January 7, 2026 • 36 mins
Hour 1 of The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show dives into major breaking news and bold geopolitical strategies shaping America’s future. The discussion kicks off with the White House briefing led by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt following the dramatic arrest of Nicolás Maduro. Clay and Buck analyze the Trump administration’s decisive actions in Venezuela, including the plan to seize 30–50 million barrels of sanctioned oil and sell them at market price to benefit both Venezuelans and Americans. They emphasize how controlling Venezuela’s oil supply cripples the regime and strengthens U.S. leverage in the hemisphere.
The hosts also explore the impact of falling global oil prices, noting how Russia’s war chest for Ukraine depends on high energy revenues. With oil hovering near four-year lows, Clay and Buck credit America’s fracking boom for transforming the U.S. into an energy superpower, bolstering national security and undercutting adversaries like Russia and Iran. They even touch on how climate change rhetoric has faded amid the energy demands of AI innovation.
Another headline-grabbing topic: Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments on buying Greenland. Clay and Buck debate why territorial expansion is now considered taboo despite historical U.S. land acquisitions like the Virgin Islands purchase in 1917. They challenge the narrative that colonization was inherently negative, arguing Western civilization’s spread improved global living standards. The conversation raises provocative questions about Denmark’s control over Greenland and whether a plebiscite could pave the way for U.S. ownership.
The hour also highlights Trump’s Truth Social announcement banning large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, aiming to restore housing affordability for everyday Americans. Clay and Buck break down the data on investor-owned properties and discuss how this policy could reshape the real estate market.
Finally, the show praises the Trump administration’s communication strategy and its ability to outmaneuver legacy media critics. From Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s fiery CNN rebuttal to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s mastery of press briefings, Clay and Buck underscore how Trump’s team combines sharp judgment with superior messaging.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome it, everybody to the Wednesday edition of the Clay
Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Oh min, We've got I
think we've got Caroline Levitt right now. Addressing the White
House Press Corps. We just had some big statements from
a Secretary of State, Marco Rubio about the Venezuela situation.
(00:22):
We are going to bring that to you the first
White House briefing since the Maduro arrest is underway. The
press is frothy and feisty in their pushing on the
various issues here. They were very upset, very upset, I
think Clay in part because the incredible success of the
(00:42):
actual raid the mission itself, overwhelmed their desire to turn
January sixth into a national day of continuous morning forever.
You know, everyone was much more interested in what's happening
now in the world and the big moves the administration
is making. Even over at MSNB or MS NOW as
it is apparently called, not that anyone knows because very
(01:04):
few people are watching, they weren't able to give the
same kind of gusto to it. But we will focus
on what really does in fact matter. There's also a
hearing going on on the Minnesota, Somali daycare fraud situation.
We have updates on a whole range of things relating
(01:25):
to Venezuela, including Trump just straight up saying we're gonna
handle the oil situation for the foreseeable and this is
the plan, this is the strategy, Clay. They have the
Venezuelan regime, they have the country of Venezuela by the jugular.
Without oil, the whole thing collapses. They control the oil,
they control the country and essentially everything that happens within
(01:47):
it at a certain level. And oh, by the way,
Marco Rubio, do you want to do Venezuela or Greenland first?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Here?
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Because Marco Rubio did just say something pretty big about Greenland. Yeah,
they're putting that in because this just happened in the
press conference.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
So moment. What I think they're connecting.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Do we have it now here is, guys, do we
have that clip in yet yet? Not?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Let's talk to Venezuela.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, has basically said as a tease that we intend
to buy Greenland. We talked about this some yesterday, so
we'll get to that in a little bit because there's
lots of expansionist discussion. But yeah, let's talk about Venezuela.
The decision to basically take charge of fifty million barrels
of oil sell them on behalf of Venezuela and the
(02:34):
United States. That is the latest news as it pertains
to what is going to happen inside of Venezuela. And
this is also answering I think some of the questions
that are coming up already about what is the.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Plan here, Well, the plan is.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
To take a we will direct to the degree that
we can, the future of Venezuela, but the actually on
the ground what's happening, will be left up to the
Venezuelan people.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
And it's very straightforward.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
You can either play things the right way and you
can be collaborative with the United Yeah, I think we
lost buck there for a second. So the question that
is going to be asked is what is the plan
(03:26):
in place to put these fifty million barrels of oil
on the market, and how in the process of putting
them on the market do we allocate the dollars in
each of those places? So what percentage of this money
goes to the United States? As sort of the broker,
I would imagine of the fifty million barrels of oil
(03:49):
and Also, then how do we handle this in terms
of Venezuela getting the money so that we know that
it's being spent in a way that is not going
to be detrimental to the overall country. And frankly, the
kleptocracy is what has led to much of the collapse
of the Venezuelan oil industry. Also, in a larger context
(04:10):
here this is really important too, and it hasn't been
talked about a great deal, but basically Russia funds everything
that they are doing in Ukraine with all of the
money that they make off of their oil and gas.
So what happens when Russia is having to deal with
a collapsing oil and gas price, by which I mean
(04:33):
oil and gas. If you're out there driving around right
now in your car, the price of oil and gas
is at four year lows. And I know, whenever I
say this, somebody sends me a picture of whatever the
local gas station in your neighborhood is. It's different right California,
because they have all of the ridiculous anti fuel standards
that they have put in place. It costs way more
to fill up your gas tank in California than it
(04:55):
does in Texas, or it does in basically any red
state in the and so, as the price of oil
and gas has come down, gas is way cheaper now
than it was during the peak of the Biden era,
as we have worked our way through the cost of
oil and gas Russia, if oil and gas moves into
the forty dollars of barrel range, they aren't able to
(05:19):
actually fund much of what they're trying to do with Ukraine.
And well, this is why the unsung heroes of national
security in America are the oil companies. That's right, the
unsung heroes of the last twenty years are the oil
companies that fracked and brought America into energy superpower status.
(05:42):
It's never talked about this way. The climate change lunatics
get all the I'm not even hearing but buck on
that point, climate change is just vanished.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Have you noticed that it is.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
They just don't even talk about it anymore. Yeah, it's
a religion for sanctimonious whimps with lo TI. I mean, honestly,
it's preposterous. The whole climate change that. I actually think
part of this is the cost of AI is so
substantial when it comes to energy that a lot of
the climate change bros are also tech bros. And they've
(06:12):
just stopped talking about it because in order to win
the AI race, we're going to have to have even
more power, and so this idea that we're going to
eliminate the oil and gas or gas powered vehicles, they've
just abandoned it.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
It is kind of interesting.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Also, all the predictions are wrong. So how many times
are you going to listen to people who are wrong
every time about how terrible things are going to get
because of climate change before you realize that you're being
had and that there are just people who are benefiting
enormously from this, with all kinds of boondoggles everything else. Anyway,
I don't want to get too deep into climate change,
but fracking has brought America and the natural gas exploration
(06:53):
as well in America has brought America to energy superpower
status clay that gives us a whole lot more. Not
only does it help our economy tremendously, but it creates
a situation where some of the specifically Russia but also Iran,
some of these countries that rely on or really benefit
from those high oil prices are in a different situation.
(07:15):
So it's been a really good thing for national security.
Speaking of natural resources, that's what we call a transition
in the business. Greenland is a large place, a large,
frosty place that may soon be part of America. I
mean that's possible here because we have Secretary of State
(07:37):
Mark or Rubio just moments ago from the White House
saying the following play it is a US intent.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
To buy Greenland.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Can you clarify your comments to lawmakers this week?
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Well, that's always been the President's intent from the very beginning.
He's said it very early on. I mean, this is
not new. He talked about it in his first term,
and he's not the first US president that has examined.
They're looked at, how could we acquire Greenland? There's an
interest there. But so I just reminded them of the
fact that not only did Truman want to do it,
but President Trump's been talking about this since his first term.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Clay, the American story involves some of the most important
and most advantageous land purchases in all history. Why does
that story stop in our lifetime? That story has continued
and continued. Why would that story stop right now? What's
(08:29):
the rationale behind that? Look, the idea that we have
been dealing with for the last I would say thirty
or forty years. It's only been the last thirty or
forty years. Is we have decided that the worst thing
that ever happened in the history of the world was colonization.
And this whole idea that if you were ever colonized,
(08:51):
I mean, heck, they even turned an entire Marvel movie
into it, right, the whole Black Panther movie is just
about colonization and how awful it is.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And what.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Kanda was the is the most amazing place with the
best science, yes science.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And the reality is this, almost everyone in the world
is in a better position now. Uh. I would say
everyone in the world because of Western civilization, and Western
civilization spread through colonization, and it made every country ultimately
better off today than it would have been quality of
living wise, if there had never been anyone reached those
(09:30):
other countries. Right, if you just went back in time,
and let's pretend that Columbus had never sailed the ocean
blue and the New World had never been discovered, everyone
that lives in the so called New World, let's pretend
it was still isolated, would be far better off, far
worse off, right than today than they are today right now,
(09:51):
you're Amherst. Your your Lord Amherst, who I was reading
about recently. Yeah, he was willing to and get it done.
I got all I can tell you brought it may
have intentionally spread disease and killed people. Look because the
immediate response they say this smallpox blankets. We didn't understand
(10:11):
microbiology at the time. People thought that this stuff just
transited in bad air like maasthma or something. They called it.
Everyone's hating on Lord Jeff. Lord Jeff was a fantastic
administrator in his death, so someone is going to clip this. Yes,
germs and the death that was brought by really the
germs that were brought to the New World. I'm leaving
(10:32):
aside that, right, But modern civilization is better. We're better
off everywhere around the world by taking the best of
whatever exists in the world and spreading it as widely
as possible, which is why you know a cultural assimilation.
Remember when people started to say assimilation was bad and
you were taking other people's cultures, And it's actually kind
(10:53):
of this story of civilization as we take the best
things that every culture creates and we spread it as
widely as possible and that makes the world better. So
all of this, I think Buck is originating in this
idea that somehow there's something wrong with Western civilization and
it shouldn't have been spread. And all of it comes
back to the idea that colonization was wrong. You know
(11:15):
that in the little island of Tasmania, famous for its devils,
when the European explorers arrived in the beginning, very beginning
of the nineteenth century, Tasmanian natives were living in the
actual stuff. I mean they were anthropologically at a stage
of advancement equivalent to the Stone Age. Yes, so you
(11:37):
think about what was going on five hundred years or sorry,
three hundred years earlier, the Renaissance Sistine Chapel. You go
back a thousand years, you go back a couple thousand years,
You got the Parthenon, you got all these amazing things
going on. Stone Age eighteen oh three, Tasmania.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Maybe it's time for a little rewrite of the colonial narrative,
of the global colonial narrative. I don't know, a little
bit of thank you here and there might be nice too,
A little bit thanks for the roads, the medicine, the technology,
and the laws that might not be so crazy if
you're actually living in reality. Every single person in the
world today has benefited from the fact that Western civilization
(12:19):
was spread to their country, and so this is the
idea that that you know, sort of undergirds all this.
So the question you asked is why did we suddenly stop?
And it's a good question. When was the last acquisition
of a new territory by the United States nineteen twenties
Virgin Islands I think may have been the last purchase
(12:40):
with funds. I think it was like twenty five million
dollars in gold we bought the US Virgin Islands. I
think that's maybe the last time for those of you
who want to go on the most expensive vacation probably
on the planet.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Saint Bart's Saint Bartoneme in the in the Caribbean. There's
a reason why the main city is like what is
it like Gustavsen or something, I forget, some Swedish name.
It was a Swedish colony for one hundred years and
you know what happened to French were like, it's really
better with us, and the Swedes were like, and they
sold it to the French.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
They sold it. What's the big deal? This happens, and
you know what, it's a very nice place. It's way
too expensive, but very nice.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Well, this is my point about Greenland that is super interesting.
And again this is going into nerdism and I actually
happen to have a great deal of knowledge about this.
Do you know who we bought the US Virgin Islands
from Denmark? We bought it from Denmark about one hundred
years ago.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Now you are something of a Virgin Islands expert, this
is true.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
I am a lawyer in the US Virgin Islands. There
are not a lot of US. I'm still licensed there.
So territorial law is what governs in the US Virgin Islands.
You're not technically able to vote for a president. You're
not in a state. You're a part of a territory.
And there are other territories, Guam among them. But we
bought this from Denmark one hundred years ago. Why the
(14:02):
question that no one is asking, And I think it's
actually super super fascinating with Greenland. If owning countries is
so wrong, why is Greenland owned by Denmark? But why
would we have to pay Denmark anything for Greenland? If
what we are proposing to do is so wrong? Why
would they have a property interest that we would have
(14:23):
to compensate them for in any way. They are the proprietor,
they are the owner. It is a territory of Denmark
right now. Why can't they do it?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
And we can't?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Well, why can't we make Greenland an offer that they
don't want to refuse? I mean, the people there, Why
can't they have a plebiscite and say, you know what,
America actually is making things pretty sweet for us and
our heirs and our posterity. So guess what. Why couldn't
we give I mean, we had an email about this yesterday,
But why couldn't we negotiate with all of the people
who live in Greenland give them a one time cash
(14:55):
payment to become territorial part of the United States. It's
far more affordable than probably actually purchasing from Greenland. Let
them actually make the decision to leave. Why does Greenland
have any property interests that they are able to Why
does Denmark have any property interests they can claiming dedn't
Mark at all. It's a very good question, very good
(15:18):
question one we're going to continue to ask here on
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Speaker 1 (16:36):
Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. Appreciate all
of you hanging out with us. I looked it up
during the break, Buck, I was right. I was a
little bit off on the years. In nineteen seventeen, the
United States bought the US Virgin Islands that Saint John,
Saint Thomas, Saint Croix for twenty five million dollars in gold.
(16:56):
In that current dollar figure, I think that's supposedly now
like one hundred and forty million. Pretty good price, twenty
five million dollars in gold for Smart Purchase island. Smart
Purchmart Purchase, Very smart Purchase bought it in nineteen seventeen
from Denmark. Why is it considered to be so ridiculous
to talk about buying more assets of land from Denmark?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Now?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
And Buck asked a good question. I think the answer
is it's the legacy of colonialism. Suddenly, deciding, oh, this
is unacceptable to even be involved in. But why is
the idea of acquiring territory today considered to be so
verboten relative to past history? Also, as I understand it,
not that I'm an expert in the ethnography of Greenland,
(17:43):
but they're essentially like Inuit like, they're not Danish ethnically,
So why does why do the Danes have this?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
No, it's a it's a fantastic question.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Why does the Danish people have any control at all
over or what the future of Greenland might be? Maybe
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there's a lot of this administration is getting done and
accomplishing on the global front domestically here at home. Let's
(18:57):
not forget year one month. I'm gonna guess here, Clay,
I'd say by month three of the administration, maybe it
was even quicker. Maybe it was month two. The border
was secure.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
The border. One even talks about it anymore. It's not
even a topic of discussion.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
We have been led to believe, honestly for my entire
adult life.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Like the border.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
You can't it's just crazy, it's pandemonium.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
You can't stop all these illegals.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
If you refuse to stop them, you can't stop them.
But it turns out if you enforce the law, you
can stop them. Very very important revelation and a huge
win for the Trump administration. Now, now we go into
twenty twenty six with the Venezuela operation, which is tactically,
logistically and perhaps strategically, we'll see the implications play out.
(19:47):
One of the most impressive military operations in certainly modern
American history. I mean it goes alongside the Bin Laden
raid as a wow moment for the United States military
and the operators and the pilots and everybody involved, intel officers.
So that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
But we also have a lot of.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
People in this administration who are really good at handling
the press, in some cases because they have as much
time in the press as Clay you and I do.
Pete Heggseth and I started in media. We used to
sit together at Glenn Beck's The Blaze, at the Real
News Table and talk national security. In twenty twelve, twenty eleven.
(20:29):
It's been a long time, so Pete, now Secretary of
War is pretty good at handling the media, and they
need a reminder of that sometimes.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Here he is dealing with CNN.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Talking about the oil situation with Venezuela and what's playing
out today. Let's hear how Secretary of War Heagseeth had
had to say it.
Speaker 5 (20:50):
I want to emphasize that question from CNN. The questions
never asked how much is it cost? When they're in
the Mediterranean or the Red Sea or the Indian Ocean
of the Pacific. But now that they're in our hemisphere
and the countercrtel mission or ensuring that a dited individual
comes to justice, Now you're asking the question of costs.
It's a disingenuous question to begin with. You're trying to
find any angle possible to undermine the success of one
(21:11):
of the more historic military missions the world has ever seen.
The level of sophistication that Senate just was briefed on,
and the House was briefed on a classified level, is
something only the United States of America can accomplish. The
world is taking notice of that. Certainly Venezuela is taking
notice of that. And it continues because two oil tankers
too overnight were seized by the United States of America.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Clay Secretary of War hegset is spiking the football and
the other team's end zone, running up into the stands
and high fiving the home fans.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Well, look, you know, I hate to brag or draw attention.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
It's just not my thing. There's other people that are.
You know, you are a paragon of humility, that is true.
Maybe the humblest person on the planet. What Pete Hegset
is demonstrating. Here is something that I think you and
I hopefully are able to demonstrate quite frequently, is most
media that are trying to drive narratives are not actually
(22:10):
that smart. And so what he's doing is he's rebutting
the premise of their question because he already recognizes what
the intent of the question is designed to create, and
he's getting ahead of.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Where they are able to analyze it.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
And I think this is we have talked about this
so much, and I like to think that Twitter is
helping to change. Twitter X is helping to change that.
The power of the legacy media is in deciding to
cover the stories that they choose to cover. All of
you out there that are listening to us, all of
(22:46):
you that are out there that are watching us right now,
you are as a group far better in formed than
the average person is on the left. That doesn't mean
necessarily that you're that. What it really gets to is
if if you are in the echo chamber of the left,
you are typically not in any way engaging in the
arguments made by the right, Whereas, because of the cultural
(23:10):
power of the left, even if you disagree with the
arguments of the left, you're aware of the arguments that
they're making and what Pete has done. And I would
argue Marco Rubio jd Vance, the top trio that Donald
Trump put at the top of his administration is they're
all smarter than the media that are covering them. And
that's why we always see, I mean, frankly, when you
(23:32):
see like Margaret brent better at doing media by the way,
better better at better at communicating than the media people.
So when you see Margaret Brennan, who we played earlier
this week, try to go after Marco Rubio, it's like
a It's like a kid trying to argue with an adult.
(23:53):
There's just a different level of sophistication and knowledge from Rubio.
And what you saw with that clip of Hegseth is
he is, I mean, as a guy who's been in
media for a long time, aware of what the intent
of that question is and he's blowing it up on
its face. And this is why I think a lot
of the criticisms that came to bear people came after
Trump early in the two point zero and they said, oh,
(24:15):
he's got Pete Hegseth, He's just a TV guy. He's
got judge Janine, she's just a TV gal, and they
tried to make that as an attack. Actually communicating is
I would argue, the primary job of most of the
people that are at the top of these businesses. So
if you can't explain why you're doing what you're doing,
you're not very useful.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
And Trump gets that.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
You know who else they said is just a TV guy?
President Trump, who, no matter what one thinks of him,
will go down as one of the most consequential political
leaders in world history of the twenty first century. That
is already where we are, the Trump era of American politics.
I don't even people are gonna remember what Biden. Biden
(24:57):
is going to soon be one of these presidents.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
He's clay.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
You know. It's gonna be like people who are trying
to think back, like what was the what was the
Pierce administration, like, you know, or what was you know,
people are gonna say, was that guy really president?
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Or was he vice president? No one's even gonna remember.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I mean, it's Jimmy Carter, right, Jimmy Carter unlike but
he was young enough when he was president that he
had a post presidency that helped to redeem the era
of his presidency. Well, he's remembered for being terrible, and
maybe Biden will be remembered for being a terrible president
as well. Yeah, I think that's the But the difference
is Carter was able to redeem himself because of his
(25:33):
post presidency. Biden's not gonna have any kind of redemption.
I think Biden's gonna go down as the worst president
any of us have ever seen. And by the way,
what you got at is the job of a president,
and the job by and large of most of these
cabinet secretaries is really twofold when you distill it. What
do they do? They make decisions, judgment, and they communicate.
(25:54):
That's the entirety of the of the job. Communication. When
you're on television, when you're in media, that's our job.
We have to make sense of complex things and explain
why they matter. Figuring out who's good at that and
putting them in your administration's actually a huge part of
the decision that's being made. Now, you can quibble with
the judgment, but buck the judgment. They're very I can't
(26:19):
even hardly point to anything. Maybe I don't like Trump
taking a shot at the Rhiner, right, Like I wish
he wouldn't have done that after he got murdered. Right,
You can go into judgment occasionally and say, hey, there's
things that I think Trump bulling a China shop could
do better. But I agree with ninety five percent of
the decisions that have been made by the Trump administration
(26:39):
so far, and from a communication perspective, we have the
best and most available. Nobody takes more questions in the
history of media that I can remember in the history
of modern politics than the Trump two point zero administration.
So again, I think that they are really getting ahead
of the criticisms and cutting the legs out from underneath
(27:01):
them in the process. And by the way, I think
we should buy Greenland. I think we should take over Cuba.
I have an expansion as view of what American power
should look like. That doesn't mean that I want our
soldiers on the ground in those countries things like that,
but we should be I think setting the table for
generations to come in a better fashion than we otherwise
(27:23):
would be. So on that front play Trump put out
the following, I am pleased this is on truth social
I am pleased to announce that the interim authorities in
Venezuela will be turning over between thirty and fifty million
barrels of high quality, sanctioned oil to the United States
of America. This oil will be sold at its market price,
(27:46):
and that money will be controlled by me as President
of the United States, to ensure it's used to benefit
the people of Venezuela and the United States. I've asked
Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan immediately. It
will be taken by storage ships and brought directly to
unloading docks in the United States. Thank you for your
attention in this matter. And that's that's from the President himself.
(28:09):
This is the plan, and I think this plan is
likely to be very successful. What is what is a
better situation a Venezuela with United States keeping pressure on
for it too. What do we want in Venezuela. We
want it not to be a hellhole. We want it
(28:30):
not to be a communist launchpad in our hemisphere. We
want the people of Venezuela to have enough food to eat,
not to be at the whim of prison gangs that
are allied with the communist thug government.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
And we want the oil to flow, and we want.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Them to honor contracts and honor you know, the market
of we give them money, they give us oil.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
That's all we want. Yes, we don't, we don't.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
We're not sending eighty second Airborne to walk the streets
of Karakas. We're not trying to make them all male
femie is so whatever, you know, we get it right.
The lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan, I think are very
much in this administration's mind and in the minds of
all of you listening. And I think that Clay understanding
the leverage point here means that there's a there's a
(29:15):
good that's going to be ugly for a while. There's
gonna be some reprisals that happen on the streets. We're
already seeing some of that. It's not gonna be perfect,
but what's the alternative? How much worse could it be,
everybody than what Venezuela has been for the last twenty years.
I think also this is important because we do get
some response, and I welcome it. By the way, eight
hundred and two A two two eight A two. You
can get us with talkbacks as well. People say, well,
(29:37):
how is this different than Iraq? The answer is, and
we've tried to hammer this home, but I think it's important.
Venezuela used to be one of the wealthiest countries in
the world on a per capita basis. Certainly in the
Western hemisphere, there is no You've talked about this quite
a lot, but because you were in Iraq, there is
no Sunni Shia divide.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
There's no religious fundamentalism.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
That is embedded, ingrained in the aspect of Venezuelan life.
All we're seeking here is for Venezuela to look somewhat
like it did in nineteen ninety five and for the
people to be able to flourish in a capitalistic, market
based economy much like we have here.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Here's what we want.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
We want the Venezuelans who are you know, whatever's left
of the of the bureaucracy and let me we know
that this guy dis Dalo Cabello, he's a scumbag. He's
probably gonna go to you know, we'll see, right, I
mean Trump, They're all on notice, They've all it's been
made very clear. You could either do things that the
(30:35):
United States wants you to do, or we're gonna show
up in the middle of the night. We're gonna have
the best operators in the world show up in the
middle of night, put a bag over your head, and
you're gonna end up in a US federal prison. Okay,
that's it. This is the world they live in now,
the people that are still left behind. To the Margaret
Brennan question.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Why didn't you take all of them?
Speaker 1 (30:52):
I don't know, because we don't live in a fantasy
land where you can do five in the most amazing
operations at once. So Clay, I think think that the
administration's very sober minded about this. I think they understand
that there are challenges here. You know, people are saying, oh,
but what about these insurgents and what about the border
of Columbia. Yeah, we're not pretending that we're fixing this
thing tomorrow. We're not pretending that they're greeting us with flowers.
(31:14):
And this is a Jeffersonian democracy. Everything is great, but
there is, to your point, a tremendous natural resource here
that can provide a whole heck of a lot of
infrastructure and benefits to the people of Venezuela as well
as to the global oil supply and in our hemisphere specifically.
And we can do all these things because they used
(31:36):
to do all these things right, Venezuela was in a
very good place and it was ruined by the commis
really what we need as we go to break here
is And this is why I think it's such a
bigger part of the conversation. Western civilization makes everything better,
and we have to stop apologizing for Western civilization. And
(31:57):
I think it is connected to so much of the
critics that we have allowed to embed in so much
of the left in this country. I mean, it is
just Western civilization is a profoundly good thing and we
should encourage it to flourish everywhere.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
What does that mean? Open markets?
Speaker 1 (32:16):
It means a robust and uninhibited marketplace of ideas, I e.
First Amendment protections. You can say whatever you want to say.
These are the things that lead to a better quality
of life for everyone across the entire world. And we
have to stop apologizing for supporting that everywhere. And we
want you to be able to get in touch with everybody.
(32:37):
You know, I was talking about during the Christmas break,
rapid radios, how many of you were traveling on the road,
how many of you were with friends and family, How
many of you had kids running around the houses, grandkids?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
All the chaos out there.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
How many times did you just want to open the
door and say, go outside, go entertain yourselves, come back
from time for dinner. You're driving everybody crazy here, but
you want to be able to stay in touch with people.
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(33:56):
to know when you're on to go Team forties podcast
Trump Highlights from the week Sundays at.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Noon Eastern in the clan Bug podcast feed. Find it
on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Welcome back in Clay Travis buck Sexton Show. We appreciate
all of you hanging out with us as we are
rolling through the Wednesday edition of the program. One bit
of news that is out there, and by the way,
we'll take some of your calls in the second hour
and the third hour of the program. Also get to
some of your talkbacks. President Trump has just posted Buck
and I we're talking about this off air. Let me
(34:32):
read you the most recent post from President Trump. For
a very long time, buying and owning a home was
considered the pinnacle of the American dream.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
It was the reward for working hard and doing the
right thing.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
But now, because of the record high inflation caused by
Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress, that American dream
is increasingly out of reach for far too many people,
especially younger Americans. For that reason and much more I'm
immediately taking steps to ban large institutional investors from buying
more single family homes, and I will be calling on
(35:03):
Congress to codify it. People live in homes, not corporations.
I will discuss this topic, including further housing and affordability
proposals and more, at my speech in Davos in two weeks.
Super interesting idea, now, but you were just looking up
the data. What percentage of individual homes are owned by
(35:25):
big corporate interests? A lot of times they buy these
and they rent them out, and it's around you said
twenty percent, roughly varies depending on city and state. So
it's investors. So I got to see it whether that's
corporate investors or individual investors. Oh sorry, no, that's a combination.
I'm looking at CNBC real Estate investors, individual and institutional
(35:48):
bought one third of all single family properties in the
second quarter of twenty twenty five, So institutional investors. I
got to bring devils in the details, because when you're
hitting at he is already the challenge.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
What is a big corporate interest?
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I've bet a lot of people out there listening to
us right now may own a home that they rent
out right as a part of their overall family perspective.
Maybe you own a home that you rent out to
a family member. Maybe you've owned one home and you
kept it and you've continued to rent it out right,
what is a big corporate interest? And let's talk about
this a little bit more, because there has been a
lot of discussion about the cost of homes and how
(36:26):
much prices went up starting in about twenty nineteen twenty twenty.
Now the prices have begun to ameliorate. That has slowed
down a bit. We'll discuss that and the impact when
we come back. Also more on Venezuela and Greenland. Thanks
for hanging with us.
Welcome it, everybody to the Wednesday edition of the Clay
Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Oh min, We've got I
think we've got Caroline Levitt right now. Addressing the White
House Press Corps. We just had some big statements from
a Secretary of State, Marco Rubio about the Venezuela situation.
(00:22):
We are going to bring that to you the first
White House briefing since the Maduro arrest is underway. The
press is frothy and feisty in their pushing on the
various issues here. They were very upset, very upset, I
think Clay in part because the incredible success of the
(00:42):
actual raid the mission itself, overwhelmed their desire to turn
January sixth into a national day of continuous morning forever.
You know, everyone was much more interested in what's happening
now in the world and the big moves the administration
is making. Even over at MSNB or MS NOW as
it is apparently called, not that anyone knows because very
(01:04):
few people are watching, they weren't able to give the
same kind of gusto to it. But we will focus
on what really does in fact matter. There's also a
hearing going on on the Minnesota, Somali daycare fraud situation.
We have updates on a whole range of things relating
(01:25):
to Venezuela, including Trump just straight up saying we're gonna
handle the oil situation for the foreseeable and this is
the plan, this is the strategy, Clay. They have the
Venezuelan regime, they have the country of Venezuela by the jugular.
Without oil, the whole thing collapses. They control the oil,
they control the country and essentially everything that happens within
(01:47):
it at a certain level. And oh, by the way,
Marco Rubio, do you want to do Venezuela or Greenland first?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Here?
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Because Marco Rubio did just say something pretty big about Greenland. Yeah,
they're putting that in because this just happened in the
press conference.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
So moment. What I think they're connecting.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Do we have it now here is, guys, do we
have that clip in yet yet? Not?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Let's talk to Venezuela.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, has basically said as a tease that we intend
to buy Greenland. We talked about this some yesterday, so
we'll get to that in a little bit because there's
lots of expansionist discussion. But yeah, let's talk about Venezuela.
The decision to basically take charge of fifty million barrels
of oil sell them on behalf of Venezuela and the
(02:34):
United States. That is the latest news as it pertains
to what is going to happen inside of Venezuela. And
this is also answering I think some of the questions
that are coming up already about what is the.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Plan here, Well, the plan is.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
To take a we will direct to the degree that
we can, the future of Venezuela, but the actually on
the ground what's happening, will be left up to the
Venezuelan people.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
And it's very straightforward.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
You can either play things the right way and you
can be collaborative with the United Yeah, I think we
lost buck there for a second. So the question that
is going to be asked is what is the plan
(03:26):
in place to put these fifty million barrels of oil
on the market, and how in the process of putting
them on the market do we allocate the dollars in
each of those places? So what percentage of this money
goes to the United States? As sort of the broker,
I would imagine of the fifty million barrels of oil
(03:49):
and Also, then how do we handle this in terms
of Venezuela getting the money so that we know that
it's being spent in a way that is not going
to be detrimental to the overall country. And frankly, the
kleptocracy is what has led to much of the collapse
of the Venezuelan oil industry. Also, in a larger context
(04:10):
here this is really important too, and it hasn't been
talked about a great deal, but basically Russia funds everything
that they are doing in Ukraine with all of the
money that they make off of their oil and gas.
So what happens when Russia is having to deal with
a collapsing oil and gas price, by which I mean
(04:33):
oil and gas. If you're out there driving around right
now in your car, the price of oil and gas
is at four year lows. And I know, whenever I
say this, somebody sends me a picture of whatever the
local gas station in your neighborhood is. It's different right California,
because they have all of the ridiculous anti fuel standards
that they have put in place. It costs way more
to fill up your gas tank in California than it
(04:55):
does in Texas, or it does in basically any red
state in the and so, as the price of oil
and gas has come down, gas is way cheaper now
than it was during the peak of the Biden era,
as we have worked our way through the cost of
oil and gas Russia, if oil and gas moves into
the forty dollars of barrel range, they aren't able to
(05:19):
actually fund much of what they're trying to do with Ukraine.
And well, this is why the unsung heroes of national
security in America are the oil companies. That's right, the
unsung heroes of the last twenty years are the oil
companies that fracked and brought America into energy superpower status.
(05:42):
It's never talked about this way. The climate change lunatics
get all the I'm not even hearing but buck on
that point, climate change is just vanished.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Have you noticed that it is.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
They just don't even talk about it anymore. Yeah, it's
a religion for sanctimonious whimps with lo TI. I mean, honestly,
it's preposterous. The whole climate change that. I actually think
part of this is the cost of AI is so
substantial when it comes to energy that a lot of
the climate change bros are also tech bros. And they've
(06:12):
just stopped talking about it because in order to win
the AI race, we're going to have to have even
more power, and so this idea that we're going to
eliminate the oil and gas or gas powered vehicles, they've
just abandoned it.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
It is kind of interesting.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Also, all the predictions are wrong. So how many times
are you going to listen to people who are wrong
every time about how terrible things are going to get
because of climate change before you realize that you're being
had and that there are just people who are benefiting
enormously from this, with all kinds of boondoggles everything else. Anyway,
I don't want to get too deep into climate change,
but fracking has brought America and the natural gas exploration
(06:53):
as well in America has brought America to energy superpower
status clay that gives us a whole lot more. Not
only does it help our economy tremendously, but it creates
a situation where some of the specifically Russia but also Iran,
some of these countries that rely on or really benefit
from those high oil prices are in a different situation.
(07:15):
So it's been a really good thing for national security.
Speaking of natural resources, that's what we call a transition
in the business. Greenland is a large place, a large,
frosty place that may soon be part of America. I
mean that's possible here because we have Secretary of State
(07:37):
Mark or Rubio just moments ago from the White House
saying the following play it is a US intent.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
To buy Greenland.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Can you clarify your comments to lawmakers this week?
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Well, that's always been the President's intent from the very beginning.
He's said it very early on. I mean, this is
not new. He talked about it in his first term,
and he's not the first US president that has examined.
They're looked at, how could we acquire Greenland? There's an
interest there. But so I just reminded them of the
fact that not only did Truman want to do it,
but President Trump's been talking about this since his first term.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Clay, the American story involves some of the most important
and most advantageous land purchases in all history. Why does
that story stop in our lifetime? That story has continued
and continued. Why would that story stop right now? What's
(08:29):
the rationale behind that? Look, the idea that we have
been dealing with for the last I would say thirty
or forty years. It's only been the last thirty or
forty years. Is we have decided that the worst thing
that ever happened in the history of the world was colonization.
And this whole idea that if you were ever colonized,
(08:51):
I mean, heck, they even turned an entire Marvel movie
into it, right, the whole Black Panther movie is just
about colonization and how awful it is.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And what.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Kanda was the is the most amazing place with the
best science, yes science.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And the reality is this, almost everyone in the world
is in a better position now. Uh. I would say
everyone in the world because of Western civilization, and Western
civilization spread through colonization, and it made every country ultimately
better off today than it would have been quality of
living wise, if there had never been anyone reached those
(09:30):
other countries. Right, if you just went back in time,
and let's pretend that Columbus had never sailed the ocean
blue and the New World had never been discovered, everyone
that lives in the so called New World, let's pretend
it was still isolated, would be far better off, far
worse off, right than today than they are today right now,
(09:51):
you're Amherst. Your your Lord Amherst, who I was reading
about recently. Yeah, he was willing to and get it done.
I got all I can tell you brought it may
have intentionally spread disease and killed people. Look because the
immediate response they say this smallpox blankets. We didn't understand
(10:11):
microbiology at the time. People thought that this stuff just
transited in bad air like maasthma or something. They called it.
Everyone's hating on Lord Jeff. Lord Jeff was a fantastic
administrator in his death, so someone is going to clip this. Yes,
germs and the death that was brought by really the
germs that were brought to the New World. I'm leaving
(10:32):
aside that, right, But modern civilization is better. We're better
off everywhere around the world by taking the best of
whatever exists in the world and spreading it as widely
as possible, which is why you know a cultural assimilation.
Remember when people started to say assimilation was bad and
you were taking other people's cultures, And it's actually kind
(10:53):
of this story of civilization as we take the best
things that every culture creates and we spread it as
widely as possible and that makes the world better. So
all of this, I think Buck is originating in this
idea that somehow there's something wrong with Western civilization and
it shouldn't have been spread. And all of it comes
back to the idea that colonization was wrong. You know
(11:15):
that in the little island of Tasmania, famous for its devils,
when the European explorers arrived in the beginning, very beginning
of the nineteenth century, Tasmanian natives were living in the
actual stuff. I mean they were anthropologically at a stage
of advancement equivalent to the Stone Age. Yes, so you
(11:37):
think about what was going on five hundred years or sorry,
three hundred years earlier, the Renaissance Sistine Chapel. You go
back a thousand years, you go back a couple thousand years,
You got the Parthenon, you got all these amazing things
going on. Stone Age eighteen oh three, Tasmania.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Maybe it's time for a little rewrite of the colonial narrative,
of the global colonial narrative. I don't know, a little
bit of thank you here and there might be nice too,
A little bit thanks for the roads, the medicine, the technology,
and the laws that might not be so crazy if
you're actually living in reality. Every single person in the
world today has benefited from the fact that Western civilization
(12:19):
was spread to their country, and so this is the
idea that that you know, sort of undergirds all this.
So the question you asked is why did we suddenly stop?
And it's a good question. When was the last acquisition
of a new territory by the United States nineteen twenties
Virgin Islands I think may have been the last purchase
(12:40):
with funds. I think it was like twenty five million
dollars in gold we bought the US Virgin Islands. I
think that's maybe the last time for those of you
who want to go on the most expensive vacation probably
on the planet.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Saint Bart's Saint Bartoneme in the in the Caribbean. There's
a reason why the main city is like what is
it like Gustavsen or something, I forget, some Swedish name.
It was a Swedish colony for one hundred years and
you know what happened to French were like, it's really
better with us, and the Swedes were like, and they
sold it to the French.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
They sold it. What's the big deal? This happens, and
you know what, it's a very nice place. It's way
too expensive, but very nice.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Well, this is my point about Greenland that is super interesting.
And again this is going into nerdism and I actually
happen to have a great deal of knowledge about this.
Do you know who we bought the US Virgin Islands
from Denmark? We bought it from Denmark about one hundred
years ago.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Now you are something of a Virgin Islands expert, this
is true.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
I am a lawyer in the US Virgin Islands. There
are not a lot of US. I'm still licensed there.
So territorial law is what governs in the US Virgin Islands.
You're not technically able to vote for a president. You're
not in a state. You're a part of a territory.
And there are other territories, Guam among them. But we
bought this from Denmark one hundred years ago. Why the
(14:02):
question that no one is asking, And I think it's
actually super super fascinating with Greenland. If owning countries is
so wrong, why is Greenland owned by Denmark? But why
would we have to pay Denmark anything for Greenland? If
what we are proposing to do is so wrong? Why
would they have a property interest that we would have
(14:23):
to compensate them for in any way. They are the proprietor,
they are the owner. It is a territory of Denmark
right now. Why can't they do it?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
And we can't?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Well, why can't we make Greenland an offer that they
don't want to refuse? I mean, the people there, Why
can't they have a plebiscite and say, you know what,
America actually is making things pretty sweet for us and
our heirs and our posterity. So guess what. Why couldn't
we give I mean, we had an email about this yesterday,
But why couldn't we negotiate with all of the people
who live in Greenland give them a one time cash
(14:55):
payment to become territorial part of the United States. It's
far more affordable than probably actually purchasing from Greenland. Let
them actually make the decision to leave. Why does Greenland
have any property interests that they are able to Why
does Denmark have any property interests they can claiming dedn't
Mark at all. It's a very good question, very good
(15:18):
question one we're going to continue to ask here on
the show. Look, so many people use the beginning of
the year to cut back on expenses, and you may
be one of them. Look, I spend a little too
much over Christmas, or maybe care bear my wife. Maybe
we spend a little too much of the Christmas season.
Things got a little pricey around here. So if you
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(15:40):
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Speaker 2 (16:25):
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton mic drops that never sounded
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Speaker 1 (16:36):
Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. Appreciate all
of you hanging out with us. I looked it up
during the break, Buck, I was right. I was a
little bit off on the years. In nineteen seventeen, the
United States bought the US Virgin Islands that Saint John,
Saint Thomas, Saint Croix for twenty five million dollars in gold.
(16:56):
In that current dollar figure, I think that's supposedly now
like one hundred and forty million. Pretty good price, twenty
five million dollars in gold for Smart Purchase island. Smart
Purchmart Purchase, Very smart Purchase bought it in nineteen seventeen
from Denmark. Why is it considered to be so ridiculous
to talk about buying more assets of land from Denmark?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Now?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
And Buck asked a good question. I think the answer
is it's the legacy of colonialism. Suddenly, deciding, oh, this
is unacceptable to even be involved in. But why is
the idea of acquiring territory today considered to be so
verboten relative to past history? Also, as I understand it,
not that I'm an expert in the ethnography of Greenland,
(17:43):
but they're essentially like Inuit like, they're not Danish ethnically,
So why does why do the Danes have this?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
No, it's a it's a fantastic question.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Why does the Danish people have any control at all
over or what the future of Greenland might be? Maybe
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there's a lot of this administration is getting done and
accomplishing on the global front domestically here at home. Let's
(18:57):
not forget year one month. I'm gonna guess here, Clay,
I'd say by month three of the administration, maybe it
was even quicker. Maybe it was month two. The border
was secure.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
The border. One even talks about it anymore. It's not
even a topic of discussion.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
We have been led to believe, honestly for my entire
adult life.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Like the border.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
You can't it's just crazy, it's pandemonium.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
You can't stop all these illegals.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
If you refuse to stop them, you can't stop them.
But it turns out if you enforce the law, you
can stop them. Very very important revelation and a huge
win for the Trump administration. Now, now we go into
twenty twenty six with the Venezuela operation, which is tactically,
logistically and perhaps strategically, we'll see the implications play out.
(19:47):
One of the most impressive military operations in certainly modern
American history. I mean it goes alongside the Bin Laden
raid as a wow moment for the United States military
and the operators and the pilots and everybody involved, intel officers.
So that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
But we also have a lot of.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
People in this administration who are really good at handling
the press, in some cases because they have as much
time in the press as Clay you and I do.
Pete Heggseth and I started in media. We used to
sit together at Glenn Beck's The Blaze, at the Real
News Table and talk national security. In twenty twelve, twenty eleven.
(20:29):
It's been a long time, so Pete, now Secretary of
War is pretty good at handling the media, and they
need a reminder of that sometimes.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Here he is dealing with CNN.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Talking about the oil situation with Venezuela and what's playing
out today. Let's hear how Secretary of War Heagseeth had
had to say it.
Speaker 5 (20:50):
I want to emphasize that question from CNN. The questions
never asked how much is it cost? When they're in
the Mediterranean or the Red Sea or the Indian Ocean
of the Pacific. But now that they're in our hemisphere
and the countercrtel mission or ensuring that a dited individual
comes to justice, Now you're asking the question of costs.
It's a disingenuous question to begin with. You're trying to
find any angle possible to undermine the success of one
(21:11):
of the more historic military missions the world has ever seen.
The level of sophistication that Senate just was briefed on,
and the House was briefed on a classified level, is
something only the United States of America can accomplish. The
world is taking notice of that. Certainly Venezuela is taking
notice of that. And it continues because two oil tankers
too overnight were seized by the United States of America.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Clay Secretary of War hegset is spiking the football and
the other team's end zone, running up into the stands
and high fiving the home fans.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Well, look, you know, I hate to brag or draw attention.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
It's just not my thing. There's other people that are.
You know, you are a paragon of humility, that is true.
Maybe the humblest person on the planet. What Pete Hegset
is demonstrating. Here is something that I think you and
I hopefully are able to demonstrate quite frequently, is most
media that are trying to drive narratives are not actually
(22:10):
that smart. And so what he's doing is he's rebutting
the premise of their question because he already recognizes what
the intent of the question is designed to create, and
he's getting ahead of.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Where they are able to analyze it.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
And I think this is we have talked about this
so much, and I like to think that Twitter is
helping to change. Twitter X is helping to change that.
The power of the legacy media is in deciding to
cover the stories that they choose to cover. All of
you out there that are listening to us, all of
(22:46):
you that are out there that are watching us right now,
you are as a group far better in formed than
the average person is on the left. That doesn't mean
necessarily that you're that. What it really gets to is
if if you are in the echo chamber of the left,
you are typically not in any way engaging in the
arguments made by the right, Whereas, because of the cultural
(23:10):
power of the left, even if you disagree with the
arguments of the left, you're aware of the arguments that
they're making and what Pete has done. And I would
argue Marco Rubio jd Vance, the top trio that Donald
Trump put at the top of his administration is they're
all smarter than the media that are covering them. And
that's why we always see, I mean, frankly, when you
(23:32):
see like Margaret brent better at doing media by the way,
better better at better at communicating than the media people.
So when you see Margaret Brennan, who we played earlier
this week, try to go after Marco Rubio, it's like
a It's like a kid trying to argue with an adult.
(23:53):
There's just a different level of sophistication and knowledge from Rubio.
And what you saw with that clip of Hegseth is
he is, I mean, as a guy who's been in
media for a long time, aware of what the intent
of that question is and he's blowing it up on
its face. And this is why I think a lot
of the criticisms that came to bear people came after
Trump early in the two point zero and they said, oh,
(24:15):
he's got Pete Hegseth, He's just a TV guy. He's
got judge Janine, she's just a TV gal, and they
tried to make that as an attack. Actually communicating is
I would argue, the primary job of most of the
people that are at the top of these businesses. So
if you can't explain why you're doing what you're doing,
you're not very useful.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
And Trump gets that.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
You know who else they said is just a TV guy?
President Trump, who, no matter what one thinks of him,
will go down as one of the most consequential political
leaders in world history of the twenty first century. That
is already where we are, the Trump era of American politics.
I don't even people are gonna remember what Biden. Biden
(24:57):
is going to soon be one of these presidents.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
He's clay.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
You know. It's gonna be like people who are trying
to think back, like what was the what was the
Pierce administration, like, you know, or what was you know,
people are gonna say, was that guy really president?
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Or was he vice president? No one's even gonna remember.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I mean, it's Jimmy Carter, right, Jimmy Carter unlike but
he was young enough when he was president that he
had a post presidency that helped to redeem the era
of his presidency. Well, he's remembered for being terrible, and
maybe Biden will be remembered for being a terrible president
as well. Yeah, I think that's the But the difference
is Carter was able to redeem himself because of his
(25:33):
post presidency. Biden's not gonna have any kind of redemption.
I think Biden's gonna go down as the worst president
any of us have ever seen. And by the way,
what you got at is the job of a president,
and the job by and large of most of these
cabinet secretaries is really twofold when you distill it. What
do they do? They make decisions, judgment, and they communicate.
(25:54):
That's the entirety of the of the job. Communication. When
you're on television, when you're in media, that's our job.
We have to make sense of complex things and explain
why they matter. Figuring out who's good at that and
putting them in your administration's actually a huge part of
the decision that's being made. Now, you can quibble with
the judgment, but buck the judgment. They're very I can't
(26:19):
even hardly point to anything. Maybe I don't like Trump
taking a shot at the Rhiner, right, Like I wish
he wouldn't have done that after he got murdered. Right,
You can go into judgment occasionally and say, hey, there's
things that I think Trump bulling a China shop could
do better. But I agree with ninety five percent of
the decisions that have been made by the Trump administration
(26:39):
so far, and from a communication perspective, we have the
best and most available. Nobody takes more questions in the
history of media that I can remember in the history
of modern politics than the Trump two point zero administration.
So again, I think that they are really getting ahead
of the criticisms and cutting the legs out from underneath
(27:01):
them in the process. And by the way, I think
we should buy Greenland. I think we should take over Cuba.
I have an expansion as view of what American power
should look like. That doesn't mean that I want our
soldiers on the ground in those countries things like that,
but we should be I think setting the table for
generations to come in a better fashion than we otherwise
(27:23):
would be. So on that front play Trump put out
the following, I am pleased this is on truth social
I am pleased to announce that the interim authorities in
Venezuela will be turning over between thirty and fifty million
barrels of high quality, sanctioned oil to the United States
of America. This oil will be sold at its market price,
(27:46):
and that money will be controlled by me as President
of the United States, to ensure it's used to benefit
the people of Venezuela and the United States. I've asked
Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan immediately. It
will be taken by storage ships and brought directly to
unloading docks in the United States. Thank you for your
attention in this matter. And that's that's from the President himself.
(28:09):
This is the plan, and I think this plan is
likely to be very successful. What is what is a
better situation a Venezuela with United States keeping pressure on
for it too. What do we want in Venezuela. We
want it not to be a hellhole. We want it
(28:30):
not to be a communist launchpad in our hemisphere. We
want the people of Venezuela to have enough food to eat,
not to be at the whim of prison gangs that
are allied with the communist thug government.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
And we want the oil to flow, and we want.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Them to honor contracts and honor you know, the market
of we give them money, they give us oil.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
That's all we want. Yes, we don't, we don't.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
We're not sending eighty second Airborne to walk the streets
of Karakas. We're not trying to make them all male
femie is so whatever, you know, we get it right.
The lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan, I think are very
much in this administration's mind and in the minds of
all of you listening. And I think that Clay understanding
the leverage point here means that there's a there's a
(29:15):
good that's going to be ugly for a while. There's
gonna be some reprisals that happen on the streets. We're
already seeing some of that. It's not gonna be perfect,
but what's the alternative? How much worse could it be,
everybody than what Venezuela has been for the last twenty years.
I think also this is important because we do get
some response, and I welcome it. By the way, eight
hundred and two A two two eight A two. You
can get us with talkbacks as well. People say, well,
(29:37):
how is this different than Iraq? The answer is, and
we've tried to hammer this home, but I think it's important.
Venezuela used to be one of the wealthiest countries in
the world on a per capita basis. Certainly in the
Western hemisphere, there is no You've talked about this quite
a lot, but because you were in Iraq, there is
no Sunni Shia divide.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
There's no religious fundamentalism.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
That is embedded, ingrained in the aspect of Venezuelan life.
All we're seeking here is for Venezuela to look somewhat
like it did in nineteen ninety five and for the
people to be able to flourish in a capitalistic, market
based economy much like we have here.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Here's what we want.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
We want the Venezuelans who are you know, whatever's left
of the of the bureaucracy and let me we know
that this guy dis Dalo Cabello, he's a scumbag. He's
probably gonna go to you know, we'll see, right, I
mean Trump, They're all on notice, They've all it's been
made very clear. You could either do things that the
(30:35):
United States wants you to do, or we're gonna show
up in the middle of the night. We're gonna have
the best operators in the world show up in the
middle of night, put a bag over your head, and
you're gonna end up in a US federal prison. Okay,
that's it. This is the world they live in now,
the people that are still left behind. To the Margaret
Brennan question.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Why didn't you take all of them?
Speaker 1 (30:52):
I don't know, because we don't live in a fantasy
land where you can do five in the most amazing
operations at once. So Clay, I think think that the
administration's very sober minded about this. I think they understand
that there are challenges here. You know, people are saying, oh,
but what about these insurgents and what about the border
of Columbia. Yeah, we're not pretending that we're fixing this
thing tomorrow. We're not pretending that they're greeting us with flowers.
(31:14):
And this is a Jeffersonian democracy. Everything is great, but
there is, to your point, a tremendous natural resource here
that can provide a whole heck of a lot of
infrastructure and benefits to the people of Venezuela as well
as to the global oil supply and in our hemisphere specifically.
And we can do all these things because they used
(31:36):
to do all these things right, Venezuela was in a
very good place and it was ruined by the commis
really what we need as we go to break here
is And this is why I think it's such a
bigger part of the conversation. Western civilization makes everything better,
and we have to stop apologizing for Western civilization. And
(31:57):
I think it is connected to so much of the
critics that we have allowed to embed in so much
of the left in this country. I mean, it is
just Western civilization is a profoundly good thing and we
should encourage it to flourish everywhere.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
What does that mean? Open markets?
Speaker 1 (32:16):
It means a robust and uninhibited marketplace of ideas, I e.
First Amendment protections. You can say whatever you want to say.
These are the things that lead to a better quality
of life for everyone across the entire world. And we
have to stop apologizing for supporting that everywhere. And we
want you to be able to get in touch with everybody.
(32:37):
You know, I was talking about during the Christmas break,
rapid radios, how many of you were traveling on the road,
how many of you were with friends and family, How
many of you had kids running around the houses, grandkids?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
All the chaos out there.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
How many times did you just want to open the
door and say, go outside, go entertain yourselves, come back
from time for dinner. You're driving everybody crazy here, but
you want to be able to stay in touch with people.
That's what a rapping radio is all about. Modern day
walkie talkies. I remember when I was a kid how
much I've loved walkie talkies. We had Gi Joe walkie talkies.
They didn't work very well, they didn't work very far,
(33:12):
but we thought they were so awesome. We ran around
and played with him. I've got kids. My eleven year
old he loves his rapid Radio walkie talkie. And it's
not just kids, right. You can use this in the
time of catastrophe, if you're gonna end up losing your
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Five day charge for these things. They're awesome. You can
(33:34):
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Ready right out of the walkie talkie. Want to begin
(33:56):
to know when you're on to go Team forties podcast
Trump Highlights from the week Sundays at.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Noon Eastern in the clan Bug podcast feed. Find it
on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Welcome back in Clay Travis buck Sexton Show. We appreciate
all of you hanging out with us as we are
rolling through the Wednesday edition of the program. One bit
of news that is out there, and by the way,
we'll take some of your calls in the second hour
and the third hour of the program. Also get to
some of your talkbacks. President Trump has just posted Buck
and I we're talking about this off air. Let me
(34:32):
read you the most recent post from President Trump. For
a very long time, buying and owning a home was
considered the pinnacle of the American dream.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
It was the reward for working hard and doing the
right thing.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
But now, because of the record high inflation caused by
Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress, that American dream
is increasingly out of reach for far too many people,
especially younger Americans. For that reason and much more I'm
immediately taking steps to ban large institutional investors from buying
more single family homes, and I will be calling on
(35:03):
Congress to codify it. People live in homes, not corporations.
I will discuss this topic, including further housing and affordability
proposals and more, at my speech in Davos in two weeks.
Super interesting idea, now, but you were just looking up
the data. What percentage of individual homes are owned by
(35:25):
big corporate interests? A lot of times they buy these
and they rent them out, and it's around you said
twenty percent, roughly varies depending on city and state. So
it's investors. So I got to see it whether that's
corporate investors or individual investors. Oh sorry, no, that's a combination.
I'm looking at CNBC real Estate investors, individual and institutional
(35:48):
bought one third of all single family properties in the
second quarter of twenty twenty five, So institutional investors. I
got to bring devils in the details, because when you're
hitting at he is already the challenge.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
What is a big corporate interest?
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I've bet a lot of people out there listening to
us right now may own a home that they rent
out right as a part of their overall family perspective.
Maybe you own a home that you rent out to
a family member. Maybe you've owned one home and you
kept it and you've continued to rent it out right,
what is a big corporate interest? And let's talk about
this a little bit more, because there has been a
lot of discussion about the cost of homes and how
(36:26):
much prices went up starting in about twenty nineteen twenty twenty.
Now the prices have begun to ameliorate. That has slowed
down a bit. We'll discuss that and the impact when
we come back. Also more on Venezuela and Greenland. Thanks
for hanging with us.
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