• On Toxic Empathy and Crime
   Clay Travis [31:51]: “This is an example of toxic left wing empathy. Democrats and leftists have convinced people, oh, it's unkind to be angry or to seek some sort of penalty against someone for committing a crime...If you want to use it, use your empathy to think about future criminal victims.”

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Community Feedback (Listener “Talkbacks”)

• Listener Denise (Greenwood, AR) [41:54]: “He [Berenson] is the sole reason that I did not get the shot and I withstood the pressure at my employer...I believe you saved our health. So thank you Alex and thank you Clay and Buck for having him on.”

• Listener Chris (Franklinton, NC) [43:31]: Opens up about his wife losing her nursing job for refusing the COVID vaccine and hopes Berenson’s legal work “paves the way for people who were pushed out of their industry to sue for compensation.”

• Clay’s Response [43:54]: “Again, ultimately there should be consequences for all of this. A lot of people just want to pretend it never ever happened.”

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Important Timestamps

• Mother’s Day reflections: [03:19–05:01]
• Berenson recounts censorship and legal battle: [06:00–13:47]
• Legal implications and ongoing Pfizer suit: [11:37–13:47]
• COVID vaccine risks and Dr. Fauci debate: [19:36–21:34]
• Leftwing “conspiracy era” and trust: [22:13–23:46]
• Crime statistics and analysis: [28:23–36:18]
• Toxic empathy discussion: [31:51–36:18]
• Call-ins and public reaction: [41:54–43:54]

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Tone and Language

• Informal, energetic, and direct, with frequent personal anecdotes and sharp critique.
• Mix of humor (especially in opening sections) and urgency, especially on issues of free speech and public safety.
• Berenson’s responses are forthright, occasionally technical, and strongly critical of both government and Big Pharma collusion.

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Summary

This episode provides a comprehensive look at emerging challenges to free speech in the digital era, the costs of political and scientific overreach during COVID, the changing American crime landscape, and the dangers of misplaced empathy that undermines public safety. The guest, Alex Berenson, brings his unique perspective as a central figure in the fight against government-driven censorship and continues to call for legal clarity and courage from both citizens and lawmakers. Listener feedback highlights the real-life impacts of pandemic policy and public debate. Throughout, the hosts aim to reinforce their brand as a rare voice for reason and open discussion in a polarized media environment.

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Transcript

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis (Host)]

Welcome back in hour number three, Clay Travis, Buck Sexton show. We hope all of you had fantastic weekends and I don't think I said it yet, today's show, I know we said it going into the weekend, happy belated Mother's Day to all of the awesome moms out there. Credit to my wife Laura, who had her mom and my mom over to the Travis residence and we had a awesome time. I know there are tons of great moms out there listening. Tons of great grandmas out there listening. So thanks for all that you guys do to help make this country this spectacular place that it is. And we bring in now, hopefully a man because I know he has young kids. Alex, were you on top of Mother's Day? Because I told Buck this and I'm sure you had to learn it, too. I had no idea what I was signing up for. I knew I was responsible for my own mom Mother's Day. Make sure that I say thank you to her for being such a great mom. But when you start having kids, it turns out that the young kids aren't able to thank mom. And so you, even though you would, she is not your mom. You are suddenly doing double duty where you got to thank your own wife for being a great mom on behalf of kids that can't do it yet, especially young kids when it's the most challenging of all times to be mom. And you still got your own mom. Were you aware for what you were signing up for because you got a bunch of young kids, too.

[Alex Berenson]

No, I did. I did learn that a few years ago the hard way. But now my oldest is 13 and, and she's very on top of things. And so no, we got it done. It was a successful Mother's Day.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

All right. Successful Mother's Day, successful Monday. I am reading from your substack right now. Urgent. A huge win in Berenson v. Biden. And I'm reading from what you just posted today. The Trump administration and I settled the federal government's role in Berenson versus Biden. Your lawsuit after three hard fought Years statement includes a six figure payment. And the government said that the government did in fact violate the first amendment by exerting substantial coercive pressure on social media companies such as Twitter to suppress disfavored speech like plaintiffs. Okay, this is something we've been talking about with you for three plus years. You were one of the first guests we ever had in studio on this program five some odd years ago when Buck and I started fill in people who may have forgotten or may not have been aware about this lawsuit and what the result that you just announced means.

[Alex Berenson]

Sure. So I, you know, I don't want to, and stop me if I get too deep into the weeds here because I tend to do that with this because so much has happened. But you know, 2020, 2021, I'm a pretty loud voice on what was in Twitter about, you know, being anti lockdown, being anti, you know, pro reopening schools, anti masking kids, all that in 20,

[Clay Travis (Host)]

all of the things, by the way, that we were saying, Buck in Buck and I were saying that almost you were saying we had very little support back in the day compared to today when everybody's like, oh yeah, I always knew shutting down schools was dumb and that mask made no sense. Sorry to cut you off, but we were in the wilderness a bit five, six years ago with these arguments.

[Alex Berenson]

It was an on, it was a sharply disliked position. And in 2021, you know, I started raising questions about the MRNA Covid vaccines. And Twitter, by the way, had said to me in 2020, it was the last gasp of free speech, Twitter with Jack Dorsey and said, hey, you know, we actually like it that you're, that you're raising these issues. And so then in 2021, it got really hot because I was talking about the MRNA's and I think even people on the right at first, first were a little, you know, they were a little taken in by the, you know, this is going to end, Covid. And these are the greatest, you know, this is like the greatest medical advance of all time and we're all going to live forever if we just take mRNA. I mean, I'm only exaggerating slightly. That was pretty much the tone. And even people who had some questions about the MRNA's were kind of like, let's just do this and we'll satisfy the, you know, the people on the left who were screaming about it. Meanwhile, Pfizer was making like $100 billion, no exaggeration, selling these. That's what they made in 2021, 2022 and so there's a lot of, you know, a lot of business pressure, lot of even more societal pressure, media pressure, political pressure. And. And. And in the summer of 2021, Twitter started to crack down on me. Even though I wasn't saying anything, you know, that was not true, anything. I didn't have science to back. And in August of 2021, and my audience is only getting bigger, by the way, By I, in 2021, had 2 billion impressions from my tweets in the first few months that I was on. And then abruptly in August 2021, they banned me. Okay. And I was like, this is wrong. Like, oh, and the other thing you got to remember, and maybe people do, maybe people don't, was August and September, even though the vaccines had come out earlier, were really the peak months, the fall of 2021 was the peak of societal pressure. Why? Because the vaccines had already started to stop working by then. Biden administration did two things in response to that. It said, hey, we want to mandate these through employers for healthy adults. And they were very aggressive about that. And the other thing is, they said to everybody, we want you to get boosters. We know we told you, you know, two shots is going to work and it's going to last a lifetime or, you know, it's going to last a long time, because that's what vaccines do. We were wrong. We want you to get boosters. And I was like, I mean, I don't think I'm exaggerating. I was maybe rfk, too, but, like, I was one of the top couple of voices saying, what is going on here? This is. Is not what we promise were promised. And there's this myocarditis issue, and we really need to think about this. And I got banned. And so in 2022, I sued Twitter. And everyone said, all these people on the left said, oh, you don't have a chance. You're wasting, you know, money for people who donated to you for this. You're just. That you're just being a jerk. There's something called section 230, and that says that Twitter can do whatever it wants on its platform. Forget it. Well, guess what? Even though I had a sue in San Francisco, federal judge who was appointed by Clinton, really good guy, said, hey, this guy actually got promises from Twitter in 2020 that he could talk, and all he was doing was talking. And I think that Twitter broke its contract with him, and that was a huge win. It's the first time ever that anybody was able to sue for being thrown off a platform. And even have a prayer of getting back on Twitter. Then settles with me. And in their settlement in 2022, they hand over. They hand.

[Clay Travis]

We.

[Alex Berenson]

Look at me. Sorry.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

No, I thought we lost you there for a sec. So, Alex Berenson on with us. Okay, let me just kind of cut into the chase here. Yeah, cut to the chase. So they have settled. They have given you a six figure payment. They have admitted that the Biden administration behaved inappropriately when it came to this. Here's my question for you. Do you think that what has happened to you, because you and I and Buck were all very big in the opinion that the government should not be censoring opinions out there, particularly private actor opinions like yours on private platforms. Right. Is that have lasting precedent or would the Biden administration just do all over again what it did to you? If in the future maybe it's gonna be this hantavirus, we end up in a situation with another pandemic like situation going forward, do you think there's a precedent that stands out here that is going to be protective in any way of you, or do you think people who know better will run and hide when it comes to actually standing up for free speech in a time, I would argue it matters more than any other, which is a time of crisis.

[Alex Berenson]

So. That's a great question, Clay. And I would say that you're kind of asking two questions in one there. Question one, is there a legal precedent here? And the answer, unfortunately, is no, not. There's not. Okay. What. What I may be able to get to. And again, I don't want to delve too deep into this. My, my lawsuit, I'm still going forward. I'm still suing Pfizer because what I learned when I settled with Twitter and what the Twitter files showed and then what more documents that Elon Musk provided, and I'm very thankful to. Elon Musk, his lawyers provided in 2024 showed clearly that Pfizer was a private company, obviously was working with the government to get me kicked off. And to me, that's a huge scandal.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

Okay, okay, so let me, let me, let me follow up on that. Are you going to be continuing your lawsuit? I think I know the answer. Based on reading your substack, you are going to be continuing your lawsuit against Pfizer, correct?

[Alex Berenson]

Correct. Correct. And so maybe I'll get more documents that will show just how like much collusion there was that said. If we want to change this in the future, there really has to be some laws passed that will more clearly state what the government can and can't do in its interactions with these social media companies. And ideally there'll be something passed that will make it possible when your rights are violated this way. And this is something that I would hope the left would agree with too. If you're. If your First Amendment rights or your Bill of Rights, constitutional rights are violated by the federal government, you should be able to sue them and get money damage. And right now you really can't do that. It's very, very, very hard to do that. Which is one reason that my lawsuit didn't go forward the way I hoped it would against the federal government and we settled it. So the settlement kind of protects the federal government in this way. So that is like. So that's the question about the law. Okay. The question about whether or not people will stand up. That's. I hope people will stand up and I hope the fact that Elon now owns X and it's pretty clear he's not going to buckle to. To suppress people talking about vaccines or whatever is. Alex, can you really good thing.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

Can you stick with us come back because there's a couple other questions I want to hit you with. All right. We're going to ask Alex about the. The crazy number of conspiracy theories that have now emerged on the left. I also want to get a quick answer from him on the backside here. How dangerous are the COVID shots looking now that we're having a longer Runway for those? And.

[Alex Berenson]

And more.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

The wait is almost over. Get ready for the NFL season with a highly anticipated 2026 NFL schedule release. Every rivalry, every rematch, and every rookie debut with matchups locked and kickoffs confirmed. Be there for every can't miss moment. The full NFL schedule release coming in May. Get all the [e-mail] ScheduleRelease.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton show. Alex Berenson with us. The federal government has just settled his lawsuit admitting that the Biden administration colluded and conspired to try to keep him from being able to share his opinions on the COVID situation, both the virus itself and the shot. Okay, let's go in to some rapid fire here before we come up on the bottom end of the question. We get asked this all the time. What do you think is the long range health impact of the COVID shot? And basically, is this shot over? Is anybody still getting it at this point?

[Alex Berenson]

Yeah, it's over. And you know, Moderna is trying to get this MRNA flu shot, which they may or may not be able to sort of push through the fda. I hope they don't. They might be able to. People, if you look at the side effects on these shots, they're so much worse for most people than the, than the disease itself. It's crazy to get it okay, Particularly for these respiratory viruses where the protection doesn't last very long, if it lasts at all. So the shots are done. The long term effect. Look, if you got two shots in 20, 21, and you know your head didn't fall off in the next five years, you're probably okay. I think what concerns me, people like my mother, who's an Ms. Now watcher, who got shot after shot after shot and who's older, I think some of those people may have suffered kind of long term consequences, especially stuff like cardiovascular issues. There's nothing you can do about it except to stop getting the shots. I'm pretty optimistic that there's not going to be some huge cancer impact, for example, at this point, I think if that were going to happen, it probably would have happened.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

Okay, Dr. Fauci, quickly, should he be charged? Today is reportedly the deadline according to Rand Paul. I know he's got a pardon, but in your mind, would it benefit us, meaning people who are still angry about COVID to charge him and at least make him fight his way through the charges arguing that he had a pardon?

[Alex Berenson]

I don't think so. I don't think he's going to be true. You know, we talked about this a little bit two weeks ago, and I don't think he's going to be charged. And I think I've come around to the idea he probably shouldn't be be church because it might make some people who really hate him happy, but it will just add to this perception that, you know, he's 84, 85 years old, and he's being pursued and it's not fair. And, you know, and a lot of people really like him. So, you know, honestly, like what? If you're interested in getting some justice here, you should hope my lawsuit goes forward. Okay. You should hope that I get some information from Pfizer, because that would be helpful.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

Okay, the. So I'm going to ask a combo question here for you. 42% of Democrats believe that the shooting at Butler, Pennsylvania was staged. Also high percentages on the White House correspondence dinner shooting and also the West Palm beach attempted assassination. Now there is a new hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship. I'm going to let you just kind of dive into the conspiracy era that now exists out there. And how much do you believe it is directly connected to so many of the conspiracies? And I'm putting in those in quotation marks about COVID having been proven true.

[Alex Berenson]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think we talked about this two weeks ago, too. You're absolutely right. Because, you know, we were lied to that this couldn't possibly be a lab leak. We were lied to that masks would, you know, help, and we had to close schools and we were lied to that, you know, two shots of this MRNA and you'll never, you know, you'll never get Covid in the rest of your life. All this proves not to be true. And it was a real, you know, mistake by the scientific establishment. And they've not dealt with it. They've, you know, a little bit around the edges. And so I think it's created this space that, you know, that people on the left and. And, you know, some on the Right. Are filling with. With nonsense that gets them followers and is very profitable for them. And it's a problem. You know, I noticed in your promo you had something saying, you know, like, listen to us. If you don't, you know, if you want something real. And I think hopefully your voice and voices like yours win.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

I like to think that's true. Our audience has skyrocketed. I mean, we got 600am FM affiliates, we keep setting records. We got satellite radio now. I think it's because sanity is so rare that there are a lot of people out there that just want to have measured, reasonable common sense. And I'll mention this to you, Alex. When we had you on back In July of 2021, there were so many people angry that we had you on to talk. You remember this? We had you in studio in New York to talk about the fact that the COVID shot was not working like they said it, and people were so angry about it. Now, five years later, a lot of people just want to pretend this never happened.

[Alex Berenson]

Yeah, you're right. I mean, and I do think people like you, people like me, I mean, I. My audience is a fraction of yours at Unreported Truth, but it's a strong audience. And those out there who want the truth, and sometimes, you know, they want the truth even if it doesn't always agree with their ideology. And I hope we can keep reaching those people.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

Hey, this is outstanding as always. Keep us updated. Congrats on the settlement and we will do our best. I already shared the link so people can read it. Thank you, Alex.

[Alex Berenson]

Thanks, Mike.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

Look, I want to tell you right now, let's see, what do I need to do? I want to tell you about Rapid Radios. If you want to stay in touch with everybody in your life and make sure even in times of catastrophe, that you are able to be in touch with them, you need to get Rapid Radios five day charge. This is a huge impact if you've got family members and they live in an area where tornadoes might come through, heck, where hurricanes might come through, where there could be danger afoot. And you want to make sure that you can stay in touch with them. Rapid Radios is trusted all over the country by so many people that have to be able to stay in touch when you need to stay in touch, no matter what. Rapid Radios 500,000Americans. Rapidradios.com code radio. That's rapidradios.com code radio. My thanks, by the way, to Alex Berenson and a lot of you longtime listeners here. Remember when we were Having Alex Berenson on the show in the midst of COVID When we first started in June of 2021 on this program, it's now been what we're about to have our five year anniversary on in next month on this program. One of our first guests in studio was Alex Berenson saying, hey, these Covid shots aren't working. The Biden administration is lying to you. And when he was being shut down by so many different social media platforms, I think he would say, and certainly he has said it, I believe on this program before, we were one of the few outlets that would allow him to still be able to talk to large audiences. And that's one that Buck and I, we got right. And I am glad that we got that right. And regardless of what your perspective is, I don't think the government should be in the business of saying whether or not you can say that. And actually on this show been somewhat defensive compared to others on the right of comedians even when they're morons. And that it may not be a smart move to let the government decide what jokes can be made even if we don't like them. Bit of news that has just come down. This is from politics and poll tracker, our buddy Ryan Gardusky retweeting it. Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surivel, and I may or may not be pronouncing that name correctly, has ruled out forced retirement of Virginia Supreme Court justices, saying that it would be too extreme. Now that is Virginia state Democrats. So they are saying, Hakeem Jeffries, your plan to fire all seven Supreme Court justices in Virginia in order to get redistricting through. According to this report, the head of the state Senate is saying no, he's drawing the line on firing all seven of those individuals. Another storyline that I think ties in here. Been talking. There's very positive news, very positive news that almost no one is covering that I wanted to hit with you and I flagged this and I shared it on social media. Homicide rates quarter one of 2026 is now complete. I talked about this the last time I was in Washington DC. Washington, DC way safer. Not just Washington. So in 2025 I saw that FBI Director Cash Patel shared my tweet on this. This is from Axios. Murder rate declines compared to last year. Remember 2025, lowest murder rate nationwide in the history of any of our lives. Going all the way back to 1900. Never has the United States had a lower murder rate. We're into 2026. Listen to this. Baltimore murders are down in Baltimore, 83% over last year. This is a record scratch numbers. I want you to listen to these. Suffolk County, New York, that is Long Island. I believe the team can correct me if I'm wrong. Just outside of New York city, murders down 73% there. Omaha, Nebraska, KFAB listeners, murders down 71% in Omaha, Nebraska. Buffalo, New York, murders down 70%. This is compared to last year when we set record lows. Guys. Aurora, Colorado, suburb outside of Denver, down 66.7%. That was an area, remember, with a high rate of illegal immigration. If you remember, Aurora was one of those places that had illegal immigrant gangs taking over Newark, New Jersey. A lot of you listening. W O R down 66.7%. Washington, D.C. where I am sitting, talking to all of you right now, down 64.7% compared to last year. Again, these are numbers compared to last year. Raleigh, North Carolina, down 63.6%. Portland, down 63.6%. Portland- Oregon and Philadelphia, down 54%. My goodness, that's extraordinary. Now everything is not perfect. We can still do better. This happened over the weekend. I bet the New York City crew saw this. Buck and I. We should talk about it tomorrow when he's back in studio with me. This is a Daily Mail headline. New York City woman declined to press charges against a subway shover, quote, because she didn't want to put another black man in jail. Weeks later, her subway shover shoved another person. And that man, 76 years old, a retired teacher, has now died. I think this is an awful story, but it's also an important one. It is not kind to your fellow citizens to refuse to prosecute people for violence because you're concerned about the race of the person that has done a violent act to you. In fact, data reflects that almost all the time a person who engages in an act of violence will engage in an act of violence against someone else. And if you are concerned about the racial impact of your testimony or your prosecution as a witness of an individual, understand this. Overwhelmingly people commit crimes against people of their own race. This is just true statistically. So if you are worried, hey, if I speak out up against this Hispanic guy, his victims are likely to be Hispanic. If you're worried about speaking out against an Asian person or a white person or a black person, the victim, the next victim of that individual is likely to be the same race as them. Look, Black, white, Asian, Hispanic. It is not kind to refuse to prosecute someone because you're concerned about the how long someone might be behind bars. In fact, if you Want to be empathetic, you should be empathetic forward linking,

[Alex Berenson]

forward

[Clay Travis (Host)]

thinking because the individuals will be victimized in the future because you have failed to act. So this is an example of toxic left wing empathy. Democrats in particular and leftist have convinced people, oh, it's unkind to be angry or to seek some sort of penalty against someone for committing a crime. This really kind of took off as a worldview in 2020 where suddenly, hey, just let them steal. That's why there's insurance. Just let them burn things down. That's why there, there's insurance. If somebody comes into your house, you remember that article in San Francisco and steals something, you should just let them have it. You shouldn't call police because police are then going to have to incarcerate someone and they might be a minority and that is unfortunate. And you would then be the reason that someone was put in to prison or put into jail. Here's the reality, the toxic empathy. If you want to use it, use your empathy to think about future criminal victims. That one, I mean, this is a crazy story. You got shoved on a subway platform. You, by the grace of God, were not injured. That woman decided, I don't want to do this because the guy who shoved me was black. I'm afraid about, oh, what's the toxic impact of mass incarceration? So she doesn't prosecute to the full extent of the law, she doesn't want to be a witness, she doesn't want to cooperate with authorities, and now a 76 year old retired teacher is dead. There is a direct relationship between failure to put bad guys in prison and future rates of violent crimes. You ask me, I just gave you all those good news in cities. Why is that happening? I think it's two reasons. One is, I think under Trump we are letting cops do their job and prosecutors and judges and district attorneys, they are all working together, more so than in the past, to put violent people in prison and keep them there. I think that is happening more often, not as much as it should, but more often than it was. That's point one. Point two, we've got way less illegal immigrants. We just do. And when you have less illegal immigrants, it allows police not every illegal immigrant as a criminal, but a lot of them are per capita because they tend to be young men. And if you ask me right now, as the data would reflect, who is the most likely to engage in violent acts, it is young men. Young men. You go 15 to 45, basically, 15 to 45 year old young men are the people who commit the vast majority of crimes in this country doesn't mean there's not some women out there engaging in violent acts. Just means the likelihood is young men. Most of our illegal immigrants as a group are young men. And so when you have a lot of young men who are violent being taken out of your country, fleeing the country because they know they're gonna be caught and prosecuted, I think it's not a coincidence that both of those things, suddenly you're seeing crime collapse. And I would add a third factor, being willing to accept crime is unkind. And many of us are just fed up. This is the entire basis largely of Spencer Pratt's campaign as mayor in Los Angeles. And I'm going to talk about that a bit when we come back. But let me play this audio for all of you out in la. Magic Johnson, great, great basketball player. One of the greatest basketball players of all time. Not a great judge of political performance. He says Karen Bass is doing a tremendous job and he just endorsed her.

[Clay Travis]

Listen, I'm supporting Mayor Bass, first of all. I go back with her probably 30 years. She sustained the first ever consecutive decrease in homelessness. Homicide rate is down. New housing units, 40,000. I mean, she's doing a tremendous job.

[Buck Sexton]

Mayor Bass has to have a second term.

[Clay Travis]

And I'm excited to say that.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

Yeah, appreciate your magic. Great basketball player. Karen Bass, not, not a good mayor. I think she has a 25% approval rating in LA right now. So I want to make sure I included that. This is Spencer Pratt's entire campaign. There's too much filth, there's too much violence, there's too much inefficiency in government. I'm going to clean it up. That's his entire campaign. And he's getting a lot of support across the political spectrum because people are tired of taking their kids to different playgrounds and seeing filth, seeing drug use, seeing all sorts of violence on the streets. The quality of life in LA has declined precipitously. There's way too many homeless people, there's way too many drugs. I don't even see that as particularly partisan at all. We should have less of it. In every city in America. President Trump has focused on it here in dc. DC is safer, more beautiful than it has been maybe ever in the history of 250 years of this country existing. I'm not sure that DC has ever been safer than it is right now. All right, we come back, we'll take some more of your talk backs, finish up the show, and I'll head over to the White House. Should have some good reports from there tomorrow. This is the Clay and Buck show and I want to tell all of you out there, make sure if you're out there and you're looking around and you're thinking, hey, what's a reliable place to have money? How can I protect myself against the government printing so much money against the overall rates of inflation? It's gold. Gold has been growing in value for thousands and Thousands of years. Two years ago grew by 27% in value. Last year gold went up 65%. Over the past two decades it's up 700%. If you have an IRA or a 401K, gold should be included in it. Not only going to grow higher in value in the face of continued inflation, a federal budget deficit and central banks worldwide have created all sorts of dynamics to increase the value of gold. Again, gold is a limited commodity. It's had value all the way back to all of human history and it continues to have a great deal of value. Right now, Birch Gold is giving a first time gold buyer a rebate of up to $10,000 on qualifying purchases. For details and a free information kit, just text my name, Clay to 989-898. That's 989-898. Text Clay and Birchgold will let you know how you can get involved in having gold in your portfolio. One more time, get your phones 989-898-CLAY free information kit do it today 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.

[Buck Sexton]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S P500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc, llc SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comdisclosures Ever wonder

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[Clay Travis (Host)]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with with us. So many different talkbacks and reactions from people out there. Let me get to Denise from Greenwood, Arkansas. Cut h see what she has to say. Thank you for having him on back then. And thank you to Alex Berenson for being outspoken with the truth. He is the sole reason that I did not get the shot and I withstood the pressure at my employer, government employer to not take the shot and my daughter did not have it going off to college. So I believe you saved our health. So thank you Alex and thank you Clay and Buck for having him on. Look, everybody has to make their own decisions, but I do think we have an obligation to put as much information out there in front of you as possible. If you remember, Buck had to get a shot to go to his brother's wedding in New York City. I was fortunate. I lived in Nashville and I Never had to get the COVID shot. Now I fought against it. A lot of people were saying, hey, you have to get it. But I looked at the data. I'm very, very thankful my kids didn't get it. And that is a function of making intelligent decisions for your family based on your health impact. Back in the day, my parents were over 75. I told them, hey, based on the evidence out here right now in the early days of COVID I said, it makes sense for you. Didn't make sense for me. Didn't make sense for my wife in the immediate aftermath of both of us having had Covid already. But a lot of people reacting to Alex Cut G Chris in Franklinton, North Carolina.

[Alex Berenson]

Well, I really like what I'm hearing from this gentleman, Alex.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

I'm hoping it paves the way for

[Alex Berenson]

people who were pushed out of their industry to sue for compensation. My wife was 20 years in the CNA profession and, you know, nothing runs without a nurse. And she loved her job, but she

[Clay Travis (Host)]

was pushed out because she refused to get the vaccine. So she was no longer able to be a nurse and it broke her. Yeah, I, I, this is one that I give the Trump administration immense credit for. And Pete Hegseth, secretary of war, we said they should have been doing this for a long time. They said, hey, if you got let go because you refused to get the COVID shot and you were in the United States military, we're going to rehire you and we're going to give you back pay. And I think they've been willing to do that. And again, ultimately there should be consequences for all of this. A lot of people just want to pretend it never ever happened. Today is the day if there are going to be any charges brought against Dr. Fauci after this, the term runs out. We've got to reach, we've reached out to Rand Paul to come on so we will see whether or not he wants to, to come on to talk about this. But he has shared those, those data points as it pertains to Covid. He's got a whistleblower testifying this week about lies related to the COVID shot. We will be covering all of that. I am headed to the White House right now. Reports that President Trump had a national security meeting in a big way with Iran. I would bet that he will make more news a little bit later this afternoon. I will be there. You can see me on Fox News with our friend Will Kane. I'll be doing a stand up from outside the White House and they will be honoring, among many other things going on, the Indiana University football team on a perfect season, a national championship. Hoosier fans never would have believed that would happen. So miracles do happen. Indiana's got a national championship to show for it. Thanks to all of you. We'll be back tomorrow. From dc, this is Clayne Buckshot.

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[Clay Travis]

Get ready for the NFL season with the highly anticipated 2026 NFL schedule release. Every rivalry, every region rematch and every rookie debut with matchups locked and kickoffs confirmed. Be there for every can't miss moment. The full NFL Schedule release coming in May. Get all the [e-mail] ScheduleRelease.

[Clay Travis (Host)]

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[Alex Berenson]

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