January 2, 2026 • 34 mins
Some pearls of wisdom from Rush Limbaugh on why we're the greatest country in the world. Hint: it's not collectivism. How are we going to approach the midterms. iHeart Media White House correspondent and attorney Jon Decker joins the show to talk about working with President Trump and why it's in no one's best interests for there to be another government shutdown. Narco boats that go "boom" in Venezuela and untrustworthy Maduro is ready to talk. Trump: If Iran kills protesters, the U.S. will offer support. Covid-era healthcare subsidies, which weren't supposed to be forever, are expiring and Florida Senator Rick Scott. Birthright citizenship. Explaining tariffs because the media narrative is very misleading.
Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All we want is the greatest company we can have.
But we know how we got here, we know how
we are going to stay here and how we're going
to grow.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And it isn't running around talking about collectivism and having
the public at.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Veto rights over Ceo Pay. I'll tell you what made
the country great. It's the people who make this country work.
I don't kind of a rich middle class third or
fourth quintyle.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's the people that make this country great, not government,
and not government policies and not government regulations.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
It is the freedom that we all acknowledge we have.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
That allows us to pursue whatever our dreams and ambitions
are as unfettered.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
As any people in the history of civilization have ever been. Amen.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Amen, timeless wisdom from the late great Maha Rushi that
happened to be from May thirty, first of two thousand
and seven and producer Alley. She was going through suffering
through in New York City the Kamei Mamdani speech after
being sworn in. She said, you know what reminded me
(01:06):
of Rush saying that it's true, it is the people
that make this country great. The reason why the eighties
were great because you were allowed to keep more of
what you earned. You were allowed to be successful. The
reason why things ended up being really great during Trump's
first term, right before the nonsense of the pandemic, was
(01:29):
because we had great policy being put in place, again,
great policy being We had peace, we had lower taxes,
we had next to no inflation.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Things were great.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
The problem that we tend to get ourselves in is
that we take so much of this for granted, and
then we don't do the most basic things that we
can do to make a difference, to permanently make our
lives better.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Hey, there it is a.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Brian Mudd in for Clay and but the guys would
be back on Monday ready to rip and be looking
forward to them as much as you. And as we're
taking a look at this new year, I was thinking
about all these successes, so many of them that I
broke down in detail on New Year's Eve for you,
(02:20):
and I was thinking about what went into that and
what we are set up for going forward.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
But then you take a look at the political.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Analysis that's out there and everybody Republicans are said to
get waxed, and we had to call her last hours,
like Republicans are going to get waxed. It's going to
happen if you let it. It'll happen if you let it.
But it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. And
there's a really instructive point with something that he said, Well,
what have Republicans in Congress done exactly what Donald Trump
(02:54):
wanted them to do? It is so easy to take
things for granted. You know, if they ended up passing
let's just say, as a matter of exercise, you had
thirty different bills that the one big, beautiful bill did
not exist. So it's just thirty different bills to pass
all of the Trump agenda. What do you feel like
a lot more was accomplished because they passed thirty individual
(03:14):
pieces of legislation to get there. That's why it was
such a big deal. That's why there was so much
that went into that. It was the Trump Agenda. And so, yeah,
you can find things to quibble about. Yeah, there are
plenty of rhinos out there. And the other thing I'll
(03:35):
always remind people is, look, you're never going to agree
with anybody one hundred percent, even if you're the politician.
Something I've always said I today when will probably not
be the exact same person I am in about five years.
I five years so now would probably not agree with
me today on everything. It's all part of being a learning, thinking,
(03:59):
growing person, and life's irony. The more you know, the
more you realize how little you actually know, and you
go out there and you learn more.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
And so.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
This is what the left has always had over over
us on the righty. It's that they are not worried
about altruism. It's the means justifying the end. It's the
rules for radicals approach, you know, it's the weather underground,
it's the airs. It's the Obama that's learning under them
and playing the long game, getting all of his people
(04:33):
in place, then getting his puppet Biden in place, and
getting Team autopen, and then getting the socialist Obama agenda
in place over the prior four years. That's the kind
of game that the left always plays. Republicans go, yeah,
but yeah, but Pam Bondi and Epstein or something okay,
(04:54):
And so now you're going to let Marxism take control
of the country going forward. Not a good idea, not bright.
So what I am doing going through so many of
these successes from year one, in many cases that have
barely been felt and won't be felt until this year,
(05:15):
in some cases won't fully be felt until next year,
just like was the case during Trump's first term, as
a means of conditioning not to make the same mistakes
that we did in twenty eighteen, not to let Democrats
end up waxing Republicans in the midterms and having Trump's
final two years been with impeachments and just trying to
destroy this country. Doesn't need to be that way. We
(05:37):
are set up for unprecedented success if we appreciate it, if.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
We do our part now.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
One of the things that was accomplished without one big
beautiful bill Act the tax cuts. Right, So just kind
of going through the high points and things that are
better and have yet to be felt for just about anybody,
you know.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
The average employee who earns.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Tips going to be saving about two thousand dollars annually
in federal taxes, kind of a big deal. The average
employee who works overtime at any point durny given year
going to be saving about fourteen hundred bucks and federal
income taxes. Ninety percent of Social Security recipients going to
have no federal income tax liability for Social Security. That'll
(06:25):
save them an average of about fifteen hundred bucks per year.
I mean, this is huge money, but again hasn't even
been felt by these people for the most part, because
next to nobody took a look at the new law
having been passed and made adjustments to their withholding. And
so that's why you're going to see the record refunds
once people file their taxes. It's all part of what
(06:48):
is going to be felt down the road, all part
of why we are set for unprecedented success. That much
more money in people's hands, all the peace that is
out there, and talked about the negotiated peace that even
a lot of Trump supporters say, we're not familiar with.
You know, here are the eight different wars, and like
azure Band in Armenia, not a lot of people up
(07:10):
on the conflict there. But Trump brought peace and Cambodi
and Thailand, Israel and Iran, massive one, the Gosins in Israel,
in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indian, Pakistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Serbia, Kosovo,
and all of that ends up bringing a benefit along
(07:30):
with it, and it also brings credibility. As President Trump
is looking to put an end to the Russian Ukraine War,
lots of constructive meetings over the past week as he
was working through the holidays on all of that, as
he continued to apply pressure on Venezuela that is resulting
(07:51):
in Maduro saying, you know what, I think it's probably
time to go ahead and negotiate. We're ready to talk
to the United States. We would like to we'd like
to come to some kind of an agreement.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Trump continuing to put policies in place daily that will
continue to pay a benefit.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Down the road.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Crime crime was a huge benefit over the past year.
Homicide seventeen percent lower than a year ago. Today, robberies
twenty five percent lower, thefts twenty five percent lower, overall
violent crimes eleven percent lower, property crimes twelve percent lower.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Now, that kind of.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Stuff doesn't just happen, But do we necessarily appreciate it?
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Do we take it for granted?
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Are we going to put politicians back into place that
support the higher crime, that supported the buying administration, that
went along with all the nonsense, that are going to
run things like they are set to run New York City?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Is that the way to go?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Because we're mad that, you know, Republican didn't do what
I wanted to in Congress on this particular thing.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Is that better you want to have more crime.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
One of the other untold things that most people have
not realized benefit of, and it's all part of why,
for example, inflation is coming in lower than the experts,
they so called economic experts thought.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
The regulations.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Trump getting rid of over six hundred and forty regulations
over the past year means that life is about six
hundred dollars cheaper this year than it was this time
last year. Heading into this year, just due to not
having a bunch of regulations that you didn't even really
know existed, Life's going to be about six hundred dollars
cheaper per household this year.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Not bad.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
All part of how every single household is in a
better position today, I for or now what the reason
so many of these things. You know, by the time
you take a look at how many households can benefit
from the tax policies, how many households can benefit from
reduced consumer expense, that's everybody, by the way, how many
(09:54):
households can benefit from a lower rate of inflation, which
is everybody. One of the big reasons why these called
economic experts have been dead wrong about economic growth and
about inflation coming down over the past year has been
because of the immigration policy that wasn't fully accounted for
and how inflationary that was. But then also all of
(10:16):
the impacts that are associated with better energy policy, and
all the impacts that are associated with fewer regulations and
all these things. You know, less government equals more money
in your pocket every time, and we are going to
see the benefit of it now. And one of the
big things, the biggest of all actually, and it was
(10:38):
just a remarkable deal. The total round trip investment that
President Trump secured last year for the United States was
nine point six trillion dollars. And at some point it's
just numbers, you know, it's like cut trillion dollars.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
What is that? To put that in perspective.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
For you, total foreign investment into the United States over
the entire prior ten year period, if you take like
twenty fifteen to twenty twenty four, how much new investment
came in from outside the United States into it, it
was two point two trillion. Okay, So let me put
this in perspective. What Trump was able to secure in
(11:15):
eleven plus months was the equivalent of what in today's dollars,
we would have secured in about forty four years of policy. Previously,
he did in eleven months what we were pacing forty
four years to achieve. And again, so much of this
is just going to start to be realized. And so
(11:35):
the short list, the abbreviated list of incredible accomplishments is
I think taken for granted, but it does equal unprecedented
success in our lives going forward with a lot of
the impacts that are going to be felt. It's like
a time release thing, you know. It's like taking that
time release pill. Not going to feel it two minutes
after you take it. It's going to take some time.
(11:57):
But we already have the roadmap. We're not telling you
something that you haven't already lived. Because this is exactly
what happened during Trump's first term, only it's that on
steroids because he's been able to accomplish so much more.
And by the way, how to Congress, even with slim
majority's that was far more cooperative than it was during
Trump's first term as well, when Republicans were not ready
(12:18):
to govern because the boobs that were leading the party
at that point in Congress, Oh, it didn't think that
Trump was gonna win either, and so then they kind
of bumbled their way into it. That was not the
case this year. So we are set up for a
really good success level of success here. So the question
comes down to whether we are going to seize the
opportunity we have or are we going to have a
(12:40):
repeat of twenty eighteen. Are we going to get frustrated?
Are going to stay home when it's time to vote
because Trump's name is not on the ballot. That is
really what this gets down to. I'm Brian mudd In
for Claim, Buck.
Speaker 6 (12:56):
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton telling it like it is.
Just find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 7 (13:12):
That is that when working people stand together, when we
don't let them.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Divide us up, there is.
Speaker 7 (13:20):
Nothing we cannot accomplish.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
The working people.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
It's always been one of the things I've tried to
figure out the working people. I've tried to wonder and
figure out how it is that you become a non
working person, Like if you work more than eight hours
in a day or whatever the union guidelines are, does
that make you no longer a working person? Or what
level of income is it like you work your butt
(13:48):
off your entire life, and then you have some success
and you start making above average income. At what point
of that level of work does it no longer become working?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Is it a hundred?
Speaker 4 (14:00):
One thousand, one fifty? Is a two hundred? Just whatever
point that you go from being a working person to
somebody who's no longer part of the working class. Just
good times In New York. The burn as part of
his speech along with AOC and Mandani after he was
sworn in, talking about the opportunity we have run precedented
(14:24):
success this year, perhaps this out of New York City
or maybe California, the way that things are going, and
there's some other select blue places along the way. By
the way, we have had breaking news within the past
hour or so, You've had the Department of Justice, the
FBI that said they thwarted a potential New Year's Eve
terror attack just outside of Charlotte, in a smaller town
(14:48):
where you had an eighteen year old who was pledging
allegiance to ISIS and ended up conversing with somebody he
thought was a terrorist and ended up being a member
of the FBI, and they were able to take him
down before carrying out an attack at a grocery store,
(15:10):
as we've been told, So great work there by the
folks in law enforcement.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Good time.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Still that you have people that are associating with ISIS
and with Islamic tear, you know, that was all part
of what has to be cleaned up from Biden.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Remember that we didn't have.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Those issues by the time that Trump was done after
his first term. We went from ISIS and the caliphates
to Trump bombing the blank out of them in the
early months of his first term, and then that was
the last you heard about all that until well you
got Biden in there, and then suddenly the weakness around
the world allowed the proliferation of ISIS and tear once again.
(15:48):
And yeah, they ended up radicalizing stateside yet again. But
all part of what is being worked on being cleaned
up right now. Okay, So talking about everything that has
been accomplished in the first year and the success that
we are set up for heading into this year, and
whether we're going to allow.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
This to be a repeat of twenty eighteen.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
Or whether we are going to do what we need
to do to see to it that we follow through
and take advantage of the opportunity in front of us.
I've got the roadmap for that. We're going to talk
about it in just a bit. On the other side,
we are going to be joined by iHeartRadio's White House
correspondent John Decker, who has spent his fair share of
(16:33):
time with the President throughout even the holiday season, and
it's going to have the very latest out of Washington
and also what we're going to be looking at from
a legal perspective as well. He's an attorney and also
the only member of the Press Corps is an attorney,
but he can also argue before the Supreme Court, so
he has a lot of good perspective for us on
the legal side of things as well.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
So all that is coming up next. I'm Brian Mudd
in for Klaien, Buck.
Speaker 8 (17:00):
Sleeve, Travis and Buck Sexton on the front lines of truth.
Speaker 9 (17:12):
Social media is filled with videos of protests across Iran,
with chants that have moved past anger about the economy
and a collapsed currency, focused as well on the regime's
leadership and a demand for the return of the Shop
the King. The US based human rights activist news agency
has documented seven deaths so far.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Now.
Speaker 9 (17:31):
President Trump's writing on Truth Social that if Ron kills protesters,
the US will come to their rescue. That we are
locked and loaded and ready to go.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
Some of the big news today that we are locked
and loaded, the president locked and loaded straight through the
holiday season.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
The spot the White Wall Street Journal reports saying, you.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Know what, we saw him somewhere and yet is there's
a meeting and he closed his eyes.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
You know what that means? You know, the guy's old.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
I mean again, I put anybody at the WSJA against
Trump for a day and see how long you can hang.
The guy really doesn't sleep. It would probably be helpful
if he did a little bit more. But we have
a lot that has been going on straight through the
holiday season, including as you hear, the support in Iran
Venezuela looking now to come to the negotiating table, perhaps
(18:18):
after the President's pressure campaign offshore and the boats that
go boom with the Narco drug runners that have been
taken out in recent months. Joining us to talk about
this and much more as we take a look at
what's on the agenda for twenty twenty six. Iheartradios White
House correspondent and the host of the White House Briefing Room,
(18:40):
John Decker John, Happy New.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Year, Happy new year to YouTube, Brian, thanks for having
me on today. A lot to look forward to in
twenty twenty six. Happy new year to you, by the way, Brian.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Good to be with you, absolutely, And yeah, I know
from your perspective, you've covered every president since Clinton, and
you have frequently said that Trump keeps you on your
toes and certainly is as busy and willing to deal
with the press corps as any president you've ever dealt with.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Well, that's true, you know, and I think that that's
instructive for anybody that you know is questioning in any
way Donald Trump's ability to sustain himself for twenty four hours.
I think that I agree with you. He is a
person who has a tremendous amount of energy. I'm actually
(19:33):
always amazed. I travel with him, as you know, Brian,
travel with him both domestically and also when he does
the foreign trips, and I have to say I am
always impressed by his stamina that he's had, not only
in his first term, but in the second term as well.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Yeah, I mean, just doing events with the president, I'll
often wear down to get tired while he's still going.
So you take a look, let's take that piece with
Aron here for moment. This is a situation where the
president is articulating to the people of Iron look, stand
up and keep doing what you're doing, and if you
(20:10):
need support, we're here.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
What do you make of that?
Speaker 4 (20:12):
What are the possibilities here at this point as you
have the economy collapsing over there on the protest continuing to.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Grow, Well, anything's possible. You know.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
With President Trump, as you know, the first year of
his second term, he did take this size of military action.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Against Iran, and you know that shows it.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
I think to the leadership of Iran that the president
isn't afraid about repercussions, afraid of pulling the trigger, so
to speak.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
So I think that, you know.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
They should take his social media posts at face value.
You know, even though this is a president who not
only in his first term but also in his second term,
campaigned on the idea of ending.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Those forever wars.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
I don't think President Trump necessarily likes to get involved
militarily and evolving the military and foreign affairs, but you know,
when the president feels it's necessary.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
We see this in Venezuela.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
As you mentioned, Brian, He's not afraid of actually doing
what's necessary to do what he believes is in America's
national interest. And on that note, one of the things
that he's very strategically done through his first eleven plus
months in office, and he started right away in the
Middle East seemingly isolating each of the new access powers,
(21:31):
if you will, or the new alliance that way. You know,
I'll always say that China isn't just China. China is Russia.
China's North Korea with a little rocket man. And it's
also Iran, It's Venezuela, it's Nicaragua, it's Cuba, it's all
of these countries that are aligned with one another. President
Trump has seemingly done a really good job and isolating
(21:54):
them to a certain extent from each other, to the
extent they can One things always look at when you
have a situation with Iran and the mops that were dropped,
the nuclear program that was devastated.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
You didn't see a response from Russia. You didn't see
a response from China. You take a look at what
we've been doing with the Narco boats from Venezuela. You
haven't seen a response from those countries. And now here
we are again with Iran setting the stage the way
he has, including getting the support of other Middle Eastern
countries to the extent he has, does that not lend
(22:27):
more credibility to the statements than perhaps would otherwise be
there and Iran realizing, hey, maybe we are on our
own here.
Speaker 5 (22:39):
Well, I think that's right, you know. And presidents, no
matter who's in the oval office, need to realize that
their words are paid attention to by not only our allies,
but also our adversaries.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
And if you make a threat and you.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
Don't follow through with that threat, that threat, Brian, our
adversaries pay attention to that test us and they test presidents.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
And so the president very much aware of that. You know.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
That's the reason why he has followed through on many
of the threats that he's made during the course of,
as you point out, his first eleven plus months in
office in his second term.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
And you know, I think that, you.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
Know, gives notice to those adversaries around the world that
the US, when necessary, will defend its national interest. I think,
all that being said, twenty twenty six is a very
interesting year because the president very much wants to hold
on to control of both the House and the Senate,
And you know what I hear from maybe you hear
(23:39):
the same thing, Brian, from the president's strongest supporters, people
that back everything the president does. They really want the
president to focus this year, this midterm election year, on
domestic issues, and presidents like to do that and want
to do that, but sometimes things happen that forces presidents
(24:00):
to focus on foreign affairs.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
And we'll see what happens in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
You know so much, and you bring up such a
good point that it's been a big theme of my
show today is what had been accomplished in the first
year in many cases that's not necessarily going to be
felt on the domestic side until later on in this
year and maybe even in the third year. Kind of
similar to some of what we saw in his first
(24:25):
term in office, including tax cuts for example, that a
lot of people aren't going to realize the benefits of
until they file taxes because then change withholding and items
along those lines. Some of the you know, affordability matters
when it comes to fewer regulations, lower interest rates going forward,
things of that order. So perhaps if there is a
good job communicating and people are seeing the benefit of it, progressively.
(24:49):
Things could be a little bit different that way. But
I think you raise a really instructive point, you know,
talking about the domestic agenda. Of course, we not so
long ago went through the longest partial government shutdown, and
here street and we have another deadline coming up at
the end of this month. What are you hearing at
this point about what's going to happen? I think what
Congress has only like eight days in session together during
(25:13):
the course of January.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
Yeah, that's right, So they've kicked the can down the
road until the end of this month, keeping the government
funded through that period of time. But then they have
to fund the government, you know, going forward. The fiscal
year begins on October the first every year, and that
means you have to have a funded government all the
way through September the thirtieth. And right now, as things stand,
(25:36):
I don't see any indication that when Congress comes back
to begin the new year, they're ready to negotiate to
avoid a government shutdown. That being said, Brian, it's in
no one's interest, not in the interest of Republicans or Democrats,
to have another government shutdown, particularly.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
In a mid term election year.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
And maybe that different dynamic changes things for twenty twenty
six because the dynamic is so different politically compared with
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
One of the hot buttons that has been front center
and all this the ACA subsidies, the covid era ACA
subsidies that have now lapsed.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
They lapsed on.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
New Year's Day, and so that is something to where
there's a little dissension within Republican ranks as well. You
have Senator Rick Scott who's proposed a plan that you
are seeing a lot of Republicans that are kind of
rallying around any idea of the lay of the land
on that issue in particular.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Can you repeat that question one more time, Brian, I'm
sorry I miss what you said.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
Sure, So you have the covid era ACA subsidies that
have now expired that was front and center. There there
is some dissension within Republican ranks on that issue whether
it should be extended temporarily or go for something bigger,
which should be a theoretical permanent fex Senator Rick Scott
has offered up a proposal that you have some Republicans
(27:07):
rallying around what are you hearing on the healthcare side specifically, Well,
what I'm.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
Hearing politically is that Democrats intend to make this a
political issue for the midterms. The fact that you know,
there are twenty million plus Americans that, effective January the first,
are paying more for their healthcare insurance premiums because those
Obamacare subsidies went away, and you know, obviously it's unfortunate
(27:35):
for those individuals that you know now have this added cost.
But those additional subsidies, as you know, Brian, were not
supposed to last forever. They were applied during the pandemic.
The pandemic is no longer around, and they were due
to set to expire. They have expired. I don't see
(27:56):
anything indicating on the Republican side that the votes are
there to do something about extending those subsidies and putting
them back in place. We saw there were not the
votes in the Senate. That's where the problem was. In
the Senate in particular, you need.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
To get sixty votes procedurally.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
To move legislation forward on this front, and they don't
have anywhere near near sixty at this point. And I
don't see any Republicans changing their minds from the way
they voted on this issue in twenty twenty five. Even
though it is an election year in twenty twenty six, and.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
I want to make sure I get some legal perspective
from you as well. Brian Mudwo John Decker White House Correspondent.
He also is an attorney and also happens to be
able to argue cases before the United States Supreme Court.
You've been there for a lot of the big cases,
including the Tariffs case, the hearing, and so a couple
of the big ones. You have the Birthright Citizenship Executive Order,
(28:55):
You've got Tariffs. Your thoughts about the legal landscape going
to be a very interesting year. I'm going to be
in the Supreme Court in.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
I believe just a few weeks. I believe the date
is January the twenty first. That's an important case for
the administration that involves the President attempting to remove Lisa
Cook as a member of the Federal Reserve Board.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
And at the end of.
Speaker 5 (29:19):
Twenty twenty five, you had that case before the Supreme
Court involving Rebecca Slaughter, a member of the FTC who
was removed from her position on the FDC. So that
those two particular cases involved an expansion of presidential power,
and you mentioned that Tariff's case I would have thought
that by the end of twenty twenty five we would
(29:41):
have had the Supreme Court weighing in on that particular case.
I was in the Supreme Court for those oral arguments
as well. But I would imagine that decision by the
Supreme Court on that particular issue, which is so critical
to President Trump and his agenda, will be delivered by
the Supreme Court within the next few weeks, for sure.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
Okay, so a lot's going to happen here very quickly,
and your view, oh absolutely, I think that the tariff's
case a decision by the Supreme Court.
Speaker 5 (30:12):
I do expect relatively quickly. I do not expect the
Supreme Court's going to wait until the end of their term,
which is the end of June, to weigh in on that.
So much depends on the way the Supreme Court rules
on that issue as it relates to.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Donald Trump's agenda.
Speaker 5 (30:29):
His agenda for domestic policy is the agenda for foreign
policy as well. That's the case I asked the President
this question so often, Brian, that's the case that he
is paying the most attention to, and obviously he's hoping
that the super conservative majority sides.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
With him on this particular issue.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Check out his podcast, The White House Briefing Room with
John Decker. iHeartRadio's White House corresponded, John Decker, thank you
so much for joining us.
Speaker 5 (30:55):
Happy New Year, Happy New Year. Thanks so much, Brian,
talk to you real soon.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Bye bye. Pria mud In for Clay and Buck, you
ain't imagining it. The world has gone insane.
Speaker 6 (31:08):
Reclaim your sanity with Clay and Buck. Find them on
the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 10 (31:23):
Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro suggesting he's open to talks with
Washington following months of American military pressure. In an interview
on state Tvmduro said, quote wherever they want and whenever
they want, in a reference to a dialogue with the
US on drug trafficking, oil and immigration. To date, Maduro
has not confirmed a US land attack on a docking
(31:44):
facility in his country. US forces have also carried out
numerous strikes on suspected narco boats since September, killing more
than one hundred people.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
Oh, by the way, in one of the things that
the boats that go boom, taking those out we've just routed.
Did the drug flow the illicit drug trade into the
United States by approximately thirty percent.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Kind of a big deal. One of the many.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Things that at this point is underappreciated. You get rid
of about thirty percent of the ulicited drug trade, and
now you have Maduro who you can trust as far
as you throw the buddies. We're ready to talk, We're
ready to do something differently here. So we'll see where
that goes.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Again.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
President Trump's pressure campaign has been effective, same as it was,
and iron same as as it's been so many times.
The ultimate piece through strength that continues to be on display.
We were just talking with White House correspondent John Decker's
talking about tariffs. Roberts on the line and is interested
(32:46):
in the topic as well.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Happy New Year, Robert.
Speaker 7 (32:49):
Happy new Year to you too. I bet a few points,
even one for your guest. You need to read, and
this is challenged to you. Pull up the Supreme Court
ruling Minor versus half Er set. It will tell you
an excruciating detail what a natural born citizen is and
it has nothing to do with just happenstance to be
(33:11):
born in the United States has nothing to do with that.
As for tariffs, many people don't understand that tariffs are
not on the retail price of the product. I think
it's on less than the wholesale price, which is why
these companies are more than willing to absorb that cost
because already charging you two hundred percent what they paid for.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah, Robert, it's a great point.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
We've got to leave it there because we're coming up
on the top of the hour here.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
But no, you're exactly right.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
It ultimately is paid at the ports, and you have
had almost af the tarrif expense that has been absorbed.
You've had the actual impact in the markets as you've
taken a look at the rate of inflation come down
here every year, be far less than any of the
economists we're saying, and what over two hundred billion dollars
that's come in in the meantime.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
The roadmap for this year next brym in for
Speaker 8 (34:02):
Clay and Buck Cleay, Travis and Buck Sexton on the
front lines of truth.
All we want is the greatest company we can have.
But we know how we got here, we know how
we are going to stay here and how we're going
to grow.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And it isn't running around talking about collectivism and having
the public at.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Veto rights over Ceo Pay. I'll tell you what made
the country great. It's the people who make this country work.
I don't kind of a rich middle class third or
fourth quintyle.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's the people that make this country great, not government,
and not government policies and not government regulations.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
It is the freedom that we all acknowledge we have.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
That allows us to pursue whatever our dreams and ambitions
are as unfettered.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
As any people in the history of civilization have ever been. Amen.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Amen, timeless wisdom from the late great Maha Rushi that
happened to be from May thirty, first of two thousand
and seven and producer Alley. She was going through suffering
through in New York City the Kamei Mamdani speech after
being sworn in. She said, you know what reminded me
(01:06):
of Rush saying that it's true, it is the people
that make this country great. The reason why the eighties
were great because you were allowed to keep more of
what you earned. You were allowed to be successful. The
reason why things ended up being really great during Trump's
first term, right before the nonsense of the pandemic, was
(01:29):
because we had great policy being put in place, again,
great policy being We had peace, we had lower taxes,
we had next to no inflation.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Things were great.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
The problem that we tend to get ourselves in is
that we take so much of this for granted, and
then we don't do the most basic things that we
can do to make a difference, to permanently make our
lives better.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Hey, there it is a.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Brian Mudd in for Clay and but the guys would
be back on Monday ready to rip and be looking
forward to them as much as you. And as we're
taking a look at this new year, I was thinking
about all these successes, so many of them that I
broke down in detail on New Year's Eve for you,
(02:20):
and I was thinking about what went into that and
what we are set up for going forward.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
But then you take a look at the political.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Analysis that's out there and everybody Republicans are said to
get waxed, and we had to call her last hours,
like Republicans are going to get waxed. It's going to
happen if you let it. It'll happen if you let it.
But it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. And
there's a really instructive point with something that he said, Well,
what have Republicans in Congress done exactly what Donald Trump
(02:54):
wanted them to do? It is so easy to take
things for granted. You know, if they ended up passing
let's just say, as a matter of exercise, you had
thirty different bills that the one big, beautiful bill did
not exist. So it's just thirty different bills to pass
all of the Trump agenda. What do you feel like
a lot more was accomplished because they passed thirty individual
(03:14):
pieces of legislation to get there. That's why it was
such a big deal. That's why there was so much
that went into that. It was the Trump Agenda. And so, yeah,
you can find things to quibble about. Yeah, there are
plenty of rhinos out there. And the other thing I'll
(03:35):
always remind people is, look, you're never going to agree
with anybody one hundred percent, even if you're the politician.
Something I've always said I today when will probably not
be the exact same person I am in about five years.
I five years so now would probably not agree with
me today on everything. It's all part of being a learning, thinking,
(03:59):
growing person, and life's irony. The more you know, the
more you realize how little you actually know, and you
go out there and you learn more.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
And so.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
This is what the left has always had over over
us on the righty. It's that they are not worried
about altruism. It's the means justifying the end. It's the
rules for radicals approach, you know, it's the weather underground,
it's the airs. It's the Obama that's learning under them
and playing the long game, getting all of his people
(04:33):
in place, then getting his puppet Biden in place, and
getting Team autopen, and then getting the socialist Obama agenda
in place over the prior four years. That's the kind
of game that the left always plays. Republicans go, yeah,
but yeah, but Pam Bondi and Epstein or something okay,
(04:54):
And so now you're going to let Marxism take control
of the country going forward. Not a good idea, not bright.
So what I am doing going through so many of
these successes from year one, in many cases that have
barely been felt and won't be felt until this year,
(05:15):
in some cases won't fully be felt until next year,
just like was the case during Trump's first term, as
a means of conditioning not to make the same mistakes
that we did in twenty eighteen, not to let Democrats
end up waxing Republicans in the midterms and having Trump's
final two years been with impeachments and just trying to
destroy this country. Doesn't need to be that way. We
(05:37):
are set up for unprecedented success if we appreciate it, if.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
We do our part now.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
One of the things that was accomplished without one big
beautiful bill Act the tax cuts. Right, So just kind
of going through the high points and things that are
better and have yet to be felt for just about anybody,
you know.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
The average employee who earns.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Tips going to be saving about two thousand dollars annually
in federal taxes, kind of a big deal. The average
employee who works overtime at any point durny given year
going to be saving about fourteen hundred bucks and federal
income taxes. Ninety percent of Social Security recipients going to
have no federal income tax liability for Social Security. That'll
(06:25):
save them an average of about fifteen hundred bucks per year.
I mean, this is huge money, but again hasn't even
been felt by these people for the most part, because
next to nobody took a look at the new law
having been passed and made adjustments to their withholding. And
so that's why you're going to see the record refunds
once people file their taxes. It's all part of what
(06:48):
is going to be felt down the road, all part
of why we are set for unprecedented success. That much
more money in people's hands, all the peace that is
out there, and talked about the negotiated peace that even
a lot of Trump supporters say, we're not familiar with.
You know, here are the eight different wars, and like
azure Band in Armenia, not a lot of people up
(07:10):
on the conflict there. But Trump brought peace and Cambodi
and Thailand, Israel and Iran, massive one, the Gosins in Israel,
in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indian, Pakistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Serbia, Kosovo,
and all of that ends up bringing a benefit along
(07:30):
with it, and it also brings credibility. As President Trump
is looking to put an end to the Russian Ukraine War,
lots of constructive meetings over the past week as he
was working through the holidays on all of that, as
he continued to apply pressure on Venezuela that is resulting
(07:51):
in Maduro saying, you know what, I think it's probably
time to go ahead and negotiate. We're ready to talk
to the United States. We would like to we'd like
to come to some kind of an agreement.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Trump continuing to put policies in place daily that will
continue to pay a benefit.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Down the road.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Crime crime was a huge benefit over the past year.
Homicide seventeen percent lower than a year ago. Today, robberies
twenty five percent lower, thefts twenty five percent lower, overall
violent crimes eleven percent lower, property crimes twelve percent lower.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Now, that kind of.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Stuff doesn't just happen, But do we necessarily appreciate it?
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Do we take it for granted?
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Are we going to put politicians back into place that
support the higher crime, that supported the buying administration, that
went along with all the nonsense, that are going to
run things like they are set to run New York City?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Is that the way to go?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Because we're mad that, you know, Republican didn't do what
I wanted to in Congress on this particular thing.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Is that better you want to have more crime.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
One of the other untold things that most people have
not realized benefit of, and it's all part of why,
for example, inflation is coming in lower than the experts,
they so called economic experts thought.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
The regulations.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Trump getting rid of over six hundred and forty regulations
over the past year means that life is about six
hundred dollars cheaper this year than it was this time
last year. Heading into this year, just due to not
having a bunch of regulations that you didn't even really
know existed, Life's going to be about six hundred dollars
cheaper per household this year.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Not bad.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
All part of how every single household is in a
better position today, I for or now what the reason
so many of these things. You know, by the time
you take a look at how many households can benefit
from the tax policies, how many households can benefit from
reduced consumer expense, that's everybody, by the way, how many
(09:54):
households can benefit from a lower rate of inflation, which
is everybody. One of the big reasons why these called
economic experts have been dead wrong about economic growth and
about inflation coming down over the past year has been
because of the immigration policy that wasn't fully accounted for
and how inflationary that was. But then also all of
(10:16):
the impacts that are associated with better energy policy, and
all the impacts that are associated with fewer regulations and
all these things. You know, less government equals more money
in your pocket every time, and we are going to
see the benefit of it now. And one of the
big things, the biggest of all actually, and it was
(10:38):
just a remarkable deal. The total round trip investment that
President Trump secured last year for the United States was
nine point six trillion dollars. And at some point it's
just numbers, you know, it's like cut trillion dollars.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
What is that? To put that in perspective.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
For you, total foreign investment into the United States over
the entire prior ten year period, if you take like
twenty fifteen to twenty twenty four, how much new investment
came in from outside the United States into it, it
was two point two trillion. Okay, So let me put
this in perspective. What Trump was able to secure in
(11:15):
eleven plus months was the equivalent of what in today's dollars,
we would have secured in about forty four years of policy. Previously,
he did in eleven months what we were pacing forty
four years to achieve. And again, so much of this
is just going to start to be realized. And so
(11:35):
the short list, the abbreviated list of incredible accomplishments is
I think taken for granted, but it does equal unprecedented
success in our lives going forward with a lot of
the impacts that are going to be felt. It's like
a time release thing, you know. It's like taking that
time release pill. Not going to feel it two minutes
after you take it. It's going to take some time.
(11:57):
But we already have the roadmap. We're not telling you
something that you haven't already lived. Because this is exactly
what happened during Trump's first term, only it's that on
steroids because he's been able to accomplish so much more.
And by the way, how to Congress, even with slim
majority's that was far more cooperative than it was during
Trump's first term as well, when Republicans were not ready
(12:18):
to govern because the boobs that were leading the party
at that point in Congress, Oh, it didn't think that
Trump was gonna win either, and so then they kind
of bumbled their way into it. That was not the
case this year. So we are set up for a
really good success level of success here. So the question
comes down to whether we are going to seize the
opportunity we have or are we going to have a
(12:40):
repeat of twenty eighteen. Are we going to get frustrated?
Are going to stay home when it's time to vote
because Trump's name is not on the ballot. That is
really what this gets down to. I'm Brian mudd In
for Claim, Buck.
Speaker 6 (12:56):
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton telling it like it is.
Just find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 7 (13:12):
That is that when working people stand together, when we
don't let them.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Divide us up, there is.
Speaker 7 (13:20):
Nothing we cannot accomplish.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
The working people.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
It's always been one of the things I've tried to
figure out the working people. I've tried to wonder and
figure out how it is that you become a non
working person, Like if you work more than eight hours
in a day or whatever the union guidelines are, does
that make you no longer a working person? Or what
level of income is it like you work your butt
(13:48):
off your entire life, and then you have some success
and you start making above average income. At what point
of that level of work does it no longer become working?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Is it a hundred?
Speaker 4 (14:00):
One thousand, one fifty? Is a two hundred? Just whatever
point that you go from being a working person to
somebody who's no longer part of the working class. Just
good times In New York. The burn as part of
his speech along with AOC and Mandani after he was
sworn in, talking about the opportunity we have run precedented
(14:24):
success this year, perhaps this out of New York City
or maybe California, the way that things are going, and
there's some other select blue places along the way. By
the way, we have had breaking news within the past
hour or so, You've had the Department of Justice, the
FBI that said they thwarted a potential New Year's Eve
terror attack just outside of Charlotte, in a smaller town
(14:48):
where you had an eighteen year old who was pledging
allegiance to ISIS and ended up conversing with somebody he
thought was a terrorist and ended up being a member
of the FBI, and they were able to take him
down before carrying out an attack at a grocery store,
(15:10):
as we've been told, So great work there by the
folks in law enforcement.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Good time.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Still that you have people that are associating with ISIS
and with Islamic tear, you know, that was all part
of what has to be cleaned up from Biden.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Remember that we didn't have.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Those issues by the time that Trump was done after
his first term. We went from ISIS and the caliphates
to Trump bombing the blank out of them in the
early months of his first term, and then that was
the last you heard about all that until well you
got Biden in there, and then suddenly the weakness around
the world allowed the proliferation of ISIS and tear once again.
(15:48):
And yeah, they ended up radicalizing stateside yet again. But
all part of what is being worked on being cleaned
up right now. Okay, So talking about everything that has
been accomplished in the first year and the success that
we are set up for heading into this year, and
whether we're going to allow.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
This to be a repeat of twenty eighteen.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
Or whether we are going to do what we need
to do to see to it that we follow through
and take advantage of the opportunity in front of us.
I've got the roadmap for that. We're going to talk
about it in just a bit. On the other side,
we are going to be joined by iHeartRadio's White House
correspondent John Decker, who has spent his fair share of
(16:33):
time with the President throughout even the holiday season, and
it's going to have the very latest out of Washington
and also what we're going to be looking at from
a legal perspective as well. He's an attorney and also
the only member of the Press Corps is an attorney,
but he can also argue before the Supreme Court, so
he has a lot of good perspective for us on
the legal side of things as well.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
So all that is coming up next. I'm Brian Mudd
in for Klaien, Buck.
Speaker 8 (17:00):
Sleeve, Travis and Buck Sexton on the front lines of truth.
Speaker 9 (17:12):
Social media is filled with videos of protests across Iran,
with chants that have moved past anger about the economy
and a collapsed currency, focused as well on the regime's
leadership and a demand for the return of the Shop
the King. The US based human rights activist news agency
has documented seven deaths so far.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Now.
Speaker 9 (17:31):
President Trump's writing on Truth Social that if Ron kills protesters,
the US will come to their rescue. That we are
locked and loaded and ready to go.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
Some of the big news today that we are locked
and loaded, the president locked and loaded straight through the
holiday season.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
The spot the White Wall Street Journal reports saying, you.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Know what, we saw him somewhere and yet is there's
a meeting and he closed his eyes.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
You know what that means? You know, the guy's old.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
I mean again, I put anybody at the WSJA against
Trump for a day and see how long you can hang.
The guy really doesn't sleep. It would probably be helpful
if he did a little bit more. But we have
a lot that has been going on straight through the
holiday season, including as you hear, the support in Iran
Venezuela looking now to come to the negotiating table, perhaps
(18:18):
after the President's pressure campaign offshore and the boats that
go boom with the Narco drug runners that have been
taken out in recent months. Joining us to talk about
this and much more as we take a look at
what's on the agenda for twenty twenty six. Iheartradios White
House correspondent and the host of the White House Briefing Room,
(18:40):
John Decker John, Happy New.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Year, Happy new year to YouTube, Brian, thanks for having
me on today. A lot to look forward to in
twenty twenty six. Happy new year to you, by the way, Brian.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Good to be with you, absolutely, And yeah, I know
from your perspective, you've covered every president since Clinton, and
you have frequently said that Trump keeps you on your
toes and certainly is as busy and willing to deal
with the press corps as any president you've ever dealt with.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Well, that's true, you know, and I think that that's
instructive for anybody that you know is questioning in any
way Donald Trump's ability to sustain himself for twenty four hours.
I think that I agree with you. He is a
person who has a tremendous amount of energy. I'm actually
(19:33):
always amazed. I travel with him, as you know, Brian,
travel with him both domestically and also when he does
the foreign trips, and I have to say I am
always impressed by his stamina that he's had, not only
in his first term, but in the second term as well.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Yeah, I mean, just doing events with the president, I'll
often wear down to get tired while he's still going.
So you take a look, let's take that piece with
Aron here for moment. This is a situation where the
president is articulating to the people of Iron look, stand
up and keep doing what you're doing, and if you
(20:10):
need support, we're here.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
What do you make of that?
Speaker 4 (20:12):
What are the possibilities here at this point as you
have the economy collapsing over there on the protest continuing to.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Grow, Well, anything's possible. You know.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
With President Trump, as you know, the first year of
his second term, he did take this size of military action.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Against Iran, and you know that shows it.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
I think to the leadership of Iran that the president
isn't afraid about repercussions, afraid of pulling the trigger, so
to speak.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
So I think that, you know.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
They should take his social media posts at face value.
You know, even though this is a president who not
only in his first term but also in his second term,
campaigned on the idea of ending.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Those forever wars.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
I don't think President Trump necessarily likes to get involved
militarily and evolving the military and foreign affairs, but you know,
when the president feels it's necessary.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
We see this in Venezuela.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
As you mentioned, Brian, He's not afraid of actually doing
what's necessary to do what he believes is in America's
national interest. And on that note, one of the things
that he's very strategically done through his first eleven plus
months in office, and he started right away in the
Middle East seemingly isolating each of the new access powers,
(21:31):
if you will, or the new alliance that way. You know,
I'll always say that China isn't just China. China is Russia.
China's North Korea with a little rocket man. And it's
also Iran, It's Venezuela, it's Nicaragua, it's Cuba, it's all
of these countries that are aligned with one another. President
Trump has seemingly done a really good job and isolating
(21:54):
them to a certain extent from each other, to the
extent they can One things always look at when you
have a situation with Iran and the mops that were dropped,
the nuclear program that was devastated.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
You didn't see a response from Russia. You didn't see
a response from China. You take a look at what
we've been doing with the Narco boats from Venezuela. You
haven't seen a response from those countries. And now here
we are again with Iran setting the stage the way
he has, including getting the support of other Middle Eastern
countries to the extent he has, does that not lend
(22:27):
more credibility to the statements than perhaps would otherwise be
there and Iran realizing, hey, maybe we are on our
own here.
Speaker 5 (22:39):
Well, I think that's right, you know. And presidents, no
matter who's in the oval office, need to realize that
their words are paid attention to by not only our allies,
but also our adversaries.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
And if you make a threat and you.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
Don't follow through with that threat, that threat, Brian, our
adversaries pay attention to that test us and they test presidents.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
And so the president very much aware of that. You know.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
That's the reason why he has followed through on many
of the threats that he's made during the course of,
as you point out, his first eleven plus months in
office in his second term.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
And you know, I think that, you.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
Know, gives notice to those adversaries around the world that
the US, when necessary, will defend its national interest. I think,
all that being said, twenty twenty six is a very
interesting year because the president very much wants to hold
on to control of both the House and the Senate,
And you know what I hear from maybe you hear
(23:39):
the same thing, Brian, from the president's strongest supporters, people
that back everything the president does. They really want the
president to focus this year, this midterm election year, on
domestic issues, and presidents like to do that and want
to do that, but sometimes things happen that forces presidents
(24:00):
to focus on foreign affairs.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
And we'll see what happens in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
You know so much, and you bring up such a
good point that it's been a big theme of my
show today is what had been accomplished in the first
year in many cases that's not necessarily going to be
felt on the domestic side until later on in this
year and maybe even in the third year. Kind of
similar to some of what we saw in his first
(24:25):
term in office, including tax cuts for example, that a
lot of people aren't going to realize the benefits of
until they file taxes because then change withholding and items
along those lines. Some of the you know, affordability matters
when it comes to fewer regulations, lower interest rates going forward,
things of that order. So perhaps if there is a
good job communicating and people are seeing the benefit of it, progressively.
(24:49):
Things could be a little bit different that way. But
I think you raise a really instructive point, you know,
talking about the domestic agenda. Of course, we not so
long ago went through the longest partial government shutdown, and
here street and we have another deadline coming up at
the end of this month. What are you hearing at
this point about what's going to happen? I think what
Congress has only like eight days in session together during
(25:13):
the course of January.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
Yeah, that's right, So they've kicked the can down the
road until the end of this month, keeping the government
funded through that period of time. But then they have
to fund the government, you know, going forward. The fiscal
year begins on October the first every year, and that
means you have to have a funded government all the
way through September the thirtieth. And right now, as things stand,
(25:36):
I don't see any indication that when Congress comes back
to begin the new year, they're ready to negotiate to
avoid a government shutdown. That being said, Brian, it's in
no one's interest, not in the interest of Republicans or Democrats,
to have another government shutdown, particularly.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
In a mid term election year.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
And maybe that different dynamic changes things for twenty twenty
six because the dynamic is so different politically compared with
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
One of the hot buttons that has been front center
and all this the ACA subsidies, the covid era ACA
subsidies that have now lapsed.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
They lapsed on.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
New Year's Day, and so that is something to where
there's a little dissension within Republican ranks as well. You
have Senator Rick Scott who's proposed a plan that you
are seeing a lot of Republicans that are kind of
rallying around any idea of the lay of the land
on that issue in particular.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Can you repeat that question one more time, Brian, I'm
sorry I miss what you said.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
Sure, So you have the covid era ACA subsidies that
have now expired that was front and center. There there
is some dissension within Republican ranks on that issue whether
it should be extended temporarily or go for something bigger,
which should be a theoretical permanent fex Senator Rick Scott
has offered up a proposal that you have some Republicans
(27:07):
rallying around what are you hearing on the healthcare side specifically, Well,
what I'm.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
Hearing politically is that Democrats intend to make this a
political issue for the midterms. The fact that you know,
there are twenty million plus Americans that, effective January the first,
are paying more for their healthcare insurance premiums because those
Obamacare subsidies went away, and you know, obviously it's unfortunate
(27:35):
for those individuals that you know now have this added cost.
But those additional subsidies, as you know, Brian, were not
supposed to last forever. They were applied during the pandemic.
The pandemic is no longer around, and they were due
to set to expire. They have expired. I don't see
(27:56):
anything indicating on the Republican side that the votes are
there to do something about extending those subsidies and putting
them back in place. We saw there were not the
votes in the Senate. That's where the problem was. In
the Senate in particular, you need.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
To get sixty votes procedurally.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
To move legislation forward on this front, and they don't
have anywhere near near sixty at this point. And I
don't see any Republicans changing their minds from the way
they voted on this issue in twenty twenty five. Even
though it is an election year in twenty twenty six, and.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
I want to make sure I get some legal perspective
from you as well. Brian Mudwo John Decker White House Correspondent.
He also is an attorney and also happens to be
able to argue cases before the United States Supreme Court.
You've been there for a lot of the big cases,
including the Tariffs case, the hearing, and so a couple
of the big ones. You have the Birthright Citizenship Executive Order,
(28:55):
You've got Tariffs. Your thoughts about the legal landscape going
to be a very interesting year. I'm going to be
in the Supreme Court in.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
I believe just a few weeks. I believe the date
is January the twenty first. That's an important case for
the administration that involves the President attempting to remove Lisa
Cook as a member of the Federal Reserve Board.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
And at the end of.
Speaker 5 (29:19):
Twenty twenty five, you had that case before the Supreme
Court involving Rebecca Slaughter, a member of the FTC who
was removed from her position on the FDC. So that
those two particular cases involved an expansion of presidential power,
and you mentioned that Tariff's case I would have thought
that by the end of twenty twenty five we would
(29:41):
have had the Supreme Court weighing in on that particular case.
I was in the Supreme Court for those oral arguments
as well. But I would imagine that decision by the
Supreme Court on that particular issue, which is so critical
to President Trump and his agenda, will be delivered by
the Supreme Court within the next few weeks, for sure.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
Okay, so a lot's going to happen here very quickly,
and your view, oh absolutely, I think that the tariff's
case a decision by the Supreme Court.
Speaker 5 (30:12):
I do expect relatively quickly. I do not expect the
Supreme Court's going to wait until the end of their term,
which is the end of June, to weigh in on that.
So much depends on the way the Supreme Court rules
on that issue as it relates to.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Donald Trump's agenda.
Speaker 5 (30:29):
His agenda for domestic policy is the agenda for foreign
policy as well. That's the case I asked the President
this question so often, Brian, that's the case that he
is paying the most attention to, and obviously he's hoping
that the super conservative majority sides.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
With him on this particular issue.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Check out his podcast, The White House Briefing Room with
John Decker. iHeartRadio's White House corresponded, John Decker, thank you
so much for joining us.
Speaker 5 (30:55):
Happy New Year, Happy New Year. Thanks so much, Brian,
talk to you real soon.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Bye bye. Pria mud In for Clay and Buck, you
ain't imagining it. The world has gone insane.
Speaker 6 (31:08):
Reclaim your sanity with Clay and Buck. Find them on
the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 10 (31:23):
Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro suggesting he's open to talks with
Washington following months of American military pressure. In an interview
on state Tvmduro said, quote wherever they want and whenever
they want, in a reference to a dialogue with the
US on drug trafficking, oil and immigration. To date, Maduro
has not confirmed a US land attack on a docking
(31:44):
facility in his country. US forces have also carried out
numerous strikes on suspected narco boats since September, killing more
than one hundred people.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
Oh, by the way, in one of the things that
the boats that go boom, taking those out we've just routed.
Did the drug flow the illicit drug trade into the
United States by approximately thirty percent.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Kind of a big deal. One of the many.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Things that at this point is underappreciated. You get rid
of about thirty percent of the ulicited drug trade, and
now you have Maduro who you can trust as far
as you throw the buddies. We're ready to talk, We're
ready to do something differently here. So we'll see where
that goes.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Again.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
President Trump's pressure campaign has been effective, same as it was,
and iron same as as it's been so many times.
The ultimate piece through strength that continues to be on display.
We were just talking with White House correspondent John Decker's
talking about tariffs. Roberts on the line and is interested
(32:46):
in the topic as well.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Happy New Year, Robert.
Speaker 7 (32:49):
Happy new Year to you too. I bet a few points,
even one for your guest. You need to read, and
this is challenged to you. Pull up the Supreme Court
ruling Minor versus half Er set. It will tell you
an excruciating detail what a natural born citizen is and
it has nothing to do with just happenstance to be
(33:11):
born in the United States has nothing to do with that.
As for tariffs, many people don't understand that tariffs are
not on the retail price of the product. I think
it's on less than the wholesale price, which is why
these companies are more than willing to absorb that cost
because already charging you two hundred percent what they paid for.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah, Robert, it's a great point.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
We've got to leave it there because we're coming up
on the top of the hour here.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
But no, you're exactly right.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
It ultimately is paid at the ports, and you have
had almost af the tarrif expense that has been absorbed.
You've had the actual impact in the markets as you've
taken a look at the rate of inflation come down
here every year, be far less than any of the
economists we're saying, and what over two hundred billion dollars
that's come in in the meantime.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
The roadmap for this year next brym in for
Speaker 8 (34:02):
Clay and Buck Cleay, Travis and Buck Sexton on the
front lines of truth.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
Hosts And Creators
Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
Show Links
WebsiteNewsletterPopular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.