October 7, 2025 • 36 mins
Hour 3 of The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show delivers powerful conversations on global security, cultural resilience, and personal triumph. Buck Sexton opens the hour with Karol Markowitz, host of The Karol Markowicz Show, reflecting on the two-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
Karol shares her perspective on the enduring trauma for Jews worldwide, the resilience of Israelis, and the disturbing rise of antisemitism in Western societies. The discussion dismantles false narratives of “genocide” against Palestinians, highlighting how media outlets like The New York Times manipulate imagery to push propaganda. Buck and Karol underscore President Trump’s unwavering support for Israel, his clarity on Middle East policy, and the broader civilizational stakes tied to unchecked immigration and radical ideology.
The conversation shifts to emerging hostility toward Israel from some voices on the right, with Karol warning against conspiracy theories and emphasizing that polls still show overwhelming conservative support for Israel. She frames antisemitism as a “mind virus” that can consume individuals and societies, urging vigilance against its spread. Buck reinforces the historical context of violent indoctrination in Gaza and calls for moral clarity in U.S. foreign policy.
Later in the hour, Buck critiques The View’s inflammatory rhetoric, mocking claims that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard is a “pretext to steal the next election.” He exposes the absurdity of liberal media narratives and the disconnect between progressive commentary and reality, branding the show as a “factory of delusion.”
In a compelling second half, Buck welcomes Leland Vittert, NewsNation host and author of Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, a Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism. Leland shares his deeply personal story of overcoming severe autism through his father’s relentless commitment to adaptation and resilience.
The discussion explores the flaws in expert-driven approaches that encourage meeting children “where they are” instead of pushing them to thrive. Leland details practical strategies his father used—like instilling discipline, teaching social skills, and building character—that transformed his life. Buck relates with his own childhood struggle with a speech impediment, reinforcing the theme that parental involvement and perseverance can change destinies.
The segment also tackles the surge in autism diagnoses, with Leland calling it “the scientific question of our time” and criticizing partisan attacks on efforts to find answers. His book offers hope and actionable guidance for parents navigating challenges from autism to ADHD and beyond.
Hour 3 closes with listener talkbacks praising Trump’s authenticity and work ethic, contrasting him with elitist politicians who feign blue-collar appeal. Buck emphasizes Trump’s genuine respect for working-class Americans and his unmatched ability to dominate the political narrative.
Make sure you never miss a second of the show by subscribing to the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton show podcast wherever you get your podcasts! ihr.fm/3InlkL8
For the latest updates from Clay & Buck, visit our website https://www.clayandbuck.com/
Connect with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton:
FB - https://www.fa
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, third hour of Play and Buck kicks off.
Now we're joined by our friend Carol Markowicks, host of
the Carol Marcowitz Show on the Clay and Buck podcast network,
which thanks all of you, is growing every single month
and also normally which she co hosts with Mary Katherine
ham and that is doing fantastic numbers as well. So
thank you all for your support, and Carol, great to
(00:22):
have you on the program. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hi Buck, thanks so much for having.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Me two years Carol, two years since the events of
October seventh. I want to get into some of the
policy specific conversation in a moment with where Trump is
trying to end this thing between the IDF and Hamas
and all of that, as well as some other news
of the day. But first I just wanted to ask
you to reflect on how you view this day and
(00:50):
what you think about given what's happened over the last
two years.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
You know, the first thing I want to say is
today is the first day of the Jewish holidays Succot.
And I'm not a super observant Jew. I should be better,
but I'm not. But many observant Jews, our friend Josh Hammer,
some other people are offline today so they can't commemorate
October seventh. So I'm just so grateful for you and
(01:14):
so many other people for noting this today in the
absence of Jews being online, and I think that that's
really incredible and special, and I feel just grateful to
have you as an ally, as a friend, and to
have non Jews care about what's going on in Israel
or with Jews in the world is so meaningful to me,
(01:36):
and I hope that you know how much I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Absolutely, Clay and I have felt very strongly about this
issue from the very beginning and have felt like this
was a clear case of right and wrong, not just
of course, on the horrible day of October seventh and
what was done to Jews in Israel, but so much
of what we saw afterwards I think was shocking to people, Carol,
(01:59):
who have didn't followed this issue and don't understand some
of the dynamics of play. I mean, the calls, for example,
the calls for a cease fire while the Israelis were
still counting their dead and preparing to bury them was
just an astonishing show of bad faith, and quite honestly,
(02:20):
the worst kinds of anti Semitism.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah. Absolutely, And it's been just a really tough two years,
I would say. And it's interesting because I went to
Israel during that time, and they are so resilient and strong,
and they're really they've been prepared for how long this
is going to take, and they understood it wasn't going
to be overnight and all of that, and they want
their hostages back so badly. But it has been a
(02:46):
tough time to be a Jew in America, a Jew
in the West. I have such faith in America and Americans,
and I know that it's just a tough time right now.
But it is hard to watch that commemorations of October
seventh are taking place in our biggest cities and they
seem like celebrations, and they're you know, Zionists quote unquote,
(03:08):
are being pushed out of various spases. I mean, it's
been going on on the left for years and years.
I wasn't very surprised about the reaction from the left
on October eighth. I know a lot of people were,
but I had seen it coming for the better part
of a decade. I just hope the right doesn't follow
them down that path, and like I said, I do
feel very comfortable and so blessed that I feel like
(03:30):
conservatives are largely on the right side of this and
that they I do feel like I have allies standing
with me.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Well, you know, Trump, I think, is a consistent, consistent
ally and friend of the state of Israel, which is
and sees this issue with the clarity that that it demands.
And on that issue of clarity, you know, we've had
you on Carol before to talk about the so called
genocide and the New York Times running a story with
(03:59):
a photo as the primary photo of somebody who looks emaciated,
having nothing to do with hunger. It's actually a birth
defect or a congenital birth issue that that person had,
And I think it's you know, to me, it always
seemed like, hold on a second, there's not a genocide
going on, and here's why. And we made that case before.
(04:21):
This is a term, of course that's thrown around with
the additional salt in the wound of the genocide that
was committed against the Jews in the Holocaust and World
War Two. So the opponents of Israel used this knowing
the full implications of the term in this context. But
now we have a peace plan, or at least a
ceasefire plan put forward. With all of these steps, it's
(04:42):
essentially Hamas has to stop fighting, hostages have to come back,
and then there has to be some responsibility from the
Palestinian side. And it seems like it's not a genocide
because they say, no, we're going to keep fighting. Right.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
It's amazing the first victims of genocide ever say no,
we're going to keep going. It's baffling to me that
anybody cannot see what's going on here. And you're right,
Trump is such a friend to Israel. I am just
just I find his clarity on the matter to be breastaking.
And you know, I make all all of the Trumps
(05:18):
twenty twenty eight jokes in our in our tests because
of it, because I really feel like he holds back
a lot of the insanity around the world. And you
know when Britain or France, when you recognize quote unquote
the Palestinian state, Trump sort of laughs at them and says,
who cares what they think? And that's meaningful and amazing
(05:39):
that an American president is such a leader on the world stage.
But you're right, it's the idea that there's a genocide
going on while that population of Palestinians and Gaza has
actually grown in the last two years makes no sense.
And it makes no sense that it really chubby moms
or holding starving babies, because that's generally not the way
(05:59):
that it goes. So I'd love to see more clarity
from other world leaders if there's some really good ones.
The President of Argentina is amazing, the Prime Minister of
Italy is fantastic, But in general, a lot of them
are afraid of their Muslim populations or their leftist base,
and they are really bringing down the idea of civilization
(06:20):
around the world. It's not just about Israel. It's really
a civilizational question that they would have to contend with
in their own countries. What will our countries be with
this unchecked immigration that we've allowed to go on. It's
all tied together.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I'd also note that if there was a starvation genocide underway,
the photos of it would be everywhere accessible and obvious.
It would not be in the least bit difficult in
the social media Internet era that we all live in
to see this, and yet the reliance on photos by
the biggest newspaper in the United States, for example. That
(06:56):
is essentially a falsified premise. I think that speaks very
loudly about what is going on here. What are the
chances they just happened to pick a photo that doesn't
depict what's going on if there are endless photos that would, right,
I mean that just that makes no sense. You can
supply logic to this and it falls apart.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, And they cropped out his healthy looking brother out
of the photo because they wanted to project that the
starvation thing was happening, and the very healthy brother would
show that that wasn't going on.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
What is going on on the right with and you
know what I'm going to ask you, Carol, But to
the degree that we can cover some of this now,
there seems to be some how, some questioning that even
some hostility to Israel, specifically that I haven't seen from
(07:46):
the right. On the left, it's been there for a
long time. Yeah, But on the right it seems like
there's some problems bubbling up. Where is that coming from?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
You know, I don't want to ascribe that motive people.
I'm not going to say they're all paid by guitar,
although kind of seems like they're paid by guitar. It
really could be any number of things. I understand questioning
foreign aid, for example, but if you're questioning a foreign
aid means that Israel should be the first country stripped
(08:18):
of it, I'm sorry that is not a real argument.
And a lot of the time there'll be people saying
we're allowed to criticize Israel. Of course you're allowed to
criticize Israel. I criticize Israel. There's a million mistakes that
I think Israel has made before and since October seventh,
and you're absolutely allowed to criticize any number of things.
But the idea is that Israel is allowed to exist
(08:40):
and should exist, and that is Zionism. So it's really
not that crazy to say Israel is a country. It exists,
it's going to continue to exist, and we should support that.
I hope the right doesn't get wound up in conspiracy theories,
which is largely what a lot of this comes down to.
And I get where it comes from. We were lied
to again and again over the last decade, and I
(09:02):
feel like people have lost all faith in everything. But
you have to remember not everyone is lying to you
all the time, and it's you have to find the
people that you trust, and they shouldn't be people who
lie to you. If your favorite podcaster is telling you
things that you know to be a lie, they're probably
lying about other things as well, And that's how you
should look at it. You should trust the voices that
(09:25):
you listen to, and if you can't do that, then
you shouldn't do it on anything. You know.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I've begun to see finally, because I've been trying to
make this case for a while as somebody who was
involved in some capacity among millions of other Americans, including
those who actually serve in the military, I was a
civilian trying to do a part of what we call
the g WoT, the Global War on Terror. But the
(09:51):
level of violent hate that has been inculcated in some
of these Middle Eastern societies, and specifically in the case
of Gaza, I'm a little surprised that so many people
on the right seem to have either forgotten or aren't
able to draw the obvious parallels that these society they're
(10:12):
not upset about foreign eight in Gaza, that they're not
upset about the lack of some you know, some agreement
that would move things forward. They actually have been trained
and taught to hate Jos and israelis. This is very straightforward,
and I think this has gotten lost in the conversation,
even on the right for some in a way that
(10:35):
bears reminding everybody.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah, I will say that poll after pole continues to
show that the people on the right support Israel, and
so no matter how many loud voices are trying to.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Change, I think that's an important distinction you're making. It's
not to interrupt you, Kenalar.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It hasn't moved the needle at all. I would say
that abortion is a more contentious issue on the right
than Israel is. It's an overwhelming positive supportive point of
reference for the right on Israel, and so, I you know,
I don't know what again, what the motivations might be,
but I will say that anti Semitism is not a bigotry,
(11:11):
and I think when people think of it as a bigotry,
they get it all wrong. It is a it's a
mind virus. Once it grabs people, it's all they can
think about. So again, if you think, if your if
your favorite podcaster has suddenly become multiple Wall Israel, every
single episode of Israel, Israel Israel. They're on a dark path,
and it's not about Jews as a kind of culture.
(11:35):
It's about a larger mind virus that will really swallow
them up. And you've seen this happen in societies in history,
where once it gets going, it really doesn't stop. So
I hope that the trend where the larger right just
blocks out those voices continues, and that's what I'm going
to be Look, what are you.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Going to be talking about this week on normally, Carol?
Speaker 2 (11:58):
So normally just celebrating our one year anniversary book, Mary
Catherine Hamm and I completely didn't realize the date, so
it's actually a year and a week and of half
or so. But we're really thrilled to be on the
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton podcast network. It's been amazing.
We cover news of the day in a funny way
and I hope your listeners will tune in.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah. No, you guys are doing a great ladies, I
should say, are doing a great show and I love it. Yeah, Carol,
thank you so much for being here. Appreciate talking to
you as always, and we'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Two years ago, we woke up to the horrific news
from Israel. The terrorists were on a rampage, slaughtering innocent civilians.
By the end of the day, the death toll was
twelve hundred, with two hundred and fifty people taken hostage.
The equivalent of that in the US would be forty
thousand Americans. To give you a sense of the magnitude.
Americans have supported the people of Israel for the past
two years in big and small ways, with the help
(12:52):
of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. One way
is by joining a growing movement called Flags of Fellowship.
The Flags of Fellowship you know, Night's churches across America
planning over one million Israeli flags across our country show
the world that Israel is not alone. To get more
information about how you can join the Flags of Fellowship movement,
visit IFCJ dot org. That's IFCJ dot org.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton mic drops that never sounded
so good. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Welcome back in to Clay and Buck. We're going to
join by Leland Vindard here in a second. He's got
a hit book We're going to talk to him about that.
He's here with me in DC, so special points for
showing up in person, finding his way to our downtown studio.
Over at the View. You know, I am grateful for
the View. The View gives us so much content here
(13:52):
on this show, so many conservative commentary platforms. If not
the View, where would we go for these gems of
of wisdom? Where would we go to find out that?
Really Trump's plan isn't to use just limited National Guard
deployments to help bring down homicides and protect immigrations and
customs enforcement. No, No, the real plan is to steal
(14:17):
the next election. Trump twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
Trump twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Oh my gosh, here you go. The ladies at the
View they're having they're getting emotional. The vapors they're getting
the vapors play it.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
There is crime in American cities, but the way to
deal with it is get the funding that you need
for police, get the training that you need, and work
with local officials.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
This is a pretext to stop the next election, That's
what I'm thinking it.
Speaker 6 (14:40):
I would say it might also be a distraction from
the hearing that's going on right now about the Epstein file. Right,
some things have come up and ag Pam Bondi with
answer dodging questions and attacking back. Do you not think
maybe the whole civil unrest storyline is maybe overblown.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
I think that.
Speaker 6 (14:58):
Donald Trump also sees a mayor and troops in US
cities as a sign of strength.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
I think most Americans don't.
Speaker 6 (15:03):
I think they see it as like societal breakdown.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Ah, so many things thrown in there.
Speaker 7 (15:09):
Oh, I think that Trump is deployed the national Guard
because he's going to steal the election.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Well, I think that Trump is deploying the national Guard
because of Epstein. Well, oh, well, I think Trump is
deploying the national Guard because of climate change. Like, let's
just throw it all in there. Let's just make it
a a la carte crazy town. What is going on
over there? It's so it's so unfortunate that this show
(15:37):
still has people who do I watch it and Clay
watches it. For well, we don't watch it. We look
at the clips. But for the comedic value, it's definitely
pretty solid. Unintentional comedy is where the view excels. That
is its value proposition. So I hope they keep doing
(15:58):
what they do. But for the people who watch because
they think that it is worthwhile commentary, that they are
getting some kind of insight about the world around them
and more specifically American politics. It is a factory of delusion.
It is nuts over there. It is crazy town. They're
(16:19):
going to steal the election.
Speaker 7 (16:20):
Really, I think I think the National Guard's gonna help
steal the next election. Joy Really, honestly, we're still with
this now.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
But you see, because they're so unhinged now, we have
to troll them with Trump twenty twenty eight stuff like,
not that it's gonna happen. It's not gonna happen, but
you know, let's just wear the hats and really get them,
get them all spun up over nothing, because it's entertaining
for us. I don't know how else to get them
(16:54):
to stop being so unstable. I don't know what we
can do to make them see reality other than mock
the unreality that they choose to create for themselves. But
the view, honestly, at some point you gotta wonder who
doesn't see this for what it is a very low iq,
(17:17):
bad faith, and nasty discourse on what's going on in
the world around us. It is unless you are laughing
at it unless you are viewing it as a point
of comedy for which it has value. It is a
waste of everyone's time. In fact, it's worse than that.
It is a negative because it creates a vision of
(17:40):
America that does not exist except in the fever dreams
of the libs. And that's not good. That's not good.
They need to get with the program a bit more.
What I'm out on the radio with you. I've been
spending a lot of time writing and researching lately. It's
proven to be extremely productive, especially the last few months.
(18:01):
I launched an e newsletter calling it Money and Power.
Thousands of everyday Americans have been joining me already and
my research partners in this exciting new venture. It's happened
to the wealth that is created in this robust Trump
stock market. So one of a kind opportunity designed to
help ordinary people capitalize on the huge wealth explosion that's
(18:21):
being created by what I call the Manhattan Project too. Look,
I've combined the information I get from Washington, DC decision makers,
Wall Street pros, and tech barons to bring you the
stories you need to know. This is about leveling the
playing field. So everyday folks like you can finally get
a fair shot in the markets and win big. I
don't want anyone to miss out. All the details can
(18:43):
be found at Insider twenty twenty five dot com. Right now,
join our movement today, get eighty two percent off. You'll
be so glad you did. Insider twenty twenty five dot
com paid for by Paradigm Press. All right, everybody, welcome
back in. I'm joined by my friend Leland Vittert on balance.
Leland Vindert is a show on News Nation program that
(19:05):
I'm honored to occasionally get to grace with my presence
or I am grace by its presence either way. And
as a speaking of presents, I'm here in ARC Studio
and I am feeling like a like a fraternity bum
or something. This guy comes in here dressed like Gordon Gecko.
This is the difference between TV and radio. I'm wearing
(19:26):
like sweatpants and a fleece and Leland comes in here.
Chrisp is one hundred dollars bill ready for television at
a moment's notice. So I'm just saying good for you,
my friend. It's a respect respect. You gotta do it
how you do it. We've got this book. It is
doing very well. Born Lucky, a dedicated father, a grateful son,
and my journey with autism. This has really struck a
(19:48):
chord with people. Tell everybody a bit about it.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
So Buck Born Lucky is the story of my father
when I was diagnosed with autism, choosing to adapt me
to the world rather than the world to me. So
this goes back to the nineteen eighties, and this book
is for every parent of a kid having a hard time,
doesn't matter if it's a parent of a kid on
the autism spectrum, ADHD, anxiety.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
Social issues, bullying at school.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
It is proof to parents of how much agency they
have and how much hope there is for a loving
parent to really dedicate to their kid and help their
kid be more and achieve their full potential in a
way they never would if they listen to the experts.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Tell me more about that part of this, like what
are some of the hurdles, the artificial hurdles that are
put in place by expert opinion about autism, how to
deal with this and what a taking look.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
There is a movement in America and the experts will
tell you to meet kids where they are right so
you just sort of put little Sally in a in
bubble wrap and tell her that she's perfect and everything's
great and we're so proud of you and everything else.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
Eighty eight eighty nine.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
My parents are told that I have to be evaluated.
So they take me to one of those little medical centers.
You're a new dad, the worst thing a parent could
possibly hear, right, So they take me to one of
these little medical testing centers. Linoleum floors, old magazines, stale coffee, whatever.
The woman comes back with me after two hours. They're nervous,
and the woman says, to my parents, we have no
idea what's going on inside his head?
Speaker 1 (21:22):
What can I What were some of the signs? How
did you know the exactly? How did they know that?
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Uned?
Speaker 3 (21:27):
You know, I had terrible behavioral issues, So if a
kid touched me in the lunch line, I'd turn around
and slug them. I had awful behavioral issues, sensory issues.
Couldn't really wear a lot of clothes or socks or
anything else because I didn't like how it felt on
my skin.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
Big learning disabilities. So from the IQ test.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Two halves of an IQ test make up the average
of your IQ, but doesn't have to do an average.
His is additive. It just goes very high. Mine was
half genius, half mentally retarded. So twenty points spread on
your IQ test is a learning disabilit I had a
seventy point spread. And the woman said to my dad, looked,
you know, there's not much you can do. And my
(22:06):
dad goes, as any father would, anything we can do,
and she goes generally not got to meet him where
he's at. And my dad said, if I meet him
where he's at and I adapt the world to him
and I give him extra time on tests and behavior
modification plans in school and tell everybody what's happening, he's
not going to know how to operate in the real world.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
So this was my dad's quest to adapt me to
the real world.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
What were some of the things that in that process
he did he learned yea, And congratulations to your father
out I mean, I also just so I have no
personal experience of anyone in my family with autism. I
have people in my extended family that have serious mental
health challenges, people who have we have. I have a
(22:49):
second cousin with Down syndrome, But I've never experienced somebody
close to me with autism, and so my knowledge of
it is really just from reading picking things up in
the media. We'll hear about the spectrum. What are some
of the things that your father had to learn and
had to understand to push you through this process.
Speaker 5 (23:07):
It's a great question.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
And this was much less about autism because at the
time autism was really not understood very well. To a
father leaning in and saying, I am going to push
my son to be more right, So he knew I
couldn't get self esteem from school because of learning disabilities.
I wasn't gonna have any friends, so I couldn't be
the popular kid, and I couldn't do athletics because I
was completely uncoordinated.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
So it's six years old.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
He started me doing two hundred push ups a day
as a way to start earning self esteem. Two hundred
push ups a day, five days a week. Now, what
expert wouldever tell a parent do that, right, But it
was to teach me effort in equals real results and
real achievement. He was big on character. He said, the
two things you can control your character and your work ethic.
(23:53):
That was something that he forced me to take a
lot of pride in and then it was trying to
teach me, almost minute by minute, the social skills that
come naturally to people and the human equation. So he
would take me out to lunch with one of his friends.
I had a lot of free time because no kid
wanted to hang out with me. And we show you
in Born Lucky. He would take me out and he
would sit me down at lunch with one of his friends.
(24:14):
I'd start talking to the guy in badgering him, and
my dad would tap his watch and that was the
signal for me to stop talking.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Number one. But in Born Lucky, then we take you
into the post.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Game right where he would sit there and be like, okay,
when mister Sexton never never buck, never buy a first name.
But when he was talking about his new child and
his dog, why did you want to talk about how
many commercials are in his radio show? I don't know, Dad,
I thought it was interesting. Well, what do you think
mister Sexton wanted to talk about? It was this minute
by minute teaching of the.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Human emotional skills.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Yeah, my emotional intelligence was about free in your freezing level,
I iq EQ was freezing.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
So how long did it take? I mean, I wouldn't
have known from I mean we've known each other professional
and due we're getting old. I think I probably met
you a decade ago, so it's been at least yeah, yeah,
I mean it's been a long time. Did your show
at Fox a long time ago? I would not have known.
And again I'm somebody who there's a lot of people
listening who have autistic children or grandchildren or have dealt
with this themselves, so they have a much higher understanding
(25:16):
of it. But in layman's understanding of it, I would
never have known that you struggled with autism. Is your
level of functionality in day to day unusual for somebody
who's ever been diagnosed with autism? I mean people always
talk about this spectrum. I mean, how do you describe
that so that there's I'm not an expert on it,
(25:37):
right sure, from your own experience, my.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Own experience, though, what I would say is it's an
everyday struggle.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Was was there a point at which though you were,
you felt like you were more normal? You know you
really I'm saying, like the point in time you said Okay,
I've caught up. I have that emotional intelligence.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
It's a great question. I would say, it's still a
struggle every day, every hour, or to force your mind
to think through the way that my dad taught me
to think rather than the way my mind normally would think.
In the book and Born Lucky compared a little bit
almost like to alcoholism, that it's never a cure, something
you work on every day. But sure, you know, my
dad used to always tell me when I was bullied
(26:18):
and isolated and alone in middle school and high school,
what's making you bullied and isolated and alone is what's
going to help you succeed later in life. And there
was a time, sure, once I got into TV and
started working that hard work, good character made up for
a lot of the emotional intelligence that I didn't have.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
But certainly it's something I still deal with every day.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
So this was a progression over time. We're speaking Leland Vittert.
The book is Born Lucky, a dedicated father, a grateful son,
and my journey with autism. Obviously this conversation, but autism
also comes up a lot in the context of RFK
Junior and Paul. I'm not going to put you on
the spot.
Speaker 5 (27:01):
You're welcome. You're welcome to it.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
I mean, do you have thoughts? Yeah, do you have
thoughts about why there's been this explosion in diagnoses of
this condition, which that part of it. I think everyone
agrees that it probably a lot more of this than
there has been.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Absolutely, And I'm not a doctor. I'm not a scientist.
I have the chemistry grades to prove it. So I
won't discuss tilan audosing. You don't want to hear from
me on that. But I think it's fantastic that this
is now the scientific question of our time. One in
fifteen hundred kids when I was diagnosed, now one in
thirty one, three times hire for boys and hire still
(27:34):
in poorer minority communities.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
This should be the scientific question of our time. And look,
you're a new father.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
If my wife was pregnant, I'm newly married and you said, hey,
check a box, your kid can have autism or not,
every parent perspective parent is checking no, right.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Yeah, so it's a big challenge. I know that I
have friends who have autistic kids.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yeah, so why would we not try to solve this problem?
And I wrote an outbed in the Wall Street Journal
before Born Lucky came out effectively saying, you know, does
the left or does the anti Trump crew hate Trump
more than they love our kids. Because if you're all
you're gonna do is demonize RFK and Trump on the
search for this answer. That's the only explanation.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
So you believe obviously that the public focus, well the
Trump administration focused on this is clearly a good faith
effort to try to get it an answer that we
should all want. But of course this becomes politicized because
anything Trump and RFKA Junior now are involved in people
view through a partisan lens.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Right, everything everybody who views everything now in America through
a partisan lens. And I think part of the reason
Born Lucky has gotten such a tremendous response, right we're
now in our third printing, in our first week, is
because it proves to parents how much hope there is
and how much agency they have, and no one is
telling parents that, whether it's autism or ADHD or anything else.
(28:49):
I had a parent come up to me and say,
your book speaks so much to me. And I knew
both of these these women's kids. They were both very
successful college athletes in an IVY League school. I said,
you know your kid didn't have a hard time. She said, oh, well,
my kid had a nut allergy. And they told me
when my son had a nut allergy, just to pull
nuts out of every classroom that he was going to
(29:09):
be in, and instead, I said, I'm going to desensitize
him to nuts. So it's that is the Born Lucky story,
just through various different challenges that every parent faces.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
So now I'm one of these people that is particularly
interested in the book because it resonates with me. And
I'll tell you why. As I say, so, you are
a a you know, in our business just to be employed,
is I think successful?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Right?
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I mean no, really, I mean to be true. You know,
you have your own show. I share this huge platform
with Clay. The fact that we get to do what
we do is you're beating the odds and very blessed
and very fortunate. Right. But you're a TV presenter and
so your ability to connect with audiences is your currency
in one way or another. Right, That's the way it works.
I'm a radio host. I had a speech impediment as
(29:50):
a kid. I had a speech impediment and it made
me so uncomfortable. I mean I would mispronounce my own name.
Made me so uncomfortable that they thought about pulling me
out of school. And it was my mother, who really
stepped in and said, no, I will work with him, No,
we will figure this out. And I went to speech
(30:10):
therapy and I had tutors after school and all of
this because she didn't want me to be one of
those kids who felt like he couldn't be with the
other kids. And that was a remark. I will never
be able to thank my mother enough for that one.
And the story that I always tell is here, I
was a kid who could not pronounce his name. True story.
I could not pronounce my own name in first second
(30:31):
going into third grade, constantly made fun of for that.
And here I sit on a microphone. We're speaking to
a few million people right now. Something two to three
million depends on the game.
Speaker 5 (30:40):
You've done pretty well.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
And so radio, which is obviously about the ability to
verbalize and communicate, is how I make a living. And
I started out with a speech impediment, and then with
the tutors. By the way, they got me to the
point where I was about two years ahead of grade
level in terms of academics within eighteen months. So went
from you can't speak, you need to go to a
special place, you can't stay with your friends, to my
(31:02):
mom saying just like your dad did. We're going to
figure this out. And I think that that really does
resonate with people. It the parents make the difference. Parents
make such a huge difference in all of this. Born
Lucky is the book everybody. I have a feeling right now,
a lot of people are going on Amazon, a lot
of people are looking to be a part of your
third printing of this. Congrats on the success of it,
(31:24):
Leland Viddert, and I'll be seeing you on your News
Nation show very soon, very soon. Indeed, do great work
over there, and thank you for this important book. And
good to see you here in the studio, even though
you make me feel like I'm underdressed in my own studio.
That's okay, though, That's okay.
Speaker 8 (31:40):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Look, one of the better investments I've made is the
purchase of gold. This year alone, It's up forty seven
percent in value. I think it just crossed the four
thousand dollars an ounce threshold today, which is an all
time high. It's not slowing down, folks, gold and Sacks
is saying it's going to go higher. I mean a
lot of people see this as just the continued thesis
of gold has value in a world where the printing
presses of the central governments are going off, so central
(32:04):
banks are flocking to gold. You can still get gold though,
I mean, this is the key point. It's not too
late at all. In fact, Birch Gold Group wants a
lot of first gold buyers to consider an entry point now.
And you can convert an existing IRA or four oh
one k with Birch Gold into a tax sheltered IRA
in physical gold. Sorry, in gold, you don't have to
pay a dime out of pocket. Just text my name
(32:25):
Buck to ninety eight ninety eight ninety eight claim your
free infoKit. There's no obligation, just useful information. Best indicator
of the past is the future. Gold has historically been
a safe haven for decades. Text Buck to ninety eight
ninety eight ninety eight to claim your free infoKit on gold.
That's Buck. Text Buck to ninety eight ninety eight, ninety eight.
Get with Birch Gold Group today.
Speaker 9 (32:49):
Keep up with the biggest political comeback in world history
on the Team forty seven podcast. Clay and Buck highlight
Trump free plays from the week Sunday's at noon Eastern.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
Find it out on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
All right, we're closing up shot today and Clay and
Buck want to give you a reminder to go check
out Crockett Coffee. My friends, Crockett Coffee dot com. Join
the army of Clay and Buck listeners who are subscribers
and get their coffee from Crockett. Remember, ten percent of
our profits at the end of the year goes to
Tunnel the Towers Foundation. And we've got all the different kinds.
We've got whole being, ground being, all the different versions
(33:25):
of coffee want we can give you. But also we've
got the mushroom coffee. If you never tried it, it's
really fun. And yeah, I just think you should be
drinking Crockett coffee because the communists will that you get
from other places is supporting the destruction of Western civilization.
So no big deal. We actually celebrate Western civilization. Crockett
Coffee dot Com. Please check it out and subscribe. Now
(33:47):
we've got let's do talkbacks here, and guys, let me
know if I always get the live calls and the
talkbacks confused in my head. Let me know which live
calls and which are talkbacks. This is talkback c See
he's are. Radio listener Adam from New York play it,
Donald Trump is the leader of the Democrat Party. Whatever
Donald Trump does, they fight this. I mean, he definitely
(34:10):
is like the director of the Democrat Party. He he points,
you know, he can flash his light. He can flash
his flash light in one direction and they all run
after it and they chase it. You know, he can
just be the shiny object for them and they will
all chase it down. It is remarkable. He has their number,
no question about it. DD podcast listener Mike from Fort Worth,
(34:31):
Texas hit it.
Speaker 8 (34:32):
I think the reason why working class likes Trump is
because we know that he's not really working class, but
he appreciates the working class, and he doesn't try to
pretend to be the working class like some of these
other politicians try to do at the last minute when
they want our votes. Trump genuinely likes working class people
and we.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Can see that totally. That's a spot on assessment. Totally
agree with that. I think I've said similar things in
the asked that is correct. Trump is Trump is authentic
in who he is in all respects, and he authentically
respects and has connection to working class people, but does
not pretend to be himself working class right obviously. And
(35:16):
that's the thing that that's what I meant by like, Oh,
I'm wearing my Carhart jacket at election time, and i
look at my Timberland boots and I'm you know, the
what's his name, Tim Walls thing. People can see that
and people can just pick up on that stuff right away.
Let's see now, Jacqueline in Brooklyn wants to chat. We
a lot of New York calls and talkbacks.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
That it.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
What's up, Jacqueline, Hi Buck.
Speaker 10 (35:39):
You know on this topic, when you were talking about
the difference between Pritsker and President Trump, I think people
maybe forget that President Trump actually, although he may have
had an advantage with his start in life with who
his father was, he did work. He worked every single day.
He went around to all of his father's buildings in
Brooklyn collect the rents. He also when he started to
(36:02):
become a builder in his own right, as a very
young man, he was on those job sites. I even
remember a story that I had heard. I don't remember
who told it, but he had come home from work
one day and went to Trump Tower and he asked
his son Don Junior to bring him a coke and
the son smart Maldaman says, we'll get up and get
(36:23):
it yourself. And he turned around and looked at his
wife Ivanna at the time, and you know was understood. Hey,
I was busting my behind all day long to provide
for you. You came when you get me something nice and
cold to drink because I've been out sweating all day
long on a construction site.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Anytime, Yeah, no, Jacqueline, it's we're at time. It's a
very good point. And uh yeah, I mean, no one
could give Trump the most successful show on television. No
one could give him the global brand that he built.
I mean Trump built all that stuff.
All right, third hour of Play and Buck kicks off.
Now we're joined by our friend Carol Markowicks, host of
the Carol Marcowitz Show on the Clay and Buck podcast network,
which thanks all of you, is growing every single month
and also normally which she co hosts with Mary Katherine
ham and that is doing fantastic numbers as well. So
thank you all for your support, and Carol, great to
(00:22):
have you on the program. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hi Buck, thanks so much for having.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Me two years Carol, two years since the events of
October seventh. I want to get into some of the
policy specific conversation in a moment with where Trump is
trying to end this thing between the IDF and Hamas
and all of that, as well as some other news
of the day. But first I just wanted to ask
you to reflect on how you view this day and
(00:50):
what you think about given what's happened over the last
two years.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
You know, the first thing I want to say is
today is the first day of the Jewish holidays Succot.
And I'm not a super observant Jew. I should be better,
but I'm not. But many observant Jews, our friend Josh Hammer,
some other people are offline today so they can't commemorate
October seventh. So I'm just so grateful for you and
(01:14):
so many other people for noting this today in the
absence of Jews being online, and I think that that's
really incredible and special, and I feel just grateful to
have you as an ally, as a friend, and to
have non Jews care about what's going on in Israel
or with Jews in the world is so meaningful to me,
(01:36):
and I hope that you know how much I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Absolutely, Clay and I have felt very strongly about this
issue from the very beginning and have felt like this
was a clear case of right and wrong, not just
of course, on the horrible day of October seventh and
what was done to Jews in Israel, but so much
of what we saw afterwards I think was shocking to people, Carol,
(01:59):
who have didn't followed this issue and don't understand some
of the dynamics of play. I mean, the calls, for example,
the calls for a cease fire while the Israelis were
still counting their dead and preparing to bury them was
just an astonishing show of bad faith, and quite honestly,
(02:20):
the worst kinds of anti Semitism.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah. Absolutely, And it's been just a really tough two years,
I would say. And it's interesting because I went to
Israel during that time, and they are so resilient and strong,
and they're really they've been prepared for how long this
is going to take, and they understood it wasn't going
to be overnight and all of that, and they want
their hostages back so badly. But it has been a
(02:46):
tough time to be a Jew in America, a Jew
in the West. I have such faith in America and Americans,
and I know that it's just a tough time right now.
But it is hard to watch that commemorations of October
seventh are taking place in our biggest cities and they
seem like celebrations, and they're you know, Zionists quote unquote,
(03:08):
are being pushed out of various spases. I mean, it's
been going on on the left for years and years.
I wasn't very surprised about the reaction from the left
on October eighth. I know a lot of people were,
but I had seen it coming for the better part
of a decade. I just hope the right doesn't follow
them down that path, and like I said, I do
feel very comfortable and so blessed that I feel like
(03:30):
conservatives are largely on the right side of this and
that they I do feel like I have allies standing
with me.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Well, you know, Trump, I think, is a consistent, consistent
ally and friend of the state of Israel, which is
and sees this issue with the clarity that that it demands.
And on that issue of clarity, you know, we've had
you on Carol before to talk about the so called
genocide and the New York Times running a story with
(03:59):
a photo as the primary photo of somebody who looks emaciated,
having nothing to do with hunger. It's actually a birth
defect or a congenital birth issue that that person had,
And I think it's you know, to me, it always
seemed like, hold on a second, there's not a genocide
going on, and here's why. And we made that case before.
(04:21):
This is a term, of course that's thrown around with
the additional salt in the wound of the genocide that
was committed against the Jews in the Holocaust and World
War Two. So the opponents of Israel used this knowing
the full implications of the term in this context. But
now we have a peace plan, or at least a
ceasefire plan put forward. With all of these steps, it's
(04:42):
essentially Hamas has to stop fighting, hostages have to come back,
and then there has to be some responsibility from the
Palestinian side. And it seems like it's not a genocide
because they say, no, we're going to keep fighting. Right.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
It's amazing the first victims of genocide ever say no,
we're going to keep going. It's baffling to me that
anybody cannot see what's going on here. And you're right,
Trump is such a friend to Israel. I am just
just I find his clarity on the matter to be breastaking.
And you know, I make all all of the Trumps
(05:18):
twenty twenty eight jokes in our in our tests because
of it, because I really feel like he holds back
a lot of the insanity around the world. And you
know when Britain or France, when you recognize quote unquote
the Palestinian state, Trump sort of laughs at them and says,
who cares what they think? And that's meaningful and amazing
(05:39):
that an American president is such a leader on the world stage.
But you're right, it's the idea that there's a genocide
going on while that population of Palestinians and Gaza has
actually grown in the last two years makes no sense.
And it makes no sense that it really chubby moms
or holding starving babies, because that's generally not the way
(05:59):
that it goes. So I'd love to see more clarity
from other world leaders if there's some really good ones.
The President of Argentina is amazing, the Prime Minister of
Italy is fantastic, But in general, a lot of them
are afraid of their Muslim populations or their leftist base,
and they are really bringing down the idea of civilization
(06:20):
around the world. It's not just about Israel. It's really
a civilizational question that they would have to contend with
in their own countries. What will our countries be with
this unchecked immigration that we've allowed to go on. It's
all tied together.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I'd also note that if there was a starvation genocide underway,
the photos of it would be everywhere accessible and obvious.
It would not be in the least bit difficult in
the social media Internet era that we all live in
to see this, and yet the reliance on photos by
the biggest newspaper in the United States, for example. That
(06:56):
is essentially a falsified premise. I think that speaks very
loudly about what is going on here. What are the
chances they just happened to pick a photo that doesn't
depict what's going on if there are endless photos that would, right,
I mean that just that makes no sense. You can
supply logic to this and it falls apart.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, And they cropped out his healthy looking brother out
of the photo because they wanted to project that the
starvation thing was happening, and the very healthy brother would
show that that wasn't going on.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
What is going on on the right with and you
know what I'm going to ask you, Carol, But to
the degree that we can cover some of this now,
there seems to be some how, some questioning that even
some hostility to Israel, specifically that I haven't seen from
(07:46):
the right. On the left, it's been there for a
long time. Yeah, But on the right it seems like
there's some problems bubbling up. Where is that coming from?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
You know, I don't want to ascribe that motive people.
I'm not going to say they're all paid by guitar,
although kind of seems like they're paid by guitar. It
really could be any number of things. I understand questioning
foreign aid, for example, but if you're questioning a foreign
aid means that Israel should be the first country stripped
(08:18):
of it, I'm sorry that is not a real argument.
And a lot of the time there'll be people saying
we're allowed to criticize Israel. Of course you're allowed to
criticize Israel. I criticize Israel. There's a million mistakes that
I think Israel has made before and since October seventh,
and you're absolutely allowed to criticize any number of things.
But the idea is that Israel is allowed to exist
(08:40):
and should exist, and that is Zionism. So it's really
not that crazy to say Israel is a country. It exists,
it's going to continue to exist, and we should support that.
I hope the right doesn't get wound up in conspiracy theories,
which is largely what a lot of this comes down to.
And I get where it comes from. We were lied
to again and again over the last decade, and I
(09:02):
feel like people have lost all faith in everything. But
you have to remember not everyone is lying to you
all the time, and it's you have to find the
people that you trust, and they shouldn't be people who
lie to you. If your favorite podcaster is telling you
things that you know to be a lie, they're probably
lying about other things as well, And that's how you
should look at it. You should trust the voices that
(09:25):
you listen to, and if you can't do that, then
you shouldn't do it on anything. You know.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I've begun to see finally, because I've been trying to
make this case for a while as somebody who was
involved in some capacity among millions of other Americans, including
those who actually serve in the military, I was a
civilian trying to do a part of what we call
the g WoT, the Global War on Terror. But the
(09:51):
level of violent hate that has been inculcated in some
of these Middle Eastern societies, and specifically in the case
of Gaza, I'm a little surprised that so many people
on the right seem to have either forgotten or aren't
able to draw the obvious parallels that these society they're
(10:12):
not upset about foreign eight in Gaza, that they're not
upset about the lack of some you know, some agreement
that would move things forward. They actually have been trained
and taught to hate Jos and israelis. This is very straightforward,
and I think this has gotten lost in the conversation,
even on the right for some in a way that
(10:35):
bears reminding everybody.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah, I will say that poll after pole continues to
show that the people on the right support Israel, and
so no matter how many loud voices are trying to.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Change, I think that's an important distinction you're making. It's
not to interrupt you, Kenalar.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It hasn't moved the needle at all. I would say
that abortion is a more contentious issue on the right
than Israel is. It's an overwhelming positive supportive point of
reference for the right on Israel, and so, I you know,
I don't know what again, what the motivations might be,
but I will say that anti Semitism is not a bigotry,
(11:11):
and I think when people think of it as a bigotry,
they get it all wrong. It is a it's a
mind virus. Once it grabs people, it's all they can
think about. So again, if you think, if your if
your favorite podcaster has suddenly become multiple Wall Israel, every
single episode of Israel, Israel Israel. They're on a dark path,
and it's not about Jews as a kind of culture.
(11:35):
It's about a larger mind virus that will really swallow
them up. And you've seen this happen in societies in history,
where once it gets going, it really doesn't stop. So
I hope that the trend where the larger right just
blocks out those voices continues, and that's what I'm going
to be Look, what are you.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Going to be talking about this week on normally, Carol?
Speaker 2 (11:58):
So normally just celebrating our one year anniversary book, Mary
Catherine Hamm and I completely didn't realize the date, so
it's actually a year and a week and of half
or so. But we're really thrilled to be on the
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton podcast network. It's been amazing.
We cover news of the day in a funny way
and I hope your listeners will tune in.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah. No, you guys are doing a great ladies, I
should say, are doing a great show and I love it. Yeah, Carol,
thank you so much for being here. Appreciate talking to
you as always, and we'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Two years ago, we woke up to the horrific news
from Israel. The terrorists were on a rampage, slaughtering innocent civilians.
By the end of the day, the death toll was
twelve hundred, with two hundred and fifty people taken hostage.
The equivalent of that in the US would be forty
thousand Americans. To give you a sense of the magnitude.
Americans have supported the people of Israel for the past
two years in big and small ways, with the help
(12:52):
of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. One way
is by joining a growing movement called Flags of Fellowship.
The Flags of Fellowship you know, Night's churches across America
planning over one million Israeli flags across our country show
the world that Israel is not alone. To get more
information about how you can join the Flags of Fellowship movement,
visit IFCJ dot org. That's IFCJ dot org.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton mic drops that never sounded
so good. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Welcome back in to Clay and Buck. We're going to
join by Leland Vindard here in a second. He's got
a hit book We're going to talk to him about that.
He's here with me in DC, so special points for
showing up in person, finding his way to our downtown studio.
Over at the View. You know, I am grateful for
the View. The View gives us so much content here
(13:52):
on this show, so many conservative commentary platforms. If not
the View, where would we go for these gems of
of wisdom? Where would we go to find out that?
Really Trump's plan isn't to use just limited National Guard
deployments to help bring down homicides and protect immigrations and
customs enforcement. No, No, the real plan is to steal
(14:17):
the next election. Trump twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
Trump twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Oh my gosh, here you go. The ladies at the
View they're having they're getting emotional. The vapors they're getting
the vapors play it.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
There is crime in American cities, but the way to
deal with it is get the funding that you need
for police, get the training that you need, and work
with local officials.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
This is a pretext to stop the next election, That's
what I'm thinking it.
Speaker 6 (14:40):
I would say it might also be a distraction from
the hearing that's going on right now about the Epstein file. Right,
some things have come up and ag Pam Bondi with
answer dodging questions and attacking back. Do you not think
maybe the whole civil unrest storyline is maybe overblown.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
I think that.
Speaker 6 (14:58):
Donald Trump also sees a mayor and troops in US
cities as a sign of strength.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
I think most Americans don't.
Speaker 6 (15:03):
I think they see it as like societal breakdown.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Ah, so many things thrown in there.
Speaker 7 (15:09):
Oh, I think that Trump is deployed the national Guard
because he's going to steal the election.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Well, I think that Trump is deploying the national Guard
because of Epstein. Well, oh, well, I think Trump is
deploying the national Guard because of climate change. Like, let's
just throw it all in there. Let's just make it
a a la carte crazy town. What is going on
over there? It's so it's so unfortunate that this show
(15:37):
still has people who do I watch it and Clay
watches it. For well, we don't watch it. We look
at the clips. But for the comedic value, it's definitely
pretty solid. Unintentional comedy is where the view excels. That
is its value proposition. So I hope they keep doing
(15:58):
what they do. But for the people who watch because
they think that it is worthwhile commentary, that they are
getting some kind of insight about the world around them
and more specifically American politics. It is a factory of delusion.
It is nuts over there. It is crazy town. They're
(16:19):
going to steal the election.
Speaker 7 (16:20):
Really, I think I think the National Guard's gonna help
steal the next election. Joy Really, honestly, we're still with
this now.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
But you see, because they're so unhinged now, we have
to troll them with Trump twenty twenty eight stuff like,
not that it's gonna happen. It's not gonna happen, but
you know, let's just wear the hats and really get them,
get them all spun up over nothing, because it's entertaining
for us. I don't know how else to get them
(16:54):
to stop being so unstable. I don't know what we
can do to make them see reality other than mock
the unreality that they choose to create for themselves. But
the view, honestly, at some point you gotta wonder who
doesn't see this for what it is a very low iq,
(17:17):
bad faith, and nasty discourse on what's going on in
the world around us. It is unless you are laughing
at it unless you are viewing it as a point
of comedy for which it has value. It is a
waste of everyone's time. In fact, it's worse than that.
It is a negative because it creates a vision of
(17:40):
America that does not exist except in the fever dreams
of the libs. And that's not good. That's not good.
They need to get with the program a bit more.
What I'm out on the radio with you. I've been
spending a lot of time writing and researching lately. It's
proven to be extremely productive, especially the last few months.
(18:01):
I launched an e newsletter calling it Money and Power.
Thousands of everyday Americans have been joining me already and
my research partners in this exciting new venture. It's happened
to the wealth that is created in this robust Trump
stock market. So one of a kind opportunity designed to
help ordinary people capitalize on the huge wealth explosion that's
(18:21):
being created by what I call the Manhattan Project too. Look,
I've combined the information I get from Washington, DC decision makers,
Wall Street pros, and tech barons to bring you the
stories you need to know. This is about leveling the
playing field. So everyday folks like you can finally get
a fair shot in the markets and win big. I
don't want anyone to miss out. All the details can
(18:43):
be found at Insider twenty twenty five dot com. Right now,
join our movement today, get eighty two percent off. You'll
be so glad you did. Insider twenty twenty five dot
com paid for by Paradigm Press. All right, everybody, welcome
back in. I'm joined by my friend Leland Vittert on balance.
Leland Vindert is a show on News Nation program that
(19:05):
I'm honored to occasionally get to grace with my presence
or I am grace by its presence either way. And
as a speaking of presents, I'm here in ARC Studio
and I am feeling like a like a fraternity bum
or something. This guy comes in here dressed like Gordon Gecko.
This is the difference between TV and radio. I'm wearing
(19:26):
like sweatpants and a fleece and Leland comes in here.
Chrisp is one hundred dollars bill ready for television at
a moment's notice. So I'm just saying good for you,
my friend. It's a respect respect. You gotta do it
how you do it. We've got this book. It is
doing very well. Born Lucky, a dedicated father, a grateful son,
and my journey with autism. This has really struck a
(19:48):
chord with people. Tell everybody a bit about it.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
So Buck Born Lucky is the story of my father
when I was diagnosed with autism, choosing to adapt me
to the world rather than the world to me. So
this goes back to the nineteen eighties, and this book
is for every parent of a kid having a hard time,
doesn't matter if it's a parent of a kid on
the autism spectrum, ADHD, anxiety.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
Social issues, bullying at school.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
It is proof to parents of how much agency they
have and how much hope there is for a loving
parent to really dedicate to their kid and help their
kid be more and achieve their full potential in a
way they never would if they listen to the experts.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Tell me more about that part of this, like what
are some of the hurdles, the artificial hurdles that are
put in place by expert opinion about autism, how to
deal with this and what a taking look.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
There is a movement in America and the experts will
tell you to meet kids where they are right so
you just sort of put little Sally in a in
bubble wrap and tell her that she's perfect and everything's
great and we're so proud of you and everything else.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
Eighty eight eighty nine.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
My parents are told that I have to be evaluated.
So they take me to one of those little medical centers.
You're a new dad, the worst thing a parent could
possibly hear, right, So they take me to one of
these little medical testing centers. Linoleum floors, old magazines, stale coffee, whatever.
The woman comes back with me after two hours. They're nervous,
and the woman says, to my parents, we have no
idea what's going on inside his head?
Speaker 1 (21:22):
What can I What were some of the signs? How
did you know the exactly? How did they know that?
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Uned?
Speaker 3 (21:27):
You know, I had terrible behavioral issues, So if a
kid touched me in the lunch line, I'd turn around
and slug them. I had awful behavioral issues, sensory issues.
Couldn't really wear a lot of clothes or socks or
anything else because I didn't like how it felt on
my skin.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
Big learning disabilities. So from the IQ test.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Two halves of an IQ test make up the average
of your IQ, but doesn't have to do an average.
His is additive. It just goes very high. Mine was
half genius, half mentally retarded. So twenty points spread on
your IQ test is a learning disabilit I had a
seventy point spread. And the woman said to my dad, looked,
you know, there's not much you can do. And my
(22:06):
dad goes, as any father would, anything we can do,
and she goes generally not got to meet him where
he's at. And my dad said, if I meet him
where he's at and I adapt the world to him
and I give him extra time on tests and behavior
modification plans in school and tell everybody what's happening, he's
not going to know how to operate in the real world.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
So this was my dad's quest to adapt me to
the real world.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
What were some of the things that in that process
he did he learned yea, And congratulations to your father
out I mean, I also just so I have no
personal experience of anyone in my family with autism. I
have people in my extended family that have serious mental
health challenges, people who have we have. I have a
(22:49):
second cousin with Down syndrome, But I've never experienced somebody
close to me with autism, and so my knowledge of
it is really just from reading picking things up in
the media. We'll hear about the spectrum. What are some
of the things that your father had to learn and
had to understand to push you through this process.
Speaker 5 (23:07):
It's a great question.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
And this was much less about autism because at the
time autism was really not understood very well. To a
father leaning in and saying, I am going to push
my son to be more right, So he knew I
couldn't get self esteem from school because of learning disabilities.
I wasn't gonna have any friends, so I couldn't be
the popular kid, and I couldn't do athletics because I
was completely uncoordinated.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
So it's six years old.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
He started me doing two hundred push ups a day
as a way to start earning self esteem. Two hundred
push ups a day, five days a week. Now, what
expert wouldever tell a parent do that, right, But it
was to teach me effort in equals real results and
real achievement. He was big on character. He said, the
two things you can control your character and your work ethic.
(23:53):
That was something that he forced me to take a
lot of pride in and then it was trying to
teach me, almost minute by minute, the social skills that
come naturally to people and the human equation. So he
would take me out to lunch with one of his friends.
I had a lot of free time because no kid
wanted to hang out with me. And we show you
in Born Lucky. He would take me out and he
would sit me down at lunch with one of his friends.
(24:14):
I'd start talking to the guy in badgering him, and
my dad would tap his watch and that was the
signal for me to stop talking.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Number one. But in Born Lucky, then we take you
into the post.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Game right where he would sit there and be like, okay,
when mister Sexton never never buck, never buy a first name.
But when he was talking about his new child and
his dog, why did you want to talk about how
many commercials are in his radio show? I don't know, Dad,
I thought it was interesting. Well, what do you think
mister Sexton wanted to talk about? It was this minute
by minute teaching of the.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Human emotional skills.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Yeah, my emotional intelligence was about free in your freezing level,
I iq EQ was freezing.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
So how long did it take? I mean, I wouldn't
have known from I mean we've known each other professional
and due we're getting old. I think I probably met
you a decade ago, so it's been at least yeah, yeah,
I mean it's been a long time. Did your show
at Fox a long time ago? I would not have known.
And again I'm somebody who there's a lot of people
listening who have autistic children or grandchildren or have dealt
with this themselves, so they have a much higher understanding
(25:16):
of it. But in layman's understanding of it, I would
never have known that you struggled with autism. Is your
level of functionality in day to day unusual for somebody
who's ever been diagnosed with autism? I mean people always
talk about this spectrum. I mean, how do you describe
that so that there's I'm not an expert on it,
(25:37):
right sure, from your own experience, my.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Own experience, though, what I would say is it's an
everyday struggle.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Was was there a point at which though you were,
you felt like you were more normal? You know you
really I'm saying, like the point in time you said Okay,
I've caught up. I have that emotional intelligence.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
It's a great question. I would say, it's still a
struggle every day, every hour, or to force your mind
to think through the way that my dad taught me
to think rather than the way my mind normally would think.
In the book and Born Lucky compared a little bit
almost like to alcoholism, that it's never a cure, something
you work on every day. But sure, you know, my
dad used to always tell me when I was bullied
(26:18):
and isolated and alone in middle school and high school,
what's making you bullied and isolated and alone is what's
going to help you succeed later in life. And there
was a time, sure, once I got into TV and
started working that hard work, good character made up for
a lot of the emotional intelligence that I didn't have.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
But certainly it's something I still deal with every day.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
So this was a progression over time. We're speaking Leland Vittert.
The book is Born Lucky, a dedicated father, a grateful son,
and my journey with autism. Obviously this conversation, but autism
also comes up a lot in the context of RFK
Junior and Paul. I'm not going to put you on
the spot.
Speaker 5 (27:01):
You're welcome. You're welcome to it.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
I mean, do you have thoughts? Yeah, do you have
thoughts about why there's been this explosion in diagnoses of
this condition, which that part of it. I think everyone
agrees that it probably a lot more of this than
there has been.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Absolutely, And I'm not a doctor. I'm not a scientist.
I have the chemistry grades to prove it. So I
won't discuss tilan audosing. You don't want to hear from
me on that. But I think it's fantastic that this
is now the scientific question of our time. One in
fifteen hundred kids when I was diagnosed, now one in
thirty one, three times hire for boys and hire still
(27:34):
in poorer minority communities.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
This should be the scientific question of our time. And look,
you're a new father.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
If my wife was pregnant, I'm newly married and you said, hey,
check a box, your kid can have autism or not,
every parent perspective parent is checking no, right.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Yeah, so it's a big challenge. I know that I
have friends who have autistic kids.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yeah, so why would we not try to solve this problem?
And I wrote an outbed in the Wall Street Journal
before Born Lucky came out effectively saying, you know, does
the left or does the anti Trump crew hate Trump
more than they love our kids. Because if you're all
you're gonna do is demonize RFK and Trump on the
search for this answer. That's the only explanation.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
So you believe obviously that the public focus, well the
Trump administration focused on this is clearly a good faith
effort to try to get it an answer that we
should all want. But of course this becomes politicized because
anything Trump and RFKA Junior now are involved in people
view through a partisan lens.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Right, everything everybody who views everything now in America through
a partisan lens. And I think part of the reason
Born Lucky has gotten such a tremendous response, right we're
now in our third printing, in our first week, is
because it proves to parents how much hope there is
and how much agency they have, and no one is
telling parents that, whether it's autism or ADHD or anything else.
(28:49):
I had a parent come up to me and say,
your book speaks so much to me. And I knew
both of these these women's kids. They were both very
successful college athletes in an IVY League school. I said,
you know your kid didn't have a hard time. She said, oh, well,
my kid had a nut allergy. And they told me
when my son had a nut allergy, just to pull
nuts out of every classroom that he was going to
(29:09):
be in, and instead, I said, I'm going to desensitize
him to nuts. So it's that is the Born Lucky story,
just through various different challenges that every parent faces.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
So now I'm one of these people that is particularly
interested in the book because it resonates with me. And
I'll tell you why. As I say, so, you are
a a you know, in our business just to be employed,
is I think successful?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Right?
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I mean no, really, I mean to be true. You know,
you have your own show. I share this huge platform
with Clay. The fact that we get to do what
we do is you're beating the odds and very blessed
and very fortunate. Right. But you're a TV presenter and
so your ability to connect with audiences is your currency
in one way or another. Right, That's the way it works.
I'm a radio host. I had a speech impediment as
(29:50):
a kid. I had a speech impediment and it made
me so uncomfortable. I mean I would mispronounce my own name.
Made me so uncomfortable that they thought about pulling me
out of school. And it was my mother, who really
stepped in and said, no, I will work with him, No,
we will figure this out. And I went to speech
(30:10):
therapy and I had tutors after school and all of
this because she didn't want me to be one of
those kids who felt like he couldn't be with the
other kids. And that was a remark. I will never
be able to thank my mother enough for that one.
And the story that I always tell is here, I
was a kid who could not pronounce his name. True story.
I could not pronounce my own name in first second
(30:31):
going into third grade, constantly made fun of for that.
And here I sit on a microphone. We're speaking to
a few million people right now. Something two to three
million depends on the game.
Speaker 5 (30:40):
You've done pretty well.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
And so radio, which is obviously about the ability to
verbalize and communicate, is how I make a living. And
I started out with a speech impediment, and then with
the tutors. By the way, they got me to the
point where I was about two years ahead of grade
level in terms of academics within eighteen months. So went
from you can't speak, you need to go to a
special place, you can't stay with your friends, to my
(31:02):
mom saying just like your dad did. We're going to
figure this out. And I think that that really does
resonate with people. It the parents make the difference. Parents
make such a huge difference in all of this. Born
Lucky is the book everybody. I have a feeling right now,
a lot of people are going on Amazon, a lot
of people are looking to be a part of your
third printing of this. Congrats on the success of it,
(31:24):
Leland Viddert, and I'll be seeing you on your News
Nation show very soon, very soon. Indeed, do great work
over there, and thank you for this important book. And
good to see you here in the studio, even though
you make me feel like I'm underdressed in my own studio.
That's okay, though, That's okay.
Speaker 8 (31:40):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Look, one of the better investments I've made is the
purchase of gold. This year alone, It's up forty seven
percent in value. I think it just crossed the four
thousand dollars an ounce threshold today, which is an all
time high. It's not slowing down, folks, gold and Sacks
is saying it's going to go higher. I mean a
lot of people see this as just the continued thesis
of gold has value in a world where the printing
presses of the central governments are going off, so central
(32:04):
banks are flocking to gold. You can still get gold though,
I mean, this is the key point. It's not too
late at all. In fact, Birch Gold Group wants a
lot of first gold buyers to consider an entry point now.
And you can convert an existing IRA or four oh
one k with Birch Gold into a tax sheltered IRA
in physical gold. Sorry, in gold, you don't have to
pay a dime out of pocket. Just text my name
(32:25):
Buck to ninety eight ninety eight ninety eight claim your
free infoKit. There's no obligation, just useful information. Best indicator
of the past is the future. Gold has historically been
a safe haven for decades. Text Buck to ninety eight
ninety eight ninety eight to claim your free infoKit on gold.
That's Buck. Text Buck to ninety eight ninety eight, ninety eight.
Get with Birch Gold Group today.
Speaker 9 (32:49):
Keep up with the biggest political comeback in world history
on the Team forty seven podcast. Clay and Buck highlight
Trump free plays from the week Sunday's at noon Eastern.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
Find it out on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
All right, we're closing up shot today and Clay and
Buck want to give you a reminder to go check
out Crockett Coffee. My friends, Crockett Coffee dot com. Join
the army of Clay and Buck listeners who are subscribers
and get their coffee from Crockett. Remember, ten percent of
our profits at the end of the year goes to
Tunnel the Towers Foundation. And we've got all the different kinds.
We've got whole being, ground being, all the different versions
(33:25):
of coffee want we can give you. But also we've
got the mushroom coffee. If you never tried it, it's
really fun. And yeah, I just think you should be
drinking Crockett coffee because the communists will that you get
from other places is supporting the destruction of Western civilization.
So no big deal. We actually celebrate Western civilization. Crockett
Coffee dot Com. Please check it out and subscribe. Now
(33:47):
we've got let's do talkbacks here, and guys, let me
know if I always get the live calls and the
talkbacks confused in my head. Let me know which live
calls and which are talkbacks. This is talkback c See
he's are. Radio listener Adam from New York play it,
Donald Trump is the leader of the Democrat Party. Whatever
Donald Trump does, they fight this. I mean, he definitely
(34:10):
is like the director of the Democrat Party. He he points,
you know, he can flash his light. He can flash
his flash light in one direction and they all run
after it and they chase it. You know, he can
just be the shiny object for them and they will
all chase it down. It is remarkable. He has their number,
no question about it. DD podcast listener Mike from Fort Worth,
(34:31):
Texas hit it.
Speaker 8 (34:32):
I think the reason why working class likes Trump is
because we know that he's not really working class, but
he appreciates the working class, and he doesn't try to
pretend to be the working class like some of these
other politicians try to do at the last minute when
they want our votes. Trump genuinely likes working class people
and we.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Can see that totally. That's a spot on assessment. Totally
agree with that. I think I've said similar things in
the asked that is correct. Trump is Trump is authentic
in who he is in all respects, and he authentically
respects and has connection to working class people, but does
not pretend to be himself working class right obviously. And
(35:16):
that's the thing that that's what I meant by like, Oh,
I'm wearing my Carhart jacket at election time, and i
look at my Timberland boots and I'm you know, the
what's his name, Tim Walls thing. People can see that
and people can just pick up on that stuff right away.
Let's see now, Jacqueline in Brooklyn wants to chat. We
a lot of New York calls and talkbacks.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
That it.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
What's up, Jacqueline, Hi Buck.
Speaker 10 (35:39):
You know on this topic, when you were talking about
the difference between Pritsker and President Trump, I think people
maybe forget that President Trump actually, although he may have
had an advantage with his start in life with who
his father was, he did work. He worked every single day.
He went around to all of his father's buildings in
Brooklyn collect the rents. He also when he started to
(36:02):
become a builder in his own right, as a very
young man, he was on those job sites. I even
remember a story that I had heard. I don't remember
who told it, but he had come home from work
one day and went to Trump Tower and he asked
his son Don Junior to bring him a coke and
the son smart Maldaman says, we'll get up and get
(36:23):
it yourself. And he turned around and looked at his
wife Ivanna at the time, and you know was understood. Hey,
I was busting my behind all day long to provide
for you. You came when you get me something nice and
cold to drink because I've been out sweating all day
long on a construction site.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Anytime, Yeah, no, Jacqueline, it's we're at time. It's a
very good point. And uh yeah, I mean, no one
could give Trump the most successful show on television. No
one could give him the global brand that he built.
I mean Trump built all that stuff.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
Hosts And Creators
Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
Show Links
WebsiteNewsletterPopular Podcasts
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.
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
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.