February 5, 2025 • 36 mins
Sean Parnell's road to the White House and his new role as Chief Pentagon spokesperson. Clay and Buck live from the Pentagon? The geniuses and the jocks team up. Elon is looking into Medicare and Medicare fraud. ESPN is still jumping sharks over the trans sports issue. If only Travis and Taylor would come out in support of Trump's EO on women's sports. VIP email about being in a foreign prison.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back in Clay Travis buck Sexton show rolling into
hour number two Wednesday edition. Hope all of you are
having a fantastic day wherever you may be across this
great country or around the world. We are joined now
by our friend guys stepping straight, Buck from the podcast
Universe of Clay and Buck in as the spokesperson for
(00:24):
the Pentagon. He is our friend Sean Parnell. Sean, this
is pretty bad ass. We appreciate you coming on, man.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Congrat Thank you so much both to you, Clay and Buck,
you know, for so much for the opportunity to have
a podcast on your network. And by the way, you know,
we should judge the quality of the relationships that we
have with people in our lives based upon whether or
not they're there for us when times are bad, and
(00:51):
I was going through a real rough time and you
all were there for me from the very beginning, never
wavered once. And you know, it was just an honor
to be to be a small part of what you
all have built. So thank you both and your entire
team for the opportunity.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Well, we're so proud of you, man, honestly, and you
know we were proud of you before as our friend
and as a warrior and a patriot for this country.
And to see you get elevated to an Assistant Secretary
of Defense role, and not only that, but also to
be the right hand communications man for Pete Hegseath Secretary
(01:28):
of Defense Hegseth, who is a friend of yours, a
friend of ours. I think this is fantastic for the country.
And we also want to take a moment to just
say that we are again so proud of you, and
it's so cool that, you know, we bring in the best.
I mean, I feel like Trump here, Sean. We you know,
we take the best people, we put them on the podcast.
(01:49):
We put the best people on the podcast network play
in bum and we're really really excited about it. I mean,
tell everybody, you know, tell everybody what what your thoughts
are right now about how you can help along with
Secretary heg Seth, just reorient the mission the understanding of
what needs to be done. I mean, what are your
plans now since you're going to be speaking for the
(02:11):
most important military force in the history of the planet.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, first of all, let me tell you just a
little quick personal story. You know, after nine to eleven,
I was really angry. I don't come from a long
line of military generals in my family or non commission
officers in my family. The towers went down on nine
to eleven, and I just remember getting I was so
afraid and I was so angry all at the same time,
and I said, you know, I got to do something
(02:36):
about this. And so two days after nine to eleven,
went down to the recruiter, said I wanted to join
the Infantry, not just that. Wanted to go to airborne
schools so the Army could teach me how to jump
out of perfectly get airplanes.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Wanted to go to ranger school.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Because it was the best leadership school that the Army
had to offer, and I wanted to be the best
leader that I could for my troops. And then a
few years later I found myself boots on the ground
in Afghanistan in two thousand.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
And six with the greatest group.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Of men, and back then it was just men in
the infantry, greatest group of men that you could possibly imagine,
who taught, coached and mentored me every step of the
way on what it means to be a servant. Leader
of the Outlaw Platoon was our name and you know,
I always understood academically that yes, we are an amazing
military force, the most the best military fighting force on
(03:23):
the face of the planet, but also a benevolent force
as well. It does an extraordinary amount of good all
across the world. But I didn't really fully grasp it
until I was fighting and bleeding with those men on
the battlefield and learning about the legacies and history of
these units. And so one of the things that I've
always regretted is that I didn't understand going in on
(03:43):
the front end of my service that we are truly
standing on the shoulders of giants from every warrior generation.
I mean, we have what we have here in this
country because of them, men and women who are willing
to put on the uniform and go to dark places
and our freedom. And now I have the amazing and
awesome and enormous responsibility of going in on the front
(04:06):
end recognizing all of that. So, to directly answer your question,
part of that is to be represent warriors past, but
everyone that wears the uniform today and everyone that will
wear the uniform in the future, they need to know
that the sole purpose and our sole focus and our
sole mission at the Pentagon and Department at Defense is
going to be readiness and lethality. And that's what kids
(04:30):
that are wondering whether or not they're going to join
the military, that's what they want.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Are they going to get the best toughest training in
the world.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Are they going to be able to prove themselves to
both themselves and their peers that they can handle the
best training in the world, take it and serve something
greater than themselves. And we're going to deliver on that mission.
But I mean, we've already exceeded recruiting goals in the
month of December just based on President Trump's election. But
by the end of this year, I guarantee you we
are not going to be in the grips of this
(04:58):
great recruiting crisis that we're in night, because you're gonna
see a drastic shift evolving the Force from you know,
a focus on social experimentation and insane stuff like that, diversity,
equity inclusion, which is which has been a disaster for
a force, to readiness, a mission focus, and lethality, which
is where it belongs.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Sean Buck and I every day just feel like this
is unbelievable. I know you're a sports guy, it's like Trump.
It's like Trump has twenty home runs in April. I
mean every day. If you're a golfer, it's like, you know,
sometimes you stand in the tea box and you hit
a great tea shot and you get to think, like, hey,
maybe I'm going to burn you this whole. It doesn't
happen to me a lot. But when I do golf
(05:38):
and I hit a good tea shot, like I feel
like every time every day we wake up, Trump is
just striping one right down the center of the free
freeway a fair way, And I don't remember ever feeling
like this before. How excited are you to be a
part of the administration? But do you feel that same way?
Like man like? Unlike so many pop politicians, he told
(06:00):
us exactly what he was going to do and then
and this is what it shouldn't feel crazy, But then
he got into office and he just did it. It's
so transactional delivery on a level Forrankley that I don't
ever remember a foreign politics. What's it feel like to
be joining up? And do you feel the same way?
Sixteen seventeen days in.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yes, Actually I.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Turned to my wife, Commander Melanie, as she's known on
the podcast, and I said, you know, President Trump, this
guy is the best president certainly of my lifetime, bar none.
He said exactly what he was gonna do on the campaign, trill.
And by the way, he never once bent to group
think on the side of the Republicans or Democrats or
(06:44):
the conventional wisdom of anything. Even during the darkest, most
difficult times, I never saw that man waiver one single
time in what he believed, whether it was regarding election integrity,
his vision on American foreign policy, his vision on the
southern border. From the moment he came down the escalator,
it's always been exactly the same. And despite withering resistance
(07:08):
on all sides, Democrat, Republicans, the media, I've never experienced
anything in my life. Having run for in two election
cycles in twenty twenty and then in twenty twenty two, which,
by the way, we're pretty crazy election cycles, both of
those pale in comparison to what twenty twenty four was like.
Two assassination attempts. The mugshot that feels like it was
ten years ago. Everyone discounted this guy. Everyone thought it
(07:33):
was not possible. At some point or another, people were like,
how is this guy going to handle this, but none
of that. He defied all of the odds, and now
he's in office and he's accomplished more in eighteen days
than Biden did in four years. And I think the
vast majority of Americans, including Democrats, by the way, which
they are totally weak and leaderless, right now, I think
(07:55):
they're finally seeing holy smokes, we America did not have
a president for four years. We basically had a bunch
of twenty something thirty something staffers behind the curtain, you know,
putting executive orders in front of a president who wasn't
there cognitively. And by the way, the cats out of
the bag with that. Everybody knows it. This is what
(08:15):
it's like to have an American president, you know, overcome
all odds seriously and do the things that he promised
on behalf of the American people. And by the way,
I bet you the Democrats and the media are wishing
that he won, that they didn't stand in the way
of him winning in twenty twenty because this president.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Now, I tweeted that earlier today, Sean, you know this,
everybody listening. I think he's going to do more in
six months than he would have in four years if
he had been president twenty points.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
It's like the Democrats decided that Trump had to have
his Rocky in Siberia training montage for four years under Biden,
and you know he was ready for the big fight
when it came up. And we're seeing that right now.
Speaking of Sean Parnell soon to be installed as the
Pentagon spokesman, and so those of you who have been
(09:04):
listening to Sean on the podcast gonna put a little
little hold on that while he goes and serves his
country at a senior level at the Pentagon, and we're
very very happy for him, very proud of him for
doing so. John, just give me a sense most important
things that could be fixed with the military. You know,
you've got Secretary of heg sat who we all have
very high opinion of, have known you and I have
known Pete for fifteen years now, are going on fifteen years,
(09:27):
and you're gonna be able to actually do things right.
It's not just going to be the kind of business
as usual approach to what our war fighters need. What
are some of the top of the agenda items. Now
that you're going to a level of the Pentagon where
you know you're gonna be responsible for communicating it. Pete's
going to be responsible for fixing it.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Yeah, I'll tell you.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I think Agenda Item one, you know, because ultimately I
work for Secretary heg Sat, the President of the United
States and the American people is bring a level of
radical transparency to the Department of Defense and talking about
disclosing classified material and public setting. No, I don't mean that,
but the American people have lost an enormous amount of
faith in our institutions, especially once fnerated institutions like the
(10:10):
Department of Defense. Part of my job is going to
be to communicate honestly, in transparency and transparently with the
American people, the American media, and Congress to earn back
that trust. The second part of it is DEI has
got to go. Anyone that you hear says, oh, diversities
are strength, Well, yeah, diversity is a strength. It's nice
having different perspectives around the table. But what makes the
(10:32):
American military the most lethal fighting force in the face
of the planet is at one point during basic training,
we all put aside our differences and say, you know,
no hyphenated Americans here, We're all just Americans fighting behind
the same mission that is ultimately the differentiating factor on
the battlefield.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
That makes us so lethal.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
We've got to evolve our army from you know, insulated
brigade combat teams that were largely focused on you know,
asymmetric threat of you know, Islamic extreme Islamic dreamism and
global terror, which by the way, still exists. Still have
to be able to combat that, but we've got to
evolve our force to be able to face more conventional
threats like Russia and China. We've got to rapidly adapt
(11:11):
to accommodate for the threat of AI integrated drones things
like that. We got to start shipbuilding in our navy.
You know, there's so many things that have to be
done and have to be done quickly to get our
military back on course to We don't want to fight
wars okay at all. But the best way to not
fight wars is to deter them, right And so Teddy
(11:34):
Roosevelt said, you know, speaks softly and carry a big stick.
Under President Trump and speak loudly and carry a big stick.
Turns out that works pretty good as well. So we're
going to We're going to deter conflicts and deter global wars,
keep America's sons and daughters out of the fight by
building the biggest, strongest military on the face of the
planet to keep the peace.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Sean, we are super excited for you. It's the Super Bowl,
as you well know, I want to get your Super
Bowl pick. But you are a monster Pittsburgh Steeler fan.
The biggest question for Steeler Nation is what do you
do at quarterback going forward. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
People think that Justin Fields is gonna be the guy. Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I don't think that's gonna be the case. The Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Steelers have a real problem. I think they really
have an ownership problem. You know, I I really believe that.
I'm sure Mike Tomlin is a great guy, but I
think the organization just needs overhaul.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
We don't win in the playoffs anymore. That's a real problem.
Just looking at the team as a whole and saying like, well, hey,
we're above average on all of these stats. I'm sorry.
In the city of Pittsburgh, that's not good enough. We're
about winning championships in that in this city, and so
I think the organization as a whole just needs a
complete mine mindset shift to be a championship caliber team. Again,
(12:50):
it's not just about winning or having winning season, which
by the way, is the most meaningless stat in the
history of NFL football. Who cares if you had a
winning season if you're not actually winning playoff games and championships.
But as far as the Super Bowl, I'm sad to say,
as a monster NFL football fan, I'm gonna watch it,
but the Chiefs and the Eagles. I'm from Pennsylvania, but
(13:11):
I will never be one of those political types that
wears half Steelers and half Eagles. I can't die that.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
I load the Eagles. I load the Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I don't want to see another second of Travis Kelcey
and Taylor Swift on the screen. I just kind of
load the idea of watching the Super Bowl this year.
My friend, well, Buck Bold, well do you yeah? It
is very bold.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
I do love It does drive me crazy when people
try a lot of politicians try to pretend that they
are sports fans, and then they're like, I love the
Steelers and I love the Eagle. That's impossible. If you're
from Pennsylvania, you're like one or the other, and everybody
who's a sports fan is like, yeah, you're full of it. Now,
you might root for another team like sometimes there's probably
(13:53):
some guys that are Cowboy fans, god forbid who live
in Pennsylvania. But at least you can't claim to root
for both of them. You can't be from Alabama. Katie Britt,
you know, is not gonna say she's a Bama girl.
He's not gonna say, oh, I also love Auburn. Meanwhile, Tubberville,
he's an Auburn guy. He's not like I love Alabama.
People respect. If you just own what you actually believe
in all facets, including sports.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
It has to be that way. And by the way,
my wife is the same way.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
She's a huge New England Patriots fan, actually a real
Tom Brady fan, but also a Baltimore Ravens fan. So
let me just tell you we have real interesting NFL
football Sundays in Fort Parnell. When you're cheering for the
Ravens and everyone in my family are big Steelers fans.
Sometimes there could be a little conflict there, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
We By the way, Buck and I are super interested.
I don't Buck may have been I've never been to
the Pentagon before. We're gonna come.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Have you ever had it either, which is crazy given
I worked at the CIA, but I went to all
the other big buildings, never got inside the Pentagon. I
only did the Intel agencies. We're gonna come visit you
when you were up working at some point in DC.
We look forward to it, and again congratulate and we
are super proud of you. Had to know the audiences
as well.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Well.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
You all are welcome anytime in the Pentagon press room
or if you want to broadcast from the Pentagon, we
will figure out a way to make that. Oh that
would actually be super cool. But thank you for the
opportunity both of you. Again, it was just an honor
to be a small part of your network, and thank
you for everything that you've done for me.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Well, keep killing it, Enjoy the super Bowl even if
you don't want to watch. And man, we know you're
going to do a great job. Services in good hands
with you. We look forward to seeing how you're going
to do. Man.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
Thanks guys.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Look Hillsdale College. I challenged my son last night on
the act. Did not end up doing it, Buck because
it turned out he had another test that he had
to study. Lucky for him, he didn't have time to
go head to head with me on the act. He
is taking it Saturday. He is printing off an act
as part of my Super Bowl prep. I'm taking the
(15:57):
sat on the Sorry the act on Sunday. Many of
you probably took tests back in the day. Guess what,
they're not a lot of fun and a lot of
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get to have to prepare for it. Wouldn't it be
great to be able to learn just for the joy
of learning. That's what Hillsdale is offering you right now.
They have so many amazing courses for free online. You
(16:21):
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Their roster of courses is amazing, taught to you by
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Check out the series availability online right now at clayanbuckfoor
(16:44):
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You don't know what you don't know right, but you
could on this with Clay and Buck podcast.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Welcome back into Clay En Buck all Right, ESPN has
stepped in it in a big way and Clay is
going to lay it out first year. In a second ESPN,
the Sports network apparently confused about what a man is,
which is quite strange. But as I was mentioning before,
Elon doing his super genius thing with his team of
(17:23):
super geniuses around him, going into the payment system of
the federal government now looking into Medicare and Medicare caid fraud.
There's this tweet from someone named Indian Bronson, I don't
know that's the name of the Twitter handle who says
what's happening in America is roughly equivalent to the yearbook
committee and theater kids getting rocked by a football team
(17:45):
and chess club. Alliance's great and Elon shared this, I
think that actually really nails it. It's like, it's like
the geniuses in the jocks are like, we don't want
the you know, student council presidents ruining our lives anymore.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
No doubt, it's faby lessly well said. We come back,
I'll dive into the craziness that ESPN has embraced. You're
not gonna believe what they just said on Twitter. In
the meantime, ceasefire between Israeli Defense forces MS has brought
an easy peace to Israelis. People are cautiously taking it
a day at a time. You just heard everything that
Trump said yesterday and his news conference, first state visit
(18:20):
from Prime Minister b Yett, and Yahoo and the attempt
to figure out how to bring greater peace to the
Middle East. We're happy on this show to have partnered
with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. They provide food, shelter,
safety to Jews in Israel and around the world, including
remaining Holocaust survivors. Your donation will help provide food, water, medicine,
(18:42):
other basic necessities to Jewish communities, and you can help
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Give a gift to show your support by visiting SUPPORTIFCJ
dot org. That's one word, SUPPORTIFCJ dot org. Welcome back
in Klay Travis buck Sexton show. All right, Caroline Levitt
(19:02):
at the podium right now doing her White House press briefing.
She is going to join us next hour, as you
just heard, by the way, from Sean Parnell, who will
be doing a lot of the press briefings for the Pentagon,
and Buck, that sounds really cool. Neither you nor I
have ever been inside the Pentagon, and now I guess
(19:22):
we're gonna have to take the radio show and do
it live from the Pentagon, which is pretty awesome. I think.
I think a lot of people out there will enjoy that. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I think there's a whole bunch of fun, exciting things
that the Clay and Buck road Show in DC is
going to be doing. Because our friends run the government,
which is nice. I think there's a good chance we'll
be at the Pentagon. I think there's a good chance
we'll be at the White House, kind of a cool
place to do the show. So from the White House,
Caroline Levitt will be joining us in the next hour. Buck,
(19:53):
I want to hit you with this because at three
o'clock the Eastern, so about an hour and a half
from now, it is National Women in Sports Day, celebration
of women and women's athletes. All of these events taking place,
and in the event that you have not heard, Trump
(20:13):
is going to be signing an executive order that officially
mandates men cannot compete in women's sports. Now, I think
this is a no brainer. It's not particularly political to me.
New York Times study sixty four percent of Democrats think
men shouldn't be able to compete in women's sports. I
give a lot of credit to Riley Gaines, who swim
(20:35):
against a man wearing a women's bathing suit in the
NCAA Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, and it was so absurd
and so ridiculous that many people of good conscience, of
all different persuasions said, yet, this is too much, and
Democrats overwhelmingly have decided. And again, I can't believe this
(20:58):
is national Democrats not rep presentative of their party at all,
because sixty four percent of Democrats don't agree with this,
like ninety four percent of Republicans. Seventy nine percent overall
of Americans say men shouldn't be able to compete in
women's sports. I can't believe this has ever become a
political issue, Buck, but I want to share with you
(21:19):
how this is already.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Being covered in the media. ESPN is the biggest sports
company probably in the world, and Buck, they put out
this tweet. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order
Wednesday designed to this is a direct quote. This is
(21:42):
ESPN prevent people who were biologically assigned male at birth
from participating in women or girls' sporting events. Let me repeat.
They didn't say men, which is what he's doing. They
describe these people as biologically assigned mail at birth. Also,
(22:07):
there's a company called Front Office Sports. I want you
guys to understand how crazy this is. This is what
your kids or grandkids, the kind of propaganda they're being
exposed to if they're just going to an ESPN sports account.
A company called Front Office Sports, which ostensibly covers sports business,
(22:31):
put out a tweet. Trump is set to sign an
executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes from competing in
women's sports and schools. This is the next sentence. The
executive order is part of a campaign Trump and Republicans
have mounted to strip the rights of transgender people in
(22:53):
multiple areas. Buck this is how sports is covering men
not being allowed to play women's sports. I mean, this
is pretty staggering. Still, I think it's important for people
to understand what's going on.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
I'm wondering about this, Clay, Okay, so you can you
can bring particular insight into this. Elon was not just
important for the skill set and everything that he particularly
brings to the MAGA movement. But also when he came
out and said I'm red pilled, it was, you know, now,
all of a sudden, a lot of other people and
(23:28):
not just the ones that are known, but other people
in Silicon Valley were able to breathe a lot more freely, like, well,
I mean, if the richest guy in the world and
the most impressive entrepreneur on the planet is going for Trump,
you know, maybe it's okay.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
You know, it just changed.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Who has that in sports right now? Who is the
domino either a person, you know, an entity, a channel
where it would be. Is there such a thing? I mean,
is it ESPN? Because to me, I look at the
what you just said, assigned mail at birth for e
N is crazy town. This is crazy town. This whole
(24:06):
verbiage of a signed mail at birth is something that
delusional people say.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, And I think what you hit on is important
here because yes, Elon gave cover to some people in
corporate America that otherwise might not have supported Trump, but
the election still roughly fifty to fifty. What is so
I think particularly pernicious about what ESPN is doing is
Buck this is an eighty twenty nationwide issue, but it's
(24:33):
ninety ten probably for sports fans. And so the vast
majority of sports fans are opposed to ESPN, which makes
what they're doing, I think, particularly toxic in nature.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
So now let's drill into this. So it sounds like
there's not a domino that could be pushed on other
than that.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
I don't think that. I mean, look, I think if
Patrick Mahomes came out tomorrow and Tom Brady came out
tomorrow and they all said it was ridiculous, I think
they would actually want at You.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Think a really big name, one of the biggest names
in sports, comes out and says, guys, we do need
to respect you know, women's athletics being for women that
that could have a I don't.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Think they would cover it. Because Buck, this is what's
so crazy, and you learned this, I think, but I
saw it, and it's what red pilled me. I didn't
get red pilled coming from you know, like economic policy.
I just got it from sports being tried to they
tried to take over sports. Let me hit you with this,
I mean ESPN. Last year, Buck named Leah Thomas one
(25:32):
of their top women's Athletes of the Year on television.
Who is this coming from? It's great? Is this?
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Is this a cram down sort of industry speak for
when like the bosses make something happen against the will
of you know, people that are supposed to be deciding.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Is this a cram down from Disney ownership?
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Is it is this like Blackrock and the financier side
that owns a lot of stock in some of these
like because it's so insane, because to your point, it's
not for the audience. And I don't care what Lebron
James would say publicly about this or what you know.
I'm just thinking of fame. He's got a daughter.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
There's no way Lebron James wants a dude competing against
his dog. But that's what I was gonna say.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
I do not believe, even if you read like one
of those hostage statements of like, I believe that, you know,
people should be able to choose their gender. I don't
believe he believes that. I don't believe any major athlete
actually on the you know, basketball, football side of things,
believes this.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
So where is it coming from? How does this delusion persist?
This is one of the things that I'm thinking about
for a new book this idea. I think what's happened
and I think it's so important because I think it's
instructive to what Trump is fighting in a larger universe.
I think you have guys in charge at ESPN. Disney
(26:53):
owns ESPN first of all, so Disney has just totally
crapped a bed for the last decade in terms of
doing what it used to do in the eighties and
nineties and early two thousands, which is just trying to
make movies that kids and parents can enjoy together, which
is a great goal, and like have an amusement park
where everybody can go and safely ride rides and like
celebrate anate American goodness. Like that's the Disney that I
(27:14):
grew up with that I liked. I think what's happened
is Bob Iger is a CEO, Buck Jimmy Petaro is
the president of ESPN. I think these are both white guys.
I think they are terrified of a left wing, powerful
cabal of talent, that's people who go on air that
are actually a minority of ESPN that have taken control
(27:35):
of the culture of the network, and they're afraid of
being called racist and sexist and misogynist if they put
pushback against it. So you think the gender identity Bolsheviks, yes,
are holding the rest of the sports.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Media hostage in essence to this crazy idea.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
I think I just have to wonder what breaks the grip.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I think the whole anti racism woke you mentioned yesterday
end racism in the end zone, right, that doesn't, but
they're still clinging to this gender thing, which is the
craziest of idea.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
And he goes to the very essence of competition.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Right.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
And then a good analogy here is you remember when
the guy in it turned out in the Little League
World Series was like fourteen years old. I think he
was from Brooklyn, and he was dominating. Because there's a
big difference. My kids just played. One of my sons
just played up at Cooperstown for a Little league tournament. There.
You have to share the actual birth certificate because, as
anybody who coaches little league knows, the first kid to
(28:32):
get a mustache has a big competitive advantage in boy sports.
And so the difference between a twelve and a fourteen
year old boy is often not you know, two years
of age chronological difference. It's fourteen year old boy starts
to have a ton of testosterone and start to be
a young man. A twelve year old is still a
boy oftentimes, So this fourteen year old boy who's turning
(28:55):
into a man who's got puberty pitches dominates. Everybody finds
out that he actually was fourteen. Everybody in sports is outraged.
It's a huge story. It's everywhere. It's why you have
to take a physical copy of your birth certificate when
your kid competes in these tournaments now, because age makes
such a huge impact. Everybody was out there, and if
(29:20):
there were a similar outrage there, there should be similar
outrage here. My wife just texted me Buck, she has
an answer to your question, and I think it's a
good one. She said, if Travis Kelcey and Taylor Swift
both just came out in conjunction and said men shouldn't
be a they won't do it. But if they both
just came out in conjunction and said this is ridiculous,
(29:41):
Trump's right men shouldn't compete in women's sports. We agree
with him, not on everything, but he's one hundred percent
right here. I think it would to a large extent
her argument. I think that's probably a good duo because
they hit different aspects. They won't say it. In fact,
Taylor Swift, I would want that.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
That's almost like Kamala endorsing Trump before the election level though, right,
I mean that's the great I mean they're deep on
the left. Like I just meant, who so, yeah, so
that would do it? That switch would that would happen
or the dominoes would fall. Then I was wondering the
more along lines of who could realistically be pressured to
finally you know what I'm saying, like you actually could
(30:17):
switch over.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Let me tell you this story too. It hasn't come
out yet, but I did Sage Steele's podcast and by
the way, tying it in with Caroline Levitt. Sage Steele
today is in the White House Press briefing asking questions
former ESPN anchor. When you remember when Jamel Hill they
had a huge controversy in the first Trump term. She
called Trump a white supremacist, and it was like, oh
my goodness, like, what in the world's going on here?
(30:41):
ESPN didn't suspend her. Sage Steele went and met with
John Skipper, who ran ESPN at the time, and they
were talking about it. And he asked Sage what what
she thought, and she said, you know, she gave her answer,
but she said the thing that really stood out to
her was John ski. Pipper said, well, here's the challenge.
(31:02):
She's right. Trump is a white supremacist. So the guy
running ESPN in the first Trump term agreed with Jamel
Hill that the president of the United States was a
white supremacist. So when that is happening, there is no discipline.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
So, I mean, I can see I agree that Travis Kelcey, yes, obviously,
but I don't think anyone's going to be able to
pressure them to Actually the head of ESPN being a
communist has had an enormous influence on the entire sports
I mean, because I again, I don't know, I intend.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
I mean, that was crazy when she said, he told
me she's right. Here's why I'm not going to suspend her.
Because Donald Trump is a white supremacist in my opinion.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
So what I see here is in a a CNN
doesn't have as much control over the news landscape and
hasn't for a long time, as ESPN clearly does over
the general sports landscape. But it sounds like ESPN has
been zuckered if you will, like Jeff Zucker, who came
in and because of his own personal hatreds and his
(32:07):
own personal beliefs, destroyed that network and I don't think
it's ever going to recover. ESPN has gone through a
Zucker like scenario with some of the leadership there totally.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
And I think the challenge is they really just like,
if you told me, how do you fix it? I
could fire ten people overnight, be like, hey, we're a
sports network, We're done with this fake bs. Fire ten people.
I think it would end overnight. Yeah, interesting, and it'd
be good for the brain. I cannot believe they're doing
the mail assigned at birthday, you know. I mean, that's
(32:41):
crazy account from their official ESPN account. If you're just
scrolling through, like hey, what's the latest news on the
super Bowl coming up? You're hearing that Trump is the
men assigned that Burt. I mean, it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
I think, you know, it must be at some level
they think a lot of the sport. First of all,
they should people should all be going to OutKick and
you know, just high five minute there.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
They should be on an OutKick.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Because ESPN obviously thinks all the sports bros out there
you're gonna take whatever slop, whatever slop commentary ESPN puts forward,
the sports brows is gonna go okay as long as
I can hear about my sports. You know got you got.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
A screaming era that's gonna be harder and harder to justify, Buck,
because it's the diehards, among the diehards who pay your
bills instead of everybody buying cable. You've got a solo now.
But I think, yeah, check out OutKick. We're the only
site Riley Gain's gonna be in the White House to
celebrate this. Thank you forty seven, Donald Trump for getting
this done. But OutKick was the only site that would say,
(33:37):
for the last eight nine years we were getting ripped
to shreds. Hey, men shouldn't be competing in women's sports.
I think this EEO is gonna have a significant impact,
and I think Trump for getting it done, Riley Gains
for fighting the battle Buck. I'm headed to the super Bowl.
I can't wait. I'll be live with you tomorrow from
New Orleans. But you're holding up shop. Keep us out
of trouble, and I'll see tomorrow. We'll do see in
(33:58):
a bit.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
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Speaker 2 (34:56):
News and politics, but also a little comic relief Travis
at buck Sexton.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Welcome back into Play and Play. Just a step away
on his way to Super Bowl. And I am going
to be taking the third hour today and we're gonna
have Caroline Levitt joining us. She is just putting on
a clinic of a press conference for the assembled fake
news media that is there.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
They all look a bit lost, disheveled. Well, they always
look a bit disheveled.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
But lost and sad these days because of Trump's momentous
win and the team he has around him and the
wins that they are racking up. We will talk to
the White House Press Secretary about that in just a
little bit in the middle of the next hour, so
you definitely want to stick around with us for that.
(35:51):
And Herery, this was a really interesting VIP email. I
just want to throw this out there. Hey guys, thanks
for all you do. I have been in nicke and
I have been in a Nicaragua in prison back in
ninety five. I wasn't incarcerated. I was a missionary, local pastor,
was an American citizen and former Sandinista. In all my
(36:12):
jail Ministry in USA, we brought literature. In Nicaragua, we
brought food because that was the biggest need. And according
to local pastor, if you were sentenced to five years
in prison, you could be out in weeks or never.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Totally arbitrary.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Wow, Yeah, don't want to go to prison in Nicaragua. Well,
I guess you could get lucky, but you could also
get really unlucky. We'll talk more about Elon Doge cutting
the government down, the FBI raids on J six people,
a lot of video going around about that now, and
White House Press Secretary at Caroline Levitt. We have a
stacked third hour stay with us here on Play and
(36:50):
Buck
Welcome back in Clay Travis buck Sexton show rolling into
hour number two Wednesday edition. Hope all of you are
having a fantastic day wherever you may be across this
great country or around the world. We are joined now
by our friend guys stepping straight, Buck from the podcast
Universe of Clay and Buck in as the spokesperson for
(00:24):
the Pentagon. He is our friend Sean Parnell. Sean, this
is pretty bad ass. We appreciate you coming on, man.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Congrat Thank you so much both to you, Clay and Buck,
you know, for so much for the opportunity to have
a podcast on your network. And by the way, you know,
we should judge the quality of the relationships that we
have with people in our lives based upon whether or
not they're there for us when times are bad, and
(00:51):
I was going through a real rough time and you
all were there for me from the very beginning, never
wavered once. And you know, it was just an honor
to be to be a small part of what you
all have built. So thank you both and your entire
team for the opportunity.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Well, we're so proud of you, man, honestly, and you
know we were proud of you before as our friend
and as a warrior and a patriot for this country.
And to see you get elevated to an Assistant Secretary
of Defense role, and not only that, but also to
be the right hand communications man for Pete Hegseath Secretary
(01:28):
of Defense Hegseth, who is a friend of yours, a
friend of ours. I think this is fantastic for the country.
And we also want to take a moment to just
say that we are again so proud of you, and
it's so cool that, you know, we bring in the best.
I mean, I feel like Trump here, Sean. We you know,
we take the best people, we put them on the podcast.
(01:49):
We put the best people on the podcast network play
in bum and we're really really excited about it. I mean,
tell everybody, you know, tell everybody what what your thoughts
are right now about how you can help along with
Secretary heg Seth, just reorient the mission the understanding of
what needs to be done. I mean, what are your
plans now since you're going to be speaking for the
(02:11):
most important military force in the history of the planet.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, first of all, let me tell you just a
little quick personal story. You know, after nine to eleven,
I was really angry. I don't come from a long
line of military generals in my family or non commission
officers in my family. The towers went down on nine
to eleven, and I just remember getting I was so
afraid and I was so angry all at the same time,
and I said, you know, I got to do something
(02:36):
about this. And so two days after nine to eleven,
went down to the recruiter, said I wanted to join
the Infantry, not just that. Wanted to go to airborne
schools so the Army could teach me how to jump
out of perfectly get airplanes.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Wanted to go to ranger school.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Because it was the best leadership school that the Army
had to offer, and I wanted to be the best
leader that I could for my troops. And then a
few years later I found myself boots on the ground
in Afghanistan in two thousand.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
And six with the greatest group.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Of men, and back then it was just men in
the infantry, greatest group of men that you could possibly imagine,
who taught, coached and mentored me every step of the
way on what it means to be a servant. Leader
of the Outlaw Platoon was our name and you know,
I always understood academically that yes, we are an amazing
military force, the most the best military fighting force on
(03:23):
the face of the planet, but also a benevolent force
as well. It does an extraordinary amount of good all
across the world. But I didn't really fully grasp it
until I was fighting and bleeding with those men on
the battlefield and learning about the legacies and history of
these units. And so one of the things that I've
always regretted is that I didn't understand going in on
(03:43):
the front end of my service that we are truly
standing on the shoulders of giants from every warrior generation.
I mean, we have what we have here in this
country because of them, men and women who are willing
to put on the uniform and go to dark places
and our freedom. And now I have the amazing and
awesome and enormous responsibility of going in on the front
(04:06):
end recognizing all of that. So, to directly answer your question,
part of that is to be represent warriors past, but
everyone that wears the uniform today and everyone that will
wear the uniform in the future, they need to know
that the sole purpose and our sole focus and our
sole mission at the Pentagon and Department at Defense is
going to be readiness and lethality. And that's what kids
(04:30):
that are wondering whether or not they're going to join
the military, that's what they want.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Are they going to get the best toughest training in
the world.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Are they going to be able to prove themselves to
both themselves and their peers that they can handle the
best training in the world, take it and serve something
greater than themselves. And we're going to deliver on that mission.
But I mean, we've already exceeded recruiting goals in the
month of December just based on President Trump's election. But
by the end of this year, I guarantee you we
are not going to be in the grips of this
(04:58):
great recruiting crisis that we're in night, because you're gonna
see a drastic shift evolving the Force from you know,
a focus on social experimentation and insane stuff like that, diversity,
equity inclusion, which is which has been a disaster for
a force, to readiness, a mission focus, and lethality, which
is where it belongs.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Sean Buck and I every day just feel like this
is unbelievable. I know you're a sports guy, it's like Trump.
It's like Trump has twenty home runs in April. I
mean every day. If you're a golfer, it's like, you know,
sometimes you stand in the tea box and you hit
a great tea shot and you get to think, like, hey,
maybe I'm going to burn you this whole. It doesn't
happen to me a lot. But when I do golf
(05:38):
and I hit a good tea shot, like I feel
like every time every day we wake up, Trump is
just striping one right down the center of the free
freeway a fair way, And I don't remember ever feeling
like this before. How excited are you to be a
part of the administration? But do you feel that same way?
Like man like? Unlike so many pop politicians, he told
(06:00):
us exactly what he was going to do and then
and this is what it shouldn't feel crazy, But then
he got into office and he just did it. It's
so transactional delivery on a level Forrankley that I don't
ever remember a foreign politics. What's it feel like to
be joining up? And do you feel the same way?
Sixteen seventeen days in.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yes, Actually I.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Turned to my wife, Commander Melanie, as she's known on
the podcast, and I said, you know, President Trump, this
guy is the best president certainly of my lifetime, bar none.
He said exactly what he was gonna do on the campaign, trill.
And by the way, he never once bent to group
think on the side of the Republicans or Democrats or
(06:44):
the conventional wisdom of anything. Even during the darkest, most
difficult times, I never saw that man waiver one single
time in what he believed, whether it was regarding election integrity,
his vision on American foreign policy, his vision on the
southern border. From the moment he came down the escalator,
it's always been exactly the same. And despite withering resistance
(07:08):
on all sides, Democrat, Republicans, the media, I've never experienced
anything in my life. Having run for in two election
cycles in twenty twenty and then in twenty twenty two, which,
by the way, we're pretty crazy election cycles, both of
those pale in comparison to what twenty twenty four was like.
Two assassination attempts. The mugshot that feels like it was
ten years ago. Everyone discounted this guy. Everyone thought it
(07:33):
was not possible. At some point or another, people were like,
how is this guy going to handle this, but none
of that. He defied all of the odds, and now
he's in office and he's accomplished more in eighteen days
than Biden did in four years. And I think the
vast majority of Americans, including Democrats, by the way, which
they are totally weak and leaderless, right now, I think
(07:55):
they're finally seeing holy smokes, we America did not have
a president for four years. We basically had a bunch
of twenty something thirty something staffers behind the curtain, you know,
putting executive orders in front of a president who wasn't
there cognitively. And by the way, the cats out of
the bag with that. Everybody knows it. This is what
(08:15):
it's like to have an American president, you know, overcome
all odds seriously and do the things that he promised
on behalf of the American people. And by the way,
I bet you the Democrats and the media are wishing
that he won, that they didn't stand in the way
of him winning in twenty twenty because this president.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Now, I tweeted that earlier today, Sean, you know this,
everybody listening. I think he's going to do more in
six months than he would have in four years if
he had been president twenty points.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
It's like the Democrats decided that Trump had to have
his Rocky in Siberia training montage for four years under Biden,
and you know he was ready for the big fight
when it came up. And we're seeing that right now.
Speaking of Sean Parnell soon to be installed as the
Pentagon spokesman, and so those of you who have been
(09:04):
listening to Sean on the podcast gonna put a little
little hold on that while he goes and serves his
country at a senior level at the Pentagon, and we're
very very happy for him, very proud of him for
doing so. John, just give me a sense most important
things that could be fixed with the military. You know,
you've got Secretary of heg sat who we all have
very high opinion of, have known you and I have
known Pete for fifteen years now, are going on fifteen years,
(09:27):
and you're gonna be able to actually do things right.
It's not just going to be the kind of business
as usual approach to what our war fighters need. What
are some of the top of the agenda items. Now
that you're going to a level of the Pentagon where
you know you're gonna be responsible for communicating it. Pete's
going to be responsible for fixing it.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Yeah, I'll tell you.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I think Agenda Item one, you know, because ultimately I
work for Secretary heg Sat, the President of the United
States and the American people is bring a level of
radical transparency to the Department of Defense and talking about
disclosing classified material and public setting. No, I don't mean that,
but the American people have lost an enormous amount of
faith in our institutions, especially once fnerated institutions like the
(10:10):
Department of Defense. Part of my job is going to
be to communicate honestly, in transparency and transparently with the
American people, the American media, and Congress to earn back
that trust. The second part of it is DEI has
got to go. Anyone that you hear says, oh, diversities
are strength, Well, yeah, diversity is a strength. It's nice
having different perspectives around the table. But what makes the
(10:32):
American military the most lethal fighting force in the face
of the planet is at one point during basic training,
we all put aside our differences and say, you know,
no hyphenated Americans here, We're all just Americans fighting behind
the same mission that is ultimately the differentiating factor on
the battlefield.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
That makes us so lethal.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
We've got to evolve our army from you know, insulated
brigade combat teams that were largely focused on you know,
asymmetric threat of you know, Islamic extreme Islamic dreamism and
global terror, which by the way, still exists. Still have
to be able to combat that, but we've got to
evolve our force to be able to face more conventional
threats like Russia and China. We've got to rapidly adapt
(11:11):
to accommodate for the threat of AI integrated drones things
like that. We got to start shipbuilding in our navy.
You know, there's so many things that have to be
done and have to be done quickly to get our
military back on course to We don't want to fight
wars okay at all. But the best way to not
fight wars is to deter them, right And so Teddy
(11:34):
Roosevelt said, you know, speaks softly and carry a big stick.
Under President Trump and speak loudly and carry a big stick.
Turns out that works pretty good as well. So we're
going to We're going to deter conflicts and deter global wars,
keep America's sons and daughters out of the fight by
building the biggest, strongest military on the face of the
planet to keep the peace.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Sean, we are super excited for you. It's the Super Bowl,
as you well know, I want to get your Super
Bowl pick. But you are a monster Pittsburgh Steeler fan.
The biggest question for Steeler Nation is what do you
do at quarterback going forward. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
People think that Justin Fields is gonna be the guy. Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I don't think that's gonna be the case. The Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Steelers have a real problem. I think they really
have an ownership problem. You know, I I really believe that.
I'm sure Mike Tomlin is a great guy, but I
think the organization just needs overhaul.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
We don't win in the playoffs anymore. That's a real problem.
Just looking at the team as a whole and saying like, well, hey,
we're above average on all of these stats. I'm sorry.
In the city of Pittsburgh, that's not good enough. We're
about winning championships in that in this city, and so
I think the organization as a whole just needs a
complete mine mindset shift to be a championship caliber team. Again,
(12:50):
it's not just about winning or having winning season, which
by the way, is the most meaningless stat in the
history of NFL football. Who cares if you had a
winning season if you're not actually winning playoff games and championships.
But as far as the Super Bowl, I'm sad to say,
as a monster NFL football fan, I'm gonna watch it,
but the Chiefs and the Eagles. I'm from Pennsylvania, but
(13:11):
I will never be one of those political types that
wears half Steelers and half Eagles. I can't die that.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
I load the Eagles. I load the Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I don't want to see another second of Travis Kelcey
and Taylor Swift on the screen. I just kind of
load the idea of watching the Super Bowl this year.
My friend, well, Buck Bold, well do you yeah? It
is very bold.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
I do love It does drive me crazy when people
try a lot of politicians try to pretend that they
are sports fans, and then they're like, I love the
Steelers and I love the Eagle. That's impossible. If you're
from Pennsylvania, you're like one or the other, and everybody
who's a sports fan is like, yeah, you're full of it. Now,
you might root for another team like sometimes there's probably
(13:53):
some guys that are Cowboy fans, god forbid who live
in Pennsylvania. But at least you can't claim to root
for both of them. You can't be from Alabama. Katie Britt,
you know, is not gonna say she's a Bama girl.
He's not gonna say, oh, I also love Auburn. Meanwhile, Tubberville,
he's an Auburn guy. He's not like I love Alabama.
People respect. If you just own what you actually believe
in all facets, including sports.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
It has to be that way. And by the way,
my wife is the same way.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
She's a huge New England Patriots fan, actually a real
Tom Brady fan, but also a Baltimore Ravens fan. So
let me just tell you we have real interesting NFL
football Sundays in Fort Parnell. When you're cheering for the
Ravens and everyone in my family are big Steelers fans.
Sometimes there could be a little conflict there, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
We By the way, Buck and I are super interested.
I don't Buck may have been I've never been to
the Pentagon before. We're gonna come.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Have you ever had it either, which is crazy given
I worked at the CIA, but I went to all
the other big buildings, never got inside the Pentagon. I
only did the Intel agencies. We're gonna come visit you
when you were up working at some point in DC.
We look forward to it, and again congratulate and we
are super proud of you. Had to know the audiences
as well.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Well.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
You all are welcome anytime in the Pentagon press room
or if you want to broadcast from the Pentagon, we
will figure out a way to make that. Oh that
would actually be super cool. But thank you for the
opportunity both of you. Again, it was just an honor
to be a small part of your network, and thank
you for everything that you've done for me.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Well, keep killing it, Enjoy the super Bowl even if
you don't want to watch. And man, we know you're
going to do a great job. Services in good hands
with you. We look forward to seeing how you're going
to do. Man.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
Thanks guys.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Look Hillsdale College. I challenged my son last night on
the act. Did not end up doing it, Buck because
it turned out he had another test that he had
to study. Lucky for him, he didn't have time to
go head to head with me on the act. He
is taking it Saturday. He is printing off an act
as part of my Super Bowl prep. I'm taking the
(15:57):
sat on the Sorry the act on Sunday. Many of
you probably took tests back in the day. Guess what,
they're not a lot of fun and a lot of
times it's stressful to not know what grade you're gonna
get to have to prepare for it. Wouldn't it be
great to be able to learn just for the joy
of learning. That's what Hillsdale is offering you right now.
They have so many amazing courses for free online. You
(16:21):
can learn about the Roman Empire, you can learn about
the Book of Genesis, you can learn about the Constitution.
Their roster of courses is amazing, taught to you by
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Check out the series availability online right now at clayanbuckfoor
(16:44):
Hillsdale dot com. Easy to get started. That's clayanbuck fo
r Hillsdale dot com. One more time clayanbuckfour Hillsdale dot com.
You don't know what you don't know right, but you
could on this with Clay and Buck podcast.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Welcome back into Clay En Buck all Right, ESPN has
stepped in it in a big way and Clay is
going to lay it out first year. In a second ESPN,
the Sports network apparently confused about what a man is,
which is quite strange. But as I was mentioning before,
Elon doing his super genius thing with his team of
(17:23):
super geniuses around him, going into the payment system of
the federal government now looking into Medicare and Medicare caid fraud.
There's this tweet from someone named Indian Bronson, I don't
know that's the name of the Twitter handle who says
what's happening in America is roughly equivalent to the yearbook
committee and theater kids getting rocked by a football team
(17:45):
and chess club. Alliance's great and Elon shared this, I
think that actually really nails it. It's like, it's like
the geniuses in the jocks are like, we don't want
the you know, student council presidents ruining our lives anymore.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
No doubt, it's faby lessly well said. We come back,
I'll dive into the craziness that ESPN has embraced. You're
not gonna believe what they just said on Twitter. In
the meantime, ceasefire between Israeli Defense forces MS has brought
an easy peace to Israelis. People are cautiously taking it
a day at a time. You just heard everything that
Trump said yesterday and his news conference, first state visit
(18:20):
from Prime Minister b Yett, and Yahoo and the attempt
to figure out how to bring greater peace to the
Middle East. We're happy on this show to have partnered
with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. They provide food, shelter,
safety to Jews in Israel and around the world, including
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(18:42):
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Give a gift to show your support by visiting SUPPORTIFCJ
dot org. That's one word, SUPPORTIFCJ dot org. Welcome back
in Klay Travis buck Sexton show. All right, Caroline Levitt
(19:02):
at the podium right now doing her White House press briefing.
She is going to join us next hour, as you
just heard, by the way, from Sean Parnell, who will
be doing a lot of the press briefings for the Pentagon,
and Buck, that sounds really cool. Neither you nor I
have ever been inside the Pentagon, and now I guess
(19:22):
we're gonna have to take the radio show and do
it live from the Pentagon, which is pretty awesome. I think.
I think a lot of people out there will enjoy that. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I think there's a whole bunch of fun, exciting things
that the Clay and Buck road Show in DC is
going to be doing. Because our friends run the government,
which is nice. I think there's a good chance we'll
be at the Pentagon. I think there's a good chance
we'll be at the White House, kind of a cool
place to do the show. So from the White House,
Caroline Levitt will be joining us in the next hour. Buck,
(19:53):
I want to hit you with this because at three
o'clock the Eastern, so about an hour and a half
from now, it is National Women in Sports Day, celebration
of women and women's athletes. All of these events taking place,
and in the event that you have not heard, Trump
(20:13):
is going to be signing an executive order that officially
mandates men cannot compete in women's sports. Now, I think
this is a no brainer. It's not particularly political to me.
New York Times study sixty four percent of Democrats think
men shouldn't be able to compete in women's sports. I
give a lot of credit to Riley Gaines, who swim
(20:35):
against a man wearing a women's bathing suit in the
NCAA Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, and it was so absurd
and so ridiculous that many people of good conscience, of
all different persuasions said, yet, this is too much, and
Democrats overwhelmingly have decided. And again, I can't believe this
(20:58):
is national Democrats not rep presentative of their party at all,
because sixty four percent of Democrats don't agree with this,
like ninety four percent of Republicans. Seventy nine percent overall
of Americans say men shouldn't be able to compete in
women's sports. I can't believe this has ever become a
political issue, Buck, but I want to share with you
(21:19):
how this is already.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Being covered in the media. ESPN is the biggest sports
company probably in the world, and Buck, they put out
this tweet. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order
Wednesday designed to this is a direct quote. This is
(21:42):
ESPN prevent people who were biologically assigned male at birth
from participating in women or girls' sporting events. Let me repeat.
They didn't say men, which is what he's doing. They
describe these people as biologically assigned mail at birth. Also,
(22:07):
there's a company called Front Office Sports. I want you
guys to understand how crazy this is. This is what
your kids or grandkids, the kind of propaganda they're being
exposed to if they're just going to an ESPN sports account.
A company called Front Office Sports, which ostensibly covers sports business,
(22:31):
put out a tweet. Trump is set to sign an
executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes from competing in
women's sports and schools. This is the next sentence. The
executive order is part of a campaign Trump and Republicans
have mounted to strip the rights of transgender people in
(22:53):
multiple areas. Buck this is how sports is covering men
not being allowed to play women's sports. I mean, this
is pretty staggering. Still, I think it's important for people
to understand what's going on.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
I'm wondering about this, Clay, Okay, so you can you
can bring particular insight into this. Elon was not just
important for the skill set and everything that he particularly
brings to the MAGA movement. But also when he came
out and said I'm red pilled, it was, you know, now,
all of a sudden, a lot of other people and
(23:28):
not just the ones that are known, but other people
in Silicon Valley were able to breathe a lot more freely, like, well,
I mean, if the richest guy in the world and
the most impressive entrepreneur on the planet is going for Trump,
you know, maybe it's okay.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
You know, it just changed.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Who has that in sports right now? Who is the
domino either a person, you know, an entity, a channel
where it would be. Is there such a thing? I mean,
is it ESPN? Because to me, I look at the
what you just said, assigned mail at birth for e
N is crazy town. This is crazy town. This whole
(24:06):
verbiage of a signed mail at birth is something that
delusional people say.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, And I think what you hit on is important
here because yes, Elon gave cover to some people in
corporate America that otherwise might not have supported Trump, but
the election still roughly fifty to fifty. What is so
I think particularly pernicious about what ESPN is doing is
Buck this is an eighty twenty nationwide issue, but it's
(24:33):
ninety ten probably for sports fans. And so the vast
majority of sports fans are opposed to ESPN, which makes
what they're doing, I think, particularly toxic in nature.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
So now let's drill into this. So it sounds like
there's not a domino that could be pushed on other
than that.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
I don't think that. I mean, look, I think if
Patrick Mahomes came out tomorrow and Tom Brady came out
tomorrow and they all said it was ridiculous, I think
they would actually want at You.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Think a really big name, one of the biggest names
in sports, comes out and says, guys, we do need
to respect you know, women's athletics being for women that
that could have a I don't.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Think they would cover it. Because Buck, this is what's
so crazy, and you learned this, I think, but I
saw it, and it's what red pilled me. I didn't
get red pilled coming from you know, like economic policy.
I just got it from sports being tried to they
tried to take over sports. Let me hit you with this,
I mean ESPN. Last year, Buck named Leah Thomas one
(25:32):
of their top women's Athletes of the Year on television.
Who is this coming from? It's great? Is this?
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Is this a cram down sort of industry speak for
when like the bosses make something happen against the will
of you know, people that are supposed to be deciding.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Is this a cram down from Disney ownership?
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Is it is this like Blackrock and the financier side
that owns a lot of stock in some of these
like because it's so insane, because to your point, it's
not for the audience. And I don't care what Lebron
James would say publicly about this or what you know.
I'm just thinking of fame. He's got a daughter.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
There's no way Lebron James wants a dude competing against
his dog. But that's what I was gonna say.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
I do not believe, even if you read like one
of those hostage statements of like, I believe that, you know,
people should be able to choose their gender. I don't
believe he believes that. I don't believe any major athlete
actually on the you know, basketball, football side of things,
believes this.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
So where is it coming from? How does this delusion persist?
This is one of the things that I'm thinking about
for a new book this idea. I think what's happened
and I think it's so important because I think it's
instructive to what Trump is fighting in a larger universe.
I think you have guys in charge at ESPN. Disney
(26:53):
owns ESPN first of all, so Disney has just totally
crapped a bed for the last decade in terms of
doing what it used to do in the eighties and
nineties and early two thousands, which is just trying to
make movies that kids and parents can enjoy together, which
is a great goal, and like have an amusement park
where everybody can go and safely ride rides and like
celebrate anate American goodness. Like that's the Disney that I
(27:14):
grew up with that I liked. I think what's happened
is Bob Iger is a CEO, Buck Jimmy Petaro is
the president of ESPN. I think these are both white guys.
I think they are terrified of a left wing, powerful
cabal of talent, that's people who go on air that
are actually a minority of ESPN that have taken control
(27:35):
of the culture of the network, and they're afraid of
being called racist and sexist and misogynist if they put
pushback against it. So you think the gender identity Bolsheviks, yes,
are holding the rest of the sports.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Media hostage in essence to this crazy idea.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
I think I just have to wonder what breaks the grip.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I think the whole anti racism woke you mentioned yesterday
end racism in the end zone, right, that doesn't, but
they're still clinging to this gender thing, which is the
craziest of idea.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
And he goes to the very essence of competition.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Right.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
And then a good analogy here is you remember when
the guy in it turned out in the Little League
World Series was like fourteen years old. I think he
was from Brooklyn, and he was dominating. Because there's a
big difference. My kids just played. One of my sons
just played up at Cooperstown for a Little league tournament. There.
You have to share the actual birth certificate because, as
anybody who coaches little league knows, the first kid to
(28:32):
get a mustache has a big competitive advantage in boy sports.
And so the difference between a twelve and a fourteen
year old boy is often not you know, two years
of age chronological difference. It's fourteen year old boy starts
to have a ton of testosterone and start to be
a young man. A twelve year old is still a
boy oftentimes, So this fourteen year old boy who's turning
(28:55):
into a man who's got puberty pitches dominates. Everybody finds
out that he actually was fourteen. Everybody in sports is outraged.
It's a huge story. It's everywhere. It's why you have
to take a physical copy of your birth certificate when
your kid competes in these tournaments now, because age makes
such a huge impact. Everybody was out there, and if
(29:20):
there were a similar outrage there, there should be similar
outrage here. My wife just texted me Buck, she has
an answer to your question, and I think it's a
good one. She said, if Travis Kelcey and Taylor Swift
both just came out in conjunction and said men shouldn't
be a they won't do it. But if they both
just came out in conjunction and said this is ridiculous,
(29:41):
Trump's right men shouldn't compete in women's sports. We agree
with him, not on everything, but he's one hundred percent
right here. I think it would to a large extent
her argument. I think that's probably a good duo because
they hit different aspects. They won't say it. In fact,
Taylor Swift, I would want that.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
That's almost like Kamala endorsing Trump before the election level though, right,
I mean that's the great I mean they're deep on
the left. Like I just meant, who so, yeah, so
that would do it? That switch would that would happen
or the dominoes would fall. Then I was wondering the
more along lines of who could realistically be pressured to
finally you know what I'm saying, like you actually could
(30:17):
switch over.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Let me tell you this story too. It hasn't come
out yet, but I did Sage Steele's podcast and by
the way, tying it in with Caroline Levitt. Sage Steele
today is in the White House Press briefing asking questions
former ESPN anchor. When you remember when Jamel Hill they
had a huge controversy in the first Trump term. She
called Trump a white supremacist, and it was like, oh
my goodness, like, what in the world's going on here?
(30:41):
ESPN didn't suspend her. Sage Steele went and met with
John Skipper, who ran ESPN at the time, and they
were talking about it. And he asked Sage what what
she thought, and she said, you know, she gave her answer,
but she said the thing that really stood out to
her was John ski. Pipper said, well, here's the challenge.
(31:02):
She's right. Trump is a white supremacist. So the guy
running ESPN in the first Trump term agreed with Jamel
Hill that the president of the United States was a
white supremacist. So when that is happening, there is no discipline.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
So, I mean, I can see I agree that Travis Kelcey, yes, obviously,
but I don't think anyone's going to be able to
pressure them to Actually the head of ESPN being a
communist has had an enormous influence on the entire sports
I mean, because I again, I don't know, I intend.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
I mean, that was crazy when she said, he told
me she's right. Here's why I'm not going to suspend her.
Because Donald Trump is a white supremacist in my opinion.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
So what I see here is in a a CNN
doesn't have as much control over the news landscape and
hasn't for a long time, as ESPN clearly does over
the general sports landscape. But it sounds like ESPN has
been zuckered if you will, like Jeff Zucker, who came
in and because of his own personal hatreds and his
(32:07):
own personal beliefs, destroyed that network and I don't think
it's ever going to recover. ESPN has gone through a
Zucker like scenario with some of the leadership there totally.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
And I think the challenge is they really just like,
if you told me, how do you fix it? I
could fire ten people overnight, be like, hey, we're a
sports network, We're done with this fake bs. Fire ten people.
I think it would end overnight. Yeah, interesting, and it'd
be good for the brain. I cannot believe they're doing
the mail assigned at birthday, you know. I mean, that's
(32:41):
crazy account from their official ESPN account. If you're just
scrolling through, like hey, what's the latest news on the
super Bowl coming up? You're hearing that Trump is the
men assigned that Burt. I mean, it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
I think, you know, it must be at some level
they think a lot of the sport. First of all,
they should people should all be going to OutKick and
you know, just high five minute there.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
They should be on an OutKick.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Because ESPN obviously thinks all the sports bros out there
you're gonna take whatever slop, whatever slop commentary ESPN puts forward,
the sports brows is gonna go okay as long as
I can hear about my sports. You know got you got.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
A screaming era that's gonna be harder and harder to justify, Buck,
because it's the diehards, among the diehards who pay your
bills instead of everybody buying cable. You've got a solo now.
But I think, yeah, check out OutKick. We're the only
site Riley Gain's gonna be in the White House to
celebrate this. Thank you forty seven, Donald Trump for getting
this done. But OutKick was the only site that would say,
(33:37):
for the last eight nine years we were getting ripped
to shreds. Hey, men shouldn't be competing in women's sports.
I think this EEO is gonna have a significant impact,
and I think Trump for getting it done, Riley Gains
for fighting the battle Buck. I'm headed to the super Bowl.
I can't wait. I'll be live with you tomorrow from
New Orleans. But you're holding up shop. Keep us out
of trouble, and I'll see tomorrow. We'll do see in
(33:58):
a bit.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
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Speaker 2 (34:56):
News and politics, but also a little comic relief Travis
at buck Sexton.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Welcome back into Play and Play. Just a step away
on his way to Super Bowl. And I am going
to be taking the third hour today and we're gonna
have Caroline Levitt joining us. She is just putting on
a clinic of a press conference for the assembled fake
news media that is there.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
They all look a bit lost, disheveled. Well, they always
look a bit disheveled.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
But lost and sad these days because of Trump's momentous
win and the team he has around him and the
wins that they are racking up. We will talk to
the White House Press Secretary about that in just a
little bit in the middle of the next hour, so
you definitely want to stick around with us for that.
(35:51):
And Herery, this was a really interesting VIP email. I
just want to throw this out there. Hey guys, thanks
for all you do. I have been in nicke and
I have been in a Nicaragua in prison back in
ninety five. I wasn't incarcerated. I was a missionary, local pastor,
was an American citizen and former Sandinista. In all my
(36:12):
jail Ministry in USA, we brought literature. In Nicaragua, we
brought food because that was the biggest need. And according
to local pastor, if you were sentenced to five years
in prison, you could be out in weeks or never.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Totally arbitrary.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Wow, Yeah, don't want to go to prison in Nicaragua. Well,
I guess you could get lucky, but you could also
get really unlucky. We'll talk more about Elon Doge cutting
the government down, the FBI raids on J six people,
a lot of video going around about that now, and
White House Press Secretary at Caroline Levitt. We have a
stacked third hour stay with us here on Play and
(36:50):
Buck
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