Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Feb 19 2026
2/19/202648 mincomplete
0:00This is an iHeart Podcast.
0:02Guaranteed Human. This podcast is brought to you by Wise, the app for international people
0:07using money around the globe.
0:09With Wise, you can send, spend, and receive in over 40 currencies with no markups
0:14or hidden fees. Sending pounds across the pond, spending Rai's in Rio, or getting paid
0:19in dollars for your side gig.
0:21You'll get the mid -market exchange rate on every transaction.
0:24Plus, most transfers arrive in less than 20 seconds.
0:27Join 15 million customers internationally.
0:29Be smart. Get Wise. Download the Wise app or visit wise .com.
0:33T's and C's apply. Welcome, everybody, to the second hour of the Clay Travis and
0:37Buck Sexton show. And we are joined by Stephen Yates.
0:42He's a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a former White House national security official.
0:48Our friend, Mr. Yates, great to have you, sir.
0:50What's going on? Buck, it's great to join you.
0:53Thanks so much. So, we want to ask you about whether we're going to war
0:58with Iran. It's a big question.
1:00And the reason we're asking is because, as we know, there's sort of a dual
1:06-track situation playing out. On the one hand, there's negotiations, I think, in Geneva.
1:11Sounds right. Over Iran's nuclear program that the administration is involved in.
1:16And then there's also a buildup, a substantial buildup of military assets, aerial assets, specifically
1:23F -35s, F -22s in the Mideast, prepared for what could be a sustained aerial
1:32campaign against Iran. What do you see happening here?
1:35How do you think this plays out?
1:38Well, Buck, I think that the president and his team are doing far more than
1:42any of its predecessors to kind of increase the chances of a negotiated settlement of
1:50sorts. It's very, very difficult to see there being any security from the nuclear program
1:55under the current regime. That's why the president says that if the regime were to
1:59change, that might be better.
2:00He's not saying he's going to do it.
2:02But the armada that is there is doing two very substantial things.
2:07It is stopping the illegal support for the Iranian regime financially.
2:12That has been a big vulnerability in the past.
2:15And, of course, it has the ability to strike hard.
2:17And the president has proven a willingness to do that not very long ago.
2:21So this should increase the chances of a negotiated settlement.
2:24But I have to say, bottom line, I don't see this regime in Iran negotiating
2:28in good faith in an appropriate amount of time.
2:31So I think the odds of a strike that would be an active war but
2:35not a total war, very high over the next two weeks.
2:39Okay. So what is the goal of the strikes?
2:42Thanks for coming on, Steve.
2:43I mean, I think that is kind of where we dive into next because the
2:47understanding that we had, and I think it was the right decision on the first
2:51strike, was this is directly attributed to trying to eliminate Iran's nuclear arsenal, right, or
3:00their ability to develop a nuclear arsenal.
3:04Are we trying to replace the Ayatollah with this strike?
3:07Are we still going after nuclear weapons?
3:10I think this needs to be a huge part of the discussion in general, is
3:15what is the strategic goal here?
3:17Do you have a sense for that?
3:18And how do you think the administration goes about making that choice?
3:23Well, I completely agree that it's necessary.
3:27We've fought off the ghosts of Iraq in many, many different ways.
3:32But that idea of making clear what the strategic objective is and what America's role
3:37is relative to other countries' role, very, very clear.
3:41I think that the targets that they would hit would look more military, so it
3:46would be nuclear, but also some of the ballistic missile and other capabilities to demonstrate
3:51that we can do this and there's nothing they can do about it and knock
3:55them back a little bit to maybe buy more time and see whether they sober
3:58up for real negotiations. There's, I think, this added layer of statements that were made
4:05about the atrocities that are committed by the regime, the human rights violations, and I
4:09have deep sympathy for that, but I don't think that is the proper use of
4:12the U .S. military. I think that's the area that has to be made much,
4:17much more clear. The strike had to be degrading the capabilities of the regime while
4:22they have maximum pressure to degrade the economic capabilities of the regime, and the rest
4:27of the world is going to have to step in and help handle some of
4:30the other elements of the political transformation, in my view.
4:33You know, Steve, yes, the ghosts of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars loom large in
4:40all these conversations, and I think that's a good thing, I mean, in terms of
4:45making sure that we don't get pulled into something, and I think Trump is very
4:49wary of getting pulled into something deeper and at much greater risk to us and
4:55to our people than we want to be.
4:58So as part of that, one of the conversations that I think keeps coming up,
5:01and people have been asking me, so I want to pose this to you and
5:04get your take on it.
5:05In Venezuela, okay, we took Maduro out and, well, took him to a prison cell
5:11in New York, but there was a clear pathway of other people, and really much
5:17of the rest of the regime is in charge there now, so there's kind of
5:20an ongoing negotiation process about what will happen and how that country moves forward.
5:24You know, you know ,dtback on the spine, it's hard for that party, but nothing
5:24could happen. the U .S.
5:25clearly has a lot of leverage.
5:26What is the opposition in Iran?
5:28Do we have any real sense as to if the mullahs fall, if they fall,
5:34who takes over? Buck, that is the most important issue that they have to work
5:40through. And I don't take it as a given that whatever the U .S.
5:43does in the near term is going to be about regime change.
5:47I think what they demonstrated in Venezuela is that a step along the way is
5:54that we are going to change the maybe the nature of the current regime and
5:58renegotiate sort of the terms of trade and dealing with the United States and the
6:02world. And under these new terms, maybe we buy more time for a longer term
6:07transition to whether it's an opposition or a reformed country.
6:11But in Venezuela, the opposition is not yet in charge.
6:14It may be in the not too distant future if there's an election.
6:17The same goes with Iran.
6:19I mean, the debatification issue in Iraq, which, you know, as well as anybody, just
6:24is one of the biggest ghosts of what people think of as a failure in
6:29the Iraq strategy. Keeping some of those institutions in place so there isn't broader instability
6:34and mayhem across the region is one of the priorities they have to have.
6:39So I think there could be a move that gets at the top leadership and
6:44there could be a change to someone else in the regime.
6:47Personally, I would love it if this regime went away.
6:50But I personally just think that U .S.
6:52role is to strike hard the way no one else can to contain fallout as
6:57best anyone can. But it's the Abraham Accords countries and others that really need to
7:03be managing more of how do we have an economic and political relationship that's different
7:07with Iran. We have a lot of Iranian listeners on this program.
7:11A couple of months ago, we opened up phone lines and said, hey, what kind
7:16of support is there in your social networks for Iranians in the United States for
7:20the royal family to be installed in some way as a holder of power that
7:26is a transition to potentially a new government?
7:29Do you like that idea, Steve?
7:31Is that a crazy idea in your mind?
7:34Again, building on what we learned in Iraq, sweeping out one group and trying to
7:40replace another can be dangerous.
7:41But there is some form of nostalgic, positive reflection on the royal family, if only
7:48based on how awful things have been under the mullahs.
7:53Well, I agree. And that could be a viable alternative.
7:56But I think one of the things we felt got stung in the Iraq situation
8:01was having a leader that comes into place that is just viably identified as the
8:07American choice. And for a lot of the world that suffers from pretty high dose
8:13TDS, if it's perceived as being Trump's choice, there could be a problem of trying
8:19to hold coalitions and investment and other security engagements that are necessary for that transition.
8:25I think that might explain why we have this muddled or middle ground approach in
8:29Venezuela, too. If the opposition was seen as chosen by the United States and our
8:34president, then there could be maybe grounds for greater resistance.
8:39So a more organic and sort of stepping stones across the river approach seems to
8:44be the way they've gone at that.
8:45That might be more what they try with Iran.
8:49But I do think that looking at viable alternatives to the theocratic regime, most of
8:56the diaspora agrees with that, which is a fancy way of saying the people who
8:59are Iranian that live overseas.
9:01And then I think there are also large parts of Persian culture that are not
9:05Islamist that could work with that kind of an approach.
9:09But it needs to be seen and protected as being the Iranian people's choice.
9:15Steve, I'm in South Florida.
9:18And so I got to ask, how shaky do you think the regime in Cuba
9:22is? Yeah, I think it's very shaky.
9:26And that's an area where I think, oddly, while people wouldn't attach smart power to
9:31the make America great again foreign policy, I think that we've we've used some very
9:37effective levers that are nonmilitary.
9:41We've used our military to cut off the oil that is an immense pressure on
9:46them. The movement in Venezuela politically was tied very, very close to them.
9:50So in terms of political warfare, economic warfare and economic security, we've really maxed options.
9:56And so I think we've got the best shot we've had for this external pressure
10:01campaign to maybe give a different path forward.
10:04But what fascinates me is really in Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, and maybe other places, we're
10:10really seeing a very sophisticated approach to easing these transitions without America going in to
10:17push it too far and have it blow up back on us.
10:20Um, Buck asked a good question about Cuba, and I'm utterly fascinated about that.
10:25But also on Iran, you mentioned it, I think this is important.
10:30There's a big difference oftentimes between what is publicly said and what is privately said,
10:35particularly from the other Middle Eastern countries, Saudi Arabia at all that clearly have made
10:41the decision they don't like Iran and would like to see changes made there.
10:45Do they actually want the, uh, Ayatollah out in your impression?
10:50This is the Saudi Arabia's the Bahrain's.
10:52The UAE's are just kind of running all through all these different countries that are
10:56technically Muslim countries, but are not allied with Iran.
10:59Or do they deep down like the fact that the Ayatollah is such a disaster
11:05that they don't have to worry about Iran as a regional threat so long as
11:09he is there and therefore don't actually want him gone?
11:13Do we have a sense on that?
11:15Well, I think there is a pretty clear sense.
11:17And, you know, in our country, I don't think enough Americans appreciate the fact that
11:22the Iranian regime has threatened to kill our president more than once over the history
11:28of this dispute. That kind of matters.
11:30I mean, just remember, presidents are human beings, but also you just can't allow that
11:34if you are a sovereign power and a global power.
11:38And these other regional allies, believe me, they have suffered under assassination attempts and other
11:44kinds of violence against them.
11:46They have have blood feud with the theocratic regime across the water from them in
11:52many cases, some across a border like Iran and Iraq.
11:56It's, I think, very, very clear to them that they would much prefer to have
12:01a reform oriented government there and they would invest heavily.
12:06And there is a path to peace and prosperity that way.
12:08But it's expanding the ethos of the Abraham Accords.
12:12And under the theocratic regime in Iran, that's not an option.
12:15They support the radical terrorists that attacked Israel and believe in river to the sea
12:20mentality. And that is not compatible with our allies in the Gulf.
12:25Steven, before we let you go, I'm sure you saw AOC showing up in Munich
12:30to show off her foreign policy skills did not go, I think, as planned.
12:36And she was asked about this crazy thing that no one had ever heard of
12:39before, the China -Taiwan conflict and or the possibility of China -Taiwan open conflict.
12:45And her answer was hysterical.
12:48So we appreciate that the humorous component of this was covered.
12:51If you were to give AOC, if you were tutoring her on this issue, say,
12:55hey, here's what you should say.
12:58So you sound like, you know, what's really going on with China -Taiwan.
13:02What would be your 60 second or less answer to the question that she turned
13:06into? Yeah. Like, I mean, they have maps and stuff.
13:11Well, it was mind -blowing.
13:13And if I were her, I would not go to a security conference and try
13:18to do that as a social media influencer.
13:20You better just do a 10 -second search of Grok.
13:24And probably AI could have given better talking points.
13:28And I'd say you begin with the basics.
13:32Free people who are investing heavily in our country, we should be giving them the
13:36ability to defend themselves as much as humanly possible.
13:40And also, let's hold up some accountability and transparency with China.
13:44At the very least, stand with an ally like Japan.
13:47And let's see where we can go and avoid the conflict.
13:49I think she tried to get there.
13:51She couldn't land it. She borderline couldn't even speak.
13:54And I don't know why you go be a speaker at an international security conference
13:57and not prepared for basic questions.
13:59It is funny that you mentioned Grok because she has probably a staff of –
14:04how many people do you think work for AOC?
14:0650? 50? 100? I mean, if you go across everywhere.
14:10I mean, it's a huge number of people.
14:12And she could have just said, hey, how do I answer a question on Taiwan,
14:16on Grok? And it would have given her an infinitely better answer than whatever staff
14:20she had trying to prepare her for that event.
14:23Steve, we appreciate you. We may need you back on when or when war breaks
14:28out. He's going to have to fix the war when it breaks out.
14:30So, yeah. That's right. Thank you.
14:33Thanks so much. Look, I was at Mar -a -Lago yesterday, dress code, business casual,
14:40and producer Allie heard me and Buck heard me trying to figure out what should
14:45I wear. And one of the answers, even though Buck and I are not huge
14:50suit guys, is there's lots of awesome stuff with comfort in mind that Cozy Earth
14:55puts out there. They have luxury sheets.
14:58These are the most comfortable sheets you can sleep on.
15:00They have basically as many different products as you can possibly imagine, all designed with
15:07comfort in mind. And they also look great when you wear them, even with people
15:12like me who are not exactly fashion plates.
15:15You get hooked up right now.
15:16Go check it out. 100 -day money -back guarantee, 10 -year warranty, because they want
15:21you totally satisfied. Go online to CozyEarth .com.
15:25Use my name, Clay, for a 20 % discount on your purchase, and you will
15:30get a post -purchase survey.
15:31One more time, CozyEarth .com, promo code Clay, to get your discount on the purchase.
15:37That's CozyEarth .com, promo code C -L -A -Y.
15:43Stories of freedom. Stories of America.
15:47Inspirational stories that unite us all.
15:49Each day, spend time with Clay and Buck.
15:52Find them on the free iHeartRadio app.
15:55Or wherever you get your podcasts.
15:57This podcast is brought to you by Wise, the app for international people using money
16:01around the globe. With Wise, you can send, spend, and receive in over 40 currencies
16:06with no markups or hidden fees.
16:08Sending pounds across the pond, spending reyes in Rio, or getting paid in dollars for
16:13your side gig. You'll get the mid -market exchange rate on every transaction.
16:17Plus, most transfers arrive in less than 20 seconds.
16:20Join us. 15 million customers internationally be smart get wise download the wise app or
16:25visit wise .com t's and c's apply welcome back in play travis buck sexton show
16:31um we've got a lot of different stories that we're following but it is funny
16:36that we may go to war with iran uh we're going to talk with steve
16:40yates at one in like 30 minutes roughly about the possibility of war with iran
16:46uh our friend carol markowitz will join us in the next hour to talk about
16:49issues of the day but prince andrew being arrested has taken over the news cycle
16:56as opposed to whether we might go to war in the middle east um and
17:01there are other news cycle moments that i think are worthy of discussion and one
17:06of them just so happens to be us being completely right about the made up
17:12james tallarico interview i know buck you uh yesterday had fcc commissioner brendan car on
17:18uh the team pulled a bunch of different cuts here but here is a flashback
17:23from tuesday's edition of the show where i said this is going to be so
17:28much more beneficial to tallarico in the texas primary than running the actual interview was
17:36it feels like a rig job here is cut 11 when i hear and see
17:40this controversy emerging i say my goodness this is elite democrat power brokers deciding to
17:49set up this james tallarico interview if it airs it's a huge uh bonus to
17:55him but if it gets shut down under this fcc equal time doctrine i would
18:02argue it's an even bigger bonus for him because most people would have never seen
18:07this but for the fact that stephen colbert went on and attacked his bosses for
18:12not letting him have on james tallarico so guess who now is saying this stephen
18:19colbert himself went on and said way more people watched this than ever would have
18:24seen it this was on the late show uh with stephen colbert cut 10 whatever
18:30talking to me the corporation put out this press release this statement in it they
18:37say the late show was not prohibited by cbs from broadcasting the interview with representative
18:42james tallarico the show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the fcc
18:47equal time rule for two other candidates including representative jasmine crockett and presented options for
18:52how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled the late show decided to
18:56present the interview through its youtube channel with on -air promotion on the broadcast rather
19:01than potentially providing the equal time options so we obeyed our network and put the
19:06interview on youtube where it's gotten millions of views and i i can see why
19:16tallarico is an interesting guy i don't know what if he should be the senator
19:19but it was a good discussion i wish we could have put it on the
19:22show where no one would have watched it okay so buck here is the other
19:29thing on uh this is harry enton cnn data guru uh sharing all the data
19:36and again this feels like such a rig job the real victim here is not
19:41stephen colbert or james tallarico buck and i can't believe i'm saying this it's jasmine
19:46crockett they're treating her clay is pro royal family pro jasmine crockett today i'm taking
19:52all i'm taking all the tough arguments today pro royal family and and jack i'm
19:58defending jasmine crockett here because they're terrified she would be the nominee the democrat party
20:03and this reminds me of what they did to bernie sanders when they did the
20:08rig job for hillary clinton jasmine crockett is not allowed to go on with colbert
20:14doesn't get to make the case to the texas democrat senate primary voters and meanwhile
20:20listen to harry enton this is a huge story the overall interest in tallarico has
20:27skyrocketed this is cnn pointing out hey the controversy is way better than if he
20:34had just been able to go on the program in the first place you know
20:37i'm gonna quote one of my favorite singers and actresses barbara streisand there's a real
20:41barbara streisand effect going on here what are we talking about here well take a
20:46look here google searches for james tallarico in the u .s up 4900 percent today
20:52versus monday how about in texas where you have that key senate race going on
20:57there up like a rocket we're talking about up 1150 percent so this has actually
21:03been very good news for james tallarico you want that attention you have that primary
21:07going on in a few weeks and he's absolutely gotten it both nationwide and of
21:12course very importantly in the state of texas as well the highest on record uh
21:17so if you look at the gambling markets right the prediction markets as it were
21:22um and you're curious okay what is the impact here um tallarico's chances since this
21:29story came out buck of winning the primary in texas have skyrocketed in this uh
21:36in this prediction market he was starting to fade jasmine crockett was rising and it's
21:43like the democrat party ordered the hit they used colbert and And the real victim
21:49here, the bad guy, is not Donald Trump.
21:51It's not CBS. It's not some executive who rightly pointed out the conflict here.
21:57It's all Jasmine Crockett just getting dunked on by her own party.
22:04This is all I could think.
22:06It feels so self -evident to me.
22:09There's nothing that could have been more clear than this was an op.
22:13And, you know, you called it out right away.
22:15And I think it was definitely apparent to anyone seeing how this was going to
22:19go. But it reminds me of the old days with CNN and the Trump first
22:23term with Jim Acosta when it was, you know, oh, my gosh, like they're shutting
22:27down the First Amendment. Look at how mean they're being to journalists.
22:30There's nothing better for his career than when Trump would make fun of him.
22:33There's nothing better for a CNN anchor than when Trump would go after them because
22:36their audience loves to see that.
22:38There's nothing better for Don Lemon than getting arrested, as we said on this program,
22:42the idea that he was going to bear consequences was just not true.
22:46It's the best thing that ever happened to his career.
22:49And so this victim narrative that they create, it's all just self -serving nonsense, as
22:57we know. But the good news for everybody is James Tallarico is going to get
23:00smoked in the Senate race.
23:01I mean, he's not going to come close, I think.
23:03It's going to be his Beto 2 .0.
23:05Remember Beto? Wasn't he on the cover of Vanity Fair?
23:08It's like, oh, he's like so handsome.
23:10I think he married a rich woman.
23:11Like, this guy doesn't even have a real job.
23:13You know, he's one of these people.
23:14He married a woman whose family has money, and, you know, he wears jeans.
23:20And he's like, we're going to, like, take all your AR -15s, and, like, we're
23:23going to make a big pile of them and, like, light them on fire.
23:26And all the libs on the coast are like, he's amazing, and he wears Wrangler
23:30jeans and cowboy boots, so Texas will love him.
23:33And Texas was like, no, actually no.
23:36So, yeah, I think this is Tallarico is going to be just like Beto, and
23:41it's not going to work for him.
23:42So that's the good news.
23:43Now, I do think the question here going forward is, I know they're going to
23:48toss to the curb. Colbert's show in May, I think, is over.
23:53And in the meantime, as we could well have expected, he's throwing as many fits
23:58as he can, kicking and screaming on the way out to his show, Ceasing to
24:02Exist. And then guess what's going to happen, Buck?
24:04Spotify, or someone like Spotify, is going to give Stephen Colbert $100 million to do
24:11a podcast. And Stephen Colbert is not going to be a victim.
24:15And then every single left -wing legacy media outlet in the country is going to
24:19do a huge story about how Stephen Colbert was a victim.
24:22I can tell you exactly how this is going to play out.
24:25His podcast is going to be highly rated because they're going to promote it like
24:28crazy. And he's going to do basically the exact same show on podcast, and he's
24:32going to make more money.
24:33And it'll be on YouTube, and they'll promote it, and they'll do a huge story
24:37about how Stephen Colbert is the big success, and CBS are the losers.
24:41I can tell you exactly how the next year of Stephen Colbert's life is going
24:45to play out. Which reminds me, they manufacture his popularity, and they manufacture delusions, which
24:51is a fantastic book, Manufacturing Delusion, that all of you who have not already purchased
24:56your copy should go purchase a copy of.
24:58Because this first week, we have to be John Meacham's book.
25:01You know, Clay, I am getting John Meacham, for those of you who don't know,
25:05he's a presidential historian. You know, there's a lot of books about these presidents, okay?
25:09But he became the go -to historian on Morning Joe alongside Beschloss to be like,
25:16Trump is Hitler, and he's going to destroy America.
25:18I have people sending me, because our books came out on the same day, that
25:22if you go to, let's just say, a large brick -and -mortar retailer with many
25:26stores across the country in places, you will see that there will be like 15.
25:30There's a huge display of Meacham's book.
25:32My book, you can't even find it.
25:33You have to, like, go.
25:34It's almost like you're going to buy, you know, the naughty book that you're not
25:40supposed to know exists. Who makes this decision?
25:44Corporate libs in these places.
25:46Because our books are neck and neck in sales.
25:49He has a giant display.
25:51Mine doesn't exist in physical copy unless you go and know the secret handshake for
25:55the guy, you know, stocking in the back.
25:57This is what they do.
25:58So, you know, help me out here.
26:00Show the communists that they don't get to just keep doing this nonsense.
26:04Go buy manufacturing delusion. It's so true if you walk through an airport.
26:09They will give you unbelievable placement at the front of a store for your left
26:14-wing book. You all see it.
26:16I will say, I'm in Amazon right now.
26:20Best review that I've seen so far.
26:24Phenomenal book analyzing how delusion has taken over this country.
26:27I just wish the author had more respect for Taylor Swift, the Beatles of her
26:32generation. Most liked review so far.
26:36That is from me inside of Amazon.
26:39And I am a verified purchaser, to be fair.
26:42You can see that I, if you, if you doubted whether I paid my own
26:45money for Buck's book, it is in my Amazon account.
26:48I am Richard Clay Travis, just so you know.
26:51I don't, I'm actually nervous now that I've said that.
26:53I'm like, have I reviewed anything else?
26:58No, only a couple of things.
26:59So I don't, I was like, oh no.
27:01Like, what else have I reviewed on Amazon?
27:03Only a couple of books.
27:04Another one was like 15 years ago.
27:06Somebody asked me to review it.
27:07So that's the only reviews that are on my Amazon account.
27:10But that is my actual Amazon account.
27:12Go buy your copy of the book.
27:13Uh, and, uh. Oh, yeah.
27:16Ali's saying they used to turn Rush's book over upside down.
27:20Look, what I would say is in the marketplace of ideas, I think about this
27:26all the time. How do you reach people that otherwise might not be aware of
27:31your arguments? We are incredibly thankful for all of you out there that are listening
27:35to us every day. And every day there's a few more of you than there
27:38were the day before, and that's been the case for each of the last five
27:41years. And that's a credit to the staff and the fact that we try to
27:45do a good job with this show.
27:47But there's also tens of millions of people that would like our arguments and do
27:52not get exposed to them.
27:53And so hopefully I hope that they are going to see your book and become
27:58aware that there are arguments like these being made.
28:02Absolutely. Very important. So go check out Manufacturing Delusion.
28:07Tornadoes, hurricanes, forest fires, ice storms.
28:09In a country as large as ours, there's a lot of reasons for power outages
28:13to occur, and each of those can cause an immediate shutdown of the grid.
28:17Without warning, you're suddenly cut off from the people you care about most, unless you
28:21have a set of rapid radios at the ready.
28:23These are long -range emergency radios built for blackouts, natural disasters, and every unpredictable moment
28:28in between. They're small enough to hold in your hand, and with a single touch
28:32of a button, you're in touch with a family member or friend.
28:35Rapid radios just work. Clear communication, long battery life, and durability that stands up to
28:40real -world emergencies. Staying connected shouldn't depend on luck.
28:43It should depend on the tools you trust.
28:45If you want to protect your family during the next blackout, if you want peace
28:48of mind when the weather turns dangerous, take ownership of a set of Rapid Radios.
28:52Go to rapidradios .com right now, check out the new rad one, see the full
28:57emergency features, and grab the launch offer while it's still live.
29:00When the world goes quiet, make sure you don't.
29:03Rapidradios .com. Sometimes, all you can do is laugh.
29:08And they do a lot of it with the Sunday hang.
29:11Join Clay and Buck as they laugh it up in the Clay and Buck podcast
29:15feed on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
29:19Welcome back in to Clay and Buck.
29:21Our friend Carol Markowitz of the Carol Markowitz Show on the Clay and Buck Podcast
29:25Network. And normally, what she does with Mary Catherine Hampton.
29:28Clay, have you been on the Normally Show yet?
29:30I haven't been on the Normally Show yet.
29:32But, Carol, how do we get on the Normally Show?
29:34You two cool days. I know you have guests with the Duo Show or not.
29:37I've been on with Carol, but I don't know if they do guests on the
29:41Duo Show. No, we haven't.
29:43We haven't done guests yet.
29:44But if we were going to do guests, you two would be, like, in the
29:47top ten easily. Top ten.
29:50Top ten. Clay and I have to start a pretty big group.
29:53You would make my top 100 list.
29:55That's how I got married.
29:56That's how I got married, Carol.
29:58I made the top ten.
30:00So, there's that. That makes sense.
30:03Carol, congratulations on all the success of the podcast.
30:07And people should go check out the Carol Markowitz Show.
30:10Now, hard turn here, because we're about to get into something pretty intense.
30:14But it's important. We had the second in less than two weeks, maybe ten days
30:19apart or something. Friends, gender, mass shooting, someone killing members of their own family.
30:26There was the one in British Columbia up in Canada, and now there's one that
30:29just happened in Rhode Island.
30:31This guy in Rhode Island was clearly the most, if you were drawing a picture
30:36or if you were trying to create in a laboratory somebody who was manifestly insane,
30:41it would be this guy.
30:43And the fact that this guy was not considered to be a serious mental health
30:48case that needed immediate attention long before this goes to there's just a complete unwillingness
30:55to see reality when it comes to this transgender stuff now.
30:58Yeah, you're absolutely right. And look, you know, I'm reading this great book, Manufacturing Delusion.
31:03You may have heard of it, but the whole thing is, I mean, it really
31:07is so good. And it's so right for this moment because it's the same question
31:12going on with the transgender debate.
31:14It's like, are you going to tell the truth or are you going to have
31:17to parrot the line that we were told to parrot, which is that there's nothing
31:22wrong or odd or different about declaring yourself transgender and that there is no mental
31:28health component? I think that's absolutely ridiculous, especially when we're talking about young people, because
31:33we've seen the fact that it's such a social contagion.
31:36The number of gay people has not gone up basically in our lifetime, but the
31:40number of trans people has spiked.
31:42So it is this brainwashing thing that is happening across our culture, and it seems
31:49like people are waking up to it.
31:51But right as they're waking up to it, the number of violent incidents involving the
31:57transgender community have really spiked.
32:00And I think it is because they're constantly being told that they're under attack.
32:05This shooter in Rhode Island, he was on Twitter, and he said that, stop bashing
32:11us, or this is why we go berserk.
32:13But no one was bashing him.
32:15It was Kevin Sorbo, the actor, was basically saying that if you're born a boy,
32:20you stay a boy, and that's a fact.
32:23So the fact that something like that can be seen as bashing is the crux
32:28of the problem to me here.
32:29They're put on the defense by the left.
32:31They're told they're under attack, and they're acting out in a violent fashion because of
32:36that. So I'm so fast.
32:43by this you've got three kids i've got three kids i don't know how much
32:47attention you pay to their social media feeds uh meaning what they watch online um
32:53because that's where they spend all their time youtube everything else it seems to me
32:58and again i've got three boys so it might be a bit different because i
33:01know you've got um i think a daughter and two boys yeah that there is
33:05online a unregulated uh attack on the woke world that is way more venomous than
33:17i think a lot of people recognize and i i've kind of talked with buck
33:21about this but you know the this this anti trans agenda is actually now i
33:29would say under 20 year olds particularly boys are just over the bs on a
33:34level that i don't think society has really recognized yet carol because they're saying oh
33:39you know it's people over the age of 50 that just don't get the trans
33:43world and they're the ones that are bigots and transphobes and everything else i actually
33:48think the younger kids see it for the absurdity that it is on a level
33:52that's not being talked about yet yeah i think you're absolutely right it's that younger
33:57generation of gen alpha or whatever but i think they realize the absurdity of what
34:03has happened because i think the generation directly above them were the ones that were
34:07so susceptible to this mass delusion and you know when we moved to florida in
34:13the middle of my daughter was in the middle of sixth grade she had i
34:16would say over 10 friends in new york who considered themselves trans they might have
34:21said they were the opposite gender or they might have said that they were non
34:24-binary or whatever she moves to florida and there is zero she had zero and
34:28that's a real you know how does that happen how does that happen if this
34:32is not a social contagion if it's if it's occurring naturally in nature the way
34:36that they say she still knows the same number of gay people if that didn't
34:40change so i think that um the younger generation has realized that it was something
34:46that spread among the slightly older uh people around them and that they don't want
34:51any part of that they've been it's considered something mock -worthy now like oh you
34:55don't know what gender you are you're non -binary that's ridiculous you know there's been
35:00some major news on this we're speaking to carol markowitz the carol markowitz show is
35:04on the clay and buck podcast network go listen she does a fantastic job um
35:09there's the there's the news that has been breaking about the medical field now having
35:16to take notice of these lawsuits and just yesterday i think it was myu langone
35:20major hospital in in new york based out of new york city um they have
35:25said look because of the regulatory environment i think what they mean by that is
35:28we don't want to get sued they're stopping transition care for uh minors and you
35:37know this so this is actually happening and i think it's important for people to
35:40realize that you can win this battle you can stop them from giving 14 year
35:45olds uh hormones that are going to have terrible effects on their growth and development
35:51uh stop them from having breast removal surgery top surgery as they call it because
35:57they think they're a boy i mean it's crazy stuff this is actually they're taking
36:01real effect now yeah absolutely and you know i think that when that new york
36:05jury awarded the detransitioner the two million dollar award it was the first of its
36:10kind it was the first medical malpractice of its kind to go to trial and
36:14i think that really sent shockwaves through the entire you know industry the the doctors
36:19who had not been held accountable suddenly were going to be held accountable in fact
36:23the the girl in that case she argued that her psychologist you know pushed the
36:28idea on her and that she was impressionable and her mom was afraid and they
36:32just went along with it because they were guilt tripped into it and you know
36:36the numbers are like i think it was around close to 4 000 adolescents 12
36:42to 18 transitioned and that's just in like four years from 2016 to 2020 according
36:48to the department of health and human services that is an insane number of people
36:52who can look back at and say wait what did i do why did i
36:55destroy my body why did i ruin my ability to have children but you know
37:00what the real thing is to me guys we were told this wasn't happening how
37:04could they be stopping procedures that we were told were not happening they it was
37:09always like oh it's ridiculous young people are not having these procedures you have to
37:13be 18 and here they are admitting that they were doing procedures like this and
37:18now that they're going to stop since we've already been talking about the most difficult
37:22topic on the planet um which is trans -related surgeries uh i'm gonna throw you
37:28another uh tough uh universe to step into and i don't know if we've asked
37:33you this yet carol i believe that it would be fair to call you a
37:36swifty in that you and your daughter have been to many taylor swift concerts and
37:42yeah among the greatest of all my predictions uh is that taylor swift is the
37:48modern day beatles buck sexton is outraged by my comparison of the two is that
37:56a crazy opinion in your mind and uh how would you assess it through not
38:01only the prism of your own uh life but also through your daughters and presumably
38:07many of her friends that have uh a strong affinity for taylor swift I really
38:12like Taylor Swift. I don't know if I get to be called a Twifty.
38:14I couldn't name all of her music, but I have been to the show.
38:18My daughter and I went in Liverpool like two years ago.
38:20It was so much fun.
38:21She's a fantastic singer -songwriter.
38:23I think that as a lyricist, she's unbelievable.
38:28Beatles, I don't know. But yeah, of course, she's a cultural force.
38:32I actually thought you were going to ask, if she goes on to have children,
38:36is that going to cause some sort of baby boom among the women who were
38:40told that, oh, you don't need babies to be happy?
38:42I think a Kelsey baby that Taylor Swift is carrying around is going to do
38:46more for fertility rates than any government program.
38:52But do you think that Taylor Swift is...
38:53Are you going to sign on with my take or are you Buck's take that
38:57this is a ridiculous take?
38:59That she's comparable to the Beatles?
39:02Yes. I mean, yeah, she's comparable to the Beatles.
39:05She's comparable to Madonna. She's comparable to any humongous artist of their time.
39:10Sure. I just think that we're forgetting.
39:15I knew I liked Carol.
39:17She's an astute observer of the human condition and regularly analyzes in a perceptive way
39:24the larger media ecosystem. I've always said that.
39:27I mean, I just think that you look at the Beatles, maybe it has the
39:30biggest impact on music. Oh, she's coming after the mustache.
39:34Oh, she's coming after the mustache.
39:35Carol, I have grown. The beard has started to come back in.
39:39The mustache is longer. I'm going to make a decision going forward how exactly this
39:46decision is going to go.
39:48But, I mean, look, let's be honest.
39:50I am the most trusted mustache in news.
39:55Well, yeah, that's true. There aren't a lot.
39:57It's not a lot of competition, but that makes me the most trusted.
40:00Absolutely. Yeah, I think it's time to shave that.
40:03And I'm not just saying that because I like your wife.
40:07I like, I think the mustache is great.
40:09Buck is a fan. Well, that's a wrong opinion, Buck.
40:14Well, you know, I'm entitled.
40:16There we go. Go check out the Carol Markowitz show, everybody.
40:19Check it out on the Klamuck Podcast Network.
40:21Ms. Markowitz, great to have you as always.
40:23Thank you, guys. Imagine walking into a cavernous building full of old -school electronic equipment.
40:30Rows and rows of VHS machines, Super 8 film projectors, photo scanners, audio cassette machines,
40:36you name it. This is what Legacy Box looks like here in my home state
40:39of Tennessee down in Chattanooga where my mom grew up.
40:42And I spent a lot of time.
40:44And, in fact, with Adam and Nick, I'm going to be seeing them next week
40:47because Adam and Nick are awesome.
40:49Look, they built a really successful business.
40:51You know what they're also fighting for?
40:52A crazy idea. Let's balance budgets.
40:55And so they've got an organization called In the Black, which focuses on governments not
41:01overspending, that they help support.
41:03I'm going to be talking with them about it next week.
41:05But these guys are just, they're great American patriots who have built a business that
41:09is having a tremendous amount of success because they're trying to preserve family memories.
41:14They want you to be able to share your old VHS cassette tapes, your 8mm
41:21film reels, your old photos, whatever it might be.
41:25What would happen? What would happen if, unfortunately, you had a flood or if your,
41:30let's say, your garage caught fire?
41:32Something goes wrong and all those old family memories, well, they may not survive the
41:37disaster. Or if you've got somebody who is your family member, elderly, and they're putting
41:43them in the garage or in the attic, and you just don't know where they
41:47are. They can get lost in transition from a move, everything else.
41:51What if you digitized them once and for all to make sure all those great
41:54family memories are shareable with the kids and the grandkids?
41:57That's what Legacy Box does.
42:00It's super easy. You send in your originals.
42:02They digitize them. They send you back your old copies.
42:05We've both done it. You will love it.
42:07Go get hooked up today.
42:09LegacyBox .com, 50 % off today.
42:13That's LegacyBox .com slash Clay.
42:16LegacyBox .com slash Clay for 50 % off.
42:20You ain't imagining it. The world has gone insane.
42:25We claim your sanity with Clay and Buck.
42:28Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
42:32This podcast is brought to you by Wise, the app for international people using money
42:37around the globe. With Wise, you can send, spend, and receive in over 40 currencies
42:42with no markups or hidden fees.
42:44Sending pounds across the pond, spending reyes in Rio, or getting paid in dollars for
42:49your side gig. You'll get the mid -market exchange rate on every transaction.
42:53Plus, most transfers arrive in less than 20 seconds.
42:55Join 15 million customers internationally.
42:58Be smart. Get Wise. Download the Wise app or visit Wise .com.
43:02T's and C's apply. Welcome back in.
43:04Play Travis. Spock Sexton Show.
43:07Rolling into the third hour here in a bit.
43:10But yesterday, I believe it was yesterday, President Trump had a black history celebration in
43:16the White House, and a grandma got up, and she has gone mega viral for
43:22what she said, and you can enjoy that here.
43:25This is a pro -Trump grandma.
43:28Listen. The beautiful bill that's going to change crime in the district if you kill
43:35somebody, okay? You'll see. take a life you do life just that simple if you
43:43do a harsh crime you do harsh time just that simple and then we need
43:49national guard and which we did years ago he brought it on i love him
43:57i don't want to hear nothing you got to say about that racist stuff and
44:00don't be looking at me on the news hating on me because i'm standing up
44:04for somebody that deserves to be stand up for get off the man's back let
44:08him do his job he's doing the right thing back up off of me and
44:14grandma said it uh that is the grandma said it uh a lot of you
44:23nodding along out there um that was yesterday in the white house um as uh
44:28as president trump uh honored black history and actually spent a decent amount of time
44:32i believe based on the clips that i saw also talking about the reverend jesse
44:36jackson who he got along with trump did uh quite well um and uh and
44:41issued a statement that i thought was uh very kind uh on the passing at
44:4684 years old of jesse jackson um i one other good bit of news here
44:53as we finish the hour since i'm trying to look and make sure we got
44:55good news 30 -year mortgage rates are hitting four -year lows today buck um i
45:02don't know how much attention it's going to get they're still high right at six
45:05percent on a 30 year and i know many of you out there have got
45:09three percent three and a half percent four percent mortgages and so you're not going
45:14to be moving but these mortgage rates coming down uh to an era before they
45:22started to skyrocket because of joe biden's inflation it is hugely important to the american
45:28economy because we have to get more houses on the market pricing will be more
45:34reasonable all those things so many people are not willing to move because of the
45:38mortgages that they have we get them back down to five percent it's going to
45:42make a tremendous difference we could be moving in that direction at some time this
45:47year but mortgage rates 30 years have hit a four -year low worth mentioning uh
45:52for people out there as the spring shopping season for homes gets closer and closer
45:57um i think there may be a little bit more thawing because so many people
46:02are just not willing to move based on the 15 and 30 year mortgage rates
46:06that they got i know a bunch of you are nodding along right now because
46:09you're saying hey i can sell my home but i'm gonna have to pay way
46:13more in mortgage rates no matter where i move and that is often true for
46:17a lot of people out there so uh that is uh is worth uh mentioning
46:21and uh and as positive very very nice everyone can sleep soundly at night knowing
46:30that the mortgage rate has dropped some basis points here by the way we said
46:35a lot of positive thing about but uh buck's book which is surging the bestseller
46:39list a vip did find a typo buck and because this audience is more obsessed
46:46with grammar than anyone he felt compelled to write in the book is excellent but
46:52just letting you know that contact tracing was spelled contract tracing on page eight buck
46:59how dare you i i that typo i caught it when i was doing the
47:04audiobook of manufacturing delusion which you should all go download if you have not already
47:08go get that audiobook um but clay when i was reading it that one that
47:13one hit me hard man that one was that was the one i told you
47:16that the toughest thing about doing an audiobook is you see things that you want
47:21to fix and it's too late because they're off to the printer already i have
47:25read i read the manuscript the final manuscript i'm 30 times through i mean so
47:31many to the point where it was like a like i just my eyes were
47:35falling out of my head and i didn't catch that one so that was the
47:38one typo that we weren't able to fix that i knew was there but i
47:42promise next edition will be gone this podcast is brought to you by wise the
47:47app for international people using money around the globe with wise you can send spend
47:51and receive in over 40 currencies with no markups or hidden fees sending pounds across
47:57the pond spending ray eyes in rio or getting paid in dollars for your side
48:01gig you'll get the mid -market exchange rate on every transaction plus most transfers arrive
48:06in less than 20 seconds join 15 million customers internationally be smart get wise download
48:11the wise app or visit wise .com t's and c's apply this is an iheart
48:15podcast guaranteed human