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Verdict with Ted Cruz
BONUS SHOW: Daily Review with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton - Mar 18 2025
00:56:22
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- [00:00]
Talkspace Sponsor
This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know, when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself, talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace. Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences, and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You, you'll meet on your schedule wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner or just need a little extra one on one support, Talkspace is here for you. Plus, Talkspace works with most major insurers and most insured members have a $0 copay. No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code space80 when you go to talkspace.com match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com save $80 with code space80@talk.
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Clay Travis
Welcome, everybody. Tuesday edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show kicks off right now. Thanks to the guy who high fived me on the way out of the gym today. Clay says he listens every day, loves the show. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I was like, I gotta go do the show. So it was, it was a close one. Had to, had to run home. But I got here and we have a lot to get into today. President Trump announcing 80,000 documents on the assassination of JFK will be released and he has asked that the files not be redacted. I can't imagine how there would be any justification to continue a redaction at this point, but we shall see what is released. 80, remember, 80,000 pages. So anybody who within minutes of this thing, of the document drop says, I know who killed jfk. Just grain of salt. Like, let's see what's actually in this thing. I know I'm not going to take out my, my womp, womp button quite yet on it. We'll see. But I am in wait and see mode for sure. President Trump has announced that Hunter and Ashley Biden will no longer have Secret Service protection. They had Clay, 18 and 13 agents assigned.
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Buck Sexton
Crazy.
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Clay Travis
Respectively. Hunter Biden had 18 Secret Service agents, 18 Secret Service agents. Like, this is outrageous. Outrageous. I mean this, you know, if you're the president, the way they usually do this is they start to fade it out. Okay, I Mean presidents, I guess. Former presidents. I think once you get past two terms, you really don't need a Secret Service detail anymore. I'm, I'm a little bit of a. Maybe a radical on this whole thing. I think people just need to like get a grip. It's okay. You know, no one cares that you were president three presidents ago. That much, you know, like don't, don't go to Moscow on vacation and you'll be fine. Um, so anyway, I, I find this. I think we've gotten way too much of a praetorian.
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Buck Sexton
I didn't realize it was 18. That is crazy.
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Clay Travis
I mean that, that is. This guy was traveling with a platoon of Secret Service agents in case what. I mean, think about. And think about what they probably saw too. Don't even get me started.
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Buck Sexton
Well, also to your point, it's not. I mean, he lived in Malibu. I mean, do we think that he was in perpetual danger from all of the super libs in Malibu, like that they were going to do something to him?
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Clay Travis
No, this is, this is just so that you can have a, you can have a taxpayer funded chauffeur and, and security and you know, I want to know what all these guys are doing all the time. It's, the whole thing is completely outrageous. And this, this thing, you know, we allow presidents to determine really what the presidents get. And these guys have way too much. It's crazy. The former presidents, some of them have just. I think like Nixon said, I don't even really. I want to get my own, you know, get if you need.
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Buck Sexton
I mean, I wouldn't want. I mean, I doesn't feel to me like it would be very much fun to have security with you. I mean, we've had to have security for some events. Obviously when somebody wanted to kill me, we had security. So we have security off and on. I'm not knocking the idea, but it isn't a. 18 agents is. For someone who has ever had security is a absolutely insane number. And I remember, if I recall, maybe we'll talk to Miranda Devine about this tomorrow because she really kind of broke this story on the New York Post. But Buck, it also was the case that I believe that Secret Service was renting a high end mansion next door to him to use as the base to be able to protect Hunter when he was living in the sugar daddy's house in Malibu.
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Clay Travis
Yeah, the whole thing is outrageous, man. This is completely unjustifiable. And I think that it's, it's the right move. Look, presidents, you know, they need to be protected, especially this president. Need to be protected with whatever is required. But, you know, if you were just the most recent president. Okay, but your family, Ashley Biden, Give me. Give me a break, all right? You know, you got to live with a certain degree of just. Life is uncertain. I'm sorry, like, you can't go around. I need 20 Secret Service agents the rest of my life, please. All right. So anyway, that. That's something we can. We can talk a little more about. Ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is over. Israeli jets have been striking Gaza, and the Israelis are just saying they're not waiting for. They're not waiting for hostages anymore. Enough is enough. That judge who ordered the planes to turn around with the trend at Aragua members on it is really digging in and getting crazier and crazier, which. Which we will make some sense of today. And yes. Oh, and then we have what's going on right now. Why don't we jump into this one? Because I think it ties into everything. Trump has been on the phone this morning with Vladimir Putin. And remember, Clay, last week, the conversation was, oh, it's too early, and there's so many conditions. And really downplaying that Trump was even likely or was even possible he could get any kind of a breakthrough. If this results, if this call results in a ceasefire, and we should know pretty imminently, I think, if at least a ceasefire has been preliminarily agreed to, does the media cover it as a breakthrough or do they cover it as well? We won't really know.
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Buck Sexton
Yeah, look, the ceasefire in general is now ended in the Middle East. Right. So ceasefires are not perpetual, never ending ceasefire realities. But I do feel like if they start the ceasefire in Ukraine with Russia. Tell me if you agree with this, at least during Trump's remaining term in office, Vladimir Putin will not invade Ukraine anymore. Do you feel good about that? Like, if you had to predict, based on what we saw in the first term when he didn't invade. And whatever you feel about this, I do believe that Trump and Putin have a somewhat decent relationship that actually is brought together by the total lie that Russia won Trump the 2016 election. Trump knows that's not true. Putin knows that's not true. We. And by the way, the United States, I'm curious if you would agree with this. Buck probably spends more money trying to influence foreign elections than any country in the world. So the idea that we're going to be, like, grabbing our pearls and falling onto a fainting couch that other countries would in some way seek favor in our own elections when we are, I believe, probably the biggest manipulator of international elections of any country in the world. But they didn't have any massive impact. The whole Russia collusion story was a lie. The money that Russia spent on Facebook ads was a pin prick of what was spent. Like 100k of billions of dollars that were spent. Hardly anyone saw them. They were poorly designed. My point on this is I think the Trump Putin relationship is actually closer because of the lies that they both went through there. I don't feel like if we get a ceasefire, Putin will violate it. Am I crazy? In your mind, as a former CIA analyst, put your CIA analyst hat on here. How would you assess the likelihood?
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Clay Travis
I think you have to add to that that these are two men who recognize in each other historic figures and alpha dogs, so to speak. I think that that's a, that shouldn't be underestimated, that there is some degree of respect between these two. I don't know if it would be affection, but it's respect. You know, I'm not sure they like each other, but they definitely look at each other as two guys who, like I said, they're, they're historic. They are men of the moment. And yes, I think that if there is a ceasefire that is agreed to, I think that Putin knows that making Trump look silly is, is a dangerous thing to do, meaning that there would be real consequences for Russia that he does not want. And I think that he recognized that Putin recognizes that is true. Now, that was not true in the same way, obviously, under Biden when he invaded on Biden's watch and did all this stuff. So we are in a better, a better situation. I think that, you know, there'll be, there'll be some negotiating that happens here. This is not going to be. Everyone comes out of this phone call today high fiving and the war is over. And you know, Russian, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are going to be kissing ladies out in the street in jubilation. That's not going to happen, unfortunately. But I think that you might get to, you know, a couple of points have to be agreed to and then there'll be a cease fire for 30 days and then we'll see. And the ceasefire is going to be a rolling process. Look, the same thing has been true with the Israeli cease fire which just ended. The Israelis said, ok, we'll do a cease fire and we have these conditions and this is what we expect. And Hamas, because it's a psychopathic terrorist organization, violates the conditions Won't give back the hostages. So then fighting resumes. You may see something similar with Russia and Ukraine. But to your. Your point overall, I think is true, which is you're not going to have Trump say, I think we've got a ceasefire for 30 days. And then 10 days into it, Vladimir Putin is pulling, pulling some nonsense, you know, firing missiles into Kiev and acting like he can get away with whatever he wants because there will be consequences when Trump is the commander in chief. Financial, maybe diplomatic, maybe, maybe other stuff. But Trump's not going to allow that to go unpunished.
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Buck Sexton
Yeah, I think you're right. And look, I am genuinely curious how the media will cover it. Um, I saw. I was reading over the weekend, Buck, I don't know if you saw it. They do this gridiron dinner where everybody in the media comes and they. And they make their usual jokes. And your boy, Governor Westmore of Maryland got up and made all these jokes about Russia and Trump and how Trump is Putin's stooge and everybody was just rolling over laughing. And it feels to me such an antiquated joke to be making. But I would almost guarantee for you that whatever the peace agreement or ceasefire is reached between Ukraine and Russia, that it will somehow be used as evidence that Trump is the Manchurian candidate for Vladimir Putin. And I say that because they don't seem to be able to come up with any other new lines of attack. Is that kind of interesting? Like, Trump is in office right now. And leave aside the fact that the Democrat Party has lit itself on fire. Lowest approval ratings going all the way back for NBC and cnn, as long as they've been doing those polls right, literally have never been lower. But the thing that maybe surprises me the most is they, Buck, they can't even come up with any new lines of attack. They tried the, oh, it's President Ellen. And everybody was like, yeah, that's not really working. Right? Because you told us he's a dictator. So is he a dictator or is he actually just the stooge of someone else? Like, they're actually mixing messages. They can't even figure out what their attack angle is on Trump right now.
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Clay Travis
There is a. It is deep in the recesses of the Democrat mind right now. But I really do believe that there is a widespread, quiet panic that they will never address and they will never accept. But it's in the back of their minds and it's. It's saying, maybe you were just wrong about this top to bottom. Maybe you were just wrong about this guy in Every respect. And he's actually going to be great for the country. And you did everything possible to ruin and destroy him. And he just kept on coming. And it's going to benefit not just his voters, but America. As, you know, people. We saw this with COVID People would rather look like morons than accept that they were really wrong on something they were very dug in on.
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Buck Sexton
And you're even seeing some of these people. I think you're right, Buck. Privately, they're having light bulbs go off and they're thinking, what if I was actually on the wrong side of history?
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Clay Travis
Right?
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Buck Sexton
Because remember how long they hit us with that all through. You're enabling, you're platforming. You're on the wrong side of history. I don't hear wrong side of history arguments really anymore.
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Clay Travis
Let's. We can just take stock of this for a minute, they said. And it was a widespread narrative across the entire Democrat party from the top down from. From Kamala to. To. Who was the guy? Who was their vice president? Tim Walls, all these people, they said he was a fascist and that he was Hitler. Like that he was. He was America's Hitler. Here we are, it's not even two months in. He's bringing. As he's letting astronauts come back from outer space while Biden left them up there stranded for political reasons. He secured the border, which every country should be allowed to do. And every Democrat said they wanted to do. They were lying. He's trying to get rid of government waste, fraud, and abuse. He's trying to end a horrific meat grinder of a war that has got hundreds of thousands of casualties and no end in sight. Does any of this sound like Hitler stuff? Like, where's the. Where's the scary fascist stuff?
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Buck Sexton
Yeah.
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Clay Travis
He's got the richest man in the world working for free to try to stop waste and fraud so the price of eggs will come down. And wow, guess what? The price of eggs is already coming down. Clay, remember when two weeks ago it was, why hasn't he brought the price of eggs down?
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Buck Sexton
I'm literally looking right now from our friend Libs of TikTok, Buck, price of eggs since he entered office has collapsed by 50%. I mean, their attack angles, according to her, January 21, 2025. And I will let me be clear, because I always get egg emails. People are like, I cost this at my store. I was like, okay, I'm not an expert at what you paid for eggs this morning. All right? But according to Haya at Libs of TikTok, $6,55 was the average cost of a dozen eggs when Trump entered office on January 21st. They now cost $3.22. That's half, right? Just. And I apologize if you paid 460 this morning. I don't need you to email me about what the Safeway cost in your hometown. I'm just telling you nationwide, that's the average. Now.
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Clay Travis
You know what they're going to have to explain to us on Morning Joe, though. You know who is really opposed to eggs costing too much? Hitler. Just like Hitler bringing the price of eggs down.
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Buck Sexton
Hitler I always love. You know, when we were at Mar A Lago with Trump and he insisted that we get milkshakes because Mar A Lago made the best milkshakes.
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Clay Travis
Classic, classic, classic Hitler move.
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Buck Sexton
Just total Hitler move. You know, it's the wives are beautiful.
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Clay Travis
We're getting everyone milkshakes, high fives for everybody, just like Hitler would have done.
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Buck Sexton
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Talkspace Sponsor
This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know, when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself, talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace. Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need with Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences, and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner or just need a little extra one on one support, Talkspace is here for you. Plus, Talkspace works with most major insurers and most insured members have a $0 copay. No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code SPACE80 when you go to talkspace.com match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com save $80 with code SPACE80 at talk.
- [18:50]
Clay Travis
All right. Welcome back into Clay and Buck. Occasionally you see a butt kicking on cable news that involves so much knowledge, it is so erudite, so exceptional that you feel like everybody was done a favor by this, the anchor who gets completely crushed by the guest who knows a lot more. The audience, including audience that does not like the conservative guest because at least they're learning something. And all of us get to just cheer and clap and laugh about how the whole thing went down. Stephen Miller, we should put this up on clayandbuck.com in a nine minute long segment that was essentially about whether this judge who decided that he would tell planes in the air that they had to turn around. Think about the authority, think about the power that this judge thinks that he has. The planes have already left. I am ordering those planes to turn around and come back to the United States. One, There are hundreds of federal district judges across the country, hundreds of them. One of them can just be like, I disagree with this move by the president. He has to bring the planes home. Oh, okay. Stephen Miller had an exchange with one of the. Is it Casey Hunt? Is that right?
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Buck Sexton
I think, Cassie, I don't even know who's on cnn.
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Clay Travis
Yeah, tomato, tomato, Right. So I'm not sure. But he had an exchange with a CNN anchor. We wanted to hear some parts of this. We broke it up for you. It's nine minutes long. The whole thing's up at Clay and Buck. But Stephen Miller was taking no prisoners on this one. One of his best. He's had many good moments on tv, but one of his very best. The school bus was parked out front and school is in session. Play, play. Clip one.
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Stephen Miller
This judge violated the law. He violated the violated system of government that we have in this country.
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Clay Travis
Because that does seem to be what you're arguing.
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Stephen Miller
The same. These same district court judges didn't do a damn thing, stop Joe Biden from flooding this nation with millions of illegal aliens. Do these district court judges didn't issue any injunctions to save the lives of Jocelyn or any federal courts, Is that what you're saying? What I'm saying is that what you said. There's a separation of powers. The, the, the judiciary exercises judgment and relief.
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Clay Travis
I don't speak for the White House.
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Buck Sexton
You are here to speak.
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Stephen Miller
I will do. You're here to speak for the White House.
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Clay Travis
I just want you to answer that one simple question.
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Stephen Miller
Ready? Here we go. Under a proper reading of the Constitution, district court judges provide relief to individual plaintiffs seeking relief. District court judges do not have the authority, as a general matter, to enjoin the functioning of the executive branch. But their authority is at its lowest point when the president is exercising his powers as commander in chief. And I asked you a question. You never answered it. Can a judge enjoin troop movements overseas? Can a district court judge and join. Treat movements overseas?
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Clay Travis
Stephen?
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Stephen Miller
Yes.
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Clay Travis
I am not going to get into the.
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Stephen Miller
Just say no this and then you'll know that I'm right.
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Clay Travis
I like that.
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Buck Sexton
I'm gonna steal that one for the next time I get into an argument with my wife. I don't know if Stephen uses that one with his lovely wife Katie. Just say no so that you'll know that I'm right is probably not a marital argument tactic that works well, but it's phenomenal television. Buck. I, I mean, that was just a whipping.
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Clay Travis
Here's, here's what is at the core of the. And again, it's, it's nine minutes, which we're not. We can't play the whole thing on air. But you can go to Clay and Buck dot com. We'll have it up there for. If you want to see it in. It's worth watching if you can. It's nine minutes and what's at. There's a lot of things that are at issue, but really at the core of the whole thing, Clay, is these judges. First of all, we talk about the number because you can tell this is how partizan leftists, some of whom are judges, have decided that they're going to oppose Trump. They're just going to stop him from doing things that as president he has the right and the authority to do. They're just going to say, no, you can't do that. And they'll eventually get overturned by the Supreme Court. And they know that, but they're just going to keep trying to stop him. If, if he, if a judge is allowed to tell the president when he has used executive authority to expel noncitizens from the United States, you have to turn the plane around. Can a judge say, you can't bomb the Houthis in Yemen, you have to turn those missiles around or you have to turn those planes around? Like, where does it stop and start?
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Buck Sexton
I think that's why Stephen Miller's argument is so persuade, persuasive also. I'm gonna circle back to that in a sec. Buck. But this is, I think, emblematic of why Trump 2.0 is so much more successful than Trump 1.0 was. Trump got his fighters and he put his team together and they are a dream team of advisors of an incredibly high intellectual. How many IQ points do you think the difference between Stephen Miller and that CNN anchor was? Buck 20. I mean, this is, there's a miss.
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Clay Travis
There'S a mismatch here. There is a mismatch, to be sure.
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Buck Sexton
And there is a high level of intellectual heft that did not exist on the same level for Trump 1.0. And I think when you hear the Trump team make their arguments and you see how well they can slap down the counter arguments, it is incredible how much difference there is in not only intelligence but also comprehension of the issues. Now, let me circle back because I think this is an important part of the larger story here. What Stephen Miller is pointing out is that federal district court judges do not have the authority to micromanage the power of the executive branch. Trump and clearly, and even the CNN anchor didn't argue Trump clearly has the ability to, as you pointed out, order strikes against the Houthis or to decide that he wants to in some way move around brigades inside of Europe or in the United States. There isn't an ability of a federal district court judge to challenge it. And Democrats are so desperate to restrain Trump that what you really have, and this is why the Supreme Court needs to look at this, is a distinction between the Supreme Court reviewing and the judiciary reviewing the acts of the executive to determine whether or not they are constitutional in a big picture sense. And micromanaging on a day to day basis, the individual actions that the executive orders and what they're trying to do. And this is what I was pointing out yesterday, arguing about birthright citizenship is the province of the judiciary. That's a big picture thing. Trump said executive authority. Hey, I'm interpreting the 14th Amendment. This way, courts are going to have their take. I actually think that's going to be a challenge for Trump even at the Supreme Court. But Trump has the clear ability to make decisions as it pertains to border security, which is the same thing that Biden was allowed to do, unfortunately, to the detriment of the country. And so Stephen Miller is just destroying this argument that this left wing CNN host is trying to make. And, you know, this buck from television, there's probably some frantic producer in her ear trying to give her all the resources.
- [26:20]
Clay Travis
Yeah, they're trying to bail her out. And this, this also, though, I think goes to what the administration learned from the first term to this term. And that is the process is the punishment, delay is the game. And they can't allow that to happen. A big part of people will say this and they don't like when I point this out, but then they always admit that I'm right. Like, I'll hear people on the right who voted for Trump say, well, you know, Russia collusion, it didn't work. I mean, it didn't get all the way. But it certainly slowed down and jammed up and messed up the administration in 2017 to have to deal with all the nonsense and the media and the lawyers and the depositions and everything else. Here's Stephen Miller saying, we see, we see the game here. If every person that Trump is going to deport who is an illegal, gets a federal judge saying, no, you can't do that, you know this, then the whole thing just collapses. This is cut to play it.
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Stephen Miller
How are you going to expel illegal alien invaders from our country who are raping little girls, who are murdering little girls? If each and every deported interpretation has to be adjudicated in a district court judge, that means you have no country. It means you have no sovereignty. It means you have no future. It is fundamentally incompatible to have a country and have individual expulsions adjudicated by a single district court judge. I'm just trying to figure out.
- [27:41]
Clay Travis
What does the Trump administration believe, because we do have separation of powers in this country. I hear what you're saying.
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Stephen Miller
Yes, separation of power. This is the judiciary interfering. The executive function. That is the separation of power. That is the ignore the judge's order.
- [27:57]
Clay Travis
Here because you thought you could.
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Stephen Miller
So the judge's order and the actions taken by the Departments of Defense, justice and Homeland Security are not in conflict. And the department just has been clear that they are not in conflict.
- [28:09]
Clay Travis
See, the whole thing here with the CNN anchor to be clear is they want the administration to say, well, they're just ignoring judges. And then that becomes, oh, my gosh, you know, constitutional crisis and all the rest of it. But in reality, the judge's order was insane. Ok, yes. Plane in flight. Turn the plane around, Steven. He even went in to point this out. He's like, do they know what route the plane is on? This is a national security issue. It's got a bunch of Trent Aragua terrorists on it. You're just going to change the route. Do you know, you know who's meeting the plane on the other side? You know, the whole thing, it is insane that this judge did this. But if you go and you look at him, he's got a super anti Trump lunatic wife. He was involved with the Russia collusion, FISA nonsense. He's an anti Trump hashtag, resistant, psycho. It's like a member of, what's that group, the Lincoln Project or whatever. It's like the Lincoln Project has a judge and it's this guy. Yeah.
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Buck Sexton
And look, this is the angle. I told you that this is the angle they're going to try to take yesterday. They're very clearly going to try to avoid arguing against what Trump did did in terms of the deportation. And instead, Buck, they're going to argue he's a dictator, he's defying court orders. Right. They're not going to talk about whether the court order was legitimate. They're not going to talk about what the court order actually did or would have required, which is bringing felons back into the country. They're going to talk about the fact that he defied an order. And I'll tell you what they're also going to do. And we told you this was coming. But prepare yourself. Trump is not going to be flawless on the deportations. I'm just telling all of you this. He's not going to be flawless. They're going to get the wrong guy. They're going to. It's impossible to be 100% accurate. And what they're going to do is they're going to find that anecdote, that guy who was misidentified, and they're going to turn him into a national symbol of Trump's authoritarianism. And this is why anecdotal stories, Buck, are often unfair, because the anecdote should be representative of the larger story. People connect on a story basis. When an anecdote is the outlier, which is what happened with blm, most people have great relationships and interactions with police. One thing goes bad, and this is indicative of how Every black person in America is treated. And so it's fundamentally unfair. It's propaganda.
- [30:40]
Clay Travis
This is what they're trying to do right now with this Mahmoud Khalil guy. What they're saying is what they're trying to do right now. Now, Mahmoud Khalil is for a lot of us, not sympathetic at all. So that's the only difference. But they've, they've tried to rally around this guy and say that he is the first example of Trump's overreach and authoritarianism and all the rest of it, you know. Yeah, I mean, try, try not to have some pro Hamas Jew hating maniac as your standard bearer and things will probably be better off for the. But we'll see. Once again, with Trender Agua, you have Democrats going to the mat to defend really, the worst of the worst. The worst of the worst. And that's the other part of this too, Clay. Like we're arguing about this on the, on the legal grounds and the constitutional grounds. For a lot of people, it's just, you know, I just don't want these, these scumbag gang members who aren't even allowed to be in the country in the first place to be here anymore. And whoever gets rid of them, I like that. Get them out of the country. You know, Trump understands that aspect of this too. There's no, there's no normal person who's like, you know what? We really need more China Aragua hitman in America. That would be good. Let's have more of that. So, yeah, he's, he's forcing them to take some very unpopular stands. But Democrats, again, run up the scoreboard, everybody. We got to keep running up the scoreboard. That's what Trump's doing. Out of North Carolina comes the best kept secret of the firearms industry, Bear Creek Arsenal. So keep that name in mind when you're shopping for your next rifle or handgun. Whether you're an outdoorsman during hunting season or you like spending time at the range, owning a Bear Creek Arsenal firearm will be a great experience for you. I've had four of them, including three rifles and their grizzly pistol in nine millimeter. Bear Creek Arsenal manufactures its guns in America, North Carolina. Like I said, I've actually seen where they make them. It's an incredible facility and their prices are simply unbeatable. If you're looking for value in the firearms market these days, you're not going to do better than the prices. You see the low prices and great value at Bear Creek Arsenal. They're so confident in their products. They offer a lifetime warranty. Go to bearcreekarsonal.com check them out. You won't be disappointed. Use my name Buck as your coupon code to save 10% on your first order. BearCreekArsenal.com Coupon code Buck for 10% off.
- [32:52]
Buck Sexton
Patriots radio hosts a couple of regular guys, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton show okay, A report on what Trump and Putin spoke about is now out. I am reading this from Caroline Levitt who posted this on social media today. President Trump and President Putin spoke about the need for peace and a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace. They also stressed the need for improved bilateral relations between the United States and Russia. The blood and treasure that both Ukraine and Russia have been spending in this war would be better spent on the needs of their people. Conflict should have never started and should have ended long ago with sincere and good faith peace efforts. Again, I'm reading from the statement. The leaders agreed the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East. The leader spoke broadly about the Middle east as a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflict. They further discussed the need to stop proliferation of strategic weapons and will engage with others to ensure the broadest possible application. The two leaders shared the view Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel. And the two leaders agreed a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the US And Russia has huge upside, including enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved. That is the statement that was just released on the call between Putin and Trump. Cleaning up a little bit earlier we were talking about when was the last time Biden talked. Biden had not spoken to Putin since the invasion of Ukraine. He did speak to him in 2021. Just FYI, we were asking, I was whether they had spoken while Biden was in office. It happened in 2021. Buck. I think all of that is moving in a very favorable direction. I guess the question out here. And again, that is the statement we just released that was just released by the White House. If Trump is able to actually get peace in Ukraine, wouldn't he deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? Like in an honest, legitimate world, wouldn't this be the very definition of what a mediator and or leader who was not directly involved in the conflict should receive for ending a conflict of this significance.
- [35:57]
Clay Travis
Yes, of course. But the Nobel Peace Prize has gone to Barack Obama for doing nothing. I think Yasser Arafat got it at one point. You look at the people who've got the Nobel Peace Prize and it has unfortunately become a bit of, a, bit of a political joke in a lot of ways. So I know your point is well taken, which is that this would be a momentous, momentous diplomatic win and not just a dip, a win for humanity. I mean, truly, when you, I don't know how many of you have watched, there's a lot of video out there about what's going on on the Ukraine Russia front and what these soldiers are going through. It is trench warfare. They have drones that are flying in at them and blowing people up every day. They've got artillery rounds blowing up all around. I mean, it's, you've got guys that are storming trenches and, you know, machine gunning each other at close range. Like it's horrible stuff that's happening day in and day out over there and bringing this to an end. It would be such a win. And it's very frustrating isn't even the right word. It's, it's grotesque. When you see these people that are saying, but Trump is just throwing in the towel, what do these people think is going to happen? You know, at some point it feels like the, the Slava Ukraine people really just feel like if they, if they string this thing out long enough, maybe we'll have Americans sent over there to do the fighting for them. Which is an absolute red line for you. For me, and I know for everybody listening, I mean, that's just completely beyond the pale. We should not lose a single American life, a single American finger fighting over who's in control of the eastern portion of Ukraine. And in the meantime, there's nothing to be gained in the long run for Ukraine continuing to fight and lose its entire able bodied male population when there's the possibility that you could still have a country that is functioning, a country that is a homeland for the Ukrainian people and wouldn't be in the midst of a horrible and bloody war. Like I said, Clay, it used to be that the Democrats were supposedly the peace party. They were really the undermine America during time of war party that's actually more accurate. But they would at least go through the motions of pretending that they didn't want, you know, don't go after Saddam in the first war, don't go after Saddam in the Second war, don't you know, they were the ones that were saying we. And maybe they're right about the second one, but we shouldn't be fighting these wars, except when it comes to wars like this where there's some humanitarian interest and no real American interest at stake. So I think that if Trump is able to pull this off, it's a huge win all around. And again, it brings us back to, yes, Trump out there negotiating to end wars and stop bloodshed, just like Hitler would have done.
- [38:47]
Buck Sexton
I would also point out if we could get a ceasefire, the price of gas would drop immediately in a significant fashion.
- [39:00]
Clay Travis
I think Trump sees that. He knows all this stuff with Russia has hurt us economically, probably in the west more than it's hurt Russia. Russia doesn't really care.
- [39:08]
Buck Sexton
And even the opening back up of the Black Sea would dramatically decrease prices for a variety of goods, including is, am I correct that Ukraine is one of the largest wheat producing countries, grain world, and that, you know, that, you know, the amount of goods that the grain is used to produce has also driven up the cost. And I've been told that because of the shipping cost associated with the dangers of the Black Sea. The other thing is Trump has attacked the Houthis in, in the Red Sea area. Right. That is also driven up the cost of goods being shipped around the world. So while there is a great focus on tariffs and what the impact of the cost of goods could be for tariffs, I think in Trump's internal calculation, he is seeing the ending of the wars to the extent that we can keep them ended. And I know they've reignited right now in the Middle East. But if you could end the war in Ukraine this summer, I think you would see a massive deflationary movement on a variety of the price of goods, in particular oil and gas.
- [40:23]
Clay Travis
You know, there is, there is a historical mirror image here, perhaps, or there's echoes of when Reagan came into office. Volcker had to tighten things, tighten things at a level that, you know, way beyond what we've seen so far in terms of how high rates had to go. And yeah, I mean, there, there was a, essentially a recession. Reagan more or less inherited that recession, but you had to, you had to get the, you know, you had to clear the system out, you had to get things under control. And there was a little bit of economic pain that the country had to go through early on and then 20 years of boom and prosperity afterwards. Right. So if, if this is a Reagan moment for Trump on the economy, and I think there are a lot of reasons to believe that, that it could be and that it will be. The historical analogy here is very favorable, but it might take a year, 18 months, something like that, for things to really get cooking the way they would like them to. You cannot fix a problem that others refuse to fix and expect that there's not going to be some discomfort along the way, because why wouldn't they fix it if that wasn't the case?
- [41:35]
Buck Sexton
This is, though, a very good sign, I think. It's hard to spin it as a bad sign. It'll be interesting to see what the larger media ecosystem says about this. Remember, Ukraine has effectively already agreed to a 30 day cease fire and it sounds like Russia is willing to potentially get involved as well.
- [41:58]
Clay Travis
Let's say, let's just go through a best, a best case scenario here for those of us who are adults, and then I'll tell you what the libs will say and how they'll play this. Right? Let's assume that this ceasefire goes forward and maybe it doesn't. And maybe, you know, maybe Trump ends up having to drop the hammer on Putin with a whole lot more economic warfare stuff, and maybe that's all possible. Ok, we don't know, we don't get ahead of ourselves here, but if you're going to war, game this out a little bit, let's assume, Clay, that the ceasefire goes forward and it is durable and we go into, at every phase of the ceasefire. You know, you'll be hearing from Democrats. Putin got too much of what he wanted and he could break the ceasefire at any moment. Putin got too much of what he wanted and he could break the ceasefire at any. You're going to hear that over and over for months and months and months so that by the time it's clear that this conflict, if this happens, this conflict actually has ceased to be the war, the meat grinder of humanity that it has been. They're just hoping to play this out so that nobody even realizes that Trump is what, you know, if you extend this out and complain about it the whole time, it denies him at some level the victory, the political victory, at least to some, that he would be winning by ending this thing. Do you see what I mean? They, they complain, they say, we don't know yet, we don't know yet. And they keep doing that until eventually when it's clear, oh no, Trump actually pulled off something of a, of a diplomatic miracle here. People have moved on to other things that, I think that's how they play it because they're never going to say wow. He's a brilliant statesman and he saved thousands and thousands of lives and had the economy boom because of.
- [43:36]
Buck Sexton
Is a really good sign that they are talking, I think. Again, we read you the readout on the report. I am cautiously optimistic. I like to go to look at Poly Market. It has now bucked the chances of a ceasefire by May 1st at 60%. You know, you can go take either side on this, on this prediction market. Right. It's why it's kind of interesting to look at. But that is a small favorite that we may have a ceasefire in Ukraine by May 1. The other reason the timing matters on this a lot, Buck. And I do think it's worth, you know, reinforcing this on a regular basis. Typically, as it gets warm in Ukraine, the armies are better able to move and the overall fatality rates increase. It's still the midst of winter over there right now, but moving forward, essentially.
- [44:29]
Clay Travis
The same thing was true in Afghanistan. When the, when the mountain passes meltdown and it's easier to, you know, to move around, you get more fighting, more shooting.
- [44:37]
Buck Sexton
So hopefully if there is a ceasefire, they could get a ceasefire in place by the time it starts to warm up there so that we can limit the overall amount of death that might be occurring. And again, to your point, yes, very Hitlerian of Trump to try to end the largest war in Europe since World War II. It's exactly what Hitler would have done if he had been in a position of prominence in America. And obviously we're ridiculing the absurdity of that.
- [45:08]
Clay Travis
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- [46:39]
Buck Sexton
By Preborn Making America great again isn't just one man, it's many. The Team 47 podcast Sundays at noon Eastern in the Clay and Buck podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [46:55]
Talkspace Sponsor
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- [47:58]
Clay Travis
Senior editor at large of Newsweek and host of the Josh Hammer Show. He's got a new book released today. He's coming on the show to tell everybody about it. Israel and Civilization, the fate of the Jewish nation and the destiny of the West. Already doing great numbers on Amazon. Go get your copy today. Mr. Hammer, great to have you with us, sir. I wanted to get your take first, if I could, before we dive into the book, which everyone should go get a copy of. I know it's doing great so far. The end of the ceasefire in Israel and the new posture or the renewed posture, perhaps toward Hamas. What do you make of it?
- [48:39]
Josh Hammer
Well, Buck, great to join you and thanks for the book support. Look, to me, the ball is clearly in Benjamin Netanyahu's court, Buck. I mean, Donald Trump is all in for US Israel relations. He's used the rhetoric of give them hell to pay. He's made it very clear that he and his cabinet are going to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Israeli government when it comes to diplomacy, when it comes to the military, when it comes to trying to eradicate the entirety of the Hamas political and military cancer from the Gaza Strip. So for some weeks now, Buck, I've been saying the ball is in Netanyahu's court. I mean, Bibi has basically lived his entire adult life for moments just like this. He has led his entire adult's life to wait for the opportunity to go in and do what needs to be done, so to speak, whether it's in Gaza, whether it's in Lebanon and Hezbollah. He did that partially last summer, actually. Or whether it's really the grand threat of all in the region, which of course is the Islamist regime in Tehran. So I'm not surprised that the cease fire broke. Frankly. Hamas only has itself to blame. I mean, with a medieval Islamist death cult, they had any number of opportunities to avoid this outcome. They completely brought this upon themselves. And frankly, this is a necessary thing that has to happen, or if there to be any resolution whatsoever in the region.
- [49:53]
Buck Sexton
Congrats on the book. I know all the work that goes into that. I hope you're having a good time with it officially being out. What is the ultimate goal, do you think, when it comes to Gaza? What should happen? What's likely to happen? What does history suggest should happen?
- [50:10]
Josh Hammer
It looks like Donald Trump has a certain vision in mind. I mean, he wants. He wants the United States to take over Gaza. I will be. I'll be honest with you, that was not on my personal bingo card. I'm not sure that, frankly, that was on Bibi Netanyahu's bingo card. I mean, you look at his facial expression at the joint press conference when Donald Trump announced that to the world. It was quite humorous to look at the way that Netanyahu and the Israeli officials in the room reacted to that. I'm open to being persuaded of that. That's not entirely what my first guess would have been, Buck. Look, in my heart of hearts, I would love to see the Arabs there find a permanent home in Jordan or Egypt, which seems to be Donald Trump's preferred approach. And for Israel to go ahead and take it over. Realistically speaking, I think the most likely way that this ultimately ends is you get some sort of consortium of the more moderate Sunni Arab states, the Saudis, Emiratis, Bahrainis, maybe the Egyptians, if they're willing to play ball, and they kind of go in there jointly together and try to make sure that that Islamism and jihadism will not be the way forward there. But that's going to entail some sort of American, Israeli or some sort of joint presence there, even with that, because frankly, even these guys, the more moderate forces, I'm not sure just how much we can trust them for the mid to long term.
- [51:20]
Buck Sexton
Josh, for people who don't know I was over in Israel in, in December, the amount of immense popularity for Trump in Israel is off the charts. In fact, Trump, if they Israel had had a vote in the American presidential election, would have won like he did in West Virginia or Wyoming. What do you think Israelis believe when they see that Trump is being attacked by Democrats here as Hitler?
- [51:47]
Josh Hammer
Well, Clay, I'll tell you exactly what Israelis believe, because I happen to be married to one and I happen to have in laws here in Florida where I live. Who are them? And I taught every day the Israeli people are about the Trumpiest people in the basically the entire world. I'm not sure if there's a single foreign country where Trump has a higher approval rating than the state of Israel for very clear and compelling reasons, which is that Donald Trump is the most pro Israel, frankly, he's the most pro Jewish president in American history there. And this is something of an issue that I think a lot of people hear, even on the right fully understand, is how can American Jews vote disproportionately so much for the Democratic Party, while Israeli Jews are so supportive of the Republican person in this case, that would be Donald Trump. I actually talk about that quite a bit in the book Israel and Civilization. It's maybe a longer and more complicated conversation there, but the Israeli people in general are emphatically pro Trump. They even named a town after him. Clay. There's literally a town in the Golan Heights called Trump Heights. Ramat Trump would be the Hebrew word. I know it because I've been there. I actually drove by, got out of the car, took a selfie on the side of the road there with the road sign Ramat Trump. So they're all in. They're all in for President Trump there and as they should be, because Donald Trump is deeply supportive of the state of Israel.
- [53:05]
Clay Travis
All right, let's Talk about the book Josh, out today. Israel and Civilization, the Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the west by Josh Hammer. What do people need to know and why should they pick up their copy?
- [53:16]
Josh Hammer
So, Buck, the book Israel and Civilization, both fortunately and unfortunately, I think could not possibly be timely. I'm a little biased, but I happen to think that it is very timely. On the one hand, Buck, you have the wokelef, which is obviously a horrific, cancerous actor, but there is an increasing portion even of people on the nominal rights. Not a loud portion, but there are some people that are really calling for the US to abandon Israel. And frankly, I think deep down in these people's hearts, what they really want to do is ultimately to convince American Christians to just leave the Jewish state and leave the Jewish people behind. So I took it upon myself to write this book basically calling for Jews and Christians alike to lock arms and stand shoulder to shoulder like never before and to fall in love with the biblical inheritance again, because it actually is that ecumenical biblical inheritance that frankly founded this country. Going back in 1776, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, they wanted the national seal of the United States to be Moses parting the Red Sea. Abraham Lincoln, my own favorite figure in American history, described famously Americans as an almost chosen people using that covenantal language from the Hebrew Bible. The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia literally has a scriptural quote from, from the book of Leviticus right on the outside of it there. So the book is kind of painstakingly arguing that so much what we take for granted today when it comes to our law, politics, morals, ethics and so forth really does go back to. To Scripture and that we cannot abandon that. But the book is also relevant, Buck, because I make a very clear maga, America first hardheaded realist case for US Israel relations and the importance of US Israel ties. You have a lot of people that are screaming, oh, the Israel issue. Oh, it's an old neocon, neoconservative issue. It's an old Bush administration, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld issue. And I'm sorry, but the answer is no, that's not what it is. Donald Trump is not a neoconservative. He is a foreign policy realist, and he's the most pro Israel president in American history. There's if you want to focus disproportionately on China, which I think America needs to do, because again, I'm a realist who believes in limited resources. The question is, how do you secure American interests in the Middle east while allowing you to extricate resources to the Indo Pacific. And the obvious answer which Trump and Bibi got to in the Abraham Accords is to empower and embolden our allies in the region, to secure that region in a way that redounds to all of our interests. So I think that this explicitly realistic case for us is relations is very timely and very important. But it's all in there. Israel and civilization, the fate of the Jewish nation and the destiny of the West. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, wherever you get your books.
- [55:47]
Buck Sexton
Josh, when you look at the history and I got your book and I was looking through it and I was fascinated because again, I just came back from Israel, how optimistic are you about peace in the Middle East? Because for thousands of years obviously it hasn't happened. And are you optimistic that in the lifetime of the people that are listening to us right now, we could have some form of peace in the Middle East?
- [56:10]
Josh Hammer
Yes and no. I think that there, that there is such a thing as a, as a more tranquil region, as a, as a more peaceful region that is less prone to violent eruptions of jihadism. Frankly, Clay, that's ultimately going to take, it's going to have to take the Iranian regime to go because the Iranian regime currently is the head of the snake. They are the source of virtually all of the violent jihad that goes around across the Middle East. Now, to be clear, I'm not saying that America needs to go and start toppling the Ayatollah. That's not my stance. But some way or another, whether it comes from sanctions or the Mike Pompeo esque maximum pressure campaign, that regime is going to have to go. So at some point, God willing, in a post Islamic republic Iran there where jihad is on the decline, then yes, I think the Middle east could be a lot more stable than it is today. Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas, all these forces would be subdued if not made completely extinct without their major benefactor in Tehra. On the other hand, you still do have the issue of Islam. And there are very real questions I think are worth asking and exploring as to the extent to which Islam will ever itself, even any more moderate form, ever be comfortable fully with a Jewish state there in the heart of the Middle East. And I don't really fully know the answer to that, but I do think that after Iran goes, and God willing it'll be at some point, again, not that the US has to topple them, but at some point that regime is going to have to go at some point, Clay, after that, I think things will definitely be better if not fully.
- [57:35]
Clay Travis
Solved Israel and Civilization, the Fate of the Jewish Nation, and the Destiny of the West. Josh Hammer is the author. Go get your copy of the book today. Hammer time. Great to have you my friend.
- [57:45]
Josh Hammer
Thanks for being here, gentlemen. My pleasure. Thank you so much.
- [57:50]
Clay Travis
Many people will use the word disruption to describe the beginning of 2025. It's appropriate we elected a president to disrupt the deep state to remove roadblocks and reduce the size of government. But there are bound to be other disruptions as well, and they could hit the financial markets, the housing markets, a whole range of things. So I invited somebody with great experience covering the financial markets, somebody with a great track record for predictions in this space, to talk to me in a videotaped interview that we've posted online. While I might have helped to organize the online video event, it was my dad, Mason Sexton Sr. That made the predictions possible about these disruptions ahead. This is my father's area of expertise, the financial markets and how they affect everyday Americans. I think you'll find it most beneficial. My dad has made his living researching and predicting the stock market for decades, and when he is right, he is right in a big way. To his credit, my dad created a name for himself back in the day on Wall street when he called the crash of 87 in advance on television. Still can see the videos of it. You can still see his prediction. By the way, his forecast for the future that affects you and your finances now at this website. Disruption2025.com video is free for you to watch and it is worth the time to check it out. Go check this out today. Disruption2025.com paid for by Paradigm Press.
- [59:08]
Buck Sexton
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.
- [59:23]
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Clay Travis
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Clay Travis
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