May 26, 2025 • 37 mins
The best of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show Hour 1.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for listening. This is the best of with
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We are joined now by a author, journalist, all round
incredibly talented guy, Douglas Murray new book on Democracies and
death Cults, Israel and the Future of Civilization. We appreciate
you coming on. For those of you watching on video,
the book is up beside me. Let's start right here.
(00:26):
I got to go to Israel in December for the
first time ever. I went to the kabbutz's on the
border with Gaza. I went all the way to the
north in Lebanon. I was blown away by the concept
which I should have understood before, but I didn't until
I stood on the ground that Israel really is the
front line of Western civilization. If it falls, then Western
civilization is in trouble. I know this is a big
(00:48):
part of the book argument you make, but do people
really understand the stakes, the consequences of what's going on
in the Middle East, and, more alarmingly, the fact that
a lot of people in America and other Western civilizations
have lost the ability to distinguish between good and evil.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
It's very good to be with you and your listeners again. Firstly,
the book is an attempted to describe the atrocities of
the seventh of October twenty twenty three, how they came,
about what happened. I've been there in the zone of
the conflict for most of the last year and a half,
and so it's a first hand account as well as
(01:26):
a tempt to write first draft of history about the
atrocities of that day. But the other thing that the
book is really about is a much bigger question, is
the one, as you say, that affects us here in
America and the rest of the West, which is why
when a democracy and how I of ours was attacked
(01:48):
so brutally, with twelve hundred people massacred, two hundred and
fifties innocent civilians taken hostage, why did so many people
here in America sides not with the democracy that was
the deaf cult of Hamaz. And I come to not
just ask the question, but also I hope to try
(02:08):
to answer it. And one of the things that we've
seen and I relate that I saw it straight away
early on on the eighth of October, as massacre was
still going on in Times Square in New York. I
saw the demonstration of people supporting the terrorists, supporting Hamaz
in the year and a half since, we've seen this
(02:29):
disgusting outburst of hatred against the Jewish state and against
the Jewish people. Just two days ago at Princeton University,
Jewish students were screened at by other students telling them
to go home. The reason, in part, as you know,
and you've covered so well on your show, is that
(02:50):
we have lived through an era in which America, the West,
all of our allies are seen as the bad guys
over and over again. And if I have a rule
that I've developed in the last year and a half,
wherever I've gone in America, when I see an anti
Israel protest, I notice that they fly the Palestinian flag.
(03:12):
They may fly the flag of Hamas or Hezbolah one
of these other terrorist groups. They never fly the American flag.
In fact, when they find an American flag, they'll burn it.
Compare it with the pro Israel demonstrations that have happened.
They always have the flying of the Israeli flag and
the flying of the American flag, and the singing of
(03:32):
the Star Spangled banner and more. The people who have
been most vocal against Israel, since the massacres are people
who have also told us that they hate Israel first,
but they hate America and the West most. And anyone
who thinks that that is some kind of hyperbole, just
(03:53):
consider that the student group at Colombia most supportive of Hamads,
says in its founding statements that it seeks as its
aim the quote complete destruction of Western civilization, the complete
destruction of Western civilization. They see Israel as being the
(04:14):
nearest targets, as Jamaz does, but not the last targets.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Why do you think young people, compared to older people
in the United States in particular, are so susceptible to
the argument that Israel is a force for evil and
that in some way the Palestinians or the larger Middle
Eastern community is a source of good, even in the
wake of October seventh. Why has that worked with so
(04:42):
many young people.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I believe because they've been prepared for this moment very
carefully for years. I said in my last book, The
War on the West, that Americans, this generation of Americans
coming up, were being taught hatred of America and hatred
of the West. We have seen in America the whole
Great history of America rewritten in recent years, students and
(05:09):
others told that to be an American is to be
born into guilt, to inherit the guilt of slavery, of
white supremacy, of colonialism, of genocide, and much more. Look
at what the pro Haamaz anti Israel demonstrators on American
campuses accuse Israel og. They accused of Israel completely falsely
(05:32):
as falsely against America. They accuse Israel today of genocide,
of ethnic cleansing, of white supremacy, and of all of
the sins that they have been told they themselves, are
Americans born in the twenty first century, are guilty of.
This is what a psychologist would call projection on a
(05:53):
massive scale. Tell me what you accuse the Jewish state of,
and I'll tell you what you've been taught that you
are guilty of.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
We're talking to Douglas Murray.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
The book is on democracy and death, Cults, Israel, and
the future of civilization. What should happen? You know, we've
heard a lot from people in the Trump era talking
about the right and wrong side of history. If you
can see the massacre of Jews, the worst day since
the Holocaust on October seventh and not recognize what the
(06:28):
right and wrong side of history is. How do we
rectify that? What should people who are smart enough to
know better be doing well.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I believe that young people in the West, not just
America but principally America, but also I've seen this in
the last few and a half in Australia and Canada
and Britain and elsewhere. They've been taught into this Western
self hatred and hatred. Now that's been taught. Older generations
of Americans do not Hatema because they weren't taught to
(07:01):
hate America. Older generations of Americans don't hate other democracies
because they weren't taught to hate other democracies. Part of
this generation, not all of them. There are some great
young people coming up, but part of this generation has
been taught this hatred. I believe that it is going
to require a generation to teach them out of it.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
I think that's well said. We're talking to Douglas Murray.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
The book I encourage you to all to go check
it out is on Democracies and death cults.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
It's out right now.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
You mentioned younger generations and the need to teach them
about what actually has taken place. How much of this
is the perverse idea that you built on here that
white people are to blame for everything, and that Jewish
people are just seen as white and therefore in the
left wing anti American and anti Western perspective, there is
(07:59):
no ability to grapple with the idea that someone who
is of lighter skin could actually be a victim here.
I mean, I think is partly a function of just
the broken worldview at play.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I think you're completely right. The thing that this generation
has been taught, the thing that has been across our media,
whether it's a New York Times sixteen nineteen project, whether
it's radical Democrats talking about white guilt and all of
this sort of thing, Always the Jews were going to
become a victim of this, And sure enough, the people
(08:35):
who believe that they're against racism are accusing. Again. It
goes back to this thing. It's a mirror of their
own sins, as they've been told them. Always they accuse
Israel of white supremacy. I mean, you've been there.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
To me, it's one of the most ethnically racially diverse
countries on the planet. One third of people in Israel
are of European descent one third. The other two thirds
are Middle Eastern. They are from countries across the region
historically who were chased out of those countries Iraqi Jews,
(09:14):
Persian Jews, Assyrian Jews, and many others North African Jews.
To see white college campus kids in America accusing black
Jewish Israelis of white supremacy is even by the standards
of our time, and even with our probably wearied ability,
(09:36):
the ability to be shocked, absolutely shocking and shocking, not
least just for its sheer ignorance.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
When you look Douglas Murray, the author of On Democracies
and Death Cults, encourage you to go read the book
what you just said the white American college kids coming
after this? When I went to Israel, the other thing
that stood out was Trump being called hitler when Israel,
if it could vote in the American presidential election, would
(10:06):
have voted like Wyoming did or like West Virginia did.
That is basically seventy thirty pro Trump as someone who
doesn't live in America. And when you hear that argument,
how outrageous and outlandish is that analogy for our current
president when it comes to his relationship with Israel.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Well, just one quick thing, I actually do live in
America when I'm not living in various war zones. I
hot footed it from my native Britain some years ago
for very good reasons, and I'd like to think I'm
one of the better American imports of research.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Well accept you, yes, thank you.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Not for me to say, but you know, because I
love this country. I love America, I love the founding Fathers,
I love American history, and I love American people. So
it grieves me enormously to see some of the wild,
wild hatred and wild claims that people have been encouraged
into in recent years. Many people have been persuaded that basically,
(11:11):
you know, all of their history is just the nineteen
thirties and forties. They only know one bad person in history,
and that's Hitler, and their aim is to be anti Hitler,
which is like, wow, guys, that was a very brave
and important thing to be in the nineteen thirty.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
And forties, by the way, when many of the people
were not actually anti Hitler, when it would have been helpful,
right exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
It would have really helped if there'd been more anti
Hitler people in those days. But history is a bit
more complicated when you're going through it, and we are
going through it now. One of the things that we've
seen in the last eighteen months is how many people
who regard themselves as being anti racists are in fact
the racists. How many people who think they're anti Nazi
(11:58):
are literally with a Nazi movement Hanaz. How many people
who think they would have been on the right side
in the nineteen thirties and the nineteen forties are on
the side of an anti Semitic and anti Western Deaf
cult today. The people who told us for ten years
to believe all women are the people who don't believe
(12:21):
Israeli women who were raped on the seventh of October.
This tells us nothing about the Jewish state or the
Jewish people. It tells us everything about the people who
have been lecturing us for years now and how wicked
they can be.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Douglas Murray, last question for you.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
You hit on something that I think is hugely important
we have in a historically illiterate country. Your point is, yes, basically,
the only historical analogy many people seem to be able
to make is too Hitler and too World War two.
How much of all of this is rooted in America,
but also Western civilization and in general not having educated
(13:02):
its people in terms of real history and having much
of a depth of knowledge at all.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Well, I'll tell you it's obviously the ignorance of history
is profound everywhere, not just in America. Across the West,
young British and Canadian school children and college students are
also being taught versions of the same rout One of
the things I finished this book on, though, is to say,
why not regard this, as I do, as a civilizational
(13:30):
moment and a civilizational test. We all weigh ourselves up
against the greatest generation of World War II, and we
should we ask ourselves, would we do what our forefathers
were able to do when the time of trial came.
You can take the route, if you're a young American
of being led into the grievance culture, the victimhood culture
(13:50):
that you and I have spoken about for years and
that we hate. But you can also choose another route,
and it's the route that the young men and women
of Israel, who I had the honor to be with
in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Israel in the last eighteen months.
It's the route they have chosen, which is the root
of heroism. Protecting your people, protecting your faith, protecting your family,
(14:14):
protecting your way of life, and knowing that your way
of life will only continue if you're willing to fight
for it. I'd like to see Americans learn from the
Israeli youth on this, because if they do, we have
a bright future too.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Well, said the book on Democracies and Death called Douglas Murray.
Good luck on the trail, and I hope you sell
a lot of books. I know this audience will be
very receptive to your book and the argument you're making.
Thanks for everything you're doing.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
It's great to be with you. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
You're listening to the best of Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
Our friend Steve Hilton joins us now. He's a political commentator.
You know him from Fox. He's an author as well.
New book out this week, Calor Failure, Reversing the Ruin
of America Worst Run State.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Hey, Steve, great to have in the program. Hi guys,
great to be with you. What fun?
Speaker 6 (15:06):
Can I tell you what a pleasure it is? And
guess who wouldn't have me on his new podcast to
talk about whether or not. California is the worst run
state in America. Gavin Newsom, what a shame. But it's
very good to be here with you.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Well, we're not surprised that Gavin Newsom wouldn't have you
have you on, given that you recognize the problems not
just of California but specifically of Gavin Newsom's leadership. But
I wonder, Steve, is it just the way it's going
to be there? I mean, one of the problems that
we see is the willingness to suffer for ideological reasons
(15:40):
in some of these democrat enclaves. Definitely in the case
of cities like San Francisco, for example, or even New York, unfortunately,
is much higher than a lot of people would imagine.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Well, you're right, and the ideological is the word.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
That is why we're in such a mess, you know,
with the highest rate of poverty, the highest housing cost,
the lowest home ownership, highest cost for gas, electricity, water, everything,
it's a disaster, the.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Worst business climate.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
I mean, that's the point really, which is that, of course,
across the country we see the video of the unbelievable
homeless encampments and people wandering like zombies, and the crime
and toothpaste locked up in Walgreens, and now the fires,
and people see all that, but actually the underlying problems
are even worse. It's a failure on every front, and
(16:23):
people have been putting up with it. And it's driven
by ideology. And that's one of the things in the
book I go into a love What is this ideology.
It's not enough to just call it leftism. There's so
many different components to it, and we've got to understand
it because it's going to spread across the country. That's
what's been happening. And if you look at where the
Democrats are today, that seems to be where they're gravitating
the Bernie Aoc thing. That's where the energy is. That's
(16:46):
what we've got in California. Now to your question about change,
I think people are waking up. You saw even before
the fires. If you look at the results last November
and the presidential election, even without obviously competing in California,
particularly because you're never going to get the electoral votes,
Donald Trump got more votes than any Republican for a generation.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
In California.
Speaker 6 (17:08):
You saw ten counties flip from blue to red, including
big counties like Fresno, County, the fifth biggest city, and
now with the fires. I mean, I meet people all
the time in Los Angeles. Yeah, Democrats, independence is a
we can't go.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
On like this.
Speaker 6 (17:21):
It is just obvious that we need a change. We
need some balance. It's been this one party rule for
so long. We've got to get some common sense ideas
back in there.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
You're enjoying the Best of program with Clay Travis and
Buck Sexton.
Speaker 5 (17:34):
We're joined by our friend Ned Ryan, founder and CEO
of American Majority. Ned has a new documentary out this week,
American Leviathan, The Birth of the Administrative State and Progressive Authoritarianism.
Documentary is out on x It's also posted for you
to watch and enjoy at Clay and Buck dot com.
Mister Ned, great to have you, sir. All right, dive
(17:56):
into this documentary. It's certainly timely given the work of
Trump and j Elon and the whole team.
Speaker 7 (18:03):
Well, but I mean, one of the reasons I wanted
to do a Buck was it's a companion to the book,
but to really show people and give them real clarity
on the fact that rule of the bureaucrats, as Elon
mentioned a few weeks ago, that's not a bug. That's
a feature that was always intended by progressives for the
last hundred years and has nothing to do with the
(18:23):
representative government, has nothing to do with our constitution republic.
And what I wanted to do is cover some of
the same themes in the book, but also have conversations
with Senators and with Congressmen and with other people that
have been in DC, inside the belly of Leviathan, to
really discuss how DC works. And I think when people
watch the documentary they're going to understand with real clarity
(18:44):
from the mouths of elected officials. Yeah, we don't really
actually do the governing in this town. We don't do
the real legislating. We passed these four and five thousand
page bills, we send them over to the unelected bureaucrats
in the Article two branch of our own volition, sub
delegate legislative authority to them and to let them, with
their statutes and regulations, do the real governing of this country.
And then, to make matters worse buck they're blindly funding
(19:07):
these unelected, out of control bureaucrats blindly and then not
demanding any oversight, not demanding accountability or transparency at all.
And it's become one of those things that I think
is pretty hard to miss these days Washington's going on
in DC. But I hope that the American people get
real clarity because it's because of the American.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
People awakening that they will.
Speaker 7 (19:29):
Inspire Congress to actually do what they're supposed to do,
to actually legislate, and inspire the President, who has unbelievable
amounts of moral and political courage, to keep going on
the path that he's going on, and then to brace
the judges, which is of course a huge issue in
the present moment, to maybe just do their Article three
constitutional duty, because the American people, I think, are going
(19:49):
to understand that administrative power is a revival of absolute
power and is a tremendous threat to their civil liberties,
tremendous threat to our future freedom and prosperity. So once
the American people wake up and understand what's going on
and then demand these things of their elected officials, I
think it's the beginning of in the beginning of the
end of administrative power.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
How do we deal with the threshold that seems to
have been well, it has been artificially created by the
Congress itself, that we have to get to sixty in
the Senate to get any real legislation through because of
the filibuster. Because nett I just it feels like the
Democrats are the party of the administrative state. They have
seeded the administrative state with their ideologues all and we
(20:30):
haven't even talked about the judges yet, but the administrative
state with all these ideologues, And so the Democrat Party
is just not going to no matter how outrageous the
spending is at these places, no matter how useless they are,
They're not going to come along with us, Right, So
what do we do about that?
Speaker 7 (20:44):
Well, well, I would say I'd probably come from a
little bit different angle buck, because we already know Democrats
are a lost cause. The problem being, and the problem
that has been for decades in DC, is that too
many Republicans have gone along with it. They've accepted the
premise that somehow this strative state is a legitimate form
of government and that they should continue to fund it
and seed their control to these unelected bureaucrats. So, while
(21:07):
I understand that the problem is Democrats in many ways,
I would argue that in many ways it's been the
Republicans in Congress who have been I don't want to
say that that Congress has been the villain of the
twentieth century, but in many ways we have an administrative
state and the unelected bureaucrats and out of control spending,
and I would argue again abuse of our civil liberties
(21:29):
and authoritarianism because Congress has, of its own volition seated
its control. And that's not just Democrats, it's Republicans. And
so I would say the first step in getting us
to the right place is for Republicans across the board
to go, Yeah, administrative state is deeply unconstitutional, it's deeply
un American.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
We are going to demand that we get.
Speaker 7 (21:49):
Back our sub delegated legislative authority and actually do the governing,
actually do the legislating, instead of really really passing the
buck to these unelected bureaucrats to avoid making hard decisions.
Let's get Republicans on the same page and then we
can discuss how we're going to dismantle the Democratic Party
moving forward.
Speaker 5 (22:06):
Or with Ned Ryan, founder and CEO of American Majority.
He's got a new documentary out, American Leviathan, which you
can watch on X that has posted on X also
at clanbuck dot com. The judiciary as the protector of
the administrative state. This is one of the biggest and
you know, I know you were ready for this, all
the veterans of Trump's first term. Everybody who was in
(22:27):
that fight remembers the hashtag resistance judges, and unfortunately they were.
They're successful even when they lose, right ned, because if
they drag it out and they burn time off the clock,
they're getting some of what they want, even if the
Supreme Court takes it up and strikes them down, as
has happened many times in the past. So what's the
best strategy for this? What can be done so that
(22:50):
they aren't able to run out the clock on the
efforts to rein in the administrative state.
Speaker 7 (22:55):
So you're absolutely correct. I mean, this is a continuance
of law fair sadly by the Article three judicial branch,
the lower level judges to prevent Trump from actually implementing
his agenda, and they are acting as a protector of
the administrative state. So a couple of things. You know,
I hope that Donald Trump, and you can see this
coming out of his doj that he is going to
obviously fight back as quickly as possible. I kind of
(23:17):
like him to basically channel Andrew Jackson. Obviously that apocryphal story,
but it's kind of the feeling the spirit that I
want Trump to have. You've made your decisions, now try
and forcing them because the Article three what's going happening
right now book is these lower level judges are overstepping
the constitutional bound and trying to dictate to the head
of the Article two branch, what is his constitutional right
(23:40):
and authority, whether it's on foreign policy or domestic policy,
or who he can hire, what he can do with
the various departments and agencies that are under him inside
the Article two branch, And so he's got to tell
he essentially has to tell them that's great, I'm going
to continue down this path. It would be nice if
Congress actually stepped up to the plate. I think impeaching
judges would be a little too far for most of
(24:01):
those people in Congress because they're not exactly profiles and courage.
But I would argue, if they could find some small
sliver of political courage, why don't we think about defunding
the lower courts, because that's Congress's constitutional right to do that.
But I think ultimately in the short term. You know,
John Roberts is actually going to find it, have to
find it within himself to go Hey, for the sake
(24:21):
of the legitimacy of the Article three judicial branch, the
Supreme Court is going to have to step in and
put in some pretty strong guardrails and say you can't
do this, you're overstepping your constitutional bounds. And to be honest, Buck,
I think John Roberts doing that, it's probably fifty to fifty.
So I think we're gonna we're in for a couple
interesting weeks and months ahead. But I think Donald Trump
is making it very clear in the last couple of
(24:43):
days he's not going to let them prevent him implementing
the will of the American people. I mean, he was
elected to enact a very specific agenda that was painted
out in bold, bright colors last fall, and these judges
are attempting to defy the will of the people as
being implement in it through Donald Trump's agenda. So I
think Trump's going to be pretty aggressive on this. But
(25:04):
it would be nice if John Roberts stepped up to
the plate.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
But I have my doubts.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
Where do you think the state of progressive authoritarianism is
right now because it certainly is the case that the
Democrat Party is in a rough spot, which is great,
very exciting, probably the roughest spot it's been in a
long time, which is a lovely thing. But the ideology
that they have and the machinery that they have to
(25:28):
push it, I mean, obviously the administrative state is a huge.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Part of it.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Do you feel like this is the first opening we
have to do real damage to them? Do you worry
that if we don't get it done, they'll just come
come right back and do the same stuff. I mean,
how do you view it from from the side of
the opposition here? I mean, are where do you think
they fall in this whole situation?
Speaker 7 (25:50):
Well, I think you can see from their behavior they
realize this is an existential threat. I mean, politics is
the religion book, I mean, the administrative state is the
their holy of holies, their vehicle for salvation. Politics is
the religion. And when they look at Donald Trump and
Elon Must, they see them as existential threats to those
(26:11):
things that they hold so valuable, and that really has
been is the undergirding for their entire movement. So I
know that they view this as an existential threat to
the continuance of their movement, to the continuance of the
progressive administrative.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
State, and so I don't think it. Just to be clear,
I don't think.
Speaker 7 (26:28):
You're going to see any dialing back of the violence
or the rhetoric because we know that Trump arrangement syndrome
is an incurable disease, and I think Elon must arrangement
syndrome is an incurable disease. And the only way I
think you see it stop is where there to be
serious legal consequences, which you can start to see rumblings
of that coming out of the Trump administration. But they
(26:49):
are in disarray. And the thing that I am trying
to figure out book are there any rational democrats left
inside the party? Because the progressive movement has eaten it
from within. They are the Democratic Party the progressive movement
is there any ability for a rational democrat to be
able to stand them and go, hey, we are going
in the absolute wrong path. We need to pivot out
(27:10):
of this. I suspect they won't be able to not
in the near term. I think this is something where
the black hole of progressive ideology is completely sucking in
whatever vestiges of rational thought might be left inside the
Democratic Party and moving towards kind of an annihilation. But
that that, to me is a very good thing book,
(27:31):
because I think the only way you get back to
a sense and a real sense of normalcy in this
country is for the left to be beaten into unconditional
surrender and never be allowed near political power again. As
you start to destroy these various institutions, like the indoctrination centers,
like the administrative state, going after the corporate propagandists, because
(27:52):
for the sake of the future of our country and
prosperity and freedom and happiness, the progressive movement writ large
has to be either shoved so far into the corner
that it's a minimal voice in our society, or it
ceases to exist.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
I always make the case ned that the good news
about this is nobody should feel like if we were
to crush the administrative state, if Trump elon Doge, maybe
even the Republican Party were at large were to mobilize
and really make major progress on this mission and for
this initiative, the people that are crying and all the
(28:27):
gnashing of teeth and all the ol or so it
actually it will be better for them too.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
This is what this is. Everybody wins.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
They may not realize it, but America will be a
more prosperous, freer, and better place if we don't have
this nonsensical Leviathan. As your documentary is titled American Leviathan
trampling on our rights and just our day to day
all the time.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
It is something.
Speaker 7 (28:51):
So you bring up something I think is pretty interesting, Bluck.
I mean, I'm just thinking. I've been thinking about and
have said some things public.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Right, I'll say it again here.
Speaker 7 (28:58):
You know, Elon and dog starts we're going to go
after waste fraud abuse, and then he realizes in this
journey of his you can kind of see this epiphany.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Of the Elon along the way.
Speaker 7 (29:07):
Wait, we have the rule of bureaucrats. Well, yeah, that
was always the point of progressive and now we've gotten
the point of it. Really feels like the administrative state
and the government writ large has become a leftist money
laundering slash slush fund in which they're trying to advance
their ideology and really truly undermine this country. I mean
a lot of stuff that they're funding I believe to
(29:28):
be truly anti American and very aggressively going after not
only this country and our foundational principles, but the American
people's way of life. And it will be for the
best if we in the administrative state. But I think
we got to be realistic about a buck. I mean,
this took one hundred years to get to this point
when you think about the founding of the administrative state,
(29:48):
really in the first term of Woodrow Wilson. We're over
one hundred years into this disastrous experiment. We're not going
to get out of overnight, but it is going to
require tremendous political courage, and Donald Trump Elon Musk have
it in spades. We've got to figure out how Congress
somehow gets injected with that courage as well to be
able to do the right things and actually say we're
(30:09):
not going to allow this anymore, and for the will
of the American people, right, We're not going to allow
this unconstitutional, unrepresentative form of government to continue on in
this country because again, it has nothing to do with
our constitutional tradition.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
Ned Ryan, founder CEO of American Majority American Leviathan, the
birth of the administrative state and progressive authoritarianism is his
new documentary. It's on x you can also watch We
have it posted at clayanbuck dot com ned great work
is always my friend.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Thanks Buck, You're listening to the best of Clay Travis
and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Our friend Steve Hilton joins us now. He's a political commentator.
You know him from Fox.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Buck.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Can I talk about this a lot? It's not just
that California has fallen apart. It's that and I'm curious
what your experience was growing up and what you thought
about California. I just came back from sam Francisco. It
is a beautiful geographic jewel, the likes of which there
are not very many of anywhere in the world. La
obviously nearly perfect climate. You go on up the coast, Seattle, Portland.
(31:13):
It's that left leaning ideas have destroyed some of the
most beloved communities in much of the country. What did
you think about California as a kid growing up far
from California and when did your perception start to change?
Because I remember as a college kid, I had never
been to California before. I remember going out I don't know,
probably two thousand thereabouts and just being blown away by
(31:36):
how spectacular it was. It seems to have really fallen
apart only in the last ten or fifteen years. And
I know many Californians who've lived there feel the same way.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
So I'll tell you a story about that. So I
was totally inspired. I was in the way I put it.
I was in love with California even before we moved it.
We moved in twenty twelve. I got my citizenship four
years ago. So now I'm a proud American, but also
proud Californian. I love California. In fact, there's the story
about this is back in the day when I was
working for David Cameron, this is before he became Prime Minister,
(32:07):
and I was leading our policy development, our political strategy,
and there was a cover story in the Spectator magazine.
We want know the Spectator website here in America. It's
actually a printed magazine, the oldest in the world, actually
the political magazine in the UK. They did a cover
story on the direction that we were working on for
the Conservative Party, and the headline on the story was
(32:30):
California Dreaming, And the first lines go on about Steve Hilton,
David Cameron's policy Guru is inspired by California and the
theme of their policy work is to make the UK
more like California. Like this is that fifteen twenty years ago.
And the question is is there any political advisor to
any politician anywhere in the world who would want to
(32:51):
make their country more like California today? And it shows
you just how far we've fallen, how quickly with this
far left ideology dominant in California. But actually the point
is all the problems of California are self inflicted and
we can turn it around. And actually part two of
the book is called Caliphailure, but Part two of the
(33:11):
book is called Califuture, and that is my plan for
how we actually turn things around and restore California to
what it should be, which is the best of America,
not the worst, which is what it is now.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
Now you didn't go on Gavin Newsom's podcast, but I
want you to the degree that you can be as
objective as you can in telling us, is this guy
gonna be the leader of the Democrat Party in the
next election cycle? Do you see him being able to
swindle enough people in the middle that he's able to
(33:43):
rise through the ranks and go from being governor to
presidential nominee. Because from what I see, he has had
some right wing people on his podcast, and he's not
abandoning the crazy left positions, but he's at least putting
on a show of I'll have a conversation. Aren't that crazy?
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Yeah? Exactly.
Speaker 6 (34:02):
And I think you should not underestimate him. I know
him a little bit obviously, watched him closely. And that's
the point about him, is that he is like Kambala
Harris before, like Joe Biden, like Karen Back. You know,
these are machine politicians. Okay they and they will say
whatever is politically expedient. But Gavin Newsom says it better
than most, and so don't underestimate him in a way.
(34:24):
That's why I wanted not partly why I wanted to
write the book is like, this is the record that
he's presided over. It's a total failure.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
On every front.
Speaker 6 (34:32):
So yes, you can talk, I mean a good example
the difference between talk and action. So he's on, you know,
as Charlie kirk on and agrees how unfair is deeply unfair?
Was his phrase about you know, biological men and girls sports.
What's he doing about it?
Speaker 4 (34:45):
Nothing. He's the governor.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Now.
Speaker 6 (34:47):
Next week in the state legislature there are two bills
up for a vote that would stop this madness. Is
he going to weigh it? So far, he's avoided even
talking about it, So you've got to pin him down
on the actions. And the actions that have happened in
California have been a complete disaster.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Putting out fires seems like maybe the number one thing
that people would expect a government to be capable of
and expect a government to be responsible for. The fire
situation in the Los Angeles area seems to have been
for many people, a recognition that the policy choices they
make Karen Bass, for instance, as mayor have consequences. Do
(35:27):
you get the sense that that could change political voting
behavior or is it so ideologically committed at this point
that people would have to recognize that they made poor choices,
and lots of people don't want to acknowledge mistake. How
do you get them to change and how did the
fires potentially impact them?
Speaker 6 (35:44):
That's the job of campaigning and to bring that home.
I mean, I can tell you right now, I'm working
with Nicole Shanahan on a recall campaign for Karen Bass.
Because every day that she's there is a disaster. And
one of the reasons that we're doing that is to
is to show if we can, if we can pull
it off, that the Democrat machine in California, that kind
(36:04):
of Democrat industrial complex of the unions that fund the
politicians and the far left activists and the bureaucrats and
all that, that it can be beaten and if we
can do it there in Los Angeles. For Karen Bass,
I think that's a very encouraging sign that people are
ready for change. Look, if we don't pull it off,
I still think we should. We need to fight. We
need to make sure that people understand. I'll give you
(36:26):
a story. It's really encouraging. Huntington Beach not the biggest
city in California, an iconic one surf city USA. So
just over four years ago, the council in Huntington Beach
was six' to One. DEMOCRAT a friend of, Mine Tony,
strickland put together a team of strong. Candidates they in
twenty twenty two they took control of the council four
to three on a very strong conservative. Platform they then
(36:48):
implemented that they had a lot of, energy just like
you're seeing From President trump right. Now they cleaned up the,
streets they cleaned homeless, Encompments they prosecuted, Crime they dealt
with the nonsense in the schools and the. Libraries they
actually put in a ballot initiative for VOTER id which
passed then In november just, now in twenty twenty, four
they put forward seven candidates as a. Slate they called
(37:08):
themselves The Magnificent seven to show you where they were coming.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
From they had a clean. Sweep they won all the.
Speaker 6 (37:14):
Seats so in four years that city has gone from
six to One democrat control to seven Zero. Republican so
it shows what it can be done.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
If you actually.
Speaker 6 (37:24):
Fight AND i think that's what we need to show Cross.
California that's WHY i really do believe change is possible
sooner than many people.
Speaker 5 (37:31):
Think Steve, hilton everybody go check out the Book Calor,
failure which also goes Into. Califuture so it's not just the,
problems it's also the. Fix And, steve best of luck to.
You please come back and tell us how it's all
going and hang out with us.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Again sue, absolutely thanks, guys se you soon
Thank you for listening. This is the best of with
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We are joined now by a author, journalist, all round
incredibly talented guy, Douglas Murray new book on Democracies and
death Cults, Israel and the Future of Civilization. We appreciate
you coming on. For those of you watching on video,
the book is up beside me. Let's start right here.
(00:26):
I got to go to Israel in December for the
first time ever. I went to the kabbutz's on the
border with Gaza. I went all the way to the
north in Lebanon. I was blown away by the concept
which I should have understood before, but I didn't until
I stood on the ground that Israel really is the
front line of Western civilization. If it falls, then Western
civilization is in trouble. I know this is a big
(00:48):
part of the book argument you make, but do people
really understand the stakes, the consequences of what's going on
in the Middle East, and, more alarmingly, the fact that
a lot of people in America and other Western civilizations
have lost the ability to distinguish between good and evil.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
It's very good to be with you and your listeners again. Firstly,
the book is an attempted to describe the atrocities of
the seventh of October twenty twenty three, how they came,
about what happened. I've been there in the zone of
the conflict for most of the last year and a half,
and so it's a first hand account as well as
(01:26):
a tempt to write first draft of history about the
atrocities of that day. But the other thing that the
book is really about is a much bigger question, is
the one, as you say, that affects us here in
America and the rest of the West, which is why
when a democracy and how I of ours was attacked
(01:48):
so brutally, with twelve hundred people massacred, two hundred and
fifties innocent civilians taken hostage, why did so many people
here in America sides not with the democracy that was
the deaf cult of Hamaz. And I come to not
just ask the question, but also I hope to try
(02:08):
to answer it. And one of the things that we've
seen and I relate that I saw it straight away
early on on the eighth of October, as massacre was
still going on in Times Square in New York. I
saw the demonstration of people supporting the terrorists, supporting Hamaz
in the year and a half since, we've seen this
(02:29):
disgusting outburst of hatred against the Jewish state and against
the Jewish people. Just two days ago at Princeton University,
Jewish students were screened at by other students telling them
to go home. The reason, in part, as you know,
and you've covered so well on your show, is that
(02:50):
we have lived through an era in which America, the West,
all of our allies are seen as the bad guys
over and over again. And if I have a rule
that I've developed in the last year and a half,
wherever I've gone in America, when I see an anti
Israel protest, I notice that they fly the Palestinian flag.
(03:12):
They may fly the flag of Hamas or Hezbolah one
of these other terrorist groups. They never fly the American flag.
In fact, when they find an American flag, they'll burn it.
Compare it with the pro Israel demonstrations that have happened.
They always have the flying of the Israeli flag and
the flying of the American flag, and the singing of
(03:32):
the Star Spangled banner and more. The people who have
been most vocal against Israel, since the massacres are people
who have also told us that they hate Israel first,
but they hate America and the West most. And anyone
who thinks that that is some kind of hyperbole, just
(03:53):
consider that the student group at Colombia most supportive of Hamads,
says in its founding statements that it seeks as its
aim the quote complete destruction of Western civilization, the complete
destruction of Western civilization. They see Israel as being the
(04:14):
nearest targets, as Jamaz does, but not the last targets.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Why do you think young people, compared to older people
in the United States in particular, are so susceptible to
the argument that Israel is a force for evil and
that in some way the Palestinians or the larger Middle
Eastern community is a source of good, even in the
wake of October seventh. Why has that worked with so
(04:42):
many young people.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I believe because they've been prepared for this moment very
carefully for years. I said in my last book, The
War on the West, that Americans, this generation of Americans
coming up, were being taught hatred of America and hatred
of the West. We have seen in America the whole
Great history of America rewritten in recent years, students and
(05:09):
others told that to be an American is to be
born into guilt, to inherit the guilt of slavery, of
white supremacy, of colonialism, of genocide, and much more. Look
at what the pro Haamaz anti Israel demonstrators on American
campuses accuse Israel og. They accused of Israel completely falsely
(05:32):
as falsely against America. They accuse Israel today of genocide,
of ethnic cleansing, of white supremacy, and of all of
the sins that they have been told they themselves, are
Americans born in the twenty first century, are guilty of.
This is what a psychologist would call projection on a
(05:53):
massive scale. Tell me what you accuse the Jewish state of,
and I'll tell you what you've been taught that you
are guilty of.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
We're talking to Douglas Murray.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
The book is on democracy and death, Cults, Israel, and
the future of civilization. What should happen? You know, we've
heard a lot from people in the Trump era talking
about the right and wrong side of history. If you
can see the massacre of Jews, the worst day since
the Holocaust on October seventh and not recognize what the
(06:28):
right and wrong side of history is. How do we
rectify that? What should people who are smart enough to
know better be doing well.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I believe that young people in the West, not just
America but principally America, but also I've seen this in
the last few and a half in Australia and Canada
and Britain and elsewhere. They've been taught into this Western
self hatred and hatred. Now that's been taught. Older generations
of Americans do not Hatema because they weren't taught to
(07:01):
hate America. Older generations of Americans don't hate other democracies
because they weren't taught to hate other democracies. Part of
this generation, not all of them. There are some great
young people coming up, but part of this generation has
been taught this hatred. I believe that it is going
to require a generation to teach them out of it.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
I think that's well said. We're talking to Douglas Murray.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
The book I encourage you to all to go check
it out is on Democracies and death cults.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
It's out right now.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
You mentioned younger generations and the need to teach them
about what actually has taken place. How much of this
is the perverse idea that you built on here that
white people are to blame for everything, and that Jewish
people are just seen as white and therefore in the
left wing anti American and anti Western perspective, there is
(07:59):
no ability to grapple with the idea that someone who
is of lighter skin could actually be a victim here.
I mean, I think is partly a function of just
the broken worldview at play.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I think you're completely right. The thing that this generation
has been taught, the thing that has been across our media,
whether it's a New York Times sixteen nineteen project, whether
it's radical Democrats talking about white guilt and all of
this sort of thing, Always the Jews were going to
become a victim of this, And sure enough, the people
(08:35):
who believe that they're against racism are accusing. Again. It
goes back to this thing. It's a mirror of their
own sins, as they've been told them. Always they accuse
Israel of white supremacy. I mean, you've been there.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
To me, it's one of the most ethnically racially diverse
countries on the planet. One third of people in Israel
are of European descent one third. The other two thirds
are Middle Eastern. They are from countries across the region
historically who were chased out of those countries Iraqi Jews,
(09:14):
Persian Jews, Assyrian Jews, and many others North African Jews.
To see white college campus kids in America accusing black
Jewish Israelis of white supremacy is even by the standards
of our time, and even with our probably wearied ability,
(09:36):
the ability to be shocked, absolutely shocking and shocking, not
least just for its sheer ignorance.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
When you look Douglas Murray, the author of On Democracies
and Death Cults, encourage you to go read the book
what you just said the white American college kids coming
after this? When I went to Israel, the other thing
that stood out was Trump being called hitler when Israel,
if it could vote in the American presidential election, would
(10:06):
have voted like Wyoming did or like West Virginia did.
That is basically seventy thirty pro Trump as someone who
doesn't live in America. And when you hear that argument,
how outrageous and outlandish is that analogy for our current
president when it comes to his relationship with Israel.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Well, just one quick thing, I actually do live in
America when I'm not living in various war zones. I
hot footed it from my native Britain some years ago
for very good reasons, and I'd like to think I'm
one of the better American imports of research.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Well accept you, yes, thank you.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Not for me to say, but you know, because I
love this country. I love America, I love the founding Fathers,
I love American history, and I love American people. So
it grieves me enormously to see some of the wild,
wild hatred and wild claims that people have been encouraged
into in recent years. Many people have been persuaded that basically,
(11:11):
you know, all of their history is just the nineteen
thirties and forties. They only know one bad person in history,
and that's Hitler, and their aim is to be anti Hitler,
which is like, wow, guys, that was a very brave
and important thing to be in the nineteen thirty.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
And forties, by the way, when many of the people
were not actually anti Hitler, when it would have been helpful,
right exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
It would have really helped if there'd been more anti
Hitler people in those days. But history is a bit
more complicated when you're going through it, and we are
going through it now. One of the things that we've
seen in the last eighteen months is how many people
who regard themselves as being anti racists are in fact
the racists. How many people who think they're anti Nazi
(11:58):
are literally with a Nazi movement Hanaz. How many people
who think they would have been on the right side
in the nineteen thirties and the nineteen forties are on
the side of an anti Semitic and anti Western Deaf
cult today. The people who told us for ten years
to believe all women are the people who don't believe
(12:21):
Israeli women who were raped on the seventh of October.
This tells us nothing about the Jewish state or the
Jewish people. It tells us everything about the people who
have been lecturing us for years now and how wicked
they can be.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Douglas Murray, last question for you.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
You hit on something that I think is hugely important
we have in a historically illiterate country. Your point is, yes, basically,
the only historical analogy many people seem to be able
to make is too Hitler and too World War two.
How much of all of this is rooted in America,
but also Western civilization and in general not having educated
(13:02):
its people in terms of real history and having much
of a depth of knowledge at all.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Well, I'll tell you it's obviously the ignorance of history
is profound everywhere, not just in America. Across the West,
young British and Canadian school children and college students are
also being taught versions of the same rout One of
the things I finished this book on, though, is to say,
why not regard this, as I do, as a civilizational
(13:30):
moment and a civilizational test. We all weigh ourselves up
against the greatest generation of World War II, and we
should we ask ourselves, would we do what our forefathers
were able to do when the time of trial came.
You can take the route, if you're a young American
of being led into the grievance culture, the victimhood culture
(13:50):
that you and I have spoken about for years and
that we hate. But you can also choose another route,
and it's the route that the young men and women
of Israel, who I had the honor to be with
in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Israel in the last eighteen months.
It's the route they have chosen, which is the root
of heroism. Protecting your people, protecting your faith, protecting your family,
(14:14):
protecting your way of life, and knowing that your way
of life will only continue if you're willing to fight
for it. I'd like to see Americans learn from the
Israeli youth on this, because if they do, we have
a bright future too.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Well, said the book on Democracies and Death called Douglas Murray.
Good luck on the trail, and I hope you sell
a lot of books. I know this audience will be
very receptive to your book and the argument you're making.
Thanks for everything you're doing.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
It's great to be with you. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
You're listening to the best of Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
Our friend Steve Hilton joins us now. He's a political commentator.
You know him from Fox. He's an author as well.
New book out this week, Calor Failure, Reversing the Ruin
of America Worst Run State.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Hey, Steve, great to have in the program. Hi guys,
great to be with you. What fun?
Speaker 6 (15:06):
Can I tell you what a pleasure it is? And
guess who wouldn't have me on his new podcast to
talk about whether or not. California is the worst run
state in America. Gavin Newsom, what a shame. But it's
very good to be here with you.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Well, we're not surprised that Gavin Newsom wouldn't have you
have you on, given that you recognize the problems not
just of California but specifically of Gavin Newsom's leadership. But
I wonder, Steve, is it just the way it's going
to be there? I mean, one of the problems that
we see is the willingness to suffer for ideological reasons
(15:40):
in some of these democrat enclaves. Definitely in the case
of cities like San Francisco, for example, or even New York, unfortunately,
is much higher than a lot of people would imagine.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Well, you're right, and the ideological is the word.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
That is why we're in such a mess, you know,
with the highest rate of poverty, the highest housing cost,
the lowest home ownership, highest cost for gas, electricity, water, everything,
it's a disaster, the.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Worst business climate.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
I mean, that's the point really, which is that, of course,
across the country we see the video of the unbelievable
homeless encampments and people wandering like zombies, and the crime
and toothpaste locked up in Walgreens, and now the fires,
and people see all that, but actually the underlying problems
are even worse. It's a failure on every front, and
(16:23):
people have been putting up with it. And it's driven
by ideology. And that's one of the things in the
book I go into a love What is this ideology.
It's not enough to just call it leftism. There's so
many different components to it, and we've got to understand
it because it's going to spread across the country. That's
what's been happening. And if you look at where the
Democrats are today, that seems to be where they're gravitating
the Bernie Aoc thing. That's where the energy is. That's
(16:46):
what we've got in California. Now to your question about change,
I think people are waking up. You saw even before
the fires. If you look at the results last November
and the presidential election, even without obviously competing in California,
particularly because you're never going to get the electoral votes,
Donald Trump got more votes than any Republican for a generation.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
In California.
Speaker 6 (17:08):
You saw ten counties flip from blue to red, including
big counties like Fresno, County, the fifth biggest city, and
now with the fires. I mean, I meet people all
the time in Los Angeles. Yeah, Democrats, independence is a
we can't go.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
On like this.
Speaker 6 (17:21):
It is just obvious that we need a change. We
need some balance. It's been this one party rule for
so long. We've got to get some common sense ideas
back in there.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
You're enjoying the Best of program with Clay Travis and
Buck Sexton.
Speaker 5 (17:34):
We're joined by our friend Ned Ryan, founder and CEO
of American Majority. Ned has a new documentary out this week,
American Leviathan, The Birth of the Administrative State and Progressive Authoritarianism.
Documentary is out on x It's also posted for you
to watch and enjoy at Clay and Buck dot com.
Mister Ned, great to have you, sir. All right, dive
(17:56):
into this documentary. It's certainly timely given the work of
Trump and j Elon and the whole team.
Speaker 7 (18:03):
Well, but I mean, one of the reasons I wanted
to do a Buck was it's a companion to the book,
but to really show people and give them real clarity
on the fact that rule of the bureaucrats, as Elon
mentioned a few weeks ago, that's not a bug. That's
a feature that was always intended by progressives for the
last hundred years and has nothing to do with the
(18:23):
representative government, has nothing to do with our constitution republic.
And what I wanted to do is cover some of
the same themes in the book, but also have conversations
with Senators and with Congressmen and with other people that
have been in DC, inside the belly of Leviathan, to
really discuss how DC works. And I think when people
watch the documentary they're going to understand with real clarity
(18:44):
from the mouths of elected officials. Yeah, we don't really
actually do the governing in this town. We don't do
the real legislating. We passed these four and five thousand
page bills, we send them over to the unelected bureaucrats
in the Article two branch of our own volition, sub
delegate legislative authority to them and to let them, with
their statutes and regulations, do the real governing of this country.
And then, to make matters worse buck they're blindly funding
(19:07):
these unelected, out of control bureaucrats blindly and then not
demanding any oversight, not demanding accountability or transparency at all.
And it's become one of those things that I think
is pretty hard to miss these days Washington's going on
in DC. But I hope that the American people get
real clarity because it's because of the American.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
People awakening that they will.
Speaker 7 (19:29):
Inspire Congress to actually do what they're supposed to do,
to actually legislate, and inspire the President, who has unbelievable
amounts of moral and political courage, to keep going on
the path that he's going on, and then to brace
the judges, which is of course a huge issue in
the present moment, to maybe just do their Article three
constitutional duty, because the American people, I think, are going
(19:49):
to understand that administrative power is a revival of absolute
power and is a tremendous threat to their civil liberties,
tremendous threat to our future freedom and prosperity. So once
the American people wake up and understand what's going on
and then demand these things of their elected officials, I
think it's the beginning of in the beginning of the
end of administrative power.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
How do we deal with the threshold that seems to
have been well, it has been artificially created by the
Congress itself, that we have to get to sixty in
the Senate to get any real legislation through because of
the filibuster. Because nett I just it feels like the
Democrats are the party of the administrative state. They have
seeded the administrative state with their ideologues all and we
(20:30):
haven't even talked about the judges yet, but the administrative
state with all these ideologues, And so the Democrat Party
is just not going to no matter how outrageous the
spending is at these places, no matter how useless they are,
They're not going to come along with us, Right, So
what do we do about that?
Speaker 7 (20:44):
Well, well, I would say I'd probably come from a
little bit different angle buck, because we already know Democrats
are a lost cause. The problem being, and the problem
that has been for decades in DC, is that too
many Republicans have gone along with it. They've accepted the
premise that somehow this strative state is a legitimate form
of government and that they should continue to fund it
and seed their control to these unelected bureaucrats. So, while
(21:07):
I understand that the problem is Democrats in many ways,
I would argue that in many ways it's been the
Republicans in Congress who have been I don't want to
say that that Congress has been the villain of the
twentieth century, but in many ways we have an administrative
state and the unelected bureaucrats and out of control spending,
and I would argue again abuse of our civil liberties
(21:29):
and authoritarianism because Congress has, of its own volition seated
its control. And that's not just Democrats, it's Republicans. And
so I would say the first step in getting us
to the right place is for Republicans across the board
to go, Yeah, administrative state is deeply unconstitutional, it's deeply
un American.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
We are going to demand that we get.
Speaker 7 (21:49):
Back our sub delegated legislative authority and actually do the governing,
actually do the legislating, instead of really really passing the
buck to these unelected bureaucrats to avoid making hard decisions.
Let's get Republicans on the same page and then we
can discuss how we're going to dismantle the Democratic Party
moving forward.
Speaker 5 (22:06):
Or with Ned Ryan, founder and CEO of American Majority.
He's got a new documentary out, American Leviathan, which you
can watch on X that has posted on X also
at clanbuck dot com. The judiciary as the protector of
the administrative state. This is one of the biggest and
you know, I know you were ready for this, all
the veterans of Trump's first term. Everybody who was in
(22:27):
that fight remembers the hashtag resistance judges, and unfortunately they were.
They're successful even when they lose, right ned, because if
they drag it out and they burn time off the clock,
they're getting some of what they want, even if the
Supreme Court takes it up and strikes them down, as
has happened many times in the past. So what's the
best strategy for this? What can be done so that
(22:50):
they aren't able to run out the clock on the
efforts to rein in the administrative state.
Speaker 7 (22:55):
So you're absolutely correct. I mean, this is a continuance
of law fair sadly by the Article three judicial branch,
the lower level judges to prevent Trump from actually implementing
his agenda, and they are acting as a protector of
the administrative state. So a couple of things. You know,
I hope that Donald Trump, and you can see this
coming out of his doj that he is going to
obviously fight back as quickly as possible. I kind of
(23:17):
like him to basically channel Andrew Jackson. Obviously that apocryphal story,
but it's kind of the feeling the spirit that I
want Trump to have. You've made your decisions, now try
and forcing them because the Article three what's going happening
right now book is these lower level judges are overstepping
the constitutional bound and trying to dictate to the head
of the Article two branch, what is his constitutional right
(23:40):
and authority, whether it's on foreign policy or domestic policy,
or who he can hire, what he can do with
the various departments and agencies that are under him inside
the Article two branch, And so he's got to tell
he essentially has to tell them that's great, I'm going
to continue down this path. It would be nice if
Congress actually stepped up to the plate. I think impeaching
judges would be a little too far for most of
(24:01):
those people in Congress because they're not exactly profiles and courage.
But I would argue, if they could find some small
sliver of political courage, why don't we think about defunding
the lower courts, because that's Congress's constitutional right to do that.
But I think ultimately in the short term. You know,
John Roberts is actually going to find it, have to
find it within himself to go Hey, for the sake
(24:21):
of the legitimacy of the Article three judicial branch, the
Supreme Court is going to have to step in and
put in some pretty strong guardrails and say you can't
do this, you're overstepping your constitutional bounds. And to be honest, Buck,
I think John Roberts doing that, it's probably fifty to fifty.
So I think we're gonna we're in for a couple
interesting weeks and months ahead. But I think Donald Trump
is making it very clear in the last couple of
(24:43):
days he's not going to let them prevent him implementing
the will of the American people. I mean, he was
elected to enact a very specific agenda that was painted
out in bold, bright colors last fall, and these judges
are attempting to defy the will of the people as
being implement in it through Donald Trump's agenda. So I
think Trump's going to be pretty aggressive on this. But
(25:04):
it would be nice if John Roberts stepped up to
the plate.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
But I have my doubts.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
Where do you think the state of progressive authoritarianism is
right now because it certainly is the case that the
Democrat Party is in a rough spot, which is great,
very exciting, probably the roughest spot it's been in a
long time, which is a lovely thing. But the ideology
that they have and the machinery that they have to
(25:28):
push it, I mean, obviously the administrative state is a huge.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Part of it.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Do you feel like this is the first opening we
have to do real damage to them? Do you worry
that if we don't get it done, they'll just come
come right back and do the same stuff. I mean,
how do you view it from from the side of
the opposition here? I mean, are where do you think
they fall in this whole situation?
Speaker 7 (25:50):
Well, I think you can see from their behavior they
realize this is an existential threat. I mean, politics is
the religion book, I mean, the administrative state is the
their holy of holies, their vehicle for salvation. Politics is
the religion. And when they look at Donald Trump and
Elon Must, they see them as existential threats to those
(26:11):
things that they hold so valuable, and that really has
been is the undergirding for their entire movement. So I
know that they view this as an existential threat to
the continuance of their movement, to the continuance of the
progressive administrative.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
State, and so I don't think it. Just to be clear,
I don't think.
Speaker 7 (26:28):
You're going to see any dialing back of the violence
or the rhetoric because we know that Trump arrangement syndrome
is an incurable disease, and I think Elon must arrangement
syndrome is an incurable disease. And the only way I
think you see it stop is where there to be
serious legal consequences, which you can start to see rumblings
of that coming out of the Trump administration. But they
(26:49):
are in disarray. And the thing that I am trying
to figure out book are there any rational democrats left
inside the party? Because the progressive movement has eaten it
from within. They are the Democratic Party the progressive movement
is there any ability for a rational democrat to be
able to stand them and go, hey, we are going
in the absolute wrong path. We need to pivot out
(27:10):
of this. I suspect they won't be able to not
in the near term. I think this is something where
the black hole of progressive ideology is completely sucking in
whatever vestiges of rational thought might be left inside the
Democratic Party and moving towards kind of an annihilation. But
that that, to me is a very good thing book,
(27:31):
because I think the only way you get back to
a sense and a real sense of normalcy in this
country is for the left to be beaten into unconditional
surrender and never be allowed near political power again. As
you start to destroy these various institutions, like the indoctrination centers,
like the administrative state, going after the corporate propagandists, because
(27:52):
for the sake of the future of our country and
prosperity and freedom and happiness, the progressive movement writ large
has to be either shoved so far into the corner
that it's a minimal voice in our society, or it
ceases to exist.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
I always make the case ned that the good news
about this is nobody should feel like if we were
to crush the administrative state, if Trump elon Doge, maybe
even the Republican Party were at large were to mobilize
and really make major progress on this mission and for
this initiative, the people that are crying and all the
(28:27):
gnashing of teeth and all the ol or so it
actually it will be better for them too.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
This is what this is. Everybody wins.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
They may not realize it, but America will be a
more prosperous, freer, and better place if we don't have
this nonsensical Leviathan. As your documentary is titled American Leviathan
trampling on our rights and just our day to day
all the time.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
It is something.
Speaker 7 (28:51):
So you bring up something I think is pretty interesting, Bluck.
I mean, I'm just thinking. I've been thinking about and
have said some things public.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Right, I'll say it again here.
Speaker 7 (28:58):
You know, Elon and dog starts we're going to go
after waste fraud abuse, and then he realizes in this
journey of his you can kind of see this epiphany.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Of the Elon along the way.
Speaker 7 (29:07):
Wait, we have the rule of bureaucrats. Well, yeah, that
was always the point of progressive and now we've gotten
the point of it. Really feels like the administrative state
and the government writ large has become a leftist money
laundering slash slush fund in which they're trying to advance
their ideology and really truly undermine this country. I mean
a lot of stuff that they're funding I believe to
(29:28):
be truly anti American and very aggressively going after not
only this country and our foundational principles, but the American
people's way of life. And it will be for the
best if we in the administrative state. But I think
we got to be realistic about a buck. I mean,
this took one hundred years to get to this point
when you think about the founding of the administrative state,
(29:48):
really in the first term of Woodrow Wilson. We're over
one hundred years into this disastrous experiment. We're not going
to get out of overnight, but it is going to
require tremendous political courage, and Donald Trump Elon Musk have
it in spades. We've got to figure out how Congress
somehow gets injected with that courage as well to be
able to do the right things and actually say we're
(30:09):
not going to allow this anymore, and for the will
of the American people, right, We're not going to allow
this unconstitutional, unrepresentative form of government to continue on in
this country because again, it has nothing to do with
our constitutional tradition.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
Ned Ryan, founder CEO of American Majority American Leviathan, the
birth of the administrative state and progressive authoritarianism is his
new documentary. It's on x you can also watch We
have it posted at clayanbuck dot com ned great work
is always my friend.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Thanks Buck, You're listening to the best of Clay Travis
and Buck Sexton.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Our friend Steve Hilton joins us now. He's a political commentator.
You know him from Fox.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Buck.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Can I talk about this a lot? It's not just
that California has fallen apart. It's that and I'm curious
what your experience was growing up and what you thought
about California. I just came back from sam Francisco. It
is a beautiful geographic jewel, the likes of which there
are not very many of anywhere in the world. La
obviously nearly perfect climate. You go on up the coast, Seattle, Portland.
(31:13):
It's that left leaning ideas have destroyed some of the
most beloved communities in much of the country. What did
you think about California as a kid growing up far
from California and when did your perception start to change?
Because I remember as a college kid, I had never
been to California before. I remember going out I don't know,
probably two thousand thereabouts and just being blown away by
(31:36):
how spectacular it was. It seems to have really fallen
apart only in the last ten or fifteen years. And
I know many Californians who've lived there feel the same way.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
So I'll tell you a story about that. So I
was totally inspired. I was in the way I put it.
I was in love with California even before we moved it.
We moved in twenty twelve. I got my citizenship four
years ago. So now I'm a proud American, but also
proud Californian. I love California. In fact, there's the story
about this is back in the day when I was
working for David Cameron, this is before he became Prime Minister,
(32:07):
and I was leading our policy development, our political strategy,
and there was a cover story in the Spectator magazine.
We want know the Spectator website here in America. It's
actually a printed magazine, the oldest in the world, actually
the political magazine in the UK. They did a cover
story on the direction that we were working on for
the Conservative Party, and the headline on the story was
(32:30):
California Dreaming, And the first lines go on about Steve Hilton,
David Cameron's policy Guru is inspired by California and the
theme of their policy work is to make the UK
more like California. Like this is that fifteen twenty years ago.
And the question is is there any political advisor to
any politician anywhere in the world who would want to
(32:51):
make their country more like California today? And it shows
you just how far we've fallen, how quickly with this
far left ideology dominant in California. But actually the point
is all the problems of California are self inflicted and
we can turn it around. And actually part two of
the book is called Caliphailure, but Part two of the
(33:11):
book is called Califuture, and that is my plan for
how we actually turn things around and restore California to
what it should be, which is the best of America,
not the worst, which is what it is now.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
Now you didn't go on Gavin Newsom's podcast, but I
want you to the degree that you can be as
objective as you can in telling us, is this guy
gonna be the leader of the Democrat Party in the
next election cycle? Do you see him being able to
swindle enough people in the middle that he's able to
(33:43):
rise through the ranks and go from being governor to
presidential nominee. Because from what I see, he has had
some right wing people on his podcast, and he's not
abandoning the crazy left positions, but he's at least putting
on a show of I'll have a conversation. Aren't that crazy?
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Yeah? Exactly.
Speaker 6 (34:02):
And I think you should not underestimate him. I know
him a little bit obviously, watched him closely. And that's
the point about him, is that he is like Kambala
Harris before, like Joe Biden, like Karen Back. You know,
these are machine politicians. Okay they and they will say
whatever is politically expedient. But Gavin Newsom says it better
than most, and so don't underestimate him in a way.
(34:24):
That's why I wanted not partly why I wanted to
write the book is like, this is the record that
he's presided over. It's a total failure.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
On every front.
Speaker 6 (34:32):
So yes, you can talk, I mean a good example
the difference between talk and action. So he's on, you know,
as Charlie kirk on and agrees how unfair is deeply unfair?
Was his phrase about you know, biological men and girls sports.
What's he doing about it?
Speaker 4 (34:45):
Nothing. He's the governor.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Now.
Speaker 6 (34:47):
Next week in the state legislature there are two bills
up for a vote that would stop this madness. Is
he going to weigh it? So far, he's avoided even
talking about it, So you've got to pin him down
on the actions. And the actions that have happened in
California have been a complete disaster.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Putting out fires seems like maybe the number one thing
that people would expect a government to be capable of
and expect a government to be responsible for. The fire
situation in the Los Angeles area seems to have been
for many people, a recognition that the policy choices they
make Karen Bass, for instance, as mayor have consequences. Do
(35:27):
you get the sense that that could change political voting
behavior or is it so ideologically committed at this point
that people would have to recognize that they made poor choices,
and lots of people don't want to acknowledge mistake. How
do you get them to change and how did the
fires potentially impact them?
Speaker 6 (35:44):
That's the job of campaigning and to bring that home.
I mean, I can tell you right now, I'm working
with Nicole Shanahan on a recall campaign for Karen Bass.
Because every day that she's there is a disaster. And
one of the reasons that we're doing that is to
is to show if we can, if we can pull
it off, that the Democrat machine in California, that kind
(36:04):
of Democrat industrial complex of the unions that fund the
politicians and the far left activists and the bureaucrats and
all that, that it can be beaten and if we
can do it there in Los Angeles. For Karen Bass,
I think that's a very encouraging sign that people are
ready for change. Look, if we don't pull it off,
I still think we should. We need to fight. We
need to make sure that people understand. I'll give you
(36:26):
a story. It's really encouraging. Huntington Beach not the biggest
city in California, an iconic one surf city USA. So
just over four years ago, the council in Huntington Beach
was six' to One. DEMOCRAT a friend of, Mine Tony,
strickland put together a team of strong. Candidates they in
twenty twenty two they took control of the council four
to three on a very strong conservative. Platform they then
(36:48):
implemented that they had a lot of, energy just like
you're seeing From President trump right. Now they cleaned up the,
streets they cleaned homeless, Encompments they prosecuted, Crime they dealt
with the nonsense in the schools and the. Libraries they
actually put in a ballot initiative for VOTER id which
passed then In november just, now in twenty twenty, four
they put forward seven candidates as a. Slate they called
(37:08):
themselves The Magnificent seven to show you where they were coming.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
From they had a clean. Sweep they won all the.
Speaker 6 (37:14):
Seats so in four years that city has gone from
six to One democrat control to seven Zero. Republican so
it shows what it can be done.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
If you actually.
Speaker 6 (37:24):
Fight AND i think that's what we need to show Cross.
California that's WHY i really do believe change is possible
sooner than many people.
Speaker 5 (37:31):
Think Steve, hilton everybody go check out the Book Calor,
failure which also goes Into. Califuture so it's not just the,
problems it's also the. Fix And, steve best of luck to.
You please come back and tell us how it's all
going and hang out with us.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Again sue, absolutely thanks, guys se you soon
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