May 6, 2026 • 36 mins
In Hour 3 of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, the hosts deliver a policy-heavy and globally focused final hour that centers on U.S. foreign policy, Middle East tensions, energy markets, and their direct impact on American voters and the economy, while also incorporating listener engagement and a deeply reflective interview tied to the legacy of 9/11. This third hour of the program emphasizes how international conflict, oil supply, and geopolitical stability are closely tied to domestic political outcomes—especially heading into midterm elections.
The hour begins with an in-depth discussion of U.S.–Iran relations and the aftermath of military operations affecting the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping chokepoint. Clay and Buck highlight comments from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who framed recent U.S. actions as necessary to restore freedom of navigation and deter Iran from targeting commercial shipping. The hosts stress that disruptions in the region have direct consequences for global oil supply, and therefore for gas prices, inflation, and the cost of living in the United States. They repeatedly underscore that energy prices are one of the most important political issues for voters, making the Iran situation a central concern for the Trump administration’s economic agenda.
A key theme in Hour 3 is skepticism about diplomatic solutions with Iran. The hosts question whether any agreement—particularly a temporary or preliminary deal—can be trusted, arguing that Iran’s long-term strategic goal of maintaining or developing nuclear capability remains unchanged. They discuss the difference between a superficial agreement and a more substantive deal involving verification measures, uranium limits, and enforcement mechanisms, warning that anything short of that could simply delay future conflict. This leads to a broader analysis of long-term U.S. strategy in the Middle East, with the hosts suggesting that a permanent resolution may be unlikely and that a policy of ongoing containment or “managing the threat” could be the most realistic outcome.
The conversation expands into nuclear deterrence and global security, comparing Iran’s ambitions to countries like North Korea, and debating whether nuclear capability would stabilize or further destabilize the region. The hosts also examine the economic leverage of oil production, suggesting that restricting Iran’s ability to export energy could weaken the regime significantly, but also acknowledging that such actions could have broader humanitarian and geopolitical consequences.
Throughout the segment, Clay and Buck tie foreign policy decisions directly to domestic political strategy, arguing that lower gas prices and stable markets are essential for electoral success. They note that stock markets reacting positively and oil prices declining may signal confidence in a potential de-escalation, but they caution that the situation remains volatile and unresolved.
The tone of Hour 3 then shifts with a transition into listener talkbacks, where the audience engages in a discussion about military history and strategic brilliance. Listeners contribute examples of historic leaders and battles—from Alexander the Great to Civil War engagements like Gettysburg—creating an interactive and educational segment that blends history, strategy, and entertainment. The hosts engage enthusiastically, analyzing battlefield tactics and the broader implications of military decision-making.
The most impactful portion of Hour 3 of the program comes during an in-depth interview with Frank Siller of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which brings a powerful and emotional focus to the hour. Siller recounts the story of his brother, a New York City firefighter who died on September 11, 2001, after rushing into the World Trade Center to save lives. The discussion highlights the foundation’s mission to support first responders, military families, and Gold Star families, as well as its long-standing commitment to ensuring that the events of 9/11 are never forgotten.
The interview also centers on preparations for the 25th anniversary of 9/11, including a nationwide initiative involving the transport of a steel beam from the World Trade Center across the United States. This “Steel Across America” tour is designed to educate younger generations, honor those who died, and reconnect communities with the historical significance of the attacks. The hosts and Siller emphasize concerns that many young Americans have no direct memory of 9/11, making these efforts critical for preserving national awareness and historical understanding.
The hour concludes with additional listener feedback and lighter commentary, including reactions from the audience and brief observations on current events, maintaining the show’s balance between serious policy discu
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Third hour of play and Bok kicks off right now.
Thanks for being here with us. Everybody got a few
things to dive into with you, including the Secretary of
State slash National Security Advisor slash Director of US AID
and International Development slash, et cetera, et cetera, slash DJ
(00:24):
Marco Rubio. How they press briefing yesterday and he talked
a bit about some of the top issues.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Affecting the country.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
And let's actually, Clay, let's get into some of this
because this is now people who say to us, well,
we need to focus here at home. The price of
gas is directly correlated to the situation in Iran. The
stratiform moves. We all know that. So the sooner this
thing gets to a level, and I think there's already
(00:53):
a bit of a price drop today this morning, right, Clay,
you're watching this stuff very closely, so you've already seen
that the movement towards some kind of more permanent situation,
or even if it's semi permanent, has brought the price
down a bit. And this is I think the biggest
vulnerability that Republicans have, one of the biggest vulnerabilities for
(01:15):
sure going into the midterm election.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So with all of that said, it.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Really matters to us here at home. First of all,
because you're paying a lot, You've got a fifty sixty
percent jump in the price of gas you're putting in
your car. It also affects the price of a lot
of other things in the store, especially over time that
gets priced in.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And so we want to get this fixed.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And here's where Mark Rubio, who I think has been
a steadying presence of Trump's top advisors, especially on well
he's the Secretary of State, especially on foreign policy matters.
Though this is cut thirteen, and he's saying, look, we're
basically in the final We're in the cleanup, shake Hans,
finish this thing off phase of Play thirteen.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieve the objectives of
that operation. We're not cheering for an additional situation to occur.
We would prefer the path of peace. What the President
would prefer is a deal. He would prefer to sit down,
work out a memorandum of understanding for future negotiations that
touches on all the key topics that have to be addressed.
A full opening of the straits so the world can
get back to normal, and he preferred to that being
(02:21):
negotiated through the route that Steve and Jarrett have been
working and that all of us have been supporting. That's
the route he prefers that is so far not the
route that Iron has chosen. And so the result has
been that the United States has to do something about
the fact that we're the only nation on Earth that
can do anything to open up a lane within the
straits of ourmus to get product and to rescue these
people that are trapped in there, and that's what we're
undergoing now.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Clay He also said that there's not nearly enough outrage,
whether here at home from the media or around the world.
But the fact that on what basis does Iran think
it has the right to just tell every country you're
not safe bringing your shipping into this international waterway is
cut twelve right now.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You have a country who is unlawfully, criminally and illegally
taking possession of an international waterway and blowing up commercial
vessels and putting mines in the water. I don't know
people appreciate like how outrageous this is, how unacceptable it
is that any country would fire and try to sink
commercial vessels or put mines in the water.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Both of these things are illegal.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
In classic Middle East Islamic terrorist fashion, Clay, they're taking
the straight hostage. That's what's been going on here, and
it just shows you, I think more about what we're dealing.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
With with the Irani with the Iranian regime that's in charge,
they'll do anything.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
I not only that, Buck, I watched a lot of
that Marco Rubio press conference yesterday, which came right after
we went off the air. Trump has put together maybe
the best communication team that we have ever seen across cabinet.
Think about how bad Democrats are at explaining anything and
(04:00):
how rarely any of them ever stand up and take
real questions that are designed to trip them up or
create challenging arguments to make whether I mean that same
yesterday morning, Buck Hegseeth took long term questions, long form
questions for a while. Rubio did we know? Jd Vance
(04:21):
is very skilled at it. Trump himself is very solid.
I just think making people aware of why we have
to do the things that we do from a media
that is not going to be very helpful is a
huge part of the challenge that the Trump administration faces,
and frankly that everybody's going to face going forward, and
(04:42):
there is an elite cadre of communicators that President Trump
has brought to bear here. But this also ties in
with a lot of discussion we were having yesterday. It's
great that oil and gas prices have come back down
six dollars. There's optimism that we may have a peace
agreement of sorts sooner rather than later. You've also got,
(05:05):
like I said, stock market price is soaring to all
time record highs. But I think this is where I
kind of pull back a little bit. The challenge on this,
as you have been saying for some time, is Iran
can agree to things. Can you trust them to follow
through on anything that they say to any degree?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Nope, not at all.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
This is where I think this becomes a huge I'm
just telling you we all know this. I don't think
any of you would even really disagree. A memorandum with
Iran is not worth anything. The moment the Iranians think
they can get away with getting out of it, or
ignoring it or double crossing us, that's who we're dealing with.
(05:50):
That's always who we've been dealing with. So now you
might say, well, so, how is that even different from
a final status agreement. The final status agreement would be
something like, we have inspections on this timeline. You're giving
us all the uranium. Right, there are things, there are
concrete steps that could be a true, essentially surrender by
(06:13):
the Iranian regime as it pertains to nuke's nuclear ambitions
all of that if they do any halfway measure, and
the Trump administration says, see, we've agreed to I've told
you this along, We've agreed to agree to something else
in the future. Yeah, okay, We've kicked our asses for
a while, and their military is a joke compared to
(06:36):
ours and all this other stuff. We took out a
lot of their leadership. They're going to replace that leadership.
Once the oil flows, They're gonna have plenty of money.
They're gonna start rebuilding all of their stuff. And we're
going to be dealing with this again. I don't know
how long. But that is the reality. And anyone who's
telling you otherwise is I think living in a bit
of a fantasy land. So what would be the reason
for Trump to do that with the team. They want
(06:56):
to bring gas prices down, They don't want to get
crushed in the midterm elections, and they want to take
this off the off the table as an economic issue.
The Iranians know that, So this is really the negotiation that's.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Happening right now.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Currently we still have the blockaded Iranian stuff in place. Now,
maybe Clay the idea is we're going to leave this
pressure on them such that they reach tank tops, which
is a phrase that I have learned researching this, where
you no longer can even put oil in any of
the places where you can store oil, and then you
can't take it out of the ground, and then you
(07:27):
have I don't even know how this all works, other
than basically your oil comes to a screeching halt, you know,
oil business, and that is a big problem. And then essentially,
if we've destroyed the Iranian oil economy for the foreseeable future,
well then we've just impoverished the whole country. So maybe
(07:48):
that is Trump I mean, maybe that is Trump's actual
final stage here is We're not just going to destroy
your nuclear program. We're going to we're going to irreparably
cripple your economy if you don't agree.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
My concern.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
So there's a couple of things that stand out here.
I don't know if you saw this report, but one
of the Biden team actually came out and said, yeah,
we understood that we were going to have to strike
Iran at some point in the second term. And you know,
Democrats have come out and said, oh my goodness, how
dare Trump do this?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And everything else.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
I actually thought that was an interesting statement because it
does suggest that American intelligence is pretty consistent across parties
that there was something that was going to have to
be done with Iran. The question that I think is
going to loom is to what degree are the people
(08:49):
who come to power actually able to direct consistently Iran.
I don't know the answer to that. I think the
Trump team has no idea. We've wiped out so many
of their leadership, how much of that is going to
devolve into an internal power struggle in that country. Internal
power struggles in countries typically mean that the country itself
(09:09):
is not doing well, which increases the overall pressure internally
for something to kind of blow. And by the way,
it could blow in either a good or a bad direction.
But I think your analogy you made a while back
of basically, we're just going to have to keep mowing
the grass with Iran if we want to keep them
from being North Korea is the most likely outcome based
(09:32):
on what seems to be going right now. That Trump
may have taken care of Iran for the rest of
his term, but come twenty twenty nine, when a new
president comes into office, this is not necessarily going to
be a situation that has been resolved, and we're going
to continue to have to deal with it.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And people are going to point out that if it
is not resolved, then the actual mission has not been accomplished,
the actual state admission by the administration, which is that
Roan will never ever be able to get a nuclear weapon. So,
you know, it's a little bit of a mixed bag
situation now.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Again to be fair, to be fair, other than wiping
out this administration and having a brand new administration come
in that's going to work with the United States, it's
virtually impossible to get Iran to give up it's pursued
a nuclear weapon because having a nuclear weapon is eminently
rational for them, because if they had one, they would
(10:25):
be able to stay in power forever. Right, So I
think it's sometimes you have to kind of take a
step back and we can all agree, like man, it
would suck. If Iran had a nuclear weapon, they could
be like North Korea. But it was eminently reasonable of
North Korea to get a nuclear weapon, and it's eminently
reasonable of Iran to get a nuclear weapon because if
they had one, we wouldn't have done.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
What we just did to them, nor what is well.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
And a big part of this debate all along has
been if Iran got a new would they first strike Israel?
I mean, this is real, This really gets to the
heart of it. It's not just this is why it's
different than North Korea, at least in the analysis of
some people. Now, there are I think, like Meersheimer wrote
some article years ago, or he was saying that that's crazy.
I mean, there are people out there in the foreign
(11:07):
policy a lot of them in the foreign policy establishment,
who say that Iran is rational enough that they wouldn't
do that because a first strike on Israel would result
in nuclear retaliation against Iran. And so what's you know,
You're you're essentially in a US Soviet nineteen you know,
circa nineteen fifty something to nineteen eighty something Cold war standoff.
(11:27):
So maybe that would create some form of stasis. But
Israel obviously doesn't want that, doesn't feel comfortable or safe
with that, and so they're trying to prevent that from happening.
But that's why this is so. India got nukes, wasn't
supposed to have them Pakistan as nukes. In fact, India
and Pakistan having nukes, people are really only.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Concerned, a little bit nervous, a little bit.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah, they're really only concerned that they're gonna use them
on each other though, right, this is the but that's
the way things have gone there, So it's it's gonna
be it's gonna be interesting to see what happens with
this deal. I'm just telling though, if we get a
deal to make a deal, the Iranians are living to fight.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
The regime is living to fight another day. That is
just the truth. Someone can get mad at me for
saying it, but I'm right.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
If Trump implodes the whole Iranian oil economy such that
it would take years and years to rebuild and they
won't have access to hard currency reserve because they wouldn't
make a deal, that's a different situation. But now you're
talking about turning Iran into like Yemen, which is a
really the poorest Middle East country because it has really
no naturally, it doesn't even have enough water. That's that's
(12:33):
a whole different situation you will have created there. So
I don't know, it's gonna be interesting how it plays out.
A lot of optimism from the administration though positive SMP
five hundred just hit a.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
New record high. So that's the end result. Maybe that
the mode of the grass strategy for years to come
with Iran is basically what the markets have priced in,
and so this result is kind of what they're anticipating.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
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on supply. We know this basic law of economics. Gold
is one of those commodities, and it has grown in
value because, yeah, it's hard to find. You can't just
print it. You can't just make it appear on a
computer screen and pretend it's there. Gold is real, it
is solid, it exists, it is valuable, and that's why
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(13:21):
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Speaker 4 (14:01):
Your pals plain Buck on the iHeart ass Welcome back
in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. Appreciate all of you
hanging out with us. Buck is running out. He is
headed to DC. Producer Ali said Rush used to say
that he has top secret meetings, So Buck will be
engaged in top secret meetings, but he will be on
(14:23):
the show tomorrow from DC, So just fy he's head
of the airport. We have got a ton of you
that sent us awesome talkbacks, and I want to make
sure that we run through many of these because so
many of them were super interesting, and I'm scrolling through. Guys,
let's just start if we can with let's see with
(14:45):
A I believe, which is the first of the talkback crew,
and this is Frank in Arizona, and we were talking
about brilliant military maneuvers, and so many of you have
talked back cut A.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
Yeah, Frank in Arizona, it's a little before our time.
But anything Alexander the Great ever did was probably the
most brilliant tactician that ever lived, usually about twenty thousand
men in his army going up against hundreds of thousands,
if not a million men and Persian armies and Oriental campaigns.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
There you were talking about American military maneuvers. But yes,
Alexander the Great, kind of a significant military figure. Sean
in San Diego Cutbee.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
The greatest move in military history, I believe it is
done by Brigadier General bufer Is stopped events some of
the Southern troops at Gettysburg to give the Union the high.
Speaker 7 (15:45):
Ground in that battle.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
Oh man, I could talk all day about the Battle
of Gettysburg.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
That is my wheelhouse.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
I did Civil War sleep away history camp at Gettysburg
back in the day and that is absolutely just every
aspect of that battle super interesting. I would point out
that Buford may have chosen the battle ground of Gettysburg,
but it was the failure of Ewle to take Coulps
(16:16):
Hill on the first day when there was no one
there at all on the top of it because Ewell
had taken over. This goes into the weeds for Stonewall Jackson.
They had split that core and Stonewall Jackson would have
taken Coulps Hill, and frankly, I think the South would
have won the war if Stonewall Jackson hadn't been killed
shot by his own troops at the Battle of Chancellorsville
(16:38):
after what I argued was maybe the greatest military maneuver
of all time. I think Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg Lee
wins that battle and the South may well have won
the war. I did want to clear up one thing
that I said yesterday. I got the name wrong of
the general that was in charge at the at best
(17:00):
knowone who was refusing to surrender, and a lot of
you have continued to weigh in there. I said, Mad
Anthony Wayne. Mad Anthony Wayne was a Revolutionary Revolutionary War
general and if you go back and look at the
at the Battle of the Bulge, it was a different
(17:22):
Anthony Anthony mccauliffe for responsible for saying nuts.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Somebody emailed me that a couple of you did.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
I got the general wrong there, so I got Anthony right,
but not Anthony Wayne Anthony mccalliffe. That may be the
nerdiest of the corrections that we've ever had. I'll play
some more of those cuts for you before the show
is over. We're going to be joined by Frank Siller
of Tunnel to Towers and we'll talk about the twenty
fifth anniversary of nine to eleven and what he has
planned for that twenty fifth anniversary of nine to eleven
(17:52):
when we come back. But I want to tell you
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(18:16):
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Buck Well Becking Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. We are
joined now by our friend Frank Siller, who does incredible words.
(19:00):
Tunnel to Towers twenty fifth anniversary of nine to eleven
coming up. Frank, I've had a good fortune to work
with you and hopefully be a small part of helping
you do so much incredible phenomenal work. Can you believe
that it has been twenty five years since nine to eleven?
And I know that people, some of them may have
(19:20):
heard this story before, But can you tell us about
what happened on that day that inspired Tunnels to Towers
and why you have continued to work so zealously since
that day?
Speaker 7 (19:33):
Sure, Clayton, thanks for having me on. I always appreciate
it and thank you for your great support. You personally
have come to plenty of our fundraising events and helped
us raise the kind of money that we need to
raise and do the kind of great work that we do.
So thank you. I want to start with that. So
on September eleventh, two thousand and one, you know, my
brother was a New York City five fight it. We
(19:53):
was just finished his night tour in his firehouse squad
Worn in Brooklyn. It was on his way home to
play golf with my brother Russ, my brother George, and myself.
The four brothers were going to have around the golf
and he heard on his radio scanner that the North
Tower was hit. So we turned his truck around, called
his wife, said to him, telling my brothers, I'll try
(20:14):
to catch up with him later, and went back to
his firehouse. You know, got his gear, so he drove
to the mouth of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel was closed
for security reasons, so he strapped sixty pounds of gear
on his back. He ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel,
which is one point seven miles long, up West Street
into the South towern going up those stairs and saving people.
(20:37):
He gave up his life. And you know the thing
about my brother Stephen, and he was the youngest of
seven of siblings. He was our little brother, but a
lot younger than we were. He was he was a
little miracle when he was born. My oldest brother was
twenty four years older than him, and I was fourteen
years closest in age, and I was fourteen years older
(20:57):
than him. So he was all little miracle. He was married,
had five beautiful children, all under the ages of nine
nine and under. And he made a tremendous sacrifice. So
as a family, we just didn't want his legacy, or
his life, or his or his sacrifice, I should say,
(21:18):
and there and we decided we were going to do
small acts of kindness and start a foundation with small
acts of kindness in his honor and his memory and
of all those who perished on that day.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Twenty five years later.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
And I know this is going to stagger a lot
of people, But college kids now been born, raised graduated
from college post nine to eleven. Some young lawyers have
now been born and been raised and graduated post nine
to eleven. How well do you think kids these days
(21:53):
understand what happened on nine to eleven. It's ancient history
to some of some of them, what do they know
based on your experience?
Speaker 7 (22:01):
Well, this is what I know. The people that I
deal with all the time, the people who donate to
the foundation and those who serve our country, our communities.
Their families. No, there's no question about their kids. No,
they're involved in a way that I would like to
see most of America to be involved, to be quite
frank with you, but there's many families that have no
clue of really what happened on September eleventh, two thousand
(22:25):
and one. And that is why it is so important
on what we're doing. I want to say that we've
been trying to get the word out there to young
kids for a long time. We have a curriculum right
now that's on our website T two T dot org.
You could download it. It's age appropriate K through twelve.
It is incredible the stories of nine to eleven that
(22:45):
we have on our website because our first mission was
always to out of the sacrifice and to never forget,
never forget, and they're that's just words with us. We
mean it, and we and we prove it by having
all this at your fingertips literally to find out the
story is a nine to eleven. If you just want to,
(23:05):
if you're a parent and you're listening, go to T
two T dot organ and download whatever your age kid,
and you could tell them what happened on nine eleven.
If you're a teacher, do for your classroom, if you're
a principal, do it for your school. You know, and
we've had millions of people who have done it so far.
But this year, because it's a twenty fifth anniversary, we
(23:26):
were given a large I beam from the South Tower.
It's twenty six feet long, sixteen nine hundred pounds is
what it weighs. It's an incredible, impressive looking piece of
steel and concrete and we're taking that all over the
United States to make sure shine a light on what
happened twenty five years ago.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
If people are and I'm sure Buck and I at
different points in time, will be involved in this, but
if people are interested in the Steel Across America tour
kicked off this past weekend ground zero. How many different
places are you going?
Speaker 7 (24:04):
There's thirty five, approximately thirty five stops. It might be
a few more in there, but thirty five of the
plan right now. And we've been working on this for
fifteen months. So this is not something that is just
thought of and say, hey, wouldn't it be nice. No,
this is a very thought out process that we have
going that to make sure that we are out of
(24:26):
the sacrifice. Where are we going? We're going to so
many important places. Like you said, we started at ground zero.
Just this past Saturday was the first day that we
started the event. I was with one of my brother's
five kids. His youngest son, Steven Jr. Was there. He spoke,
helped kick off the steal. We had an unbelievable honor God.
(24:48):
We got three hundred forty three fire fighters with the
banners of those who died on nine to eleven, the
three hundred and forty three firefighters who died, pictures of them,
the police officers banners of them who died, Portothority police officers,
court offices. And that was the honor guard basically of
us walking from ground zero and then and then down
(25:09):
Broadway with this beautiful truck that we design and that
is carrying the sacred piece of steel. And why am
I saying it's sacred. There's many reasons why it's sacred.
Number one. It's part of history that it was at
ground zero. It was in the South tower. South Tower
is where I lost my brother. My brother's body was
never recovered. It has the soul of so many different people,
(25:31):
my brother for sure. It has in that piece of steel.
And I want people excuse me, Clay, I want people
who go to the steel, and we have steps that
they can go up and touch the steel. I want
them to put their hand on it. I want them
to feel the sacrifice that was made that day. I
want them to feel that these men and women were
running in these buildings saving people and gave up their
(25:54):
lives and left their families behind. I want them to
feel the resolve they had in the strength of America
ever since, and that so many seven thousand men and
women have died on the global War on Terror ever since.
So I want them to feel that when they put
their hand on that steal. And that's where that's why
it is so important that it's going around all over
(26:14):
the United States. This coming Thursday, we're going to be
in excuse me, tomorrow, I'm gonna be We're gonna be
in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We're Flight ninety three. The forty heroes
that took the plane down Todd Beamer's famous words, let's
let's roll and hear these guys taking didn't let these
hijackets fly it into the Capitol or wherever it was going.
(26:38):
Maybe the White House didn't let it go, took the
plane down and saved people on the ground. The first
heroes of nine to eleven. We're in that flight ninety three,
and we're gonna be there tomorrow with some family members.
I walked there. I think you recalled this five years ago.
I walked from the Pentagon to Shanksville to Round zero
(27:00):
to commemorate, commemorate the twentieth anniversary of nine to eleven,
And now we're doing this with a piece of steel
all across America.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Where will you be on nine to eleven, the twenty
fifth anniversary this fall?
Speaker 7 (27:16):
So I'm going to answer that by saying, we're going
to be on nine to nine. First, on two days beforehand,
we're going to be down at the White House with
the steel with a couple thousand people invitation only, and
the President is going to be joining us, and we're
going to have a ceremony there. From there, we have
(27:38):
an honor guard moticaide of fire trucks, police cars, motorcycles.
They're going to go up High ninety five Route ninety
five all the way up to New York and on
nine to eleven, that piece of steel is going to
be with me on the Brooklyn side in New York,
(28:00):
and I'm going to escort it with my family through
the tunnel, just like my brother ran through that day
through that tunnel twenty five years ago. And we're going
to have a beautiful ceremony right there at ground zero afterwards.
So it's a perfect way to start it. We started
at ground zero, We're going to end it at ground
(28:20):
zero for this piece of steel. And it means a
lot to a lot of people that the reaction we're
getting Clay is overwhelming.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
We're talking to Frank Siller Tunnel to Towers. You can
join Buck and me en joining in donating to Tunnel
to Towers. By the way, President Trump news brief unexpected.
According to Fox News, Trump event in the Oval Office.
I would think maybe it would have something to do
with and Ran. That's just me speculating, but we will
follow that if it happens before the end of the program.
(28:51):
If it does not, I'm sure, Sean Hannity will be
talking about it. But since I see that headline come up.
You've known President Trump for a long time. Most people
out in the audience will not get the opportunity to
meet President Trump. They see him from afar. What's he
like from your experience, Frank, I'm going to.
Speaker 7 (29:08):
Give you just one little, quick little story. Somebody was
doing the fundraiser at mar Largo for US about a
month ago, and the President was having dinner there. Now,
the fundraiser was for Tunnel to Towers. He heard about it.
I went up to say load to him he was
having Then he got up and came over to me.
He goes, Frank, I understand, you have a big event
going on downstairs. Let's go down and say a load
(29:30):
to them. He goes downstairs. I walked down there with him.
I didn't ask him to go down there and talk
to everybody to do this. He goes downstairs, he walks
in and he starts talking about the Tunnel to Towers
Foundation and all the work that we're doing. How we
help you know, those you know, catastrophically injured service members,
We build them smart homes, you know, pay off the mortgages,
to gold Stock families and fall the first responders. He
(29:52):
starts going through the litany of things that the Tunnel
Touts Foundation does and then he says, and for the
twenty fifty year, they have this piece of steel coming
all over the United States, and they're coming to the
White House because I met him in the Oval Office
and I told him about this steal, and I said, Frank,
oh my god, yes, I want this to come to
the White House. And it's so important that we do
it to make sure we never forget. He lost a
(30:13):
lot of friends that day. He's a New Yorker, He's
a regular guy. He would do so much. He does
so much for so many people, and he's done a
lot for the Tunnel to Tawa's Foundation.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
For sure.
Speaker 7 (30:25):
He loves America. He cares about those who serve our
country and those who serve our community. And he has
that back and he proves it every single day.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
All Right, I'll leave it with this, and you guys
do incredible work. And again, Buck and I are going
to be doing a bunch to continue to help raise
money during this twenty fifth anniversary year. I know you
have seven grandkids. Six of them are big sports fans.
Do any of them have the misfortune to be New
York Mets fans.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
My brother Stephen was the biggest New York Mets fan
that you can believe that you can.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
So you're a Yankees guy, right, you're a Yankees guy.
Speaker 7 (31:04):
I'm not. I am not a Yankees.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Oh I thought you were a Yankees guy.
Speaker 7 (31:09):
No, no, no, no, I'm not. I don't care about Well,
you have.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
So many Yankees at the at the Tunne of the
Towers events.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
They love you. I thought that's true.
Speaker 7 (31:21):
Golf outing for us on Monday. He's a great guy,
you know, you know again. And Andy Pettitt, you know
he did the B s A for me, But so
so have uh Alonso sorry, uh he did stuff for
me and Terry Collins and John Franco. So we have
a lot of big athletes that have done a lot
(31:42):
of stuff for us for the Tunnels to Tawis Foundation.
I'll tell you what, finn I am. I'm a fan
for anybody who was willing to help those who need
the kind of help that these families need. Uh, that
that pay the ultimate sacrifice for our country and and
their families need to be taken care of it. If
they're out there trying to help tunnel to Tallas Foundation
(32:04):
because they know we don't waste their money. You donate
eleven dollars a month, and we do it on the
back of eleven dollars a month, you know, you know,
and they're pushing that for us, you know, from Stalloan
that doesn't. Mark Wahlberger does it. For Kevin James, that
does it. You know, it's it's it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
For people who want to donate, where can they go?
Speaker 7 (32:26):
T two T dot org s T.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Two T dot org.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
By the way, I said that I thought Trump might
be having a press conference to talk about the Iran situation.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
It's actually the UFC. Uh.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
So he's got a bunch of UFC fighters probably for
the June event. All right, there you go, Frank, it's
gonna be a big one on the lawn.
Speaker 8 (32:52):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
That's gonna be a heck of one. So that I'm
sure he'll address other things. But there is a UFC
title belt on the resolute desk right now for President
Trump's press conference.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Frank, keep up the good work.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
We encourage everybody out there go donate and we look
forward to helping you this fall.
Speaker 7 (33:09):
Thank you as always play God bless.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
Frank Ziller does amazing work. Encourage you to check out
tunnel the towers and do everything that you can with them.
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Speaker 2 (34:33):
Preset Clay and Buck on the iHeart app.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
Welcome back in Clay, Travis Buck Sexton show. My thanks
to Frank Siller. Also to our buddy Jim Jordan, congressman
from Ohio. Trump is talking about the UFC to fifty event,
but we do have record high stock prices. We'll see
if he takes questions about anything other than the UFC.
I'm sure, Sean Hannity, we'll keep you updated on that
(34:57):
on many of the same stations. We'll be try to
hit a bunch of your podcast talkbacks. Many of them
are great. Danny in South Carolina podcast listener d Clay.
Speaker 9 (35:08):
This is Danny from South Carolina. Let'll tell you somebody,
you are a fool. If you are going to go
swim in the ocean swimming around in a shark's food dish,
It's probably not the ideal situation.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Just saying that is not a bad play.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
Let's see podcast listener Brian in God's Country, Franklin Tennessee
says he liked yesterday's show a lot, a lot of
good positive feedback.
Speaker 7 (35:36):
Gee, gotta give you guys an a today.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
It was one of the best shows you guys have
ever known.
Speaker 5 (35:42):
It started with the Tennessee Man Deadliest Catch Lobsters.
Speaker 7 (35:49):
That was awesome. Buck, I was somebody to pick up
on that.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
I gotta be honest with the lobsters, crabs, They're all
the same thing in Bloomfield, New Jersey, wr New York
City Land.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
What you got for us?
Speaker 8 (36:04):
Hi, guys love the show. Thank you Buck for using
the proper verbiage. When you said join Buck and me
against Haate. So many people would have said join Buck
and Eye, and it's not correct. It's bucking me. Take
out the additional person, join me in fighting against Tate,
Join bucking me.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
There's a lot of grammar people here, but I do
think I've gotten better at I and me bucking me,
not bucking' I. Podcast listener Kimmy and Virginia says good
riddance to the Virginia state senator being rated today Senate
pro Tempt cut Jay.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
It is the best day ever.
Speaker 8 (36:45):
Louise Locus rated by the FBI at good point.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Oh, there you go. Gunpoint. We'll see tomorrow.
Third hour of play and Bok kicks off right now.
Thanks for being here with us. Everybody got a few
things to dive into with you, including the Secretary of
State slash National Security Advisor slash Director of US AID
and International Development slash, et cetera, et cetera, slash DJ
(00:24):
Marco Rubio. How they press briefing yesterday and he talked
a bit about some of the top issues.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Affecting the country.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
And let's actually, Clay, let's get into some of this
because this is now people who say to us, well,
we need to focus here at home. The price of
gas is directly correlated to the situation in Iran. The
stratiform moves. We all know that. So the sooner this
thing gets to a level, and I think there's already
(00:53):
a bit of a price drop today this morning, right, Clay,
you're watching this stuff very closely, so you've already seen
that the movement towards some kind of more permanent situation,
or even if it's semi permanent, has brought the price
down a bit. And this is I think the biggest
vulnerability that Republicans have, one of the biggest vulnerabilities for
(01:15):
sure going into the midterm election.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So with all of that said, it.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Really matters to us here at home. First of all,
because you're paying a lot, You've got a fifty sixty
percent jump in the price of gas you're putting in
your car. It also affects the price of a lot
of other things in the store, especially over time that
gets priced in.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And so we want to get this fixed.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And here's where Mark Rubio, who I think has been
a steadying presence of Trump's top advisors, especially on well
he's the Secretary of State, especially on foreign policy matters.
Though this is cut thirteen, and he's saying, look, we're
basically in the final We're in the cleanup, shake Hans,
finish this thing off phase of Play thirteen.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieve the objectives of
that operation. We're not cheering for an additional situation to occur.
We would prefer the path of peace. What the President
would prefer is a deal. He would prefer to sit down,
work out a memorandum of understanding for future negotiations that
touches on all the key topics that have to be addressed.
A full opening of the straits so the world can
get back to normal, and he preferred to that being
(02:21):
negotiated through the route that Steve and Jarrett have been
working and that all of us have been supporting. That's
the route he prefers that is so far not the
route that Iron has chosen. And so the result has
been that the United States has to do something about
the fact that we're the only nation on Earth that
can do anything to open up a lane within the
straits of ourmus to get product and to rescue these
people that are trapped in there, and that's what we're
undergoing now.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Clay He also said that there's not nearly enough outrage,
whether here at home from the media or around the world.
But the fact that on what basis does Iran think
it has the right to just tell every country you're
not safe bringing your shipping into this international waterway is
cut twelve right now.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You have a country who is unlawfully, criminally and illegally
taking possession of an international waterway and blowing up commercial
vessels and putting mines in the water. I don't know
people appreciate like how outrageous this is, how unacceptable it
is that any country would fire and try to sink
commercial vessels or put mines in the water.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Both of these things are illegal.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
In classic Middle East Islamic terrorist fashion, Clay, they're taking
the straight hostage. That's what's been going on here, and
it just shows you, I think more about what we're dealing.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
With with the Irani with the Iranian regime that's in charge,
they'll do anything.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
I not only that, Buck, I watched a lot of
that Marco Rubio press conference yesterday, which came right after
we went off the air. Trump has put together maybe
the best communication team that we have ever seen across cabinet.
Think about how bad Democrats are at explaining anything and
(04:00):
how rarely any of them ever stand up and take
real questions that are designed to trip them up or
create challenging arguments to make whether I mean that same
yesterday morning, Buck Hegseeth took long term questions, long form
questions for a while. Rubio did we know? Jd Vance
(04:21):
is very skilled at it. Trump himself is very solid.
I just think making people aware of why we have
to do the things that we do from a media
that is not going to be very helpful is a
huge part of the challenge that the Trump administration faces,
and frankly that everybody's going to face going forward, and
(04:42):
there is an elite cadre of communicators that President Trump
has brought to bear here. But this also ties in
with a lot of discussion we were having yesterday. It's
great that oil and gas prices have come back down
six dollars. There's optimism that we may have a peace
agreement of sorts sooner rather than later. You've also got,
(05:05):
like I said, stock market price is soaring to all
time record highs. But I think this is where I
kind of pull back a little bit. The challenge on this,
as you have been saying for some time, is Iran
can agree to things. Can you trust them to follow
through on anything that they say to any degree?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Nope, not at all.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
This is where I think this becomes a huge I'm
just telling you we all know this. I don't think
any of you would even really disagree. A memorandum with
Iran is not worth anything. The moment the Iranians think
they can get away with getting out of it, or
ignoring it or double crossing us, that's who we're dealing with.
(05:50):
That's always who we've been dealing with. So now you
might say, well, so, how is that even different from
a final status agreement. The final status agreement would be
something like, we have inspections on this timeline. You're giving
us all the uranium. Right, there are things, there are
concrete steps that could be a true, essentially surrender by
(06:13):
the Iranian regime as it pertains to nuke's nuclear ambitions
all of that if they do any halfway measure, and
the Trump administration says, see, we've agreed to I've told
you this along, We've agreed to agree to something else
in the future. Yeah, okay, We've kicked our asses for
a while, and their military is a joke compared to
(06:36):
ours and all this other stuff. We took out a
lot of their leadership. They're going to replace that leadership.
Once the oil flows, They're gonna have plenty of money.
They're gonna start rebuilding all of their stuff. And we're
going to be dealing with this again. I don't know
how long. But that is the reality. And anyone who's
telling you otherwise is I think living in a bit
of a fantasy land. So what would be the reason
for Trump to do that with the team. They want
(06:56):
to bring gas prices down, They don't want to get
crushed in the midterm elections, and they want to take
this off the off the table as an economic issue.
The Iranians know that, So this is really the negotiation that's.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Happening right now.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Currently we still have the blockaded Iranian stuff in place. Now,
maybe Clay the idea is we're going to leave this
pressure on them such that they reach tank tops, which
is a phrase that I have learned researching this, where
you no longer can even put oil in any of
the places where you can store oil, and then you
can't take it out of the ground, and then you
(07:27):
have I don't even know how this all works, other
than basically your oil comes to a screeching halt, you know,
oil business, and that is a big problem. And then essentially,
if we've destroyed the Iranian oil economy for the foreseeable future,
well then we've just impoverished the whole country. So maybe
(07:48):
that is Trump I mean, maybe that is Trump's actual
final stage here is We're not just going to destroy
your nuclear program. We're going to we're going to irreparably
cripple your economy if you don't agree.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
My concern.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
So there's a couple of things that stand out here.
I don't know if you saw this report, but one
of the Biden team actually came out and said, yeah,
we understood that we were going to have to strike
Iran at some point in the second term. And you know,
Democrats have come out and said, oh my goodness, how
dare Trump do this?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And everything else.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
I actually thought that was an interesting statement because it
does suggest that American intelligence is pretty consistent across parties
that there was something that was going to have to
be done with Iran. The question that I think is
going to loom is to what degree are the people
(08:49):
who come to power actually able to direct consistently Iran.
I don't know the answer to that. I think the
Trump team has no idea. We've wiped out so many
of their leadership, how much of that is going to
devolve into an internal power struggle in that country. Internal
power struggles in countries typically mean that the country itself
(09:09):
is not doing well, which increases the overall pressure internally
for something to kind of blow. And by the way,
it could blow in either a good or a bad direction.
But I think your analogy you made a while back
of basically, we're just going to have to keep mowing
the grass with Iran if we want to keep them
from being North Korea is the most likely outcome based
(09:32):
on what seems to be going right now. That Trump
may have taken care of Iran for the rest of
his term, but come twenty twenty nine, when a new
president comes into office, this is not necessarily going to
be a situation that has been resolved, and we're going
to continue to have to deal with it.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And people are going to point out that if it
is not resolved, then the actual mission has not been accomplished,
the actual state admission by the administration, which is that
Roan will never ever be able to get a nuclear weapon. So,
you know, it's a little bit of a mixed bag
situation now.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Again to be fair, to be fair, other than wiping
out this administration and having a brand new administration come
in that's going to work with the United States, it's
virtually impossible to get Iran to give up it's pursued
a nuclear weapon because having a nuclear weapon is eminently
rational for them, because if they had one, they would
(10:25):
be able to stay in power forever. Right, So I
think it's sometimes you have to kind of take a
step back and we can all agree, like man, it
would suck. If Iran had a nuclear weapon, they could
be like North Korea. But it was eminently reasonable of
North Korea to get a nuclear weapon, and it's eminently
reasonable of Iran to get a nuclear weapon because if
they had one, we wouldn't have done.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
What we just did to them, nor what is well.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
And a big part of this debate all along has
been if Iran got a new would they first strike Israel?
I mean, this is real, This really gets to the
heart of it. It's not just this is why it's
different than North Korea, at least in the analysis of
some people. Now, there are I think, like Meersheimer wrote
some article years ago, or he was saying that that's crazy.
I mean, there are people out there in the foreign
(11:07):
policy a lot of them in the foreign policy establishment,
who say that Iran is rational enough that they wouldn't
do that because a first strike on Israel would result
in nuclear retaliation against Iran. And so what's you know,
You're you're essentially in a US Soviet nineteen you know,
circa nineteen fifty something to nineteen eighty something Cold war standoff.
(11:27):
So maybe that would create some form of stasis. But
Israel obviously doesn't want that, doesn't feel comfortable or safe
with that, and so they're trying to prevent that from happening.
But that's why this is so. India got nukes, wasn't
supposed to have them Pakistan as nukes. In fact, India
and Pakistan having nukes, people are really only.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Concerned, a little bit nervous, a little bit.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah, they're really only concerned that they're gonna use them
on each other though, right, this is the but that's
the way things have gone there, So it's it's gonna
be it's gonna be interesting to see what happens with
this deal. I'm just telling though, if we get a
deal to make a deal, the Iranians are living to fight.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
The regime is living to fight another day. That is
just the truth. Someone can get mad at me for
saying it, but I'm right.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
If Trump implodes the whole Iranian oil economy such that
it would take years and years to rebuild and they
won't have access to hard currency reserve because they wouldn't
make a deal, that's a different situation. But now you're
talking about turning Iran into like Yemen, which is a
really the poorest Middle East country because it has really
no naturally, it doesn't even have enough water. That's that's
(12:33):
a whole different situation you will have created there. So
I don't know, it's gonna be interesting how it plays out.
A lot of optimism from the administration though positive SMP
five hundred just hit a.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
New record high. So that's the end result. Maybe that
the mode of the grass strategy for years to come
with Iran is basically what the markets have priced in,
and so this result is kind of what they're anticipating.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
The price of commodities rises and rise and fall based
on supply. We know this basic law of economics. Gold
is one of those commodities, and it has grown in
value because, yeah, it's hard to find. You can't just
print it. You can't just make it appear on a
computer screen and pretend it's there. Gold is real, it
is solid, it exists, it is valuable, and that's why
it's long term value continues to go up. So if
(13:21):
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Speaker 4 (14:01):
Your pals plain Buck on the iHeart ass Welcome back
in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. Appreciate all of you
hanging out with us. Buck is running out. He is
headed to DC. Producer Ali said Rush used to say
that he has top secret meetings, So Buck will be
engaged in top secret meetings, but he will be on
(14:23):
the show tomorrow from DC, So just fy he's head
of the airport. We have got a ton of you
that sent us awesome talkbacks, and I want to make
sure that we run through many of these because so
many of them were super interesting, and I'm scrolling through. Guys,
let's just start if we can with let's see with
(14:45):
A I believe, which is the first of the talkback crew,
and this is Frank in Arizona, and we were talking
about brilliant military maneuvers, and so many of you have
talked back cut A.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
Yeah, Frank in Arizona, it's a little before our time.
But anything Alexander the Great ever did was probably the
most brilliant tactician that ever lived, usually about twenty thousand
men in his army going up against hundreds of thousands,
if not a million men and Persian armies and Oriental campaigns.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
There you were talking about American military maneuvers. But yes,
Alexander the Great, kind of a significant military figure. Sean
in San Diego Cutbee.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
The greatest move in military history, I believe it is
done by Brigadier General bufer Is stopped events some of
the Southern troops at Gettysburg to give the Union the high.
Speaker 7 (15:45):
Ground in that battle.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
Oh man, I could talk all day about the Battle
of Gettysburg.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
That is my wheelhouse.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
I did Civil War sleep away history camp at Gettysburg
back in the day and that is absolutely just every
aspect of that battle super interesting. I would point out
that Buford may have chosen the battle ground of Gettysburg,
but it was the failure of Ewle to take Coulps
(16:16):
Hill on the first day when there was no one
there at all on the top of it because Ewell
had taken over. This goes into the weeds for Stonewall Jackson.
They had split that core and Stonewall Jackson would have
taken Coulps Hill, and frankly, I think the South would
have won the war if Stonewall Jackson hadn't been killed
shot by his own troops at the Battle of Chancellorsville
(16:38):
after what I argued was maybe the greatest military maneuver
of all time. I think Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg Lee
wins that battle and the South may well have won
the war. I did want to clear up one thing
that I said yesterday. I got the name wrong of
the general that was in charge at the at best
(17:00):
knowone who was refusing to surrender, and a lot of
you have continued to weigh in there. I said, Mad
Anthony Wayne. Mad Anthony Wayne was a Revolutionary Revolutionary War
general and if you go back and look at the
at the Battle of the Bulge, it was a different
(17:22):
Anthony Anthony mccauliffe for responsible for saying nuts.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Somebody emailed me that a couple of you did.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
I got the general wrong there, so I got Anthony right,
but not Anthony Wayne Anthony mccalliffe. That may be the
nerdiest of the corrections that we've ever had. I'll play
some more of those cuts for you before the show
is over. We're going to be joined by Frank Siller
of Tunnel to Towers and we'll talk about the twenty
fifth anniversary of nine to eleven and what he has
planned for that twenty fifth anniversary of nine to eleven
(17:52):
when we come back. But I want to tell you
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Buck Well Becking Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. We are
joined now by our friend Frank Siller, who does incredible words.
(19:00):
Tunnel to Towers twenty fifth anniversary of nine to eleven
coming up. Frank, I've had a good fortune to work
with you and hopefully be a small part of helping
you do so much incredible phenomenal work. Can you believe
that it has been twenty five years since nine to eleven?
And I know that people, some of them may have
(19:20):
heard this story before, But can you tell us about
what happened on that day that inspired Tunnels to Towers
and why you have continued to work so zealously since
that day?
Speaker 7 (19:33):
Sure, Clayton, thanks for having me on. I always appreciate
it and thank you for your great support. You personally
have come to plenty of our fundraising events and helped
us raise the kind of money that we need to
raise and do the kind of great work that we do.
So thank you. I want to start with that. So
on September eleventh, two thousand and one, you know, my
brother was a New York City five fight it. We
(19:53):
was just finished his night tour in his firehouse squad
Worn in Brooklyn. It was on his way home to
play golf with my brother Russ, my brother George, and myself.
The four brothers were going to have around the golf
and he heard on his radio scanner that the North
Tower was hit. So we turned his truck around, called
his wife, said to him, telling my brothers, I'll try
(20:14):
to catch up with him later, and went back to
his firehouse. You know, got his gear, so he drove
to the mouth of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel was closed
for security reasons, so he strapped sixty pounds of gear
on his back. He ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel,
which is one point seven miles long, up West Street
into the South towern going up those stairs and saving people.
(20:37):
He gave up his life. And you know the thing
about my brother Stephen, and he was the youngest of
seven of siblings. He was our little brother, but a
lot younger than we were. He was he was a
little miracle when he was born. My oldest brother was
twenty four years older than him, and I was fourteen
years closest in age, and I was fourteen years older
(20:57):
than him. So he was all little miracle. He was married,
had five beautiful children, all under the ages of nine
nine and under. And he made a tremendous sacrifice. So
as a family, we just didn't want his legacy, or
his life, or his or his sacrifice, I should say,
(21:18):
and there and we decided we were going to do
small acts of kindness and start a foundation with small
acts of kindness in his honor and his memory and
of all those who perished on that day.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Twenty five years later.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
And I know this is going to stagger a lot
of people, But college kids now been born, raised graduated
from college post nine to eleven. Some young lawyers have
now been born and been raised and graduated post nine
to eleven. How well do you think kids these days
(21:53):
understand what happened on nine to eleven. It's ancient history
to some of some of them, what do they know
based on your experience?
Speaker 7 (22:01):
Well, this is what I know. The people that I
deal with all the time, the people who donate to
the foundation and those who serve our country, our communities.
Their families. No, there's no question about their kids. No,
they're involved in a way that I would like to
see most of America to be involved, to be quite
frank with you, but there's many families that have no
clue of really what happened on September eleventh, two thousand
(22:25):
and one. And that is why it is so important
on what we're doing. I want to say that we've
been trying to get the word out there to young
kids for a long time. We have a curriculum right
now that's on our website T two T dot org.
You could download it. It's age appropriate K through twelve.
It is incredible the stories of nine to eleven that
(22:45):
we have on our website because our first mission was
always to out of the sacrifice and to never forget,
never forget, and they're that's just words with us. We
mean it, and we and we prove it by having
all this at your fingertips literally to find out the
story is a nine to eleven. If you just want to,
(23:05):
if you're a parent and you're listening, go to T
two T dot organ and download whatever your age kid,
and you could tell them what happened on nine eleven.
If you're a teacher, do for your classroom, if you're
a principal, do it for your school. You know, and
we've had millions of people who have done it so far.
But this year, because it's a twenty fifth anniversary, we
(23:26):
were given a large I beam from the South Tower.
It's twenty six feet long, sixteen nine hundred pounds is
what it weighs. It's an incredible, impressive looking piece of
steel and concrete and we're taking that all over the
United States to make sure shine a light on what
happened twenty five years ago.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
If people are and I'm sure Buck and I at
different points in time, will be involved in this, but
if people are interested in the Steel Across America tour
kicked off this past weekend ground zero. How many different
places are you going?
Speaker 7 (24:04):
There's thirty five, approximately thirty five stops. It might be
a few more in there, but thirty five of the
plan right now. And we've been working on this for
fifteen months. So this is not something that is just
thought of and say, hey, wouldn't it be nice. No,
this is a very thought out process that we have
going that to make sure that we are out of
(24:26):
the sacrifice. Where are we going? We're going to so
many important places. Like you said, we started at ground zero.
Just this past Saturday was the first day that we
started the event. I was with one of my brother's
five kids. His youngest son, Steven Jr. Was there. He spoke,
helped kick off the steal. We had an unbelievable honor God.
(24:48):
We got three hundred forty three fire fighters with the
banners of those who died on nine to eleven, the
three hundred and forty three firefighters who died, pictures of them,
the police officers banners of them who died, Portothority police officers,
court offices. And that was the honor guard basically of
us walking from ground zero and then and then down
(25:09):
Broadway with this beautiful truck that we design and that
is carrying the sacred piece of steel. And why am
I saying it's sacred. There's many reasons why it's sacred.
Number one. It's part of history that it was at
ground zero. It was in the South tower. South Tower
is where I lost my brother. My brother's body was
never recovered. It has the soul of so many different people,
(25:31):
my brother for sure. It has in that piece of steel.
And I want people excuse me, Clay, I want people
who go to the steel, and we have steps that
they can go up and touch the steel. I want
them to put their hand on it. I want them
to feel the sacrifice that was made that day. I
want them to feel that these men and women were
running in these buildings saving people and gave up their
(25:54):
lives and left their families behind. I want them to
feel the resolve they had in the strength of America
ever since, and that so many seven thousand men and
women have died on the global War on Terror ever since.
So I want them to feel that when they put
their hand on that steal. And that's where that's why
it is so important that it's going around all over
(26:14):
the United States. This coming Thursday, we're going to be
in excuse me, tomorrow, I'm gonna be We're gonna be
in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We're Flight ninety three. The forty heroes
that took the plane down Todd Beamer's famous words, let's
let's roll and hear these guys taking didn't let these
hijackets fly it into the Capitol or wherever it was going.
(26:38):
Maybe the White House didn't let it go, took the
plane down and saved people on the ground. The first
heroes of nine to eleven. We're in that flight ninety three,
and we're gonna be there tomorrow with some family members.
I walked there. I think you recalled this five years ago.
I walked from the Pentagon to Shanksville to Round zero
(27:00):
to commemorate, commemorate the twentieth anniversary of nine to eleven,
And now we're doing this with a piece of steel
all across America.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Where will you be on nine to eleven, the twenty
fifth anniversary this fall?
Speaker 7 (27:16):
So I'm going to answer that by saying, we're going
to be on nine to nine. First, on two days beforehand,
we're going to be down at the White House with
the steel with a couple thousand people invitation only, and
the President is going to be joining us, and we're
going to have a ceremony there. From there, we have
(27:38):
an honor guard moticaide of fire trucks, police cars, motorcycles.
They're going to go up High ninety five Route ninety
five all the way up to New York and on
nine to eleven, that piece of steel is going to
be with me on the Brooklyn side in New York,
(28:00):
and I'm going to escort it with my family through
the tunnel, just like my brother ran through that day
through that tunnel twenty five years ago. And we're going
to have a beautiful ceremony right there at ground zero afterwards.
So it's a perfect way to start it. We started
at ground zero, We're going to end it at ground
(28:20):
zero for this piece of steel. And it means a
lot to a lot of people that the reaction we're
getting Clay is overwhelming.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
We're talking to Frank Siller Tunnel to Towers. You can
join Buck and me en joining in donating to Tunnel
to Towers. By the way, President Trump news brief unexpected.
According to Fox News, Trump event in the Oval Office.
I would think maybe it would have something to do
with and Ran. That's just me speculating, but we will
follow that if it happens before the end of the program.
(28:51):
If it does not, I'm sure, Sean Hannity will be
talking about it. But since I see that headline come up.
You've known President Trump for a long time. Most people
out in the audience will not get the opportunity to
meet President Trump. They see him from afar. What's he
like from your experience, Frank, I'm going to.
Speaker 7 (29:08):
Give you just one little, quick little story. Somebody was
doing the fundraiser at mar Largo for US about a
month ago, and the President was having dinner there. Now,
the fundraiser was for Tunnel to Towers. He heard about it.
I went up to say load to him he was
having Then he got up and came over to me.
He goes, Frank, I understand, you have a big event
going on downstairs. Let's go down and say a load
(29:30):
to them. He goes downstairs. I walked down there with him.
I didn't ask him to go down there and talk
to everybody to do this. He goes downstairs, he walks
in and he starts talking about the Tunnel to Towers
Foundation and all the work that we're doing. How we
help you know, those you know, catastrophically injured service members,
We build them smart homes, you know, pay off the mortgages,
to gold Stock families and fall the first responders. He
(29:52):
starts going through the litany of things that the Tunnel
Touts Foundation does and then he says, and for the
twenty fifty year, they have this piece of steel coming
all over the United States, and they're coming to the
White House because I met him in the Oval Office
and I told him about this steal, and I said, Frank,
oh my god, yes, I want this to come to
the White House. And it's so important that we do
it to make sure we never forget. He lost a
(30:13):
lot of friends that day. He's a New Yorker, He's
a regular guy. He would do so much. He does
so much for so many people, and he's done a
lot for the Tunnel to Tawa's Foundation.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
For sure.
Speaker 7 (30:25):
He loves America. He cares about those who serve our
country and those who serve our community. And he has
that back and he proves it every single day.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
All Right, I'll leave it with this, and you guys
do incredible work. And again, Buck and I are going
to be doing a bunch to continue to help raise
money during this twenty fifth anniversary year. I know you
have seven grandkids. Six of them are big sports fans.
Do any of them have the misfortune to be New
York Mets fans.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
My brother Stephen was the biggest New York Mets fan
that you can believe that you can.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
So you're a Yankees guy, right, you're a Yankees guy.
Speaker 7 (31:04):
I'm not. I am not a Yankees.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Oh I thought you were a Yankees guy.
Speaker 7 (31:09):
No, no, no, no, I'm not. I don't care about Well,
you have.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
So many Yankees at the at the Tunne of the
Towers events.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
They love you. I thought that's true.
Speaker 7 (31:21):
Golf outing for us on Monday. He's a great guy,
you know, you know again. And Andy Pettitt, you know
he did the B s A for me, But so
so have uh Alonso sorry, uh he did stuff for
me and Terry Collins and John Franco. So we have
a lot of big athletes that have done a lot
(31:42):
of stuff for us for the Tunnels to Tawis Foundation.
I'll tell you what, finn I am. I'm a fan
for anybody who was willing to help those who need
the kind of help that these families need. Uh, that
that pay the ultimate sacrifice for our country and and
their families need to be taken care of it. If
they're out there trying to help tunnel to Tallas Foundation
(32:04):
because they know we don't waste their money. You donate
eleven dollars a month, and we do it on the
back of eleven dollars a month, you know, you know,
and they're pushing that for us, you know, from Stalloan
that doesn't. Mark Wahlberger does it. For Kevin James, that
does it. You know, it's it's it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
For people who want to donate, where can they go?
Speaker 7 (32:26):
T two T dot org s T.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Two T dot org.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
By the way, I said that I thought Trump might
be having a press conference to talk about the Iran situation.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
It's actually the UFC. Uh.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
So he's got a bunch of UFC fighters probably for
the June event. All right, there you go, Frank, it's
gonna be a big one on the lawn.
Speaker 8 (32:52):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
That's gonna be a heck of one. So that I'm
sure he'll address other things. But there is a UFC
title belt on the resolute desk right now for President
Trump's press conference.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Frank, keep up the good work.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
We encourage everybody out there go donate and we look
forward to helping you this fall.
Speaker 7 (33:09):
Thank you as always play God bless.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
Frank Ziller does amazing work. Encourage you to check out
tunnel the towers and do everything that you can with them.
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Speaker 2 (34:33):
Preset Clay and Buck on the iHeart app.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
Welcome back in Clay, Travis Buck Sexton show. My thanks
to Frank Siller. Also to our buddy Jim Jordan, congressman
from Ohio. Trump is talking about the UFC to fifty event,
but we do have record high stock prices. We'll see
if he takes questions about anything other than the UFC.
I'm sure, Sean Hannity, we'll keep you updated on that
(34:57):
on many of the same stations. We'll be try to
hit a bunch of your podcast talkbacks. Many of them
are great. Danny in South Carolina podcast listener d Clay.
Speaker 9 (35:08):
This is Danny from South Carolina. Let'll tell you somebody,
you are a fool. If you are going to go
swim in the ocean swimming around in a shark's food dish,
It's probably not the ideal situation.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Just saying that is not a bad play.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
Let's see podcast listener Brian in God's Country, Franklin Tennessee
says he liked yesterday's show a lot, a lot of
good positive feedback.
Speaker 7 (35:36):
Gee, gotta give you guys an a today.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
It was one of the best shows you guys have
ever known.
Speaker 5 (35:42):
It started with the Tennessee Man Deadliest Catch Lobsters.
Speaker 7 (35:49):
That was awesome. Buck, I was somebody to pick up
on that.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
I gotta be honest with the lobsters, crabs, They're all
the same thing in Bloomfield, New Jersey, wr New York
City Land.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
What you got for us?
Speaker 8 (36:04):
Hi, guys love the show. Thank you Buck for using
the proper verbiage. When you said join Buck and me
against Haate. So many people would have said join Buck
and Eye, and it's not correct. It's bucking me. Take
out the additional person, join me in fighting against Tate,
Join bucking me.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
There's a lot of grammar people here, but I do
think I've gotten better at I and me bucking me,
not bucking' I. Podcast listener Kimmy and Virginia says good
riddance to the Virginia state senator being rated today Senate
pro Tempt cut Jay.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
It is the best day ever.
Speaker 8 (36:45):
Louise Locus rated by the FBI at good point.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Oh, there you go. Gunpoint. We'll see tomorrow.
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