Weekly Review With Clay and Buck H3 - Professor Clay Nerds Out

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Weekly Review With Clay and Buck H3 - Professor Clay Nerds Out

Date: November 8, 2025
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses on a wide-ranging discussion of the recent election results, Republican Party challenges, voter coalitions, the Supreme Court case over Trump's tariffs, and a deep dive into the historical and legal implications of tariffs and taxation in America. The tone is classic Clay & Buck—lively, irreverent, and sometimes nerdy, especially as “Professor Clay” emerges to unpack the legal and historical complexities.

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Key Topics and Insights

1. New York Election Results and Shifting Coalitions

Guest: Ryan Gardusky (Election Analyst)
Timestamps: 03:08–06:56

• NYC Mayoral Election:
  • Hosts jest about Zoran Mamdani winning, with mock Soviet anthem and vodka shots for “Comrade Mamdani.”
  • Ryan Gardusky notes unexpected demographic shifts:
    • In the primary, Cuomo won Hispanic and Black voters, lost White and Asian.
    • In the general, he flipped: won White and Asian, lost Hispanic and Black voters.
    • Larger than expected turnout, but coalition changes cost Cuomo the election (03:49).
  • Republicans couldn’t keep their fragmented electoral base together.

Quote:

“Had [Cuomo] performed as well with blacks and Hispanics in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, he would have won. That was pretty surprising...” – Ryan Gardusky (03:49)

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2. Republican Voter Enthusiasm and Challenges Ahead

Timestamps: 04:38–08:18

• Host concern: Clay wonders if Trump’s base will turn out in future non-presidential elections, noting a 600,000-vote drop for Trump in electorally significant states (04:38).
• Ryan’s Analysis:
  • Republican turnout in off-year elections not matching Democrat enthusiasm.
  • Young, Hispanic, pro-Trump voters appear disillusioned—want 2019 economic conditions back instantly.
  • Republican complacency post-election; historical trend for the party in power.
  • Down-ballot races show GOP being “trounced”—Democrats highly motivated, Republicans not.

Quote:

“Democrats are very enthusiastic; Democrats really want to show that Trump needs to be stopped, and Republicans are complacent. This is what happens when you hold the White House…” – Ryan Gardusky (07:34)

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3. Strategies for Republican Gains in Upcoming Midterms

Timestamps: 08:18–15:19

• Key GOP Focus Areas:
  • Drive up turnout in districts with slim Trump margins (“won by less than five points”).
  • Mobilize the old base and engage independent and low-propensity voters.
  • Ballot initiatives to boost conservative turnout in swing states.
  • Emphasize economic issues—especially prices, inflation, and youth unemployment.

Quote:

“Get ballot measurements on the ballot in these critical states ahead of the 2026 midterms, where you could do like English as the official language...to drive up Republican conservative, independent turnout.” – Ryan Gardusky (14:10)

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4. The Supreme Court and Trump’s Tariffs: Legal & Historical Deep Dive

Timestamps: 19:44–33:37

• Supreme Court examines legality of Trump’s emergency tariffs, which have collected billions.
  • Debate centers on whether the President or Congress holds tariff authority.
  • Clay (“Professor Clay”) offers a historical review of tariffs as a government revenue source, tracing constitutional authorities.
  • Discussion about complexity if the Court decided tariffs were unconstitutional—possible need for giant refunds, impact on the deficit, and messy retroactive legal fixes.

Quotes:

“If the Supreme Court were to say Trump’s tariffs are unconstitutional, we have a problem.” – Buck Sexton (21:23)
“The question... debated this morning was: has Trump exceeded the authority of that 1970s era statute in taking the power to mandate these emergency tariffs by basically taking away the power that otherwise would have resided with Congress?” – Clay Travis (28:10)
“This is rooted in the authority of a 1970 statute that the Trump administration has cited as the authority for the president to unilaterally impose tariffs...” – Clay Travis (29:26)

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5. Government Revenue, Tax History, and the Welfare State

Timestamps: 33:10–37:55

• Listener Call (John from San Diego): Drops knowledge on original constitutional revenue (impost = tariff, ex post = excise tax).
• Income tax history: First introduced for the Civil War, removed and then reinstated in 1913 via the 16th Amendment.
• Discussion:
  • The modern tax system's evolution.
  • Struggle to restrain the welfare state; Social Security’s sustainability given demographic shifts.
  • Property taxes criticized as a form of perpetual “rent” to the government, hurting especially older Americans.

Quotes:

“This country operated just fine without an income tax for a long time.” – Clay Travis (33:58)
“You rent your home from the government and the government can take—the government is your landlord.” – Clay & Buck (36:51)

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6. Memorable Listener Calls & “Professor Clay” Nerd-Out

Timestamps: 44:07–46:34

• Shane from Buffalo: Razes New Yorkers and Jets fans, betting they’ll never actually leave NY.
• Allison from LA: Controversially argues women shouldn’t have gotten the vote, referencing a previous female caller apologizing for women leading America “astray.”
  • The hosts react with amused disbelief and acknowledgment of the heated nature of her take.

Quote:

“Women shouldn’t have the right to vote. It’s just most of them are just too emotional.” – Allison from LA (45:45)

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Notable Quotes and Moments (With Timestamps)

• “America wants everything instantaneously.” – Ryan Gardusky (06:56)
• “If you have all government workers, you don’t have a country, do you?” – Buck Sexton (21:01)
• “A part of me wonders if they could say, hey, we don’t think this is constitutional…But also incredibly difficult for the court to argue, to order a remediation...” – Clay Travis (21:40)
• “Professor Clay’s history class would be a well attended seminar, I really do.” – Clay and Buck Show Host (29:20)
• “We just get used to the idea of getting screwed by the government…” – Clay Travis (36:42)

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Episode Tone & Style

• Lively, direct, occasionally irreverent.
• Willing to nerd out on legal and historical technicalities (especially Clay).
• Balanced serious analysis with tongue-in-cheek commentary and listener banter.
• Encouraged deep audience engagement—calls, emails, and “nerd-level” questions embraced.

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Conclusion

This episode delivered a deep-dive into the results and realignments of recent elections, Republican strategies for overcoming complacency, and a captivating “Professor Clay” exploration of how tariffs and taxes have shaped American government and law. The lively banter was complemented by sharp insights, historical context, and memorable listener interactions. For anyone interested in the intersection of politics, history, and American law—with a side of humor—this is a can’t-miss segment of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.

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Key Segments by Timestamp:

• Election Analysis with Ryan Gardusky: 03:08–15:19
• Supreme Court Tariff Case Discussion: 19:44–33:37
• Tax Policy & American History: 33:10–37:55
• Listener Calls & Closing Banter: 44:07–46:34

Transcript

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Welcome back to a very special episode of Play in Buck. We are playing the new mayor of New York City's theme music, Zoran Mamdani Vikami. Worthy of the Soviet anthem, to be sure. That's the way it is, folks. I'm wearing red today. Solidarity with the commie. Our friend Ryan Gardusky joins us now. Ryan, we are pouring out some vodka shots over here for Comrade Momdani and his victory. I guess no surprises. What are your biggest takeaways from how all this went down in New York?

[Buck Sexton]

Well, in New York specifically, the one thing I really was surprised about was how much the coalition's changed between the primary and the general. So in the primary, Cuomo won Hispanic voters and black voters by large margins. And it was, and it was white voters and Asian voters that really turned on him. In this election, Cuomo won white voters and Asian voters and he lost blacks and Hispanics. Had he performed as well with blacks and Hispanics in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, he would have won. So that was pretty surprising. I actually thought that he was going to keep the coalition of this primary much, much closer than he actually did. That was my biggest takeaway. But she was just the mere magnitude and size how many people showed up. It was just massive to vote both for and against him. And then lastly, I guess how much courtesy in the end couldn't keep even a fragment of what Republicans are in the city together.

[Clay Travis]

So how much concern should we have going forward based on these results? And let me give you my thesis and you tell me if I'm a moron in your mind or not. Yeah. Looking at the rough, rough margins here, and I know one is the general election, the presidency, which drives out higher turnout. But 600,000 fewer Trump voters voted in New Jersey this year compared to last year. And about the same number fewer in Virginia, 600,000 less. In fact, Trump 2024 got more votes than Spanberger did yesterday. And more votes substantially than Cheryl did, both of which got them elected governors again. I know, 25 versus 24. But when I look at this Ryan, my concern is will Trump's base that elected him in 2024, will those people show up in 26, and then you can project it beyond when Trump's not on the ballot in 28. How durable is this coalition?

[Buck Sexton]

Well, I mean, any coalition, it does matter a lot. But who runs it, right? And you can look at the Obama coalition, see how long they lasted without Obama. I think the big thing is, is that if you look at the way that this turnout happened, right? Jack Cittarelli was a good candidate, ran a solid campaign, and he built a model of how to win based upon a 2021 style election result. He got 122,000 more votes than he got four years prior that would have won an election. He got more votes than Murphy did. And he got more votes, I think the most Republicans, I think, ever did. He won more votes than even Chris Christie did when he got 60%. He built a platform and a campaign that would win you a normal style off off your election. The thing is, we didn't have that normal style off of your election. 400,000 more people showed up to sit there and vote for Mikey Sherrill. Mikey Sherrill got close to 80% of the Kamala Harris New Jersey or 81% Kamala Harris Road in New Jersey. And Jack Chiarelli got 70% of the Trump coalition. That's just not enough. Part of that is voter enthusiasm. Part of it is the fact that the economy is not in wonderful shape for young people.

[Clay Travis]

Right?

[Buck Sexton]

Young people, Hispanic people, people who wanted to elect Trump, have him wave a magic wand, have prices go back to the way they were in 2019, have the economy back to the way at 2018, are deeply frustrated now. Should they be frustrated? Should they be surprised? They can't go back in 10 months. No, they shouldn't. But that's not America. America wants everything instantaneously. In Virginia, Winston's years ran a bad campaign. That's why it was down by 15 points and worse than every other Republican on the ballot. And that definitely dragged Republicans down. Furthermore, you also have the government shutdown, which deeply affects Virginia. And so you have all those things mixtured. No one should light their hair on fire over this. It's terrible, it's awful. But if you look at the overall election, from Georgia to races in Connecticut to races in Kansas, Republicans are being trounced up and down the ballot. Democrats are Very enthusiastic Democrats really want to show that Trump needs to be stopped, stopped and Republicans are complacent. This is what happens when you hold the White House is that the immediate aftermath, the party in power gets complacent. Until we got Glenn Youngkin in 2021. You can look at how we got Bob McDonald's in 2009. This is just a very frequent thing that happens and no one should be like this shows, you know, the whole MAGA agenda is over. That's not, that does not show this whatsoever.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Ryan Garduski with us. It's a numbers game. This is podcast on the Clay and Buck network, which you should all check out on playing podcast network, which I just said, Ryan, if you're looking at this, and I agree with you, I don't think that there's a roadmap to all things political that you can draw from what just happened here. But putting that aside for a second, based on the data, the demographics and what we are seeing, not just in these, these races, but just more broadly, what does for the midterm specifically. Right. This is not about a Trump reelection campaign per se. What does a winning Republican strategy look like going into this midterm next year so that they can like, what are the issues? What's the messaging? What do you take away from that?

[Buck Sexton]

Well, I mean, prices are a big part of it and definitely the economy and I was on your show yesterday, so the electric prices are a big deal. What I think that, I think the missed opportunity for the Trump White House and the Trump political shop was they really should have been working to have their own campaign to really see they could drive out low propensity voters in these off off year cycles and claim those wins. Didn't even focus on New Jersey and Virginia. They could have done the races in Pennsylvania or races somewhere else in the country, but they chose not to. What I think that, I think going forward into this, into this next year is some kind of levity on youth unemployment, which is very high, especially among recent college graduates. It's very, very high. You know, a lot of colleges who cannot find jobs, that's a big deal to work somewhere out on trying to reduce the ramifications of inflation that happened over the last five years. I know that's very hard to do. I know that food prices are remarkably high and are staying that way. I guess do whatever you can in the next 18 months or a year to figure out how you can reduce those prices so that working class people feel a little less of a pinch and Trump has to get it back on the road again and has to sit there and start campaigning again to get his base to show up in big numbers. Because Democrats, as I said yesterday, are showing up like it's presidential elections.

[Clay Travis]

Ryan, is there a line that Democrats just won't cross? Because when I see Jay Jones win by six and a half points, widely covered, the amount of media that's covered, the J. Jones, now, maybe he doesn't get criticized the same way that a Republican would, but for him to win by six and a half points was really the only result I saw last night where I thought to myself, my goodness, this is not a sign of sanity.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. I mean, look, they voted. Hating Trump means more to them than any level of decency. And that is a guiding light for them. I mean, and you saw particularly women, college educated women, hating Trump is everything to them. Right. And I know it's very uncomfortable for some people to realize how many Cynthia Nixons of the world there are living in this country, but there are a lot. And they're unlike. A good political friend of mine told me this. Unlike conservatives who have church, QVC and the Republican Party, Democrats only have. Liberals only have the Democratic Party to fuel all their frustrations and all their anger in. And I think that. And all their money in, too. And I think that, that where we're spending a lot of. There is a lot of time and energy. And I don't think Jay Jones could have. Jay Jones could have kicked the dog while saying some expletive about people saying that, I hope, you know, all people do this or that. And he still would have won because in part because when numbers were so highly negative, and I said this on the podcast on numbers theme, if she wins by double digits, there's no way Winston Cears loses by double digits. There's no way to carry to stop Jay Jones from winning the election.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Ryan, how big a deal is Proposition 50's passage out in California? We'd mentioned this. We hadn't really. Because it's a proposition. Right. And it's about redistricting, but it really does matter. How much does it matter for the midterms?

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, a lot. I mean, you're looking at probably 4 to 5 seat gain for Democrats over there. That really wipes out what Republicans were doing in Texas. And Democrats are gonna step up in Virginia as well and probably draw out two or three Republicans out of Virginia. And in the end, from the redistricting thing, I mean, you may be in a position where even without New York or New Jersey, Changing the map, you may be in a position where Democrats and Republicans are basically running even as they were beforehand.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so midterms are one year from today, last year, one year anniversary of Trump's big win. We asked, you know, how much disposition should there be on expectations going forward? If you were asked right now, hey, President Trump, what President Trump said, what should we focus on, Ryan, based on the numbers that you have seen to ensure that Republicans stay in control of the House and the Senate? That would be what I would immediately.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, especially we're looking at the Senate seats right now and critical swing seats. I would look at any district where Trump received under one by less than five points. Right. Because even in Virginia, even the state House Republicans stopped the bleeding at about three points. Right? That's all they got. Districts that voted for Trump by 3 points and less or maybe 4 points and less. They, they flipped Democrat, but all the rest of them stayed Republican. Right. So there wasn't this bleeding where, like Trump plus 10 districts lost. So that's important thing to remember and a caveat to remember. One, I would sit there and start really trying to mobilize your, your old base again by trying to make sure that they're engaged, they know when the election is, and that takes a year of political work and it takes hundreds of millions, if not a billion dollars. Secondly, I would sit there and really start trying to focus on easy, deliverable, positive PR wins that are there that they could easily do. And what I would try, I mean, this is not anything that they can't do. Try to get ballot measurements on the ballot in these critical states ahead of the 2026 midterms, where you could do like English as the official language ballot midterm to drive up Republican conservative, independent turning turnout, because that was a big part of New Jersey. When I was looking at the results yesterday in Jersey, we're on the phone. When I was on the phone with you guys, was that the independent turnout was way down in places like Morris county. And I was like, these are conservatives that are not registered Republican. This is not a good sign. So give dry, given, give another initiative, another reason to show up. Try to get ballot measurements on these critical swing states and all these states with that critical swing seats ahead of the 2026 midterms.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Ryan Garduski, everybody. Appreciate you, my friend. And hopefully the next time we have you on to talk election results, there'll be a little more to celebrate, a little more for the GOP to get excited about.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes, thank you.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Thank you.

[Clay Travis]

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Accelerate your AI [e-mail] that's R U B R I K.com welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. Oh my friends, a lot of you want to weigh in on a lot of things, but one thing that we mentioned, that this unfortunately could be a bit of a problem. Supreme Court looking at Trump's tariffs, which, remember a little bit of review here, we were told they would be so bad for the economy. Meanwhile, they've been, it seems, hundreds of billions of dollars in the American coffer and the economy's doing just great, at least when it comes to trade, the stock market, investment, things like that. Yes, prices are high. But and some people said, well, prices are going to rise a lot because of tariffs. We actually haven't seen that. If they've risen, they've risen a little bit. But that's something that's certainly on everyone's mind because if the Supreme Court were to say Trump's tariffs are unconstitutional, we have a Problem. This is cut 33. TRUMP Just in Miami, my city here. Here's what he's saying. Play it. 100% of the jobs have come from the private sector. Otherwise you don't have a country.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, I love government workers, but if you have all government workers, you don't have a country, do you?

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

At the same time, my tariffs are.

[Clay Travis]

Bringing in hundreds of billions of dollars.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

That are helping slash the deficit this.

[Buck Sexton]

Year by more than 50%. Did you see those numbers?

[Clay Travis]

We're going to be down 50% anywhere from 25 to 50, but closer to 50% to. Who would think that one?

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Those are big numbers, Clay, what everyone thinks of the tariffs, if they were to get undermined by the supreme or effectively done away with by the Supreme Court, that's going to get messy. What do you even do?

[Clay Travis]

It's not dissimilar in my mind, Buck, to how you end birthright citizenship, but sometimes the law has just been applied for so long and so significantly you would have to give refunds. It would turn into a real mess. So a part of me wonders if they could say, hey, we don't think this is constitutional. But it's also also incredibly difficult for the court to argue, to order a remediation in some way in this perspective. So they could try to instruct Congress to see if Congress would vote to give the President the authority. Right, because this is really a separation of powers argument. It's does the President have the power under emergency declarations to put in place tariffs? This is a big picture analysis. Or should with the power of the purse Congress have to make a decision of this magnitude? And so, so you have all three powers of separation of power elements here. The court trying to tell Congress what they should have done and what the President can't do and delineate those differences. It is somewhat complicated to go back, we were talking about this off air and say, oh by the way, that $400 billion that the president has already collected in tariffs, roughly maybe it's 300 billion now, certainly projected towards 400. It has to somehow be refunded. That's first of all going to increase the deficit, obviously, but also complicated to figure out how to reassess and reallocate those dollars. So this is actually an incredibly significant but also incredibly complicated Supreme Court case that was taking place this morning.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

How do you think it shakes out, Mr. Lawyer Hat Clay?

[Clay Travis]

A part of me thinks that they will say that the President doesn't have the authority to do it and try to put a end of year Timeline. This is just totally making it up, right? Because I think going back and taking away the dollars that have already come into the government and making the government give refunds is complicated. The easy out I would think would be trying to figure out if there's a congressional bill that could be passed to rubber stamp what Trump's already done.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

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[Clay Travis]

Yes, I'm sure that's true.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

What's up Randy?

[Buck Sexton]

I live on the intracoastal so please go inland in Jupiter. But yes, it's paradise every day.

[Clay Travis]

What you got for us?

[Buck Sexton]

Wanted to get some help here on the tariff thing. The other night club 47 USA hosted Eric Trump speaking and we were trying to figure this out. I thought that the Constitution gave the. I don't know in the Constitution wasn't tariffs part of our original revenue source for the federal government long before the income tax amendment ever came about? I thought tariffs was a legitimate revenue source. We're needing some help to understand.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so. So that's a great question. And I'm sure that tariffs were incredibly impactful. I mean, look, the Boston Tea Party in many ways was funded by tariffs, right? If I'm remembering correctly, the cost that they were demanding that the colonies pay in order to import tea and other substances.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Well, the Stamp, the Stamp act, remember.

[Clay Travis]

This from AP American History, the Intolerable Act. My understanding, and I will be 100% transparent, I do not do tariff law and have never done tariff law as a part of my legal practice. I do know a little bit about maritime law, by the way, which is maybe somewhat closely interlocked at times. My understanding is that Trump has cited specifically a 1970s era law which was passed, that gives the president the authority to mandate tariffs in times of emergency. My understanding of this dispute is Trump has cited, among other things, I think, two primary things. And guys, I don't have the Wall Street Journal with me this morning, but I was reading in their editorial breaking this down, if I remember correctly, one of them is the drug crisis, fentanyl, and the fact that it's been allowed to be brought into this country. And he is saying that is a crisis based on the number of people that are being killed. And then I think there is an illegal immigration aspect associated with this as well and that he has used as the and by the way, Congress gave the authority to the president to enact that, that those actions. The question, so far as I understand it to be, and if there is a constitutional scholar out there, 800-28-2282 who can pronounce and discuss this to a better degree, the question that is at stake that the Constitution that they debated this morning was has Trump exceeded the authority of that 1970s era statute in taking the power to mandate these emergency tariffs by basically taking away the power that otherwise would have resided with Congress? So the argument against the tariffs is that Congress has the power to levy the tariffs. Now. Now, maybe you're talking about back in the day in the Articles of Confederation day, in the colony days, and maybe even in the early days of the country. But the authority to enact tariffs, I believe, is with Congress. And one reason they wanted that was obviously separation of powers in general, but I think rooted historically in the fact that tariffs had been such a significant issue for the colonies back in the day. They didn't want one unitary executive necessarily with the store, with the ability. And all of you who took government back in the day, remember the power of the purse historically and constitutionally has resided with the Congress.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

I think Professor Clay's history class would be a well attended, well attended seminar. I really do.

[Clay Travis]

I don't want to swear that every single element of that is 100% correct, but I think I got most of it correct. It's a smart question, but Randy is asking a deep historical question. Again, this is rooted in the authority of a 1970 statute that the Trump administration has cited as the authority for the president to unilaterally impose tariffs across a broad swath of the global trade and commerce.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Indeed, we have more coming in here on this one. A lot of folks with a lot of thoughts. Where were we here a second ago? VIP email from Lewis Election summary In one word, hate. A powerful emotion and it has been manipulated against core Americans. This just goes to show the Democrat Party has become the party of hate. That was the platform in each race and unfortunately the Democrat Party is taught to hate from an early age or socially indoctrinated embrace hate. Not one Democrat candidate had any solution for the people, just a platform to tear down and stop Trump. We need to take note and fully understand what is coming. History is repeating itself. Louis. I think that there are, there's certainly a lot of anger and rage and hate on the left. I think that envy is one of the most, unfortunately one of the most powerful political mobilization tools that exists, especially for people who are of the leftist, redistributive, collectivist, Marxist mindset that you can always find people because the truth is that the material conditions of the New Yorkers even who are all pro Mamdani. First of all, what Clay read was so hilarious, so true. There are a lot of heiresses in Chappaqua who are like, I love Mandani.

[Buck Sexton]

Mandani's the best.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

You know, they're, they're all, all about it. And they love pretending to be these radicals that care so much about the poor. I mean they're gonna live in the highest income, most non diverse neighborhood they possibly can personally. But they want everybody else to, you know, have like community housing and no laws and no cops.

[Clay Travis]

Let me step back in Professor Clay here a minute, Buck. Trade deficits was what one of and fentanyl were the two emergencies that Trump cited. 1979 law that was passed, Amy Coney Barrett talked about the challenges of returning these tariffs. She said what would, how would the government refund billions of dollars in tariffs? And the lawyer who is suing said, representing small businesses, said the court could make its ruling prospective only, meaning no refunds would be necessary. It would only start. That's kind of what I said. It would start at a certain date. And I do think that that is, that is a huge part of this as well. But again, the question is what is an emergency? Right. There are many different levels here. And this is kind of a fun legal question, but what is an emergency and how long would an emergency last within the context of this law that the Trump administration has cited as the legal authority? John in San Diego, this seems like it could be a super nerd call, but I'm kind of impressed by it. John, you say you remember. Well, tell us your take here.

[Buck Sexton]

Okay. It's real simple. The original Constitution only provides for impost and ex post for taxes. And an impost is a tax on imports, which is a tariff, and exposed is an excise tax on domestic goods.

[Clay Travis]

So thank you for the call. Sorry to continue. You're Initially, the government was designed to be small and we did not get the authority for the income tax. It started, if I'm remembering correct, because I bet, John, you're going to be a nerd here and know this. If I remember correctly, during the Civil War for Abraham Lincoln to pay for the Civil War. Am I correct in that?

[Buck Sexton]

And then it was canceled and the permanent one started in 1913 with the 16th Amendment.

[Clay Travis]

Yes. Okay, thank you for the call. A lot of people don't know that, Buck. There was no income tax in the United States until the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln has to pay for the Civil War. Once the war's over, they do away with it. And then in the early 1900s they said, hey, we're going to go back to this and all of you are going to pay us, you know, 30 plus percent of everything you make.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

This reminds me very much of the discussion here in Florida about eliminating property tax for homesteaded properties. And I keep seeing people say, but where will the money come from? There's plenty of money. And the property taxes that would. Well, you're talking about something like 6% of the, of the actual budget of the state of Florida. But everyone gets used to a tax and then thinks that that tax is always going to be there. It's just a question of what the number is. But this country operated just fine without an income tax for a long time. And you start to look at what's going on and where the expenditures are going. And increasingly, my friends, we are paying for a massive welfare state. Massive welfare state in this country. We don't necessarily call it that, but that is what is going on.

[Clay Travis]

Well, not only that, the challenge is whenever you try to restrain the welfare straight state, they're immediately. The talking point is you're trying to cut, trying to cut benefits. You can never, and this is the truth, psychologically, you can never give somebody something and then try to take it back without them willing to basically be going go to war on you. I mean, this is, look, this is the story of Social Security. The reality is Social Security relies on there always being way more young people than there are old people because it's basically one big pyramid scheme. And guess what's going to happen? We're soon going to start having a lot more old people than we are young people. So where does the money for Social Security come from? And when you tell people that, they say, well, no, no, no, no, no. This is like, this is my money. I've been giving you Social Security money for everyone. Okay, but at some point in time, if the demographics reverse, then you can't take 70%, at least in theory, you can't take 70% of what somebody earns to pay it back out later. And by the way, the fact that the government just takes huge amounts of money from us, Buck, if I die tomorrow, and God forbid my wife dies tomorrow, and once my kids are 18, I get no Social Security benefits. They, they, they cease to exist. So really you're just rolling the dice on how long are you going to live as to whether you ever get any of the money that the government takes for you on, from you on Social Security, and at least you have a possibility of getting that money back. All the other money they take and you're never getting it back. It's an awful. Again, to your point, we just get used to the idea of getting screwed by the government to such an extent that nobody ever really takes a step back and says, do we have to screw everybody like this by the government? To your point, property taxes is ridiculous. You buy a home, you work your whole life, and you have to give the government a huge payment to be able to stay in the home that you owe that you own. I mean, it really is unbelievable.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

You rent your, you're renting your home from the government and the government can take. The government is your landlord.

[Clay Travis]

If you don't pay your home from these, they will take your home.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

You can never actually just own a home that you can live in. You have to always do this thing of continuing to be extracted from. You cannot just exist.

[Clay Travis]

And older people who retire, it becomes brutal on them. Because it's one thing to pay property taxes when you and I are working age. I mean, I don't like it, but at least I'm working. But if I'm 70 and I've lived in the same house for 30 years, those numbers, guess what? They ain't going down. They're going to keep going up. And it becomes more and more for many of you out there listening to us right now that are fortunate to own homes, you're nodding along, you're saying this is crazy. But yes, we've just accepted that this should happen. And again, and the fact that we didn't even have an income tax that was in existence until the early 1900s, it stuns a lot of people because they just presume that we've always been doing this.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Indeed, indeed, Professor Clay.

[Podcast Advertisers]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

Anyway, I can nerd out on this stuff and I just like asking, why are we doing this? Maybe I'm a little bit weird. Sometimes I take a step back and I'm like, yes, this exists, but why? And kids are really great at this. Any of you out there, buck, you're going to get into this soon. Your 6 month old is just going to ask the amount of questions that kids can ask. They are just question factories because they're experiencing everything anew and they actually see the world through fresh eyes and they ask lots of questions. And a lot of times you'll sit back and you'll say, you know what, that's a really good question. I never thought about it because you're old and you got used to it. It's been go, go, go in New York. I've been non stop running everywhere. And if you're running non stop everywhere, you might be in favor of some chalk. It's a Texas based family business. Natural ingredients that helps you put more energy in your life. CHOQ is the website. Chalk.com, male vitality stacks, the most popular product they have. What is that you might be asking? Well, it's a way to increase the unfortunately horribly diminished levels of testosterone in many different men. It's your body's natural source of energy that is testosterone. When your levels are low, every guy experiences this. As you age, your testosterone levels decline. You can get just a 20% increase, a significant 20% increase just by having this all natural treatment. 20% in three months time. My name Clay is the promo code. Go online to chalk.com, that's C H O Q dot com. My name Clay. Massive discount on any subscription for life. You can cancel at any time with no penalties. No worries. That's chalk.com. my name C L A Y. Keep up with the biggest political comeback in world history on the Team 47 podcast Clay and Buck Highlight Trump replays from the week Sundays at noon Eastern. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Clay Travis]

We're living through an exciting moment when it comes to keeping our brains healthy. American innovators are cracking the code on Alzheimer's real breakthroughs, helping people keep their memories, their independence, their lives. But here's the truth. Previous administration's policies could slow progress down. Our president is working to cut through the bureaucracy. That's where the Market Institute comes in. Their team is leading the fight to cut red tape, empower patients and unleash innovation. America's got the best doctors, researchers and entrepreneurs in the world ready to defeat Alzheimer's. They're just asking for the government to work for the people. Join the [e-mail] that's marketinstitute.org because when we free the market, we make America healthier. Now you can stream Fox News Live on the Fox One app. Stay on top of breaking news and the biggest stories live as they happen. All from the Fox voice you trust, bringing you the coverage you won't find anywhere else.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Start your 7 day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox one for complete terms and conditions. Fox one we live for live streaming now.

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[Clay Travis]

Forget whatever plans you have this weekend.

[Buck Sexton]

Because you're staying at home and playing.

[Clay Travis]

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[Clay and Buck Show Host]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay and Buck Show Host]

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[Clay Travis]

Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. Welcome back in. Thanks to all of you. Been buying balls. It is selling like hotcakes. If you need balls in your life, you can go to Amazon. You can go anywhere if you bought it. I'd like to hear your review. You can let me know what you think. It was out yesterday. It is, I think, a book that a lot of you will enjoy and I appreciate. Buck posted a photo. It's good to see that he has some balls. And if you got a photo and you like it, tag me. Tag.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

There was never any. There was never any doubt. We all knew that balls was going to be a part of my repertoire.

[Clay Travis]

You can tag Clay and Buck. You can tag me, you can tag Buck. If you got a funny picture or something, something of that nature, clean, involving the book, then we would love to check it out. Like to see where you're reading it, all those things. Okay, let's hit some of These calls, Shane and Buffalo. You don't want to hear about New Yorkers leaving. Why not?

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, they're a joke. If a pandemic didn't get these guys to leave, they'll never leave. They'll never leave. They're going to stay there. They're going to root for the jets, be miserable for the rest of their lives. I bet you a dozen wings they never leave.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Can I just say, I love the Buffalo guy. Not just throwing New York City, but Jets fans under the bus all at once. Clay. It's very. It's. That's a nice move for a Bills fan, I gotta say.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, man, you want to get people fight. That is a very good line from the Bills, by the way. Josh Allen, big win over the Kansas City Chiefs over the weekend. 30 million people watched it. 51 million. Major League Baseball just said, Buck. Most watched Major League Baseball game in. In game seven in US, Canada and Japan in over 30 years. This is going to get people fired up. Allison in la. K E I B D. Allison had this to say. Hey, this is Allison from la. I want to second that lady's notion about apologizing for women. I'm conservative, always voted Republican, 24. 7 Rush listeners. But I have to say, they never should have given women the right to vote. It's just most of them are just too emotional. Oh, Buck. I figured we could end in the show with everybody losing their minds. That was. What was her name in la. Imagine what percentage of LA residents agree with Allison.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

You think you like Allison showing up for the end of the show and just throwing a Molotov cocktail right in.

[Clay Travis]

The middle of things just to see what happens. Matt, if you think you live behind enemy lines, Allison lives in la and she just sent us a message saying women shouldn't have the right to vote. By the way she was reacting to Bonnie. I bet a grandma from Charleston, South Carolina, who called in an hour one and wanted to apologize to the nation for women leading us all astray. Let me hit you with this, Buck, as I flash this.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

10 seconds.

[Clay Travis]

Born in New York City, 50% Cuomo, 38% Mamdani. Less than five years here, 85% Mamdani. That's your election, Buck.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm Rodney Williams.

[Clay Travis]

And I'm Travis Holloway.

[Buck Sexton]

Welcome to the wealthbreak podcast, a real conversation about finance. Let's be honest, building Weft doesn't look. Look the same for everyone.

[Clay Travis]

I feel like sometimes being broke is.

[Podcast Advertisers]

A cycle and that we might have.

[Buck Sexton]

To revisit that and we're not stopping at success stories.

[Podcast Advertisers]

What happens when it doesn't go right? How do you cope with it?

[Buck Sexton]

Because wealth isn't just about money. It's about creating a life where you thrive and help others do the same. Listen to the Wealth Break podcast on the iHeartRadio app.

[Clay Travis]

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[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Rapid Radios gets the job done. Clear comms, fast response, built for work. Visit rapidradios.com now.

[Clay Travis]

You can stream Fox News live on the Fox One app. Stay on top of breaking news and the biggest stories live as they happen, all from the FOX voices you trust, bringing you the coverage you won't find anywhere else.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Start your seven day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox one for complete terms and conditions. Fox one we live for live streaming now.

[Podcast Advertisers]

Hi, it's Karen and Georgia from my favorite murder Reading A skincare label shouldn't feel like decoding a dead language.

[Crunchy Skincare Advertiser]

Instead of mystery ingredients, Crunchy gives you skin care and makeup that's safe and effective.

[Podcast Advertisers]

Crunchy delivers uncompromised clean beauty with clinically proven ingredients, sustainable packaging and trusted certifications like EWG Verified and Leaping Bunny.

[Crunchy Skincare Advertiser]

Crunching is creating a future where clean beauty is a genuine promise, not just a marketing term. Because trusting what you put on your skin should be the standard, not the luxury.

[Podcast Advertisers]

From their award winning foundation to their nourishing skincare line, Crunchy is raising the bar.

[Crunchy Skincare Advertiser]

It's so true. So I've been putting on more makeup than I ever have in my life because we've been doing videos and live shows and so I am really, really careful about what I put on my skin because I break out even easily. So I love that. Crunchy is so clean and so nourishing. I'm actually wearing makeup that's good for my skin and makes my skin look better instead of hiding all the imperfections which is usually what I use makeup for, honestly.

[Podcast Advertisers]

Visit crunchy.com to shop clean beauty that performs and take 20% off your order with code MFM.

[Crunchy Skincare Advertiser]

That's code MFM at C R U N C-H-I.com the real clean Beauty Goodbye.

[Buck Sexton]

Forget everything you had planned for this.

[Clay Travis]

Weekend because you are sitting on your.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Couch and winning from the comfort of your own home.

[Clay Travis]

I'm here with spinquest, where you can play hundreds of slot games, all the.

[Buck Sexton]

Table games you love, and you could.

[Clay and Buck Show Host]

Even win real cash prizes.

[Clay Travis]

New users $30 coin packs are on sale for [e-mail] SpinQuest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. This is an iHeart podcast.