October 11, 2024 • 36 mins
Mark Starling, WWNC Morning Show Host and News Director, talks to C and B about how the station covered Hurricane Helene and provided vital information to the Asheville community. Liberal icon author Ta-Nehisi Coates says, if he was in Gaza, he might have taken part in the Oct. 7th attack. CBS news anchor Tony Dokoupil causes uproar at CBS after pressing him on his anti-Semitism. Bob Woodward book. Boris Johnson says Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if Trump were still president.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to today's edition of the Clay Travis and Buck
Sexton Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome back in our number two Clay Travis buck Sexton Show.
Appreciate all of you hanging out with us. We are
all over the place. Buck is in Los Angeles. I
am in Asheville, North Carolina. Flew in here this morning
on a helicopter. Really difficult to get into Ashville and
many of the surrounding communities if you are basically trying
(00:26):
to travel in any way. We're going to get more
information about how crazy it has been over the past
couple of weeks. We bring into the studio here with
me in Ashville, Mark Starling six to nine am Eastern
morning show host here on five.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Seventy am WWNC.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Also news director and Mark, I just want to start
with this, when did you become aware that this was
going to be a major disaster? And tell people how
many days in a row you've spent this air. This
station never went off air. You guys have continued to
communicate with everybody what should they know about your experience
(01:06):
in the early days of this hurricane disaster.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
So we kind of had an idea. On Wednesday, we
were talking to our meteorologist from the Weather Channel, and
he said, we've been working with him for ten years.
In that ten years, i've heard him use the word
catastrophic maybe once. He used it twice in the same segment,
and I knew right then, like this is not a
guy who's hyperbolic. We were dealing with something different. Thursday,
we came up with a game plan. My producer, Tank Spencer,
(01:31):
He and I were like, Okay, we're going to stay
at the station Thursday night, probably gonna be able to
go home Friday night. Storm is gonna go past. I
covered hurricanes for most of the fifteen years of the
start of my career. Right about Thursday evening we started
to realize when things were already flooding and the storm
hadn't gotten here, we knew we were in bad shape.
We had six inches of rain prior to this storm
(01:51):
even coming close to North Carolina, which meant everything was
already saturated. It wasn't gonna take much to blow trees over.
So we stayed Thursday night. We got up Friday morning
and did the morning show like we normally do, kind
of went through the day, and it was getting progressively
worse and worse. And obviously, you know, by Friday night
it was in full swing, so we had lost We
(02:13):
never lost power. I'm sorry we lost power. We never
went off the air. We lost internet on Saturday at
two thirty six pm, right on the nose. I remember
looking at the clock and I remember seeing our phones
go down, and so we had no communication with the
outside world. We had no way to get any sort
of new information. We had no way to use our phones,
we had no cell service. A buddy of mine happened
(02:33):
to be listening over in West Dashville and heard us say, listen, folks,
we're at a we're at a disadvantage here. We don't
have any information. We can't take your phone calls. We're
going to go back to regular programming and try to
gather some information. He actually ended up hiking up here.
He drove as close as he could, hiked in with
a Ham radio had already talked to the Ham radio
network around here and said, hey, look Mark, Mark is
(02:53):
going to key up the mic. He's going to try
to get all the information he can from you guys,
and then he's going to go back on the air
and he and ten you're going to relate to everybody
that's listening, and that's how we operated for about twelve
to fourteen hours. We heard a noise out in the
hallway and we were on a break and we stuck
our heads out there, and here are the most beautiful
site I've ever seen, was to iHeartRadio engineers with a
(03:14):
starlink strapped to their back coming down the hallway, and
I knew at that point we were okay.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So eulog starlink is the reason you were able to
get back on the internet.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Correct, Correct, So we got back on the internet Saturday night,
and we basically stayed round the clock taking phone calls,
listening to I mean, people were scared. No one ever
thought a hurricane would come to western North Carolina, and
Tank and I kind of sat and talked about it,
and we were like, look, it's going to be our
job to help these people get through this hurricane. The
(03:43):
noises you're gonna hear in the middle of the night
are going to scare the crap out of you. You're
not going to know what's going on because you can't
see anything, and when you wake up tomorrow morning, it
could be even a scarier site when you look outside.
And so we were really trying to just kind of
prep people for this and like really walk them through
step by step, and we kept saying, look, it's okay
to not be okay. This is a super scary time.
(04:05):
The phone calls started coming in and they started getting
scarier and scarier and scarier. We took a call from
a gentleman who was up in the second floor of
his house with his wife and their seven year old grandson.
He called and we were chatting with him, and this
was literally like just minutes before everything kind of went chaotic,
and he says, oh, you know, we're gonna be okay.
(04:25):
We're We've had flooding here before. They weren't okay. They
didn't make it, and it evolved you on. They called
us on the air and he talked to us and
he said, you know, I've been meeting to clean this
place out. I wanted to kind of downsize. He's like,
it looks like that's going to be taking care of
for me. And within hours they were gone. So we
realized then that we had to have a connection, and
(04:48):
so we decided that hey, listen, if you know someone
that's missing, call us here at the radio station.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Give us their name.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
And address and phone number, and we will like, we're
going to try to crowdsource wellness checks. So we started
doing that. We get a call from this guy's name
is Chris Henderson and he is an absolute angel, and
he said, listen, I'm out here doing wellness checks. What
if we team up together and you start taking the
names and the addresses, you send them to me and
I'll send my team out there. So we did, and
(05:14):
as of right now, I think we are at like
one hundred and forty eight families that have been reunited
with their loved ones. I think it was like four
hundred and twenty eight people or something like that. And
then we started the iHeartRadio Ashville Chainsaw Gang, and we've
got a group of chainsaw cutters and they literally just
go and take houses or trees off people's houses and
they don't charge them. This is all stuff that we
(05:36):
were able to crowdsource through the power of radio. And
I think that for us is really what the story
is here. When the TV couldn't do it, the newspaper
couldn't do it, there was nothing online. The only thing
left was AMFM radio. All seven stations stayed on the air, simulcasted.
When our team was able to get into the building,
the cavalry had arrived and we went we were walled
(05:56):
the wall. I actually got to sleep at home for
the first time last night.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
You were sleeping here at the station.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
I've been here. I was at the station for fourteen days,
never went home. My wife she wasn't going to evacuate,
and he say, I wasn't too happy about that. Got
a call on Friday morning and she said, you know what,
We've had to evacuate. We're at a gas station. I've
got all four dogs and our son Eli. We're just
going to have to ride it out here. There are
actually waves coming cresting over the top of the overpass
(06:25):
down on the Highway nine in Black Mountain, which is
where we live. And it was one of the hardest
hit areas. And I didn't hear from her for forty
eight hours. And when she did call, we were on
the air, and she had actually gone to a Black
Mountain town hall meeting that they had. She called in
and my producer Tank, he puts their caller's name up
(06:45):
on the screen and I looked over and I thought,
what is it. Wait, this can't be She's the only
Brandy I know that spells it with too ease at
the end, and from pretty much that point on, it
was it was waterworks. It was just I was just
so happy to know that they were okay. I have
not seen them since the Wednesday. Uh, they were evacuated
(07:07):
down the sistern loss house with their four dogs and
they're doing great. They you know, it just we made it.
We met on a lot better than a lot of
folks did. I mean, we took some damage to our home,
but nothing in comparison to what some of these folks
have lost.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
Mark, appreciate you being with us and giving us first
of all that this is just this incredible, uh story
about what you and the station have been through and
also been able to accomplish over the last two weeks.
What is the what are the imminent needs right now?
I mean what what is the focus of these rescue
(07:42):
and recovery now really, I guess more recovery efforts currently
going forward? Like what what has to happen, what needs
need to be met? Uh, what's on the ground doing
at all of that?
Speaker 3 (07:53):
So you know, as far as like supplies that have
that have come in, I mean, it has just been.
It has been an American out pouring. It's incredible to
see the amount of supplies that we have, and right
now we're really good on supplies. But this is not
a short term situation. Our water system was decimated by
about eighty five percent of it. I think there's eighteen
hundred miles of waterline in Ashville. Eighty five percent of
(08:17):
it's gone. So what we're really you know, what we're
really hoping for is that we can get the water
back online as fast as possible. They're measuring that time
off out of water in weeks and not days.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Power is back on.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
There's still about a thirty thousand people in Bunkham County,
which is where we are, that is that that are
still without power. It's getting better and better every day.
But you know, I think what we're worried about in
the long term is we've got cooler weather moving in
and we've got people who used to have homes that
don't have homes, and really, you know, I think the
big thing is is all of these groups that are
(08:51):
on the ground in here, whether they are doing you know,
whether they're doing recovery work or whether they're doing supply work.
We work with a group called Heartswidthands dot org. It's
a local charity. They're based out of Swannanoah, which was
one of the most devastated areas, and strangely, every single
thing around their warehouse was destroyed, but their warehouse wasn't touched.
(09:11):
They have two functions. They feed all of our first
responders hot meals every day, and then they also package
food boxes for pickup and delivery for folks who are
in need in the community. You know, usually hearts with hands,
they're the ones that are loading up the trailers and
are taken to Florida or somewhere else. I don't think
anybody ever thought it was gonna happen here. And you know,
this storm was so different because of the terrain. You know,
(09:34):
a storm hits Florida, you got miles of beachline for
the water to reced to. There's nowhere for the water
to recede to here, So it was literally like a
thirty five foot wall of water and debris that came
down the French Broad River and just decimated everything in
its path. I mean, there are towns that used to
be here that don't exist anymore. And it's you know,
(09:54):
as someone who covered hurricanes their entire career living in Florida,
I've never been through anything like this before. I mean,
the just the fury that the water has brought to
western North Carolina is just incredible.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I think this is important. I was just talking out
front with a state trooper who came by. We're talking
with Mark Starling, hosts six to nine am Eastern morning
shows on this incredible story here at five seventy am WWNC.
I forty many things. I asked out front. How long
is this gonna take?
Speaker 1 (10:29):
He said, this is gonna take years to rebuild.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
So for people out there who haven't done anything yet,
maybe they haven't recognized the severity of this. There's gonna
be a need for help here four months and months.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
To come, if not years. I mean, we're a tourism
based economy. There's only one thing to see here right now,
and that's destruction. Yeah, you know, hotels are not able
to rent hotel rooms because you can't rent a hotel
room without running water. So that is pretty much you.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Guys don't have running water still at the radio.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Still, that's right. Yeah, we've been without water since I
believe it was Friday. Is when we lost water. Yeah,
it is. It's an untenable situation for a lot of people.
And there are people that are leaving. You know, there
were certain places that right after the storm happened and
that they were saying, listen, if you can leave, leave,
help's not coming. And it's like, well, whoa wait a second, here,
(11:21):
these are our communities. We're not going anywhere. And you know,
for what we wanted to do here at the radio station,
at iHeart Asheville was we wanted to show the community that, like,
we can get through this. And we've been kind of
repeating this line. Community is the answer to this crisis,
and it is amazing. You know, people have I always
go back to this one phone call and a guy
(11:41):
came called in and he says, you know, I've helped
so many of my neighbors today and I didn't even
ask you. They voted for first And it's just kind
of that, like everything else outside of western North Carolina,
everything else doesn't matter right now. Like our job as
a as a station and as a group of stations
and as an airstaff is to kind of unite our
unity and bring us bring everyone together and get through
(12:03):
this together. I mean, it's going to be a heavy lift,
and what we have seen is the absolute best in
humanity in an absolute horrific, horrific time.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
We asked whether it was appropriate to even try to
come in here. You guys need so much help. The
story was, we want you to help get this story
because you're talking to all fifty states right now. You're
talking to people all over the world, really, but certainly
in all fifty states. What would you ask of them?
What can they do if they're listening right now and
(12:34):
they're hearing about how bad things are in western North Carolina?
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Honestly, I would I would recommend giving. Yeah, if you
can give, please give heartswithands dot org is again such
a wonderful organization. It's local. All that money stays local
as far as help goes. If you have a skill
and it's and you feel like it would be worthy.
We need help here.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
The clean up, the you know, for the most part,
has gone pretty well, but there is just so much
of it. You know, We've got our our chainsaw teams
from the radio station. They're running wide open pretty much
from six a m. Until seven or eight o'clock at night,
and uh, you know, The one thing I guess that
we don't need is people coming to Western North Carolina
per se to the to the heavy disaster zones and
(13:22):
kind of clogging things up. There are areas in western
North Carolina that are open for business.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Maggie Valley.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I got a call today from a business owner. He's like,
hey man, He's like, I run a knife shop, and
he's like, we're totally open for business here and and
we would really rather, you know, like direct people to
us if you if you can't, if they can't hang
out in Nashville, tell them to go come up to
Maggie Valley and see us, or go to Waynesville. And
you know, there's a there's some there's some good truth
to that because these other these other like areas, they
(13:48):
too are tourist economies.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
This is what happened in Hawaii, right where absolutely everybody
decided they didn't want to go to Hawaii, bucking the
whole thing. So one more time that website, and by
the way, what you did, thanks to you, you and
sacrifices that you made for your family. I can't even
imagine what you've gone through talking to so many people
in so many positions of peril. This is the best
of radio.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
It absolutely is, and I gotta I have to shout
out my team because the team here at iHeart Ashville
is truly the most incredible group of people. They're most
of our staff works on music stations. They're not familiar
with the news talk format. That didn't matter because it
wasn't such a so much of a formatic thing. It
was we just need to be able to show people
(14:31):
that we're here to and we care and we're gonna
help you one way or the other. If we can't
help you, we will find someone to help you. And
that's how it's worked out. And the community has answered
those calls and said, hey, you know what, I can
go over there and check on this guy. I you know,
I'm on my way to my next appointment. I'll stop
by and make sure that they're okay. It's the power
(14:51):
of radio, and it is the power of this iHeart
Radio Ashville team. They are just such an incredible group
of humans. You know, Tank Spencer and I were here
for by ourselves for the first portion of the storm
because our team couldn't get here. I don't know if
you saw coming, well, you didn't see it. Community because
you came it from the air, but coming up our
driveways line, it was lined with about a hundred trees.
(15:11):
Every tree came down, there was no way to get
in or out. It crushed the fence in the front.
Once those trees got out of the way, our team
was unstoppable. They got in and they just they just
got it done. And they have continued to You know,
this is our home, this is our community, and we
we we want to just see it built back. We
(15:32):
know it's going to take time, and we know it's
going to be heavy lifting, but this is where we
call home and Western North Carolina mountain folks are different.
I got news for you. Mountain folks are tough, and
that we're we will really, we will rebuild this community.
It may not look exactly like it did, uh it'll
be better. That's that's the way I feel. And I
feel like our community is more united today than we
(15:55):
ever have been in the past because of this storm.
And if that's the good that we can pull out
of this, I'll take it all day long.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Mark, Thank you so much, incredible work. Appreciate you telling
us about this and everyone who can go and donate
and help out, please.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Do you know.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
This past Monday, many of us took a moment to
reflect that it was the one year anniversary of the
Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, the worst massacre of the
Jewish people since the Holocaust, when the twelve hundred is
Raeli's lost their lives, dozens more injured, two hundred and
fifty hostage is taken. The conflict remains as intense as ever.
The IDF is working to rescue hostages and fight back
(16:34):
against Hesbela's daily barrage of missiles. Israel's allies need to
stand with her in this moment, and that is where
the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews comes in. IFCJ
has been on the front lines to help, and right now,
your gift of one hundred and fifty dollars helps the
Fellowship provide food and necessities to the families of reservists
(16:55):
who have been called up to help them in this
time of need. And your gift will be matched by
a generous donor doubling its impact. Call one hundred and
fifty dollars a call right now to make your one
hundred and fifty dollars gift eight eight eight four eight
eight IFCJ. That's eight eight eight four at eight IFCJ,
or go online to support IFCJ dot org. We are
(17:21):
going to be diving into a controversy over at CBS
shortly where they had where one of the anchors had
the temerity to ask an author writing a book that
takes very very critical view of Israel have the temerity
(17:42):
to ask him questions on CBS's TV channel. So they're
now having struggle sessions over there, public crying all of it.
We will get into this coming up here momentarily. It's
pretty amazing. Look, on average, violent crime takes place every
twenty six second in this country, and how you choose
(18:02):
to protect yourself and your family is an important issue.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
There are some very.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
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The website is Saber radio dot com. That's Saber radio
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Speaker 4 (18:23):
Look, if you have a home intruder, if you.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
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You want a large pepper cloud. When those rounds impact
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(18:45):
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Speaker 2 (19:01):
Tons of you just giving us so much feedback, I
want to think again. And if you didn't hear the
full thing, it'll be up on the podcast. We wanted
to share with you what the experience has been like
for people in Ashville and surrounding communities in western North Carolina,
eastern Tennessee. And Mark Starling, who was the host that
(19:24):
was on with us in the opening segment of this
hour from five to seventy AMWWNC.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Buck, You've talked about this a lot.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Radio uniquely connects with the audience. There are lots of
different medias, There are lots of different ways that people
make connections, writing, TV, a variety of different subjects, but
radio at its core really connects with people. And I
thought the stories that he was sharing in a time
of crisis here really connected with you in all fifty.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
States and my family in Ashville at the height of
the storm and its destruction, or you know, in the
morning after it they were listening on that station. Carrie
told me before Clay I even knew you were going
to Ashville, said, you've got to talk to these guys.
The iHeart team in Ashville has just been all hands
on deck, not just to get information out, but also
(20:15):
to coordinate response.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
And rescue efforts.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
It's an amazing thing.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
But yes, you can imagine for people who had their house,
you know, partially carved in by falling trees, surrounded by
lethal floodwaters on all sides, roads either washed away or
blocked by trees. To hear on on AM or FM radio,
we know you're out there, We're in your community. We're
(20:41):
coming for you. Hold tight. Help is on the way.
I think of how meaningful that is, and it was
the only way to get people that message, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
We want to continue to update you with everything going
on in the world of politics as well. I'm here
in Ashville. You heard, By the way, heartswith Hands is
a great organization local that you can donate to if
you were moved by the stories that you heard being
shared by Mark Starling and many others who are talking
(21:11):
to us outside and around the scenes here as as
I'm in Ashville. But I also wanted to not neglect
what's going on in the political realm right now. And
let's play this Buck. I don't know if you saw this.
You mentioned as we went to break just a second ago,
that obviously this week was the one year anniversary of
October seventh, and to how do you pronounce his name?
Speaker 1 (21:35):
By the way, I've read it.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
For tanahase Coats.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Tanahasei Coats is a left wing icon who basically believes
that America is awful and that racist.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
You got you in the word racist.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
In fact, the book is really just every sentence is
about how racist, really actually white people are. But America
is more broadly as well racist, racist, racist.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
And so I heard this interview last night and I
just thought it was a perfect distillation of how awful
many of the people who argue that America is racist
truly are.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
And this was him. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
Can I just add, because I think this important, Clay,
the left also believes that Israel is raist, racist, racist,
So that's where the connection is. Okay, we've already done
the trash America. It's all racist, all the white people
in America are racist. Israel the left also believes racist
and all the Israelis who first of all not I mean,
(22:33):
they're not even all white.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
There's a whole other conversation, but.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
They're all racist.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
This is what many kids on college campuses are being taught.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Which is why I want to play this for you.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And this is why maybe is next month is Thanksgiving
and you've got grandson or granddaughter sitting at the table
and they're going to say, oh, Israel, you know they're
not a safe actor here. They deserve some of what
happened to them. This is the kind of arguments they're
hearing on campus. I want you to hear it. This
was a discussion about why this guy coach would have
(23:05):
potentially been one of the terrorists as well. Listen to
his rationale. This is cut one.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
Well, I'm twenty years old, born into Gaza, which is
a giant open air jail. And what I mean by
that is, if my father is a fisherman and he
goes too far out into the sea, he might get
shot by somebody off of you know, side of Israeli botes.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
If my mother picks the olive.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
Trees and she gets too close to the wall, she
might be shot. If my little sister has you know,
cancer and she needs treatment because there are no you know,
facilities to do that in Gaza, and I don't get
the right permit, she might die. And I grow up
under that oppression and that poverty and the wall comes down?
Am I also strong enough? But even constructed in such
(23:50):
a way, why I say this is too far?
Speaker 4 (23:52):
I don't know that I am buck.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
If you ever think, hey, maybe I should kill somebody
because of their race, their ethnicity, or their religion, newsflash,
you are not the good guy.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
But that's what many of these people believe.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Well this all also, I don't think we've we've addressed
play the the reason that this is getting, you know,
so much attention.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
You you just played.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
The most recent appearance by by mister Coates on this issue,
he was on the CBS Morning Show pushing his new book,
which I believe only a portion of deals with this
Only a portion of it deals with Israel Palestine. But
his position is very explicitly Israel is an apartheid state.
(24:37):
It is evil along the lines of South Africa or
even Nazi Germany, which is obviously very offensive to the
Jewish people. And the one of the anchors who I
had never heard of before, Tony something that is I
forget his last name, but Ducoppel Dakappel. He just basically said,
(25:00):
why did you leave out in your explanation of the
Palestinian plight? Why did you leave And I say, Tony, actually,
you know has done his research. He's like, why'd you
leave out the Second Intifada? Why didn't you not talk
about the fact that there was an effort in what
was otherwise peacetime, a long and sustained effort to send
as many Palestinian suicide bombers into civilian areas as possible
(25:24):
to kill people who were at birthday parties, the old,
the young, women, and children, to pay the families of
the suicide bombers, the Shahid the martyrs in perpetuity, to
hold up those families as the great heroes of the
Palestinian people. Not scientists, not athletes, not businessmen, suicide bombers,
(25:45):
the greatest, the greatest heroes of the Palestinian people in
the early two thousands, the suicide bombers and their families,
Why no talk of any of that?
Speaker 4 (25:53):
And Clay the thing.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
About tanahassikots Is. He's an icon of the left. He
is the demost celebrated black author of his generation. And
so the rules at CBS are you are not allowed
to ask him questions. You were allowed to clap and
tell him how brilliant he is. Those are the unspoken
rules of the Democrat Party. Those were broken by that
anchor at CBS. They have now brought in we're not
(26:16):
making any of this up. Diversity educators, struggle sessions, reports
about how people are crying in these meetings.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
How dare he ask him any questions? I mean, this
is this is why the Democrat Party, the left is
so broken. It's a cult. This is insane, totally.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And they also have now sent out instructions at CBS
saying that they're not to say that Jerusalem is in Israel.
I mean, I didn't believe some of this stuff. I
had to go read it. I saw the headlines. CBS
News is broken and this we haven't spent a ton
of time talking about it, but the way they edited
the Kamala Harris sixty minutes interview buck When Dan Rather
(26:57):
got caught making up news about George W. Bush, they
fired him. They basically ended his career when they failed.
About the National Guard and all those stories. But really,
to me, this is far worse than that, because it
goes to the very essence of the organization itself and
whether it can be trusted. And so when you have
(27:18):
people out there arguing Jewish people are so bad that
basically anything you do to them can be justified, and
then you simultaneously have people like the guy who's fighting
back against the Madison Square Garden rally against Trump saying, oh,
this is like Nazis rallying in nineteen thirty seven and
nineteen thirty nine, all these other things. I just want
(27:40):
to push back and say, you realize the left in
this country is the one arguing that any violence against
Jewish people can be justified based on their history, which
is the same argument that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis
were making. Now it's a left wing in the United
States argument.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
I want to also point out that there's a fundamental
rejection of principle that the Allies the pro Palestinian pro
Hamas and by the way, people will they will bristle
when you say they're pro Hamas. Hamas is the government
of Gaza, the elected government of Gaza. So I don't
(28:19):
know in what universe there if there was, And credit
to Doug Murray for slamming this point home a few times.
If there was an election in the West Bank, Hamas
would win tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
So Hamas are the chosen representatives of the Palestinian people
by the Palestinian people at this point, there's nothing else
that we could point to or even talk about. And
they explicitly endorse the murder of as many.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Jews as they can. And then those same people who
are saying.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Look at Israel, Israel overreacts, or Israel is going too far,
Israel's violating crimes of you know, they're saying they're committing
war crimes, have nothing to say about Palestinians. Never, I mean,
on October seventh, I don't know what else you could
How could it be more evil than that? But this
is the way that Hamas has been fighting all along.
(29:08):
They just want to go and murder Jews and then
say that they are a resistance organization. They're not a
resistance organization that wants to negotiate. They just exist in
this world where the more Jews that they can kill,
the better. That is their only real mission. They've e
miserated the Palestinian people. They're absolutely corrupt and God bless
Netnyahu and the idea for hunting them down and killing
(29:28):
as many of them as he possibly can who are
involved in October seventh. That is just that is warfare
conducted the way that it should be. And the fact
that the Democrat Party has all this confusion on this issue, Clay,
what kind of lack of moral clarity is possible where
you could have on October seventh, Democrats, Kamala voters, let's
(29:49):
be honest about it, marching in support of Hamas and
Palestine or the Palestinians.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
It's truly delusional, and that is the base of the
Democrat Party right now, which is why Kamala Harris didn't
pick I think he could die it in directly with
the presidential election in a few weeks. Why Josh Shapiro
is not the pick because people like Coats on the
left in the Democrat Party would have lost their minds
if they picked the Jewish guy after October seventh.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
I think that's also a critical point, Clay, because if
they lose this election, and they lose it because of Pennsylvania,
it is the Democrat coddling of anti Semites that may
have cost in the election. I will say poetic justice
in that poetic it's.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Very calmically just if that ends up happening. I want
to tell you we're just talking about what happened at
Israel on October seventh. The impact of what happened with
the United States on nine to eleven continues. And think
the Lord that we have tunnel the towers out there
to help everybody with who is still fighting the battles
of terror and beyond. William Gilbert enlisted in the US
(30:54):
Army to become part of something much bigger than himself.
He loved the sense of brotherhood During his career. He
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While on patrol, one day, a soldier from william squad
stepped on an ied. As William and others tried to help,
another ied detonated, resulting in the tragic death of William
(31:16):
and two of his fellow soldiers. William left behind his
pregnant wife, Monica, and their children. These are the stories
you never hear about the Tunnel of the Towers Foundation
provided William's family with a mortgage free home. Although he
was never able to meet his youngest daughter, she is
the epitome of everything he was. Honor heroes like United
States Army specialist E four William Joseph Gilbert join us
(31:37):
in donating eleven dollars a month to Tunnel the Towers
at T two t dot org.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
That's t the number two t dot org.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
We're going to dive into the latest with the election,
the walls manliness campaign.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
We're men, We're manly men. You remember that, Clay, I
remember that.
Speaker 5 (32:05):
Yes, they should run with that, you know, they should
all wear green tights and the waltz ads and just
be like we're manly men and tights. There's a lot
of that going on. So we shall address the what
feel like panic moves of the Kamala campaign at this
point to try to get some traction, get something something going,
(32:26):
and so we're going to dive into that. I did
want to just go into this though for a second,
because I mentioned this. It's fascinating, Clay, because I've had
a particular amount of exposure to Democrats this week. As
you know, I'm going on the Bill Maher Show tonight
at guys, check for me what time that airs? Actually,
because I'm on West Coast time, I get confused. But
it will be live tonight, so it will be Bill,
(32:48):
Me and Laura Coates of CNN, and.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
It'll be it'll be fun. It'll be fun.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
You know.
Speaker 5 (32:54):
I'm an invited guest, So of course I look forward
to being cordial but having a robust exchange of ideas.
But one of the things on the in the Democrat
news cycle, if you will, is this Bob Woodward book,
and there's stuff about Trump and how he like sent
a COVID test to Putin and isn't that such a
you know, early in the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
It is like.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
But another thing is this whole belief that Trump and
Putin are having these phone calls like this, this uh,
you know, special romance, if you will, between Trump and Putin.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
Meanwhile, the former.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson, just came out
and said this this was amazing play cut too.
Speaker 7 (33:36):
Look, I happened to believe that when Donald Trump says
that had he been president in twenty twenty two, there
would have been no Russian invasion of Ukraine, My view
is that that is a credible assersion.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
I really do think that's credible.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
Can I just say, Clay, I also agree, as does
Trump and many people who voted for Trump. They try
to pretend like we shouldn't notice that the war started
on Biden's watch, not on Trump's watch, which if Trump
was the little toady for Putin, wouldn't it have been
the best time possible to invade when you know your
guy is gonna They have created this fantasy about Trump
(34:15):
and Russia and Trump Putin relations. And yet again, I mean,
here we are. Think of how many lives if that
is true, Think of how many lives would have been saved.
Think of how much money would have been saved.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Well, not only that, in this Woodward book, Biden evidently
blames Obama for Putin invading because he says the way
that he responded to crimea let basically Putin know that
there were no consequences for invasions.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
And that is.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
Entirely credible, by the way, and we could go into why,
but that is entirely credible that Obama actually was the
real invitation to the disaster.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
And then that goes to what I've never heard anybody
be able to explain if Trump is such a Manchurian
candidate with Vladimir Putin and unwilling to stand up to him,
why did Putin not invade when Trump was in office.
Nobody has a good answer for that. I think the
answer is because he was afraid of how Trump would respond.
(35:10):
And ultimately, it is funny that in that Woodward book,
Biden is just lacerating Obama for his weakness and not
taking Putin seriously enough, which he says is the real
reason why the invasion of Ukraine happened. I would point
out that actually Biden's taking part of the wrong lesson there,
which is Putin learned from Obama that Biden was also
(35:32):
weak and knew Democrat would not do anything to actually
forestall his invasion, and he wasn't afraid. And bad guys
are motivated oftentimes by fear. They don't respond to moral
arguments or any of these things that the Democrat Party
wishes they did.
Speaker 5 (35:50):
You know what a part of the masculine appeal of
Trump and the whole Trump movement is versus what we're
seeing with Kamala Harris.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
They keep saying Trump coddles dictators.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
If you tick off Trump, there is a very high
likelihood that he will react in a ferocious and courageous manner.
If you mess with Biden, you might interrupt naptime.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
Hey, everyone can say this is the truth.
Speaker 5 (36:18):
And with Kamala Harris you might get the most boring
lecture and be assaulted with the most worthless platitudes of
your entire life.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
That stuff matters.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
Actually, that goes into the calculations of things as powerful
as war and peace.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
What's okay, let's get into it. More of this.
Speaker 5 (36:37):
Uh the walls masculinity tour, Oh gosh, roar so much
masculinity like a lion.
Welcome to today's edition of the Clay Travis and Buck
Sexton Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome back in our number two Clay Travis buck Sexton Show.
Appreciate all of you hanging out with us. We are
all over the place. Buck is in Los Angeles. I
am in Asheville, North Carolina. Flew in here this morning
on a helicopter. Really difficult to get into Ashville and
many of the surrounding communities if you are basically trying
(00:26):
to travel in any way. We're going to get more
information about how crazy it has been over the past
couple of weeks. We bring into the studio here with
me in Ashville, Mark Starling six to nine am Eastern
morning show host here on five.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Seventy am WWNC.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Also news director and Mark, I just want to start
with this, when did you become aware that this was
going to be a major disaster? And tell people how
many days in a row you've spent this air. This
station never went off air. You guys have continued to
communicate with everybody what should they know about your experience
(01:06):
in the early days of this hurricane disaster.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
So we kind of had an idea. On Wednesday, we
were talking to our meteorologist from the Weather Channel, and
he said, we've been working with him for ten years.
In that ten years, i've heard him use the word
catastrophic maybe once. He used it twice in the same segment,
and I knew right then, like this is not a
guy who's hyperbolic. We were dealing with something different. Thursday,
we came up with a game plan. My producer, Tank Spencer,
(01:31):
He and I were like, Okay, we're going to stay
at the station Thursday night, probably gonna be able to
go home Friday night. Storm is gonna go past. I
covered hurricanes for most of the fifteen years of the
start of my career. Right about Thursday evening we started
to realize when things were already flooding and the storm
hadn't gotten here, we knew we were in bad shape.
We had six inches of rain prior to this storm
(01:51):
even coming close to North Carolina, which meant everything was
already saturated. It wasn't gonna take much to blow trees over.
So we stayed Thursday night. We got up Friday morning
and did the morning show like we normally do, kind
of went through the day, and it was getting progressively
worse and worse. And obviously, you know, by Friday night
it was in full swing, so we had lost We
(02:13):
never lost power. I'm sorry we lost power. We never
went off the air. We lost internet on Saturday at
two thirty six pm, right on the nose. I remember
looking at the clock and I remember seeing our phones
go down, and so we had no communication with the
outside world. We had no way to get any sort
of new information. We had no way to use our phones,
we had no cell service. A buddy of mine happened
(02:33):
to be listening over in West Dashville and heard us say, listen, folks,
we're at a we're at a disadvantage here. We don't
have any information. We can't take your phone calls. We're
going to go back to regular programming and try to
gather some information. He actually ended up hiking up here.
He drove as close as he could, hiked in with
a Ham radio had already talked to the Ham radio
network around here and said, hey, look Mark, Mark is
(02:53):
going to key up the mic. He's going to try
to get all the information he can from you guys,
and then he's going to go back on the air
and he and ten you're going to relate to everybody
that's listening, and that's how we operated for about twelve
to fourteen hours. We heard a noise out in the
hallway and we were on a break and we stuck
our heads out there, and here are the most beautiful
site I've ever seen, was to iHeartRadio engineers with a
(03:14):
starlink strapped to their back coming down the hallway, and
I knew at that point we were okay.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So eulog starlink is the reason you were able to
get back on the internet.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Correct, Correct, So we got back on the internet Saturday night,
and we basically stayed round the clock taking phone calls,
listening to I mean, people were scared. No one ever
thought a hurricane would come to western North Carolina, and
Tank and I kind of sat and talked about it,
and we were like, look, it's going to be our
job to help these people get through this hurricane. The
(03:43):
noises you're gonna hear in the middle of the night
are going to scare the crap out of you. You're
not going to know what's going on because you can't
see anything, and when you wake up tomorrow morning, it
could be even a scarier site when you look outside.
And so we were really trying to just kind of
prep people for this and like really walk them through
step by step, and we kept saying, look, it's okay
to not be okay. This is a super scary time.
(04:05):
The phone calls started coming in and they started getting
scarier and scarier and scarier. We took a call from
a gentleman who was up in the second floor of
his house with his wife and their seven year old grandson.
He called and we were chatting with him, and this
was literally like just minutes before everything kind of went chaotic,
and he says, oh, you know, we're gonna be okay.
(04:25):
We're We've had flooding here before. They weren't okay. They
didn't make it, and it evolved you on. They called
us on the air and he talked to us and
he said, you know, I've been meeting to clean this
place out. I wanted to kind of downsize. He's like,
it looks like that's going to be taking care of
for me. And within hours they were gone. So we
realized then that we had to have a connection, and
(04:48):
so we decided that hey, listen, if you know someone
that's missing, call us here at the radio station.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Give us their name.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
And address and phone number, and we will like, we're
going to try to crowdsource wellness checks. So we started
doing that. We get a call from this guy's name
is Chris Henderson and he is an absolute angel, and
he said, listen, I'm out here doing wellness checks. What
if we team up together and you start taking the
names and the addresses, you send them to me and
I'll send my team out there. So we did, and
(05:14):
as of right now, I think we are at like
one hundred and forty eight families that have been reunited
with their loved ones. I think it was like four
hundred and twenty eight people or something like that. And
then we started the iHeartRadio Ashville Chainsaw Gang, and we've
got a group of chainsaw cutters and they literally just
go and take houses or trees off people's houses and
they don't charge them. This is all stuff that we
(05:36):
were able to crowdsource through the power of radio. And
I think that for us is really what the story
is here. When the TV couldn't do it, the newspaper
couldn't do it, there was nothing online. The only thing
left was AMFM radio. All seven stations stayed on the air, simulcasted.
When our team was able to get into the building,
the cavalry had arrived and we went we were walled
(05:56):
the wall. I actually got to sleep at home for
the first time last night.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
You were sleeping here at the station.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
I've been here. I was at the station for fourteen days,
never went home. My wife she wasn't going to evacuate,
and he say, I wasn't too happy about that. Got
a call on Friday morning and she said, you know what,
We've had to evacuate. We're at a gas station. I've
got all four dogs and our son Eli. We're just
going to have to ride it out here. There are
actually waves coming cresting over the top of the overpass
(06:25):
down on the Highway nine in Black Mountain, which is
where we live. And it was one of the hardest
hit areas. And I didn't hear from her for forty
eight hours. And when she did call, we were on
the air, and she had actually gone to a Black
Mountain town hall meeting that they had. She called in
and my producer Tank, he puts their caller's name up
(06:45):
on the screen and I looked over and I thought,
what is it. Wait, this can't be She's the only
Brandy I know that spells it with too ease at
the end, and from pretty much that point on, it
was it was waterworks. It was just I was just
so happy to know that they were okay. I have
not seen them since the Wednesday. Uh, they were evacuated
(07:07):
down the sistern loss house with their four dogs and
they're doing great. They you know, it just we made it.
We met on a lot better than a lot of
folks did. I mean, we took some damage to our home,
but nothing in comparison to what some of these folks
have lost.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
Mark, appreciate you being with us and giving us first
of all that this is just this incredible, uh story
about what you and the station have been through and
also been able to accomplish over the last two weeks.
What is the what are the imminent needs right now?
I mean what what is the focus of these rescue
(07:42):
and recovery now really, I guess more recovery efforts currently
going forward? Like what what has to happen, what needs
need to be met? Uh, what's on the ground doing
at all of that?
Speaker 3 (07:53):
So you know, as far as like supplies that have
that have come in, I mean, it has just been.
It has been an American out pouring. It's incredible to
see the amount of supplies that we have, and right
now we're really good on supplies. But this is not
a short term situation. Our water system was decimated by
about eighty five percent of it. I think there's eighteen
hundred miles of waterline in Ashville. Eighty five percent of
(08:17):
it's gone. So what we're really you know, what we're
really hoping for is that we can get the water
back online as fast as possible. They're measuring that time
off out of water in weeks and not days.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Power is back on.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
There's still about a thirty thousand people in Bunkham County,
which is where we are, that is that that are
still without power. It's getting better and better every day.
But you know, I think what we're worried about in
the long term is we've got cooler weather moving in
and we've got people who used to have homes that
don't have homes, and really, you know, I think the
big thing is is all of these groups that are
(08:51):
on the ground in here, whether they are doing you know,
whether they're doing recovery work or whether they're doing supply work.
We work with a group called Heartswidthands dot org. It's
a local charity. They're based out of Swannanoah, which was
one of the most devastated areas, and strangely, every single
thing around their warehouse was destroyed, but their warehouse wasn't touched.
(09:11):
They have two functions. They feed all of our first
responders hot meals every day, and then they also package
food boxes for pickup and delivery for folks who are
in need in the community. You know, usually hearts with hands,
they're the ones that are loading up the trailers and
are taken to Florida or somewhere else. I don't think
anybody ever thought it was gonna happen here. And you know,
this storm was so different because of the terrain. You know,
(09:34):
a storm hits Florida, you got miles of beachline for
the water to reced to. There's nowhere for the water
to recede to here, So it was literally like a
thirty five foot wall of water and debris that came
down the French Broad River and just decimated everything in
its path. I mean, there are towns that used to
be here that don't exist anymore. And it's you know,
(09:54):
as someone who covered hurricanes their entire career living in Florida,
I've never been through anything like this before. I mean,
the just the fury that the water has brought to
western North Carolina is just incredible.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I think this is important. I was just talking out
front with a state trooper who came by. We're talking
with Mark Starling, hosts six to nine am Eastern morning
shows on this incredible story here at five seventy am WWNC.
I forty many things. I asked out front. How long
is this gonna take?
Speaker 1 (10:29):
He said, this is gonna take years to rebuild.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
So for people out there who haven't done anything yet,
maybe they haven't recognized the severity of this. There's gonna
be a need for help here four months and months.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
To come, if not years. I mean, we're a tourism
based economy. There's only one thing to see here right now,
and that's destruction. Yeah, you know, hotels are not able
to rent hotel rooms because you can't rent a hotel
room without running water. So that is pretty much you.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Guys don't have running water still at the radio.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Still, that's right. Yeah, we've been without water since I
believe it was Friday. Is when we lost water. Yeah,
it is. It's an untenable situation for a lot of people.
And there are people that are leaving. You know, there
were certain places that right after the storm happened and
that they were saying, listen, if you can leave, leave,
help's not coming. And it's like, well, whoa wait a second, here,
(11:21):
these are our communities. We're not going anywhere. And you know,
for what we wanted to do here at the radio station,
at iHeart Asheville was we wanted to show the community that, like,
we can get through this. And we've been kind of
repeating this line. Community is the answer to this crisis,
and it is amazing. You know, people have I always
go back to this one phone call and a guy
(11:41):
came called in and he says, you know, I've helped
so many of my neighbors today and I didn't even
ask you. They voted for first And it's just kind
of that, like everything else outside of western North Carolina,
everything else doesn't matter right now. Like our job as
a as a station and as a group of stations
and as an airstaff is to kind of unite our
unity and bring us bring everyone together and get through
(12:03):
this together. I mean, it's going to be a heavy lift,
and what we have seen is the absolute best in
humanity in an absolute horrific, horrific time.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
We asked whether it was appropriate to even try to
come in here. You guys need so much help. The
story was, we want you to help get this story
because you're talking to all fifty states right now. You're
talking to people all over the world, really, but certainly
in all fifty states. What would you ask of them?
What can they do if they're listening right now and
(12:34):
they're hearing about how bad things are in western North Carolina?
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Honestly, I would I would recommend giving. Yeah, if you
can give, please give heartswithands dot org is again such
a wonderful organization. It's local. All that money stays local
as far as help goes. If you have a skill
and it's and you feel like it would be worthy.
We need help here.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
The clean up, the you know, for the most part,
has gone pretty well, but there is just so much
of it. You know, We've got our our chainsaw teams
from the radio station. They're running wide open pretty much
from six a m. Until seven or eight o'clock at night,
and uh, you know, The one thing I guess that
we don't need is people coming to Western North Carolina
per se to the to the heavy disaster zones and
(13:22):
kind of clogging things up. There are areas in western
North Carolina that are open for business.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Maggie Valley.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I got a call today from a business owner. He's like,
hey man, He's like, I run a knife shop, and
he's like, we're totally open for business here and and
we would really rather, you know, like direct people to
us if you if you can't, if they can't hang
out in Nashville, tell them to go come up to
Maggie Valley and see us, or go to Waynesville. And
you know, there's a there's some there's some good truth
to that because these other these other like areas, they
(13:48):
too are tourist economies.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
This is what happened in Hawaii, right where absolutely everybody
decided they didn't want to go to Hawaii, bucking the
whole thing. So one more time that website, and by
the way, what you did, thanks to you, you and
sacrifices that you made for your family. I can't even
imagine what you've gone through talking to so many people
in so many positions of peril. This is the best
of radio.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
It absolutely is, and I gotta I have to shout
out my team because the team here at iHeart Ashville
is truly the most incredible group of people. They're most
of our staff works on music stations. They're not familiar
with the news talk format. That didn't matter because it
wasn't such a so much of a formatic thing. It
was we just need to be able to show people
(14:31):
that we're here to and we care and we're gonna
help you one way or the other. If we can't
help you, we will find someone to help you. And
that's how it's worked out. And the community has answered
those calls and said, hey, you know what, I can
go over there and check on this guy. I you know,
I'm on my way to my next appointment. I'll stop
by and make sure that they're okay. It's the power
(14:51):
of radio, and it is the power of this iHeart
Radio Ashville team. They are just such an incredible group
of humans. You know, Tank Spencer and I were here
for by ourselves for the first portion of the storm
because our team couldn't get here. I don't know if
you saw coming, well, you didn't see it. Community because
you came it from the air, but coming up our
driveways line, it was lined with about a hundred trees.
(15:11):
Every tree came down, there was no way to get
in or out. It crushed the fence in the front.
Once those trees got out of the way, our team
was unstoppable. They got in and they just they just
got it done. And they have continued to You know,
this is our home, this is our community, and we
we we want to just see it built back. We
(15:32):
know it's going to take time, and we know it's
going to be heavy lifting, but this is where we
call home and Western North Carolina mountain folks are different.
I got news for you. Mountain folks are tough, and
that we're we will really, we will rebuild this community.
It may not look exactly like it did, uh it'll
be better. That's that's the way I feel. And I
feel like our community is more united today than we
(15:55):
ever have been in the past because of this storm.
And if that's the good that we can pull out
of this, I'll take it all day long.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Mark, Thank you so much, incredible work. Appreciate you telling
us about this and everyone who can go and donate
and help out, please.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Do you know.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
This past Monday, many of us took a moment to
reflect that it was the one year anniversary of the
Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, the worst massacre of the
Jewish people since the Holocaust, when the twelve hundred is
Raeli's lost their lives, dozens more injured, two hundred and
fifty hostage is taken. The conflict remains as intense as ever.
The IDF is working to rescue hostages and fight back
(16:34):
against Hesbela's daily barrage of missiles. Israel's allies need to
stand with her in this moment, and that is where
the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews comes in. IFCJ
has been on the front lines to help, and right now,
your gift of one hundred and fifty dollars helps the
Fellowship provide food and necessities to the families of reservists
(16:55):
who have been called up to help them in this
time of need. And your gift will be matched by
a generous donor doubling its impact. Call one hundred and
fifty dollars a call right now to make your one
hundred and fifty dollars gift eight eight eight four eight
eight IFCJ. That's eight eight eight four at eight IFCJ,
or go online to support IFCJ dot org. We are
(17:21):
going to be diving into a controversy over at CBS
shortly where they had where one of the anchors had
the temerity to ask an author writing a book that
takes very very critical view of Israel have the temerity
(17:42):
to ask him questions on CBS's TV channel. So they're
now having struggle sessions over there, public crying all of it.
We will get into this coming up here momentarily. It's
pretty amazing. Look, on average, violent crime takes place every
twenty six second in this country, and how you choose
(18:02):
to protect yourself and your family is an important issue.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
There are some very.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
Good non lethal products available from Saber, which is spelled Sabre.
The website is Saber radio dot com. That's Saber radio
dot com. The pepper projectile launcher that Saber has is
the only sixty eight caliber launcher with a seven projectile capacity.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Look, if you have a home intruder, if you.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Want to use a non lethal solution to tackle a
threat against you and your family, you want multiple rounds,
You want a large pepper cloud. When those rounds impact
and that's what Saber gives you. I've trained with their tools.
I've used Saber products. Clay has two, We've got them
at home. Get some today. Go to Saber radio dot com.
(18:45):
That's Saber radio dot com or call eight four four
eight two four safe eight four four eight two four safe.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Tons of you just giving us so much feedback, I
want to think again. And if you didn't hear the
full thing, it'll be up on the podcast. We wanted
to share with you what the experience has been like
for people in Ashville and surrounding communities in western North Carolina,
eastern Tennessee. And Mark Starling, who was the host that
(19:24):
was on with us in the opening segment of this
hour from five to seventy AMWWNC.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Buck, You've talked about this a lot.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Radio uniquely connects with the audience. There are lots of
different medias, There are lots of different ways that people
make connections, writing, TV, a variety of different subjects, but
radio at its core really connects with people. And I
thought the stories that he was sharing in a time
of crisis here really connected with you in all fifty.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
States and my family in Ashville at the height of
the storm and its destruction, or you know, in the
morning after it they were listening on that station. Carrie
told me before Clay I even knew you were going
to Ashville, said, you've got to talk to these guys.
The iHeart team in Ashville has just been all hands
on deck, not just to get information out, but also
(20:15):
to coordinate response.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
And rescue efforts.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
It's an amazing thing.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
But yes, you can imagine for people who had their house,
you know, partially carved in by falling trees, surrounded by
lethal floodwaters on all sides, roads either washed away or
blocked by trees. To hear on on AM or FM radio,
we know you're out there, We're in your community. We're
(20:41):
coming for you. Hold tight. Help is on the way.
I think of how meaningful that is, and it was
the only way to get people that message, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
We want to continue to update you with everything going
on in the world of politics as well. I'm here
in Ashville. You heard, By the way, heartswith Hands is
a great organization local that you can donate to if
you were moved by the stories that you heard being
shared by Mark Starling and many others who are talking
(21:11):
to us outside and around the scenes here as as
I'm in Ashville. But I also wanted to not neglect
what's going on in the political realm right now. And
let's play this Buck. I don't know if you saw this.
You mentioned as we went to break just a second ago,
that obviously this week was the one year anniversary of
October seventh, and to how do you pronounce his name?
Speaker 1 (21:35):
By the way, I've read it.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
For tanahase Coats.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Tanahasei Coats is a left wing icon who basically believes
that America is awful and that racist.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
You got you in the word racist.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
In fact, the book is really just every sentence is
about how racist, really actually white people are. But America
is more broadly as well racist, racist, racist.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
And so I heard this interview last night and I
just thought it was a perfect distillation of how awful
many of the people who argue that America is racist
truly are.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
And this was him. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
Can I just add, because I think this important, Clay,
the left also believes that Israel is raist, racist, racist,
So that's where the connection is. Okay, we've already done
the trash America. It's all racist, all the white people
in America are racist. Israel the left also believes racist
and all the Israelis who first of all not I mean,
(22:33):
they're not even all white.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
There's a whole other conversation, but.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
They're all racist.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
This is what many kids on college campuses are being taught.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Which is why I want to play this for you.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And this is why maybe is next month is Thanksgiving
and you've got grandson or granddaughter sitting at the table
and they're going to say, oh, Israel, you know they're
not a safe actor here. They deserve some of what
happened to them. This is the kind of arguments they're
hearing on campus. I want you to hear it. This
was a discussion about why this guy coach would have
(23:05):
potentially been one of the terrorists as well. Listen to
his rationale. This is cut one.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
Well, I'm twenty years old, born into Gaza, which is
a giant open air jail. And what I mean by
that is, if my father is a fisherman and he
goes too far out into the sea, he might get
shot by somebody off of you know, side of Israeli botes.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
If my mother picks the olive.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
Trees and she gets too close to the wall, she
might be shot. If my little sister has you know,
cancer and she needs treatment because there are no you know,
facilities to do that in Gaza, and I don't get
the right permit, she might die. And I grow up
under that oppression and that poverty and the wall comes down?
Am I also strong enough? But even constructed in such
(23:50):
a way, why I say this is too far?
Speaker 4 (23:52):
I don't know that I am buck.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
If you ever think, hey, maybe I should kill somebody
because of their race, their ethnicity, or their religion, newsflash,
you are not the good guy.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
But that's what many of these people believe.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Well this all also, I don't think we've we've addressed
play the the reason that this is getting, you know,
so much attention.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
You you just played.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
The most recent appearance by by mister Coates on this issue,
he was on the CBS Morning Show pushing his new book,
which I believe only a portion of deals with this
Only a portion of it deals with Israel Palestine. But
his position is very explicitly Israel is an apartheid state.
(24:37):
It is evil along the lines of South Africa or
even Nazi Germany, which is obviously very offensive to the
Jewish people. And the one of the anchors who I
had never heard of before, Tony something that is I
forget his last name, but Ducoppel Dakappel. He just basically said,
(25:00):
why did you leave out in your explanation of the
Palestinian plight? Why did you leave And I say, Tony, actually,
you know has done his research. He's like, why'd you
leave out the Second Intifada? Why didn't you not talk
about the fact that there was an effort in what
was otherwise peacetime, a long and sustained effort to send
as many Palestinian suicide bombers into civilian areas as possible
(25:24):
to kill people who were at birthday parties, the old,
the young, women, and children, to pay the families of
the suicide bombers, the Shahid the martyrs in perpetuity, to
hold up those families as the great heroes of the
Palestinian people. Not scientists, not athletes, not businessmen, suicide bombers,
(25:45):
the greatest, the greatest heroes of the Palestinian people in
the early two thousands, the suicide bombers and their families,
Why no talk of any of that?
Speaker 4 (25:53):
And Clay the thing.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
About tanahassikots Is. He's an icon of the left. He
is the demost celebrated black author of his generation. And
so the rules at CBS are you are not allowed
to ask him questions. You were allowed to clap and
tell him how brilliant he is. Those are the unspoken
rules of the Democrat Party. Those were broken by that
anchor at CBS. They have now brought in we're not
(26:16):
making any of this up. Diversity educators, struggle sessions, reports
about how people are crying in these meetings.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
How dare he ask him any questions? I mean, this
is this is why the Democrat Party, the left is
so broken. It's a cult. This is insane, totally.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And they also have now sent out instructions at CBS
saying that they're not to say that Jerusalem is in Israel.
I mean, I didn't believe some of this stuff. I
had to go read it. I saw the headlines. CBS
News is broken and this we haven't spent a ton
of time talking about it, but the way they edited
the Kamala Harris sixty minutes interview buck When Dan Rather
(26:57):
got caught making up news about George W. Bush, they
fired him. They basically ended his career when they failed.
About the National Guard and all those stories. But really,
to me, this is far worse than that, because it
goes to the very essence of the organization itself and
whether it can be trusted. And so when you have
(27:18):
people out there arguing Jewish people are so bad that
basically anything you do to them can be justified, and
then you simultaneously have people like the guy who's fighting
back against the Madison Square Garden rally against Trump saying, oh,
this is like Nazis rallying in nineteen thirty seven and
nineteen thirty nine, all these other things. I just want
(27:40):
to push back and say, you realize the left in
this country is the one arguing that any violence against
Jewish people can be justified based on their history, which
is the same argument that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis
were making. Now it's a left wing in the United
States argument.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
I want to also point out that there's a fundamental
rejection of principle that the Allies the pro Palestinian pro
Hamas and by the way, people will they will bristle
when you say they're pro Hamas. Hamas is the government
of Gaza, the elected government of Gaza. So I don't
(28:19):
know in what universe there if there was, And credit
to Doug Murray for slamming this point home a few times.
If there was an election in the West Bank, Hamas
would win tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
So Hamas are the chosen representatives of the Palestinian people
by the Palestinian people at this point, there's nothing else
that we could point to or even talk about. And
they explicitly endorse the murder of as many.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Jews as they can. And then those same people who
are saying.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Look at Israel, Israel overreacts, or Israel is going too far,
Israel's violating crimes of you know, they're saying they're committing
war crimes, have nothing to say about Palestinians. Never, I mean,
on October seventh, I don't know what else you could
How could it be more evil than that? But this
is the way that Hamas has been fighting all along.
(29:08):
They just want to go and murder Jews and then
say that they are a resistance organization. They're not a
resistance organization that wants to negotiate. They just exist in
this world where the more Jews that they can kill,
the better. That is their only real mission. They've e
miserated the Palestinian people. They're absolutely corrupt and God bless
Netnyahu and the idea for hunting them down and killing
(29:28):
as many of them as he possibly can who are
involved in October seventh. That is just that is warfare
conducted the way that it should be. And the fact
that the Democrat Party has all this confusion on this issue, Clay,
what kind of lack of moral clarity is possible where
you could have on October seventh, Democrats, Kamala voters, let's
(29:49):
be honest about it, marching in support of Hamas and
Palestine or the Palestinians.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
It's truly delusional, and that is the base of the
Democrat Party right now, which is why Kamala Harris didn't
pick I think he could die it in directly with
the presidential election in a few weeks. Why Josh Shapiro
is not the pick because people like Coats on the
left in the Democrat Party would have lost their minds
if they picked the Jewish guy after October seventh.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
I think that's also a critical point, Clay, because if
they lose this election, and they lose it because of Pennsylvania,
it is the Democrat coddling of anti Semites that may
have cost in the election. I will say poetic justice
in that poetic it's.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Very calmically just if that ends up happening. I want
to tell you we're just talking about what happened at
Israel on October seventh. The impact of what happened with
the United States on nine to eleven continues. And think
the Lord that we have tunnel the towers out there
to help everybody with who is still fighting the battles
of terror and beyond. William Gilbert enlisted in the US
(30:54):
Army to become part of something much bigger than himself.
He loved the sense of brotherhood During his career. He
is honored with a Good Conduct Medal, a Non Article
five NATO Medal, a Purple Heart, and a Bronze Star medal.
While on patrol, one day, a soldier from william squad
stepped on an ied. As William and others tried to help,
another ied detonated, resulting in the tragic death of William
(31:16):
and two of his fellow soldiers. William left behind his
pregnant wife, Monica, and their children. These are the stories
you never hear about the Tunnel of the Towers Foundation
provided William's family with a mortgage free home. Although he
was never able to meet his youngest daughter, she is
the epitome of everything he was. Honor heroes like United
States Army specialist E four William Joseph Gilbert join us
(31:37):
in donating eleven dollars a month to Tunnel the Towers
at T two t dot org.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
That's t the number two t dot org.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
We're going to dive into the latest with the election,
the walls manliness campaign.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
We're men, We're manly men. You remember that, Clay, I
remember that.
Speaker 5 (32:05):
Yes, they should run with that, you know, they should
all wear green tights and the waltz ads and just
be like we're manly men and tights. There's a lot
of that going on. So we shall address the what
feel like panic moves of the Kamala campaign at this
point to try to get some traction, get something something going,
(32:26):
and so we're going to dive into that. I did
want to just go into this though for a second,
because I mentioned this. It's fascinating, Clay, because I've had
a particular amount of exposure to Democrats this week. As
you know, I'm going on the Bill Maher Show tonight
at guys, check for me what time that airs? Actually,
because I'm on West Coast time, I get confused. But
it will be live tonight, so it will be Bill,
(32:48):
Me and Laura Coates of CNN, and.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
It'll be it'll be fun. It'll be fun.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
You know.
Speaker 5 (32:54):
I'm an invited guest, So of course I look forward
to being cordial but having a robust exchange of ideas.
But one of the things on the in the Democrat
news cycle, if you will, is this Bob Woodward book,
and there's stuff about Trump and how he like sent
a COVID test to Putin and isn't that such a
you know, early in the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
It is like.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
But another thing is this whole belief that Trump and
Putin are having these phone calls like this, this uh,
you know, special romance, if you will, between Trump and Putin.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
Meanwhile, the former.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson, just came out
and said this this was amazing play cut too.
Speaker 7 (33:36):
Look, I happened to believe that when Donald Trump says
that had he been president in twenty twenty two, there
would have been no Russian invasion of Ukraine, My view
is that that is a credible assersion.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
I really do think that's credible.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
Can I just say, Clay, I also agree, as does
Trump and many people who voted for Trump. They try
to pretend like we shouldn't notice that the war started
on Biden's watch, not on Trump's watch, which if Trump
was the little toady for Putin, wouldn't it have been
the best time possible to invade when you know your
guy is gonna They have created this fantasy about Trump
(34:15):
and Russia and Trump Putin relations. And yet again, I mean,
here we are. Think of how many lives if that
is true, Think of how many lives would have been saved.
Think of how much money would have been saved.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Well, not only that, in this Woodward book, Biden evidently
blames Obama for Putin invading because he says the way
that he responded to crimea let basically Putin know that
there were no consequences for invasions.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
And that is.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
Entirely credible, by the way, and we could go into why,
but that is entirely credible that Obama actually was the
real invitation to the disaster.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
And then that goes to what I've never heard anybody
be able to explain if Trump is such a Manchurian
candidate with Vladimir Putin and unwilling to stand up to him,
why did Putin not invade when Trump was in office.
Nobody has a good answer for that. I think the
answer is because he was afraid of how Trump would respond.
(35:10):
And ultimately, it is funny that in that Woodward book,
Biden is just lacerating Obama for his weakness and not
taking Putin seriously enough, which he says is the real
reason why the invasion of Ukraine happened. I would point
out that actually Biden's taking part of the wrong lesson there,
which is Putin learned from Obama that Biden was also
(35:32):
weak and knew Democrat would not do anything to actually
forestall his invasion, and he wasn't afraid. And bad guys
are motivated oftentimes by fear. They don't respond to moral
arguments or any of these things that the Democrat Party
wishes they did.
Speaker 5 (35:50):
You know what a part of the masculine appeal of
Trump and the whole Trump movement is versus what we're
seeing with Kamala Harris.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
They keep saying Trump coddles dictators.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
If you tick off Trump, there is a very high
likelihood that he will react in a ferocious and courageous manner.
If you mess with Biden, you might interrupt naptime.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
Hey, everyone can say this is the truth.
Speaker 5 (36:18):
And with Kamala Harris you might get the most boring
lecture and be assaulted with the most worthless platitudes of
your entire life.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
That stuff matters.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
Actually, that goes into the calculations of things as powerful
as war and peace.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
What's okay, let's get into it. More of this.
Speaker 5 (36:37):
Uh the walls masculinity tour, Oh gosh, roar so much
masculinity like a lion.
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Buck Sexton
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