October 11, 2024 • 57 mins
Clay visits our Asheville affiliate. Mark Starling on the power of radio. America is not racist. Trump's America vs. Kamala.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to today's edition of the Clay Travis and Buck
Sexton Show podcast. Friday edition Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show.
If it sounds a bit different on my end, it
is because I am in Asheville, North Carolina, broadcasting from
five to seventy AM WWNC. We're going to tell you
(00:21):
the story of this station. During the course of today's broadcast.
They were not ever off air in the midst of
one of the biggest disasters relating to flooding and hurricanes
in the history of the United States, the deadliest hurricane
since Katrina. I flew in this morning on a helicopter
(00:43):
from Tennessee over the mountains. Buck, I have been over
all of these different communities looking at what they are
dealing with. Flew over I forty. We are sharing videos.
You can go look at them yourself. I wanted to
see it for myself. We are raped money tonight in Knoxville, Tennessee,
at the Yehaw Brewery, and certainly we want to be
(01:08):
talking to as many people in western North Carolina and
eastern Tennessee as is possible with so many people still recovering.
It's stunning, Buck, It's stunning to see from the air.
The scope of the disaster in this area, it is
unbelievable to me really just kind of to characterize it
(01:30):
and simplify it in one thing. I mean I forty
in North Carolina. I cannot imagine that they are going
to be able to get it open for a year
or more. There are and I shared videos from the
helicopters so that many of you can see just how devastating,
for instance, just that small segment of the storm was.
(01:53):
There are parts of I forty. If you've ever driven
through gone from Tennessee into North Carolina going east, there
are parts of I forty where the eastern side of
the interstate doesn't exist anymore. It has been washed away.
There is no underlying support at all for the land there.
It's got to be I can't imagine that they're gonna
(02:15):
be able to do this in less than a year.
And it may be to the point where at some
aspects of the interstate they even have one lane going
one way and one lane going the other way. My
point on using that as an example here, Buck is
this is going to be an incredibly intensive rebuild, and
(02:35):
I want to be honest with what I saw. I
did not see some massive amount of government military support
from FEMA from the air based on all the destroyed
regions that I saw. Now, I don't want to be
somebody who's pretending that they are an expert on the
(02:55):
federal government's response, but just for what I saw and
over all these devastated communities. Again, you can see the
videos that we have posted. I want to bring attention
to what's going on in this region of the people
who are still struggling here. But the radio station where
I'm broadcasting from, the only reason they are up right
now with this show is Starlink because of Elon Musk
(03:17):
So thank you Elon. They still don't have running water
at the radio station. Much of Ashville does not have
running water. Is talking to the guys at at one o'clock,
We're going to have somebody on the ground here to talk.
They have the kids in school is a long way
from being able to open back up here because they
can't get water in the schools, they can't produce meals.
There are people struggling in a massive way still that
(03:41):
do not have I don't think the resources and support
that our nation should be giving them. So I want
to bring attention that's why I'm here. I know there's
a lot of people doing incredible work, a lot of
people extending their hands not from the government, that are
working like crazy. The helicopter pilot I had buck said
that the place where they work has been filling up
(04:02):
constantly five hundred pounds of material and flying it into
air drop regions, churches, community centers, so many different places
to try to get people what they need. He said.
One of the things they need now is it starting
to get cold here, and it was in the forties
this morning, and people don't have the ability to heat
their homes, so portable electric heaters, all these different things
(04:24):
that they are bringing in. It's going to be a long,
difficult cold winter now based on this timing. And again,
I just want to make sure that people are aware
there is a massive amount that still needs to be
done here.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I spoke to a contact of mine last night, Clay,
about this. I knew you would be there and I
wanted to get his perspective. He's involved in some of
these air rescues and going out in helicopters. One thing
that he said to me, first off, it's interesting the
people who are doing the work increasingly don't want criticize FEMA,
(05:02):
not because they don't think that FEMA should be criticized,
but because they're hope and more federal resources are going
to be deployed and used. Right, So it's a little
bit of a catch twenty two. It's a it's a
difficult moment for some of the apparently local law enforcement
and you know neighbors. What he said to me, I'll
(05:25):
just sort of quote this anonymously is that rednecks with
chainsaws have saved more lives than the federal government and
it isn't even close.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
That's what he doesn't surprise me at all, having grown
up in this area, that the rednecks with chainsaws would
be way better than the Biden administration at helping people.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
So that's been the case so far. There.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Again, the federal government has vast resources, so the hope
is that you know, you want it's like they want
to encourage the federal resources to be better utilized.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
So they got to say, hey, guys, you got.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
To do better.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
But they don't also want to be in a position
where there is antaganism, because really just about saving and
helping people, right, So, you know, getting that ground truth
out it's a little bit of a of a there's
some delicate aspects to it right now for the people
on the front lines. That was I thought that was
interesting perspective, and you're seeing it now and you saw
from the air what an absolute mess all this is.
(06:18):
I also think it's very clear that because the because
the Biden administration is in charge of the federal government,
and because of the demographics of the areas that are
most affected, the national news media is completely uninterested, disinterested,
(06:41):
take your pick in what is going on here. I mean,
you go at the you know, you go at the
front page of a lot of news sites right now
that are pro Kamala or pro Democrat in this election,
and they might have some minor news item on what's
going on in Helene, but much more about the Tim
Wall's manliness tour and.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Which we'll talk about because that's gonna be fun.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And Kamala Harris doing just fine, even though I ever
knows she's not doing well at all the hurricane. The
hurricane is politicized through the news coverage and also the
lack of interest from the coastal media elite. So you're
seeing it firsthand.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I expected Buck based on the way that people had
been covering it. Now to see massive amounts of governmental
resources from the air being deployed, I didn't see that,
And I saw a destruction that is mind boggling to
think about in terms of how long it's going to
(07:41):
take to have some of these communities recover. We're not
talking about months, We're talking about years of rebuild all
through these areas. And again, I just didn't see that
many government resources. I mean, when you come through Ashville
in the air buck, there are still massive cars just
(08:02):
in the river that have been swept away, washed away.
I mean when you see some of these dams. First
of all, the dams got overtopped, that is, the water
was coming right over the top of the dams, and
many different of these regions there is massive amount of
debris that I don't even know how they're going to
(08:23):
be able to get all of that debris out, the
likes of which I've never seen before. And again, we're
gonna be posting videos that I want you guys to
be able to see because frankly, I haven't seen a
lot of these videos. I haven't seen a lot of
people up in the air. The other thing is I
thought there would be a tremendous amount of helicopter traffic
because to a large extent, the airport is not usable
(08:45):
in Asheville and many of these roads and bridges are
washed out. Our helicopter pilot said it had been very
busy with the number of helicopters. I saw four we
flew over all these communities. I think I saw four
or five total helicopter in the hour and a half
two hours that we were in the air coming in
this direction to be able to see everything. So it's
(09:07):
not going to be FEMA or the United States government
based on what I saw that gets this area back
up and running. It's going to be a lot of
rednecks to your point, Buck with chainsaws, a lot of
good guys and gals that live in this area and
are coming in from other regions doing their hardest work
to try to get all of these people back up
(09:29):
on their feet. And let me be clear too, it's
a beautiful region and this is typically Buck when a
lot of people flood into this area probably a poor
choice of words there on flood, but so many people
come in and to see the leaves changing, right, I mean,
so there's a huge industry here that basically is not
going to be able to make the money that it
(09:50):
usually does. And a lot of people use the money
that they make during the leaf changing season to get
them through the winter and be able to take care
of their families. So it's not just the natural destruction,
it's that the tourism industry that generally fuels much of
this area is not going to be able to uh
to have its normal actions, which is going to put
(10:11):
its own strain on. But remember Kamala is going to
give people seven hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Look, I have in laws with a They have a
vacation rental property in Lake Lore, which is the downtown
is gone. So you can imagine there's not going to
be the same kind of ability to, to your point,
monetize and have that economy going. It's a tourism based economy,
(10:35):
and when you have no roads and no water and
all the disaster stuff that we have still what we're
still seeing, that's a very difficult situation economically for everyone there.
I just would point out if you're wondering who is
getting the blame for any frustration over the Hellene recovery efforts.
(10:56):
MSNBC coming in coming in hot here, Clay, this is
the main story on the website right now. I'm not going, look,
this is the biggest story. Trump thinks Americans have forgotten
how bad his hurricane relief efforts were. So I just
when people are saying things like don't politicize it, what
(11:16):
they're actually saying is shut up. We know we're doing
a bad job. But Donald Trump is hitler and nothing
else matters. I mean, that's what the new that's where
the news media is that wants Kamla to win. We're
a few weeks away from election day, and I don't
think that there's if they had I don't think there's
any way for them to make a clear case that
what they are doing is effective and has been a
(11:39):
display of the competency of the federal government at this level.
And just like again talking to this contact who's doing
some of the rescues there, why would the federal government
suddenly be good at this look good? The look at
the federal government's been like the last four years. What
in what world would it be normal for us to say,
you know what, this Biden team, they've really got their
(12:00):
act together. Efficiency, mission focus, no politics. We would have
to be living in an alternate universe for that to
be true.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
No doubt. And let me just say they say they
don't want to make anything political. Well, we've got an
election in three weeks, and based on what I saw,
there are going to be tens of thousands. I would
bet fewer people who are able to vote in western
North Carolina than would have voted if this storm hadn't happened,
and or if there had been a fully robust government
(12:33):
response able to get people back on their feet as
fast as they possibly could. And this is an overwhelming
Trump voting region. The population in western North Carolina in
all of these impacted counties. Yes, Ashville has a little
blue dot, but overwhelmingly if you look at the number
of voters, Trump is being impacted more significantly in terms
(12:56):
of votes. You heard David Axelrod talk about it. This
is a real deal. And in a state that was
decided by seventy thousand votes. If you live in another
part of North Carolina and you are listening to us
right now, you need to show up and vote because
a lot of people here I don't think are going
to be able to buck. A lot of people got
relocated they're living in a different location than they otherwise would,
(13:17):
Their homes are completely lost, and voting is the last
thing on their minds, which you can well understand given
how much of a devastated region this is. And I
just think it's going to be consequential in terms of
the overall outcome in North Carolina. And I think you
would have to be wearing blinders not to recognize that.
(13:40):
And does it make you ask the question if these
were die hard Kamala Harris and Joe Biden supporters, would
the federal government response have been better, faster, and more productive. Yeah,
I think it would have been. I have that opinion
now having flown in and seen this.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
That's why seeing with your own eyes is so important.
And this is a part of the conversation Clay that
I have to say.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
I mean, I know it's tough to see what you're seeing, and.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Your heart goes out to all the people that are affected.
But we need ground truth on this issue because we
do haven't. First of all, we need to get people
the help that they need, and that can only happen
with public attention on the impact right and with the
media disinterested for political and other reasons. By the way,
but mostly political reasons. There isn't the focus on this issue.
(14:28):
And then there's also the accountability of we have an
election coming up, the people in charge are incompetent right now.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Let's get a better regime. Let's get a better government.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
No doubt. I'm in North Carolina right now, as you
guys can hear and will continue to discuss. And I'm
at the Ashville affiliate here WWNC, and I want to
give them a tremendous amount of credit. These guys have
been working here for fifteen straight days since this storm started.
Many of them slept here on the ground to be
able to keep this radio up and running, and the
(14:58):
radio station was one of the few places where people
could communicate. We've talked about the need for you to
have battery powered radios if there's crisis in your place,
of importance of AM radio in general, but also Buck
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this because you have family in this area. Your sister
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(15:44):
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Speaker 4 (16:27):
We are all.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Over the place. Buck is in Los Angeles. I am
in Asheville, North Carolina. Flew in here this morning on
a helicopter. Really difficult to get into Ashville and many
of the surrounding communities if you are basically trying to
travel in any way. We're gonna get more information about
how crazy it has been over the past couple of weeks.
We bring into the studio here with me in Ashville,
(16:51):
Mark Starling six to nine AM Eastern morning show host
here on five seventy am WWNC, also news director and Mark,
I just want to start with this, when did you
become aware that this was going to be a major disaster?
And tell people how many days in a row you
(17:14):
spent this air. This station never went off air. You
guys have continued to communicate with everybody. What should they
know about your experience in the early days of this
hurricane disaster.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
So we kind of had an idea. On Wednesday, we
were talking to our meteorologist from the Weather Channel and
he said, we've been working with him for ten years.
In that ten years, i've heard him use the word
catastrophic maybe once. He used it twice in the same segment,
and I knew right then, like this is not a
guy who's hyperbolic. We were dealing with something different. Thursday,
we came up with a game plan. My producer, Tank Spencer,
(17:48):
He and I were like, Okay, we're going to stay
at the station Thursday night, probably going to be able
to go home Friday night. Storm is going to go past.
I covered hurricanes for most of the fifteen years of
the start of my career. Right about Thursday evening, we
started to realize when things were already flooding and the
storm hadn't gotten here, we knew we were in bad shape.
We had six inches of rain prior to this storm,
(18:08):
even coming close to North Carolina, which meant everything was
already saturated. It wasn't gonna take much to blow trees over.
So we stayed Thursday night. We got up Friday morning
and did the morning show like we normally do, kind
of went through the day, and it was getting progressively
worse and worse, and obviously, you know, by Friday night
it was in full swing, so we had lost We
(18:30):
never lost power, I'm sorry we lost power. We never
went off the air. We lost internet on Saturday at
two thirty six pm, right on the nose. I remember
looking at the clock and I remember seeing our phones
go down, and so we had no communication with the
outside world. We had no way to get any sort
of new information. We had no way to use our phones,
we had no cell service. A buddy of mine happened
(18:50):
to be listening over in West Dashville and heard us say, listen, folks,
we're at a We're at a disadvantage here. We don't
have any information, we can't take your phone calls. We're
going to go back to regular program and try to
gather some information. He actually ended up hiking up here.
He drove as close as he could, hiked in with
a Ham radio had already talked to the Ham radio
network around here and said, hey, look Mark, Mark is
(19:10):
going to key up the mic. He's going to try
to get all the information he can from you guys,
and then he's going to go back on the air
and he and Tank are going to relay to everybody
that's listening. And that's how we operated for about twelve
to fourteen hours. We heard a noise out in the
hallway and we were on a break, and we stuck
our heads out there, and here are the most beautiful
sight I've ever seen. Was to iHeartRadio engineers with a
(19:31):
starlink strapped to their back coming down the hallway, and
I knew at that point we were okay.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So ewan starlink is the reason you were able to
get back on the internet.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Correct? Correct? So we got back on the internet Saturday night,
and we basically stayed round the clock taking phone calls,
listening to. I mean, people were scared. No one ever
thought a hurricane would come to western North Carolina, and
Tank and I kind of sat and talked about it,
and we were like, look, it's going to be our
job to help these people get through this hurricane. The
(20:00):
noises you're gonna hear in the middle of the night
are going to scare the crap out of you. It's
you're not gonna know what's going on because you can't
see anything, and when you wake up tomorrow morning, it
could be even a scarier site when you look outside.
And so we were really trying to just kind of
prep people for this and like really walk them through
step by step. It's you know, and we kept saying, look,
it's okay to not be okay, this is a super
(20:20):
scary time. The phone calls started coming in and they
started getting scarier and scarier and scarier. We took a
call from a gentleman who was up on the second
floor of his house with his wife and their seven
year old grandson. He called and we were chatting with him,
and this was literally like just minutes before everything kind
of went chaotic, and he says, oh, you know, we're
(20:41):
gonna be okay, we're we've had flooding here before. They
weren't okay. They didn't make it, and it evolved you on.
They called us on the air and they he talked
to us and he said, you know, I've been meeting
to clean this place out. I wanted to kind of downsize.
He's like, it looks like that's going to be taking
care of for me. And within hours they were gone.
So we realized then that we had to have a connection,
(21:05):
and so we decided that hey, listen, if you know
someone that's missing, call us here at the radio station,
give us their name, an address, and phone number, and
we will like, we're going to try to crowdsource wellness checks.
So we started doing that and we get a call
from this guy's name is Chris Henderson and he is
an absolute angel, and he said, listen, I'm out here
doing wellness checks. What if we team up together and
(21:25):
you start taking the names of the addresses, you send
them to me and I'll send my team out there.
So we did, and as of right now, I think
we are at like one hundred and forty eight families
that have been reunited with their loved ones. I think
it was like four hundred and twenty eight people or
something like that. And then we started the iHeartRadio Ashville
Chainsaw Gang, and we've got a group of chainsaw cutters
(21:47):
and they literally just go and take houses or trees
off people's houses and they don't charge them. This is
all stuff that we were able to crowdsource through the
power of radio. And I think that for us is
really what the story is here. When the TV could
didn't do it, the newspaper couldn't do it, there was
nothing online. The only thing left was AMFM radio. All
seven stations stayed on the air simulcasted. When our team
(22:08):
was able to get into the building, the cavalry had
arrived and we went. We were walled the wall. I
actually got to sleep at home for the first time
last night.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
You were sleeping here at the station.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
I've been here. I was at the station for fourteen days,
never went home. My wife she wasn't going to evacuate,
and needs say, I wasn't too happy about that. Got
a call on Friday morning and she said, you know what,
We've had to evacuate. We're at a gas station. I've
got all four dogs and our son Eli. We're just
going to have to ride it out here. There are
actually waves coming cresting over the top of the overpass
(22:42):
down on the Highway nine in Black Mountain, which is
where we live, and it was one of the hardest
hit areas. And I didn't hear from her for forty
eight hours. And when she did call, we were on
the air and she had actually gone to a Black
Mountain town hall meeting that they had. She called in
and my producer Tank, he puts their colors name up
(23:02):
on the screen and I looked over and I thought,
what is it? Wait, this can't be. She's the only
Brandy I know that spells it with too ease at
the end. And from pretty much that point on, it
was it was waterworks. It was just I was just
so happy to know that they were okay. I have
not seen them since the Wednesday.
Speaker 5 (23:23):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
They were evacuated down the sisters house with our four
dogs and they're doing great. They you know, it just
we made it. We made a lot better than a
lot of folks did. I mean, we took some damage
to our home, but nothing in comparison to what some
of these folks have lost.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Mark.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Appreciate you being with us and giving us first of all,
that this is just this incredible, uh story about what
you and the station have been through and also been
able to accomplish over the last two weeks. What is
the what are the imminent needs right now? I mean,
what what is the focus of these rescue and recovery
(24:00):
now really, I guess more recovery efforts currently going forward,
Like what has to happen, what needs need to be met,
what's on the ground doing at all of that?
Speaker 4 (24:10):
So you know, as far as like supplies that have
that have come in, I mean, it has just been
it has been an American outpouring. It's incredible to see
the amount of supplies that we have, and right now
we're really good on supplies. But this is not a
short term situation. Our water system was decimated by about
eighty five percent of it. I think there's eighteen hundred
miles of waterline in Ashville. Eighty five percent of it's gone.
(24:35):
So what we're really you know, what we're really hoping
for is that we can get the water back online
as fast as possible. They're measuring that time off out
of water in weeks and not days. Power is back on.
There's still about a thirty thousand people in Bunkham County,
which is where we are, that is that that are
still without power. It's getting better and better every day.
(24:56):
But you know, I think what we're worried about in
the long term is we've got cooler to they're moving in,
and we've got people who used to have homes that
don't have homes. And really, you know, I think the
big thing is is all of these groups that are
on the ground in here, whether they are doing you know,
whether they're doing recovery work or whether they're doing supply work.
We work with a group called Heartswodthands dot org. It's
(25:17):
a local charity. They're based out of Swannanoah, which was
one of the most devastated areas, and strangely, every single
thing around their warehouse was destroyed, but their warehouse wasn't touched.
They have two functions. They feed all of our first
responders hot meals every day, and then they also package
food boxes for pickup and delivery for folks who are
in need in the community. You know, usually hearts with hands.
(25:41):
They're the ones that are loading up the trailers and
taken them to Florida or somewhere else. I don't think
anybody ever thought it was going to happen here. And
you know, this storm was so different because of the terrain.
You know, a storm hits Florida, you got miles of
beachline for the water to reced to. There's nowhere for
the water to recede to here. So it was literally
like a thirty five football of water and debris that
(26:01):
came down the French Broad River and just decimated everything
in its path. I mean, there are there are towns
that used to be here that don't exist anymore. And
it's you know, as someone who covered hurricanes their entire
career living in Florida, I've never been through anything like
this before. I mean, the just the fury that the
water has brought to western North Carolina is just incredible.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
I think this is important. I was just talking out
front with a state trooper who came by. We're talking
with Mark Starling, hosts six to nine am Eastern morning
shows on this incredible story here at five seventy am
ww NC. I forty many things. I asked out front,
how long is this gonna take? He said, this is
(26:47):
gonna take years to rebuild, So for people out there
who haven't done anything yet. Maybe they haven't recognized the
severity of this. There's gonna be a need for help
here four months and months, if not years.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
I mean, we're a tourism based economy. There's only one
thing to see here right now, and that's destruction. You know,
hotels are not able to rent hotel rooms because you
can't run a hotel room without running water. So that
is pretty much just don't have running water still at
the radius, that's right. Yeah, we've been without water since
I believe it was Friday is when we lost water. Yeah,
(27:24):
it is. It's an untenable situation for a lot of people.
And there are people that are leaving. You know, there
were certain places that right after the storm happened and
that they were saying, listen, if you can leave, leave,
help's not coming. And it's like, well, whoa wait a second. Here,
these are our communities. We're not going anywhere. And you know,
for what we wanted to do here at the radio station,
at iHeart Asheville was we wanted to show the community that, like,
(27:47):
we can get through this. And we've been kind of
repeating this line. Community is the answer to this crisis,
and it is amazing. You know, people have I always
go back to this one phone call and a guy
came called in and he says, you know, I've helped
so many of my neighbors today and I didn't even
ask who they voted for first. And it's just kind
of that, like everything else outside of Western North Carolina,
(28:08):
everything else doesn't matter right now. Like our job as
a as a station and as a group of stations
and as an airstaff is to kind of unite our
community and bring us bring everyone together and get through
this together. I mean, it's going to be a heavy lift.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
And what we have.
Speaker 4 (28:25):
Seen is the absolute best in humanity in an absolute horrific,
horrific time.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
We asked whether it was appropriate to even try to
come in here. You guys need so much help. The
story was, we want you to help get this story.
Because you're talking to all fifty states right now. You're
talking to people all over the world, really, but certainly
in all fifty states. What would you ask of them?
What can they do if they're listening right now and
(28:51):
they're hearing about how bad things are in Western North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Honestly, I would recommend giving. Yeah, if you can give
please give Hearts with Hands dot org is again such
a wonderful organization. It's local. All that money stays local
as far as help goes. If you have a skill
and it's and and you feel like it would be worthy.
We need help here. You know. The cleanup, the cleanup
(29:17):
for the most part has gone pretty well, but there
is just so much of it.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
We've got our our chainsaw teams from the radio station.
They're running wide open pretty much from six a m.
Until seven or eight o'clock at night. And uh, you know,
the one thing I guess that we don't need is
people coming to Western North Carolina per se to the
to the heavy disaster zones and kind of clogging things up.
There are areas in western North Carolina that are open
(29:43):
for business.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Maggie Valley.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
I got a call today from a business owner. He's like,
hey man, He's like, I run a knife shop, and
he's like, we're totally open for business here and and
we would really rather you know, like direct people to
us if you if you can't, if they can't hang
out in Nashville, tell them to go come up to
Maggie Valley and see us, or go to Waynesville. And
you know there's a there's some there's some good truth
to that because these other these other areas, they they
(30:05):
too are tourist economies.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
This is what happened in Hawaii right where everybody decided
they didn't want to go to Hawaii. Buck and the
whole thing. So one more time that website, and by
the way, what you did, thanks to you and the
sacrifices that you made for your family. I can't even
imagine what you've gone through talking to so many people
in so many positions of peril. This is the best
of radio.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
It absolutely is. And I gotta I have to shout
out my team because the team here at iHeart Ashville
is truly the most incredible group of people. They're most
of our staff works on music stations. They're not familiar
with the news talk format. That didn't matter because it
wasn't such a so much of a formatic thing. It
was we just need to be able to show people
(30:48):
that we're here to and when, and we care and
we're gonna help you one way or the other. If
we can't help you, we will find someone to help you.
And that's how it's worked out. And the community has
answered those calls and said, hey, you know what, I
can go over there and check on this guy. I
you know, I'm on my way to my next appointment.
I'll stop by and make sure that they're okay. It's
the power of radio, and it is the power of
(31:10):
this iHeartRadio Ashville team. They are just such an incredible
group of humans. You know, Tank Spencer and I were
here by ourselves for the first portion of the storm
because our team couldn't get here. I don't know if
you saw coming, well you didn't see it coming because
you came it from the air, but coming up our
driveways line, it was lined with about a hundred trees.
Every tree came down, there was no way to get
(31:30):
in or out. It crushed the fence in the front.
Once those trees got out of the way, our team
was unstoppable. They got in and they just they just
got it done. And they have continued to you know,
this is our home, this is our community, and we
want to just see it built back. We know it's
going to take time, and we know it's going to
(31:50):
be heavy lifting, but this is where we call home
and Western North Carolina mountain folks are different. I got
news for you. Mountain folks are tough and that we
will real we will rebuild this community. It may not
look exactly like it did, It'll be better. That's the
way I feel, And I feel like our community is
more united today than we ever have been in the
(32:13):
past because of this storm. And if that's the good
that we can that we can pull out of this,
I'll take it all day long.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Mark, Thank you so much, incredible work. Appreciate you telling
us about this and everyone who can go and donate
and help out. Please do you know this past Monday,
many of us took a moment to reflect that it
was the one year anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack
on Israel, the worst massacre of the Jewish people since
the Holocaust, when the twelve hundred Israeli's lost their lives,
(32:43):
dozens more injured, two hundred and fifty hostage is taken.
The conflict remains as intense as ever. The IDF is
working to rescue hostages and fight back against Hesbela's daily
barrage of missiles. Israel's allies need to stand with her
in this moment, and that is where the International Fellowship
of Christians and Jews comes in. IFCJ has been on
(33:03):
the front lines to help and right now, your gift
of one hundred and fifty dollars helps the Fellowship provide
food and necessities to the families of reservists who have
been called up to help them in this time of need.
And your gift will be matched by a generous donor
doubling its impact. Call one hundred and fifty dollars A
call right now to make your one hundred and fifty
dollars gift eight eight eight four eight eight IFCJ. That's
(33:24):
eight eight eight four at eight IFCJ, or go online
to support IFCJ dot org.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Tons of you just giving us so much feedback, I
want to think again. And if you didn't hear the
full thing, it'll be up on the podcast. We wanted
to share with you what the experience has been like
for people in Nashville and surrounding communities in western North
Carolina eastern Tennessee. And Mark Starling, who was the host
(34:00):
that was on with us in the opening segment of
this hour from five to seventy AMWWNC. But you've talked
about this a lot. Radio uniquely connects with the audience
there are lots of different medias. There are lots of
different ways that people make connections, writing, TV, a variety
(34:21):
of different subjects, but radio at its core, really connects
with people. And I thought the stories that he was
sharing in a time of crisis here really connected with
you in all fifty.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
States, and my family in Ashville at the height of
the storm and its destruction, or you know, in the
morning after it, they were listening on that station. Carrie
told me before Clay I even knew you were going
to Ashville, said, you've got to talk to these guys.
The iHeart team in Ashville has just been all hands
on deck, not just to get information out, but also
(34:52):
to coordinate response.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
And rescue efforts. It's an amazing thing.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
But yes, you can imagine for people who had the house,
you know, partially carved in by falling trees, surrounded by
lethal floodwaters on all sides, roads either washed away or
blocked by trees, to hear on on AM or FM radio,
we know you're out there, We're in your community. We're
(35:17):
coming for you. Hold tight.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Help is on the way.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
I think of how meaningful that is, and it was
the only way to get people that message no doubt.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
We want to continue to update you with everything going
on in the world of politics as well. I'm here
in Ashville. You heard, by the way, Heartswithands dot Org
is a great organization local that you can donate to
if you were moved by the stories that you heard
being shared by Mark Starling and many others who are
talking to us outside and around the scenes here as
(35:51):
I'm in Ashville. But I also wanted to not neglect
what's going on in the political realm right now. And
let's play this book. I don't know if you saw this.
You mentioned as we went to break just a second
ago that obviously this week was the one year anniversary
of October seventh, and to how do you pronounce his name?
By the way, I've read.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
It for Tanahasei Coats.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Tanahasei Coats is a left wing icon who basically believes
that America is awful and that racist racist.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
You got you in the word racist.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
In fact, the book is really just every sentence is
about how racist, really actually white people are, but America
is more broadly as well racist racist, racist. And so
I heard this interview last night and I just thought
it was a perfect distillation of how awful many of
the people who argue that America is racist truly are.
(36:47):
And this was him.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Can I just add, because I think this important, Clay,
the left also believes that Israel is racist, racist, racist,
So that's where the connection is. Okay, we've already done
the trash America. It's all racist. All the white people
in America are racist. Israel, the left also believes racist.
And all the Israelis who first of all not I mean,
(37:09):
they're not even all white.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
There's a whole other conversation, but they're all racist.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
This is what many kids on college campuses are being taught,
which is why I want to play this for you.
And this is why maybe is next month is Thanksgiving
and you've got grandson or granddaughter sitting at the table
and they're going to say, oh, Israel, you know, they're
not a safe actor here. They deserve some of what
happened to them. This is the kind of arguments they're
hearing on campus. I want you to hear it. This
(37:36):
was a discussion about why this guy coach would have
potentially been one of the terrorists as well. Listen to
his rationale. This is cut one.
Speaker 6 (37:47):
Well, I twenty years old, born into Gaza, which is
a giant open air jail. And what I mean by
that is, if my father is a fisherman and he
goes too far allen to the see I just shot
by somebody off of you know, side of Israeli botes.
If my mother picks the olive trees and she gets
too close to the wall, she might be shot. If
(38:09):
my little sister has you know, cancer and she needs
treatment because there are no you know, facilities to do
that in Gaza, and I don't get the right permits,
she might die. And I grow up under that oppression
and that poverty and the wall comes down. Am I
also strong enough? But even constructed in such a way,
Why I say this is too far?
Speaker 1 (38:28):
I don't know that I am buck. If you ever think, hey,
maybe I should kill somebody because of their race, their ethnicity,
or their religion, newsflash, you are not the good guy.
But that's what many of these people believe.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Well this all Also, I don't think we've we've addressed
play the the reason that this is getting uh, you know,
so much attention. You you just played the most recent
appearance by by mister Coates on this on this issue.
He was on the CBS Morning Show pushing his new book,
which I believe only a portion of deals with this,
(39:05):
only a portion of it deals with Israel Palestine. But
his position is very explicitly Israel is an apartheid state.
It is evil along the lines of South Africa or
even Nazi Germany, which is obviously very offensive to.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
The Jewish people.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
And the one of the anchors who I had never
heard of before, Tony something that is I forget his
last name, but Ducoppel da Kappel. He just basically said,
why did you leave out in your explanation of the
Palestinian plight? Why did you leave And I say, Tony, actually,
(39:43):
you know has done his research.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
He's like, why'd you leave out the Second Intifada?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Why did you not talk about the fact that there
was an effort in what was otherwise peacetime, a long
and sustained effort to send as many Palestinian suicide bombers
into civilian areas as pos to kill people who are
at birthday parties, the old, the young, women, and children,
to pay the families of the suicide bombers, the Shahid
(40:09):
the martyrs in perpetuity, to hold up those families as
the great heroes of the Palestinian people. Not scientists, not athletes,
not businessmen, suicide bombers. The greatest heroes of the Palestinian
people in the early two thousands, the suicide bombers and
their families.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
Why no talk of any of that?
Speaker 2 (40:29):
And Clay, The thing about Tanahassikots is he's an icon
of the left. He is the most celebrated black author
of his generation. And so the rules at CBS are
you are not allowed to ask him questions. You are
allowed to clap and tell him how brilliant he is.
Those are the unspoken rules of the Democrat Party. Those
were broken by that anchor at CBS. They have now
(40:52):
brought in we're not making any of this up. Diversity educators,
struggle sessions, reports about how people are crying in these meetings.
How dare he ask him any questions? I mean, this
is this is why the Democrat Party, the left is
so broken.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
It's a cult.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
This is insane totally. And they also have now sent
out instructions at CBS saying that they're not to say
that Jerusalem is in Israel. I mean, I didn't believe
some of this stuff I had to go read it.
I saw the headlines CBS News is broken and this
we haven't spent a ton of time talking about it,
(41:28):
but the way they edited the Kamala Harris sixty minutes
interview buck When Dan Rather got caught making up news
about George W. Bush, they fired him. They basically ended
his career when they failed about the National Guard and
all those stories. But really, to me, this is far
worse than that, because it goes to the very essence
(41:49):
of the organization itself and whether it can be trusted.
And so when you have people out there arguing Jewish
people are so bad that basically anything you do to
them can be justified, and then you simultaneously have people
like the guy who's fighting back against the Madison Square
Garden rally against Trump saying, oh, this is like Nazis
(42:12):
rallying in nineteen thirty seven and nineteen thirty nine, all
these other things. I just want to push back and say,
you realize the left in this country is the one
arguing that any violence against Jewish people can be justified
based on their history, which is the same argument that
Adolf Hitler and the Nazis were making. Now it's a
left wing in the United States argument.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
I want to also point out that there's a fundamental
rejection of principle that the Allies the pro Palestinian pro
Hamas and by the way, people will they will bristle
when you say they're pro Hamas. Hamas is the government
of Gaza, the elected government of Gaza. So I don't
(42:55):
know in what universe there if there was, And credit
to Doug Murray for slamming this point home a few times.
If there was an election in the West Bank, Hamas
would win tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
So Hamas are the chosen representatives of the Palestinian people
by the Palestinian people. At this point, there's nothing else
that we could point to or even talk about. And
they explicitly endorse the murder of as many Jews as
they can.
Speaker 3 (43:22):
And then those same people who are saying.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
Look at Israel, Israel overreacts or Israel is going too far,
Israel's violating crimes of you know, they're saying they're committing
war crimes, have nothing to say about Palestinians. Never, I mean,
on October seventh, and I don't know what else you
could How could it be more.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
Evil than that?
Speaker 2 (43:41):
But This is the way that Hamas has been fighting
all along. They just want to go and murder Jews
and then say that they are a resistance organization. They're
not a resistance organization that wants to negotiate. They just
exist in this world where the more Jews that they
can kill, the better. That is their only real mission.
They've e miserated the Palace Indian people. They're absolutely corrupt
(44:02):
and God bless Netnyahu and the idea for hunting them
down and killing as many of them as he possibly
can who are involved in October seventh. That is just
that has warfare conducted the way that it should be.
And the fact that the Democrat Party has all this
confusion on this issue, Clay, what kind of lack of
moral clarity is possible where you could have on October
(44:23):
seventh Democrats, Kamala voters, let's be honest about it, marching
in support of Hamas and Palestine or the Palestinians.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
It's truly delusional and that is the base of the
Democrat Party right now, which is why Kamala Harris didn't
pick I think you could die it in directly with
the presidential election in a few weeks why Josh Shapiro
is not the pick because people like Coats on the
left in the Democrat Party would have lost their minds
if they picked the Jewish guy after October seventh.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
I think that's also a critical point, Clay, because if
they lose this election, and they lose it because of Pennsylvania,
it is the Democrat coddling of anti Semites that may
have cost in the election. I will say poetic justice
in that poetical it was very karmically.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Just if that ends up happening, I want to tell
you we're just talking about what happened at Israel on
October seventh. The impact of what happened with the United
States on nine to eleven continues. And think the Lord
that we have tunnel the towers out there to help
everybody with who is still fighting the battles of terror
and beyond. William Gilbert enlisted in the US Army to
(45:31):
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ied detonated, resulting in the tragic death of William and
(45:53):
two of his fellow soldiers. William left behind his pregnant wife,
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year about. The Tunnel of the Towers Foundation provided William's
family with a mortgage free home, although he was never
able to meet his youngest daughter, she is the epitome
of everything he was. Honor heroes like United States Army
specialist E four William Joseph Gilbert join us in donating
(46:14):
eleven dollars a month to Tunnel the Towers at T
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dot org.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
What is Trump film like? These days?
Speaker 2 (46:31):
We've been talking a lot about the Kamala campaign, scrambling
trying to come up with some message of masculinity that.
Speaker 3 (46:39):
Will resonate, you know, because when when you think.
Speaker 2 (46:43):
Of the Democrat Party these days, which is very supportive
as remember this, the Democrat Party requires for you to
be in good standing, requires you to believe that you
know an eighteen year old high school student guy who
said he's a girl should be able to just get
out there on like the women's lacrosse field and lay
(47:05):
out all those chicks and just you know, that's it.
You know, that is a mandatory belief, and they wonder
why we're like not really on board with the whole
masculinity thing for Democrats. So that is a component of
all of this. But on the Trump side of things,
I gotta say he's kind of strutting his stuff, feeling
pretty good about himself right now. I think I think
(47:25):
the Trumpster feels the call of destiny right now, and
he's doing his thing. I mean, you compare Trump out
on the stump just doing effectively live one man show
for an hour here, two hours there, versus the Kamala
superscripted sit down with people who are in the tank
(47:46):
for her, and she still cannot manage to string together
a few sentences to convince anybody she's good at much
of anything.
Speaker 3 (47:54):
But this was a moment.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
Trump was in Detroit yesterday and he said to Detroit audience, Look,
if the Democrats w I Kamlo wins this one, the
whole country's.
Speaker 3 (48:05):
Going to start to feel like Detroit does right now.
Play it.
Speaker 5 (48:08):
I don't think anything that we're talking about today is
high on our list. I mean, the whole country is
going to be like you want to know the truth,
It'll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up
being like Detroit. If she's your president, you're gonna have
a mess on your hands. She destroyed San Francisco, she destroyed,
along with Newscombe, California, and.
Speaker 4 (48:28):
We're not going to let her do that to this country.
We're not going to let it happen.
Speaker 2 (48:32):
Clay, I mean, it's quite a move to tell people
in Detroit that Kalma's going to make the rest of
the country as dysfunctional as unfortunately the city itself of
Detroit has been for a long time. But I do
think the message that Democrats, when they have total control,
as they do in these cities, they make a mess
of things.
Speaker 3 (48:51):
It's very true. It's very true.
Speaker 1 (48:53):
I know Detroit pretty well because my wife is from there.
It became the worst city in America, and it started
to come back. But you know how it started to
come back because they've embraced more aspects of capitalism and
the fact that Detroit got so incredibly affordable for a
lot of different people out there, and then I think
(49:14):
there are other individuals that deserve a lot of credit.
They brought the wings back to downtown Detroit, the Red Wings,
that is, they've got the Detroit Lions, the Detroit Tigers,
all of the Pistons, all of those teams now play
right downtown and they've slowly developed many of the streets
and brought them back to where there's some form of safety.
But ultimately, what Trump is talking about is the degradation
(49:37):
of the American marketplace. My father in law is a
lifelong Detroit resident. He was one of the first people
I met who I knew was super smart, super plugged in.
And he told me early in twenty sixteen, I'm voting
for Trump. And I said, oh, that's interesting. Is what
is driving that? And he said, he's right. We don't
(49:57):
make things anymore. And that is the thing that matter
the most to my father in law, who is an engineer,
is American manufacturing has all been outsourced. There aren't the
jobs that they used to be. Detroit was an economic
miracle for the forties, the fifties into the early nineteen
sixties before you started to have the riots and everything
(50:17):
fell apart and everybody flooded into areas that are still really,
really nice, like Oakland County, but Dwayne County itself in
the Detroit area has struggled massively, and a big part
of that is because many of the best jobs that
people moved to the Detroit area to get in manufacturing
don't exist there anymore. And there's a lot of people
that have been struggling as those blue collar jobs have
(50:39):
abandoned the city. And Frankly, Buck, I think a lot
of people in Detroit not at along because they saw
what happened in Detroit as emblematic of what was happening
all over many parts of the country. And I think
it's why Trump's going to win the Midwest because he
recognized this early. It was a huge part of his
twenty sixteen campaign. We've got to make things in America,
(51:00):
and all of you out there who lived through twenty
twenty in the supply chain crisis, much of that was
because we don't manufacture things on shore anymore and we
were having to get caught with all of the issues offshore.
I've never heard anybody answer, well, when Russia invaded Ukraine,
all of American commerce kind of wagged their finger at
Russia and said, oh, we're not going to do business
with you anymore. McDonald's isn't there. You name it. If
(51:24):
China invaded Taiwan, we have no ability to do to
China what we did to Russia, and I think China
knows it. But so much of our product is now
sourced in China. We could say that to Russia and
look like social justice warriors because now they have something
else other than McDonald's. But we couldn't do that to China.
And that's what we got to bring back so many,
(51:44):
so much more of our manufacturing and have it rooted
in some way. I was yesterday Buck you started talking about.
Yesterday was XX Day, which we talked about Women's Sports
Day and the fact that there. I think many of Democrats'
policies are hemorrhaging, none more than men can be women's champions.
And if a man says he's a woman, you have
to believe it. I was talking with a guy at
Marsha Blackburn's rally in Jackson, Tennessee, and he was talking
(52:07):
about the impact of a car factory coming to West
Tennessee and how many jobs it was going to bring
and how much it matters to just have in many
of these communities the ability for somebody not to have
to flee and go to a big city and be
able to get a high paying job in the United States.
And I think that's the essence of Trump's campaign.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
I think that if Trump just stays on message from
now until the election, there is a very good chance
that not only I think he becomes president, but he
may even surprise us with one or two states that
are thought to be somewhat outside the reach of the Republicans.
Right now, I think that it's there's a real chance
(52:50):
here to do a little bit of running up the scoreboard.
That's how much more on point Trump currently is.
Speaker 3 (52:56):
And again I keep.
Speaker 2 (52:57):
This is within the two percent of the elect or
whatever the number is right now, that isn't done. I'm
in for Trump, I'm in for Kamala, right, I'm talking
about in that last that's what all these think about
the billions of dollars being spent, billions of dollars being
spent to convince it's probably more like one percent of
the population. But you know, but let's say two percent,
just to be in the safe side. Two percent of
(53:18):
the voting population to make one choice or another, and
so you know, look, Trump is out there also with
his economic message. Trump promised that he would put this
is cut nine, that he would put tariffs on imported
cars if that's what it takes to help.
Speaker 3 (53:35):
The American auto industry. Listen to this plainte.
Speaker 5 (53:37):
China is currently building gigantic auto plants in Mexico, and
they think that they're going to sell all of these
cars into the United States, which would destroy Michigan, totally
destroy your state. But it's not going to happen, not
going to happen, not even close. They might as well
stop building the damn plants.
Speaker 4 (53:58):
I will impose.
Speaker 5 (53:59):
Whatever tariffs are required per one thousand percent. They're not
going to sell any cars into the United States with
those plants.
Speaker 2 (54:10):
Now, the terriff issue, I know, even on the right,
there's some back and forth.
Speaker 3 (54:15):
Not everyone agrees with tariff. I do think it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (54:18):
The Biden campaign, I'm sorry, whoops, the Kamala campaign has
wanted to hit Trump on tariffs, but it has started
to emerge more. Yeah, except that Biden kept Trump's tariffs
on China in place. So how can you be in
charge and go along with the guy before you and
not undo what he did and then say what he
(54:39):
did is bad.
Speaker 3 (54:40):
That's a tough one.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
I'll also point out, Buck, this is Trump was making
this argument when they tried to claim that he was
saying that there would be a bloodbath if he lost. Remember,
all he was saying was the American auto industry, if
China were allowed to subvert our economic interests by bringing
in low cost automobiles, would actually drastically impact the automobile
(55:03):
industry to such an extent that it would be an
economic blood bath. And they tried to turn it into oh,
he's going to murder everybody if he doesn't win. It's
just emblematic of the dishonesty that is involved there. Okay, Buck,
I want to tell you guess what happened. Ten to
one hit last night. I had some positive news. I
(55:24):
gave you a Prize Picks pick on Thursday. Many of
you took it because I saw you reacting when we hit.
We had the Thursday night football game between the forty
nine Ers and the Seahawks, and all four of our
picks on Prize Picks hit, meaning if you played along
with us, you won ten to one. I believe this
(55:44):
is the second ten to one Prize Picks Thursday Night
Football bet. We have won in the last three weeks,
and last week we came so close as well. So
we've been on a little bit of a role. Two
ten to one's in the last three weeks. If you
want to play along with us next Thursday, maybe we
can keep the mojo going. You can go to prizepicks
dot com, use my name Clay Clay, and when you
(56:08):
play five dollars, you get a fifty dollars credit on
your account. That is fifty dollars right into your prize
Picks account. You can play in Florida, you can play
in California, you can play in Texas, you can play
in Georgia. If you're feeling left out, prizepicks dot com,
my name Clay, prize picks dot com, my name Clay.
Five dollars pick, you get back fifty dollars and we
(56:32):
just want to ten to one special two of the
last three weeks. Let's have some fun. I'll try to
hit again on Thursday. Go ahead and sign up. Let's
have some fun next Thursday. You can join the team.
Prizpicks dot com.
Speaker 2 (56:43):
Can I say I've been writing Clay's coattails here to
financial glory on some of these bets.
Speaker 3 (56:49):
I'm just gonna say it.
Speaker 2 (56:50):
Okay, I'm not my second ten to one, so Clay,
you got to keep this going.
Speaker 1 (56:55):
I'm happy to have two. Let's try to make it three.
On Thursday. Prize Picks dot Com. My name Clay, that's
price picks dot Com Mining Claip
Welcome to today's edition of the Clay Travis and Buck
Sexton Show podcast. Friday edition Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show.
If it sounds a bit different on my end, it
is because I am in Asheville, North Carolina, broadcasting from
five to seventy AM WWNC. We're going to tell you
(00:21):
the story of this station. During the course of today's broadcast.
They were not ever off air in the midst of
one of the biggest disasters relating to flooding and hurricanes
in the history of the United States, the deadliest hurricane
since Katrina. I flew in this morning on a helicopter
(00:43):
from Tennessee over the mountains. Buck, I have been over
all of these different communities looking at what they are
dealing with. Flew over I forty. We are sharing videos.
You can go look at them yourself. I wanted to
see it for myself. We are raped money tonight in Knoxville, Tennessee,
at the Yehaw Brewery, and certainly we want to be
(01:08):
talking to as many people in western North Carolina and
eastern Tennessee as is possible with so many people still recovering.
It's stunning, Buck, It's stunning to see from the air.
The scope of the disaster in this area, it is
unbelievable to me really just kind of to characterize it
(01:30):
and simplify it in one thing. I mean I forty
in North Carolina. I cannot imagine that they are going
to be able to get it open for a year
or more. There are and I shared videos from the
helicopters so that many of you can see just how devastating,
for instance, just that small segment of the storm was.
(01:53):
There are parts of I forty. If you've ever driven
through gone from Tennessee into North Carolina going east, there
are parts of I forty where the eastern side of
the interstate doesn't exist anymore. It has been washed away.
There is no underlying support at all for the land there.
It's got to be I can't imagine that they're gonna
(02:15):
be able to do this in less than a year.
And it may be to the point where at some
aspects of the interstate they even have one lane going
one way and one lane going the other way. My
point on using that as an example here, Buck is
this is going to be an incredibly intensive rebuild, and
(02:35):
I want to be honest with what I saw. I
did not see some massive amount of government military support
from FEMA from the air based on all the destroyed
regions that I saw. Now, I don't want to be
somebody who's pretending that they are an expert on the
(02:55):
federal government's response, but just for what I saw and
over all these devastated communities. Again, you can see the
videos that we have posted. I want to bring attention
to what's going on in this region of the people
who are still struggling here. But the radio station where
I'm broadcasting from, the only reason they are up right
now with this show is Starlink because of Elon Musk
(03:17):
So thank you Elon. They still don't have running water
at the radio station. Much of Ashville does not have
running water. Is talking to the guys at at one o'clock,
We're going to have somebody on the ground here to talk.
They have the kids in school is a long way
from being able to open back up here because they
can't get water in the schools, they can't produce meals.
There are people struggling in a massive way still that
(03:41):
do not have I don't think the resources and support
that our nation should be giving them. So I want
to bring attention that's why I'm here. I know there's
a lot of people doing incredible work, a lot of
people extending their hands not from the government, that are
working like crazy. The helicopter pilot I had buck said
that the place where they work has been filling up
(04:02):
constantly five hundred pounds of material and flying it into
air drop regions, churches, community centers, so many different places
to try to get people what they need. He said.
One of the things they need now is it starting
to get cold here, and it was in the forties
this morning, and people don't have the ability to heat
their homes, so portable electric heaters, all these different things
(04:24):
that they are bringing in. It's going to be a long,
difficult cold winter now based on this timing. And again,
I just want to make sure that people are aware
there is a massive amount that still needs to be
done here.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I spoke to a contact of mine last night, Clay,
about this. I knew you would be there and I
wanted to get his perspective. He's involved in some of
these air rescues and going out in helicopters. One thing
that he said to me, first off, it's interesting the
people who are doing the work increasingly don't want criticize FEMA,
(05:02):
not because they don't think that FEMA should be criticized,
but because they're hope and more federal resources are going
to be deployed and used. Right, So it's a little
bit of a catch twenty two. It's a it's a
difficult moment for some of the apparently local law enforcement
and you know neighbors. What he said to me, I'll
(05:25):
just sort of quote this anonymously is that rednecks with
chainsaws have saved more lives than the federal government and
it isn't even close.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
That's what he doesn't surprise me at all, having grown
up in this area, that the rednecks with chainsaws would
be way better than the Biden administration at helping people.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
So that's been the case so far. There.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Again, the federal government has vast resources, so the hope
is that you know, you want it's like they want
to encourage the federal resources to be better utilized.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
So they got to say, hey, guys, you got.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
To do better.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
But they don't also want to be in a position
where there is antaganism, because really just about saving and
helping people, right, So, you know, getting that ground truth
out it's a little bit of a of a there's
some delicate aspects to it right now for the people
on the front lines. That was I thought that was
interesting perspective, and you're seeing it now and you saw
from the air what an absolute mess all this is.
(06:18):
I also think it's very clear that because the because
the Biden administration is in charge of the federal government,
and because of the demographics of the areas that are
most affected, the national news media is completely uninterested, disinterested,
(06:41):
take your pick in what is going on here. I mean,
you go at the you know, you go at the
front page of a lot of news sites right now
that are pro Kamala or pro Democrat in this election,
and they might have some minor news item on what's
going on in Helene, but much more about the Tim
Wall's manliness tour and.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Which we'll talk about because that's gonna be fun.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And Kamala Harris doing just fine, even though I ever
knows she's not doing well at all the hurricane. The
hurricane is politicized through the news coverage and also the
lack of interest from the coastal media elite. So you're
seeing it firsthand.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I expected Buck based on the way that people had
been covering it. Now to see massive amounts of governmental
resources from the air being deployed, I didn't see that,
And I saw a destruction that is mind boggling to
think about in terms of how long it's going to
(07:41):
take to have some of these communities recover. We're not
talking about months, We're talking about years of rebuild all
through these areas. And again, I just didn't see that
many government resources. I mean, when you come through Ashville
in the air buck, there are still massive cars just
(08:02):
in the river that have been swept away, washed away.
I mean when you see some of these dams. First
of all, the dams got overtopped, that is, the water
was coming right over the top of the dams, and
many different of these regions there is massive amount of
debris that I don't even know how they're going to
(08:23):
be able to get all of that debris out, the
likes of which I've never seen before. And again, we're
gonna be posting videos that I want you guys to
be able to see because frankly, I haven't seen a
lot of these videos. I haven't seen a lot of
people up in the air. The other thing is I
thought there would be a tremendous amount of helicopter traffic
because to a large extent, the airport is not usable
(08:45):
in Asheville and many of these roads and bridges are
washed out. Our helicopter pilot said it had been very
busy with the number of helicopters. I saw four we
flew over all these communities. I think I saw four
or five total helicopter in the hour and a half
two hours that we were in the air coming in
this direction to be able to see everything. So it's
(09:07):
not going to be FEMA or the United States government
based on what I saw that gets this area back
up and running. It's going to be a lot of
rednecks to your point, Buck with chainsaws, a lot of
good guys and gals that live in this area and
are coming in from other regions doing their hardest work
to try to get all of these people back up
(09:29):
on their feet. And let me be clear too, it's
a beautiful region and this is typically Buck when a
lot of people flood into this area probably a poor
choice of words there on flood, but so many people
come in and to see the leaves changing, right, I mean,
so there's a huge industry here that basically is not
going to be able to make the money that it
(09:50):
usually does. And a lot of people use the money
that they make during the leaf changing season to get
them through the winter and be able to take care
of their families. So it's not just the natural destruction,
it's that the tourism industry that generally fuels much of
this area is not going to be able to uh
to have its normal actions, which is going to put
(10:11):
its own strain on. But remember Kamala is going to
give people seven hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Look, I have in laws with a They have a
vacation rental property in Lake Lore, which is the downtown
is gone. So you can imagine there's not going to
be the same kind of ability to, to your point,
monetize and have that economy going. It's a tourism based economy,
(10:35):
and when you have no roads and no water and
all the disaster stuff that we have still what we're
still seeing, that's a very difficult situation economically for everyone there.
I just would point out if you're wondering who is
getting the blame for any frustration over the Hellene recovery efforts.
(10:56):
MSNBC coming in coming in hot here, Clay, this is
the main story on the website right now. I'm not going, look,
this is the biggest story. Trump thinks Americans have forgotten
how bad his hurricane relief efforts were. So I just
when people are saying things like don't politicize it, what
(11:16):
they're actually saying is shut up. We know we're doing
a bad job. But Donald Trump is hitler and nothing
else matters. I mean, that's what the new that's where
the news media is that wants Kamla to win. We're
a few weeks away from election day, and I don't
think that there's if they had I don't think there's
any way for them to make a clear case that
what they are doing is effective and has been a
(11:39):
display of the competency of the federal government at this level.
And just like again talking to this contact who's doing
some of the rescues there, why would the federal government
suddenly be good at this look good? The look at
the federal government's been like the last four years. What
in what world would it be normal for us to say,
you know what, this Biden team, they've really got their
(12:00):
act together. Efficiency, mission focus, no politics. We would have
to be living in an alternate universe for that to
be true.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
No doubt. And let me just say they say they
don't want to make anything political. Well, we've got an
election in three weeks, and based on what I saw,
there are going to be tens of thousands. I would
bet fewer people who are able to vote in western
North Carolina than would have voted if this storm hadn't happened,
and or if there had been a fully robust government
(12:33):
response able to get people back on their feet as
fast as they possibly could. And this is an overwhelming
Trump voting region. The population in western North Carolina in
all of these impacted counties. Yes, Ashville has a little
blue dot, but overwhelmingly if you look at the number
of voters, Trump is being impacted more significantly in terms
(12:56):
of votes. You heard David Axelrod talk about it. This
is a real deal. And in a state that was
decided by seventy thousand votes. If you live in another
part of North Carolina and you are listening to us
right now, you need to show up and vote because
a lot of people here I don't think are going
to be able to buck. A lot of people got
relocated they're living in a different location than they otherwise would,
(13:17):
Their homes are completely lost, and voting is the last
thing on their minds, which you can well understand given
how much of a devastated region this is. And I
just think it's going to be consequential in terms of
the overall outcome in North Carolina. And I think you
would have to be wearing blinders not to recognize that.
(13:40):
And does it make you ask the question if these
were die hard Kamala Harris and Joe Biden supporters, would
the federal government response have been better, faster, and more productive. Yeah,
I think it would have been. I have that opinion
now having flown in and seen this.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
That's why seeing with your own eyes is so important.
And this is a part of the conversation Clay that
I have to say.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
I mean, I know it's tough to see what you're seeing, and.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Your heart goes out to all the people that are affected.
But we need ground truth on this issue because we
do haven't. First of all, we need to get people
the help that they need, and that can only happen
with public attention on the impact right and with the
media disinterested for political and other reasons. By the way,
but mostly political reasons. There isn't the focus on this issue.
(14:28):
And then there's also the accountability of we have an
election coming up, the people in charge are incompetent right now.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Let's get a better regime. Let's get a better government.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
No doubt. I'm in North Carolina right now, as you
guys can hear and will continue to discuss. And I'm
at the Ashville affiliate here WWNC, and I want to
give them a tremendous amount of credit. These guys have
been working here for fifteen straight days since this storm started.
Many of them slept here on the ground to be
able to keep this radio up and running, and the
(14:58):
radio station was one of the few places where people
could communicate. We've talked about the need for you to
have battery powered radios if there's crisis in your place,
of importance of AM radio in general, but also Buck
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Speaker 4 (16:27):
We are all.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Over the place. Buck is in Los Angeles. I am
in Asheville, North Carolina. Flew in here this morning on
a helicopter. Really difficult to get into Ashville and many
of the surrounding communities if you are basically trying to
travel in any way. We're gonna get more information about
how crazy it has been over the past couple of weeks.
We bring into the studio here with me in Ashville,
(16:51):
Mark Starling six to nine AM Eastern morning show host
here on five seventy am WWNC, also news director and Mark,
I just want to start with this, when did you
become aware that this was going to be a major disaster?
And tell people how many days in a row you
(17:14):
spent this air. This station never went off air. You
guys have continued to communicate with everybody. What should they
know about your experience in the early days of this
hurricane disaster.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
So we kind of had an idea. On Wednesday, we
were talking to our meteorologist from the Weather Channel and
he said, we've been working with him for ten years.
In that ten years, i've heard him use the word
catastrophic maybe once. He used it twice in the same segment,
and I knew right then, like this is not a
guy who's hyperbolic. We were dealing with something different. Thursday,
we came up with a game plan. My producer, Tank Spencer,
(17:48):
He and I were like, Okay, we're going to stay
at the station Thursday night, probably going to be able
to go home Friday night. Storm is going to go past.
I covered hurricanes for most of the fifteen years of
the start of my career. Right about Thursday evening, we
started to realize when things were already flooding and the
storm hadn't gotten here, we knew we were in bad shape.
We had six inches of rain prior to this storm,
(18:08):
even coming close to North Carolina, which meant everything was
already saturated. It wasn't gonna take much to blow trees over.
So we stayed Thursday night. We got up Friday morning
and did the morning show like we normally do, kind
of went through the day, and it was getting progressively
worse and worse, and obviously, you know, by Friday night
it was in full swing, so we had lost We
(18:30):
never lost power, I'm sorry we lost power. We never
went off the air. We lost internet on Saturday at
two thirty six pm, right on the nose. I remember
looking at the clock and I remember seeing our phones
go down, and so we had no communication with the
outside world. We had no way to get any sort
of new information. We had no way to use our phones,
we had no cell service. A buddy of mine happened
(18:50):
to be listening over in West Dashville and heard us say, listen, folks,
we're at a We're at a disadvantage here. We don't
have any information, we can't take your phone calls. We're
going to go back to regular program and try to
gather some information. He actually ended up hiking up here.
He drove as close as he could, hiked in with
a Ham radio had already talked to the Ham radio
network around here and said, hey, look Mark, Mark is
(19:10):
going to key up the mic. He's going to try
to get all the information he can from you guys,
and then he's going to go back on the air
and he and Tank are going to relay to everybody
that's listening. And that's how we operated for about twelve
to fourteen hours. We heard a noise out in the
hallway and we were on a break, and we stuck
our heads out there, and here are the most beautiful
sight I've ever seen. Was to iHeartRadio engineers with a
(19:31):
starlink strapped to their back coming down the hallway, and
I knew at that point we were okay.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So ewan starlink is the reason you were able to
get back on the internet.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Correct? Correct? So we got back on the internet Saturday night,
and we basically stayed round the clock taking phone calls,
listening to. I mean, people were scared. No one ever
thought a hurricane would come to western North Carolina, and
Tank and I kind of sat and talked about it,
and we were like, look, it's going to be our
job to help these people get through this hurricane. The
(20:00):
noises you're gonna hear in the middle of the night
are going to scare the crap out of you. It's
you're not gonna know what's going on because you can't
see anything, and when you wake up tomorrow morning, it
could be even a scarier site when you look outside.
And so we were really trying to just kind of
prep people for this and like really walk them through
step by step. It's you know, and we kept saying, look,
it's okay to not be okay, this is a super
(20:20):
scary time. The phone calls started coming in and they
started getting scarier and scarier and scarier. We took a
call from a gentleman who was up on the second
floor of his house with his wife and their seven
year old grandson. He called and we were chatting with him,
and this was literally like just minutes before everything kind
of went chaotic, and he says, oh, you know, we're
(20:41):
gonna be okay, we're we've had flooding here before. They
weren't okay. They didn't make it, and it evolved you on.
They called us on the air and they he talked
to us and he said, you know, I've been meeting
to clean this place out. I wanted to kind of downsize.
He's like, it looks like that's going to be taking
care of for me. And within hours they were gone.
So we realized then that we had to have a connection,
(21:05):
and so we decided that hey, listen, if you know
someone that's missing, call us here at the radio station,
give us their name, an address, and phone number, and
we will like, we're going to try to crowdsource wellness checks.
So we started doing that and we get a call
from this guy's name is Chris Henderson and he is
an absolute angel, and he said, listen, I'm out here
doing wellness checks. What if we team up together and
(21:25):
you start taking the names of the addresses, you send
them to me and I'll send my team out there.
So we did, and as of right now, I think
we are at like one hundred and forty eight families
that have been reunited with their loved ones. I think
it was like four hundred and twenty eight people or
something like that. And then we started the iHeartRadio Ashville
Chainsaw Gang, and we've got a group of chainsaw cutters
(21:47):
and they literally just go and take houses or trees
off people's houses and they don't charge them. This is
all stuff that we were able to crowdsource through the
power of radio. And I think that for us is
really what the story is here. When the TV could
didn't do it, the newspaper couldn't do it, there was
nothing online. The only thing left was AMFM radio. All
seven stations stayed on the air simulcasted. When our team
(22:08):
was able to get into the building, the cavalry had
arrived and we went. We were walled the wall. I
actually got to sleep at home for the first time
last night.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
You were sleeping here at the station.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
I've been here. I was at the station for fourteen days,
never went home. My wife she wasn't going to evacuate,
and needs say, I wasn't too happy about that. Got
a call on Friday morning and she said, you know what,
We've had to evacuate. We're at a gas station. I've
got all four dogs and our son Eli. We're just
going to have to ride it out here. There are
actually waves coming cresting over the top of the overpass
(22:42):
down on the Highway nine in Black Mountain, which is
where we live, and it was one of the hardest
hit areas. And I didn't hear from her for forty
eight hours. And when she did call, we were on
the air and she had actually gone to a Black
Mountain town hall meeting that they had. She called in
and my producer Tank, he puts their colors name up
(23:02):
on the screen and I looked over and I thought,
what is it? Wait, this can't be. She's the only
Brandy I know that spells it with too ease at
the end. And from pretty much that point on, it
was it was waterworks. It was just I was just
so happy to know that they were okay. I have
not seen them since the Wednesday.
Speaker 5 (23:23):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
They were evacuated down the sisters house with our four
dogs and they're doing great. They you know, it just
we made it. We made a lot better than a
lot of folks did. I mean, we took some damage
to our home, but nothing in comparison to what some
of these folks have lost.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Mark.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Appreciate you being with us and giving us first of all,
that this is just this incredible, uh story about what
you and the station have been through and also been
able to accomplish over the last two weeks. What is
the what are the imminent needs right now? I mean,
what what is the focus of these rescue and recovery
(24:00):
now really, I guess more recovery efforts currently going forward,
Like what has to happen, what needs need to be met,
what's on the ground doing at all of that?
Speaker 4 (24:10):
So you know, as far as like supplies that have
that have come in, I mean, it has just been
it has been an American outpouring. It's incredible to see
the amount of supplies that we have, and right now
we're really good on supplies. But this is not a
short term situation. Our water system was decimated by about
eighty five percent of it. I think there's eighteen hundred
miles of waterline in Ashville. Eighty five percent of it's gone.
(24:35):
So what we're really you know, what we're really hoping
for is that we can get the water back online
as fast as possible. They're measuring that time off out
of water in weeks and not days. Power is back on.
There's still about a thirty thousand people in Bunkham County,
which is where we are, that is that that are
still without power. It's getting better and better every day.
(24:56):
But you know, I think what we're worried about in
the long term is we've got cooler to they're moving in,
and we've got people who used to have homes that
don't have homes. And really, you know, I think the
big thing is is all of these groups that are
on the ground in here, whether they are doing you know,
whether they're doing recovery work or whether they're doing supply work.
We work with a group called Heartswodthands dot org. It's
(25:17):
a local charity. They're based out of Swannanoah, which was
one of the most devastated areas, and strangely, every single
thing around their warehouse was destroyed, but their warehouse wasn't touched.
They have two functions. They feed all of our first
responders hot meals every day, and then they also package
food boxes for pickup and delivery for folks who are
in need in the community. You know, usually hearts with hands.
(25:41):
They're the ones that are loading up the trailers and
taken them to Florida or somewhere else. I don't think
anybody ever thought it was going to happen here. And
you know, this storm was so different because of the terrain.
You know, a storm hits Florida, you got miles of
beachline for the water to reced to. There's nowhere for
the water to recede to here. So it was literally
like a thirty five football of water and debris that
(26:01):
came down the French Broad River and just decimated everything
in its path. I mean, there are there are towns
that used to be here that don't exist anymore. And
it's you know, as someone who covered hurricanes their entire
career living in Florida, I've never been through anything like
this before. I mean, the just the fury that the
water has brought to western North Carolina is just incredible.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
I think this is important. I was just talking out
front with a state trooper who came by. We're talking
with Mark Starling, hosts six to nine am Eastern morning
shows on this incredible story here at five seventy am
ww NC. I forty many things. I asked out front,
how long is this gonna take? He said, this is
(26:47):
gonna take years to rebuild, So for people out there
who haven't done anything yet. Maybe they haven't recognized the
severity of this. There's gonna be a need for help
here four months and months, if not years.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
I mean, we're a tourism based economy. There's only one
thing to see here right now, and that's destruction. You know,
hotels are not able to rent hotel rooms because you
can't run a hotel room without running water. So that
is pretty much just don't have running water still at
the radius, that's right. Yeah, we've been without water since
I believe it was Friday is when we lost water. Yeah,
(27:24):
it is. It's an untenable situation for a lot of people.
And there are people that are leaving. You know, there
were certain places that right after the storm happened and
that they were saying, listen, if you can leave, leave,
help's not coming. And it's like, well, whoa wait a second. Here,
these are our communities. We're not going anywhere. And you know,
for what we wanted to do here at the radio station,
at iHeart Asheville was we wanted to show the community that, like,
(27:47):
we can get through this. And we've been kind of
repeating this line. Community is the answer to this crisis,
and it is amazing. You know, people have I always
go back to this one phone call and a guy
came called in and he says, you know, I've helped
so many of my neighbors today and I didn't even
ask who they voted for first. And it's just kind
of that, like everything else outside of Western North Carolina,
(28:08):
everything else doesn't matter right now. Like our job as
a as a station and as a group of stations
and as an airstaff is to kind of unite our
community and bring us bring everyone together and get through
this together. I mean, it's going to be a heavy lift.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
And what we have.
Speaker 4 (28:25):
Seen is the absolute best in humanity in an absolute horrific,
horrific time.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
We asked whether it was appropriate to even try to
come in here. You guys need so much help. The
story was, we want you to help get this story.
Because you're talking to all fifty states right now. You're
talking to people all over the world, really, but certainly
in all fifty states. What would you ask of them?
What can they do if they're listening right now and
(28:51):
they're hearing about how bad things are in Western North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Honestly, I would recommend giving. Yeah, if you can give
please give Hearts with Hands dot org is again such
a wonderful organization. It's local. All that money stays local
as far as help goes. If you have a skill
and it's and and you feel like it would be worthy.
We need help here. You know. The cleanup, the cleanup
(29:17):
for the most part has gone pretty well, but there
is just so much of it.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
We've got our our chainsaw teams from the radio station.
They're running wide open pretty much from six a m.
Until seven or eight o'clock at night. And uh, you know,
the one thing I guess that we don't need is
people coming to Western North Carolina per se to the
to the heavy disaster zones and kind of clogging things up.
There are areas in western North Carolina that are open
(29:43):
for business.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Maggie Valley.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
I got a call today from a business owner. He's like,
hey man, He's like, I run a knife shop, and
he's like, we're totally open for business here and and
we would really rather you know, like direct people to
us if you if you can't, if they can't hang
out in Nashville, tell them to go come up to
Maggie Valley and see us, or go to Waynesville. And
you know there's a there's some there's some good truth
to that because these other these other areas, they they
(30:05):
too are tourist economies.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
This is what happened in Hawaii right where everybody decided
they didn't want to go to Hawaii. Buck and the
whole thing. So one more time that website, and by
the way, what you did, thanks to you and the
sacrifices that you made for your family. I can't even
imagine what you've gone through talking to so many people
in so many positions of peril. This is the best
of radio.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
It absolutely is. And I gotta I have to shout
out my team because the team here at iHeart Ashville
is truly the most incredible group of people. They're most
of our staff works on music stations. They're not familiar
with the news talk format. That didn't matter because it
wasn't such a so much of a formatic thing. It
was we just need to be able to show people
(30:48):
that we're here to and when, and we care and
we're gonna help you one way or the other. If
we can't help you, we will find someone to help you.
And that's how it's worked out. And the community has
answered those calls and said, hey, you know what, I
can go over there and check on this guy. I
you know, I'm on my way to my next appointment.
I'll stop by and make sure that they're okay. It's
the power of radio, and it is the power of
(31:10):
this iHeartRadio Ashville team. They are just such an incredible
group of humans. You know, Tank Spencer and I were
here by ourselves for the first portion of the storm
because our team couldn't get here. I don't know if
you saw coming, well you didn't see it coming because
you came it from the air, but coming up our
driveways line, it was lined with about a hundred trees.
Every tree came down, there was no way to get
(31:30):
in or out. It crushed the fence in the front.
Once those trees got out of the way, our team
was unstoppable. They got in and they just they just
got it done. And they have continued to you know,
this is our home, this is our community, and we
want to just see it built back. We know it's
going to take time, and we know it's going to
(31:50):
be heavy lifting, but this is where we call home
and Western North Carolina mountain folks are different. I got
news for you. Mountain folks are tough and that we
will real we will rebuild this community. It may not
look exactly like it did, It'll be better. That's the
way I feel, And I feel like our community is
more united today than we ever have been in the
(32:13):
past because of this storm. And if that's the good
that we can that we can pull out of this,
I'll take it all day long.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Mark, Thank you so much, incredible work. Appreciate you telling
us about this and everyone who can go and donate
and help out. Please do you know this past Monday,
many of us took a moment to reflect that it
was the one year anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack
on Israel, the worst massacre of the Jewish people since
the Holocaust, when the twelve hundred Israeli's lost their lives,
(32:43):
dozens more injured, two hundred and fifty hostage is taken.
The conflict remains as intense as ever. The IDF is
working to rescue hostages and fight back against Hesbela's daily
barrage of missiles. Israel's allies need to stand with her
in this moment, and that is where the International Fellowship
of Christians and Jews comes in. IFCJ has been on
(33:03):
the front lines to help and right now, your gift
of one hundred and fifty dollars helps the Fellowship provide
food and necessities to the families of reservists who have
been called up to help them in this time of need.
And your gift will be matched by a generous donor
doubling its impact. Call one hundred and fifty dollars A
call right now to make your one hundred and fifty
dollars gift eight eight eight four eight eight IFCJ. That's
(33:24):
eight eight eight four at eight IFCJ, or go online
to support IFCJ dot org.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Tons of you just giving us so much feedback, I
want to think again. And if you didn't hear the
full thing, it'll be up on the podcast. We wanted
to share with you what the experience has been like
for people in Nashville and surrounding communities in western North
Carolina eastern Tennessee. And Mark Starling, who was the host
(34:00):
that was on with us in the opening segment of
this hour from five to seventy AMWWNC. But you've talked
about this a lot. Radio uniquely connects with the audience
there are lots of different medias. There are lots of
different ways that people make connections, writing, TV, a variety
(34:21):
of different subjects, but radio at its core, really connects
with people. And I thought the stories that he was
sharing in a time of crisis here really connected with
you in all fifty.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
States, and my family in Ashville at the height of
the storm and its destruction, or you know, in the
morning after it, they were listening on that station. Carrie
told me before Clay I even knew you were going
to Ashville, said, you've got to talk to these guys.
The iHeart team in Ashville has just been all hands
on deck, not just to get information out, but also
(34:52):
to coordinate response.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
And rescue efforts. It's an amazing thing.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
But yes, you can imagine for people who had the house,
you know, partially carved in by falling trees, surrounded by
lethal floodwaters on all sides, roads either washed away or
blocked by trees, to hear on on AM or FM radio,
we know you're out there, We're in your community. We're
(35:17):
coming for you. Hold tight.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Help is on the way.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
I think of how meaningful that is, and it was
the only way to get people that message no doubt.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
We want to continue to update you with everything going
on in the world of politics as well. I'm here
in Ashville. You heard, by the way, Heartswithands dot Org
is a great organization local that you can donate to
if you were moved by the stories that you heard
being shared by Mark Starling and many others who are
talking to us outside and around the scenes here as
(35:51):
I'm in Ashville. But I also wanted to not neglect
what's going on in the political realm right now. And
let's play this book. I don't know if you saw this.
You mentioned as we went to break just a second
ago that obviously this week was the one year anniversary
of October seventh, and to how do you pronounce his name?
By the way, I've read.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
It for Tanahasei Coats.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Tanahasei Coats is a left wing icon who basically believes
that America is awful and that racist racist.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
You got you in the word racist.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
In fact, the book is really just every sentence is
about how racist, really actually white people are, but America
is more broadly as well racist racist, racist. And so
I heard this interview last night and I just thought
it was a perfect distillation of how awful many of
the people who argue that America is racist truly are.
(36:47):
And this was him.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Can I just add, because I think this important, Clay,
the left also believes that Israel is racist, racist, racist,
So that's where the connection is. Okay, we've already done
the trash America. It's all racist. All the white people
in America are racist. Israel, the left also believes racist.
And all the Israelis who first of all not I mean,
(37:09):
they're not even all white.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
There's a whole other conversation, but they're all racist.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
This is what many kids on college campuses are being taught,
which is why I want to play this for you.
And this is why maybe is next month is Thanksgiving
and you've got grandson or granddaughter sitting at the table
and they're going to say, oh, Israel, you know, they're
not a safe actor here. They deserve some of what
happened to them. This is the kind of arguments they're
hearing on campus. I want you to hear it. This
(37:36):
was a discussion about why this guy coach would have
potentially been one of the terrorists as well. Listen to
his rationale. This is cut one.
Speaker 6 (37:47):
Well, I twenty years old, born into Gaza, which is
a giant open air jail. And what I mean by
that is, if my father is a fisherman and he
goes too far allen to the see I just shot
by somebody off of you know, side of Israeli botes.
If my mother picks the olive trees and she gets
too close to the wall, she might be shot. If
(38:09):
my little sister has you know, cancer and she needs
treatment because there are no you know, facilities to do
that in Gaza, and I don't get the right permits,
she might die. And I grow up under that oppression
and that poverty and the wall comes down. Am I
also strong enough? But even constructed in such a way,
Why I say this is too far?
Speaker 1 (38:28):
I don't know that I am buck. If you ever think, hey,
maybe I should kill somebody because of their race, their ethnicity,
or their religion, newsflash, you are not the good guy.
But that's what many of these people believe.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Well this all Also, I don't think we've we've addressed
play the the reason that this is getting uh, you know,
so much attention. You you just played the most recent
appearance by by mister Coates on this on this issue.
He was on the CBS Morning Show pushing his new book,
which I believe only a portion of deals with this,
(39:05):
only a portion of it deals with Israel Palestine. But
his position is very explicitly Israel is an apartheid state.
It is evil along the lines of South Africa or
even Nazi Germany, which is obviously very offensive to.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
The Jewish people.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
And the one of the anchors who I had never
heard of before, Tony something that is I forget his
last name, but Ducoppel da Kappel. He just basically said,
why did you leave out in your explanation of the
Palestinian plight? Why did you leave And I say, Tony, actually,
(39:43):
you know has done his research.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
He's like, why'd you leave out the Second Intifada?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Why did you not talk about the fact that there
was an effort in what was otherwise peacetime, a long
and sustained effort to send as many Palestinian suicide bombers
into civilian areas as pos to kill people who are
at birthday parties, the old, the young, women, and children,
to pay the families of the suicide bombers, the Shahid
(40:09):
the martyrs in perpetuity, to hold up those families as
the great heroes of the Palestinian people. Not scientists, not athletes,
not businessmen, suicide bombers. The greatest heroes of the Palestinian
people in the early two thousands, the suicide bombers and
their families.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
Why no talk of any of that?
Speaker 2 (40:29):
And Clay, The thing about Tanahassikots is he's an icon
of the left. He is the most celebrated black author
of his generation. And so the rules at CBS are
you are not allowed to ask him questions. You are
allowed to clap and tell him how brilliant he is.
Those are the unspoken rules of the Democrat Party. Those
were broken by that anchor at CBS. They have now
(40:52):
brought in we're not making any of this up. Diversity educators,
struggle sessions, reports about how people are crying in these meetings.
How dare he ask him any questions? I mean, this
is this is why the Democrat Party, the left is
so broken.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
It's a cult.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
This is insane totally. And they also have now sent
out instructions at CBS saying that they're not to say
that Jerusalem is in Israel. I mean, I didn't believe
some of this stuff I had to go read it.
I saw the headlines CBS News is broken and this
we haven't spent a ton of time talking about it,
(41:28):
but the way they edited the Kamala Harris sixty minutes
interview buck When Dan Rather got caught making up news
about George W. Bush, they fired him. They basically ended
his career when they failed about the National Guard and
all those stories. But really, to me, this is far
worse than that, because it goes to the very essence
(41:49):
of the organization itself and whether it can be trusted.
And so when you have people out there arguing Jewish
people are so bad that basically anything you do to
them can be justified, and then you simultaneously have people
like the guy who's fighting back against the Madison Square
Garden rally against Trump saying, oh, this is like Nazis
(42:12):
rallying in nineteen thirty seven and nineteen thirty nine, all
these other things. I just want to push back and say,
you realize the left in this country is the one
arguing that any violence against Jewish people can be justified
based on their history, which is the same argument that
Adolf Hitler and the Nazis were making. Now it's a
left wing in the United States argument.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
I want to also point out that there's a fundamental
rejection of principle that the Allies the pro Palestinian pro
Hamas and by the way, people will they will bristle
when you say they're pro Hamas. Hamas is the government
of Gaza, the elected government of Gaza. So I don't
(42:55):
know in what universe there if there was, And credit
to Doug Murray for slamming this point home a few times.
If there was an election in the West Bank, Hamas
would win tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
So Hamas are the chosen representatives of the Palestinian people
by the Palestinian people. At this point, there's nothing else
that we could point to or even talk about. And
they explicitly endorse the murder of as many Jews as
they can.
Speaker 3 (43:22):
And then those same people who are saying.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
Look at Israel, Israel overreacts or Israel is going too far,
Israel's violating crimes of you know, they're saying they're committing
war crimes, have nothing to say about Palestinians. Never, I mean,
on October seventh, and I don't know what else you
could How could it be more.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
Evil than that?
Speaker 2 (43:41):
But This is the way that Hamas has been fighting
all along. They just want to go and murder Jews
and then say that they are a resistance organization. They're
not a resistance organization that wants to negotiate. They just
exist in this world where the more Jews that they
can kill, the better. That is their only real mission.
They've e miserated the Palace Indian people. They're absolutely corrupt
(44:02):
and God bless Netnyahu and the idea for hunting them
down and killing as many of them as he possibly
can who are involved in October seventh. That is just
that has warfare conducted the way that it should be.
And the fact that the Democrat Party has all this
confusion on this issue, Clay, what kind of lack of
moral clarity is possible where you could have on October
(44:23):
seventh Democrats, Kamala voters, let's be honest about it, marching
in support of Hamas and Palestine or the Palestinians.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
It's truly delusional and that is the base of the
Democrat Party right now, which is why Kamala Harris didn't
pick I think you could die it in directly with
the presidential election in a few weeks why Josh Shapiro
is not the pick because people like Coats on the
left in the Democrat Party would have lost their minds
if they picked the Jewish guy after October seventh.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
I think that's also a critical point, Clay, because if
they lose this election, and they lose it because of Pennsylvania,
it is the Democrat coddling of anti Semites that may
have cost in the election. I will say poetic justice
in that poetical it was very karmically.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Just if that ends up happening, I want to tell
you we're just talking about what happened at Israel on
October seventh. The impact of what happened with the United
States on nine to eleven continues. And think the Lord
that we have tunnel the towers out there to help
everybody with who is still fighting the battles of terror
and beyond. William Gilbert enlisted in the US Army to
(45:31):
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ied detonated, resulting in the tragic death of William and
(45:53):
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year about. The Tunnel of the Towers Foundation provided William's
family with a mortgage free home, although he was never
able to meet his youngest daughter, she is the epitome
of everything he was. Honor heroes like United States Army
specialist E four William Joseph Gilbert join us in donating
(46:14):
eleven dollars a month to Tunnel the Towers at T
two t dot org. That's t the number two t
dot org.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
What is Trump film like? These days?
Speaker 2 (46:31):
We've been talking a lot about the Kamala campaign, scrambling
trying to come up with some message of masculinity that.
Speaker 3 (46:39):
Will resonate, you know, because when when you think.
Speaker 2 (46:43):
Of the Democrat Party these days, which is very supportive
as remember this, the Democrat Party requires for you to
be in good standing, requires you to believe that you
know an eighteen year old high school student guy who
said he's a girl should be able to just get
out there on like the women's lacrosse field and lay
(47:05):
out all those chicks and just you know, that's it.
You know, that is a mandatory belief, and they wonder
why we're like not really on board with the whole
masculinity thing for Democrats. So that is a component of
all of this. But on the Trump side of things,
I gotta say he's kind of strutting his stuff, feeling
pretty good about himself right now. I think I think
(47:25):
the Trumpster feels the call of destiny right now, and
he's doing his thing. I mean, you compare Trump out
on the stump just doing effectively live one man show
for an hour here, two hours there, versus the Kamala
superscripted sit down with people who are in the tank
(47:46):
for her, and she still cannot manage to string together
a few sentences to convince anybody she's good at much
of anything.
Speaker 3 (47:54):
But this was a moment.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
Trump was in Detroit yesterday and he said to Detroit audience, Look,
if the Democrats w I Kamlo wins this one, the
whole country's.
Speaker 3 (48:05):
Going to start to feel like Detroit does right now.
Play it.
Speaker 5 (48:08):
I don't think anything that we're talking about today is
high on our list. I mean, the whole country is
going to be like you want to know the truth,
It'll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up
being like Detroit. If she's your president, you're gonna have
a mess on your hands. She destroyed San Francisco, she destroyed,
along with Newscombe, California, and.
Speaker 4 (48:28):
We're not going to let her do that to this country.
We're not going to let it happen.
Speaker 2 (48:32):
Clay, I mean, it's quite a move to tell people
in Detroit that Kalma's going to make the rest of
the country as dysfunctional as unfortunately the city itself of
Detroit has been for a long time. But I do
think the message that Democrats, when they have total control,
as they do in these cities, they make a mess
of things.
Speaker 3 (48:51):
It's very true. It's very true.
Speaker 1 (48:53):
I know Detroit pretty well because my wife is from there.
It became the worst city in America, and it started
to come back. But you know how it started to
come back because they've embraced more aspects of capitalism and
the fact that Detroit got so incredibly affordable for a
lot of different people out there, and then I think
(49:14):
there are other individuals that deserve a lot of credit.
They brought the wings back to downtown Detroit, the Red Wings,
that is, they've got the Detroit Lions, the Detroit Tigers,
all of the Pistons, all of those teams now play
right downtown and they've slowly developed many of the streets
and brought them back to where there's some form of safety.
But ultimately, what Trump is talking about is the degradation
(49:37):
of the American marketplace. My father in law is a
lifelong Detroit resident. He was one of the first people
I met who I knew was super smart, super plugged in.
And he told me early in twenty sixteen, I'm voting
for Trump. And I said, oh, that's interesting. Is what
is driving that? And he said, he's right. We don't
(49:57):
make things anymore. And that is the thing that matter
the most to my father in law, who is an engineer,
is American manufacturing has all been outsourced. There aren't the
jobs that they used to be. Detroit was an economic
miracle for the forties, the fifties into the early nineteen
sixties before you started to have the riots and everything
(50:17):
fell apart and everybody flooded into areas that are still really,
really nice, like Oakland County, but Dwayne County itself in
the Detroit area has struggled massively, and a big part
of that is because many of the best jobs that
people moved to the Detroit area to get in manufacturing
don't exist there anymore. And there's a lot of people
that have been struggling as those blue collar jobs have
(50:39):
abandoned the city. And Frankly, Buck, I think a lot
of people in Detroit not at along because they saw
what happened in Detroit as emblematic of what was happening
all over many parts of the country. And I think
it's why Trump's going to win the Midwest because he
recognized this early. It was a huge part of his
twenty sixteen campaign. We've got to make things in America,
(51:00):
and all of you out there who lived through twenty
twenty in the supply chain crisis, much of that was
because we don't manufacture things on shore anymore and we
were having to get caught with all of the issues offshore.
I've never heard anybody answer, well, when Russia invaded Ukraine,
all of American commerce kind of wagged their finger at
Russia and said, oh, we're not going to do business
with you anymore. McDonald's isn't there. You name it. If
(51:24):
China invaded Taiwan, we have no ability to do to
China what we did to Russia, and I think China
knows it. But so much of our product is now
sourced in China. We could say that to Russia and
look like social justice warriors because now they have something
else other than McDonald's. But we couldn't do that to China.
And that's what we got to bring back so many,
(51:44):
so much more of our manufacturing and have it rooted
in some way. I was yesterday Buck you started talking about.
Yesterday was XX Day, which we talked about Women's Sports
Day and the fact that there. I think many of Democrats'
policies are hemorrhaging, none more than men can be women's champions.
And if a man says he's a woman, you have
to believe it. I was talking with a guy at
Marsha Blackburn's rally in Jackson, Tennessee, and he was talking
(52:07):
about the impact of a car factory coming to West
Tennessee and how many jobs it was going to bring
and how much it matters to just have in many
of these communities the ability for somebody not to have
to flee and go to a big city and be
able to get a high paying job in the United States.
And I think that's the essence of Trump's campaign.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
I think that if Trump just stays on message from
now until the election, there is a very good chance
that not only I think he becomes president, but he
may even surprise us with one or two states that
are thought to be somewhat outside the reach of the Republicans.
Right now, I think that it's there's a real chance
(52:50):
here to do a little bit of running up the scoreboard.
That's how much more on point Trump currently is.
Speaker 3 (52:56):
And again I keep.
Speaker 2 (52:57):
This is within the two percent of the elect or
whatever the number is right now, that isn't done. I'm
in for Trump, I'm in for Kamala, right, I'm talking
about in that last that's what all these think about
the billions of dollars being spent, billions of dollars being
spent to convince it's probably more like one percent of
the population. But you know, but let's say two percent,
just to be in the safe side. Two percent of
(53:18):
the voting population to make one choice or another, and
so you know, look, Trump is out there also with
his economic message. Trump promised that he would put this
is cut nine, that he would put tariffs on imported
cars if that's what it takes to help.
Speaker 3 (53:35):
The American auto industry. Listen to this plainte.
Speaker 5 (53:37):
China is currently building gigantic auto plants in Mexico, and
they think that they're going to sell all of these
cars into the United States, which would destroy Michigan, totally
destroy your state. But it's not going to happen, not
going to happen, not even close. They might as well
stop building the damn plants.
Speaker 4 (53:58):
I will impose.
Speaker 5 (53:59):
Whatever tariffs are required per one thousand percent. They're not
going to sell any cars into the United States with
those plants.
Speaker 2 (54:10):
Now, the terriff issue, I know, even on the right,
there's some back and forth.
Speaker 3 (54:15):
Not everyone agrees with tariff. I do think it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (54:18):
The Biden campaign, I'm sorry, whoops, the Kamala campaign has
wanted to hit Trump on tariffs, but it has started
to emerge more. Yeah, except that Biden kept Trump's tariffs
on China in place. So how can you be in
charge and go along with the guy before you and
not undo what he did and then say what he
(54:39):
did is bad.
Speaker 3 (54:40):
That's a tough one.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
I'll also point out, Buck, this is Trump was making
this argument when they tried to claim that he was
saying that there would be a bloodbath if he lost. Remember,
all he was saying was the American auto industry, if
China were allowed to subvert our economic interests by bringing
in low cost automobiles, would actually drastically impact the automobile
(55:03):
industry to such an extent that it would be an
economic blood bath. And they tried to turn it into oh,
he's going to murder everybody if he doesn't win. It's
just emblematic of the dishonesty that is involved there. Okay, Buck,
I want to tell you guess what happened. Ten to
one hit last night. I had some positive news. I
(55:24):
gave you a Prize Picks pick on Thursday. Many of
you took it because I saw you reacting when we hit.
We had the Thursday night football game between the forty
nine Ers and the Seahawks, and all four of our
picks on Prize Picks hit, meaning if you played along
with us, you won ten to one. I believe this
(55:44):
is the second ten to one Prize Picks Thursday Night
Football bet. We have won in the last three weeks,
and last week we came so close as well. So
we've been on a little bit of a role. Two
ten to one's in the last three weeks. If you
want to play along with us next Thursday, maybe we
can keep the mojo going. You can go to prizepicks
dot com, use my name Clay Clay, and when you
(56:08):
play five dollars, you get a fifty dollars credit on
your account. That is fifty dollars right into your prize
Picks account. You can play in Florida, you can play
in California, you can play in Texas, you can play
in Georgia. If you're feeling left out, prizepicks dot com,
my name Clay, prize picks dot com, my name Clay.
Five dollars pick, you get back fifty dollars and we
(56:32):
just want to ten to one special two of the
last three weeks. Let's have some fun. I'll try to
hit again on Thursday. Go ahead and sign up. Let's
have some fun next Thursday. You can join the team.
Prizpicks dot com.
Speaker 2 (56:43):
Can I say I've been writing Clay's coattails here to
financial glory on some of these bets.
Speaker 3 (56:49):
I'm just gonna say it.
Speaker 2 (56:50):
Okay, I'm not my second ten to one, so Clay,
you got to keep this going.
Speaker 1 (56:55):
I'm happy to have two. Let's try to make it three.
On Thursday. Prize Picks dot Com. My name Clay, that's
price picks dot Com Mining Claip
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
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Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
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