December 1, 2025 • 36 mins
The hour opens with post-Thanksgiving reflections as Clay and Buck share family stories and humor about holiday indulgence before turning to major headlines. They provide an update from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on the tragic shooting of two National Guard soldiers near the White House, emphasizing accountability and national security concerns. The hosts also discuss President Trump’s recent full-body MRI scan, which confirmed his strong health, and explore how advanced preventive medicine and AI-driven diagnostics are shaping the future of healthcare.
The conversation then shifts to lifestyle trends, including the rise of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, which are transforming fitness, fashion, and even social behaviors. Clay and Buck note how these medications are influencing body image, travel habits, and birth rates, signaling a cultural shift away from “body positivity” toward health optimization. From there, they tackle a troubling education report from the Wall Street Journal, revealing that only 39% of freshmen at UC San Diego could perform a basic rounding task, a third-grade math skill. The hosts argue that eliminating standardized tests like the SAT has fueled grade inflation and eroded academic standards, leaving students unprepared for STEM careers and threatening America’s meritocracy. They call for reinstating objective metrics to ensure top schools admit the most qualified students, regardless of background.
A major highlight of Hour 3 is an in-depth interview with psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert, author of Therapy Nation, who discusses the phenomenon of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Alpert explains how extreme political fixation has fractured families, impaired mental health, and created an epidemic of irrational fear and anger. He shares real-world examples of patients losing sleep, fleeing the country, and obsessing over Trump to the point of dysfunction. The discussion explores how social media echo chambers amplify these issues, why the mental health profession resists addressing them, and whether this obsessive behavior will persist beyond Trump’s presidency. Alpert warns that many individuals constantly seek new causes—whether BLM, anti-Israel protests, or other movements—to fill emotional voids, likening these cycles to “group therapy sessions that amount to nothing.”
The hour closes with listener calls, including a retired chemistry professor and a parent highlighting the collapse of math education and its impact on engineering programs. Clay and Buck stress the importance of foundational skills and strategic career choices in an era where AI threatens soft-skill jobs. They wrap up by encouraging listeners to subscribe to the podcast and prepare for more analysis on education, culture, and politics in upcoming episodes.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back, and we appreciate all of you. Thank you
for hanging out with us on the Monday edition, post
Thanksgiving edition of The Clay and Buck Show.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I think probably quite a few of you, along with.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Your favorite hosts, have maybe indulged a bit over the
course of the long weekend, A decent amount of food consumed,
beverages consumed. I know that was the case with me.
We had an awesome time we had. I how big
was your Thanksgiving dinner?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Buck?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
We had thirteen and I had all my nieces, my niece,
my nephew's sister, brother in law, mom, dad, and my
mother in law along with my family. It was awesome.
So we had thirteen for Thanksgiving. Dinner went well, had
a great time down in the Free State of Florida,
still the Free State of Florida. I was laughing, also
(00:52):
still angry about the Remember the Gavin Newsom advisements on
Thanksgiving where you were not allowed to I shared that
five years ago now, but you and I will never
forget what they put us through. And I know many
of you out there listening will never forget either. But
the five year anniversary of Gavin Newsom telling you you
(01:13):
had to eat outside, that you could not have very
many people to your Thanksgiving dinner, that you should not
sing or chant. If you remember that directive from the
dictatorial governor of California during that awful time, I think
many of you will member Deborah Burks, Doctor Burks also
went home for Thanksgiving and hung out with all of
(01:35):
her people after telling everybody, don't go home and hang
out with everyone a Thanksgiving. Yes, that was a tough
one to explain. That was that was going full French
laundry on that one. Yeah, I'll Gavin Newsom so, yes,
I will never I will never forget that we had
a very civilized It was just eight of us. I
think it was eight of us. I think that's the count.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
And yes, it was fun.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
I had my son, so the first time I was
a dad for this Thanksgiving. We very much enjoyed it.
I will say I think I did. If you're looking
at at my at my caloric damage, I gotta say
the sweet potatoes, the candy sweet potatoes with the marshmallow
on top, I don't know, someone's just gotta cut me
(02:15):
off sooner. Those things are too good. I almost use
them like a dip for everything else. And so I'm like,
you know, what goes well with candy, sweet potatoes, everything
else on this plate.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So I think there's probably a decent number of you
out there that are are thinking to yourselves, Hey, maybe
maybe time to hit the gym. Maybe opportunity to to
get out and get back in a little bit better shape.
As December is beginning, particularly with Christmas and New Year's
on the on the calendar coming up very very quickly.
(02:50):
So a bunch of different stories that we are following
as we are speaking to all of you right now.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Lovitt, our friend, been on
the show a ton over the year. She is taking
questions in the White House from media. We'll be sharing
some of those takes with all of you. We've already
talked encourage you to go subscribe to the podcast. We've
already talked with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson as
(03:13):
well as Matt Van Epps. Big congressional election in the
seventh District of Tennessee, that's my home district. It will
be getting a lot of attention. It is a leading
story out there for everyone involved in the House Majority.
It's why Mike Johnson is here It's why President Trump
(03:33):
called in this morning to a rally, and we'll be
calling in to a rally again this evening. We've been
updating people on the National Guard shooting. We played that
for you. I think we have an update from Caroline
Levitt on that. Let me hit you with that if
I can. Cut twenty eight. This is Caroline Levitt talking
(03:57):
about the two National Guard soldiers who were shot within
about a mile of the White House.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Cut twenty eight.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Sarah and Andrew represent the very best of America. Two
young patriots who were willing to put on the uniform
and risk their lives in defense of their fellow Americans.
Both of them truly embody the profound words spoken by
Jesus Christ in the Gospel Greater love has no one
than this to lay down one's life for one's friends.
(04:24):
Sarah and Andrew are heroes, and we will never forget
their sacrifice. That means ensuring the monster responsible for this
atrocity is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law
and faces the most severe punishment possible. It also means
reckoning with why this atrocity was allowed to happen in
the first place, so that it may never occur again.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
So that was Caroline Levitt just a few moments ago
at the White House Press briefing. Okay, a couple of
other things that are out there that are substantial, Buck,
I don't know if you've done this, but the White
House just released a briefing, sorry, a statement from the
president's physician talking about the fact that he had had
(05:10):
a full body MRI scan done and that his overall
health was very positive. I was talking with a friend
of mine who is in healthcare, and he said that
he thinks this is going to become more and more standard.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Have you read or seen this. You may have done it.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
It is becoming that they have these new basically, and
you may be able to explain it better than me.
The full body scans that are done of healthy people
to try and see if there might be something that
could be occurring that would be an issue. And he
telled my friend who I was talking with about this,
who was involved in healthcare, said, you know, most of
(05:49):
the time, if you're healthy, it doesn't pick up anything.
But he said a friend's wife they found an aneurism
that they had no idea would have been an issue.
Were able to go in treat it before it became
a major issue, and am I have killed her? And
she thought she was one hundred percent healthy. She had
no idea this was going on. These are preventative in nature,
(06:10):
but they're basically full body scans. The White House just
released that President Trump has done this and that his
full body scan showed no health concerns of which to
be alarmed by.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Mary.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Margaret Olahan, who is the Daily Wiars, a White House reporter,
just tweeted out the letter that the White House has
sent to all media members that says, hey, President Trump
is in good shape. The President had referenced it, and
there had been a lot of discussion about this. Have
you had this done or do you know people that
(06:43):
have had it done. I know people who have had
it done, and I think that it is I think
it is the future of medicine. I think people are
going part of the future of medicine. Yes, I think
people are going to be more and more because of
the proliferation of information that we all have. Artificial intelligence
is a very useful tool, not just for doctors, but
(07:04):
for you at home and all of this too for
self diagnosis. You can take photos of things. You know,
for medical purposes. You can take a photo of your
hand and be like, what is that weird bump on
my hand? And AI will say, I'm not a doctor,
but here's what I can tell you about this. Based
on the following, people are going to realize that you
(07:26):
don't want to wait to be really sick before you
try to get help. You want to find things as
early as it's not just find when things.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Have gone wrong.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
You want to look at the trajectory, look at the
trend of different health markers, whether it's your A one C,
your cholesterol or all these different things that you know,
really your cardiovascular health and arterial health really really important.
And anything that can give you a sense as to
how that's going is I think going to become very
very valuable tools. So you know, there's also Clay a
(07:57):
whole article today on the change, uh with what they're
kind of calling the g l P one economy. Yeah,
you know, with with ozempic and we go v all
these things where now people more and more. First of all,
everyone wants to wear you know, more sort of form
fitted and at leisure clothing, and people want to go
on more travel. Uh, you know, kind of hiking and
(08:20):
uh and you know, do more adventurous vacations, and people
are having more sex and are there's actually been a
big surge in pregnancy tests among the cohort of people
feel better about their bodies, and they feel more sexually
desirable probably, and maybe we want to get these as
(08:40):
a result.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
It's good, you know, this whole positivity thing where.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
They put fat chicks and spandex and we're like, hey,
go buy Bras and go buy at leisure and all
this stuff. It turns out nobody actually wants to be
overweight now and and hopefully these g LPs, which are
becoming more and more affordable, are going to lead us
down a pathway where people are healthier. GLP ones did
(09:04):
to body positivity what body cams did to the BLM movement.
So that's a good analogy. Why, thank you, thank you.
I did well on the sat analogies if I remember
the eliminated the sat analogy section. In fact, Buck, this
ties in with what I was going to hit you with.
And I also want to get your take on Venezuela,
(09:25):
the Ukraine situation, everything else. There's a story in this
morning's Wall Street Journal and for those of you that
are watching on video. Yes, this is my old man
pulling out the newspaper moment college students can't do elementary math. Buck,
this whole elimination of the SAT. I've been paying attention
(09:45):
to it because my oldest son is doing his college
applications right now, and every school is slowly realizing that
the SAT was actually very predictive of your overall ability
to do college work. Buck, listen to this. One in
eight freshmen lack basic high school math skills. Okay, students
(10:09):
placed in a remedial. This is for the University of California,
San Diego, according to the Wall Street Journal this morning.
Listen to this, Buck, because only thirty nine percent. I
want all of you out there to listen. I'm not
trying to give you a math test, but listen to this.
Only thirty nine percent of freshmen at the University of California,
(10:33):
San Diego. This is evidently an elite California school. Thirty
nine percent could correctly round this number three thirty. Now
I'm gonna get myself thirty three hundred and seventy four thousand,
five hundred and eighteen. Only thirty nine percent could correctly
(10:55):
round that number to the nearest hundred a third grade
skill of this elite University of California school. By the way,
the answer is three hundred and seventy four thousand, five hundred, right,
you're rounding it down. If it were five hundred and
fifty one, you would round it up. Only thirty nine
(11:16):
percent of their admitted students could get that question, right, buck, Yeah,
this is what happens. This is also what has happened
in a lot of all these schools Clay that have
gotten rid of the SAT for applications, they'll say, to
go back to it. They've all had to go back
to it because you can't have you can't have any
real sense as to someone's academic ability. Again, this is
(11:39):
where it's like, is the test everything? No, they're good
test takers and bad test takers. Yeah, kind I mean
people get into that a lot, but quite honestly, as
a predictive tool, it's very accurate about your academic ability
to handle these things. They got rid of it, and
now they're bringing it back, and a lot of us
are just.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Saying I told you so. Yeah. Well, the impact of
it here was great.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Inflation has occurred to such an extent that SAT and
ACT have actually become more valuable because it says here
all these kids that are failing that don't have basic
math skills, they're actually testing with A grades in calculus
and in pre cow and stat and all these things
that should be very easily testable. So the grade itself,
(12:25):
it's great inflation where everybody gets a's now and you
basically don't have any foundational knowledge of something simple like math.
And this is occurring certainly in history, in English and
other courses too. But in math that the fact that
only thirty nine percent could correctly round that number. When
I read that this morning, I said, what are we doing?
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Like?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
What kind of world have we created?
Speaker 1 (12:48):
There are major constituencies for the elimination of objective metrics.
For one, the entire DEEI apparatus, but also the teachers'
unions nationwide. The testing gap, as it is generally referred to,
particularly white and Asian students on one side and black
and Latino students on the other, has not budged. In fact,
(13:09):
if anything, that has gotten worse over the last thirty
forty years. So all of the unbelievable sums of money
that have been thrown into public education in this country
have not been able to put even the slightest dent
if anything that actually has the testing gap has expanded.
So get rid of the numbers.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Play if you.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Can't, if you can't fix the problem the numbers show,
get rid of the numbers. This is the game that
they have been playing in higher ed for a long time.
And there are very powerful constituencies that don't want there
to be any accountability, any truth, any honesty in any
of this. And this is when you get people that
have straight a's that are going to college who can't
(13:49):
do fractions. They you know, they can't article all about
and I read it half in three eighths. No idea,
no idea. I mean, you know, I'm not a math guy,
but I do think you should be able to do
fractions when you're in college. And again it goes to
the meritocracy itself, which is the best, brightest among us.
(14:13):
And by the way, the impact on this is devastating
when it comes to producing as you might imagine kids
who can actually major in engineering or math related fields
or be involved in the quote unquote hard sciences that
have real answers where you can't just you and I,
I mean I was a history major. You can kind
of be s your way sometimes through history arguments. Certainly
(14:33):
you can be s yourself through a lot of English
social science as majors. But I saw this and I
just said it should be I think the White House
should even get involved on this. If you're taking federal dollars,
you should have to do standardized tests, and the best
and brightest should get admitted to the best schools period.
That should be the reality. And again, to your point,
(14:54):
testing doesn't always guarantee success. There's tons of super smart
kids who end up disasters. It does give you a
general baseline aptitude test compared to everyone else around the nation,
and these schools, if they want to be elite academic institutions,
should should be admitting the smartest kids, regardless of what
their backgrounds are. Today, buried behind the new stories that
(15:18):
are getting headlines, there's a long term struggle, but a
critical one going on in the minds of thousands of
women across the country contesting with an unplanned pregnancy. They've
got options, but a lot of them, unfortunately point toward
abortion and planned parenthood, and that choice that can never
be taken back. Nearly one in four pregnancies and an abortion.
(15:38):
That's over three thousand lives lost every single day. But
there is hope. One prominent nonprofit is doing everything they
can to make that number as small as possible and
save as many tiny babies each and every day as
they can. That's the Preborn Network of Clinics. Preborn is
out there suggesting that these mothers in crisis come in
(16:00):
in for love, understanding, and support so that they feel
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that moment changes everything. Over three hundred and fifty thousand
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(16:21):
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Please consider a gift that will support life. Dial pound
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(16:42):
dot com slash buck preborn dot com slash.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
B u c K.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
News you can count on and some laughs too, Clay
Travis and Buck Sex. Find them on the free iHeartRadio
app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
All right, welcome back in here to play in Buck.
We got a caller, Don in Oklahoma, a retired chemistry professor.
I wonder if Don's favorite show is Breaking Bad, but
he wants to talk to us about something else. What's
going on?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Don?
Speaker 6 (17:16):
I retired from the third largest university teaching chemistry, and
I teach the students how to do algebra. But the
kicker was they can't multiply two times three. How much
is gonna get my taculated?
Speaker 1 (17:31):
How much worse has it gotten you taught presumably for
a long time. How much worse has preparation for students gotten.
Speaker 6 (17:40):
Terribly worse? I started in Sidney seven and retired a
couple of years ago, and it's from the last ten
years it's just plummeted.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Well, a lot of people are going to college that
aren't ready and honestly should probably not even really think
about a four year degree. Because they're not going to
use whatever they think they're we're going to pretend to learn.
Thanks for calling in, don. The price to silver this
year has gone up even more than the price of gold,
and that's really saying something. Because gold is up more
than sixty percent this calendar year, silver has gone up
even more. You know why this is uncertainty and parts
(18:15):
of the world lingering inflation forty trillion dollars in debt.
Here we come central banks taking action by buying up
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(18:36):
December twenty second, Birch Gold will send you an ounce
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Speaker 2 (18:39):
Diversify.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
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ninety eight today, welcome back in m clay Travis buck
(19:01):
Sexton Show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us,
a lot of you coming out of Thanksgiving holiday. Maybe
there were conversations that you had with people who hated
President Trump. Maybe you've had had them in the past
over the last decade. Maybe you have friends and family
that you have lost potentially because they have become so
(19:23):
deranged when it comes to President Trump and the way
that they see him. I read in the Wall Street
Journal a great write up on Trump derangement syndrome from
our current guest Jonathan Albert as almost its own psychiatric
psychological diagnosis, and we said, okay, we got to get
(19:46):
this guy on and he is now with us. This
is Jonathan Albert. I loved your piece. For people who
have not read it. You're a psychotherapist New York and DC,
and you've got a book called Therapy Nation about all
the different aspects of therapy going on. But when you
see people who it appears, frankly, do have Trump derangement syndrome,
(20:11):
is that a real thing? Kind of take people through
the argument that you made in the Wall Street Journal editorial.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
Yeah, and play great to be here. It's not a
real thing. However, it probably should be a real thing.
But I don't think we'll ever see it in the DSM,
which is sort of the bible of psychiatric disorders in
my profession. But what I have seen is quite troubling
with seeing families split up, with seeing people obsessed with Trump.
(20:42):
They're hyper fixated on Trump, and frankly, it's ruining their
mental health. And I would go so far as to
call it a in some ways a mental health epidemic
that's focused or revolves around Trump. And I don't care
if it's Trump or Biden or Harris or anyone. If
you're that hyper fiictated on a figure, you need to
(21:03):
check in with a therapist, someone like me.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Now Jonathan appreciates you being with us. It's buck the
what would be the the things to look for where someone,
I mean you said things like hyper fixated? You know,
what are some of the the red lines that somebody
would want to look at where something goes from just
being a very perhaps over zealous belief or very over
(21:30):
zealous thoughts about in this case of politician, to where
it actually is clinical because what I see myself as
a non medical, non psychoanalyst is a lot of people
who have a bizarre, irrational and really delusional fear themselves personally.
Like I know people who lose truly lose sleep at night.
(21:54):
I mean they've told me this because they're worried that
Trump is going to just pull them off that Like
Trump is going to have people pull them off the
street and throw them into a cell somewhere for no reason.
Like how different is that from somebody who's agoraphobic or something.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Yeah, and Buckett's it's not too different if you're at
the point where you are losing sleep over our president,
or if you, like some of my patients can't enjoy
a vacation because quote, how can I possibly relax and
enjoy a vacation knowing that Trump's in office. You're sick,
You've got issues. And similar to other mental health issues
(22:31):
that we see, whether it's OCD or anxiety disorders, it
disrupts a person's life. It impairs relationships, whether it's romantic
relationships or work relationships or friendships. This is when it
rises to the level of pathologic and that's where I
become greatly concerned and if you look back over the
past decade, when Trump first entered our world as a politician,
(22:57):
I mean, I had patients who were ready to leave
the country. I actually know some who did flee the country,
and I would remind them that the fact that you
can get out there and protest, even in front of
Trump's house, is a good reason to stay here. But
the problem is people aren't looking at this in a
rational way. They're quite irrational. They do think that Trump
(23:19):
is going to round people up and send them off
to a island somewhere. They think that Trump is a Nazi.
So I've heard all sorts of outrageous statements like that,
and as a therapist, I try to confront them and
help them see things rationally. And with some of those
people I'm successful, and others, frankly, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
How do you handle people in your friend or family
circle that are just crazy and are suffering from this, right?
I mean, because I think that is probably something that
a lot of people out there, particularly in the social
media age. I mean, I grew up. I remember my
grandma saying you never talk about politics or religion. Now
certainly talk about politics all the time, particularly on social media.
(24:03):
So you may just come across it on Facebook, or
you may come across it. And like I said, in
your own family or in Thanksgiving, how do you handle
people that are, in your opinion, meaning the family member
truly gone crazy over the Trump situation. I'll give an example.
This is not Trump directly. We had a family member
(24:23):
that a younger I don't want to get too specifical,
but celebrated on social media Charlie Kirk getting shot and
I was stunned.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Maybe some of you have had, you know, in your
larger family circles, things like that happen. How do you
handle people who are dealing with this that seem unwell
to you? What should you do as a person if
that's in your friend or family circle.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Yeah, and I too witnessed people who were celebrating the
horrific murder of Charlie Kirk. I told the story of
overhand hearing two cashiers at Trader Joe's talking about it
and celebrating it. And what's happened is people have demonized figures,
whether it's Kirk or Trump, and they've learned to hate them,
(25:13):
and they feel like it's their duty to take them out.
But when you have a family member that's speaking like that,
I think you need to try to confront them. I
think you need to ask them, you know, why do
you feel like it's your duty to take this person
out or demonize this person or speak ill of the person.
(25:34):
You know, it's not healthy for them to be consumed
by that figure. So you know, I think you can
try to gently confront them, see how they react, See
if you can work with them in that way. Other
people are beyond repair and they'll believe what they want
to believe. The other problem that we're seeing that you
mentioned is social media. People are in these echo chambers.
(25:58):
They only surround themsel else with one opinion. They feel
that the world is conspiring against them. So we've got
a lot of work to do if we're going to
try to get back to what we saw in the eighties.
After Reagan was shot, his surgeon famously said, today, mister President,
(26:19):
we're all Republicans, but wouldn't it be great to get
back to a time like that?
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Yeah, I'm wondering also where the mental health profession is
on this more broadly, And I would just say this,
I am aware, sir, that your profession is based on
the numbers and the data, I believe the single most,
the single most left wing medical profession that is out there.
(26:49):
Is that really the reason why there isn't more of
a push to treat Trump derangement syndrome, even if they're
not going to name it, to treat it as an anxiety.
I mean, I wonder how many psychiatrists have Trump arrangement syndrome.
If I can just put a point on this, well, buck.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Let me put it this way. Since my Wall Street
Journal piece came out, and since appearing on Fox TV,
I've received too many to count hate emails from my
colleagues from therapists wishing me dead, labeling me a pedophile, protector,
absolutely unhinged, vile emails from licensed mental health professionals. So
(27:32):
that tells you what you need to know about my profession,
and you're right, it's dominated by liberals. But that said,
I also received very supportive emails from colleagues, so I
think there are probably some closeted conservative therapists out there.
But yeah, I mean, we have people who think I'm
(27:54):
absolutely crazy because I'm identifying a trend that is over
the past decade, and I genuinely care about these people's
mental health, the people that I'm seeing, and would like
them to start to be healthier and look at things
in a more rational manner.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
We're talking to Jonathan Albert. I'm curious one of the
big discussions here. Trump came down the escalator twenty fifteen,
So we've had a decade of Trump derangement syndrome. Do
you believe that this syndrome, to the extent that it exists,
that is uniquely focused on Trump, does it translate to
(28:32):
or transfer to other Republicans in a post Trump era?
What will these people when Trump exits the stage, as
he will in January of twenty twenty nine, What do
you think is likely to happen to their mental health
at that point in time.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Well, it'd be shocked if that suddenly improved once Trump
left office. I think there are some people out there
that always need an object, a person to eight, and
if it's not Trump, it might be Rubio or JD
or whoever may may take over in twenty twenty eight.
So I do think these people need something to hate.
(29:11):
And we're actually seeing this play out in New York
where I am the anti Israel protests have ended, and
now I think over the weekend we saw several anti
ice protests. So there are some people who always need
to be fighting and need what they perceive as a
cause to fight for. And we'll see what happens in
(29:33):
a few years.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
It is interesting because I we appreciate your time. I
was watching a video somebody put it together a compilation buck,
I should have sent it to you two of all
these people like losing their minds to protest in favor
of BLM five years ago, and all the crazy videos
they were making and everything else. And then you know,
it's kind of a joke, but the same people took
the BLM slogan and then had the Ukraine flag in
(29:57):
their profile.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Do you see that?
Speaker 1 (30:00):
As people have some sort of absence in their life
and so they are constantly seeking the next thing, whatever
it is, wear a mask, get a shot, Like there's
jumping from one sort of social obsession to another. Has
that become more prevalent? I think in a social media age.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
It has, And probably before BLM we saw Occupy Wall
Street way back, so yeah, yes, And they probably have
an emptiness or disdain in their life for something and
they just want to be part of a cause, and
I think these causes, whether it's Occupy Wall Street or Israel,
(30:42):
Anti Israel, or BLM, it's like a big group therapy
session that amounts to absolutely nothing. It's not making these
people healthier. I'll share a story with you after one
of the No Kings riots, I was walking around Manhattan
and admiring the heaping high pile of anti Trump signs,
(31:05):
and someone came up to me and said, isn't this beautiful?
And I said not really, I kind of support our
president and think he's doing a good job. And she
went absolutely not and started cursing me, not even knowing
who I was. Much like the emails that I'm getting
from these strangers since my Wall Street journal piece hit.
(31:27):
I can't imagine sending a stranger that I may see
on TV and email telling them how much I hate them.
But that might be the difference between someone with a
rational mind and an air rational mind.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
How do we get more right wing mental health professionals?
Speaker 4 (31:45):
You know? I wish I knew. I'm part of a
small group of conservative therapists who are fed up with
the wokeism that's infiltrated our profession. My forthcoming book Therapy
Nation does touch on this, how our graduate programs, our
profession are just dominated by social justice warriors. So I
(32:09):
think the more people like me that can get out
there and who aren't afraid to speak their mind and
be okay with conservative values and put their thoughts out there,
the better will be as a nation, the healthier will
be and will be far less divided.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Thank you, Jonathan Albert.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I encourage people to check out the book and we
will share that Wall Street Journal editorial you wrote as
some people may be dealing with some of this in
the post Thanksgiving eraon which we currently live.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Yeah, thank you very much. Take care.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Look in Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
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Speaker 7 (33:54):
Making America great again isn't just one man, It's many.
The teamcast Sunday's at noon Eastern in the Clay and
Buck podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
All right, we're closing up shop on to Play and Buck.
First show of the week, first show of December. I
cannot believe how quickly the holidays are upon us. We
just had Thanksgiving. It was great. I need to I
need to get my steps in man. I need to
get back on my walking regimen. Clay nightly. I've been
a little bit of a walking dilettante in the last
(34:30):
couple of months, and the buckster is starting to get
a dad A dad bought again. I can't can't do it,
can't do it. Gotta get out there and walking, Gotta
watch the portion sizes, Gotta do some strength training. So uh,
you know, because because Christmas again, I'm gonna go to
my in laws. My my mother in law is an
amazing cook. And it's not just I have to watch
(34:51):
out for the meals. She just makes delicious things and
like leaves them in the kitchen. You don't like, yeah,
just you know, yeah, I just thought we'd have some
baked breed with some gluten free chrys DENI for you.
And I'm like, yes, this is amazing. But obviously I'm
going to eat four thousand calories of pre right now.
So that's what happens. How many calories do you think?
Let's get to these calls really quick. Le'll talk about
this tomorrow. Yeah, but I bet way more, way more
(35:15):
than we needed. Darcy and Houston, We're gonna try to
hit everybody. Thank you for calling. You got a daughter
at A and m Congrats to the Aggies on a
good season, although the Longhorns took them down on Friday.
But she's a Civil engineer student.
Speaker 8 (35:28):
She's a senior Civil engineering sto. Okay, rats, yeah, super excited.
But we took her out of school her We withdrew
her from school. She graduated home school because the public
schools are failing kids in maths. The grades are inflated,
they're not really learning. And I was at the weekend
(35:50):
of the twenty second I was back at A and
M with our youngest at engineering orientation and she's a
junior and they have A and M School of Engineer
has one of the highest withdrawal rates to other majors
because the kids aren't being prepared, they're not learning the
basic skills that they need to know. You are absolutely right.
(36:12):
This partially falls to parents to do flash cards with
their kids.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Guys, thank you for the call. Look, this is the reality.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
It's hard to become an engineer, thankfully, because we want
you to be really able to build buildings and things
like that, but you can't bs your way through it.
So you either have the foundational skills of math or
you don't. Congrats to her daughter, who's going to graduate
with that engineering degree. The number of people out there
that can make tremendous livings in jobs that can't be
(36:40):
replaced by AI. I think people are going to have
to start making more strategic decisions about what skills they're
gaining buck because a lot of these soft science jobs
you can get kicked to the curb in a hurry.
More on all of this tomorrow, My friends will talk
to you then
Welcome back, and we appreciate all of you. Thank you
for hanging out with us on the Monday edition, post
Thanksgiving edition of The Clay and Buck Show.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I think probably quite a few of you, along with.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Your favorite hosts, have maybe indulged a bit over the
course of the long weekend, A decent amount of food consumed,
beverages consumed. I know that was the case with me.
We had an awesome time we had. I how big
was your Thanksgiving dinner?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Buck?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
We had thirteen and I had all my nieces, my niece,
my nephew's sister, brother in law, mom, dad, and my
mother in law along with my family. It was awesome.
So we had thirteen for Thanksgiving. Dinner went well, had
a great time down in the Free State of Florida,
still the Free State of Florida. I was laughing, also
(00:52):
still angry about the Remember the Gavin Newsom advisements on
Thanksgiving where you were not allowed to I shared that
five years ago now, but you and I will never
forget what they put us through. And I know many
of you out there listening will never forget either. But
the five year anniversary of Gavin Newsom telling you you
(01:13):
had to eat outside, that you could not have very
many people to your Thanksgiving dinner, that you should not
sing or chant. If you remember that directive from the
dictatorial governor of California during that awful time, I think
many of you will member Deborah Burks, Doctor Burks also
went home for Thanksgiving and hung out with all of
(01:35):
her people after telling everybody, don't go home and hang
out with everyone a Thanksgiving. Yes, that was a tough
one to explain. That was that was going full French
laundry on that one. Yeah, I'll Gavin Newsom so, yes,
I will never I will never forget that we had
a very civilized It was just eight of us. I
think it was eight of us. I think that's the count.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
And yes, it was fun.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
I had my son, so the first time I was
a dad for this Thanksgiving. We very much enjoyed it.
I will say I think I did. If you're looking
at at my at my caloric damage, I gotta say
the sweet potatoes, the candy sweet potatoes with the marshmallow
on top, I don't know, someone's just gotta cut me
(02:15):
off sooner. Those things are too good. I almost use
them like a dip for everything else. And so I'm like,
you know, what goes well with candy, sweet potatoes, everything
else on this plate.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So I think there's probably a decent number of you
out there that are are thinking to yourselves, Hey, maybe
maybe time to hit the gym. Maybe opportunity to to
get out and get back in a little bit better shape.
As December is beginning, particularly with Christmas and New Year's
on the on the calendar coming up very very quickly.
(02:50):
So a bunch of different stories that we are following
as we are speaking to all of you right now.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Lovitt, our friend, been on
the show a ton over the year. She is taking
questions in the White House from media. We'll be sharing
some of those takes with all of you. We've already
talked encourage you to go subscribe to the podcast. We've
already talked with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson as
(03:13):
well as Matt Van Epps. Big congressional election in the
seventh District of Tennessee, that's my home district. It will
be getting a lot of attention. It is a leading
story out there for everyone involved in the House Majority.
It's why Mike Johnson is here It's why President Trump
(03:33):
called in this morning to a rally, and we'll be
calling in to a rally again this evening. We've been
updating people on the National Guard shooting. We played that
for you. I think we have an update from Caroline
Levitt on that. Let me hit you with that if
I can. Cut twenty eight. This is Caroline Levitt talking
(03:57):
about the two National Guard soldiers who were shot within
about a mile of the White House.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Cut twenty eight.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Sarah and Andrew represent the very best of America. Two
young patriots who were willing to put on the uniform
and risk their lives in defense of their fellow Americans.
Both of them truly embody the profound words spoken by
Jesus Christ in the Gospel Greater love has no one
than this to lay down one's life for one's friends.
(04:24):
Sarah and Andrew are heroes, and we will never forget
their sacrifice. That means ensuring the monster responsible for this
atrocity is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law
and faces the most severe punishment possible. It also means
reckoning with why this atrocity was allowed to happen in
the first place, so that it may never occur again.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
So that was Caroline Levitt just a few moments ago
at the White House Press briefing. Okay, a couple of
other things that are out there that are substantial, Buck,
I don't know if you've done this, but the White
House just released a briefing, sorry, a statement from the
president's physician talking about the fact that he had had
(05:10):
a full body MRI scan done and that his overall
health was very positive. I was talking with a friend
of mine who is in healthcare, and he said that
he thinks this is going to become more and more standard.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Have you read or seen this. You may have done it.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
It is becoming that they have these new basically, and
you may be able to explain it better than me.
The full body scans that are done of healthy people
to try and see if there might be something that
could be occurring that would be an issue. And he
telled my friend who I was talking with about this,
who was involved in healthcare, said, you know, most of
(05:49):
the time, if you're healthy, it doesn't pick up anything.
But he said a friend's wife they found an aneurism
that they had no idea would have been an issue.
Were able to go in treat it before it became
a major issue, and am I have killed her? And
she thought she was one hundred percent healthy. She had
no idea this was going on. These are preventative in nature,
(06:10):
but they're basically full body scans. The White House just
released that President Trump has done this and that his
full body scan showed no health concerns of which to
be alarmed by.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Mary.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Margaret Olahan, who is the Daily Wiars, a White House reporter,
just tweeted out the letter that the White House has
sent to all media members that says, hey, President Trump
is in good shape. The President had referenced it, and
there had been a lot of discussion about this. Have
you had this done or do you know people that
(06:43):
have had it done. I know people who have had
it done, and I think that it is I think
it is the future of medicine. I think people are
going part of the future of medicine. Yes, I think
people are going to be more and more because of
the proliferation of information that we all have. Artificial intelligence
is a very useful tool, not just for doctors, but
(07:04):
for you at home and all of this too for
self diagnosis. You can take photos of things. You know,
for medical purposes. You can take a photo of your
hand and be like, what is that weird bump on
my hand? And AI will say, I'm not a doctor,
but here's what I can tell you about this. Based
on the following, people are going to realize that you
(07:26):
don't want to wait to be really sick before you
try to get help. You want to find things as
early as it's not just find when things.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Have gone wrong.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
You want to look at the trajectory, look at the
trend of different health markers, whether it's your A one C,
your cholesterol or all these different things that you know,
really your cardiovascular health and arterial health really really important.
And anything that can give you a sense as to
how that's going is I think going to become very
very valuable tools. So you know, there's also Clay a
(07:57):
whole article today on the change, uh with what they're
kind of calling the g l P one economy. Yeah,
you know, with with ozempic and we go v all
these things where now people more and more. First of all,
everyone wants to wear you know, more sort of form
fitted and at leisure clothing, and people want to go
on more travel. Uh, you know, kind of hiking and
(08:20):
uh and you know, do more adventurous vacations, and people
are having more sex and are there's actually been a
big surge in pregnancy tests among the cohort of people
feel better about their bodies, and they feel more sexually
desirable probably, and maybe we want to get these as
(08:40):
a result.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
It's good, you know, this whole positivity thing where.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
They put fat chicks and spandex and we're like, hey,
go buy Bras and go buy at leisure and all
this stuff. It turns out nobody actually wants to be
overweight now and and hopefully these g LPs, which are
becoming more and more affordable, are going to lead us
down a pathway where people are healthier. GLP ones did
(09:04):
to body positivity what body cams did to the BLM movement.
So that's a good analogy. Why, thank you, thank you.
I did well on the sat analogies if I remember
the eliminated the sat analogy section. In fact, Buck, this
ties in with what I was going to hit you with.
And I also want to get your take on Venezuela,
(09:25):
the Ukraine situation, everything else. There's a story in this
morning's Wall Street Journal and for those of you that
are watching on video. Yes, this is my old man
pulling out the newspaper moment college students can't do elementary math. Buck,
this whole elimination of the SAT. I've been paying attention
(09:45):
to it because my oldest son is doing his college
applications right now, and every school is slowly realizing that
the SAT was actually very predictive of your overall ability
to do college work. Buck, listen to this. One in
eight freshmen lack basic high school math skills. Okay, students
(10:09):
placed in a remedial. This is for the University of California,
San Diego, according to the Wall Street Journal this morning.
Listen to this, Buck, because only thirty nine percent. I
want all of you out there to listen. I'm not
trying to give you a math test, but listen to this.
Only thirty nine percent of freshmen at the University of California,
(10:33):
San Diego. This is evidently an elite California school. Thirty
nine percent could correctly round this number three thirty. Now
I'm gonna get myself thirty three hundred and seventy four thousand,
five hundred and eighteen. Only thirty nine percent could correctly
(10:55):
round that number to the nearest hundred a third grade
skill of this elite University of California school. By the way,
the answer is three hundred and seventy four thousand, five hundred, right,
you're rounding it down. If it were five hundred and
fifty one, you would round it up. Only thirty nine
(11:16):
percent of their admitted students could get that question, right, buck, Yeah,
this is what happens. This is also what has happened
in a lot of all these schools Clay that have
gotten rid of the SAT for applications, they'll say, to
go back to it. They've all had to go back
to it because you can't have you can't have any
real sense as to someone's academic ability. Again, this is
(11:39):
where it's like, is the test everything? No, they're good
test takers and bad test takers. Yeah, kind I mean
people get into that a lot, but quite honestly, as
a predictive tool, it's very accurate about your academic ability
to handle these things. They got rid of it, and
now they're bringing it back, and a lot of us
are just.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Saying I told you so. Yeah. Well, the impact of
it here was great.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Inflation has occurred to such an extent that SAT and
ACT have actually become more valuable because it says here
all these kids that are failing that don't have basic
math skills, they're actually testing with A grades in calculus
and in pre cow and stat and all these things
that should be very easily testable. So the grade itself,
(12:25):
it's great inflation where everybody gets a's now and you
basically don't have any foundational knowledge of something simple like math.
And this is occurring certainly in history, in English and
other courses too. But in math that the fact that
only thirty nine percent could correctly round that number. When
I read that this morning, I said, what are we doing?
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Like?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
What kind of world have we created?
Speaker 1 (12:48):
There are major constituencies for the elimination of objective metrics.
For one, the entire DEEI apparatus, but also the teachers'
unions nationwide. The testing gap, as it is generally referred to,
particularly white and Asian students on one side and black
and Latino students on the other, has not budged. In fact,
(13:09):
if anything, that has gotten worse over the last thirty
forty years. So all of the unbelievable sums of money
that have been thrown into public education in this country
have not been able to put even the slightest dent
if anything that actually has the testing gap has expanded.
So get rid of the numbers.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Play if you.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Can't, if you can't fix the problem the numbers show,
get rid of the numbers. This is the game that
they have been playing in higher ed for a long time.
And there are very powerful constituencies that don't want there
to be any accountability, any truth, any honesty in any
of this. And this is when you get people that
have straight a's that are going to college who can't
(13:49):
do fractions. They you know, they can't article all about
and I read it half in three eighths. No idea,
no idea. I mean, you know, I'm not a math guy,
but I do think you should be able to do
fractions when you're in college. And again it goes to
the meritocracy itself, which is the best, brightest among us.
(14:13):
And by the way, the impact on this is devastating
when it comes to producing as you might imagine kids
who can actually major in engineering or math related fields
or be involved in the quote unquote hard sciences that
have real answers where you can't just you and I,
I mean I was a history major. You can kind
of be s your way sometimes through history arguments. Certainly
(14:33):
you can be s yourself through a lot of English
social science as majors. But I saw this and I
just said it should be I think the White House
should even get involved on this. If you're taking federal dollars,
you should have to do standardized tests, and the best
and brightest should get admitted to the best schools period.
That should be the reality. And again, to your point,
(14:54):
testing doesn't always guarantee success. There's tons of super smart
kids who end up disasters. It does give you a
general baseline aptitude test compared to everyone else around the nation,
and these schools, if they want to be elite academic institutions,
should should be admitting the smartest kids, regardless of what
their backgrounds are. Today, buried behind the new stories that
(15:18):
are getting headlines, there's a long term struggle, but a
critical one going on in the minds of thousands of
women across the country contesting with an unplanned pregnancy. They've
got options, but a lot of them, unfortunately point toward
abortion and planned parenthood, and that choice that can never
be taken back. Nearly one in four pregnancies and an abortion.
(15:38):
That's over three thousand lives lost every single day. But
there is hope. One prominent nonprofit is doing everything they
can to make that number as small as possible and
save as many tiny babies each and every day as
they can. That's the Preborn Network of Clinics. Preborn is
out there suggesting that these mothers in crisis come in
(16:00):
in for love, understanding, and support so that they feel
comfortable bringing their baby into this world. The Preborn Clinics
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that moment changes everything. Over three hundred and fifty thousand
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(16:21):
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Please consider a gift that will support life. Dial pound
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(16:42):
dot com slash buck preborn dot com slash.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
B u c K.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
News you can count on and some laughs too, Clay
Travis and Buck Sex. Find them on the free iHeartRadio
app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
All right, welcome back in here to play in Buck.
We got a caller, Don in Oklahoma, a retired chemistry professor.
I wonder if Don's favorite show is Breaking Bad, but
he wants to talk to us about something else. What's
going on?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Don?
Speaker 6 (17:16):
I retired from the third largest university teaching chemistry, and
I teach the students how to do algebra. But the
kicker was they can't multiply two times three. How much
is gonna get my taculated?
Speaker 1 (17:31):
How much worse has it gotten you taught presumably for
a long time. How much worse has preparation for students gotten.
Speaker 6 (17:40):
Terribly worse? I started in Sidney seven and retired a
couple of years ago, and it's from the last ten
years it's just plummeted.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Well, a lot of people are going to college that
aren't ready and honestly should probably not even really think
about a four year degree. Because they're not going to
use whatever they think they're we're going to pretend to learn.
Thanks for calling in, don. The price to silver this
year has gone up even more than the price of gold,
and that's really saying something. Because gold is up more
than sixty percent this calendar year, silver has gone up
even more. You know why this is uncertainty and parts
(18:15):
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Here we come central banks taking action by buying up
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(18:36):
December twenty second, Birch Gold will send you an ounce
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Speaker 2 (18:39):
Diversify.
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ninety eight today, welcome back in m clay Travis buck
(19:01):
Sexton Show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us,
a lot of you coming out of Thanksgiving holiday. Maybe
there were conversations that you had with people who hated
President Trump. Maybe you've had had them in the past
over the last decade. Maybe you have friends and family
that you have lost potentially because they have become so
(19:23):
deranged when it comes to President Trump and the way
that they see him. I read in the Wall Street
Journal a great write up on Trump derangement syndrome from
our current guest Jonathan Albert as almost its own psychiatric
psychological diagnosis, and we said, okay, we got to get
(19:46):
this guy on and he is now with us. This
is Jonathan Albert. I loved your piece. For people who
have not read it. You're a psychotherapist New York and DC,
and you've got a book called Therapy Nation about all
the different aspects of therapy going on. But when you
see people who it appears, frankly, do have Trump derangement syndrome,
(20:11):
is that a real thing? Kind of take people through
the argument that you made in the Wall Street Journal editorial.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
Yeah, and play great to be here. It's not a
real thing. However, it probably should be a real thing.
But I don't think we'll ever see it in the DSM,
which is sort of the bible of psychiatric disorders in
my profession. But what I have seen is quite troubling
with seeing families split up, with seeing people obsessed with Trump.
(20:42):
They're hyper fixated on Trump, and frankly, it's ruining their
mental health. And I would go so far as to
call it a in some ways a mental health epidemic
that's focused or revolves around Trump. And I don't care
if it's Trump or Biden or Harris or anyone. If
you're that hyper fiictated on a figure, you need to
(21:03):
check in with a therapist, someone like me.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Now Jonathan appreciates you being with us. It's buck the
what would be the the things to look for where someone,
I mean you said things like hyper fixated? You know,
what are some of the the red lines that somebody
would want to look at where something goes from just
being a very perhaps over zealous belief or very over
(21:30):
zealous thoughts about in this case of politician, to where
it actually is clinical because what I see myself as
a non medical, non psychoanalyst is a lot of people
who have a bizarre, irrational and really delusional fear themselves personally.
Like I know people who lose truly lose sleep at night.
(21:54):
I mean they've told me this because they're worried that
Trump is going to just pull them off that Like
Trump is going to have people pull them off the
street and throw them into a cell somewhere for no reason.
Like how different is that from somebody who's agoraphobic or something.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Yeah, and Buckett's it's not too different if you're at
the point where you are losing sleep over our president,
or if you, like some of my patients can't enjoy
a vacation because quote, how can I possibly relax and
enjoy a vacation knowing that Trump's in office. You're sick,
You've got issues. And similar to other mental health issues
(22:31):
that we see, whether it's OCD or anxiety disorders, it
disrupts a person's life. It impairs relationships, whether it's romantic
relationships or work relationships or friendships. This is when it
rises to the level of pathologic and that's where I
become greatly concerned and if you look back over the
past decade, when Trump first entered our world as a politician,
(22:57):
I mean, I had patients who were ready to leave
the country. I actually know some who did flee the country,
and I would remind them that the fact that you
can get out there and protest, even in front of
Trump's house, is a good reason to stay here. But
the problem is people aren't looking at this in a
rational way. They're quite irrational. They do think that Trump
(23:19):
is going to round people up and send them off
to a island somewhere. They think that Trump is a Nazi.
So I've heard all sorts of outrageous statements like that,
and as a therapist, I try to confront them and
help them see things rationally. And with some of those
people I'm successful, and others, frankly, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
How do you handle people in your friend or family
circle that are just crazy and are suffering from this, right?
I mean, because I think that is probably something that
a lot of people out there, particularly in the social
media age. I mean, I grew up. I remember my
grandma saying you never talk about politics or religion. Now
certainly talk about politics all the time, particularly on social media.
(24:03):
So you may just come across it on Facebook, or
you may come across it. And like I said, in
your own family or in Thanksgiving, how do you handle
people that are, in your opinion, meaning the family member
truly gone crazy over the Trump situation. I'll give an example.
This is not Trump directly. We had a family member
(24:23):
that a younger I don't want to get too specifical,
but celebrated on social media Charlie Kirk getting shot and
I was stunned.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Maybe some of you have had, you know, in your
larger family circles, things like that happen. How do you
handle people who are dealing with this that seem unwell
to you? What should you do as a person if
that's in your friend or family circle.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Yeah, and I too witnessed people who were celebrating the
horrific murder of Charlie Kirk. I told the story of
overhand hearing two cashiers at Trader Joe's talking about it
and celebrating it. And what's happened is people have demonized figures,
whether it's Kirk or Trump, and they've learned to hate them,
(25:13):
and they feel like it's their duty to take them out.
But when you have a family member that's speaking like that,
I think you need to try to confront them. I
think you need to ask them, you know, why do
you feel like it's your duty to take this person
out or demonize this person or speak ill of the person.
(25:34):
You know, it's not healthy for them to be consumed
by that figure. So you know, I think you can
try to gently confront them, see how they react, See
if you can work with them in that way. Other
people are beyond repair and they'll believe what they want
to believe. The other problem that we're seeing that you
mentioned is social media. People are in these echo chambers.
(25:58):
They only surround themsel else with one opinion. They feel
that the world is conspiring against them. So we've got
a lot of work to do if we're going to
try to get back to what we saw in the eighties.
After Reagan was shot, his surgeon famously said, today, mister President,
(26:19):
we're all Republicans, but wouldn't it be great to get
back to a time like that?
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Yeah, I'm wondering also where the mental health profession is
on this more broadly, And I would just say this,
I am aware, sir, that your profession is based on
the numbers and the data, I believe the single most,
the single most left wing medical profession that is out there.
(26:49):
Is that really the reason why there isn't more of
a push to treat Trump derangement syndrome, even if they're
not going to name it, to treat it as an anxiety.
I mean, I wonder how many psychiatrists have Trump arrangement syndrome.
If I can just put a point on this, well, buck.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Let me put it this way. Since my Wall Street
Journal piece came out, and since appearing on Fox TV,
I've received too many to count hate emails from my
colleagues from therapists wishing me dead, labeling me a pedophile, protector,
absolutely unhinged, vile emails from licensed mental health professionals. So
(27:32):
that tells you what you need to know about my profession,
and you're right, it's dominated by liberals. But that said,
I also received very supportive emails from colleagues, so I
think there are probably some closeted conservative therapists out there.
But yeah, I mean, we have people who think I'm
(27:54):
absolutely crazy because I'm identifying a trend that is over
the past decade, and I genuinely care about these people's
mental health, the people that I'm seeing, and would like
them to start to be healthier and look at things
in a more rational manner.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
We're talking to Jonathan Albert. I'm curious one of the
big discussions here. Trump came down the escalator twenty fifteen,
So we've had a decade of Trump derangement syndrome. Do
you believe that this syndrome, to the extent that it exists,
that is uniquely focused on Trump, does it translate to
(28:32):
or transfer to other Republicans in a post Trump era?
What will these people when Trump exits the stage, as
he will in January of twenty twenty nine, What do
you think is likely to happen to their mental health
at that point in time.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Well, it'd be shocked if that suddenly improved once Trump
left office. I think there are some people out there
that always need an object, a person to eight, and
if it's not Trump, it might be Rubio or JD
or whoever may may take over in twenty twenty eight.
So I do think these people need something to hate.
(29:11):
And we're actually seeing this play out in New York
where I am the anti Israel protests have ended, and
now I think over the weekend we saw several anti
ice protests. So there are some people who always need
to be fighting and need what they perceive as a
cause to fight for. And we'll see what happens in
(29:33):
a few years.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
It is interesting because I we appreciate your time. I
was watching a video somebody put it together a compilation buck,
I should have sent it to you two of all
these people like losing their minds to protest in favor
of BLM five years ago, and all the crazy videos
they were making and everything else. And then you know,
it's kind of a joke, but the same people took
the BLM slogan and then had the Ukraine flag in
(29:57):
their profile.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Do you see that?
Speaker 1 (30:00):
As people have some sort of absence in their life
and so they are constantly seeking the next thing, whatever
it is, wear a mask, get a shot, Like there's
jumping from one sort of social obsession to another. Has
that become more prevalent? I think in a social media age.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
It has, And probably before BLM we saw Occupy Wall
Street way back, so yeah, yes, And they probably have
an emptiness or disdain in their life for something and
they just want to be part of a cause, and
I think these causes, whether it's Occupy Wall Street or Israel,
(30:42):
Anti Israel, or BLM, it's like a big group therapy
session that amounts to absolutely nothing. It's not making these
people healthier. I'll share a story with you after one
of the No Kings riots, I was walking around Manhattan
and admiring the heaping high pile of anti Trump signs,
(31:05):
and someone came up to me and said, isn't this beautiful?
And I said not really, I kind of support our
president and think he's doing a good job. And she
went absolutely not and started cursing me, not even knowing
who I was. Much like the emails that I'm getting
from these strangers since my Wall Street journal piece hit.
(31:27):
I can't imagine sending a stranger that I may see
on TV and email telling them how much I hate them.
But that might be the difference between someone with a
rational mind and an air rational mind.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
How do we get more right wing mental health professionals?
Speaker 4 (31:45):
You know? I wish I knew. I'm part of a
small group of conservative therapists who are fed up with
the wokeism that's infiltrated our profession. My forthcoming book Therapy
Nation does touch on this, how our graduate programs, our
profession are just dominated by social justice warriors. So I
(32:09):
think the more people like me that can get out
there and who aren't afraid to speak their mind and
be okay with conservative values and put their thoughts out there,
the better will be as a nation, the healthier will
be and will be far less divided.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Thank you, Jonathan Albert.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I encourage people to check out the book and we
will share that Wall Street Journal editorial you wrote as
some people may be dealing with some of this in
the post Thanksgiving eraon which we currently live.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Yeah, thank you very much. Take care.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Look in Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
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Speaker 7 (33:54):
Making America great again isn't just one man, It's many.
The teamcast Sunday's at noon Eastern in the Clay and
Buck podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
All right, we're closing up shop on to Play and Buck.
First show of the week, first show of December. I
cannot believe how quickly the holidays are upon us. We
just had Thanksgiving. It was great. I need to I
need to get my steps in man. I need to
get back on my walking regimen. Clay nightly. I've been
a little bit of a walking dilettante in the last
(34:30):
couple of months, and the buckster is starting to get
a dad A dad bought again. I can't can't do it,
can't do it. Gotta get out there and walking, Gotta
watch the portion sizes, Gotta do some strength training. So uh,
you know, because because Christmas again, I'm gonna go to
my in laws. My my mother in law is an
amazing cook. And it's not just I have to watch
(34:51):
out for the meals. She just makes delicious things and
like leaves them in the kitchen. You don't like, yeah,
just you know, yeah, I just thought we'd have some
baked breed with some gluten free chrys DENI for you.
And I'm like, yes, this is amazing. But obviously I'm
going to eat four thousand calories of pre right now.
So that's what happens. How many calories do you think?
Let's get to these calls really quick. Le'll talk about
this tomorrow. Yeah, but I bet way more, way more
(35:15):
than we needed. Darcy and Houston, We're gonna try to
hit everybody. Thank you for calling. You got a daughter
at A and m Congrats to the Aggies on a
good season, although the Longhorns took them down on Friday.
But she's a Civil engineer student.
Speaker 8 (35:28):
She's a senior Civil engineering sto. Okay, rats, yeah, super excited.
But we took her out of school her We withdrew
her from school. She graduated home school because the public
schools are failing kids in maths. The grades are inflated,
they're not really learning. And I was at the weekend
(35:50):
of the twenty second I was back at A and
M with our youngest at engineering orientation and she's a
junior and they have A and M School of Engineer
has one of the highest withdrawal rates to other majors
because the kids aren't being prepared, they're not learning the
basic skills that they need to know. You are absolutely right.
(36:12):
This partially falls to parents to do flash cards with
their kids.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Guys, thank you for the call. Look, this is the reality.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
It's hard to become an engineer, thankfully, because we want
you to be really able to build buildings and things
like that, but you can't bs your way through it.
So you either have the foundational skills of math or
you don't. Congrats to her daughter, who's going to graduate
with that engineering degree. The number of people out there
that can make tremendous livings in jobs that can't be
(36:40):
replaced by AI. I think people are going to have
to start making more strategic decisions about what skills they're
gaining buck because a lot of these soft science jobs
you can get kicked to the curb in a hurry.
More on all of this tomorrow, My friends will talk
to you then
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