Hour 3 - Who Holds the Cards on Iran?

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Hour 3 – Who Holds the Cards on Iran?
Date: June 23, 2026
Host: Buck Sexton
Guests: Steve Yates (Heritage Foundation, "Nation States with Yates" podcast), Brooke Rollins (Secretary of Agriculture)

Episode Overview

This hour revolves around America’s shifting global leverage, focusing heavily on the Iran nuclear negotiations, Middle Eastern regional security, and big picture changes in Latin America. National security analyst Steve Yates unpacks complex foreign policy issues, while Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins delves into crucial agriculture and SNAP fraud issues affecting American families. The show balances serious analysis with relatable, occasionally tongue-in-cheek, commentary.

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Key Segments and Insights

1. Trump, Iran, and the Nuclear Inspections Debate

(02:20–05:44)

• Buck Sexton introduces the hour and welcomes Steve Yates for in-depth analysis of Trump’s recent comments on the Iran deal and nuclear inspections.

• Clip: Trump insists IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspections are guaranteed (“They're wrong...We have it down 100% inspections,” Trump, (03:20)).

• Yates explains that while nuclear inspections are important, thanks to past US and Israeli actions, the immediacy of the risk has lessened. Inspections typically involve multi-national teams, often requiring security guarantees.

  Quote — Steve Yates (04:04):
  “The president is right that there isn't actually a rush. Thanks to what the United States and Israel have done last year and this year, things have been knocked pretty far into oblivion and pretty deep underground.”

2. Multilateralism and Middle East Dynamics

(05:17–07:34)

• Buck and Yates discuss the relevance of multilateral diplomacy and the new dynamics in the Middle East.

• The Abraham Accords have shifted the conversation away from the traditional Palestine-centric paradigm, moving toward broader regional cooperation.

• On Lebanon, Yates notes that Hezbollah is as much an adversary to Lebanon itself as to Israel. He advocates for greater international support for the Lebanese government to counter Hezbollah’s influence.

  Quote — Steve Yates (07:13):
  “Now being very clear that Hezbollah is just as much an enemy to [Lebanon] as it is to Israel. And that's a helpful framing...the government of Lebanon should get more international and broader security support.”

3. Latin America’s Rightward Turn and Hemispheric Security

(07:34–12:36)

• Buck pivots to discuss the “red wave” of conservative wins in Latin America, especially referencing Colombia, Argentina, El Salvador, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and even rumblings in Cuba.

• Yates frames the trend as a “hemispheric reset” — the move from a “devil’s playground” of foreign meddling and socialist instability to one of enhanced US cooperation, drug cartel crackdowns, and law-and-order leadership.

  Quote — Steve Yates (08:42):
  “It's been a profound wave. There was some momentum with Argentina and El Salvador, but really just over the last 18 months…this is a big, big wave, a red conservative wave pushing the commie pink back.”

• Buck points out that strengthening right-of-center governments means less room for adversaries such as China, Russia, and Iran in the region.

4. USAID, NGOs, and Influence on Foreign Elections

(12:36–15:10)

• Discussion on the allegation that USAID and certain NGOs have empowered left-leaning parties in Latin America.

• Yates argues that while correlation exists, bigger influences are “Soros-like” global NGOs and their billions.

• Buck notes a clear tendency in US-administered aid towards anti-authoritarian (i.e., often left-leaning) initiatives.

  Quote — Steve Yates (14:28):
  “That stuff is big enough that it affects us in the US of A. And if it affects us in big America, in humbler countries…they're just going to be victims of it.”

5. Cuba – Time for a Final Push?

(15:10–16:50)

• Buck probes whether the US needs to take a final step to dislodge the Cuban regime.

• Yates suggests the US is currently preoccupied with Iran, but the broader trend gives the US more options and leverage than ever.

  Quote — Steve Yates (16:00):
  “We have better options than we've ever had before...maybe we're just setting the stage...But for now I think we're preoccupied pretty bad with Iran.”

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Podcast Plug – “Nation States with Yates”

(16:54–17:22)

• Yates teases a coming episode on the Western Hemisphere’s revolution and how nations maintain borders and sovereignty, not just in the US but also Japan and the UK.

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6. USDA & National Security: Brooke Rollins Interview

(24:16–37:45)

A. World Screw Worm Crisis and Rancher Protection

(24:16–29:06)

• Secretary Rollins describes the outbreak of the “world screw worm” (actually a flesh-eating fly affecting livestock), the history of US eradication efforts, and the border failures that contributed to its return.

• The counter is to mass produce sterile flies and reintroduce them to eliminate wild populations.

  Quote — Brooke Rollins (28:07):
  “We produce sterile flies...they mate with bad mama flies...the female flies, they can only mate one time and then they die. And so this is how you eradicate them for good.”

B. Beef Production and Food Security

(29:06–32:23)

• Beef demand is at unprecedented highs, but production is down due to regulatory and environmental challenges, and herd numbers are at record lows.

• The USDA aims to grow the herd, reduce harmful imports, and treat agriculture as a national security issue.

  Quote — Brooke Rollins (31:40):
  “If we can't feed and fuel ourselves, we will lose what freedom tastes like and feels like and what our founders fought for 250 years ago.”

C. SNAP Fraud and Administrative Crackdowns

(32:36–37:45)

• Rollins outlines recent SNAP fraud busts, pointing out that SNAP is federally funded but state-administered, leading to massive fraud — from payments to deceased individuals to multi-claims and high-end luxury vehicle owners receiving benefits.

• Red states partnered on data transparency; blue states sued to avoid scrutiny.

• Rollins boasts about moving five million people off SNAP in 18 months by demanding work requirements and removing illegal aliens from eligibility.

  Quote — Brooke Rollins (34:38):
  “We found almost 300,000 dead people getting SNAP benefits. We found...more than half a million people getting the same benefit more than once.” Quote — Brooke Rollins (37:10):
  “We're proving...that we are moving to requiring work. If you're going to take food stamps...you got to go look for a job, find a job, or volunteer.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Steve Yates describing policy shifts in Latin America:
  “This is a big, big wave and it's sort of a red conservative wave pushing the commie pink back.” (08:42)
• Buck on beef and energy security:
  “We can't have somebody cutting off our oil. We can't have somebody cutting off our steak supply either.” (32:23)
• Brooke Rollins on eradicating the screw worm:
  “We produce 200, 300, 400 million sterile flies a week...They mate with the bad flies...this is how you eradicate them for good.” (28:07)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:20] Start of Hour 3, Steve Yates joins for Iran analysis
• [03:14] Trump/IAEA Inspection Clip and Yates response
• [05:17] Discussion on multilateralism/Iran inspections
• [07:34] Latin America’s political rightward shift
• [12:36] USAID, NGO influence on local politics
• [15:10] US strategy and Cuban regime
• [16:54] Nation States with Yates podcast plug
• [24:16] Brooke Rollins interview: world screw worm crisis
• [29:06] Beef production, food security discussion
• [32:36] SNAP fraud revelations and crackdown

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Tone and Style

• Friendly, unscripted banter interspersed with deep-dive policy analysis.
• Both direct and accessible — Buck and his guests use plain language, vivid metaphors (“commie pink,” “devil’s playground”) and careful, sometimes dry, humor.
• Clear underlying themes: American strength through border security, hemispheric partnerships, and government accountability.

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In Summary

An episode rich in analysis of who controls leverage in global affairs, especially regarding Iran and America's own neighborhood. Listeners are treated to a rare blend of expertise and conversational ease — with Steve Yates making sense of a complex global chessboard and Brooke Rollins highlighting how agricultural and welfare issues go beyond the farm to underpin national security. Whether discussing nuclear inspections, Latin American elections, or the mechanics of fly eradication, the show underscores the link between policy, politics, and America’s ability to “hold the cards.”

Transcript

[Clay]

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[Buck]

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[Clay]

Dad?

[Buck Sexton]

Lingokids, please.

[Steve Yates]

When did we become the Lingokids house?

[Clay]

No idea. Last week it was dinosaurs. This week it's Lingokids.

[Steve Yates]

Why Lingokids?

[Buck Sexton]

Because it's the best thing ever. You can play games with astronauts, wild animals and superheroes.

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[Clay]

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[Brooke Rollins]

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[Steve Yates]

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[Buck Sexton]

Third hour of play and Buck kicks off right now. We are joined by our friend Steve Yates. His podcast nation states with Yates rocketing up the charts on the Clay and Buck network and everywhere. You get your podcast, go check it out. Our favorite global affairs guru, also a Heritage foundation fellow. Mr. Yates, great to see you sir.

[Steve Yates]

Buck, thanks for having me back.

[Buck Sexton]

You know I'm actually going to have you if you would react. You probably haven't even heard this yet because it just happened in my cracked team of clip cutters have pulled this for us. How do you react to what Trump just said about the Iran deal? Ok, so a reporter asked him. This is about the IAEA inspection stuff. Let's talk about nuclear inspections and all that, all that jazz. This is cut 30. Play it, guys.

[Clay]

Iranians are saying there's no scheduled visit for the IAE inspectors. Is that part of your agreement?

[Buck Sexton]

They're wrong. They're wrong.

[Steve Yates]

They know they're wrong.

[Buck Sexton]

They told us inside. And we have it down 100% inspections.

[Steve Yates]

And if they were right, I'd cancel

[Buck Sexton]

the meetings right now.

[Steve Yates]

From your view, Mr. President, when will those inspectors actually be on the ground? At the appropriate time.

[Buck Sexton]

At the appropriate time.

[Steve Yates]

There's no rush, but they'll be on the ground at the appropriate time.

[Buck Sexton]

So Trump being Trump, he's like, shut up, you're wrong. There's going to be inspections guaranteed, no doubt. Ok, take us into this, Steve. Like nuclear inspections. How does this stuff actually work? How effective is it? What has to happen so that it can't be gamed? Work us through this.

[Steve Yates]

Well, I'll take the easy part first. The president is right that there isn't actually a rush. Thanks to what the United States and Israel have done last year and this year, things have been knocked pretty far into oblivion and pretty deep underground. And so this remains a very important issue, but it's not the most urgent and time sensitive of the issues. Now, traditionally when you'd have inspections, it would be under the guise of one of the UN affiliated blobs that would have international folks go in, it would include Americans and they would use science to find where the bad stuff is and they might remove it or they might further destroy it. And that could take years, could go on a long, long time. But the key is, is it a permissive environment where you have security to be able to go do that, or is it a warlike or terrorism like situation where you have to have special forces be able to guarantee your safety to just conduct the inspections? For now, we are clear as mud about where exactly the first step of this will occur. But in fairness, I think the president is right. They're going to occur. This should be one of agreeable things to the air quotes international community.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes, this would seem to take us in the direction of multilateralism, which I know excites all those UN and world one world government types out there, but sometimes there's a place for it in this case, it seems multilateralism might make some sense with the iaea. How are you feeling about the overall, the overall trajectory of these negotiations? And can you address the Hezbollah, Lebanon, Israel angle? Because that seems to be something that's on the periphery but sometimes gets right in the middle of things too.

[Steve Yates]

Well, buck to mix a few metaphors. I mean, I sort of feel like I'm watching Charlie Brown football scrum in the middle of a game where it's kicking up a lot of dirt. It looks really, really ugly. And sometimes the move, the cloud moves a bit towards the end zone and back and it's. We're in that part of the process where I don't think it looks very good. But some of the broad things have been done right. I mean, we have legitimately, profoundly degraded Iran militarily. Doesn't mean we're safe from Iran, but we've done massive, massive good job. We have tremendous financial leverage. We seem to be easing up on some of it in order to keep the negotiations going forward. That's risky, but we still have tremendous leverage on the financial side of things. And we've reset the entire regional conflict conversation where we used to be prisoner of. You have to recognize an independent Palestinian state or you can't do anything else in the Middle east to. We're now talking about Abraham Accords like frameworks. Maybe imperfectly, maybe it's still a work in progress, but it's fundamentally a different and better place. So that's the good news. That cloud I think has moved net in the right direction, but it still looks really rough. The Lebanon part, we had a much clearer view when we were recognizing the government of Lebanon, now being very clear that Hezbollah is just as much an enemy to them as it is to Israel. And that's a helpful framing because people have really mistakenly looked at this as just being Israel versus Iran or Israel versus Hezbollah, but really the government of Lebanon should get more international and broader security support to take care of their own home.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, that would seem to make a whole lot of sense. I'm going to Steve because I said global guru. So we're not just talking Mideast, we're not just talking Asia Pacific, which is right in the center of your wheelhouse. I want to shift our focus for a minute here to Latin America. There was this election that just happened in Colombia where by a razor thin margin this election happened just a couple days ago. A right wing outsider known as El Tigre, which my Spanish is good enough that I know, I think that means the Tiger, he defeated a leftist who a lot of people who just follow what's going on in our hemisphere, the trajectory of sort of the socialist, Marxist, Latin American stuff are saying this would have been a disaster for Colombia. And at a time when Venezuela seems to be on a better path than it has been, Colombia being a more stable and reasonable partner was really important. What do you take from this? And I'll get to the USAID question here in a second, but is this, how does this factor into Venezuela policy? What Trump's trying to achieve in Latin America is this Colombia win a pretty big deal?

[Steve Yates]

It is a very, very big deal. I think it's number one. It's right in the center of the Latin America, Central America divide there. And so it's central to a lot of different issues. And I think that this rightward lean and I would say hemispheric reset under President Trump's tenure is one of the biggest, most important undercovered strategic stor. I mean, it's been a profound wave. There was some momentum building with Argentina and El Salvador, but really just over the last 18 months you got Bolivia, Honduras, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru. This is a big, big wave and it's sort of a red conservative wave pushing the commie pink back. And people just don't have a real sense of perspective that really Latin America was left as a basket case, a real devil's playground of Al Qaeda and jihadi groups. China, Russia, Iran, all playing in this playground and really basking in these socialist experiments. Now we have pro US cooperation, tough on crime, cracking down on cartels. I mean, we've really got partners that we can work with. And if we have our wits about us, after greasing some drug boats and knocking a leader here or there, we've got a much better hemisphere to deal with in our own backyard.

[Buck Sexton]

You know, we've got, you mentioned some of these, but just for everybody in Argentina, Javier Milei his there were strong midterms there, gains for his sort of libertarian right party. Obviously the great crime miracle of anti crime miracle of El Salvador's Bukele continues on. He won by like Turkmen Uzbek, you know, one man, dictatorship level, legitimate election. But everyone's like, you know what? I think they're going from murder everywhere all the time to almost no murder thing. Let's keep riding this out in El Salvador and let me say people of El Salvador, smart move, well done. Ecuador, Daniel Naboa, he's a center right guy, but a law and order guy. In Chile, I think you mentioned Chile Jose Cast he is also right, a right guy, a right leaning guy on security, immigration, economics, Bolivia, Peru. And we even had some noise out of Cuba recently that they may try to approach a more market China kind of model. Is that significant or is this just kind of the last throws of the sclerotic commies in Cuba before the whole thing collapses?

[Steve Yates]

I think it's part of the sclerotic commies, but it is the hopeful path, it is a rational path that they should follow. Everything that's happened in this red wave of conservatism across the region definitely bolsters it. I mean this is basically a broad region that never got into the woke politics. It doesn't make sense in their native language to talk about things that aren't male and female. It's literally right in the language. And so this is pro family, pro enterprise and they've really had it with the lack of law and order and so all of that really bodes well. And so with the Maduro move in Venezuela, the economics of cutting that back on the available fuel, I mean really there isn't much room left for Cuba. And by having this red wave, we also have less accessibility for China to dump products in our region, manipulate the region, compromise ports. We've resuscitated a vibrant Panama with hopefully a secure canal that cannot be compromised in a time of crisis. We've really taken some chess pieces off the board for those who hate America and I just don't think we've really taken stock on how big that is and how it improves our risk management dealing with other regions if our own backyard is trending in the right way.

[Buck Sexton]

And I want you to take a forward leaning posture here on something that's been coming up a lot online and it is ok. We just named and you laid out for us the implications of a significant rightward lean in Latin America, which of course in our hemisphere, in our backyard. This stuff is, is, is all, is all meaningful in the US foreign policy realm. The USAID role in this stuff, people are saying it's out there, the theory is out there. I will say that USAID NGO activism stuff ended up helping a lot of left wing governments win in these places. Is that what's real with that? What's theoretically possible? What do you think is proven with that? Does it matter? Has it mattered?

[Steve Yates]

Well, Buck, I think it overstates causation. There's definitely a correlation. The USAID was a bucket of money. It did go out to. It will come as a shock to no one in the audience that A lot of the people that operate these programs are not conservatives not looking forward to investing in the red wave of love of family law and order pro America. And so these billions of dollars that went through, they should not have been spent the way they were. And like you were talking about accurately that recent election, it was really, really close. And so a few billion dollars in a program, even a few million dollars in a program can tip when you're in a. And so it had an effect. But I would still say the broad Soros like entities that are out there are bigger, the billions are more plentiful.

[Buck Sexton]

And are, is that like the, the tides, the tides foundation stuff? Because I see people bringing that one up specifically.

[Steve Yates]

Yeah. And, and I mean that stuff is big enough that it affects us in the US of A. And if it affects us in big America, in humbler countries with less defense and awareness about these kinds of outside influences, they're just going to be victims of it. So that' bigger enemy that has been playing this. But I still think it makes positive sense to have doged usaid. And if there's any revival of that kind of programming through Marco Rubio, State Department, let's right size it, get it focused on results. But it's this broader battle, but this pro America wave, this pro I think self respect wave, that's the best way forward to resist those outside malignant.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. Cause I ask you about it because I do think that the, there is a clear and broad institutional bias in the implementation of those USAID funds toward quote, anti authoritarian, which just means pro left wing, you know, so right, so there's, there's right, there's real stuff going on there. But I think you, you put it in the proper context which is that's not, that's a piece of, of a, of a broader story here. Just one more thing for you, Steve. We got about a minute and change. But on Cuba, you know, I'm down here in South Florida, you know that I'm seeing my, my Cuban Americans every time I walk out my front door. Do we, do we the Trump administration, we the American people, do we need to give one last shove to the thug commies of Cuba to get them out of the way? Or can we just sit back and watch this show collapse and then figure out what comes next?

[Steve Yates]

Well, we've had, we have better options than we've ever had before. And I would have said before the feeling of the Iran situation stretching out longer than comfort would suggest that we have given them a shove. I would say in the very near future. I think that given that Iran is taking a lot more management bandwidth, maybe we're just setting the stage and letting the region do what it can to put that pressure in place. Let's see where the economic chips fall. But I also have to be careful of my wish. Not being the father of my thought, I want that government gone just about as much as your neighbors and friends do. And I think it would be a real shame if we didn't take this moment to give it a nudge. What that nudge looks like militarily, intel wise, economic wise, hard to say. But for now I think we're preoccupied pretty bad with Iran.

[Buck Sexton]

Steve, just real quick, what's next up on Nation States with Yates?

[Steve Yates]

Well, we have an episode that's actually going to talk about this revolution in the Western Hemisphere and how that's good for Americans and also talk about borders and how that matters for nation states, not just America. You've heard about our southern border, but take a look at how Japan and the UK have grappled with these things. We'll talk about what some common sense sovereignty options are among our friendly nation states on the podcast under the Clay and Buck Podcast Network.

[Buck Sexton]

Go check it out. Nation States with Yates. Be smarter than all your friends on national security and all you have to do is hang out with Steve. Steve, thanks so much.

[Steve Yates]

Thank you Buck.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck]

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[Clay]

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[Buck]

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[Clay]

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[Buck Sexton]

Mom, can I have Lingokids? Dad, Lingo Kids, please.

[Steve Yates]

When did we become the Lingokids House?

[Clay]

No. Last week it was Dinosaurs. This week it's Lingokids.

[Steve Yates]

Why Lingokids?

[Buck Sexton]

Because it's the best thing ever. You can play games with astronauts, wild animals and superheroes.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Clay]

So no dinosaurs and dinosaurs.

[Brooke Rollins]

Lingokids.

[Buck Sexton]

Everything kids love. Download it for free.

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[Buck Sexton]

we have Brooke Rollins up next, Agriculture Secretary, Notice we're having some department heads on this week from the various federal agencies because I want to know what is going on. Yeah, we just brought you through the Iran. So just listen to that Steve Yates interview. You know, everything you know about Iran right now, period, full stop. He does the best job. I've known Steve for 15 years, okay. And he's the one guy that I wanted to bring on to just do pure national security analysis for the Clay and Buck podcast network and also on radio for us as a, as an analyst. So go, go check that out if you happen to miss it. And we'll talk to Brooke Rollins coming up here next about a bunch of things going on in the world of the agriculture. You know, I don't, we don't spend a lot of time talking about, you know, far farming and stuff like that. It's important though. You do need food to eat. It's important. This is B A Talk back. Matt from Minnesota, he's a brilliant guy. Listen to this. I agree wholeheartedly. Cannot stand Nirvana. Also Taylor Swift is the modern equivalent of the Beatles in that they're both really overrated and have like three good songs. I mean I, I agree with you actually on both counts, which is going to get a lot of people mad, but certainly agree with you on the first part. I just. Nirvana is just not good. I understand. Oh, the grunge. But yeah, there would have been grunge without them. I would take Soundgarden over Nirvana ten times over. No question. I'm that guy. I just call, I just call it like it is, folks. Many of us guess our way through our health issues and the questions that pop up, particularly when it comes to gut health issues. We guess what foods to eat, supplements to take and we learn the hard way when something doesn't agree with us. But we're still guessing and sometimes we can't find answers. Truth is we just don't know. But if your DNA is the blueprint, your RNA shows what's actually happening, happening in real time. And a company called viome is out there helping so many Americans make sense of their digestive system through understanding that blueprint for you. Viome is a simple at home gut health test that uses advanced RNA technology to analyze your gut microbiome and understand how your body is really functioning. It acts as your gut detector. From there, viome creates a personalized food and supplement plan designed specifically for your body. Go to viome.com that's V as in victory. I O M E viome.com Use code CB50 to get $50 off. CB50 code CB50. @viome.com. We have the Secretary of Agriculture with us right now. Brooke Buck Rollins, Agriculture Secretary. Appreciate you being with us.

[Brooke Rollins]

Oh, my goodness. Buck, it's my honor to be on. Thank you for having me.

[Buck Sexton]

So I gotta tell you, you know, it's something that doesn't come up that often, but I have to do a little bit of research right before one of our big and important guests comes on to know what the heck I'm talking about here. Tell me about this new world screw worm, because you're in Texas right now dealing with this. This is under the USDA's mandate and these seem like nasty little bugs.

[Brooke Rollins]

Well, it is not ideal, that's for sure. So a couple of quick top lines. Number one, our ranchers and livestock producers in our country, really the backbone of America, have been dealing with this since 1842. In the 1930s, a USDA researcher came up with a solution. And it is not actually a worm. It's a flesh eating flesh fly. Well, the fly lays her eggs, the larva hatch and they begin to eat the flesh in an open wound. I know it sounds disgusting. Here's the thing, though. It's completely treatable. The animal will completely recover. It does not compromise the food supply system at all. But it is a pretty significant hindrance. We completely got it out of America in the 1960s, was the last time it was here, pushed it all the way back to South America, past the Darien Gap, past Panama. And unfortunately, because of the Biden open borders policies and the Mexican illicit cartel of 800,000 head of cattle, it began to make its way back up in 2021, 2022. It hit our side of the border a couple of weeks ago. Since then, we've had about 15 confirmed cases. But the good news is we were ready. We knew it was coming when I walked in the door February 13th of last year after being sworn in and voted upon by the Senate. But this was the first briefing I got. What's really interesting though, Buck, is that the Biden team had done nothing other than watch it progress. Northern. More northern. More northern. More northern. So we had to really start from scratch. But we're opening a facility this Saturday with sterile flies, which is how you get rid of it and eradicate it. We've got a big facility we're building in South Texas. We have FDA approvals on a bunch of emergency treatment. I mean, we're, we're in good shape. Not ideal, but we were ready, we knew it was coming, and we'll push it back very quickly.

[Buck Sexton]

Sorry for the city slicker question here, but do they bite people, too? Because that sounds nasty.

[Brooke Rollins]

Well, it is not a crazy question. So here's the thing. This is the only fly. I mean, we all know, even the city slickers amongst us, we all know that there are things, maggots, etcetera, that feed off of dead animals. You know, it's part of God's, I think, playing a little bit to get rid of that. But this is the only fly that has to have a live mammal to feed off of. And so they're looking for open wounds to burrow in. So an umbilical cord. Fawns for any of our hunters that are listening, you know, the fawns that in deer that are growing their antlers, et cetera, those are all open opportunities. Feral hogs that have scratches, these are all part of the challenge in South Texas, where we are. But it's all manageable. And so when you ask about humans, that doesn't happen in America. There are human cases in the developing part of the world where they don't have access to hospitals or good wound band aids, et cetera. So you will hear of a case every now and then of a human. But in America, we're really talking about our lives. Livestock and our wildlife is where we're really focused.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, you're in Texas. Elon's not too far away. Maybe he has like some space lasers or something because you got to take out these screw worms. That sounds. That sounds nasty, Secretary Rollins.

[Brooke Rollins]

But this is actually amazing, Buck. You know how you solve for this is we produce sterile flies, and those sterile flies mate with bad mama flies, right, that are laying the larva in the open wounds. And so that's how they got rid of it in the 60s and the 70s. That's how we're going to get rid of it. It now. It's actually an incredibly impressive technology where we produce 200, 300, 400 million sterile flies a week. The sterile flies leave the facility, we drop them via plane or ground. They mate with the bad flies, and the female flies or the bad flies, they can only mate one time and then they die. And so this is how you eradicate them for good. And that's what we're building back up. Barack Obama shut down those facilities in 2012. Unfortunately, the Biden team didn't do much, but we're building it all out right now, and we'll have enough sterile flies to eradicate hopefully by the end of this year, early next year.

[Buck Sexton]

Secretary, how are our ranchers in general doing? How's beef production going in this country? I know that something the USDA is focused on right now, for example, is just lowering the cost of some of those inputs like fertilizer, so ranchers are able to produce top quality beef, but also, you know, competitively and be able to make a profit doing so. So how's the situation, the picture for the American beef industry?

[Brooke Rollins]

Listen, we inherited, when we walked in the door, an absolute mess under the last, the last administration. I'm not sure what they were doing, but inputs went up on average 40%. That's fuel, fertilizer, equipment, interest rates, et cetera, et cetera, labor, an average of 40%. So even though inflation was ridiculous, right near 30% under those four years under Biden, for our farmers, it was even worse then. You combine that with four years under the last administration, not one new trade deal around the world. So when we left in early 2021, we had an agricultural trade surplus, meaning we were selling more than we were taking in. Our farmers were in good shape. When we came back, it was a $42 billion agricultural trade deficit. Not one new trade deal. Brazil and China took over a lot of our markets, including beef, et cetera. So we're fixing that. Inputs are coming down. Of course, the Iranian conflict caused a short pause in that and a slight increase in fertilizer. Some fertilizer, more than slight, but some just slight. But that's all coming back down now. As far as the beef goes, we have a bit of a perfect storm. We have an amazing Make America Healthy Again movement led by Secretary Kennedy with my partnership, New Dietary Guidelines. Eat real food. Eat more beef. We have a demand for beef today like we have never seen before. And that's how we get America back to being healthy again, is eating real food, real protein like beef. Then you combine that with the Democrats assault on our ranchers and our agricultural producers, you know, not just under the Biden four years, but all of our blue states where they're more concerned with putting Chinese owned solar panels on their prime farmland than they are in supporting our farmers. And so from a beef perspective, because of a lot of that, we've got some drought issues too. The new World screwworm we just talked about, we do have our lowest beef herd on record at a time. We have the highest demand. So our cattle guys are doing okay for the first time in a really long time. But we've got to build our herd up. And the Answer is not to import more beef, although certainly we have higher imports than we've had as we're trying to meet the demand. But the answer is the long term build out of the herd and supporting rural America, supporting our beef producers, support farmers. It really is a national security issue. So a lot of your listeners may be like, well, this is an interesting take on the with Buck Sexton on the Bucks. The Buck and Clay Show. The Clay and Buck show. Because we probably hadn't talked to the New World screw room before. But it's important not just to support rural America, to support our farmers and ranchers, but it really is a national security issue that every listener in this country that cares about freedom and liberty fully understands that if we can't feed and fuel ourselves, we will lose what freedom tastes like and feels like and what our founders fought for 250 years ago. That's how important all of this is.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, we can't have somebody cutting off our oil. We can't have somebody cutting off our steak supply either. These are important things. We need to be self sufficient on oil and steak. High on my list. Texas certainly does both.

[Brooke Rollins]

Yep.

[Buck Sexton]

Does both of those things. Right. You know, something that's getting a lot of attention this week, I think in part because of some of the really headlines, headline grabbing arrests and indictments that the FBI has dropped. But about fraud issues. So as part of your USDA mandate, you oversee snap, or commonly known as food stamps but Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, there have been some people charged seeing here a DOJ release. Eleven migrants, for example, charged in SNAP benefit fraud. How big a thing? People are looking at some of these frauds, these medical frauds. It'll be one medical practice at $100 million or some other guy I think I saw was actually at a billion dollars recently. They had to track him down. FBI had to grab him. How big do you think the scale is of SNAP fraud and how much can you crack down on it to get it to be as minimal as possible?

[Brooke Rollins]

Let me provide some greater context. Yeah, we call it Takedown Tuesday when we release. And this, by the way, these are just USDA investigated fraud. I mean, that is in addition to what the FBI is doing, the Department of Justice, what some of the states are doing. One, the very first action I took when I walked in the door February 13th of last year was we wrote a letter to every governor in America. And the SNAP program is an interesting program because it is federally funded, it's federal tax dollars, but it is state executed, meaning that the feds would send the money to the states and then no one would ever ask any questions whether is the money being spent wisely. Well, I'm from a red state. I'm from Texas. I worked in state policy. There are some good guardrails for a lot of the welfare programs, at least in the red states. Not perfect, but good guardrails. Of course, we know in the blue states there are zero guardrails as they're trying to put more and more people on these government programs, including illegal aliens, as they're working to build their voting block, et cetera. But that first day, I sent a letter to all 50 governors. I said, y', all, let's partner on this. Fraud is not red or blue, Republican or Democrat. We owe the taxpayer better. Not surprisingly, Buck, every single red state raised their hand and said, we're in. Sent us their data, allowed us to look at their data and what we found. And keep in mind, this is just the red states. We found almost 300,000 dead people getting food stamp SNAP benefits. We found more than half a million people in the red state, half a million people getting the same benefit more than once, once, twice, three times. We found one state had massive luxury vehicles like Ferraris and Lamborghinis and Teslas and others, although Elon said quickly, brook, don't put the Tesla in with the Ferraris and the Lamborghinis. But nevertheless, if you're getting a food stamp, you probably shouldn't be driving a new Tesla around. So what we have found just by skimming the surface, Buck, has been absolutely astounding. The depth of the fraud, what we all suspected over all of these years is real. It's stunning. But we are getting our arms around it. But I tell you, this is why take off my policy hat for just a second and talk a little bit of politics. This is why the midterms are so incredibly important. Because for this work, work to continue unabated, for us to have really two and a half more years to really dig down, we've got to hold the house. Now, we will be able to keep going a little bit, but obviously the Democrats will be turning around every corner to try to slow us down as we're rooting all of this fraud out. The blue state sued us as we asked for that data to partnership on how to get the fraud out. So we're in litigation right now, but I think we're going to win that litigation. The president has been unequivocal, the vice president as well, in his laser focus on doing everything we can to Ensure that these programs are serving those who really need it, but also protecting the taxpayer. And one other quick note. And Buck, I think this is such a huge win. When we started a year and a half ago, Trump termed two. There were about 44, 44 and a half million people on the food stamps on SNAP, which is absurd to think that many people are on welfare. In just a year and a half, we've moved about 5 million people off of food stamps. So. So history would tell you that once a government program takes root, it's impossible to ever roll it back. But with snap, with food stamps, we're proving that actually opposite that we are moving to requiring work. If you're going to take food stamps and you're able bodied and you don't have small children at home, you got to go look for a job, find a job or volunteer. You have to make sure you're not, we have to make sure you're not illegally here. Any illegal aliens no longer can get snap. So we've done a lot on the shrinking of the program size. Again, not just fraud, but also work requirements, etc. To make sure it's right. Sizing and serving the people who really need it again while also serving the taxpayers who are paying for it.

[Buck Sexton]

Great stuff. Secretary Rollins, go kill some of those flesh eating flies, please. Scary stuff.

[Brooke Rollins]

I will you Buck, you have my word for it. I'm off off to go do that. And listen, really appreciate being on. Thank you so much.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, of course. Thank you so much. Thank you. Great talk to you him and I don't want anyone, anyone messing with our beef supply. You know, these evil flies from abroad coming across our wide open border. That's no good.

[Brooke Rollins]

All right.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

Mom, can I have Lingokids? Dad, Lingokids, please.

[Steve Yates]

When did we become the Lingokids house?

[Clay]

No idea. Last week it was Dinosaur Lingokids.

[Steve Yates]

Why Lingokids?

[Buck Sexton]

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So no dinosaurs and dinosaurs.

[Brooke Rollins]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

Now we are closing up shop here on Clay in Buck for the day this Tuesday. Pretty much in the book, but great time to remind you. Go check out the Playing Buck podcast network where you can listen on demand to this show hour by hour. Also the Buck brief little extra program. I throw in the mix a couple times a week. Our friend Steve Yates there nation states with Yates. We'll have some of our other podcast podcast Clay and Buck hosts like Carol Markowitz and Dave Rutherford and Tudor Dixon on in the next two weeks. As you know, Clay is on vacation till after the the 4th of July and we will be celebrating that 250th year coming up soon, which is very exciting stuff. And speaking of exciting stuff, my son had his speed, that is his name, had his first swimming lesson today, which I have to say it was very fun. He, you know, he wore like the little, the little like baby swim thing where you've got the, it's like the swim trunk that has arms kind of, you know, this is what they do now, even a little floppy hat on for getting into the pool. So, you know, all good things going on here, my friends. A lot of fun with the swimming. And you know, I have to say I'm buoyant. So I do have some advantages in the swim realm. And Steve from Toledo wants to get in on my. Oh, okay, this is, this is C on the talkbacks. Let's hit it. If there was a hundred, hundred grunge bands, let's say 90 of them won't hit wonders. So that's what I got to say about the grunge. Yeah, Taylor Swift, she's overrated. Beatles are way overrated. They only even together for like five years or something. You know, Rolling Stones are way better than the Beatles. But yeah, so my take on that, you know, to each his own. This is like somebody's told me they're very disappointed in my music taste. They love everything else I say on the show, but they're disappointed in my music taste. And to that esteemed listener, I just say what I say to my wife when I get in trouble. Nobody's perfect. How do you argue with that? My music taste certainly isn't perfect. And if Clay was here, it would really be imperfect. Music taste. That's for darn sure. You know what's going on. All right, we'll dive into more tomorrow. Please send talkbacks and emails also with things you want as topics here on the show. I love it when someone says, hey, I. I want you to dive into this. And I haven't. Oh, I haven't. I have not done that yet. Let's dive into that for the next time or the next show. So this is a free form conversation back and forth with all of you. Thanks for hanging with me today. It'll be a great show tomorrow. I will talk to you then.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Buck]

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[Clay]

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[Clay]

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[Clay]

in Orange county, when we bring my five and seven year old to visit, we are sometimes in for a two hour drive that could feel like 10.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay]

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[Buck Sexton]

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