November 11, 2025 • 36 mins
Hour 1 of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show delivers a dynamic and wide-ranging discussion centered around Veterans Day, current political upheaval, and national defense, making it a must-listen for conservative talk radio fans and political news followers. The hour opens with a tribute to America’s veterans, featuring upcoming interviews with decorated military heroes David "Rut" Rutherford, a former Navy SEAL, and Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer. The hosts also highlight President Donald Trump's live remarks from Arlington National Cemetery, where he honored the U.S. military and announced the symbolic renaming of the Department of Defense back to the “Department of War,” emphasizing a renewed focus on military strength and victory.
A major theme throughout the hour is the fallout from the recent government shutdown, which lasted 40 days and ended with bipartisan Senate action. Clay and Buck dissect the political consequences, particularly the backlash against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. They explore Schumer’s declining popularity, citing polling data and commentary from CNN and David Axelrod, and speculate on the possibility of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez challenging him in 2028. The hosts also discuss the broader implications of internal Democratic Party tensions, including potential challenges to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The show pivots to international affairs with a segment on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant defending U.S. financial support for Argentina’s economic stabilization under President Javier Milei. Buck praises Bessant’s clarity and effectiveness in countering media narratives, framing the move as a strategic investment rather than a bailout.
Military recruitment trends are also discussed, with Clay noting a surge in enlistment under the Trump administration, attributing it to a shift away from “woke” policies and toward a warrior ethos. The hosts reflect on the importance of morale, historical military hardships like Valley Forge and the Battle of the Bulge, and the enduring legacy of American service members. They recommend war novels like Killer Angels and Gates of Fire to deepen appreciation for military history.
Listeners are invited to share personal stories, including a compelling call from a North Carolina man recounting his high school teacher’s role as General Patton’s Jeep driver during WWII.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in, Happy and Thankful Veterans Day to so many
people out there.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
As we begin the Tuesday edition.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Of the program, President Trump live at Arlington National Cemetery
right now, speaking in honor of so many of the
veterans out there. We have a couple of veterans that
are going to be on the program with us today,
David Rutherford, who is a part of the podcast Network,
and Dakota Meyer. Should be really great stories from those guys.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Dave Brutherford a former Navy seal with combat tours and
Dakota Meyer, a Medal of Honor recipient.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So yeah, Veterans Day.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, kind of kind of badasses. So we will talk
about that quite a lot. We'll take some of your calls,
some of your stories as well. The shutdown is officially over,
Buck to the extent that well, I say officially over,
We've got to have the how also ratify the fact
(01:01):
that the shutdown is over, but officially the Senate yesterday
sixty senators said this is ludicrous, including eight different Democrats,
and the meltdown is pretty fun to watch. We will
dive into that meltdown with all of you. As Chuck
Schumer is now taking fire in basically every direction, because
(01:24):
so many people are asking what was actually achieved here
and what was the decision that was made. The House
is going to vote to lift the shutdown as well.
Buck we had last night, I was one of the
guests at a big fundraiser for Senator Haggerty, who's going
to be re elected to the Senate next year from Tennessee,
(01:47):
and he wasn't able to attend his own fundraiser because
he was back in Washington, DC getting the government back
open on the side of the Senate. So thanks to
the governor of Tennessee for hosting that fundraising event that
we had yesterday, but kind of giving you a sense
of what's going on. Basically, every Senator had to be
(02:10):
all hands on deck to get to sixty so that
they could officially end the shutdown, including eight Democrats. The House,
my understanding, is going to vote tomorrow to lift the shutdown,
and hopefully at that point in time, some of the
chaos that we're seeing with air traffic control, with TSA,
with many different aspects of the federal government will go
(02:33):
to the be tossed to the side. But again, there
is no actual resolution here that made any sense at all.
We had the longest shutdown in our nation's history forty days,
and the actual impact, Buck was negligible. Nothing changed at all.
So let's go and have some fun. Actually, on this
(02:54):
Veteran's Day, I was scrolling through and our team did
a good job of getting some of the reactions that
are pouring in on the Democrats side, as they are
absolutely furious over Chuck Schumer and the Democrats bending the knee,
and I grabbed several of these. First of all, David Axelrod,
(03:16):
what is the most lasting impact going to be from
the shutdown?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Buck?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I think it's very likely going to be that Chuck
Schumer is in many ways essentially done as the minority
leader in the Senate, and David Axelrod said as much,
he's likely cooked as the Democrat leader.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
This is cut five. You know that.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Do you think the Schumer could be in trouble here
with the left flank of the party.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
I think he's been in trouble. I think he is
in bigger trouble now. I honestly, I think Cener Schumer's
been there since nineteen eighty two. My guess is that
he won't be leader of the party in two thousand
and twenty seven after the selection. Unless it's something really
surprising happens, you.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Don't buy it.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Buck, you think he's gonna be back, or you just
don't think they have anybody else that wants to step
into the fray and actually take the slings and arrows.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
This is the game, Come on, how many times I'll
put it to you this way. One of the ways
that I think you can often objectively assess the other
side is looking at a similar dynamic on your own side.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
How many years.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Have we all sat around on the right as Republicans
been like Mitch McConnell's rhino, Mitch McConnell's you know, he
doesn't represent, and yet Mitch McConnell's got the checkbook, he's
got the donor network, he's got the power, and everybody
falls in line. Now that is changing, But it's changing
because Mitch is basically not you know, he's non functional
(04:47):
at this point.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
It's just pure age. He's aging out of that role.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
There's no similar situation to my mind with Schumer. Now,
if Schumer were up in the next year, maybe he
would have Clay. By the time he's up in twenty eight,
everyone's gonna be focused on something else, namely the presidential election,
the future of the party, all this other stuff, and
Schumer's gonna play the on the steady hand. I know
(05:12):
this game. You know, the president gets to be the
next generation of Democrat leadership. He needs somebody like Chuck Schumer.
So I'm just telling you I don't buy this at all.
But Axelrod is smart insofar as this is what the
left wing of the Democrat base wants to hear right now.
They want to hear that Chuck is going to be
pushed out and blah blah blah. There are a bunch
(05:33):
of data money.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
How quickly we went from the Republicans are going to
have to deal with an immense civil war inside of
their own party. Oh, I don't know, last week to
this week being their major issues now on the in
the Democrat side, I think one of the things I'm
gonna play a couple of cuts here from Chuck Schumer
just how unpopular he is.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
But I think one of the biggest things.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
We're dealing with Buck is there's a profound anger that
is out there in America right now. And I don't
know if you buy into this. I think it's a
lingering aftershock of COVID. I think there's just and I
think social media exacerbates it. I think there's just a
lot of angry people. And the question is it reminds me.
(06:16):
I know, you were a lost viewer back in the day.
You know, the smoke monster just shows up and you
want to try to avoid being the target of the
smoke monster. On any given day, it feels like there's
just a shifting cloud of anger. Or we could go
Ghostbusters to the gou when everybody was getting the gu
and was just angry.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I feel like that characterizes America today. I like the
eye of sour on.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
You know, you put that ring on and whatever sour
you know, then you have the eye it all of
a sudden that's actually not called the eye of sour on.
One of you, Bloord of the Rings nerds, is gonna
yell at me for it, but it's you know, it's base.
That's basically what it is. Uh, the the you know,
the big scary fire eye that looks at people. Yes,
I think there's I think there's truth to that, Clay,
And remember, lot of this is the game of making
(07:03):
people who are very upset upset at the right at
the right people. This is what this is where this
so what you want is you want an energized left
wing base going into this mid term. Chuck Schumer and
the old system man, they're gonna have to stand aside.
It's going to be the radicals and the revolutionaries the
Democrat Party who are going to change all these things
for you. And you get them to vote, and then
(07:24):
Chuck Schumer is still in charge. This is the whole game, right,
This is the way they're going to play this. I
think that's also why I've got to say Gavin Newsom,
he sees this too. We've talked about how he's the
likely uh well we we think we're predicting he's a
likely Democrat nominee. He'll play this game. He'll be He'll
be mister, you know, I ran the biggest state in
the country, fifth largest economy in the world, and I'm
(07:45):
so damn handsome. But if he has to have AOC
as his vice president, he'll do that, right, If he
has to bring in the left to make them feel
like they have a seat at the table, and this
is the whole situation, this is the way it's gonna go.
So I don't I don't buy this at all about
how Schumer is Dawn. He's cooked is the term that
everyone likes to use for these things. Now, Schumer is
a wiley He's a wiley character man. That guy's been hey.
(08:08):
He's been in the game as long as I've been alive.
He's been a senator.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Look, Harry Inton, I will say on CNN says that
Chuck Schumer is the least popular Democrat Senate leader ever,
and then we'll have some fun with him compared to
AOC but cut thirteen. Listen to this on CNN.
Speaker 7 (08:28):
What about Democrats nationwide feeling about Chuck Schumer. I think
the word of the day is terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible,
to quote another Charles Barkley, when it comes to Chuck Schumer.
Look at this least popular dem Senate leader ever.
Speaker 8 (08:41):
I looked at all of the polls going all the
way back since nineteen hundred and eighty five. The one
was the lowest rating among Democrats. Is in fact Chuck Schumer.
Look at this, He's underwater with Democrats, his own party.
He's underwater. He's at minus four points. That makes him
the least popular guy for a dem'son leader going all
the way back since the mid nineteen eighties.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
At least. Here's the other part on this, Buck, I
do think.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I know we talked about this yesterday and I got
the year wrong because it's been talked about so much.
I thought that Schumer was up in twenty six, actually
twenty eight. His best benefit, I think is that AOC
may not want to be the Senator. I think she
may well run for president, and it's hard to run
for both. But listen to how much more popular AOC
(09:30):
is in net favorability among New York Democrats. I think
if she announced Buck that she was going to run,
I think Schumer would announce he wasn't going to run,
because I don't think there's any way he could win
a Democrat primary against her. I think it would be
somewhat similar to what we saw happen with Cuomo going
up against Mom Donnie, except AOC would start way more
(09:53):
popular than Cuomo did, and certainly, sorry, way more popular
than Mom Donnie. Is cut fourteen, giving you a sense
of just how underwater Schumer is in New York.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
How do New York State Democrats feel about Chuck Schumer?
And take a look here the net favorable among New
York Democrats. Chuck Schumer is above water with the Democrats
in his home state, but just by sixteen points. Look
at Alexandria Costukretz running way ahead. If she decides to
challenge Chuck Schumer come twenty twenty eight, she's got a
real leg up on the competition. I dare say at
this point she would be the favorite to beat him,
(10:28):
which would be something that would just blow my mind
even just a few years ago, giving the Chuck Schumer,
of course, is a New York born brand type of guy.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, that those are incredible.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Look at thirty points ahead, My goodness, gracious.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
So the question Buck, I think is does AOC want
to be in the Senate or not? Because I think
it's going to be hard for Schumer to win a
Democrat primary against someone of the left like AOC.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Well, see it would be hard if the election were now, Clay,
this is an eternity we're talking about here, twenty twenty
eight cycle. Remember it's going to be a presidential election
year we don't even know, and you're talking about AOC
at running agains Schumer. She's going to run for president.
So I don't I think we see that the same
way she's gonna run for president. So he's not going
(11:14):
to have a Democrat, you know, a Democrat.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Challenge now like her.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Now, one thing to keep in mind, we'll get an
early preview of this. There is a report that Hakeem
Jeffries is going to get challenged by a leftist in
the House next year. Hakim Jeffries obviously the House Minority leader.
We have two New York City guys that are basically
running the Democrat Party in the Congress right now, and
so that will give you an idea about the energy
(11:45):
there and whether there's any opportunity to topple leadership like
we already saw Mom Donnie do. This is one of
Mom Donnie's top assistants, a crazy left wing guy.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
The funny thing about AOC though, would be and again,
I think she's running for president, and if I were
advising her another way, I like to play the game,
if I were trying to help the other side, would
you have to think like that? Yeah, And I would
say AOC absolutely should run for should run for president
for her own brand. Again, I'm not saying I think
you all know what I'm saying. That would be a
(12:17):
smart brand move for her, but she would also if
she did run against Schumer Clay and One, she would
have to go down as the ultimate metaphorical giant killer
here in politics.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
I mean, she would have to be the She would.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Have taken out the number three out of nowhere in
congressional Democrat leadership.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
That guy had served like twenty thirty years saw the
semi truck that took him out coming. I do think
there's a story about that one, because if he had
really seen AOC coming, he could have nipped her entire
political tenure in the bud, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
But since then she's only gained in popularity.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
My my big takeaway if there can be one other
than nihilism, and there's no reason to think anything will
work for you in Game of Thrones, you know Game
of Thrones. This is kind of like a nihilistic mess
in a lot of ways. But the thing that I
did take from it is that Hubris. Hubris, if you
think about all the main character arcs, is the fatal
flaw and that guy I can't remember his name now
(13:23):
who AOC. That tells you something. As he ran against Hubris,
was his was his? He didn't even think he had
a campaign. That's right, that creates that creates a vulnerability,
doesn't it. But you don't even think you have to
show up. Schumer will know that he's got a campaign
if he gets that challenge from his left. But I
don't believe that. I don't believe that Schumer is gonna
(13:43):
be It's what will he be sentate leadership again if
they have a majority. You know, maybe maybe, But I
think Schumer would win re election if he really wants to.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
The fact that the shutdown has already blown up to
such an extent that the main talking point today is
not any impact that the shutdown had, but will the
chief Senate Democrat be able to keep his job is
illustrative of what a disaster this has ended up being
for the Democrat Party. And we told everyone this. They
(14:13):
had no real goals, There was no logic behind this shutdown.
It was a temper tantrum, and sooner or later everybody
was going to stop simultaneously throwing the same temper tantrum.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yes, all true, all very true.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
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eight four eight eight if CJ Saving America, one thought
at a time. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 6 (15:45):
Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you
get your.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Podcast welcome in everybody to Clay and Buck, something that
was very entertaining to watch. We got some recent soundbites
from Trump, by the way, that we'll be into with
you shortly. But Secretary Scott Bessant, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant
is phenomenal. I think play one of the sort of
(16:14):
standout picks for Trump that we were. You know, I
didn't really I didn't know the guy before, honestly, never
heard of him before. And here he is dealing with
MSNBC on They're trying to say, why are you giving
money to Argentina to bail out Mela, who's trying to
fix the Argentine economy?
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Play clip one.
Speaker 9 (16:30):
How does a twenty billion dollar bailout of Argentina help Americans?
You're the President's point person on that. Can you explain
to those here who are feeling the pinchcluding America's farmers,
why the United States is helping out Argentina?
Speaker 7 (16:44):
Well?
Speaker 10 (16:45):
Can you do you know what a swamp line is?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Currency swamp?
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yes?
Speaker 10 (16:49):
Yes, but what what is that? You're the Treasure secretary, Yes,
but why would you call it a bailout? That is
how in most bailouts you don't make money. The US
government made money. We used our financial balance sheepe to
stabilize the government. One of our great allies in Latin
America during an election, the president. They're one in a landslide.
(17:10):
The government's going to make money. And I would rather
use pace through economic strength than have to be shooting
at Narco boats coming offshore if the government collapsed.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Saying you're telling it it's a bailout. We actually made money,
the US government made money, and everyone's winning here.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
So what's the problem.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, And I think is just evidence of how often
these guys have no real ability to have depth to
their questions.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Some producer gave him that question, and it is.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
A very valid question to ask, Well, a bill out
would suggest we never get our money back if we're
making money, Is it really fair to call it a
bill out?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I don't think so.
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Speaker 1 (18:54):
Welcome back in Clay, Travis, but Sexton Show appreciate all
of you hanging out out with us, and we particularly
appreciate all the veterans out there. We've got Dakota Meyer
and David Rutherford both going to be on with us
later in the program. We mentioned earlier President Trump at
Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day, and we have a
(19:15):
couple of cuts from what he had to say there,
and if we could play those now, that would be fantastic.
Speaker 11 (19:25):
Everything we have, everything our country has achieved, has been
purchased by the muscle, spine, and steel of the United
States Military.
Speaker 12 (19:34):
We owed all to the fierce.
Speaker 11 (19:36):
And noble men and women of the Army, the Navy, the.
Speaker 12 (19:38):
Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, and the United States Marines.
Is a guy, our service members. Our own words are
the greatest possible tribute to their immortal valor.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Trump also buck talked about the decision to switch back
to the Department of War, and here is what he
had to say about the necessity for that.
Speaker 11 (20:11):
From now on, we're going to be celebrating Victory Day,
the World War One, the World War II, and frankly
for everything else. Under the Trump administration, we're restoring the
pride and the winning spirit of the United States Military.
That's why we have officially renamed the Department of Defense
back to the original name, Department of War. And remember,
(20:34):
we won World War One, we won World War Two,
we won everything in between. We won everything that came before,
and then we brilliantly decided to change the name of
this great thing that we all created together, and we
became politically correct. We don't like being politically correct, so
(20:55):
We're not going to be politically correct anymore from now on.
When we fight a war, we only fight for one
reason to win.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
We fight to win.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Okay, So that's President Trump Arlington National Cemetery, I will say,
and I don't think this has gotten enough attention, and
certainly it should because it's a very positive story here
as we celebrate Veterans Day.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Buck.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
The overall enlistment numbers for our military has skyrocketed since
Pete hag Seth has gotten in there, since President Trump
has taken over, and since they've gone back to the
idea of warriors and we want the people in the
military to be in shape, and we want them to
be badasses, and we want them to be a lethal
(21:41):
fighting force. It turns out that that's actually a much
better pitch to young men and young women than Hey,
we want to be diverse and inclusive, and we want
to make sure that you can have your trans surgeries
while you're also in military. Young people want to be better, sharper,
tougher versions of themselves, and that's certainly coming through, I
(22:05):
think in the renewed vigor of our enlistment numbers.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Yeah, a spree de corps is a critical aspect of
having an effective military of military cohesion. You have to
have belief in what it is that you are doing,
because otherwise it almost seems like an inherently irrational thing
to sign up for a job where you're saying I
(22:32):
might die doing this job. You have to believe and
you have to love something to be willing to do that.
In this we're talking about, of course, Veterans Day. That
is what all of our veterans are willing to do.
That is why they sign up. And yet on the
bureaucrat political side of things, they have started to chip
(22:52):
away at that.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
They have started to make it seem like there are.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
There's a social justice moraiment that is the primary goal
of our military, or the military is a jobs program,
but not really for fighting or for combat. It's for
some other purpose. Right, I'll never forget. This isn't about
the military, but the the idiot former CIA director Brennan,
who's in all kinds of trouble with Trump and and
(23:20):
the DOJ and everything else, he said something like CIA
doesn't steal secrets.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Do you remember this?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
He actually said that he was a CIA director. He's like,
a CIA doesn't steal secrets and for a lot of
us who sat there and said, no, that is that
is the fundamental. That's like saying the fire purpose of
the entire of the entire right, that is like saying
the fire department does not put out fires Like this
is the most straightforward thing that you can possibly have.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And and so I think.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
What they're doing with the military, what they're doing and
how they're trying to get a a vision of the
future going here, it makes a lot of sense. And
everybody that I know who has been in a combat
role or in direct support to a combat role that
I've talked to about this, and I know this is personal,
(24:11):
it's anecdotal. They like the direction of this Pentagon No,
they like what's going on. I'll also point.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
This out, and we've got Rutherford in Dakota meyer onto,
and i'd encourage you to go subscribe to the podcast
and make sure that you're not missing any of the
Clay and Buck podcast network, including Badass David Rutherford. One
of the things since I've started doing the show, I've
gotten to meet Buck, a lot more seals, a lot
more Special Forces guys. I'm astounded by how humble they
(24:38):
all are and meaning they don't carry themselves as if
at any point in time they could kill you. They
clearly could, but you wouldn't know that these guys are
the badasses of badass dumb just by walking into a bar.
They're not the guys that are getting the most attention
(24:58):
for looking like tough eyes at the bar, and they
clearly are. Reminds me Buck, I remember seeing a guy
back when I was younger, when the Nashville Predators were
in town. Why of the hockey guys are not that big,
you know, but they fight for a living. And I
remember one time seeing a Predator, Nashville Predator player NHL
player bump into a guy at the bar, and the
(25:21):
guy at the bar didn't realize that he was like
bumping into an enforcer because he's like five eight five nine,
and it didn't go well for the guy at the bar.
You know, of all the people that you could bump into,
a guy who fights on ice skates for a living,
you definitely don't know who you're bumping into at the bar.
A lot of times you bump into a seal you're
(25:42):
in trouble and you don't even see it coming.
Speaker 8 (25:44):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
There's the quote also on the Department of War issue
attributed to Napoleon that in war, morale is to the
physical as three to one, meaning the morale of your force. Yeah,
is essential. Morale is not just again because this goes
to your willingness to put yourself in jeopardy of possibly dying, Yes,
(26:09):
which is the essence. Unfortunately, it's a human reality. The
essence of warfare is you are willing to put yourself
in situations where you can die, and morale and belief
and a sense of greater purpose has to be there
for that, and also your willingness to withstand misery even
(26:30):
when death isn't necessarily at its forefront. I mean, you
go back and you read American history, which I love
to do.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
I'll be honest.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
We were kind of jokingly talked about how you and
I don't want to camp outside. You go read, which
I've been doing recently. The great book that's out I
think from Rick Atkinson as the author. He's working through
a trilogy of the Revolutionary War. I was reading recently
about the Valley Forge experience.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
You go back and.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
You read about what Civil War sold did in camp,
what they put up with. You go back and read
about what happened during the during the Battle of the
Bulge and all of the chaos surrounding the winter that
happened in World War Two, what people went through even
when they weren't necessarily directly facing death, and many of
(27:20):
the times they were.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
But I'm talking.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
About just being constantly cold, being constantly miserable. I don't
think the average American even comprehends it. And don't even
get me started on the decision that people made back
in the day when they were in Ireland and they
were in England, and they were all over Europe and
they said, Hey, you know what, I'm going to get
(27:43):
on this boat for the next six weeks, which might
or might not ever make it to land again. And
you're the disease and the and the what people put
themselves through in this country. I don't think we sit
and think about it enough. And I think to your point,
the morale associated with what that requires, the spirit, the
(28:03):
belief in something greater, is transformative when you study American
history in that way.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Yes, but the ability of our military to have been
as successful as it has been is tied directly to
the belief that the people who have taken up arms overwhelming.
The men who have taken up arms for this country
feel in the American experiment and this country, right, So
(28:31):
that I think is something that the left undermines. I
think the Democrats in many of their policies lost focus
on and that is being restored now. But to your point,
I remember one thing that I still say this people
and they don't believe. Isn't a two out of three
casualties in the Civil War from disease?
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Right?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Yeah, two out of three deaths in Civil War from disease.
So another part of this is we often think of
the sacrifice, because you mentioned the willingness to go through nonsense.
We think of the sacrifices of people who are charging
the machine gun nest yes, or or you know, running
across no man's land in the First World War, or
you know, storm storming the hill at Gettysburg, right, whatever
(29:11):
it may be. But then there's also the contracting typhus
in camp because you're not with your family and you're
part of a military military effort, and that's a very
real you know, there are sacrifices, including the sacrifice of
one life, that come along that can come along with
military service that aren't in that clash of combat that
(29:33):
we think of.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
And to your point, especially because so many people who
were Civil War soldiers had never been living necessarily in
close proximity. This was actually one of the benefits that
some Northern troops had was they were in city environments,
and so they had had viruses and and and all
of that run through their their families already. But a
(29:58):
lot of people were living in rural places at the time,
so you were rarely other than church maybe some rudimentary schooling,
you were rarely surrounded by people. And so yeah, in
the winter camp, you can imagine how the viruses just
ran roughshod through the entire camps, and how many people
died completely as a result, and some people froze to death.
(30:20):
I mean again, I just think what veterans went through.
We don't spend enough time contemplating throughout all of human
history and the sacrifices that they've all made, even if
they weren't necessarily under fire every day in the midst
of the Battle of Gettysburg. Just living in those camps
(30:43):
during the winter would have been brutal on a level
that most of us can't even comprehend. This day, go
read about Valley Forge. I mean, just read about it
from the comfort of your warm, warmly comfortable living conditions
and just think about how brutally would have been. What's
the best? Do you have a favorite historical you know,
(31:06):
historical war novel? Yeah, yeah, Killer Angels by Michael Scherer
I think is really good. You know, he goes into
I'm sure some of you have read it, but it's
about the Battle of Gettysburg and he goes into the
minds of each of the characters. And then his son
Jeff later wrote books that built around that. But that's
(31:28):
probably my favorite historical work of fiction. What about you
back in the day, anything that you loved?
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Oh yeah, Gates of Fire Stephen Pressfield about Thermopylae Spartans and.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
I don't know anything. I'm writing that down because I've
never even heard of that book.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Oh my gosh, it is so good. It is one
of my favorite just novel fun reads.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Of all times.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Yeah, Gates of Fire Stephen Pressfield. If you liked the
movie three hundred, you will love this book.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
I'm going to go in and order it during the
break because I'm sold. I recognized when I got to
go to Italy a couple of years ago that I
had a absence of knowledge about Greek and Roman history
that I wish I didn't, And I've been trying to
read more about that era and familiarize myself with it better.
(32:18):
And so that's one of my in addition to American history,
which I think I have a pretty good grasp of,
that's one of the areas of history that I think
I can get better at. So I have been focused
on it, and I want to tell you, speaking of legacy,
speaking of history, speaking of your ability to preserve the
(32:39):
experience that you and your family have had over the years,
I got to tell you A Legacy Box is absolutely incredible.
You are going to love this company. They are phenomenal.
I went down and visited their offices in Chattanooga. It
doesn't matter what type of old media you have. It
can be eight millimeter film reels, it can be old photographs,
(33:04):
it can be VHS tapes which were not designed to
last very long. I don't even know how many of
you still have VCRs.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
You need to ensure.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
That all of your family history is preserved. How often
is it the case we just moved. How often is
it the case that somebody is the repository of your
family history. It's in their garage, it's in their attic.
What happens if something God forbid fire or you have
a flood and all of your family history is wiped out?
(33:37):
Why take that risk? Why not make an incredibly smart
decision to preserve your family's history by going to legacybox
dot com. Use my name Clay, and right now they
have a nine dollars per VHS tape deal, just nine dollars.
It won't last for long. We're only six weeks I
believe from today is Christmas. And they get so popular
(34:01):
around Christmas time because it is the ultimate holiday gift.
Go to legacybox dot com slash Clay for early access
to the best deal of the year, that nine dollars
VHS tape. That's the legacybox dot com slash Clay one
more time Legacy box dot Com slash Clay.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Patriots radio hosts a couple of.
Speaker 6 (34:23):
Regular guys, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on
the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Welcome back in everybody, UH celebrating Veterans Day. Here on
Clay and Buck, we've got Metal Vanna recipient to Coda
Meyer joining us, and also got our friend Dave Brutherford,
former Navy seal, talking to us about just how we're
feeling these days with the why we're treating our veterans,
respecting our veterans all that, and we'll talk to them
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Uh, take some of your calls here.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Tom in North Carolina wants a chavelist.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
What's going on?
Speaker 13 (35:01):
Hey, Yeah, I was listening to Clay talk about the
Battle of the Bulge and I've got a story about patents.
I believe it was the winter of sixty nine. I
was in high school and the Colored school in our
county had integrated just a freshman class. Anyway, our teacher
(35:23):
came from the Colored school, was about five foot seven, Uh,
soft spoken.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
I heard him.
Speaker 13 (35:33):
Raise his voice one time. Kind of a meek gentleman,
but a nice teacher. One day, Uh, he wasn't in
school and they told us later that he had to
go visit with the crew a director in all of
the movie Patton because he was George w George Washington
(35:57):
Taylor who drove Pattent's during the Battle of the Bulge.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
That's pretty awesome. Wow, that is that movie Buck, Thank
you for the call, Tom. That movie is one of
the great war movies ever made.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
The package the opening speech is one of the most
iconic movie speeches of all time.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
If you haven't seen it, and I imagine most people
have seen it. But if you haven't, if you're younger,
I think they're younger people out there that wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Know about that movie. It's about as good as it gets.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
We got a bunch of cool calls coming in on
Veterans Day. If you're with us waiting online for those calls,
we'll go through. You can also give us talkbacks relating
to Veterans Day. Obviously a very special day here, and
we appreciate everybody who has served out in this audience,
as there are.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Many of you.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
When we come back, we will talk with a guy
who did a little bit of serving, David Rutherford, AD
Seal
Welcome in, Happy and Thankful Veterans Day to so many
people out there.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
As we begin the Tuesday edition.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Of the program, President Trump live at Arlington National Cemetery
right now, speaking in honor of so many of the
veterans out there. We have a couple of veterans that
are going to be on the program with us today,
David Rutherford, who is a part of the podcast Network,
and Dakota Meyer. Should be really great stories from those guys.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Dave Brutherford a former Navy seal with combat tours and
Dakota Meyer, a Medal of Honor recipient.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So yeah, Veterans Day.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, kind of kind of badasses. So we will talk
about that quite a lot. We'll take some of your calls,
some of your stories as well. The shutdown is officially over,
Buck to the extent that well, I say officially over,
We've got to have the how also ratify the fact
(01:01):
that the shutdown is over, but officially the Senate yesterday
sixty senators said this is ludicrous, including eight different Democrats,
and the meltdown is pretty fun to watch. We will
dive into that meltdown with all of you. As Chuck
Schumer is now taking fire in basically every direction, because
(01:24):
so many people are asking what was actually achieved here
and what was the decision that was made. The House
is going to vote to lift the shutdown as well.
Buck we had last night, I was one of the
guests at a big fundraiser for Senator Haggerty, who's going
to be re elected to the Senate next year from Tennessee,
(01:47):
and he wasn't able to attend his own fundraiser because
he was back in Washington, DC getting the government back
open on the side of the Senate. So thanks to
the governor of Tennessee for hosting that fundraising event that
we had yesterday, but kind of giving you a sense
of what's going on. Basically, every Senator had to be
(02:10):
all hands on deck to get to sixty so that
they could officially end the shutdown, including eight Democrats. The House,
my understanding, is going to vote tomorrow to lift the shutdown,
and hopefully at that point in time, some of the
chaos that we're seeing with air traffic control, with TSA,
with many different aspects of the federal government will go
(02:33):
to the be tossed to the side. But again, there
is no actual resolution here that made any sense at all.
We had the longest shutdown in our nation's history forty days,
and the actual impact, Buck was negligible. Nothing changed at all.
So let's go and have some fun. Actually, on this
(02:54):
Veteran's Day, I was scrolling through and our team did
a good job of getting some of the reactions that
are pouring in on the Democrats side, as they are
absolutely furious over Chuck Schumer and the Democrats bending the knee,
and I grabbed several of these. First of all, David Axelrod,
(03:16):
what is the most lasting impact going to be from
the shutdown?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Buck?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I think it's very likely going to be that Chuck
Schumer is in many ways essentially done as the minority
leader in the Senate, and David Axelrod said as much,
he's likely cooked as the Democrat leader.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
This is cut five. You know that.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Do you think the Schumer could be in trouble here
with the left flank of the party.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
I think he's been in trouble. I think he is
in bigger trouble now. I honestly, I think Cener Schumer's
been there since nineteen eighty two. My guess is that
he won't be leader of the party in two thousand
and twenty seven after the selection. Unless it's something really
surprising happens, you.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Don't buy it.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Buck, you think he's gonna be back, or you just
don't think they have anybody else that wants to step
into the fray and actually take the slings and arrows.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
This is the game, Come on, how many times I'll
put it to you this way. One of the ways
that I think you can often objectively assess the other
side is looking at a similar dynamic on your own side.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
How many years.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Have we all sat around on the right as Republicans
been like Mitch McConnell's rhino, Mitch McConnell's you know, he
doesn't represent, and yet Mitch McConnell's got the checkbook, he's
got the donor network, he's got the power, and everybody
falls in line. Now that is changing, But it's changing
because Mitch is basically not you know, he's non functional
(04:47):
at this point.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
It's just pure age. He's aging out of that role.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
There's no similar situation to my mind with Schumer. Now,
if Schumer were up in the next year, maybe he
would have Clay. By the time he's up in twenty eight,
everyone's gonna be focused on something else, namely the presidential election,
the future of the party, all this other stuff, and
Schumer's gonna play the on the steady hand. I know
(05:12):
this game. You know, the president gets to be the
next generation of Democrat leadership. He needs somebody like Chuck Schumer.
So I'm just telling you I don't buy this at all.
But Axelrod is smart insofar as this is what the
left wing of the Democrat base wants to hear right now.
They want to hear that Chuck is going to be
pushed out and blah blah blah. There are a bunch
(05:33):
of data money.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
How quickly we went from the Republicans are going to
have to deal with an immense civil war inside of
their own party. Oh, I don't know, last week to
this week being their major issues now on the in
the Democrat side, I think one of the things I'm
gonna play a couple of cuts here from Chuck Schumer
just how unpopular he is.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
But I think one of the biggest things.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
We're dealing with Buck is there's a profound anger that
is out there in America right now. And I don't
know if you buy into this. I think it's a
lingering aftershock of COVID. I think there's just and I
think social media exacerbates it. I think there's just a
lot of angry people. And the question is it reminds me.
(06:16):
I know, you were a lost viewer back in the day.
You know, the smoke monster just shows up and you
want to try to avoid being the target of the
smoke monster. On any given day, it feels like there's
just a shifting cloud of anger. Or we could go
Ghostbusters to the gou when everybody was getting the gu
and was just angry.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I feel like that characterizes America today. I like the
eye of sour on.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
You know, you put that ring on and whatever sour
you know, then you have the eye it all of
a sudden that's actually not called the eye of sour on.
One of you, Bloord of the Rings nerds, is gonna
yell at me for it, but it's you know, it's base.
That's basically what it is. Uh, the the you know,
the big scary fire eye that looks at people. Yes,
I think there's I think there's truth to that, Clay,
And remember, lot of this is the game of making
(07:03):
people who are very upset upset at the right at
the right people. This is what this is where this
so what you want is you want an energized left
wing base going into this mid term. Chuck Schumer and
the old system man, they're gonna have to stand aside.
It's going to be the radicals and the revolutionaries the
Democrat Party who are going to change all these things
for you. And you get them to vote, and then
(07:24):
Chuck Schumer is still in charge. This is the whole game, right,
This is the way they're going to play this. I
think that's also why I've got to say Gavin Newsom,
he sees this too. We've talked about how he's the
likely uh well we we think we're predicting he's a
likely Democrat nominee. He'll play this game. He'll be He'll
be mister, you know, I ran the biggest state in
the country, fifth largest economy in the world, and I'm
(07:45):
so damn handsome. But if he has to have AOC
as his vice president, he'll do that, right, If he
has to bring in the left to make them feel
like they have a seat at the table, and this
is the whole situation, this is the way it's gonna go.
So I don't I don't buy this at all about
how Schumer is Dawn. He's cooked is the term that
everyone likes to use for these things. Now, Schumer is
a wiley He's a wiley character man. That guy's been hey.
(08:08):
He's been in the game as long as I've been alive.
He's been a senator.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Look, Harry Inton, I will say on CNN says that
Chuck Schumer is the least popular Democrat Senate leader ever,
and then we'll have some fun with him compared to
AOC but cut thirteen. Listen to this on CNN.
Speaker 7 (08:28):
What about Democrats nationwide feeling about Chuck Schumer. I think
the word of the day is terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible,
to quote another Charles Barkley, when it comes to Chuck Schumer.
Look at this least popular dem Senate leader ever.
Speaker 8 (08:41):
I looked at all of the polls going all the
way back since nineteen hundred and eighty five. The one
was the lowest rating among Democrats. Is in fact Chuck Schumer.
Look at this, He's underwater with Democrats, his own party.
He's underwater. He's at minus four points. That makes him
the least popular guy for a dem'son leader going all
the way back since the mid nineteen eighties.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
At least. Here's the other part on this, Buck, I
do think.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I know we talked about this yesterday and I got
the year wrong because it's been talked about so much.
I thought that Schumer was up in twenty six, actually
twenty eight. His best benefit, I think is that AOC
may not want to be the Senator. I think she
may well run for president, and it's hard to run
for both. But listen to how much more popular AOC
(09:30):
is in net favorability among New York Democrats. I think
if she announced Buck that she was going to run,
I think Schumer would announce he wasn't going to run,
because I don't think there's any way he could win
a Democrat primary against her. I think it would be
somewhat similar to what we saw happen with Cuomo going
up against Mom Donnie, except AOC would start way more
(09:53):
popular than Cuomo did, and certainly, sorry, way more popular
than Mom Donnie. Is cut fourteen, giving you a sense
of just how underwater Schumer is in New York.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
How do New York State Democrats feel about Chuck Schumer?
And take a look here the net favorable among New
York Democrats. Chuck Schumer is above water with the Democrats
in his home state, but just by sixteen points. Look
at Alexandria Costukretz running way ahead. If she decides to
challenge Chuck Schumer come twenty twenty eight, she's got a
real leg up on the competition. I dare say at
this point she would be the favorite to beat him,
(10:28):
which would be something that would just blow my mind
even just a few years ago, giving the Chuck Schumer,
of course, is a New York born brand type of guy.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, that those are incredible.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Look at thirty points ahead, My goodness, gracious.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
So the question Buck, I think is does AOC want
to be in the Senate or not? Because I think
it's going to be hard for Schumer to win a
Democrat primary against someone of the left like AOC.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Well, see it would be hard if the election were now, Clay,
this is an eternity we're talking about here, twenty twenty
eight cycle. Remember it's going to be a presidential election
year we don't even know, and you're talking about AOC
at running agains Schumer. She's going to run for president.
So I don't I think we see that the same
way she's gonna run for president. So he's not going
(11:14):
to have a Democrat, you know, a Democrat.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Challenge now like her.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Now, one thing to keep in mind, we'll get an
early preview of this. There is a report that Hakeem
Jeffries is going to get challenged by a leftist in
the House next year. Hakim Jeffries obviously the House Minority leader.
We have two New York City guys that are basically
running the Democrat Party in the Congress right now, and
so that will give you an idea about the energy
(11:45):
there and whether there's any opportunity to topple leadership like
we already saw Mom Donnie do. This is one of
Mom Donnie's top assistants, a crazy left wing guy.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
The funny thing about AOC though, would be and again,
I think she's running for president, and if I were
advising her another way, I like to play the game,
if I were trying to help the other side, would
you have to think like that? Yeah, And I would
say AOC absolutely should run for should run for president
for her own brand. Again, I'm not saying I think
you all know what I'm saying. That would be a
(12:17):
smart brand move for her, but she would also if
she did run against Schumer Clay and One, she would
have to go down as the ultimate metaphorical giant killer
here in politics.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
I mean, she would have to be the She would.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Have taken out the number three out of nowhere in
congressional Democrat leadership.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
That guy had served like twenty thirty years saw the
semi truck that took him out coming. I do think
there's a story about that one, because if he had
really seen AOC coming, he could have nipped her entire
political tenure in the bud, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
But since then she's only gained in popularity.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
My my big takeaway if there can be one other
than nihilism, and there's no reason to think anything will
work for you in Game of Thrones, you know Game
of Thrones. This is kind of like a nihilistic mess
in a lot of ways. But the thing that I
did take from it is that Hubris. Hubris, if you
think about all the main character arcs, is the fatal
flaw and that guy I can't remember his name now
(13:23):
who AOC. That tells you something. As he ran against Hubris,
was his was his? He didn't even think he had
a campaign. That's right, that creates that creates a vulnerability,
doesn't it. But you don't even think you have to
show up. Schumer will know that he's got a campaign
if he gets that challenge from his left. But I
don't believe that. I don't believe that Schumer is gonna
(13:43):
be It's what will he be sentate leadership again if
they have a majority. You know, maybe maybe, But I
think Schumer would win re election if he really wants to.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
The fact that the shutdown has already blown up to
such an extent that the main talking point today is
not any impact that the shutdown had, but will the
chief Senate Democrat be able to keep his job is
illustrative of what a disaster this has ended up being
for the Democrat Party. And we told everyone this. They
(14:13):
had no real goals, There was no logic behind this shutdown.
It was a temper tantrum, and sooner or later everybody
was going to stop simultaneously throwing the same temper tantrum.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yes, all true, all very true.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
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eight eight four eight eight if CJ. That's eight eight
(15:35):
eight four eight eight if CJ Saving America, one thought
at a time. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 6 (15:45):
Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you
get your.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Podcast welcome in everybody to Clay and Buck, something that
was very entertaining to watch. We got some recent soundbites
from Trump, by the way, that we'll be into with
you shortly. But Secretary Scott Bessant, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant
is phenomenal. I think play one of the sort of
(16:14):
standout picks for Trump that we were. You know, I
didn't really I didn't know the guy before, honestly, never
heard of him before. And here he is dealing with
MSNBC on They're trying to say, why are you giving
money to Argentina to bail out Mela, who's trying to
fix the Argentine economy?
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Play clip one.
Speaker 9 (16:30):
How does a twenty billion dollar bailout of Argentina help Americans?
You're the President's point person on that. Can you explain
to those here who are feeling the pinchcluding America's farmers,
why the United States is helping out Argentina?
Speaker 7 (16:44):
Well?
Speaker 10 (16:45):
Can you do you know what a swamp line is?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Currency swamp?
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yes?
Speaker 10 (16:49):
Yes, but what what is that? You're the Treasure secretary, Yes,
but why would you call it a bailout? That is
how in most bailouts you don't make money. The US
government made money. We used our financial balance sheepe to
stabilize the government. One of our great allies in Latin
America during an election, the president. They're one in a landslide.
(17:10):
The government's going to make money. And I would rather
use pace through economic strength than have to be shooting
at Narco boats coming offshore if the government collapsed.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Saying you're telling it it's a bailout. We actually made money,
the US government made money, and everyone's winning here.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
So what's the problem.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, And I think is just evidence of how often
these guys have no real ability to have depth to
their questions.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Some producer gave him that question, and it is.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
A very valid question to ask, Well, a bill out
would suggest we never get our money back if we're
making money, Is it really fair to call it a
bill out?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
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(18:17):
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(18:39):
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Speaker 1 (18:54):
Welcome back in Clay, Travis, but Sexton Show appreciate all
of you hanging out out with us, and we particularly
appreciate all the veterans out there. We've got Dakota Meyer
and David Rutherford both going to be on with us
later in the program. We mentioned earlier President Trump at
Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day, and we have a
(19:15):
couple of cuts from what he had to say there,
and if we could play those now, that would be fantastic.
Speaker 11 (19:25):
Everything we have, everything our country has achieved, has been
purchased by the muscle, spine, and steel of the United
States Military.
Speaker 12 (19:34):
We owed all to the fierce.
Speaker 11 (19:36):
And noble men and women of the Army, the Navy, the.
Speaker 12 (19:38):
Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, and the United States Marines.
Is a guy, our service members. Our own words are
the greatest possible tribute to their immortal valor.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Trump also buck talked about the decision to switch back
to the Department of War, and here is what he
had to say about the necessity for that.
Speaker 11 (20:11):
From now on, we're going to be celebrating Victory Day,
the World War One, the World War II, and frankly
for everything else. Under the Trump administration, we're restoring the
pride and the winning spirit of the United States Military.
That's why we have officially renamed the Department of Defense
back to the original name, Department of War. And remember,
(20:34):
we won World War One, we won World War Two,
we won everything in between. We won everything that came before,
and then we brilliantly decided to change the name of
this great thing that we all created together, and we
became politically correct. We don't like being politically correct, so
(20:55):
We're not going to be politically correct anymore from now on.
When we fight a war, we only fight for one
reason to win.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
We fight to win.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Okay, So that's President Trump Arlington National Cemetery, I will say,
and I don't think this has gotten enough attention, and
certainly it should because it's a very positive story here
as we celebrate Veterans Day.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Buck.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
The overall enlistment numbers for our military has skyrocketed since
Pete hag Seth has gotten in there, since President Trump
has taken over, and since they've gone back to the
idea of warriors and we want the people in the
military to be in shape, and we want them to
be badasses, and we want them to be a lethal
(21:41):
fighting force. It turns out that that's actually a much
better pitch to young men and young women than Hey,
we want to be diverse and inclusive, and we want
to make sure that you can have your trans surgeries
while you're also in military. Young people want to be better, sharper,
tougher versions of themselves, and that's certainly coming through, I
(22:05):
think in the renewed vigor of our enlistment numbers.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Yeah, a spree de corps is a critical aspect of
having an effective military of military cohesion. You have to
have belief in what it is that you are doing,
because otherwise it almost seems like an inherently irrational thing
to sign up for a job where you're saying I
(22:32):
might die doing this job. You have to believe and
you have to love something to be willing to do that.
In this we're talking about, of course, Veterans Day. That
is what all of our veterans are willing to do.
That is why they sign up. And yet on the
bureaucrat political side of things, they have started to chip
(22:52):
away at that.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
They have started to make it seem like there are.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
There's a social justice moraiment that is the primary goal
of our military, or the military is a jobs program,
but not really for fighting or for combat. It's for
some other purpose. Right, I'll never forget. This isn't about
the military, but the the idiot former CIA director Brennan,
who's in all kinds of trouble with Trump and and
(23:20):
the DOJ and everything else, he said something like CIA
doesn't steal secrets.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Do you remember this?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
He actually said that he was a CIA director. He's like,
a CIA doesn't steal secrets and for a lot of
us who sat there and said, no, that is that
is the fundamental. That's like saying the fire purpose of
the entire of the entire right, that is like saying
the fire department does not put out fires Like this
is the most straightforward thing that you can possibly have.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And and so I think.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
What they're doing with the military, what they're doing and
how they're trying to get a a vision of the
future going here, it makes a lot of sense. And
everybody that I know who has been in a combat
role or in direct support to a combat role that
I've talked to about this, and I know this is personal,
(24:11):
it's anecdotal. They like the direction of this Pentagon No,
they like what's going on. I'll also point.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
This out, and we've got Rutherford in Dakota meyer onto,
and i'd encourage you to go subscribe to the podcast
and make sure that you're not missing any of the
Clay and Buck podcast network, including Badass David Rutherford. One
of the things since I've started doing the show, I've
gotten to meet Buck, a lot more seals, a lot
more Special Forces guys. I'm astounded by how humble they
(24:38):
all are and meaning they don't carry themselves as if
at any point in time they could kill you. They
clearly could, but you wouldn't know that these guys are
the badasses of badass dumb just by walking into a bar.
They're not the guys that are getting the most attention
(24:58):
for looking like tough eyes at the bar, and they
clearly are. Reminds me Buck, I remember seeing a guy
back when I was younger, when the Nashville Predators were
in town. Why of the hockey guys are not that big,
you know, but they fight for a living. And I
remember one time seeing a Predator, Nashville Predator player NHL
player bump into a guy at the bar, and the
(25:21):
guy at the bar didn't realize that he was like
bumping into an enforcer because he's like five eight five nine,
and it didn't go well for the guy at the bar.
You know, of all the people that you could bump into,
a guy who fights on ice skates for a living,
you definitely don't know who you're bumping into at the bar.
A lot of times you bump into a seal you're
(25:42):
in trouble and you don't even see it coming.
Speaker 8 (25:44):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
There's the quote also on the Department of War issue
attributed to Napoleon that in war, morale is to the
physical as three to one, meaning the morale of your force. Yeah,
is essential. Morale is not just again because this goes
to your willingness to put yourself in jeopardy of possibly dying, Yes,
(26:09):
which is the essence. Unfortunately, it's a human reality. The
essence of warfare is you are willing to put yourself
in situations where you can die, and morale and belief
and a sense of greater purpose has to be there
for that, and also your willingness to withstand misery even
(26:30):
when death isn't necessarily at its forefront. I mean, you
go back and you read American history, which I love
to do.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
I'll be honest.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
We were kind of jokingly talked about how you and
I don't want to camp outside. You go read, which
I've been doing recently. The great book that's out I
think from Rick Atkinson as the author. He's working through
a trilogy of the Revolutionary War. I was reading recently
about the Valley Forge experience.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
You go back and.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
You read about what Civil War sold did in camp,
what they put up with. You go back and read
about what happened during the during the Battle of the
Bulge and all of the chaos surrounding the winter that
happened in World War Two, what people went through even
when they weren't necessarily directly facing death, and many of
(27:20):
the times they were.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
But I'm talking.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
About just being constantly cold, being constantly miserable. I don't
think the average American even comprehends it. And don't even
get me started on the decision that people made back
in the day when they were in Ireland and they
were in England, and they were all over Europe and
they said, Hey, you know what, I'm going to get
(27:43):
on this boat for the next six weeks, which might
or might not ever make it to land again. And
you're the disease and the and the what people put
themselves through in this country. I don't think we sit
and think about it enough. And I think to your point,
the morale associated with what that requires, the spirit, the
(28:03):
belief in something greater, is transformative when you study American
history in that way.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Yes, but the ability of our military to have been
as successful as it has been is tied directly to
the belief that the people who have taken up arms overwhelming.
The men who have taken up arms for this country
feel in the American experiment and this country, right, So
(28:31):
that I think is something that the left undermines. I
think the Democrats in many of their policies lost focus
on and that is being restored now. But to your point,
I remember one thing that I still say this people
and they don't believe. Isn't a two out of three
casualties in the Civil War from disease?
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Right?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Yeah, two out of three deaths in Civil War from disease.
So another part of this is we often think of
the sacrifice, because you mentioned the willingness to go through nonsense.
We think of the sacrifices of people who are charging
the machine gun nest yes, or or you know, running
across no man's land in the First World War, or
you know, storm storming the hill at Gettysburg, right, whatever
(29:11):
it may be. But then there's also the contracting typhus
in camp because you're not with your family and you're
part of a military military effort, and that's a very
real you know, there are sacrifices, including the sacrifice of
one life, that come along that can come along with
military service that aren't in that clash of combat that
(29:33):
we think of.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
And to your point, especially because so many people who
were Civil War soldiers had never been living necessarily in
close proximity. This was actually one of the benefits that
some Northern troops had was they were in city environments,
and so they had had viruses and and and all
of that run through their their families already. But a
(29:58):
lot of people were living in rural places at the time,
so you were rarely other than church maybe some rudimentary schooling,
you were rarely surrounded by people. And so yeah, in
the winter camp, you can imagine how the viruses just
ran roughshod through the entire camps, and how many people
died completely as a result, and some people froze to death.
(30:20):
I mean again, I just think what veterans went through.
We don't spend enough time contemplating throughout all of human
history and the sacrifices that they've all made, even if
they weren't necessarily under fire every day in the midst
of the Battle of Gettysburg. Just living in those camps
(30:43):
during the winter would have been brutal on a level
that most of us can't even comprehend. This day, go
read about Valley Forge. I mean, just read about it
from the comfort of your warm, warmly comfortable living conditions
and just think about how brutally would have been. What's
the best? Do you have a favorite historical you know,
(31:06):
historical war novel? Yeah, yeah, Killer Angels by Michael Scherer
I think is really good. You know, he goes into
I'm sure some of you have read it, but it's
about the Battle of Gettysburg and he goes into the
minds of each of the characters. And then his son
Jeff later wrote books that built around that. But that's
(31:28):
probably my favorite historical work of fiction. What about you
back in the day, anything that you loved?
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Oh yeah, Gates of Fire Stephen Pressfield about Thermopylae Spartans and.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
I don't know anything. I'm writing that down because I've
never even heard of that book.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Oh my gosh, it is so good. It is one
of my favorite just novel fun reads.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Of all times.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Yeah, Gates of Fire Stephen Pressfield. If you liked the
movie three hundred, you will love this book.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
I'm going to go in and order it during the
break because I'm sold. I recognized when I got to
go to Italy a couple of years ago that I
had a absence of knowledge about Greek and Roman history
that I wish I didn't, And I've been trying to
read more about that era and familiarize myself with it better.
(32:18):
And so that's one of my in addition to American history,
which I think I have a pretty good grasp of,
that's one of the areas of history that I think
I can get better at. So I have been focused
on it, and I want to tell you, speaking of legacy,
speaking of history, speaking of your ability to preserve the
(32:39):
experience that you and your family have had over the years,
I got to tell you A Legacy Box is absolutely incredible.
You are going to love this company. They are phenomenal.
I went down and visited their offices in Chattanooga. It
doesn't matter what type of old media you have. It
can be eight millimeter film reels, it can be old photographs,
(33:04):
it can be VHS tapes which were not designed to
last very long. I don't even know how many of
you still have VCRs.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
You need to ensure.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
That all of your family history is preserved. How often
is it the case we just moved. How often is
it the case that somebody is the repository of your
family history. It's in their garage, it's in their attic.
What happens if something God forbid fire or you have
a flood and all of your family history is wiped out?
(33:37):
Why take that risk? Why not make an incredibly smart
decision to preserve your family's history by going to legacybox
dot com. Use my name Clay, and right now they
have a nine dollars per VHS tape deal, just nine dollars.
It won't last for long. We're only six weeks I
believe from today is Christmas. And they get so popular
(34:01):
around Christmas time because it is the ultimate holiday gift.
Go to legacybox dot com slash Clay for early access
to the best deal of the year, that nine dollars
VHS tape. That's the legacybox dot com slash Clay one
more time Legacy box dot Com slash Clay.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Patriots radio hosts a couple of.
Speaker 6 (34:23):
Regular guys, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on
the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Welcome back in everybody, UH celebrating Veterans Day. Here on
Clay and Buck, we've got Metal Vanna recipient to Coda
Meyer joining us, and also got our friend Dave Brutherford,
former Navy seal, talking to us about just how we're
feeling these days with the why we're treating our veterans,
respecting our veterans all that, and we'll talk to them
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Uh, take some of your calls here.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Tom in North Carolina wants a chavelist.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
What's going on?
Speaker 13 (35:01):
Hey, Yeah, I was listening to Clay talk about the
Battle of the Bulge and I've got a story about patents.
I believe it was the winter of sixty nine. I
was in high school and the Colored school in our
county had integrated just a freshman class. Anyway, our teacher
(35:23):
came from the Colored school, was about five foot seven, Uh,
soft spoken.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
I heard him.
Speaker 13 (35:33):
Raise his voice one time. Kind of a meek gentleman,
but a nice teacher. One day, Uh, he wasn't in
school and they told us later that he had to
go visit with the crew a director in all of
the movie Patton because he was George w George Washington
(35:57):
Taylor who drove Pattent's during the Battle of the Bulge.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
That's pretty awesome. Wow, that is that movie Buck, Thank
you for the call, Tom. That movie is one of
the great war movies ever made.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
The package the opening speech is one of the most
iconic movie speeches of all time.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
If you haven't seen it, and I imagine most people
have seen it. But if you haven't, if you're younger,
I think they're younger people out there that wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Know about that movie. It's about as good as it gets.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
We got a bunch of cool calls coming in on
Veterans Day. If you're with us waiting online for those calls,
we'll go through. You can also give us talkbacks relating
to Veterans Day. Obviously a very special day here, and
we appreciate everybody who has served out in this audience,
as there are.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Many of you.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
When we come back, we will talk with a guy
who did a little bit of serving, David Rutherford, AD
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