Verdict with Ted Cruz - Bonus： Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Feb 25 2026

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00:00:04.640 Welcome, everybody, to the Wednesday edition of the Clay and Buck Show.

00:00:09.580 My friends, it was the best State of the Union speech I've ever seen.

00:00:14.860 I'm just going to come right out and say it.

00:00:16.880 A little bit of a mea culpa, actually, because I'm a little salty about State of the Unions.

00:00:22.360 Most of them are boring because they go too long.

00:00:25.060 I watched every minute of this one, as I tend to always do, because this is our job,

00:00:29.300 but it was not boring.

00:00:30.680 It was soaring.

00:00:32.560 It was majestic.

00:00:33.460 It was pageantry.

00:00:34.700 It was fantastic, honestly.

00:00:37.340 I feel like a movie reviewer.

00:00:38.680 I laughed.

00:00:39.280 I cried.

00:00:40.160 I felt my heart soar.

00:00:42.140 It was fantastic.

00:00:43.380 I mean, it was the best.

00:00:45.020 I could not say enough good things about Trump's State of the Union.

00:00:48.520 He was absolutely dialed in, locked in, en fuego, all of the above.

00:00:53.560 Now, we will dive into some of the policy, of course, as well as the very well-deserved

00:00:59.660 victory lap that was the bulk of the opening, certainly, of the speech.

00:01:05.720 And the Democrat responses, oh, my gosh. 0.99

00:01:09.340 This Democrat party is nuts. 0.59

00:01:12.080 In fact, I think one of the most powerful moments, Clay, of the entire—now, look, before 0.91

00:01:19.340 I get into the Democrats, actually, I want to focus on the positive here, because many

00:01:24.260 of you are probably familiar with Internet terminology, and, for example, the red pill,

00:01:29.920 which comes from The Matrix, which I've been saying for a long time.

00:01:32.940 Actually, I used to say this on my show, Clay, when I was doing a Saturday show for, like,

00:01:36.420 five people on the Internet.

00:01:38.140 I would say, guys, you know, we've got to take the red pill here.

00:01:40.740 And it became very popular because of the movie The Matrix.

00:01:43.840 And it means to see things as they truly are.

00:01:46.660 But now there are different pills with corresponding colors.

00:01:50.580 And there are people on the right—there are people that will say you're taking a—a white 0.81

00:01:56.520 pill means you're seeing things in a very sort of benevolent light.

00:02:00.440 Red pill is you're seeing things as they are.

00:02:02.520 Blue pill is you're part of the normies, or you still have the world sort of shrouded and

00:02:09.900 presented to you without seeing with clarity, which is from The Matrix.

00:02:14.500 And then the black pill is I'm just—everything is bad.

00:02:18.660 We're never going to win.

00:02:19.520 Everything is terrible.

00:02:20.560 There's some black pilling that happens sometimes on the right, where people just want to get

00:02:25.180 down.

00:02:26.060 And I saw a little of this in the commentary of, but what about this?

00:02:29.420 And Trump didn't do that.

00:02:30.980 Clay, I just want to set this marker, because I don't know—I don't say that every State

00:02:35.000 of the Union address is great.

00:02:35.960 In fact, most of them, I think, are a waste of time.

00:02:37.680 Most of them I do because it's my job.

00:02:39.920 Not only was this the best State of the Union speech, that was a marker, a high point, I

00:02:44.280 think, for looking back at what has been, in its totality, an unbelievable first year

00:02:52.040 of Trump's second term.

00:02:53.960 And I'm somebody who was there in the trenches with the fighting back against the Russia collusion

00:02:59.260 stuff, which was totally messing Trump up in the first term, and sandbagging, and undermining

00:03:05.880 everything he was doing, and dealing with the bad picks that he had in that first administration.

00:03:10.680 I'm not a, oh, rose-colored glasses guy.

00:03:13.400 Everything is awesome.

00:03:14.440 Clay, before we get into anything else, I just—I think it's worth taking this moment

00:03:18.640 of this administration has delivered enormously on securing the border, on bringing down the

00:03:27.120 crime rate nationally, on a booming economy, we can go through this piece by piece.

00:03:33.740 The data speaks to it.

00:03:35.440 Everyone needs to take a moment.

00:03:37.120 Enjoy the win.

00:03:38.380 Enjoy the victory.

00:03:40.100 Because, unfortunately, this too shall pass.

00:03:43.660 He will not be president forever.

00:03:45.400 He might not even have the House for more than another year.

00:03:48.420 And the Democrats will get into this, Clay. 0.98

00:03:51.200 They're insane. 1.00

00:03:52.180 They are a wacko party. 0.99

00:03:55.180 Well, I mean, I think that, to me, is everything comes down to a couple of moments, even more

00:04:01.900 so in a social media age.

00:04:04.540 Most people did not watch a two-hour speech.

00:04:08.160 And you loved it.

00:04:10.000 I've got to be honest with you.

00:04:11.100 It would have been better if it were an hour 15 instead of nearly two hours.

00:04:16.820 So I was watching.

00:04:18.680 I was also doing what a lot of other people are doing, probably.

00:04:22.180 I was watching a basketball game simultaneously on a second screen.

00:04:25.560 Okay, this is the most Clay thing ever.

00:04:26.840 You're watching a basketball.

00:04:27.880 We're switching roles here.

00:04:29.100 Usually you're the one that loved the movie, so to speak, and I trash it.

00:04:32.720 You're not trashing it, but you're saying it was too long, which is what I was worried

00:04:36.000 was going to happen.

00:04:36.880 I actually sat through the whole thing and thought that he really pulled the whole thing

00:04:40.440 off without it.

00:04:41.160 I mean, look, I think all city unions should be 30 minutes, but that's me.

00:04:44.300 I'm crazy.

00:04:44.740 Um, I thought that, uh, it went on too long with that in, uh, as my criticism, because

00:04:53.860 I, I, I think, um, it just dragged to me.

00:04:57.260 I thought it was the most optimistic patriotic speech that Trump may have ever given. 0.94

00:05:04.400 And if you were just a reasonable person, right, not someone who is a Trump deranged psychopath

00:05:12.120 and you just watch that, I think the results would be somewhat similar to what, uh, CNN

00:05:19.360 actually showed, which was 64% of the speech viewers really liked it.

00:05:24.520 I would say there's about 35% of people.

00:05:27.280 Trump could have come out last night and said, I cured cancer.

00:05:30.880 Uh, all of your grandmas and grandpas are now going to be resurrected because of, uh,

00:05:37.220 massive technological advantages.

00:05:39.060 And you're going to get to hang out with your family again.

00:05:41.120 And they still would complain, right?

00:05:43.440 Whatever the greatest thing, and I balanced the budget and, uh, whatever the greatest accomplishment

00:05:49.580 that you think a president could render, there's about 35% of the population that would hate 0.98

00:05:55.600 it just because Trump has broken their brains.

00:05:57.680 And I thought there were two things that really stood out, Buck. 1.00

00:06:01.160 One was when Trump said they're insane.

00:06:04.020 And the second one was when they're not willing to stand for things that are completely non-political

00:06:11.300 in nature.

00:06:12.060 And I think this is going to bounce back in Democrats, uh, disfavor in a fairly substantial

00:06:18.220 way because being retro, uh, sort of retroactively opposed to whatever Trump is in favor of, it

00:06:26.280 is, uh, working against them.

00:06:28.640 And I thought Trump did a good job of making a case.

00:06:30.880 If I were giving advice, I would have said, do it in one 15 instead of one 45.

00:06:35.360 I think 30 minutes of that speech could have been cleaned up, but so much of it was just

00:06:41.180 a spectacularly optimistic story about America and how our lives intersect with the 250 year

00:06:48.320 old history of the country.

00:06:49.940 And in that way, I thought it was very well done in the most optimistic, probable speech

00:06:55.260 that Trump has maybe ever given in his presidency.

00:06:57.280 You noted two of the most important policy, uh, which I think pretty universally people

00:07:03.760 felt like the, uh, Democrats not standing for, we want to put citizens above foreigners, 1.00

00:07:11.000 basically like Americans matter more to the American government.

00:07:14.040 Their, their, their future and their wellbeing matters more to the American government than

00:07:18.100 other people.

00:07:18.840 Democrats just fundamentally don't believe that actually Democrats view anyone from anywhere

00:07:23.800 in the world, no matter what their, uh, their, their background, their language, their

00:07:29.920 politics, their, their credo, whatever, as well, maybe that could be a voter, you know,

00:07:36.060 well, just start giving them welfare and turn them into a voter. 0.99

00:07:38.420 That's how they view that anyone from anywhere, anyone is as American as any of you, as long

00:07:43.360 as that person is going to be on the government, uh, dole and vote Democrat.

00:07:47.860 That is truly how they feel and how they, uh, think of this country, which I think is a

00:07:52.120 huge vulnerability for them politically.

00:07:54.280 It should be, or else we're just on a slow glide path into the side of the mountain and

00:07:58.440 our sovereignty is done.

00:07:59.600 Uh, but Clay, the two moments for me that were particularly just powerful, the USA hockey

00:08:06.440 team thing, uh, that I'm not, I'm not a hockey guy.

00:08:10.240 I've got so many, I got so many thoughts on this too, that we can dive into eventually.

00:08:14.760 But that moment was pure cinematic gold.

00:08:17.980 It, it was, it was, you know, Ronald Reagan high-fiving Hulk Hogan on the back of a triceratops

00:08:26.680 with, with American flags fluttering in the backgrounds, you know, flanked by eagles.

00:08:31.800 Like, I mean, it was, it was amazing.

00:08:34.520 All right.

00:08:34.940 It was an absolutely beautiful moment, uh, for, for the country.

00:08:39.920 And it was just so cool.

00:08:40.960 All those young guys there, you know, the big win and it really is about America.

00:08:45.160 And I think I, I, I would hope that even somebody that despises every aspect of Trump's policy,

00:08:52.680 at least had their, had their moment, you know, their, they, they smiled and looked at

00:08:58.260 those guys and said, they are, there are boys and they did a great job and our gals, they

00:09:03.180 weren't, uh, they weren't there last night, but you know, the gals team did a great job

00:09:07.340 too.

00:09:07.660 And I just think that that national pride is something that I'd want to see in everybody,

00:09:11.280 irrespective of who they vote for.

00:09:13.060 Unfortunately, Democrats, a lot of them, not all of them, it's not fair to say all of them,

00:09:16.920 but a lot of them don't.

00:09:18.280 And Clay, the other moment for me was when he told the story of the pilot, uh, chief

00:09:23.280 warrant officer Slover going into Venezuela, getting his legs.

00:09:27.600 I mean, I'm assuming it was probably getting hit by seven, six, two rounds.

00:09:31.760 I mean, I don't know.

00:09:32.440 They didn't talk about this, but getting hit by, uh, you know, getting hit the legs and then

00:09:37.080 a hip and continuing as a Chinook pilot to make sure that that, that bird came down and

00:09:43.760 the mission was completed.

00:09:45.080 And that guy, uh, you could tell he's still recovering.

00:09:47.640 There's still probably a lot of pain he's dealing with and, and immobility issues from,

00:09:51.700 you know, you, you, you get, you get hit with those kinds of routes, especially talking

00:09:54.760 about hip stuff.

00:09:55.500 That's very point is man, that guy's just an American hero and American badass and be able

00:10:00.260 to give him the medal of honor.

00:10:01.120 I know there are other medal of honor winners too, and they had amazing stories, but this

00:10:04.360 guy, it just happened.

00:10:06.300 I just, that, that wasn't about Trump, right?

00:10:10.600 Yes.

00:10:11.000 No, totally.

00:10:11.880 It's about the country truly.

00:10:14.540 So how can they not love that?

00:10:16.580 How can, how can you be an American and not say, you know, this is one of the best of ours

00:10:21.500 right here.

00:10:22.120 This guy who put it on the line and got the mission done.

00:10:24.840 Eric Slover is his name and what, first of all, he looked uncomfortable being there

00:10:32.200 because I guarantee you, if they had given him a mic, he would say, well, I was just

00:10:36.960 one of insert number of guys doing my job.

00:10:40.160 That's how those guys are at the highest level of the operators.

00:10:42.780 That's how they are.

00:10:44.020 Uh, but as he stood there and he was still, as you said, recovering, he had a aid, I think 0.83

00:10:49.960 a crutches basically to help him walk, he looked like an American bad-ass monster in 1.00

00:10:57.160 a good way, right? 0.77

00:10:58.220 Just huge.

00:10:59.740 I don't know how many reps on three 15 that guy can do, but I would go for a high number.

00:11:05.080 I mean, he looks like a guy who had committed his heart and soul to defending America, America

00:11:12.140 to touch it, such an extent that he was there to get the utmost of his body and give the

00:11:18.600 utmost of his body on behalf of the country.

00:11:21.900 And that, to your point, they had 200 year old, a world war two veteran, a guy who, uh,

00:11:28.020 flew missions.

00:11:28.840 I think they said in world war two, Korea and Vietnam.

00:11:32.400 I mean, both of whom were getting the awards.

00:11:35.300 I thought it was the most patriotic pro American speech that Trump may have ever given.

00:11:39.680 And here's what stood out to me, Buck.

00:11:41.880 And I think this ties in with the U S men.

00:11:43.800 And I've got so many thoughts on a deep level about this.

00:11:45.820 You can argue, as we have said on this program, about what the tax rate should be on corporations.

00:11:51.100 And you can argue about what policy should be in place when it comes to, uh, ice raids and

00:11:57.920 all these other different things.

00:11:59.180 But really what I think president Trump distilled with this address is there is one party that

00:12:05.780 is proud of this country and proud of the United States and feels intense patriotic loyalty

00:12:11.980 to America and that is Republicans.

00:12:14.340 And then there is a party that is ashamed of America and everything that it's represents.

00:12:19.460 And that is Democrats.

00:12:20.840 And that is a big major issue writ large that doesn't have anything to do direct with policy.

00:12:28.140 And I thought Trump's address was delivered right at that intersection of conflict over the

00:12:35.880 existential and support and super important question of is America a good and, uh, and just

00:12:43.120 country or not Republicans say, yes, Democrats say no.

00:12:47.580 And I think that goes to the very essence of our political battles in this day and age.

00:12:52.340 And I thought that address really focused on it.

00:12:55.720 Also, Trump just taking a moment for him here.

00:12:59.840 Cause there was a lot of stuff that really was about the country and that was, it was beautiful.

00:13:02.940 And, and all of the victory laps that he started out with are just, they're just factual too.

00:13:08.140 This isn't when Biden says things like, we were American jobs, we brought back the economy.

00:13:14.220 It's like, you mean you Democrat maniacs allowed people to go back to work because they had

00:13:19.540 already gotten a nasty cold that they weren't going to die from in the first place because

00:13:23.460 they weren't, you know, at high risk.

00:13:25.500 Like that's your great economic contribution to stop ruining everything and spending us into

00:13:30.260 oblivion. Um, the accomplishments that Trump was laying out last night are just that they're

00:13:36.420 accomplishments. No matter how you slice it, the reality is he's done incredible things.

00:13:40.160 But the other part of this clay is he's just a showman, man. I mean, when he goes out with

00:13:45.600 the Democrats or, you know, Oh, they're, they're, they're shrieking and howling and they're all

00:13:49.920 so upset and they're acting like really acting like the, uh, you know, the unruly children in

00:13:55.580 the school auditorium at the Dean has to go and give a talking to, you know, Trump is 1.00

00:14:00.360 just like, yeah, you're crazy. You know, he's shouting them down. The guy just puts on a 0.99

00:14:04.700 show. It's, there's nothing else like it. We've seen nothing else like it. And, uh, I thought

00:14:10.720 it was, I thought it was phenomenal. Do I always think that a speech could be shorter? Sure.

00:14:14.060 But I actually, last night was the first time that I wasn't like, this has gotten brutal.

00:14:17.600 That was, that was kind of my meeting got, got way too long. Um, so overall I thought it

00:14:22.860 was his best state of the union speech and I go into these things pretty, uh, with low

00:14:27.860 expectations. So we'll talk about some of the Democrat stuff, some of the big policy moments.

00:14:31.600 Also, I think worth discussing this, setting aside money for American children in accounts,

00:14:38.500 understand like basically putting everybody in a place where they will benefit from the

00:14:43.660 American economy and the financial system. There's some big things about this that I think

00:14:49.160 really matter. And, and we should discuss, um, because this is, this is a way you want

00:14:53.980 to deal with like the wealth gap and you want to deal with a quality of life and all these

00:14:58.120 things. There's, there's a lot to this. Uh, by the way, we should have taken George W.

00:15:03.400 Bush's advice a long time ago and index social security to S and P 500 index funds. If we had

00:15:09.760 the country would be on much sounder financial shape instead of you giving all your money and

00:15:14.660 getting back 3% returns or whatever the heck it is 40 years later, it's a social security.

00:15:20.020 The way it's set up is just, it's a joke throughout the state of the union speech.

00:15:23.740 President Trump honored our military old and young frequently referenced this year's the

00:15:28.420 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the

00:15:35.540 9-11 attacks and the tunnel, the towers foundation has been helping America's heroes ever since heroes

00:15:41.480 like fire Lieutenant Michael Wells. Inspired by the heroism of firefighters on 9-11, Michael felt a calling

00:15:48.200 to pursue his dream of serving his community as a firefighter. He devoted 14 years to his fire department,

00:15:54.580 rose to the rank of Lieutenant, saved lives, and earned the badge of honor for his bravery.

00:15:59.440 Despite his courage, faith, and unwavering smile, he lost his battle with occupational cancer.

00:16:04.860 On the 25th anniversary of 9-11, Michael's story reminds us of the profound impact of that day

00:16:10.260 on America's heroes and their families. Michael leaves behind his loving wife Katie,

00:16:15.080 their three kids, and a legacy of service and love. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation honored Michael

00:16:20.140 by paying off the Wells family mortgage. Help Tunnel to Towers support more families like the Wells family.

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00:16:32.400 Go to T2T.org. That's T, the number 2, T.org.

00:16:38.980 Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Mic drops. That never sounded so good.

00:16:45.360 Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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00:17:19.460 Welcome in. Hour number two. It's the day after a State of the Union that was spectacularly well

00:17:30.380 received as President Trump made the case that his policies have drastically improved life in America

00:17:39.580 for many. And he ran through all of those arguments. I just come back to again, Buck,

00:17:46.820 he ran on EBC Economy Border Crime. After one year, the economy is very strong. Growth rate in the

00:17:56.900 third quarter, 4.4%. Inflation down to 2.4%. Mortgage rates just hit a four-year low. For those of you

00:18:05.040 out there in the housing market looking for 15 or 30 years, you are now getting lower rates than at

00:18:12.060 any time since 2022 before the Biden inflation took over. You've got record high stock prices at the

00:18:20.000 S&P 500, the Dow Jones effectively. You have, as we talked about, and I think it's such a huge deal,

00:18:27.400 the safest country from a murder perspective that any of us have ever lived in. You have

00:18:34.080 basically everything going really, really great. And by the way, 800-282-2882 if you want to weigh in.

00:18:43.620 But I want to, you mentioned Buck, and I think you're right. And it seems to be the part that is

00:18:49.060 echoing very strongly today. The U.S. men and Trump basically calling Democrats crazy for refusing to

00:18:57.940 stand when he asked them, hey, do you think you should try to improve the lives, I'm paraphrasing,

00:19:04.380 of citizens more than illegals. And one of the angles that is being used to attack Trump and by

00:19:12.540 proxy, the U.S. men for visiting with Trump, who had won the gold medal for the first time in 46 years,

00:19:20.960 these U.S. men are being attacked mercilessly by many in left-wing media. And I thought that we

00:19:30.700 should maybe dive into this. I think, do we have, Producer Greg, this clip ready now? Okay, so if

00:19:37.440 you're out there and you're wondering, okay, why are they getting attacked? Yes, they're getting

00:19:41.320 attacked because they went to the White House, because they're unapologetically pro-America. All those

00:19:47.260 things are true. But if you push back on that and you point out what is indisputably true, which is

00:19:53.340 people have always visited the president, president, Democrat, Republican, has always congratulated

00:19:59.020 gold medal winners and had them visit the White House. What they circle back to, Buck, is Trump

00:20:04.760 insulted the U.S. women's hockey team. And this is a Laura Travis special, Buck. This is a Laura Travis

00:20:12.420 special because she's fired up about this because she said, I'm seeing this all over my

00:20:17.260 social media feeds. I don't know if you saw this story. A Canadian hockey player shared a photo of him

00:20:25.000 with his daughter at Disney World. He is a Canadian NHL hockey player. He was not on Team Canada. He was

00:20:32.260 not on Team USA. And he was attacked mercilessly on social media because people said, how dare you laugh at

00:20:41.320 a joke about women's hockey players and then have a photo posted of you with your two-year-old 1.00

00:20:49.060 daughter at Disney World talking about how you're a girl dad? This is real. I don't know if you saw

00:20:54.000 this story. I mean, they're insane, but how do they know he laughed at the joke? He didn't. He wasn't even

00:20:58.640 there. That's my point. They're just attacking. They're just attacking every hockey player right now because

00:21:05.480 they're saying, oh, he's a misogynist. He laughed at a joke. And so I wanted to play the joke because

00:21:11.880 it's much less significant. But this reminds me of the very fine people hoax when they spent years

00:21:19.060 telling you that Trump, Trump loves Nazis. He said they were very fine people and he did it. But they

00:21:25.040 so embedded the idea that what he had done was say that Nazis were very fine people and white 0.57

00:21:31.980 supremacists. And in fact, he had done the opposite. He had actually condemned them.

00:21:36.220 So usually when you go and deconstruct a joke, this is what losers do because you either laugh

00:21:43.380 or you don't laugh at a joke. And you don't go back and then say, oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't think

00:21:49.240 about the larger context of the joke and how it was going to impact the indigenous people whose land

00:21:55.440 we stole. And I feel, oh, so please forgive me. This is what they're saying. They're saying they want

00:22:00.160 the U.S. men to apologize for laughing at a joke. So here is the joke. I want you to listen to it.

00:22:05.700 And then I'm going to do an actual deconstruction of the joke and show you how dishonest the coverage

00:22:11.180 of this has been. So, producer Greg, this was in the locker room. Cash Patel's holding up his phone.

00:22:16.860 President Trump is congratulating the team. Listen.

00:22:19.400 We'll get the cash and we'll get the military to get you guys over.

00:22:23.520 Thank you, Mr. President.

00:22:24.860 What would really be cool, and we'll do the White House the next day, we'll just have some fun.

00:22:28.760 We have medals for you guys. And we have to, I must tell you, we're going to have to bring

00:22:33.140 the woman's team. You do know that.

00:22:34.920 That's right.

00:22:36.840 I do believe I probably would be impeached, okay?

00:22:44.440 Okay, so he's making a joke, but I want to deconstruct this. And by the way, if you couldn't

00:22:47.980 hear it, that men in the background are actually cheering and saying two for two, meaning they

00:22:53.340 both won gold medals. But when he says that, he says, otherwise I'll be impeached. The joke

00:23:00.640 is at the expense of Democrats and anti-Trump deranged people who would attack him if he

00:23:09.140 had just invited the men and not the women. They would say, oh, you're super sexist. 1.00

00:23:14.460 Oh, you're misogynistic. So the joke is actually at the expense of his critics. Second part of

00:23:20.340 this, Buck. The women who are outraged by this, and it's everywhere on social media, the crazy 1.00

00:23:26.920 cat lady battalion is fired up because they're so outraged that people laughed at that joke, 1.00

00:23:33.440 which was actually at their expense. And they're not smart enough to see it, or they didn't actually

00:23:38.200 listen to the joke themselves. Here's the second part of this, Buck. If Trump had delivered the

00:23:44.500 most perfect invitation to the White House that has ever occurred to the U.S. women's gold medal

00:23:50.740 hockey winning team, the same women who claim that they are offended by that joke that we just played 1.00

00:23:57.320 would actually immediately demand that the U.S. women's gold medal hockey team not go to the White

00:24:05.020 House because to go would be offensive to their politics and therefore the women can't go. So what 1.00

00:24:12.060 you have here is an entirely manufactured story, which has caught fire on the left that is not rooted

00:24:19.740 in the joke itself. And you also have primarily women complaining about the way an invitation was

00:24:27.440 conveyed when they would never want the invitation to be accepted in the first place. And Buck, I want to

00:24:33.640 play this. This is MSNBC. If you're out there, maybe you're like me. Maybe you voted Democrat in

00:24:39.740 the past and there's a ton of you out there listening. Maybe you weren't like Buck and at nine

00:24:43.260 years old you weren't reading William F. Buckley and convinced. Little bow tie. Yes. Drinking Earl Grey tea,

00:24:51.360 thinking about the future. Maybe you weren't like Buck. Maybe you're a little bit more like me.

00:24:56.200 And if you're looking around at the society, you think to yourself, I haven't really changed that much

00:25:02.060 and the world as President Trump said has just gone crazy around you. This is 2012. This is 2012

00:25:12.060 on MSNBC. A hockey player chose not to visit Barack Obama's White House. And this was how they covered

00:25:22.340 it on MSNBC. This was left-wing orthodoxy just a few short years ago. Listen.

00:25:29.340 Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, RSVP. Thanks, but no thanks to a White House invitation.

00:25:35.420 What do we make of that? Tim Thomas said, I exercise my free right and my right as a free citizen and did not visit

00:25:41.240 the White House. This is not about politics or party. As in my opinion, both parties are responsible for the situation

00:25:47.140 we are in as a country. I mean, I think this is kind of the hyper-partisanship that just irritates

00:25:51.940 everybody. It's like, just go to the White House. You don't have to run an ad or cut a commercial or

00:25:57.480 anything. Just go to the White House. Take part. Celebrate just like everybody else celebrates with

00:26:01.800 Republicans or Democratic presidents. Especially when you're getting honored. Obama made specific

00:26:06.620 mention of him during his six-minute address. Buck, not going to the White House was actually the

00:26:15.040 insult. Now, this is my position writ large. So if you want to clip this in 20 years and I've got a

00:26:20.080 different opinion, you can play it. For 20 years, I've been saying, if you're on a sports team and

00:26:25.760 you get invited to the White House, I think you should go. I don't see it as an endorsement of

00:26:30.260 the president. I see it as a celebration of you and your teammates' accomplishments.

00:26:35.340 Everybody in America, basically, had that opinion, Democrats, Republicans,

00:26:40.120 Republicans' independence until a few short years ago. And this is why this is important.

00:26:45.640 The U.S. men haven't said a single thing about politics. They haven't told us what they think

00:26:50.080 about any issue under the political sun. And during this entire attack that has been going on on them,

00:26:57.340 it's entirely based on the fact that they are patriotic, that they respect the office of the

00:27:02.940 presidency and that they are willing to celebrate the accomplishments of the country, which they think

00:27:10.420 is the best in the history of the world. Isn't this kind of, it's important to understand that

00:27:14.740 their very patriotism is being used against them by the left because the left, I really do believe

00:27:22.020 this is important to slam home, hates the country and the country's history. And they are using these U.S. 0.90

00:27:29.160 men who are super popular as a way to attack all of this. And I think it's important to put it into

00:27:34.660 context just how illegitimate and unfair all of this has been. I also think that it highlights,

00:27:40.980 Clay, when you have Spamburger. I know it's Spamburger, but I think Spamburger is more apropos.

00:27:49.600 When you have her, isn't it interesting also you have Slotkin and Spamburger, both former government

00:27:55.140 analysts like yours truly. So when I tell you guys, there are a lot of commies in the government,

00:28:01.140 that's for sure, you know, doing the civil servant thing. But when she's the one giving the response, 0.99

00:28:09.640 which I watched some of it, I honestly at some point turned it off. But when you're watching this

00:28:14.560 thing, Democrats to attain power have to pretend that the soul and the plan of their party is

00:28:24.640 something other than that, which it is. The problem Republicans run into is when they're in power,

00:28:30.140 they can't get everything done that they want to get done. And sometimes that's because of some

00:28:35.340 Republicans standing in the way. But it's not, oh, we're doing something totally different than what

00:28:39.760 we sold you on. Joe Biden ran as a calm unifier and then said, get the shot with your vaccine passport

00:28:48.240 or you can't go to work and you can't go to school and you can't do anything.

00:28:53.880 OK, these people run on a mountain of lies to get power. And then they just ran through as much

00:29:02.540 crazy left wing nonsense as they can as fast as they can and hope that through propaganda 0.96

00:29:07.920 and through manufactured delusions, they might be able to fool people or rather it will fool people, 0.88

00:29:15.800 but also make people forget what they've done in the past. The Democrats last night,

00:29:20.020 Clay, Rashida Tlaib had a profanity, you know, like sounds a bit like my name and then ice 0.70

00:29:30.220 on her button. And you're like, what? You're a member of Congress at a State of the Union address.

00:29:36.860 You're not part of the Marxist Student Alliance at at CUNY, at City University of New York or

00:29:44.760 stuff like what are you doing? But this is who they are. They're malcontents. And the ones at the

00:29:50.000 top, the ones that are like the more sort of elevated than the street communist types like 0.98

00:29:54.420 Nancy Pelosi, they're so corrupt and so venal and so self-dealing and just soulless. 0.98

00:30:03.840 This is who they are. Amen. And I do think that for people who watched last night with persuadable 0.99

00:30:15.880 minds, and I understand a lot of people, it doesn't matter what happens. I said Trump could

00:30:19.860 have come out and said he secured cancer and brought everybody's grandma and grandpa back

00:30:23.100 to life and there'd be people who are angry at him. But for the people who are persuadable,

00:30:27.260 the data reflects that there is still a substantial majority of Americans that believes

00:30:33.660 in the country's history and greatness and that this is the best country in the history

00:30:38.680 of the world. And that is the reality under which the Democrats are opposed. And I think

00:30:47.040 that's significant. And by the way, 800-282-2882. We'll take your calls, get your talkbacks.

00:30:53.140 We only have one guest today. Marsha Blackburn, Senator from Tennessee, is on next hour. 0.64

00:30:57.800 But that is the only guest so you guys can weigh in and tell us what you thought in addition to

00:31:03.120 everything that we have already broken down based on last night's State of the Union.

00:31:09.580 Indeed. So with that said, pure talk, my friends. Affordability is on the minds of all Americans.

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00:31:34.880 like stores and big marketing campaigns, they're able to pass on the savings right to you,

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00:32:10.980 You don't know what you don't know, right? But you could on the Sunday Hang with Clay and Buck

00:32:18.860 podcast. The right place. Welcome back into Clay and Buck, and we got a bunch of calls,

00:32:24.980 a bunch of things to get to and discuss, talk about. If you want to talk for a second to Clay

00:32:28.680 about the book situation here. Oh yeah, I tease that. I think this is important. I appreciate him

00:32:33.880 calling. You might think, oh, what is the impact of distribution in bookstores? It's huge.

00:32:43.880 They don't put, by and large, conservative books in the front of bookstores. They intentionally

00:32:50.840 underbuy them. So, I mean, what did the guys say? They were two copies of your book and there

00:32:56.060 were three copies of your book in huge bookstores with a brand new release. That's been the case

00:33:02.320 with every one of my books too. They, which is why Amazon is actually where most of them get sold.

00:33:08.860 They said that 90% of conservative books are sold is the number that I've heard on Amazon

00:33:14.320 because you can go right to it. It gets shipped to your home and that's great, but it means that

00:33:20.440 only people who know you exist get exposed to your ideas, right? They don't put John Beecham in the

00:33:27.700 front and you walk in and you're just shopping and you think to yourself, oh, who is this guy?

00:33:32.900 What's the arguments that he or she is making? We don't get any of those opportunities in the

00:33:38.560 cultural landscape. They bury the book in new releases. They've got two copies or three copies.

00:33:44.040 They sell them out immediately. And then this guy's going in because he's a, you know, a book buyer

00:33:48.460 and he expects for the book to be widely distributed. And it's just not, it's not an even playing

00:33:54.480 field in that respect. If, if any of you see a copy of manufacturing delusion, if you're happening

00:33:59.640 to be going through an airport this week and you see it on display, please take a photo and tag me

00:34:03.980 and let me know in any of those. Cause that's another big thing, uh, is, is the airport book

00:34:10.480 by situation. But, but I'm, I'm wondering if, if any of those, uh, stores that carry those books,

00:34:16.680 whatever they're called, uh, the stores, if they have manufacturing delusion, if they're trying

00:34:20.380 to sell it, because yeah, to your point, Clay, you don't get the benefit of, I mean, can you imagine

00:34:24.880 if I walked into a Barnes and Noble and there was a big display of my book, maybe a dashing photo of

00:34:31.020 me with windswept hair and manufacturing delusion in both hands, you know, just like letting it go.

00:34:36.620 No, that's not what happens. They, they, and to be clear, it's not about money. They'd be making

00:34:41.920 more money. They don't want to make more money. They don't like us. That's what it comes down to.

00:34:47.580 Don't like us. Don't want to help. And, uh, unfortunately there are some of these industries

00:34:54.060 still where the grip, uh, the political grip on the throat of the business is very strong

00:35:01.060 advertising still overall and ad buyers, libs, lib dominated, totally lib dominated, uh, and,

00:35:10.280 and publishing. Now there are conservative imprints at big publishing houses. Obviously one of them

00:35:14.660 printed me, I'm not saying that it's entirely, but in terms of the distribution side of it,

00:35:20.400 like who's buying the books for the stores to put out totally lib dominated. And it's just,

00:35:26.860 you know, I, I just wish we could do something about this. I can't say have Elon buy Barnes and

00:35:33.620 Noble, but maybe he could probably get us. He could probably get it for a song.

00:35:36.720 It just matters a tremendous amount in the marketplace of ideas. You can mention bookstores,

00:35:41.220 and that's the perfect example because people theoretically going into bookstores are going

00:35:45.540 there to buy books. And one of the fun things about going to a bookstore is the serendipity

00:35:50.700 of finding a book that you did not anticipate or no existed. And you think, Oh, this would be a great

00:35:57.080 read book. Browsing is still a big deal. Here's the other one that I think is even more significant

00:36:01.160 buck airports. Well, that's what I was just saying. I want to see books in the airports. This is what

00:36:06.060 the last time you saw a conservative book walking through the terminals at a display where you would

00:36:12.460 see it when you're in an airport. How many people buy books in airports? Huge percentages.

00:36:16.860 They don't exist. They do not exist in that way. So the callers, right? I mean, this is a,

00:36:23.380 this is a significant issue and we've got a bunch of callers by the way. Yeah, we have a bunch of

00:36:30.020 callers as we will get to now. Um, Andrew in Kentucky, you're up. What's going on?

00:36:34.240 I love your show. Um, just wanted to call and mention my favorite moment from the state of the

00:36:41.960 union last night. Uh, it was when Trump was talking about the, uh, save act and he was talking about

00:36:48.020 the hypocrisy of the left and mentioning the communist mayor of, uh, New York Mondami and talking

00:36:55.400 about how he was asking for a snow shovelers, but those snow shovelers needed to bring in two forms of 0.55

00:37:02.140 ID and a social security guard. Yeah. It's, I mean, look, we hope everybody in a WOR land is doing well

00:37:09.860 out there and certainly on long Island where they got over two feet of snow. And if you're listening

00:37:15.420 to us in Rhode Island, I think they got three feet of snow. And by the way, mentioning mom, Donnie,

00:37:20.460 did you see the videos that have gone viral? The snow of the cops or the snow getting, I, I think

00:37:26.480 it is absolutely despicable. I don't think it's funny. Um, I wish that those cops could have caught

00:37:32.880 a few of those guys with a nice, uh, truncheon to, uh, you know, the side of the knee. Um, I, I think

00:37:38.560 it's, it's horrible because I know people look, Oh, it's a snowball fight. Actually, first of all,

00:37:43.240 if you don't want to be in a snowball fight and you're getting hit from multiple sides, it's just

00:37:46.160 assault. It's actually assault and battery. Um, and you know, there, some of these guys are throwing

00:37:50.840 things that are basically ice. So you're just throwing like a handful of ice at a cop from close range.

00:37:55.720 And there's so many people that they can't do it. You know, they're not able to do anything

00:37:59.020 about it. I thought it was grotesquely disrespectful. I hope people get arrested for

00:38:03.360 it. They won't get prosecuted in any meaningful way because it's brag, but it just goes to show

00:38:07.960 you how disrespectful the, um, some of the, unfortunately some of the residents of New York

00:38:13.500 city and just thought, you know, these are all leftists, the people that are saying it's not a

00:38:16.440 big deal. They're all leftists. They hate cops because cops force the reality of accountability

00:38:21.640 on people. And the whole game of the left is no one's ever accountable. It's always,

00:38:24.800 you're always a victim. It's always someone else's fault.

00:38:27.420 Also, I just can't even imagine if you are the kind of person who's going to run up and

00:38:32.520 some of these were, they've got some photos out of people they're trying to arrest. Some

00:38:36.920 people were running up with basically boulders of ice to throw at cops, smacking on the cops.

00:38:42.160 It was really, really nasty. I mean, they clearly were taking advantage of the situation. Um,

00:38:47.900 and look, these people deserve a good swift punch in the face. You know, uh, I don't know 1.00

00:38:52.080 what else to say. I mean, they, they deserve to get an ass kicking. And also to your point, 1.00

00:38:57.140 what do you think the odds are that people who have been completely law abiding their entire life

00:39:01.840 decide to attack police officers with snowballs? I would bet those people have records that are a

00:39:07.560 mile long, likely because it's such a moronic thing to even think to do for most people.

00:39:12.220 Look, and the cops have a, uh, a tough job day in and day out. They do all over the country. 0.59

00:39:18.840 And, you know, it's often a thankless job. Not always, you know, they do sometimes perform the,

00:39:23.900 uh, Heimlich on a baby and save a life. I mean, you know, there's, there's obviously thanks with

00:39:28.360 it too. And, you know, I think a lot of communities, I said here in Miami beach,

00:39:31.800 we're very supportive of, of our cops and, you know, there's a very safe community. Cops are very

00:39:37.640 well-respected here, which I really liked that. And, you know, the NYPD went through a post nine

00:39:42.280 11 period where New Yorkers, I think were particularly, uh, prone to show gratitude

00:39:47.320 toward the NYPD. That's of course faded though. And when you, when you see this kind of disorder

00:39:53.140 where you have these people doing this, the police officers, like what, what is the mindset of somebody

00:39:57.860 who thinks that this is funny? Like that's someone's husband out there. Probably the, you know,

00:40:02.980 those cops probably married, probably have some kids and you're all smacking them with ice in the 1.00

00:40:07.620 face because they wear a uniform and they're trying to keep the streets safe and trying to keep bad

00:40:12.680 things from happening to people. What part of that is funny? What part of that is amusing?

00:40:17.680 So, you know, this, but this is Alvin Bragg's a scumbag. He's a bad person. He's immoral. He's a race 1.00

00:40:23.580 hustler. He clearly has a tremendous amount of animosity for certain people of certain backgrounds.

00:40:29.280 Uh, and he won't do anything about this guarantee you, even if they're arrested, he'll do the bare

00:40:33.880 minimum. And I think what you're going to see is Jessica Tish. Uh, and you know, I grew up knowing

00:40:39.200 the Tish family a little bit in New York and they're, they're good people and they love the city.

00:40:42.800 I think you're going to see Jesse Tish say I'm out because, because there's not the back. If you

00:40:47.840 don't have the, if you don't have the district attorney and the mayor catching your back as the

00:40:53.420 police commissioner and doing the right thing for law and order, your, your hands are tied.

00:40:57.520 It doesn't matter. This is one thing that Eric Adams got, right? The, uh, safety in New York

00:41:04.200 city got far better during his tenure than it was before. And I think the fact that he is a former

00:41:09.220 cop, it's not coincidental that that was the, uh, that was the outcome. He got it. I'm not saying

00:41:14.560 he was perfect. Clearly he wasn't an ideal leader, but you see the story. He had serious. Yeah. He,

00:41:21.560 Eric Adams Clay had serious managerial limitations. Like he just doesn't, he's not a guy you want

00:41:28.260 running a hundred billion dollar city budget operation and all the different, he's just not

00:41:34.460 up. He wasn't up for that task. He doesn't have the ability to experience, you know, but he was in

00:41:39.880 over his head, but he doesn't hate cops and he doesn't actually think that like criminals are good

00:41:45.100 people. And that was an improvement over to Blasio to be fair into what you're saying. That was an

00:41:49.560 improvement over to Blasio. Uh, you know, mom, Donnie is much more of the de Blasio mold.

00:41:56.000 And, and we're going to see, I think more and more of this and just wait until you have your

00:41:59.940 first major incident with a cop in New York. It will happen. It's inevitable at some point

00:42:04.020 and see which side of, of the equation mom, Donnie falls on. But you know, the, the statement,

00:42:09.920 I can guys pull the statement that mom, Donnie made about it. It was very, Oh, it's well,

00:42:16.200 here it is. We have it. Okay. Play cut 37. Here's mom, Donnie.

00:42:20.000 Speaking about these cops who were, they were being assaulted. I know people, Oh,

00:42:24.280 it's just snowballs. Okay. Uh, you can watch the video yourself and tell me if you think that the

00:42:29.700 cops were enjoying this play. I've said that what I saw was a snowball fight. It should be treated

00:42:33.800 accordingly. It was one that got out of hand, but that's what it was. I'm not going to be banning

00:42:38.200 snowball fights or organized snowball fights. Uh, I've, I've shared my, my thoughts with New Yorkers.

00:42:44.940 I mean, what, what if people just walked by cops and just, just smacked eggs in their faces? Is

00:42:50.520 that funny? Is that a joke? It's against the law. Mom, Donnie is also, unfortunately, and by the

00:42:56.500 way, Trump is too nice about him. He was too, and I know this is something that Trump is, he's funny

00:43:01.620 because they all say clay that Trump is, Trump's actually very nice. As long as you don't try to,

00:43:05.620 you know, go toe to toe with him. He's very charming. Mom, Donnie is a bad guy. He's a bad

00:43:11.240 guy. He's actually not a nice guy. He's a bad guy. He just smiles a lot and is, uh, you know, 0.50

00:43:18.960 smooth with people. The, yes, I agree with all of that. And he's falling rapidly on his face with a

00:43:28.100 lot of the different, um, uh, decisions that he's made. And one of them, you were talking about

00:43:34.960 Jessica Tisch is that New York city is basically deciding due to a budget crisis to not fund 5,000

00:43:43.740 police officers that they had previously anticipated and expected to fund. Um, that's going to

00:43:51.840 eventually blow up on them. There's no other way this is going to go. And believing that you can be

00:43:58.140 kind to criminals is a luxury of a low crime environment. And inevitably it leads to more

00:44:04.620 violence. And I would just come back. I mean, I guarantee you if they arrest the people who

00:44:09.920 were throwing cops, uh, throwing snowballs at cops aggressively, they will discover that those guys

00:44:16.140 have been arrested multiple times before, because I just don't buy, we're not talking about like a fun,

00:44:20.900 if the cops are actually engaged in the snowball fight too, that's a snowball fight running up to

00:44:26.980 somebody and pelting them constantly with snowballs because they're wearing uniforms is not a snowball fight.

00:44:33.460 To your point, if it were eggs, it would be an assault. Um, these guys should be charged.

00:44:38.080 And I think when they're charged, you will find out that they've been charged with multiple offenses

00:44:41.880 before. Right. I mean, I could walk up to someone and say, I'm patting them on the back and whack them

00:44:49.400 as hard as I can and do real damage and be like, Oh, he's just patting you on the back. I mean, 0.82

00:44:54.720 right. And we, we all know these games. We all know that. And this is of course a classic

00:44:59.380 leftist thing. But what mom Donnie said there is disgusting. I, what I saw was a snowball fight. 0.90

00:45:04.000 You sniveling little coward, someone. I don't want, I don't want to go. He's just the worst man. 0.99

00:45:09.400 He's just the worst. And it's a disgrace, a disgrace that New York has this guy calling the shots. 0.99

00:45:15.860 No doubt. If you visit Israel and its people, you will be impressed on the visit. I was there

00:45:22.340 about a year ago to see the work being done by the international fellowship of Christians and Jews.

00:45:27.660 It also provided me an opportunity to see the firsthand evidence of the attacks of October

00:45:32.780 7th, that what Hamas did to innocent Israelis because they were Jewish. I'm going to go to 0.98

00:45:39.220 Israel again. Uh, I was talking about this with my family recently. I want to take them. I want 0.97

00:45:43.440 them to be able to see the old city of Jerusalem. By the way, I'd like to go to Egypt. I like to travel

00:45:47.900 all over, uh, ancient civilizations areas that I haven't been to before. Um, as a nation,

00:45:54.800 the United States cares a great deal about Israel. Even if you don't get the chance to visit,

00:45:58.940 there are steadfast allies in the Middle East and the only country where true freedom in the

00:46:05.000 Middle East exists, regardless of what religion you are at a time when Jewish communities are

00:46:10.860 experiencing, experiencing more hostility, more threats, more violence than ever. Christians have a 1.00

00:46:16.740 powerful opportunity to say, you're not alone. You can join us and support the IFCJ by going to

00:46:24.560 IFCJ.org. You'll be amazed at all the work they do for people all over Israel. I have seen it.

00:46:33.000 They make a tremendous difference. IFCJ.org. That's IFCJ.org.

00:46:40.580 News and politics, but also a little comic relief. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free

00:46:49.540 iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Canadian women are looking for more, more to 1.00

00:46:55.680 themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them. And that's

00:46:59.900 why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Katherine

00:47:05.100 Clark. And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists,

00:47:10.800 athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey. So if you're

00:47:15.960 looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or

00:47:21.020 wherever you listen to your podcasts. Welcome back into Clay and Buck. We are joined by Senator

00:47:26.900 Marsha Blackburn of the great state of Tennessee, which has given us both a fantastic senator and a

00:47:34.140 fantastic Clay Travis. So we have so much to be thankful for, Tennessee. And thank you for being

00:47:39.700 here, Senator. Well, I'm always so delighted to join you all. Thanks for having me back.

00:47:47.160 It really was an incredible State of the Union. And that comes, Senator Blackburn, from somebody who

00:47:52.640 thinks even his own team, State of the Unions, are usually kind of boring and go too long. I felt

00:47:57.380 last night was remarkable. I just wanted to get your top line thoughts on it. And how was it?

00:48:04.560 It was remarkable. And the two hours absolutely flew by because the president just kept rolling

00:48:13.000 right on through all the objections that the left side of the aisle was throwing their way.

00:48:19.480 I was so pleased. He laid out where we were a year and a half ago with 9% inflation with chaos in the

00:48:26.040 world. And then he drew it to today where we're at 2.4% inflation, the price of gas coming down,

00:48:34.320 the price of groceries beginning to normalize, wages going up and job opportunities increasing.

00:48:41.440 And our standing in the world is restored. Our allies are working with us. Our adversaries

00:48:48.920 enemies and enemies fear us. They know that President Trump means business and that he has

00:48:55.320 the backing of Republicans in the House and the Senate. Were you stunned, even as someone who has

00:49:03.440 been involved in politics for a long time, that when they had the mom of a murdered innocent woman

00:49:10.920 and they had her stand and when they had Charlie Kirk's wife, Erica stand and when even on a much less serious

00:49:18.760 front, they brought in the U.S. men's Olympic team that every Democrat didn't stand up and clap.

00:49:27.020 I wish there had been even more of a camera on the larger viewing area so you could see it.

00:49:34.300 But I got to admit, I was kind of staggered. I don't know who gave Democrats that advice,

00:49:39.480 but including, hey, do you think your job is to take care of citizens or illegal immigrants?

00:49:45.040 That's right. I couldn't believe the way they behaved.

00:49:48.440 Their behavior was appalling. And the fact that they would stay sitting in their seats

00:49:53.880 and not stand to honor these who have lost loved ones, to honor those that have served our country,

00:50:03.240 to honor the oath that they took to protect and defend and honor the people who voted for them

00:50:14.020 and elected them to make certain that they were there to serve the people. It was absolutely astounding.

00:50:22.260 But you know what? This is where the line of distinction is. What we have seen is the current

00:50:31.700 Democrat Party, which is led by the far left wing of the Democrat Party, the Democrat Socialists,

00:50:40.760 they would rather take care of illegal immigrants than they would take care of the people that voted for 1.00

00:50:49.220 them. They would rather provide for illegal immigrants than provide for the citizens of their states 1.00

00:50:59.780 and the citizens of this nation. It is astounding.

00:51:05.780 Senator Blackburn, you also wanted to talk to us today about this case currently with the courts

00:51:13.340 involving social media and there's the Kids Online Safety Act. There's a whole range of issues coming

00:51:20.380 together here. Can you just tell us first what is going on right now? We've got Mark Zuckerberg

00:51:27.500 recently had to show up in Los Angeles County Superior Court. He testified. He's the CEO of Meta.

00:51:34.940 There's this whole court case going on. It's with the jury right now. What are the items at issue

00:51:41.520 and what do you want to see from this case? Yes, indeed. This case, which I will say this,

00:51:48.600 Mark Zuckerberg being on the stand in this case, I don't know what the outcome, the legal ramifications

00:51:56.640 of the case are going to end up being. No one can tell us exactly because there's a jury involved.

00:52:03.460 What I do know is this, that Mark Zuckerberg lost in the court of public opinion because he continued

00:52:12.060 to say that social media had nothing to do with the accelerated levels of anxiety and depression,

00:52:20.760 eating disorders, teen suicide, and this bucket of mental health issues. When the research that Meta has

00:52:31.400 and whistleblowers have given that research to us, and of course, it was presented in court,

00:52:37.860 and you know that they know what they are doing to kids. You know that they are designing programming

00:52:45.420 to capture younger kids. We all know that the valuation of Meta and Google and all of these

00:52:53.000 big tech companies. It is based on the number of eyeballs they draw to the page and the amount of

00:53:01.460 time they can keep those eyeballs focused on their platform. So I think he lost in the court of public

00:53:11.440 opinion. It has brought forward the need to pass the Kids Online Safety Act. That came out of the Senate

00:53:18.880 at 91 to 3. We have 75 Senate co-sponsors on it. It is significant. It would put in place a duty of

00:53:29.080 care, a product by design safety standard for the virtual space. That is something at this point we do

00:53:37.000 not have. Your grandkids, my sons, go to a similar school in the Nashville area that has a good technology

00:53:46.700 policy, which is, and I know they probably may be cheating right now, but they're not supposed to

00:53:53.080 have their phones. They're not supposed to be able to text message during school, and if they're caught

00:53:57.140 with cell phones during school hours, there are consequences. Shouldn't this be the standard for

00:54:03.000 every school basically in America? You're a grandma. Before that, you were a mom. As a dad, I think it's a

00:54:08.960 no-brainer, and I think it's super bipartisan. Are you in favor of this? More and more schools not

00:54:15.400 allowing kids to be on phones during the day. Oh, yes, indeed. Bell to bell, no cell. That is a very

00:54:24.660 good policy for kids, and you know, there's a growing body of research that shows that children

00:54:32.620 who do not have a cell phone on their desk, in their backpack, within reach, their test scores go up,

00:54:41.800 their achievement goes up, their participation in class increases, and the more you see this research,

00:54:50.120 the more you know that it does matter, and you realize what a massive distraction it is to have

00:54:57.380 that cell phone at the ready. I think one of the things that is so interesting about this also

00:55:03.180 is talking to parents, teachers, and principals. Most of the behavioral issues that take place

00:55:10.920 on school campuses find their nexus at the cell phone, and the bullying is 24-7. It never stops.

00:55:21.600 So putting those phones away for that period of the academic day forces kids to focus on what they

00:55:31.600 are studying. It means that kids that go to study hall are actually doing research work. They're writing

00:55:39.180 papers. They're pulling books out of the library shelves, and hearing from librarians about the

00:55:47.020 change in behavior during those study halls is something that has not been lost on me.

00:55:54.080 Speaking to Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, when you talk about, I just want to bring us back

00:55:59.260 to this for a second, the social media issues for kids and online duty of care. Are the social media

00:56:05.800 companies, are they just saying that that's impossible, it's too expensive, it's not necessary?

00:56:11.780 I mean, what's the counter-argument? Because usually, when it comes to any political issue

00:56:16.560 about children, everyone at least pretends that they care about the kids, right? I mean, even the

00:56:21.700 big companies pretend. So what are they saying in response to this? Why would they, you know,

00:56:28.540 will they go along with it? I mean, why does it even require an act by Congress?

00:56:34.840 They have proven they cannot police themselves. They have also proven that when kids are on those

00:56:40.420 phones, kids are the product. And, you know, one of the interesting things is that every industrial

00:56:46.700 sector in this country has product safety standards, whether it's an automobile, a toaster,

00:56:54.140 a mattress, a curling iron, everything has a safety standard. Everything except the virtual space.

00:57:04.080 And the reason for that, big tech has spent millions of dollars lobbying. Last year, fourth quarter of the

00:57:12.980 year, in order to take down the Kids Online Safety Act, META hired one lobbyist for every six members

00:57:22.020 of Congress and spent $20 million. I'm somebody that knows what it feels like to have big tech come

00:57:32.480 barreling after them with lots of lobbyist lawyers and millions of dollars because they do not want to

00:57:41.300 change their business model. They would have to change that business model if you put in place

00:57:48.860 a safety by design standard. If you de-link the algorithm so that the algorithm can be controlled

00:57:58.960 by the parents and the kids and not controlled by the platform. They don't want that.

00:58:09.000 Senator Blackburn, last night I was at a in the black is what it's called event about trying to balance

00:58:16.400 a budget. A bunch of people, you know, were there. It was awesome. I know you're running for governor.

00:58:23.100 But the federal government inability to remotely make decisions that have to do like, let's use as

00:58:32.880 an example right now, basic election integrity. You're going to be on the ballot in November.

00:58:37.820 Tennessee, thankfully, has really great election integrity. But the fact that white, black, 1.00

00:58:42.300 Asian, Hispanic people overwhelmingly believe that you should have to show a photo ID in order to vote

00:58:49.120 to prove you're who you are. What's going to happen with that in the Senate? I think there might be a

00:58:54.680 filibuster. How's that process going to play out? I still can't believe this is unpassable, basically,

00:59:00.560 based on the Democrat response.

00:59:02.500 You know, it's an 80 percent issue with the American people across all different demographic groups.

00:59:11.940 And that's the thing that is so interesting. The fact that it has such broad bipartisan support.

00:59:17.800 I mean, Zoran Mandami wants you to show two forms of ID in order to go shovel snow in New York.

00:59:25.580 But he doesn't want you to show an ID to vote. What they're trying to do is make it easy to cheat

00:59:32.400 and hard to vote. We want to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat. And we have got to have photo

00:59:42.520 ID in the Senate. We are going to push the Save America Act forward. I look forward to having a vote

00:59:49.360 on the floor. It should be common sense, standard practice that you have to be a citizen of the

00:59:57.700 United States in order to vote in our elections. And you have to show an ID and prove who you are.

01:00:06.600 When it comes to the issue of the balanced budget, and I have supported a balanced budget amendment for

01:00:14.540 the United States. We have that in Tennessee. We have to balance our budget. We can't borrow money or

01:00:22.060 print money. We have to be very careful about that and be a good fiscal steward. It means that some

01:00:29.800 years, the leaner years, you cannot do some projects you want to do. And then it means when you do have

01:00:36.920 years where you have a surplus, you have to be wise about where you place those dollars. The federal

01:00:42.780 government should do likewise, and they would be well served to do likewise.

01:00:51.220 Senator Blackburn, appreciate you being with us. You got it. Take care.

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01:02:20.700 Keep up with the biggest political comeback in world history on the Team 47 podcast.

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Verdict with Ted Cruz - February 25, 2026

Bonus： Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Feb 25 2026

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