August 15, 2026 • 36 mins
Hour 2 of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show focuses heavily on politics, crime trends, public policy, American culture, and the ongoing debate over capitalism versus socialism as the hosts analyze several developing stories shaping the national conversation. The hour opens with discussion of political image and public perception, sparked by listener reactions to comments about Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). Clay and Buck examine the role appearance, charisma, and media presentation play in electoral politics, arguing that voters often respond to public figures based on factors beyond policy positions. The conversation expands into broader observations about modern political branding, television-era leadership, and the advantages enjoyed by highly visible public figures.
A major news development discussed during Hour 2 is the reported release of American citizen Robert Gilman from Russian detention after more than four years in prison. The hosts highlight efforts by the Trump administration and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to secure the release and frame the development as another example of Americans being returned home from overseas detention. The story leads into a wider discussion about foreign policy, diplomacy, and American citizens held abroad.
The program then turns to the rapidly approaching 2026 midterm elections, with analysis of primary contests taking place in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Carolina, and other states. Clay and Buck discuss the race to replace longtime South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, focusing on candidate Darlene Graham, the senator’s sister, who received President Donald Trump’s endorsement. The hosts debate the question of political dynasties and family succession in American politics, examining whether voters are comfortable supporting relatives of well-known elected officials. They compare the situation to historical examples where spouses or other family members have inherited political influence and discuss the impact of presidential endorsements on Republican primary voters.
The South Carolina conversation also revisits former Governor Mark Sanford, whose infamous disappearance while claiming to be hiking the Appalachian Trail became a national story years ago. Listener calls add local perspective, leading to a humorous exchange about Sanford’s political comeback attempt and the lasting public memory of political scandals.
A broader cultural segment explores American regional identity, geography, and history. Clay and Buck discuss differences between Southern, Northeastern, and Midwestern cultural traditions, including varying levels of connection to ancestral European heritage. The hosts examine how American cities and states received their names, touching on English, Dutch, Spanish, French, biblical, and Native American influences. The discussion becomes part of a larger conversation about historical literacy and how much Americans understand about the origins of their communities and institutions.
One of the most significant topics in Hour 2 centers on a new report showing dramatic declines in murder rates and violent crime across much of the United States during 2026. Clay highlights statistics indicating that murders are down significantly compared to an already historically low year in 2025. The hosts emphasize data from Florida, noting exceptionally low homicide totals in major cities including Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. They contrast these numbers with much higher murder totals in places such as Chicago, arguing that states and cities emphasizing law enforcement and public safety policies are experiencing stronger results.
The discussion expands into a broader examination of crime policy, policing, criminal justice reform, and the legacy of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement. Clay and Buck contend that support for law enforcement, stricter prosecution of violent offenders, and tougher public safety policies have contributed to falling crime rates in many jurisdictions. They point to improvements in cities such as Baltimore, Memphis, Washington, D.C., Newark, Raleigh, and Boston while noting that some locations, including Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Charlotte, San Francisco, Oklahoma City, and San Diego, are experiencing increases. Chicago receives particular attention as the hosts debate why local leaders have resisted policy changes they believe could significantly reduce violence.
The hosts repeatedly return to the theme that local governance matters, arguing that decisions made by governors, mayors, prosecutors, and police departments often have a greater impact on daily quality of life than actions taken by the federal government. This leads to discussion of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, President Donald Trump’s law-and-order messaging, and the role of elected officials in shaping public safety outcomes.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back in Clay and Buck, appreciate all of you
hanging out with us. We roll into the Tuesday edition
of the program Our number two. Thank you nearly six
hundred AMFM stations, satellite radio podcast, and certainly hello to YouTube.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Click liked and subscribed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
You can now watch all three hours of the program
on video every single day, where you can get into
comments and say crazy things like AOC is not attractive
according to Buck, which is an argument that is currently
taking place. No, I'm saying that people are saying that.
I'm not saying she's not attractive. We agree. I mean
(00:40):
that she is attractive. In fact, I'm going to get
into positive but I actually see someone here that is
fired up. Carmen in Edgewater, Florida. Carmen, thank you for listening.
You have a take? Oh what you want to say?
She was going to say it was inappropriate for us
to reference AOC's attractiveness, because I guess that's inappropriate. I
(01:07):
don't know, you're not supposed to have noticed that you
have eyes, and uh, what I would just say in
general is this would be a good historical test which
we can never confirm.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
John F.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Kennedy exact same political opinions, exact same family. But he
looks just like Chris Christie. Is he ever elected president of.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
The United States? Nope, I would say no. So if
you're out there and you're saying I'm a woman, I'm offended.
Why would you talk about AOC's looks?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
All Right?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
John F.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Kennedy is the best looking person to ever be President
of the United States. If he were fat, he would
not have been elected President of the United States. If
he were unattractive, he would And sorry, I want consistency here,
is it? Is it inappropriate when Trump references how members
(01:59):
of his or so good looking male and female, and
how the President of the United States has clearly viewed
it as an advantage to you know, he didn't pick
Caroline Leavitt out of a hat. Everybody, Okay, you know,
go down and look at who. I think, even though
it's a guy and Trump is straight, I think Pete
Hegseth looking like a you know, square jaw guy who
(02:21):
would be put as you know, like Captain.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
America, like Captain America.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah. Yeah, I think that that was enormously to his
I know that that was enormously to his advantage with
Trump making that pick Marco Rubio, also telegenic Secretary of State.
This is reality, folks. Clay and I live in reality.
In reality, we can talk about good looking people having
an advantage in politics and in public life without anyone
getting into a tizzy about it. We're not sitting here
(02:50):
writing odes and sonnets to AOC. I can assure you
neither Laura nor Carrie are worried about our feelings for AOC. Okay,
so we're just objectively stating reality. All right.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Two things news positive.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
One, this just happened a man named Robert Gilman, I
think is the last name. I jot it down really
quickly because this is just breaking and maybe gilmher I
can't read my own writing. This is where Buck would
attest that sometimes when I shot down notes quickly. As
those of you who saw Pickles back in the day,
(03:26):
people still think that Gerald Pickles was like some kind
of a put on.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I swear Clarire wrote down Gerald Pickles.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
So Robert Gilman has been in a Russian prison for
four years. Many people say that he was unjustly in
a Russian prison. They just posted a couple of minutes
ago that he has been released. They posted a photo
of him. Here's Marco Rubio. Today, after more than four
(03:53):
years of detention in Russia. Robert Gilman is on his
way home to be reunited with his family.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Mister Gilman.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Over one hundred Americans President Trump has free during a
second term in office. We thank Russia for working with
Witcough Special Envoy Steve Witcoff, and there are still others
that are being sought. But I do think it is
worth mentioning that, and certainly that is a welcome result,
(04:20):
all right, Buck, Earlier I was being positive on the midterms.
Those are still months away, and we do have Wisconsin
and Minnesota voting in their primary today. I didn't mention
off the top of the show when we were talking
about primaries. South Carolinians are also voting to pick a
replacement for their Lindsey Graham, former senator who passed untimely
(04:43):
after winning the nomination to serve another six year term.
There are a bunch of people who are running. I'm
going to look up right now, Buck, you can comment
on this. I'm going to look up the actual markets
to see who is favored and what we expect to
see happen. I think there's going to be a runoff,
because my understanding is you have to get over fifty percent,
(05:04):
and given the number of individuals running, it's unlikely over
fifty percent is going to happen. I first thing comes
to my mind because I'm silly Yankee. Even though I
now live in Florida, I feel like Florida. If you're
South Florida, it's like Yankeeville here anyway, we all everyone
comes from New York. The family's in New York or
(05:24):
in the northeast. Is there a difference between a South
Carolina accent and a Tennessee accent.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Depends on the yard of the state.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
The South Carolinians in A lot of people don't realize this,
but as you move west, because you think of South
Carolina as like a coastal I don't think a lot
of people do you think of Charleston. You think, I know,
it's in Georgia, but Savannah like the kind of the
sort of palm trees and the brackish waters, the bays,
(05:56):
all those things. As you move west, it becomes basically
the Smoky Mountains. So the Appalachian region of South Carolina
you sound a lot like you do in the mountains
of North Carolina. The mountains of Tennessee the mountains, so
it's really a regional Appalachian or Appalachia, depending on who
you ask, accent that you're that that's what you know something.
(06:18):
I'm I'm weaving here for second Clacus, I know, we
want to get into the South Carolina thing. Did you
see Wall Street Journal today? They have a whole piece
that's on the timeline of the naming of American towns
and cities. Really, I didn't read that yet. That's super interesting,
super interesting. I mean, I'll give you the very short
version is, of course, the earliest place names and they
(06:41):
well they started New York or they started around that era.
The earliest place names are English. You know English names,
you know Jamestown, et cetera, Plymouth, English place names. But
then you get into the Dutch names, which are in
the New York area. I always think it's so funny
(07:03):
too that, I like, sixteen fifty five, the British just
show up with a bunch of ships and they're like,
this land is ours, and the Dutch are kind of like, okay,
like just let us keep our stuff and not a
shot fired. Everyone just kind of hung out, you know.
Although Peter Stuyvesant named, or rather the famous high school
in New York name for him. Peter Stuivesant wanted to
throw down, and his people were like, no, that's a
(07:25):
crazy idea. The British will kick our asses like that.
We have thether four frigates all armed up like where,
we can't do this. So but anyway, then it gets
into how you after the revolution you start getting these
names that are biblical. You start going with these biblical
names because they didn't want to keep the convention going
of English place names for towns and cities. And of
(07:49):
course then you have the Spanish influence, which is heavy
around the southwest California, the former parts of the Spanish Empire,
and the French influence along the Mississippi basin because of France, Louisiana,
purch and all that stuff. But it gave kind of
a brief history of all these of all these town names,
which I thought was really interesting. And then the Native
American America or the Anglicized or English versions of Native
(08:11):
American names, Yeah, like Tennessee and Kentucky and places like that.
I did see speaking of the geography of settlement the
South where I live, and this kind of confirms in
general is not a place where people feel connection to
(08:31):
Europe or other countries. Most Southerners feel more of a
connection to the South or America. And there was a
map that actually reflected that's true. When you ask people
where they're from in the Southeast, they say, well, we're
you know, Southern, We're United States. Whereas like my wife
is from Michigan. A lot of people and I know
(08:52):
Northeast where you grew up, a lot of people still
fill a connection to Italy or Ireland or to like
we don't really have Saint Patti's Day parade, aids very
much down here in the South in general compared to
other parts of the country. But like Utica, Ithaca, Syracuse, Goshin,
these are all either biblical or ancient Greco Roman place names.
(09:14):
And it's because those towns and cities were founded post
revolution that all of a sudden, it wasn't New York,
and it wasn't you know, all these different places that
come from the Virginia. These are all things named obviously
for the English. I thought this was really it's on
the wall streets just came out a few hours ago.
Everyone knows the Spanish stuff is quite obvious. I mean
(09:36):
that was Spanish territory, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Antonio.
It was really the eastern side of things that was
more interesting to me, the way that the names changed
over time. But yeah, how ten thousand American cities got
their names and that's it goes into all of that,
and it's part of the two hundred and fifteth anniversary
of the Wall Street Journal put this outs three hundred
and thirty four page report that they broke down some
(09:58):
of this for you. So there you go, cause like,
for example, how many people know why they're like, do
you people into cater Illinois? I hope you all know
that your city is named for an absolute badass from
the war against the Barbary pirates, Stephen decater No. I
thought those special operation goes back to the question in
our one. Most people are morons when it comes to history,
(10:21):
and they're financially illiterate too, And it's all most people
don't know. Most people don't know basic history. By the way,
I'm pulling it up right now, the three favorites to
win again to advance as long as somebody doesn't get
fifty percent. Darlene Graham is the sister of Lindsey Graham,
has been endorsed by President Trump. I will say I'm
(10:43):
gonna Laura Travis said, you should be talking more on
the program about the fact that she's just the sister
and she gets to be a senator. She said, I
haven't heard you or Buck even raised this as an issue.
She's never done anything in pop politics and she just
happens to be the sister of the sitting senator, and
(11:04):
so she gets to be a senator. Why aren't you
guys talking about that? And I saw, I don't know,
so why it's it's a very good point slash good question.
I would say the answer is very similar to what
I used to say. I don't think the president should
have his immediate family members running the White House, which
is that people a lot of the rank and file
(11:25):
Trump voter wants and or has total faith that when
Trump anoints somebody, either as an appointee or in this case,
for a Senate seat, that he knows what he's doing
and they put their full faith in that decision, or
they don't want it to be questioned. Yeah, for those
who don't feel that way, this is Lindsay Graham's sister.
This makes no sense. Why would anyone vote for her?
(11:46):
But that's a different approach than I did going to
go for it. After my wife brought this up, Buck,
I asked groc and I looked it up. Typically it's
the wife of a sitting senator who has ended up
taking his seat. I believe that's happened seven times historically.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
This was that's just for.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
An interim appointment, right, this is she's actually running for this.
She's running for the six year term. Yeah. Yeah, she's
the sitting senator right now to fill out the until January.
The interim thing. I feel like, yeah, the person votes
you got away from election. That's different. That's fine. I
get that, Like, yeah, wife stuffing in for three is
no big deal. Yeah, for the six year term. It's
happened eight times that there's been a family member that
has kept the seat in the Senate. Particularly seven times
(12:31):
it was a widow. Makes sense some because you have
the same last name. Never before has a sibling gotten
a seat. So Darlene Graham is favored right now, then
Ralph Norman Russell Fry. That is the top three according
to polymarket.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Buck.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I forgot that he was running. Do you remember Mark Sanford,
the governor of South Carolina who vanished. They didn't know
where he was. Was he hiking in Argentina with a paramore,
with a mistress? Me with a with a miss They
didn't know where he was the governor of South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Just they were like, we don't know where the governor is.
And then they found out that he was. I think
it was a mistress. He might have been divorced. Let's
like do a research on that.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
But he was with a woman on a hike in
Latin America while being governor. He is the fourth most
likely to be selected as the next Senator from South Carolina.
Would you go on a solo hike with the woman
who wasn't your wife, girlfriend or mistress? That would be
quite a you know what I'm saying, don't want to
go on a hike with anybody? Totally agree it. It
(13:41):
does seem unlikely that you would just be like, hey,
I'm just good friends with this woman.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Let's just go walk in the trees for a while.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Did your parents Yeah, because when you're going on a
real deal hike, you got like a trowel for taking
care of your business, and you know, you got to
use leaves like it's you know, you gotta really want
to spend time with this person.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
There's a reason why.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Man moved from living in caves and the woods to
in a home, like in a structure. Did your parents
try to get you in on the camping thing, like
convince you the camping was like the great American pastime.
I like being outdoors during the day, but I want
to go in at night, so we want to go
out into the great outdoors. But no, I was never
a camp and we've never done it as a family.
(14:21):
I told Lara, Like the reason I work is to
put a roof over our head, Like why would I
abandon a roof over our head. My dad's two favorite
traditions that he has not been able to get his
children to take up for the next generation are being
on a boat in a storm where you might not
make it. He loves that for some reason. And sleeping
(14:43):
on the ground in the woods with no one else around,
and like an air mattress for like weeks on end,
like he loves those things. Can't sell me on either
one of these. I don't want to be in a
boat in a storm. I don't want to be sleeping
on the ground in the woods. So different strokes for
different folks. Okay, I'm gonna give us a positive spin.
I promise on murder rates. That's maybe it's a great story.
(15:07):
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around here. Let's be Gordon in South Carolina wants to
give some background on the Mark Sandford. Okay, hey fill
(16:30):
in the blank here. He let us know what do
we miss on the Mark Sandford thing. Was he working
on his salsa.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Working on his shag we gotta we gotta dance in
South Carolina called the shag And he was working on
the shag with a girl in Buenos Aires who is
his mistress. But he said to us South Carolinians that
he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. So that was the
(16:57):
controversy that he was supposedly hike in the Appalachian Trail
and away from the phone in the office when he
was actually down in Buenos Aires shagging.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
To be fair, Gordon, he was getting exercise.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
On that.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Thank you for calling. I will mention while we're making
fun of Mark Sandford vanishing in them not knowing where
he was.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
I know, everybody just stops talking about this.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
The Secretary of Defense was in the hospital being treated
for a severe medical condition, and no one in the
Department of Defense knew Under Joe Biden, remember, like they
found out even the person who was supposed to be
second in command did not know that he was being
treated in the hospital for a serious issue, which is
(17:47):
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(18:09):
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(18:54):
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Speaker 2 (18:56):
Welcome back in Clay and Buck.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
All right, positivity here this morning doing my reading. Axios
links to a study coming out of the through the
first half of the year that breaks down all of
the rates of murder that have happened across the country
(19:18):
so far. Remember Refresher, last year we set an all
time recorded low murder rate in the history of the country.
It's one of the great success stories that almost no
one has talked about this year. Buck. According to data
from January one to June thirtieth, the first half of
(19:39):
the year, murders have continued to collapse. They are now
down seventeen percent more in major cities across America than
they were last year, at an all time record low.
And I shared this. We'll link it on Clay and Buck.
I also shared it from my Clay Travis Twitter account.
(20:00):
You can go in and look up exactly how many
murders have taken place in basically any major city in America,
and I'll give you a couple right off the top
here because I think that it's significant. I live in Nashville, Tennessee. Buck,
Nashville is on pace right now to have the lowest
(20:22):
recorded murder rate in its history. You are in Miami, Miami.
I saw this number in I did a double take.
Miami has only had eight murders so far in twenty
twenty six. Nashville, by the way, has had twenty four.
Miami has had eight murders. Orlando, Florida has had ten,
(20:47):
Tampa has had eleven. Okay, So if you just want
to use the state of Florida, big state, high population, right,
A lot of people, a lot of you have been
to Tampa, Orlando, Miami. I think it's fair to call
those big cities lots of population. Orlando, Buck even more
so because the number of people that come right Miami, true,
(21:10):
Tampa as well, but Orlando probably per capita, has to
be the number one tourist city in all of America.
Again per capita, because of Disney World, Universal Studios, everything else.
Miami has a ton of people who visit as well.
So in addition to the huge population that these cities have,
they have tens, probably tens tens of millions of tourists
(21:33):
that would come in during the course of a year.
Twenty nine total murders in Miami, Tampa, and Orlando buck. Okay,
how does that compare to Chicago. Chicago by itself two
hundred and eleven murders. So I want you to think
(21:53):
about this for a minute. Nearly ten times the murder
rate of Orlando, Miami, and Tampa combined. Chicago had two
hundred and eleven murders buck in the first half of
this year. That's actually up compared to last year. And
(22:14):
I think his evidence of just what a phenomenal job Miami, Orlando,
and Tampa have done when it comes to driving down
crime to a level frankly that's unmatched in any other
big state in America. If Florida Governor Ron Desanta shared
that I shared that data with everybody out there, and
(22:38):
he responded and said, I want to make sure that
I get this right, so I'm gonna go back into
my account so I can quote him accurately. But he
basically said, Buck, you can take it and tell us
whether you feel it. In Miami, I want to get
the governor's comments correct here. He said, Florida has a
fifty year low crime rate. When you enact law and
(23:00):
order policies and support law enforcement, the bad guys pay
the price. Eight murders in Miami. I mean, that's an
incredible success story. Wish it was zero, certainly, but there's
almost no murder now in the state of Florida. I
love it. I don't know what to tell you other
than governance. State and local governance matters in many ways.
(23:22):
It matters a whole lot more to your day to
day than even the presidency or the federal government. Now
that can change. We could get involved in a big
war or you know, the open borders. I'm not saying
it overall, but it is the case that with your
day to day life, having sane people in positions of
authority making decisions about crime, about sanitation about city planning.
(23:47):
All these kinds of things makes a really big difference.
But specifically in the issue of law enforcement, there is
no way that any person can make the case based
on experience data, what is observable with your eyes and
ears if you live in any of these places that
there's still a debate over whether enforcing the laws and
(24:08):
locking up people for serious who commit serious crimes makes
people in those places safer. It absolutely does, and that's
I think quite a It's really an incredible swing of
the pendulum play from twenty twenty where with the rise
of BLM and the Biden administration essentially pandering to BLM
(24:30):
as much as much as they did as much as
they could, as well as a lot of institutions, by
the way, a ton of money and promises and all
this stuff going, and it shows you that we can
achieve great things still in important American cities in the
near aftermath of some of the greatest lunacy that we've
(24:51):
ever experienced on criminal justice, which is really what you
had in the in the BLM era. It was really
just an era of they said it was a racial reckoning.
It was just race riots, and it was people who
were either taking it as an excuse to unleash a
lot of pent up rage and resentment against society and
against people, or in the case of just the broader
(25:12):
Democrat Party, it was about capitalizing on a political movement
for their own purposes and mobilizing the shock troops of
the Democrat Party in a way that as I've said,
I said this on it was actually the after show
for the Bill Marthinclay, But I said in the after
show that the twenty twenty election.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Was held under duress.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
It was not for any January sixth, or rather the aftermath,
but referring to the fact that there were stores that
were boarding up everywhere in case Donald Trump won reelection,
because we just knew there were going to be more riots,
and you know, Trump was in a tough spot with this.
I think he was a little slow to act, quite honestly,
with some of those riots. And I said so at
the time. But the fact that Miami is down to
(25:54):
the crime level, not just Miami, Florida as a state
is down at the crime level that it is right now.
So what is the excuse at this point for New Orleans, Detroit, Baltimore,
you know, go down the list of the of the
perennially way too violent cities. Memphis no longer maybe on
that list because I've got a list of cities that
(26:16):
are improving. Let me give you this a couple more
data points, because I love just looking at the actual
raw numbers. And for people out there, there's always people
who say, oh, you can't trust Murder's hard to fake,
right if there's a dead body. I understand some of
you who can say, hey, property crime robberies, they will
kind of manufacture or a massage of the data in
(26:36):
their favor. Here are cities Buck that are up this year,
Bucking no pun intended the trend, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas,
Oklahoma City, San Francisco, and Buck San Diego. Let me
give you that surprises me. We have a huge audience
in San Diego. I'm curious if people feel this in
(26:59):
San Diego. The number of murders in San Diego have
doubled compared to last year. I don't know if that's
cartel violence. I don't know what the numbers would be.
Obviously it's close to the border. San Diego by itself,
Buck had the same number of murders as Miami, Tampa,
and Orlando combined twenty nine. Okay, that's kind of an
(27:20):
alarm bell going off again. Those are cities that are
going counter to the trend. Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Vegas, Oklahoma City,
San Diego, and San Francisco higher murder rates. Listen to
some of these drops buck Newark, New Jersey, down sixty
five percent just since last year. Raleigh, North Carolina, down
(27:43):
sixty four percent. I think there were only four murders
that have occurred in Raleigh were number one there. They've
almost had a murder free year. Baltimore, you were just
mentioning down sixty percent. Things have gotten much better in Baltimore.
I wonder how much of the federal serve. But you
got a hold on here, Clay, because a lot of
these places saw all time highs just a couple of
(28:06):
years ago. So it's still it's really a question of
where is it relative to the to the average of
say the last twenty years. I think I don't think
it's fair to say because it could be down from
in Chicago. I think Philadelphia had almost seven hundred murders
in twenty twenty one. Some of the numbers were crazy
during the by the way, Arlington, Texas down sixty percent, Aurora,
(28:29):
Colorado that's outside of Denver, down nearly sixty Suffolk County,
New York that's on Long Island. These are smaller numbers, right,
Not a lot of people get murdered there, but now
nearly sixty percent. Boston down over down fifty two point
four percent. Miami, I think is like the Hampton's class.
So there's probably two murders a year there, so the
stats there might be a little uh. The Nasau, Yeah,
(28:53):
the Nasau County in Suffolk County. Boston down fifty two percent.
Miami I mentioned down fifty Everyone just stopped paying attention
to it because it's gotten so much better. DC down
forty four percent so far this year compared to last
year in murders, and then Memphis. You mentioned it, down
forty percent in murders DC and Memphis. President Trump called
(29:17):
in the guard. He has said over and over and
over again, we could fix Chicago. The mayor and the governor,
for political reasons, will not let the President come into Chicago,
which is now by far the murder capital of America.
I was curious. I was digging into the San Diego numbers.
Did you say San Diego had a big spike so
(29:39):
far this year? Yeah, it's nearly she all compared to
last year because it had been on a downward trajectory
in the year. So that's very strange, right, It's one
thing to say murders are down from twenty twenty one.
Let's say, which was the absolute peak in a lot
of places. I think Philly, you guys can check that.
(30:00):
One comes to mind. I think Philly had its all
time high for murders in twenty twenty two or twenty
twenty three, something like that under the Biden administration is
when't happened. But yeah, I'm surprised because San Diego was
down twenty five percent from twenty twenty four to twenty
twenty five, and twenty seven murders in twenty twenty five total,
how many of this year in twenty twenty six, did
(30:20):
you say they've.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Already had more than that in the first half of
the year twenty nine.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
That's that's that's so again, I wonder is there a
cartel connection. There have been a lot of Mexican cartel violence.
Has its spiraled over and those bodies are ending up
in Sandy.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
I don't know the answer. That's one thing I would
wonder about.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Uh. But when I look at this data, Buck, Chicago
is off the charts compared to basically every other city
in America.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Let me put it to you this way.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Chicago has two hundred and eleven murders through the first
half of the year. Philadelphia, which you were talking about,
had eighty three. So uh. New York City obviously has
been uh has been much better in general, though it's
starting to tick back up. But nobody else is even close.
LA is over one hundred. Nobody else is even close
(31:13):
to Chicago. It's a different caliber and level of violence
in Chicago compared to every other city in America. Chicago
has twice as many murders as every other city in America,
I mean capital. Yeah, straight numbers. Oh, I'm sorry, straight numbers,
straight numbers. LA has half the number of murders, even
(31:35):
though it's a bigger city than Chicago. That's uh, that's
actually I mean, that's crazy, but not surprising because I
know Chicago, LA has always had a pretty low murder rate.
I think you could go into Chicago if you had
a willingness for the Democrat mayor and the Democrat City
Council because it's all in the city or the environs
(31:55):
of Chicago itself, is where there stuff there's there's not
a ton of people getting shot in Peoria or Springfield
or something. So if you had a willingness to go
in there, I think you could bring the the murder
rate down fifty percent of Chicago in a year. I
wish hundred percent sign off. They could say they could
save hundreds of lives in Chicago if they just actually
(32:18):
tried to fix the problem. So then you have to wonder,
why would Brandon Johnson, the mayor of Chicago. He's a Democrat,
he's a black man. Why doesn't Mayor Johnson want to
save call it two hundred lives next year by changing this?
And I think the answer is one, It would be
(32:38):
the big part of it is just admitting that your
opponents were right. He doesn't want to admit that the
other side is right, meaning the Republicans, the Conservatives, even
the moderate Democrats, because there was a Democrat who ran
who was going to try to clean things up. And
then I think to Clay, he doesn't want to see
a surge in young black men arrested for gang activity
and violence. That's right. That's more bothersome to him than
(33:02):
the two hundred young black men who are going to
be killed. Men and women and children, by the way,
who are going to be killed by gang violence next year.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Also President Trump getting to take credit when the crime
rate came down. He would rather think stay bad than
allow Trump to make it better if Trump gets credit
for it, I mean it's broken as a broken political system.
In Chicago, home break ins.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
FBI pegs the number three thousand a day nationwide. What
if you are out there right now and you want
to try to make sure that your home is safe,
but you want to do it not only with lethal
A lot of you have guns, but also with non lethal.
Maybe you got people coming in the house at all hours.
We got teenage boys. They come in the house at
all hours here. Sometimes they may be setting off the alarm.
(33:47):
Maybe you got young kids and you're worried about them
getting into your weapons, and you want to keep something
that is not lethal as well, that you don't have
to lock up, maybe under lock and key, like the guns.
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(34:32):
Visit saberprotect dot com. That's eight four four eight two
four sa f E Saberprotect dot com. Keeping it real,
keeping it right, Clan Buck find them on the iHeart
app or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in
here to Clay and Buck. We have a bunch of
(34:53):
pulls and talk back. Let's see here Gym in Oklahoma.
Let's talk capitalism. What's going on, Jim?
Speaker 4 (35:03):
How you doing? Mainly the capitalism stuff. I appreciate you
talking about it. I needed I would love to hear
people's remind what we're doing is not capitalism because the
government is still picking winners and losers, so we're I mean,
it's a hybrid. If it was true capitalism, it would
be working a lot better. I agree that the capitalism
(35:25):
that Newsom is saying, as we know, it is not working.
I agree. I worked for myself most of my life
and that's the problem is we need to get back
to true capitalism. Look back at IBM and Apple for
crying out loud. I don't know if you're old enough
to know that most of these youngers. Though IBM had
had to monopoly, the government didn't come in and do
(35:47):
anything about it. Apple came in and said we can
do it better. And look at where there are today.
You could pick a lot of those, but that doesn't
happen because the government gets in.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
And I think the government is for the call I need.
The government is too. And in general, I do think
there are a lot of tremendous success stories. Amazon is
I think one of the greatest, maybe the greatest of
all time. You can go on your phone and order
anything and it'll be at your home in a few hours,
(36:17):
and it can be anything under the sun. Amazon has
a huge market in internet commerce, but it also has
a phenomenal business model that it is built. So I
wish we had more unregulated capitalism, lower taxes. I think
all those things are true. Stock markets at record highs,
(36:39):
there are a lot of issues. I'm not sure that
successful companies is one of them. Be back file hour
now
Welcome back in Clay and Buck, appreciate all of you
hanging out with us. We roll into the Tuesday edition
of the program Our number two. Thank you nearly six
hundred AMFM stations, satellite radio podcast, and certainly hello to YouTube.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Click liked and subscribed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
You can now watch all three hours of the program
on video every single day, where you can get into
comments and say crazy things like AOC is not attractive
according to Buck, which is an argument that is currently
taking place. No, I'm saying that people are saying that.
I'm not saying she's not attractive. We agree. I mean
(00:40):
that she is attractive. In fact, I'm going to get
into positive but I actually see someone here that is
fired up. Carmen in Edgewater, Florida. Carmen, thank you for listening.
You have a take? Oh what you want to say?
She was going to say it was inappropriate for us
to reference AOC's attractiveness, because I guess that's inappropriate. I
(01:07):
don't know, you're not supposed to have noticed that you
have eyes, and uh, what I would just say in
general is this would be a good historical test which
we can never confirm.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
John F.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Kennedy exact same political opinions, exact same family. But he
looks just like Chris Christie. Is he ever elected president of.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
The United States? Nope, I would say no. So if
you're out there and you're saying I'm a woman, I'm offended.
Why would you talk about AOC's looks?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
All Right?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
John F.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Kennedy is the best looking person to ever be President
of the United States. If he were fat, he would
not have been elected President of the United States. If
he were unattractive, he would And sorry, I want consistency here,
is it? Is it inappropriate when Trump references how members
(01:59):
of his or so good looking male and female, and
how the President of the United States has clearly viewed
it as an advantage to you know, he didn't pick
Caroline Leavitt out of a hat. Everybody, Okay, you know,
go down and look at who. I think, even though
it's a guy and Trump is straight, I think Pete
Hegseth looking like a you know, square jaw guy who
(02:21):
would be put as you know, like Captain.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
America, like Captain America.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah. Yeah, I think that that was enormously to his
I know that that was enormously to his advantage with
Trump making that pick Marco Rubio, also telegenic Secretary of State.
This is reality, folks. Clay and I live in reality.
In reality, we can talk about good looking people having
an advantage in politics and in public life without anyone
getting into a tizzy about it. We're not sitting here
(02:50):
writing odes and sonnets to AOC. I can assure you
neither Laura nor Carrie are worried about our feelings for AOC. Okay,
so we're just objectively stating reality. All right.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Two things news positive.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
One, this just happened a man named Robert Gilman, I
think is the last name. I jot it down really
quickly because this is just breaking and maybe gilmher I
can't read my own writing. This is where Buck would
attest that sometimes when I shot down notes quickly. As
those of you who saw Pickles back in the day,
(03:26):
people still think that Gerald Pickles was like some kind
of a put on.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I swear Clarire wrote down Gerald Pickles.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
So Robert Gilman has been in a Russian prison for
four years. Many people say that he was unjustly in
a Russian prison. They just posted a couple of minutes
ago that he has been released. They posted a photo
of him. Here's Marco Rubio. Today, after more than four
(03:53):
years of detention in Russia. Robert Gilman is on his
way home to be reunited with his family.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Mister Gilman.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Over one hundred Americans President Trump has free during a
second term in office. We thank Russia for working with
Witcough Special Envoy Steve Witcoff, and there are still others
that are being sought. But I do think it is
worth mentioning that, and certainly that is a welcome result,
(04:20):
all right, Buck, Earlier I was being positive on the midterms.
Those are still months away, and we do have Wisconsin
and Minnesota voting in their primary today. I didn't mention
off the top of the show when we were talking
about primaries. South Carolinians are also voting to pick a
replacement for their Lindsey Graham, former senator who passed untimely
(04:43):
after winning the nomination to serve another six year term.
There are a bunch of people who are running. I'm
going to look up right now, Buck, you can comment
on this. I'm going to look up the actual markets
to see who is favored and what we expect to
see happen. I think there's going to be a runoff,
because my understanding is you have to get over fifty percent,
(05:04):
and given the number of individuals running, it's unlikely over
fifty percent is going to happen. I first thing comes
to my mind because I'm silly Yankee. Even though I
now live in Florida, I feel like Florida. If you're
South Florida, it's like Yankeeville here anyway, we all everyone
comes from New York. The family's in New York or
(05:24):
in the northeast. Is there a difference between a South
Carolina accent and a Tennessee accent.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Depends on the yard of the state.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
The South Carolinians in A lot of people don't realize this,
but as you move west, because you think of South
Carolina as like a coastal I don't think a lot
of people do you think of Charleston. You think, I know,
it's in Georgia, but Savannah like the kind of the
sort of palm trees and the brackish waters, the bays,
(05:56):
all those things. As you move west, it becomes basically
the Smoky Mountains. So the Appalachian region of South Carolina
you sound a lot like you do in the mountains
of North Carolina. The mountains of Tennessee the mountains, so
it's really a regional Appalachian or Appalachia, depending on who
you ask, accent that you're that that's what you know something.
(06:18):
I'm I'm weaving here for second Clacus, I know, we
want to get into the South Carolina thing. Did you
see Wall Street Journal today? They have a whole piece
that's on the timeline of the naming of American towns
and cities. Really, I didn't read that yet. That's super interesting,
super interesting. I mean, I'll give you the very short
version is, of course, the earliest place names and they
(06:41):
well they started New York or they started around that era.
The earliest place names are English. You know English names,
you know Jamestown, et cetera, Plymouth, English place names. But
then you get into the Dutch names, which are in
the New York area. I always think it's so funny
(07:03):
too that, I like, sixteen fifty five, the British just
show up with a bunch of ships and they're like,
this land is ours, and the Dutch are kind of like, okay,
like just let us keep our stuff and not a
shot fired. Everyone just kind of hung out, you know.
Although Peter Stuyvesant named, or rather the famous high school
in New York name for him. Peter Stuivesant wanted to
throw down, and his people were like, no, that's a
(07:25):
crazy idea. The British will kick our asses like that.
We have thether four frigates all armed up like where,
we can't do this. So but anyway, then it gets
into how you after the revolution you start getting these
names that are biblical. You start going with these biblical
names because they didn't want to keep the convention going
of English place names for towns and cities. And of
(07:49):
course then you have the Spanish influence, which is heavy
around the southwest California, the former parts of the Spanish Empire,
and the French influence along the Mississippi basin because of France, Louisiana,
purch and all that stuff. But it gave kind of
a brief history of all these of all these town names,
which I thought was really interesting. And then the Native
American America or the Anglicized or English versions of Native
(08:11):
American names, Yeah, like Tennessee and Kentucky and places like that.
I did see speaking of the geography of settlement the
South where I live, and this kind of confirms in
general is not a place where people feel connection to
(08:31):
Europe or other countries. Most Southerners feel more of a
connection to the South or America. And there was a
map that actually reflected that's true. When you ask people
where they're from in the Southeast, they say, well, we're
you know, Southern, We're United States. Whereas like my wife
is from Michigan. A lot of people and I know
(08:52):
Northeast where you grew up, a lot of people still
fill a connection to Italy or Ireland or to like
we don't really have Saint Patti's Day parade, aids very
much down here in the South in general compared to
other parts of the country. But like Utica, Ithaca, Syracuse, Goshin,
these are all either biblical or ancient Greco Roman place names.
(09:14):
And it's because those towns and cities were founded post
revolution that all of a sudden, it wasn't New York,
and it wasn't you know, all these different places that
come from the Virginia. These are all things named obviously
for the English. I thought this was really it's on
the wall streets just came out a few hours ago.
Everyone knows the Spanish stuff is quite obvious. I mean
(09:36):
that was Spanish territory, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Antonio.
It was really the eastern side of things that was
more interesting to me, the way that the names changed
over time. But yeah, how ten thousand American cities got
their names and that's it goes into all of that,
and it's part of the two hundred and fifteth anniversary
of the Wall Street Journal put this outs three hundred
and thirty four page report that they broke down some
(09:58):
of this for you. So there you go, cause like,
for example, how many people know why they're like, do
you people into cater Illinois? I hope you all know
that your city is named for an absolute badass from
the war against the Barbary pirates, Stephen decater No. I
thought those special operation goes back to the question in
our one. Most people are morons when it comes to history,
(10:21):
and they're financially illiterate too, And it's all most people
don't know. Most people don't know basic history. By the way,
I'm pulling it up right now, the three favorites to
win again to advance as long as somebody doesn't get
fifty percent. Darlene Graham is the sister of Lindsey Graham,
has been endorsed by President Trump. I will say I'm
(10:43):
gonna Laura Travis said, you should be talking more on
the program about the fact that she's just the sister
and she gets to be a senator. She said, I
haven't heard you or Buck even raised this as an issue.
She's never done anything in pop politics and she just
happens to be the sister of the sitting senator, and
(11:04):
so she gets to be a senator. Why aren't you
guys talking about that? And I saw, I don't know,
so why it's it's a very good point slash good question.
I would say the answer is very similar to what
I used to say. I don't think the president should
have his immediate family members running the White House, which
is that people a lot of the rank and file
(11:25):
Trump voter wants and or has total faith that when
Trump anoints somebody, either as an appointee or in this case,
for a Senate seat, that he knows what he's doing
and they put their full faith in that decision, or
they don't want it to be questioned. Yeah, for those
who don't feel that way, this is Lindsay Graham's sister.
This makes no sense. Why would anyone vote for her?
(11:46):
But that's a different approach than I did going to
go for it. After my wife brought this up, Buck,
I asked groc and I looked it up. Typically it's
the wife of a sitting senator who has ended up
taking his seat. I believe that's happened seven times historically.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
This was that's just for.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
An interim appointment, right, this is she's actually running for this.
She's running for the six year term. Yeah. Yeah, she's
the sitting senator right now to fill out the until January.
The interim thing. I feel like, yeah, the person votes
you got away from election. That's different. That's fine. I
get that, Like, yeah, wife stuffing in for three is
no big deal. Yeah, for the six year term. It's
happened eight times that there's been a family member that
has kept the seat in the Senate. Particularly seven times
(12:31):
it was a widow. Makes sense some because you have
the same last name. Never before has a sibling gotten
a seat. So Darlene Graham is favored right now, then
Ralph Norman Russell Fry. That is the top three according
to polymarket.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Buck.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I forgot that he was running. Do you remember Mark Sanford,
the governor of South Carolina who vanished. They didn't know
where he was. Was he hiking in Argentina with a paramore,
with a mistress? Me with a with a miss They
didn't know where he was the governor of South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Just they were like, we don't know where the governor is.
And then they found out that he was. I think
it was a mistress. He might have been divorced. Let's
like do a research on that.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
But he was with a woman on a hike in
Latin America while being governor. He is the fourth most
likely to be selected as the next Senator from South Carolina.
Would you go on a solo hike with the woman
who wasn't your wife, girlfriend or mistress? That would be
quite a you know what I'm saying, don't want to
go on a hike with anybody? Totally agree it. It
(13:41):
does seem unlikely that you would just be like, hey,
I'm just good friends with this woman.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Let's just go walk in the trees for a while.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Did your parents Yeah, because when you're going on a
real deal hike, you got like a trowel for taking
care of your business, and you know, you got to
use leaves like it's you know, you gotta really want
to spend time with this person.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
There's a reason why.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Man moved from living in caves and the woods to
in a home, like in a structure. Did your parents
try to get you in on the camping thing, like
convince you the camping was like the great American pastime.
I like being outdoors during the day, but I want
to go in at night, so we want to go
out into the great outdoors. But no, I was never
a camp and we've never done it as a family.
(14:21):
I told Lara, Like the reason I work is to
put a roof over our head, Like why would I
abandon a roof over our head. My dad's two favorite
traditions that he has not been able to get his
children to take up for the next generation are being
on a boat in a storm where you might not
make it. He loves that for some reason. And sleeping
(14:43):
on the ground in the woods with no one else around,
and like an air mattress for like weeks on end,
like he loves those things. Can't sell me on either
one of these. I don't want to be in a
boat in a storm. I don't want to be sleeping
on the ground in the woods. So different strokes for
different folks. Okay, I'm gonna give us a positive spin.
I promise on murder rates. That's maybe it's a great story.
(15:07):
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here to Clay and Buck. We have a tight turn
around here. Let's be Gordon in South Carolina wants to
give some background on the Mark Sandford. Okay, hey fill
(16:30):
in the blank here. He let us know what do
we miss on the Mark Sandford thing. Was he working
on his salsa.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Working on his shag we gotta we gotta dance in
South Carolina called the shag And he was working on
the shag with a girl in Buenos Aires who is
his mistress. But he said to us South Carolinians that
he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. So that was the
(16:57):
controversy that he was supposedly hike in the Appalachian Trail
and away from the phone in the office when he
was actually down in Buenos Aires shagging.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
To be fair, Gordon, he was getting exercise.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
On that.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Thank you for calling. I will mention while we're making
fun of Mark Sandford vanishing in them not knowing where
he was.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
I know, everybody just stops talking about this.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
The Secretary of Defense was in the hospital being treated
for a severe medical condition, and no one in the
Department of Defense knew Under Joe Biden, remember, like they
found out even the person who was supposed to be
second in command did not know that he was being
treated in the hospital for a serious issue, which is
(17:47):
kind of wild to think about, honestly. Uh, And I
know it just got kind of tricked. Everybody just kind
of pretended that that didn't happen. But it is wild
in that respect. Look, I want to tell you all
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(18:09):
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This is a New Jersey based organization that has been
in existence for over forty years working to bring Christians
(18:31):
and Jews together. They do phenomenal work all throughout Israel.
All you need to do to see it for yourself
is check out the website PRAYIFCJ dot org. That is
PREYIFCJ dot org. Check and see look at how much
they do. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews PRAYIFCJ
(18:54):
dot org.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Welcome back in Clay and Buck.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
All right, positivity here this morning doing my reading. Axios
links to a study coming out of the through the
first half of the year that breaks down all of
the rates of murder that have happened across the country
(19:18):
so far. Remember Refresher, last year we set an all
time recorded low murder rate in the history of the country.
It's one of the great success stories that almost no
one has talked about this year. Buck. According to data
from January one to June thirtieth, the first half of
(19:39):
the year, murders have continued to collapse. They are now
down seventeen percent more in major cities across America than
they were last year, at an all time record low.
And I shared this. We'll link it on Clay and Buck.
I also shared it from my Clay Travis Twitter account.
(20:00):
You can go in and look up exactly how many
murders have taken place in basically any major city in America,
and I'll give you a couple right off the top
here because I think that it's significant. I live in Nashville, Tennessee. Buck,
Nashville is on pace right now to have the lowest
(20:22):
recorded murder rate in its history. You are in Miami, Miami.
I saw this number in I did a double take.
Miami has only had eight murders so far in twenty
twenty six. Nashville, by the way, has had twenty four.
Miami has had eight murders. Orlando, Florida has had ten,
(20:47):
Tampa has had eleven. Okay, So if you just want
to use the state of Florida, big state, high population, right,
A lot of people, a lot of you have been
to Tampa, Orlando, Miami. I think it's fair to call
those big cities lots of population. Orlando, Buck even more
so because the number of people that come right Miami, true,
(21:10):
Tampa as well, but Orlando probably per capita, has to
be the number one tourist city in all of America.
Again per capita, because of Disney World, Universal Studios, everything else.
Miami has a ton of people who visit as well.
So in addition to the huge population that these cities have,
they have tens, probably tens tens of millions of tourists
(21:33):
that would come in during the course of a year.
Twenty nine total murders in Miami, Tampa, and Orlando buck. Okay,
how does that compare to Chicago. Chicago by itself two
hundred and eleven murders. So I want you to think
(21:53):
about this for a minute. Nearly ten times the murder
rate of Orlando, Miami, and Tampa combined. Chicago had two
hundred and eleven murders buck in the first half of
this year. That's actually up compared to last year. And
(22:14):
I think his evidence of just what a phenomenal job Miami, Orlando,
and Tampa have done when it comes to driving down
crime to a level frankly that's unmatched in any other
big state in America. If Florida Governor Ron Desanta shared
that I shared that data with everybody out there, and
(22:38):
he responded and said, I want to make sure that
I get this right, so I'm gonna go back into
my account so I can quote him accurately. But he
basically said, Buck, you can take it and tell us
whether you feel it. In Miami, I want to get
the governor's comments correct here. He said, Florida has a
fifty year low crime rate. When you enact law and
(23:00):
order policies and support law enforcement, the bad guys pay
the price. Eight murders in Miami. I mean, that's an
incredible success story. Wish it was zero, certainly, but there's
almost no murder now in the state of Florida. I
love it. I don't know what to tell you other
than governance. State and local governance matters in many ways.
(23:22):
It matters a whole lot more to your day to
day than even the presidency or the federal government. Now
that can change. We could get involved in a big
war or you know, the open borders. I'm not saying
it overall, but it is the case that with your
day to day life, having sane people in positions of
authority making decisions about crime, about sanitation about city planning.
(23:47):
All these kinds of things makes a really big difference.
But specifically in the issue of law enforcement, there is
no way that any person can make the case based
on experience data, what is observable with your eyes and
ears if you live in any of these places that
there's still a debate over whether enforcing the laws and
(24:08):
locking up people for serious who commit serious crimes makes
people in those places safer. It absolutely does, and that's
I think quite a It's really an incredible swing of
the pendulum play from twenty twenty where with the rise
of BLM and the Biden administration essentially pandering to BLM
(24:30):
as much as much as they did as much as
they could, as well as a lot of institutions, by
the way, a ton of money and promises and all
this stuff going, and it shows you that we can
achieve great things still in important American cities in the
near aftermath of some of the greatest lunacy that we've
(24:51):
ever experienced on criminal justice, which is really what you
had in the in the BLM era. It was really
just an era of they said it was a racial reckoning.
It was just race riots, and it was people who
were either taking it as an excuse to unleash a
lot of pent up rage and resentment against society and
against people, or in the case of just the broader
(25:12):
Democrat Party, it was about capitalizing on a political movement
for their own purposes and mobilizing the shock troops of
the Democrat Party in a way that as I've said,
I said this on it was actually the after show
for the Bill Marthinclay, But I said in the after
show that the twenty twenty election.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Was held under duress.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
It was not for any January sixth, or rather the aftermath,
but referring to the fact that there were stores that
were boarding up everywhere in case Donald Trump won reelection,
because we just knew there were going to be more riots,
and you know, Trump was in a tough spot with this.
I think he was a little slow to act, quite honestly,
with some of those riots. And I said so at
the time. But the fact that Miami is down to
(25:54):
the crime level, not just Miami, Florida as a state
is down at the crime level that it is right now.
So what is the excuse at this point for New Orleans, Detroit, Baltimore,
you know, go down the list of the of the
perennially way too violent cities. Memphis no longer maybe on
that list because I've got a list of cities that
(26:16):
are improving. Let me give you this a couple more
data points, because I love just looking at the actual
raw numbers. And for people out there, there's always people
who say, oh, you can't trust Murder's hard to fake,
right if there's a dead body. I understand some of
you who can say, hey, property crime robberies, they will
kind of manufacture or a massage of the data in
(26:36):
their favor. Here are cities Buck that are up this year,
Bucking no pun intended the trend, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas,
Oklahoma City, San Francisco, and Buck San Diego. Let me
give you that surprises me. We have a huge audience
in San Diego. I'm curious if people feel this in
(26:59):
San Diego. The number of murders in San Diego have
doubled compared to last year. I don't know if that's
cartel violence. I don't know what the numbers would be.
Obviously it's close to the border. San Diego by itself,
Buck had the same number of murders as Miami, Tampa,
and Orlando combined twenty nine. Okay, that's kind of an
(27:20):
alarm bell going off again. Those are cities that are
going counter to the trend. Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Vegas, Oklahoma City,
San Diego, and San Francisco higher murder rates. Listen to
some of these drops buck Newark, New Jersey, down sixty
five percent just since last year. Raleigh, North Carolina, down
(27:43):
sixty four percent. I think there were only four murders
that have occurred in Raleigh were number one there. They've
almost had a murder free year. Baltimore, you were just
mentioning down sixty percent. Things have gotten much better in Baltimore.
I wonder how much of the federal serve. But you
got a hold on here, Clay, because a lot of
these places saw all time highs just a couple of
(28:06):
years ago. So it's still it's really a question of
where is it relative to the to the average of
say the last twenty years. I think I don't think
it's fair to say because it could be down from
in Chicago. I think Philadelphia had almost seven hundred murders
in twenty twenty one. Some of the numbers were crazy
during the by the way, Arlington, Texas down sixty percent, Aurora,
(28:29):
Colorado that's outside of Denver, down nearly sixty Suffolk County,
New York that's on Long Island. These are smaller numbers, right,
Not a lot of people get murdered there, but now
nearly sixty percent. Boston down over down fifty two point
four percent. Miami, I think is like the Hampton's class.
So there's probably two murders a year there, so the
stats there might be a little uh. The Nasau, Yeah,
(28:53):
the Nasau County in Suffolk County. Boston down fifty two percent.
Miami I mentioned down fifty Everyone just stopped paying attention
to it because it's gotten so much better. DC down
forty four percent so far this year compared to last
year in murders, and then Memphis. You mentioned it, down
forty percent in murders DC and Memphis. President Trump called
(29:17):
in the guard. He has said over and over and
over again, we could fix Chicago. The mayor and the governor,
for political reasons, will not let the President come into Chicago,
which is now by far the murder capital of America.
I was curious. I was digging into the San Diego numbers.
Did you say San Diego had a big spike so
(29:39):
far this year? Yeah, it's nearly she all compared to
last year because it had been on a downward trajectory
in the year. So that's very strange, right, It's one
thing to say murders are down from twenty twenty one.
Let's say, which was the absolute peak in a lot
of places. I think Philly, you guys can check that.
(30:00):
One comes to mind. I think Philly had its all
time high for murders in twenty twenty two or twenty
twenty three, something like that under the Biden administration is
when't happened. But yeah, I'm surprised because San Diego was
down twenty five percent from twenty twenty four to twenty
twenty five, and twenty seven murders in twenty twenty five total,
how many of this year in twenty twenty six, did
(30:20):
you say they've.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Already had more than that in the first half of
the year twenty nine.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
That's that's that's so again, I wonder is there a
cartel connection. There have been a lot of Mexican cartel violence.
Has its spiraled over and those bodies are ending up
in Sandy.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
I don't know the answer. That's one thing I would
wonder about.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Uh. But when I look at this data, Buck, Chicago
is off the charts compared to basically every other city
in America.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Let me put it to you this way.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Chicago has two hundred and eleven murders through the first
half of the year. Philadelphia, which you were talking about,
had eighty three. So uh. New York City obviously has
been uh has been much better in general, though it's
starting to tick back up. But nobody else is even close.
LA is over one hundred. Nobody else is even close
(31:13):
to Chicago. It's a different caliber and level of violence
in Chicago compared to every other city in America. Chicago
has twice as many murders as every other city in America,
I mean capital. Yeah, straight numbers. Oh, I'm sorry, straight numbers,
straight numbers. LA has half the number of murders, even
(31:35):
though it's a bigger city than Chicago. That's uh, that's
actually I mean, that's crazy, but not surprising because I
know Chicago, LA has always had a pretty low murder rate.
I think you could go into Chicago if you had
a willingness for the Democrat mayor and the Democrat City
Council because it's all in the city or the environs
(31:55):
of Chicago itself, is where there stuff there's there's not
a ton of people getting shot in Peoria or Springfield
or something. So if you had a willingness to go
in there, I think you could bring the the murder
rate down fifty percent of Chicago in a year. I
wish hundred percent sign off. They could say they could
save hundreds of lives in Chicago if they just actually
(32:18):
tried to fix the problem. So then you have to wonder,
why would Brandon Johnson, the mayor of Chicago. He's a Democrat,
he's a black man. Why doesn't Mayor Johnson want to
save call it two hundred lives next year by changing this?
And I think the answer is one, It would be
(32:38):
the big part of it is just admitting that your
opponents were right. He doesn't want to admit that the
other side is right, meaning the Republicans, the Conservatives, even
the moderate Democrats, because there was a Democrat who ran
who was going to try to clean things up. And
then I think to Clay, he doesn't want to see
a surge in young black men arrested for gang activity
and violence. That's right. That's more bothersome to him than
(33:02):
the two hundred young black men who are going to
be killed. Men and women and children, by the way,
who are going to be killed by gang violence next year.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Also President Trump getting to take credit when the crime
rate came down. He would rather think stay bad than
allow Trump to make it better if Trump gets credit
for it, I mean it's broken as a broken political system.
In Chicago, home break ins.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
FBI pegs the number three thousand a day nationwide. What
if you are out there right now and you want
to try to make sure that your home is safe,
but you want to do it not only with lethal
A lot of you have guns, but also with non lethal.
Maybe you got people coming in the house at all hours.
We got teenage boys. They come in the house at
all hours here. Sometimes they may be setting off the alarm.
(33:47):
Maybe you got young kids and you're worried about them
getting into your weapons, and you want to keep something
that is not lethal as well, that you don't have
to lock up, maybe under lock and key, like the guns.
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(34:32):
Visit saberprotect dot com. That's eight four four eight two
four sa f E Saberprotect dot com. Keeping it real,
keeping it right, Clan Buck find them on the iHeart
app or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in
here to Clay and Buck. We have a bunch of
(34:53):
pulls and talk back. Let's see here Gym in Oklahoma.
Let's talk capitalism. What's going on, Jim?
Speaker 4 (35:03):
How you doing? Mainly the capitalism stuff. I appreciate you
talking about it. I needed I would love to hear
people's remind what we're doing is not capitalism because the
government is still picking winners and losers, so we're I mean,
it's a hybrid. If it was true capitalism, it would
be working a lot better. I agree that the capitalism
(35:25):
that Newsom is saying, as we know, it is not working.
I agree. I worked for myself most of my life
and that's the problem is we need to get back
to true capitalism. Look back at IBM and Apple for
crying out loud. I don't know if you're old enough
to know that most of these youngers. Though IBM had
had to monopoly, the government didn't come in and do
(35:47):
anything about it. Apple came in and said we can
do it better. And look at where there are today.
You could pick a lot of those, but that doesn't
happen because the government gets in.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
And I think the government is for the call I need.
The government is too. And in general, I do think
there are a lot of tremendous success stories. Amazon is
I think one of the greatest, maybe the greatest of
all time. You can go on your phone and order
anything and it'll be at your home in a few hours,
(36:17):
and it can be anything under the sun. Amazon has
a huge market in internet commerce, but it also has
a phenomenal business model that it is built. So I
wish we had more unregulated capitalism, lower taxes. I think
all those things are true. Stock markets at record highs,
(36:39):
there are a lot of issues. I'm not sure that
successful companies is one of them. Be back file hour
now
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