Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Feb 13 2026
2/13/202656 mincomplete
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0:30Audi, Vorsprung durch Technik. Welcome to today's edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton
0:38Show Podcast. Welcome in Friday edition, Clay Travis, Buck Sexton Show.
0:44We appreciate all of you hanging out with us as we are taking you into
0:49the weekend. We have got a ton to discuss with all of you.
0:54Most importantly, that the economic information and indicators that are out there continue to be
1:02quite strong. Friday morning, just about two hours ago, the latest inflation read for January
1:11came in at 2 .4 % inflation.
1:16That is the lowest core inflation number that has existed since March, I believe, of
1:242021. That is the very beginning of the Joe Biden administration before the disastrous rise
1:32to 9 .1 % inflation began, which I believe peaked in around June of 2022,
1:38if I remember off the top of my head.
1:41Some of you out there might be saying, okay, well, what does that mean in
1:45real terms? It means that the Fed's target inflation rate of 2 % is easily
1:51within target. It means that all of the histrionics surrounding Trump's decision to implement tariffs
1:58have not led to soaring inflation.
2:01And it means that overall the economy is moving in a very, very good direction.
2:07And as we sit here midway through February, Buck, what jumps out to me is
2:12the most recent GDP rating that we got, the most recent reading that we got
2:18on the GDP was 4 .4 % growth.
2:22Wages have now begun to outpace the growth of inflation in a fairly substantial way.
2:29What you're seeing as all of this kind of works together is the secured southern
2:35border is helping to result in significant declines in rent.
2:40And I know many of you may be starting to see this as your rent
2:44bills come up, as your leases come up, and you're looking around.
2:49And whereas in the past, the landlords have been able to just jack rates up
2:53at a really rapid pace, that is no longer occurring.
2:57In fact, rents have begun to come down.
3:00That is the basic law of supply and demand, Buck.
3:04What happens when 2 million -plus illegals leave the country is the overall demand for
3:10rental properties in general begins to decline.
3:12So if you pair 2 .4 % inflation, again, the lowest since March of 2021
3:18at the core number, and you pair it with a 4 .4 % GDP growth
3:22rate, and you add in that we were at the lowest murder rates since 1900,
3:27that we have the most secure border in any of our lives, and that the
3:32stock market is at record highs, starting to think that things are pretty great.
3:37Now, again, I understand it might take a little while for all of this to
3:41start to pull in a direction when everybody feels it across the nation, but the
3:45metrics, they are really, really good.
3:47But it's looking fantastic. Some people are saying the greatest economy of all economies, and
3:53I think it's only going to get better from here, quite honestly.
3:56One of the really important data points here, one of the indicators that you're not
4:02going to hear enough about because it's not only good for the economy, but it
4:07very much goes to the ideological differences between Democrat and Republican governance, and that has
4:12to do with job creation that is actual jobs in the economy versus just creating
4:18more slots for bureaucrats in the government.
4:21And that's something that Democrats did this, and there was a huge surge of this
4:26during COVID, these what I call low -show jobs, where you don't really do anything,
4:31you've just got to be there, but you don't do anything.
4:33There's no -show jobs, which those are generally illegal, or, you know, if you're in
4:38the government, those are illegal.
4:39There's low -show jobs, though, where you have no actual productivity, no real metrics, and
4:43you're just a drain on the actual productive economy.
4:47Scott Besson spoke about this, Clay.
4:49This is cut to where he's just saying we're not just creating jobs in general.
4:54These are private sector jobs while government jobs are going down.
4:59Play two. What was even more impressive about the numbers is the private sector numbers
5:03were more than 170 ,000, and government jobs were reduced by more than 40 ,000.
5:10More than 30 ,000 of that was federal jobs.
5:14We're at the lowest ratio of government jobs to total jobs since 1966.
5:20And this is part of President Trump's plan to reprivatize our economy.
5:24economy and i i think as i've said many times 2025 is about setting the
5:30table uh 2026 is going to be a a banquet for the american people the
5:36economy is taking off clay this is so critical this is the midterm election really
5:42this is run up the scoreboard so it's clear if you want a strong economy
5:48forget about every trump tweet that you were told was so mean or whatever you
5:52want a strong u .s economy you got to keep the republicans in charge yeah
5:56look and i building on what secretary of treasury uh scott besant said there and
6:01i think we mentioned this earlier in the week but i want to hammer it
6:04home again um we added 130 000 private sector jobs that's after we take away
6:11the fact that we declined government jobs substantially in fact buck the number of government
6:17employees is down over 10 percent since uh donald trump came into office we have
6:24eliminated roughly 350 000 jobs from people who are funded by taxpayers so it's not
6:33i think this is really important because people look at the overall jobs and the
6:37growth for everybody out there that's paying taxes that we have eliminated 10 percent of
6:43the people that we are required to pay for on the federal government's dole and
6:48ideally what appears to be happening is those people are actually going into the private
6:53sector and getting jobs that don't require the federal government to be paying their salaries
6:58so this is a huge net positive uh for everyone out there and again um
7:04i i know it takes a little while for all of the larger macro big
7:10picture economic issues to translate all the way through the entire economy one thing i
7:16would say that a lot of people notice every single day is the price of
7:19gas is down substantially uh and overall again gas and rent are actually declining uh
7:27which is a uh a pretty transformative change and one other thing we should mention
7:31is a lot of times january inflation comes in hot uh it comes in higher
7:37than people expected because during the holidays uh spending is sometimes tough to measure in
7:43january it sometimes comes in hot we're actually set up for as we move into
7:48the spring i think inflation to be back down to two percent which is the
7:52fed's target uh and when that happens then you're going to get more interest rate
7:57cuts which means your mortgages which means your car payments which means uh everything out
8:03there your credit cards in theory everything is going to get cheaper uh because the
8:08economy is starting to fire on all cylinders again and that will free up the
8:12housing market which has been essentially frozen because so many people got three percent mortgages
8:19uh and are just not going to move even if it would make sense to
8:22move uh because rates are so much higher than what they got here is on
8:28that point clay because there's the numbers and then there's what people feel yeah and
8:31in politics you got to make um uh both line up there's the good data
8:35which we were just talking about the jobs but then it's how expensive does gas
8:39feel how's your rent how are the things that matter to you day to day
8:42the paycheck kitchen table issues that are really at the heart of american politics and
8:46always will be uh because this is something that people feel and they know and
8:51no matter what the tv tells them their reality is their reality scott bessen's pointing
8:56out that we saw real wage growth last year but it could be great and
9:01this will really go to this point if you get really substantial wage growth and
9:05and low inflation in 26 people are going to feel it this is cut three
9:09play it there's two ways to fix affordability there is bringing bringing down prices and
9:15things like energy energy energy is coming down energy is a core component of everything
9:21for consumers so as that comes down we will see the inflation levels come down
9:27but on the other side it's real uh income increases and we've seen real we
9:33saw real wage growth in 2025 i think it could be very strong in 2026
9:40and i think the american people are going to start feeling it there we go
9:45clay yeah look and again i think the big challenge of 2026 is going to
9:52be is and are the average voters going to recognize that the trajectory of the
9:58economy is very positive or is it still going to feel bad because of the
10:03biden hangover i think that is the number one question for 2026 and in fact
10:08if you go back and you look and i like to go back and look
10:11at modern recent history presidential um it took a while for reagan's economic uh bona
10:18fides to start to hit 1984 we've talked about it was an all -time landslide
10:251982 wasn't great um and so the beneficiary ironically of the policies that trump has
10:33put in place because trump can't run again is not going to be donald trump
10:37it's going to be jd vance or whomever the presumptive republican candidate is going to
10:42be because i think it's going to be impossible to argue by 2028 that everyone
10:48can't see that the economy is firing on all cylinders The tough thing for Trump
10:53is he doesn't get to run on that.
10:55And we talked about this earlier in the week.
10:57Everybody forgets we had the best economy in the history of the country in February
11:02of 2020. And then COVID happened.
11:04If COVID doesn't exist, then Trump wins, I think, a very comfortable election win over
11:10Joe Biden. And he's already out of office.
11:13I don't know who would be in office right now.
11:16And I think our economy would be in a much better place, obviously.
11:19Now Trump is having to rebuild the mess that is Biden.
11:22He's going to fix it again.
11:23And then somebody else is going to be benefiting going forward.
11:29Take your calls. Take your talkbacks.
11:31Get into all of it.
11:32But I've got to say, another good week in the books for this Trump administration
11:36and staying the course right now with a lot of these policies is the smart
11:41move. And it is amazing.
11:42We'll start to go back 12 months in time to pull what was being said
11:47a year ago by the so -called financial intelligentsia reporters and, you know, the CNBC
11:54commentariat. The economists quote economists like which economists, the ones that hate Trump.
12:01Those are the only ones that find their way into most major newspapers and all
12:05the rest. Because they said that this was going to crash out the economy and
12:09the economy is kicking ass.
12:11That's the truth. Now, I understand that doesn't mean that it's perfect.
12:14That doesn't mean that there aren't still high prices or, you know, this is we
12:17have to level set expectations here.
12:20But I think you're going to see more and more really strong indicators and things
12:26are going to start to align even more this year.
12:27And so the Democrats, I don't know, maybe they'll have to, like, fake another, you
12:32know, mass pandemic or something.
12:34They'll do something. They'll come up with some way to explain why things aren't as
12:37great as they are. But we'll continue to follow this one very closely, my friends.
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13:30Buck has got... Trust me, on hour three is going to be fun.
13:34Hour three is going to be fun.
13:35We got some great audio.
13:38I don't know about you, Buck, but this is actually not that.
13:42This is a bit of a sad aspect.
13:44We mentioned that James Van Der Beek, 48 years old, star of Dawson's Creek and
13:50Varsity Blues, died. And somebody shared with me, it was you, and then I shared
13:57it, and so many people were reacting to it.
13:59But Varsity Blues was an all -time teen and football movie.
14:07And I bet a lot of you saw it.
14:08It had a large number of, at that time, people in their late teens or
14:13early 20s that were stars in that era.
14:16It's for people who grew up in the 90s was a big movie.
14:18I don't think our parents saw it, but yeah.
14:21But that three of the icons of that movie are all now dead.
14:28Paul Walker, that's the guy from Fast and the Furious, but he was in this
14:34movie. He was the star of the Fast and the Furious movies who died in
14:37a high -speed car accident.
14:39And then the Billy Bob character, all three of them have passed.
14:43And James Van Der Beek had six young kids, 48 years old, and this was
14:50his final message. And this has gone viral, and I don't know how many people
14:54have heard this. But James Van Der Beek, as you mentioned, Buck, was on Team
15:00Sanity. It would not stun me if he sometimes listened to this show.
15:05And again, he had six kids, and I think it was colon cancer, which has
15:10become very deadly, it seems like, for a lot of younger men that you wouldn't
15:15anticipate. Chadwick Boseman, who played the Black Panther, among other roles, also, I believe, died
15:21of colon cancer. But here was James Van Der Beek's final message.
15:25I thought maybe it would resonate with some of you like it resonated with me
15:29when I heard this yesterday.
15:31Cut 21. I was younger.
15:33I used to define myself as an actor, which was never really all that fulfilling.
15:39And then I became a husband, and that was much better.
15:41And then I became a father, and that was the ultimate.
15:44I could define myself then as a loving, capable, strong, supportive husband, father, provider, steward
15:54of the land that we're so lucky to live on.
15:56And for a long time, that felt like a really good definition to the question,
16:00who am I? What am I?
16:03And then this year, I had to look my own mortality in the eye.
16:08I had to come nose to nose with death.
16:10And all of those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped from me.
16:14I was away for treatment, so I could no longer be a husband that was
16:19helpful to my wife. I'm out.
16:20I'm out. I could no longer be a father who could pick up his kids
16:22and put them to bed and be there for them.
16:25I could not be a provider because I wasn't working.
16:28I couldn't even be a steward of the land because at times I was too
16:32weak to prune all the trees during the window that you're supposed to prune them.
16:36And so I was faced with the question, if I am just a too skinny,
16:40weak guy alone in an apartment with cancer, what am I?
16:47And I meditated and the answer came through, I am worthy of God's love simply
16:53because I exist. And if I'm worthy of God's love, shouldn't I also be worthy
16:58of my own? And the same is true for you.
17:04I just thought that was really very well said for a 48 -year -old.
17:09And again, he has left behind six very young children.
17:14They're the lovely family, but I think for a lot of people out there, because
17:22he's relatively young, you don't expect people in their 40s to pass with young families
17:26that they're taking care of.
17:28And I think a lot of people have been sharing that because it did feel
17:33like a very profound revelation from him.
17:36And I think a lot of people find purpose, particularly men.
17:40I think this is one of the biggest challenges that exists in our society today,
17:44Buck, is when you tell men that they shouldn't be providers and that they shouldn't
17:49be fathers and they don't have people that rely on them, most men are not
17:54at their best. I think that's fair to say.
17:57When men act entirely in their own self -interest and they do not have people
18:02to provide for, protect, and basically be the strong backbone of a household, I think
18:10most men are at their worst.
18:13And I thought that evolution in James Van Der Beek's perspective on, a lot of
18:17people say, oh, I'd love to be in a movie.
18:20I don't know. I've done a couple of things in film.
18:25It honestly seems really boring to me, Buck.
18:28You do the same scene over and over again.
18:30Like, this job is way better than being an actor.
18:31You're going back for your IMDb here, Clay.
18:35Well, I mean, I just, I think a lot of people think, oh, being an
18:38actor would be cool. And if you've ever been in one of those trailers and
18:42you've ever done a scene in a movie or you've ever filmed anything, I like
18:47live television. I like live radio because I imagine I probably would like live theater
18:52because there is no safety net.
18:54But the idea of doing the same scene 40 different times from every angle, it's
18:59miserable. Like, I did not enjoy it at all.
19:01And I think a lot of people, you know, he had a great deal of
19:04success there, but I think what he's recognizing is something much more profound than personal
19:09success. Yes, I just, Clay drawing upon his time as a thespian to weigh in
19:15on this one is very Clay, and I appreciate that.
19:20His speech here or his message here, which I even share with my own, with
19:25my family. I just thought it was really worth hearing, worth watching and listening to.
19:28I'm very glad you played it on the air.
19:30It reminds me of a memoir that was written by Paul Kalanithi, which you can
19:39get. It's short. It's called When Breath Becomes Air.
19:42And it's about this absolute top neurosurgeon who finds out right when he's about to
19:49sort of hit his peak of saving lives and, you know, operating on tumors that
19:56are the hardest to operate on, all this kind of stuff, that he has terminal
20:00cancer. And then the book is really a meditation on being a dad, being a,
20:05you know, a man, everything, you know, father.
20:09And it's just really beautifully written.
20:11And I think that if you're ever looking for something that's, I mean, you will
20:15read it in a weekend for sure.
20:17Get Manufacturing Delusion first, which comes out on Tuesday, but I can't be selling other
20:22people's books right now. But, no, it's a really, if you haven't read When Breath
20:25Becomes Air, it's a really beautiful memoir, and it goes into a lot of these
20:29things. By the way, he was a man of faith, Paul Kalanithi.
20:33So I think a lot of you would, you know, love being a dad, love
20:36being a husband, but he's very honest.
20:38He's also wildly brilliant. That comes across from, you know, he was like the, Clay,
20:43he was like the Stanford neurosurgeon guy, you know, that was the up -and -coming
20:49in California at the hospital and everything else.
20:51You know, he's like, he's the guy that you would make the doctor, like, soap
20:57opera or, you know, Grey's Anatomy around as, like, the super doctor.
21:01He was that guy. And so I think it's really powerful to sort of go
21:06through his thoughts. He knew he had a year to live, and he wrote this
21:09book, and that's what he did for the year.
21:11So I would recommend that to you.
21:13You can get it bundled with Manufacturing Delusion, which is out on Tuesday.
21:17So, okay, there we have that.
21:20But I'm glad you played James Van Der Beek.
21:21I'm going to tell you something.
21:22People used to say all the time when I was in high school that I
21:25looked like Pacey. Ah. Constantly.
21:28I was told that I looked like Joshua Jackson.
21:31And right now, I might look more like Senor Joshua Jackson.
21:35My haircut is a little Miami.
21:38But Joshua Jackson and I, Pacey from Dawson's, people would see me at parties, they're
21:42like, yo, it's Pacey. So Dawson's Creek had a really profound effect.
21:47So Dawson's Creek had a really profound effect.
21:47On my youth. That was a great show, entertaining show back in the day.
21:53All right, we will take your calls.
21:55It is the Friday edition of the program, 800 -282 -2882.
21:59Our friend Senator Ron Johnson will join us.
22:02Again, a lot of different news stories out there that we will continue to track,
22:06including, and it doesn't seem like there has been very much of an update at
22:11all as it pertains to this, but we are continuing to monitor, and that is
22:17the Nancy Guthrie case. So we will keep you updated on that.
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23:31We just have some updates for you from President Trump talking about a few issues
23:37that we wanted to bring to your attention.
23:38Now, the audio on this is not going to be perfection because it is near
23:44Marine One, but we will make sure that you want to play it for you.
23:49Here, the President says, the best of our ability.
23:51And then we'll talk about some of these issues because he does discuss, of course,
23:55the latest economic numbers. I think the Trumpster is feeling pretty good about, as he
24:00should, he feels good and he knew that he would.
24:05It is, in fact, a strong economy.
24:07Here is Trump on, this is just moments ago, getting into Marine One, the helicopter.
24:15This is 24. Play it.
24:16Good financial numbers, very low inflation.
24:20We brought costs way down, and the numbers were surprising, except me, they weren't surprising.
24:27So the inflation numbers that just announced, as you know, are way down, and we
24:32have it back in track.
24:34We had the worst inflation in the history of our country, and now we have
24:38very modest inflation, which is what you want to have.
24:43Clay, it's all true. This is the reality.
24:46And you'll notice, if it wasn't true, this is something you always have to remember
24:49about Trump. If what he was saying, if there was a ready rejoinder to it,
24:53if there was some other side of the coin that they could focus in on
24:58right away, we'd hear it.
24:59But, no, these numbers are what they are, and they're all trending in the positive
25:04direction. Yeah, here's what I tweeted out a little bit ago in the wake of
25:10the inflation that Trump just hit.
25:12Sometimes I think it is hard because there's such a daily drumbeat of insanity that's
25:19happening in the country. It's sometimes hard to think big picture, and you get kind
25:24of bogged down in the details.
25:25But just think about this.
25:26We're a little bit over a year into Trump 2 .0, okay?
25:304 .4 % GDP at the end of the year.
25:34That's the latest GDP numbers we have.
25:37That's extraordinary, 4 .4%. And there's rumors, Buck, as we have discussed on this program,
25:44that GDP might be 5 % or better in 2026, which is unheard of.
25:51People say, you know, typically you want 2 % or 3%.
25:56If you got 5 % to get 4 .4 % is extraordinary.
26:002 .4 % inflation, that's the number that just came out this morning.
26:05Record high stock market, lowest murder rate since 1900, most secure border in history, and
26:14a 10 % decline in government employees.
26:18That's honestly pretty extraordinary for year one.
26:22Now, I understand, and trust me, I'm sure the Trump administration understands, there's more work
26:27to be done. But if I had told you that we were going to end
26:312025 at 4 .4 % GDP, 2 .4 % inflation, record high stock market, lowest
26:38murder rate since 1900, most secure border in history, and a 10 % decline in
26:43government employees, I don't think that most of you would have believed that was possible.
26:48I don't. And by the way, I was asking the question, because I do think
26:52there is a little bit of a historical echo, 1992 versus 2026, Democrats gained 26
27:01seats in Reagan, 1982, the midterm of Reagan, and the Senate basically didn't change at
27:08all. And then in 1984, we had the landslide Reagan election victory over Mondale.
27:14What did I just say?
27:15down but democrats won the national popular vote in 1982 by 11 so if you
27:21how they do in 86 i think 86 would be a better analogy to where
27:26we are now because we're in the second term of trump and we just had
27:29a huge trump win the challenge i think buck is you got double reagan terms
27:34so i almost think we got two one -term trumpers right so to me the
27:39analogy trump won bigger in 24 than he did in 16 so to me yeah
27:46your your 86 analogy is not a bad one i'm sure that ronald reagan lost
27:52seats in the house and the senate because i believe and this is off the
27:57top of my head i think in the modern era only in 1998 and 2002
28:02did the party in power gain seats in midterm elections usually the party in power
28:09loses seats uh and is on its back foot again i think that's one of
28:13the challenges here 2018 was a rough one for trump's first term unfortunately in the
28:18house as we recall uh and also unfortunately we've lost a number three should have
28:24won senate seats in georgia alone we gave up three senate seats in one state
28:30that when you go back and look at look at what happened there it was
28:34total own goals by the republicans uh in every sense in every one of those
28:39uh but let's get back to trump here what he's saying uh because some some
28:43questions about national security here about potential strikes on colombia venezuela and even mexico against
28:51the cartels this is 25 let's hear what he said don't worry about it uh
29:05it's a very trump answer he goes more here though clay this is 26 he
29:09says he's gonna have to go to venezuela himself that will be really interesting play
29:1526 what are you planning to visit venezuela first i'm gonna make a visit to
29:19venezuela wait wait we haven't decided are you from venezuela from colombia sir we just
29:26had a good meeting with you then we had a good meeting with colombia venezuela
29:32still very much it remains to be seen how successful the aftermath of the maduro
29:40uh arrest uh the is really a military operation but they have arrested him he's
29:46in federal court now sitting in federal prison so we'll see where that ends up
29:50going clay but that's something that i think the president is going to have to
29:52focus in on and drive some of that policy himself not only that buck you're
29:58you're down in south florida i'm up on the panhandle so i'll be in the
30:01panhandle for the weekend uh up in north florida uh which i love it here
30:06but cuba we have not talked a great deal about cuba as a major reverberation
30:14of the operation that took place in venezuela um i don't know if you you
30:20read this buck but there is so little fuel now in cuba because venezuela used
30:26to be providing a lot of the oil and gas to allow cuba to exist
30:29trump has put pressure on mexico um and uh fine bomb uh shine bomb fine
30:36bomb is a friend of mine shine bomb who's the the president of uh of
30:40uh mexico not to be confused with fine bomb very different very different shine bomb
30:45and fine bomb two different people one talks about southeastern conference football is a friend
30:49of mine the other is the president of mexico claudia shine bomb um he has
30:53basically put pressure on mexico not to continue to give oil and gas to cuba
30:57either such that the places that fly into cuba and evidently there's a lot of
31:03russian tourism and a lot of uh spanish tourism people still go to cuba from
31:10uh from europe they don't have enough gas to be able to fly in and
31:15refuel at cuban airports so they're basically having to fly and refuel in other countries
31:22and start to pull their tourists out in other words why do you bring why
31:26do i bring this up cuba is within weeks of a complete economic collapse and
31:33i don't know that a lot of people have focused on this but one of
31:37the primary impacts of what happened in venezuela has actually been what's taking place in
31:42cuba and it is possible i say possible that after what is it 79 years
31:49basically 69 years whatever the math is since fidel castro came into power it's possible
31:56that cuba could be really truly collapsing and freedom could be returning to cuba on
32:02some level i think it's actually been under the radar a lot of people focused
32:07on venezuela and there's the oil story there and everything else but maybe the more
32:12immediate outcome might well be the collapse of the cuban government and some forms of
32:19market -based economy returning to cuba after generations where that was not allowed and in
32:27south florida i bet this is a major topic of conversation but cuba could be
32:32an absolute jewel of the global economy if they would just embrace capitalism it's a
32:42beautiful country It is surrounded by thriving Caribbean countries that particularly have taken advantage of
32:52sort of economic resource allocations, meaning the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands and
33:00some of these countries that have allowed businesses to be based there with low tax
33:03rates. I think Cuba would explode, and there is an argument that it could be
33:10utterly transformative to South Florida in many ways for the economic conditions there because Cuba,
33:17in any way, embracing capitalism would take off.
33:20Have you ever been on a cruise?
33:21Have you ever been on a cruise ship?
33:23I have not. I am not a cruise guy.
33:26It doesn't surprise me, but the last cruise I went on was the Disney cruise
33:32with my kids. They loved it.
33:34Five people in one tiny little cruise cabin.
33:37Not ideal. We were all five in the same place.
33:40We went right by Cuba so close, Buck, that you could see all of the
33:44spires and all of the buildings of Havana as we were passing.
33:48If you go look at the cruise industry in general, Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Line,
33:53whatever you want to point to, the entire cruise industry by and large, at least
33:57based in the South, in Florida, they just circle Cuba.
34:03That's all they do. They just go to all of the beautiful islands around Cuba.
34:07I don't think people understand how transformative a free Cuba would be.
34:13A lot of people have forgotten.
34:14Cuba was Las Vegas. Havana was where people would hop on fast boats and head
34:19down to Havana. That was part two.
34:21That was the whole thing.
34:22Hey. I think that we are potentially seeing with Cuba, Venezuela, we'll see what happens
34:28with Iran. Again, the echo of the Reagan era with Trump.
34:32I don't think most people are realizing how quick the capitulation and collapse of Cuba
34:38could really be. We're on the precipice of that happening right now.
34:43There will be something really full circle about that moment when the incredible gleaming tower
34:51of Trump International Caracas goes up and Trump International Havana goes up, you know?
35:00Yeah. And not impossible. I would even say I give it 50 -50 that at
35:06some point it happens in both those places.
35:07I don't think it's crazy at all.
35:08Let me ask you this because I know Venezuelans are already having these conversations.
35:12How many people go back?
35:15America is an awesome place, right?
35:17The idea has been, you know, the Cubans toast and they say next year in
35:20Havana, all these things. How many people?
35:22I know there will be a lot of cross -pollination.
35:24I think very few. Yeah.
35:25Very few. People don't like to necessarily admit that until they have to make that
35:30decision, but America is America.
35:33It's pretty awesome here. You know?
35:34Yeah. South Florida is really nice.
35:37Like, you know, it's, yeah, Venezuela could get better, but Caracas is a long way
35:43from being South Beach, my friends, and that's not going to change anytime soon.
35:47And Havana, I mean, they basically can't keep the power on in Havana right now
35:51at all. But if you're an illegal and you're here, guess what?
35:57It'd be a good time to go back.
36:00I will say this. I'd like to invest.
36:04I'd like to put a lot.
36:06If we could turn Cuba into an actual capitalistic country, the amount of beautiful countryside
36:13beaches, it's one of the most beautiful countries, I think, in the world, I mean,
36:18Cuba would be. If you really kind of put resources behind it, there's a lot
36:22of Cuban money. I'm curious how much of that money would eventually go back.
36:26You know, the remittances is basically the only reason Cuba has an economy at all
36:30right now, is people giving money back to their family members who still live in
36:34Cuba. So anyway, I just want you to put a pin in that story.
36:37I know some of you who are Cuban, South Floridians, are paying more attention to
36:40it. The biggest impact of what we did to Maduro in Venezuela may actually be
36:46occurring in Cuba in the short terms, and we'll continue to talk about that.
36:51I know we have a huge listenership in South Florida.
36:53Buck and I like to have fun with 80s and 90s throwback.
36:57Lots of memories. Guess what?
36:59Recorded back in the day on old school camcorders, and lots of us from that
37:04generation, VHS tapes, old photo albums, priceless memories.
37:09Heck, just about, how about, you thought how cool it would be to share some
37:14of your old high school photos with some of your friends from high school?
37:18These were pre -digital photos that are out there floating around.
37:22They aren't easy to be distributed.
37:25That's what Legacy Box can do.
37:26They can take your old 8mm.
37:28They can take your old family photos that have been hanging on the walls, that
37:32maybe were in the attic, that were in the garage.
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38:02time machine, time capsule. It's awesome.
38:04We've relied on Legacy Box with great results.
38:07Memories matter. Your family will love reliving all those great...
38:10Moments go to LegacyBox .com slash Clay for 50 % off today.
38:16They do a great job down in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
38:18I've toured their facility. Go to LegacyBox .com slash Clay.
38:31It is Friday the 13th.
38:34Do not walk under any ladders.
38:38Make sure you dodge any black cats in your path.
38:42Do not say Candyman and then repeat that same thing several times into a mirror
38:49in the dark. What else am I missing, Clay?
38:51What are the other rules for Superstition, the Occult, and Friday the 13th?
38:58For those of us who grew up in a certain region, I don't think it
39:02was well known, we were told don't screw around with the Bell Witch.
39:07Have you ever heard of the Bell Witch legend?
39:10B -E -L -L. They kind of based, you remember the movie, the handheld movie
39:17back in the day? I mean, Blair Witch.
39:22Real talk here for a second.
39:23Real talk here, Clay. We're friends.
39:24Did you have a banjo growing up?
39:29They based the Blair Witch project to a certain extent on some of the legacy
39:36of the Bell Witch. But back in the day, the Bell Witch was the one
39:40that we focused on the most.
39:42And actually, the Bell Witch is...
39:43What's the story of the Bell Witch?
39:44I don't know anything you can tell me about it.
39:45Bell Witch is very famous.
39:47In fact, Andrew Jackson, back in the day, went to the home where the Bell
39:52Witch was supposedly haunting. And there's a Bell Witch cave, which you can still tour.
39:58I think it's kind of had a new life on YouTube because there's a lot
40:02of these kids, you know this, that go to the most haunted places and just
40:06take their own personal YouTube paraphernalia, film it.
40:10It's super popular. You know, I know they've done television shows about this, but there's
40:15a certain genre of it on YouTube that my teenage boys have ended up following
40:19that has gotten a lot of attention.
40:21And so there's been, pardon the term, a resurrection of some of these old, you
40:26know, sort of ghost stories back in the day that have found a new life
40:30on social media, the internet.
40:32I think well -written... So I'm not a horror genre guy in general, but a
40:38lot of it, too. First of all, the older I get, actually, the less I'm
40:43okay with, like, really extreme violence in movies and things.
40:46I just, I don't want that negativity, like, entering my consciousness and my sphere.
40:52So I, anything that... I don't like the slasher genre is what I'm saying.
40:57The more occult, it's eerie, the writing, that stuff, I think can be very well
41:04done. And I think it's far more effective as actual horror than the, like, you
41:09know, guy with, like, the Friday...
41:11The classic, they don't really make those movies anymore, but the...
41:14Slasher films back in the day.
41:16Slasher films, Freddy Krueger... Michael Myers.
41:20Michael Myers, all the... That was a huge genre for a while because dollars in,
41:24dollars out, it may still be the case.
41:27I know it was the case that horror movies were the most profitable genre of
41:33film to be involved in.
41:34Just think about it. What are your costs?
41:36Like, fake blood? You know, a hockey mask?
41:39People... Yeah, the Bloom... I think it's Jason Blumhouse has made a...
41:43It might be Blumhouse. I've read all about it.
41:45You're still right. The horror universe is the most profitable.
41:49Let me give you a couple of things here.
41:52The Conjuring movies are incredible.
41:54Have you watched the Conjuring movies, any of them?
41:56I have not seen those.
41:57I have not seen them.
41:58I think you would like them because they're basically...
42:00It's about a husband and a wife.
42:04They are so well done.
42:05And it's really about their marriage as much, but they are...
42:09They're basically exorcists. They're investigating on behalf of religion the idea of evil in the
42:16world. And I'm sure they're Hollywooded up, but they're based in reality on this husband
42:22and wife couple that this is what they did.
42:25They went and they investigated evil of a vile nature from a religious perspective.
42:32And the movies are supremely popular.
42:34That actually sounds like it's pretty good.
42:36Like, it actually sounds like an interesting premise.
42:37They are really well done.
42:39I don't know what percentage of this audience would have watched them.
42:42They're scary. Was there ever a movie that you watched when you were younger as
42:46a kid that was so scary that you had to turn it off?
42:49Or you're like, I can't do this?
42:51Oh, it's Friday the 13th.
42:53I mean, sorry. Really? No, sorry.
42:54Nightmare on Elm Street. When I was a little kid, because Freddy came to you
42:59while you were sleeping. So if you were a kid and you got in bed
43:03and you had a wild imagination, like I did, and you would be trying to
43:09go to sleep and you would think...
43:10I mean, that was what made, I think, the Nightmare on Elm Street movies so
43:13particularly well done, was they were going to get you when you went to sleep.
43:19So you weren't even safe once you fell asleep.
43:22That was the danger. Let me give you...
43:23The Conjuring are really good, since it's Friday the 13th.
43:27Scream movies. I still really like the scream movies.
43:30I think those are more crime thriller than they are horror.
43:35There's nothing supernatural. It's really just a serial killer.
43:37Yeah, I mean, there's... It's typically stabbing.
43:40So, I mean, it's kind of nasty in the sense that you're getting stabbed with
43:43a knife. Yes, stabbing is not, I'm not going to say, as a genre.
43:47But they're not supremely gory, to your point.
43:50So they're coming out with a new scream, Scream 7.
43:54This is the seventh version of it.
43:56So I would say, to a large extent, you're right.
44:00Would you make a cameo, Mr.
44:02Thespian, in Scream 7, if asked?
44:04People are coming after me.
44:06People think that acting is awesome.
44:08That's what I thought. I was like, man, there's nothing cooler than being in a
44:12movie. It's really boring. You sit in like your little, you know, on set.
44:18You go out. You do the same thing 40 different times from 80 different angles.
44:24And I was like, this is not as fast -paced as I thought it would
44:27be. My mom is going to chuckle right now.
44:29But before she had to just do the mom thing full -time, when she was
44:34early on married to my dad, she was on a soap opera, Doctors, which I
44:39told you about, for a season.
44:41She was a cast regular for a season.
44:43She was the starring role in a Hallmark movie, Summer of My German Soldier.
44:48She was in a, I mean, these were real, like, you know, kind of.
44:52So was she the one who dated the German soldier?
44:55Yeah. Yeah, she was the love interest for the German soldier.
44:58Yeah. And so she was in a number of these things.
45:00So she was a working actress, like a person that was making a living acting.
45:04And she says it's work.
45:06It's brutal. It's a brutal profession because it's so fickle and it was work.
45:10It's not all the stuff that people think about, like red carpet and everything else.
45:14That's the very end process.
45:16That's signing the books at Barnes & Noble.
45:18My very limited time as involved in doing acting.
45:26And again, I've only done it in the context of being an adult.
45:29I love how you're even talking about you doing acting.
45:31You played yourself. Yeah. Come on.
45:36Come on. I played myself.
45:39But I have to say, I did an incredible job playing the role of Clay
45:42Travis. Playing Clay Travis. This is hilarious.
45:45This is great. That's really very funny.
45:46I had never thought that I've only played myself in film and movie.
45:51I don't think I've ever played anybody else.
45:52But this mustache, there's no telling who I could play.
45:54But my point on it is, having done a limited amount of it, the idea
46:00that we give credence to actors.
46:03I spent one day in a trailer.
46:05You know, like everybody goes and sits in their trailers or whatever.
46:08First time I ever did it.
46:09And I was like, why have I ever cared what anybody who did this for
46:13a living? I'm not saying, look, there's great, you know, art that can be produced,
46:19all those things. But the idea that I would desperately care what somebody who sits
46:23around in a trailer and says the same line from 40 different angles thinks about
46:28politics. I remember having that revelation where I thought it was way more challenging and
46:33impressive of a thing to do until I did it.
46:36Clay, this is where I get to remind everybody.
46:38This is where the history nerd comes out.
46:41Actors throughout history were like a step above clowns and prostitutes.
46:46Yeah. And I'm not even sure a step above the clowns like actors for thousands
46:51of years, going back to ancient Greece, were kind of a disreputable bunch.
46:56And it was really only with the rise of cinema in the 20th century.
47:00And then I would say in our I think actors and music acts in our
47:05lifetime were elevated to their absolute pinnacle of prestige and power.
47:10And I think in the last decade we have seen a dramatic decline because there's
47:15also so many other ways and so many other people who get famous now because
47:19of the online world we live in.
47:21So it has dispersed a lot.
47:22But I wanted to go back to horror for a second.
47:24So you said Friday the 13th movies were scary.
47:26What is Nightmare on Elm Street?
47:29Scary. That was the one that I couldn't sleep after watching.
47:32Friday the 13th was fine.
47:33But Nightmare on Freddy Krueger was the one that I was like I'm terrified of.
47:37Whenever one of these movies would come on, even if it was flashed on for
47:39a second, if my dad was around, he was always like, I would just take
47:42my double out buck and I'd finish this guy.
47:45He was always like, Jason's not that scary.
47:47I'd take my 45. That guy would be toast.
47:49I'm like, yeah, but that's like not really the point.
47:51But anyway, tell me, for you, the scariest movie that you have ever seen is?
47:58Oh, that really hits the peak of the sort of fear center in your brain
48:03when you're watching that movie.
48:05For me, there is one.
48:06What is your answer? Actually, my mom read to be in the movie as the
48:11starring role, by the way.
48:12Oh, wow. And I, yeah.
48:14What was the movie for you?
48:16The Exorcist. No question. Number one, still by far, The Exorcist.
48:23So, I watched Paranormal Activity, and I was afraid to go to sleep after watching
48:32it. This has probably been like 15 years ago.
48:34I was a grown up.
48:36I mean, back in the day when I was a kid, it was Freddy Krueger.
48:39But I watched, I think it was Paranormal Activity.
48:42And my wife and kids, and again, this was like 15 years ago, were out
48:48of the house. And I was sleeping in the house by myself.
48:51So, I went to go watch the movie by myself.
48:54My kids were out of town.
48:55My wife was out of town.
48:57And then I came back home, and I turned on every light in the house.
49:02And I barricaded the bedroom door.
49:06before i went to sleep that night as an adult yeah oh yeah i was
49:10probably oh yeah dude i was probably seriously i was probably probably 30 probably it
49:19was about 15 years ago not now i know why laura's the one doing all
49:22the firearms training laura laura's laura's on the ball with the firearms training i turned
49:27on every light in the house and uh and i put something in front of
49:32the bedroom door that that was 30 i watched the paranormal activity movie it was
49:36really really scary wasn't that the most successful financial again not most there's not the
49:42most money that's like avatar in these big movies but dollars in dollars out as
49:46a percentage of profits nothing to make and it was insanely profitable as a hit
49:52uh i always my story about the blair witch project is i was a junior
49:57counselor so i think i was like 16 at a at a at a camp
50:02in vermont and when it would rain it was all outdoor stuff we had these
50:05little when it would rain what do we do we go into burlington we go
50:08into town and we go to a movie and the older counselor who was like
50:1319 or 20 who was like the main counselor he was a crazy guy from
50:17new zealand who was definitely like a little nuts and he was like oi let's
50:21go let's go take the kids to blair witch project and i was like they're
50:27like 14 dude like you really were gonna take all these 14 year old kids
50:31to blair who was the adult i was i'm still in a camp and he
50:36almost i will tell you he almost got fired and like sent home over it
50:39because i actually i will not just say this now i was like i think
50:42i'm not gonna say his name but like i was like i think dude this
50:45is not a good idea and he's like oh he basically pulled rank on me
50:47he's like it's fine these kids you boys will be good let's go and i
50:51was like i don't know clay we had to go back to a dark rainy
50:56campsite that night and the kids the 13 and 14 year old kids were shaking
51:01like leaves after watching oh i don't doubt that at all that seems like by
51:05the way brian in florida is with us he's a former actor i mean if
51:10let me put it this way if you're a professional baseball player or a basketball
51:16player football player it's awesome right a perfect that that job is really cool you
51:21get to play games golfer whatever it is like i can see why people would
51:24aspire to it i've gotten to cover it i've thought to myself this would be
51:28something really fun to do i'm not kidding acting i don't think would be a
51:31very funny a very fun job most actors are weirdos but brian go ahead yes
51:36first of all you guys got me cracking up there and so you brought up
51:41jason blum i actually did productions with jason blum but clay i will say i
51:45chased both of those dreams i was a college athlete i did try to pursue
51:49playing major league baseball i fell short i was a little older i i came
51:53out of high school to the military but i was doing like modeling down in
51:57miami where buck is before as a teenager then got into business and then when
52:02i came home from the military i was like oh let me go i you
52:06know went to junior college in lacc started playing ball and i was doing my
52:10hollywood stuff and and you're so right like i i was just caught up in
52:16it trying to chase the dream really for my family and then you learn like
52:19these people are a bunch of communist idiots and demonic and and like it was
52:26just yeah it's not fun it's not the like how they put on that perspective
52:30of oh it's such a it's it's hollywood no it's man it's brutal it's everything
52:36you guys were saying it was whited on the money and and low key i
52:40when i you know oh well let me tell you i played on a baseball
52:44league with james vanderbeek he was very kind he was a very humble man he
52:48um he actually never acted like he was better than anybody he was a shortstop
52:52on our team i was first base but um and so a lot like you
52:55kind of talk to these guys a little and you like me i was kind
53:00of open about being a conservative i didn't care like my career ended pretty quick
53:03once president trump was coming down the escalators i was a avid voice and hollywood's
53:08like well we can't have this crazy mega guy in here and then i ran
53:13when i found out really the undercover is when i ran for united states congress
53:17during the china virus in 2020 and i was never wearing a mask and in
53:22california i would have a lot of these actors like send me a message bro
53:25like that's awesome man like i can't really come out publicly and support you because
53:30my career would be over but like go for it but you guys are so
53:34right you you guys are cracking me up because it is like who i wanted
53:38to be a baseball player that was my like like like you said clay you're
53:42you're out there playing ball you're playing a game doing something you love to do
53:46acting yeah it's fun being different characters and different things like that but you like
53:51like you said you're sitting sometimes on the set for hours bro like yeah you're
53:56seeing you're seeing they like oh let's cut and then we got to do it
53:59again and then you didn't even get to get really get in there and then
54:02you got to wait again for that scene and sometimes the actor could not even
54:06say this stupid line or two right then they got to cut that and then
54:10you're waiting for them to redo the lighting or even if you're outside then you
54:13got to wait for the lighting even outside to get i'm like oh my gosh
54:17yeah thank you thank you for the call look if you could do a scene
54:21one time and be done with it i would say okay this is better i
54:24can understand why doing a uh like broadway play would be pure because you do
54:30it for two hours that's it you're gone but the actual production of movies for
54:34people who dream of being an actor in Hollywood and stuff like that, the actual
54:38mechanics of it in my limited experience is awful.
54:43Look, how many throw blankets are too many in winter?
54:46I'm down here in Florida right now, and guess what we have?
54:49A bunch of Cozy Earth cuddle blankets.
54:51North Florida. It's not as warm as where Buck is down in South Florida, and
54:55this is one of the softest, most luxurious items Cozy Earth makes.
54:59Over Thanksgiving, my sister came in.
55:02We had one on the couch.
55:04She put it on, covered herself with it, and said, oh, my God, this is
55:07unbelievable. She went online and bought it right then and there.
55:10She had no idea that we did ads for them because cuddle blankets are just
55:16that awesome. By the way, how incredible is the name?
55:19Cuddle blankets. Valentine's Day coming up.
55:21We can have some fun with that.
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56:04Guaranteed human.