← The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
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- [00:00]
Clay Travis
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Sometimes we all need to slow down and reconnect with what matters most. Life can feel overwhelming, but encouragement and guidance are closer than you think. At InTouch.org, you'll find biblical teaching, daily devotionals, and timeless sermons from Dr. Charles Stanley. These resources are designed to strengthen your faith, renew your hope, and give you confidence for life. If you're seeking peace, strength, or simply a reminder of God's presence, visit intouch.org today. You'll be glad you did Chris Stapleton's All American Roadshow. With special guests. Get tickets now@livenation.com Chris Stapleton's All American Roadshow Running a business is hard enough. Don't make it harder. With a dozen apps that don't talk to each other. One for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting. That's software overload. Odoo is the all in one platform that replaces them all. CRM, accounting, inventory, E Commerce, hr. Fully integrated, easy to use, and built to grow with your business. Thousands have already made the switch. Why not you try Odoo for free@odoo.com that's odoo.com A new year means new financial goals, like making sure your savings are secure and diversified. Will this be the year you finally talk to someone from Birch Gold Group? There are forces pushing the dollar lower and gold higher, which is why they believe every American should own some physical gold until January 30th. If you're a first time gold buyer, Birch Gold is offering a rebate of up to $10,000 on qualifying purchases. To claim eligibility and start the process, just text my name Buck to 9898 98. Take advantage of this rebate, but you got to do it by January 30th. Text my name Buck to 98. 9898 today welcome everybody to the Tuesday edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Got a lot to discuss with you today, my friends. This morning the Supreme Court heard a transgender sports case and I listened in on some of the oral arguments. Clay listened in on the oral arguments. We'll give you our our takes on that one. Democrats are crazy, including some members of the Supreme Court. Just this on this issue, there is no reasoning with them. There is no rational. There is just they want what they want and they're going to try to find a way to get it. But we will come back into that. Trump is speaking, I was speaking about what his administration's up to with law enforcement specifically, but also this, this Jerome Powell issue Clay so they're looking into Jerome Powell for possibly the Fed chair who has been too slow in the eyes of many to lower rates. I think those eyes or the many there includes you and me, right? I think we both believe that he should have lowered rates sooner than he has. But nonetheless, he's being investigated for possibly lying under oath to Congress about the renovations on the Federal Reserve building. This has got some people asking what the heck's going on. So we shall discuss that. We've got more on the Democrats trying to, I think, Clay, they're realizing it doesn't have quite the, quite the sizzle politically that they need to make this a big, nationwide, huge movement about Renee Good's shooting. So I don't think that that's gonna continue for much longer. After this week, you probably won't be hearing that much. I could be wrong. And the way that would change, and we'll get into what the Minnesota attorney general said about this in a moment, the way it would change is if they bring a charge against a state charge against the ICE officer, which would cause a big mess and I think they would lose ultimately. Even though it's a blue state and even though you have some communist judges, I think the bar is going to be too high for them, but we'll see. I'm not sure they're even going to bring that charge, though. So that's all a little bit preemptive in the discussion. But Clay, ICE is not backing down at all. Trump is not backing down at all. Holman Secretary Noem, they are using Minnesota now as an opportunity to show that the enforcement of the law will continue, irrespective of how many teary eyes there are on Ms. Now, irrespective of how outraged the editorials on the New York Times page may be. Tom Homan, this is cut 13. He's just straight up saying that, look, we're there because they're a sanctuary state and we're going to keep being there. Place 13 the invasion occurred in the last four years, millions of illegal aliens were illegally released in the United States without proper vetting. That's why we're there. Bill. We're in Minnesota because, number one, there's sanctuaries, state, sanctuary city. They're knowingly releasing public safety threats, illegal aliens, to the streets every day. We're there because the Biden administration let millions of illegal alien criminal aliens into the nation. We're there because we're trying to, we want to arrest these public safety threats that they're releasing to the street. If These governors and mayors will simply let us in their jail. You know, complying with our detainers, we can arrest that criminal public safety threat and the safety and security of a jail for would they rather release them in the public, which is unsafe for the public, unsafe for the alien, and certainly unsafe for agents? Clay, I just want to say it. That's often lost in this discussion. Think about how much they say, oh, but they're being. The ICE agents are being thugs and look what they're doing. And it's so rough. Imagine if state and local authorities were willing to be helpful, not make the arrest themselves necessarily, but just share information, just refuse to obstruct.
- [06:13]
Buck Sexton
Yeah, look, it is a. I watched the press conference yesterday where Jacob Fry and everyone in Minnesota decided that they were going to sue the dhs, Kristi Noem, and they were going to sue the federal government. This is the problem we're going to run into, Buck. And I think it's important for people out there to understand it. There is both, and I think it even applies to the Supreme Court. Transgender arguments as we see them come out. There's two tracks in many different parts of politics. There is the legal track and there is the political track. Sometimes they are on the same track. Right. Republicans have the, the, the, the good sense to be on the size of boys shouldn't be able to compete in girls sports, which is both politically and legally the right argument.
- [07:01]
Clay Travis
Right.
- [07:02]
Buck Sexton
We sometimes talk about political and moral, but here political and legal. Democrats have decided in Minneapolis that they are going to throw up as many legal roadblocks as possible to this ICE investigation, to these ICE raids, to this ICE implementation of the law in Minnesota. And they're doing it entirely for political reasons with no basis in legal reality or hope at all. And I think everybody out there who is a lawyer that is listening to us right now that has a scintilla of sense recognizes that. They looked at it and they said, you're a state. You can't sue the federal government for implementing federal law and think that you are going to win. And let me give you an example of an argument that I was consistent on, Buck. Do you remember when Texas was trying to stop the federal government when it came to immigration policy? They were right and they sued and they said we should be able to do all these different things. And, and the courts actually said, no, you can't, because immigration law trumps state law, even though Texas happens to be a border state and arguably should be able to defend itself. And back then, if you go listen to the tape I said this is really frustrating, but the precedent the courts are putting out there is whomever is the executive determining what the law of the land is, gets to decide what the law is and gets to execute it as they see fit. So all these lawsuits, look, it may play well for the minute Minneapolis Mayor and they may play well for Tim Walls with the Democrat base. They as they have a zero percent chance of actually succeeding. Now there might be a district court judge who says that they can win. There might even be some appeals courts. But I'm telling you, as they move up the flowchart, everyone who is a lawyer is going to tell you this is ridiculous. And, and remember they lie to us all the time about things that even the Supreme Court shoots down nine zero. Remember Colorado Supreme Court when they took Trump off the ballot and all these left wing juror legal experts came on and said this is a very strong Colorado Supreme Court opinion And then they lost 90 at the Supreme Court. So this is BS, much of it and I'm curious to see how it's going to play out.
- [09:21]
Clay Travis
Speaking of legal bs, here is the Minnesota Attorney General, Keith Ellison, who wants to play this game of oh no, look, even if we don't, even if we don't necessarily bring charges right now, we could bring charges against this ICE agent in the future. So let's just wait and see. This is cut 8. It is important to be in that there is no statute of limitations on murder. And so this case is not going to be over even if they try to block a high quality investigation. We're collecting data, we're going to, we know that there is civil rights representation.
- [09:56]
Senator Ted Cruz
That the family is obtaining.
- [09:58]
Clay Travis
So there is a lot of things happening and there's no reason to believe that we're not doing everything we can. But this is unprecedented. We're used to the federal government being a partner. We work with them all the time. And actually I'm still flabbergasted at this effort to declare the ICE agent innocent and then to block us from the file, but then to selectively release little pieces of tape that you think that they think are going to help them. This is nothing close to the professionalism we're used to, Clay. There you have a state attorney general who is saying the federal government is essentially playing games with and covering up a murder and that at some point in the future, undetermined, because there is no statute of limitation anywhere on murder, that maybe they'll bring charges. So don't worry. Now, to me, I think this is. He's putting that out there to buy time so that as the pressure is high, he can say, we're investigating, we're investigating. There's no statute of limitation. I don't think they're going to bring a murder charge against this guy, because I think ultimately they would lose. Although, you don't know, right? You can't know for sure. The. The federal protection, though, for a federal officer doing his job in the course of his duties, where the federal government agrees he was doing his duties, and now a state is going to. For a judge to. That's going to be a huge bar.
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Buck Sexton
You're 100% right. In all of your legal analysis. I think they'll bring murder charges against him. And it may not be murder. It might be, you know, or manslaughter or something. Slaughter something.
- [11:33]
Clay Travis
I don't think they're going to bring anything. You. Do you think they will?
- [11:36]
Buck Sexton
And I think it's entirely political. The legal analysis there is sound. There is no basis for it whatsoever. I think the state of Minnesota's leadership wants the conflict with President Trump, and they want to tell their crazy base of insane people that are out protesting all the time that they are willing to stand for rule of law. I could write their speech for them. We're not going to allow a fascist, authoritarian federal government to determine what the state law of Minnesota is. When we see crimes committed in Minnesota, we're not going to rely on the federal government to bring the charges. I can make the argument politically better than those guys will probably buck. I'm telling you, they're going to. They're going to charge him now. I don't think it's going to stick. I'm just saying that when the federal government comes in and knocks out these charges and when they get dismissed, how do they lose? Because then they say it's just fascism right there. Trump is the big bad wolf, the scary Nazi, and they're just going to argue that they stood up to him. And when Trump is off the stage, they're going to run for reelection based.
- [12:47]
Clay Travis
On all of this, I think they're going to say that there's an ongoing investigation and they're going to keep the rhetoric high about how, you know, we believe that there was a murder here or whatever, and that eventually they're going to. Because, Clay, I think. I don't think this plays well for them, actually, in the midterms. I think for their crazy base, it's something that they want to feed them in the meantime. But at the end of the day, people can see that if there was no video, this guy would be absolutely facing murder charges. There's video. It's very straightforward. There's no arguing to be had here. You can't run into a cop with your car because you're acting like a maniac and you don't like the law. You can't do it if you can do it. We no longer have rule of law. We basically are giving up one of our, our foundational elements to American civilization. So, yeah, for the lunatic left, you're right. Of course, they love this stuff. But if you're going to try to win control of the House in a. What's going to be a tightly contested race, I think, I hope you don't look like the good guys here. Actually, you only look like the good guys to people who are dyeing their hair purple and learning to be ice interrupters and have nothing else to do with their lives. And there's not enough of them to win you control of the House.
- [13:55]
Buck Sexton
Well, that's super interesting on the national level, and I'm not sure I disagree. But in Minnesota, which is where these guys are going to get elected, they actually think they benefit politically. So you might be right that there may be some big footing coming in from the Democrat Party saying, hey, slow your roll here. This is making us look bad nationally. Locally, I think it's the best thing that could happen to them because it just completely reinforces their, their perspective.
- [14:23]
Clay Travis
Well, what, what I think would, would go in support of, of your position here is the charges they brought in New York against Trump. The, you know, bookkeeping thing by the, by the AG in New York City. The district attorney, rather, in New York City was absurd beyond words. And it was one of the only times even Trump deranged haters went on TV on Ms. Now and on cnn. I love calling it Ms. Now, by the way, just because it's an admission that they had to rebrand because they're so crazy and they suck and they have no audience. Just remember that, like, Fox News is never waking up. Like, now we're actually Cat News. Like, that's not happening because it's Fox News. It's a brand. They've built it. They have an audience. They've changed it to Ms. Now, Clay, because it just turned into such a joke and NBC didn't want to be affiliated with it anymore. But I digress. The legal analyst, though, had a really tough time with charging 34 felonies or whatever over a bookkeeping error that wasn't Even an error. Because if he did what they wanted him to do, it would have been a campaign finance violation. The whole thing was insane.
- [15:27]
Buck Sexton
Yes. That's why I think ultimately they don't care. Even though legally, again, I think they'll.
- [15:34]
Clay Travis
Cause problems for the Democrats nationally. But that's. But you're saying that maybe they just don't care. I don't know. I mean, I'm not sure. Keith Ellison, he probably wants to be a senator for Minnesota. Yeah.
- [15:43]
Buck Sexton
Jacob thinks he. Jacob Fry thinks he should be a senator or a governor. Right. Like he's Minneapolis mayor now. He's still a relatively young guy. He didn't cry at George Floyd's casket for nothing. Buck, there's something bigger in his future, in his mind. We'll talk about this. We'll take some of your calls. We'll dive into this Supreme Court case. Also, we'll talk about an awful news story. Unfortunate Scott Adams, creator of Gilbert Dilbert has died and he's been a real outspoken force for free speech. Cancer got him. His wife and ex wife announced it this morning. Sad story there. We'll talk a little bit about him as well. I'm sure at the end of a long day, few things better than slipping between the most comfortable sheets in the world. Those would be cozier. The makers of luxury bedding kicking off the new year with two new product lines. They just launched the Baja bedding set. That even sounds amazing. First fully matching collection sheets, Debay cover quilt, all included. Spy inspired by the beach setting of Baja California. Think of ocean breezes at the beach. For context. The designs are beautiful. The fabrics feel premium because they are. It gives your bedroom that resort like look. Cozy Earth has also upped their towel game. Luxe bath towels. Plush, absorbent, the kind of towel you want to reach for as you get out of the shower. Like Cozy Earth sheets. All of this comes with 100 day trial and a 10 year warranty. They want you to be satisfied. They believe in their product quality. They start the year off with real comfort. Go to cozyearth.com my name Clay. As the promo code for up to 20% off. That's cozyearth.com promo code Clay. And if you get a post purchase survey mention you heard about Cozy Earth Right here. I told my wife, by the way about these new products. She was giddy. The Travis family already has them ordered. Cozyearth.com My name Clay saving America. One thought at a time.
- [17:48]
Clay Travis
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
- [17:50]
Buck Sexton
Find them on the free iHeartRadio app.
- [17:53]
Clay Travis
Or wherever you get your podcasts Sometimes we all need to slow down and reconnect with what really matters most. Life moves quickly and between responsibilities, stress and distractions, it's easy to lose sight of the things that bring true meaning. That's where intouch.org comes in. It's a place filled with biblical teaching, devotionals and encouragement that speaks directly to your heart. Dr. Charles Stanley's sermons are timeless, offering wisdom that applies to everyday challenges as well as the deeper questions of faith. The resources there are designed to help you live with confidence, strengthen your relationship with God, and experience his presence in a practical way. On the site, you'll find daily devotionals to keep you grounded, articles that inspire reflection, and tools that guide you toward a life of peace and purpose. Whether you're searching for hope, strength, or simply a reminder that you're not alone, intouch.org is there for you. Make it part of your routine visit today and discover the peace, guidance and encouragement you've been looking for. Chris Stapleton's All American Roadshow. With Special Guests so I think I'm.
- [19:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
In love with you.
- [19:05]
Clay Travis
I didn't know at the time.
- [19:08]
Senator Ted Cruz
I know what I want to do.
- [19:10]
Clay Travis
Get Tickets now@livenation.com Chris Stapleton's All American Roadshow.
- [19:18]
Public Investing Representative
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- [20:29]
Clay Travis
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- [20:57]
Buck Sexton
Welcome back in Clay Travis, Buck Sexton show We got some good news on inflation. Not getting a lot of attention, Buck, but I thought I would hit everybody with it. Core inflation 2.6% and the core inflation number that is the lowest since March of 2021. So if you're out there and you are like me and you're like Buck and you have been incredibly frustrated about the rising cost of goods, effectively the entire Biden era has now been wiped out. Now the frustrating thing about cost of goods and why inflation is so uniquely pernicious is it sticks, right? It's like gaining weight and all you're doing is slowing down the gain of weight. That's the frustrating part. But in terms of actual on the ground inflation at this point in time, we have now brought it back core to 2.6%. Fed's target rate is about 2%. When Trump left office it was right around 1.9%. I think I feel very good buck, in 2026 about the likelihood that inflation is going to continue to come down and that we are going to get closer and closer to the Fed's target rate of 2, which means interest rates should continue to come down in 2026 as well.
- [22:20]
Clay Travis
Here we have CNBC's Rick Santelli. This is cut four talking about the year over year inflation here from the man himself. Play it are coming out for our December read on Consumer Price Index. We're expecting a headline number up 3.10of a percent and it delivered. That's exactly what we received, up 3.10of a percent. Now if you look at the previous month in August it was up 4 10. September it was up 3. 10. So this fits right in. If you look at ex food and energy known as core on a month over month, it's a tenth cooler than expected. It's up 2. 10. Now if you look at year over year up 2.7 expected 2.7 arrives. The one glimmer here on the year over year is the core comes in a tenth light expectations. But the 2.6 level is where we've been. So it's good short Version is inflation is moving in the right direction. Finding cost savings in your day to day built in expenses is harder than it sounds. But a sure way of doing that without sacrificing any quality is switching your cell phone service to to my carrier, PureTalk. Switch to PureTalk this month, you may well save $600 to $1,000 this year alone PureTalk saves you 50% or more off your existing cell phone bill without sacrificing any quality of Service. That's because PureTalk operates on the same cell towers in the same network as one of the bigger cell phone companies. But without the overhead expenses, your costs can be as low as $20 a month. For unlimited talk, text and 3 gigs of high speed data on Pure Tax Pure Talk superfast nationwide 5G network, dial pound 250, say Clay and Buck. And Pure Talk's US customer service team can help you switch member talk, text and data for just $20 a month. All you have to do dial £250, say clan buck. Switch to Pure Talk. Welcome back in to Clay and Buck. Trump right now is in Michigan. He's going to be giving a speech in Detroit. Detroit, Motor City. That's right, right? It's Motor City.
- [24:20]
Buck Sexton
Yeah, it is, yeah. My wife's hometown. She's up there right now.
- [24:24]
Clay Travis
I wish I could speak to it with tremendous fondness, but I have never been to Detroit, Clay, so I should probably go check that place out. Never been in the city of Detroit before. So I'm going to, I'm going to go see. I might bust out my rhymes.
- [24:36]
Buck Sexton
Maybe better to put on the target list, especially in the summer, but, but I've spent a lot of time in Detroit. It's a better city than I think it gets credit for.
- [24:44]
Clay Travis
This is like what I said about Chicago, Kerry and I, my first ever time in Chicago, I went in May and it was 75 degrees and crystal clear skies and everything was fantastic. And I'm like, I think I'm, I think I did it. Like, I don't know. I don't need to go back to Chicago in January now. I had perfect Chicago in May. So maybe I'll go to Detroit this summer. But Trump is there right now and he's hoping to get the American people. And obviously his administration is very much focused on the economy and there are some challenges going into. Of course there's always going to be economic challenges. No one's ever going to be. This is one thing I just want to say, Clay. No one's ever going to wake up, be like, you know what's perfect? The American economy. I mean, you can be grateful for the fact that America does have the best, most dynamic wealth generation machinery for any nation state, for any political entity in the history of the world. And like, we should remember that. But there's always gonna be things that you wanna change that aren't working right. There's always gonna be problems. Ok? That's why we have a government that has to handle these things. They don't do a good job, but at least theoretically, that's what they're supposed to be doing. I think Trump is, though, doing on the economy a good job. I think he knows that it's absolutely critical for the American people and also for the upcoming midterms because his agenda becomes, let's just say, a lot harder to implement. If they lose control of the House of Representatives, they will impeach Trump a third. I don't even think you and I can have a bet on this one. Right. You agree they're going to impeach Trump a third time if they win the House, right?
- [26:19]
Buck Sexton
You, you agree with that 100%? No. 100%. They're going to impeach him. And look, I just wish they would.
- [26:29]
Clay Travis
Just do it and not even tell us why. Be like we're just impeaching him because he's so awful.
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Buck Sexton
I just feel like the whole concept of impeachment, if you don't have any pathway to 67 votes, which I don't think by and large there will be in any of the lives of any of the people listening right now, then all of it's just a big sham and a big sideshow theater. First you were. Yeah, it's just not impactful.
- [26:54]
Clay Travis
It's like a, like a vote of censure or something. It's sending Trump, it's the congressional majority sending Trump a strongly worded letter that he will not care about one bit. But anyway, I think that on the, on the economy, we all know that affordability is a, is a big challenge. And you know, there's some polling out there that says that he's at a rough spot right now with the economy. Now, it's interesting, you look at what the things are that he could do. You and I haven't discussed this yet. Capping credit card interest rates at 10%. I'm, I'm of, I'm of a few minds on this, I would say, and I want to hear what you, Clay and I haven't pre. We haven't. Sometimes we're like texting our ideas back and forth about things. So I'm just going in on this cold. On the one hand, I think credit card companies have had far too much lobbying power. They've had Joe Biden doing their bidding in Delaware, for example, for longer than I've been alive. The fact that they can charge a 30%. Oh, all right. Well, we're going to have to put a little pin in our credit card discussion. We're going to come back to it. All right, Clay, can we make a promise we'll come back to it?
- [28:03]
Buck Sexton
Yes, we will return. I jot it down.
- [28:05]
Clay Travis
We have an esteemed caller has joined us. Senator Ted Cruz of the great state of Texas. Senator, it's been a while. Happy 2026. How you doing?
- [28:17]
Senator Ted Cruz
I am doing fabulous and you'll appreciate I'm doing particularly well because I enjoyed last night the Texans whipping the Steelers ass. That just brought good, great joy to my beat down. It vindicated as a little kid growing up in the 70s in Houston that the 79 and 80 AFC championships are still wounds that have not healed as the greatest Oilers team we ever had with Earl Campbell crashed into the Pittsburgh Steelers. So I feel like we got a modicum of justice and revenge for a decades old wound.
- [28:53]
Clay Travis
Well, as I know, we have a massive Houston audience and are number one consistently in the slot. Senator Cruz, whatever the people of Houston root for, I root for. This is my. So if it's the Texans, I'm on board. Talk to us if you would, on the serious side of things for a sec. Actually, can I get this a longer discussion? I want to ask you about Iran. Obviously I know you're gonna have a lot on that and I'm getting people right reaching out to me saying family members, friends of mine who have either themselves or they have friends or family who are in Iran are desperate for some kind of help. They have full. We'll get to that in one second. It's a smaller thing, but affordability is a huge thing. The credit card 10% cap, what do you make of that? Senator? You take a very straightforward approach to finances and the American people's budgets.
- [29:40]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, we've tried that approach in the past. Both Nixon and Carter tried an approach very similar and it didn't work. When you cap prices, what you end up doing is you exclude a whole bunch of people from the market. So you know what, if you're rich, if you have great credit, a cap of 10% does not limit your ability to get credit because you've got good enough credit that frankly you're not paying 10% anyway. The people that will get hurt by a 10% cap are people who are low income, people who are struggling to get credit, people who have bad people who have a record of defaults. And if you cap it at 10%, what it's going to mean is they're not going to be able to get any credit cards at all. Basically, you're taking away credit cards from every person for whom the credit risk is greater than a 10% rate justifies. And look, for many people, if you've got a higher interest credit card, you're doing that because you got bills. Maybe you got to pay rent, maybe you got to buy groceries that week, maybe you got to pay for your kid to get braces. And if you can't get a credit card, it will drive every one of those people to an even worse credit option, whether it is a payday loan or whether it is a loan shark down the street. And so I think the law of unintended consequences is really quite significant here. And I think there are a lot of downside risks.
- [31:03]
Buck Sexton
Okay, let's go into Iran and what's going on in the country right now. President Trump earlier today had a very aggressive statement that he made. And I see Ambassador Mike Waltz just tweeted in the last little bit, the Iranian people are chanting death to Khomeini rather than death to America. Freedom is in the air thanks to President Trump's leadership. If President Trump called you and he may well do it and said, what should I do? What is the appropriate tact to establish here right now? What would you tell him?
- [31:36]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, listen, I think what the President is doing right now is exactly right. We are at a moment of history, an incredibly consequential moment. I think there's a very real possibility that in the next 90 days we will see the regime in Iran fall. And I think we could see the regime in Cuba fall. Those two together, if both oppressive dictatorships fell, would utterly transform the geopolitical frame worldwide. In Iran, we are seeing millions of people standing up against the Ayatollah Khamenei. And I think we could see that regime fall within weeks and even days or even hours. It could fall today. It is that precarious. And I gotta tell you, Clay, the reason for that. Let's go back a few months ago to the 12 Day War. One of the things I said at the time is that I predicted that the regime, I believe, would likely fall as a consequence of that. Because there are real world consequences to losing a war. Losing a war is not just a communications problem. It's not just a messaging problem. It is reality that in the 12 Day War, Iran utterly and completely lost. They were decimated. And if you are an Islamist dictator, if there is anything possibly worse than losing a war, it is losing a war to Israel. And dictatorships remain in power by convincing their people that they cannot be defeated, that they are omnipotent. And the crushing Defeat in the 12 day war destroyed that false image. It showed to the people of Iran that the dictatorship is a paper tiger. And I think we are seeing incredible heroes and patriots standing up. There was one young woman a couple of days ago who was lighting her cigarette by lighting on fire a picture of the Ayatollah and using that to light her cigarette. That is incredible courage. Because understand, if the Ayatollah remains in power, they are likely to find her, to hunt her down and to torture and kill her. She knows exactly what she's doing, and she is very literally risking her life to try to seek freedom. And so, you know, Clay, you tweeted a couple of days ago that what is happening in Iran is the most important thing in the world right now. You are exactly right. I retweeted you. In fact, I read your tweet on my podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz. This is a moment. There are very few things, if anything, that could enhance American national security more than seeing the ayatollah and the mullahs removed from power by the Iranian people, because the Ayatollah, he routinely chants death to America. He is an Islamist, theocratic, genocidal, homicidal dictator. And seeing him removed from power, he has killed a vast number of American servicemen and women. He has waged war against America for years and for decades. And I think we may well be on the precipice of the Iranian people saying enough is enough.
- [34:52]
Clay Travis
Senator Cruz, we certainly are at a place where there could be a huge pivot point in Iran. And I think a lot of people listening right now are very enthusiastic about the prospects of a different regime there led by the Iranian people. And but of course, we have the concerns about intervention. What would it look like? What would it be? To the point that Clay, or the question that Clay posed to you a moment ago, if the commander in chief, we know that you and President Trump talk, we know you guys have each other's phone numbers, etc. If you were to call you in five minutes and say, ted, I'm thinking about blowing up the following targets, which I think are at the absolute heart of the machinery of murder against these protesters. Right now, IRGC headquarters besieged, whatever it may be. Do you think that's the move? No U.S. boots on the ground, but if missiles have to fly through the sky to help the Iranian people achieve freedom, would you be in favor of it?
- [35:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
Possibly. It depends on the details and the specifics. I am talking to President Trump frequently throughout this process and encouraging. I think the path he's following in Iran makes sense. I spent the entire day yesterday with Pete Hegseth. We flew on Pete's plane back from Brownsville from SpaceX to D.C. late last night. I spent much of that plane ride talking with Pete about Iran and what we should be doing. And in my view, number one, we should be doing everything we can to encourage the revolution from the American people. That includes cyber efforts. I think if suddenly the Iranian regime, if their surveillance, if their radar, if their tools of oppression cease to operate, that is a very good thing. Covert action, I think that is a very good thing. In terms of a kinetic strike, an actual military strike, it might make sense to do so, but it would depend on the specific target, and it would have to be limited. Right now, this is a revolution from the Iranian people. We want it to be a revolution from the Iranian people. And so if there were a particular kinetic strike, if, for example, the regime were murdering protesters in one specific location and we could stop them from doing that, we could engage in a limited manner to stop the mass murder of protesters. I think that could well make sense. But we do need to think about the day after that. If the revolution succeeds, and I pray that it does, then the question is, okay, who governs Iran going forward? And that's not an easy question. There could be a civil war. There could be lots of unrest, lots of bad outcomes can happen. And I think it is a much, much better situation in the tomorrow world. If the Ayatollah was overthrown by the American people, who were fed up with his oppression and tyranny and Islamic dictatorship, then if people say, oh, the United States just toppled the head of Iran, that's a much harder situation to have a good, stable government. And so I think President Trump is doing this just right. If you Contrast, look, in 2009, the Green Revolution, the people of Iran were standing up, and Barack Obama was president. He did everything he could to douse water on those flames and to tell the protesters, we will not stand with you. What the President is saying is, America is with you, the people of Iran. And he also said today this was very important. He said the regime henchmen that are engaging in atrocities, that are murdering and torturing people, keep their names because they will be held accountable. That's a major way to protect the protesters. To have, if you're an Iranian soldier and you're being told, open fire on the crowd, suddenly, if you think I'm going to be put in front of a court and tried in another month if I do this, that's part of how revolution succeeds. So I think we should do everything we can to encourage it without taking it over while leaving the Iranian people as the prime movers, that this is their country and they should be determining their future.
- [38:48]
Buck Sexton
Quick question here to close with you, Senator Ted Cruz, you were with Elon yesterday. SpaceX as well as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. How good of information do we have on the ground? They've shut down the Internet. They've shut down all communication. How much do you think we know about what might be happening there? You said potentially within hours he could be overthrown. Do we have that kind of intel?
- [39:11]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, we don't know specifically. I think it could be imminent. Just based on the size of the protest, on the energy, on the weakness of the regime, I will say one of the most important things that happened is that Elon has activated Starlink over Iran and has provided it for free, which is providing communication. The regime has shut down the Internet. The regime has tried to shut down television, actually, ironically. Do you guys know the main thing? Do you know what the Ayatollah is broadcasting all over Iran right now? In Persian?
- [39:45]
Buck Sexton
Tucker Carlson.
- [39:46]
Senator Ted Cruz
He's playing Tucker Carlson. That's what the Ayatollah is playing. Translated into Persian I talked about in my podcast yesterday. Look, you and I have both known Tucker a long, long time. In all seriousness, if an Islamist murderer who hates America views your words as the propaganda he wants to use to silence and oppress his people, that's got to be a real sign. Maybe you're on the wrong path. Maybe you need to rethink what you're saying, because I'll tell you at the same time my podcast, verdict with Ted Cruz. Our download numbers have skyrocketed in Iran. I think people are using Starlink to download the podcast. And if my words. If your words are encouraging the protesters that you can overthrow these despots, I am very happy with the side of history you and I find ourselves on.
- [40:41]
Clay Travis
Senator Cruz, thank you so much. And tell the. Tell the good folks of Iran to listen to Clay and Buck while you're at it, if you can.
- [40:47]
Buck Sexton
Thank you for being here.
- [40:48]
Senator Ted Cruz
You guys do a phenomenal job.
- [40:50]
Buck Sexton
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- [41:28]
Clay Travis
Regular guys, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
- [41:31]
Buck Sexton
Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [41:36]
Clay Travis
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- [42:59]
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- [44:09]
Clay Travis
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- [45:37]
Buck Sexton
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Senator Ted Cruz
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Buck Sexton
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Clay Travis
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- [46:07]
Clay Travis
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