Team 47 - You’re Damn Right!

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Team 47 – You’re Damn Right!
Date: March 29, 2026
Host: iHeartPodcasts

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Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle pressing topics in national security, immigration enforcement, global energy tensions, and urban crime reduction. The show features in-depth interviews with Tom Homan (Border Czar), Steve Yates (Heritage Foundation, national security expert), and Senator Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee). The discussions dive into recent ICE deployments at airports, U.S.-Iran tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, and Memphis’s dramatic reduction in violent crime through federal partnerships. The show combines political insight with practical analysis on the week’s headline issues.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. ICE Deployment at Airports & Immigration Enforcement

Guest: Tom Homan (Border Czar for Trump White House)
Timestamps: [00:49] – [11:54]

• Background on Airport ICE Operations

  • President Trump directed ICE to support overwhelmed TSA personnel and airport security amid worker shortages.
  • Tom Homan: “President Trump asked us get to the airports to help because a lot of TSA workers are calling in or they're just plain quitting.” [01:33]
  • ICE officers assist with ID checks, baggage, and checkpoint security, supplementing TSA staff and securing airports.
  • Homan clarifies: while assisting TSA is the main mission, ICE agents remain vigilant for immigration violations and can act on legal grounds if necessary.

• Enforcement and Coordination

  • Easy detection: Everyone goes through security and presents identification – an efficient setting for “target enforcement” operations.
  • ICE and TSA can share leads; ICE officers equipped with real-time database access.
  • Tom Homan: “If we got reasonable suspicion to question somebody or probable cause to rest somebody, that's exactly what we're going to do.” [03:17]

• Political & Legal Dynamics

  • Pushback from local authorities, e.g., Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner’s threat to arrest ICE agents, characterized by Homan as “ridiculous.” [04:25]
  • Federal law supersedes local rules; ICE acts under congressional mandate.
  • Ongoing Congressional debates on funding and the authority of ICE; concerns about public rhetoric increasing threats to agents.

• Deportation Metrics & Impact

  • Sharp increase: Over 700,000 removals, outpacing previous Obama-era records.
  • ICE plans to hire 10,000 more enforcement officers to intensify efforts, especially despite inefficiencies from sanctuary cities.
  • Tom Homan: “With 10,000 more agents, we'll beat last year's number.” [08:36]
  • Improved cooperation with local and state prisons in some states (e.g., Minnesota) led to more efficient enforcement and fewer personnel needed per arrest.
  • Voluntary departures up: Over 2 million left voluntarily in Trump’s first year, attributed to the “no free ride” message and visible ICE activity.

• Notable Moments

  • Homan’s frustration with inflammatory rhetoric against ICE:

    “I wish these members of Congress rather than vilifying the men and women of ICE and calling us Nazis and the secret police...strap a gun to your hip, put a kevlar vest on and come do what we do and see if you can stand on the line.” [11:54]

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2. Strait of Hormuz Crisis & U.S.-Iran Tensions

Guest: Steve Yates (Heritage Foundation, nat. security expert)
Timestamps: [14:01] – [27:51]

• Strategic Overview of Hormuz

  • The Strait is a critical, narrow waterway, with Iran on one side and wealthy U.S. allies on the other. The possibility of military escalation is complex and potentially dangerous.
  • Steve Yates: “It’s a very confined geography...one of the major challenges.” [14:44]
  • Much of the oil passing through Hormuz goes to China, making this a global (not just American) security and economic issue.

• U.S. Approach under Trump

  • Mix of maximum military pressure and diplomatic back-channeling:

    “He hits like a sledgehammer and then...looks for where are there deals.” [18:23]

  • Realism about the limits of direct U.S. involvement; Trump seeking more buy-in from regional partners affected (India, China, Gulf states).
  • Potential U.S. military operations (e.g., occupying Carg Island) discussed – with hope of broader coalition involvement.
  • Back channel negotiations ongoing, with Trump giving Iran deadlines to de-escalate or face strikes on energy infrastructure.

• Objectives & Endgame

  • Immediate goals: Open Strait, maintain oil flow, force Iran’s denuclearization, and ensure regional security involvement beyond the U.S. alone.
  • Acceptance that victory is a de-escalation with international guarantees—potentially not regime change, but “defanged and frightened mullahs” or, ideally, a more representative government.
  • Steve Yates: “First we’re going to have to see who’s the they. When President Trump says they have made a commitment to denuclearize, that would be a major win...complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement of that program is a 30-plus year long objective.” [25:11]

• Role of Regional Allies

  • Growing support for U.S. pressure on Iran among Gulf states; some Arab countries expelling Iranian diplomats.
  • Yates: “It was Arab allies that pushed very, very hard in this. And it's really ultimately gets back to Trump craft 1.0. He's resetting all of these trouble zones with different cards and different coalitions.” [26:53]

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3. Urban Crime Reduction – The Memphis Model

Guest: Senator Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee)
Timestamps: [28:00] – [38:20]

• Federal-Local Partnership Successes

  • Memphis, previously the most dangerous U.S. city per capita, has halved its violent crime rate in under six months through partnership between federal (FBI, DOJ, National Guard, U.S. Marshals, 30 agencies) and local officials—even with a Democratic mayor and police chief.
  • Sen. Blackburn: “Memphis is the model. If you want to get crime down in your city, look at what Memphis has done and the partnership that is there...in under six months, we have cut the crime rate in Memphis by half.” [28:34]
  • Dramatic stats: Over 9,000 violent criminal arrests, 65% reduction in vehicle theft, hundreds of children returned to school, more than 150 missing children recovered.

• Replicability and Lessons

  • Critical to success: Local officials embracing federal help. Contrasts with cities like Minneapolis where federal assistance was initially rebuffed.
  • Sen. Blackburn: “When you focus on an issue and say we’re going to surge...and then once we surge...figure out how to sustain that good work...for the safety of our city.” [32:55]
  • Suggests national application—cities like Chicago, LA, and San Francisco could benefit if political leaders accepted similar support.

• Political Updates

  • Markwayne Mullin confirmed as new DHS Secretary, with Blackburn’s support. Praised for his practical leadership.
  • Airports crisis: ICE presence at exits/checkpoints credited with resolving TSA congestion spurred by a mix of labor issues and Democratic policies.
  • Funding proposals: Ongoing work in Congress to secure DHS and public safety funding through reconciliation.

• Quote – The Human Impact

  • Sen. Blackburn: “For them to be able to talk about sitting on their porch...not worrying about a bullet coming through the house, about...employees not being robbed when they were leaving work and hear about children back to class...they're not being recruited by gangs...” [31:10]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tom Homan (on ICE at airports):

  “We're doing a little bit of everything right now...you're damn right. Our purpose there is help TSA provide security and get people to the checkpoints. However...they see illegal activity, they're going to absolutely take action.” [01:33]

• On anti-ICE rhetoric:

  “Grow set. Put a badge on your chest, put a gun on your hip and come out with us...see what you have caused from the constant negative rhetoric and comparing them to the Nazis...I guarantee you none of them can.” [11:54]

• Steve Yates (on Trump’s Iran approach):

  “He hits like a sledgehammer and then he'll pull back and he'll look for where are their deals.... He's trying to do them a solid. Hopefully they recognize it...” [18:23]

• Senator Blackburn (on Memphis’s turnaround):

  “Memphis is the model...when the people with a Democrat mayor, Democrat elected, Democrat police chief, stand up and say, we are going to work with these resources...then this is the type result that you get.” [28:34]

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• ICE/Airport Security Deep Dive (with Tom Homan): [00:49] – [11:54]
• Strait of Hormuz & Iran Crisis Analysis (with Steve Yates): [14:01] – [27:51]
• Memphis Crime Turnaround & DHS Leadership (with Sen. Blackburn): [28:00] – [38:20]

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Tone & Language

The episode maintains a direct, conversational style with sharp critiques of Democratic policies, strong support for current Trump administration actions, and an emphasis on law-enforcement-first solutions. Guests and hosts employ assertive, sometimes passionate rhetoric—especially in defending ICE and celebrating bipartisan efforts where results are demonstrable.

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Summary

This Team 47 episode offers a close look at law enforcement’s expanding presence in airport security, the intricacies of U.S. policy toward Iran in the global oil context, and the dramatic transformation achieved in Memphis through unprecedented federal-local cooperation. With perspectives from policymakers and national security experts, Clay and Buck guide listeners through timely, complex issues shaping headlines and public policy nationwide.

Transcript

[Buck Saxon]

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[Clay]

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[Buck]

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[Steve Yates]

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[Buck]

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[Clay]

with Level Up Expo. The Team 47 podcast is brought to you by Cozy Earth Comfort.

[Buck]

Style and quality. You can count on cozy earth.

[Clay]

Team 47 with clay and Buck starts now.

[Buck]

Tom Holman with us. Tom, thanks for making the time. I don't know if you heard my. My preamble there for a second, but can. Can you just explain to people real quick this physically present in the United States for asylum seekers. What is this metering policy? How'd this get going?

[Buck Saxon]

I'm sorry. I just got on. My flight was late. I just got into a room here. I didn't hear that. Clay. I'm sorry.

[Buck]

Oh, no, that's. Buck. It's okay. So there's a. There's a under the immigrate. Anyway, you know what? Just tell me this let's actually jump into the airport thing because that's what everybody cares about. I was trying to do a elegant radio turn there, but instead let's just get to what everyone cares about, which is ice in the airports. How's this going? What are the next steps? What are you seeing first?

[Buck Saxon]

Bucks. Buck Saxon. I'm glad I'm talking. I don't know what mountain talk to. I got. I got more jobs than Marco Rubio. Hey, look, bottom line is what's happening in the airports is. Was Trump's. President Trump's idea, who called me up in less than 24 hours. But the Flanagan. I think it's a brilliant idea idea. But look, you know that ISIS being paid. President Trump asked us get to the airports to help because a lot of TSA workers are calling in or they're just plain quitting. So we're going up to do two things. Number one, we're going to shore up the security of that airport to keep the, you know, airways safe and we're going to support tsa. So jobs that don't require like the X ray training, other security jobs, whether it's check and identification, whether it's you know, luggage. Whether it's, you know, providing security around the checkpoints, whether it's, you know, you know, whatever TSA needs us to do to move those lines quicker and to keep security at the highest level, that's what we're doing. But I want to add one more thing. I see a lot of stories about isa, immigration enforcement, airports. No, you're damn right. Our purpose there is help TSA provide security and get people to the checkpoints. However, these HSI officers and ER officers, they see illegal activity, they're going to absolutely take action. So, yeah, we're doing a little bit of everything right now.

[Clay]

Do you expect that. This is Clay. Thanks for coming on. You were just talking with Buck. I know how busy you are. Do you expect. You just said, you're damn right. Yeah, you just said, you're damn right. Do you expect that TSA will be able to help you with ice, arrest people? Because. And you tell me if I'm wrong here, but what I think about is people are showing up with IDs. We know exactly who they are. It seems like it could potentially be a very easy place to figure out if you're arresting the right guys or gals.

[Buck Saxon]

Oh, you want to talk about target enforcement operators? Absolutely. Because everybody's got to show 90 come through and we can, you know, every special agent ERA officer has a cell phone with a capability of accessing our databases. So, yeah, you know, this work, we're going to force immigration law when we see illegal activity. But we get a lead or target lead, you know, from tsa, saying we got information on this one or that one. Yeah, we're going to do. We're going to do our job. We're going to do, you know, open a criminal investigation, whether, you know, if we got reasonable suspicion to question somebody or probable cause to rest somebody, that's exactly what we're going to do. We're going to work with our brothers and sisters in TSA to keep that airport safe. And. And if someone's transversing the airport that not in the country, and we find out about it and we have reasonable suspicion that, you know, we're going to. We're going to take law enforcement action. We're absolutely going to do that.

[Clay]

We're talking to Tom Holman. I don't know if you saw, but Philadelphia's District Attorney, I believe his last name is Krasner, said threatened to arrest ICE agents at the airport. What's your reaction when you Hear Soros funded DA's making comments like that?

[Buck Saxon]

It's ridiculous. And, you know, bottom line is federal law always trumps local, state law. So, you know, we're reforming our duties as enacted by Congress. We're not making this up. We are enforcing immigration law. We're going to do it all. Apology. I mean, I've been up on the Hill negotiating, trying to get this government back open, and they basically, they say they don't really want to abolish sites. They want us just reform ice. No, the language they're proposing, they want, you know, they just want to shut it down. They want to take tools away from ice. I'm not going to do that. They've been hamstrung for four years under Joe Biden. Now they're finally doing their duty. They're upholding the oath they took. They're enforcing laws that Congress wrote and was signed by president. And that's exactly what we're going to do. So, you know, I'm frustrated. They obviously see some sort of benefit not funding the Department of Homeland Security. Right. We're in an elevated threat posture right now. And they're in. We got people from, you know, cybersecurity that aren't working. We got people, you know, the Coast Guard ain't being paid. We got people with, you know, TSA not being paid, FEMA not being paid. These people are putting this country at great risk during an elevated threat posture. It's just unbelievable that they're not willing to come to the table and meet with us. I met with them. They talk about reform and immigration, but I've been explaining to them the policies of enforcement have not changed in 30 years. We had the same policies under Obama, under Clinton, under Bush 1 and Bush 2. So it's not a policy issue, it's an execution issue. And we fixed that. There were some problems in Minneapolis, and I went up there and President Trump asked me to go up there and address it. We addressed a few issues, but most men and women, 99% are doing the right thing and we're on the right mission. But I'm not going to sit there and negotiate taking authorities or away from ICE to enforce the law. It's just, it's ridiculous. I'm tired of it.

[Buck]

We're speaking to Tom Homan, border czar for this Trump White House. And Tom, can you speak to where are we in terms of illegal removals, deportations, one year and change into this administration? And what are expectations? What is on the horizon for deportations going forward? Is there a plan to ramp up? You know, so basically, how far have we Come to this point. And where are we going over the next year?

[Buck Saxon]

Well, you know, last year we got about, you know, a little over 700,000 removals between the patrol and us. The closest year to that was under Obama administration in 2012 when I was in ERO, we removed 409,000. So we blew that out of the water. And, you know, I actually got a presidential rank award for that. You know how the Democrats have changed. I got an Award in 2012 for 409,000 removals and, you know, highest award available. Now all of a sudden, I can't. I'm not allowed to deport anybody. But, you know, if we have a 700,000, we're already making records. But we just brought 10,000 more. Well, not quite. We got almost 10,000, but we're hiring 10,000 more enforcement officers, which is going to just increase. Those men and women on the street, the sanctuary cities and all this, all this crap going on. Yes, it's less efficient. We have to work harder. We have to work smarter because they won't give us access to the jails. But, you know, like with Minnesota, you know, it was terrible up there. But, you know, I went up there, I sat down with the governor, sat down with ag. I sat down the mayor, and I explained to him, you don't want. You don't want all 3,000 people in your street, then let me in a damn jail. Because one agent can arrest one bad guy in the jail. But when you release them, I got to send a whole few jobs team to find him. And because of all the hate and the threats up there, then we got to send a security team to back up the arrest team. So you got a dozen guys out there that could have done the job with one person in the jail. And we got unprecedented cooperation in the county jails throughout the state. We, you know, we got state prison system working with us. It made sense. It made sense because less people are needed to do the job. But, you know, in these sanctuary cities, that's what it is. Back in the day when I was an agent, we had access to all the jails. One agent can arrest one bad guy, but they release them. Now we got send six or seven people for officer safety reasons to find them. Find someone doesn't want to be arrested, which is, of course, much dangerous for the community. Danger for more dangerous for the aliens. And anything that happened in the street, arrested most dangerous for the agents. But with 10,000 more agents will beat last year's number. But, you know, things like, now we got agents at the airport now and rather than on the street in the. But, you know, the priority right now is get the airport secure, move those lines through, and help our brothers and sisters in tsa. But as soon as the shutdown ends, and I think it's going to come out to reconciliation because this negotiation is going nowhere. I mean, we give a little bit, they take away a bunch. It's just. It's just ridiculous. So when we get the government back open, then I can get out there and get back to the main mission. But I want to be clear, we're going to leave a contingent at the airport because we got human trafficking through the airport, we got currency smuggling through the airport. We got aliens smuggling through the airport. We've always had a small footprint there. But what we're seeing now, we may have a bigger contingent there to enforce immigration law there, too.

[Clay]

We're talking to borders. Our ton. Tom Holman, you told us before that you thought there were 20 million illegals in the country after Biden opened the border and let everybody in. You just talked about. I think the number was 700,000. How many people do you think are voluntarily leaving? You know, people out there who see what's going on and just say, hey, maybe this is not the place for me. Do you have. I know there's been numbers out there, but what kind of sense do you have about voluntary departures?

[Buck Saxon]

Well, according to DHS data, it's over 2 million at first year under Trump. Over 2 million either through the Home app. CBP. Home app, or just leaving. CBP tracks a lot of people when they, you know, they land in foreign airports. But we don't really know who goes south to the border, travel south. But DHS, through some independent studies, said about 2 million. I think the more and more. And let me tell you something about ICE operation, about the secure border. We have the most secure border ever. We got to give a lot of credit to what's happening, what ICE is doing in the streets right now, because we sent a clear message. There's no longer free ride. If you're in this country legally, we're looking for you. When the whole world sees ICE out there doing massive operations, that sends a strong message. Don't give your life savings to the cartel because you're not going to be released from the border like the Biden administration did. If you happen to get by the border patrol or we're looking for it, no more free ride. So I think because of what ISIS is doing nationwide is a big factor in why we have the most secured border in the history of this nation.

[Clay]

Tom Holman, Borders are. We know how busy you are. We appreciate you. Anything.

[Buck]

Can I say something real quick?

[Clay]

Yeah.

[Buck]

Just want to say something real quick, Tom. Thank you for what you're doing, you know, and thank you for representing the men and women of ICE and DHS so well, with all the nonsense the Democrats have been trying. I just was watching some TV show last night totally maligning ice. You're a true professional. You're serving your country. And you know, thanks from, from me, from Clay and from the whole audience. We really appreciate you and all the men and women of ICE who are doing their job under the constitution of this country.

[Buck Saxon]

Let me add one thing that I appreciate those words. Thank you. But you know what? God bless the men, women of ICE and Borg. I was a Borgn. I know what they're dealing with. I was an ice agent for a long time. I know what they're dealing with. I wish these members of Congress rather than vil the men and women of ICE and calling no Nazis and the secret police, which just increases the threats against them, increases the violence against them. You know what? Grow set. Put a badge on your badge on your chest, put a gun on your hip and come out with us. See what they're dealing with and see what you have caused from the constant negative rhetoric and comparing them to the Nazis, which increases a threat against them, which increases the doxing against them, which has increased assaults over 1,400%. So rather than sitting there calling us names, strap a gun to your hip, put a kevlar vest on and come do what we do and see if you can stand on the line. I guarantee you none of them can.

[Buck]

Absolutely. God bless, Tom, to you and all those that you're representing out there. Thank you so much.

[Clay]

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[Steve Yates]

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[Clay]

You're listening to Team 47 with clay and Buck.

[Buck]

Well, let's talk straight up. Hormuz, the conflict with Iran. And bring in our friend Steve Yates. He's a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a former Bush national security official. And, Steve, just. Just take us through as you see it here. We know Hormuz is a choke point. Why is this so complicated? What do you think can be done about it? How do we resolve this thing? I saw an editorial in the Journal, Wall Street Journal, saying, you know, we just gotta land troops to secure the strait, and it's just gonna be a quick operation. And I'm like, whoa, hold on. Hold on a second. I've heard that before. What do you think about what's going on here?

[Steve Yates]

Well, Buck, as you know, it's a very confined geography. That's one of the major challenges. It's a very long strip of waterway where Iran has shoreline all along one side. There are some very, very wealthy neighbors on the other side of that water that would like to get their energy out. And then it goes through this very narrow strait that is a choke point. There's an island in the middle of it that Trump has hit some military targets on and has talked about maybe taking control over that is responsible for refining and has an extremely high proportion of Iran's oil endowment. So I think people who say this is a simple military operation might be underselling it a bit. They are so close to Iran geographically that even with remnants, you can. You might still get hit. And I think that's why President Trump has done this. Maximum pressure, but then pull back and say, if we can get a deal that gets them to relent and we reopen things, then we're in a better place. And he also has pressured allies to say, you know, we have a really small American percentage of this oil. You guys come in and shepherd your vessels out of here, and the Iranians shouldn't shoot at you. And so I think there's these at least two layers that really need to get handled before the curve is turned on this.

[Clay]

Steve, I think a lot of our listeners are just not very familiar with the Strait of Hormuz in general, based on My reading, the vast majority of oil and gas that is coming through the Strait of Hormuz has no impact on the United States oil and gas marketplace at all. And I think much of it ends up going to China. With that in context, to what extent actually should this be a larger global issue? A lot of the focus has been on the United States oil and gas market, but really it's more of a global issue than it is a United States one.

[Steve Yates]

Well, Clay, that's right. But first and foremost, oil is a fungible good, which is a fancy word of meaning. It can shift in value and get sold and bought in any number of different ways. And so when oil goes out of this restricted area and goes goes to China, that affects global supply in the market and it affects prices. And so any release of resources out of this conflict zone will have downward pressure on price in some measure. It's definitely the case that China is the overwhelming buyer of Iran oil. It's partly because it's been sanctioned for a long time and they've gotten it at a discount. President Trump is trying to remove that discount and get them to pay for a little bit of the security freight. India also depends on a good bit of this too. But it's definitely one of these global commons issues of where Europeans depend to some degree and Asian major powers depend in a large degree in America's providing them a service that Trump aims to get them to pay a bill for.

[Buck]

Steve, how do you assess the Trump. I'm going to, speaking from the Trump perspective here, said we're going to hit the energy facilities, power plants, I believe, and energy facilities in Iran, unless they open the straight. But then we heard there's some back channel negotiation. So he has put that red line or he has moved that timeline down a bit. How do you think this is going? Is it possible to read into this? I mean, I know with Trump, I feel like part of the strategy is actually a little bit of the perception of chaos that the opposition can take. From his statements. What do you think about what he's doing?

[Steve Yates]

Well, Buck, you know, from people who've been longtime practitioners, we think of this as somewhat straight statecraft. I think of it as Trump craft. He hits like a sledgehammer and then he'll pull back and he'll look for where are their deals. And he recognizes just common sense that if we can get them to relent and engage in some kind of a verifiable deal that is safer, more endurable, and it's a much preferable path to go down at the same time, even though his critics will never recognize it, he's being reasonable, giving them off ramps every step along this way so that if they miss this deadline, and I suspect they might miss this deadline, Trump will hit them hard. But he's tried to leave the civilian energy infrastructure intact so that post conflict reconstruction is cheaper and better for the people of Iran if they can take their country. So he's trying to do them a solid. Hopefully they recognize it. But I would make no mistake about it. This deadline passes very much further. Trump's going to hit them hard. And that is kind of a classical form of warfare. You take the energy out to end the war machine. That's how you get total surrender.

[Clay]

We're talking to Steve Yates, as we've been talking to you in the last, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes, the story from the Wall Street Journal. U.S. has ordered 3,082nd Airborne soldiers to the Middle East. Trump has given Iran a Friday deadline. What do you think it would look like if there were to be a raid? And I say raid because I don't think we're going to be setting up bases in Iran that potentially could involve Carge island or putting troops to try to protect the Strait of Hormuz in a big picture sense. What might that look like? And obviously Trump is at least threatening that he might do so with these actions.

[Steve Yates]

Well, I do think the Carg island option is very much front and center. I really don't like the option personally of the US Being kind of the sole provider of security in this really should be something that is a shared responsibility, especially among those Gulf allies who have been hit by Iran and now say they're going to hit back and they need to provide security for their flows to go to market. So I really hope the president is working behind the scenes to get them involved so that there's skin in the game in every sense. And it's not just American targets for Iran, Iranian forces to hit. We would have to just knock the crap out of their coastline to have a safe buffer, buffer for ships. And we'd probably have to occupy Carg island to control that.

[Buck]

Do we have a sense? We're speaking to Stephen Yates, senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. National security expert Steve, do we have a sense of what the acceptable end game is here? Again, Trump has indicated numerous times of an end game or what maybe it looks like, depending on the day. But I think there's variations on a theme here. Where do you think, what do you think would be acceptable for this to get to at least a ceasefire and some next phase.

[Steve Yates]

Right? Well, Buck, I think of it as getting to a de escalation point that sort of pivots into longer term maintenance. And I think President Trump has been clear about some of the standards. One has been hyper focus on the nuclear programs. That's combined U.S. and Israeli operations that might involve having to have some forces, hopefully not ours, but some forces going in to physically control and verify disarmament in those sensitive facilities, the launch capabilities, complete defanging of the security forces. I think that's a also been more the Israeli mission in recent days. So I think it's overwhelmingly getting the flow of resources. Not just because we love oil, although that's a good thing to love to keep the world running. It's to make it so that markets calm, resources flow and there's a sense of where we can get post major military operations. I think that we should and must get there in the next week or two and that's where we'll get a sense of is this tipping into a more complex entanglement or have we really hit all those targets that the Secretary of War and the President have said? We have.

[Clay]

Trump has been talking about doing this since the 1980s. There have been people out there who have said, oh, he only did this because of Israel. Buck and I have talked about this. I'm curious how you would analyze the likelihood of this. I can see a world where the United States says, hey, we've done everything we want to do and pulls back and Israel continues to hit Iran. What do you think the likelihood of that is? That this union of attack eventually turns into a solitary attack from Israel?

[Steve Yates]

Well, I 100% agree that it's going to change. I don't want it to be solitary in the sense that I really seriously hope that our regional partners play more of a role in constructively shaping the security and economic environment there after major military operations wind down. I believe completely the President has his set of clear objectives. He wants to make sure that a return on the investment, but he's definitely, I think, going to be looking in the shorter term horizon. Whereas Israel and maybe some other partners really need to do the constant gardening. In the longer term, we can hit every once in a while when necessary. I think that's appropriate for the United States as a superpower. But we can't be the one that's micromanaging this. Even in the months, much less years range going after this.

[Buck]

What does a realistic future of the Iranian state look like that would Be clear evidence that the Trump plan here has worked. I mean, essentially, Steve, what is, yeah, victory for us is obviously Strait of Hormuz is open, oil is flowing, we have some kind of, as you said, a de escalation agreement. Gotta figure out what the Israelis are gonna do in this as well. I figure there's gonna be some high level, the highest level talks between Trump and Netanyahu on this. But is there a world in which we decide we can live with the mullahs still kind of in charge, but they're just really wimpy and frightened mullahs, or is it some kind of a pathway to a representative democracy, maybe overseen by some Arab League transition process? I mean, I'm basically asking you to fix the Middle east here, but we had a lady call in and fix the DHS problem with TSA. So, you know, you've been doing this for like 30, 40 years. Steve, you tell me, how does the next phase of Iran look if this all goes according to plan?

[Steve Yates]

Well, Buck, the first sign I'm looking for is an actual human being with a name. That is the person or group that President Trump has been negotiating with directly or indirectly. I think for their own life sake, they have kept this person anonymous. A lot of speculation, but really if there's going to be a soft transition, it's going to have to be into the hands of some entity that's recognizable so that we and others in the international community can make deals that ensure the peace and get through this transition. So first we're going to have to see who's the they. When President Trump says they have made a commitment to denuclearize, that would be a major win. If that's true, and I believe the President is hearing that. But complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement of that program is a 30 plus year long objective. If President Trump did that in a month or two, that's borderline miraculous. And so getting that person identified, that group identified, and then international peacekeepers or verifiers, that's where we can go back to the allies and say, you guys have got to come up with a coalition that does this. You run into problems. We might be your 911, but we're not your daily daddy.

[Clay]

Last question. CV8. There are reports that Saudi Arabia is encouraging Trump to keep pouring on the steel, so to speak, on Iran, uae, Qatar, based on reports kicking Iranian diplomats out of their country is the most under discussed part of this entire attack. How much support there is for it from so called other Arab Muslim countries.

[Steve Yates]

Clay, that's ultimately been the biggest rebuttal to this idea that it was somehow Israel that on its own dragged us into this. For years I have heard from Arab allies deep, deep concerns and it was frankly welcomed by then. When Trump 1.0 brought in the maximum pressure campaign to get away from the Obama Iran nuclear deal, they were the key drivers that made the Abraham Accords a reality. It was, yes, the US And Israel involved and very much so, but it was Arab allies that pushed very, very hard in this. And it's really ultimately gets back to Trump craft 1.0. He's resetting all of these trouble zones with different cards and different coalitions. And I think those Arab allies are sick of what Iran has done to them during this conflict and really over the last decades.

[Clay]

Steve, outstanding stuff as always. Keep us updated. I know the audience is going to appreciate all this deep dive and we will talk to you again soon.

[Steve Yates]

Thanks so much.

[Clay]

The Team 47 podcast is brought to you by Cozy Earth.

[Buck]

Comfort, style and quality. You can count on Cozy Earth.

[Clay]

You're listening to team 47 with Clay and Buck. We bring in now Senator Marsha Blackburn of the great state of Tennessee. And I know yesterday, Senator Blackburn, you were with President Trump as he toured Memphis, including Graceland, and talked about the massive decline that we have seen in overall violent crime since there was a surge of federal support. You represent the state. You were just there. What should people know nationwide about what's happening in Memphis?

[Senator Marsha Blackburn]

Memphis is the model, Clay. If you want to get crime down in your city, look at what Memphis has done and the partnership that is there with local, state and federal elected officials and local, state and federal agencies all working together. And it takes it all as a team. And when Cash Patel and Pam Bondi were coming through their confirmations for FBI and Attorney general, I asked each of them and then got a public commitment from them to help us. They jumped in. They worked with their agencies. Federal agencies worked with the local police. They worked with the Tennessee Highway Patrol and National Guard and Tennessee Bureau of investigations, our U.S. attorney, our U.S. marshal and 30 federal agencies on the ground working, helping. And because of that, in under six months, we have cut the crime rate in Memphis by half. And Memphis is on its way from being the most dangerous city per capita in the country to being one of the safest cities. That shows you when the people with a Democrat mayor, Democrat elected, Democrat police chief, stand up and say, we are going to work with these resources, with these agencies, with all of these elected officials and we are going to do this for the good of the people. Then this is the type result that you get.

[Buck]

Hey, Senator Blackburn, it's Buck. This is such a remarkable story. We've seen similar numbers in D.C. and I know as the crime stats are compiled from cities where there's been this federal intervention to bring crime down, we're going to keep seeing this. But I think you laid into a critical point there, which is that these are. This is a Democrat controlled city still. They were willing to work with the federal government to bring the crime rate down. Is there any hope in your mind that we might see this then in some other Democrat controlled cities? Because if you're the mayor, you know, maybe you have aspirations to be a governor or a senator, perhaps in a state, but there are a few things that I would believe could be a bigger benefit to any mayor than be able to look at his constituents when he wants, or she wants to run for reelection and say, yeah, we brought the violent crime rate down 50%.

[Senator Marsha Blackburn]

And that is something that is so vitally important. You know, the people that came to the roundtable we did in Memphis yesterday had remarkable stories. And the people that were in the room, Buck, you would have loved listening to these people. They weren't partisan. They were citizens of the city of Memphis who have dealt with this crime issue. And for them to be able to talk about sitting on their porch and drinking a glass of tea and not worrying about a bullet coming through the house, for them to talk about being a small business owner and not having landscaping equipment or delivery equipment stolen or employees not being robbed when they were leaving work and hear about children back to class, they're not skipping school. They are going back to school. They're not being recruited by gangs because many of these gangs have been run out of the city of Memphis. Memphis has seen more than 9,000 arrests, 9,000 in the last five months. These are violent criminal arrests. And you have crime down significantly in every category. Motor vehicle thefts are down 65% in Memphis. And when you focus on an issue and say we're going to surge, and then once we surge, we're going to look at those results and we're going to figure out how to sustain that good work. And we're going to do it all in partnership with, for the safety of the people of our city.

[Clay]

We're talking to Senator Marsha Blackburn right now as we are speaking to you. Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, one of your former, I guess I could say now, Senate colleagues, has been sworn in as the head of dhs, I believe. Yesterday he was confirmed by a vote of 55, 54 to 45, including your support. What can you tell us about Mark Wayne Mullen? What do you think he will be like as DHS head?

[Senator Marsha Blackburn]

He is a very good friend of mine. Mark Wayne is someone who, who is going to work diligently. He understands how you run a business, how you lead people. And you know, that is the most important thing in an organization is knowing how to lead people and how to manage assets. And Mark Wayne gets that. He gets the difference in that he is given to protecting our great nation. He knows and supports President Trump in his America first agenda. And it was exciting to be on the floor with him last night to have his family here and to see their excitement as he was named our nation's Secretary of Homeland Security.

[Buck]

Speaking to Senator Marsha Blackburn right now. And you know, we are seeing these breaking reports from just today, Senator, about some of these airports that have been so snarled because of Democrats really manufacturing a travel crisis. That's what has been going on. But now this ICE deployment into these airports has substantially, if not completely alleviated that TSA congestion. This is pretty remarkable. I have to ask you, Cetera, do you know that there is some belief that this originated with a call in to the show on Friday and Clay immediately then took it to Fox and then the president ran with this. It looks like this strategy is working.

[Senator Marsha Blackburn]

It is indeed working. And putting ICE over at the airports demand the exits as people walk out of the secured areas and to prohibit people from running through the entrance into that exit or through that exit into the secured area to check IDs, identifications, to assist PSA employees who are overworked right now. And we continue to work to try to find a way to get DHS fully funded. We have a group that has been working with the White House. It is a part of our Appropriations Committee, those members, and they are trying to find a way forward. And then we're also discussing doing a public safety reconciliation where we will look at bolstering the funds that are necessary to continue the public safety efforts for our nation.

[Clay]

We're talking to Senator Marsha Blackburn. You spend a lot of time in Washington, D.C. the overall violent crime rate has collapsed in Washington, D.C. you were just in Memphis. You just shared the data with us about how much the crime rate has collapsed in Memphis. Isn't it now the case that using both these cities as sort of experiments, for lack of a better way to describe it, that there are tons of cities out there that if we did the exact same thing, we could save a massive amount of lives. Shouldn't we just start to apply these lessons nationwide?

[Senator Marsha Blackburn]

Oh, yes. And when you look at the difference in Memphis and Minneapolis, think about that one where in Memphis they embraced the help and welcomed the help and then they moved forward with making the city secure. And as I said now, 9,000 arrests later, and I will also add, in addition to the hundreds of vehicles that have been recovered, the hundreds of weapons that have been taken off the street, they have found over 150 missing children that were being held by people and they have been returned home. And as I said, you've got hundreds of children that have gone back to school. They're not joining the gangs. And other cities should be looking at this. And you know, you look at somewhere like Chicago or LA or San Francisco that has such horrific issues. You look at cities that are sanctuary cities for illegal immigration and you say, why are they harboring these criminal illegal aliens? And then you look at Memphis where citizens are walking up to you. You know, people call our office every single day and they say, thank you so much for focusing on Memphis, for bringing peace to our city, for helping to get the crime down.

[Buck Saxon]

No doubt.

[Buck]

So much. Yeah.

[Clay]

Senator, by the way, congrats on polling. I don't know if you comment on polling very much, but I saw that you have a 50 point lead in the upcoming governor's race, which will frankly largely be decided in August when the Republican primary happens. So congrats on how well that campaign is going.

[Senator Marsha Blackburn]

Well, thank you. We are working hard and working to earn every vote and grateful for those good polls that are coming our way.