Weekly Review With Clay and Buck H1 - Misleading Gaza Narrative

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show – Weekly Review With Clay and Buck H1: Misleading Gaza Narrative

Release Date: August 2, 2025
Duration: 53 minutes and 14 seconds

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Introduction

In this episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, host Ryan Seacrest, alongside Christiane Amanpour and Jamie Rubin, delves into several pressing issues, including the surprising strength of the current U.S. economy, the reliability of expert predictions, the housing market's challenges, the impact of immigration on the cost of living, and a critical analysis of media narratives surrounding Gaza.

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Economic Performance: Surprising GDP Growth

Timestamp: [03:25] – [09:31]

The hosts begin by discussing the unexpected robustness of the U.S. economy, highlighted by a second-quarter GDP growth rate of 3%—exceeding the anticipated 2.5%. This marks the highest growth since the third quarter of 2024.

• Ryan Seacrest remarks, “We are expecting a number around two and a half percent and they're out. Up 3%. Up 3% better than expected.” ([04:10])

This performance challenges the prevailing narrative that suggested Trump's tariffs would cripple the economy. Instead, the growth suggests resilience and effective economic strategies.

• Christiane Amanpour adds, “Inflation really hasn't changed much in the last year or so.” ([07:03])

The discussion acknowledges that despite high tariffs and other economic pressures, the market has shown significant strength, with stocks appreciating nearly 30% since April.

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Skepticism of Experts and Economic Forecasting

Timestamp: [09:31] – [16:16]

A key theme is the criticism of economic experts whose predictions have frequently missed the mark. The hosts argue that consensus among experts often stifles innovative thinking and accurate forecasting.

• Ryan Seacrest asserts, “If the so-called experts are consistently proven wrong time after time, what do they actually know?” ([07:21])

They highlight that many experts failed to predict inflation trends and the impact of tariffs, emphasizing the importance of alternative perspectives in economic analysis.

• Christiane Amanpour concurs, stating, “The people who picked that photo did not do so in error. They picked that photo because their fundamental role here is to try to create at least moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas.” ([40:42])

This skepticism extends to the reliability of political economists versus business leaders like Donald Trump, who, despite criticism, has demonstrated effective negotiation skills and economic management.

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Housing Market Challenges

Timestamp: [14:21] – [16:16]

The conversation shifts to the housing market, discussing the drastic rise in mortgage rates from 2.5% to over 7%, which has stifled refinancing and home purchases.

• Ryan Seacrest notes, “The number one issue in the economy today. Number one issue, housing is out of sorts because we went from 2.5% mortgage to over 7% in record time.” ([15:05])

This surge in mortgage rates is identified as a significant barrier to unlocking the housing market and addressing broader economic challenges.

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Impact of Immigration on Cost of Living

Timestamp: [16:03] – [16:51]

Addressing immigration, the hosts discuss the influx of 10 million illegal immigrants over four years and its ramifications on housing costs and wages.

• Christiane Amanpour states, “There are people running all kinds of scams where they have illegals that are, you know, in a home that's meant for four people max.” ([16:12])

They argue that tightening immigration enforcement, as pursued by the Trump administration, could alleviate pressure on housing and improve wage conditions for American workers.

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Gaza Narrative and Media Critique

Timestamp: [24:34] – [50:14]

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to critiquing the New York Times' portrayal of the Gaza situation. The hosts assert that the Times published misleading information suggesting mass starvation among Gaza's children, only to issue a minor correction post-publication.

• Christiane Amanpour contends, “The problem with the story is that the photo is not an accurate representation of what is going on.” ([30:13])

They highlight that the featured child in the photograph had preexisting health conditions, undermining the narrative of intentional starvation by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The hosts draw parallels to historical misreporting, such as Walter Durant’s fabricated reports on Soviet starvation, questioning the Times' journalistic integrity.

• Ryan Seacrest emphasizes, “If your errors always run the same direction, it is a flaw of your reporting that should be addressed because it is a sign.” ([37:16])

They argue that such reporting aims to equate Israel with Hamas, thereby manipulating public perception and undermining Israel's actions in the conflict.

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Listener Call-In and Feedback

Timestamp: [47:49] – [50:46]

The show features listener interactions, including feedback from a caller named Scott from Indiana, who raises questions about Trump's stance on Israel and the Gaza narrative.

• Christiane Amanpour responds, “...Hamas is preventing the food from getting through in the numbers that it should be getting or in the quantity it should be getting through.” ([48:02])

This segment reinforces the hosts' stance that Hamas, not Israel, is primarily responsible for the humanitarian issues in Gaza, challenging mainstream media narratives.

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Conclusion

In wrapping up, the hosts reaffirm their criticism of the New York Times and similar media outlets for what they perceive as biased and misleading reporting on Gaza. They advocate for a more nuanced understanding of the geopolitical complexities and caution listeners to critically evaluate media sources.

• Ryan Seacrest concludes, “But if your errors always run the same direction, it is a flaw of your reporting that should be addressed because it is a sign.” ([40:10])

The episode underscores the importance of independent analysis and skepticism towards established media narratives, particularly in matters of international conflict.

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Notable Quotes

1. Ryan Seacrest: “We are expecting a number around two and a half percent and they're out. Up 3%. Up 3% better than expected.” ([04:10])
2. Christiane Amanpour: “Inflation really hasn't changed much in the last year or so.” ([07:03])
3. Ryan Seacrest: “If the so-called experts are consistently proven wrong time after time, what do they actually know?” ([07:21])
4. Christiane Amanpour: “They are pure left-wing anti-civilization propagandists and everyone needs to read their articles with that in mind.” ([40:42])
5. Ryan Seacrest: “But if your errors always run the same direction, it is a flaw of your reporting that should be addressed because it is a sign.” ([37:16])

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Conclusion

This episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show offers a critical examination of current economic indicators, challenges the credibility of expert predictions, addresses housing and immigration issues, and provides a pointed critique of media portrayals of international conflicts. Through informed discussion and listener engagement, the hosts encourage a more discerning approach to news consumption and policy analysis.

Transcript

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[Christiane Amanpour]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

Thanks for being here.

[Christiane Amanpour]

It is steamy down here in South Florida, I can tell you that much. I'm hearing other places too. Feeling the heat, feeling the heat. Good times.

[Ryan Seacrest]

It's hot in the summer every year they seem to decide that oh my goodness, this is the impact of global warming and everything else, but I can impress upon you that it has been hot for a long time.

[Christiane Amanpour]

This is the kind of astute analysis we bring to you on Clay and Bach. Reminder, it gets hot in the middle of summer in much of this country of ours. So yes indeed, true story. And if you have the chance, this is a great time to get into some shade, preferably despite what the Europeans think, indoors with air conditioning because air conditioning is one of the greatest inventions of the last hundred years or so and sit back, relax, listen to some clay and buck. That is the way to beat the heat, my friends. Best way to do it. So we've got some very good news to dive into on the economy and then we have some distressing but not surprising news about the flagship propaganda newspaper of the Democrats, the New York Times that we will dive into as well as some follow up to stories from yesterday. Donald Trump, also a whole bunch of commentary on, on, on Gaza on the Wall Street Journal suits that he now has the deep state and and more. So we've got a lot to dive in. Let's start though with this because I think it is one of those times where even the people who Clay pretty much spend all day thinking about how to bash Trump, undermine him, say he's terrible, doesn't know what he's doing, they're having to step back and say, you know what, it's pretty good what's going on with this economy. Actually I wasn't right when they, those, those people weren't right when they said tariffs were going to ruin everything. Let's start with this Q2 quarter two growth rate. CNBC's Rick Santelli laying it out for you. Play one. We are expecting a number around two and a half percent and they're out. Up 3%. Up 3% better than expected. That would be the highest level since 3Q24, when it was up 3.1% on the consumption side, up 1.4. Very close to estimates. Up 1.4 would be the best since last quarter of 24. Clay, it's a surprise to people who thought Trump was going to tank the economy, but I'm just going to say I think we're going to have to ride along on Trump's victory lap here for a moment. We told everybody he's earned the right to the trade negotiations the way that he wants to. He has earned the space for everyone to take a beat. You said don't sell, by the way. That was very good advice. We're not a financial show. But better advice here than you get on a lot of other financial shows. Don't sell. Trump knows what he's doing. 3% growth. And just real quick, Clay, before we dive, here's CNBC's Joe Kernan and Rick Santelli just having a laugh at all the Trump haters on the economy because that is richly deserved right now. Play to the left and people that don't like the president and don't want.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Things to work and you know, like.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Senator Elizabeth Warren will come on and.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Say inflation's out of control and the economy is, is getting killed by, by what's happening, by these tariffs, this 3%.

[Christiane Amanpour]

With the market at new highs.

[Ryan Seacrest]

And really we haven't seen inflation, you.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Know, go up back to three.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Maybe it will this week, maybe we'll see it. But none of these horrible things have happened, but they still talk like it's happening. It's amazing.

[Christiane Amanpour]

The Democrats, of course, as you pointed out, really don't want to see the current administration have some success. But there's no doubt that this is some success. We're seeing more horsepower, we're seeing better equities, inflation. Inflation really hasn't changed much in the last year or so.

[Ryan Seacrest]

I think what you should start to contemplate, and I tweeted this out after the numbers came out, is if the so called experts are consistently proven wrong time after time, what do they actually know? And I know we've talked about this before, but there's a great write up and I wish I could remember the book that dives into expertise and experts are almost always wrong because what they find is there is a huge sort of cluster effect on experts because especially in the modern era, people are afraid of being wrong. And so a Consensus settles in and nobody really is outside of the consensus because if you're wrong and outside of the consensus, the fear is of ostrich, you know, being ostracized and everything else. And the people who end up being the most right are actually, I think it was a really deep dive on hedgehogs. That's people who don't go super deep on necessarily everything but have a wide variety of perspectives. They tend to be better at forecasts than people who are so called experts in one field. And what we're seeing with economics is we were told if there are tariffs put in place, we're going to have a Great Depression style economic reality. And you saw everybody flood the market collapse in April, the likes of which frankly we hadn't really seen since COVID And we, we said on this show, as you pointed out, hey, just stay calm. If you happen to have added resources, now is a good time to buy. Stocks are up nearly 30% just since April. If you bought the dip, if you just stayed in, you're doing fine. If you just didn't pay attention to day to day. And so I think there's this obsession with believing that experts are going to be right. And then almost every time, I mean, look, they were wrong on inflation, they were wrong on tariffs, they've been wrong economically on everything.

[Christiane Amanpour]

They were wrong on Covid across the board. Yeah. You know, with very few exceptions. I saw our friend Dr. McCary on Fox this morning just talking about all the amazing things. That's why we had him on recently to talk about the FDA and how streamlining that could mean cures for people a lot faster, could save, could save lives and also add quality of life. Right. There's cures, there's also effective treatment which can be a game changer for people with a whole range of really debilitating diseases. And he's an expert who said the right things. And Trump during COVID and Trump has shown him what happens when you're right, which is you should elevated be what you see in the expert class. In general though, Clay is they all fall prey to consensus thinking. The echo chamber effect. This was even a problem back when I was in the CIA as an analyst there you mentioned the hedgehogs, people that are, that have depth on things versus a little bit on a lot of different things. People who had been, in my experience, the people who had been covering an issue for a very long time were the worst at predicting what the next thing was that was going to happen. The people who had a very good skill set to understand what matters right now, what's likely to happen next, were far better at predictive analysis. Because once you've been doing something for a long time, you tend to think that whatever everybody else thinks doing that same thing is, is the answer, right? That that's the way it's going to be. Certainly that is the case, the case in the economy. And why do we all care about this? Well, because it affects the price of everything that you are buying, the gas you are putting in your car, your ability to pay your mortgage, all of this, the piece of this that is missing right now. And this is what's remarkable. And I think this is why Trump's frustration has boiled over on the Fed issue. And there were some very funny memes from when he went and visited the Fed redo of the building that they are. But the fact that rates haven't even dropped yet, that would be the kind of rocket fuel you'd add to the economy if things were stalled out a little bit. This economy is already humming and they've kept the rates artificially high.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Here's my concern now, Buck, and I haven't heard anybody say this yet. I'm wondering if the Fed's going to say the economy's growing too fast and we can't cut rates now because we can't add the accelerant. In other words, they're going to go from, hey, I just. That's my concern now that we've hit 3% growth. And look, we need to get the economy really roaring. We need to get 4% growth, 3 1/2% growth. That would be transformative. It would actually give us a chance. If you start to run the math of really kind of knocking out some of these major budget deficits, growth cures everything, right? If you've ever worked in a business. I remember I had a buddy and he, I said, how'd you do? And he ended up selling his company for over $100 million. This is about 15 years ago. I said, how'd you do? He said, man, I screwed up everything. I said, you know, that's interesting. He said, I went back and I looked at it and we had to make a decision so rapidly. But he said the company was growing so fast that I didn't have to be perfect. I just had to steer in the right direction. And for those of you out there that have ever been at a company that's growing rapidly, you're not all going to make the right decisions because you're having to the analogy I've used Before it's like trying to change a tire while you're driving a car. It's going to be really sometimes messy. Right. But if you get that growth rate going, if we can start really humming economically, we don't have to be perfect on everything. 4% growth in the national economy would cure a lot of the ills that are out there.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Well, you also have, I think, with Trump, in many ways, the epitome of the guy who does versus the guy who conceptualizes. Right. A guy who has negotiated deals and Trump has negotiated deals that haven't gone his way when he was in business. Obviously, there have been successes and failures, but to your point, every great success in business, every person who has been a great success in business has had many failures along the way, because that is how you learn. That is a form of expertise that should be far more valued when you're thinking about who to put in charge of big decisions for the country instead of, I have some advanced degree from some economics program. Wasn't it President Bartlett from the fantasy land of the West Wing? Wasn't he like a PhD from Harvard or something in economics? And that's what all the libs think would solve all of our problems. Most of the PhDs in economics from most of, from all of the Ivy League schools in this country would stink at managing this economy compared to Trump. It wouldn't even be close.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Well, and that's why I think they're, look, I love it. I mean, I'm a history nerd, but history professors are good at telling you why something happened 100 years after it happened. We've seen some of these historians that go on, remember Michael Beschlow said, if Trump wins, they're just going to line you up and shoot you. You know, and you're, you're like, what? What are you talking about? I don't even know if we're still actually said that. Yes.

[Christiane Amanpour]

That's not even. He actually said that.

[Ryan Seacrest]

He actually said that. And he is, I think, a good historian at looking at things that are a hundred years old. Economists are very good at telling you why something happened after it's already happened. They are very bad as a group at predicting for you where we are headed. And I think it's just worth contemplating. Challenging conventional wisdom is usually how you win. I don't know how many people out there really study things, but if you do the same thing that everybody else does, it's going to be very difficult for you to get ahead. You sometimes have to take risk. Trump, you can criticize him on a lot. The guy understands negotiations, he understands leverage. He certainly understands interest rates, which are the foundation of any real estate investment deal, basically that is done anywhere. And I, I hope that they're going to start to reduce rates because they are too high. And look, here is the number one issue in the economy today. Number one issue, housing is out of sorts because we went from 2 and a half percent mortgage to over 7% in record time. And if you were lucky enough to get a two and a half, you're frozen in place there. And if you were unfortunate enough to get a seven, you haven't been able to refi yet and unlock the entire housing market.

[Christiane Amanpour]

That is true. But I think you also have to pile on top of that, Clay. 10 million people came into the country illegally in four years.

[Ryan Seacrest]

10 million people certainly did not help the cost of living for anyone in any city.

[Christiane Amanpour]

There are people running, running all kinds of scams where they have illegals that are, you know, in a home that's meant for four people max. They got 30 illegals living there, all paying them, you know, 250 bucks a month or something. This is all over the country as well. And this is another part of why the immigration enforcement that Trump is undergoing right now is one of the best things that could happen for people who work for a living. It will help their wages, it'll help the cost of housing. What you're saying is obviously also true, which is the rate, the rate issue that should start to be ameliorated. That's, that's the word of the day. There you go.

[Ryan Seacrest]

That's a nice word. Yeah, right.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Thank you. Rolled that one out. That could be certainly done in the months ahead, and I hope it will be. I have a plan for this weekend. We'll tell you all about. I, I get excited about this. You know, this maybe tells you about what a wild and crazy guy I am. But, you know, I got a wife, I got a baby, I got a puppy. I got a lot of things going on. I am going to be defrosting some bone in ribeyes from Good Ranchers. Now, the ribeye is a particularly decadent cut of meat. It's fantastic. And this for me on steak night, courtesy of Good Ranchers, is something I get really excited about. I've got my cast iron seared, ready to go. I mean, it is so hot when I do that search. Oh, man. Good Ranchers. This is absolutely the best meat you're going to get delivered anywhere. But they've also got salmon, chicken, steak, burgers, it is fantastic. We love steak over here. So does Clay. In fact, Clay, we're going to have to bring back a steak bet at some point because I need a chance at the title here.

[Ryan Seacrest]

All right, you need somebody just brought up recently. Didn't you have a steak dinner with.

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Jamie Rubin]

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[Christiane Amanpour]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

Welcome back in Clay Travis, Buck Sexton show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us as we are rolling through the Wednesday edition of the program. A lot of you weighing in as you always do and we appreciate all of you who are out there hopping in there. I wanted to hit this. This is nice. And I appreciate all the fun stuff that we get out there. A a podcast listener from Vinnie out by the airport. Buck, cover your ears. You're gonna enjoy this one, but buck's gonna cringe. A.A. let's listen.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Yo, I was listening to the show this morning and Clay Travis, the genius like that Norman Einstein. My name's Vinny. I run poll cast the gentleman's club out by the airport. And he's absolutely right. We got diverse chicks out here everywhere. We got Asians, we got a Lithuanian. We got a girl from a place called Rhode Island. It sounds made up, but he's absolutely right. Absolutely dead on. Just like your analysis all the time. Thanks, gentlemen.

[Ryan Seacrest]

You never know, Buck, where people endorsement of my brilliant ideas are going to come from. I love all of you out there. It could be, hey, how do we get the economy roaring again? It could be making your strip club great again. It does Whatever you need, I got the solution here. This is how hedgehogs work. We got a wide variety of knowledge that we can apply in a, you know, like sort of like octopus with spinning arms. You can make everything happen.

[Christiane Amanpour]

I somehow knew that a strip club owner was going to call in after your whole rant yesterday. I just knew it, Clay. So that's all I.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Tell me I'm a genius and tell me I'm a genius. I don't, you know, maybe, maybe there's all sorts of places my talents can be applied. I want. Speaking of talents applied, I want everybody out there to apply their talents to signing up for Crockett Coffee. Crockett Coffee.com is the best coffee in America no matter what you are into. From American history. Davy Crockett is a hero. You use code book. You go get subscribed right now. I actually yesterday, Buck, true, true thing. You know this met with a banker because we are growing at such a rapid rate with Crockett Coffee that we have to now have like legitimate banking financing options out there. So we are firing on all cylinders. That is because of you guys. Crockett Coffee.com use code book for an autographed copy of my book. We come back Buck here in a sec. Let's dive into the big New York Times failure and how it has altered the way that people are talking about what's going on in Gaza. Because I think it is quite significant, also quite significant, giving you an opportunity to say a thousand dollars in a year which we can. I have got my 17 year old, he's away at camp up in Michigan and my 14 year old, he's away at football camp right now. Both of them have Pure Talk phones and I use the Pure Talk phone to stay in touch with them. I trust Pure Talk to keep me in touch with my family. You can trust them to keep you in touch with your family and you can save a bundle in the process. Here's how you get hooked up. Save up to $1,000. You can also get a brand new phone and prices as low as 25 bucks a month for unlimited talk text. Plenty of data. All you have to do is go to your phone and dial £250. Keep your same phone number, you can get hooked up and just save a bundle. Use Pure Talk like we do in the Travis family. £250. Say Pure Talk Wireless by Americans for Americans. That's £2 5 0.

[Christiane Amanpour]

All right, welcome back in to Clay and Buck here. And we've got a story that we absolutely need to Discuss here with all of you. And it's because this is getting a lot of attention and even I think some people out there who are generally or overall supportive of Israel in its fight against Hamas have started to waver a little bit for the re for a reason that is would be understandable at least with the specific goal of trying to pressure the IDF to get more food to the children of Gaza. That's the basic narrative. That's the storyline that's out there. Trump has been talking about it, others have been talking about it. In fact, here we can get President Trump on Gaza. This is cut 10. This is the latest thing that he, he had to say about it. Play it. I think everybody, unless they're pretty cold hearted or worse than that, nuts. There's nothing you can say other than it's terrible when you see the kids and those are kids, you know, whether they talk starvation or not, those are kids that are starving. That's, I mean they are starving and you see the mothers, they love them so much. There's just nothing they seem to be able to do. They got to get them food and we're going to get them. Clay, as we have been discussing here on the program, a couple of things. First off, it strikes a lot of us as contrary to what we would think the Israeli government and the IDF would do based on all of their actions up to this point, that they would willfully let children starve if there was a way to prevent that. I don't believe it. And I'm not saying that there aren't civilian casualties that have happened. I'm not saying there is not malnutrition going on inside of Gaza. I'm just saying I don't believe that it's a policy of the IDF to, or the Israeli government, the Israeli people to starve out. And you hear this term genocide being used now by people who are very critical of Israel and even some who aren't always that critical of Israel. I've been looking at this and thinking to myself, hold on a second, what is really going on here? This is very important. What is actually happening in Gaza. First of all, as we know, the narrative is now starting to come out more that it is in fact Hamas that is preventing the distribution of food and seizing food that is being provided to Gaza for the civilian population there. That's point one. But point two, Clay, this New York Times story that on the, on it was a main story for the New York Times, they had a front page.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Newspaper for those of us old people like me who still read the newspaper, literally the front page story, the one that they consider the most important tell to their readers on that day.

[Christiane Amanpour]

It was just a few days ago and there was a story where they had a photo of a. I mean, it was a horrible looking photo in terms of just emotionally devastating. You see a child who is very skeletal, if you will, I mean, looks extremely malnourished in the hands of a woman. And the whole point of the story, based on this photo, and they chose this photo, the whole point of the story is that the children of Gaza are starving to death. Look at this. Because it looked like somebody who would be starving to death. Something horrible beyond words, something that no moral person could countenance, could sit by and allow to happen. And so it obviously got a lot of attention all over the world. The problem with the story is that the photo is not an accurate representation of what is going on. Here is the New York Times appending an editor's note, an editor's note to a story about Mohammad Zakaria Al Mat Mutawak, a child in Gaza who's diagnosed with severe malnutrition. After publication. This is from the New York Times PR department. After publication, the Times learned that he had pre existing health conditions. Please read more below. They give more of this. Clay, this individual has this child. It's still very sad story. Has cystic fibrosis. And that's actually. And also other pre existing health conditions. It's not a starvation story. They're showing a child who's starving, who's not actually starving, but has other preexisting health conditions which they have now offered. They ran a photo that is effectively a fake in terms of the story, which is what they were telling on the front page of the New York Times to tell everybody that the Israelis are starving. The children of Gaza.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Yeah. And our friend Carol Markowitz, who's in our podcast network, been on the show a lot, she tweeted this as well. The brother of this individual was all who is healthy and has evidently no issues was also cropped out of the picture. And she says, and I think she's right, this should be published on the front page of the paper. The correction, not some side X account. And she said if you fell for the hoax, it's on. This is very important. Yeah.

[Christiane Amanpour]

They didn't share the correction on the official New York Times account with millions and millions of followers. They shared it from the PR department's tiny account that nobody is going to see or pay any attention to. And Clay, you already Pointed this out too. There's. They had in the same photo, they cropped out a child who looks well.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Fed and healthy, which should have raised issues in the mind of any editor that saw this. Right? Wait a minute. One kid is healthy and the other one is starving? How often do you think that actually happens in the same family? Never. I mean, I've got multiple kids. I can't imagine a scenario where one of my kids looks healthy and the other one is starving. And I'm saying, well, it's because the whole family is unable to eat. I mean, I think you probably would be trying to feed your family equally there. So it should have raised a lot of issues. And I would say this.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.

[Ryan Seacrest]

No, remember when they got the Jason Blair story? I mean, that's probably been 20 some odd years.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Well, he was just a. He was a serial fabricator, but he was a young black reporter. And they were desperate to tell stories of how diverse their new newsroom was.

[Ryan Seacrest]

And you know, yeah, but, but they put a huge front page story out saying this was all fabricated. We got this wrong. To Carol's point, I would argue this is far more significant because the things that he was making up, by and large were just kind of like stories about life in West Virginia or whatever it was. And look, you don't want to make that stuff up, but this actually alters the terrain of geopolitical negotiation and is intended to send the message of Israel is intentionally starving young children. And they use this image for that reason.

[Christiane Amanpour]

It is wildly inflammatory. Yes, against Israel and against Jews worldwide. And that was the purpose of the story, to make them Israel, the Jews, to make them look like the bad guys after they suffered their own 911 on October 7th, after they had the most horrific terrorist attack since 911 perpetrated against them. And with a level of sadism on the on from Hamas that is shocking to the conscience, honestly, even for those of us who were. Did things in the gwad and saw how evil Al Qaeda was and, and what they would do. Shocking to the conscience. But this reminds me, Clay, of really, this is, this is on Brand in a sense, for the New York Times. The New York Times is the paper that, that published Walter Durante, who on behalf of communism, lied about mass starvation in the Soviet Union. Right. This is one of the most infamous episodes of 20th century journalism. Should have told you all you need to know about the lib mindset and journos, but Walter Durante lied to cover up mass starvation in the Soviet Union back in the 19, early 1930s and he actually got a Pulitzer Prize for it. Clay, doesn't this all ring a bell? Just like the fake Russia collusion stories. Those people got Pulitzers. They still have them. The purpose is not the truth. The purpose is manipulation of the masses, of the minds, of the readers. And the purpose here was very clearly now is the chance after we saw how horrific Hamas was and they took 200 plus hostages and they raped women and they murdered babies and they did all these horrible things intentionally and on behalf of the people planning October 7th. I mean, this was their plan. This wasn't some secondary thing that just happened. After all that, now is the chance to try to seize the moral high ground for the pro Palestinian, pro Hamas lunatics. And we're supposed to think it's just an error, Clay, that the New York Times runs a story that is essentially a fake story when you use a photo and say it is a thing or represents a thing and it does not, which is starvation of a child. It is not starvation that caused that child to look that way, as anybody who knows anything about the diseases that he had preexisting knows. And then they cut out the photo of the healthy looking little boy in the same photo it should be, and.

[Ryan Seacrest]

It'S Durant all over again on the front page. I would also point this out and I think it's very significant. All of their errors have been in favor of Gaza. Do you remember soon after October 7th when Israel started to respond after the October 7th attack and all of these major news outlets, I believe it was, they said that Israel had struck a hospital and killed tons of people. Do you remember that story? It was on the front page everywhere. And it later came out that it was a misfired rocket from Gaza that actually from. That is from Hamas that actually hit the hospital in Gaza. And so they allowed the story to be, oh, Israel's intentionally targeting hospitals and killing innocent people. Put it on the front page of the newspaper. If your errors. Look, reporting is hard, right? Let's be honest, trying to tell the truth is a hard job when there are lots of people trying to manipulate you all the time. So I will say that. But if your errors always run the same direction, it is a flaw of your reporting that should be addressed because it is a sign.

[Christiane Amanpour]

Well, I don't think it's a flaw. I think that gives them too much credit, Clay. I think that the mission, the mission is the propaganda. Actually. I don't think that this is a mistake. I think that they know that this is what they are supposed to do. They are playing for their team with this. And what does it say if the, if the starvation and the New York Times is still saying, oh, there's mass starvation in Gaza, what are the chances that there are children? And this is, it's a horrific thing to even think about, but that there are children who are starving to death in massive numbers in Gaza. There are skeletal looking children who are clinging to life all over Gaza. This is what we are being told by the New York Times. But they happen to pick a photo of somebody that is not starving. A young child who is not starving. Very sad story. Cystic fibrosis, but he's not starving. And that's the photo they put on the front page of the newspaper. You're supposed to think that this is an error made in good faith. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. And the fact that they won't really correct it in a way that will change the perception of the people who read the original story all over clay. It was picked up all over the world too. It's not just New York Times readers. It's all over the Internet. It's everywhere. What do you think it looks like, you know, in the Middle east newspapers and websites to the degree that those things really exist. Well, what do you think it looks like there now after that photo? What do their readers think? It is reckless beyond words. The New York Times is a disgrace. It is not an honest entity. It is not a good faith journalistic operation. They are pure left wing anti civilization propagandists and everyone needs to read their articles with that in mind. That's how I feel about it at least.

[Ryan Seacrest]

So I think it's true. But I think at a bare minimum the pressure, I think Carol Markowitz is right. You can't have an error that egregious and just post from your New York Times PR account which A, you know, probably what 1 in 10,000 people will actually see the correction. You should have to put on the front page the full picture that you edited and acknowledge that you told something that was fundamentally untrue, that impacted in a significant way the discussion around how Israel and Gaza. Israel is handling the situation in Gaza.

[Christiane Amanpour]

You're completely right. I would just add to this. The people who picked that photo did not do so in error. They picked that photo because their fundamental role here is to try to create at least moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas. If not the Palestinians are the good guys, Israel the bad guys. That's their actual job in their minds.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Also I will point out Remember all those people out there that were supposed to be fact finding experts on misinformation and disinformation? This seems like a pretty egregious example of that that should be widely covered by other media outlets. Care about the truth. Are you seeing any of those articles? Any of those media discussions? I'm not seeing it anywhere.

[Christiane Amanpour]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Christiane Amanpour]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton show. Appreciate everybody hanging out with us. Let's get some of your calls. 800-282-2882. Scott in Indiana, what you got for us?

[Christiane Amanpour]

Hey, keep up the good work. I can't tell whether Trump thinks Israel is starving the people on purpose or not. If he is, it would be ironic considering a couple weeks ago he chastised everybody for falling for the Epstein hoax. So you think he's, do you think this is. No, Scott, this is really, this is really important. This is really important. There is widespread reporting that I think is reliable, that there is that food is not getting to people, insufficient, you know, insufficient quantity in Gaza, including children who are probably who rather are malnourished, not yet starving to death, but malnourished as a result of it. But Hamas is preventing the food from getting to them is the point. And so then to make this an even more emotional issue, they pick this photo and they say, oh, see, this is what Israel is deciding to do to people. So there's the who's responsible for it? And then there's the degree of how much is food not getting. So Hamas is preventing food from getting through in the numbers that it should be getting or in the quantity it should be getting through. And then the New York Times is picking this story to make it seem like this is an Israeli plot or Israeli decision.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Also, if Israel wanted to kill everyone in Gaza, they could have done it just two years ago. They could have carpet bombed everyone and legitimately killed everybody who lives in Gaza. They have the wherewithal and the power and the ability to do that. Look at the attempted tactical strikes. Look at what happened in Iran. They pretty much only killed they hit apartment building units that that Iranian nuclear scientists were in and didn't touch anybody else.

[Christiane Amanpour]

And why? Let's just put this in the cold hard reality real polity for a second. At this stage of the game, Israel is going to intentionally starve children to death to turn the whole world against it? Of course not. That's insane. I'm not saying children aren't starving. I'm saying look at who's responsible for preventing the food from getting to them. And look at how the New York Times is then trying to lie about that culpability.

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[Christiane Amanpour]

I'm Christiane Amanpour and I've been on the front lines and interviewing world leaders for more than 30 years. And I'm Jamie Rubin, a former advisor to both Presidents Clinton and Biden. We were married for 20 years and divorced for seven. Now we've joined forces on the X.

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