Best of Outkick the Coverage: 08/11/2020

Clay Travis has a big announcement about President Donald Trump joining the show today, and Jason Whitlock is his warm-up act! Clay and President Trump discuss Tom Brady, China/NBA, how to get college football on track this season, the atmosphere of college football, sports during the pandemic, killing Clay’s ratings, and more! Clay and the crew unpack the President’s interview, including his request for a producer raise, and Clay’s performance.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of out Kick the
Coverage podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
morning from six to nine am Eastern three to six
am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for OutKick the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every morning on the I Heart
Radio app by searching f s R. This is the
best of OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis on Fox

(00:22):
Sports Radio. We are learning a lot about the controversy
surrounding college football, and I'm gonna tell you everything that
I believe I know about those circumstances here momentarily. But first,
right off the top of the show, we have big news.
And that big news is this. The President of the

(00:44):
United States, Donald Trump, is scheduled to join us at
eight am Eastern five am Pacific, live on the radio program.
Now that's obviously a huge deal. I am extremely excited
about it. I'm extremely excited about what it's as about
the growth of our radio show that the President of
the United States is picking us to come on in

(01:06):
all of sports talk radio to speak with live on
the radio about college football and other sports related issues.
But I'm also nervous because I'm excited to interview the president.
I've never done that before. It's something that certainly if
you're in the media, very few people ever get to
do in their career, and certainly if you're in sports

(01:26):
talk radio, it doesn't happen that often. But also because
I'm constantly clicking refresh on my Twitter feed even more
often than usual, because when you got the president scheduled,
anything can happen. Right Like, I knew this was going
to happen yesterday, and I'm scrolling through Twitter, like, hey,

(01:46):
let's just have a calm night, Let's just have nothing
happen in the world, no major incidents. And then I
see that they just rushed the President out of his
press conference at the White House yesterday and that he
was abruptly taken off this age, and I'm like, oh
my god, what's going on? And then it comes out
that there was a shooting. He came back and he
did the press conference, but I was like, well, there

(02:07):
goes our interview. Something big has happened. They had to
take the President out of his press briefing. There's no
telling what might be going on. So I have been
like a hawk, basically not sleeping at all watching all
of this unfold, and this is obviously a really exciting
part of the show. Now, between now and then, we

(02:28):
got a lot going on. Jason Whitlock is gonna come
and hang out. We had a great show yesterday talking
about all the drama in college football. We're gonna continue
to talk about that a lot today, But in particular,
I want to go ahead and say right off the top,
I understand everybody doesn't love Donald Trump. A lot of
you do, a lot of you don't. That happens with
every single president. And I have said this for years,

(02:50):
and maybe I'm one of the last people on the
planet who actually believes this, But I root for every
president to succeed, whether it was Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan,
George W. Bush, George Bush, Bill Clinton, everybody who has
been president during my life, whether I voted for them
or not, I want them to succeed. I've been straightforward
about that. I want Donald Trump to succeed because he's

(03:12):
the president. And I also am of the opinion that
if you get an opportunity to visit the White House,
or you get an opportunity to have the President of
the United States on your show, you take it a
billion times out of a billion, and so I am
not going to apologize to anybody who is upset or
their trigger or they're like, oh my god, this is
a sports show, why would you have the president on?

(03:33):
My response would be because he's the president, and I'm
never going to apologize for that. So if it triggers you,
it upsets you, you are welcome to go and listen
to somebody else's show today or for the rest of
your life, for all that matters. Because I'm not particularly
concerned about your opinion on this because I'm making it
and I think it's a good one, and I'm excited

(03:54):
about it. I'm super excited about it. I don't get
nervous very often about the idea of an interview, but
last night I was on pins and needles so excited
about being able to do this interview. We've been doing
this show almost five years, and uh, and it doesn't
get it. Takes a lot for me to be excited
and or nervous about doing the show because I do
it for three hours Monday through Friday every day with you.

(04:16):
But this is next level. I'm excited for what it
represents for the show, for everybody out there who works
on the show, Danny G, dub Roberto, Eddie Garcia. This
is a big moment for Out Kicking. Frankly, it's a
big moment for Fox Sports Radio as well, to have
the sitting President of the United States come on live
with us on the program. Now, anything could happen. So

(04:38):
just because it's scheduled, they told me I couldn't even
say anything to anybody about it until it is actually
we were coming live on the radio this morning. So
just because it's actually scheduled, again, crazy things can happen.
As you can well imagine, the President's schedule is always
in flux given what could be going on around the world.
So I'm not a certain it's gonna happen. And by

(05:00):
the way, I'm not confident in anything on this show.
I'm already nervous. Yesterday when I texted Danny G about this,
I was like, I am so nervous about our phones.
I am so nervous about every single aspect of this
interview in terms of just the tech background, because there
are so many things that regularly go wrong on this

(05:22):
The idea that the White House is gonna be calling
Danny G with the president waiting is Uh is is
nerve racking to the integree for me, just because of
what could possibly go wrong with our phones. But I
am also super excited. And I mean again, a big
part of why this interview is happening is because of
the massive growth that we have seen without kick in

(05:44):
the five years almost that we have been doing this show.
We're about to start on our fifth full year. And uh,
and obviously you guys are a huge component of why
this is happening as well, so it should be outstanding.
My fingers are crossed a little bit less than two hours.
If you are a regular person who's in your car
and a regular listener, I mean, and you're in your

(06:05):
car and you're only on the in here for like
fifteen minutes, uh, and you got to go into work,
I would encourage you to go download the podcast. You
can go listen by hour. Now. Donald Trump in theory
is going to be the lead of our number three
and UH, I think you're probably gonna enjoy that interview.
I'm certainly excited to do it. So if you're only
in your car for a few minutes, then that is

(06:26):
what you will miss and why you should download the
podcast like millions of you are doing every single month
on this television, on this radio program. All that's positive,
all right, So I am super excited about that, But
we've got a show to do until that moment arrives,
and uh and this is uh, this is gonna be
a good show in the meantime because, like I said,

(06:48):
we've got Jason Whitlock on with us, and uh, usually
we have Mondays with Whitlock, but there was so much
zaninis in college football yesterday, uh that Jason Whitlock is
going to be joining us live here in a little
bit to do Tuesday's with Whitlock. And by the way,
we may move Jason Witlock to Wednesdays as it gets
closer to college football hopefully and the NFL going on.

(07:10):
And the reason why we would be doing that, uh
is because there's a lot of news typically on Monday
and Wednesdays with Whitlock. Sounds like it has a nice
ring to it. By the way, Jason Whitlock's own podcast
is going to debut soon, so that is sort of
the housekeeping for the program. I'm excited to be able
to announce it. It's out there publicly. Fingers crossed that

(07:31):
everything's gonna go well and uh. We'll be talking to
the President to start off the third hour of the
program today, UM and UH, and we got a lot
to discuss with him, and I'm super excited about that.
But they're also are major stories in the world of
sports that this show has been intimately involved in following,

(07:52):
and that has to do with college football. So yesterday
was one of the wildest days on Twitter for college
football that I can ever remember. And you know, it's
wild when you have programs like the University of Nebraska
and UH and certainly like Ohio State that are essentially saying,

(08:13):
if the Big Ten is not going to play football,
then we will find some other way to play football
because we don't believe our season should be canceled. When
you have Jim Harbaugh and you have Ryan Day, and
you have James Franklin, the three most successful coaches in
the Big Ten right now, all coming out publicly and

(08:35):
saying they support their players. When you have the President
of the United States tweeting that he supports Trevor Lawrence
and Justin Fields. When you have politicians from across the
political spectrum, whether it was Nebraska Senator Ben Sass whether
it was yesterday Ron de Santis, the governor of Florida
on our own radio program, whether it is a variety

(08:57):
of politicians out there all this fighting to weigh in
about whether or not college football should happen. There are
crazy stories that seem impossible to believe. This is a
lot like what happened when real lot with realignment, where
every rumor seems categorically insane, and then some of them
end up being true, which is how we ended up

(09:18):
with Nebraska in the Big Ten, in Colorado in the
Big twelve, and Missouri in the SEC, and Texas A
and M to the SEC, all these different Maryland to
the Big Ten, all these different wild stories that seem
like they may or may not have been true. Pittsburgh
and Syracuse, and we had a huge earthquake and it
was like a slow moving earthquake back in the time

(09:39):
of realignment, because there were so many discussions about it,
so a lot of you out there. I would say,
the number one question I have gotten from people is, Hey, Clay,
what in the world's actually going on? And so I'm
going to do my best to explain to you what
I believe to be going on right now. As it
involves college foot all and whether there will be a season,

(10:01):
and as a preliminary I'm being straightforward with you guys.
I am a huge college football fan. I'm not pretending
to be anything other than an advocate for the college
football season to be played. Whether you are a Big twelve,
Big ten, sec, A C C or Pack twelve fan.
I know everybody has different favorite teams in the Power

(10:23):
five conferences, and Notre Dame as well for that matter,
and a lot of other schools also. I'm in favor
of all of them playing, and I've been straightforward about that.
But I just want to make that crystal clear as
we start here. I am a college football fan. I
am not trying to pick sides other than being on
the side of I believe college football should be played,

(10:45):
just like I believe kids need to be back in
school K through kN K through kindergarten through all the
way through college and grad school and everything else, and
just like I believe it's time to start to get
back to work if you are young and healthy. Those
are my opinions. So what I believe to have been
going on. Let me take you back in time a

(11:05):
little bit. Last week on Wednesday afternoon, I got a
bunch of calls from people. And I've been optimistic about
college football taking place for some time, and the calls
that I got on Wednesday with people that I was
talking to, suddenly they turned dark in that there were
a lot of people who had been reasonably optimistic to
that point that suddenly started to say, hey, I'm not

(11:28):
as optimistic about college football happening. That was on the
day that the Big Ten released their schedule, a day
that theoretically should have been one where there was a
lot of positivity out there. UH. That continued on Thursday
and Friday. Continue to have calls and talks with a
lot of different people. And by the way, these are
people that work in the college football universe, UH, that

(11:50):
are friends of mine. I obviously work in the college
football universe. If you listen to this program, you know
a lot of the people that I talked to, and
we all chat because this is what we do for
or a living. It's not like I'm trying to break
news on these stories or anything else. I'm just trying
to be as well informed as I can for purposes
of coming and talking to you on the radio. Now,

(12:11):
I was told over the weekend what Dan Patrick said
on his radio program on Monday. I didn't say it
on my radio show because I was told that it was,
you know, super top secret, and I didn't have it
from enough people to go out I'm not personally in
the business, by and large, of breaking stories anymore. We're

(12:32):
in the business of breaking stories at OutKick. But the
report that Dan Patrick had and and by the way,
we will break and continue to break a lot of
stories at OutKick. I encourage you to make sure that
you're checking that site every single day. Um and obviously
Jason Whitlock writes there as well, and he'll be joining
us shortly. But I had heard that the that there
was a vote, and that's the same thing that Dan

(12:54):
Patrick said, that Iowa and Nebraska were the only two
schools that's at hey we want to play. And since
then there has been a report that that's not true.
The Big Tent is denying it. I I I tend
to side with Dan Patrick again because I heard from
reliable people before dan Patrick said it on Monday the

(13:16):
exact same thing that he said, uh literally, the exact
same thing, And so I trust dan Patrick to talk
to good people like I talked to myself to talk
to good people, So I tend to believe that his
report had a lot more truth in it than it
did falsehood. Now, it could also have been in some
way like a trial balloon. Right, We're gonna toss it

(13:38):
up and see what happens, and the Big Ten expected
for there to be more support. Regardless, since that happened,
Ohio States President has come out and said they won't
vote for it. So there are a lot of uncertainties here.
What is not uncertain is that Trevor Lawrence and Justin
Fields and all the other coaches that got involved in
that we want to play hashtag have changed fundamentally the

(14:02):
conversation around whether college football takes place this fall or not,
and that conversation has now taken so many different twists
and turns. What I believe, based on people that I
talked to, the Big Ten wanted to happen was they
were effectively trying to bully everyone else into following their

(14:23):
lead and canceling. But the Big Ten was like the
boy who had the ball if you remember playing when
you were a kid, and if they weren't happy with
the way the game went, they were just going to
take the ball and go home. But they thought everybody
else would have to stop playing too. What they did
not anticipate, I believe, is for there to be so
many other people out there, players, coaches, administrators, fans, boosters,

(14:49):
people in prominent position in college athletics who fundamentally rejected
the idea of canceling the college football season right now.
And so what I believe to be happening is everybody's
going back to their corners and trying to figure out
what the votes are and what the fallout will be.
Now I think about this for a minute, one of

(15:10):
the people who are getting yanked around here the most
are the college football players, because they on Wednesday of
last week, if they were Big ten players, were told, Hey,
this is the schedule you're gonna play. If they are
SEC players, they were told on Friday evening, hey here's
your ten game schedule. And then by the weekend, all
of a sudden, everybody's like, oh, we gotta cancel the season.

(15:33):
This is a fundamental failure, I believe. If you want
to point a finger at anybody of Kevin Warren, the
Big Ten commissioner. Now I don't know Kevin Warren he
is in his first year effectively as Big Ten commissioner.
This is a tough situation to jump into. He's not
Jim Delaney who did this for decades, and I believe
as a result, his leadership has been profoundly inconsistent and

(15:58):
getting everybody else lined on an issue like this is
incredibly challenging. But this is why the SEC made the
decisions that they did. The SEC said, hey, wait a minute,
We're not gonna start our season until September. Why did
they do that? Because the SEC believes that when college
kids get back on campus, there is going to be

(16:20):
an up surge in the number of coronavirus infections because
all those college kids are gonna be back on campus
in close proximity to each other. Given that they are
going to start to arrive on campus this weekend next
week at many different places, the expectation is that surge
will happen in August, and then the hope is it
can begin to decline by the time we get close

(16:42):
to Labor Day, which is when the SEC wants to
begin practice, so they could begin playing on September. And
other words, they're trying to avoid all of the media
panic from the my god, look at all these infection stories.
Now positive story. Notre aim conducted tests of all of

(17:03):
its incoming students and nine point seven per cent of
all the students they tested were negative. That is, only
roughly point three percent of incoming students at Notre Dame
were positive for the coronavirus. Those students theoretically will be
isolated treated until they are no longer infectious, and in theory,

(17:27):
Notre Dame would then be able to start on campus
life with zero infections among students. Now, the challenge, as
you can well imagine, is kids are gonna go to bars,
kids are gonna go to restaurants, kids are gonna go
off campus. Some of them are gonna gonna get sick,
and then other players, other students and maybe players will

(17:48):
also get sick, depending on how much risk is undertaken
by these students. But that at least as a very
strong positive start for a school like Notre Dame to
have a very limited number of cases. What do I
believe is going to happen likely to happen going forward?
I think the SEC wants to continue to buy more time.

(18:08):
That's what SEC Commissioner Greg Sanky, who has come on
this show quite a bit and talked with you guys,
has said has been the advice to him since this
all started. Take as much time as you can. The
SEC wants for the NFL to start play. I think
they would like to see high schools start to play.
I think they would like to see the NFL and
Major League Baseball and the n b A all continue

(18:31):
to play so they can put forward the best possible
practices to make everybody else safe. Same thing in the
a SEC, same thing in the Big Twelve. Look, everybody's
goal is to have as few students get sick as
possible and as few athletes get sick as possible as well.
So this is a story that is gonna be wild
to follow. They're gonna be a lot of twists and turns.

(18:53):
I would encourage you to follow me on Twitter at
Clay Travis because we're gonna be on top of it.
I would encourage you to go follow out at out
Kick because we're gonna be all over it too. We're
gonna be covering this story better than almost anybody else
in all of sports because we are in favor of
college football playing. We might lose the battle over whether

(19:16):
or not college football is going to happen. But I've
got to tell you sometimes, even if you lose, it's
important the battles that you fight. I'm always gonna be
in favor of college athletes on scholarship being able to
play for the rest of my life, including now and
twenty years from now. Figuring out a way to make
sure that as many kids as possible are able to

(19:37):
use their college scholarships to the best advantage they can
on college campuses. A guy who did that. He's Jason
Whitlock at Whitlock Jason best sports columnist I believe in
America today. He's writing all the time at out Kick.
You need to be following him at Whitlock Jason on Twitter.
He is scheduled to join us next and he's gonna
hang with us for a little while. We'll see what

(19:58):
he thinks about our proposed Again, if you're just waking up,
Donald Trump scheduled to join us at eight a m.
Eastern five am Pacific. I cannot wait to see what
exactly might happen. This is Outkicked the coverage with Clay Travis.
We bring in now Jason Whitlock for the final segment

(20:20):
before Donald Trump not gonna lie. I'm nervous, I'm excited.
Never interviewed the president, don't know that it will ever
happen again. How do you think that I'll do? I
think you'll be fine. You know. You know what else
am I gonna say? You know? I mean you can
you can talk me down, you can give me you know,

(20:40):
let me give me some advice. Let me give me
some advice. What? What? What? What? What have you seen
Chris Wallace interview him over on Fox News? Yes? I
think he does a good job. I think that people
think of Fox News being in the tank for Donald Trump,
and Chris Wallace plays it straight, ask good questions, as

(21:04):
you know, tough questions, but doesn't doesn't, you know, try
to do any gotcha type stuff like CNN or MSNBC
would do you know? I think you try to channel
your inner Chris Wallace here and you knock it out
of the park. How what? So this is interesting. I've

(21:24):
got my list of questions already prepared. What percentage? I
mean roughly right? I mean I always, uh. First of all,
I rarely write down a long list of questions for anything.
I'll jot down a note here there. So that's a
little bit different than and what I would ordinarily do,
which is just kind of ask a question and follow
the natural answer and see where it goes. But you
don't interview the president too many times, so I want

(21:46):
to make sure that I'm prepared. What percentage of questions
do you think should have a sports connection to them?
M hmm, because that's the one I kind of yeah,
that's but that's basically what I came down on. I
don't know how long the answers will be, but I've
got ten questions and seven of them are at least
directly sports related in some way, right, I mean they

(22:08):
may not, you know, you can talk. For instance, I'll
give you a to like, I'm gonna ask about the
importance of sports coming back in terms of the larger
economic picture, focus particularly on sports. Why does that matter?
That's a sports question to me, but it also allows
an answer about larger economic conditions. But I don't think
people are going to tune in and be like, oh,
I want to hear Clay Travis ask about North Korean

(22:32):
nuclear policy, or hey, what do you think about sanctions
with Iran? I read a lot widely. I could ask
questions like those, but I don't think for my audience
on my show that that's necessarily what people expect for
me to be asking the President about. Listen, I would
like for you to do me a favor, just ask
one personal question on my behalf. I have some bowling

(22:55):
stock and I want to know if I should unloaded
or hell onto it. It's been a roller coaster and
so if you could ask about that, I'd appreciate it.
Both of us have done well in the stock market
because you bought a lot back in March when all
the selling was going on. To bowing is one of
my bad ones. Bowing is one of your bad ones.
But you've got some good ones. Students, we were talking

(23:16):
about this the other night. Yeah, so you can get
to the bottom of bowing. With the bottom of bowing,
you'd be very very happy about that. Uh, what do
you think is gonna end up happening with the NFL?
Like do you think we're sitting here almost exactly for
one second, you just made me think of a serious
question along the same lines you're talking about. Yeah, you

(23:37):
should ask President Trump if he thinks his uh scolding
of NFL players and calling them s obs the ones
that kneel. If he thinks that prolonged this kneeling thing,
that's a good question, is that why does he regret that?

(23:59):
Does he you know, should he have maybe use different
words something along those lines, because I go back and forth.
I really don't think it would have made a difference.
I think we'd still be here. I think that, you know,
it was the kneeling thing was I didn't have a
problem with him being critical of NFL players for kneeling.
And I think that most people that understand sports role

(24:23):
in American society. I've been writing a longer piece about
sports and this whole kneeling thing and how politicized has been,
and uh, I came across the great quote from Nelson
Mandela about the importance of sports in nation building and
in bringing people together. And you know, I think if

(24:46):
people were being fair, they would understand why Trump was
upset about the kneeling because he understands the important roles
sports play in binding and bringing a count treat together.
And so I really didn't have a problem with the criticism.
I just wonder if you regrets using the word s

(25:06):
ob Yeah, that that is a really uh that is
a really good question, and I now have it jotted
down because I do think it's an interesting question that
we've talked a lot about at out Kick and on
this show and on our website and soon to be
on your podcast, which is gonna be out soon. I'd
encourage everybody to go subscribe to the importance of sports now,
maybe more than ever, as a unifying force. We have

(25:28):
very few unifying forces right now in this country. And
it used to be whether you're black, white, Asian, Hispanic, ay, straight,
religious not religious. Your team scores a touchdown to win,
you turn around in the stadium, you give a high five.
You don't care what anybody else is like, because you're
all part of the same tribe rooting for the same team,
and that unites us. Whether you're a neurosurgeon or a janitor,
whether you are a teacher or a student, Lots of

(25:51):
people have those connections. And I do worry that we've
become so hyperpartisan that the things that we used to
be able to enjoy without politics existing at all, now
politics is a part of it all the time. And
I am gonna talk and ask in some way about
that of the President, because I'm curious whether he feels
it because he's been a sports fan long but a

(26:13):
long time, long before he was a politician. And that's
what I'm sure he's kind of taken aback because his
association to sports athletes, black athletes in particular, goes way back.
And now once he becomes president, he becomes a persona
non grata in the sports world, where he had been

(26:36):
so closely aligned and associated with all the great athletes
of the last thirty forty years. Yeah, it's fascinating to
think about how that has been altered. Well, he scheduled
to join us next. Get your popcorn. I'm excited to
do it. Don't know how many times will have the
opportunity to interview sitting president of the United States at
out Kick. Uh And I can't wait. Jason Whitlock, you

(26:58):
have been one a heck of a warm up act.
We're going to dinner tonight so you can give me
the unvarnished truth about how this thing goes. But I
can't wait up next scheduled to be joined by the
President of the United States. If that ain't the best
tease in the history of OutKick and one of the
best teases in the history of sports talk radio, I've
never heard better. This is OutKick and the President's Next

(27:21):
on Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live editions
of OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at six
am Eastern three am Pacific. We are awaiting a phone
call from the President of the United States. I'm not
gonna lie to you and claim that I'm not incredibly
nervous about our phone system and everything that could potentially

(27:42):
go awry, including me giving the wrong phone number, Danny G,
actually hanging up on the White House, all of these
things that that certainly have been in the back of
my mind for a while. But right now, Danny G,
no phone call from the White House yet. Right your
schedule for those of you waking up right now that
are just starting off your morning, we are scheduled to
be joined by the President of the United States. Right here,

(28:04):
off the top of the third alphone is ringing. I'm
going to pick it up, all right, Danny G is
picking up the phone, which we hope is the President
of the United States, and he will shortly be with us,
and we're gonna be talking about a lot of different
things relating to the world of sports, but in particular
college football and the question of whether or not college

(28:26):
football will be played this year, whether it's the Big Ten,
the Pact twelve, the SEC, the A c C, or
the Big twelve. The President has endorsed the players movement
that has been brought to bear with with a lot
of different players out there. And we are joined now
by the President of the United States, Donald Trump. Mr President,
thanks for starting your morning with us. We're excited to

(28:48):
have you. Well, thank you very much. Play it's an honor.
You have a great show. Well, I appreciate that. Now.
I know you're a long time sports fan. So there's
a lot of things I want to get into with you,
but I want to start. You've been a big supper
order of Tom Brady for a very long time. What
were your thoughts when he decided to move to Tampa
Bay And what do you think he's going to be
capable of down there? Will you be rooting for him? Well,

(29:10):
I think he's going to do a great job. You know,
he's a winner. He knows how to win. That's a
big thing. And he's just been a great quarterback with
a great coach. It's a great combination and a great
owner in Bob Kraft, frankly, and he probably wanted to change.
He wanted to change, and I think, you know, he
had plenty of teams to go to, and then he
picked one with from what I understand, a good offensive

(29:33):
line and very good receivers. He looked at that closely.
I think he probably had other choices where they had players.
I think his biggest thing is he wants to win.
And from what I know, and I know the ownership
of the team, they'll do whatever they have to because
they're fantastic people, the owners of the team with the
Tom's own now. And I think he's going to do

(29:53):
well in Tampa Bay. I think he'll do well. I
think he'll I don't know why it would be a surprise,
but perhaps it will be. But I think he's gonna
surprise a lot of people. I think he's gonna do great.
We're talking to the President of the United States, Donald Trump,
Mr President, What do you hear about the NFL. I
know there's been a lot of talk. You mentioned that
you talked to several different owners, Bob Kraft in particular.

(30:13):
How confident are you that come September ten, with the schedule,
the opener between the Texans and the chiefs that the
NFL will be underway and everybody out there who's an
NFL fan will be able to watch. Well. They want
to open, and they want to open badly, and they've
been working with government. I would say this, If they
don't stand for the national anthem, I hope they don't open.

(30:34):
But other than that, I'd love to see them open.
And we're doing everything possible for getting them open, and
they can protest in other ways. They shouldn't protest our
flag or our country. Have you talked have you talked
with owners about your hope that they're going to stand
for the national anthem? The players, Uh, they know my
they know my my feelings very well. They've been expressed.

(30:56):
I think it's been horrible for basketball. Look at the
basketball writings that down to very low numbers, very very low.
Now people are angry about it. They don't realize that
they don't want They have enough politics with guys like me.
They don't need more. As they're driving down going up
for the shot, you know, they don't need it. And
there was a nastiness about the NBA the way it

(31:18):
was done too. So I think that they the NBA
is in trouble. I think it's in big trouble, bigger
trouble that they understand. And frankly, I hockey, which is
doing very well, they didn't do that. They respected the
more as they respected what they're supposed to be doing,
and they're actually doing very well as I understand it.

(31:39):
I don't have much time to be watching this stuff,
just so you understand, it's just what I'm reading and
what I'm seeing. But I saw Keey was with respect.
I did not like what baseball did even a little bit.
And again, you have to stand for your flag, and
you have to respect your flag and your country. You're
making millions of dollars a year to be playing the
sport you'd be playing anyway if you didn't make did

(32:00):
be playing it on the weekends, and they gotta they
have to respect their country and if they don't, Frankly,
if the NFL didn't open, I'd be very happy. If
they don't stand for the flag and stand strongly. I
would be very happy if they didn't open with without that,
And with that being said, I'd love to see them open.
We're talking to Donald Trump, the President of the United States,

(32:22):
and President Trump. When you look at the NBA, and
you just reference the n b A and all of
the political statements that they're making. It seems like every
time you send a tweet a executive, a coach, a player,
somebody will come out and immediately fire back at you.
But yet the NBA is taking billions of dollars from China.

(32:44):
There are all sorts of human rights violations going on
in China right now, and none of the players and
none of the coaches will say a word about that.
Does it feel hypocritical that they will rip the United States,
they won't stand for the anthem, they'll rip you as
the president, but they won't say a negative word about
China at all. Well, I haven't noticed them sending things
back at me, but I will say that, you know,

(33:04):
I wouldn't be that surprised. Some are very nasty, very
very nasty, and frankly, very dumb. But I haven't noticed that.
But I will say this, the way they the way
they catered to China, the way they bowed to China,
it's a disgrace, frankly, And they make a lot more
money here than they do from China. But we have

(33:24):
a system that allows you to disrespect your system and
that's uh, too bad for them, Too bad for them.
They don't appreciate what they have here. But now what
they did with China, and what China did to us
with the with the China virus, and and the rest
of the world by the way, you know, I mean
the whole rest of the world. They stopped it from
going in and spreading in China, but they didn't stop

(33:48):
it from spreading in the US and in other parts
of the world, including Europe, but other parts in the
world countries. So I watched that whole thing with the
general manager of the team was at Houston. Yeah, Darryl Moore,
the general manager who said that he wanted to free
Hong Kong. And speaking of Hong Kong right now, you've

(34:08):
got I see the front page of the Wall Street Journal.
The China went in and arrested a ton of pro
democracy media members, uh, including Jimmy Lai, I believe, who
was one of the most active participants in all of
the Hong Kong democracy movement. For people out there who
aren't paying attention, why should Americans care about what China
is doing in in Hong Kong and maybe the threats

(34:30):
to Taiwan as well, well, look, for years Hong Kong
was making a lot of money that we could have
been made, that we could have been making in the
New York Stock Exchange and our great exchanges. You know,
we have the biggest exchanges. We have the great Dollar,
the dollar, which I've made stronger, much stronger than it
used to be. I hope people recognize that in the
world of sports, our country is in good shape and

(34:51):
we're coming back so strong. It's incredible when you look
at the numbers that we're producing and putting up. We're
coming back very strong. And we say millions and millions
of lives by closing out and restarting. But I will
say that with Hong Kong, we gave tremendous incentives and
costs us a fortune to keep Hong Kong viable and going.
And now what we've done, I've ended everything. I've ended

(35:13):
all of that. There's no incentive whatsoever. We're not sending
money through incentives back to Hong Kong. We're gonna make
a lot more money because they're not going to be competitive.
It won't be a competitive market, can't be with the
government running it. So they're going to have a different
kind of a deal and we're not participating from the
standpoint of we're not we're not spending billions of dollars

(35:38):
on making life comfortable with them for freedom. And that
was okay, we do that if they were free, but
they're not free. You know, it's a part. It's a
part when you look. I mean, take a look at
a map. It's attached to China. You know. So it's
a little bit tough from certain standpoints, but we will
do very well by not having a good competitor. I

(35:58):
guess it will be a competitor, but on a much
boiler scale. I know you have a good relationship with
Chairman z Over in China, but you mentioned the China virus,
the virus that is obviously swept around the nation. You
mentioned Hong Kong and the challenge to democracy there. Do
you feel a bit disappointed in your friend Chairman z
and how he has responded with China with the virus

(36:21):
and also with Hong Kong. Well, I used to have
a very good relationship with him. We made a trade deal.
It was a great deal for us, you know, to look,
China's ripped off our country for thirty years, like nobody
ever nobody's ever done anything like what they've done. And
we had a bunch of people sitting in the office
that I'm in now that allowed it to happen. We're losing.

(36:42):
We were losing five hundred billion, six hundred billion, billion,
not million billion dollars a year in trade with China.
The deficit was massive, probably averaged two or three hundred
billion dollars. Over many years, we've helped rebuild China. Look,
if it wasn't for us, they wouldn't have China as

(37:03):
you know it today. We gave so much money so stupidly.
How these people allowed it to happen. And I came
in and I charged him tariffs and even more than that.
And but I had a great relationship with presidents. I
like them, But I don't feel the same way now.
I've you know, every once in a while you will say,
and you've had it, You've had it very well, and play.

(37:23):
I understand. I know you indirectly. I know you, and
you have your likes and dislikes very strongly. So do I.
But I didn't like what what took place. This is
not trade, This is this is a thousand times a
trade deal. What happened with all of the death and
all of the world. I mean, the world had to
shut down. It's a disgrace what happened. You look at

(37:45):
some of these countries in Europe which is devastated, look
at what's going on in Africa with this horrible disease.
So you know, I certainly feel I certainly feel differently.
I had a very very good relationship and I haven't
spoken to him in a long time. It's a different
it's a much different. We have a much different relationship
with China now than we did for years where they

(38:08):
ripped us off and then I stopped that. They were
having the worst year they had in sixty seven years
because I charged them tariffs and we're making a lot
of money. I was giving a lot of money to farmers.
They were targeted. They were targeting farmers. I gave twenty
eight billion dollars, that was the amount, and it came
all out of China, and the farmers are doing great
because of it. Otherwise they would have been all out

(38:29):
of business. But you know, I treated them as you
would do it. But I still had a good relationship.
But once the once the plague came in from China,
I go at the plague. But once the plague came
in from China, the relationship changed, no question about it. It
It would be it would be hard to believe that
it wouldn't change. We're talking to the President of the

(38:49):
United States, Donald Trump, Mr. President, much less serious in
terms of the plague, although the virus is impacting many
different parts of sports in America, including potentially college football.
I know you're a big college football fan. You went
to the L. S U Alabama game this past year
Joe Burrow against two were talking about low a great game.

(39:11):
You went to the national title game where Clemson played
against L. S U. Why is it important for college
football to be played and what do you think you
can do to help that happen. Well, first of all,
those those people, the people in that sport, it's just
like incredible people. And you know, like some of the
coaches like Nick Saban and coach Oh, how about coach O.

(39:32):
He's amazing. He's central casting. Right, you're doing a football movie.
You got to pick him as you coach, right, and yes,
and put him in the movie. Uh. And Lou Holtz
is just a fantastic guy. A friend of mine who
has been a supporter from the beginning, and you know,
just just so many others. They're just great people and
they want to play football and they know better than

(39:52):
anyone else. The other thing is that somebody who was
explaining I had actually a great one of the great doctors.
He said, these people are so powerful and so strong.
Not lots of body fat, although you could take a
couple of offensive alignemen perhaps and dispute that, but not
a lot of body fat, maybe none in some cases,
you know, And they're very healthy people. They know. People

(40:16):
don't realize it's a tiny percentage of people that that
get sick and uh, they're old. It just attacks old people,
especially old people with bad heart diabetes or some kind
of a physical problem, a weight problem. Is they're wonderful
that I'm of a perfect, perfect physical festiment, so great fat, right,

(40:38):
that's right. I was zero percent, didn't I have zero
per somebody somebody said zero percent body fat? Wouldn't that
be nice? But no, but this attacks older people very viciously,
by the way it can be if it's the wrong person.
But you know, these football players are very young, strong
people and physically, I mean the physically and extraordinary shape.

(41:01):
So they're not going to have a problem. You're not
going to see people, you know, couldn't it be? Could
it happened? But I doubt it. You're not going to
see people dying. And many people get it, and they
have like kids, they get it, they have the sniffles
young kids. Almost none you have a serious problem with it.
I mean literally you look. I think I said the
state of California, almost nobody that's young had a like

(41:24):
zero had a problem with meaning a serious problem with
this disease. I mean, they get better very quickly, if
they get it at all. So I think I think
football's making a tragic mistake. And you know it's interesting
when it opens. When I went to that game, it
was incredible. I went to a couple of them, and
I never really did the big time college football. I

(41:47):
went to an IVY League school, it was quite the same.
But when I went to Alabama and I went to
L s U. And you know, these stadiums are massive.
You have no idea about that. It's much bigger routs
in the NFL. You know, in the NFL you have
sixty and here we had I think a hundred and
fifteen thousand people. And you go to see these games

(42:09):
and it's it's it's brilliant football. It's great football. It's
the atmosphere. There's nothing like it. And you can't have
empty seats, you know, if I had five empty seats,
for instance, they said, when I do a rally, sir,
the reason I won't do them because you can't have
one seat and then seven around that seat, sir, have
to be empty. Oh that'll look great. You know, you

(42:29):
have one person and everything's very empty around them. You
can't do that. Uh, And I don't think. I'm not
sure that college football can do it, but we'll have
to see. You know, some sports I see. I think
golf has not been hurt visually by In fact, I
think golf looks more beautiful if you want to know
the truth, you know, instead of h a lot of
people will you know, the cheering is good, and certainly

(42:51):
I guess the income is good and all. But golf works.
You know what works as UFC works very well. UFC.
I watched that the other night, and they light up
the stage, they light up the cage and it's you know,
really bright. They darken the arena, maybe put a little
silk around it. Who knows, but that works and other
sports don't work. Basketball is not working. I think basketball

(43:12):
is not working because of the way they treated our
flag and our anthem, if you want to know the truth.
But it doesn't seem to have anything. And I just
I looked at it and I couldn't watch it. And
baseball I haven't. I haven't made a ruling on that
yet in terms of my own I haven't had much
of a chance to watch it. But some sports are

(43:32):
working okay, and some sports aren't. But I thought golf
looked really good for the p g A. I didn't
miss the fans, and I think that, uh probably UFC
was a very good one. I am not impressed. Somebody
tell me hockey works okay, and but those sports are
meant more for fans. I really believe that. I think

(43:54):
they've meant more for spans. I think basketball is going
to need its fans back. From what I'm saying, it
looks very I know. I know you're ready for the
economy to be back rolling in. Sports are a big
part of that, and schools opening are also a big
part of that. I'm gonna ask you about both. But
I also wonder do you ever think to yourself, I
should play a trick on the media and say the

(44:14):
exact opposite of what I actually believe, so they'll support it.
Because it seems like every time you come out, like
you say schools should open, and the media immediately says, oh,
schools can open. But if you had said, hey, we
can't open schools, I feel like the media would have said, oh,
we gotta open schools. The President's crazy. Do you ever
think about that because they talk about it all the time.

(44:35):
Nobody else does. I say, Look, I could have had
the wall built very easy. You know, we're building a wall,
but it was getting it like was pulling teeth, and
the Democrats opposed, etcetera, etcetera. Like you know you watched that.
And now it's being built up to two and fifties
two hundred and seventy seven miles. It will be done
by the end of the year, a little bit after
the end of the year. It's incredible the impact it said. Anyway,
if I would have said I don't want a wall,

(44:57):
they would have given it to immediately. If this high
drop ce chloroquine, A lot of doctors swear by it,
by my saying it's good. I took it for two
weeks you know, there's a little outbreak around Washington, and
I said, let me have something. And I took it
for two weeks and it was fine. You know, it
was great. I didn't have it, I didn't get it,
and I had no problem whatsoever with it. You know,

(45:17):
it's been around for a long time. It's a hilaria
pill actually and lupus and it causes no problem. But
as soon as I came out with it, they said, oh,
it doesn't work. They went crazy. They still are on Twitter.
It's number one all the time, which is phony. It's
number one all the time and trending hydroxy internegative hydroxy stuff.
If I would have said, I don't believe in hydroxy chloroquine,

(45:40):
it's terrible with zinc and with you know, the ZPEC.
Zefrom said, if I would have said I don't believe
in it, it doesn't work, it would be the hottest
thing going right now. Uh No, No, I say it.
I say it all the time. We could say it
about a lot of different things, even religion. I when
I held the Bible in front of a church that
the the agitators and anarchists, you know, they call them protesters.

(46:03):
They tried to burn down a church, and I held
a Bible up in front of the church, and they
said it was a terrible thing I did. So I said,
I even affect religion negatively. Okay, I hold the Bible
in front of a church that they tried to burn
down the day before, and they say, isn't he a
terrible human being? And I said, I've affected religion, hydroxy

(46:26):
and just about anything else, maybe even your show after today,
that will be the end. You've got these great ratings
going guys see Clay and you have a hell of
a show. Maybe I will have destroyed your show, but
you know the end result. Our country now is so sot.
Our military has been rebuilt, our taxes have been cut
way back, and regulations and what I've done for the

(46:46):
vets nobody's ever done, nobody's ever even come close to doing.
And you know so many other things We've done more
than anybody, including even Space Force, right space Force. So
we've done a lot, but we have to fight hard,
probably have to fight harder than a lot of other people.
Last question for you, because I know you've got a
ton of things to go. There's talk that Joe Biden
is going to announce his vice president, either today or tomorrow.

(47:08):
It seems like it's dragged on for some time. Who
do you think he's gonna pick? Who should he pick?
I know you like playing the political game. You weren't
a politician for a long time. If you were sitting
back on your couch watching television and following this election,
what do you think he's gonna do? What do you
think he should do? Well? I think that I would
be inclined to go a different route than what he's done,

(47:30):
you know, doing it the way he First of all,
he roped himself into uh, you know, a certain group
of people which he said he had to pick a woman.
He said that, and you know, some people would say
that men are insulted by that, and some people would
say it's fine. I don't know. I will say this,
people don't vote for the you know, this is history.

(47:51):
This isn't necessarily mean, this is historant because we have
a great vice president. Mike Pence has been incredible. Actually
he's been a great vice president and a really really
good job and everything I've given them, And but people
don't vote for the vice president. They really don't. They
don't vote for the vice president like you can pick
George Washington to be your vice president. Let's pick up

(48:11):
Abraham Lincoln coming back from the dead. They just don't
seem to vote for the vice president. Now in this case,
you know, because Joe's got some some things going on,
let's not hit ourselves unless you I don't know where
your politics are. But Joe's got some pretty big things
going on. So you know, this is going to be
a very very important pick, and it'll be interesting to

(48:33):
see who he who he chooses. I'm interested to see.
Also in the end, I don't think it's gonna matter.
Joe's gonna have to stand at his zone two feet.
And we're doing very well. Our poll numbers have really
come up. You know, we got hit by We were unbeatable,
and then we got hit by the China, by the
China plague, by the China virus, and and obviously we
got hit hard. And that affects a politician. You know,

(48:56):
look at look all over the world. When you get hit,
it affects a politician. So we fought and we've done
a really good job with that and every other thing.
And now the economy has come back so strong, and
my poll numbers are are good. They're getting very good.
I think they're gonna go even much higher. People appreciate
what we're doing. So I don't know who he's going
to pick. In theory it doesn't matter much, but maybe

(49:18):
with him it probably matters much more than it normally
does for the obvious reason. I know. I said last question,
and I hit you with a sports question on your
way out. The number one debate among sports fans for
the last ten years probably has been who is better
as a basketball player, Michael Jordan's or Lebron James, which
you think no doubt in your mind. Well, I've seen

(49:39):
him both. Michael Jordan's is plus he wasn't political, so
people like him better. That is a perfect answer. Donald Trump,
President Trump, I appreciate you coming on. You're happy to
have welcome to come on any time to talk sports
with us. Thank you for the time this morning, sir,
and good luck the rest of your term and maybe
the next one to thank you very much great. Thank you.

(50:00):
That is President Donald Trump. I am Clay Travis. When
we come back, not very often you say, we'll react
to the United States President who just appeared as a
guest on our program. This is out kicked the coverage
with Clay Travis, President Donald Trump my phone. I don't

(50:23):
I'm not not ever gonna know what it's like to
make a big time play in an NFL game or
a college football game, both of which, by the way,
I hope we're playing, especially college football this fall. But
my phone right now is white hot. I would imagine
this is what it like when you come out of
the locker room. I can't even keep up with all

(50:45):
of the text, messages, emails and reactions, almost all of
which are favorable. Although I do think the President made
a good point when he said, I guarantee you that
they are gonna be a bunch of hit pieces written
on me today for just having the President of the
United States on my radio show. People are gonna be like, oh,
glat Travis. He's the worst human being who's ever existed.

(51:08):
And I'll be honest, kind of enjoy those pieces that
are gonna be written. But you know they're coming, Danny
g you talked to the President. First of all, I'm
gonna be honest with you. I was super nervous just
I thought we might get ghosted by the White House,
right like it's of all the people I think you
could get ghosted by Getting ghosted by the president is tough,
but for people out there who don't know, for radio interviews,

(51:28):
it's not uncommon, especially early in the morning, even with
people who aren't the leaders of the free world, for
us to have an interview scheduled and then it just
doesn't happen, right, So who knows what might happen where
the President can't sit and talk with us for twenty
minutes on the radio. And so when I was just
nervously apprehensive waiting for the call, Danny g what's it

(51:49):
like to pick up the phone from the White House?
And what did the President say to you? Off air?
That was crazy? So I was telling Eddie Garcia off
the air that I felt like Tony Romo trying to
put the football down for that kick off. You don't
want to hit the wrong button on the president. Um.
So I answered the phone and I'm I'm thinking it's

(52:10):
gonna be like the White House receptionist or one of
his assistants connecting him, and it's him, and he's just like, yeah,
Clay please, And I told him, Um, I I introduced
myself and he said, yeah, I know who you are.
I listened to the show, great show you deserve a raise?
And I said, can you please tell Clay that I
don't know if this is true? God, I swear to

(52:34):
awfully convenient for you, for the President of the United States,
with no no evidence that had happened, to tell to
get President on again and ask if he said you
deserve a race. Well, Roberto only heard one side of
the conversation with based off of that, Roberto can back
me up. Roberto, do you think the President told Danny
G that he deserves a raise? Um? No, oh my god,
I would not do you believe not lie about that.

(52:57):
It sounds a little suspicious and pretty I mean, oh
my god. President calls and he says, of all the
things that he could say to Danny G, you deserve
a raise. Okay, well, you don't have to believe me.
But I wanted to get him on again. That's the
and and he would back that up. And I don't
know if he was saying that tongue in cheat because
he listens and you were talking about me messing up
the phone or whatever. But he said I might just

(53:19):
say that on the air. And then I said, hang
on for I'm going to connect you, and that's when
we put him through. Now at the end, when I
thanked him for coming on, he said he had fun
on the air, and I told him, well, like Clay said,
open invite you know, so you're welcome back on and
he said, thank you. Now get that raise. That's how
So that's how he ended his conversation. So uh, and

(53:41):
then talking with the White House, they're really happy with
how the interview went. He had a really good time.
I mean, I would imagine getting to talk sports and
more with us is sometimes more fun than some of
the interviews that he has. But he's got the line.
So I said, hey, anytime you decide you want to
weigh in in the world of sports, you've got the
direct line to the show. You can just call us.
So uh, we'll see how how that goes. Again, the

(54:02):
feedback has been phenomenal. And look, I understand some people
are gonna be like, oh, you know why in the
world I don't like the president right because we live
in a fifty fifty country and half the nation is like, oh,
I love the president. The other half is gonna be
I hate the president. That's really kind of the social
media universe that we live in here's the truth. I
am going to put the President of the United States

(54:22):
on a billion times out of a billion. If we
are asked to take the President of the United States
as a guest, I don't care whether he's a Democrat.
I don't care if he's a Republican, I don't care
if he's an independent. If he is the elected president
of the United States, he will have she will have
whoever it is, and open invite at all times to
come on our program. And I'm not gonna apologize for that.

(54:44):
That's the truth. If that upset you, Uh, there are
other shows you can listen to, and by the way,
they won't be as popular, they won't be as highly rated,
and they won't be growing as fast as ours, But
you can go elsewhere. Uh, let's let's continue to unpack
this a little bit. Uh. There's so many different lines
and I think are gonna echo around out there. Um.
He said, if the NFL is gonna kneel, I just

(55:05):
assume they're not play And again I'm paraphrasing because I
don't have all of the direct quotes. We're gonna have
the entire audio up and obviously the podcast will be
up soon. I thought it was a great line when
I asked him about the Vice president and he basically said,
Joe Biden could pick the ghost of Abraham Lincoln and
it wouldn't man, it wouldn't matter, which is an all
timeline that I think will we'll We'll get a lot
of play out there going after the NBA. Look, the

(55:29):
NBA is not doing very well uh as as it
pertains to uh it's ratings compared to other sports that
have come back and seen record ratings highs. I've said
this on my radio show. Look, I think the NBA
has gone intensely political, and I think the average person
doesn't want an intensely political league in order to support.

(55:50):
But Eddie Garcia, I think I gotta get an update
with you. By the way, now you can just do
updates on our interviews with the President of the United States.
President is a big supporter of college football. We didn't
actually talk as much about college football as I expected
because I prepare a list of questions for people out
there who are curious. I probably got like eight or
nine questions that I jotted down. But what I always

(56:11):
try to do is follow the answers of the person
that that I'm interviewing, whether it's the President of the
United States or whether it's somebody obviously much less significant
in the grand scheme of things. And uh, and so
I followed the threads of of what he wanted to
talk about, and we actually didn't spend as much time
talking about college football as I thought we might. Eddie Garcia,
what you got for me, Well, first off, you didn't

(56:32):
sound nervous at all. A good job with the interview,
and I do have to say it was it was
a sports like atmosphere here in the studio. It was
like Danny g was throwing a no hitter and no
one wanted to look at him or talk to him
because we didn't want a jinx what was gonna happen.
So uh, it was a relief when the phone connected.
So I'm glad Danny can. I was so nervous. I'm
not gonna lie. The thing that I was nervous about

(56:54):
was yesterday if you heard the show, like anybody who
has ever heard our phone issues or our our tech issues,
I was afraid that I would get knocked off, or
I was afraid that we would accidentally hang up on
the President like that was the only thing I was
nervous about. Once the interview actually got going, I was
very comfortable with it. I was worried about the mechanics
or anybody who listens to this show knows exactly what

(57:16):
I'm talking about. We have had so many tech failures
over the years on this show. That was all I
was worried about. If the convert As long as his
phone worked and my phone worked, I was great. Well,
thank goodness, everything went well. It was. It was a
great interview. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart

(57:37):
Radio app. Search f s R to listen live.