Verdict with Ted Cruz - Bonus： Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Feb 17 2026

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.400 Guaranteed human.

00:00:04.180 Welcome in Tuesday edition Clay Travis Buck Sexton show.

00:00:09.240 We appreciate all of you hanging out with us.

00:00:12.960 Off the top, it is the five-year anniversary of Rush Limbaugh passing.

00:00:19.220 We have got a special show that is up on the podcast to honor him.

00:00:26.300 Obviously, we are talking about it off the top of this program, but five years ago today,

00:00:30.840 I know, was a very tough day for many of us, and we are conscious of that and thinking

00:00:37.760 about the Limbaugh family as we are moving throughout the course of today's program.

00:00:44.940 A lot of different news stories out there.

00:00:48.460 Before we dive into all of those, it is also a significant day because Buck Sexton's first

00:00:53.880 ever book has been released.

00:00:55.720 It is in bookstores everywhere.

00:00:58.480 I'm sure that you are doing promotions all over the place in addition to this program,

00:01:04.580 but Buck, right off the top, what would you want people to know about the book and where

00:01:11.860 can they get it?

00:01:13.880 Thank you, Clay.

00:01:15.480 Yeah, Manufacturing Delusion is out.

00:01:18.760 How the Left Uses Brainwashing, Indoctrination, and Propaganda Against You.

00:01:22.600 It is really about the tactics and history of mind control and how you can make people go

00:01:29.020 crazy, basically, or how people allow themselves to be made crazy.

00:01:34.260 Unfortunately, because of some of the headlines, especially some of the trans shooter stuff,

00:01:37.600 I have a whole chapter in the book on what is called menticide.

00:01:42.140 I didn't coin that phrase.

00:01:44.200 A very formerly very well-known and prominent psychiatrist named Dr. Juice Mirloo coined the

00:01:50.280 phrase, wrote a book called Rape of the Mind, where he goes into, it's really a step-by-step

00:01:55.800 of how you break people down, how you decondition them, how you radicalize them, how you do all

00:01:59.820 of these things.

00:02:00.980 And the menticide chapter, I deal with transgenderism and the trans agenda. 0.92

00:02:04.880 So it is very much, that's just one way in which it's very much in the current, in the

00:02:12.060 zeitgeist, if you will, of politics.

00:02:14.080 It's definitely dealing with things happening right now in the news and all around.

00:02:19.860 And I would just note, Clay, right off the top, everybody, look, the book seems like it's

00:02:24.680 doing pretty well.

00:02:25.300 I've had some great people.

00:02:27.540 You know, I've got Megan Kelly did a great interview with me on the book.

00:02:32.360 I'll be with our friend Sean Hannity this week and Glenn Beck and, you know, a lot of

00:02:35.800 the people who have been friends and mentors to me over the years, and they're very, very

00:02:41.000 much on board, which that'll obviously help.

00:02:43.360 But honestly, whether this book is a success or failure, it depends on you.

00:02:47.680 All of you who are listening across the country, I'm not just saying this.

00:02:51.260 I don't know if I'm ever going to do another book.

00:02:53.140 I'm not like Clay.

00:02:54.080 Clay can do a book in 90 days, and then he wants to do another book.

00:02:56.740 But Clay also will do 30 media hits a day and looks crisp like a $100 bill.

00:03:00.920 He's not human, folks.

00:03:01.920 I don't know how he does it.

00:03:02.820 He's got three kids.

00:03:03.720 He's built a business.

00:03:05.080 You can never go beyond Clay's media capacity.

00:03:10.540 Like, he's always got more in the tank.

00:03:11.900 It's amazing.

00:03:12.540 I think this is my one book.

00:03:14.380 I think I'm one and done.

00:03:15.440 And it's just because it took so much, and the CIA had to review it.

00:03:19.960 I talk about my CIA missions to Nigeria, to Mosul, Iraq, to Baghdad, to Afghanistan.

00:03:27.640 I mean, things I've never talked about.

00:03:29.020 Not in great detail, but I get into some of the stuff, some of my remembrances.

00:03:33.940 First time I was in a Blackhawk.

00:03:35.080 Oh, sorry.

00:03:35.560 I think it was the second time I was in a Blackhawk, and it opened up and started shooting all over the place. 0.95

00:03:39.560 And I was like, this is not really what I signed up for.

00:03:42.200 Actually, no, it is what I signed up for, apparently.

00:03:44.860 And then there's all that.

00:03:46.180 But, Clay, I bring this up because this audience, and it is, I know it's the five-year anniversary of Rush's passing.

00:03:51.500 This is the house that Rush built, and we try to be the best custodians we possibly can every day and serve you, this audience that Rush Limbaugh served for 30 years.

00:04:01.400 I would just say this.

00:04:03.120 I need you guys to do me a solid.

00:04:05.560 There are some Trump haters, and therefore also people that despise the right and would have hated what Rush did for.

00:04:12.640 There are some Trump haters out there with books.

00:04:15.180 In fact, one today, John Meacham's book is out today.

00:04:19.500 He's a lunatic Trump hater, and he's a book guy.

00:04:21.740 I'm a radio host who's written a book. 0.97

00:04:23.260 I did write it, by the way.

00:04:24.720 Something else, Clay, I'm just going to point out.

00:04:26.460 I'm not naming any names here.

00:04:27.720 I write my books.

00:04:28.600 Clay writes his books.

00:04:29.340 Very few people actually write their books, which is a whole other thing, too.

00:04:32.600 A lot of people churn out, book, book, book, book, and it's fine, but there's a little name on the front cover usually below their name that's actually the person who did all the writing and research.

00:04:41.660 I actually wrote this book as Clay writes his books.

00:04:44.540 Here's just a note, though.

00:04:45.600 John Meacham, this is a flashback, Clay, to the election in 25.

00:04:49.680 This is the esteemed presidential historian and scholar who has a – I'm not going to name the book.

00:04:55.260 He has a book out today, but this is the guy, just so you know who you're dealing with.

00:04:58.720 Let's play 25. 0.89

00:04:59.980 Paris isn't on trial here in the same way President Biden wasn't on trial when he was running.

00:05:05.380 We are.

00:05:05.920 The American people are on trial.

00:05:07.600 If a sufficient number of us and a sufficient number of states choose to ignore the evidence that, as the Bible says,

00:05:15.220 those with eyes to see and ears to hear can detect, then we have no excuse.

00:05:21.080 We might have an explanation, which is that for a series of reasons, people are not holding the Republican Party and the nominee of that party to rational account.

00:05:32.000 And I think that this is a test of citizenship in a way that certainly you'd have to go back, I think, to both the 19th century and the civil rights era to find anything equivalent.

00:05:43.980 Yeah, it's just like the Civil War all over again.

00:05:47.720 If you voted for Trump, you're on the wrong side of it. 0.99

00:05:49.520 That guy has a book out today, which is crap, by the way. 0.94

00:05:54.080 It's just a bunch of him talking about other people's essays. 0.90

00:05:56.960 But I can tell you, the lib, intelligentsia, the literati, the literary apparatus, they're all behind it.

00:06:04.280 That book has to be number one or it's a failure.

00:06:06.240 Help me beat his book.

00:06:07.780 You listening to this can help me beat the book today. 0.92

00:06:09.820 You want the smug lib who hates Trump, thinks that you're on the wrong side of the Civil War if you voted for him, and the wrong side of the Civil Rights Act, and thinks Trump is a Nazi.

00:06:19.300 You want his book to be number one or you want my book to be number one?

00:06:21.940 It's up to you.

00:06:23.020 I humbly put myself in all of your hands.

00:06:25.800 I don't care.

00:06:26.900 Buy the book.

00:06:27.720 Give it to your best buddy.

00:06:29.340 Give it to your neighbor.

00:06:32.220 Pass it off to them at the fence line when you're watering your azaleas or something.

00:06:35.640 I don't care.

00:06:36.560 Buy a book, if you would, please, for me today.

00:06:38.440 Do me this solid, and that is the way that you can show the libs that the right still reads, we still care, and we're not letting some smug anti-Trumper get the number one.

00:06:49.680 No way.

00:06:50.460 Clay, thank you for letting me make my pitch to this incredible audience of patriots and great Americans who I know are right now going on that Amazon order page or wherever they go.

00:07:00.840 Maybe they're going to a bookstore.

00:07:01.980 That's great, too.

00:07:02.540 And they're getting that book, Manufacturing Delusion.

00:07:05.520 But I'm probably never going to make this ask to you guys ever again, so go buy this book.

00:07:10.100 Buy it today.

00:07:11.800 Awesome.

00:07:12.340 Do it.

00:07:13.420 And you can find it at Amazon.

00:07:15.200 I bought it there.

00:07:16.040 I got it today.

00:07:16.940 A lot of you who pre-ordered will get it today, but it can get shipped out as quick as a day in many different places out there and obviously bookstores all across America.

00:07:27.020 And I did the audio book at your suggestion, by the way.

00:07:29.580 I actually recorded the audio book myself.

00:07:31.520 So if you download the audio book, it's me reading it to you.

00:07:34.460 So that's kind of fun.

00:07:35.540 That's right.

00:07:36.280 And that is a lot of work for people who don't know.

00:07:38.600 You sit in a studio all by yourself for hours and hours reading every word that you wrote.

00:07:44.580 Oftentimes, I'm sure this happened to you, too.

00:07:46.660 You read a paragraph and you're like, I wish I'd written that better.

00:07:49.440 Or I wish I had started with this sentence.

00:07:51.660 Or why did I use that word? 1.00

00:07:53.300 I'm a moron. 0.99

00:07:54.360 And it is very humbling to go back and read every word out loud. 0.99

00:07:59.300 So I would encourage all of you, get out there and buy the book.

00:08:04.140 And it actually ties in today with, we'll get into this in a little bit more detail, but we had another trans shooter, Buck.

00:08:12.980 We had another trans shooter. 0.99

00:08:16.820 And I hate that this story is out there and continues to be out there, but it has become, unfortunately, an awful trend. 0.95

00:08:26.400 Nashville, Tennessee, my hometown, trans person shoots up a Christian school, kills a bunch of innocent people. 1.00

00:08:34.860 Minneapolis, trans shooter shoots up an actual church service, kills a bunch of innocent people. 0.86

00:08:42.160 And now you see in Rhode Island, well, we just had last week in Canada, a trans shooter killed a ton of people in a school-related shooting.

00:08:57.300 And now, during a high school hockey game, a guy who was pretending to be a woman shot and killed two people, wounded, I believe, three, and killed himself as well.

00:09:12.860 And I don't even know, as a society, how we can avoid having real conversations now, just as reasonable people about what is going on.

00:09:27.080 But the dishonesty in the media is crazy.

00:09:30.340 This is the New York Times, how they covered it.

00:09:34.280 At a news conference on Monday night, Chief Goncalves said, this is in the Providence, Rhode Island area, I believe, said the shooter was born in 1969 and went by two different names.

00:09:51.440 They don't even say this was a man who decided to identify as a woman.

00:09:57.800 He destroyed his entire family.

00:10:00.000 The narcissism on this, Buck, is off the charts.

00:10:03.020 His wife said, no, I'm not going to go along with this delusion, and said, hey, we're not going to support you deciding to become a woman. 0.99

00:10:14.120 This is ridiculous. 0.98

00:10:15.900 And he got divorced. 0.98

00:10:18.380 She divorced him.

00:10:19.580 And then he showed up and he killed her at a high school hockey game.

00:10:25.020 I don't know how we can have an honest society if we're not willing to ask very basic questions on this.

00:10:33.020 What drugs are these people on?

00:10:35.220 Is it making them more violent? 0.94

00:10:37.920 Why off the charts now, mass shootings, are they being committed by trans people? 1.00

00:10:43.580 Well, Clay, actually, I think in a lot of these cases, it's they aren't on enough or they aren't on the proper meds.

00:10:51.920 Just keep that in mind, too.

00:10:53.160 As in, this is not treated necessarily.

00:10:56.280 Thirdly, it is not treated as a mental illness.

00:11:00.160 You are to be affirmed in this.

00:11:02.180 So there's the drugs you take to transition genders. 0.70

00:11:04.360 Clay, these people are not necessarily told you need substantial doses of an SSRI or an SNRI or something like that.

00:11:13.260 By the way, a lot of people with mental illness, millions and millions of them, that stuff actually really helps them.

00:11:18.980 And on the right, people get a little quick to be like, oh, have you ever been around somebody who's schizophrenic?

00:11:24.260 You ever been around somebody who has really serious OCD?

00:11:27.640 These meds let them function in their lives.

00:11:30.040 Now, there are some people who are over medicated and some people have the wrong medications.

00:11:33.580 There's a lot of these things.

00:11:34.580 But in this case, Clay, the big problem is that this is not pathologized at all.

00:11:39.700 Yeah.

00:11:39.960 This is affirmation.

00:11:41.860 This is not a disease or an issue to be treated and handled.

00:11:45.940 It is a civil rights issue.

00:11:48.980 Now, what happens if you have mutilated your genitalia because you listened to the American Medical Association and all these different groups and the doctors and the big hospitals and CNN and the New York Times editorial page and all this?

00:12:06.260 And you turn around and some goes, no, this was all a lie. 0.99

00:12:09.360 You're already dealing with a person who is deeply unstable and mentally ill. 0.94

00:12:13.680 And then you tell them that they've ruined their lives.

00:12:16.240 You know, this is the basic question.

00:12:19.960 You brought this up.

00:12:21.300 Did this person have mental illness?

00:12:24.560 Ask a lot of people this in public.

00:12:27.180 And I mean people, whether it's in the news, Clay, or law enforcement or doctors who are supposed to be able to diagnose these things or understand them.

00:12:34.580 They'll say, it's not clear.

00:12:36.420 I can't diagnose.

00:12:37.660 Really?

00:12:38.800 Really?

00:12:39.380 This person wasn't crazy?

00:12:41.420 Let's just use the C word. 0.93

00:12:42.480 Crazy. 0.89

00:12:43.380 Was this person crazy? 0.96

00:12:45.480 Obviously, yes.

00:12:47.040 Why are we all told that we can't say that this person was crazy? 0.96

00:12:51.340 Crazy people need help. 0.99

00:12:52.640 They do not need applause for their craziness. 1.00

00:12:55.300 Yes.

00:12:55.780 Yes.

00:12:57.040 And when you're, we have been sold a bill of goods on this, which is that affirming someone's insanity actually makes them healthier.

00:13:07.980 And if you translate this outside of trans-related issues, and you just said, hey, is it kind to tell people you're really hearing voices?

00:13:19.840 Is it kind to tell people that they're able to talk to dead people?

00:13:24.640 Would it be kind to affirm someone who is schizophrenic in the belief that their delusions are real?

00:13:32.060 The answer, of course, would be no.

00:13:33.820 And so what we have done in an act of intended empathy is actually, I think, made people who are ill that much more ill.

00:13:45.620 And unfortunately now, Buck, what you're seeing is, did you see this guy say in response to the trans congresswoman, congressman, whatever the dude is, that is pretending to be a chick in Congress, he said, if you don't affirm our genders, we're going to go berserk. 0.81

00:14:03.720 The day before he went and killed a bunch of people.

00:14:07.180 So we've now created a world where if you question someone's gender identity, they believe they are entitled, some of them, to engage in violence against others as a way to speak out against not being accepted.

00:14:24.280 Now, I just think this is going to get worse.

00:14:26.940 Unfortunately, we have created this entire trans world and these people, and I think partly Buck, it's the drugs that they take are committing acts of mass violence on a scale that is unprecedented when you consider how small the population actually is. 0.78

00:14:49.240 Keep bashing us, keep bashing us is what he tweeted, but do not wonder why we go all caps berserk as his comment yesterday before he showed up at a high school hockey match and started attacking people.

00:15:06.100 I just, I mean, it is.

00:15:08.200 How many of these, we just had one a few days ago in British Columbia in Canada, and now we have another one.

00:15:14.680 Minneapolis, Nashville, this, four direct shootings in the last year and a half or so that have been entirely perpetrated by trans people.

00:15:23.340 Well, I mean, mass acts of mass murder that are really acts of domestic terrorism in a sense.

00:15:30.400 I mean, this is ideologically driven. 0.99

00:15:32.020 Now, these people are also crazy, but a lot of jihadis, for example, are also crazy. 0.95

00:15:37.080 They do it because they think they're going to get the 72 virgins and all that stuff. 0.98

00:15:41.200 Yes.

00:15:41.460 But, so there's an ideological component to it, but they're also psychologically unstable.

00:15:46.900 Not all of them, by the way.

00:15:48.040 Some of them just choose evil and that's, and they're just ideologically aligned.

00:15:52.140 And again, I know that this is, sounds like I'm all setting stuff for the book, but this is why I talk about, this is what I talk about in Manufacturing Delusion, because people are doing this to people.

00:16:00.820 The whole trans thing was, there's a system.

00:16:04.620 This has been systematized.

00:16:06.060 This is, this is being created by an apparatus that views this as important for the projection of power, important for the projection of an ideology.

00:16:19.540 And that's why, Clay, I mean, you can't even believe this stuff.

00:16:23.140 When you see the graph, the graphs of how many kids now identify as transgender or not, it's up like thousands of a percentile.

00:16:31.080 It's crazy.

00:16:31.920 It's obviously been done.

00:16:33.320 This has, the decision has been made by people in power to do this.

00:16:37.040 We'll come back.

00:16:39.220 We'll continue to break this down for you.

00:16:41.100 Go buy Buck's book.

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00:17:37.760 Saving America.

00:17:39.680 One thought at a time.

00:17:41.660 Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

00:17:44.300 Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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00:18:18.440 All right.

00:18:20.420 Welcome back into Clay and Buck.

00:18:22.120 We're joined by Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio.

00:18:26.480 Congressman, always a pleasure.

00:18:28.040 Thank you for coming to hang out on Clay and Buck once again.

00:18:31.640 And I know you have some new reading material, especially because having been a doubter of the 104-mile-an-hour serve,

00:18:39.740 we know you're not a doubter of the soon-to-be bestseller manufacturing delusion, Congressman.

00:18:44.820 So, I'm glad you have your comment.

00:18:46.120 Congrats.

00:18:46.920 Congrats.

00:18:47.280 Thank you.

00:18:48.440 I look forward to reading every single word and learning.

00:18:54.160 No, I've heard you talk about it and some of the things you cover in the book.

00:18:56.980 So, I am excited about getting the chance to look through it.

00:18:59.760 Thank you.

00:19:00.140 I talk about the origin of the assassin, Nazari Ismailisak.

00:19:03.840 They talk about, like, there's cool stuff in there beyond just the political commentary and some of the, you know,

00:19:09.540 sort of psycho-political analysis stuff.

00:19:12.500 Anyway, so please go get your copies, everybody, manufacturing delusion.

00:19:15.560 Congressman, how are we doing?

00:19:17.200 I mean, you know, we just, I want to take a step back.

00:19:20.260 It's been a year of Trump, and we were ready to say, you know, the call the balls and strikes on stuff.

00:19:26.660 On the big policy issues, everything looks great.

00:19:28.820 On the immigration issue, things have been phenomenal at securing the border.

00:19:33.980 Deportation is obviously ongoing.

00:19:36.120 Democrats want to hold up a portion of government funding over the, like, can you explain what the heck is going on with that? 0.67

00:19:42.100 Yeah, this is the crazy left again.

00:19:44.840 You know, they did it for 43 days last fall on, you know, on Obamacare, you know, where everything they told us turned out to be false.

00:19:52.140 Like your plan, keep your plan.

00:19:53.280 Like your doctor, keep your doctor.

00:19:54.660 Premiums will go down.

00:19:55.500 You know, they were over three.

00:19:56.400 But they want to shut down the government for 43 days.

00:19:58.860 Same mindset here.

00:20:00.060 They're saying, oh, unless you change policies on how you go get people who are in this country illegally, we're going to shut the government down, which is exactly what they did.

00:20:09.780 But they forget to address – and you guys were talking about this last week and doing a great job – until they address the sanctuary jurisdiction crazy policies that are out there, I don't know how you get a handle on it.

00:20:24.220 Because what's happened in now almost a third of the country, 18 cities, 11 states, three counties, and the District of Columbia representing 31 percent of the population of our great country.

00:20:35.340 So in roughly a third of the country, left-wing political officials tell their local law enforcement don't work with federal law enforcement.

00:20:44.500 When you have in your jail, in your detention center, an illegal migrant who's also been charged with some other crime, when a detainer is sent there from the federal government saying just, hey, if you're going to release this guy, let us know.

00:20:57.480 Give us a call.

00:20:58.480 We'll come pick him up there at the jail or at the detention center.

00:21:01.880 But instead they say, no, we're going to release him to the streets.

00:21:04.540 And 17,000 times that we know of, bad guys were released to the streets in one year's time, 2025, and many of them went out and did crimes.

00:21:14.920 I mean, one guy was released, and the very next day he killed an individual who was under a detainer.

00:21:19.940 So until we address that, I don't know how you solve this because that whole policy creates this environment, this framework, where you get the bad things that have happened, the tragic things that happened like we saw up in Minneapolis.

00:21:33.300 We're talking to Congressman Jim Jordan.

00:21:35.880 Congressman, appreciate you coming on.

00:21:37.320 You just – we had a conversation about this, and I think it's really important for people out there.

00:21:42.500 Supremacy clause says that the federal government gets to make decisions on immigration.

00:21:47.960 You and I talked about this, but I want to hammer it home here.

00:21:50.960 We talked on this program.

00:21:52.740 You probably came on and talked about it with us, and I know a lot of people in Texas came on and talked about it.

00:21:57.580 The fact that Texas wanted to secure their border, and the court said Texas can't do it because a state cannot make immigration policy the federal government does.

00:22:08.160 I don't understand, and I think it's a really easy legal argument to tie together, why Texas couldn't take that act.

00:22:15.280 And all of these, as you just said, 31% of the country, states, cities and states that are blue, think that they can basically implement their own immigration policy.

00:22:25.380 I think the courts have to make this determination.

00:22:28.300 Great point, and we're going to try to help them by passing legislation out of our committee next week, which would address that fact and say, no, no, federal law preempts.

00:22:36.080 And if you have a state that says – let's say you've got a county in California that says, no, we're a conservative.

00:22:40.320 Our sheriff, we want to work with federal law enforcement in the situation I just described.

00:22:44.180 We want to work with them.

00:22:45.040 And they say, well, no, no, you can't do that because of state law.

00:22:46.860 We want to be able to say, no, if that county sheriff or that county jurisdiction wants to work with the federal government, they can go ahead, and we will step in and represent them and defend them if, in fact, the state comes after them.

00:22:58.500 So that's part of what we want to pass in our bill next week, not to mention if you're one of these states and you have sanctuary city policies, there should be some ramifications in the federal funding that comes in certain grant programs to your state.

00:23:10.040 And then finally, we want to put in the bill as well, if you're a family or an individual who's been harmed by someone who was let out, who should have been not released to the streets but released to ICE, if they let that individual out and they do something harmful to you or your family, you have a private right of action.

00:23:28.080 That's the only way I can see that we can address this problem and deal with what, again, 31.5 percent of the United States population is living under as we speak.

00:23:39.300 That's how important this is.

00:23:40.660 And, again, as I said, if we don't address this, I don't know how you get a handle on all this situation.

00:23:45.960 How are we doing when it comes to maintaining control of the House?

00:23:51.200 I know we're early, but we are in a midterm cycle.

00:23:53.960 How do you see this?

00:23:55.700 What do you feel like are the top issues?

00:23:58.040 Obviously, Trump administration is dialing in here on the economy, affordability, but also able to look at some pretty impressive numbers on GDP.

00:24:06.380 And, obviously, the stock market has been rocketing up.

00:24:10.000 So what do you see as the central – is it just going to be the economy, immigration, election?

00:24:14.880 Is health care going to play a bigger role as you move along?

00:24:18.300 How do you see it?

00:24:18.960 In a general sense, I think modern-day campaigns are pretty basic.

00:24:23.240 Tell them – go tell the people what you did.

00:24:25.600 We ran for the job.

00:24:26.700 You guys elected us.

00:24:27.420 Here's what we did.

00:24:28.060 We did what we said.

00:24:28.920 And you can say we've secured the border.

00:24:30.400 We've cut taxes, record tax cuts, record time in securing the border.

00:24:33.740 We gave school choice to parents in the big, beautiful bill.

00:24:36.220 And we can rattle off all the things we've done.

00:24:37.960 And then I think it's always important in modern politics to remind the voters what happens if the left gets back in charge. 0.95

00:24:46.480 Never forget to remind the voters the left is crazy.

00:24:49.460 It's crazy to defund the police.

00:24:50.880 It's crazy to say you want to abolish ICE.

00:24:52.380 It's crazy not to have a border, which is all the things that were taking place under the previous administration.

00:24:56.580 It's crazy to shut down the government for 43 days.

00:24:58.580 It's crazy to have this sanctuary city policy where you release bad guys onto the street who do harm to people in those communities when you could have turned them over to federal law enforcement.

00:25:09.140 So I think we have to remind the voters of that as we move forward.

00:25:13.080 And then also underscore, I do think the economy is improving.

00:25:16.460 We had 4.3 percent growth last quarter.

00:25:19.180 Stock markets had $50,000.

00:25:20.560 I mean it's like unbelievable what we're seeing.

00:25:22.540 So remind the voters of that as well.

00:25:24.680 But that's what campaigns are.

00:25:25.840 We're going to say one thing.

00:25:26.660 They're going to say another.

00:25:27.300 We're going to have the debate and the people get to decide.

00:25:30.220 But I feel like we've got a good story to tell, particularly when we also remind the voters, remember what happens when the left's in charge.

00:25:37.500 We can go back to that if they win this mid-tour.

00:25:40.860 I think this is an important argument you just made.

00:25:43.420 And let me give you an example that I think you're going to be nodding your head at because it's just across the Potomac from where you are.

00:25:49.480 Abigail Spanberger got elected in Virginia.

00:25:51.620 She ran 100 percent as a moderate, as a no-nonsense mom who just wants to be a normal leader. 1.00

00:25:58.860 She has gotten in office.

00:26:01.100 And in her first month in Virginia, they're trying to knock Republicans down to one congressional seat. 0.99

00:26:08.320 They have embraced far left-wing crazy town agendas.

00:26:12.400 Tax increases have come across.

00:26:14.280 She, in one month, has demonstrated that she is actually a radical leftist.

00:26:19.200 I like what you said, Jim, because Trump is maybe the most transactional president that we've ever seen in that he said, here's the list of things I'm going to do.

00:26:29.400 This is what I'm going to run on.

00:26:31.060 And then he got into office and he basically just went right down the list.

00:26:34.380 Check, check, check, check, check.

00:26:35.640 Whereas they lie and do the opposite of what they claim they're going to do.

00:26:39.780 Great, great point.

00:26:41.240 And you could add to that list of what Governor Spanberger is focused on, too, is taking away people's Second Amendment rights in the state of Virginia.

00:26:47.260 So it just she ran as the, quote, moderate governor who is, you know, had a background in the CIA and working in the military. 0.99

00:26:54.480 She ran as that individual and gets in and does all the left-wing things. 1.00

00:26:57.980 And you're right on the on the redistricting.

00:27:00.260 They're looking to take a six, five, six Democrats, five Republicans in Virginia to 10 to one.

00:27:06.140 And they got all this this these spider, you know, these links coming out from northern Virginia all over the state.

00:27:11.660 So, yeah, that that I think, again, remind the voters this is who the left is.

00:27:16.200 And the left now controls the Democrat Party and they will go for all these all these crazy policies.

00:27:23.500 I still maybe we talked about this before, but Sarah Huckabee Sanders a few years ago, I use this all the time, but I thought it was well done.

00:27:29.220 And she gave the response to the State of the Union and her best line was when she said the divide in America today is normal versus crazy.

00:27:36.340 And you can go down the list of all the crazy policies the left has.

00:27:39.540 I think it's always important to remind the voters that that's the case.

00:27:42.880 And when you do, the vast majority of voters are common sense people and they'll elect Republicans.

00:27:47.880 Congressman, to that to that end of normal versus crazy, we started off the show talking about the horrific shooting in Rhode Island involving a clearly.

00:28:00.180 I mean, you just look at a photo of the guy.

00:28:01.320 The guy's deranged.

00:28:02.060 I thought I was clearly not.

00:28:03.360 Yeah.

00:28:03.600 OK, clearly not.

00:28:04.960 Yeah. 0.99

00:28:05.500 Kills his own family, the whole thing, a horrible, horrible situation, horrible story. 0.83

00:28:08.660 We know that there have been a series of these shootings, shootings, you know, high profile mass murder shootings involving these individuals who are psychotic and who are, you know, self-identify as trans and the whole thing. 0.72

00:28:21.920 Do Democrat colleagues in Congress really believe this transgender ideology stuff on in on the on the whole in general, or are they just too scared of the 10 to 15 percent of the radical left of their party?

00:28:40.600 Like, I'm just wondering if you can give us some context here for, you know, does Hakeem Jeffries really think there's no difference between a man and a woman that babies are assigned gender at birth?

00:28:49.100 Does he believe that if you sit down over tea with him or coffee or whatever?

00:28:53.660 Is he like, yeah, babies get assigned gender at birth?

00:28:55.720 Because I want to see Congressman Jeffrey say that if he believes that.

00:29:00.060 Yeah, I think the vast majority don't believe that.

00:29:02.240 But I think, again, we're back to the energy in their part.

00:29:10.200 Has embraced this, you know, this whole transgender thing and a host of other crazy policies. 1.00

00:29:15.780 And that that's that's the energy.

00:29:17.600 So that's where they get the financing.

00:29:19.460 That's where they get the campaign.

00:29:21.600 But it's dry.

00:29:22.520 It's driven by politics.

00:29:23.440 So I do think that's the case.

00:29:26.520 Again, it's just like time and time again, we see these these crazy things happen and the left will go defend the transgender policies out there that that seem to be part of this. 0.91

00:29:36.440 So I don't think they buy it.

00:29:39.360 But I do think it's driven by the hard left and the politics that are associated with that.

00:29:44.300 Good stuff, as always.

00:29:47.440 Have you been watching the Winter Olympics?

00:29:48.800 How do you think you'd do as a curler?

00:29:52.220 I'm fascinated by the whole thing.

00:29:54.220 So I'll click it on and watch a little bit of it.

00:29:56.560 And then, of course, the controversy, you know, that was unbelievable.

00:29:59.140 Like his what his finger, I think it was the Canadian or I forget what team, like his finger touched an extra little push or a little spin or something like, wow, go, go, go figure.

00:30:09.820 So, yeah, I'm fascinated by it.

00:30:11.540 But I actually prefer the sportswear here.

00:30:13.340 Like, like the cross-country skiing like that is just those people are just tough.

00:30:17.520 So I kind of like watching some of that.

00:30:19.240 Did you see the video of the guy running uphill on skis at a six-minute mile pace?

00:30:25.020 I mean, that is one of the craziest things I've ever seen.

00:30:27.960 No kidding.

00:30:28.760 No kidding.

00:30:29.220 So those guys are amazing.

00:30:30.240 And the speed skating, this Stoles guy, I think, who's won so many medals, he's like old school.

00:30:37.600 I saw this piece in the Wall Street Journal.

00:30:39.320 He's like old school.

00:30:39.960 He went back to the old coach.

00:30:41.080 He'd just like train hard, train harder than everybody else.

00:30:43.580 And that's how you win.

00:30:44.820 Not so much of, you know, rest this day and do this and do that.

00:30:47.940 It's just like we're just going to outwork him, which I kind of I kind of appreciate that old school mentality.

00:30:53.580 Good stuff.

00:30:54.320 As always, Congressman, come on with us whenever you want and enjoy the rest of the winter.

00:30:58.640 Keep up.

00:30:59.560 You bet.

00:30:59.940 Keep up the great work, guys.

00:31:00.760 Thanks.

00:31:01.840 Thank you.

00:31:03.020 All right.

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00:32:16.000 News.

00:32:16.700 You can count on and some laughs to Clay Travis at Buck Sexton.

00:32:21.660 Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:32:26.600 Welcome back in.

00:32:27.420 Hour number three, Clay Travis, Buck Sexton Show.

00:32:30.600 Go buy Buck's book, Manufacturing Delusion.

00:32:35.820 I have reviewed it on Amazon.

00:32:38.640 Thank you.

00:32:39.300 I do not see that my review has yet popped on the Amazon page.

00:32:43.760 Clay gave it four stars because he doesn't want me to get a big head over it.

00:32:46.900 That's right.

00:32:47.460 Um, and, uh, it is, I purchased it.

00:32:50.400 I got it today.

00:32:51.540 Um, as those of us who purchased it early did.

00:32:55.440 Um, and, uh, again, I would encourage all of you book is out today everywhere among the

00:33:01.080 reviews, a harrowing, brilliant, important read, Megan Kelly, terrifying, brilliant, essential

00:33:09.320 and ex CIA officers, unmasking of totalitarian mind control.

00:33:14.800 Glenn Beck.

00:33:15.840 Meticulously researched and exceptionally written manufacturing delusion is more than a book.

00:33:21.940 It's a tool to protect your mind and soul.

00:33:24.600 Bestselling author, Jack Carr.

00:33:28.000 Uh, okay.

00:33:29.340 Those are among the reviews that you can find at amazon.com and other locations as well.

00:33:36.340 Buck, you and I are going to be in Texas in a short order about two weeks from today,

00:33:42.600 because exactly two weeks from today is the very first, uh, major primary that I believe

00:33:52.480 will occur in the nation when Texans will be going out and voting for their nominees and

00:33:58.460 a wide variety of different races, including the one that is getting the most attention in

00:34:03.500 the state.

00:34:03.860 Again, we want all of you to go vote top up and down bottom to top, uh, in the Texas primaries,

00:34:10.540 many different important races that are going on.

00:34:12.980 But the, uh, Texas Senate race is receiving the largest amount of attention, both on the Democrat

00:34:21.600 and the Republican side.

00:34:23.700 On the Republican side, there are three different candidates and president Trump has come out and said,

00:34:31.460 I like all three, uh, which was, I thought a great Trump question.

00:34:37.900 He was asked if he was going to endorse and Trump said, no, I'm not going to endorse.

00:34:43.160 Basically.

00:34:43.800 I like all three.

00:34:44.680 Um, and all three are Ken Paxton, uh, John Cornyn, the current Senator and, uh, and Wesley,

00:34:54.000 uh, Wesley, uh, whose name is immediately escaping me because I tried to name all three of them

00:35:00.200 off the top of my head.

00:35:01.500 He's been on the show a great number of times.

00:35:04.200 He is fantastic.

00:35:05.800 And Wesley Hunt, my apologies to Wesley Hunt trying to name three right off the top of my head.

00:35:12.120 Uh, all three of them are seriously, uh, contending and whoever wins that Republican primary will

00:35:20.120 likely be the next Republican Senator from Texas or the continuing Republican Senator, uh, from Texas.

00:35:26.860 So Wesley Hunt, John Cornyn, and also Ken Paxton all running on the Republican side.

00:35:34.300 Now on the Democrat side, this has turned into a bit of a story today, Buck, uh, Democrat Senate

00:35:41.280 candidates, Jasmine Crockett, who has given up her congressional seat and instead now running

00:35:47.220 to be the Senator from Texas and James Tallarico.

00:35:51.440 I believe that's how you pronounce his last name.

00:35:53.420 Um, is that correct?

00:35:54.640 Buck so far as you can tell.

00:35:56.200 And he went on Stephen Colbert show and CBS decided they would not air the interview because

00:36:05.060 they were worried about conflicting with the equal time doctrine, um, and the equal time

00:36:11.360 doctrine basically as interpreted by our friend, Brendan Carr, the FCC chairman who was on recently,

00:36:17.660 he has said what I think is a hundred percent true, which is if you're going to have these

00:36:22.940 late night talk shows, you can't fit into the exemption of, uh, of news programming.

00:36:30.280 If you're only having one side on all the time, there are no right leaning guests on, for

00:36:36.900 instance, Stephen Colbert show and Stephen Colbert would never have the Republican nominee

00:36:42.320 on his show.

00:36:44.080 And so as a result, CBS said, we're worried about violating the equal time doctrine.

00:36:48.960 We're not going to run this, uh, this interview.

00:36:52.400 That was a decision that was made by CBS corporate.

00:36:56.240 Well, Stephen Colbert, whose show has been canceled, I believe it is scheduled to end in

00:37:01.400 May, uh, went on and teed off and, uh, and I believe this aired on his actual CBS program,

00:37:08.920 him ripping his bosses at CBS cut 26.

00:37:13.340 You know who is not one of my guests tonight?

00:37:15.780 That's Texas state representative James Tallarico.

00:37:19.520 He, he was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network's lawyers

00:37:25.480 who called us directly that we could not have him on the broadcast.

00:37:29.500 Then, then I was told in some uncertain terms that not only could I not have him on, I could

00:37:35.740 not mention me not having him on.

00:37:39.420 And because my network clearly doesn't want us to talk about this, let's talk about this.

00:37:45.840 On January 21st of this year, a letter was released by FCC chairman and smug bowling pin,

00:37:52.280 Brendan Carr.

00:37:54.020 In this letter, Carr said he was thinking about dropping the exception for talk shows because

00:37:59.020 he said some of them were motivated by partisan purposes.

00:38:03.080 Well, sir, you're chairman of the FCC.

00:38:06.840 So FCCU.

00:38:09.440 Okay.

00:38:10.300 Um, this is, I think actually more interesting than Stephen Colbert is letting on.

00:38:15.840 Um, and it's actually, uh, super interesting in general.

00:38:20.800 So he was only going to have James Tallarico on now.

00:38:24.140 James Tallarico is on a, an, in a highly competitive Senate race against Jasmine Crockett.

00:38:30.400 Buck Jasmine Crockett has a 0% chance of being elected statewide from Texas. 0.95

00:38:36.980 I want to repeat this.

00:38:39.080 I think even Democrats are aware of this.

00:38:41.600 If Jasmine Crockett is the nominee, there is a 0% chance that Republicans have to worry

00:38:48.100 about the Democrat in that race at all.

00:38:50.480 I think elite Democrat, uh, leadership is aware of that.

00:38:54.560 So when I hear and see this controversy emerging, I say, my goodness, this is elite Democrat power

00:39:03.600 brokers deciding to set up this James Tallarico interview.

00:39:08.100 If it airs, it's a huge, uh, bonus to him.

00:39:13.020 But if it gets shut down under this FCC equal time doctrine, I would argue it's an even bigger

00:39:20.160 bonus for him because most people would have never seen this, but for the fact that Stephen

00:39:25.800 Colbert went on and attacked his bosses for not letting him have on James Tallarico.

00:39:30.900 So I think again, the fact that this was scheduled to happen the day before the Texas primary

00:39:37.520 ballots went out and people started to vote, this feels to me a bit akin to what happened

00:39:43.640 to Bernie Sanders back in the day.

00:39:45.680 This is the Democrat party saying we got a kneecap, uh, Jasmine Crockett and make sure she's 1.00

00:39:52.600 not the nominee because maybe we can put this seat in play with James Tallarico.

00:39:57.540 Do you see that?

00:39:58.640 And by the way, Brendan Carr, let's invite him on the program again, cause he got attacked.

00:40:03.220 Uh, and we want to give him equal time on the program.

00:40:06.440 We had him on recently.

00:40:07.700 Do you read this in a similar way, Buck, or what stands out to you about this story?

00:40:13.720 Again, there's no way the Republican nominee, whether it's Wesley Hunt, whether it is, uh,

00:40:19.660 Ken Paxton or, uh, John Cornyn is going to be allowed on Colbert.

00:40:24.320 And this is where the significance of that letter from commissioner Carr comes into play.

00:40:34.680 I, sorry, sorry.

00:40:36.040 Um, just realized for a second, I had a dog wander into my room and I had to hit the mic

00:40:42.380 offers.

00:40:43.200 This is what happens to live radio.

00:40:44.400 I have a baby and a dog.

00:40:45.480 And sometimes I roll into the room and it throws me off.

00:40:47.960 I'm not pulling an AOC here, by the way.

00:40:49.420 I do have an answer for Clay, but I was, I was talking into a dead microphone for a second.

00:40:53.760 Uh, I would say this, um, on, on the FCC issue, this is, this is going to take a lot

00:41:00.220 of time for it to settle because Clay, there has been no equal time.

00:41:05.000 In fact, we have had Democrat dominance of the media under the guise of it being journalism

00:41:10.120 under the guise of it being neutral for our entire lives.

00:41:12.860 This is just finally now faded away or rather is fading away where people at least know

00:41:19.620 CNN is a Democrat organ.

00:41:22.120 New York times is a Democrat organ.

00:41:24.600 There's no if, ands, or buts.

00:41:25.960 There's no, we call it like we see it or whatever.

00:41:28.420 And so how do you handle that in a regulatory environment?

00:41:32.880 And, and increasingly, uh, you know, I, I think we have to get a, now the FCC chairman

00:41:38.640 may disagree with this.

00:41:39.680 I just think this notion that we're going to have these regulations and all of this

00:41:43.760 infringements on, I think it's all infringements on the first amendment, quite honestly.

00:41:47.440 I think that, uh, remember the Obama administration claimed that it could block, this was the solicitor

00:41:54.880 general under the Obama administration, that it could block the publication of a book in

00:42:01.000 advance of the election under certain circumstances because of the regulations around speech and

00:42:08.580 elections and dark money and politics and all this stuff.

00:42:11.540 So that's where this stuff always goes.

00:42:13.620 It goes to one side trying to leverage this for censorship and the, and I think our side

00:42:19.540 trying to play fair more often and then, and ending up just being on the losing end of

00:42:25.160 the situation.

00:42:25.780 So, uh, I, I don't know that there's going to be, remember this would all take a lot of

00:42:30.720 time, right?

00:42:31.200 There's, there's one thing for people to know clay, but then it also has to make its

00:42:34.560 way through the courts and places will fight this and they'll say, how do you even make

00:42:38.800 this distinction?

00:42:39.360 And you might get some bad judges and you know, the Supreme court.

00:42:41.980 So this will take a while to sort out is, is my answer, but it is really important that

00:42:47.780 everyone knows the Democrats have had a massive advantage in the establishment media landscape

00:42:54.540 for our, for certainly for our entire lives.

00:42:56.900 And I would say long before that, yes, rush was the unsinkable aircraft carrier of free

00:43:02.180 speech.

00:43:02.440 Yes, there have been others who have been massive voices and there's one cable channel

00:43:07.940 that does quite well, uh, all that is conservative, but the, or Republican, whatever the truth

00:43:14.960 is, we're just beginning to address this disparity clay.

00:43:18.180 I mean, the fact that there are even, think about this, that there are, there are laws and

00:43:21.720 that they've treated or rather their regulations and they have treated some of these shows like

00:43:26.320 their news, like their neutral news programs.

00:43:28.880 Does anyone really believe that?

00:43:32.140 I, I just look at this and say, I can't get over the fact that this happened the day before

00:43:38.280 voting was about to start.

00:43:40.360 It is a huge gift to Tallarico and it feels to me like the Democrat party has convinced

00:43:46.940 itself that accurately, in my opinion, Jasmine Crockett has no chance to win and they're putting

00:43:53.040 their finger down on the scales in favor of Tallarico.

00:43:57.380 And by the way, on the Republican side, this is going to be a Donnybrook.

00:44:01.020 Um, there are three big time, serious contenders spending big money, current Senator John

00:44:07.940 Cornyn, uh, and we've had all these guys on the program, uh, Ken Paxton, who is the current

00:44:13.880 attorney general and Wesley Hunt, who is a current Congressman, uh, that is running to try to be

00:44:20.540 the next Senator from Texas.

00:44:21.940 All of them have run very viable campaigns, but man, all three of them would crush Jasmine 0.91

00:44:30.320 Crockett and significantly would not need to raise any of the money that would otherwise

00:44:37.920 be spent for other States.

00:44:40.540 I think Democrats believe, I think they're wrong that he can win, but I think James Tallarico,

00:44:44.960 they think would at least have a puncher's chance.

00:44:47.480 Whereas Jasmine Crockett has no chance. 1.00

00:44:49.460 And again, Brendan Carr is right on this.

00:44:52.600 Brendan Carr is a hundred percent right on this.

00:44:54.840 You can't have late night talk shows that are claiming that they're just comedy shows and

00:45:01.180 only allow Democrats on his guest to basically make their political arguments on the show.

00:45:07.920 And that's, this is, this is what the, the John Stewart, uh, era of the daily show was.

00:45:14.440 So it was so aggravating for a lot of us.

00:45:16.580 Cause yeah, I mean, a lot of this stuff is clever and funny, but it was really a propaganda

00:45:19.420 show.

00:45:20.240 And the whole point of it was to push Democrat themes through the prism of comedy, but because

00:45:25.620 it was comedy.

00:45:26.960 Um, and look, I mean, Trump is very funny.

00:45:29.860 Trump's a politician, right?

00:45:31.260 Comedy and politics are not in any way, uh, distinct or rather, you know, separate from

00:45:36.800 each other by their nature.

00:45:37.860 They actually can be quite, uh, useful when paired together.

00:45:40.920 I think one of Trump's biggest political gifts is how funny he is.

00:45:44.860 And I think it completely, there are a lot of people who, you know, they don't like this

00:45:49.440 about his style or they don't, they think he's kind of gross, but man, he said something.

00:45:53.300 And if you find yourself laughing at what a politician says, like really kind of guffawing,

00:45:57.860 it's hard to hate the guy, you know, it opens you up a little bit to it.

00:46:01.320 And I think you warm up to him over time.

00:46:02.760 And Trump is the funniest politician of our lifetime, which is remarkable when you play

00:46:07.100 the sitting president of the United States is the most humorous politician you or I have

00:46:12.040 ever come across.

00:46:12.880 He is the funny.

00:46:13.920 Yes.

00:46:14.440 It's just, just, just a fact, right?

00:46:15.820 It's pretty crazy when you say it out loud.

00:46:17.720 Um, but the daily show, because it was comedy, they would have politicians or they would have

00:46:23.020 more serious people on.

00:46:23.900 And then they would cut and splice the interview so that it was a complete hit job.

00:46:28.200 I mean, they would do whatever they wanted.

00:46:30.080 And then if you point it out, they go, we have puppets on before us.

00:46:32.720 It's just comedy, man.

00:46:34.480 No, it's a political show with jokes.

00:46:37.600 I mean, totally.

00:46:39.420 And so this idea, it feels like a rig job, like that.

00:46:44.460 He was daring that is Colbert was daring his bosses to not allow Tal Rico on.

00:46:49.660 I would argue that, look, I'm no defender of Jasmine Crockett, but I would argue if, if

00:46:56.100 they're going to have on, uh, Tal Rico the day before the primary, that they should also

00:47:00.780 have to have on Jasmine Crockett, not only the other, uh, Republican candidate, whomever 0.95

00:47:06.460 that ends up being, but the, uh, but the other Democrat as well, that feels like a fair

00:47:11.920 and impartial way to handle this.

00:47:14.300 Uh, so I'd be upset if I was, uh, Jasmine Crockett, indeed, indeed.

00:47:20.320 Uh, and not to be confused with any affiliation with Crockett coffee, of course, that's, that's

00:47:25.080 a very different, which you should be drinking right now.

00:47:26.980 Like I am.

00:47:28.320 All right.

00:47:28.960 You got to have safety in your home.

00:47:30.660 And that means you have to take that safety into your hands.

00:47:33.800 You have to be prepared.

00:47:34.640 This is where Sabre is so essential.

00:47:37.160 Sabre spelled S-A-B-R-E.

00:47:39.000 The website is SabreRadio.com.

00:47:41.160 They've been in business for 50 years, family run and owned.

00:47:43.400 Their goal is to keep you safe.

00:47:44.760 They have tons of products, including the Sabre, Sabre Home Defense Launcher, uh, and

00:47:48.800 the Sabre Home Defense Launcher stops the threat with powerful pepper projectiles.

00:47:53.360 I would start with that.

00:47:54.360 That's just a great one to have for your non-lethal.

00:47:56.900 And look, I'm very open.

00:47:57.940 I'm very open, very upfront with all of you about this.

00:47:59.940 I have non-lethal options here.

00:48:01.260 Carrie feels good to have some pepper sprays from Sabre and those things.

00:48:05.180 I've also got a ton of lethal options here, but I like that force escalation.

00:48:08.360 I like to have both at hand, depending on what the situation requires.

00:48:12.200 I think for you, it makes a lot of sense.

00:48:15.240 SabreRadio.com is where you should go.

00:48:17.100 S-A-B-R-E Radio.com.

00:48:19.620 That's S-A-B-R-E Radio.com.

00:48:22.000 Get hooked up with home defense, non-lethal products, all kinds of cool stuff.

00:48:26.760 S-A-B-R-E SabreRadio.com or call 844-824-SAFE.

00:48:32.180 Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

00:48:36.540 Mic drops that never sounded so good.

00:48:40.280 Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:48:45.380 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00

00:48:47.640 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.

00:48:51.740 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:48:54.840 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:48:56.660 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:48:57.940 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:49:01.620 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:49:07.380 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:49:10.600 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:49:14.660 Welcome back in to Clay and Buck.

00:49:19.220 And I just want to say thank you so much to all of you who are sending in kind words about the book,

00:49:24.380 which I have out today, Manufacturing Delusion.

00:49:28.360 It is very timely.

00:49:29.640 There's a lot of history.

00:49:30.460 There's a lot of research.

00:49:31.400 There's some anecdotes from my time in the CIA.

00:49:33.660 Just a few.

00:49:34.300 It's not about that, but I threw some things in there.

00:49:37.380 And the CIA cleared them.

00:49:39.560 I had to clear the entire book, and I did.

00:49:41.860 And so that is really my focus today is getting as many of you as possible to get a copy of the book.

00:49:49.860 You can obviously get it on Amazon.

00:49:51.120 There's the audio book, which I read myself.

00:49:54.380 And I think those of you who like audio books, there you go.

00:49:57.740 It will be my voice doing the whole book for you.

00:50:00.380 And so far, we're doing really well.

00:50:02.780 There is this book out from John Meacham today.

00:50:05.460 He's trying to rain on my parade, but because of you, I don't think that's going to happen.

00:50:10.080 But let's not let that smug communist who hates Trump and says it is inexcusable for you to have voted for him again.

00:50:17.040 He said that on TV last year.

00:50:18.600 Let's not let him get that number one slot for book sales today.

00:50:22.980 It's all on you.

00:50:24.360 I'm doing some other great shows, and I really appreciate that.

00:50:27.060 And it's funny, Clay.

00:50:28.200 You really do, in this business, you find out who your friends are at book launch time.

00:50:33.600 It's a very interesting thing.

00:50:35.880 There are a lot of people that will be like, oh, yeah, I love your stuff.

00:50:38.360 Oh, yeah, buddy, whatever.

00:50:40.060 But there are the people who say, send it to my producer and will give it some thought.

00:50:45.260 And the people who are like, that's awesome for you, buddy.

00:50:48.520 When do you want to come on?

00:50:50.000 And I will tell you this, and I think you're the same way, Clay.

00:50:53.080 We remember who's on what side of that equation, just like any of you would.

00:50:58.040 Trust me.

00:50:58.420 It's interesting.

00:50:59.080 You see who's for real and who belongs in the cheap seats.

00:51:05.360 Well, look, this audience, to its credit, buys books in a substantial way.

00:51:10.420 So you probably have noticed over the five years that we've been doing the show since.

00:51:15.120 And again, we began the show talking about this.

00:51:17.380 But they is the five-year anniversary of Rush passing.

00:51:20.680 And we have a special one-hour show that is up.

00:51:25.960 And producer Alley said a super nice thing.

00:51:27.880 She said, like, both you and Buck are the kind of sons that Rush would have had if he

00:51:33.680 had had kids, which is a super complimentary, nice thing to say from producer Alley and

00:51:39.380 much of the staff that spent years and years working with Rush.

00:51:42.920 Yeah.

00:51:43.260 It's a very nice thing to say.

00:51:45.440 But that's a credit to Rush and the show and the fact that people are intellectually

00:51:49.120 curious.

00:51:49.620 But you may well have noticed that we have a lot of authors on because it is hard to

00:51:54.320 sell books and ideas matter and making strong arguments matters.

00:51:59.240 And so I think we have something of people.

00:52:02.120 I think we have something of a an obligation with a platform this big for to have people

00:52:10.200 who are writing good.

00:52:11.440 We need good books to be written about what we believe and about what matters to us.

00:52:17.840 Those of us who see the world the way that we do.

00:52:20.720 And we have a role to play in that.

00:52:23.440 You know, it's it's and some other places are abandoning that role unless you're in a

00:52:27.580 very narrow subset.

00:52:28.560 And that's a shame.

00:52:29.540 But this platform and many others like it.

00:52:32.360 And I will say many of the independent, big conservative names are having me on.

00:52:37.440 They've had you on the past, Clay.

00:52:39.140 And they also take that approach.

00:52:42.500 So, you know, we can't have every book on or this would be a this would be just like

00:52:45.580 a this show would just be like a book club because everybody I I feel badly.

00:52:50.200 I mean, I get I do you get the same thing.

00:52:52.000 I get literal boxes of books pile up at my I don't know how they find I guess the publishers

00:52:57.540 know where I live.

00:52:58.440 They find my home.

00:52:59.680 They send it to my home address and I refuse to ever throw a book in the trash no matter

00:53:04.220 whose book it is.

00:53:05.000 So I have to find a home for this.

00:53:06.720 I'll donate it to the library.

00:53:08.580 I'll give it away to friends who want that particular author, et cetera.

00:53:11.700 But I feel like I'm the custodian of all these books that I've ever asked for.

00:53:15.440 I don't have enough room.

00:53:16.620 I mean, you've you've been this year with me here, Clay.

00:53:18.240 I don't have enough bookshelves for the books that I already have.

00:53:20.620 And I keep accruing more.

00:53:23.020 We got a couple of funny emails, by the way.

00:53:25.260 I should should hit VIP email from Matt.

00:53:29.080 Hey, Clay and Buck, just listening to you talk about the low IQ Democrats likely running

00:53:33.020 for president in twenty eight AOC Newsome and and and others, potentially, including

00:53:41.020 certainly Kamala Harris. 0.92

00:53:43.260 What are your thoughts about Mark Kelly?

00:53:44.860 Is he a smart guy?

00:53:46.000 Is he running in twenty eight?

00:53:47.800 I think both Arizona senators will give it a shot.

00:53:51.500 I would expect that he would run.

00:53:53.160 I don't I've not spent any time around him.

00:53:55.300 I do know people who say that he is a smart guy and they like him, who I respect, but I

00:54:00.460 don't know anything at all about him, so I wouldn't denigrate him by saying that he's

00:54:03.700 unintelligent.

00:54:04.860 Certainly, if you've won election in one of the seven toss up states, I mean, Gretchen

00:54:09.540 Whitmer is going to run.

00:54:10.840 Josh Shapiro is going to run.

00:54:13.120 That is a pretty strong argument that you would have some national appeal because you're

00:54:18.780 already having to appeal to independence.

00:54:22.320 Remember, Trump won.

00:54:23.560 What did Trump win?

00:54:25.160 Arizona by like six points, I think, in twenty twenty six.

00:54:28.440 I think of the toss up states, the seven that we talked about a lot in twenty twenty four,

00:54:34.000 Arizona was basically the biggest win that anybody got.

00:54:38.840 I mean, Trump ran away with that.

00:54:40.800 And so they're now trying to run in states that may be slanted towards the red.

00:54:46.080 So I would be curious to see how he would do another email, by the way, from Burt.

00:54:50.100 I've noticed you guys use the phrase back in the day quite often.

00:54:53.540 What exactly does it mean?

00:54:54.880 I'm ninety three and I'm sure it does not mean the same to me as it does to you, you

00:55:00.500 young whippersnappers.

00:55:02.020 Well, thanks for the email.

00:55:03.600 Yeah.

00:55:04.000 Back in the day for you could mean back in World War Two, which is truly back in the day.

00:55:10.400 But for Buck and I, I would say back in the day means 80s, 90s, which is like recent

00:55:16.820 history for you if you're ninety three.

00:55:18.940 Yes, I think that is definitely the case.

00:55:22.760 And I guess we do use the term back in the day sometimes.

00:55:26.060 Yeah.

00:55:26.160 When I think back in the day, it's like the Spice Girls and the rise of hip hop and like

00:55:34.000 the movie Clueless, Michael Jordan's supremacy in the NBA like that's back in the day for

00:55:39.800 me.

00:55:40.280 So, yeah, it's not that far back to our bird is astute.

00:55:44.040 Bird is correct. 0.57

00:55:44.600 We have a different different timeline that we are working with.

00:55:47.660 Um, we should also mention, uh, as we are getting ready, we're talking all about the

00:55:53.160 Texas primary season.

00:55:55.460 You guys are going to decide a lot.

00:55:58.160 Um, if you look at the prediction markets right now, uh, Democrats are favored to take

00:56:03.340 back the house and Republicans are only about 60% to maintain control of the Senate.

00:56:09.880 Look, the house is probably going to impeach Trump if they get taken back.

00:56:13.240 I understand you guys can predict exactly what they will do.

00:56:16.200 What I will say is the Senate, uh, I mean, you guys know how hugely important the Senate

00:56:22.160 can be for the last two years, um, particularly as it pertains to the Supreme Court, uh, because

00:56:27.440 we've got a lot of justices who are over 70 years old now.

00:56:31.800 And, uh, as we saw happen with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, you never know, or Scalia for that matter, you

00:56:39.000 never know when that moment is going to come as soon as you are over the age of 70.

00:56:44.740 Um, and in particular, the risks just increase.

00:56:48.480 Um, and so I would say, look, we're still, you know, 10 months away, eight months away, nine

00:56:54.200 months away from, uh, official verdicts coming down.

00:56:57.120 Um, but I do think that the Senate, as much attention as we should put on the house, the

00:57:02.140 Senate is by far the most significant, uh, of the, uh, of the impacts that could happen

00:57:07.940 in 2026.

00:57:09.600 If Republicans lose control of the Senate, you lose the ability to get a lot done that

00:57:15.320 has to do with the judiciary in a way that I don't know very many people have thought

00:57:18.760 about.

00:57:19.000 So, um, I would even say some of the older right leaning, um, uh, Supreme court justices,

00:57:29.500 maybe it's time to start thinking about that a little bit.

00:57:32.500 I mean, I just in the same way, look, Kennedy, I thought was really smart.

00:57:36.280 The way he stepped down, he got someone who was a former clerk appointed to take his, uh,

00:57:40.960 take his role.

00:57:41.960 Uh, if you compare that with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, um, the stakes can become quite significant.

00:57:47.300 A lot of people looked back at Ruth Bader Ginsburg and said she should have stepped down when 0.75

00:57:51.100 Obama could have named her replacement to your point, Buck, we've talked about this.

00:57:54.560 They bragged about what incredible physical condition she was in.

00:57:58.140 They did stories on her workouts.

00:58:00.140 Um, and then she passed bizarre.

00:58:02.500 Yeah.

00:58:02.860 There was a cult of Ruth Bader Ginsburg as fitness influencer and they would show these

00:58:09.460 little, did you actually see this clay when they were doing this?

00:58:11.640 I watched it.

00:58:12.320 Yeah.

00:58:12.620 Yeah.

00:58:12.900 You, you, you would look on like, like the main page of the Huffington post, which at one

00:58:16.940 point was a big lib website.

00:58:18.380 It doesn't even exist anymore.

00:58:19.460 I don't know.

00:58:20.340 And they, they, they show video of like Ruth Bader Ginsburg with half pound weights, like

00:58:24.180 barely raised them for a head.

00:58:25.420 They're like, yeah, get after it, Ruth.

00:58:27.620 Like look at her beast mode. 0.96

00:58:30.460 It was like a delusion, a manufactured delusion.

00:58:33.700 The title of a fantastic book that is out today that all of you should go get a copy of.

00:58:37.700 I'm going to be relentless.

00:58:39.460 Usually I get to rely on clay to sell everything for us, which is great.

00:58:43.320 Or to promote everything for us, which is great.

00:58:45.780 Today I have to promote. 0.99

00:58:47.100 Damn it. 1.00

00:58:47.860 Tomorrow. 1.00

00:58:48.360 You've got the whole show for yourself.

00:58:49.900 I can't even imagine how many promotions you're going to be able to get in.

00:58:52.720 I'll be down.

00:58:53.460 I totally forgot about that.

00:58:53.980 I'm at Mar-a-Lago for the day at an event.

00:58:57.040 President.

00:58:57.600 Not going to wear your, your top hat and monocle clay.

00:59:00.240 Oh, well, you know, I go with the big boss is I've been running around right now trying

00:59:04.960 to make sure about what clothes I've got packed.

00:59:06.900 I just need a personal person who just lays out everything that I'm supposed to wear because

00:59:12.420 I have no idea what to wear to any event.

00:59:14.780 I'm only going to be on one day.

00:59:16.680 And so, but I'm right now, I was out of breath.

00:59:20.100 Can I tell you something?

00:59:21.660 You can, AI, this is another thing where AI is really, I, I guess I'm going to admit

00:59:27.780 something now on the show.

00:59:28.800 I've taken a photo before because I was curious like about whether something fit like a suit,

00:59:35.100 whether a suit still fit me enough.

00:59:37.720 And I really wanted an objective AI.

00:59:40.140 If you, if you use it, like you can go on grok, take a photo or have someone take a photo

00:59:44.040 of you and be like, does this suit fit the way that a men's like custom or tailored suit

00:59:50.020 should fit?

00:59:50.900 Clay, it will break it down to the, I mean, it's, it's like all of a sudden you have a

00:59:55.820 guy named like Vincenzo who's like, Hey, it's a little tired in the chest, a little loose

00:59:59.880 in the, you know, does the whole thing.

01:00:01.360 Put a little bit of weight on AI over Christmas break.

01:00:04.260 I don't need to, I don't need to get a little, a little too snug.

01:00:07.220 It's like, it's pulling and it's pulling because your gut is pulling.

01:00:10.300 I'm like, Hey, AI, slow down a little bit, but I'm just saying it actually works very well.

01:00:16.020 Like you can ask it, you can even ask it for outfit advice guys.

01:00:20.040 Once you realize how, what a tool AI is for you, it is a, it is, it's pretty incredible.

01:00:25.480 I used, I used grok seven different times this morning, um, getting ready just to answer

01:00:32.380 different questions.

01:00:33.680 I did.

01:00:34.340 I don't think I mentioned this yesterday.

01:00:36.240 Valentine's day dinner.

01:00:37.180 I met, uh, as I was getting ready, um, to go out wife hit me with, is that what you're

01:00:43.400 wearing?

01:00:44.780 Not a good start to the devastating off the top rope wife. 1.00

01:00:49.340 Is that what you're wearing?

01:00:50.300 I went, I was in Florida over the weekend and I did not have a pair of pants.

01:00:54.740 I did have shorts.

01:00:56.040 And so, uh, other than my track pants, which are awesome from XXXY, uh, great brand.

01:01:03.160 Um, but not very fancy.

01:01:05.720 And so my wife was not happy with the, uh, options that, uh, that I had. 0.93

01:01:10.740 Um, and is that what you're wearing was the first thing I heard when I came out wearing

01:01:16.460 what I thought was a great outfit to Valentine's day dinner, uh, following the nine 11, by the

01:01:21.980 way, I don't know if you haven't noticed this yet, Buck, but Superbowl next year is on

01:01:27.180 Valentine's day.

01:01:29.200 Superbowl 61 is Valentine's day.

01:01:32.600 I, it's going to be the biggest breakup day in the history of mankind.

01:01:36.360 Cause a lot of women are going to find out that their boyfriends, uh, care way more about

01:01:40.900 football than they do celebrating that, uh, relationship following and probably some men,

01:01:45.780 um, uh, but a lot more women following the nine 11 attacks, New York city firefighter, 0.61

01:01:51.580 Daniel Foley assisted in the rescue and recovery efforts at ground zero.

01:01:55.260 He didn't know then that his heroism would later cost him his life.

01:01:58.800 Daniel spent months at ground zero searching for victims, including his own brother,

01:02:02.360 firefighter, Thomas Foley, who was killed in the attacks.

01:02:05.360 Daniel's father also took part in the efforts at ground zero.

01:02:08.500 He died years later from a rare nine 11 related leukemia.

01:02:11.980 Daniel's death, like so many others was also a direct result of nine 11 related cancer.

01:02:17.320 He leaves behind his wife, Carrie and their five children tunnel, the towers paid the mortgage

01:02:21.940 on the family's home.

01:02:23.040 And every day we see the toll that nine 11 continues to take on heroes and their families.

01:02:28.000 Your donation today can make a world of difference to a family like the Foley's that can provide

01:02:33.160 a sense of security and stability in the face of uncertainty while also bringing hope.

01:02:38.620 Join us in donating $11 a month to tunnel, the towers at T2T.org.

01:02:43.400 That's T the number two T dot org.

01:02:47.580 Keep up with the biggest political comeback in world history on the team 47 podcast.

01:02:54.020 Clay and Buck highlight Trump replace from the week Sundays at noon Eastern.

01:02:58.300 Find it on the I heart radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

01:03:02.740 This is an I heart podcast guaranteed human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - February 17, 2026

Bonus： Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Feb 17 2026

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