
Loading summary
A
This is an I heart podcast, Guaranteed human.
B
The Joel Osteen Daily Podcast. God's plans for you are for good. Be inspired, get ready. God is about to exceed your expectations. Joel Osteen Daily Podcast. You are coming out of that dry place into more than enough daily encouragement right when you need it. There are opportunities in your future bigger than you can imagine. Listen to the Joel Osteen Daily podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite podcast. Welcome back in Clay and Buck. We're rolling through the third hour of the program. We're going to take some of your calls. At the bottom of this hour we will have Treasury Secretary Scott Besant with us. A lot of different topics to get into with him. I would say that he has done a really very good job. Buck in general and also in general as well, stayed a bit outside of the main day to day news stories. Is that fair to say? Hex, I think has done a good job as Defense secretary, War Secretary now, but he's, it feels like in the news all the time. Obviously we're trying to get Todd Blanch confirmed as the next Attorney General, but before him Pam Bondi was in the news quite a lot of the high level appointments. Marco Rubio is in the news all the time, has done a phenomenal job. But I think Bessant has been a particularly inspired choice by Trump and, and this is the first time that we will have had him on the program. So it should be good.
A
There's a lot of great people in this administration for Trump appointees. Who do you think are the who who are the big three all Stars right now? What would be your list?
B
Yeah, my, that would actually be, I'd probably put Marco Rubio at number one Overall, I think Marco Rubio has been the best. And leaving aside VP, right. Because the VP doesn't necessarily have an established platform. I would say Rubio 1, I would probably say Hexseth 2 and Besant 3 would be my top trio and I think you could interchangeably alter those rankings, but I think most people would have that as 1, 2, 3. Fair for you or would you have a different trio?
A
No, I'm, I'm boring insofar as that would have been my three as well. So I had a feeling that's where you would be and that's where I would be. So I think those three have really distinguished themselves and done a phenomenal job.
B
We'll get some of your calls, some of your talkbacks here in a moment. We have Some funny ones yesterday, Buck, of course. Biggest defender of Sunny Hostin. If you missed the third hour of yesterday's program, encourage you to go. Make sure you listen to that.
A
Take shots at me. Take shots at me when I'm on the couch at the View. We'll see who's laughing then, buddy.
B
I also think, by the way, a lot of feedback rolling in on Tesla, but I wanted to play this, Buck, because I thought this was. This has gone viral. I'm not sure if you've heard this. This is a University of Central Florida. I believe UCF might be the biggest university in the whole country right now in Orlando, Florida. UCF student is furious. He was arrested. She was arrested. I'm not sure if this is a dude or a. Or a woman. Trans student is furious and loses his or her mind over being misgendered. Have you seen that or heard this yet?
A
With the cobalt colored blue hair?
B
Yes, of course. 30 cut, 38. Enjoy.
A
What's the problem? Why do you let those kids get away with this?
B
They are not supposed to be here.
C
If you don't lower your voice, I am going to put handcuffs on you and I'm going to take you to a Baker act facility. Lower your voice.
B
Try it.
C
Are you threatening me? Can we get another unit to deal with here? He is having a breakdown.
B
Just say the right pronoun.
C
What'd you say? Get down on the ground right now. No. Your body gets sprayed. No. Get down on the ground right now.
B
Leave me alone.
C
I can come in there.
B
Leave me alone, please.
C
Okay, are you gonna calm down? I want. No, no, no. It's too late. It's too late now. He's. He's gonna be taken away. I just want to get away from him.
A
I understand that
B
you can hear. So you can hear the going on here.
A
Let's save everybody.
B
And I do think you might say, okay, what's going on here? This person is losing his mind over what he says is the misgendering from the police officer. And what, what he is screaming is she. As in you need to call me she. Buck, when I watch this video I just thought to myself, my goodness, what have we done to create this entire group of people that most of them I think are dealing with severe mental health issues. And we have convinced them that their mental health is perfectly fine and that we need to just change objective reality around them to endorse their, their mental illness very often and pretend that they're a different gender than we are. And it's very rare that you see in that one minute video we probably played at 30 or 40 seconds of it, but it be distilled in that way where you can see this person is objectively of unsound mind but screaming over being misgendered at a university campus.
A
Well, it also is very clear that he is more upset about the, about the use of his non preferred pronoun than the pepper spray pulled out to deploy on him and possibly arrest the possible arrest that he is facing at the time. So the thing, yeah, it's clearly a mentally disturbed person, but the Democrats have made this the new civil rights struggle. They've decided that this, that in fact it is a horrible crime to use the non preferred pronoun of this person. And I, I would just ask because we know that there are many different versions of pronouns. Why can't we, why can't somebody demand that you call them, you know, zed or zay, you know, with the Z? Because if they're, if they're non binary and become just as angry over that. Also, the whole thing is
B
pretty remarkable
A
when you think about how the Democrats haven't backed off any of this at all and this is still just the way they feel about things. So yeah, man, it was crazy. But, but the, the dyed, we always have to say this too. When I say blue hair, I don't mean people who are aged and are gracefully aging and have a blue tint to their. No, we mean somebody who's dyed their hair the color of Clay's T shirt. If you're watching on the YouTube screen. OK, which this person did? I. I have yet to meet a person screaming about pronouns with dyed purple or bright blue hair who seems well adjusted. There's a, it's a pretty big and if you throw a septum piercing in there, then you've really got something special going on.
B
Buck, you got people fired up. We got loaded lines, we got a ton of talkbacks. Let's hit several of these things. First, I want to start with Buck. I don't know if they just did this to me to try to, to try to rig the the game Russian judge style here, but a bunch of people actually thought that I was wrong for going after our good friend Sunny Hostin too aggressively yesterday when she was saying my son went to Harvard, I'm a former federal prosecutor. And let's play some of these talkbacks and then we'll get to some of these calls. Glenn. Well, first of all, Glenn from Ohio listening news radio 98.3 pretty funny A.
A
I think you should contact Sunny Hostance as soon as possible and offer your services to represent her son.
B
All right. A little bit funny. I, I could do a good job representing went to Harvard after all. And podcast listener Tim in Arizona says that I was way too tough on Sonny Got your back.
A
Buck Cut C. I absolutely love your show. Listen every day. But Clay, I think you're being way too tough on Sunny Hostin today. I think on the scale of douchebaggery, to coin a phrase, what she did was only a three. It wasn't a seven, it was a three. It was minor. I've seen a whole lot worse things politicians have done.
B
Tim in Arizona, Buck Sexton Team I'm
A
just saying it wasn't that bad. If you told me that there was video of Sunny Hostin throwing her weight around to get her son out of an arrest, I would expect the worst of the worst.
B
Now, your expectations for her were just so low that the fact that she wasn't completely vile meant that she passed the bar of acceptability.
A
I think that's true. I think that my expectations shifted based on who she. But I will also say the she is smart enough to know as a public figure with the body camera going, this is going to get out. So I think that the Sunny Hostin that might have showed up without body cameras present would have, I think, been far more egregious than what we saw on display there. And I'll tell you a quick story, Clay, because, you know, I also, you know, is I got to gotta call things as they are. When I got back from, from Iraq, the first time I came to visit my parents in New York, just like I'd been away for, for a few months. I'd been, been deployed and we were. My dad said, I'll take you to, I'll drive you to the train station. Which was totally unnecessary, but he wanted to hang out. It was nice because I'll drive you to the train station, Penn Station. And of course, you know, we're hanging out and the hour gets late and sure, sure enough, we're going to have to go really fast. He did in. He ran a red light, didn't signal and did an illegal U turn all at once with an NYPD car behind him. Ok, I was in the passenger seat and we got pulled to the side and the officer, I'll never forget the officer comes to the window of the car and goes, sir, what were you doing? That's just disrespectful. You broke like three laws right in front of me on the car. Behind like, the cop was actually kind of like shocked at how absurd. And my dad just looked at him and he goes, officer, I'm so sorry. And I'm just trying to get my son to the train station. He just got back from serving his country and in Mosul with the CIA, and he's going to be going back downrange in about six months. And I just wanted to make sure that he was ready to go at Langley tomorrow. All true, by the way. To be fair. The officer looks at me and he kind of does the like, is this true? And I was like, I mean, yeah. And the officer goes, thank you, sir. Go about your way. Just like that. Just like that.
B
So, you know, actually being a great patriot got your dad out of trouble for just being a maniac. Yes. Yes.
A
100%.
B
Yes.
A
That is exactly. So I'm just. Maybe I was thinking about that while Sonny is trying to play some cards there. Yeah, my dad.
B
I mean, that's a good move by your dad. Totally trading on your being a great patriot to make up for the fact
A
that he had broken multiple three violations at once. It was quite a move.
B
Ye, by the way, a bunch of. And by. What do we have here, B? I think we did not play right. And then. I'll get to your calls here, B. Talk back.
C
So I pulled a guy over for a DUI one time, and he used the do you know who I am?
A
Yes, he was a local gas delivery
C
guy for your propane. But he thought he was important and
B
that he should get out of jail
C
free for a dui.
B
It's tough to play the do you know who I am Card. For someone to know who you are and for your job to not be very important in the grand scheme of things as to why you think you should get out of trouble, That's a tough combo. By the way, that was talkback listener B. I want to make sure I get his name and give him credit. Rich from Henderson, Minnesota, former police officer. Let's see here, Brian. In Idaho, we were having that conversation about what Democrats stand for. You said your whole family flipped from Democrats to Republicans.
C
Yes, I'm a disabled veteran and my entire family. We used to. I'm 64 years old and we used to go vote Democrat. And my little brother a few years ago started listening to Rush. And I said, why do you listen to him? He says, why not try it? You know? So I started listening, and then I talked to my dad and kind of swayed him to listen because the old Democrat party is. Is not even here anymore. The Democrat, Democrat party of yesterday is a Republican party of today. Yeah, that's the way it seems like. And I mean not going to sway that way. And I feel like this is the correct side to be on. So. I really enjoy your show. Buck and Clay. You guys are excellent. I, I listen every day. I remember when you came on the air, so it's the first time I've ever called and I really appreciate you.
B
Thank you.
A
You are a well spoken, erudite and polite fellow, sir. Thank you for listening.
B
Steve in Maine. Steve, fire away.
C
Hey, how are you guys doing today?
B
Fantastic.
C
I just wanted to comment that there are a lot of cars brand new that are under 30,000, that average of whatever 50 or 60 is because they throw in, you know, 70 and $80,000 trucks and you know, luxury cars. But there are a lot of cars under 30 and I haven't bought a new car since it was actually truck, since main 1986. So I'm kind of a cheapskate. And you can get an even better deal by buying a one year old, you know, Hertzer Avis used car. So just, just to throw that in.
A
Can I throw something out there for you, sir? Everything you're saying, first of all, I appreciate it and everything you're saying is true and I'm not disagreeing or arguing. But do you know, do you know how much a new. If I think of what is just like the car, like what is the starter car that a lot of people would get new cars. We're not talking used because that's, you know, runs the whole gamut. Right. What do you think a new Toyota Corolla costs right now? New Toyota Corolla, baseline price
C
35,000.
A
30 grand. 30 grand. I know. So I'm just saying.
C
Right.
A
So a Tesla at 35, 36, I mean Toyota Corolla is like a very entry level, very reliable, but very entry level car. So that's kind of where car prices are now.
B
Yeah, thank you for the call. Look, wait, I want to ask him
A
how many miles are on his truck.
B
Yeah. Do you still have the 1986 truck?
C
No, I, I got rid of that about 20 years ago.
B
Thank you for calling in. Look, I, I think people, and he's right. And I would say if you're trying to buy. One of the great lessons of if you want to teach your kids, depreciation is as soon as you drive that brand new car off the lot, it drops about 50% in value, generally speaking. So if you buy a car that's one or two years old, you can oftentimes get a substantial value associated.
A
I. I do. I do love the Dave Ramsey. When he's trying to help somebody figure out their situation, and he's like, what's your new. What's your car? And they're like, you know, well, I have, like, a new, you know, $80,000 truck that I'm paying, blah, blah. And you just see the look on his face, and he's just, like, so sad. Lord, yes. Yeah, that's always a fun one.
B
Dave is a good guy, but he does just get so sad when he hears some of the financial decisions.
A
It's usually. Don't you think it's usually the though that really sets him over the edge. It's like you're paying 800amonth in car payment, you know, and he sits there and he's just, like, looking at the sky, and it's like, don't pay 800amonth for a car payment. That's bad idea.
B
You know? And a huge part of this, honestly, is people don't know how to stop when they get onto that debt roller coaster. And I think that a lot of the advice that he gives of the way that you get off the debt, the debt roller coaster is. Is something.
A
We got an angry talkback that I really want to hit next. So can we do this one? We'll do this one next because someone's mad at us.
B
Oh, good. Join the club. But I'm not mad at any of you who have been trying out good ranchers because it is amazing. American ranchers and farmers doing the hard work of raising livestock the right way. No antibiotics, no added hormones, pasture raised, all of it right here in the good old usa. And that makes a big difference when it comes to the taste of the beef and the chicken and the pork that gets delivered right to your front door. You can get hooked up right now with an incredible offer. $50 off your first order. Trust me on this. These guys are awesome. Go to goodranchers.com use my name, Clay as the promo code for $50 off anything on the site. That is goodranchers.com promo code C L A Y. You can also get free meat with every order on top of the $50 off. If you start a plan today. Goodranchers.com code Clay American meat delivered. Goodranchers.com Code C L A Y. Level up your brain. Mental mugging with Clay and Buck. What God started in my life, he's going to finish the Joel Osteen daily podcast. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. What was meant for my harm. Lord, I want to thank you. Right now you're turning to my advantage. Your daily source of hope and encouragement. Your second wind is on its way. God is about to breathe on your life in a new way. Listen to the Joel Osteen daily podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts and wherever you get your favorite podcast.
A
All right, welcome back into Clay and Buck. Do we have time before section? No, we don't really have time unfortunately to get into this talk back but I will hold it for after we had talked to the Treasury Secretary which is a big deal. We got some important things to talk to him about. Clay. With the economy right now, how everything's going and I bet he has a Tesla. Not to make everything about Tesla. I bet he's got one. Not his only car, but I would guess he has one.
B
We're going to get a lot of Tesla sold here and look, it's a great American success story. And I do think what you said when you read that, that question, sometimes you don't realize how rapidly the world is shifting around you. And I think one of the most fundamental changes to most people's lives in the next 10 years is going to be self driving cars. It's going to change a lot,
A
my friends. The International Fellowship of Jews is a nonprofit focused on helping members of the Jewish Jewish faith all over the world. And such is the case of the 45,000 Jewish residents of South Africa. The Fellowship is expanding their efforts to South Africa and last month staff members visited Johannesburg and Cape Town for special fair serving Jewish communities facing rising anti Semitism and discrimination. It's a trend that sadly mirrors what many Jewish communities around the world are experiencing. Ongoing economic challenges have further exacerbated the community situation. Nearly half of South African Jews say they would relocate to to Israel should they have the opportunity and resources to do so. The IFCJ is dedicated to helping Jewish citizens around the world no matter their country or origin. Us, Israel, South Africa, anywhere around the world. And now they have a flag pin so you can show your Support. Go to flagpinifcj.org that it's easy to receive one just go to the website flagpinifcj.org welcome in Clay and Buck, joined
B
now by Treasury Secretary Steven Scott Bessant. We appreciate him taking the time to hang out with us and we'll dive right into this because Buck has a one year old that he has signed up for. Trump accounts for people out there that have not done this, that have young children. What can the impact over time, over 20 years mean for these young kids? And why should they be signing up? I'll let you make a pitch.
C
Good, gentlemen, good to be with you. And so everyone, children age 18 to newborn should be signing up for newborns who were born during President Trump's term. They're going to get $1,000 seed investment from the US treasury that's going to be put into a low cost index option. And that could compound at historical rates, just that thousand dollars could be between $3,000, $5,000 at age 18. Parents, employers, family members, friends can put up to $5,000 a year tax free into the accounts. And if that maximum is made over the years, then you could have in the hundreds of thousands of dollars we've got, some of our nation's great philanthropists like Susan Michael Dell are putting up $6.25 billion for children who are not in the top 25% of zip codes by income level. And that will go to children across the age groups. Harold Ham, for instance, another great philanthropist, is doing the same thing in Oklahoma. So these things could really be stacked and it's a very good way for families to start saving for their children. And at age 18 becomes the child's property. They become an adult and they can either use it for, they can use it for anything but school, car purchase, home down payment, or it could be rolled into a, could be rolled into a classic IRA, which at age 60, 65 could be in the hundreds of thousands.
A
Secretary Besson, appreciate you being with us. We're talking a lot these days about how the American people feel about the economy. And with the midterm election looming, it's obviously something that isn't just a matter of public sentiment, but will soon be public vote about how things are going. What's your overview, your sense of how things are going? What's going really well, what's the administration focused on putting more attention on? And what can we expect from now until the end of this year in terms of action, either from your office or from the administration more broadly?
C
Yeah. So let me just look back and I'll tell you what we're not going to do. We're not going to do what the Biden administration did and said that like anyone with economic anxiety, that they don't, they don't know what they're talking about. It's a vibe session. We understand that there was this, the torrid inflation during the Biden years, 21.5% statistical inflation probably higher for working families, probably in the mid-30s. And thus far the underlying economy is quite strong. Core inflation has been coming down. And we've got this temporary price spike mainly in gasoline and energy, energy crude derivatives because of the conflict in Iran. We will get to the other side of this. We had prices are well off the high. We had a brief respite, respite for a few weeks. The conflict, the kinetic portion of the conflict has resumed again. But we'll get to the other side of this. The other thing that we are seeing are the benefits of. You can either call it the one big beautiful bill or the working families tax cuts. I'm also the IRS commissioner acting, I would add, and that we saw 44% of filers took one of the President's signature policies. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, reduced Social Security taxes for agreed seniors or deductibility of interest on American made cars. And the average 97% of the people who took those deductions make less than $200,000. We've got the enhanced child tax credit that there are a lot of things in this bill.
B
We're talking to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant. I know one thing you've been focused on, you just mentioned oil and gas prices. There's talk that there may be new pipelines being built that could potentially take down the percentage of oil and gas that has to travel through the Strait of Hormuz, which would lessen some of the Iranian leadership's power. But you have been tracking, working on all of the funds that are being hidden that have been in the Ayatollah's control. What have you found by being able to track those dollars and how much is this kleptocracy, which we don't talk about a lot, the actual theft that's occurring from the Iranian people on behalf of their leadership. What have you found?
C
Well, we found billions of dollars that we're tracking it across the globe. We have some of it in blocked accounts. We have frozen crypto wallets. We believe that we have found the trust company that controls the new Ayatollah's property portfolio across the globe. Hundred, several hundred million dollar properties. We hope to be able to publish photos and addresses of those properties. And most importantly, we are husbanding these assets for the Iranian people. It belongs to them. This is a kleptocracy masking as a religious organization on the Ayatollah side. And then the irgc, the Iranian Republican Guard, we think that they maybe skim a third of the oil revenues. So we have been tracking both individual Guard members and clamping down on their economy the first six weeks. The kinetic portion of the war which our military executed brilliantly, destroyed their air force, destroyed their navy. I believe we destroyed 85 or 90% of their missile production capability, destroyed a large amount of their existing missile stockpile and drones. And then we moved on. So that was epic fury. We moved on to what we call economic fury. And that includes the blockade, which I believe shocked the Iranians that they were having oil, they were having to take down their oil production. We gave them a chance. We took the blockade down, took the sanctions off for a few days and they did not perform. So we are constricting and tightening the noose again.
A
Secretary of the Treasury Bessant with us now. Mr. Secretary, I just wanted you to react to this headline and then give us whatever details you can because we know that anti fraud efforts for this administration have become a major focus. And the Post reported this morning. New York Post treasury stopped nearly $100 million in taxpayer money from going to dead people. What's going on here?
C
Well, it gives new meaning to dead beat. But what we've been able to do thanks to President Trump's leadership, we've been able to use. There's a government wide program called the Do Not Pay, but we were not able to access that. The systems don't talk to each other and there's a good privacy side to that. But there's an inefficient side to that for treasury, for Social Security or tax payments. So we've been able to merge those two. And we think that we stopped almost $100 million in payments last year. And we think it's going to total almost $350 million for people. I would assume it's either fraud from people who created the accounts or taken them over or relatives who just didn't want to admit that they weren't supposed to get the checks anymore.
B
I know you're from South Carolina and I know we're going to this probably the last question we'll have time for. How well did you know Lindsey Graham? What do you think about his sister succeeding him? Did you consider at all? I know you have a very serious job right now in the Cabinet. Did you consider at all the possibility of potentially running for the Senate?
C
I knew Senator Graham very well. He was a great American, a great patriot. Great. He loved his state, he loved his country. And all I'll say is it was unfortunate. He was busy taking care of the American people and didn't take very good care of himself. I think Darlene's a fantastic person. There are some other great candidates, too. I had a house in the Myrtle beach area, Russell Fry, the congressman from there to 7th district. I think that 7th district voted 81% for President Trump. So Myrtle beach is Trump country. And he threw his hat in the ring this morning. So there's some great choices. It's going to be a very fulsome Republican primary. And look, I think I have the best job in D.C. and it's an honor to help President Trump. And I think this is the best way to do it. I have one boss who doesn't ever sleep and I prefer that than having 5.5 million great South Carolinians.
B
That's outstanding. How often does he call you in the middle of the night? By the way, I know I said final question, but how often does President Trump call you in the middle of the night? What's that like?
C
Well, it always begins with the question. Scott. I didn't wake you, did I? No, no, sir. I am always awake at 1:52 on a Tuesday.
A
There you go. Secretary Besson, thanks for coming on and please come back soon. Appreciate you, sir.
C
Okay, thank you.
B
Let me tell you about Rapid Radios for a moment. It can make a tremendous difference when it comes to helping your family stay in touch in times of catastrophe. We talked about when Buck's sister in law was in eastern North Carolina at western North Carolina and Hurricane Helene hit and all the impact that happened there. We told you about when you had the ice storm here in the Nashville area. So many people lost all of their power. A lot of you all throughout the south who listened to us were able to stay in touch thanks to Rapid Radios and them being on top of that communication world. We also use it for our 11 year old. He doesn't have a cell phone yet. We use this to stay in touch with him. If you have elderly family members, maybe you're going on a road trip and you want to be able to stay in touch nationwide with everybody. Rapid Radios is fantastic. It has all the fun and ease of use of a walkie talkie. Except they're equipped with technology that lets you talk on them nationwide. Instant push to talk capabilities. They operate on a nationwide LTE network giving you unlimited range across the U.S. you could be a mile away from another one another or you could be a thousand miles apart. Rapid Radios works with a clear signal. No contracts to sign, zero monthly fees. And right now when you buy two radios, you get one completely free. Have a big family. Buy four, get two free. You can also keep going up and get six and get three free. Every bundle includes a full year of service and free shipping. Just go to rapidradios.com bundle to get hooked up today. That's rapidradios.com bundle. Level up your brain and balance out your day with the right amount of information and entertainment. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton on the I Hearts radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
A
Welcome back into Clay and Buck. We got some breaking news that we're gonna close up shop here today with keeping you on your toes. This is is from Remember how Trump gave that speech about Chinese? Chinese want to say interact Interference. Interference in the 2020 election or attempted interference in the 2020 election? He talked about all these people who were non citizens who were registered. It sounds like that's crazy, Clay. And I talked about, I said, well there's actually a lot of errors as that's certainly a part of it. Guess what? This is from New Jersey Governor Mikey Sherrill. This is cut 39 hit it.
B
In June of 2023, nearly three years before I became governor, a serious software error in New Jersey's motor vehicle system led to the improper voter registration of what we believe to be roughly 6,600 people in our state. When New Jerseyans applied for a driver's license or identification at the mvc, they were asked if they wanted to register to vote. In the case of this error, some individuals indicated that they weren't citizens and weren't eligible to vote, but the software registered them anyway. The error in the software was corrected a year later in June of 2024. That is more than two years ago.
A
So that's the first one we've heard about. Let me tell you, Clay, tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of people and Democrats always oppose clean voter rolls. Why, why can't we just have people who are supposed to be registered register
B
not only clean voter rolls voter id. I'm going to go vote hopefully today, Buck early in the state of Tennessee. My my primary early voting is going on and I'm going to walk in with my ID as one does and I'm going to present it to the the voting clerks there and it'll be super efficient and super effective. And I just do not understand how in this day and age you can oppose voter ID if you are in any way a rational, reasonable person who is not trying to cheat. And look, 80% of Americans, white, black, Asian, Hispanic, say yeah, voter ID makes total sense for something like this. You can't go pick up tickets at a sporting event, Buck. You can't go to a concert at Will Call without voting, without an id. I just. And even the arguments are so racist. Oh, people aren't smart enough to get photo IDs. Really? You really think there's people out there who can't figure out how to get voter id? A basic photo id? It's crazy.
A
We'll. We'll still follow the story. I just want to note, we mentioned someone was mad at us. This is f on the list, guys. Podcast listener Melinda in Texas. She's mad at us. Let's hear why.
C
I'm very disappointed in you guys, Clay and Buck, for your willingness to accept our loss of freedoms with this technology revolution.
B
Shouldn't there be more guardrails, protections?
C
It's not okay.
B
The tracking of us is not okay. And now we have lasers that can take us out when we disagree with whoever's in charge in the future.
A
Are those lasers on the heads of sharks?
B
Lasers? Look, if Melinda had called into this radio program a hundred years ago and I had said, hey, I've gotten behind the wheel of a car. I think this car is going to be really great. Eventually it's going to replace horses. Melinda would have called in and said, I will never drive a car. I am always going to rely on my horse. What if the bridge is out? I'll ride across the stream in my horse. My horse will always get me where I need to go. Well, some of them.
A
So, yeah, they don't like change. That's true.
B
You need to accept that things are going to change and things are better. Like.
A
And some of the things we talked about. The freedom thing. I was talking about the freedom thing, and it's a concern. What do you mean? I'm. We're talking about a huge trend that is happening in technology. It is happening. I. I said I have concerns about the freedom and how they're going to change. You know, you have to wear your seatbelt and you can only go the limited. So why are we the problem? I don't understand. I'm already saying there's a problem here.
B
You don't have to let the car drive for you. You can drive yourself.
A
Right.
B
And let me just say this. It's kind of hot today, right? Aren't you glad that we have air conditioning? Do you. Were there, people?
A
As an American, sir, as an American, I revel in my air conditioning.
B
Maybe. Is there. Is this a fair take the greatest invention in human history, maybe air conditioning. It's up there. Just in terms of pure comfort. We're going to talk about this tomorrow. Are you going to.
A
You're not going to go printing press? No, I'm not going to go literacy.
Date: July 21, 2026
Podcast: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Host: iHeartPodcasts
This episode’s third hour features Clay Travis and Buck Sexton navigating a lively sequence of current events, cultural debates, and audience interaction, capped by a revealing and news-making interview with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The hour touches on the Trump administration's top officials, classroom culture wars, financial advice, new voter registration controversies, and significant economic and foreign policy developments. The tone is energetic, witty, and unapologetically opinionated—what listeners have come to expect from Clay & Buck.
(00:55 – 2:17)
(2:27 – 7:20)
“My goodness, what have we done to create this entire group of people... dealing with severe mental health issues. And we have convinced them that their mental health is perfectly fine and that we need to just change objective reality around them…” (04:25)
(07:20 – 13:30)
"On the scale of douchebaggery... what she did was only a three. It wasn't a seven, it was a three. It was minor." — Tim in Arizona (08:23)
(13:35 – 16:24)
"A very entry level... Toyota Corolla is like 30 grand. That's kind of where car prices are now." (14:41)
(16:24 – 18:07, 35:51 – 37:38)
"You guys ... your willingness to accept our loss of freedoms with this technology revolution ... The tracking of us is not okay. And now we have lasers that can take us out when we disagree with whoever's in charge in the future." (35:51)
(20:00 – 30:59)
(20:00 – 22:17)
“For newborns who were born during President Trump’s term, they’re going to get a $1,000 seed investment from the U.S. Treasury ... just that thousand dollars could be between $3,000, $5,000 at age 18 ... could be in the hundreds of thousands.” — Sec. Bessent (20:24)
(22:17 – 24:48)
“21.5% statistical inflation, probably higher for working families, probably in the mid-30s.” (22:50)
(24:48 – 27:33)
Bessent explains efforts to track and freeze Iranian government/IRGC funds worldwide, revealing billions seized or blocked, and aims to publicize the Ayatollah’s property portfolio.
“We believe we have found the trust company that controls the new Ayatollah’s property portfolio across the globe ... We hope to be able to publish photos and addresses of those properties.” (25:29)
Updates on the war with Iran:
(27:33 – 28:00)
“It gives new meaning to dead beat … we stopped almost $100 million in payments last year ... going to total almost $350 million…” (28:00)
(29:05 – 30:54)
“I think I have the best job in D.C. ... I have one boss who doesn’t ever sleep and I prefer that than having 5.5 million great South Carolinians.” (29:25)
“Scott. I didn’t wake you, did I? No, no, sir. I am always awake at 1:52 on a Tuesday.” (30:44)
(32:58 – 35:42)
On current cultural issues:
“We have convinced them that their mental health is perfectly fine and that we need to just change objective reality around them...” — Clay Travis (04:25)
On technological changes:
"If Melinda had called into this radio program 100 years ago ... she would have said, I will never drive a car. I am always going to rely on my horse." — Buck Sexton (36:20)
On Treasury's actions against Iranian leadership:
"We believe we have found the trust company that controls the new Ayatollah’s property portfolio across the globe. ...We hope to be able to publish photos and addresses of those properties." — Sec. Bessent (25:29)
On fiscal responsibility:
"If you buy a car that's one or two years old, you can oftentimes get a substantial value..." — Buck (15:00)
On Trump late-night calls:
"Scott. I didn’t wake you, did I? No, no, sir. I am always awake at 1:52 on a Tuesday." — Sec. Bessent (30:44)
On voter ID:
"I just do not understand how in this day and age you can oppose voter ID if you are in any way a rational, reasonable person who is not trying to cheat." — Clay Travis (34:39)
Hour 3 blends familiar Clay & Buck themes: robust defense of Trump administration achievements, sharp (and sometimes humorous) critique of left-wing social trends, direct engagement with listener opinions, practical financial talk, and hard-hitting interviews with DC power players. The highlight: a wide-ranging interview with Treasury Secretary Bessent, who details new child savings accounts, anti-inflation strategies, sanctions enforcement against Iran, a crackdown on government waste, and thoughts on the South Carolina Senate race—all with insider anecdotes about working with President Trump. Meanwhile, breaking news about noncitizen voter registration and open debates over technology, freedom, and cultural divides keep the discussion timely and provocative.