Bonus: Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Nov 11 2025

Summary

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Verdict with Ted Cruz

Bonus: Daily Review with Clay and Buck – Nov 11, 2025

Hosts: Clay Travis & Buck Sexton
Date: November 11, 2025
Episode Theme:
A special Veterans Day edition featuring national political commentary, analysis of the government shutdown’s fallout, intra-party conflict among Democrats (especially focused on leadership struggles), and reverent, first-hand veterans’ stories from listeners around the country.

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Episode Overview

This episode, co-hosted by Clay Travis and Buck Sexton, commemorates Veterans Day with gratitude for U.S. veterans and reflections on their sacrifices, while unpacking the latest political events — most notably, the government shutdown’s end and the internal disarray brewing in the Democratic Party. The show alternates between lively analysis of the shutdown’s political consequences (especially for Chuck Schumer), speculation about future Democratic leadership, and heartfelt calls from listeners sharing powerful personal and family stories relating to military history.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Honoring Veterans

• Opening Segment (02:06–02:46):
  Clay sets the tone wishing listeners a happy and thankful Veterans Day, highlighting President Trump’s appearance at Arlington and upcoming interviews with veterans like David Rutherford (Navy SEAL) and Dakota Meyer (Medal of Honor recipient).

2. End of the Government Shutdown: Political Fallout

• Shutdown Recap (02:46–05:41):

  • The Senate officially moved to reopen the government with a 60-vote cloture, including eight Democratic crossovers.
  • Clay notes the historic length: “...the longest shutdown in our nation's history, 40 days. And the actual impact, Buck, was negligible. Nothing changed at all.” (04:33)
  • Emphasis is on the Democrats’ internal frustrations and the sense that nothing concrete was gained.

• Schumer Under Fire (05:41–07:40):

  • Discussion turns to Chuck Schumer facing heat from his party’s base for perceived capitulation.
  • David Axelrod is quoted as saying Schumer is “likely cooked as the Democrat leader.” (05:41)
  • Buck expresses skepticism about Schumer’s vulnerability:

    "This is the game. Come on. ...Mitch McConnell's got the checkbook... With Schumer... everyone’s going to be focused on something else." (06:16–07:17)

3. Deepening Democratic Leadership Divide

• Wider Party Discontent (07:40–10:17):
  • Clay and Buck reflect on shifting anger in America, describing public mood with metaphors from "Lost" and "Lord of the Rings":

    "It feels like there's just a shifting cloud of anger." (07:55, Clay)
    "I like the Eye of Sauron... the big scary fire eye..." (08:45, Buck)

  • They forecast that the party base will push for a generational change, but establishment leadership may endure via inertia.

4. Schumer vs. AOC and Progressive Challenges

• Schumer’s Unpopularity vs. AOC’s Rising Star (10:17–12:59):
  • CNN’s Harry Enton called Schumer “the least popular Dem Senate leader ever” (10:17-11:11) and highlighted AOC’s net favorability, especially in New York:

    "Chuck Schumer is above water with the Democrats in his home state, but just by 16 points. ...Alexandria Ocasio Cortez running way ahead." (12:12–12:40)

  • Clay and Buck agree it's uncertain if AOC would contest Schumer for Senate, as her ambitions may point to the presidency.

5. Leadership Power Plays and Future Forecasting

• AOC’s Decisions and Leftist Internal Challenges (12:59–15:58):
  • Preview of a likely progressive challenge to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries—holdover leadership versus insurgent energy parallels discussed.
  • Buck frames political upsets in terms of “hubris,” referencing Game of Thrones as a metaphor.

    "Hubris was his fatal flaw ... he didn't even think he had a campaign." (15:32–15:33)

6. Veterans Day — Emotional Listener Stories

Listener Calls & Reflections (18:39–37:42):

• Private Yankee Doodle & Historical Memory (18:39–20:21):
  David from Louisiana corrects a name, recommends Private Yankee Doodle by Joseph Plum Martin, and expresses how vital it is to keep legacy media like Rush Limbaugh’s spirit alive.
• Pearl Harbor First-Person Account (21:01–24:53):
  David from Maryland recounts meeting a Pearl Harbor survivor and witnessing a moving moment when a Japanese pilot and an American sailor, both veterans of the attack, saluted each other on the memorial:

  “The two just looked at each other and saluted each other, and there wasn't a dry eye in the place.” (24:23)

• WWII Museum in New Orleans (25:05–26:21):
  Clay strongly endorses the World War II Museum, praising efforts to preserve veterans’ stories so they're not lost to history.
• Lunch with Gen. Omar Bradley & Patton’s Death (27:02–29:14):
  Caller Dan recounts lunch with Gen. Bradley who was evasive about discussing Patton’s death, citing conspiracy theories given the circumstances of the fatal accident.
• Patton and Valley Forge (30:03–31:43):
  Sharon shares appreciation for Bill O’Reilly’s Killing England and discusses the hardships at Valley Forge, a reminder of past soldiers’ suffering:

  “These guys didn't even have shoes. They had to tie rags to their feet and the British would track them through the snow because of the blood that they left behind.” (30:32)

• WWII Vet Turns 100 (33:36–34:11):
  A caller shares that his father, a WWII B-29 crewman and POW, is turning 100, and the New Orleans museum continues collecting such stories.

7. Interlude: Humor and Personal Updates

• Frequent asides about weather (Buck lamenting 50°F in Miami as his “Valley Forge”), iguanas freezing and falling out of trees (31:08–33:30), and light personal anecdotes create the show’s distinctive tone — irreverent but sincere.

8. Final Salutes and Veteran Stories

• Reading Audience Tributes (41:53–43:36):
  Buck shares an email about a grandfather who helped rescue President Bush from the water in WWII. Another caller describes her father’s friendship with Gen. Omar Bradley at Fort Bliss.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Clay on the shutdown:

  "We had the longest shutdown in our nation's history, 40 days. And the actual impact, Buck, was negligible. Nothing changed at all." (04:33)

• Buck on Democratic leadership:

  "I don't buy this at all about how Schumer is done. He's cooked ... Schumer is a wily character. Man, that guy's been... he's been in the game as long as I've been alive." (09:32–10:17)

• CNN's Harry Enton (via cut):

  "Least popular Dem Senate leader ever." (10:37)
  "If [AOC] decides to challenge Chuck Schumer come 2028, she's got a real leg up on the competition. I dare say at this point she would be the favorite to beat him..." (12:12)

• Veterans Day call (Pearl Harbor):

  “The two just looked at each other and saluted each other, and there wasn't a dry eye in the place. It was unbelievable." (24:23)

• On Valley Forge's hardship:

  "They had to tie rags to their feet and the British would track them through the snow because of the blood that they left behind." (30:41)

• Buck, humorously on Miami’s “cold”:

  “I have to put socks on in my sandals down here in Miami. It's madness.” (31:37)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Veterans Day & Show Purpose: 02:06–02:46
• Shutdown Politics / Democratic Fallout: 02:46–10:17
• Schumer/AOC/Future of Democratic Leadership: 10:17–15:58
• Veteran Caller Stories Begin: 18:39
• Pearl Harbor, WWII, Military Memories: 21:01–34:11
• Humor & Weather/Iguanas: 31:08–33:30
• Veteran Reflections, Final Tributes: 41:53–43:36

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Tone & Style

Clay and Buck blend sharp political commentary with irreverent humor, nostalgia, and deep patriotism. The episode seamlessly jumps between earnest reverence for veterans, insider political analysis, and playful personal banter.

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Summary

On this special Veterans Day installment, Travis and Sexton deftly balance hard-hitting analysis of the government shutdown’s end — putting Chuck Schumer’s embattled leadership and AOC’s growing prominence at the center — with stirring stories from American veterans and their families. Longtime listeners get the entertaining mix of gallows humor, cultural references, and political skepticism the hosts are known for, while the show’s heart comes from powerful, live recollections of service, sacrifice, and historical moments that define the American story.

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Transcript

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome in Happy and thankful Veterans Day to so many people out there as we begin the Tuesday edition of the program. President Trump live at Arlington National Cemetery right now, speaking in honor of so many of the veterans out there. We have a couple of veterans that are gonna be on the program with us today. David Ruther, who is a part of the podcast network and Dakota Meyer. Should be really great stories from those guys.

[Buck Sexton]

Dave Rutherford, a former Navy SEAL with combat tours, and Dakota Meyer, a Medal of Honor recipient so, yeah, Veterans Day.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. Kind of. Kind of badasses. So we will talk about that quite a lot. We'll take some of your calls, some of your stories as well. The shutdown is officially over, Buck, to the extent that. Well, I say officially over. We've got to have the House also ratify the fact that the shutdown is over. But officially, the Senate yesterday, 60 senators said this is ludicrous, including eight different Democrats. And the meltdown is pretty fun to watch. We will dive into that meltdown with all of you as Chuck Schumer is. Is now taking fire in basically every direction because so many people are asking what was actually achieved here and what was the decision that was made. The House is going to vote to lift the shutdown as well. Buck. We had last night, I was one of the guests at a big fundraiser for Senator Hagerty, who's going to be reelected to the Senate next year from Tennessee. And he wasn't able to attend his own fundraiser because he was back in Washington, D.C. getting the government back open on the side of the Senate. So thanks to the governor of Tennessee for hosting that fundraising event that. That we had yesterday. But kind of giving you a sense of what's going on, basically every senator had to be all hands on deck to get to 60 so that they could officially end the shutdown, including eight Democrats. The House, my understanding, is going to vote tomorrow to lift the shutdown. And hopefully at that point in time, some of the chaos that we're seeing with air traffic control, with tsa, with many different aspects of the federal government will go to the. Be tossed to the side. But again, there is no actual resolution here that made any sense at all. We had the longest shutdown in our nation's history, 40 days. And the actual impact, Buck, was negligible. Nothing changed at all. So let's go and have some fun. Actually, on this Veterans Day, I was scrolling through and our team did a good job of getting some of the reactions that are pouring in on the Democrats side as they are absolutely furious over Chuck Schumer and the Democrats bending the knee. And I grabbed several of these. First of all, David Axelrod, what is the most lasting impact going to be from the shutdown? Buck, I think it's very likely going to be that Chuck Schumer is, in many ways essentially done as the minority leader in the Senate, and David Axelrod said as much as he's likely cooked as the Democrat leader. This is cut five.

[Buck Sexton]

You know, do you think Schumer could.

[Clay Travis]

Be in trouble here?

[Guest Analyst]

With the left flank of the party.

[Clay Travis]

I think he's been in trouble. I think he, he is in bigger trouble now.

[Caller]

I honestly, I think Senator Schumer has been there since 1982.

[Buck Sexton]

My guess is that he won't be.

[Caller]

Leader of the party in 2027 after this election unless something really surprising happens.

[Clay Travis]

You don't buy it, Buck? You think he's going to be back or you just don't think they have anybody else that wants to step into the fray and actually take the slings and arrows?

[Buck Sexton]

This is the game. Come on. How many times. I'll, I'll put it to you this way. One of the ways that I think you can often objectively assess the other side is looking at a similar dynamic on your own side. How many years have we all sat around on the right as Republicans, been like, Mitch McConnell's a rhino. Mitch McConnell is, you know, he doesn't represent. And yet Mitch McConnell's got the checkbook, he's got the donor network, he's got the power and everybody falls in line. Now that is changing, but it's changing because Mitch is basically not, you know, he's non functional at this point. It's just pure age. He's aging out of that role. Right. There's no similar situation in my mind with Schumer. Now, if Schumer were up in the next year, maybe he would have Clay by the time he's up in 28, everyone's going to be focused on something else, namely the presidential election, the future of the party, all this other stuff. And Schumer's going to play the. I'm the steady hand. I know this game. You know, the president gets to be the next generation of Democrat leadership. He needs somebody like Chuck Schumer. So I'm just telling you, I don't buy this at all. But Axelrod is smart insofar as this is what the left wing of the Democrat base wants to hear right now. They want to hear that Chuck is going to be pushed out and blah, blah, blah, they're a bunch of babies.

[Clay Travis]

How quickly we went from. The Republicans are going to have to deal with an immense civil war inside of their own party. Oh, I don't know. Last week to this week being their major issues now on the, in the Democrat side. I think one of the things I want to play a couple of cuts here from Chuck Schumer, just how unpopular he is. But I think one of the biggest things we're dealing with, Buck, is there's a profound anger that is out there in America right now. And I don't know if you buy into this. I think it's a lingering aftershock of COVID I think there's just. And I think social media exacerbates it. I think there's just a lot of angry people. And the question is, it reminds me, I know you were a lost viewer back in the day. You know how the smoke monster just shows up and you want to try to avoid being the target of the smoke monster on any given day. It feels like there's just a shifting cloud of anger. Or we could go Ghostbusters to the goo when everybody was getting the goo and was just angry. I feel like that characterizes America today.

[Buck Sexton]

I like the Eye of Sauron. You know, you put that ring on and wherever, so, you know, then you have the, the eye it. All of a sudden, that's actually not called the Eye of Sauron. One of you Lord of the Rings nerds is going to yell at me for it. But it's, you know, it's based. That's basically what it is. The, the, you know, the big scary fire eye that looks at people. Yes, I think there's, I think there's truth to that, Clay. And remember, a lot of this is the game of making people who are very upset, upset at the right, at the right people. Right? This is what, this is where this. So what you want is, you want an energized left wing base going into this midterm. Chuck Schumer and the old system, man, they're going to have to stand aside. It's going to be the radicals and the revolutionaries, Democrat Party who are going to change all these things for you and you get them to vote and then Chuck Schumer's still in charge. This is the whole game, right? This is the way they're going to play this. I think that's also why I've got to say, Gavin Newsom, he, he sees this too. We've talked about how he's the likely. Well, we, we think we're predicting he's a likely Democrat nominee. He'll play this game. He'll be, he'll be Mr. You know, I ran the biggest state in the country, fifth largest economy in the world, and I'm so damn handsome. But if he has to have AOC as his vice president, he'll do that, right? If he has to bring in the left to make them feel like they have a seat at the table and this is the whole situation. This is the way it's going to Go. So I don't, I don't buy this at all about how Schumer is, is done. He's cooked is the term that everyone likes to use for these things. Now Schumer is a wily, he's a wily character. Man, that guy's been clay. He's been in the game as long as I've been alive. He's been a senator. True.

[Clay Travis]

Look, Harry Enton, I will say on cnn says that Chuck Schumer is the least popular Democrat Senate leader ever. And then we'll have some fun with him compared to AOC. But cut 13, listen to this on CNN.

[Guest Analyst]

What about Democrats nationwide feeling about Chuck Schumer?

[Clay Travis]

I think the word of the day.

[Guest Analyst]

Is terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible. To quote another Charles, Charles Barkley when it comes to Chuck Schumer. Look at this. Least popular Dem Senate leader ever.

[Buck Sexton]

I looked at all of the polls.

[Guest Analyst]

Going all the way back since 1985. The one who has the lowest rating among Democrats is in fact Chuck Schumer. Look at this. He's underwater with Democrats, his own party. He's underwater. He's at minus four points. That makes him the least popular guy for a Dem Senate leader going all the way back since the mid-1980s at least.

[Clay Travis]

Here's the other part on this Buck, I do think, I know we talked about this yesterday and I got the year wrong because it's been talked about so much. I thought that Schumer was up in 26, actually 28. His best benefit, I think, is that AOC may not want to be the senator. I think she may well run for president and it's hard to run for both. But listen to how much more popular AOC is in Netflix favorability among New York Democrats. I think if she announced, Buck, that she was going to run, I think Schumer would announce he wasn't going to run because I don't think there's any way he could win a Democrat primary against her. I think it would be somewhat similar to what we saw happen with Cuomo going up against Momdani, except AOC would start way more popular than, than Cuomo did and certainly, sorry, way more popular than Mom. Donnie, here is cut 14 giving you a sense of just how underwater Schumer is in New York.

[Guest Analyst]

How do New York State Democrats feel about Chuck Schumer? And take a look here. The net favorable among New York Democrats. Chuck Schumer is above water with the Democrats in his home state, but just by 16 points. Look at Alexandria Ocasio Cortez running Way ahead. If she decides to challenge Chuck Schumer come 2028, she's got a real leg up on the competition. I dare say at this point she would be the favorite to beat him, which would be something that would just blow my mind even just a few years ago, given that Chuck Schumer, of course, is a New York born bread type of guy.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, those are incredible.

[Guest Analyst]

Look at that, 30 points ahead. My goodness gracious.

[Clay Travis]

So the question, Buck, I think is does AOC want to be in the Senate or not? Because I think it's going to be hard for Schumer to win a Democrat primary against someone of the left like aoc.

[Buck Sexton]

We'll see. It would be hard if the election were now, Clay, this is an eternity we're talking about here. 2028 cycle. Remember, it's going to be a presidential election year we don't even know. And you're talking about AOC running against Schumer. She's going to run for president. So I don't. And I think we see that the same way she's going to run for president. So he's not going to have a Democrat, you know, a Democrat.

[Clay Travis]

Challenge like her. Now, one thing to keep in mind, we'll get an early preview of this. There is a report that Hakeem Jeffries is going to get challenged by a leftist in the House next year. Hakeem Jeffries, obviously the House Minority leader. We have two New York City guys that are basically running the Democrat Party in the Congress right now. And so that will give you an idea about the energy there and, and whether there's any opportunity to topple leadership like we already saw Mamdani do. This is one of Mamdani's top assistants, a crazy left wing guy.

[Buck Sexton]

The funny thing about aoc, though, would be, and again, I think she's running for president. And if I were advising her another way, I like to play the game. If I were trying to help the other side, how would I.

[Clay Travis]

You have to think like that.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. And I would say AOC absolutely should run for. Should run for president for her own brand. Again, I'm not saying. I think you all know what I'm saying. That would be a smart brand move for her. But she would also, if she did run against Schumer, Clay, and won, she would have to go down as the ultimate metaphorical giant killer here in politics. I mean, she would have to be the. She would have taken out the number three out of nowhere in congressional Democrat leadership. That guy had served like, I don't 20, 30 years. He'd been there forever.

[Clay Travis]

Saw the semi truck that took him out coming. I do think there's a story about that one. Because if he had really seen AOC coming, he could have nipped her entire political tenure in the bud, so to speak. But since then, she's only gained in popularity.

[Buck Sexton]

My. My big takeaway, if there can be one other than nihilism. And there's no reason to think anything will work for you in Game of Thrones. You know, Game of Thrones is just kind of like a nihilistic mess in a lot of ways. But the thing that I did take from it is that hubris, Hubris, if you think about all the main character arcs, is the fatal flaw. And that guy, I can't remember his name now. Who? Aoc. That tells you something. AOC ran against. Hubris was his.

[Clay Travis]

Was his.

[Buck Sexton]

He didn't even think he had a campaign. That's right. That creates. That creates a vulnerability, doesn't it? When you don't even think you have to show up. Schumer will know that he's got a campaign if he gets that challenge from his left. But I don't believe that. I don't believe that Schumer is going to be. It's one. Will he be Senate leadership again if they have a majority? You know, maybe, maybe. But I think Schumer would win reelection if he really wants to.

[Clay Travis]

The fact that the shutdown has already blown up to such an extent that the main talking point today is not any impact that the shutdown had, but will the chief Senate Democrat be able to keep his job is illustrative of what a disaster this has ended up being for the Democrat Party. And we told everyone this. They had no real goals. There was no logic behind this shutdown. It was a temper tantrum. And sooner or later, everybody was going to stop simultaneously throwing the same temper tantrum.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes, all true. All very true.

[Clay Travis]

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[Caller]

DAVID yeah, I just want to correct something. His name was Joseph Plum Martin and his book is called Private Yankee Doodle. It is. It's pretty easy to get. And I'm a 20 year veteran, I'm a retired Navy and I wanted to wish Buck a happy Veterans Day and really enjoy your show. And before, I just wanted to say one thing. The last time I talked to somebody at this number, it was the great Rush Limbaugh. So it's a very, I'm very excited to talk to you guys because I think you are some a great, it's a great way to keep on the old Rush show. So thank you very much for what you guys do.

[Clay Travis]

Well, thank you for the call. Thank you for your service. And yes, we're gonna fire producer Greg for leading me over the middle and writing the wrong person's name down in the, in the the roster there. But it is the Plum Martin. If you watch or read anything relating to the Revolutionary War, that is a huge part of the discussion. Are you interested at all? Buck I believe it debuts in the next few days in the new Ken Burns Revolutionary War doc documentary. Have you seen him doing a bunch of media lately on it? Um, I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm actually, because I'm Reading the Rick Atkinson books right now, the trilogy he's only two volumes in. I'm somewhat interested to see what Ken Burns puts together. The Civil War documentary that he did back in the 90s was and is a work of art. And I know a lot of people have watched additional Ken Burns documentary since he is of the left. But.

[Buck Sexton]

But I didn't he do the Central park five documentary?

[Clay Travis]

I don't remember whether he did that.

[Buck Sexton]

Right.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, kid Burns, he did baseball, he did the Civil War, which is really, really well done. The Civil War documentary is. And it was a PBS huge success story back in the day. I mean, he's probably the most famous documentary historic historian in the Maybe the world, certainly the United States. Let's see. David in Maryland, you got a story for us about Veterans Day.

[Caller]

Hi, Clan Buck. Can you hear me?

[Clay Travis]

Okay, we got you.

[Caller]

Hi. Hey. I got an amazing story to tell you. I was out in Hawaii for work about 15 years ago, and I took a day at the end of my trip to go see the Pearl harbor. And I went through all the exhibits and then I took the ship over to the Arizona.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Caller]

Went inside and there was an old gentleman there was in the center. If you've ever been there, there's a center opening. He was standing next to the center opening and I couldn't really hear him much because it was crowded. But later on I walked over to listen to him and it turned out he was actually on the ship and he was on the second. He was on the second tallest crow's nest and he got blown out and he woke up in the water. And so I, I stayed after. I didn't even get on the ship back because I wanted to talk to him. It was so amazing.

And he.

And he said, you want to know why I think it blow blew up? And I said, of course I do. He said, well, we just put a catapult on about a year before to send off float planes to do some reconnaissance. And we had to put the charges somewhere.

[Clay Travis]

Stick with us because we've got a heart out here. If we'll keep him over, we'll bring him. That's one of the places I'd like to go. Pearl Harbor. Look, our friends at prize picks have got an incredible opportunity for you. If you're out there and you just like sports, you like football, you like baseball, you like basketball, whatever you're into. Soccer, golf, they have an awesome opportunity to make sports a little bit more fun for you. Go to prizepix.com right now. Use code clay, when you play $5, you get $50 deposited in your account. You can have a lot of fun. Again, $5, $50 deposited in your account. We'll have another pick for you on Thursday as we do every single week. That is prizepix.com code clay. You can play in California, Texas, Georgia, if you're feeling left out. PricePicks.com Code Clay.

[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. Do we still have that caller who's telling us a really interesting story? Did he stay through with us?

[Clay Travis]

Yes, David, and Maryland is still there.

[Buck Sexton]

All right, David, so, so, so you can go. We now we have some time. It is Veterans Day, and you were telling a story that we all wanted to hear. So. So you can just give us a little, a quick recap, Tell us where you are, set the scene, because some listeners will have rejoined us and we'll let you take this thing all the way. Go for it.

[Caller]

Okay, sure. So. So I was the gentleman. I was talking to the gentleman after the ship left, and we were the only two in there. And he said, you know, want to know why I think the ship blew up like it did was because we had just put about nine months before we put a catapult on, and we used to. We would send off float planes with special charges to go out to do reconnaissance. And he said that the powder they used for that was very volatile. We had no place to store it except in the magazine. So we set it around the inside of the charges for the regular guns, which wasn't as volatile. And he thought that was. He thought that would contributed to the explosion. And then, and then it actually gets better. Clamp up. Because while we're standing there, just the two of us, the next ship came up to drop people off. And here comes everybody up. And the very last group coming up where it was an older gentleman with two women on either side, women on either side of them helping them up the ramp and up, up the guy came and he turned and it was a Japanese guy, and he had an interpreter there, and he said he was on one of the planes that had dropped the bombs on. On Pearl Harbor. And the two just looked at each other and saluted each other, and there wasn't a dry eye in the place. It was unbelievable. He said he'd always wanted to be there. This was the first time he could go, wow, harbor.

[Clay Travis]

Well, thank you for calling in and sharing that story on Veterans Day. Buck, have you ever been to Pearl Harbor?

[Buck Sexton]

Have not. No, have not been.

[Clay Travis]

I have never been either. I Would like to go. Let me give a, a super endorsement here. The World War II Museum in New Orleans.

[Buck Sexton]

I've been to that.

[Clay Travis]

Amazing, incredible. It's an incredible spot. And the reason why it comes to mind here is they put veterans, veterans would come and stand in the main lobby that fought in World War II for years and years. Veterans from the New Orleans area, veterans traveling and tell their stories to people who came to tour the World War II memorial. And there are so few World War II veterans left among us now that I am so grateful that they have done a phenomenal job of chronicling so many of those stories so they aren't lost to history with just so many interviews that have been done with so many of our brave World War II veterans. And if you get the opportunity, you go to New Orleans. I know it's a huge tourist town. I know everybody gets out on Bourbon street and gets hurricanes and has a phenomenal time in that city. Please take the time to go to the World War II Museum. Take your kids. The last time I was in New Orleans was the super bowl last year and, or I guess early this year, I was really impressed at the number of kids that were in town to go to the game. Kind of a cool thing to get to do as a kid, but that mom and dad were taking them to as part of being down in that, in, in town for that game that they were taking them also to the Super Bowl. A lot of Chiefs, a lot of Eagle fan bases. But when I was there, the number of kids that I saw was very impressive. So if you get the opportunity to, to go tour that museum, I can't recommend it any higher at all. It truly is extraordinary. Let's see. Dan and Prescott, Arizona said you got to have a lunch with General Omar Bradley. How did that happen?

[Caller]

Well, in 78, our unit at Fort Bliss, which is where General Bradley was stationed or retired, our unit was best on post. And I was fortunate enough to be best on post also. And General Bradley came and visited our unit and I was selected to have lunch with him. And the two star general that pushed him around instructed me that I could ask him anything except his view on how General Patton died. And he was very accommodating, he was very nice. He was still in uniform, still a wonderful gentleman. But I did not ask him how General Patton died and I always wanted to. He autographed his book for me and I've seen several documentaries on it, but never quite satisfied with, with the answer.

[Clay Travis]

Wait.

[Buck Sexton]

Thank you for the patent. Died in a car Accident, Right.

[Clay Travis]

That's the. I'm assuming there must be a conspiracy theory associated with that. I did not know that. But yes, I didn't know that either. That's why I'm asking.

[Buck Sexton]

I didn't know there was anything.

[Clay Travis]

I'm like, what there. Is there a conspiracy that. Why would Omar Bradley have not. General Bradley have not been wanted. You asking that question, do you have any idea.

[Caller]

Yes. After reading several books, the accident was such a small accident. Nobody else was injured. There were just a lot of things that don't add up. You could, you could ask Bill O'Reilly. He wrote Killing Patton.

[Clay Travis]

And yes, we will ask Bill O'Reilly. He's scheduled to be on in the next couple of days. So what, Thursday?

[Buck Sexton]

We got Uncle Bill Thursday. So we'll mark this one down for him. What? Yeah, well, we'll ask him about this. Is there anything specific that you wanted us to dive into with Uncle Bill?

[Caller]

I said just the specifics around his view on how Patcher.

[Buck Sexton]

Sure, sure.

[Clay Travis]

That's a good tease for Sharon, who's on the road right now, and she says Bill O'Reilly is going to be on with us Thursday. You just listened to one of his books out there, by the way. You should. But Buck, I bought your book. So I have spent the money for Buck's new book, which will be out in February, which will arrive, I believe, at my house on publication day. You should also go buy balls, especially if people don't have balls in your life. Maybe they can get it through the. Through the book. But Sharon, you just read Bill O'Reilly's got a hugely successful series on history, and you just read one of them.

[Caller]

Yes, I just drove from Western Montana and I'm heading home to Indianapolis. I'm in Illinois right now, But I spent two days on I90 listening to Killing England and it was fantastic. I mean, I've read other of his books, Killing, Killing Witches, and I can't remember anything else right now. But anyway, it was a fantastic book. And when you mentioned Valley Forge, I had to call in because it was just insane.

Insane.

These guys didn't even have shoes. They had to tie rags to their feet and the British would track them through the snow because of the blood that they left behind.

[Clay Travis]

It's unbelievable. It really is. I mean, again, having just read. Thank you for the call, Sharon. Stay safe on the road as you travel back to Indianapolis. Having just read about Valley Ford, Buck, nobody had shoes. I mean, think about how cold it is wherever you are and imagine walking around in those Rags and dealing clay.

[Caller]

It's.

[Buck Sexton]

It's. Honestly, you know, this is kind of. This is hitting home for me today in south Florida. It's 50 degrees here, my friend. I mean, there are iguanas like Valley.

[Clay Travis]

This is. People are falling apart in Florida, right?

[Buck Sexton]

You got iguanas falling out of the trees. You got everyone walking around in ski parkers because the only clothing they have that's warm, that's cold weather, is for when they go skiing. It's. It's pandemonium out here in the 50s, my friend. So Valley Forge, no shoes. I. I know what it was like. I know what it was like for those guys. I'm walking around here, I have to put socks on in my sandals down here in Miami. It's madness.

[Clay Travis]

It is. It is Miami's version of Valley Forge. I. People think I'm joking about that, but the iguanas freeze in the trees and fall out. Iguana popsicles.

[Buck Sexton]

When it gets cold there, they're not dead. They're just. They. Their heartbeat slows down so much or their system slows down so much that they essentially pass out and they fall out of trees. And by the way, they are pretty big. These things get way.

[Clay Travis]

Imagine or killed by iguana falling out of the tree. That'd be a tough way to get.

[Buck Sexton]

That's ever happened. But I just could tell you when you see one and it's lying there and it's all because this happens. They're. They're considerable. They will whip you with their tail, too. So when they wake up, you don't want to be. And they have little sharp teeth. This is why I'm telling you.

[Clay Travis]

Amazing that they just go to, like. They just freeze like that and truly fall out of the trees in Florida, you know?

[Buck Sexton]

You know, they're. They were. They're escaped pets. They're an invasive species.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

Here in South Florida. They are absolutely not native. They came from South America. They are not native to Miami, but, man, have they taken to this habitat. And unfortunately, they're really rough on foundations for buildings. They burrow and they dig. So they can be a pest. They can be dangerous to building structures. Sort of like the boa constrictors and pythons that they have here now. Also pets that were released. The pets that I like, though, we have parrots that have been released. And the parrots are fun. They're nice. They're not native either. There are very few of these species that people associate with alligators and crocodiles. The only place in the world where they coexist in the same ecosystem is here. And they are native to South Florida. Manatees, obviously. They're, you know, and then the sharks, which we've talked about a lot. But a lot of the things you think of as Florida animals, they're pets that people brought here.

[Clay Travis]

Bruce, in Hastings, Minnesota, you got a call for us about the World War II Museum.

[Caller]

Yeah, you know, I just hopped in my truck, turned it on, heard you guys talking about that. And just to let you know, they are still collecting stories. They. My dad's a World War II bad. He turns 100 on Saturday.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, that's awesome. Congratulate him for us. Sorry to cut you off, but congratulate him for 100 on us. And so they're still collecting the stories.

[Caller]

Yeah, he was shot down over Tokyo in a B29 and POW in Japan for the last several months of the war. So they're still collecting stories. It's on my bucket list to get down there and see the place myself.

[Buck Sexton]

So thank you so much, by the way. Real quick, Bruce, any tips? I mean, when it's 50 degrees in Minnesota, you guys, do you sleep shirtless outside on your lawn, like, because that doesn't bother you at all, Right? That's like a balmy day in Minnesota.

[Caller]

Pretty. Pretty much. I was up at my cabin this weekend. It was about 19, and I was sweating. So, you know, there we go.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. See, man, these Minnesota people, they would out. They would outlast us. Florida people are soft.

[Clay Travis]

Speaker 2 As a new Yorker, you dealt with cold winters quite a lot because New York City, the wind is brutal through so many of those buildings and everything else. You're now down in Miami. When we were in Fort Wayne, Indiana, we stepped off the plane, it was a little chilly in Fort Wayne. You were ready to just head straight back to Miami. You're like, it's 54 degrees. I don't know why people live in this.

[Buck Sexton]

I wanted to light a little. A little fire and. And just keep my hands, you know, over it outside. Because it was so cold in Indiana. I think it was in like the high 50s. I don't know how you guys deal with this stuff. It's really, really tough. So, you know, we're working on it, though. We're working on it. We'll take some more. Call Clay, who did you have if your grandparents generation military service on that side?

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. And my uncle is actually 84. He's dealing right now with. With cancer. I'm glad you mentioned this. He listens and tries to watch as he can. But he was in Vietnam and so. And worked on. While in Vietnam, he was in charge of helicopter maintenance, repair. And one of the crazy things, I think I mentioned this before on the show, but one way, they ensured that everybody who would build the helicopters was as steadfast in their. In their rehabilitation. And then their fixing of the helicopters was every time they fixed one, they had to be the first guys to go up in it. So for anybody that has been in a helicopter, they would bring them in, say, hey, they're. They need maintenance. They need to be fixed. And then you go right up in it. So the way that you knew that you were working on it and making sure that it was as good as anybody could be. So he flew all over. Vietnam.

[Buck Sexton]

Vietnam, my helicopters, my mother's father. So my maternal grandfather, who's passed away years ago, but he was an officer on the USS Batan, which is one of those converted. Converted aircraft carriers. It was essentially, they did this quick fix to these ships to make them into. I think they're called cr, not crv. I forget there's some. Some designation for them. But, yeah, he initially was a pilot and did some training. Pilot training. But I just remember reading about how I think we lost, was it 15,000 or 30,000 people to flight accidents in the Pacific theater. Not shot down, never found them. Just the plane crashed in the ocean, and that was that going between theaters of conflict, not, you know, like transport. Essentially. I think it was something like either 15 or 30,000, some astonishing. With training accidents and astonishingly high numbers. So, yeah, there's a lot of. A lot of ways that people are taking risks when they. When they serve. All right, look, something really happy here. My family absolutely loves the early Christmas presents I got for them. I combined things in clay. I got my mom her birthday gifts, plus my mom and dad their Christmas gifts, and it was all Cozy Earth stuff, and they're absolutely loving it.

[Clay Travis]

I got my mom already got Christmas shopping done. This is unbelievable. Six weeks out.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm a very efficient fellow, sir. Very efficient. Not just on the tennis court, efficient in life. I got them the bubble blanket in, like, a lavender color. My mom absolutely loves this thing. The sheets, they're the favorite sheets I've ever gotten them, and they're so soft. I will carry. And I sleep with the Cozy Earth sheets on our bed every night. I got my mom a set of PJs and some new towels. Cozy Earth brought Christmas to the Sextons this year. Just get yourself set up with this now. Their products are fantastic. They have so much stuff. I really recommend just start with the sheets because they're better than the sheets that you have time for an upgrade. Everybody start with the sheets then maybe throw some towels in some clothing, some of the blankets you're gonna love Cozy Earth your one stop shop for all of your holiday shopping and Christmas needs. So you just need to go check these out back by a 100 night sleep trial money back guarantee 10 year warranty. Go to cozy earth.com that website is cozyearth.com use my name Buck as your promo code on top of their site wide sale for up to 40% off so you can get a great deal. Get your shopping done early. Get these fantastic products. Go to cozy earth.com today. Use code Buck and share luxury this season. My mom and dad absolutely love this stuff. You're going to love it too. Get it for yourself. Get it for family. Cozyearth.com promo code Buck news you can.

[Clay Travis]

Count on and some laughs too. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.

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[Buck Sexton]

Veterans Day I want to say thank you to all of the veterans across America. We truly thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you for your service. We have so many of you who listen to this show. It is a great honor that you spend your time with us and that you trust us to speak honestly about issues including of war and peace and national security. We have so many writing in clay and calling in with their own stories of family service. Just we were. There's so many of them. We wish you get them all. Here you go. VIP email from Jessica. My grandfather was one of the corpsmen that pulled the former President Bush out of the water when his plane went down. He served on nine different ships. William Hersey of New Hampshire. So very cool. We're getting so many of these. Syracuse, this is Talk Back. DD Play this one. Clay and Buck before it was Veterans.

[Caller]

Day, it was Armistice Day.

[Buck Sexton]

And my greatest great aunt was the.

[Caller]

One that carried the flag through Paris when the surrender happened at the end.

[Buck Sexton]

Of World War I.

[Clay Travis]

Very cool. I should mention we were talking about Patton, my great uncle. So my grandmother's brothers, they served and Patton once stopped in front of him, Buck, and asked if he had gotten to kill any Germans yet. And when he said no, he was a young guy who had just gotten overseas into Europe. He said, you're going to get your chance. Which he loved telling that story and it is a pretty cool story. Let's see. Margaret. Let's go. Teresa in San Antonio. Fire away.

[Caller]

Give a shout out and a thank you to the veteran who called in with the story about Omar Bradley at Fort Bliss. And I'm wondering if he ever met my dad. I grew up around Fort Bliss because my dad was a retired Air Force colonel and then moved to El Paso. We were at Fort Bliss all the time. And my dad became friends with General Bradley. And I was a little girl, but I would go to lunch with him because during the summer my dad would take me to the pool, we'd meet General Bradley at the Officers Club, eat lunch, and then I'd go swimming with my dad. And I wish I had understood then who he was, but I remember my dad talking to him. General Bradley was so sweet to me. He would hold my hand. I can still pick picture him in his wheelchair. And he would hold my hand and talk to me and ask me questions about school and if I'd only known, you know, what questions to ask him. But I heard the gentleman call in that he had had lunch with him at Fort Bliss. I wonder if he ever knew my dad. But it was amazing experience. My dad ended up getting close to him.

[Buck Sexton]

Thank you.

[Clay Travis]

Thank you for that story. So many amazing stories. Thank you to all the veterans wishing.

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