Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Aug 11 2026

Clay Travis and Buck Sexton focus on the increasingly consequential 2026 midterm elections, particularly the Wisconsin governor’s race and Michigan’s Senate contest. Clay and Buck analyze Democratic candidate Francesca Hong, highlighting past controversial statements including comments about abolishing prisons, defunding police, and “canceling Thanksgiving.” They argue that such positions may be politically damaging in a statewide election and discuss why prominent progressive figures such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) have reportedly avoided endorsing her. The conversation expands into a broader examination of whether progressive Democrats are overreaching politically and whether moderate voters will reject far-left candidates in key battleground states.

They also debate Republican prospects in the upcoming midterm elections, with Buck expressing concern that Republicans face difficult political terrain while Clay remains optimistic about GOP chances. Their analysis includes discussion of voter turnout, demographic shifts, and the importance of candidate quality in closely contested races. Particular attention is paid to Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, the role of Muslim-American voters, and the influence of outside political spending from organizations attempting to shape the race.

Clay and Buck discuss American regional identity, geography, and history. Clay and Buck discuss differences between Southern, Northeastern, and Midwestern cultural traditions, including varying levels of connection to ancestral European heritage. The hosts examine how American cities and states received their names, touching on English, Dutch, Spanish, French, biblical, and Native American influences. The discussion becomes part of a larger conversation about historical literacy and how much Americans understand about the origins of their communities and institutions.

Drawing on Buck’s CIA background, the hosts discuss intelligence tradecraft, including the concept of a “canary trap,” in which sensitive information is strategically distributed to uncover leakers. They analyze whether the revelation about Trump’s travel arrangements could have been part of such an operation or whether it reflects genuine concerns about foreign threats. The discussion broadens into a conversation about Iranian assassination plots, presidential security, Air Force One protections, counterterrorism protocols, NATO allies, Turkey’s security environment, and the challenges of safeguarding the President of the United States during international travel.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everybody to the Tuesday edition of Clay and Buck
Smart Fun, saying that's how we bring it, that's what
we do for all of you every day. Thanks for
being here. We got more on the WNBA. Play is
like the official WNBA analyst corresponding many jump in here

(00:21):
for a minute.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Buck, the numbers on the WNBA gender controversies, race controversies.
It's gotten so big that I just was watching my quadbox.
CNN is now forced to cover the fact that two
men have declared for the WNBA draft. Usually they try
to just avoid stories like these. As you know, I

(00:44):
think the data. I mean, the five most watched YouTube
clips from last week's show were all us discussing gender
and race related controversies in the WNBA. So the marketplace
I just tweeted this, the market for this story is insatiable.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Insatiable.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
So we're going to talk about a lot of different things.
Sorry to cut you off, but that is a peak
behind the curtain. Sometimes stories are out there and people
lead with them. We've talked about the power that these
networks can have. They can cover things that otherwise would
not be news and turn them into news. This is
an example I think of chasing. What is something that

(01:24):
is deeply talked about that has started with the ten
million dollar challenge and I think it's everywhere. But we
will continue on a variety of fronts. But I do
think this is this is rare that I'm staggered by
how much demand there is for a story. This one
surprised me. Now we take you back to the top
of the menu. Clay wanted to give you details on

(01:45):
a special. It's a special, So yeah, there you go.
He didn't tell you what the price. Well, I guess
the price for the specials ten million dollars actually, so
we know that's the market price, ten million dollars. By
the way, word to the wise, whenever you're at a restaurant,
I don't know how often you guys all experience this.
If they're selling you really fresh fish and they price
it by the ounce, watch out because nobody can do
that math in their head.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
And all of a.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Sudden you find yourself with a very big bill just
telling you from somebody who lives near the water. That's
the way it goes. Now we have the aftermath of fauci.
Have you never experienced that, You've never gotten like a
like a grilled fish and you find out it was
sixteen ounces that you know, twenty dollars an ounce or
something crazy.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
It's interesting you actually have me deep in thought. I've
only seen steaks priced by ounce. I'll then it's the
same thing seafood. Yes, yeah, then you know it's a
mortgage payment. When the steak is priced by the ounce,
it's a mortgage payment. Just get ready for it when
it starts saying wag you, and then some Japanese stuff
after it, like the actual prefecture and everything. Who then
you're in trouble when Kamala runs. I'm gonna make you

(02:46):
take me to one of these ounce steak places.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, I know.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
It's like butter on your tongue when they sell that
steak by ounce, Like you taste that thing. And I
remember the first time I did it, I was like,
there's no way this can be that much different than
a normal stake like at dambidly at like Outback or
Texas road House or someplace like that where I'm typically
out eating steaks. But it was like butter on the tongue,

(03:12):
like unbelievable. I now return us to the news cycle.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Fauci the COVID shot the pregnant women angle of this.
We talked to Ron Johnson yesterday. There's a lot of
response to this. Look, there's gonna be some people, I mean,
O Clay, there's gonna be some people who say it's
not smoking gun proof. It was a possibility, Okay, Yeah,
but they shut down all concerns about all possibilities, knowing

(03:37):
that they were real possibilities and therefore real concerns. So
that's valid WNBA. We're going to dive into that. Trump
reacting to a bunch of stuff in the Oval office.
Today is decision day Wisconsin for the governor's race. Interesting there,
Clay that the progressives, at least according to Politico, Well,

(03:57):
to be fair, an endorsement is a book record thing.
A lot of far left people or far left star makers,
I should say, for the progressives, like Bernie Sanders are
not endorsing Francesca Hong Okazio Cortez not endorsing her, and
I think it's because they worry that she's too much
baggage in the general. So it's interesting there is still

(04:18):
a line for progressives on this stuff. If you you
know what, I think, the worst thing that she has
said is cancel Thanksgiving.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
I think that's just there's a lot of you can
say abolish prisons and walk that back with like what
I meant was, and start throwing out some nonsense cancel Thanksgiving,
Like who wants to cancel Thanksgiving? This would be like
saying I want to make cheeseburgers illegal. You're not going
to win in America if you say, I just think
we need a ban on cheeseburgers. They need to be

(04:48):
alongside cocaine on the drug schedule.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
This is also where some people, and I'm affectionately calling
you this who are nerds, get really upset because they say,
I don't know why we aren't talking about tax policy
or the national debt or other very significant issues. And
this is where I just have to say, it's hard

(05:13):
to cut through the noise. When you say cancel Thanksgiving.
Everybody's antenna goes up and they look around and they say, what.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
It's like a record scratch.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Moment when you say, hey, we need to have a
policy when it comes to taxes that is, and people's
eyes glaze over because they don't really understand it very well.
Communication still matters, but this is like the women's sports issue,
and you say, hey, chicks with penises are actual chicks.

(05:45):
There's a better word that rhymes. And then when you
say cancel Thanksgiving, people just it's a record scratch. It
makes you recognize just how discordant and out of tune
and touch you are with that person. And I think
she's I love that she said, did you see the latest?
She said, my bad on some of my past takes.

(06:08):
There you go, that's very gen z.

Speaker 4 (06:10):
I do.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
I do love that you could just wasn't it you?

Speaker 5 (06:14):
Who was?

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Just? What was your uh?

Speaker 6 (06:16):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (06:16):
Nobody's perfect.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Nobody's when when you're in an argument with your wife
and she's got you and you know you're wrong, don't apologize,
just look at her and dismissively say, nobody's perfect.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
That's so good. Nobody's perfect.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Basically, basically, Francesca Hong is pulling the buck Sexton.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
Nobody's perfect.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
My bad is like what you say when somebody got
screened and you didn't get your hand up in front
of the shooter and he made a basket. It's not
when you say, hey, we need to end all police
and we need to abolish prisons, and we need to
cancel Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
I agree abolishing police at least sounds like a policy decision.
So as crazy as it is, and it's very unpoppus,
they're politically and it's insane and we've gone over that
a million times.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
Cancel Thanksgiving is just insane. Nobody wants to cancel Thanksgiving.
That's not even a thing. I mean, it would be
like saying I want to cancel fun. Why would you
ever want to cancel or delicious food. I want to
cancel delicious food.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
So that I understand you might think, oh, but buck
all this different stuff. The reason AOC and Bernie because
right now there's a momentum behind this progressive stuff, right
and they got thats on piker guy running around and
crazy stuff. By the way, he's also doing some of
the my bad but he does it with America deserved
nine to eleven. But you know, this is what you're

(07:37):
seeing happening. There are a bunch of progressives who have
won and they're gearing up for a midterm. People can disagree.
I think they smell metaphorically Republican blood in the water.
The sharks are circling. I think they think that we're
in a tough spot right now and we can get
into this. But even with that, Clay Francesca Hong concerns

(07:59):
them and they don't want to either brand to a
basically can't win campaign. I'm telling you, I think it's
because she said she's well, it's to cancel Thanksgiving. I
just don't think you can win the state of Wisconsin.
I think you might be able to win, you know,
like a suburb of Boston or something. Well, actually not
even because they love their history of there. I'm trying
to think of a very little you might be able
to win, like a San Francisco, you know, Alderman Seed

(08:22):
or something whatever they call it. But I don't think
you can be governor of Wisconsin.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Sadly to be able to win parts of Madison, which
is a very left wing University of Madison, Wisconsin location right,
University of Wisconsin Madison for those of you out there,
I think I reversed it. Great place to watch a
football game, by the way, at least when it's not cold.
But I will say this is I think what may

(08:48):
end up saving Republicans. There is an overreach that is
not dissimilar to what we saw in twenty twenty two,
where less moderate candidates were selected further right candidates than
the moderate ones because people were so angry at Biden,
and as a result, moderate voters in many different states

(09:10):
that were winnable didn't go with the Republican candidate. I
think Abdul l Sied being selected in Michigan, Mike Rodgers
is going to win.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
I really do think that.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Now that's a fifty to fifty race in the prediction
markets right now, So that's not a crazy predictions coin flip.
And Francesca Hang if she is the nominee, as everyone
expects that she will be for the Democrats after this day,
sixty five percent chance now buck that Republicans are going
to take back the governor's seat in Wisconsin. So going

(09:44):
left wing and picking a thirty seven year old former
Bartender state rep. Who was wants to cancel Thanksgiving is
actually going to end up blowing up in the face
of the Democrats, much like we still happen in twenty two.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
So I'll give you a few things on this. First
of all, this is a bit of role reversal because
in August of twenty four you were concerned about Kamala v.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
Trump.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
Now, to be fair, that was before she had said
anything and I was like, I'm sure she's going I'm
sure he's going to win by more than he even
beat Hillary by, because I had faith that Kamal was
so terrible. Now that overconfidence in Kamala's terribleness, by the way,
is eventually going to cost me a stake, because then
I took that too far afterwards with my she's not
even good. She's clearly going to run. But you know,

(10:28):
I made a crazy clay. He's very notice this. He
likes the gambling. He's very good at this. He knew
that I was throwing out a sucker's bet. It should
have been the bet should have been she won't be
the nominee. I'm not even as confident about that anymore.
That would be a real bet. Took her, But I
took her with a bunch of our friends. I was
out to dinner in La I'll put him on the
just admit it.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
A Alexi Wallace like, he was like, there's no way
that's we were out. He was one of the guys
at dinner. Everybody at the table we were with took
me on the opposite side. I think there were five
guys there. I bet them all Kamalo will be the nominee.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
But I just I.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
Wanted to give this preamble because I was super confident
in Trump in twenty twenty four. I did not There
was not a single day from when the Biden debate
happened and that I didn't think Trump was gonna win.
I'm like, Trump's gonna win. This is all over, game,
set match, one hundred percent. So that that ended up
being correct. I'm very pessimistic this time for Republicans. It's

(11:24):
not Trump, but for Republicans. I am pessimistic now, certainly
about the House. I think the Senate is going to
be a It'll come down to a seat or two.
This is not some crazy prediction. I think a lot
of people think so. I mean, it's come down to
a race or two. And I think that the Michigan
Senate race is going to be decided by you can
mark this. It'll be decided by I'm not going to

(11:44):
pick a winner in it, hoping Mike Rodgers pulls it out.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
That's going to be decided by less than thirty thousand votes.
I think.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
I don't think that's a crazy take. I mean, I
would say it's going to be the closest of all
the Senate races would be my prediction right now. I
think Mike Rodgers will get us across the line there.
He lost by nineteen thousand. Again, we got a huge
audience in Michigan. A lot of this is going to
come down to how aware are a lot of non

(12:11):
traditional voters who show up and support Trump. Will those
same guys and a lot of them are guys, particularly
in rural areas, will they show up and vote in
a midterm race with Trump off the ballot. I think
that's the biggest challenge.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
You're also going to see a Muslim American turnout in
Michigan for Abdul El sayed that it's going to set
the all time record for their participation by far, and
you're going to see ninety nine percent of them who
vote are going to vote for Abdul El sayed.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
It's going to be an absence. So you know that's
a part of that.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
And as you know, Michigan has a very substantial Muslim population,
so that makes a difference here.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
So APAC spent thirty million dollars bet going with Hailey
Stevens over abdul l sayad I'm meant to bring in
my print edition of The New York Times this morning.
Apak is going to evidently spend big money on Mike Rogers.
They have never this is a sign of shifting political wins.

(13:11):
They have really never stepped into a controversial race like
this on the side of a Republican So they dislike
Abdul l Sayed so much that they are going to
be spending Reports are tens of millions of dollars on
Mike Rogers' side to try to persuade people Jewish voters
in particular, not to vote for el Sayed.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
I think it will be unpersuasive. Okay, I think that
that's I think that that money. I will tell you
right now. I'm not an apac advisor or anything. I
think that money is wasted. I don't think they're going
to be votes a million.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
I mean, they already put thirty million into Hailey Stevens
and he beat him.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
So but this is what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
People always talk about money in politics, and they understand
there's a correlation, not a causation. Mike Bloomberg is one
of the richest people in the entire world, probably worth
what one hundred billion now something like that. He spent
hundreds of millions of dollars on his mayoral race back
in the day, or one hundred million dollars back in
the day. And Clay when he ran for president, he
couldn't get above like one percent or something. I mean

(14:12):
it was he was a blip on the screen. Money
doesn't mean victory. Money is necessary. And abd al say
Ed's gonna have a lot of money coming in from
the coasts. He's gonna have a lot of money pouring
into his side too.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
So a Clay.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
He also guys, you know you notice a little good
cop bad cop here. Okay, Clay can give you the
the the unicorns and the fairy dust that everything's great
and Rainbow's we're all gonna win.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
I'm here to tell you. I'm worried. Okay, I'm worried.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
I'm confident. I feel good right there, we go three
months out, he's confident. You can all like Clay and
his confidence and be mad at me for my worry,
But I kind of want the Trumpster to get out there.
I know it's the summer and no one's doing anything,
but after Labor Day we got to see a lot
of action from a lot of Republicans out there making
the case about this communist surge and the Democrats.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
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(16:04):
insurance agency looking.

Speaker 5 (16:05):
For normal in a world of crazy. Clay and Buck
have your back.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
Well, welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. We're
getting a lot of great talkbacks and calls and everything else.
And by the way, join us on the YouTube scream
if you have not already. We are getting tens of
thousands of YouTube live stream views, which we really appreciate
over the course of the program, and we want to
be getting hundreds of thousands. So spread the word. Check
us out if you have not before, and subscribe to

(16:30):
the channel. That's a huge help for us. Subscribe to
the channel on YouTube.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
It's fun.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
You can see us, you know, as long as subscribe.
I don't care make fun of my hair. Tell me
it's too long, tell me it's too short. Clay, it's
never just right. I'm never the bear that has the
porridge at just the right temperature with hair. You know,
I don't know what they I think. People tell you that,
you know your T shirt looks slumpy, sometimes whatever it is,
we'll take the heat as.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
Long as you subscribe to the channel. So some people
have really crisp T shirts. I don't know. I mean,
I guess maybe commentary is amazing.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
It's amazing how many people in America have got a
who comment on things are perfect, looking, incredibly successful, handsome
and funny and better than everybody at everything else.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
That is amazing to me.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
I will say, how if you are a commenter online,
your perfection is beyond question and the people who are
just people who are doing what they do are full
of flaws that must be pointed out constantly.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
That is an interesting phenomenon that I have noticed.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
I would say, Oh, let's get you h This is
from Glenn Eric from glen Falls, New York.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Hit it hey claim buck.

Speaker 7 (17:40):
I got one for you guys to figure out for me.
When they put the word democratic in front of socialists,
it's supposed to be something different. But when they put
the word trance in front of woman, we're supposed to
believe it's the same thing as just a woman.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
A very very fair point.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
And by the way, as I can telling people that
don't fall into these definitional games, they do this because
First of all, it's like a pseudo intellectualism that people
on the left have, you know, when they're.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
Like, oh, I'm sorry, do you really know about Stalin?
I know that he killed millions of people and he
was really bad.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
Like, yes, I do actually know about stalf You know,
I'm not talking about just me. Actually I know more
than most leftists about Stalin. But the point is in general,
you can just know the things you have to know
and don't let them challenge you with minute show or
the specificity of things you know. How many of the
people do you think that are actually called that in
the DSA Clay know Stalin's name in the underground? How
many even know that Stalin isn't really his name and

(18:38):
that it was like a nom de guerre and it
means man of steel. How many would even they don't
know any of this stuff, They know nothing. But though
through the we're democratic socialists. How many do you think
know that the Bolsheviks, the original communists, called for elections.
They were all about elections the first time, so that
they could then get a mandate to tell everybody else

(18:59):
that we're in charge, and now we line you up
against the wall. Right, So democratic socialists played the Bolsheviks
were democratic socialists until they weren't.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, and look, a lot of people who are listening
to us from Latin America have experienced in real time
the creep of socialism into totalitarianism. No one knows what
you just laid out. The average historical knowledge of American
history in this country is virtually non existent, much less
what people know about the history of politics in the world. Sadly,

(19:31):
how many people even know about the Berlin Wall falling.
I mean, I think a huge percentage of the kids.
And I'm defining kids broadly to include a lot of
people in their twenties, because that's a big part of
his coalition. A lot of people who voted for Mom
Donnie in New York City aren't even familiar with the
Cold War or the era of the Berlin Wall coming

(19:54):
down and Eastern Europe becoming free. It's out of their worldview. Heck,
in twenty five years since nine to eleven, a lot
of kids don't even know about nine to eleven. And
so this is why historical literacy, illiteracy and historical literacy
is so important, because we don't teach basic history anymore.

(20:16):
They've turned history into sociology, So it's really just a
study of different oppressed class and how they interact. And
the actual baseline knowledge of history, both world and American,
I think has never been lower. And I think that's intentional,
because if you have the memory of a goldfish, you're
easier to manipulate. Then that's the reality. I mean, it's

(20:40):
scary how few people know basic history. And then if
you combine it, Buck with how few people know basic history,
and how few people know basic financial literacy, how many
what percentage of people know how a mortgage works? What
percentage of people can accurately tell you what the impact

(21:01):
of twenty percent interest on a credit card is over
multiple years. People have no clue, So you get people
upset because they're in financially dire straits because they don't
know any better. Buck, and then they don't have historical knowledge.
So you just convinced them, hey, you have to support

(21:23):
something new. They're not selling socialism, they're selling new. Oh,
this is new, even though it's failed in the past.
A lot of people look around, and especially this is
pertinent Buck, so many people. This is where I'm somewhat
sympathetic for many of these people. They went to high end,
expensive colleges, they got advanced degrees, masters in different fields.

(21:49):
They are, by objective measures of testing, for instance, very smart,
but they have no actual common sense knowledge, and the
market isn't valuing the education that they have. So, if
you're living in New York City right now, mom and
dad are probably helping to pay your fifty five hundred
dollars a month one bedroom apartment rent. That's the average

(22:10):
rent in Manhattan. Now you are making fifty thousand dollars
a year, which sounds like a lot of money, but
as you know, having lived in Manhattan, that's not even
enough to pay for a one bedroom apartment in Manhattan.
Even your ten thousand dollars short on that salary by itself,
even as a young person starting there. So you're piling
multiple roommates in, you're borrowing from mom or dad, and

(22:33):
you're looking around and saying, why is capitalism not valuing
what I'm trying to sell? It must be because capitalism
isn't working. I'm a socialist.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
Now, do you know what the poverty the poverty threshold
is for benefits and things in New York City for
a single adult, it's about fifty thousand dollars a year. Yeah,
Now you might say that's crazy because the average household
income in America.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
Is fifty five sixty What is it right now? I've
got to check. It's been going up in recent years.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Yeah, it's more than that now because household is defined
oftentimes as two people working together, right, but individually fifty
eight eighty three, So.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
It's eighty three. Average household income is eighty three average.
I have to look at average per capita income because
that you're talking about a single individual. To your point,
play household is often man and woman working both. But yes,
my my point being in New York City because of
the cost of living, if you're a single person making
fifty thousand dollars a year, you're in poverty basically, or
you're right on the red line of poverty. Which if

(23:37):
you if you're a single guy and lived making fifty
k a year and you live in Tulsa, you're doing well.
You know, you live in a nice place, probably have a
nice car. You're paying you know, paying four on the
uh you know, on the driveway. So it's very different.
It's basically twice as much to live in New York
as it is to live. In most other metros, it's
like double the So if you make one hundred grand

(23:57):
in New York City. Also true in the Bay Area,
but that's because of all the AI and the Google
and tech money. It's like that's a whole other universe.
But Clay, it's really uh in Miami actually now is
as expensive as New York City.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Unfortunately, so.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
Well, and again I think what this comes to is
you are frustrated, and if you are frustrated, you're able
to be manipulated because you have no historical knowledge, you
don't have a lot of financial literacy, so you're not
able to keep in front of your bills, and so
you're looking around and saying, if this isn't working for me,

(24:33):
it has to be that there is something that is
broken in American capitalism, and so that is who they
are feeding on. And they aren't really selling them socialism.
They're just selling them it isn't capitalism is not working
for you, Let's try this new thing, which as we know,
is not actually new. But if you're twenty five and

(24:56):
you were born the year that nine to eleven happened,
social and communism can seem like something that might value
you more so, it's illiteracy from a historical perspective, coupled
with frustration. Voila mom, Donnie saying I'll make your groceries
thirty percent cheaper and I'll ensure that your rent isn't

(25:18):
going to go up, and.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
If you want to get a census to how much
the dishonest Oh, it's not socialism, really, it's just going
to make your life easier and less expensive. Line is
Gavin Newsom is getting in on this game. He's it's
criticizing capitalisms.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
Cut sixteen play.

Speaker 4 (25:34):
It capitalism as we know it not going to work as.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
We know it. It doesn't.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
Twenty stays still pay twenty five cents a minimum wage.

Speaker 3 (25:42):
We printed that first tree Er. I was in college
Democrats yesterday.

Speaker 4 (25:46):
It was interesting.

Speaker 5 (25:46):
Two of them said that of all things they said,
it was they said that there's.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
Physiological for them. It wasn't even that.

Speaker 5 (25:54):
These are young people that felt something about that, and
the way it was interesting.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
One of the young lady said, she described it so
vividly in those terms.

Speaker 5 (26:03):
It was alarming to me because she just feels like
she's locked out of all of that. And so again,
I think our party needs to call that out concentration.

Speaker 3 (26:12):
We need to call.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
That out capitalism as we know it not gonna work.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
Gavin Newsom, what's you worth twenty million dollars? Doesn't he
own a vineyard?

Speaker 6 (26:24):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (26:24):
He used to at least yeah, he had a wine company,
a liquor store. In many different respects. I mean, he's
worth a ton of money.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
But again, this is this is somebody who's become very
rich in the capitalist system and then turns around and
instead of one being humble and grateful for it, that's
way too much to ask. It's Gavin Newsom, but to
encouraging other people to also, you know, to to experience
and to chase after the benefits of a capitalist system.

(26:51):
He's playing the emotions game, that's right, playing to their emotions.

Speaker 3 (26:55):
And it's it's working.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
And this is why yesterday we were saying that aoc
in the way that she's able to speak authentically to
the audience even while selling something that is awful. And actually,
this is the other important thing, buck actually is going
to make things worse. Right, All of the processes that

(27:19):
are being put in place by Mamdanni are likely to
make the average New Yorker's life worse than it would
have been if they had never ever embraced it at all.
But they feel like they're doing something and that is
who Mam Donnie is taking advantage of. The kids call
it the vibes, the vibes. And you even have politicians

(27:41):
now who will use this phraseology because they know that
it appeals to the under thirty crowd, which is a substantiate.
They don't vote in high numbers, but there's a lot
of them, and it's a vote that could be very
useful for Democrats in these places. And Clay, here real
quick before we here's French Esca Hong sounding just like
Aavenussam on the We're not going to turn into communism.

(28:04):
Just look at our minimum wage laws. Play fifteen.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
This is you fear that just so democratic socialism could
turn into communism. What would you want them to know?

Speaker 6 (28:12):
No, this is a state where we still have a
two thirty three tip minimum wage and seven twenty five
minimum wage. I think it's going to be pretty hard
to turn that into socialism soon.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
Clay, I just want to know they both Gavin Nussim
and Francisca Hong talking minimum wage right away. This is
like when you say, hey, I think communism is bad,
and people say, oh.

Speaker 3 (28:32):
Do you like the forty hour work weep? Do you
like weekends? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (28:36):
That's really that's really what we're talking about here. Clay
minimum wage is one of these things. And it's true,
by the way, even on the right, it never works
the way that people who want it think it works.
There are always trade offs, but it sounds good and
people like it, so it wins.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
I will point out Francesca Hong, who is on the
ballot today and is going to become probably the Democrat nominee,
as you said, not being endorsed by people on the left.
I think it's because they don't respect her intelligence.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
I really do.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
I mean, when she gets these questions, she's incapable of
answering them. You may not like Mom Donnie's answers, you
may not like abdual Lsayed's answers, you might not even
like AOC's answers. But they have a just a smoothness
in their glib answer and grin dynamic that she does

(29:27):
not have that allows them to get past some of
these questions.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
Does that make sense?

Speaker 1 (29:33):
They can they can confidently parrot the mandatory phrases.

Speaker 3 (29:37):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
She can't do it for whatever reason, and I think
that they know that she's going to get exposed on
a level that even AOC can't get exposed on.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
Look.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
Unfortunately, we have a huge audience in Spokane. There have
been it appears it was arson, a lot of different
investigations that have gone on into all the burning that
happened in Spokane. Over eleven hundred structures they believe have
been harmed, sixty seven sixty five thousand people evacuated, all

(30:08):
sorts of issues all throughout Washington. It's emblematic oftentimes of
what happens after a disaster. Your insurer's job is to
pay you as little as possible. Document everything, don't cash
the first check. Get representation before you sign anything under
insurance is the trap. They will take advantage of you

(30:31):
when it comes to property damage. This is why you
need a lawyer. Claytravislaw dot com. We can take care
of you for property casualty, all sorts of issues related
to weather, related to fires, flooding, get great representation nationwide
Claytravis dot com. Again, that phone number super easy as well.

(30:56):
Claytravis dot com. If you want to go online, you
can also go to eight seven seven two two two
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of dollars to take advantage of you. Make sure you
have the right lawyer nationwide. Spokane is just unfortunately, the

(31:18):
latest example of what insurance companies will do. Those of
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Speaker 5 (31:32):
Four slash learn hang with the guys right there when
you need them.

Speaker 4 (31:37):
Most, Clay and fucking just preset them on the iheard ask.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
Welcome back in Clay and Buck, appreciate all of you
hanging out with us. We roll into the Tuesday edition
of the program our number two. Thank you nearly six
hundred am FM stations, satellite radio podcast, and certainly hello
to YouTube, clicklike and some described you can now watch

(32:02):
all three hours of the program on video every single day,
where you can get into comments and say crazy things
like AOC is not attractive according to Buck, which is
an argument that is currently taking place. No, I'm saying
that people are saying that I'm not saying she's not attractive.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
We agree. I mean that she is attractive.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
In fact, I'm going to get into positive but I
actually see someone here that is fired up.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
Carmen in Edgewater, Florida. Carmen, thank you for listening. You
have a take. Oh what you want to say?

Speaker 2 (32:38):
It was she was going to say it was inappropriate
for us to reference AOC's attractiveness, because I guess that's inappropriate.
I don't know, you're not supposed to have noticed that
you have eyes. And what I would just say in
general is this would be a good historical test which
we can never confirm.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
John F.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
Kennedy exactly, same political opinions, exact same family. But he
looks just like Chris Christie. Is he ever elected President.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
Of the United States? Nope, I would say no. So
if you're out there and you're saying i'm a woman,
I'm offended. Why would you talk about AOC's looks? All right?
John F.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
Kennedy is the best looking person to ever be president
of the United States. If he were fat, he would
not have been elected president of the United States. If
he were unattractive, he would And.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
Sorry, I'm not I want consistency here is it?

Speaker 1 (33:37):
Is it inappropriate when Trump references how members of his
cabinet are so good looking, male and female, and how
the President of the United States has clearly viewed it
as an advantage to you know, uh, he didn't pick
Caroline Leavit out of a hat. Everybody, Okay, you know,
go down and look at who. I think, even though

(33:57):
it's a guy and Trump is straight, I think Pete
Hegg said looking like a you know, square jaw guy
who would be put as you know, like Captain.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
America, Captain America.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
Yeah, yeah, I think that that was enormously to his
I know that that was enormously to his advantage with
Trump making that pick Marco Rubio also telegenic Secretary of State.
This is reality, folks. Clay and I live in reality.
In reality, we can talk about good looking people having
an advantage in politics and in public life without anyone
getting into a tizzy about it. We're not sitting here

(34:31):
writing odes and sonnets to AOC. I can assure you
neither Laura nor Carrie are worried about our feelings for AOC. Okay,
so we're just objectively stating reality.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
All right. Two things News positive one.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
This just happened a man named Robert Gilman, I think
is the last name. I jot it down really quickly
because this is just breaking and maybe Gilmour I can't
read my own writing. This is where would attest that
sometimes when I shot down notes quickly. As those of
you who saw Pickles back in the day.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
People still think that Gerald Pickles was like some kind
of a put on.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
I swear Claire wrote down Gerald Pickles.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
So Robert Gilman has been in a Russian prison for
four years. Many people say that he was unjustly in
a Russian prison. They just posted a couple of minutes
ago that he has been released. They posted a photo
of him. Here's Marco Rubio. Today, after more than four

(35:34):
years of detention in Russia, Robert Gilman is on his
way home to be reunited with his family. Mister Gilman
joins over one hundred Americans. President Trump has free during
a second term in office. We thank Russia for working
with Witcoff Special Envoy Steve Whitcoff, and there are still
others that are being sought, but I do think it

(35:57):
is worth mentioning that, and certainly that is a welcome result.

Speaker 3 (36:01):
All right, Buck.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Earlier, I was being positive on the midterms. Those are
still months away, and we do have Wisconsin and Minnesota
voting in their primary today. I didn't mention off the
top of the show when we were talking about primaries.
South Carolinians are also voting to pick a replacement for
their Lindsey Graham, former senator, who passed untimely after winning

(36:25):
the nomination to serve another six year term. There are
a bunch of people who are running. I'm going to
look up right now, Buck, you can comment on this.
I'm going to look up the actual markets to see
who is favored and what we expect to see happen.
I think there's going to be a runoff because my
understanding is you have to get over fifty percent, and

(36:46):
given the number of individuals running, it's unlikely over fifty
percent is going to happen.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
I first thing comes in my mind because I'm a
silly Yankee. Even though I now live in Florida, I
feel like Florida in if you're South Florida, it's like
Yankeeville here anyway, we all everyone comes from New York.
The families of New York or in the Northeast is
there a difference between a South Carolina accent and a
Tennessee accent.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
Depends on the part of the state, the South Carolinians
in A lot of people don't realize this, but as
you move west, because you think of South Carolina as
like a coastal I don't think a lot of people
do you think of Charleston, you think, I know, it's
in Georgia, but Savannah like the kind of the sort
of palm trees and the brackish waters, the bays, all

(37:37):
those things. As you move west, it becomes basically the
Smoky Mountains. So the Appalachian region of South Carolina you
sound a lot like you do in the mountains of
North Carolina, the mountains of Tennessee, the mountains.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
So it's really a regional Appalachian or Appalachia, depending on
who you ask, accent that you're that that's what you know.
Something I'm weaving here for second clacause I know we
want to get into the South Carolina thing. Did you
see Wall Street Journal today? They have a whole piece
that's on the timeline of the naming of American towns
and cities. Really, I agree that, yet that's super interesting,

(38:16):
super interesting. I mean, I'll give you the very short
version is, of course, the earliest place names and they
well they start in New York or they started around
that era. The earliest place names are English. You know
English names, you know Jamestown, et cetera, Plymouth, English place names.

(38:38):
But then you get into the Dutch names, which are
in the New York area. I always think it's so
funny too that, I like, sixteen fifty five, the British
just show up with a bunch of ships and they're like,
this land is ours, and the Dutch are kind of like, okay,
like just let us keep our stuff and not a
shot fired.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
Everyone just kind of hung out, you know.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
Although Peter Steivesant named or rather the famous high school
in New York name for him. Peter Steivesson wanted to
throw down, and his people were like, no, that's a
crazy idea. The British will kick our asses like that
we have there are four frigates all armed up, like
where we can't do this. So but anyway, then it
gets into how you after the revolution you start getting

(39:19):
these names that are biblical. You start going with these
biblical names because they didn't want to keep the convention
going of English place names for towns and cities, and
of course then you have the Spanish influence, which is
heavy around the southwest California, the former parts of the
Spanish Empire, and the French influence along the Mississippi basin
because of France Louisiana purchase and all that stuff. But

(39:42):
it gave kind of a brief history of all these
of all these town names, which I thought was really interesting.
And then the Native American or the Anglo size or
English versions of Native American names.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
Yeah, like Tennessee and Kentucky and places like that. I
did see speaking of the geograph of settlement. The South,
where I live, and this kind of confirms in general,
is not a place where people feel connection to Europe
or other countries. Most Southerners feel more of a connection

(40:17):
to the South or America. And there was a map
that actually reflected that's true. When you ask people where
they're from in the Southeast, they say, well, we're you know, Southern,
We're United States. Whereas like my wife is from Michigan,
a lot of people and I know Northeast where you
grew up, a lot of people still fill a connection
to Italy or Ireland, or to like, we don't really

(40:40):
have Saint Patti's Day parades very much down here in
the South in general compared to other parts of the country.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
But like Utica, Ithaca, Syracuse, Goshen, these are all either
biblical or ancient Greco Roman place names. And it's because
those towns and cities are founded post Revolution and that
all of a sudden it wasn't New York and it
wasn't you know, all these different places that come from

(41:07):
the Virginia. These are all things named obviously for the English.
I thought this was really it's on the Wall Street.
You just came out a few hours ago. Everyone knows this.
The Spanish stuff is quite obvious. I mean that was
Spanish territory Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Antonio. It was
really the eastern side of things that was more interesting
to me, the way that the names changed over time.

(41:27):
But yeah, how ten thousand American cities got their names
and that's it goes into all of that, and it's
part of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the
Wall Street Journal put this outs three hundred and thirty
four page report that they broke down some of this
for you. So there you go, cause, like, for example,
how many people know why they're like, do you people
into cater Illinois? I hope you all know that your

(41:47):
city is named for an absolute badass from the war
against the Barbary pirates, Stephen Decatur.

Speaker 3 (41:55):
Nosot the first Special Operations.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
Back to the question in hour one, most people are
morons when it comes to history, and they're financially illiterate too,
And it's all most people don't know. Most people don't
know basic history. By the way, I'm pulling it up
right now. The three favorites to win again to advance
as long as somebody doesn't get fifty percent. Darlene Graham

(42:19):
is the sister of Lindsey Graham has been endorsed by
President Trump. I will say I'm gonna Laura Travis said,
you should be talking more on the program about the
fact that she's just the sister and she gets to
be a senator. She said, I haven't heard you or
Buck even raised this as an issue. She's never done

(42:40):
anything in politics, and she just happens to be the
sister of the sitting senator, and so she gets to
be a senator. Why aren't you guys talking about that?
And I said, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
So it's a very good point slash good question. I
would say the answer is very similar to what I
used to say. I don't think the president should have
of his immediate family members running the White House, which
is that people a lot of uh, the rank and
file Trump voter wants and or has total faith that
when Trump annoints somebody, either as an appointee or in

(43:14):
this case, for a Senate seat, that he knows what
he's doing and they put their full faith in that decision,
and they don't want it to be questioned. Yeah, for
those who don't feel that way, this is Lindsay Graham's sister.
This makes no sense. Why would anyone vote for her?
But that's a different approach than.

Speaker 3 (43:32):
To go for it.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
After my wife brought this up, Buck, I asked groc
and I looked it up. Typically it's the wife of
a sitting senator who has ended up taking his seat.
I believe that's happened seven times historically. This would that's
just for an interim appointment, right, This is she's actually
running for this She's running for the six year term. Yeah, yes,

(43:53):
she's the sitting senator right now. To fill out the
until January.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
The interim thing. I feel like, yeah, the person votes,
you got away from election.

Speaker 3 (43:59):
That's different. That's fine. I get that, Like, yeah, wife
sething in for three deal, Yeah for the six year ternam.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
It's happened eight times that there's been a family member
that has kept the seat in the Senate. Particularly seven
times it was a widow. Makes sense some because you
have the same last name. Never before has a sibling
gotten a seat. So Darlene Graham is favored right now.
Then Ralph Norman Russell Fry. That is the top three

(44:27):
according to polymarket buck. I forgot that he was running.
Do you remember Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina
who vanished. They didn't know where he was. Was he
hiking in Argentina with a paramour with a mistress, me
with with a missed They didn't know where he was

(44:47):
the governor of South Carolina. Just they were like, we
don't know where the governor is. And then they found out.

Speaker 3 (44:53):
That he was.

Speaker 2 (44:54):
I think it was a mistress. He might have been divorced.
Let's like do a research on that. But he was
with a woman on a hike in Latin America while
being governor.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
He is the fourth most likely to be selected as
the next Senator from South Carolina.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Would you go on a solo hike with the woman
who wasn't your wife, girlfriend, or mistress? That would be
quite a you know what I'm saying, I want to
go on a hike with anybody, totally agree.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
It does seem unlikely that you would just be like, Hey,
I'm just good friends with this woman, let's just go
walk in the trees for a while.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
Did your parents Yeah, because when you're going on a
real deal hike, you got like a trowel for taking
care of your business, and you know, you got to
use leaves like it's you know, you gotta really want
to spend time with this person.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
There's a reason why man moved from living in caves
and the woods to in a home, like in a structure.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
Did your parents try to get you in on the
camping thing, like convince you the campaign was like the
great American pastime.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
I like being outdoors during the day, but I want
to go in at night, so we want to go
out into the great outdoors. But no, I was never
a camp and I we've never done it as a family.
I told Laura, like the reason I work is to
put a roof over our head, Like why would I
abandon a roof over our head. My dad's two favorite
traditions that he has not been able to get his
children to take up for the next generation are being

(46:18):
on a boat in a storm where you might not
make it.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
He loves that for some reason. And sleeping on the.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
Ground in the woods with no one else around, and
like an air mattress for like weeks on end, like
he loves those things. Can't sell me in either one
of these. I don't want to be a boat in
a storm. I don't want to be sleeping on the
ground in the woods. So different strokes for different folks.
Different I'm going to give us a positive spin. I
promise on murder rates. That's maybe it's a great story.

(46:48):
It's a great story. You got to stick around for this.
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Speaker 4 (47:58):
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Speaker 1 (48:01):
As Welcome back in to Clay and a couple of
stories I want to dive into here that we've one
we've talked about a bit, which is this lsied guy
running for Democrat Senate in Michigan or Senate as a
Democrat in Michigan, and some of the craziest things that
he said.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
But before we get there.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
Because if we don't get there right now, I'm sure,
I'm sure we will get there tomorrow. H Clay, do
you want to take it away with the details of
this story of Air Force one Trump whisked away from Turkey,
threat from Iran hidden in a Trump was hidden They say?
This is the New York Times and the Washington Post

(48:41):
in a food service cart of some kind. Pretty wild stuff?
You are you are interested in this? What do you
make of it all? So I want to get your
take on this.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
So last night I'm reading I'm going to read a
couple of paragraphs for those of you who did not
read this. The Washington Post U with a story with
four different reporters writing on it, said the clandestine mission,
which has not been reported previously, was carried out unbeknownst

(49:12):
to journalists and some White House staff members, who believed
they were on the same plane as the president, According
to material reviewed by the Post, a US official familiar
with the operation and another person with knowledge of the
president's travel people spoke on the condition of anonymity because
they were not authorized to talk about the matter. Okay,

(49:33):
so here's what happened. Basically, President Trump boarded. There were
three different planes at least that were a part of
this travel group to Turkey. Here about a month ago,
President Trump left the new air Force one that's the
Katari jet and boarded the old air Force one. Walked

(49:53):
up the steps, boarded the plane. They say that for
those of you who ever paid attention to the front
of an airplane, the door that is not the one
you get off on can open up, and usually does.

Speaker 3 (50:08):
And that's where they bring on the food. The sort
of the.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
Hospitality cart as it were, for the airplane pulls up
on the other side.

Speaker 3 (50:17):
They open that door. They bring on all sorts of
stuff through there.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
President Trump boarded the plane, they say, walked basically straight through,
got in to this otherwise beverage sort of cart that
they pull up. They took him down and then he
got on the plane that Pete Hegseth was on secretly.

(50:43):
Everybody thought he was on Air Force One. He was
actually flying on a smaller Air Force plane with the
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Now, I don't know how
often this happens, Right, I have flown on Air Force One.
When the President gets on the plane. The presumption is
the president still on the plane. Right. They snuck him

(51:04):
off due to they say, an Iranian assassination attempt or threat.
I my question for you, Buck is, as I'm reading
this last night getting ready for bed, my wife said, oh,
I think this was a leak, and they're trying to
catch the person who actually shared this with the Washington

(51:27):
Post because there was an investigation into the report that
he had changed jets, which they said violated national security.

Speaker 3 (51:36):
To me, Buck, the.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
President secretly getting on different planes is even much more
of a story if it's not wanted to be out there.
So you worked in the CIA, how would you assess this?
What is the story here? The White House did not
deny it, which I thought was interesting, and the Washington
Post obviously has treated this as a huge coup or

(52:01):
a huge story, and it is kind of amazing.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
I didn't know this ever happened, so what are your
thoughts on this?

Speaker 1 (52:08):
So in counterintelligence trade craft, they would call this a
canary trap, where you put information out there to see
if you're trying to see about finding a leak or
find the mole.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
That's the other way people will talk about this.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
They will put it out a canary trap is they'll
say something, you know, like if I tell Clay, Hey,
I'm going to be at this really expensive steakhouse on Thursday,
and then the New York Times prints that, and Clay
is the only person I told, and I'm actually going
to be somewhere else on Thursday. Guess what canary trap?

(52:47):
Right now? I know who it is. So you think
that may have been to me? Laura asked me that question.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
I was like, Oh, that's super because it doesn't make
sense to me that you would want this to be
out publicly that the president does it, because it would
I just it seems very it seems important to keep
that secure.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
Yeah. Yeah, Well.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
The one thing that I think is funny is apparently
the presspool journalists whom.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
I've never well, i've joined.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
I've never been one, but I've sort of been along
with them, with the Secretary of State and with the
Secretary of Defense in the past, haven't done them with
the president. But you're kind of herded along like you
ever see kids whether they're being taken to like a
you know, a museum or something, and they all have to.

Speaker 3 (53:37):
Hold it's like a rope that they hold.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
When you're you and they put you in a van
and you just kind of follow along.

Speaker 3 (53:45):
Yeah, they treat you like grammar school kids.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
Yeah, going to the museum together, like you're just sort
of this little gaggle.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
And and was funny thing is too. I was with
the ones and they were.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
Like, Okay, we have to get the opening shot. Run
and I was just like walking like I'm not running,
like I'm not here to think photos of the Secretary
of State walking into this building like I'm here because
he wants me to interview him. It's a little different,
but nonetheless it's anyway, it's not a job that it's
one of those things that sounds a lot more glamorous
than it is. I will tell you, like presspool and

(54:14):
Air Force one or press pool with the Secretary of State,
it's a good thing to cut your teeth maybe as.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
You're making your way up in the media world that
you know some stories.

Speaker 1 (54:22):
Anyway, but Clay, they were really ticked off apparently that
they were considered cannon fodder, so to speak, in case
there was a real threat against the president. It's like, well,
your plane may go down, but at least Trump's fine.
You know that the journalists were not happy about this,
But guess what Secret Service isn't there to protect the journalist.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
Secret Service is there to protect the president. So that's
not a surprise. Yeah, it just does it.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
You're if you're upset that the fact that there were
multiple planes used by the president goes public and they're
conducting an investigation into how that gets out. Then to me,
the fact that the president is basically entering and they're
playing the video right now on CNN. The videos are
up there of Trump climbing the stairs, going into Air

(55:06):
Force One and then evidently just walking basically straight through
the airplane and getting off on the other side of
the airplane and going to a new one and then again, Yeah,
if the plane had gotten shot down, all the journalists
would be dead and the president would be on a
different plane.

Speaker 3 (55:22):
Can you imagine that reveal? You're like, oh, my goodness, air.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
Force one has been struck it's gone down, everybody is,
everybody's dead, and then Trump just gets off another plane.
It would be a crazy situation, but I mean it
would be the craziest thing since a bullet grazed his
ear and he said fight, fight, fight, which was also
a real thing that happened, and pretty wild and crazy
in retrospect at that. But I don't know how often

(55:46):
this happens. I do think that there is a significant
and worthy discussion surrounding how this story got out, who
leaked it, and the fact that the White House didn't
deny it is what kind of makes me think that
it may have been intentional and designed to smoke somebody out.

Speaker 1 (56:07):
So, I mean, it's a lot of effort. It's a
lot of effort to smoke out a leaguer. What I
took from this was actually the surprise that the threat
from Iran could be high enough as a against presidential
security that they would really be worried about this. That
was a little bit surprising to me. There have been

(56:29):
some pretty kind of out there but serious or taken
seriously plots in the past. Remember the Iranians were going
to assassinate an ambassador and in a restaurant in DC
that actually I know quite well have been do many times,
kind of a well known place in Georgetown. So the
Iranians have had this kind of stuff before in the past.
But for the President to change flight, let's just say

(56:51):
that what maybe you're saying is true. I don't actually
have a clear view on that. To me, it seems
like a lot of trouble to go through to smoke
out a leaguer, But it doesn't mean and it's not
what happened. The alternative is that the Iranian threat against
the Trump administration, or against President Trump rather himself was
so intense in that moment that they would change his

(57:13):
flight schedule in response to it.

Speaker 3 (57:15):
Surprised the Iranians have that kind of.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Capability, even of theoretical capability, to worry the president with
a service detail. Remember where this would have been in Turkey,
where he's a guest of the Turkish government.

Speaker 3 (57:29):
The Turks have.

Speaker 1 (57:30):
The Turks have very serious internal security apparatus as well,
So you know, a little surprised.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
Let me just say this, you may have better knowledge
of service to air missiles than me when I'm only
full on Air Force one, you know, on one trip,
but it was multiple different flights. I thought that there
would be a jet escort in some way that was
visible with Air Force one, meaning I thought when I
sat in the window and looked out, that there would

(57:59):
be some deterrent effect, meaning there's a jet out there,
way off in the distance or something.

Speaker 1 (58:06):
You thought, you're an executive decision, Kurt Russell, Steven Sagal.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
I don't think that movie? Am I?

Speaker 4 (58:11):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (58:11):
But am I crazy? Like I thought?

Speaker 2 (58:13):
I remember I was sitting there and I'm like, do
they not Do we not have like a jet, you know,
escort in some way that is visible out there? There
isn't how we don't know what deterrence mechanisms air Force
one has. How difficult would it be to hit Air
Force one? Or I'm worried about this for a long time.

(58:34):
The UH Marine one, right, the helicopters that fly over
DC all the time. They have two of those, and
the idea is you never know which one the president
is in. That's the reason that I've been told, and
maybe that they have to have multiple other people traveling,
but they always have two. If you're in DC and
you see Marine one, you don't know which one the president?

Speaker 3 (58:53):
You think?

Speaker 1 (58:54):
Do you think like the movie Dave, there's a doppel
ganger of the president as well, who goes around like
the best president ever.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
I'm telling you right now, the most beautiful, because there's
a lot of Trump impersonators. But my question is how
hard is it with a surface to air missile to
hit because if they're ranging and when you're talking about
a man PAD, I think which would be a man
portable air defense system like a shoulder fired missile that
they call the man pads SAM.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
Usually people's referring to is like when some says a
surface air missile and SAM usually I think it's a
like a mechanized more like a Russian S three hundred
system or something like that. But with a man PAD system,
I would look, First of all, I have never read anything.
I've never seen anything about the classified about the president's defense.

Speaker 3 (59:34):
So I'm just guessing I have no idea.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
But the uh, you know, you would you would assume
that there are countermeasures on board Air Force one that
would things like you know, chaff and some of the
guys you know air defense and aviation way better than me,
would be able to weigh in here. But I'm sure
there are countermeasures. It's not just like we hope that
nobody can pop up a shot at the plane.

Speaker 2 (59:55):
That would be what I would think they might have
been nervous about in Turkey, because otherwise why would he
be changing planes? Like they must think, like, I don't
think that they're thinking, oh, somebody's going to try to
shoot him as he's boarding the plane, right, they must
think that there's some sort sor.

Speaker 3 (01:00:11):
Or they were trying to smuggle a bomb onto the plane.
There might have been a concern with somebody.

Speaker 2 (01:00:15):
You know, that's the medically you wouldn't want to take
that off then, right, like you wouldn't want to get
in the air with a bomb on the plane. To me,
the most like, and again this is not my level
of expertise, but the most likely plot that they thought
existed to me seems to be that it would be
somebody firing at the plane when it's in the air.
Because but then it goes back to the journalists they

(01:00:36):
really are cannon fodder.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
Well, well, this is that The thing is the journalists
stayed on the plane and they're like, so we all
get blown up. If this actually gets blown up, the
President's fine, And that's just the way that it is.

Speaker 3 (01:00:48):
Meanwhile, we're here to cover the president.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
I would say, yeah, Clay, I mean the the man
pad threat to aviation of something that counter terrorism analysts
have been you know, analyzing and looking at everything for
a long time. The truth is that any whether it's
a plane or a helo, takeoff and landing on the
most vulnerable periods yep in you know, top to bottom always,
so you always have some threat there because you're close

(01:01:11):
to the ground. The thing about all some of the
man pads can go really high with their range. Some
of them are much much you know, slower or lower
ceiling that that's very possible. I don't I don't know.
They might have gotten some chatter about it and they
just didn't want to take a chance. And also, I said,
Turkey is a serious security apparatus.

Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
How much do we how much do we trust Turkey?

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
That's a whole other question. It's not the UK, I
just gonna put it that way. It's not the UK.
It's not Canada.

Speaker 3 (01:01:37):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
I would put trump safety in the hands of the
Brits or the Canadians entirely without a say.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
I would say, he.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
Wouldn't even eat Secret service in those countries based on
their desire to protect our president.

Speaker 3 (01:01:49):
Honestly, no, I'm not. I'm not saying he would do that, but.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
It just they're they're they're on our team when it
comes to safety of our president. Turkey, I think so.
I think they are. I don't know if they're as
on it though as some of the others. I'll just
say that, so, I think that that flying out of Turkey.
I know they're a NATO partner, blah blah blah. I
know all that, but it's Turkey.

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
I made a steak bet with Light Them Up Linda
on the show yesterday.

Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
We posted it on X.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
If Byron Donald's not the next governor of Florida, I'm
gonna take Light them Up Linda out for a steak dinner.
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Speaker 5 (01:03:09):
Level up your brain and balance out your day with
the right amount of information and entertainment. Clay Travis and
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Speaker 4 (01:03:20):
Or wherever you get your podcasts.