June 13, 2025 • 48 mins
Israel Strikes Iran A powerful and timely breakdown of the breaking news surrounding Israel’s unprecedented military strike on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure. Broadcasting live as the story unfolds, Clay and Buck provide exclusive insights from their recent visit to the White House, including a private meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office just hours before the Israeli operation commenced. The hosts emphasize the strategic brilliance and secrecy of the mission, highlighting how President Trump and his administration maintained operational security while publicly signaling diplomacy. Drawing on Buck Sexton’s CIA background and Clay Travis’s recent travels to Israel, the duo analyzes the geopolitical implications of the Israeli airstrike, which targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile infrastructure, and senior IRGC leadership. They describe the operation as potentially the most impressive tactical aerial strike of the 21st century, comparing its precision and scale to historic military campaigns. Josh Hammer live from Tel Aviv The hour features a live report from Newsweek’s Josh Hammer, broadcasting from Tel Aviv, who shares firsthand accounts of life under missile sirens and the Israeli public’s overwhelming support for the strike. Hammer underscores that across Israel’s political spectrum, there is near-universal consensus on the existential threat posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions. He also notes the quiet approval from key Arab nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, despite their public condemnations. Clay and Buck explore the broader Middle East dynamics, including the fallout from Hamas’s October 7th attack, the weakening of Hezbollah, and the strategic miscalculations by Iran and its proxies. They credit President Trump’s leadership and the current administration’s discipline in avoiding leaks and maintaining a strong deterrence posture. The hosts also discuss the potential for lone-wolf terrorist responses and urge vigilance while dismissing alarmist claims of World War III. Scott Jennings live from Israel Our Visit to the WH
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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.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome in What a.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Day we are destined for here on a Friday, rolling
into Father's Day weekend. Major news breaking yesterday evening, as
we suggested, might well be the case, based on our
read of the situation, Israel attacks Iran and goes once
(00:29):
and for all for a knockout blow when it comes
to Iran's ability to get nuclear weapons. Buck made the
travel back. I believe he was in the air when
the attacks started on his way back to Miami. I
am still in Washington, d C. City of DC really
much of a mess right now for many reasons, as
(00:49):
it always is, but in particular huge parade tomorrow for
the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Army and
all of that underway streets being shut down. The timing
on this very interesting. But Buck, speaking of interesting, I
was able to get in had the passport. They let
me in to the White House yesterday. You and I
(01:11):
had the opportunity on look, any day you get to
go meet with the President in the Oval Office and
have a chat is a pretty big day. But in
conjunction with the fact that the attack happened a few
hours after we left. There are for those of you
inclined that like pictures, there are tons of pictures of
us with President Trump, with Jade Vance, with Caroline Levitt.
(01:36):
All of that is up on social media. You guys
can track it out. We had a great conversation with
President Trump. He wanted to let all of you know
how much he appreciates you. Oval Office meeting. Met also
with security related officials in the Oval Office and in
the West Wing area. Trying to tiptoe up to exactly
(01:57):
what I can say, but Buck, I think it's fair.
We have the CIA background. We also were at Langley
this week. You and I had a very clear sense
that the moment of truth for Iran was at hand,
and I was not surprised when attacks happened last night.
I think they did a really good job of pretending
(02:19):
that they didn't know, but when they withdrew a lot
of the families from the Middle East, it was a
sign that they expected things to happen. What's your take,
based on your background in the CIA and based on
the evidence that continues to unspool about these attacks.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, so the timing was remarkable.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Let me just first say that from everything we have
seen on the reporting of this strike, the Israelis may
have pulled off the most impressive tactical aerial strike ever.
I don't know if anything could compare to what they
have been able to accomplish in this twenty four hours.
(03:00):
I'm talking from a purely military perspective, from a target
set and assessing collateral damage, assessing the specificity of the targets.
This is really unprecedented. And now the Israelis have world
class military hardware, in part because of the United States,
in large part, I think because of the collaborations that
(03:21):
we have with them. But what they've pulled off here, Clay,
is nothing short of remarkable. However one feels about the strike,
I'm merely looking at this right now from the practitioner
and tactical perspective. Now, the run up to this was
particularly interesting for Clay and me.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Obviously.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
The run up to this was decades of Iran funding terror,
playing all kinds of games with the inspectors and with
the deals, and the Israelis had finally just had enough.
Trump opened the door for them and tried to say, look, Iran,
you really want to do a deal because we're not
messed around anymore, and they they messed around and they
(04:02):
found out on this one.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Now, Clay, we were there.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
We were in the Oval Office with the President, as
you mentioned, spoke to and spent time with all the
West Wing staff, Caroline Levitt, Steven Miller, all the superstars
we talk about on this show, and we just wanted
to be there to get some time with them, talk
to them about how things are going. But we did
particularly have a national security component of our time there.
And I'm telling you about this all for a reason.
(04:27):
One is Clay had never been to Langley. As you know,
my old stomping grounds really did bring back a lot
of memories. I did not make Clay turn on the
James Bond theme music and we drove in, but I
thought about it. But we had a very good talk
and the contents were off the record. But we did
ask everybody we met with, are we allowed to say
that we met with you recomfortable with that?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
And they all we all we got approval and all that.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
So Deputy Director CIA, other senior CIA staffers, I won't
get into all their titles, Deputy director National Intelligence, director
of National Intelligence. We talked to everybody. One thing that
was really interesting Claive was they were eager to speak
to us, particularly about the DOGE and restructuring components of government,
things like that, Right, the thing what you would assume
we would talk about, and you know, again I won't
(05:12):
get into the specifics, but we could talk about in
the broadest terms. The moment you or I asked a
question about Iran, you could just feel that the ever
ever to the room got a little TETs yes and
didn't want to talk. Now when you're talking to us
about the other things that were under discussion, and then
you discuss Iran and all of a sudden. This was
to the point where I texted my brothers the night
(05:33):
before the strikes and I said, guys, I think they're
going I think they're going in. I didn't want to
say this publicly because I didn't know. No one told me,
and too, you know, you don't want to be wrong
on something like this, and also I didn't want anyone
to get ahead of it, right, I mean, you want
the Israelis to have the benefit of surprise. But I
had a very strong feeling that I only shared with
clay an immediate family.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
I said, Okay, I think this is happening.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
President Trump brought us into the Oval and was in
full Trump mode now he knew the strike was about
to happen. And Susie Wiles, who is the White House
Chief of Staff, we wanted to go by and just
just say thank you, Susie, do an amazing job, and
you know this White House and all heartfelt by the way.
You know, what we say to you on this show
on the air, which is our public record, right is
(06:15):
what we wanted to say to them in person about
how this is going. I don't have criticisms of this
administration so far, you know, maybe some suggestions, but no criticisms.
Susie Wilds was we found out from just somebody passing
by in the situation room, and Clay and I were
sitting there going, hmmm, the situation room. That's an interesting
place for the White House chief of Staff to be
right in this moment. And then we had talked to
(06:37):
our friends on the Secretary of Defensive Staff and the
Secretary of State staffs about meeting up. How many kept
having meetings moved around anyway, Long story short, we've known
for the last twenty four hours or so that this
was coming and it was interesting to be by the
decision makers here. Now it wasn't an American strike, of course,
but they all knew that this was going to happen.
(06:57):
And Trump's poker face. I would not want to sit
at the table from him in a poker game play.
I think it was masterfully played. And we're gonna go
to Israel and talk to a variety of different people.
Josh Hammer up next, So we're gonna break here in
a couple of minutes. Just so you know, Scott Jennings
is going to join us CNN's chief pugnacious pundit when
(07:18):
it comes to defending sanity on that network is actually
in Israel as well. Yell Eckstein, who obviously many of
you know from the IFCJ. Her flight was turned back
on route to Israel. She is still in the United States.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
And we're going to talk with Ben Shapiro of the
Daily Wire, So a lot of different people we're going
to talk about. We got a lot of guests reacting
to what is a monumental day. I thought, Trump, Marco Rubio,
Pete hag Seth, jd Vance, Susie Wiles, everybody that was
involved here played it masterfully, in particular the Trump press
(07:55):
conference that he had right before we went in for
our meeting. Buck, I mean, were hanging out with him
in the middle of the afternoon as the final preparations
for the attack are going. But he said publicly that
we were still effectively negotiating with Iran when he knew
that Israel's attack was coming in the side of Israel.
They actually leaked that net and Yahoo was going to
(08:17):
be having to attend one of his children's weddings to
make the Iranians think nothing was ominous or or a
vout to happen, and a.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Little bit like Michael Corleoni at the christening and then
all the bosses got whacked, you know, is settling all accounts,
settling all family business.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
It was a bit of that. And to your point,
I mean, Trump continued.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
He also he had his meeting with us, He had
the Senate and House leadership coming to the coming to
the event. I just think they knew exactly what was coming,
but they did not leak any of it. They kept
it extremely close to the vest, and as a result,
I think this was one hundred percent the right call.
(09:04):
Now I was over in Israel in December, and in
some of my meetings with top Israeli officials, they said,
now is the time to make the move. Now they
said it a little bit. I think we had the
Speaker of the House, Speaker of the Knesse over there
on this program letting it be known. I think that
basically he thought the time to attack Iran was now,
(09:26):
and they waited.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Trump tried to get Iran to.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Agree to peace, and this seems to have been an
incredibly strategic, successful, decapitation style attack. We will continue to
break all of that out for you, but we're going
to Israel with Josh Hammer. He's a senior editor at
large at Newsweek, author of Israel and Civilization. He is
in Israel right now. We come back, we'll see what
(09:50):
it sounds like on the ground there. Tomorrow marks a
major milestone two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the US Army,
also President Trump's seventy ninth birthday. Our sponsor, Pure Talk,
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zero say Clay and Buck. Save one thousand dollars and
support America's heroes at pure Talk. Our friend Josh Hammer
joins us now from the outskirts of Tel Aviv. He's
the author of Israel and Civilization, Senior editor at large
(11:15):
for Newsweek. Hammer glad to hear you're safe and things
are going okay so far. Tell us bring us as
much as you can into the on the ground story.
How are the Israeli people feeling, what are the security precautions?
Tell us what's going on around you?
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Yeah, Bud, thanks for having me.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
It's been a heck of a week so far, as
things have not exactly gone according to plan. To put
a mildly so, the first thing happened a couple of
nights ago. We were at a dinner in Telaveria on
the Sea, nice sushi dinner, you know, hoping for a
romantic evening that was quickly interrupted by citywide sirens for
a hoopy ballistic missile attack.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
So we ran with the baby stroller.
Speaker 6 (11:54):
To the bomb shelter before finishing our dinners. That was
kind of just a preview of things to come. So
we woke up this morning at three am local time
to massive sirens all throughout the country and he ran
to the bomb shelter. So so I've been up buck
since three am multiple time, and you know, it's it's been.
It's been a heck of a day. I guess I
can tell you is that on the ground it's very
(12:15):
early quiet. There are virtually no cars here on the road.
The folks who I'm staying with here in the house
where I'm at. Who went to the supermarket to get
goods for the Sabbath, the Shabbat on the weekend.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
It's over there.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
Apparently, waiting in line at the market for two hours.
So it's kind of like a hurricane. I mean, I've
written out hurricanes before you. I mean, if you've ever
been to the supermarket on the eve of a massive storm,
you know that all the produce is totally sold out there,
the bread is sold out, the line around the corner.
Apparently it's hurricane like conditions here. A million dollar question
obviously is what is around and now going to do?
Speaker 5 (12:48):
But the Israeli people.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
Are tough, They're resilient and tranquily buzzing kind of a
weird way.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
I'm actually really happy.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
To be here at the sumner, Josh, what would you assess?
And I know it's hard because Israel has a lot
of people, but what kind of approval ratings do you
think as you sit there twelve hours after the attack,
sixteen hours after the attacks started, do you think there
is an Israel for attacking Iran?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Right now?
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (13:13):
Here in Israel, clay Iran is not a contentious issue.
This is a very important point to get across. There
are a lot of contentious issues here in the Israeli
political spectrum. So there's a lot of disagreement about the
Palatine Arabs.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
What do you do with them? Two state solution, one
state solution.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
All that.
Speaker 6 (13:28):
There's a huge dispute here when it comes to the
issue of the draft exemption into the military for the
Hyrid Deem, the so called ultra Orthodox. There are definitely
contentious issues here in Israel. Iran is not one of them.
I actually have this memory of chatting with a far
left member of the connect that back in twenty sixteen.
This guy was so far left, a literal self that
self described marks that he's actually a supporter Bernie Sanders's
(13:51):
twenty sixteen credential campaign. That's why I was chatting with
him nine years ago. And I say that because even
this guy who was such a need to far left die,
even he was pretty hawkish when it comes to Iran.
So if you are a Jewish israel I think Arab
is really study different conversation, but Jewish is really is
here across the entire political spectrum, understand that Iran is
(14:13):
the existential threats, and that at the IDFs mantra of
never again means never again, if that actually used to
be taken seriously, that an operation the likes of which
we saw last night simply had to happen at some point.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Do you have any sense, Josh of surprise at the
lack of military or effective military response from the Iranian
side of the equation. As we begin to dig in
more to this, and we will over the course of
the show today, the mapping of targets, the ability to
hit simultaneously, the ballistic missiles program along within the tan's
(14:48):
nuclear facility and other nuclear facilities, along with senior leadership,
along with I mean, it's a stunning array of targets,
hundreds of planes that hit you know, over a hundred sites.
But how much worry is there that there will be
a major military strike versus the terrorist cells dispersed? That
has always been a concern where they'rn.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
So we saw a preview of this last year, right,
So twice last year, in both April and October, Aron
launched a massive ballistic missile barish parage at Israel. So
the higher one with October was it was like one
hundred and eighty three ballistic missiles or something like that,
and Israel's missile defense system held up not a single
Israeli what was harmed, not a single hair. Every single
(15:32):
Israeli was harm which is pretty remarkable in its own rights.
So we'll see if Roan is able to do more
than that. I suppose color me skeptical for at least
two reasons. One is, on the Israeli North you have
their top roxy heads Blaw, which has been completely decimated
at this point. They are a total shell of what
they once were, and head Blaw was very much Iron's
(15:53):
insurance policy there. That's kind of sort of damicles hovering
over Israel, essentially trying to prevent Digital from striking, so heslow.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
And taken care of.
Speaker 6 (16:01):
And then the literal actual people buck on the ground
in Iran, like the actual IRGC top generals, like the
physical people who would actually get on the phone and
call the shots, are mostly dead at this point. So
I'm skeptical as to what could happen. But having said that,
we're not taking any precautions. My wife and I we
are supposed to go to Jerusalem this weekend spend the
(16:22):
Sabbath there. I'm supposed to have a talk my book
in Jerusalem Sunday night. We essentially cantled all that. We're
just we're buckling down here in the safe house. We've
got a nice big bunker bomb shelter rooms. So we're
not taking chances, certainly not taking any chances, especially as
a new father. But on the other hand, I'm pretty
skeptical that iron can can can do anything of much
significant piosity.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I think this is important and we're going to dive
into it more, Josh, and we appreciate you joining us
from Israel book.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
By the way, is Israel and Civilization.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
There is actually a great deal of support for Israel's
attacks from other Middle Eastern countries, Muslim countries. They also
wanted Iran not to have nuclear weapons. That's an important
part of this, and I don't know that it gets
widely discussed, but Iran was seen as a pariah state
by many Muslim countries as well.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Oh one thousand percent.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
No, Look, the Saudis and the Murdis have put out
condemnatory statements, but that's just what the Arab countries do
play as you know, I mean, they're they're basically very
cowardly when it comes to the public facing statements there,
but privately, I mean Mohammed Bintelman is definitely smiling ear.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
To ear and Riatta right now.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
There is no.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Doubt about that. With the exception probably of.
Speaker 6 (17:35):
The Emir and Doha Qatar Tantar being Iran's closest Sumi
Arab allies and needing some of these rogues Northern African
Muslim brotherhood adjacent to rogue states like Algeria Tunisia both
a pretty radical government, but the vast majority of the
Arab world that matters, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan,
countries like that.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
We got to stay safe, buddy, Thank you, boy, get
Israel civilization.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Thank you so much. Yes, stay saying.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
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(18:51):
one of my kids called me an unk the other day,
and unk yep slang evidently for not being hip, being
an old dude.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
So how do we ununk?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
You get more people to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
At least that's what my kids tell me.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
That's simple enough.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Just search the Klay, Travis and Buck Sexton Show and
hit the subscribe button.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Takes less than five seconds to help ununk me.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Do it for Clay, do it for freedom, and get
great content while you're there the Klay Travis en Buck
Sexton Show YouTube channel. As you know, there was a
series of major strikes by Israel's air force on nuclear
sites and high level military targets, including individual military personnel
and nuclear scientists all across Iran.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Just about I don't know I can do the math,
but in the last twenty four hours for sure, probably.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
Like eighteen hours ago, and so we will continue to
follow that story closely. We've got Scott Jennings. We're efforting
him right now. He is in Israel. You know Scott
from the gentlemanly slaps that he dishes out over at
CNN to various Democrats and leftists on on one of
(20:00):
their shows. We'll see we can get We're having a
little bit technical issue because you know, he's on the
other side of the world, so we'll see if we
can have him join us from Israel. Also, just some
other stories we are watching as we continue to deep
dive into the preemptive strike, which is what Israel's officially
calling it on Iran and its nuclear capability and ballistic
missile capability and the IRG SE mean, they just they
(20:23):
went for it in a big way. You have still
the ongoing back and forth with Trump and Newsom in
Los Angeles and California. More broadly, Trump put out this
tweet I shouldn't say tweet truth yesterday Clay the Biden
administration and Governor Nuskum. He wrote, Nuskum flooded America with
(20:44):
twenty one million illegal aliens, destroying schools, hospitals, and communities
and consuming untold billions of dollars in free welfare. All
of them have to go home, as do countless other
illegals and criminals who will turn us into a bankrupt
third world nation. America was in and occupied. I'm reversing
the invasion. It's called remigration. Our courageous ice officers who
(21:07):
are daily being subjected to dosing and murder threats are heroes.
We will always have their back as they carry out
this noble mission. America will be for Americans again. Very
strong statement from President Trump on the continued mission to
both stabilize things in Los Angeles County UH and continue
(21:28):
the deportation operations. It was pretty stunning, Clay, but I
guess not surprising. A lower court judge slapped down Trump's
deployment of the National Guard basically said Trump's not allowed
to do this. Gavin Newsom is the only one who
can call the shots. Then the appeals court, I believe,
looked at it and slapped down the slap down with
(21:50):
a stay of the stay because the President of the
United States think about our history. If the President of
the United States, oh we have Scott Jennings, we do well,
I would I was having.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
You can give us a stem winder on the supremacy clause.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Clause was right on top of my mind there, But
we got Scott Jennings live from Israel, CNN's own Scott Jennings.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Scott, what's it like over there? What's going on?
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Well, great to hear your voice. You know, it's interesting.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
I'm in Tiberius, literally standing on the bank of the
Sea of Galilee right now, looking due east, which is
towards Tehran, and it's a little calm out here at
Shabbat Friday night here in Israel, so a lot of
people are with their families that inside. And right before
we connected, I got a word on my phone. I
think people may be going into safe rooms now because
(22:38):
of a possible missile incoming from Yemen.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
But other than that, everything's fine.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
So we're all we're all just amazed at the news
today and what Israel pulled off, apparently with the help
of our President Donald Trump, to really defeat the principal,
you know, it's the head of the octopus, and to
take away their nuclear capabilities, to decapitate the government of
the worst.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
People in the world.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
You know, these people they killed today are the absolute
founders of terror. It's a great day. This has been
twenty twenty five years in the making. I'm glad Israel
pulled the trigger.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Scott.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
You're over there right now. I was there in December.
They've stopped all air travel, everything else. We've got, you know,
millions of Americans listening right now who have not been
to Israel before, who've not seen it. What it's like
in a time of war? What is it like? What
was your experience like? I know you posted your bomb
alerts that came onto the phone for people who will
(23:34):
maybe never go to Israel and certainly will not be
there in a time of war. What's the experience like
for you and for the average Israeli right now?
Speaker 6 (23:44):
Well, you know, they live with something every day of
these possible incoming rocket and missile strikes, so you know,
it's really common for them to get alerts and to
go into safe rooms. A lot of the buildings or
apartments or houses you're in would have a safe room,
and they take it all in stride. It's just part
of daily life. I mean, obviously, this attack on Iran
is extremely unusual, so it has the country on a
(24:05):
heightened state of alert, but on day to day life,
you know, they take it in stride. And they go
about their business and they just live with it. Of course,
you know, they live with the being surrounded by their
enemies all the time, and they've just had to learn
to incorporate into their daily life. I've enjoyed being here.
This is an incredibly hospitable country everywhere I've gone from
(24:25):
the north to the south. I've been to the Gaza border,
I've been to the Lebanon border. I've been in Jerusalem
and Tel Aviv and a lot of places in between.
Extremely hospitable, welcoming to Americans, appreciative of the relationship between
Israel and the United States. I had not been, I
would have no qualms whatsoever about bringing my family back
here to visit again. It's been an amazing experience.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Scott, there seemed to be some difference in the reporting
about how some aspect of this went down. I'm wondering
if you either have insight or just what your assessment
of it is that Trump was essentially new one hundred percent.
This was coming well in advance, and so there was
the head fake, if you will, of hanging out with
(25:08):
Clay and me for one thing, you know, having a
good time in the Oval office, the picnic that was scheduled.
Secretary of Defense went to a baseball game with his kids.
Then there's other people who are saying, oh, but President
Trump told them not to. Netnyahu said, look, we can't
wait anymore, and then Trump just rolled with it because
it's ultimately Israel's call. How do you see the last
(25:31):
let's say, three or four days playing out as it
pertains to Trump and his role in all of this.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
Well, I think people who hate Donald Trump are always
going to come up with a narrative that tries to
make him look bad no matter what happens.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
That's number one. Number two.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
I go back sixty days, sixty one days, sixty one
days ago. Donald Trump said publicly, Iran has sixty days
to make a deal. Today is day sixty one. So
he told the world and I ran clearly what they
needed to do in order to have this outcome. And
here we are sixty one days later, and Iran didn't
make a deal. They couldn't bring themselves to understand the
(26:07):
position they were in. And now Israel is doing the
work of dismantling the enemy of Western civilization. But the
President of the United States warned them, and now they're
getting the consequences of failing to heed that warning. So
I think this ruse, I think this head fake, whatever
you want to call it, is going to go down
in history is one of the most interesting and amazing
(26:28):
military operations that ever happened. I mean, this is essentially
page or two point zero. You know what, the israelis
constructed here, having masade inside of Iran, having the head
fake with the United States. The entire construction of this
is nothing short of a miracle. And it is good
for the West, and it is good for America, and
it is good that Donald Trump was the president because
(26:49):
I'm not sure the previous administration would have ever participated
in something like this to defeat this enemy.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Scott, you're on CNN talking to a lot of people
who it appears every night, or reading from the same
talking points. I haven't really seen an aggressive pushback from
the left on Israel's actions so far, two parter. Have
you seen any kind of pushback from a purely political
perspective too?
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Do you expect one?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Because they march in lockstep, everybody had the Mexican flag up.
Is Iron's flag going to start showing up? And left
wing bios on social media? How do they respond to
this or are they actually going to acknowledge that this
is actually a good thing for global peace?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
What do you anticipate.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Well, first of all.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
Ben Rhodes, who was Obama's National Security advisor, was one
of the first people out to criticize this. And you
know his nickname, according to reporting in the Obama Whitehouse
was Hamas and so.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
That is, by the way, that is quite a nickname.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 6 (27:47):
And then you've seen some other fringe elements of the
left that are very unhappy, because they're unhappy anytime Israel
in the United States it does anything to defend itself.
What I really think their problem is going to be
Tomorrow these Kings rallies or all these rallies that are
being held around the country. You can bet that the
Free Palestine movement will be out there that the Palestinian
flags and the Hamas colors and all these people that
(28:11):
have been marching all over college campuses at American cities
for the last few months.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
You know they're going to be at these events.
Speaker 6 (28:18):
And I think politically, until the left, until the Democrats
divorced themselves from this bunch of people who, let's just
be honest. It has nothing to do with Palestine. This
is about destabilizing the West and destroying the United States
of America from within. That's what it is. It is
a domestic terrorism organization. Until you can separate yourself from that,
the American people are going to continue to punish you
(28:40):
and Democrats today. I mean, not that many statements coming
out from Democrats in Congress supporting Israel today because they
are afraid. They are afraid of these people. They need
to get rid of them and get away from them
as soon as they can.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
That is my sincerest advice to them.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
But is that even possible Scott with the makeup, I
mean politically possible. Right, of course, they could do the
right thing, But I mean to keep the Democrat coalition
going such as it is, and it seems like they
have to pretend that this is the new BLM, like
this is the new social justice Movement, but it's not BLM.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
It's Prohomas.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
Well, the coalition of the Democrats fundamentally thinks America and
Western values are rotten at the core. I mean, that
is the sad fact of that party, and they need
to reverse themselves immediately. I don't know if they can
do it. But when you look at the energy in
their party, the beating heart of that party at its core,
believes America is rotten, Our founding values are rotten, the
(29:42):
West is rotten.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
They look at the world through.
Speaker 6 (29:45):
The lens of this oppressed and oppressor, and they believe
the United States is an oppresser. Well, how can you
be a political party in the United States if you
believe those things? And I think that's why they're struggling
with the American people right now, because most Americans do
not see.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
The world that way. And I don't know if.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
They can get rid of it, but it would help
them if they could. But you look at where their
energy is. The squad crocket. These people, these strident voices
from the radical left, they're not pro America. They don't
believe in our founding values. They don't believe in Western civilization.
In many cases, they certainly don't believe in our relationship
with Israel. They're going to have a tough time here
(30:24):
divorcing themselves, but they really should try because it's killing them.
It is killing their party. And you know, as a Republican,
you know it's good politically, but I hate it for
the United States that one of our two political parties
has fallen a victim of this hateful ideology.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
We're talking to Scott Jennings. He's an israel Last question
for you, Scott, and we appreciate you making the time.
I know it's night coming over in Israel, not to mention,
who knows what might happen with that occurring. But back
here in the States, when you see some owned biles
come after Riley Gaines, and when you have conversations with
off air Democrats, do they acknowledge privately that they're public
(31:00):
stance in favor of men in women's sports is absolutely insane.
Speaker 6 (31:06):
Every single person that I know from that side of
the ball, from that profession professional Democrats know that it's
killing them. And they also know that there's not a
darn thing they can do about it. I mean, that
is the fundamental problem they have. They know the right
thing to do, but they can't do anything about it.
Either they live in fear or they know that. The
way their party works, I mean, they're authoritarians, you know,
(31:29):
and you're not allowed to get out of line. You're
not allowed to say, wait a minute, look what they
did to Fetterman when he got out of line on Israel,
you know. I mean they're out there saying y ought
to be in a straight jacket. I mean his own
staff was out there saying that you are not allowed
to get out of line inside the Democratic Party controlled
by the radical left.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Even on obvious ninety.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Five five issues, which this issue is.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
You're not allowed to get out of line, and you
even have to say things like we need more studies,
We need more studies to find out if men and
women are different.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Jennings of CNN, Scott stay safe over there. Thanks for
making the time.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
For us, all right. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
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Speaker 3 (33:38):
We actually happened to be in the West Wing yesterday
for a substantial amount of time. We met with President Trump,
saw jd Vance, Stephen Miller, Caroline Levitt, a lot of
the people that we have known for years that are
doing phenomenal work. And I would describe I think you
probably would sign off on it President Trump as extremely relaxed.
(34:01):
He wanted us to see the changes that he's made
to the Oval Office, the changes that he has made
in terms of portraiture in the cabinet rooms and everything
immediately ancillary to the Oval Office. Also you can see,
and I think this is gonna end up being pretty cool.
He is in the process of building a patio where
you can dine outside, so it will be like he
(34:23):
has basically at mar A Lago, but this would extend
He's paying for himself. He says this would extend for
future presidents as well. But he likes the idea of
having sort of his own salon where you can walk
outside and have meals on a patio just outside the
Oval Office in the West Wing. But I would describe
him as super relaxed. He wanted all of you to
(34:44):
know that he appreciates you and really is greatly thankful
for all of your support. But the thing that he
seemed most excited about talking about is something that hasn't
gotten a great deal of attention. Buck and I wanted
to play this audio because it's kind of gotten lost
in the sh shuffle of everything that has happened since
Israel attack Toron. But with us, he wanted to say,
(35:05):
because he signed this bill, he wanted to talk about
the impact of ending the electric vehicle mandate and what
he believed was going to be a substantial change for
the better for many different American drivers out there. And
this is cut eighteen with Bucket Eye and you can
go see the pictures. By the way, some of you
want to see the pictures. They're up at all the
(35:26):
Clay and buck social media accounts. We were happy to
have the time that we did with the President and
all the staff.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
But here is cut eighteen.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Trump announcing yesterday that he was terminating the California ev mandate,
which matters to a lot of you out there.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Listen, this is good news.
Speaker 7 (35:41):
Indeed, people said he couldn't be done. You got it done.
I just have to sign right. That's very good. This
is really something and it has to do with the
California Auto Regulation cr A. It's been a disaster for
this country and I want to thank everybody for being here.
(36:03):
We officially rescue the US auto industry from destruction by
terminating to California electric vehicle mandate once and for all.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Okay, there is the announcement balk from President Trump. I
knew he wanted would want to talk about a lot
of different things, but this is the thing he was
most excited to talk about with us.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Yeah, I know he was.
Speaker 4 (36:30):
We sat down and we were obviously we're already thinking
about Iran, but also we're talking border, we're talking riots
in LA and how he's and he was like, gentlemen,
did you see did you see the thing I did
on the vehicles. We're like, yeah, yes, sir, mister President,
we saw, and he really because he had just signed it.
I was very proud of it. He just got a
press conference on it. Just to bring everybody up to
(36:50):
speed on this play, because this has got this is
one of these It's actually a big deal, but it
has gotten in the media cycle, the new cycle we
live in. It has definitely gotten buried quite a bit.
The Republican led Congress passed these resolutions in May to
reverse Biden administration approval of the California electric vehicle mandate.
(37:15):
When the president signs a joint resolution revoking federal laws,
it carries the force of law and are not subject
to judicial review. So this is actually something that matters
a whole lot. And for anyone who's forgotten what this says.
California in twenty twenty four, banned gasoline powered car sales
(37:38):
by twenty thirty five, and revoked the federal waiver that
would allow that allows it to set its own tailpipe
emission standards under the Clean Air Act. Seventeen states, thirty
percent of the US vehicle market had adopted this plan,
which we know again this is a California EV mandate.
This is nuts.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yeah, this is completely insane.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
These states were going to say you can't sell a
normal car anymore in our state by twenty thirty five.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Ten years.
Speaker 4 (38:06):
This is going to go pretty fast. So Trump has
freed the auto market from this insanity. And it's a
big win. It's a big win for those of us
who don't necessarily want to drive an EV but also
don't want the climate change lunatics completely infringing on markets
and driving up the cost of everything for no reason.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Totally.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
And look, and this is what Trump told us, and
we're not speaking out of turn on this story when
we were sitting talking with him. If you want to
own an EV, go, more power to you. Right, the
market should dictate the choices that you make. The state
should not dictate the choices that you are forced to make.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
Imagine California. And there was a time Clay when I
think this was something they would have wanted to do.
Imagine California said, and it's going to make Clay very
sad because I've seen the cars that Clay has. No
SUV's allowed. Yeah, we're going with an suv ban in
this state. California says you're not allowed to sell an
suv in the state of California. Remember for a while
it was oh, they're gas guzzling. Now SUVs have actually
(39:05):
come very efficient and they're hugely popular. It's like a
giant part of the US car sales mar car market.
But you would just say, well, that's a completely ridiculous
intrusion on the car market in a huge state. So
Trump has again, all he has done is restored choice
to the consumer and restored the ability of the auto
(39:28):
market to be a market instead of some kind of
state enforced mandate based on Green New Deal insanity.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
So it is a really big win.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
It is totally And by the way, we should update
there are air raid sirens being going off in Israel
right now as there's an expectation that Iran has fired
some missiles in their direction. Updating you on what is
taking place there. It is now night in Israel, so
it's probably not a huge surprise that the attack would
come at night. We'll see if it's even a substantial
(40:00):
or Iran is capable buck of doing even as much
as they tried to do the last time, when they
put what one hundred missiles in the air and Israel
and its allies effectively shot down all of those missiles
and there were no casualties.
Speaker 4 (40:13):
I think Israel first of all, I hope and pray
that they're able to shoot down these missiles which.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Are just intended.
Speaker 4 (40:18):
Remember the strikes that Israel did were precise strikes at
legitimate military targets. And what Iran is going to do
in response is I just want They're just trying to
send a big missile that goes boom into a crowded
apartment building and kill as many Jews as possible. That's
what the Iranian response.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
Is supposed to be.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
I always fight these wars, so I think that the
Israelis are going to have a ratcheted or a tiered response,
whereby every time Iran does something, the Israelis are just
going to raise the costs for Iran and then it's
a question of how much more of this do they want,
you know, Ben Shapiro on this last hour, he said,
(41:01):
leaving the Molas alive gives them something to think about.
The Mulas may not survive this thing. We'll see what
happens they they if they order a lot of mass casualty,
attempted mass casualty attacks on Israel. These reallyings have mapped
out that whole country, and they have total dominance in
the skies.
Speaker 5 (41:20):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
We'll see what ends up happening with this, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
And uh and and on that front, as we wait
to see what's going to happen there, I will say
this about our visit to the White House. A lot
of you wanted to know if I was going to
be able to get in. The answer was yes. I
brought my passport yesterday or two days ago. I don't
have the real ID, and you have to have a
real ID or a passport, so I was able to
get in with my passport.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
I was struck buck leave.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Aside the politics of the current moment and many of
the topics that we discussed, the sheer, happy warrior dumb
vibe that existed in the West Wing yesterday when we
as it did with whether it's President Trump, jd Vance,
Caroline Levitt, Margo, Trump's top personal assistant Natalie, who follows
(42:07):
him around everywhere. It is a intensely positive environment there
and I think it's because they know that they are
doing the work that the American people sent them there
to do, and they know how to do it and
they are delivering. And Trump has a level of confidence
in what is required to do the job that is
(42:30):
next to level. And let me just echo this again.
The Israelis consulted with the Trump team and Trump went
out yesterday and through an all time headfake saying that
the negotiations were still ongoing. Same thing happened with Pete
Hegseth went to a Washington Nationals game with his kids.
(42:50):
Obviously it's Father's Day weekend. You had Marco Rubio. This
was a masterclass, I think in subterfew huge and the
ability to catch Iran unaware, and for Israel to have
the ability buck to actually have the Iranian schedule in
(43:12):
person meetings so they could directly attack because they are
so enmeshed in the Iranian security services, is really an
incredible strength of their attack.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
And let me just mention this too.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
A lot of people told you, some on the right,
many on the left, that if Israel attacked Iran we're
still in the early stages, that this would basically be
a preset to World War III. I think you're now
learning Iran is not very strong. They lack the ability
to even defend their own country, and China and Russia
(43:50):
they're not coming to the aid the other Middle Eastern countries.
Many of them welcome this, even if they say publicly
there's a difference between public and private conversations. They may
say publicly they don't like it. Privately they are very
welcoming even of this, And I think you're seeing that
a lot of the cataclysmic analysis, as often as the case,
(44:11):
was not reflected in reality.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
Yes, and this is on track to be one of
the most successful military operations in modern military history. So
we hope that that continues because it is to the
benefit of everyone that we root for here that that
is the case, not just our friends analys in Israel,
and not just other Middle Eastern countries and countries in
(44:36):
the region that are very pleased to see the Iranian
threat cut down to size, but also for the Iranian
people it weakens a regime that has been nothing but
a nightmare for them for fifty years now, and it
is long past time for there to be changed. And
(44:57):
there's no reason why Iran can't be something a lot
more along the lines of say Turkey. You know, another
country with a tremendously proud history and a really rich
past that functions as a I'm not saying Turkey's perfect.
We have our occasional gripes with them in NATO, but
it's a functioning, modern state and not one that keeps
anybody up at night in Israel, the United States, or
(45:19):
really around the region for that matter. So that I
think is what is possible here, and it's it's looking like.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
So far, it's a very good day.
Speaker 4 (45:28):
As you said, there's missiles in the air, and we
don't know what the Iranians are going to pull off
with any reprisals, but their military to military capability is deminimus.
It's really the terror, the terror strikes that we would
have to be worried about, or you know, terror cells
that go operational, and we're going to have to keep
a close eye on that, and it's very hard to
(45:50):
fight against those. It's very hard to catch all of those,
I should say, but that can't change the reality of
what just happened to Israel, which is its military and
nuclear program have been effectively capitated.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
And I think this is so important for ordinary Iranians.
I thought it was interesting that Ben Shapiro told us
that they basically have tried to turn off the Internet
in Iran because they don't want people to understand what's
actually going on. But at some point, these conversations are
going to start, as they start anywhere in the world
when humans gather. Wait a minute, You've been in power
(46:22):
the Iatolas for two generations. You told us Israel was
the great evil. You told us that we were going
to eradicate Israel from the planet, And actually we don't
even have the ability to fight Israel. Leave aside the religion,
leave aside all these things, just pure efficacy of government.
(46:43):
Israel has created one of the great technological civilizations in
the history of the Middle East, and Iran has been
left behind. The Iotolas are being embarrassed.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
There are early reports now of some direct hits on
Tel Aviv, so we don't know what the scale of
those hits are or what if there are any casualties.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
We don't know. We just know Clay.
Speaker 4 (47:06):
Right now, as we're talking to you, there are real
time reports of impacts in Tel Aviv. We're going to
continue to watch this very closely.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
Stay with us. We'll be back with more details here
in just a minute.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
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Welcome to today's edition of the Clay Travis and Buck
Sexton Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome in What a.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Day we are destined for here on a Friday, rolling
into Father's Day weekend. Major news breaking yesterday evening, as
we suggested, might well be the case, based on our
read of the situation, Israel attacks Iran and goes once
(00:29):
and for all for a knockout blow when it comes
to Iran's ability to get nuclear weapons. Buck made the
travel back. I believe he was in the air when
the attacks started on his way back to Miami. I
am still in Washington, d C. City of DC really
much of a mess right now for many reasons, as
(00:49):
it always is, but in particular huge parade tomorrow for
the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Army and
all of that underway streets being shut down. The timing
on this very interesting. But Buck, speaking of interesting, I
was able to get in had the passport. They let
me in to the White House yesterday. You and I
(01:11):
had the opportunity on look, any day you get to
go meet with the President in the Oval Office and
have a chat is a pretty big day. But in
conjunction with the fact that the attack happened a few
hours after we left. There are for those of you
inclined that like pictures, there are tons of pictures of
us with President Trump, with Jade Vance, with Caroline Levitt.
(01:36):
All of that is up on social media. You guys
can track it out. We had a great conversation with
President Trump. He wanted to let all of you know
how much he appreciates you. Oval Office meeting. Met also
with security related officials in the Oval Office and in
the West Wing area. Trying to tiptoe up to exactly
(01:57):
what I can say, but Buck, I think it's fair.
We have the CIA background. We also were at Langley
this week. You and I had a very clear sense
that the moment of truth for Iran was at hand,
and I was not surprised when attacks happened last night.
I think they did a really good job of pretending
(02:19):
that they didn't know, but when they withdrew a lot
of the families from the Middle East, it was a
sign that they expected things to happen. What's your take,
based on your background in the CIA and based on
the evidence that continues to unspool about these attacks.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, so the timing was remarkable.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Let me just first say that from everything we have
seen on the reporting of this strike, the Israelis may
have pulled off the most impressive tactical aerial strike ever.
I don't know if anything could compare to what they
have been able to accomplish in this twenty four hours.
(03:00):
I'm talking from a purely military perspective, from a target
set and assessing collateral damage, assessing the specificity of the targets.
This is really unprecedented. And now the Israelis have world
class military hardware, in part because of the United States,
in large part, I think because of the collaborations that
(03:21):
we have with them. But what they've pulled off here, Clay,
is nothing short of remarkable. However one feels about the strike,
I'm merely looking at this right now from the practitioner
and tactical perspective. Now, the run up to this was
particularly interesting for Clay and me.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Obviously.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
The run up to this was decades of Iran funding terror,
playing all kinds of games with the inspectors and with
the deals, and the Israelis had finally just had enough.
Trump opened the door for them and tried to say, look, Iran,
you really want to do a deal because we're not
messed around anymore, and they they messed around and they
(04:02):
found out on this one.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Now, Clay, we were there.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
We were in the Oval Office with the President, as
you mentioned, spoke to and spent time with all the
West Wing staff, Caroline Levitt, Steven Miller, all the superstars
we talk about on this show, and we just wanted
to be there to get some time with them, talk
to them about how things are going. But we did
particularly have a national security component of our time there.
And I'm telling you about this all for a reason.
(04:27):
One is Clay had never been to Langley. As you know,
my old stomping grounds really did bring back a lot
of memories. I did not make Clay turn on the
James Bond theme music and we drove in, but I
thought about it. But we had a very good talk
and the contents were off the record. But we did
ask everybody we met with, are we allowed to say
that we met with you recomfortable with that?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
And they all we all we got approval and all that.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
So Deputy Director CIA, other senior CIA staffers, I won't
get into all their titles, Deputy director National Intelligence, director
of National Intelligence. We talked to everybody. One thing that
was really interesting Claive was they were eager to speak
to us, particularly about the DOGE and restructuring components of government,
things like that, Right, the thing what you would assume
we would talk about, and you know, again I won't
(05:12):
get into the specifics, but we could talk about in
the broadest terms. The moment you or I asked a
question about Iran, you could just feel that the ever
ever to the room got a little TETs yes and
didn't want to talk. Now when you're talking to us
about the other things that were under discussion, and then
you discuss Iran and all of a sudden. This was
to the point where I texted my brothers the night
(05:33):
before the strikes and I said, guys, I think they're
going I think they're going in. I didn't want to
say this publicly because I didn't know. No one told me,
and too, you know, you don't want to be wrong
on something like this, and also I didn't want anyone
to get ahead of it, right, I mean, you want
the Israelis to have the benefit of surprise. But I
had a very strong feeling that I only shared with
clay an immediate family.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
I said, Okay, I think this is happening.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
President Trump brought us into the Oval and was in
full Trump mode now he knew the strike was about
to happen. And Susie Wiles, who is the White House
Chief of Staff, we wanted to go by and just
just say thank you, Susie, do an amazing job, and
you know this White House and all heartfelt by the way.
You know, what we say to you on this show
on the air, which is our public record, right is
(06:15):
what we wanted to say to them in person about
how this is going. I don't have criticisms of this
administration so far, you know, maybe some suggestions, but no criticisms.
Susie Wilds was we found out from just somebody passing
by in the situation room, and Clay and I were
sitting there going, hmmm, the situation room. That's an interesting
place for the White House chief of Staff to be
right in this moment. And then we had talked to
(06:37):
our friends on the Secretary of Defensive Staff and the
Secretary of State staffs about meeting up. How many kept
having meetings moved around anyway, Long story short, we've known
for the last twenty four hours or so that this
was coming and it was interesting to be by the
decision makers here. Now it wasn't an American strike, of course,
but they all knew that this was going to happen.
(06:57):
And Trump's poker face. I would not want to sit
at the table from him in a poker game play.
I think it was masterfully played. And we're gonna go
to Israel and talk to a variety of different people.
Josh Hammer up next, So we're gonna break here in
a couple of minutes. Just so you know, Scott Jennings
is going to join us CNN's chief pugnacious pundit when
(07:18):
it comes to defending sanity on that network is actually
in Israel as well. Yell Eckstein, who obviously many of
you know from the IFCJ. Her flight was turned back
on route to Israel. She is still in the United States.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
And we're going to talk with Ben Shapiro of the
Daily Wire, So a lot of different people we're going
to talk about. We got a lot of guests reacting
to what is a monumental day. I thought, Trump, Marco Rubio,
Pete hag Seth, jd Vance, Susie Wiles, everybody that was
involved here played it masterfully, in particular the Trump press
(07:55):
conference that he had right before we went in for
our meeting. Buck, I mean, were hanging out with him
in the middle of the afternoon as the final preparations
for the attack are going. But he said publicly that
we were still effectively negotiating with Iran when he knew
that Israel's attack was coming in the side of Israel.
They actually leaked that net and Yahoo was going to
(08:17):
be having to attend one of his children's weddings to
make the Iranians think nothing was ominous or or a
vout to happen, and a.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Little bit like Michael Corleoni at the christening and then
all the bosses got whacked, you know, is settling all accounts,
settling all family business.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
It was a bit of that. And to your point,
I mean, Trump continued.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
He also he had his meeting with us, He had
the Senate and House leadership coming to the coming to
the event. I just think they knew exactly what was coming,
but they did not leak any of it. They kept
it extremely close to the vest, and as a result,
I think this was one hundred percent the right call.
(09:04):
Now I was over in Israel in December, and in
some of my meetings with top Israeli officials, they said,
now is the time to make the move. Now they
said it a little bit. I think we had the
Speaker of the House, Speaker of the Knesse over there
on this program letting it be known. I think that
basically he thought the time to attack Iran was now,
(09:26):
and they waited.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Trump tried to get Iran to.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Agree to peace, and this seems to have been an
incredibly strategic, successful, decapitation style attack. We will continue to
break all of that out for you, but we're going
to Israel with Josh Hammer. He's a senior editor at
large at Newsweek, author of Israel and Civilization. He is
in Israel right now. We come back, we'll see what
(09:50):
it sounds like on the ground there. Tomorrow marks a
major milestone two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the US Army,
also President Trump's seventy ninth birthday. Our sponsor, Pure Talk,
founded by a veteran. This month, Puretalk is giving one
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of data, you can enjoy America's most dependable five gene
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zero say Clay and Buck. Save one thousand dollars and
support America's heroes at pure Talk. Our friend Josh Hammer
joins us now from the outskirts of Tel Aviv. He's
the author of Israel and Civilization, Senior editor at large
(11:15):
for Newsweek. Hammer glad to hear you're safe and things
are going okay so far. Tell us bring us as
much as you can into the on the ground story.
How are the Israeli people feeling, what are the security precautions?
Tell us what's going on around you?
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Yeah, Bud, thanks for having me.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
It's been a heck of a week so far, as
things have not exactly gone according to plan. To put
a mildly so, the first thing happened a couple of
nights ago. We were at a dinner in Telaveria on
the Sea, nice sushi dinner, you know, hoping for a
romantic evening that was quickly interrupted by citywide sirens for
a hoopy ballistic missile attack.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
So we ran with the baby stroller.
Speaker 6 (11:54):
To the bomb shelter before finishing our dinners. That was
kind of just a preview of things to come. So
we woke up this morning at three am local time
to massive sirens all throughout the country and he ran
to the bomb shelter. So so I've been up buck
since three am multiple time, and you know, it's it's been.
It's been a heck of a day. I guess I
can tell you is that on the ground it's very
(12:15):
early quiet. There are virtually no cars here on the road.
The folks who I'm staying with here in the house
where I'm at. Who went to the supermarket to get
goods for the Sabbath, the Shabbat on the weekend.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
It's over there.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
Apparently, waiting in line at the market for two hours.
So it's kind of like a hurricane. I mean, I've
written out hurricanes before you. I mean, if you've ever
been to the supermarket on the eve of a massive storm,
you know that all the produce is totally sold out there,
the bread is sold out, the line around the corner.
Apparently it's hurricane like conditions here. A million dollar question
obviously is what is around and now going to do?
Speaker 5 (12:48):
But the Israeli people.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
Are tough, They're resilient and tranquily buzzing kind of a
weird way.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
I'm actually really happy.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
To be here at the sumner, Josh, what would you assess?
And I know it's hard because Israel has a lot
of people, but what kind of approval ratings do you
think as you sit there twelve hours after the attack,
sixteen hours after the attacks started, do you think there
is an Israel for attacking Iran?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Right now?
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (13:13):
Here in Israel, clay Iran is not a contentious issue.
This is a very important point to get across. There
are a lot of contentious issues here in the Israeli
political spectrum. So there's a lot of disagreement about the
Palatine Arabs.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
What do you do with them? Two state solution, one
state solution.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
All that.
Speaker 6 (13:28):
There's a huge dispute here when it comes to the
issue of the draft exemption into the military for the
Hyrid Deem, the so called ultra Orthodox. There are definitely
contentious issues here in Israel. Iran is not one of them.
I actually have this memory of chatting with a far
left member of the connect that back in twenty sixteen.
This guy was so far left, a literal self that
self described marks that he's actually a supporter Bernie Sanders's
(13:51):
twenty sixteen credential campaign. That's why I was chatting with
him nine years ago. And I say that because even
this guy who was such a need to far left die,
even he was pretty hawkish when it comes to Iran.
So if you are a Jewish israel I think Arab
is really study different conversation, but Jewish is really is
here across the entire political spectrum, understand that Iran is
(14:13):
the existential threats, and that at the IDFs mantra of
never again means never again, if that actually used to
be taken seriously, that an operation the likes of which
we saw last night simply had to happen at some point.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Do you have any sense, Josh of surprise at the
lack of military or effective military response from the Iranian
side of the equation. As we begin to dig in
more to this, and we will over the course of
the show today, the mapping of targets, the ability to
hit simultaneously, the ballistic missiles program along within the tan's
(14:48):
nuclear facility and other nuclear facilities, along with senior leadership,
along with I mean, it's a stunning array of targets,
hundreds of planes that hit you know, over a hundred sites.
But how much worry is there that there will be
a major military strike versus the terrorist cells dispersed? That
has always been a concern where they'rn.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
So we saw a preview of this last year, right,
So twice last year, in both April and October, Aron
launched a massive ballistic missile barish parage at Israel. So
the higher one with October was it was like one
hundred and eighty three ballistic missiles or something like that,
and Israel's missile defense system held up not a single
Israeli what was harmed, not a single hair. Every single
(15:32):
Israeli was harm which is pretty remarkable in its own rights.
So we'll see if Roan is able to do more
than that. I suppose color me skeptical for at least
two reasons. One is, on the Israeli North you have
their top roxy heads Blaw, which has been completely decimated
at this point. They are a total shell of what
they once were, and head Blaw was very much Iron's
(15:53):
insurance policy there. That's kind of sort of damicles hovering
over Israel, essentially trying to prevent Digital from striking, so heslow.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
And taken care of.
Speaker 6 (16:01):
And then the literal actual people buck on the ground
in Iran, like the actual IRGC top generals, like the
physical people who would actually get on the phone and
call the shots, are mostly dead at this point. So
I'm skeptical as to what could happen. But having said that,
we're not taking any precautions. My wife and I we
are supposed to go to Jerusalem this weekend spend the
(16:22):
Sabbath there. I'm supposed to have a talk my book
in Jerusalem Sunday night. We essentially cantled all that. We're
just we're buckling down here in the safe house. We've
got a nice big bunker bomb shelter rooms. So we're
not taking chances, certainly not taking any chances, especially as
a new father. But on the other hand, I'm pretty
skeptical that iron can can can do anything of much
significant piosity.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I think this is important and we're going to dive
into it more, Josh, and we appreciate you joining us
from Israel book.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
By the way, is Israel and Civilization.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
There is actually a great deal of support for Israel's
attacks from other Middle Eastern countries, Muslim countries. They also
wanted Iran not to have nuclear weapons. That's an important
part of this, and I don't know that it gets
widely discussed, but Iran was seen as a pariah state
by many Muslim countries as well.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Oh one thousand percent.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
No, Look, the Saudis and the Murdis have put out
condemnatory statements, but that's just what the Arab countries do
play as you know, I mean, they're they're basically very
cowardly when it comes to the public facing statements there,
but privately, I mean Mohammed Bintelman is definitely smiling ear.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
To ear and Riatta right now.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
There is no.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Doubt about that. With the exception probably of.
Speaker 6 (17:35):
The Emir and Doha Qatar Tantar being Iran's closest Sumi
Arab allies and needing some of these rogues Northern African
Muslim brotherhood adjacent to rogue states like Algeria Tunisia both
a pretty radical government, but the vast majority of the
Arab world that matters, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan,
countries like that.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
We got to stay safe, buddy, Thank you, boy, get
Israel civilization.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Thank you so much. Yes, stay saying.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
If you have a family, you have a responsibility to
think about their welfare long after you're gone. You need
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know only a third of Americans have a will. Not
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Trust and will dot Com do it today? Hey, Buck,
(18:51):
one of my kids called me an unk the other day,
and unk yep slang evidently for not being hip, being
an old dude.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
So how do we ununk?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
You get more people to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
At least that's what my kids tell me.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
That's simple enough.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Just search the Klay, Travis and Buck Sexton Show and
hit the subscribe button.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Takes less than five seconds to help ununk me.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Do it for Clay, do it for freedom, and get
great content while you're there the Klay Travis en Buck
Sexton Show YouTube channel. As you know, there was a
series of major strikes by Israel's air force on nuclear
sites and high level military targets, including individual military personnel
and nuclear scientists all across Iran.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Just about I don't know I can do the math,
but in the last twenty four hours for sure, probably.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
Like eighteen hours ago, and so we will continue to
follow that story closely. We've got Scott Jennings. We're efforting
him right now. He is in Israel. You know Scott
from the gentlemanly slaps that he dishes out over at
CNN to various Democrats and leftists on on one of
(20:00):
their shows. We'll see we can get We're having a
little bit technical issue because you know, he's on the
other side of the world, so we'll see if we
can have him join us from Israel. Also, just some
other stories we are watching as we continue to deep
dive into the preemptive strike, which is what Israel's officially
calling it on Iran and its nuclear capability and ballistic
missile capability and the IRG SE mean, they just they
(20:23):
went for it in a big way. You have still
the ongoing back and forth with Trump and Newsom in
Los Angeles and California. More broadly, Trump put out this
tweet I shouldn't say tweet truth yesterday Clay the Biden
administration and Governor Nuskum. He wrote, Nuskum flooded America with
(20:44):
twenty one million illegal aliens, destroying schools, hospitals, and communities
and consuming untold billions of dollars in free welfare. All
of them have to go home, as do countless other
illegals and criminals who will turn us into a bankrupt
third world nation. America was in and occupied. I'm reversing
the invasion. It's called remigration. Our courageous ice officers who
(21:07):
are daily being subjected to dosing and murder threats are heroes.
We will always have their back as they carry out
this noble mission. America will be for Americans again. Very
strong statement from President Trump on the continued mission to
both stabilize things in Los Angeles County UH and continue
(21:28):
the deportation operations. It was pretty stunning, Clay, but I
guess not surprising. A lower court judge slapped down Trump's
deployment of the National Guard basically said Trump's not allowed
to do this. Gavin Newsom is the only one who
can call the shots. Then the appeals court, I believe,
looked at it and slapped down the slap down with
(21:50):
a stay of the stay because the President of the
United States think about our history. If the President of
the United States, oh we have Scott Jennings, we do well,
I would I was having.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
You can give us a stem winder on the supremacy clause.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Clause was right on top of my mind there, But
we got Scott Jennings live from Israel, CNN's own Scott Jennings.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Scott, what's it like over there? What's going on?
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Well, great to hear your voice. You know, it's interesting.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
I'm in Tiberius, literally standing on the bank of the
Sea of Galilee right now, looking due east, which is
towards Tehran, and it's a little calm out here at
Shabbat Friday night here in Israel, so a lot of
people are with their families that inside. And right before
we connected, I got a word on my phone. I
think people may be going into safe rooms now because
(22:38):
of a possible missile incoming from Yemen.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
But other than that, everything's fine.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
So we're all we're all just amazed at the news
today and what Israel pulled off, apparently with the help
of our President Donald Trump, to really defeat the principal,
you know, it's the head of the octopus, and to
take away their nuclear capabilities, to decapitate the government of
the worst.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
People in the world.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
You know, these people they killed today are the absolute
founders of terror. It's a great day. This has been
twenty twenty five years in the making. I'm glad Israel
pulled the trigger.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Scott.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
You're over there right now. I was there in December.
They've stopped all air travel, everything else. We've got, you know,
millions of Americans listening right now who have not been
to Israel before, who've not seen it. What it's like
in a time of war? What is it like? What
was your experience like? I know you posted your bomb
alerts that came onto the phone for people who will
(23:34):
maybe never go to Israel and certainly will not be
there in a time of war. What's the experience like
for you and for the average Israeli right now?
Speaker 6 (23:44):
Well, you know, they live with something every day of
these possible incoming rocket and missile strikes, so you know,
it's really common for them to get alerts and to
go into safe rooms. A lot of the buildings or
apartments or houses you're in would have a safe room,
and they take it all in stride. It's just part
of daily life. I mean, obviously, this attack on Iran
is extremely unusual, so it has the country on a
(24:05):
heightened state of alert, but on day to day life,
you know, they take it in stride. And they go
about their business and they just live with it. Of course,
you know, they live with the being surrounded by their
enemies all the time, and they've just had to learn
to incorporate into their daily life. I've enjoyed being here.
This is an incredibly hospitable country everywhere I've gone from
(24:25):
the north to the south. I've been to the Gaza border,
I've been to the Lebanon border. I've been in Jerusalem
and Tel Aviv and a lot of places in between.
Extremely hospitable, welcoming to Americans, appreciative of the relationship between
Israel and the United States. I had not been, I
would have no qualms whatsoever about bringing my family back
here to visit again. It's been an amazing experience.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Scott, there seemed to be some difference in the reporting
about how some aspect of this went down. I'm wondering
if you either have insight or just what your assessment
of it is that Trump was essentially new one hundred percent.
This was coming well in advance, and so there was
the head fake, if you will, of hanging out with
(25:08):
Clay and me for one thing, you know, having a
good time in the Oval office, the picnic that was scheduled.
Secretary of Defense went to a baseball game with his kids.
Then there's other people who are saying, oh, but President
Trump told them not to. Netnyahu said, look, we can't
wait anymore, and then Trump just rolled with it because
it's ultimately Israel's call. How do you see the last
(25:31):
let's say, three or four days playing out as it
pertains to Trump and his role in all of this.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
Well, I think people who hate Donald Trump are always
going to come up with a narrative that tries to
make him look bad no matter what happens.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
That's number one. Number two.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
I go back sixty days, sixty one days, sixty one
days ago. Donald Trump said publicly, Iran has sixty days
to make a deal. Today is day sixty one. So
he told the world and I ran clearly what they
needed to do in order to have this outcome. And
here we are sixty one days later, and Iran didn't
make a deal. They couldn't bring themselves to understand the
(26:07):
position they were in. And now Israel is doing the
work of dismantling the enemy of Western civilization. But the
President of the United States warned them, and now they're
getting the consequences of failing to heed that warning. So
I think this ruse, I think this head fake, whatever
you want to call it, is going to go down
in history is one of the most interesting and amazing
(26:28):
military operations that ever happened. I mean, this is essentially
page or two point zero. You know what, the israelis
constructed here, having masade inside of Iran, having the head
fake with the United States. The entire construction of this
is nothing short of a miracle. And it is good
for the West, and it is good for America, and
it is good that Donald Trump was the president because
(26:49):
I'm not sure the previous administration would have ever participated
in something like this to defeat this enemy.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Scott, you're on CNN talking to a lot of people
who it appears every night, or reading from the same
talking points. I haven't really seen an aggressive pushback from
the left on Israel's actions so far, two parter. Have
you seen any kind of pushback from a purely political
perspective too?
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Do you expect one?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Because they march in lockstep, everybody had the Mexican flag up.
Is Iron's flag going to start showing up? And left
wing bios on social media? How do they respond to
this or are they actually going to acknowledge that this
is actually a good thing for global peace?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
What do you anticipate.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Well, first of all.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
Ben Rhodes, who was Obama's National Security advisor, was one
of the first people out to criticize this. And you
know his nickname, according to reporting in the Obama Whitehouse
was Hamas and so.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
That is, by the way, that is quite a nickname.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 6 (27:47):
And then you've seen some other fringe elements of the
left that are very unhappy, because they're unhappy anytime Israel
in the United States it does anything to defend itself.
What I really think their problem is going to be
Tomorrow these Kings rallies or all these rallies that are
being held around the country. You can bet that the
Free Palestine movement will be out there that the Palestinian
flags and the Hamas colors and all these people that
(28:11):
have been marching all over college campuses at American cities
for the last few months.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
You know they're going to be at these events.
Speaker 6 (28:18):
And I think politically, until the left, until the Democrats
divorced themselves from this bunch of people who, let's just
be honest. It has nothing to do with Palestine. This
is about destabilizing the West and destroying the United States
of America from within. That's what it is. It is
a domestic terrorism organization. Until you can separate yourself from that,
the American people are going to continue to punish you
(28:40):
and Democrats today. I mean, not that many statements coming
out from Democrats in Congress supporting Israel today because they
are afraid. They are afraid of these people. They need
to get rid of them and get away from them
as soon as they can.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
That is my sincerest advice to them.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
But is that even possible Scott with the makeup, I
mean politically possible. Right, of course, they could do the
right thing, But I mean to keep the Democrat coalition
going such as it is, and it seems like they
have to pretend that this is the new BLM, like
this is the new social justice Movement, but it's not BLM.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
It's Prohomas.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
Well, the coalition of the Democrats fundamentally thinks America and
Western values are rotten at the core. I mean, that
is the sad fact of that party, and they need
to reverse themselves immediately. I don't know if they can
do it. But when you look at the energy in
their party, the beating heart of that party at its core,
believes America is rotten, Our founding values are rotten, the
(29:42):
West is rotten.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
They look at the world through.
Speaker 6 (29:45):
The lens of this oppressed and oppressor, and they believe
the United States is an oppresser. Well, how can you
be a political party in the United States if you
believe those things? And I think that's why they're struggling
with the American people right now, because most Americans do
not see.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
The world that way. And I don't know if.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
They can get rid of it, but it would help
them if they could. But you look at where their
energy is. The squad crocket. These people, these strident voices
from the radical left, they're not pro America. They don't
believe in our founding values. They don't believe in Western civilization.
In many cases, they certainly don't believe in our relationship
with Israel. They're going to have a tough time here
(30:24):
divorcing themselves, but they really should try because it's killing them.
It is killing their party. And you know, as a Republican,
you know it's good politically, but I hate it for
the United States that one of our two political parties
has fallen a victim of this hateful ideology.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
We're talking to Scott Jennings. He's an israel Last question
for you, Scott, and we appreciate you making the time.
I know it's night coming over in Israel, not to mention,
who knows what might happen with that occurring. But back
here in the States, when you see some owned biles
come after Riley Gaines, and when you have conversations with
off air Democrats, do they acknowledge privately that they're public
(31:00):
stance in favor of men in women's sports is absolutely insane.
Speaker 6 (31:06):
Every single person that I know from that side of
the ball, from that profession professional Democrats know that it's
killing them. And they also know that there's not a
darn thing they can do about it. I mean, that
is the fundamental problem they have. They know the right
thing to do, but they can't do anything about it.
Either they live in fear or they know that. The
way their party works, I mean, they're authoritarians, you know,
(31:29):
and you're not allowed to get out of line. You're
not allowed to say, wait a minute, look what they
did to Fetterman when he got out of line on Israel,
you know. I mean they're out there saying y ought
to be in a straight jacket. I mean his own
staff was out there saying that you are not allowed
to get out of line inside the Democratic Party controlled
by the radical left.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Even on obvious ninety.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Five five issues, which this issue is.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
You're not allowed to get out of line, and you
even have to say things like we need more studies,
We need more studies to find out if men and
women are different.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Jennings of CNN, Scott stay safe over there. Thanks for
making the time.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
For us, all right. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Looking out for the lives of unborn children is Preborn's
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Need you.
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slash buck that's preborn dot com slash bucek sponsored by Preborn.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
We actually happened to be in the West Wing yesterday
for a substantial amount of time. We met with President Trump,
saw jd Vance, Stephen Miller, Caroline Levitt, a lot of
the people that we have known for years that are
doing phenomenal work. And I would describe I think you
probably would sign off on it President Trump as extremely relaxed.
(34:01):
He wanted us to see the changes that he's made
to the Oval Office, the changes that he has made
in terms of portraiture in the cabinet rooms and everything
immediately ancillary to the Oval Office. Also you can see,
and I think this is gonna end up being pretty cool.
He is in the process of building a patio where
you can dine outside, so it will be like he
(34:23):
has basically at mar A Lago, but this would extend
He's paying for himself. He says this would extend for
future presidents as well. But he likes the idea of
having sort of his own salon where you can walk
outside and have meals on a patio just outside the
Oval Office in the West Wing. But I would describe
him as super relaxed. He wanted all of you to
(34:44):
know that he appreciates you and really is greatly thankful
for all of your support. But the thing that he
seemed most excited about talking about is something that hasn't
gotten a great deal of attention. Buck and I wanted
to play this audio because it's kind of gotten lost
in the sh shuffle of everything that has happened since
Israel attack Toron. But with us, he wanted to say,
(35:05):
because he signed this bill, he wanted to talk about
the impact of ending the electric vehicle mandate and what
he believed was going to be a substantial change for
the better for many different American drivers out there. And
this is cut eighteen with Bucket Eye and you can
go see the pictures. By the way, some of you
want to see the pictures. They're up at all the
(35:26):
Clay and buck social media accounts. We were happy to
have the time that we did with the President and
all the staff.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
But here is cut eighteen.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Trump announcing yesterday that he was terminating the California ev mandate,
which matters to a lot of you out there.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Listen, this is good news.
Speaker 7 (35:41):
Indeed, people said he couldn't be done. You got it done.
I just have to sign right. That's very good. This
is really something and it has to do with the
California Auto Regulation cr A. It's been a disaster for
this country and I want to thank everybody for being here.
(36:03):
We officially rescue the US auto industry from destruction by
terminating to California electric vehicle mandate once and for all.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Okay, there is the announcement balk from President Trump. I
knew he wanted would want to talk about a lot
of different things, but this is the thing he was
most excited to talk about with us.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Yeah, I know he was.
Speaker 4 (36:30):
We sat down and we were obviously we're already thinking
about Iran, but also we're talking border, we're talking riots
in LA and how he's and he was like, gentlemen,
did you see did you see the thing I did
on the vehicles. We're like, yeah, yes, sir, mister President,
we saw, and he really because he had just signed it.
I was very proud of it. He just got a
press conference on it. Just to bring everybody up to
(36:50):
speed on this play, because this has got this is
one of these It's actually a big deal, but it
has gotten in the media cycle, the new cycle we
live in. It has definitely gotten buried quite a bit.
The Republican led Congress passed these resolutions in May to
reverse Biden administration approval of the California electric vehicle mandate.
(37:15):
When the president signs a joint resolution revoking federal laws,
it carries the force of law and are not subject
to judicial review. So this is actually something that matters
a whole lot. And for anyone who's forgotten what this says.
California in twenty twenty four, banned gasoline powered car sales
(37:38):
by twenty thirty five, and revoked the federal waiver that
would allow that allows it to set its own tailpipe
emission standards under the Clean Air Act. Seventeen states, thirty
percent of the US vehicle market had adopted this plan,
which we know again this is a California EV mandate.
This is nuts.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yeah, this is completely insane.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
These states were going to say you can't sell a
normal car anymore in our state by twenty thirty five.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Ten years.
Speaker 4 (38:06):
This is going to go pretty fast. So Trump has
freed the auto market from this insanity. And it's a
big win. It's a big win for those of us
who don't necessarily want to drive an EV but also
don't want the climate change lunatics completely infringing on markets
and driving up the cost of everything for no reason.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Totally.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
And look, and this is what Trump told us, and
we're not speaking out of turn on this story when
we were sitting talking with him. If you want to
own an EV, go, more power to you. Right, the
market should dictate the choices that you make. The state
should not dictate the choices that you are forced to make.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
Imagine California. And there was a time Clay when I
think this was something they would have wanted to do.
Imagine California said, and it's going to make Clay very
sad because I've seen the cars that Clay has. No
SUV's allowed. Yeah, we're going with an suv ban in
this state. California says you're not allowed to sell an
suv in the state of California. Remember for a while
it was oh, they're gas guzzling. Now SUVs have actually
(39:05):
come very efficient and they're hugely popular. It's like a
giant part of the US car sales mar car market.
But you would just say, well, that's a completely ridiculous
intrusion on the car market in a huge state. So
Trump has again, all he has done is restored choice
to the consumer and restored the ability of the auto
(39:28):
market to be a market instead of some kind of
state enforced mandate based on Green New Deal insanity.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
So it is a really big win.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
It is totally And by the way, we should update
there are air raid sirens being going off in Israel
right now as there's an expectation that Iran has fired
some missiles in their direction. Updating you on what is
taking place there. It is now night in Israel, so
it's probably not a huge surprise that the attack would
come at night. We'll see if it's even a substantial
(40:00):
or Iran is capable buck of doing even as much
as they tried to do the last time, when they
put what one hundred missiles in the air and Israel
and its allies effectively shot down all of those missiles
and there were no casualties.
Speaker 4 (40:13):
I think Israel first of all, I hope and pray
that they're able to shoot down these missiles which.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Are just intended.
Speaker 4 (40:18):
Remember the strikes that Israel did were precise strikes at
legitimate military targets. And what Iran is going to do
in response is I just want They're just trying to
send a big missile that goes boom into a crowded
apartment building and kill as many Jews as possible. That's
what the Iranian response.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
Is supposed to be.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
I always fight these wars, so I think that the
Israelis are going to have a ratcheted or a tiered response,
whereby every time Iran does something, the Israelis are just
going to raise the costs for Iran and then it's
a question of how much more of this do they want,
you know, Ben Shapiro on this last hour, he said,
(41:01):
leaving the Molas alive gives them something to think about.
The Mulas may not survive this thing. We'll see what
happens they they if they order a lot of mass casualty,
attempted mass casualty attacks on Israel. These reallyings have mapped
out that whole country, and they have total dominance in
the skies.
Speaker 5 (41:20):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
We'll see what ends up happening with this, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
And uh and and on that front, as we wait
to see what's going to happen there, I will say
this about our visit to the White House. A lot
of you wanted to know if I was going to
be able to get in. The answer was yes. I
brought my passport yesterday or two days ago. I don't
have the real ID, and you have to have a
real ID or a passport, so I was able to
get in with my passport.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
I was struck buck leave.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Aside the politics of the current moment and many of
the topics that we discussed, the sheer, happy warrior dumb
vibe that existed in the West Wing yesterday when we
as it did with whether it's President Trump, jd Vance,
Caroline Levitt, Margo, Trump's top personal assistant Natalie, who follows
(42:07):
him around everywhere. It is a intensely positive environment there
and I think it's because they know that they are
doing the work that the American people sent them there
to do, and they know how to do it and
they are delivering. And Trump has a level of confidence
in what is required to do the job that is
(42:30):
next to level. And let me just echo this again.
The Israelis consulted with the Trump team and Trump went
out yesterday and through an all time headfake saying that
the negotiations were still ongoing. Same thing happened with Pete
Hegseth went to a Washington Nationals game with his kids.
(42:50):
Obviously it's Father's Day weekend. You had Marco Rubio. This
was a masterclass, I think in subterfew huge and the
ability to catch Iran unaware, and for Israel to have
the ability buck to actually have the Iranian schedule in
(43:12):
person meetings so they could directly attack because they are
so enmeshed in the Iranian security services, is really an
incredible strength of their attack.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
And let me just mention this too.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
A lot of people told you, some on the right,
many on the left, that if Israel attacked Iran we're
still in the early stages, that this would basically be
a preset to World War III. I think you're now
learning Iran is not very strong. They lack the ability
to even defend their own country, and China and Russia
(43:50):
they're not coming to the aid the other Middle Eastern countries.
Many of them welcome this, even if they say publicly
there's a difference between public and private conversations. They may
say publicly they don't like it. Privately they are very
welcoming even of this, And I think you're seeing that
a lot of the cataclysmic analysis, as often as the case,
(44:11):
was not reflected in reality.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
Yes, and this is on track to be one of
the most successful military operations in modern military history. So
we hope that that continues because it is to the
benefit of everyone that we root for here that that
is the case, not just our friends analys in Israel,
and not just other Middle Eastern countries and countries in
(44:36):
the region that are very pleased to see the Iranian
threat cut down to size, but also for the Iranian
people it weakens a regime that has been nothing but
a nightmare for them for fifty years now, and it
is long past time for there to be changed. And
(44:57):
there's no reason why Iran can't be something a lot
more along the lines of say Turkey. You know, another
country with a tremendously proud history and a really rich
past that functions as a I'm not saying Turkey's perfect.
We have our occasional gripes with them in NATO, but
it's a functioning, modern state and not one that keeps
anybody up at night in Israel, the United States, or
(45:19):
really around the region for that matter. So that I
think is what is possible here, and it's it's looking like.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
So far, it's a very good day.
Speaker 4 (45:28):
As you said, there's missiles in the air, and we
don't know what the Iranians are going to pull off
with any reprisals, but their military to military capability is deminimus.
It's really the terror, the terror strikes that we would
have to be worried about, or you know, terror cells
that go operational, and we're going to have to keep
a close eye on that, and it's very hard to
(45:50):
fight against those. It's very hard to catch all of those,
I should say, but that can't change the reality of
what just happened to Israel, which is its military and
nuclear program have been effectively capitated.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
And I think this is so important for ordinary Iranians.
I thought it was interesting that Ben Shapiro told us
that they basically have tried to turn off the Internet
in Iran because they don't want people to understand what's
actually going on. But at some point, these conversations are
going to start, as they start anywhere in the world
when humans gather. Wait a minute, You've been in power
(46:22):
the Iatolas for two generations. You told us Israel was
the great evil. You told us that we were going
to eradicate Israel from the planet, And actually we don't
even have the ability to fight Israel. Leave aside the religion,
leave aside all these things, just pure efficacy of government.
(46:43):
Israel has created one of the great technological civilizations in
the history of the Middle East, and Iran has been
left behind. The Iotolas are being embarrassed.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
There are early reports now of some direct hits on
Tel Aviv, so we don't know what the scale of
those hits are or what if there are any casualties.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
We don't know. We just know Clay.
Speaker 4 (47:06):
Right now, as we're talking to you, there are real
time reports of impacts in Tel Aviv. We're going to
continue to watch this very closely.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
Stay with us. We'll be back with more details here
in just a minute.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
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