January 6, 2026 • 36 mins
Hour 1 of The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show launches the first Tuesday of 2026 with major political and geopolitical analysis. Clay and Buck dive into the fallout from the historic Delta Force raid in Venezuela, which captured Nicolás Maduro and killed 32 Cuban bodyguards once considered elite. They explore the strategic implications of Operation Absolute Resolve, framing it as a modern reaffirmation of the Monroe Doctrine and a bold move by President Trump to reassert U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere. The hosts discuss how this operation signals a shift in global power dynamics, undermining Chinese and Russian influence and exposing the weakness of authoritarian regimes like Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran.
The conversation also examines why Maduro’s vice president may now cooperate with the U.S., speculating on backchannel intelligence ties and the leverage America holds through oil production. Clay and Buck contrast Trump’s decisive leadership with past foreign policy failures, emphasizing lessons learned from Iraq and the importance of working with existing power structures rather than dismantling them. They argue that Trump’s approach could accelerate the collapse of socialism and communism in Latin America, likening this moment to the geopolitical realignment after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Domestically, Hour 1 tackles the political implosion of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, whose career unraveled after his selection as Kamala Harris’s VP candidate brought national attention to the Somali daycare fraud scandal. Clay and Buck mock Democrats’ failed strategy to appeal to male voters by presenting Walz as an “avatar of masculinity,” calling him inauthentic and contrasting him with figures like Ron DeSantis. They speculate that Harris might have fared better with a different running mate, such as Gretchen Whitmer, and highlight how identity politics backfired spectacularly.
The hour also features sharp commentary on Cuba’s role in Maduro’s security, the legacy of Cold War-era Cuban intelligence training by the KGB, and the stunning superiority of U.S. special forces. Clay and Buck discuss broader territorial ambitions, including provocative ideas about making Cuba or even Greenland U.S. protectorates, citing historical precedents like Ulysses Grant’s failed plan to annex the Dominican Republic. They underscore how Trump’s foreign policy strength contrasts with decades of indecision, positioning America as a global power willing to act decisively.
Hour 1 closes with cultural and personal anecdotes, including Clay’s Caribbean holiday, Buck’s family updates, and playful banter about masculinity, home repair skills, and even hypothetical exile destinations for deposed dictators. The segment sets the tone for a year of bold analysis, humor, and unapologetic takes on politics, national security, and American strength.
Make sure you never miss a second of the show by subscribing to the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton show podcast wherever you get your podcasts! ihr.fm/3InlkL8
For the latest updates from Clay & Buck, visit our website https://www.clayandbuck.com/
Connect with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton:
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in Tuesday edition Clay Travis bock Sexton Show, we
have got a fun one headed your way. As we
continue to discuss the fallout of Majuro being seized in Venezuela,
we are expecting for there to be I believe another
another out there of the Tim Walls press conferences as
(00:23):
his political career is in shambles. We will discuss all
of that with you and more. Will also open up
phone lines. We didn't take very many calls your talkbacks
as well, to allow you to ask the questions that
you may have surrounding everything having to do with the
Venezuela situation as well as maybe the Tim Walls continued
(00:45):
fallout because if Venezuela hadn't happened, the Minnesota fraud story
and the fact that Tim Walls has gone from what
two hundred and forty thousand votes away from being vice
president a heartbeat away from the presidency to basically having
his complete political career be over. And I don't know
about you Buck on this, but let's kind of dive in.
(01:07):
Do you agree with me that if Kamala hadn't picked
Tim Walls, he probably runs for governor again, gets elected.
People don't really pay that much attention to the Minnesota
fraud situation, just because Minnesota is not typically the focal
point of any major national news stories. And yes, the
fraud would have still existed, it would have been indefensible,
(01:27):
but it wouldn't have been out there in the public
arena to such an extent, and so Tim Walls would
have gotten re elected and he would have continued right
on with the path that he was already on.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yes, in a twist of irony, the guy who Democrats
put forward to be the avatar of American masculinity is
losing his political future after one people questioning whether he
was a good avatar of that masculinity, broadly mocking him.
And two he is a household name now because of
(02:02):
his short and ill fated run, and therefore the wild
corruption that has been unearthed in Minneapolis is a much
bigger story because the governor of Minneapolis, Tim Walls, is
a national figure, which you would not have been before.
I mean, if I sat here right now and asked everybody,
if you don't live in the state of Idaho, who's
the governor of Idaho? Everybody, everybody knows the governor of Minnesota,
(02:26):
though no, by the way, no shade to the governor
of Idaho. I think he's a Republican. But I'm with you,
I don't know who the governor of Idaho is.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Man.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
He might be listening right now. We love Idaho and
we've always been a big fan of your work. To
celebrate your entire catalog. In fact, you know, when you
look at that, I think it's also emblematic. Did you
send out a tweet? I think I saw where you're
just like, what if Democrats are just horribly wrong about
everything anything?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Like?
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yep, And I do think there's a lot of truth
to that. But to me, the Tim Walls entire experience
is indicative of the fact that democrats buy and large
look at voters. Like zoo animals they have to go
out in the wild, they look at men and they think,
you know, in the same way, was it Diane Fosse,
(03:14):
who was I think one of the great primatologists, If that's.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
All Golla gorillas in the mist, and there was Jane
Goodall with the chimpanzees.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yes, they would go out and they would sit in
the in the in the wild, and they would observe
what the chimpanzees did what the gorillas did in an
effort to understand how their society works. Democrats now are
like that with men that they they I'm not kidding
about this. They sit there and they they've got their
(03:44):
notepad out and they and they say, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
What we need.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
We need a older white guy who wears cowboy boots
and carhart and knows how to go out and walk
around with a gun. And he used to coach high
school football. And you put all this together and it's
like they're trying to create an AI avatar of what
they think is going to be a man who connects
(04:08):
with other men. The problem is what they missed is
authenticity matters more than anything. You look, there are nerds
out there who are not the foundation of I think
typically masculine you know, bigger, stronger, faster men don't aspire
(04:29):
necessarily to be like them. That could be really really popular, right,
I mean, I would say, no offense to him.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Ron DeSantis a little bit of a nerd, right And
and I don't mean that at a meeting at as
they called him. What was with the meat ball was
that some kind of weird underhanded or backhanded like Italian
American thing like why are they hitting him on meatball?
That never makes sense.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
I met one of Ron DeSantis's fraternity buddies over over
break during and we were talking and he said, you know,
he loves Ronda Santis with ever fiber and his being.
He said, the guy is the best at just doing jobs.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Say, if you need a guy who's just gonna build
you a shelf in the frat house, Ron de Santis
will build a shelf in the frat house that will
be there for generations. He's like, if you want a
guy that's gonna go out and pound a bunch of
beers and try to pick up girls.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Not Rond DeSantis's thing. And so he's like, you know,
the going on the campaign trail, which is in many
ways kind of a seductive thing, right, you got to
seduce voters, convince it a popularity contest. Yes, it's not
necessarily his thing. But every guy out there listening to
us right now, you're saying to yourself, you know what,
Ron Desantas, I wish it could be governor of Florida
(05:41):
for the next twenty years. He's done maybe the greatest
job as a governor that Florida has ever seen. And
so I Guess what I'm getting at is Democrats don't
understand men to such an extent that they don't understand
the wide range of masculinity that I think we're publicans
can end up supporting. And so they toss out this
(06:03):
fundamentally inauthentic guy in Tim Walls, and he instead of
actually convincing men that they should be voting for Kamala
and Walls, I.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Think he actually cost your votes.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I think it would have actually been better for Kamala
Buck if she if she had gone and just said, hey,
you know what, Gretchen Whitmer is my pick. Yeah, you
got a double chick ticket. And it might have hurt her,
but I think she probably would have won Michigan.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I don't think she would have called it a double
chick ticket, but yeah, I hear what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I mean the double dude ticket, double chick ticket. I
think she would have been better off. I don't like
Gretchen Whitmer, but I think Gretchen Whitmer is more authentic
as a governor than Tim Walls was. And I think
men might respect Gretchen Whitmer even more than they did
Tim Walls because he's so fake and so we start
off this day with Tim Walls's political career being over,
(06:52):
which I think is kind of a remarkable story.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Let's be honest here, good chance that if you're wondering
who could hang the picture frame and get it done
with the tool belt and all the things, I think
Gretchen Whimper might beat out Tim Walls. If you're looking
for someone to choreograph your next uh green, I would
(07:15):
say Tim Walls is your Gretchen Whitmer might be better at
home repair than either you or I. Hold on, she
definitely is. I take no if my in laws are listening.
Every time. Every time my father in law shows up
here to visit, it's like a trade. He gets to
see his grandchild and his daughter, and I get to
present him with the list of things in the house
(07:36):
that are broken that I don't know how to fix.
It's great, Laura.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Laura is the same way my father in law can
fix everything as an engineer. And you know, he just
shows up and by the way, he's about to be eighty.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Happy early eightieth birthday to.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
My father in law, and he's still infinitely better at
fixing anything in the house.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
So look, I'm not claiming that at least at least
you drive way too fast like a maniac and are
ready for the F one circuit. I drive slow. This
is why I have to go in my free time
and shoot lots of guns and do tactical training on
the weekends to make up for my inability to change
a light bulb and driving like a little old lady.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, you know you're driving like miss Daisy is is
definitely I was. I was doing all that this, actually
thought about this.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
He should, they said, he should just say thank you
Buck for keeping me safe. But instead I get all this.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
You know, when they were talking about the CIA agents
who were in in Venezuela, the officer I always get
that wrong. But the CIA officers who are in Venezuela.
I was thinking to myself, you know, this could have
been a job for Buck. But hopefully they were never chased,
because if they were, he would have gotten caught and
(08:47):
captured just like that. Because the guy can't he has
no evasive driving skills. He would be obeying whatever the
speed limits are. Uh and uh and and as a result,
we might not have gotten Maduro.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Just because you don't drive fast enough. It's called going
low profile low viz. You obey the local traffic ordinances,
so you don't arouse suspicion. Clay, that's how highly trained
I am. They would think that I'm a retiree on
vacation there. They would never suspect. How many Americans are
there in Venezuela. By the way, do we know like
(09:19):
actually in Venezuela. It's a great question. I mean if
the number is a lot less now than I mean
obviously right now, particularly, but it's been going down and
down for a long time. I mean, the State Department
has had to do not travel order up for Venezuela
for quite some time. I think, so it hasn't been
a probably don't go, it's a don't go.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
This is my My boys are not going to shock
you that as soon as we rated Venezuela. My boys
are super sports fans. One of my sons said is
Ronald Alcunya. Okay, Ronald Lacunya is the star Venezuelan baseball
player of the Atlanta Braves, and a lot of I
mean this is true, A lot of baseball players in
(10:00):
the off season go to Venezuela. Whether's perfect Baseball is
hugely popular there. And so there are a lot of
Major League Baseball players in Venezuela, I think right now
before the spring training starts next month.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
No, maybe, uh, Venezuela. We decide we get Look, you
can't make him citizens. They're not Americans, they're they're they're Latinos,
they're South Americans and Latinas. But you know, maybe we
maybe jar Miller. I don't know if he's officially being
called that yet, but Stephen Miller in the White House,
if in fact he gets the Venezuela portfolio we moved toward,
(10:32):
Venezuela becomes like Guam, but a lot bigger and with
a lot more oil. Like you're not you're not going
in our You're exactly like the US Virgin Islands, except.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
With a territorial law. By the way, cleaning up a
couple of things. We are big fans of uh uh,
Let's make sure that I get this right. We are
big fans of Brad Little, current governor of Idaho. No one,
no one bigger fans than us.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Let's let's make sure you get it right. Because you've
thinking about Brad a lot lately. Yes, I have. I've been.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
I've been thinking we need to talk about what the
job Brad's doing in Idaho?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Do you know what the truth is? Thought? Can I
just really quick, Clay, The reason we don't talk about
Brad a lot here is because Idaho is a great
state and he's obviously doing a great job. So because
he's not the focus of commentary is a good thing. Grock,
I don't know how much you use GROC now all
the time it's replaced Google for me. It's amazing. I
love it.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Grock says that there and if you have not, this
is worth getting on Twitter x by itself. I am
stunned by how a thick effective it is at just
giving me basic facts. Like yesterday, I was looking up
we'll talk about it a little bit later, but I
was looking up the number of murders in Washington, DC.
You can go on Twitter, hit the Grock symbol and
(11:46):
you can just say, hey, tell me how many murders
there have been graphically from nineteen seventy in Washington, d C.
To the present day. Wait, like forty five seconds a minute, boom,
all of the data right there in front of you.
Groc says there are ten thousand Americans roughly that are
living in Venezuela right now, according to recent estimates, a
(12:10):
right small number when you consider the size of Venezuela,
and I wonder what it would be comparatively, say to
Colombia next door.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So we can grock that one. By the way, Clay
in retrospect. Now, given that, maybe Stephen Miller can bring
about the territorial dispensation of Venezuela for us, I'm not
saying he's going to do that. It's just a fun idea.
We should talk about Greenland, which I don't think is
entirely a joke. I still think that there is an
(12:39):
interesting conversation that is being had about people say it
belongs to Denmark. Okay, why the Greenlanders are not Danes?
Is what has Denmark done for Greenland? Does Greenland get
a say in this? It's a big piece of territory.
And also, just because you're a civil war nerd self
described people forget this. Ulysses Grant had a great plan.
(13:04):
He wanted to make the Dominican Republic you're talking about
baseball before. He wanted to make the Dominican Republic a
US territory and got shot down by the Senate.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
First of all, there are a lot of decisions we
made surrounding territories that I think were wrong, and I
think in like the first year of this show, four
or five years ago, I said we should go into
Cuba and we should end this absurdity. I'm gonna rebring
that back down, double down, triple down, quadruple down, whatever necessary.
(13:36):
We should right now in this year of twenty twenty six,
end the fact that Cuba is a communist country and
return basic freedoms to Cuba. To your point on territories,
I would even suggest that we should look at what
we've done with Puerto Rico and with the US Virgin
Islands Guam, as you mentioned, and consider making Cuba a
(13:57):
territory of the United States, not a full part of
the of the citizenry. You're not voting, you don't in
the Senate, you don't have a congressional representation, but just
a protectorate of sorts. To me, that is a something
that should significantly be looked at.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Think about the deal that we've gotten in other places,
and Guam is one example. They get US military protection,
we put bases there. They don't ever have to worry
about foreign relations, foreign invasion, anything like that. They get infrastructure,
they get rule of law, they get access to you know,
American markets, et cetera. It's not a bad deal. We
(14:36):
already have the huge base at Guantanamo and thanks to
Colonel Jessep we still have it. And we needed him
on that wall. He was actually the unsung hero of
that movie in so many ways. That's a conversation for
another time. All Right, this may be the time. This
may be the year that you join me in something
very important, gold and owning some gold. Every indication is
(14:57):
that gold is going to continue to grow this year.
And this is because of global instability. We're just talking
about some of that stuff, but also all the money
printing that's happening. It's not gonna stop. And owning gold
is part of your savings plan, your four oh one
k or ira. It just makes sense. And Birch Gold
Group is who I trust. You're gonna like working with
these people. I've purchased gold from them, and until January thirtieth,
(15:19):
if your first time gold buyer, Birch Gold is offering
a rebate of up to ten thousand dollars on qualifying purchases.
Claim eligibility, start the process. Text my name Buck do
ninety eight ninety eight ninety eight. Birch Gold can help
you roll in existing IRA or four oh one k
in to an IRA and gold. You're still eligible for
rebate of the ten thousand dollars. Make this month your
first time as a gold buyer, or add to your
(15:40):
goal that you already have, take advantage of a rebate
of the ten thousand dollars when you buy by January thirtieth.
Text my name Buck to ninety eight ninety eight ninety
eight Text Buck to ninety eight ninety eight ninety eight.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Saving America one thought at a time and Clay Travis
and Buck Sexton find them on the free Heart.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back
into Clay and Buck. We talked a little bit for
a second there about Greenland, not really well named. It
really should be Iceland. As we know, quite tricky, sneaky
the Vikings were with this. The Iceland actually has some green,
The Greenland actually has basically nothing but ice. But that's
(16:23):
the way it goes. Stephen Miller asking a question, just
asking questions. He was with fake Tapper over at CNN,
which still exists. I might add CNN is still a
thing technically cut twenty two Steven Miller asking the question
why does Denmark have Greenland?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Can you say that military action against Greenland is off
the table? It would mean a military action against Greenland
the Greenland has a population of thirty thousand people, Jake,
The real question is about what right does Denmark is
certain control over Greenland. What is the basis of their
territorial claim, what is their basis of how having Greenland
as a colony of Denmark the United States is the
(17:04):
power of NATO, for the United States to secure the
Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interest. Obviously,
Greenland should be part of the United States.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
It is a really great question why Denmark just has Greenland,
because Greenland has been a colony of Denmark for hundreds
of years.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Basically, it is a fantastic question. There's only thirty thousand
people there. It seems to me that the people of
Greenland should be able to choose do they want to
be a part of America or rather be a part
of Denmark. And I don't know what that outcome would be,
but I feel pretty good about our ability to provide
a higher quality of life for the people of Greenland
(17:47):
than certainly Denmark. Does I mean anybody doubt that at
all we'll come back. We'll take some of your calls
and take some of your reactions. Price Picks in the
meantime is available in all fifty states, including California, Texas, Florida,
and Georgia. Fifty states, just in time for College football
playoff game Thursday, college Football Playoff game Friday, and then
(18:08):
NFL Wild Card Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
You know, back in the day, Rush was one.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Of the greatest of the of the individuals when it
came to daily fantasy. Nobody signed up more people than him,
and Rush back in the day considered buying an NFL team,
And I know that he would be excited for all
five days of games back to back to back, and
I think he'd want Prize Picks, which is available, like
I said, in all fifty states, including California, Texas, Florida, Georgia.
(18:37):
You can download the Price Picks app today. Use my
name Clay as the code. You get fifty dollars instantly
in lineups when you play five dollars, that's code Clay
on Prize Picks fifty bucks in lineups in your account
when you play five dollars price picks dot Com code
like welcome back in play Travis buck Sexton Show having
(18:59):
an awesome time hanging out with all of you. On
the Tuesday edition of the program, we've been talking about
Tim Walls and the fact that his political career is
potentially over. Continuing to discuss Venezuela. Cuba has now announced
Buck that thirty two Cubans were killed by the special
forces that seized Maduro. Now what's interesting about this is,
(19:23):
for those of you who had not paid a lot
of attention, the idea that Cuban bodyguards were uniquely skilled
and uniquely talented was a huge part of why Maduro
felt confident that he was well protected well and there's
a reason for this.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
The reason, as we had discussed a little bit yesterday,
is that the Cuban relationship with security and security services
goes all the way back to the Cold War and
the KGB. I mean, I said things to you guys
like the KGB helped them. The KGB brought Clay the
Cuban services to Moscow. I mean they brought them to
(19:59):
their academies to train them in you know, counterintelligence. Subversion, assassination,
all of these things that the KGB excelled at. And
remember they learned this in a rule of law free framework,
so it's just you do whatever you have to do,
(20:20):
whatever goes right. It's a no holds barred approach to
intelligence and security work. And so the Cubans developed quite
a reputation for being the most adept intel operatives in
Latin America, which was a huge problem for the US.
Obviously in our allies, but even places like Angola, the
(20:41):
Cubans were sending military and security resources to shore up
communist revolutions elsewhere in the world. So they've been these
mercenaries for hire for a long time, but they ain't
Delta Force, that's for damn sure.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So thirty two of them killed, and I don't know
to what extent there's gonna be any of the cameras
are that are gonna get leaked or released. I'm just
putting this out there, but it is. It is staggering
how good these guys were, Buck And I know they trained,
(21:17):
and I know they had a mock up of exactly
where Madurea was. And a part of me, by the way,
thinks that we were talking about this yesterday people were saying, Okay,
why is President Trump seemed to be okay with the
existing vice president potentially being elevated. Part of me thinks,
bucks she might have been one of the CIA sources
(21:37):
that helped Madua get taken out. Crazy theory, or do
you think why would she said publicly, oh, I'm not
gonna do anything for the US, And Rubio and Trump
and everybody, they're like, hey, you know, we kind of
understand that she has to say things inside of her
country that seem like she's not working with us. But
(21:59):
we're there saying here, we're very confident we're going to
be working with her. What would the basis for feeling
comfortable that you were going to have a good relationship
with her be unless you had had some relationship in
the past.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
I have a very I have a very different feeling
about this play, which is that all of the players
still on the chessboard in Venezuela, just as a matter
of basic self preservation, now understand, we can get you
in your sleep, total surrounded by the best of the best,
and have you and have you transferred into a federal
(22:37):
penitentiary hellhole that you're never getting out of in the
blink of an eye, we can do that to anything.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Your your take is that they're just getting in line
because they saw what happened to Machado and they're afraid
that it could happen to them. My question, and certainly
the motivating factor there is strong, uh based on your analysis.
My thought though, is for the President to have come
out and basically said, hey, this other woman who won
(23:04):
the Nobel Prize, that side of the political equation we
don't feel comfortable with at all. I feel like the
VP may have been one of the sources that helped
give up Machado.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
I mean, it's yeah, there's we could we could speculate.
It's impossible to know the inner workings here of this
stuff unless you were involved in this kind of an operation.
I would say that on this front, though, the Iraq
lesson is something that's very I have a different view
(23:36):
of people bring up a rock in the context of oh,
it's quagmire and we might get into quagmire. People are
saying that, Okay, you can always say that about it.
Pretty much any military intervention we take anywhere in the world,
it could always go wrong, it could always get worse.
That's true, but that's not necessarily helpful or insightful. I
think that the lesson we've learned in the in the
Iraqi context is the big mistake that was made early on.
(24:01):
This was actually before I was in the Iraq office
at the cia UH. But the big, the big mistake
was debatification, right, because that meant that whether you were
like a traffic cop in a you know, in doing
the most basic stuff in Baghdad, all the way up
to the Minister of Defense, you were now not allowed
to be a part of the new governing Okay. So
(24:22):
basically everybody with training in a gun and any authority
in the country was told, you got nothing to do,
you have no source of income, go home and you know,
pound sand sand, yes, and And the truth is that
was a huge, huge, huge mistake, and we're not going
to do that in Venezuela because I think we've learned
(24:43):
that lesson, which is you work with It's funny because
Rumsfeld actually had a great insight about this. You go
to war with the army you have, you have really
you have a new regime in Venezuela with the pieces
you've got in place. You don't try to build this
isn't you break it, you buy it? The Cold and
Powell thing this is we have to work with the
existing realities of power on the ground and use the
(25:07):
leverage that we have. In this case, the huge leverage
of you want to oil the flow or not, because
that's without that, you guys got nothing. Basically, your economy
is on its ass and you can't pay your bills
and you know there's no food on the shelves. So
we have tremendous leverage. And I think that leverage is
of course economic. But then also on the security side,
who really wants to play games with a merit with
(25:29):
when you just saw like imagine you are, whether it's
the VP or Clay. They got a cast of characters. Man.
The Minister of Defense is actually named for Vladimir Lenin.
His name is Vladimir Padrino. His parents are such kammies
that they named him for Vladimir Lenin. He's a whack job.
I think he has a fifteen or twenty five million
(25:51):
dollar bounty on his head. The Minister of Police basically
like National Police Guy ors Internal Security guy. He has
a TV show that he runs, this.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
Is true, a TV show where called the or hit
it with a sledgehammer, where he on TV talks about
like politics and stuff, and he has a bat with
nails in it, like the guy from The Walking Dead.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Okay, these are the people that run this country. This guy,
of course been involved all kinds of oppression. Do they
want to be a part of doing things better or
do they want to get a knock on the door
from Delta Forest at five am? That's where they are now.
I also think.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
If you combine Iran and Venezuela, you have these countries
where the leadership has been telling the people for decades generations, now, hey,
we are standing up to American imperialism. We're not gonna
be bullied by Israel. We're not gonna be bullied by
(26:51):
the West. And then they can't even keep their president
from getting taken right out of his house and thirty
two of his top bodyguards being wiped out, and they
can't stop their nuclear ambitions. They can't even stop America
and Israel from flying over them them. I think what
we are seeing is a major geopolitical realignment.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
It feels early.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
You and I were kids in nineteen eighty nine when
the Berlin Wall came down, But man When I look
at these protests that are going on in Iran, when
I see what's going on in Venezuela, when I see
what's going on in Cuba, it feels like the forces
of repression and the forces of socialism and communism are
(27:42):
Look they've lasted, maybe longer than people thought, because there
was the argument after nineteen eighty nine that we had
reached the end of history because every country was effectively
going to become a democratic republic embracing capitalism because it
is the best form of government for the overall freedom
and and financial success of everyone. That is a reality.
(28:04):
But they've held on. And it feels like Trump is
maybe in a Ronald Reagan like fashion, in standing up
against it in a way that others have not been
willing to, and challenging it directly in a way that
others have not been willing to, almost pushing these last
(28:24):
vestiges of left wing excess off the off the cliff.
Am I crazy? Or do you see that? And I
know Iran is different because it's a theocracy in many ways,
but what it has in common is just a repression
of people and a restriction of their ability to be
exposed to the larger marketplace of ideas in the world,
(28:46):
and it feels like they are all starting to crumble
simultaneously based on the strength being shown by President Trump.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I think they're being put on their back foot for sure.
I mean one of the one of the stories that
has come out of this raid is that the Chinese
provision of steamingly or supposedly sophisticated surface to air missiles,
air defense radars including or aerial defense radars, including anti
(29:13):
stealth technology, things like that, we're a total joke. So
whatever the Chinese were giving the Venezuelans as their client
state to help them protect their territory was a joke.
And this certainly also affects thinking about something like a
taiwan situation, where turning off the lights for the Taiwanese
and you know, cyber and things like that whole different
(29:36):
level of complexity and ballgame than doing it in Venezuela.
So I'm gonna sorry for the yeah, for the Taiwanese.
So the Chinese would have their hands full on something
like that, And clearly America still has some military advantages
that allow us to do something like this. So I
think that's that's a lesson that a lot of our
(29:59):
adversary take out of this. But you know, look Russia,
as long as the world still runs on hydrocarbons, Russia
is gonna have tons of money, a big military, lots
of nukes, and the ability to throw its weight around.
China's a billion people and the second largest economy in
the world. You know, these are taking a step back.
Doesn't mean these places are about to fall or crumble.
(30:22):
You think about something like the Assad regime, Clay, the
Assad regime in Syria. It got to a point in
twenty eleven, twenty twelve where there were actually suicide bombers
infiltrating like the inner sanctum of the Assad regime, like
they were right on the ropes. But you go back
to the eighties and what was it Tom Friedman with
Hama rules and the leveling of Hama after an uprising.
(30:42):
There these guys, these scumbag tinpot dictators, theocrats, whatever, all
they really focus on is staying in power because that's
their whole. So even when everything around them is crumble,
I mean, look at North Korea, even when everything around
them is crumbling and falling apart, even when by all
rights and sanity they shouldn't be able to hang on.
(31:04):
They hang on, you know, this is what's so. I
just don't want to get too far. Like we've been
talking about Iran falling for as long as I've been alive.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Well yeah, and by the way, Maduro, to your point,
Trump offered him a gilded existence in a foreign country, Turkey,
I think where he could live in, you know, splendor
and excess for the rest.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
By the way, better weather than Russia, at least you
for long the coast you go to like ismir or
something decent. Kebab you get donn Air kabab with the yogurt,
very good, definitely better than a New York City prison.
Better food than Russia, for sure. I wouldn't get that
excited about the the Asad move, Like apparently he just
plays FIFA the soccer game or not it's Fifa FC now.
(31:47):
He plays like soccer video games all day in a
You see that in an apartment in Mosque, really really funny.
Moscow's cold in the winter, man, I take my eggs out.
What would be your if it had to be like
you can't do like Switzerland or England or something. If
you had to do a kind of adversary country, which
Turkey is not really an adversary. They're kind of a
midway paying the butt for US. But you know they're
(32:08):
an ally in some ways too. I know they're NATO.
What would be your country of exile? Oh, I would
go to like the British Virgin Islands. No, no, that
doesn't count. I'm talking of You got to go somewhere
that has like no extradition treaty. Yeah, I don't know.
There's not that many great non extradition treaty country. Yeah. No, no,
dub buddy. Vietnam I think would be pretty high on
(32:31):
my list. Vietnam. I like the food.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
You know, you have to be concerned that they might
because like Vietnam has pretty good relations now with the
United States, So you have to become an extraditible.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
They could offer you up. I mean, the only place
is where you are one hundred percent not getting turned
out if you are in the world, really are Russia
and China. I think that's really North Korea if you
could get in Okay, I'm sorry, Yeah, no, North Korea too.
But the only place is where there's zero chance that
if they don't want you to get turned over, you're
(33:02):
not getting turned over? Are those countries you could say, Oh,
what about like European allies, We can bring a lot
of pressure.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
To be I think Russia, look, whenever the Ukraine War ends,
which I think will happen at some point in twenty
twenty six, I think relations between Russia and the United
States could be decent. I think you might start to
have people just kind of get handed back and forth.
I was reading a good story about Witkoff and his
relationship with Putin and how that entire process came to
be when they got Fogel I think was his name
(33:30):
the hostage. Putin just said, hey, I'll potentially give you Fogel,
but you have to meet me one on one with
no apparatus otherwise there at all. And Wikoff just said, okay,
I'll do it, no preconditions. And you know, he gets
the former what marine and the American school teacher right
who was otherwise been there for years.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Some exciting news in the Sexton household. Baby Speed. He's
moving around all over the place now. He is like
army crawl style. You know, he's moving fast. Ginger Spice
is his hype man when he does it. They actually
I play fetch now with both of them. It's always
funny to see Speed disappointed when Ginger gets to the
ball first. But maybe one day that will change. Legacy
(34:14):
Box is there though, because they can digitize these memories
that I'm creating right now. Right, But this is the thing.
Back in the day, Back in the day, you didn't
have the digital stuff out there. You had VHS tapes,
you had photos. So this is where it's so important
to bring those old memories back to life today. Right. So,
if I had Speed crawling around twenty thirty years ago,
(34:37):
it'd be on some VHS tape and I wouldn't be
able to enjoy it. But my friends, you can enjoy it.
That's where Legacy Box gets it done. Go to legacy
box dot com slash buck say fifty five percent off
when you preserve your past with Legacy Box. Kick off
the new year by protecting your family's most cherished memories
that haven't been watched or enjoyed in years, perhaps even decades.
Your children might be all grown up now, but everybody
(34:59):
remembers those first steps, So enjoy the first crawls that
your kids had back in the eighties or whatever. Keep
those memories safe for the Legacy Box. Got a Legacy
box dot com slash buck Send in your old photos, videotapes, everything,
Legacy box dot com slash buck. That's legacybox dot Com
slash buck to say fifty five percent.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Patriots Radio hosts a couple of regular guys, Clay Travis
and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Welcome back into Clay and Buck. Just a quick programming note.
You know we have a YouTube channel. Uh, it's uh
Clay and Buck on YouTube and it's growing and growing
and this year we're gonna be doing a lot more
video And let me give you a little teaser here.
If you want to know how much Clay loves the
Christmas season, just check out our YouTube channel today after
you subscribe and see how his beard has gone fully
(35:55):
white like Santa Claus. It's amazing. He's decided, in solidarity
with say Nick to have a almost entirely white beard. Clay,
I am impressed.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I have not trimmed my beard since we left the
air on December nineteenth, so I let it go pretty
substantial and it is super super white. And also I'm
told that I look, according to producer Ali, a bit
like Kramer on Seinfeld when he was overly tanned, at
(36:25):
least based on the video footage. Right now now, I'm
super tan because I was down in the Caribbean for Christmas.
But you'll only be able to see that if you
go and subscribe to YouTube channel.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Do you like to be called Father Christmas as part
of the season? Do you wear a red suit? Like?
How do you really engage with this big white beard Clay.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
I'm a jolly fellow and I'm getting fatter, so this
might be my future
Welcome in Tuesday edition Clay Travis bock Sexton Show, we
have got a fun one headed your way. As we
continue to discuss the fallout of Majuro being seized in Venezuela,
we are expecting for there to be I believe another
another out there of the Tim Walls press conferences as
(00:23):
his political career is in shambles. We will discuss all
of that with you and more. Will also open up
phone lines. We didn't take very many calls your talkbacks
as well, to allow you to ask the questions that
you may have surrounding everything having to do with the
Venezuela situation as well as maybe the Tim Walls continued
(00:45):
fallout because if Venezuela hadn't happened, the Minnesota fraud story
and the fact that Tim Walls has gone from what
two hundred and forty thousand votes away from being vice
president a heartbeat away from the presidency to basically having
his complete political career be over. And I don't know
about you Buck on this, but let's kind of dive in.
(01:07):
Do you agree with me that if Kamala hadn't picked
Tim Walls, he probably runs for governor again, gets elected.
People don't really pay that much attention to the Minnesota
fraud situation, just because Minnesota is not typically the focal
point of any major national news stories. And yes, the
fraud would have still existed, it would have been indefensible,
(01:27):
but it wouldn't have been out there in the public
arena to such an extent, and so Tim Walls would
have gotten re elected and he would have continued right
on with the path that he was already on.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yes, in a twist of irony, the guy who Democrats
put forward to be the avatar of American masculinity is
losing his political future after one people questioning whether he
was a good avatar of that masculinity, broadly mocking him.
And two he is a household name now because of
(02:02):
his short and ill fated run, and therefore the wild
corruption that has been unearthed in Minneapolis is a much
bigger story because the governor of Minneapolis, Tim Walls, is
a national figure, which you would not have been before.
I mean, if I sat here right now and asked everybody,
if you don't live in the state of Idaho, who's
the governor of Idaho? Everybody, everybody knows the governor of Minnesota,
(02:26):
though no, by the way, no shade to the governor
of Idaho. I think he's a Republican. But I'm with you,
I don't know who the governor of Idaho is.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Man.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
He might be listening right now. We love Idaho and
we've always been a big fan of your work. To
celebrate your entire catalog. In fact, you know, when you
look at that, I think it's also emblematic. Did you
send out a tweet? I think I saw where you're
just like, what if Democrats are just horribly wrong about
everything anything?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Like?
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yep, And I do think there's a lot of truth
to that. But to me, the Tim Walls entire experience
is indicative of the fact that democrats buy and large
look at voters. Like zoo animals they have to go
out in the wild, they look at men and they think,
you know, in the same way, was it Diane Fosse,
(03:14):
who was I think one of the great primatologists, If that's.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
All Golla gorillas in the mist, and there was Jane
Goodall with the chimpanzees.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yes, they would go out and they would sit in
the in the in the wild, and they would observe
what the chimpanzees did what the gorillas did in an
effort to understand how their society works. Democrats now are
like that with men that they they I'm not kidding
about this. They sit there and they they've got their
(03:44):
notepad out and they and they say, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
What we need.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
We need a older white guy who wears cowboy boots
and carhart and knows how to go out and walk
around with a gun. And he used to coach high
school football. And you put all this together and it's
like they're trying to create an AI avatar of what
they think is going to be a man who connects
(04:08):
with other men. The problem is what they missed is
authenticity matters more than anything. You look, there are nerds
out there who are not the foundation of I think
typically masculine you know, bigger, stronger, faster men don't aspire
(04:29):
necessarily to be like them. That could be really really popular, right,
I mean, I would say, no offense to him.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Ron DeSantis a little bit of a nerd, right And
and I don't mean that at a meeting at as
they called him. What was with the meat ball was
that some kind of weird underhanded or backhanded like Italian
American thing like why are they hitting him on meatball?
That never makes sense.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
I met one of Ron DeSantis's fraternity buddies over over
break during and we were talking and he said, you know,
he loves Ronda Santis with ever fiber and his being.
He said, the guy is the best at just doing jobs.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Say, if you need a guy who's just gonna build
you a shelf in the frat house, Ron de Santis
will build a shelf in the frat house that will
be there for generations. He's like, if you want a
guy that's gonna go out and pound a bunch of
beers and try to pick up girls.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Not Rond DeSantis's thing. And so he's like, you know,
the going on the campaign trail, which is in many
ways kind of a seductive thing, right, you got to
seduce voters, convince it a popularity contest. Yes, it's not
necessarily his thing. But every guy out there listening to
us right now, you're saying to yourself, you know what,
Ron Desantas, I wish it could be governor of Florida
(05:41):
for the next twenty years. He's done maybe the greatest
job as a governor that Florida has ever seen. And
so I Guess what I'm getting at is Democrats don't
understand men to such an extent that they don't understand
the wide range of masculinity that I think we're publicans
can end up supporting. And so they toss out this
(06:03):
fundamentally inauthentic guy in Tim Walls, and he instead of
actually convincing men that they should be voting for Kamala
and Walls, I.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Think he actually cost your votes.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I think it would have actually been better for Kamala
Buck if she if she had gone and just said, hey,
you know what, Gretchen Whitmer is my pick. Yeah, you
got a double chick ticket. And it might have hurt her,
but I think she probably would have won Michigan.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I don't think she would have called it a double
chick ticket, but yeah, I hear what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I mean the double dude ticket, double chick ticket. I
think she would have been better off. I don't like
Gretchen Whitmer, but I think Gretchen Whitmer is more authentic
as a governor than Tim Walls was. And I think
men might respect Gretchen Whitmer even more than they did
Tim Walls because he's so fake and so we start
off this day with Tim Walls's political career being over,
(06:52):
which I think is kind of a remarkable story.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Let's be honest here, good chance that if you're wondering
who could hang the picture frame and get it done
with the tool belt and all the things, I think
Gretchen Whimper might beat out Tim Walls. If you're looking
for someone to choreograph your next uh green, I would
(07:15):
say Tim Walls is your Gretchen Whitmer might be better at
home repair than either you or I. Hold on, she
definitely is. I take no if my in laws are listening.
Every time. Every time my father in law shows up
here to visit, it's like a trade. He gets to
see his grandchild and his daughter, and I get to
present him with the list of things in the house
(07:36):
that are broken that I don't know how to fix.
It's great, Laura.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Laura is the same way my father in law can
fix everything as an engineer. And you know, he just
shows up and by the way, he's about to be eighty.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Happy early eightieth birthday to.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
My father in law, and he's still infinitely better at
fixing anything in the house.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
So look, I'm not claiming that at least at least
you drive way too fast like a maniac and are
ready for the F one circuit. I drive slow. This
is why I have to go in my free time
and shoot lots of guns and do tactical training on
the weekends to make up for my inability to change
a light bulb and driving like a little old lady.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, you know you're driving like miss Daisy is is
definitely I was. I was doing all that this, actually
thought about this.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
He should, they said, he should just say thank you
Buck for keeping me safe. But instead I get all this.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
You know, when they were talking about the CIA agents
who were in in Venezuela, the officer I always get
that wrong. But the CIA officers who are in Venezuela.
I was thinking to myself, you know, this could have
been a job for Buck. But hopefully they were never chased,
because if they were, he would have gotten caught and
(08:47):
captured just like that. Because the guy can't he has
no evasive driving skills. He would be obeying whatever the
speed limits are. Uh and uh and and as a result,
we might not have gotten Maduro.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Just because you don't drive fast enough. It's called going
low profile low viz. You obey the local traffic ordinances,
so you don't arouse suspicion. Clay, that's how highly trained
I am. They would think that I'm a retiree on
vacation there. They would never suspect. How many Americans are
there in Venezuela. By the way, do we know like
(09:19):
actually in Venezuela. It's a great question. I mean if
the number is a lot less now than I mean
obviously right now, particularly, but it's been going down and
down for a long time. I mean, the State Department
has had to do not travel order up for Venezuela
for quite some time. I think, so it hasn't been
a probably don't go, it's a don't go.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
This is my My boys are not going to shock
you that as soon as we rated Venezuela. My boys
are super sports fans. One of my sons said is
Ronald Alcunya. Okay, Ronald Lacunya is the star Venezuelan baseball
player of the Atlanta Braves, and a lot of I
mean this is true, A lot of baseball players in
(10:00):
the off season go to Venezuela. Whether's perfect Baseball is
hugely popular there. And so there are a lot of
Major League Baseball players in Venezuela, I think right now
before the spring training starts next month.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
No, maybe, uh, Venezuela. We decide we get Look, you
can't make him citizens. They're not Americans, they're they're they're Latinos,
they're South Americans and Latinas. But you know, maybe we
maybe jar Miller. I don't know if he's officially being
called that yet, but Stephen Miller in the White House,
if in fact he gets the Venezuela portfolio we moved toward,
(10:32):
Venezuela becomes like Guam, but a lot bigger and with
a lot more oil. Like you're not you're not going
in our You're exactly like the US Virgin Islands, except.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
With a territorial law. By the way, cleaning up a
couple of things. We are big fans of uh uh,
Let's make sure that I get this right. We are
big fans of Brad Little, current governor of Idaho. No one,
no one bigger fans than us.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Let's let's make sure you get it right. Because you've
thinking about Brad a lot lately. Yes, I have. I've been.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
I've been thinking we need to talk about what the
job Brad's doing in Idaho?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Do you know what the truth is? Thought? Can I
just really quick, Clay, The reason we don't talk about
Brad a lot here is because Idaho is a great
state and he's obviously doing a great job. So because
he's not the focus of commentary is a good thing. Grock,
I don't know how much you use GROC now all
the time it's replaced Google for me. It's amazing. I
love it.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Grock says that there and if you have not, this
is worth getting on Twitter x by itself. I am
stunned by how a thick effective it is at just
giving me basic facts. Like yesterday, I was looking up
we'll talk about it a little bit later, but I
was looking up the number of murders in Washington, DC.
You can go on Twitter, hit the Grock symbol and
(11:46):
you can just say, hey, tell me how many murders
there have been graphically from nineteen seventy in Washington, d C.
To the present day. Wait, like forty five seconds a minute, boom,
all of the data right there in front of you.
Groc says there are ten thousand Americans roughly that are
living in Venezuela right now, according to recent estimates, a
(12:10):
right small number when you consider the size of Venezuela,
and I wonder what it would be comparatively, say to
Colombia next door.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So we can grock that one. By the way, Clay
in retrospect. Now, given that, maybe Stephen Miller can bring
about the territorial dispensation of Venezuela for us, I'm not
saying he's going to do that. It's just a fun idea.
We should talk about Greenland, which I don't think is
entirely a joke. I still think that there is an
(12:39):
interesting conversation that is being had about people say it
belongs to Denmark. Okay, why the Greenlanders are not Danes?
Is what has Denmark done for Greenland? Does Greenland get
a say in this? It's a big piece of territory.
And also, just because you're a civil war nerd self
described people forget this. Ulysses Grant had a great plan.
(13:04):
He wanted to make the Dominican Republic you're talking about
baseball before. He wanted to make the Dominican Republic a
US territory and got shot down by the Senate.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
First of all, there are a lot of decisions we
made surrounding territories that I think were wrong, and I
think in like the first year of this show, four
or five years ago, I said we should go into
Cuba and we should end this absurdity. I'm gonna rebring
that back down, double down, triple down, quadruple down, whatever necessary.
(13:36):
We should right now in this year of twenty twenty six,
end the fact that Cuba is a communist country and
return basic freedoms to Cuba. To your point on territories,
I would even suggest that we should look at what
we've done with Puerto Rico and with the US Virgin
Islands Guam, as you mentioned, and consider making Cuba a
(13:57):
territory of the United States, not a full part of
the of the citizenry. You're not voting, you don't in
the Senate, you don't have a congressional representation, but just
a protectorate of sorts. To me, that is a something
that should significantly be looked at.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Think about the deal that we've gotten in other places,
and Guam is one example. They get US military protection,
we put bases there. They don't ever have to worry
about foreign relations, foreign invasion, anything like that. They get infrastructure,
they get rule of law, they get access to you know,
American markets, et cetera. It's not a bad deal. We
(14:36):
already have the huge base at Guantanamo and thanks to
Colonel Jessep we still have it. And we needed him
on that wall. He was actually the unsung hero of
that movie in so many ways. That's a conversation for
another time. All Right, this may be the time. This
may be the year that you join me in something
very important, gold and owning some gold. Every indication is
(14:57):
that gold is going to continue to grow this year.
And this is because of global instability. We're just talking
about some of that stuff, but also all the money
printing that's happening. It's not gonna stop. And owning gold
is part of your savings plan, your four oh one
k or ira. It just makes sense. And Birch Gold
Group is who I trust. You're gonna like working with
these people. I've purchased gold from them, and until January thirtieth,
(15:19):
if your first time gold buyer, Birch Gold is offering
a rebate of up to ten thousand dollars on qualifying purchases.
Claim eligibility, start the process. Text my name Buck do
ninety eight ninety eight ninety eight. Birch Gold can help
you roll in existing IRA or four oh one k
in to an IRA and gold. You're still eligible for
rebate of the ten thousand dollars. Make this month your
first time as a gold buyer, or add to your
(15:40):
goal that you already have, take advantage of a rebate
of the ten thousand dollars when you buy by January thirtieth.
Text my name Buck to ninety eight ninety eight ninety
eight Text Buck to ninety eight ninety eight ninety eight.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Saving America one thought at a time and Clay Travis
and Buck Sexton find them on the free Heart.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back
into Clay and Buck. We talked a little bit for
a second there about Greenland, not really well named. It
really should be Iceland. As we know, quite tricky, sneaky
the Vikings were with this. The Iceland actually has some green,
The Greenland actually has basically nothing but ice. But that's
(16:23):
the way it goes. Stephen Miller asking a question, just
asking questions. He was with fake Tapper over at CNN,
which still exists. I might add CNN is still a
thing technically cut twenty two Steven Miller asking the question
why does Denmark have Greenland?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Can you say that military action against Greenland is off
the table? It would mean a military action against Greenland
the Greenland has a population of thirty thousand people, Jake,
The real question is about what right does Denmark is
certain control over Greenland. What is the basis of their
territorial claim, what is their basis of how having Greenland
as a colony of Denmark the United States is the
(17:04):
power of NATO, for the United States to secure the
Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interest. Obviously,
Greenland should be part of the United States.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
It is a really great question why Denmark just has Greenland,
because Greenland has been a colony of Denmark for hundreds
of years.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Basically, it is a fantastic question. There's only thirty thousand
people there. It seems to me that the people of
Greenland should be able to choose do they want to
be a part of America or rather be a part
of Denmark. And I don't know what that outcome would be,
but I feel pretty good about our ability to provide
a higher quality of life for the people of Greenland
(17:47):
than certainly Denmark. Does I mean anybody doubt that at
all we'll come back. We'll take some of your calls
and take some of your reactions. Price Picks in the
meantime is available in all fifty states, including California, Texas, Florida,
and Georgia. Fifty states, just in time for College football
playoff game Thursday, college Football Playoff game Friday, and then
(18:08):
NFL Wild Card Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
You know, back in the day, Rush was one.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Of the greatest of the of the individuals when it
came to daily fantasy. Nobody signed up more people than him,
and Rush back in the day considered buying an NFL team,
And I know that he would be excited for all
five days of games back to back to back, and
I think he'd want Prize Picks, which is available, like
I said, in all fifty states, including California, Texas, Florida, Georgia.
(18:37):
You can download the Price Picks app today. Use my
name Clay as the code. You get fifty dollars instantly
in lineups when you play five dollars, that's code Clay
on Prize Picks fifty bucks in lineups in your account
when you play five dollars price picks dot Com code
like welcome back in play Travis buck Sexton Show having
(18:59):
an awesome time hanging out with all of you. On
the Tuesday edition of the program, we've been talking about
Tim Walls and the fact that his political career is
potentially over. Continuing to discuss Venezuela. Cuba has now announced
Buck that thirty two Cubans were killed by the special
forces that seized Maduro. Now what's interesting about this is,
(19:23):
for those of you who had not paid a lot
of attention, the idea that Cuban bodyguards were uniquely skilled
and uniquely talented was a huge part of why Maduro
felt confident that he was well protected well and there's
a reason for this.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
The reason, as we had discussed a little bit yesterday,
is that the Cuban relationship with security and security services
goes all the way back to the Cold War and
the KGB. I mean, I said things to you guys
like the KGB helped them. The KGB brought Clay the
Cuban services to Moscow. I mean they brought them to
(19:59):
their academies to train them in you know, counterintelligence. Subversion, assassination,
all of these things that the KGB excelled at. And
remember they learned this in a rule of law free framework,
so it's just you do whatever you have to do,
(20:20):
whatever goes right. It's a no holds barred approach to
intelligence and security work. And so the Cubans developed quite
a reputation for being the most adept intel operatives in
Latin America, which was a huge problem for the US.
Obviously in our allies, but even places like Angola, the
(20:41):
Cubans were sending military and security resources to shore up
communist revolutions elsewhere in the world. So they've been these
mercenaries for hire for a long time, but they ain't
Delta Force, that's for damn sure.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So thirty two of them killed, and I don't know
to what extent there's gonna be any of the cameras
are that are gonna get leaked or released. I'm just
putting this out there, but it is. It is staggering
how good these guys were, Buck And I know they trained,
(21:17):
and I know they had a mock up of exactly
where Madurea was. And a part of me, by the way,
thinks that we were talking about this yesterday people were saying, Okay,
why is President Trump seemed to be okay with the
existing vice president potentially being elevated. Part of me thinks,
bucks she might have been one of the CIA sources
(21:37):
that helped Madua get taken out. Crazy theory, or do
you think why would she said publicly, oh, I'm not
gonna do anything for the US, And Rubio and Trump
and everybody, they're like, hey, you know, we kind of
understand that she has to say things inside of her
country that seem like she's not working with us. But
(21:59):
we're there saying here, we're very confident we're going to
be working with her. What would the basis for feeling
comfortable that you were going to have a good relationship
with her be unless you had had some relationship in
the past.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
I have a very I have a very different feeling
about this play, which is that all of the players
still on the chessboard in Venezuela, just as a matter
of basic self preservation, now understand, we can get you
in your sleep, total surrounded by the best of the best,
and have you and have you transferred into a federal
(22:37):
penitentiary hellhole that you're never getting out of in the
blink of an eye, we can do that to anything.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Your your take is that they're just getting in line
because they saw what happened to Machado and they're afraid
that it could happen to them. My question, and certainly
the motivating factor there is strong, uh based on your analysis.
My thought though, is for the President to have come
out and basically said, hey, this other woman who won
(23:04):
the Nobel Prize, that side of the political equation we
don't feel comfortable with at all. I feel like the
VP may have been one of the sources that helped
give up Machado.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
I mean, it's yeah, there's we could we could speculate.
It's impossible to know the inner workings here of this
stuff unless you were involved in this kind of an operation.
I would say that on this front, though, the Iraq
lesson is something that's very I have a different view
(23:36):
of people bring up a rock in the context of oh,
it's quagmire and we might get into quagmire. People are
saying that, Okay, you can always say that about it.
Pretty much any military intervention we take anywhere in the world,
it could always go wrong, it could always get worse.
That's true, but that's not necessarily helpful or insightful. I
think that the lesson we've learned in the in the
Iraqi context is the big mistake that was made early on.
(24:01):
This was actually before I was in the Iraq office
at the cia UH. But the big, the big mistake
was debatification, right, because that meant that whether you were
like a traffic cop in a you know, in doing
the most basic stuff in Baghdad, all the way up
to the Minister of Defense, you were now not allowed
to be a part of the new governing Okay. So
(24:22):
basically everybody with training in a gun and any authority
in the country was told, you got nothing to do,
you have no source of income, go home and you know,
pound sand sand, yes, and And the truth is that
was a huge, huge, huge mistake, and we're not going
to do that in Venezuela because I think we've learned
(24:43):
that lesson, which is you work with It's funny because
Rumsfeld actually had a great insight about this. You go
to war with the army you have, you have really
you have a new regime in Venezuela with the pieces
you've got in place. You don't try to build this
isn't you break it, you buy it? The Cold and
Powell thing this is we have to work with the
existing realities of power on the ground and use the
(25:07):
leverage that we have. In this case, the huge leverage
of you want to oil the flow or not, because
that's without that, you guys got nothing. Basically, your economy
is on its ass and you can't pay your bills
and you know there's no food on the shelves. So
we have tremendous leverage. And I think that leverage is
of course economic. But then also on the security side,
who really wants to play games with a merit with
(25:29):
when you just saw like imagine you are, whether it's
the VP or Clay. They got a cast of characters. Man.
The Minister of Defense is actually named for Vladimir Lenin.
His name is Vladimir Padrino. His parents are such kammies
that they named him for Vladimir Lenin. He's a whack job.
I think he has a fifteen or twenty five million
(25:51):
dollar bounty on his head. The Minister of Police basically
like National Police Guy ors Internal Security guy. He has
a TV show that he runs, this.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
Is true, a TV show where called the or hit
it with a sledgehammer, where he on TV talks about
like politics and stuff, and he has a bat with
nails in it, like the guy from The Walking Dead.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Okay, these are the people that run this country. This guy,
of course been involved all kinds of oppression. Do they
want to be a part of doing things better or
do they want to get a knock on the door
from Delta Forest at five am? That's where they are now.
I also think.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
If you combine Iran and Venezuela, you have these countries
where the leadership has been telling the people for decades generations, now, hey,
we are standing up to American imperialism. We're not gonna
be bullied by Israel. We're not gonna be bullied by
(26:51):
the West. And then they can't even keep their president
from getting taken right out of his house and thirty
two of his top bodyguards being wiped out, and they
can't stop their nuclear ambitions. They can't even stop America
and Israel from flying over them them. I think what
we are seeing is a major geopolitical realignment.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
It feels early.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
You and I were kids in nineteen eighty nine when
the Berlin Wall came down, But man When I look
at these protests that are going on in Iran, when
I see what's going on in Venezuela, when I see
what's going on in Cuba, it feels like the forces
of repression and the forces of socialism and communism are
(27:42):
Look they've lasted, maybe longer than people thought, because there
was the argument after nineteen eighty nine that we had
reached the end of history because every country was effectively
going to become a democratic republic embracing capitalism because it
is the best form of government for the overall freedom
and and financial success of everyone. That is a reality.
(28:04):
But they've held on. And it feels like Trump is
maybe in a Ronald Reagan like fashion, in standing up
against it in a way that others have not been
willing to, and challenging it directly in a way that
others have not been willing to, almost pushing these last
(28:24):
vestiges of left wing excess off the off the cliff.
Am I crazy? Or do you see that? And I
know Iran is different because it's a theocracy in many ways,
but what it has in common is just a repression
of people and a restriction of their ability to be
exposed to the larger marketplace of ideas in the world,
(28:46):
and it feels like they are all starting to crumble
simultaneously based on the strength being shown by President Trump.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I think they're being put on their back foot for sure.
I mean one of the one of the stories that
has come out of this raid is that the Chinese
provision of steamingly or supposedly sophisticated surface to air missiles,
air defense radars including or aerial defense radars, including anti
(29:13):
stealth technology, things like that, we're a total joke. So
whatever the Chinese were giving the Venezuelans as their client
state to help them protect their territory was a joke.
And this certainly also affects thinking about something like a
taiwan situation, where turning off the lights for the Taiwanese
and you know, cyber and things like that whole different
(29:36):
level of complexity and ballgame than doing it in Venezuela.
So I'm gonna sorry for the yeah, for the Taiwanese.
So the Chinese would have their hands full on something
like that, And clearly America still has some military advantages
that allow us to do something like this. So I
think that's that's a lesson that a lot of our
(29:59):
adversary take out of this. But you know, look Russia,
as long as the world still runs on hydrocarbons, Russia
is gonna have tons of money, a big military, lots
of nukes, and the ability to throw its weight around.
China's a billion people and the second largest economy in
the world. You know, these are taking a step back.
Doesn't mean these places are about to fall or crumble.
(30:22):
You think about something like the Assad regime, Clay, the
Assad regime in Syria. It got to a point in
twenty eleven, twenty twelve where there were actually suicide bombers
infiltrating like the inner sanctum of the Assad regime, like
they were right on the ropes. But you go back
to the eighties and what was it Tom Friedman with
Hama rules and the leveling of Hama after an uprising.
(30:42):
There these guys, these scumbag tinpot dictators, theocrats, whatever, all
they really focus on is staying in power because that's
their whole. So even when everything around them is crumble,
I mean, look at North Korea, even when everything around
them is crumbling and falling apart, even when by all
rights and sanity they shouldn't be able to hang on.
(31:04):
They hang on, you know, this is what's so. I
just don't want to get too far. Like we've been
talking about Iran falling for as long as I've been alive.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Well yeah, and by the way, Maduro, to your point,
Trump offered him a gilded existence in a foreign country, Turkey,
I think where he could live in, you know, splendor
and excess for the rest.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
By the way, better weather than Russia, at least you
for long the coast you go to like ismir or
something decent. Kebab you get donn Air kabab with the yogurt,
very good, definitely better than a New York City prison.
Better food than Russia, for sure. I wouldn't get that
excited about the the Asad move, Like apparently he just
plays FIFA the soccer game or not it's Fifa FC now.
(31:47):
He plays like soccer video games all day in a
You see that in an apartment in Mosque, really really funny.
Moscow's cold in the winter, man, I take my eggs out.
What would be your if it had to be like
you can't do like Switzerland or England or something. If
you had to do a kind of adversary country, which
Turkey is not really an adversary. They're kind of a
midway paying the butt for US. But you know they're
(32:08):
an ally in some ways too. I know they're NATO.
What would be your country of exile? Oh, I would
go to like the British Virgin Islands. No, no, that
doesn't count. I'm talking of You got to go somewhere
that has like no extradition treaty. Yeah, I don't know.
There's not that many great non extradition treaty country. Yeah. No, no,
dub buddy. Vietnam I think would be pretty high on
(32:31):
my list. Vietnam. I like the food.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
You know, you have to be concerned that they might
because like Vietnam has pretty good relations now with the
United States, So you have to become an extraditible.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
They could offer you up. I mean, the only place
is where you are one hundred percent not getting turned
out if you are in the world, really are Russia
and China. I think that's really North Korea if you
could get in Okay, I'm sorry, Yeah, no, North Korea too.
But the only place is where there's zero chance that
if they don't want you to get turned over, you're
(33:02):
not getting turned over? Are those countries you could say, Oh,
what about like European allies, We can bring a lot
of pressure.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
To be I think Russia, look, whenever the Ukraine War ends,
which I think will happen at some point in twenty
twenty six, I think relations between Russia and the United
States could be decent. I think you might start to
have people just kind of get handed back and forth.
I was reading a good story about Witkoff and his
relationship with Putin and how that entire process came to
be when they got Fogel I think was his name
(33:30):
the hostage. Putin just said, hey, I'll potentially give you Fogel,
but you have to meet me one on one with
no apparatus otherwise there at all. And Wikoff just said, okay,
I'll do it, no preconditions. And you know, he gets
the former what marine and the American school teacher right
who was otherwise been there for years.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Some exciting news in the Sexton household. Baby Speed. He's
moving around all over the place now. He is like
army crawl style. You know, he's moving fast. Ginger Spice
is his hype man when he does it. They actually
I play fetch now with both of them. It's always
funny to see Speed disappointed when Ginger gets to the
ball first. But maybe one day that will change. Legacy
(34:14):
Box is there though, because they can digitize these memories
that I'm creating right now. Right, But this is the thing.
Back in the day, Back in the day, you didn't
have the digital stuff out there. You had VHS tapes,
you had photos. So this is where it's so important
to bring those old memories back to life today. Right. So,
if I had Speed crawling around twenty thirty years ago,
(34:37):
it'd be on some VHS tape and I wouldn't be
able to enjoy it. But my friends, you can enjoy it.
That's where Legacy Box gets it done. Go to legacy
box dot com slash buck say fifty five percent off
when you preserve your past with Legacy Box. Kick off
the new year by protecting your family's most cherished memories
that haven't been watched or enjoyed in years, perhaps even decades.
Your children might be all grown up now, but everybody
(34:59):
remembers those first steps, So enjoy the first crawls that
your kids had back in the eighties or whatever. Keep
those memories safe for the Legacy Box. Got a Legacy
box dot com slash buck Send in your old photos, videotapes, everything,
Legacy box dot com slash buck. That's legacybox dot Com
slash buck to say fifty five percent.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Patriots Radio hosts a couple of regular guys, Clay Travis
and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Welcome back into Clay and Buck. Just a quick programming note.
You know we have a YouTube channel. Uh, it's uh
Clay and Buck on YouTube and it's growing and growing
and this year we're gonna be doing a lot more
video And let me give you a little teaser here.
If you want to know how much Clay loves the
Christmas season, just check out our YouTube channel today after
you subscribe and see how his beard has gone fully
(35:55):
white like Santa Claus. It's amazing. He's decided, in solidarity
with say Nick to have a almost entirely white beard. Clay,
I am impressed.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I have not trimmed my beard since we left the
air on December nineteenth, so I let it go pretty
substantial and it is super super white. And also I'm
told that I look, according to producer Ali, a bit
like Kramer on Seinfeld when he was overly tanned, at
(36:25):
least based on the video footage. Right now now, I'm
super tan because I was down in the Caribbean for Christmas.
But you'll only be able to see that if you
go and subscribe to YouTube channel.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Do you like to be called Father Christmas as part
of the season? Do you wear a red suit? Like?
How do you really engage with this big white beard Clay.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
I'm a jolly fellow and I'm getting fatter, so this
might be my future
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
Hosts And Creators
Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
Show Links
WebsiteNewsletterPopular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.