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Clay
This is Jim.
Eric Trump
Hello.
Buck
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Eric Trump
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Eric Trump
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Team 47 with Clay and Buck starts now. It is a day of reflection over Trump's remarkable accomplishments alongside of his administration. And I never would have believed the day. But as I look down at the roster, we have praise for Donald Trump from Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Joe Scarborough, and an incredible montage our team put together of all different sorts of Democrats singing Donald Trump's praises. I think this is frankly remarkable and I think it deserves all of the public acclamation. We will run through some of those in a moment, but I just wanted to hit you with this, Buck. In the past 24 hours, listen to Donald Trump's schedule. Remember we went from my cousin, my. I was going to say my cousin Vinnie. We went from Weekend at Bernie's. Apologies. To my cousin Vinnie. Great film. Weekend at Bernie's, Presidency of Joe Biden. They tried to run Weekend at Bernie's too, where they would hide him. He could only do events from like 10 to 2. Then they would hide him. If they ever did any press availabilities, they gave him note cards to call on members of the press with prescreened questions. Listen to what Trump has done just in the last 24 hours. He flew to Israel, spoke to the press there in Israel, met with Israeli leaders, spoke to the press again, met with families of the hostages, delivered an hour long speech to the Knesset that is basically the Israeli Congress, did another interview, flew to Egypt, met with the President of Egypt, spoke to the press again, took photos and chatted individually with dozens of world leaders, signed the historic Gaza peace deal, delivered another speech, met privately with world leaders, flew back to the United States. He touched ground publicly, walking across the grass of the South Lawn of the White House. I believe Buck at 3am, one of the most extraordinary. 36 hours. He took off at 3pm, 36 hours before, went all the way to the Middle east, did all of those things, got back off the plane at 3am and today is celebrating and awarding to Charlie Kirk's widow, Erica, the Presidential Medal of Freedom for another public event. For those of you who travel internationally, and I imagine a lot of you out there have done this at some point in time. It is buck, you just did this. You just flew to Taiwan and you just came back. Traveling internationally is one of the most draining things that you can do. Skipping across 12 hours of time zones, all these different things for anybody, no matter their age. For a 79 year old President who has to be at the top of his game, delivering one of the most consequential and I think well delivered addresses of his entire political career, we're talking about superhuman, extraordinarily unbelievable levels of mental focus and energy to be able to put all this together for anyone, whether you are the CEO of a company, whether you're working in construction, whether you're a 22 year old listening to us right now, that's an unbelievable 36 hours of accomplishment. And coming on the heels of Joe Biden, it is even more extraordinary. I think what a 36 hours President Trump just put together.
Clay
It's been fun just watching all of the Trump adversary media having to find ways to package this for their audience. Overwhelmingly, they've taken the, you know, he's terrible on, they say a bunch of things and then they go. But I have to say this is pretty darn good. And I don't think that there could be any more obvious, there could be no more clear endorsement of the massive victory here than even Trump's biggest detractors, at least in the media, are having to say, yeah, I think this is a pretty good one. Here's a, here's a great example. So, Clay, you'll remember when I did the Bill Maher show before this last election and there were a lot of things that were interesting about that. One is I was like, you guys are about to get absolutely smoked in this election. And the audience did not boo. I think they knew that things were not looking good for them at that point. It was what, late September, I think before the election. So maybe about a month ago. And the other thing was, I said to Bill Maher, I think this was on camera, but I definitely said it to him off camera. I said, you know that he's really not going to destroy the country and it's going to be fine.
Buck
Right?
Clay
I mean, you actually know that. And I swear he looked at me and he said, I don't know that. I don't know. I think he actually might destroy America. He seemed to truly believe that. Well, Clay, here he is. This is cut 3. Having to face reality. Play it.
Buck
I always say this. You cannot ever deny success. You just have to give your respect, even if it's not your thing, have the humility to give it up for enormous success on any level.
Various Media Personalities (e.g., David Ignatius, John Meacham)
I agree. Trump, not my choice, didn't vote for.
Buck
Him, but a lot of people did. And he's.
Various Media Personalities (e.g., David Ignatius, John Meacham)
I can't deny the success.
Buck
I can't either. Yeah, and he's the President. And he's the President.
Clay
That's, that's pretty much where any honest left of center person in this country has to be right now. Clay. You can't deny the success, guys. It's there, it's, it's in front of all of us.
Buck
If Joe Biden had gotten all of the hostages out of Gaza and delivered a sterling speech giving the virtues of freedom and American leadership and, and traveled and just run through that 36 hour stretch, he couldn't have done any of it. Let's be clear. And that's why you and me and most of you out there did not vote for Joe Biden in 2020. Kamala Harris could not have done any of this and she's 20 years younger than President Trump. But if they had, I would have come on and said, hey, you know what, this is a good result. As I give credit, Bill Clinton came out and said it. Let's play this. I mean, this is. Trump is so successful. Now you and I have. And we're going to sing Trump's praises because we think he's having the greatest presidency of the 21st century. I think we are in the midst. I hope some of you take the time to wake up and smile and be grateful for what we are all experiencing right now, because I think it's about as good as it gets. Here is a montage put together of Democrats and left wing media giving Trump credit for the Gaza deal. This is cut seven.
Clay
This was very much a peacemaker speech.
Buck
It's a terrific day for the hostage families. It's a terrific day for President Trump, for our national interests. Do you give him credit for this?
Various Media Personalities (e.g., David Ignatius, John Meacham)
Certainly.
Buck
I mean, this is an incredible accomplishment, an incredible moment. President Trump deserves a lot of credit.
Eric Trump
For bringing the parties together.
Clay
He should get a lot of credit.
Eric Trump
I mean, this was his deal.
Clay
He worked this out.
Buck
Listen, he got the deal across the finish line. There's no question. Things seem sort of possible now in.
Jimmy Kimmel
A way that they didn't necessarily before.
Buck
A better future ahead.
Clay
That's what today represented, it was so, so powerful and unbelievably emotional.
Buck
We would not be here if it.
Various Media Personalities (e.g., David Ignatius, John Meacham)
Wasn'T for Donald Trump.
Buck
Okay, let me give you an idea of who was saying all of that. That's the Washington Post. David Ignatius, historian John Meacham, Representative Adam Smith, Democrat from Washington, former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Senator Mark Kelly, current Democrat from Arizona, Jim Scotto. I'm not sure how you pronounce his name. Shuto. I don't watch a lot.
Clay
Also went to my high school like Fauci did. I know this because these guys get big, get big requests to come back and speak at Regis, but yours truly on the first or second largest radio platform, whatever, in America. Not a lot of love from the high school. Keep going.
Buck
MSNBC's David Noriega, Ted Deutsch, Democrat from Florida, and Arab Israeli negotiator Aaron David Miller. Also, Stephen Colbert even said. Cut nine. Donald Trump did something good. Had to make a joke about it. But cut nine. Today, thanks to Trump's newly brokered ceasefire in Gaza, all living Israeli hostages and almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners have been released. Okay, it's important. Credit where credit is due. Donald Trump did something good. Are we still canceled? You sure?
Eric Trump
I tried. I tried.
Buck
All right. Jimmy Kimmel even said good work. Now they got to make jokes on the backside, but they're actually giving President Trump credit. This is how successful Trump has suddenly become. He has united Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert in praise. Cut 8.
Jimmy Kimmel
What a day for Donald Trump. You know what? He finally did something positive today. And I want to give him credit for it because I know he's not the type to take credit for himself. Trump was in Israel and Egypt today to celebrate a ceasefire between Israel, Hamas. All 20 Israeli hostages are home. After 738 days, almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees have been released. And while we're only in the first phase of what will undoubtedly be a long and tricky process, the fact is the bombing has stopped, the hostages have been released, and Trump deserves some of the praise for that. And so I know it sounds crazy to say, but good work on that one. President Trump, now, maybe you can not invade Portland. Just an idea.
Buck
Okay, like this is. I understand they got to slap him on the back and make a joke or whatever, but the fact that Colbert, Kimmel, CNN and MSNBC are all lining up for much of their day buck and having to say President Trump did a good job, I do wonder what their moron audiences are thinking here. You and I are not surprised. This happened, but this is what we voted for. We were right.
Clay
I would also add that, that they're limiting the praise to getting the hostages back. But the more comprehensive deal here, there's never been anything like this in Mideast peace negotiations involving Hamas, involving the future of the state of Israel. I mean, this, this is enormous as a framework for the Middle east going forward. And they're not saying that because, Clay, it's one thing to point out, okay, fine, he got the hostages back. We all have to admit that's good. I would also note, who was it? I couldn't, I can't remember. But somebody said 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, those are detainees, they're terrorists.
Buck
The New York Times, that's a different. The New York Times called it a hostage trade, as if the criminals that were under, you know, lock and key were the same as the hostages that were kidnapped.
Clay
So I just want to note that on the one side you have people, you have civilians who were kidnapped at gunpoint for no reason other than the barbarism and hatred of Hamas. And on the other side you have people who were breaking the Geneva Convention in every way imaginable, fighting as a non established military, killing civilians, all of the things that you could point to anyway. But they are trying to limit this to the hostages coming back and they're not what they're not willing to say to their audience. Clay, even in these clips, for the most part, some of the more news people are alluding to this. Aaron, David Miller's actually a sharp guy. I know him from years back and he knows the region well. There are people out there who are lifetime policy wonks who are saying that part of it is a huge breakthrough too. And that's something they won't say on Kimmel show. They won't say that Donald Trump not only succeeded as president in getting these hostages back, but Clay, he has succeeded more on Mideast peace, then Obama, then Biden, then Bush, then Clinton, then Reagan, then go back, then Carter, keep going back. That they will not say, let me.
Buck
Ask you this, and I don't know, I'm curious what your answer is. We can talk about it when we come back because we're coming up against a break. How much do you think the average American cares or is paying attention to what's going on right now in the military Middle East? In other words, does this move Donald Trump's approval rating in the United States in any kind of appreciable way or people like you and me and all of our listeners that are engaged on a day to day basis in the news are aware of this. But is this resonating with your average dad or mom sitting in a car line picking up kids at school? Like, is this something that matters?
Clay
I really, I really don't think so for the most part. I think for the Jewish American community and especially because we had Carol Markowitz on yesterday, she has family in Israel. She has family that are in the idf. Right. So that is, is very noteworthy for, for people that feel a direct connection to what's going on over there. But day to day over here, this will be swept up in the broader news cycle very quickly. And, and I think there's nothing wrong with leaving the diplomacy to the diplomat, well, in this case to Donald Trump, the diplomat in chief, and moving back to issues here on the home front. You know, Trump has helped clean that mess up or bring that mess to an end. Let's get our focus back here at home. I mean there's, there's no need for us to have a, have a split focus. I think that takes away from any of the initiatives and they're not the stuff with the, with Portland and Chicago and the border and, and trade deals with China. That's all still underway too. This is a big news story more than it is a big Main street story. I think that's fair.
Buck
Good analysis. Now we've got Zelensky coming to the White House on Friday. Within that construct, what is MSNBC and CNN going to say if Trump actually brings peace between Ukraine and Russia too?
Clay
Remember that scene in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark when they opened?
Buck
The answer is going to be one for me, but yes, I'm not forgetting any of those scenes.
Clay
It, it will, it will be like that at msnbc. If Trump ends the Russia, Ukraine war, they will just melt in real like there won't be anything left. They will spontaneously combust. Total protonic reversal. I mean, it'll be a total. I don't know what they'll do over there. All right, we'll come back into this.
Buck
Year, say Raiders of the Lost Ark. Oh, yeah. When they look at the ark. Well, they, we have double. We have double. I was thinking when they drink from the chalice at the end and double the other one. Yeah, there's actually double ones. Yeah.
Clay
I mean it will be a Lawrence o' Donnell show might be more like that. And whatever other shows are on, like Chris Hayes might be more like the Raiders of the Lost Ark. But people will melt or evaporate in real time. If Trump actually does the peace deal with Russia Ukraine.
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Clay
Foreign.
Buck
You'Re listening to Team 47 with Clay and Buck. We are joined now by our friend Eric Trump. He's got a brand new book out today. It's called Under Siege. It is burning up the bestseller ranks. I think I saw it posted that it is the number one release on Amazon today, which is a super impressive accomplishment already. And we'll get into the book in a minute Eric, but we appreciate you coming on with us. Having said that, we'll get to the book. But are you still kind of processing how incredible what yesterday was like in the Middle east and your dad having the 36 hours that he had where even as we started off the show, msnbc, cnn, heck, Colbert and Kimmel came out and said, hey, he did something really impressive. You know, when msnbc, CNN and the late night hosts are praising you, that your dad must have really accomplished something. What was that like for you to watch?
Eric Trump
Well, guys, a year ago, he was literally serving French fries at McDonald's, and now he just served Middle East. Literally. It was exactly a year ago yesterday he was doing the French fry routine and riding around in a garbage truck. And he just solves Middle east for peace. And I think the most impressive part to me, listen, you look at almost at every conflict around the world, whether It's World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, right? You had kind of a winner and you had a loser of those wars as predetermined. And here it actually feels like everybody won, right? I mean, you have people on both sides of the conflict coming out and thanking him and thanking him profusely for ending the madness, ending the death and destruction. And then you have an entire world that's kind of coalesced around this victory. And I just think that's a really beautiful thing and one of those things that only he could pull off. And I'm proud, I'm proud of him as a son. I mean, listen, you know, we're going to talk about the siege at some point, you know, today. But, you know, everything that we've, we've gone through, everything that they tried to do to destroy us, guys, it all became worth it for me yesterday, right? I mean, there are times when you couldn't quite, you know, couldn't, couldn't quite get there, right? Was it worth it? Was it not? It was brutal. They tried to destroy your life. And then you see a man up there with the entire world respecting America. You know, the death and destruction and evilness has ended. Conflicts all over the world are ending. You know, peace is being brought. You know, some son will go back to their mother tonight who would have otherwise not gone back. She would have been finding out that that person was dead had it not been for his actions. And I think that makes this all worth it.
Clay
The book is Under Siege. My Family's Fight to Save Our Nation. We're with Eric Trump now talking about it. And Eric, I have a longtime law enforcement friend who as your, he's a big Trump supporter. And as the whole situation was playing out, the, the effort to use unprecedented lawfare, not just against your dad, as you have pointed out before, against the Trump Organization, against Trump family members, against all of you, really. Anyone named Trump became a target as you're going through that, he kept saying a normal. And by this, I just mean an everyday. An everyday person would be broken by one federal indictment, meaning, oh, my gosh, how will I ever be able to fight this? And. And, well, you know, what. What is going to do? My reputation, your dad and your family are going through four nonsense criminal indictments and some of the civil stuff that you were having to deal with, including from Letitia James, which we were just discussing her situation. What was that like day in and day out? Did it just feel surreal? Did it feel like your dad was prepared for it and was able to be a happy warrior through the whole thing? I mean, bring us into that?
Eric Trump
Yeah, well, listen, you know, honestly, I was. I was the tip of the spear with that whole thing, right? My father had certain constitutional protections that kept a lot of the subpoenas away from him, right? And so guess what they did. You know, at 33 years old, he sat me down, he goes, honey, I want you to run the company. I want, you know, you're the guy, you love real estate, you love building, you love everything we do. You've built so many of our projects. You run everything. You run our teams. I want you to carry this forward because obviously I'm going to Washington, D.C. and I said, no problem. And, guys, I thought I was gonna have this great time, you know, again, building hotels, running a great organization. I never would have thought that 99% of my time, for a period of four years, really, a period of eight years, was gonna be, you know, dealing with subpoenas. I became the most subpoenaed person in American history simply because I was the conduit to everything that he had ever built, because I was the guy running the organization that had, you know, Trump on the front door. And so they came after us mercilessly. And thank God we had two things. We had a loud voice, and we had enough zeros on the back of our name that we could literally spend. I mean, guys, I've said this plenty of times. We've spent about $400 million fighting off the lunatics. And this is the dirty dossiers. This is the made up Russia collusion. I was the guy that got the call from the FBI saying, I hear you have secret servers in the basement of Trump Tower communicating directly with the Kremlin. We didn't have servers in the basement of Trump Tower. It was all a lie. It was all made up by Hillary Clinton. It was all made up by Barack Obama. We didn't have damn servers. But they wanted to put us under siege, right? They needed a reason. You know, they wanted their October surprise, obviously to get, you know, Hillary three more votes. But then when she failed so miserably against, you know, a bunch of ragtag individuals who didn't know a damn thing about politics, that is our family, she needed a reason to justify her loss. Hence the reason they made this up and they wanted to have this, you know, the shadow loom over my father the entire time. They wanted the shadow government to try and take him down at every single step of the way. And then they leaked his tax returns. I mean, not only did they leak my father's tax returns, every tax return he had. This is the irs. They leaked all my tax returns, they leaked Don's tax returns, the entire family. You know, then they leaked all the tax returns of all the employees, all our corporate employees. You know, then they silenced us. They took us off of Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. Then they gag ordered us. A lot of times you'd see me speaking on the front steps of the, you know, of the courthouses around the country. Why? Because some of those cases, I wasn't gag ordered in, but my father was. And so I had to be the person to go out and talk about, you know, the judge's daughter, who, you know, apparently works for the, you know, Democratic Party and is one of the biggest, you know, digital media people in New York State while her father is presiding over a trial against my father. Right? And then they take him off the ballot of Maine, they take him off the ballot of Colorado. They do everything they can. They do. They call up every bank and they try and get us deplatformed, debanked. I mean, guys, this was a non stop siege against our family. But it wasn't just against our family. It was against the Republican Party, it was against you guys. It was against everybody, everybody who wanted free speech. They tried to hold all of us down. They tried to take away our voice. They wanted to destroy the greatest political movement ever made. And it's really amazing that we can be sitting here exactly one year later, one year after those court trials and everything else having been vindicated in all of them, seeing what's happening to Leticia, seeing Letitia's case get thrown out, literally 50 by the appellate court, seeing Middle east peace, you know, inflation go down to nothing, energy prices go down to nothing. You know, I mean, like, what vindication this is after everything that we've been through.
Clay
And I just Want to ask as a follow up, Eric, it's amazing to me to see what your dad has gone through and just observing him in public. Also, we've, Clay and I have been fortunate to spend a fair amount of time with him in interviews and, you know, one on or, you know, in a person to person, face to face setting. Your dad, I have never seen him look scared once. And this is somebody who was shot in the ear and somebody else tried to shoot soon after. And that is. It almost seems superhuman to a lot of us observing. And I truly mean that he is superhuman.
Eric Trump
But the guy's this guy I've known my entire life. I mean, he's always been this Energizer Bunny, you know, on steroids, wearing a red tie. Right. And a dark suit. That's always been my father. Everything they, everything that he's ever wanted to do, he's always, you know, he's always charged and it's his only focus. He becomes, people don't realize, he becomes very myopically focused on whatever he wants to do. If it's building the greatest building, he becomes myopically focused on. If it's building a great course, he becomes myopically focused on it. His real estate career, if it was the Apprentice, he becomes myopically focused on it. Well, he did the same thing with politics. I mean, he just did this turn and just dedicated his entire life to politics and winning a race. He became myopically focused on it and never, I mean, I can't tell you how many people have lost money betting against Donald Trump. Don't bet against the guy because he's going to beat you every single time. And he became myopically focused when it came to Middle east peace. I mean, that's the one thing that he always wanted to achieve and that was probably the greatest achievement of all. It's something that everybody was laughing at. This will never happen. These society, societies hate each other. They've been warring for thousands of years. They'll never come together. And he goes, no, I want peace in the Middle East. I want the Abraham Accords. I want people to be kind of prosperous. But he does not back down. He does not mince words. He's politically incorrect. And frankly, it's what people adored about him. I mean, you'd watch those primary debates, guys in 2016, 2017, and all those soundbites were rehearsed, right? I mean, Hillary Clinton, well, it's very lucky that Donald Trump isn't running the legal system of the United States, right? He's Throwing out these zingers. Yeah, because you'd be in jail for the rest of your life. Right. And he's doing it off the cuff. And. And people like somebody who was finally real, somebody who wasn't PC, Somebody who's willing to go out there and fight like hell, and somebody who's willing to work hard because you just don't have that in politics. I mean, most of the politicians are lazy. They're canned, they're scripted, they're. They're inauthentic, and they lose Americans. And that's why there was never any excitement in politics. Before my father came into the race, no one was excited about Jeb Bush. No one gave a damn about Jeb Bush. And now you watch these rallies where 30,000, 50,000 people show up to these rallies. People are excited. And by the way, a lot of those people are young kids who are engaged in kind of the democratic process for the first time. It's a beautiful thing to witness.
Buck
We're talking to Eric Trump. The book is under siege, My Family's Fight to Save Our Nation. It's available everywhere. Eric, you just talked about your dad and his unique sensibilities when it comes to politics. You're a builder, you're a business person. So is Jared Kushner. So is Steve Witkoff, obviously your dad. How much do you think being a business guy made it possible to get a deal as opposed to a straight politics guy in the Middle East? I love this because dealmakers look at solutions or situations and just try to get to. Yes, whereas it feels like a lot of politicians get bogged down in things that don't matter. How much do you think business and deal making really was the foundation of what Jared, what Steve and what your dad were able to do? And how much do you see that in your own world, from a business perspective, as looking at politics as a series of deals, as opposed to getting bogged down in sometimes these intractable issues?
Eric Trump
By the way, it's a great question. I'm not sure if I've ever gotten any asked, but it's 100% being a dealmaker. I mean, listen, Obama ran on what? Hope, right? I like hope. Hope doesn't get you anywhere in business. You know what hope gets you? Hope gets you bankrupt. You don't. You don't hope for something. You. You go out, you effectually change. Right. And. And that's what Jerry did. So great. That's what Wyckoff. I mean, Steve Wyckoff's one of my closest friends. I love him to Death. But, I mean, these, you know, and guys like me, right, I'm out of business. If. If we don't, you know, if we don't get results, you don't get things across the finish line. You are out of business. Right? Like, that's what business is about. Making the deal. Right? Getting things accomplished, getting things done. Whereas Barack Obama was about hope. Hope isn't a strategy. You know, results are a strategy. And that's what my father demands. He demands results. Everything he does, every word he says is about getting a result. Right? You know, and that's a calculated result. Everything he does, every press conference, every meeting, every. Every call he makes, every time he pushes his cabinet, everything he does, every person that he appoints, it's about getting results. And that's what motivates my father, and that's what motivates people in the business world. And so I think that's why all of a sudden, you had this kind of ragtag group of people, once again, who didn't know anything about politics, might not have even known that much about Middle east peace, but was able to go in there, build relationships, negotiate well, get everybody to a table, and actually effectuate change versus, you know, these career bureaucrats who talk about how much they know about foreign policy and yet they're incapable of getting anything done. I mean, how many more times do you. Do you have to hear? Do you remember in 2016, 2017? Well, Donald Trump does not know anything about foreign policy. It's like, yeah, they didn't know anything about foreign policy either, you know, and guess what? It took a really smart guy who could figure it out in about three and a half seconds, bring people to the table and actually get something accomplished. And, you know, it always makes me so happy when I see him just run circles around these people who claim to know something about foreign policy, yet they haven't progressed the ball in the last, you know, three decades.
Buck
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Various Media Personalities (e.g., David Ignatius, John Meacham)
To be determined, but I would say most likely it's going to be a double meeting. It'll be a double meeting, but we will have the President Zelensky in touch. There's a lot of blood, bad blood, with the two presidents. And I'm not speaking out of turn when I say it's very. A very difficult situation. You know, we just settled the war, and after thousands of years, I guess you people say anywhere from 500 to 3,000 years and I was in rooms, as you saw, because you were with me. A lot of you were with me last week with leaders that didn't like each other, but they were able to get along. These two leaders do not like each other, and we want to make it comfortable for everybody. So one way or the other, we'll be involved in threes, but it may be separated.
Clay
Talking about the structure here, Clay, of how these conversations will be with, with Zelensky and Putin going forward. So he may be the full. The full on intermediary is what he's saying.
Eric Trump
Right.
Buck
Have you ever been to these before, Buck? This is. I'm kind of grinning. You could see it grinning. Trump as the mediator is actually. If SNL did decent skits anymore, Trump as the mediator going back and forth between Zelinsky and Putin would actually be a opportunity for great comedic skit making possibilities. Because if you've ever been to a mediation, some of you may have been through divorces. That's awful. A lot of times they are mediated. I did mediations back in the day when I was a lawyer. Uh, I'd never been the mediator. But basically, if the two parties are really angry, one party's like, I hope they die and I hope they, you know, every minute they wake up for the rest of their life, their first thought is how much they got screwed by me. You go tell him that, and then the mediator walks back. He's like, there's a lot of passion, but I think we've got something here. You know, you just have to basically totally lie to both sides that are furious and angry, and they just want to vent and they want everybody to hear their side. So I. The idea of Trump as like the, you know, really thoughtful. Okay, okay. And then he goes back and he just lies, you know, to try to make the two parties seem like they aren't as far apart as they actually are, and in an effort to ultimately bring them together, is very comedically entertaining. But that's where we are. I think Zelinsky and Putin hate each other, as you can well imagine. And Trump now has to somehow be the bridge of. Across that river of discord and animosity. And what is funny about it as well is this is the exact opposite of what most people in legacy media see Trump as. But I think he sees himself as someone that can be a bridge to diplomacy.
Clay
And.
Buck
And so that's where we are. And that's. I'm kind of laughing just thinking about Trump as the ultimate adult in the room, trying to mediate this very serious disagreement, which has frankly cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides. And he's the adult and he's the one who's going to be trying to tamp down the emotion as opposed to being the emotional sort of lightning rod, as he often is in many other different political disputes.
Clay
Well, I think this also speaks to the way these two leaders feel about each other and the trust or lack thereof, that exists between them. This is Zelensky saying that he wants security guarantees if he's going to meet with Putin. Play 36.
Volodymyr Zelensky
I think we need to sit and speak. The second point, we need ceasefire. Even now, you see in the Middle east, it's very difficult to hold. Hold ceasefire everywhere. In every war, it's very difficult. We want this. Putin doesn't want. That's why we need pressure on it. We will speak with president today. What we need, we understand what we need to push Putin to negotiation table. And as I said previously, so we are ready to speak in any kind of format, bilateral, trilateral, doesn't matter, matter, just peace. This is important. And we don't speak about NATO or nat. NATO for Ukrainians is very important. Of course, it's our decision, decisions of allies to decide where we are. But the most important thing, the most important thing for people in Ukraine, which are under each day's attacks, to have really strong security guarantees. NATO is the best, but weapon is very important. Allies on our side is very important. And between us, for us, bilateral security guarantees between me and President Trump is very important.
Clay
I sorry if it's a little hard, and I just mean this little hard to understand. His accent is pretty thick, but he's just saying, look, you know, I want to meet with Putin, but we got to basically, he knows that unless there are other parties involved here who are willing to drop the hammer on Russia if it comes to it, whatever Putin signs is not worth the paper it's. It's printed on.
Buck
Correct. And this is where I think Putin. This is my prediction because he respects Trump and because he actually, on some level, fears how Trump might respond to him, may be willing to enter into some form of agreement. The problem is Trump is going to leave office in January of 29. We saw what happened when Trump left office last time. Putin can play the long game. He can do the next 15 years. I don't know how long he's going to be in power, but I don't see any immediate threat to Vladimir Putin's reign. And I am a bit concerned that that's What Hamas is doing in the Middle east too, is they respect Trump and they fear Trump. And if we got, let's just say it, a President Kamala Harris, God forbid, or President Gavin Newsom or President Mayor Pete, or a President Aoc. Do you think that the people of Hamas are going to respect those Democrat leaders? Do you think that Vladimir Putin is going to fear those Democrat leaders? I would submit to you that there is tangible evidence they will not and do not. And so is there a concern? I think that Zelensky is correct to point this out that we may get a short term peace agreement, but as soon as Trump is out of office and there is a perception of weakness, again, it's taken advantage of. Let me also point something else out about this buck that I think is. Is super interesting. Remember when they said that Zelensky and Trump would never be able to interact again? Wasn't that long ago that we had the couch meeting with, with J.D. vance and everything kind of came undone on the minerals rights agreement. And everybody just said, oh, my goodness, how is this ever. And now they're boys, Zelensky showing up in the black suit. They're sitting there side by side. The media very often takes Trump as if what position he adopts in the moment is going to exist forever. When Trump as a negotiator has shown throughout his entire political career that he is willing to adjust on a regular basis. And let me also play this cut. Um, it's one thing to talk about security guarantees. We talk about military force, which certainly Putin respects. We're not gonna put boots on the ground, but economic force is a reality too. If this is true, then this is a really significant announcement that Trump just made in the Oval Office. Cut 37. He says India's done buying Russian oil and gas. Uh, let's play that.
Various Media Personalities (e.g., David Ignatius, John Meacham)
Well, India is not going to be buying Russian oil anymore. And Hungary is sort of stuck because they have one pipeline. It's been there for years and years and years. And they're inland. They don't have sea. They don't have sea. And I spoke with the very great leader of Hungary and they are, you know, it's very hard for them to get oil. I understand it. We have. Hungary is in a very interesting position because, because they can't have ports. You know, they're surrounded by land. So we'll see what happens there. But India will not be buying oil from Russia. And they've already de. Escalated and they've more or less stopped. They're pulling back. They bought about 38% of the oil and they won't be doing it anymore.
Buck
Okay, if that's true, Buck, then we talked about this earlier in the week and I don't think it's gotten enough discussion. Russia has sanctions against its ability to sell oil and gas. One of the primary ways they have gotten around those sanctions is by selling at a reduced cost to India. And then India marks the oil and gas back up to real rates and act as effectively as a middleman with a guaranteed profit, which, hey, heck, a lot of you out there that are business people, you're like, man, I'd like to get that deal, buy the oil and gas at a reduced rate. No, you have a huge market for it to mark up and all you basically have to do is transfer ownership. It's a default, clear revocation and, and an avoidance of the oil and gas tariffs. And so if this is true, if India, which has basically been the default market for Russian oil and gas, is truly not going to buy it anymore, then this would start to put some economic power and restrictions on Putin.
Clay
This is the big one, two punch that needs to happen here. Putin's not going to do this because he's not going to call for, or rather agree to a ceasefire, any kind of meaningful deal while he thinks he's going to keep winning.
Eric Trump
Right?
Clay
While he thinks that the situation on the battlefield and for Russia is beneficial to keep this thing going. And he clearly believes that as of now, or has believed that up to this point. And so, Clay, you're talking about raising the economic cost, which means going after the ways that Russia has evaded sanctions, really, with very little pain to a Russian economy, because people want oil. And to your point, there's a way to buy oil and sell it back and make money. I mean, there's gonna be ways to do this. Right?
Buck
It's a good business, Buck. I'm not gonna lie. The middleman business of getting guaranteed reduced rate oil and then being able to immediately sell it, that peep to buyers who can't buy it from Russia, but they can buy it from you. I mean, it's a, it's, it's clearly a great business.
Clay
Yeah, yeah, it's can't miss, can't miss situation a situation. But that's step one of this. The next step would be, okay, beyond the economic, maybe we just gotta like, let Russia know that Ukraine's now got stuff that they can really hit Russia with, including in the Russian interior. Trump is talking about this, everybody. Tomahawk missiles. Here's what he said. Play 38.
Various Media Personalities (e.g., David Ignatius, John Meacham)
We need Tomahawks and we need a lot of other things that we've been sending over the last four years to Ukraine. We've been, you know, we gave. We gave them a lot. Now we have a different situation. We send it to the European Union, they pay for it and all that, and they have plenty of money. But we, it's beyond the money. You know, we need Tomahawks and we need a lot of other weapons that we. We're sending to Ukraine. One of the reasons we want to get this war over is exactly that. It's not easy for us to give you talking about massive numbers of very powerful weapons. So that's one of the things we'll be talking about. Hopefully they won't need it. Hopefully we'll be able to get the war over with without thinking about Tomahawks. I think. I think we're. I think we're fairly close to that.
Clay
Yet the war ended without giving Ukraine Tomahawk missiles. Any of you who have seen the movie Under Siege very familiar with the Tomahawk missile system because it plays a large role in that movie. That's serious hardware that goes a long way and packs quite a punch.
Buck
No doubt. And Trump also just weighed in on Maduro and we're going to have to edit what he said, but basically he doesn't like the cards that Maduro has in Venezuela either. And Buck, I think it's worth noting, you think some of these guys after Trump let the bombing of Iran happened thought to themselves, oh, I don't want to screw around with the US because they've got a guy who will rain down holy hell on us and is not afraid to do it. Um, you know, not only was that the right decision as it pertains to Iran, it was also the right decision as it pertains to sending the message about what you're willing to do going forward. Wishing the holidays could come early.
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iHeart Radio Announcer
This is an iheart podcast.
Release Date: October 19, 2025
Hosts: Clay Travis and Buck Sexton
Key Guest: Eric Trump
Main Theme:
A sweeping reflection on Donald Trump’s recent international achievements, the surprise public recognition from adversarial media and political opponents, and the Trump family’s resilience through legal and political challenges. The episode explores Trump’s handling of the Israel-Gaza peace deal, implications for U.S. foreign policy, the media’s reluctant praise, and Eric Trump’s personal perspective and new book release.
Clay and Buck dedicate this episode to examining the unprecedented global, political, and media response to President Trump’s latest accomplishments. They detail, with both admiration and wit, Trump’s dizzying diplomatic schedule—highlighting the successful brokering of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage exchange—as well as the remarkable fact that even entrenched critics in the media are now voicing praise. With Eric Trump as their guest, they delve into the Trump family’s battles with legal adversity, the mindset required to endure “siege,” and the businesslike approach that underpins Trump’s successes on the international stage.
Clay, on Trump's stamina:
“For a 79-year-old President… we’re talking about superhuman, extraordinarily unbelievable levels of mental focus and energy…” ([03:09])
Buck, summarizing the forced media shift:
“You cannot ever deny success. You just have to give your respect, even if it’s not your thing…” ([05:53])
Stephen Colbert (audio clip):
“Credit where credit is due. Donald Trump did something good.” ([09:19])
Jimmy Kimmel (audio clip):
“…Good work on that one, President Trump. Now, maybe you can not invade Portland. Just an idea.” ([10:05])
Eric Trump, on defending the family:
“I became the most subpoenaed person in American history…” ([21:53])
“Don’t bet against the guy because he’s going to beat you every single time.” ([25:55])
Clay, on the press reaction to a Russia-Ukraine peace deal:
“If Trump ends the Russia-Ukraine war, they will just melt… They will spontaneously combust.” ([15:27])
Eric Trump, on results-oriented business mindset:
“Hope isn’t a strategy. Results are a strategy. That’s what my father demands.” ([29:07])
The hosts approach the topic with their signature blend of humor and seriousness. Their admiration for Trump is clear, while their skepticism about the mainstream media’s change of heart is laced with irony. The segment with Eric Trump is more personal and earnest, focusing on the grit needed to endure near-constant attacks—a rallying message for listeners who feel embattled by “cancel culture” and legal overreach. Throughout, they blend critique, analysis, and asides designed to entertain their politically engaged base.
This episode captures a singular moment in American and global politics—President Trump’s high-profile diplomatic victory in the Middle East—framed by the wary respect of former adversaries and the veneration of his supporters. Clay, Buck, and Eric Trump dissect what it took to weather years of legal and political hostility, how business acumen delivered what decades of career politicians could not, and why, even now, the deeper implications of Trump’s actions are only beginning to ripple through both media and public consciousness. The message encapsulated throughout: “This is what we voted for. We were right.”