February 12, 2025 • 36 mins
Senate confirms Tulsi Gabbard as National Intelligence Director. The limestone mine sums up the speed of government. The American taxpayer should demand a culture of competition. Trump and Putin's phone call. Promises made, promises kept: Trump told Marc Fogel's mom he'd get him out.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in Clay Travis buck Sexton show. You might be
able to tell from my voice fighting through a cold,
and also had an amazing trip.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Appreciate Buck holding down the fork.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Yesterday I went up to Chicago where I spoke on
gender and voting, and I'm not sure Buck that I'm
going to be invited back, but I would encourage you
guys to go check out the YouTube. Producer Ali watched
it a lot of fireworks. Was not a Clay Travis
or Buck Sexton fond room. Hundreds of undergrads at the
(00:35):
University of Chicago, super smart school, and I think I
made some arguments that many of them had never heard before.
We're going to play you some of those cuts. I
think you guys will enjoy it. It's also posted it
up at the Clay and Buck website. But Buck yesterday, well,
first of all, some good news. Tulsea Gabbert has officially
(00:56):
been confirmed. We told you that that was very likely
to happen. It appears that every single cabinet nominee that
Donald Trump put forward that will have reached a hearing
is going to be nominated, which is actually quite rare
when it comes to second terms and presidential picks all
(01:19):
being confirmed. So this speaks to the mandate that Trump
has put in place that all of the people he
wanted to be a part of his administration are going
to be confirmed, including Tulsea Gabbard and RFK Junior.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
And let's talk for a minute, buck.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
About something that would typically have been a big point
of media discussion, but I think is actually getting overlooked.
You met Tulci for the first time several years ago.
I had Tulsi on my sports talker radio show back
in the day when she was running for the Democrat
presidential nomination. She was fabulous. I think that would have
(01:57):
been in like twenty nineteen or something. Was the first
time I ever interviewed her. But I do think it's
pretty extraordinary and needs to be talked about more.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
The extent to.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Which Trump has built an entirely new coalition of Republican voters.
And many of you out there listening to us right now,
all over the country did not vote Trump in twenty sixteen.
Some of you did not vote Trump in twenty twenty.
Some of you did not vote Trump until twenty twenty four.
(02:29):
Trump gained twelve million voters between twenty sixteen and twenty
twenty four, and it's become a much bigger tent as
a result. A lot of you, like Rfk Junior, that's
what brought you into Trump. Some of you like Tulca Gabbard.
I think this is an incredible credit to the coalition
that Trump is building.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Buck Elon Musk voted.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
For freaking Joe Biden in twenty twenty hard to believe, right,
And so I think this is a credit to everybody
kind of climbing on the Trump train at a different
point in time. But there now is a diverse coalition
of thought embedded in the Trump cabinet that features a
(03:15):
lot of people who would have been traditional Democrats. Now
I was a little bit ahead of the curve on
voting for Trump and switching from being a Democrat compared
to all three of those people I just mentioned, But
I think there are hundreds of thousands, if you have
not a million or more of you who are listening
to us right now, that may have voted Democrat in
(03:35):
the past, that have kind of followed that same trajectory
of these individuals. And I think it speaks well to
a new coalition of common sense that I think Trump
is building that is potentially far more impactful than a
coalition of people who are focused entirely. For instance, not
(03:56):
that there's anything wrong with it on what the tax
rate should be. I want tax rates to be low, right,
as low as they can possibly be.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
But I think.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Democrats have sought so lost connection with basic common sense
that they're now arguing against Elon Musk trying to root
out fraud and wasteful spending inside of our government. And
also that they're now rooting against the elimination of men
from women's sports. Those are two easy examples, but I
(04:26):
don't see either as particularly political, and I don't think
we should miss the major transformational nature of just what
Trump is making happen in the first month of his presidency.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
It's also just in terms of the raw politics of
this clay a sign that the Democrats have not been
able to do what I think was their plan and
the most obvious move that they could have to counter
the Trump administration early on, which is to create schisms
on the Republican side to get some of you know,
(05:01):
the holdouts, some of the squishy GOP to join with
Democrats because of whatever norms, whatever it is that they're
gonna go threats to democracy, lack of the resume that
they want to see for some of these candidates. That
clearly has not been a successful campaign by Democrats. They
(05:23):
were able to mount I think some early attacks that
seemed like they were gonna maybe create that situation, but
then it all fell apart, and it's because Trump really
is ahead of the GOP and people want more of
what we are seeing. And I will say anybody who
has been a longtime Republican who was a concerned that
(05:46):
we would see a little of the discombobulated Trump energy
that we saw in twenty seventeen in the beginning has
really had to eat a little humble pie here because
this has been a phenomenal first few weeks. I know
it's very early. I know that there's a lot that
the Democrats are going to do in the courts and
otherwise to slow everything down. They're already starting this, but Clay,
(06:09):
just the the stuff that we are that when I
say we, not just you, me and everyone listening, this
stuff that America is seeing about what Democrats believe the
government should be like and how it should operate. They're
going to have a tough time with this for a
long time. Some of these people who are going on TV,
who are saying, I mean, I watched that Elon press
(06:32):
conference yesterday.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Yeah, Trump, did you see it live? Yes?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
And it was it was phenomenal. I did not know this,
and I worked for the federal government, that there is
a mine shaft somewhere with like I thought this.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Was made up. Buck, I can't believe. I could not
believe this.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
That Just to be clear, this is real, everyone, Okay,
there is a mine, like like an old mine you'd
think of, you know, out west going for gold or something.
There is a mine that is in a mountain. That
is where they store the paper files for federal government retirees.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Here.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
This is cut play we play this. This is cut six.
This is the craziest of all the dough stuff. I
think in some ways this is crazier than transgender puppet
shows in you know, Popova or wherever the heck is,
pick a country that we don't think about a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I think this is even crazier. This is cut six. Plate.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
We're told the most number of people that could retire
possibly in a month is ten thousand.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
We're like, whoa, why is it?
Speaker 5 (07:31):
Why is that?
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Well, because all the retirement paperwork is manual on paper.
It's manually calculated, been written down on a piece of paper.
Then it goes down to mine and like, what do
you mean a mine? Like, yeah, there's a limestone mine
where we stole all the retirement paperwork. That look and
you look at picture of the picture of this mine.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
We'll post the pictures afterwards.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
And this is this mine looks like something out of
the fifties because it was started in nineteen fifty five,
so it looks like this is like a time warp.
And then the speed, the limiting factor is the speed
at which the mind the shaft elevator can move, determines
how many people can retire from the federal from federal government,
and the elevator breaks down and sometimes and then you
(08:14):
can't nobody can retire.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Doesn't that sound crazy?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
This is real buck Business Insider, which is a left
wing site. The federal paperwork mine in dogs crosshairs is
real and bizarre. We're sitting here there's it looks like
you're going to tunnel to the center of the earth
to find you know, like the Hogwarts.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
I mean sorry, the Harry Potter mine.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
You know where they had like the bank, you know
if you the Green Gotts Bank or whatever. In order
to I I it doesn't even sound real, like clay,
how is this possible?
Speaker 3 (08:52):
The foot We should put up some photos of the
facility up on clayanbuck dot com just just so people
can see this. These are it's this government facility. Seven
hundred employees working two hundred and thirty feet underground, processing
around ten thousand federal employee retirements a month?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Does this sell like the worst job on the planet?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
By the way, like I can you imagine like you
take a train or whatever the elevator underground, like into
a bunker and you have to first of all, what
this tells me?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
There's several things that tells me.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
No one ever gets forced out of the federal government
if they still process retirements on paper, right, like no
one ever leaves, like there's never any massive change. It
is the very essence of a bureaucracy that is awful.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Let me tell you this, Buck.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
This reminds me when I moved to the US Virgin Islands,
you got a driver's license, and your driver's license you
had to write down your name and sign it on paper,
and if you needed to get a replacement driver's license,
you had to remember what page you had signed it on,
(10:06):
or you just had to get the book and just
go back through to prove that you had a driver's life.
Like like I remember walking in one day to the
DMV and there was just some poor bastard city sorry,
sitting there with a huge stack of binders just going
through trying to find the page where he had signed
(10:26):
to get his driver's license so that he could get
a new driver's license.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
In other words, it was not automated in any way.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
The fact that we still have an unautomated system to
allow retirement to they must have your file there, Buck,
from when you were a federal employee.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Hundreds of feet underground in a mountain. It looks like
an old mining town photo. This is It's Greenhut's bank,
and and and you have Elon and Trump and and
Doge on the one.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Side of this issue.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Issue point to it being like, hey, guys, maybe we
could do better than this, a little more efficient little
And you have Democrats going no, everything the federal government
does is perfect, every dollar spent is sacred. You can't
change anything. And anyone with two brain cells to rub
together sees this and goes, oh, we've got a big
problem here. Yeah, this is you know, there's what they're doing,
(11:22):
but there's also the way that they are informing, really
educating all of us. I'll tell you I did not
know about this thing, and I worked for the federal government.
If someone had told me that there was a mine
shaft where they stuffed all the paper work for federal
retirees two hundred and thirty feet underground. You have to
(11:44):
use a special mining elevator to get there, I would say,
no way, Like I think the government is crazy, but
no way, way it is real.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
What would be the reason why this would not all
be automated and it wouldn't be able to have instead
of seven hundred people doing this, you wouldn't be able
to say, I don't know seventy people managing all this
because nobody cares how expensive it is because it's the government.
Nobody cares how inefficient it is because government, and nobody
(12:16):
cares to make it any better because the government has
to always stay the same. That's how the Democrats think.
And also buck nobody ever leaves. And I think this
is so important to keep hammering home, which is why
you pointed it out. But if a huge percentage of
our audience right now, I genuinely believe this. If you
were told you could get paid through the end of September,
(12:38):
but you had to find a new job, you would
do that because you would know, Hey, I got six
months to find something new. I'm talented and I'm ambitious.
There's something more I want to do. Most government employees
turn that down because they're wildly overpaid, relatively untalented, not
(12:59):
particularly ambitious, and they don't want to work that hard.
And that's the reality. And I'm sorry. If I'm paying
for you, I want you to bust your ass. I
don't want a lazy lawyer. I don't want a lazy accountant.
I don't want anyone working frankly at OutKick, the company
that I used to own that I sold, that doesn't
(13:19):
want to bust their ass every day. I want a
culture of competition, and I want a culture of ambition
and hard work. Shouldn't we have that in our federal government.
Since all of these people are working for us, we
hired them, I want them bust in their ass. I
don't think this is partisan. I want us to get
(13:39):
good value for the money. That we're paying and right
now I don't think we are, and that crazy mind
shaft story is kind of indicative of it. Look, speaking
of have you gotten an IRS letter or are you
expecting one soon? Have I got them coming right to
the house. I've had audits going on. It sucks you
get that IRS noticed. They're typically not giving you money,
(14:00):
They're asking you for more. How do you handle that
when it happens? That's what Rush Tax Resolution does. You
can call them eight seven seven five five four Rush
mention my name Clay, and you get a free IRS
transcript investigation, a five hundred dollars value for free. Look
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(14:23):
even revoke your passport. If you own a business, how
about they you own payroll taxes, they can shut you
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(14:46):
make things worse. We trust Rush Tax Resolution. They're the
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Speaker 5 (15:05):
Com, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Mike drops that never
sounded so good. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
All welcome back into Clay and Bucker. Got some big
breaking news today. At the top of the show, we
told you Tulsi Gabbard confirmed by a few votes majority
in the Senate as the Director of National Intelligence the
d N I congratulations of Tulsi Gabbard, A patriot, a
good woman, and I think she'll do an excellent job.
(15:37):
Cash Betel in the docket up for tomorrow. I believe
when's RFK Juniors he tomorrow, Clay, he must be. They
keep pushing it back, but he's gonna be confirmed. To you,
all right, that's yeah, it's coming off.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, But they've already got enough Senate publicly acknowledgments.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
He's gonna be confirmed.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
So you're gonna get all of Trump's all of Trump's
nominees for these key posts are gonna go through, which
is great. His team will be in place pretty quick.
We're not even fully through the middle of February yet,
and most of the key positions have been filled. So
well done by the Trump team on that. Also, some
big news on Ukraine that we're going to go or
the Russia Ukraine war. Trump making moves. Trump wants to
(16:17):
end that war, he wants to end the carnage. He
wants it over, and he is taking the negotiation lead
on that.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
We'll discuss.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
We have Senator Mark or Rubio, Secretary of State, will
be with us today, so you know, we got that
beneficial We'll talk to him later on about foreign policy.
What's going on with Clay? Just something to throw in
the mix here from David Sachs Silicon Valley. You know, big,
big dog, big wig, he says. He pointed this out
(16:45):
on his Twitter. Jobs have been revised down by a
total of one point two million over the last twelve months,
invalidating every hot jobs report a headline over the past year.
And then The Washington Post writes Trump attacks the US
economic data baselessly alleging electoral scheme Clay. Somehow they overestimated
job creation in the election year by one point two million,
(17:06):
jobs up every month. I think there's something going on there. Yeah,
the whole thing is a is a sham.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
And we talked about this on the show that they
would come back, you know, a month later, two months later,
and they were always getting revised down so they would
get the headline they wanted, and then they would say, actually,
you know those August job numbers. You know, it turns
out we had to pull them back. And this is
why all of you, remember we got gas lit by
the media. You don't realize how good the economy actually is.
(17:37):
And many of you out there were like, actually, you know,
got to know when the economy's good and when it's bad,
and it ain't good right now, we want you.
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Speaker 1 (18:57):
Welcome back in Clay Travis buck Sexton show. All right,
more breaking news that is out there again. Tulsea Gabbert confirmed.
But Trump has just posted that he and Vladimir Putin
have engaged in a phone call, and I want to
read some of this statement Trump, I just had a leak,
(19:20):
lengthy and highly productive phone call with Putin. We discussed Ukraine,
D da da Da da, And in particular, he said, first,
as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions
of deaths taking place in the war with Russia Ukraine.
President Putin even used my very strong campaign motto of
(19:43):
common sense. We both believe very strongly in it, and
we agreed to work together very closely, including visiting each
other's nations. We have also agreed to have our respective
teams start negotiation immediately, and we will begin by calling
President Zolensky of Ukraine to inform him of the conversation,
(20:08):
something which I will be doing right now. I have
asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will be on
with us in about an hour and a half at
the top of the third hour of the program two
o'clock Eastern, just FYI and other of his people to
lead the negotiations, which I feel strongly will be successful.
(20:31):
Millions of people have died in a war that would
not have happened if I were president, so it must end.
No more lives should be lost. I want to thank
President Putin for his time and effort with respect to
the call, also for the release of Mark Fogel, a
wonderful man I personally greeted last night at the White House.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Okay, so Buck.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Trump has gotten hostages, American hostages released by Russia. Venezuela, Gaza,
A ceasefire right now still stands in Gaza.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
We'll see how that goes.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
And it appears that immediate negotiations to in the war
in Ukraine are now underway. That's all pretty incredible to
pull off in the first month. Remember Trump said that
he would end the war in Ukraine. I want to
get your take on this, Buck. We have said this
for some time, but I imagine it's still going to
(21:27):
be true. Zolensky is going to have to give up
some territory. Russia is going to get some of those
provinces that may have had a strong historical connection to Russia,
and I imagine there will be some sort.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Of negotiated peace associated with that.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
And really, this is going to be yet another indictment
of Biden because for years a negotiated settlement could have
been on the table. Instead, lots of people lost their lives.
We gave hundreds of billions of dollars to Ukraine, and
the end result was probably something that could have been
(22:10):
completely avoided. And again Trump told us this when we
interviewed him back in what February of twenty two at
mar A Lago. He said Putin never would have invaded
if he were president. I think that's true. And unfortunately
this and October seventh I think are a result of
Biden's weaknesses. It's also I think setting up for the
(22:32):
possibility here of us all being able to see very
clearly that those who said you're a Russian stooge for
the whatever was the three years of Biden's presidency where
Russia had invaded Ukraine because people who wanted to find
(22:54):
a way to stop a conflict over territory that was
going to claim hundreds of thousands of lives, which is
what the casualties are, far far greater than I think
most people recognize, you know, wounded and killed on both sides,
in the hundreds of thousands.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
We don't really you know, we don't really know.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Who knows if Russia is even keeping accurate numbers, who
knows if Ukraine's keeping accurate numbers. But we wanted that
to stop. And the people who were flying the Ukraine flags,
particularly in like a high income democrat enclaves around the country,
remember when that was a thing.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
It's like I double mask and I have a Ukraine flag.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
What are they going to say when the deal that
is going to get done here most likely will look
very much like Clay. I think the deal that could
have been done three years ago. Yes, and so, and
we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people who are
either dead or got an arm blown off, or have
you know, severe traumatic brain injury or you know, so
(23:57):
that people could feel tough for supporting Ukraine. I mean,
this is so that they could feel like they're part
of the stopping of fascism.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
You know, it's amazing how Democrats, depending on the moment,
are peace nicks who feel like we should just roll
over for radical Islam and let them, you know, do
whatever they want to us, or they're whatever it takes
we go to the you know, the last dollar we have,
the last missile weekend manufacturer should go to Ukraine for
a war that has achieved what exactly I mean? I
(24:26):
understand the beginning they wanted to stop Russia from rolling
over the whole country. Okay, But once it was clear
that this had settled into a stalemate, which was I
think obvious within certainly the first six months, what was
the point? What's the point all the you know, you
notice what happened to all those Ukraine flags? Why did
people stop putting Ukraine flags in their bios on Twitter
(24:47):
and on Facebook and put a Ukraine flag outside their
house in this country.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
They don't they don't, you know, they don't care about
the cause anymore.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
It was virtue, I mean, virtue signaling.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Well young men on both I feel bad for the
Russian conscripts they don't want to be doing. I feel
you know, I feel bad. I mean, this is like
a silly, small thing. But I feel bad for the
Russian athletes who were treated like they were scum at
international competitions because they happened to be Russian. It's not
their fault that Putin invaded. The whole thing was a hysteria.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
It was crazy, and a lot of people out there
on the left sold the fiction that Ukraine was somehow
going to win this war. And I give you credit, Buck,
because early on you said Russia has the material, the manpower,
the resources, and the will and they eventually are going
to grind this thing out. And basically what you're getting
(25:38):
now is Ukraine acknowledging that Russia is, you know, slowly
adding more and more territory, and Ukraine is suing for peace,
and Buck, I actually think that Ukraine is going to
be at a tougher negotiation spot than they would have
been if they had gotten a deal back in twenty
twenty one, candidly, because at that point in time they
(26:01):
had kind of solidified and maybe had Russia on its
back foot a little bit. And instead, look, I think
Putin made an awful choice to invade Ukraine. I think
the loss of man power and life, and as you
say that people who've got severely injured in the process
as well, don't forget them as well as the people
(26:23):
who died, was completely unnecessary and unfortunate. But allowing it
to occur and extend for as long as we did
was equally indefensible. And I just want to hear from
all those people out there who told us when Trump said, hey,
we'll get the situation resolved in Gaza, and we'll get
(26:44):
the situation resolved in Europe, and said we'll get it
done fast. Where all they were four weeks in and
within the next month we may have a negotiated settlement
in Ukraine.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
They all told us this was possible. Yet here we are.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Why is it that Donald Trump comes into office and
within weeks Mark Fogel is returned home. Mark Fogel is
now back with his family. You know the guy he made.
He made a mistake. He had a medical marijuana, uh
you know, and he traveled to Russia and the Russians
love to come down very hard on Americans that they
(27:25):
can and use them as as bargaining chips. Biden was
very quick to get Britney Griner out of the Russian prison.
As we know that Mark Fogel was left to uh
to to rot in that prison and Trump got him.
Trump got him out, and you know, it's it's pretty
powerful clay when you hear the story of Mark Fogel's mother.
You know about this, Right before the assassination attempt on
(27:48):
Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, Mark Fogel's mother said, yeah, Fogels
was in a Russian prison for three and a half years. Everybody, Yeah,
you really don't want to be in a Russian Federation
prison for three and a half years, okay, rough. I
think Britney Grinder was in for a matter of months.
I don't even think it got to a year. And
so Fogel his mom went up to Trump and said,
(28:11):
if you win a you're gonna get my son home.
And Trump said yes, and now her son is home.
And that was right before, of course, they shot Trump
in the year tried to kill him. But the Democrats,
I think part of their panic is that not only
were they unable to stop Trump with all their false narratives,
the truth of the promise of Trump and trump Ism
(28:34):
is becoming so apparent for everybody that the propaganda just
doesn't work. I mean, you know, the things that they're
doing and the steps that they're taking. They can cry
about this on CNN all night. Normal people see this
and go, you want them to pay terrorists from the
treasury like you want them to the Treasury Department to
pay contractors for a six month contract for twenty years?
Speaker 2 (28:56):
What is that here?
Speaker 1 (28:58):
By the way, cut twenty three as we get ready
to go to break is what you were just talking about,
Mark Fogel, I believe the Trump talking about his mother
and the promise.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Cut twenty three. Thank you all.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
And I love our country and I'm so happy to
be back here.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
And I wish I could articulate it better. You've done beautifully.
And he's got a great mother.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
And when I saw the mother at a rally, she said,
will you if you win when you get my son out?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
And I promise. She's ninety five years old, and.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I said we'll get him out, and we got him
out pretty quickly.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
She told me.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
Exact words.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
She made quite an impression.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
We just wanted to get him back home.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
I had to get him back home because I would
have had big trouble with his mother.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Can you imagine Buck, just as we sit here.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
I mean, I'm a dad, and I know a lot
of you out there, mom's, grandma's, grandpa's. Imagine being ninety
five years old and being afraid that you would die
with your son in a Russian prison, never knowing if
he would ever come home again. And you vote for
Trump and you go out and within a month of
getting into office, he brings your boy home. I just,
(30:15):
I mean, that makes me kind of feel a little
bit emotional to think about her at ninety five. Can
you imagine getting that phone call? You know, I can't
only imagine how awful it is to have something like
that happen, no matter how old you are as a parent,
but to think like I'm going to potentially die and
never know whether my son comes back.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
You know what I also loved about that. It's an
amazing story. I love it. The minute he stepped off
that plane, you know what, he did kiss the ground. Yeah,
kissed the ground when he got back to America.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
You know what was one thing that we're seeing across
the board with Trump's ascension that yes, it was true
the first time around, but it is just so magnified
because of the comeback that he's had and the narrative
and the promises made, promises kept. Patriotism is cool again.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yeah. This is a big shift.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
For this country from under a Democrat administration that achieves
power by frightening people and driving this country down, putting
this country down. Peat Trump has made and people around
him and his team and his voters have made patriotism
cool again.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
And it's powerful.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I've argued this, and I know you know it because
you traveled all over the world with the CIA. Every American,
if you had to live a year in the average
way that the rest of the world lives, you would
kiss the ground when you came back to America. Most
Americans are so spoiled. They have no idea what daily
life is like in Africa or Asia or large portions
(31:50):
of the Middle East. We have no idea how good
we have it. And the younger you are, the more
clueless you are. And I do agree that when I
see somebody who's rescued like this and they kissed the
ground when they come back into the country. I think
almost every American would do this if they spent a
year living in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, as an
(32:11):
average person in those continents, in those parts of the world,
does I just got back from a college campus late
last night, went up to Chicago to the University of Chicago.
Being on campus fun because it reminds me how mouldible
so many of those young minds are. And maybe you
didn't have the luxury of going away to college.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Maybe you went.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
To college, but let's just say you weren't that focused
on the academic side of life.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
And now you're sitting around.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
You got more time, you don't have the pressure of grades,
You're not worried about showing up in class. Maybe you
just want to learn for learning's sake. Boy, that's a
good feeling, and that's what Hillsdale College is trying to
provide for you. They've got lectures on everything under the sun,
whether it's the Constitution, whether it's ancient Rome choice in time,
(33:01):
you can stream them and watch them at your convenience.
Every one of them taught on campus inspired by what
the kids there are learning. You can watch them on
your phone, iPad, computer, wherever you watch your favorite series.
Go check it out. This is pretty awesome. Clayanbuckfour Hillsdale
dot com. It's all three Clayandbuck, four Hillsdale dot com.
(33:25):
That's f O R Hillsdale dot Com. One more time, Clayanbuck,
four Hillsdale dot com.
Speaker 5 (33:33):
Peek out with the guys on the Sunday Hang with
Clay and Buck podcast.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
A new episode of Every Sunday.
Speaker 5 (33:40):
Find it on the iHeart app or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Welcome back into Clay and Buck.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
See I do Mighty Mighty Bosstones on the Rejoin that
Do you remember them?
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I remember them. I would not have remembered I know
this song. I wouldn't have remembered who who's saying it?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Uh good? This was there like megasong back in the nineties.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
I just it's it doesn't necessarily all the other music
kind of goes together for me in.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Terms of the genre.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
But Mighty Mighty Boston is a little bit of a
little bit of ska, right That isn't that the music
that it was?
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Scott dans Man, You're killing it today with your knowledge
on the mighty Mighty Boston.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I was very correct. I was cool in high school.
I was very culturally hip.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
In the nineties, I became a curmudgeon by the time
I was about twenty three twenty four, so you know.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Things have changed.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
But anyway, Crockett Coffee, I'm actually wearing a Krackt Coffee
T shirt.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Right now.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Why well, yes, because we own the company and we
started it. But also because it's so comfortable and it's
an awesome logo, and you'll make new friends who are Patriots.
You'd be like, I love Crockett Coffee. It's delicious.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I actually gave it.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I went to I had to get some blood drawn
at the dock recently, and I brought all the front
desk ladies, who, by the way, oh nice, some Clay
and Buck fans. I love my my South Florida Cuban Radio,
a Cuban American Radio contingent. You guys are the best.
I love it. They see me, they love the show.
Gave some of the ladies some coffee. Crocketcoffee dot com.
You'll be supporting a great American brand that also gives
(35:03):
ten percent of the profits the Tunnel, the Towers Foundation.
And remember, if you use code Book, you get a
signed copy of Clay's bestseller American Playbook, but you get
a nice sign copy sent to you for free. That's
racocoffee dot com. Use code Book. Now, Scott and Illinois,
let's take some calls. What do you got for a Scott.
Speaker 6 (35:21):
Guys first of all and say we love your show,
a big fan.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (35:25):
Do you want to take exception do you want to
take exception to the comments about the federal workers in
that I work for the Army Corps of Engineers and
we're out there maintaining the locks and dams on the
Illinois River twenty degrees four inches of snow, and we're
out there twelve hours a day, eleven days on, three
days off until projects are done until me and boy.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Could first of all, thank you for what you do.
Thank you for serving you. You're under DoD right, yes, yes, yeah,
but I don't just should be clear employee. No one
thinks the military like no one's talking about the military
as lazy. That's that's not what the conversation is here
at all. There's military spending, which is at the issue.
(36:09):
But I think the laziness conversation is a portion of
federal employees or work from home and do nothing. You
can't build dams working from home? Can you?
Speaker 6 (36:20):
No?
Speaker 2 (36:20):
No? No?
Speaker 4 (36:22):
And doing all that.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Right, But I'm not talking about you. Is the point
right to work.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
I appreciate the call when we say there are lots
of federal workers that should and do not deserve their job.
If that's not you, you don't need to call in and
tell us how hard you work. We know that there
are plenty of people who bust their ass. I said
half of them should be gone.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
I turned down all kinds of Wall Street gigs to
go overseas, hop in a helicopter and hope I didn't
get shot down.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
As an analyst,
Welcome in Clay Travis buck Sexton show. You might be
able to tell from my voice fighting through a cold,
and also had an amazing trip.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Appreciate Buck holding down the fork.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Yesterday I went up to Chicago where I spoke on
gender and voting, and I'm not sure Buck that I'm
going to be invited back, but I would encourage you
guys to go check out the YouTube. Producer Ali watched
it a lot of fireworks. Was not a Clay Travis
or Buck Sexton fond room. Hundreds of undergrads at the
(00:35):
University of Chicago, super smart school, and I think I
made some arguments that many of them had never heard before.
We're going to play you some of those cuts. I
think you guys will enjoy it. It's also posted it
up at the Clay and Buck website. But Buck yesterday, well,
first of all, some good news. Tulsea Gabbert has officially
(00:56):
been confirmed. We told you that that was very likely
to happen. It appears that every single cabinet nominee that
Donald Trump put forward that will have reached a hearing
is going to be nominated, which is actually quite rare
when it comes to second terms and presidential picks all
(01:19):
being confirmed. So this speaks to the mandate that Trump
has put in place that all of the people he
wanted to be a part of his administration are going
to be confirmed, including Tulsea Gabbard and RFK Junior.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
And let's talk for a minute, buck.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
About something that would typically have been a big point
of media discussion, but I think is actually getting overlooked.
You met Tulci for the first time several years ago.
I had Tulsi on my sports talker radio show back
in the day when she was running for the Democrat
presidential nomination. She was fabulous. I think that would have
(01:57):
been in like twenty nineteen or something. Was the first
time I ever interviewed her. But I do think it's
pretty extraordinary and needs to be talked about more.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
The extent to.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Which Trump has built an entirely new coalition of Republican voters.
And many of you out there listening to us right now,
all over the country did not vote Trump in twenty sixteen.
Some of you did not vote Trump in twenty twenty.
Some of you did not vote Trump until twenty twenty four.
(02:29):
Trump gained twelve million voters between twenty sixteen and twenty
twenty four, and it's become a much bigger tent as
a result. A lot of you, like Rfk Junior, that's
what brought you into Trump. Some of you like Tulca Gabbard.
I think this is an incredible credit to the coalition
that Trump is building.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Buck Elon Musk voted.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
For freaking Joe Biden in twenty twenty hard to believe, right,
And so I think this is a credit to everybody
kind of climbing on the Trump train at a different
point in time. But there now is a diverse coalition
of thought embedded in the Trump cabinet that features a
(03:15):
lot of people who would have been traditional Democrats. Now
I was a little bit ahead of the curve on
voting for Trump and switching from being a Democrat compared
to all three of those people I just mentioned, But
I think there are hundreds of thousands, if you have
not a million or more of you who are listening
to us right now, that may have voted Democrat in
(03:35):
the past, that have kind of followed that same trajectory
of these individuals. And I think it speaks well to
a new coalition of common sense that I think Trump
is building that is potentially far more impactful than a
coalition of people who are focused entirely. For instance, not
(03:56):
that there's anything wrong with it on what the tax
rate should be. I want tax rates to be low, right,
as low as they can possibly be.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
But I think.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Democrats have sought so lost connection with basic common sense
that they're now arguing against Elon Musk trying to root
out fraud and wasteful spending inside of our government. And
also that they're now rooting against the elimination of men
from women's sports. Those are two easy examples, but I
(04:26):
don't see either as particularly political, and I don't think
we should miss the major transformational nature of just what
Trump is making happen in the first month of his presidency.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
It's also just in terms of the raw politics of
this clay a sign that the Democrats have not been
able to do what I think was their plan and
the most obvious move that they could have to counter
the Trump administration early on, which is to create schisms
on the Republican side to get some of you know,
(05:01):
the holdouts, some of the squishy GOP to join with
Democrats because of whatever norms, whatever it is that they're
gonna go threats to democracy, lack of the resume that
they want to see for some of these candidates. That
clearly has not been a successful campaign by Democrats. They
(05:23):
were able to mount I think some early attacks that
seemed like they were gonna maybe create that situation, but
then it all fell apart, and it's because Trump really
is ahead of the GOP and people want more of
what we are seeing. And I will say anybody who
has been a longtime Republican who was a concerned that
(05:46):
we would see a little of the discombobulated Trump energy
that we saw in twenty seventeen in the beginning has
really had to eat a little humble pie here because
this has been a phenomenal first few weeks. I know
it's very early. I know that there's a lot that
the Democrats are going to do in the courts and
otherwise to slow everything down. They're already starting this, but Clay,
(06:09):
just the the stuff that we are that when I
say we, not just you, me and everyone listening, this
stuff that America is seeing about what Democrats believe the
government should be like and how it should operate. They're
going to have a tough time with this for a
long time. Some of these people who are going on TV,
who are saying, I mean, I watched that Elon press
(06:32):
conference yesterday.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Yeah, Trump, did you see it live? Yes?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
And it was it was phenomenal. I did not know this,
and I worked for the federal government, that there is
a mine shaft somewhere with like I thought this.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Was made up. Buck, I can't believe. I could not
believe this.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
That Just to be clear, this is real, everyone, Okay,
there is a mine, like like an old mine you'd
think of, you know, out west going for gold or something.
There is a mine that is in a mountain. That
is where they store the paper files for federal government retirees.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Here.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
This is cut play we play this. This is cut six.
This is the craziest of all the dough stuff. I
think in some ways this is crazier than transgender puppet
shows in you know, Popova or wherever the heck is,
pick a country that we don't think about a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I think this is even crazier. This is cut six. Plate.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
We're told the most number of people that could retire
possibly in a month is ten thousand.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
We're like, whoa, why is it?
Speaker 5 (07:31):
Why is that?
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Well, because all the retirement paperwork is manual on paper.
It's manually calculated, been written down on a piece of paper.
Then it goes down to mine and like, what do
you mean a mine? Like, yeah, there's a limestone mine
where we stole all the retirement paperwork. That look and
you look at picture of the picture of this mine.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
We'll post the pictures afterwards.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
And this is this mine looks like something out of
the fifties because it was started in nineteen fifty five,
so it looks like this is like a time warp.
And then the speed, the limiting factor is the speed
at which the mind the shaft elevator can move, determines
how many people can retire from the federal from federal government,
and the elevator breaks down and sometimes and then you
(08:14):
can't nobody can retire.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Doesn't that sound crazy?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
This is real buck Business Insider, which is a left
wing site. The federal paperwork mine in dogs crosshairs is
real and bizarre. We're sitting here there's it looks like
you're going to tunnel to the center of the earth
to find you know, like the Hogwarts.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
I mean sorry, the Harry Potter mine.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
You know where they had like the bank, you know
if you the Green Gotts Bank or whatever. In order
to I I it doesn't even sound real, like clay,
how is this possible?
Speaker 3 (08:52):
The foot We should put up some photos of the
facility up on clayanbuck dot com just just so people
can see this. These are it's this government facility. Seven
hundred employees working two hundred and thirty feet underground, processing
around ten thousand federal employee retirements a month?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Does this sell like the worst job on the planet?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
By the way, like I can you imagine like you
take a train or whatever the elevator underground, like into
a bunker and you have to first of all, what
this tells me?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
There's several things that tells me.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
No one ever gets forced out of the federal government
if they still process retirements on paper, right, like no
one ever leaves, like there's never any massive change. It
is the very essence of a bureaucracy that is awful.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Let me tell you this, Buck.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
This reminds me when I moved to the US Virgin Islands,
you got a driver's license, and your driver's license you
had to write down your name and sign it on paper,
and if you needed to get a replacement driver's license,
you had to remember what page you had signed it on,
(10:06):
or you just had to get the book and just
go back through to prove that you had a driver's life.
Like like I remember walking in one day to the
DMV and there was just some poor bastard city sorry,
sitting there with a huge stack of binders just going
through trying to find the page where he had signed
(10:26):
to get his driver's license so that he could get
a new driver's license.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
In other words, it was not automated in any way.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
The fact that we still have an unautomated system to
allow retirement to they must have your file there, Buck,
from when you were a federal employee.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Hundreds of feet underground in a mountain. It looks like
an old mining town photo. This is It's Greenhut's bank,
and and and you have Elon and Trump and and
Doge on the one.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Side of this issue.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Issue point to it being like, hey, guys, maybe we
could do better than this, a little more efficient little
And you have Democrats going no, everything the federal government
does is perfect, every dollar spent is sacred. You can't
change anything. And anyone with two brain cells to rub
together sees this and goes, oh, we've got a big
problem here. Yeah, this is you know, there's what they're doing,
(11:22):
but there's also the way that they are informing, really
educating all of us. I'll tell you I did not
know about this thing, and I worked for the federal government.
If someone had told me that there was a mine
shaft where they stuffed all the paper work for federal
retirees two hundred and thirty feet underground. You have to
(11:44):
use a special mining elevator to get there, I would say,
no way, Like I think the government is crazy, but
no way, way it is real.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
What would be the reason why this would not all
be automated and it wouldn't be able to have instead
of seven hundred people doing this, you wouldn't be able
to say, I don't know seventy people managing all this
because nobody cares how expensive it is because it's the government.
Nobody cares how inefficient it is because government, and nobody
(12:16):
cares to make it any better because the government has
to always stay the same. That's how the Democrats think.
And also buck nobody ever leaves. And I think this
is so important to keep hammering home, which is why
you pointed it out. But if a huge percentage of
our audience right now, I genuinely believe this. If you
were told you could get paid through the end of September,
(12:38):
but you had to find a new job, you would
do that because you would know, Hey, I got six
months to find something new. I'm talented and I'm ambitious.
There's something more I want to do. Most government employees
turn that down because they're wildly overpaid, relatively untalented, not
(12:59):
particularly ambitious, and they don't want to work that hard.
And that's the reality. And I'm sorry. If I'm paying
for you, I want you to bust your ass. I
don't want a lazy lawyer. I don't want a lazy accountant.
I don't want anyone working frankly at OutKick, the company
that I used to own that I sold, that doesn't
(13:19):
want to bust their ass every day. I want a
culture of competition, and I want a culture of ambition
and hard work. Shouldn't we have that in our federal government.
Since all of these people are working for us, we
hired them, I want them bust in their ass. I
don't think this is partisan. I want us to get
(13:39):
good value for the money. That we're paying and right
now I don't think we are, and that crazy mind
shaft story is kind of indicative of it. Look, speaking
of have you gotten an IRS letter or are you
expecting one soon? Have I got them coming right to
the house. I've had audits going on. It sucks you
get that IRS noticed. They're typically not giving you money,
(14:00):
They're asking you for more. How do you handle that
when it happens? That's what Rush Tax Resolution does. You
can call them eight seven seven five five four Rush
mention my name Clay, and you get a free IRS
transcript investigation, a five hundred dollars value for free. Look
the IRS, they can freeze your bank account, garnish your paycheck,
(14:23):
even revoke your passport. If you own a business, how
about they you own payroll taxes, they can shut you
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make things worse. We trust Rush Tax Resolution. They're the
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Speaker 5 (15:05):
Com, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Mike drops that never
sounded so good. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
All welcome back into Clay and Bucker. Got some big
breaking news today. At the top of the show, we
told you Tulsi Gabbard confirmed by a few votes majority
in the Senate as the Director of National Intelligence the
d N I congratulations of Tulsi Gabbard, A patriot, a
good woman, and I think she'll do an excellent job.
(15:37):
Cash Betel in the docket up for tomorrow. I believe
when's RFK Juniors he tomorrow, Clay, he must be. They
keep pushing it back, but he's gonna be confirmed. To you,
all right, that's yeah, it's coming off.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, But they've already got enough Senate publicly acknowledgments.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
He's gonna be confirmed.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
So you're gonna get all of Trump's all of Trump's
nominees for these key posts are gonna go through, which
is great. His team will be in place pretty quick.
We're not even fully through the middle of February yet,
and most of the key positions have been filled. So
well done by the Trump team on that. Also, some
big news on Ukraine that we're going to go or
the Russia Ukraine war. Trump making moves. Trump wants to
(16:17):
end that war, he wants to end the carnage. He
wants it over, and he is taking the negotiation lead
on that.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
We'll discuss.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
We have Senator Mark or Rubio, Secretary of State, will
be with us today, so you know, we got that
beneficial We'll talk to him later on about foreign policy.
What's going on with Clay? Just something to throw in
the mix here from David Sachs Silicon Valley. You know, big,
big dog, big wig, he says. He pointed this out
(16:45):
on his Twitter. Jobs have been revised down by a
total of one point two million over the last twelve months,
invalidating every hot jobs report a headline over the past year.
And then The Washington Post writes Trump attacks the US
economic data baselessly alleging electoral scheme Clay. Somehow they overestimated
job creation in the election year by one point two million,
(17:06):
jobs up every month. I think there's something going on there. Yeah,
the whole thing is a is a sham.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
And we talked about this on the show that they
would come back, you know, a month later, two months later,
and they were always getting revised down so they would
get the headline they wanted, and then they would say, actually,
you know those August job numbers. You know, it turns
out we had to pull them back. And this is
why all of you, remember we got gas lit by
the media. You don't realize how good the economy actually is.
(17:37):
And many of you out there were like, actually, you know,
got to know when the economy's good and when it's bad,
and it ain't good right now, we want you.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
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Speaker 1 (18:57):
Welcome back in Clay Travis buck Sexton show. All right,
more breaking news that is out there again. Tulsea Gabbert confirmed.
But Trump has just posted that he and Vladimir Putin
have engaged in a phone call, and I want to
read some of this statement Trump, I just had a leak,
(19:20):
lengthy and highly productive phone call with Putin. We discussed Ukraine,
D da da Da da, And in particular, he said, first,
as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions
of deaths taking place in the war with Russia Ukraine.
President Putin even used my very strong campaign motto of
(19:43):
common sense. We both believe very strongly in it, and
we agreed to work together very closely, including visiting each
other's nations. We have also agreed to have our respective
teams start negotiation immediately, and we will begin by calling
President Zolensky of Ukraine to inform him of the conversation,
(20:08):
something which I will be doing right now. I have
asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will be on
with us in about an hour and a half at
the top of the third hour of the program two
o'clock Eastern, just FYI and other of his people to
lead the negotiations, which I feel strongly will be successful.
(20:31):
Millions of people have died in a war that would
not have happened if I were president, so it must end.
No more lives should be lost. I want to thank
President Putin for his time and effort with respect to
the call, also for the release of Mark Fogel, a
wonderful man I personally greeted last night at the White House.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Okay, so Buck.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Trump has gotten hostages, American hostages released by Russia. Venezuela, Gaza,
A ceasefire right now still stands in Gaza.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
We'll see how that goes.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
And it appears that immediate negotiations to in the war
in Ukraine are now underway. That's all pretty incredible to
pull off in the first month. Remember Trump said that
he would end the war in Ukraine. I want to
get your take on this, Buck. We have said this
for some time, but I imagine it's still going to
(21:27):
be true. Zolensky is going to have to give up
some territory. Russia is going to get some of those
provinces that may have had a strong historical connection to Russia,
and I imagine there will be some sort.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Of negotiated peace associated with that.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
And really, this is going to be yet another indictment
of Biden because for years a negotiated settlement could have
been on the table. Instead, lots of people lost their lives.
We gave hundreds of billions of dollars to Ukraine, and
the end result was probably something that could have been
(22:10):
completely avoided. And again Trump told us this when we
interviewed him back in what February of twenty two at
mar A Lago. He said Putin never would have invaded
if he were president. I think that's true. And unfortunately
this and October seventh I think are a result of
Biden's weaknesses. It's also I think setting up for the
(22:32):
possibility here of us all being able to see very
clearly that those who said you're a Russian stooge for
the whatever was the three years of Biden's presidency where
Russia had invaded Ukraine because people who wanted to find
(22:54):
a way to stop a conflict over territory that was
going to claim hundreds of thousands of lives, which is
what the casualties are, far far greater than I think
most people recognize, you know, wounded and killed on both sides,
in the hundreds of thousands.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
We don't really you know, we don't really know.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Who knows if Russia is even keeping accurate numbers, who
knows if Ukraine's keeping accurate numbers. But we wanted that
to stop. And the people who were flying the Ukraine flags,
particularly in like a high income democrat enclaves around the country,
remember when that was a thing.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
It's like I double mask and I have a Ukraine flag.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
What are they going to say when the deal that
is going to get done here most likely will look
very much like Clay. I think the deal that could
have been done three years ago. Yes, and so, and
we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people who are
either dead or got an arm blown off, or have
you know, severe traumatic brain injury or you know, so
(23:57):
that people could feel tough for supporting Ukraine. I mean,
this is so that they could feel like they're part
of the stopping of fascism.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
You know, it's amazing how Democrats, depending on the moment,
are peace nicks who feel like we should just roll
over for radical Islam and let them, you know, do
whatever they want to us, or they're whatever it takes
we go to the you know, the last dollar we have,
the last missile weekend manufacturer should go to Ukraine for
a war that has achieved what exactly I mean? I
(24:26):
understand the beginning they wanted to stop Russia from rolling
over the whole country. Okay, But once it was clear
that this had settled into a stalemate, which was I
think obvious within certainly the first six months, what was
the point? What's the point all the you know, you
notice what happened to all those Ukraine flags? Why did
people stop putting Ukraine flags in their bios on Twitter
(24:47):
and on Facebook and put a Ukraine flag outside their
house in this country.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
They don't they don't, you know, they don't care about
the cause anymore.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
It was virtue, I mean, virtue signaling.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Well young men on both I feel bad for the
Russian conscripts they don't want to be doing. I feel
you know, I feel bad. I mean, this is like
a silly, small thing. But I feel bad for the
Russian athletes who were treated like they were scum at
international competitions because they happened to be Russian. It's not
their fault that Putin invaded. The whole thing was a hysteria.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
It was crazy, and a lot of people out there
on the left sold the fiction that Ukraine was somehow
going to win this war. And I give you credit, Buck,
because early on you said Russia has the material, the manpower,
the resources, and the will and they eventually are going
to grind this thing out. And basically what you're getting
(25:38):
now is Ukraine acknowledging that Russia is, you know, slowly
adding more and more territory, and Ukraine is suing for peace,
and Buck, I actually think that Ukraine is going to
be at a tougher negotiation spot than they would have
been if they had gotten a deal back in twenty
twenty one, candidly, because at that point in time they
(26:01):
had kind of solidified and maybe had Russia on its
back foot a little bit. And instead, look, I think
Putin made an awful choice to invade Ukraine. I think
the loss of man power and life, and as you
say that people who've got severely injured in the process
as well, don't forget them as well as the people
(26:23):
who died, was completely unnecessary and unfortunate. But allowing it
to occur and extend for as long as we did
was equally indefensible. And I just want to hear from
all those people out there who told us when Trump said, hey,
we'll get the situation resolved in Gaza, and we'll get
(26:44):
the situation resolved in Europe, and said we'll get it
done fast. Where all they were four weeks in and
within the next month we may have a negotiated settlement
in Ukraine.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
They all told us this was possible. Yet here we are.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Why is it that Donald Trump comes into office and
within weeks Mark Fogel is returned home. Mark Fogel is
now back with his family. You know the guy he made.
He made a mistake. He had a medical marijuana, uh
you know, and he traveled to Russia and the Russians
love to come down very hard on Americans that they
(27:25):
can and use them as as bargaining chips. Biden was
very quick to get Britney Griner out of the Russian prison.
As we know that Mark Fogel was left to uh
to to rot in that prison and Trump got him.
Trump got him out, and you know, it's it's pretty
powerful clay when you hear the story of Mark Fogel's mother.
You know about this, Right before the assassination attempt on
(27:48):
Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, Mark Fogel's mother said, yeah, Fogels
was in a Russian prison for three and a half years. Everybody, Yeah,
you really don't want to be in a Russian Federation
prison for three and a half years, okay, rough. I
think Britney Grinder was in for a matter of months.
I don't even think it got to a year. And
so Fogel his mom went up to Trump and said,
(28:11):
if you win a you're gonna get my son home.
And Trump said yes, and now her son is home.
And that was right before, of course, they shot Trump
in the year tried to kill him. But the Democrats,
I think part of their panic is that not only
were they unable to stop Trump with all their false narratives,
the truth of the promise of Trump and trump Ism
(28:34):
is becoming so apparent for everybody that the propaganda just
doesn't work. I mean, you know, the things that they're
doing and the steps that they're taking. They can cry
about this on CNN all night. Normal people see this
and go, you want them to pay terrorists from the
treasury like you want them to the Treasury Department to
pay contractors for a six month contract for twenty years?
Speaker 2 (28:56):
What is that here?
Speaker 1 (28:58):
By the way, cut twenty three as we get ready
to go to break is what you were just talking about,
Mark Fogel, I believe the Trump talking about his mother
and the promise.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Cut twenty three. Thank you all.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
And I love our country and I'm so happy to
be back here.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
And I wish I could articulate it better. You've done beautifully.
And he's got a great mother.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
And when I saw the mother at a rally, she said,
will you if you win when you get my son out?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
And I promise. She's ninety five years old, and.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I said we'll get him out, and we got him
out pretty quickly.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
She told me.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
Exact words.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
She made quite an impression.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
We just wanted to get him back home.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
I had to get him back home because I would
have had big trouble with his mother.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Can you imagine Buck, just as we sit here.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
I mean, I'm a dad, and I know a lot
of you out there, mom's, grandma's, grandpa's. Imagine being ninety
five years old and being afraid that you would die
with your son in a Russian prison, never knowing if
he would ever come home again. And you vote for
Trump and you go out and within a month of
getting into office, he brings your boy home. I just,
(30:15):
I mean, that makes me kind of feel a little
bit emotional to think about her at ninety five. Can
you imagine getting that phone call? You know, I can't
only imagine how awful it is to have something like
that happen, no matter how old you are as a parent,
but to think like I'm going to potentially die and
never know whether my son comes back.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
You know what I also loved about that. It's an
amazing story. I love it. The minute he stepped off
that plane, you know what, he did kiss the ground. Yeah,
kissed the ground when he got back to America.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
You know what was one thing that we're seeing across
the board with Trump's ascension that yes, it was true
the first time around, but it is just so magnified
because of the comeback that he's had and the narrative
and the promises made, promises kept. Patriotism is cool again.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yeah. This is a big shift.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
For this country from under a Democrat administration that achieves
power by frightening people and driving this country down, putting
this country down. Peat Trump has made and people around
him and his team and his voters have made patriotism
cool again.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
And it's powerful.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I've argued this, and I know you know it because
you traveled all over the world with the CIA. Every American,
if you had to live a year in the average
way that the rest of the world lives, you would
kiss the ground when you came back to America. Most
Americans are so spoiled. They have no idea what daily
life is like in Africa or Asia or large portions
(31:50):
of the Middle East. We have no idea how good
we have it. And the younger you are, the more
clueless you are. And I do agree that when I
see somebody who's rescued like this and they kissed the
ground when they come back into the country. I think
almost every American would do this if they spent a
year living in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, as an
(32:11):
average person in those continents, in those parts of the world,
does I just got back from a college campus late
last night, went up to Chicago to the University of Chicago.
Being on campus fun because it reminds me how mouldible
so many of those young minds are. And maybe you
didn't have the luxury of going away to college.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Maybe you went.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
To college, but let's just say you weren't that focused
on the academic side of life.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
And now you're sitting around.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
You got more time, you don't have the pressure of grades,
You're not worried about showing up in class. Maybe you
just want to learn for learning's sake. Boy, that's a
good feeling, and that's what Hillsdale College is trying to
provide for you. They've got lectures on everything under the sun,
whether it's the Constitution, whether it's ancient Rome choice in time,
(33:01):
you can stream them and watch them at your convenience.
Every one of them taught on campus inspired by what
the kids there are learning. You can watch them on
your phone, iPad, computer, wherever you watch your favorite series.
Go check it out. This is pretty awesome. Clayanbuckfour Hillsdale
dot com. It's all three Clayandbuck, four Hillsdale dot com.
(33:25):
That's f O R Hillsdale dot Com. One more time, Clayanbuck,
four Hillsdale dot com.
Speaker 5 (33:33):
Peek out with the guys on the Sunday Hang with
Clay and Buck podcast.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
A new episode of Every Sunday.
Speaker 5 (33:40):
Find it on the iHeart app or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Welcome back into Clay and Buck.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
See I do Mighty Mighty Bosstones on the Rejoin that
Do you remember them?
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I remember them. I would not have remembered I know
this song. I wouldn't have remembered who who's saying it?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Uh good? This was there like megasong back in the nineties.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
I just it's it doesn't necessarily all the other music
kind of goes together for me in.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Terms of the genre.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
But Mighty Mighty Boston is a little bit of a
little bit of ska, right That isn't that the music
that it was?
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Scott dans Man, You're killing it today with your knowledge
on the mighty Mighty Boston.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I was very correct. I was cool in high school.
I was very culturally hip.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
In the nineties, I became a curmudgeon by the time
I was about twenty three twenty four, so you know.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Things have changed.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
But anyway, Crockett Coffee, I'm actually wearing a Krackt Coffee
T shirt.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Right now.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Why well, yes, because we own the company and we
started it. But also because it's so comfortable and it's
an awesome logo, and you'll make new friends who are Patriots.
You'd be like, I love Crockett Coffee. It's delicious.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I actually gave it.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I went to I had to get some blood drawn
at the dock recently, and I brought all the front
desk ladies, who, by the way, oh nice, some Clay
and Buck fans. I love my my South Florida Cuban Radio,
a Cuban American Radio contingent. You guys are the best.
I love it. They see me, they love the show.
Gave some of the ladies some coffee. Crocketcoffee dot com.
You'll be supporting a great American brand that also gives
(35:03):
ten percent of the profits the Tunnel, the Towers Foundation.
And remember, if you use code Book, you get a
signed copy of Clay's bestseller American Playbook, but you get
a nice sign copy sent to you for free. That's
racocoffee dot com. Use code Book. Now, Scott and Illinois,
let's take some calls. What do you got for a Scott.
Speaker 6 (35:21):
Guys first of all and say we love your show,
a big fan.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (35:25):
Do you want to take exception do you want to
take exception to the comments about the federal workers in
that I work for the Army Corps of Engineers and
we're out there maintaining the locks and dams on the
Illinois River twenty degrees four inches of snow, and we're
out there twelve hours a day, eleven days on, three
days off until projects are done until me and boy.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Could first of all, thank you for what you do.
Thank you for serving you. You're under DoD right, yes, yes, yeah,
but I don't just should be clear employee. No one
thinks the military like no one's talking about the military
as lazy. That's that's not what the conversation is here
at all. There's military spending, which is at the issue.
(36:09):
But I think the laziness conversation is a portion of
federal employees or work from home and do nothing. You
can't build dams working from home? Can you?
Speaker 6 (36:20):
No?
Speaker 2 (36:20):
No? No?
Speaker 4 (36:22):
And doing all that.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Right, But I'm not talking about you. Is the point
right to work.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
I appreciate the call when we say there are lots
of federal workers that should and do not deserve their job.
If that's not you, you don't need to call in and
tell us how hard you work. We know that there
are plenty of people who bust their ass. I said
half of them should be gone.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
I turned down all kinds of Wall Street gigs to
go overseas, hop in a helicopter and hope I didn't
get shot down.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
As an analyst,
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