May 15, 2024 • 36 mins
Biden offers to debate Trump in June and September, on CNN and ABC, in sign of desperation from Biden. Trump accepts offer. C&B's debate advice for Trump. Does Biden have to prove to Democrats he can perform in a debate before the convention? Who would be the fairest CNN anchor to moderate debate?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Wednesday edition of the Klay, Travis and Buck Sexton Show
is kicking off right now, and let's just dive right
into it. There's other stuff to talk about as well,
but you know, the inflation, the economy, the border.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Biden throwing down the gauntlet very feebly, very weak fashion.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I would argue, he is saying that he wants two
debates with Donald Trump. So at least as of now,
there does seem to be the likelihood of presidential debates.
It is not a fete complie, It is not something
that has already set in stone. There's negotiating happening, but
(00:47):
this is the two prize fighters sizing each other up
and looking at each other from across the ring. Joe
Biden stumbling as he does so. Here he is with
a video put out to try to antagonize the trump Ster.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Donald Trump lost two debates to me in twenty twenty
cents that he hadn't shown.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Up for debate.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Now he's acting like he wants to debate me again.
Will make my day, Pal. I'll even do it twice.
So let's pick the dates. Donald, I hear you're free
on Wednesdays.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Little joke there at the end about how Trump is
facing a criminal prosecution that we know has been aided
and cheered on by Biden's DOJ so haha, weaponization of
government and the destruction of legal.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Norms.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
But let's look at what is offered here. The devil
is in the details. Clay Biden, first off, June and
September very interesting. June strikes me as very early. I
don't know to go back. June strikes me as very early,
and I will get into why that.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I think it's obvious, right, they got to turn things around.
They've got to turn the momentum around.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
It's real.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
The polls are speaking very clearly on this. But what
Biden is saying is the follower his team. I should say, Clay,
we got the following provisos, no audience, no RFK junior,
no Trump remarks during Biden's answers. I mean, everyone agrees
to that, but people always interrupt each other and the
(02:19):
Biden leaning or Biden leading outlets of CBS, ABC, CNN,
and Telemundo. So he's got a whole bunch of requirements
for this, and it's based on networks that hosted Republican debates,
prime events in twenty sixteen and Democratic debates in twenty twenty. So, Clay,
(02:41):
what do you make of it? I mean, is it happening,
is it posturing? What's the biggest takeaway? I think it's
desperation from Biden. The cut that you played.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
People can't see the video, but I believe there were
five or six cuts in that twenty second video. And
for people out there who don't understand what that means,
you and I are waving right now at the video
feed of the Clay and Buck radio show. There will
not be a single cut that will occur for the
(03:14):
entire three hour show. It's you and me sitting talking
and everybody can look directly at that camera. There isn't
a jump around, there's no edit, there's no teleprompter. This
is live, and there is no safety net, as you
can well tell, because sometimes we fall into the safety net,
but or fall where the safety net would be. But
(03:36):
Biden had to have several cuts there. So here's what
I think is going on. I think that there is
desperation inside of the Biden camp. I think they felt
a small measure of uplift from Biden's performance at the
State of the Union when he didn't fall all over
his face. And I think wanting a debate to take
(03:58):
place on June twenty seven is about trying to convince Democrats, Hey,
Biden's going to be okay June twenty seventh, nine pm
Eastern on CNN. We know that that's going to be
a rigged referee. We don't know who the moderator will be.
(04:18):
The other one is going to be in September Buck,
So I think what they're trying to do is they
recognized it was awful for them if they didn't debate,
but they want to have the debates as early as possible.
So if they get them done by September, then they
can go run their campaign and try to get their
get out the vote campaign going without having to worry
(04:40):
about a disastrous October. I feel like there's probably a
couple of October surprises they've got planned to try to
drag down Trump. That would be my bet, And so
they're trying to get the debates put behind them. So
the story arc changes. One happens in the middle of
the summer when a lot of people aren't paying attention.
The other one happens in September before a lot of
(05:01):
people are paying attention. It's desperate designed to kind of
placate the donors, but also have the limited impact of
an actual campaign.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
That's my thought on the strategy. So if my quick.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Google research here is correct, the first twenty sixteen presidential
debate was late September September twenty sixth, at again twenty twenty,
I'm not counting or not looking at because COVID and
I think you could argue that was everything was very
different than it would be in a normal election year
twenty sixteen, though the first presidential debate was September twenty sixth.
(05:37):
So point here is offering to go in June is.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
A move right, that's not just a thing.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
There's a willingness to try to get this done a
lot sooner than they would otherwise because Biden is an
incumbent who is trailing and they have to stop that,
and they figure, I think this is their calculation, Clay.
They can put Biden on the stage, give him whatever
they need to give him so that he gets through
(06:06):
the hour of the two hours, whatever it is, and
then all summer we hear Joe still got it. He's
you know, look what he did against Trump on the stage,
and I think that that is the thing that they're
trying to pull off, because otherwise the numbers right now
indicate that this is only going in one direction, and
it's toward a Trump victory. So for an incumbent president
(06:27):
to even think about debating in June of the election year,
I don't think there's any way to see it other
than what you said, which is a desperation, a recognition
that they're losing. You only would do this, I mean
the thing of it, if you were the president Clay
and you were up by five points or ten points
nationally on the challenger, you'd be like, Yeah, I'm gonna
(06:47):
let the summer do its thing, and I'm gonna come
in September and then I'm going to clean your clock.
Right Yeah, June June is I need to get on
that debate stage as soon as possible to change the momentum.
Here's the other thing I would point out, we got
a big steak dinner to me. The June twenty seventh
debate could also be about Biden having to respond to
(07:08):
donors who don't think he should be the guy, and
so they want to do this June twenty seventh to
put things to rest before the Democrat convention in August,
and I would just put out there if Trump shows
up and cleans Biden's clock and whatever drug cocktail they're
(07:29):
firing up with Biden, whatever drug cocktail he has, doesn't
work like it has in the past. Remember, this will
theoretically be off teleprompter. And I do think all of
the debate parameters matter. Here a great deal. Who's the moderator?
How much time can you spend on the prompter? If
I'm the Biden team, I want like five minute opening
(07:50):
statements that my candidates can read directly off the prompter.
I want a five minute closing statement that my candidates
can read off the prompter. I probably want an hour
or in a half debate instead of a two hour debate,
maybe even an hour debate. I want to whittle down.
I want commercial breaks. I want to whittle down the
actual amount of time that my candidate has to be
(08:11):
standing there on the stage talking without any prompting. I
also want an ear piece where somebody might be able
to talk to him. I really think the details surrounding
how this debate is set up are a big deal. Now,
remember that we do know some of this, and Trump
just tweeted out buck or sorry truth doubt.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
We have the dates now.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Trump has agreed to them, and he's asking for more debates.
I don't think that Biden's team will give them. But
we got June twenty seventh, a Thursday in late June,
in the middle of the summer, that will be taking
place in Atlanta. We don't know about a studio audience.
We don't know the moderator. The other one will be
on ABC News on September tenth. So it's not only
(08:58):
that it's in September, Buck, it's earlier. The latest debate
in this cycle is earlier than the earliest debate has
ever been in the Trump era.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
They're moving it up for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
This is Trump responding to Biden's challenge here of a
duel on the stage. This was on Hugh Hewitt Show.
This is cut to play it.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
Oh absolutely, I've been trying to get you know, he's
issuing it. I wonder whether or not he shows up,
because you know, he also challenged me to golf. So
I'm a very good golfer. He can't hit a ball
fifty yards, he said, I'll give him three aside, but
he knows he'll never play. This is sort of like that,
I think, but I hope not, because I really think
he has the debate. He might as well get it
up with. Probably should do it early so that he can.
(09:43):
You know, he's not going to get any better.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I think it is true, he's not going to get
any better. But they've had to show their hand here
a bit. There is no way anyone can see the
schedule of the debates as proposed to the Trump team
from Biden, and now it seems to be agreed upon,
at least in terms of the rough you know, the
overall outline of things. You can't see this and think
(10:11):
anything other than Joe Biden is in a weak spot
for an incumbent president. Yes, especially an incumbent president it
was facing four criminal trials. An incumbent president, to Democrats say,
is the biggest threat to America since the Civil War,
a bigger threat than nine to eleven. I mean, they've
said all this insane stuff a million times now, and
(10:35):
somehow it seems a majority of the country would rather
have that guy in charge than the guy who's currently
in charge.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
What does that tell you?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
You know, I always wonder what the emotional fallout will
be this if Trump broke them by winning in twenty sixteen,
what happens after you're emotionally broken?
Speaker 4 (10:51):
I don't know other thing that I would factor in
this great question. The Hunter Biden trials theoretically are going
to be taking place when this debate happened on June
twenty seventh. Is a lot of talk about it. Hunter
is scheduled for the gun charge on the East Coast
June third, and then I think it's something like June twentieth,
Hunter is scheduled on the tax charges. There's a big
(11:13):
story out there. We'll talk about it a little bit.
Wonder how the timing on this implicates that, and again
there are a lot of devil in the details. I
would think, I'm curious if you would agree we'll talk
about it more that Trump probably wants a live audience.
I would think who they select as the moderator to
kind of think about this. If you know CNN's hosting it,
(11:34):
who's the best moderator? In your mind? You know CNN, well,
who would be the fairest moderator that you could hope
for if you're Trump? Because remember a lot of times
there's a rig job going on, and Biden gets protected,
kind of like a ref. If he's in the corner
getting pummeled, the ref comes in and pulls Trump off.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I think this is funny because you have the guy
who's officially banned from CNN asking the guy who's de
factol Ben Yeah, CNN about the CNN roster. Oh gosh,
the best think about it.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
We'll go to break here. It's a tease. We'll think
about it during the break home while.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
But I have a question for you that I want
to I want to I want to tease on top
of your tea's here double I want to do double
te And it is how would you advise Trump?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And we certainly know.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Some of his top people listening to the show, and
we appreciate that. How would you advise Trump? Because we
know Trump has different speeds? Should he go full Trump
up there? There's I want to discuss that too, because
where how does he get maximum value out of this
opportunity to show the American people which of these guys
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the front lines of freedom and truth, Clay Travis and
Buck Sexton.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Welcome back in Clay Travis buck Sexton show lots of
reaction here as we now have breaking news debates, at
least two of them in Theory Thursday, June twenty seventh
on CNN at nine pm Eastern in Atlanta, September tenth
(14:04):
on ABC yet to be determined the location that I
have seen. Anyway, Trump and Biden agreeing to them, the
Biden campaign deciding on this Wednesday to make this the
narrative cycle of the day. You mentioned it off the top,
but a couple of things that I think we should
reiterate here. RFK Junior not included at all. So this
(14:26):
shunts him to the side and makes his ability to
make an argument to the American public more difficult. Uh.
You asked me a question, I'll answer it. What would
I advise Trump? I also am curious if you have
a name, if you could pick someone at CNN that
you think would be the fairest and the best able
to handle this debate, I would advise Trump. And we'll
(14:50):
come back back to that one because maybe we want
to have a real discussion on that. I would advise
Trump to be a five on the scale of one
ten moderate personality Trump because I think if he just
makes the case. I get showman Trump, I get bull
(15:10):
in a China shop Trump. I think what he has
the opportunity to demonstrate is the most important thing, regardless
of what arguments are made, that his brain still works
and that Biden is wrong for the country on all
of the issues. So I think Trump would surprise people
by being the more logical, reasoned, intelligent of the candidates.
(15:34):
I don't need him on Biden just kind of throwing punches,
you know, you know sometimes like styles make fights, they
say in boxing. I don't need this to be a crazy,
all out, you know, insult laden referee trying to grab
people and separate him constantly. I just need Trump to
get in there and just kind of actually box Biden,
(15:56):
because I don't think Biden can stand in the ring
and throw punches.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
So if you want, I thought you'd probably say this
because I think it is the right answer, and I
would say it the same way, slightly toned down Trump
or dialed down a little bit, because there are Trumps
of many different speeds and levels. We've all seen it
over the years, and what I think would not be
helpful would be if he were seen to be badgering
(16:22):
Biden interrupting too aggressively. There's gonna be interruptions and there's
gonna be insults, and like, that's you know, you didn't
say zero out of ten. I agree, there's you know, five,
six out of ten on the Trump scale. Because the
visual of these two men on the stage alone, I
think is I mean, look, Biden looks like he's we
all know, right, I mean, it looks like he should
(16:43):
have a blanket across his knees, feeding the squirrels in
the park or something. He's just not up for this.
Trump clearly has a vitality and a relative youthfulness in
the way that he's able to speak and move compared
to Trump, I'm just compared to buy and that I
think will come across very easily. But you don't want
(17:03):
it to look like Trump is doing elder abuse up there,
you know what I mean. That's that's really the line
you don't want him to cross. And I think he
knows that. But I think he also legitimately truly despised.
I think he despises by yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
This is not like a Hey, we kind of just
have disagreements, like I don't think met Romney and Barack
Obama despised each other.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
No, I think that Trump. I think loves Barack now.
I think he'd be a big, big.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Well of course, and they're probably uh probably be running
mates if they could. The thing I would analogize here
is the first Trump Biden debate in twenty twenty was
not good Trump. It was a mess. It was screaming,
it was insult laden. That was not substantive. The second
they only had two that back in twenty twenty. The
(17:50):
second one Trump just obliterated Biden. That's the Trump we
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Speaker 1 (18:09):
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Speaker 2 (18:52):
Welcome back to Clay an Buck squaring off in advance
of well squaring off on stage. We are getting details
in about the presidential debates. I think it also makes
this all feel like, wow, this is really happening now,
this is a thing that's actually going on. There's going
to be an election here in just a matter of months,
(19:14):
and either Donald Trump or Joe Biden, barring some crazy
situation which who knows, but is going to be president
for years, we shall take a look into this now.
I just want to note that there's definitely a posture
of antagonizing Trump that not only Biden in his video,
(19:37):
which is just kind of pathetic, but also Biden team
members have been taking Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said
this about the debates basically as Trump man enough.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
The President himself did not mince words, right. He said
that he beat Donald Trump twice in twenty twenty. Donald
Trump hasn't debated it sinceresident.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
He's happy to debate.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
He's happy to do it twice, and he thinks that
we should do this sooner rather than later, so that
the American people can see the stark choice that's in
front of them in this election. We should do it
in June, after Donald Trump's criminal trial is likely to conclude,
and after the President returns from the g seventh Summit,
and then we should have a second debate in September,
well ahead of early voting begins, so again that the
American people can hear from both candidates before they go
(20:22):
cast their belts. That's what we should be doing in
a twenty first century presidential election, and the President's ready
to do so. I think the question now becomes, will
Donald Trump keep his word? Will he step up to
the plate here. We haven't heard from him yet, but
we'll be waiting all day.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
I mean, well, he's not going to duck Biden into
the debates Biden clearly wants to change things up. I
did think it was interesting the gratuitous Trump will be
finishing his criminal trial, Joe Biden returning from the G seven.
It's like, yeah, that's right. When you think of a man,
a statesman astride the world stags, Joe Biden's the first
person who comes to mind.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
I I just can't the more I think about this,
this was such a calculated attempt. A part of me
feels like this is Biden having to show the Democrats
before the convention that he's actually up to the job.
Why I can't think otherwise why you would want a
(21:20):
June debate Now I can see the debate being in
favor of Biden. The other one is September tenth. I
can say, I don't know what the dates are exactly.
I don't think I have it on my calendar right now,
but I know it's late mid to late August. I
could see Biden saying, Hey, I want one debate on
September seventh, and I want another debate on September twenty first,
(21:42):
after the conventions. To have a debate before the conventions
have ever occurred for either occurred for both party is
truly unprecedented. So the only reason, I mean one is
obviously people forget. So if you do it on June
twenty seven, then you're a disaster. The impact is limited
(22:03):
because then in three weeks the Republican Convention is happening.
But at the time of the debate, Trump won't even
be the official nominee and Biden won't be the official
nominee either. That's never happened before. Could there be an
element here of Biden having to prove that he's able
(22:24):
to actually be the candidate?
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Why would just think about it?
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Why would there be a June twenty seventh debate when
you haven't even gotten the nomination yet.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Well, see, this is where unfortunately, the very low expectations
around Joe Biden's that's true physical and mental capabilities work
for him. And I warn people on the right about
this all the time. I mean, I know, I made
the blanket over the knees and you know, feed the
Ducks joke or Squirrel's joke before, but it's more of
an observation in some ways than a joke. Actually, it
(22:52):
would be a joke if it weren't true. It is true,
so it's really just pointing out the obvious. But because
we all see that if if he just exceeds, and
he did it in twenty twenty, there were people saying, oh,
he's too out of it, he's too you know, old
and feeble, and we all know what happened in twenty twenty.
So I think that. And I've seen this for a
(23:14):
while too. There's a little bit of people on the
right psyching themselves up to this notion that Joe Biden
is going to just you know, he's going to have
a meltdown on stage and it's all over. I promise you,
any of you, I promise you, that's not.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Going to happen.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Okay, If our hope, if our best hope for the
Republic is that Joe Biden goes, you know, full scrambled
eggs for a moment and starts saying gibberish on the
stage because he's having a senior moment. We got to
come up with a better plan. I don't know what
they're giving him, I don't know how they prep him,
but he's gonna do what he always does. This guy
has spent his whole life grinning into cameras and saying
(23:54):
the most dishonest talking points, imaginable. He's gonna be able
to pull it off one more time.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
My mom, Hi, Mom, text me, you know, if it's
on CNN, Biden's going to have all the questions and
answers in advance, and this kind of I think there's
a lot of you out there that are not in
your heads along. My mom just texted me that. And
this goes into the question that we had Buck. Can
I just point out why that's not crazy at all
for a second. Yeah, And one of the CNN employees,
(24:23):
it was Donna Brazil. Donna Brazil cave Hillary questions. Yeah,
so this isn't like, hey, that's a crazy conspiracy. It
already happened once with Trump debating somebody in a presidential election.
SORRK Like go ahead, No, I mean I think so
we know it's happened. I think many of you out
there are like, of course that would happen. We know
the rig job that exists already for Biden when he
(24:45):
knows exactly who he's gonna call on in a press
conference and he knows what their question is going to be, already,
it's written on the card in front of him. I tweeted,
out CNN is horribly biased in favor of Joe Biden.
We all know that. With that said, who's the fairest
CNN moderator they could pick? Interested in the suggestions? Who
(25:06):
would be the pick? If the true media neutrality is
the goal? Now I understand all of you out there
like the goal was not true media neutrality understood? But
if you and me Buck got to be They said,
Clay and Buck, you're the smartest guys in media. You
have the best hair, you have the most successful show,
the people and your wives are amazing. All these things
(25:27):
are true. You guys get to pick who would we
think would be the best possible person to conduct the moderation. Now,
there may be moderate, there may be more than one,
but if you can pay one. If you want this
to be an exercise in in I think a parent fairness,
(25:50):
and and you wanted to also be a spectacle that
people watch in a way that would shatter records. I mean,
I think, I honestly, if we had to so, it
can't be us. So I'll just say that it can't
be us, and it can't be any of our friends
on premier networks. I mean it would be it would
be great if we could get some of them to
host this, but they're not going to do that, then
(26:11):
won't let them do that. Look, I think Joe Rogan
would be a very good moderator because let me just
make my cases to why his whole show is based
on an earnest and honest curiosity of asking guests questions.
They would say he's too right wing now, but really
he's just not insane, and he sees the things I
think for what they are for the most part, and
(26:33):
he's wealthy enough and influential enough that he's not scared
about whether the CNN or ABC executives are going to
re sign his contract.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
That's actually critical.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
In fact, I think you could argue that maybe one
of the most important things in this kind of debate
for a moderator. If you work at ABC or CNN
or you know, go down the NBC, go down the list,
if you are seen to do anything other than try
to help Joe Biden in the most effect way you
can without blowing the whole you know, blowing your cover
on the whole thing, it will negatively affect your career.
(27:07):
And you know, for people who are used to making
from two to ten million dollars a year to do
a job that a thousand other people can do with
these news organizations and do just as well. Do you
see what I'm saying. There's a pressure. There's no autonomy
for people who are working at those networks in these
anchor roles because they're all very interchangeable. So that's you know,
(27:28):
I'm sure you said before to be Clay Stephanopoulos is
going to be who they probably go with at ABC, ABC,
and then probably bring on a two other I would
guess moderators as well. Who are going to be people
that you haven't heard of, but add to the DEI.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
It'll be somebody who speaks Spanish, yes, their primary language.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
It's something you like, you know, a black woman.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
You know, they'll have a non binary person from the
you know, from the archives at NBC who all of
a sudden is like a top anchor. But I I
really do think that you you need somebody who has
the financial and brand autonomy to be exempt from the
pressures that you would have. I mean it's a good point,
(28:07):
you know. I know they'd all say Elon Musk is
far too right wing. I actually I think if Elon
Musk said, I will be honest and fair in the debate.
Would I would trust that he would be as honest
and fair as anyone could possibly be.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I'm not sure he wants this job. He doesn't want this.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Yeah, but you can't have somebody who's next contract cycle
depends on the will of anti Trump media executives, because then,
and that's what you have at all these TV networks.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
It's a great point you made.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
If I were the Trump team, I would say, I
want Twitter to host one of the debates, and I
want Elon Musk to select a moderator, and we'll do
it live streamed on Twitter.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yeah. I think this whole thing.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
We're in the digital era now, you know, different stations
should be able to you know, this notion that like
one station should just get the debate, I disagree with this.
In practice, There's there's no reason for that to be
the case. It should be online streaming and a variety
of channels should all be able to simulcast it, you know,
the same way that nobody can own the content. That
(29:07):
is like the Q and A in the West wing
right like, sorry, that's that's public record, that's public information.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Just state of the Union, the state of the Union
broadcast live on every Network's what I mean. I agree
with you, So the debates on every single channel simultaneous,
you know, and I know the media executives out there
would they would disagree with this. But ultimately, the reason
that I think it keeps going back to the same
places is because the establishment media that has the most reached,
(29:36):
the most connections, and the most money to throw into
all these things.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Is Democrat leading.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
But let's let's take some calls on this, because I'm
curious to see where people come down on is this
even Look, there's another point of view on this that
I think is fair to bring up, might even be
the most accur in, which is I don't know if
debates matter. I don't know if debates matter.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
We're in a particularly in this one, where everybody already knows.
If you're introducing yourself to somebody and showing your skills
and showing your ability on the stage, that's one thing.
But everybody knows these guys, Everyone's known them for a
long time. Biden is Biden, and there's gonna be no surprises.
(30:15):
Trump didn't debate in the primary, and we've seen more
and more of this. Katie Hobbs in Arizona. We got
Carry Lake on the show later, Katie Hobbs refused to debate.
Why because you figured it. I'll just have the right
amount of votes in the right places. I don't need
to debate. I think that's the political.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Era we're in these days, with all the micro targeting
and the sort of digitization of political outreach.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Here's a good way of putting that buck.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
If Biden had the lead in all the battleground states
that Trump has now, he wouldn't debate. That's why I
see this as fundamentally a weakness. Usually it's the challenger
who needs the debates more. I think this is a
rare one where the incumbent needs them more. We got
a bunch of suggestions by the way, rolling in on
who should moderate at CNN. We'll talk about that we
(30:59):
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word support IFCJ dot org. Twenty four on You podcast
(32:26):
from Clay and Buck covering all things Election.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Episodes drop Sundays at noon Eastern.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
Find it on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you
get your podcasts. Big Breaking News in case you have
not heard. Two debates scheduled, one June twenty seventh, the
other September tenth. The first one nine PM Eastern on
CNN in June, and I asked the question who is
the fairest person that is a CNN employee? Because some
Buck point out, like Joe Rogan elon Musk, there are
(32:54):
people out there who are willing to ask questions that
would be interesting to have as moderators. The ones that
I got most frequently were for Reid Zakaria, I think,
and I might be mispronouncing his name. Is the one
that the most of you are saying that you like
the most.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
The and a lot of you are saying, there's the
number one thing is there's no such thing as a
fair moderator.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
What do you like?
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Well, this is the thing just before I would say
anything about anyone at CNN, all of you are going
to hate any.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Of these suggestions, such as understand, this.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
Is not saying we think this is a great idea.
We're saying it's the best of worst options. Is ended
up married to me, but it was the best of
her of her bad options.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Clay is asking me, Buck, if we have to amputate
someone's limb here, if it's gang Greeness and we have
to amputate, what is the best implement to use this
is unpleasant and bad no matter what. All right, there's
no CNN moderator that I'm going to bring up that
you're going to say, Oh, guy's great or she it's
(33:58):
really fair, I think actually, and I know this is
boring because you just said it. I think Farid Zakaria
is probably the best option that comes to mind out
of out of the CNN group. So to speak out
of the people over there, I think before the incident
of the town hall, Caitlyn Collins, yeah, would have been
(34:20):
very good, very good relative to the field. So I'd
have to think a little more about you know who,
Brooke Baldwin no longer with CNN would have been a pick,
I think, and we're still hoping to get her on
to chat at some point. But yeah, I think that
the options are very limited because so much of CNN.
(34:43):
If you basically worked at CNN from twenty sixteen to
twenty twenty, you've disqualified yourself because they all turned so like.
You couldn't have Jim Acosta do this, you can't have
Jake Tapper do this. You can have a cost to
do this, you can have I mean, people might say
wolf Blitzer just because I think he's.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
He's a stable old guy there.
Speaker 5 (35:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I mean he's worth tens of millions of dollars at least,
maybe over one hundred million now, and you know, he's
just sort of doing his thing, and he's not an
aggressive guy. So I've always heard he's nice. I don't
know if that's true. I never actually met him. So
those are the possibilities, but nobody's you're good. And if
you don't know, and I think a lot of you
out there are probably in this camp. You don't even
know who the primetime hosts are because a lot of
(35:22):
times those are the people that get the.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
I don't I couldn't tell you what to see. An
in primetime lineup is well, let's see if I get
this right. I don't know in order. Anderson Cooper has
been there forever. Jake Tapper is on in the afternoon,
not a primetime guy. I think Aaron Burnett is on
in primetime, and I think Caitlyn Collins. So I think
it's Aaron Burnett, Anderson Cooper, and Caitlyn Collins in no
(35:44):
particular roy.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
I think the likeliest, the likeliest to get the job,
if they're going to pick one, is actually Aaron Burnett.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Now she just did the sit down with Biden where
he claimed the nine percent inflation thing, so I don't
know if that factors in. I do think Caitlyn Collins
would have potentially been in the She had the town
hall with Trump and a lot of people were upset
because he basically steamrolled her there and they gave him
the live studio audience that got Chris lick fi.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Ireland started her career at The Daily Caller, so just
at Tucker's website, so there's hope, there's hope there.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
She is a big Alabama Crimson Tide fan. I saw
her most recently at the ELI Gold in the Booth
calling a game. By the way, Abby Phillip, no idea
who that is is on CNN at ten more coats
on CNN at eleven buck. I'm not kidding about this.
If you put them in a lineup, I don't think
I would recognize them. I can't imagine that they would
(36:38):
be the Detroit Well, we've got every line lit, so
let's take some calls play in the next hour.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
People's way and we're talking debates. Presidential
Welcome everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Wednesday edition of the Klay, Travis and Buck Sexton Show
is kicking off right now, and let's just dive right
into it. There's other stuff to talk about as well,
but you know, the inflation, the economy, the border.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Biden throwing down the gauntlet very feebly, very weak fashion.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I would argue, he is saying that he wants two
debates with Donald Trump. So at least as of now,
there does seem to be the likelihood of presidential debates.
It is not a fete complie, It is not something
that has already set in stone. There's negotiating happening, but
(00:47):
this is the two prize fighters sizing each other up
and looking at each other from across the ring. Joe
Biden stumbling as he does so. Here he is with
a video put out to try to antagonize the trump Ster.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Donald Trump lost two debates to me in twenty twenty
cents that he hadn't shown.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Up for debate.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Now he's acting like he wants to debate me again.
Will make my day, Pal. I'll even do it twice.
So let's pick the dates. Donald, I hear you're free
on Wednesdays.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Little joke there at the end about how Trump is
facing a criminal prosecution that we know has been aided
and cheered on by Biden's DOJ so haha, weaponization of
government and the destruction of legal.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Norms.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
But let's look at what is offered here. The devil
is in the details. Clay Biden, first off, June and
September very interesting. June strikes me as very early. I
don't know to go back. June strikes me as very early,
and I will get into why that.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I think it's obvious, right, they got to turn things around.
They've got to turn the momentum around.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
It's real.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
The polls are speaking very clearly on this. But what
Biden is saying is the follower his team. I should say, Clay,
we got the following provisos, no audience, no RFK junior,
no Trump remarks during Biden's answers. I mean, everyone agrees
to that, but people always interrupt each other and the
(02:19):
Biden leaning or Biden leading outlets of CBS, ABC, CNN,
and Telemundo. So he's got a whole bunch of requirements
for this, and it's based on networks that hosted Republican debates,
prime events in twenty sixteen and Democratic debates in twenty twenty. So, Clay,
(02:41):
what do you make of it? I mean, is it happening,
is it posturing? What's the biggest takeaway? I think it's
desperation from Biden. The cut that you played.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
People can't see the video, but I believe there were
five or six cuts in that twenty second video. And
for people out there who don't understand what that means,
you and I are waving right now at the video
feed of the Clay and Buck radio show. There will
not be a single cut that will occur for the
(03:14):
entire three hour show. It's you and me sitting talking
and everybody can look directly at that camera. There isn't
a jump around, there's no edit, there's no teleprompter. This
is live, and there is no safety net, as you
can well tell, because sometimes we fall into the safety net,
but or fall where the safety net would be. But
(03:36):
Biden had to have several cuts there. So here's what
I think is going on. I think that there is
desperation inside of the Biden camp. I think they felt
a small measure of uplift from Biden's performance at the
State of the Union when he didn't fall all over
his face. And I think wanting a debate to take
(03:58):
place on June twenty seven is about trying to convince Democrats, Hey,
Biden's going to be okay June twenty seventh, nine pm
Eastern on CNN. We know that that's going to be
a rigged referee. We don't know who the moderator will be.
(04:18):
The other one is going to be in September Buck,
So I think what they're trying to do is they
recognized it was awful for them if they didn't debate,
but they want to have the debates as early as possible.
So if they get them done by September, then they
can go run their campaign and try to get their
get out the vote campaign going without having to worry
(04:40):
about a disastrous October. I feel like there's probably a
couple of October surprises they've got planned to try to
drag down Trump. That would be my bet, And so
they're trying to get the debates put behind them. So
the story arc changes. One happens in the middle of
the summer when a lot of people aren't paying attention.
The other one happens in September before a lot of
(05:01):
people are paying attention. It's desperate designed to kind of
placate the donors, but also have the limited impact of
an actual campaign.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
That's my thought on the strategy. So if my quick.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Google research here is correct, the first twenty sixteen presidential
debate was late September September twenty sixth, at again twenty twenty,
I'm not counting or not looking at because COVID and
I think you could argue that was everything was very
different than it would be in a normal election year
twenty sixteen, though the first presidential debate was September twenty sixth.
(05:37):
So point here is offering to go in June is.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
A move right, that's not just a thing.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
There's a willingness to try to get this done a
lot sooner than they would otherwise because Biden is an
incumbent who is trailing and they have to stop that,
and they figure, I think this is their calculation, Clay.
They can put Biden on the stage, give him whatever
they need to give him so that he gets through
(06:06):
the hour of the two hours, whatever it is, and
then all summer we hear Joe still got it. He's
you know, look what he did against Trump on the stage,
and I think that that is the thing that they're
trying to pull off, because otherwise the numbers right now
indicate that this is only going in one direction, and
it's toward a Trump victory. So for an incumbent president
(06:27):
to even think about debating in June of the election year,
I don't think there's any way to see it other
than what you said, which is a desperation, a recognition
that they're losing. You only would do this, I mean
the thing of it, if you were the president Clay
and you were up by five points or ten points
nationally on the challenger, you'd be like, Yeah, I'm gonna
(06:47):
let the summer do its thing, and I'm gonna come
in September and then I'm going to clean your clock.
Right Yeah, June June is I need to get on
that debate stage as soon as possible to change the momentum.
Here's the other thing I would point out, we got
a big steak dinner to me. The June twenty seventh
debate could also be about Biden having to respond to
(07:08):
donors who don't think he should be the guy, and
so they want to do this June twenty seventh to
put things to rest before the Democrat convention in August,
and I would just put out there if Trump shows
up and cleans Biden's clock and whatever drug cocktail they're
(07:29):
firing up with Biden, whatever drug cocktail he has, doesn't
work like it has in the past. Remember, this will
theoretically be off teleprompter. And I do think all of
the debate parameters matter. Here a great deal. Who's the moderator?
How much time can you spend on the prompter? If
I'm the Biden team, I want like five minute opening
(07:50):
statements that my candidates can read directly off the prompter.
I want a five minute closing statement that my candidates
can read off the prompter. I probably want an hour
or in a half debate instead of a two hour debate,
maybe even an hour debate. I want to whittle down.
I want commercial breaks. I want to whittle down the
actual amount of time that my candidate has to be
(08:11):
standing there on the stage talking without any prompting. I
also want an ear piece where somebody might be able
to talk to him. I really think the details surrounding
how this debate is set up are a big deal. Now,
remember that we do know some of this, and Trump
just tweeted out buck or sorry truth doubt.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
We have the dates now.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Trump has agreed to them, and he's asking for more debates.
I don't think that Biden's team will give them. But
we got June twenty seventh, a Thursday in late June,
in the middle of the summer, that will be taking
place in Atlanta. We don't know about a studio audience.
We don't know the moderator. The other one will be
on ABC News on September tenth. So it's not only
(08:58):
that it's in September, Buck, it's earlier. The latest debate
in this cycle is earlier than the earliest debate has
ever been in the Trump era.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
They're moving it up for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
This is Trump responding to Biden's challenge here of a
duel on the stage. This was on Hugh Hewitt Show.
This is cut to play it.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
Oh absolutely, I've been trying to get you know, he's
issuing it. I wonder whether or not he shows up,
because you know, he also challenged me to golf. So
I'm a very good golfer. He can't hit a ball
fifty yards, he said, I'll give him three aside, but
he knows he'll never play. This is sort of like that,
I think, but I hope not, because I really think
he has the debate. He might as well get it
up with. Probably should do it early so that he can.
(09:43):
You know, he's not going to get any better.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I think it is true, he's not going to get
any better. But they've had to show their hand here
a bit. There is no way anyone can see the
schedule of the debates as proposed to the Trump team
from Biden, and now it seems to be agreed upon,
at least in terms of the rough you know, the
overall outline of things. You can't see this and think
(10:11):
anything other than Joe Biden is in a weak spot
for an incumbent president. Yes, especially an incumbent president it
was facing four criminal trials. An incumbent president, to Democrats say,
is the biggest threat to America since the Civil War,
a bigger threat than nine to eleven. I mean, they've
said all this insane stuff a million times now, and
(10:35):
somehow it seems a majority of the country would rather
have that guy in charge than the guy who's currently
in charge.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
What does that tell you?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
You know, I always wonder what the emotional fallout will
be this if Trump broke them by winning in twenty sixteen,
what happens after you're emotionally broken?
Speaker 4 (10:51):
I don't know other thing that I would factor in
this great question. The Hunter Biden trials theoretically are going
to be taking place when this debate happened on June
twenty seventh. Is a lot of talk about it. Hunter
is scheduled for the gun charge on the East Coast
June third, and then I think it's something like June twentieth,
Hunter is scheduled on the tax charges. There's a big
(11:13):
story out there. We'll talk about it a little bit.
Wonder how the timing on this implicates that, and again
there are a lot of devil in the details. I
would think, I'm curious if you would agree we'll talk
about it more that Trump probably wants a live audience.
I would think who they select as the moderator to
kind of think about this. If you know CNN's hosting it,
(11:34):
who's the best moderator? In your mind? You know CNN, well,
who would be the fairest moderator that you could hope
for if you're Trump? Because remember a lot of times
there's a rig job going on, and Biden gets protected,
kind of like a ref. If he's in the corner
getting pummeled, the ref comes in and pulls Trump off.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I think this is funny because you have the guy
who's officially banned from CNN asking the guy who's de
factol Ben Yeah, CNN about the CNN roster. Oh gosh,
the best think about it.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
We'll go to break here. It's a tease. We'll think
about it during the break home while.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
But I have a question for you that I want
to I want to I want to tease on top
of your tea's here double I want to do double
te And it is how would you advise Trump?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And we certainly know.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Some of his top people listening to the show, and
we appreciate that. How would you advise Trump? Because we
know Trump has different speeds? Should he go full Trump
up there? There's I want to discuss that too, because
where how does he get maximum value out of this
opportunity to show the American people which of these guys
should really running the country. Look, chances are you know somebody,
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use promo code Buck for twenty five percent off. From
the front lines of freedom and truth, Clay Travis and
Buck Sexton.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Welcome back in Clay Travis buck Sexton show lots of
reaction here as we now have breaking news debates, at
least two of them in Theory Thursday, June twenty seventh
on CNN at nine pm Eastern in Atlanta, September tenth
(14:04):
on ABC yet to be determined the location that I
have seen. Anyway, Trump and Biden agreeing to them, the
Biden campaign deciding on this Wednesday to make this the
narrative cycle of the day. You mentioned it off the top,
but a couple of things that I think we should
reiterate here. RFK Junior not included at all. So this
(14:26):
shunts him to the side and makes his ability to
make an argument to the American public more difficult. Uh.
You asked me a question, I'll answer it. What would
I advise Trump? I also am curious if you have
a name, if you could pick someone at CNN that
you think would be the fairest and the best able
to handle this debate, I would advise Trump. And we'll
(14:50):
come back back to that one because maybe we want
to have a real discussion on that. I would advise
Trump to be a five on the scale of one
ten moderate personality Trump because I think if he just
makes the case. I get showman Trump, I get bull
(15:10):
in a China shop Trump. I think what he has
the opportunity to demonstrate is the most important thing, regardless
of what arguments are made, that his brain still works
and that Biden is wrong for the country on all
of the issues. So I think Trump would surprise people
by being the more logical, reasoned, intelligent of the candidates.
(15:34):
I don't need him on Biden just kind of throwing punches,
you know, you know sometimes like styles make fights, they
say in boxing. I don't need this to be a crazy,
all out, you know, insult laden referee trying to grab
people and separate him constantly. I just need Trump to
get in there and just kind of actually box Biden,
(15:56):
because I don't think Biden can stand in the ring
and throw punches.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
So if you want, I thought you'd probably say this
because I think it is the right answer, and I
would say it the same way, slightly toned down Trump
or dialed down a little bit, because there are Trumps
of many different speeds and levels. We've all seen it
over the years, and what I think would not be
helpful would be if he were seen to be badgering
(16:22):
Biden interrupting too aggressively. There's gonna be interruptions and there's
gonna be insults, and like, that's you know, you didn't
say zero out of ten. I agree, there's you know, five,
six out of ten on the Trump scale. Because the
visual of these two men on the stage alone, I
think is I mean, look, Biden looks like he's we
all know, right, I mean, it looks like he should
(16:43):
have a blanket across his knees, feeding the squirrels in
the park or something. He's just not up for this.
Trump clearly has a vitality and a relative youthfulness in
the way that he's able to speak and move compared
to Trump, I'm just compared to buy and that I
think will come across very easily. But you don't want
(17:03):
it to look like Trump is doing elder abuse up there,
you know what I mean. That's that's really the line
you don't want him to cross. And I think he
knows that. But I think he also legitimately truly despised.
I think he despises by yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
This is not like a Hey, we kind of just
have disagreements, like I don't think met Romney and Barack
Obama despised each other.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
No, I think that Trump. I think loves Barack now.
I think he'd be a big, big.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Well of course, and they're probably uh probably be running
mates if they could. The thing I would analogize here
is the first Trump Biden debate in twenty twenty was
not good Trump. It was a mess. It was screaming,
it was insult laden. That was not substantive. The second
they only had two that back in twenty twenty. The
(17:50):
second one Trump just obliterated Biden. That's the Trump we
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hundred bucks matched my name Clay.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Welcome back to Clay an Buck squaring off in advance
of well squaring off on stage. We are getting details
in about the presidential debates. I think it also makes
this all feel like, wow, this is really happening now,
this is a thing that's actually going on. There's going
to be an election here in just a matter of months,
(19:14):
and either Donald Trump or Joe Biden, barring some crazy
situation which who knows, but is going to be president
for years, we shall take a look into this now.
I just want to note that there's definitely a posture
of antagonizing Trump that not only Biden in his video,
(19:37):
which is just kind of pathetic, but also Biden team
members have been taking Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said
this about the debates basically as Trump man enough.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
The President himself did not mince words, right. He said
that he beat Donald Trump twice in twenty twenty. Donald
Trump hasn't debated it sinceresident.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
He's happy to debate.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
He's happy to do it twice, and he thinks that
we should do this sooner rather than later, so that
the American people can see the stark choice that's in
front of them in this election. We should do it
in June, after Donald Trump's criminal trial is likely to conclude,
and after the President returns from the g seventh Summit,
and then we should have a second debate in September,
well ahead of early voting begins, so again that the
American people can hear from both candidates before they go
(20:22):
cast their belts. That's what we should be doing in
a twenty first century presidential election, and the President's ready
to do so. I think the question now becomes, will
Donald Trump keep his word? Will he step up to
the plate here. We haven't heard from him yet, but
we'll be waiting all day.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
I mean, well, he's not going to duck Biden into
the debates Biden clearly wants to change things up. I
did think it was interesting the gratuitous Trump will be
finishing his criminal trial, Joe Biden returning from the G seven.
It's like, yeah, that's right. When you think of a man,
a statesman astride the world stags, Joe Biden's the first
person who comes to mind.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
I I just can't the more I think about this,
this was such a calculated attempt. A part of me
feels like this is Biden having to show the Democrats
before the convention that he's actually up to the job.
Why I can't think otherwise why you would want a
(21:20):
June debate Now I can see the debate being in
favor of Biden. The other one is September tenth. I
can say, I don't know what the dates are exactly.
I don't think I have it on my calendar right now,
but I know it's late mid to late August. I
could see Biden saying, Hey, I want one debate on
September seventh, and I want another debate on September twenty first,
(21:42):
after the conventions. To have a debate before the conventions
have ever occurred for either occurred for both party is
truly unprecedented. So the only reason, I mean one is
obviously people forget. So if you do it on June
twenty seven, then you're a disaster. The impact is limited
(22:03):
because then in three weeks the Republican Convention is happening.
But at the time of the debate, Trump won't even
be the official nominee and Biden won't be the official
nominee either. That's never happened before. Could there be an
element here of Biden having to prove that he's able
(22:24):
to actually be the candidate?
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Why would just think about it?
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Why would there be a June twenty seventh debate when
you haven't even gotten the nomination yet.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Well, see, this is where unfortunately, the very low expectations
around Joe Biden's that's true physical and mental capabilities work
for him. And I warn people on the right about
this all the time. I mean, I know, I made
the blanket over the knees and you know, feed the
Ducks joke or Squirrel's joke before, but it's more of
an observation in some ways than a joke. Actually, it
(22:52):
would be a joke if it weren't true. It is true,
so it's really just pointing out the obvious. But because
we all see that if if he just exceeds, and
he did it in twenty twenty, there were people saying, oh,
he's too out of it, he's too you know, old
and feeble, and we all know what happened in twenty twenty.
So I think that. And I've seen this for a
(23:14):
while too. There's a little bit of people on the
right psyching themselves up to this notion that Joe Biden
is going to just you know, he's going to have
a meltdown on stage and it's all over. I promise you,
any of you, I promise you, that's not.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Going to happen.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Okay, If our hope, if our best hope for the
Republic is that Joe Biden goes, you know, full scrambled
eggs for a moment and starts saying gibberish on the
stage because he's having a senior moment. We got to
come up with a better plan. I don't know what
they're giving him, I don't know how they prep him,
but he's gonna do what he always does. This guy
has spent his whole life grinning into cameras and saying
(23:54):
the most dishonest talking points, imaginable. He's gonna be able
to pull it off one more time.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
My mom, Hi, Mom, text me, you know, if it's
on CNN, Biden's going to have all the questions and
answers in advance, and this kind of I think there's
a lot of you out there that are not in
your heads along. My mom just texted me that. And
this goes into the question that we had Buck. Can
I just point out why that's not crazy at all
for a second. Yeah, And one of the CNN employees,
(24:23):
it was Donna Brazil. Donna Brazil cave Hillary questions. Yeah,
so this isn't like, hey, that's a crazy conspiracy. It
already happened once with Trump debating somebody in a presidential election.
SORRK Like go ahead, No, I mean I think so
we know it's happened. I think many of you out
there are like, of course that would happen. We know
the rig job that exists already for Biden when he
(24:45):
knows exactly who he's gonna call on in a press
conference and he knows what their question is going to be, already,
it's written on the card in front of him. I tweeted,
out CNN is horribly biased in favor of Joe Biden.
We all know that. With that said, who's the fairest
CNN moderator they could pick? Interested in the suggestions? Who
(25:06):
would be the pick? If the true media neutrality is
the goal? Now I understand all of you out there
like the goal was not true media neutrality understood? But
if you and me Buck got to be They said,
Clay and Buck, you're the smartest guys in media. You
have the best hair, you have the most successful show,
the people and your wives are amazing. All these things
(25:27):
are true. You guys get to pick who would we
think would be the best possible person to conduct the moderation. Now,
there may be moderate, there may be more than one,
but if you can pay one. If you want this
to be an exercise in in I think a parent fairness,
(25:50):
and and you wanted to also be a spectacle that
people watch in a way that would shatter records. I mean,
I think, I honestly, if we had to so, it
can't be us. So I'll just say that it can't
be us, and it can't be any of our friends
on premier networks. I mean it would be it would
be great if we could get some of them to
host this, but they're not going to do that, then
(26:11):
won't let them do that. Look, I think Joe Rogan
would be a very good moderator because let me just
make my cases to why his whole show is based
on an earnest and honest curiosity of asking guests questions.
They would say he's too right wing now, but really
he's just not insane, and he sees the things I
think for what they are for the most part, and
(26:33):
he's wealthy enough and influential enough that he's not scared
about whether the CNN or ABC executives are going to
re sign his contract.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
That's actually critical.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
In fact, I think you could argue that maybe one
of the most important things in this kind of debate
for a moderator. If you work at ABC or CNN
or you know, go down the NBC, go down the list,
if you are seen to do anything other than try
to help Joe Biden in the most effect way you
can without blowing the whole you know, blowing your cover
on the whole thing, it will negatively affect your career.
(27:07):
And you know, for people who are used to making
from two to ten million dollars a year to do
a job that a thousand other people can do with
these news organizations and do just as well. Do you
see what I'm saying. There's a pressure. There's no autonomy
for people who are working at those networks in these
anchor roles because they're all very interchangeable. So that's you know,
(27:28):
I'm sure you said before to be Clay Stephanopoulos is
going to be who they probably go with at ABC, ABC,
and then probably bring on a two other I would
guess moderators as well. Who are going to be people
that you haven't heard of, but add to the DEI.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
It'll be somebody who speaks Spanish, yes, their primary language.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
It's something you like, you know, a black woman.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
You know, they'll have a non binary person from the
you know, from the archives at NBC who all of
a sudden is like a top anchor. But I I
really do think that you you need somebody who has
the financial and brand autonomy to be exempt from the
pressures that you would have. I mean it's a good point,
(28:07):
you know. I know they'd all say Elon Musk is
far too right wing. I actually I think if Elon
Musk said, I will be honest and fair in the debate.
Would I would trust that he would be as honest
and fair as anyone could possibly be.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I'm not sure he wants this job. He doesn't want this.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Yeah, but you can't have somebody who's next contract cycle
depends on the will of anti Trump media executives, because then,
and that's what you have at all these TV networks.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
It's a great point you made.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
If I were the Trump team, I would say, I
want Twitter to host one of the debates, and I
want Elon Musk to select a moderator, and we'll do
it live streamed on Twitter.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yeah. I think this whole thing.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
We're in the digital era now, you know, different stations
should be able to you know, this notion that like
one station should just get the debate, I disagree with this.
In practice, There's there's no reason for that to be
the case. It should be online streaming and a variety
of channels should all be able to simulcast it, you know,
the same way that nobody can own the content. That
(29:07):
is like the Q and A in the West wing
right like, sorry, that's that's public record, that's public information.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Just state of the Union, the state of the Union
broadcast live on every Network's what I mean. I agree
with you, So the debates on every single channel simultaneous,
you know, and I know the media executives out there
would they would disagree with this. But ultimately, the reason
that I think it keeps going back to the same
places is because the establishment media that has the most reached,
(29:36):
the most connections, and the most money to throw into
all these things.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Is Democrat leading.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
But let's let's take some calls on this, because I'm
curious to see where people come down on is this
even Look, there's another point of view on this that
I think is fair to bring up, might even be
the most accur in, which is I don't know if
debates matter. I don't know if debates matter.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
We're in a particularly in this one, where everybody already knows.
If you're introducing yourself to somebody and showing your skills
and showing your ability on the stage, that's one thing.
But everybody knows these guys, Everyone's known them for a
long time. Biden is Biden, and there's gonna be no surprises.
(30:15):
Trump didn't debate in the primary, and we've seen more
and more of this. Katie Hobbs in Arizona. We got
Carry Lake on the show later, Katie Hobbs refused to debate.
Why because you figured it. I'll just have the right
amount of votes in the right places. I don't need
to debate. I think that's the political.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Era we're in these days, with all the micro targeting
and the sort of digitization of political outreach.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Here's a good way of putting that buck.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
If Biden had the lead in all the battleground states
that Trump has now, he wouldn't debate. That's why I
see this as fundamentally a weakness. Usually it's the challenger
who needs the debates more. I think this is a
rare one where the incumbent needs them more. We got
a bunch of suggestions by the way, rolling in on
who should moderate at CNN. We'll talk about that we
(30:59):
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(32:26):
from Clay and Buck covering all things Election.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Episodes drop Sundays at noon Eastern.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
Find it on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you
get your podcasts. Big Breaking News in case you have
not heard. Two debates scheduled, one June twenty seventh, the
other September tenth. The first one nine PM Eastern on
CNN in June, and I asked the question who is
the fairest person that is a CNN employee? Because some
Buck point out, like Joe Rogan elon Musk, there are
(32:54):
people out there who are willing to ask questions that
would be interesting to have as moderators. The ones that
I got most frequently were for Reid Zakaria, I think,
and I might be mispronouncing his name. Is the one
that the most of you are saying that you like
the most.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
The and a lot of you are saying, there's the
number one thing is there's no such thing as a
fair moderator.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
What do you like?
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Well, this is the thing just before I would say
anything about anyone at CNN, all of you are going
to hate any.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Of these suggestions, such as understand, this.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
Is not saying we think this is a great idea.
We're saying it's the best of worst options. Is ended
up married to me, but it was the best of
her of her bad options.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Clay is asking me, Buck, if we have to amputate
someone's limb here, if it's gang Greeness and we have
to amputate, what is the best implement to use this
is unpleasant and bad no matter what. All right, there's
no CNN moderator that I'm going to bring up that
you're going to say, Oh, guy's great or she it's
(33:58):
really fair, I think actually, and I know this is
boring because you just said it. I think Farid Zakaria
is probably the best option that comes to mind out
of out of the CNN group. So to speak out
of the people over there, I think before the incident
of the town hall, Caitlyn Collins, yeah, would have been
(34:20):
very good, very good relative to the field. So I'd
have to think a little more about you know who,
Brooke Baldwin no longer with CNN would have been a pick,
I think, and we're still hoping to get her on
to chat at some point. But yeah, I think that
the options are very limited because so much of CNN.
(34:43):
If you basically worked at CNN from twenty sixteen to
twenty twenty, you've disqualified yourself because they all turned so like.
You couldn't have Jim Acosta do this, you can't have
Jake Tapper do this. You can have a cost to
do this, you can have I mean, people might say
wolf Blitzer just because I think he's.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
He's a stable old guy there.
Speaker 5 (35:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I mean he's worth tens of millions of dollars at least,
maybe over one hundred million now, and you know, he's
just sort of doing his thing, and he's not an
aggressive guy. So I've always heard he's nice. I don't
know if that's true. I never actually met him. So
those are the possibilities, but nobody's you're good. And if
you don't know, and I think a lot of you
out there are probably in this camp. You don't even
know who the primetime hosts are because a lot of
(35:22):
times those are the people that get the.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
I don't I couldn't tell you what to see. An
in primetime lineup is well, let's see if I get
this right. I don't know in order. Anderson Cooper has
been there forever. Jake Tapper is on in the afternoon,
not a primetime guy. I think Aaron Burnett is on
in primetime, and I think Caitlyn Collins. So I think
it's Aaron Burnett, Anderson Cooper, and Caitlyn Collins in no
(35:44):
particular roy.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
I think the likeliest, the likeliest to get the job,
if they're going to pick one, is actually Aaron Burnett.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Now she just did the sit down with Biden where
he claimed the nine percent inflation thing, so I don't
know if that factors in. I do think Caitlyn Collins
would have potentially been in the She had the town
hall with Trump and a lot of people were upset
because he basically steamrolled her there and they gave him
the live studio audience that got Chris lick fi.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Ireland started her career at The Daily Caller, so just
at Tucker's website, so there's hope, there's hope there.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
She is a big Alabama Crimson Tide fan. I saw
her most recently at the ELI Gold in the Booth
calling a game. By the way, Abby Phillip, no idea
who that is is on CNN at ten more coats
on CNN at eleven buck. I'm not kidding about this.
If you put them in a lineup, I don't think
I would recognize them. I can't imagine that they would
(36:38):
be the Detroit Well, we've got every line lit, so
let's take some calls play in the next hour.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
People's way and we're talking debates. Presidential
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