Verdict with Ted Cruz - Bonus： Daily Review with Clay and Buck - May 14 2026

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00:00:36.160 Welcome in.

00:00:37.500 Appreciate all of you.

00:00:39.420 Thursday edition Clay and Buck.

00:00:42.020 Big news in China where it is, what, 11 p.m., I believe.

00:00:47.060 I didn't expect that I needed to be right off the top.

00:00:49.780 12 p.m.

00:00:50.780 12 p.m. in Beijing.

00:00:52.620 I think they're 12 hours ahead of us, 12 a.m.

00:00:55.460 Man, it's already Friday in Beijing.

00:00:57.700 There have been tons of news stories come out of the state visit that is going on between

00:01:02.860 President Trump and Chairman Xi of China, and overall seems to be a great deal of positivity

00:01:12.440 from day one of these discussions.

00:01:15.760 As I am speaking to all of you, the stock market buck has set yet again record all-time

00:01:24.280 highs and this has led to a uh just immense run the likes of which frankly we have rarely seen

00:01:33.680 in the history of the stock market buck is a crazy stat for you last april if you had bought stock

00:01:41.000 at the absolute uh lows when they told you trump is going to destroy the economy

00:01:47.860 The S&P 500 had fallen just barely beneath 5,000 is my recollection, or right around 5,000.

00:01:55.360 The S&P 500 is now up above 7,500.

00:02:00.680 It is up over 50% in the space of one year.

00:02:06.980 I think my math is correct there.

00:02:08.840 The mathematicians out there who are smarter than me, from 5,000 to over 7,500, that's

00:02:16.260 an unparalleled unprecedented incredible surge in overall stock market valuations uh that means

00:02:25.400 all of your 401ks record highs that means all of your uh sundry retirement accounts that means all

00:02:33.100 your kids college funds that means i mean the amount of wealth that has been created in the

00:02:38.740 last year alone across the entirety of the united states economic economic system is frankly almost

00:02:45.540 without parallel in terms of one year 50 increase from bottoms in april of last year it's crazy

00:02:52.040 and even if you didn't buy stock if you just held on you're up 50 since last april that is wild

00:03:00.300 okay so super positivity associated with that now let's dive into the particular unique

00:03:08.680 circumstances of the moment buck and that is people out there saying valid legitimate okay

00:03:15.920 clay how does that translate into my day-to-day cost i understand stock markets at record highs

00:03:22.640 that's great if you own stocks which by the way i bet 75 80 maybe 90 of this audience does

00:03:28.820 is that a fair approximation over 60 of americans own stocks now uh and if you have any kind of

00:03:37.080 retirement account at all which all of you should have because i i hate to give a little bit of

00:03:42.300 negativity here but i think i can speak for you too buck i don't have a lot of faith in the social

00:03:46.960 security system uh for your in mind's age people if you're in your 40s uh i'm not sure that social

00:03:54.120 security that we're gonna get anywhere near the money that we put in back out just fyi so i want

00:04:00.060 to control the things the best of my ability,

00:04:03.240 so I want to be invested in American commerce.

00:04:06.880 Now, how does this all translate directly

00:04:10.300 into the thing that people care about the most right now?

00:04:13.180 Gas prices.

00:04:14.480 Very positive stories here, Buck,

00:04:16.460 that there is a basic, seems to be, agreement

00:04:23.420 that China is going to lean on Iran and basically say,

00:04:28.040 hey you've got to open up the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump has said that China has agreed

00:04:33.640 to talk to Iran. I saw a report buck that 30 different ships today translated the Strait of

00:04:40.020 Hormuz sort of went through the Strait of Hormuz came through many of them related to China so

00:04:49.040 Iran is at least listening to China when it comes to Chinese flagged ships and Chinese produce and

00:04:55.360 and oil and gas and everything else the question is how much of that leaning will translate other

00:05:02.520 areas and how quickly will the price of oil and gas come back all of that is legitimate to be

00:05:09.620 asked but i think it's fair to say that day one of this big summit uh has gone quite well uh how

00:05:17.580 does that square with your take overall of day one what is the biggest news story going on right now

00:05:23.040 well we have this official statement from the white house which i think is a good jumping

00:05:29.560 off point for how things are going president trump had a good meeting with president xi of china

00:05:34.420 the two sides discuss ways to enhance economic cooperation between our two countries including

00:05:39.720 expanding market access for american businesses into china and increasing chinese investment into

00:05:44.680 our industries leaders from many of the united states's largest companies joined a portion of

00:05:49.620 the meeting the president also highlighted the need to build on progress in ending the flow of

00:05:54.100 fentanyl precursors into the united states as well as increasing chinese purchases of american

00:05:58.620 agricultural products the two sides agreed that the strait of hormuz must remain open to support

00:06:05.140 the free flow of energy president xi also made clear china's opposition to the militarization

00:06:10.940 of the strait and any effort to charge a toll for its use and he expressed interest in purchasing

00:06:16.000 more american oil to reduce china's dependence on the strait in the future both countries agreed

00:06:20.760 that iran can never have a nuclear weapon so here's what i would say first of all if if anyone

00:06:27.920 could come away from the first day of the summit saying oh my gosh this is a disaster we would have

00:06:32.680 big big problems these things these kind of high level diplomatic talks are meant to certainly in

00:06:39.340 the early phase meant to make both sides look good to the home team right no one want you don't want

00:06:45.480 the other side to look bad and you certainly don't want to look bad going into this so there's going

00:06:49.900 to be a lot of agreeing in principle agreeing in general you know agreeing that iran can never have

00:06:55.660 a nuclear weapon okay that's nice that means nothing a lot of the things here that are agreed

00:06:59.940 upon in principle don't really mean anything other than yeah china will say that they're with us in

00:07:06.580 theory on that uh but we have to look at where the rubber meets the road and that's still to be

00:07:12.380 decided i think and you've noticed clay and none of this was there any talk of for example

00:07:17.260 taiwan which is going to be and we'll talk to our friend stevie yates about this later

00:07:21.960 a major sticking point in the actual takeaways and agreements here um at least in terms of tone

00:07:30.460 if not in terms of an actual solid uh anything i mean they're probably will be only tone because

00:07:36.760 They're going to say, you know, we like to play in the gray zone in a whole bunch of ways,

00:07:43.240 in the gray zone as it pertains to Taiwan, and so does China.

00:07:46.080 So, yes, the stock market's super high today.

00:07:48.160 That's good.

00:07:49.640 Where are gas prices today?

00:07:51.160 Did you check?

00:07:52.220 It's about $100 a barrel.

00:07:54.240 The futures, they've stayed effectively the same for the past several days.

00:07:59.100 So when the war started, the futures were about $68 a barrel on gas-ish at the end of February.

00:08:07.860 They're right at $100 right now on the futures going forward.

00:08:12.420 So 45% to 50% up, something like that is where they are.

00:08:17.420 I really hope that that number starts to come down.

00:08:21.780 You will note that in the Strait of Hormuz talk here, they both agree that it should be open.

00:08:27.180 Okay.

00:08:27.620 You know who doesn't agree that it should be open right now

00:08:30.820 Iran 0.60

00:08:31.280 So you know we can agree with China

00:08:34.340 On a lot of things and that's fine

00:08:35.980 There's no discussion here

00:08:38.640 Of the sticking point issues

00:08:39.800 This is Clay the high five

00:08:41.900 Hey we can see eye to eye on the following

00:08:44.500 Things day

00:08:45.960 I think there's going to be more

00:08:47.940 About where this is heading

00:08:50.280 In the next few you know in the next 12

00:08:52.260 To 24 hours

00:08:53.280 And for example Trump here was saying

00:08:56.500 that he's really appreciative of the magnificent welcome.

00:09:02.000 This has got five guys.

00:09:03.400 Play this one.

00:09:04.420 It was a fantastic day.

00:09:06.460 And in particular, I want to thank President Xi, my friend,

00:09:10.900 for this magnificent welcome.

00:09:13.440 And it really was a magnificent welcome like none other.

00:09:16.440 And for so graciously hosting us on this very historic state visit.

00:09:21.880 We had extremely positive and productive conversations and meetings today.

00:09:26.500 with the Chinese delegation earlier.

00:09:29.120 And this evening is another cherished opportunity to discuss among friends

00:09:33.420 some of the things that we discussed today,

00:09:36.940 all good for the United States and for China.

00:09:40.080 And it was a great honor to be with you.

00:09:43.220 So, Clay, I like that they're starting off with all the positives,

00:09:46.900 all the agreement, and these two men having a personal relationship.

00:09:51.980 And they are the leaders of the two most powerful and important countries in the world.

00:09:55.200 I think when they get into actual trade agreement stuff

00:09:58.980 Taiwan and a couple of other things

00:10:01.080 Trump will likely come out of this I think

00:10:03.600 With a promise to continue the rare earth

00:10:06.980 You know, rare earth supply chain for us

00:10:10.000 So that will be a win

00:10:11.000 I'm trying to think of other areas

00:10:14.060 Of the actual takeaway part of this

00:10:18.480 That will be on the good side

00:10:20.680 Remember, we had Trump got all this stuff going with China

00:10:24.460 and agreements in the first term and then biden just basically didn't enforce any of it

00:10:28.500 so the other problem we have here is as you've noted she is going to be in charge for the

00:10:34.060 foreseeable trump has to operate under a timetable here and a timetable yes affected by the midterms

00:10:40.580 coming up um trump talked with our buddy sean hannity who'll be on many of these stations

00:10:46.280 right after us sean is in beijing right now a couple of different cuts that i thought were

00:10:51.380 significant from that conversation I've sent one to producer Greg about Trump saying China has

00:10:57.140 agreed to help with Strait of Hormuz traffic and again there are reports that 30 different ships

00:11:03.640 have now cleared the Strait of Hormuz that are related to China which would suggest that maybe

00:11:09.040 there have been significant conversations behind the scenes between China and Iran but here Trump

00:11:15.500 said that Chairman Xi had told him we will not be giving any military equipment to Iran, cut one.

00:11:23.760 The issue, and you've been asked about it, and you've spoken about it,

00:11:28.320 and that is China's support of Iran.

00:11:32.160 How big a discussion was that today?

00:11:34.060 We discussed it.

00:11:36.200 I mean, when you say support, they're not fighting a war with us or anything.

00:11:41.460 No.

00:11:41.900 He said he's not going to give military equipment.

00:11:44.320 That's a big statement.

00:11:45.060 I mean, he said that today.

00:11:45.900 That's a big statement.

00:11:47.700 He said that strongly.

00:11:49.200 But at the same time, he said, you know, they buy a lot of their oil there,

00:11:52.300 and they'd like to keep doing that.

00:11:55.380 So, again, this is what we talked about before,

00:11:59.040 and I think you got the benefit of actually seeing it.

00:12:02.960 I suspect, Buck, that they will agree to disagree.

00:12:06.720 I saw Marco Rubio had some sort of strong comments on what would happen with Taiwan,

00:12:12.180 and some people out there say, why should we care?

00:12:14.460 And I do think it's worth pointing this out. If we don't get the semiconductors, if we don't get the chips, basically all of AI and all of the investment that's going on right now that is propelling much of the economic growth in this country would cease to exist.

00:12:34.080 So China's in trouble because they don't produce a lot of oil and gas related to the Strait of Hormuz.

00:12:39.980 We would be in trouble if China controlled all of Taiwan's semiconductor chips. 0.61

00:12:45.140 That's a pretty good way, I think, of distilling the danger geopolitically that each country would face. 0.84

00:12:51.860 Yeah, the modern economy, as we know, would come to a screeching halt without the supply of chips from Taiwan.

00:12:57.840 No one disagrees with that, I might add. 1.00

00:12:59.860 There's no way around this.

00:13:00.940 You can't take 90% of supply.

00:13:03.040 They make 90% of the super high-end chips, and people might say, well, why can't we do this, or why can't other countries?

00:13:09.280 Because they can't, because the level of technology and know-how that TSMC has is higher than really anywhere else in the world.

00:13:18.140 No one else can do it.

00:13:19.180 Remember, it's not just the tech and the know-how.

00:13:21.900 It's also to be able to do it at scale to keep their suppliers, you know, to keep up with demand, to keep that supply going.

00:13:29.900 so uh and there's you know it's it's an immensely complicated clay when i sat with tsmc in september

00:13:36.160 i think they said i want to say roughly there are 5 000 different supply chain elements that

00:13:42.620 they rely on for their chips i mean think about that all the different things that they need

00:13:47.160 to be able to make these chips 5 000 different items that they have to get externally from taiwan

00:13:53.220 okay so the the level of complex there is no more complex uh manufacturing in the in the world 0.79

00:14:03.240 than what is going on on the island of taiwan and they know it and we know it and china knows it

00:14:08.320 and it changes you know it's pretty remarkable that a small island with a population of about

00:14:13.300 20 million people has what is right now the most critical technology of the 21st century

00:14:18.800 and has 90 percent of that market so you know there's big things that are all in the mix here

00:14:25.660 and and no one's really clear on you know whether china first of all even if china tried to take

00:14:31.840 over these labs clay it's not clear that they could even operate them so even if china invaded

00:14:36.620 could china even operate the labs that tsmc has would tsmc destroy a lot of its intellectual

00:14:41.000 property because of it you know there's a lot of things that people haven't really been able to

00:14:45.700 to assess and know the answers to i get a lot of people saying why should we care about taiwan

00:14:53.160 taiwan that's the answer because our government and our economy could not exist right now

00:14:59.940 without the semiconductor chips that we are getting from taiwan if it became clear if if

00:15:05.000 there were amphibious landing craft missile strikes airstrikes going on if it was clear

00:15:10.400 that invasion of taiwan was happening i think you would see the stock market drop 50 overnight and

00:15:15.260 i think you would see a global depression within weeks yes so that's why we should care because

00:15:21.460 some people are just like i don't care why should we care what happens with china and taiwan i'll

00:15:25.900 just say it brutally taiwan is not eastern ukraine my friends it's not that we we you want to ignore

00:15:31.500 this one you can't ignore this one there's no ignoring this and lift there's no ignoring this 0.52

00:15:35.940 and not you know uh propelling us into a mad max future very quickly at least with the way things

00:15:40.940 are now maybe in 10 years you know but the way things are now there's no way you can allow that

00:15:46.040 look we are trying to your point to onshore production of these semiconductor chips but

00:15:50.940 we're a long way to being able to have any sort of self-sufficiency associated with and you can

00:15:55.500 imagine taiwan is like i don't want to do that yeah right that's that doesn't sound like a good

00:16:00.480 plan for uh the taiwanese all right look no one wants to learn that their data hasn't part of an

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00:16:53.160 for 40 off last learn hang with the guys right there when you need them most clay and buck

00:17:00.380 Just preset them on the iHeart app.

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00:18:03.460 Have a great day.

00:18:04.260 I heart radio.

00:18:07.740 Welcome back in.

00:18:08.880 Is this Shaft?

00:18:09.640 This is the Shaft music, isn't it?

00:18:11.560 Is that Burn Baby Burn is what this, Disco Inferno.

00:18:15.140 Oh, yeah, Disco Inferno.

00:18:16.680 I thought this was the Shaft music.

00:18:18.220 We haven't played this in a long time.

00:18:19.820 You know what I mean?

00:18:20.540 You got to leave the music to me sometimes.

00:18:23.160 You stay with the sports ball.

00:18:25.640 You know what I mean?

00:18:26.080 most of the time unless Taylor Swift is on the 90s the 90s and Taylor Swift I'm pretty good at

00:18:32.580 um pretty good wait but but do you ever do you ever think about whenever we hear that song

00:18:36.560 we're gonna get into Kamala in a second I gotta just jump in with this you remember Ghostbusters

00:18:41.060 when Louis Tully played by the fantastic Rick Moranis a big comedic actor of particularly the

00:18:48.780 80s and he has the beautiful blonde come up to him and they're playing burn baby burn in the

00:18:53.560 background and he says that he doesn't invite friends only clients so he can do a tax write-off

00:18:58.240 for the party and then he says who brought the dog and the like the goblin thing like jumps out

00:19:04.620 of the closet it's great what is uh rick moranis's best role on the spot i think it's that i mean

00:19:12.200 his biggest franchise was definitely honey i shrunk the honey i think honey i shrunk the kids

00:19:17.060 Which was a huge 80s movie, huge, huge.

00:19:20.280 And then he also did, was he in Little Shop of Horrors?

00:19:24.940 Little Shop of Horrors.

00:19:25.840 Was he in like a movie, a football, some kind of like a kid's football movie?

00:19:30.420 I can't remember what it's called.

00:19:31.280 You know what I mean?

00:19:31.740 He's like a coach or something.

00:19:33.420 Little Giants?

00:19:33.960 I don't remember that.

00:19:34.500 Little Giants?

00:19:35.260 Isn't that right?

00:19:36.440 No?

00:19:36.840 Oh, yeah.

00:19:37.340 Maybe.

00:19:37.920 I don't know.

00:19:39.540 This is going to, people are going to be, I don't think I've seen Little Giants.

00:19:44.160 I am right.

00:19:44.680 Little Giants.

00:19:45.500 Yeah.

00:19:45.860 Yeah, look at me with the sports ball reference.

00:19:48.200 Is he still alive?

00:19:50.340 Oh, Rick, I used to play tennis with him.

00:19:51.940 Yeah, he's great.

00:19:52.560 Okay, good.

00:19:53.400 Great.

00:19:53.680 Yeah.

00:19:54.100 No, he's doing great.

00:19:54.900 He lives in New York.

00:19:56.140 I was nervous.

00:19:56.680 He's actually, I think he's actually been cast in something coming up.

00:20:01.460 I think they might be either, I forget, they're either bringing back Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

00:20:06.200 or something.

00:20:06.900 So you know how they've had the Ghostbusters nostalgia.

00:20:09.000 You've seen some of the old Ghostbusters movies, which you really enjoyed.

00:20:12.560 The non-all-female Ghostbuster, they've been pretty good. 0.93

00:20:16.160 I thought that was good. 0.99

00:20:17.600 No, the all-female Ghostbuster was trash, but the other thing, the more recent one, 1.00

00:20:21.600 it was pretty good. 0.98

00:20:22.580 It was fun, the one that they brought back.

00:20:24.560 I forget, Paul Rudd's in it, I think, right?

00:20:26.300 That one.

00:20:27.220 He was in Spaceballs as well, for those of us who remember that illustrious film.

00:20:33.740 Oh, that's right, Spaceballs.

00:20:35.780 I had forgotten about his work in Spaceballs.

00:20:39.480 But the Who Brought the Dog is only excelled in Ghostbusters lore

00:20:45.520 by the doorman who goes, a bear in his apartment,

00:20:49.520 and then the thing runs through the lobby.

00:20:51.560 Remember that?

00:20:52.540 Anyway, I've seen Ghostbusters a lot.

00:20:53.900 Ghostbusters holds up really, really well.

00:20:57.180 And speaking of, I went last night.

00:21:00.400 We'll get to Kamala at the top of the next hour.

00:21:02.860 Kamala will still be there.

00:21:04.820 Kamala will still be good at the top of the next hour.

00:21:06.360 I went to go see the new Nate Bargatze movie, The Breadwinner, last night.

00:21:11.400 They had the premiere in Nashville at a movie theater he said he used to go to, Hollywood 27.

00:21:17.300 For those of you who know Nashville, it was kind of a big movie theater that opened probably around, like, 95, something like that.

00:21:24.100 We would go there in high school.

00:21:25.500 It was a huge movie theater near downtown Nashville.

00:21:29.960 Breadwinner, and I was thinking about this, and it's interesting we brought up, like, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Rick Moranis, Ghostbusters.

00:21:36.360 It's a PG movie that is not animated.

00:21:42.580 They almost have stopped making, think about this for a minute for the larger culture out there,

00:21:48.200 they almost have stopped making PG movies that are live action.

00:21:52.600 That is not a Pixar movie, not a Disney movie, not some sort of definite children's movie.

00:22:00.600 This show, and I was texting with Nate last night about it, this movie,

00:22:05.080 he basically is gambling here and Sony I think who's distributing it has the much bigger gamble

00:22:13.420 but there is still a market for parents to take kids the whole family can go I went and saw it

00:22:20.440 last night it is a 1980s era PG movie now it's not Goonies which is one of the greatest movies

00:22:29.180 ever been made uh but it is a movie that you can take your seven and eight year old to and you can

00:22:36.820 sit and watch it with them and i guarantee you you will not leave concerned about something that

00:22:42.560 they saw in the movie and that you will all of you be able to laugh at it i don't know if there

00:22:48.380 is still a huge marketplace out there because again so much of streaming has changed things

00:22:55.140 every niche is served and so we don't go as much after big colossal audiences as we did in the 80s

00:23:02.880 and 90s i still think there's probably a market for this and i like it i think you guys what is

00:23:08.600 coming back space balls too i thought honey i shrunk the kids no rick moranis is coming back

00:23:13.420 in space balls too which i think actually could be really good so uh space balls too coming soon

00:23:20.440 to a, well, I don't know how soon, but it will be coming

00:23:22.500 to a theater near you.

00:23:24.480 The other movie thing that we haven't

00:23:26.620 talked about yet, but it is getting a lot

00:23:28.600 of attention online, and people

00:23:30.500 feel very passionately about this, because it has to do

00:23:32.460 it's a Christopher Nolan project.

00:23:35.740 And Christopher

00:23:36.620 Nolan is, I

00:23:38.620 think, a wildly overrated

00:23:40.840 director. I will tell you, wildly

00:23:42.620 overrated. I think he has made a few

00:23:44.640 very good movies,

00:23:46.400 which were really two of the

00:23:48.500 Batman movies he did.

00:23:50.440 those are very, very good movies.

00:23:52.420 I enjoyed them.

00:23:53.240 I think they're pretty awesome.

00:23:54.500 And, you know, they certainly answered the mail.

00:23:57.420 They certainly got it done as superhero films.

00:24:00.040 The third one was, you know, it was good.

00:24:03.280 It was kind of, the whole thing was a little preposterous, though, actually,

00:24:06.160 even for superhero stuff.

00:24:08.360 Put that aside, though.

00:24:09.860 I think some of his other stuff, really,

00:24:12.880 I never met anybody who could explain what Inception was really.

00:24:16.560 It's just a lot of slow motion nonsense. 0.57

00:24:19.200 The whole thing is absurd.

00:24:20.440 Okay, Inception's not a good movie.

00:24:21.840 Get mad at me.

00:24:22.520 I'm right.

00:24:22.940 You're wrong.

00:24:23.540 Inception's not a good movie.

00:24:24.900 He's making The Odyssey, and there have been some choices made in The Odyssey.

00:24:29.760 Have you seen this, Clay?

00:24:30.580 This is getting a lot of people very, very tired of.

00:24:31.820 I was talking about it last night with Laura.

00:24:33.860 We were waiting for the Nate Bargatze movie to start, and I was saying,

00:24:37.800 hey, have you seen some of the casting decisions that Christopher Nolan has made in The Odyssey?

00:24:41.660 This is what we were talking about as we were sitting in the theater before the movie started.

00:24:45.880 and and the two things that have gotten the most attention are um helen of troy and this has been

00:24:53.180 confirmed i believe is has been cast as a um i think i think she's from africa i don't think

00:25:00.880 i think that's right a a a black actress is helen of troy some people are just sort of saying you

00:25:10.660 know so we're doing this thing that netflix always does where remember troy greeks it's a part of the

00:25:16.320 world it's historical this is a little bit like casting which really happened a black female as

00:25:23.560 a viking king in a netflix show that i watched yeah so it's supposed to be the 800s in what is

00:25:29.180 basically uh denmark and sweden and there's a black woman who's in charge of all the white guys

00:25:34.420 that that's a little it takes you out of it it kind of breaks the fourth wall it takes you out

00:25:39.400 of the realm of suspending your disbelief

00:25:41.620 a little bit, but the other one that's getting

00:25:43.360 even more attention, what do you

00:25:45.460 think about this one?

00:25:46.820 Is this confirmed to be true

00:25:49.580 100%? This one is not

00:25:51.160 confirmed yet, so it could

00:25:53.500 be a massive trolling

00:25:55.600 campaign, I think, but they're

00:25:57.460 saying that Achilles,

00:26:00.840 renowned as

00:26:01.480 the greatest warrior of the

00:26:03.400 ancient world, right?

00:26:05.000 I think people looking back at the movie

00:26:07.460 Troy with Brad Pitt, that's

00:26:09.380 a great movie i think we were i i think uh roman helmet guy is his handle on twitter he i think i

00:26:16.360 got to give him credit for this he was saying we got a little spoiled for a while it's either roman

00:26:20.900 helmet guy or matt walsh who are probably related because they're both like bearded smart grumpy

00:26:25.660 guys that like appreciate the classics in history um but we had braveheart troy master and commander

00:26:33.520 We had all these epics coming out.

00:26:35.600 Gladiator.

00:26:36.480 Don't forget Gladiator.

00:26:37.740 I think that's what actually snowed Troy under, is it happened so close to Gladiator.

00:26:43.620 And Gladiator was such a perfect epic that people, yes.

00:26:48.020 And this insight, whether it was Matt Walsh or Roman Helmet guy, I totally agree with it.

00:26:51.460 I think we got a little spoiled for a while, where we just, people were making these epics, 0.62

00:26:57.040 and they're basically perfect movies.

00:26:58.820 I mean, they're phenomenally well done, incredibly well.

00:27:02.040 You know, by the way, I put Last of the Mohicans, which is a little earlier,

00:27:05.060 but I put that in that category of like a historic epic.

00:27:07.900 I mean, there's some of these movies.

00:27:08.980 Some of you put Mel Gibson's The Patriot in that category.

00:27:12.380 You know, if you want to kind of go more modern, Saving Private Ryan.

00:27:16.380 But these movies that are truly epic in scope and that are amazing

00:27:19.700 and stand the test of time, Troy, I think,

00:27:22.740 they're all made in about a 10 to 15-year span.

00:27:25.400 Troy is definitely in that category.

00:27:26.940 Clay, The Odyssey now has, if you're wondering why we're talking about this,

00:27:30.600 i don't know elliot page formerly right isn't that the name no is it elliot is that right yeah

00:27:37.980 elliot now used to be ellen page used to be ellen page they just dead named ellen page elliot page

00:27:45.020 who's a trans actor now or actress who says he's a man or whatever ellen page was as a cute know

00:27:52.520 became famous as a girl comedic juno was a pretty good movie who got pregnant remember it

00:27:59.320 she got pregnant as a teenager right that was the entire conceit and then Ellen Page decided no no

00:28:06.780 no I'm actually a dude and is now Elliot Page now Ellen Page Laura my wife was saying I didn't look

00:28:15.620 at this she's like five foot tall weighs like a hundred pounds I mean is tiny and they are saying

00:28:21.600 that they have put him her her him whichever you want to say in as Achilles who was one of the

00:28:27.820 greatest warriors of all time and this is the world in which we now live if this you know that

00:28:34.680 you know juno got a lot of criticism as a movie clay because she had the baby that's right that's 0.88

00:28:41.080 what i remember it was like people were super angry because she should have aborted the baby

00:28:45.740 because it was an unwanted pregnancy what do you mean you actually had what do you mean you brought

00:28:48.440 life into the world what do you mean you made the right choice uh so the leftist the the ghoulish

00:28:53.260 left were very angry about

00:28:55.200 Juno because

00:28:56.400 she had the baby in the movie 0.84

00:28:58.880 you're not supposed to do that

00:29:00.140 not according to the left 0.79

00:29:02.680 so now she's 1.00

00:29:04.940 Achilles though as she's trans

00:29:06.420 that's what they're all saying

00:29:07.740 if this is the case

00:29:09.340 this movie is toast

00:29:11.400 however it's very interesting

00:29:13.460 the rules for getting an Oscar

00:29:15.620 are crazy

00:29:18.020 and I'm wondering

00:29:19.720 can we page

00:29:21.260 like doj harmeet dylan over in civil rights or whatever why are the oscars allowed to have these

00:29:28.000 rules i don't understand we know that we can't do this in college admissions anymore why can the

00:29:33.520 oscars say and a lot of you are like buck who cares about the oscars you know yes but also we

00:29:38.480 can't just cede all of culture to the other side we did that for a long time guys by the way and

00:29:43.000 you know we got obama and eight years of of socialist craziness so let's not just like let

00:29:48.100 the other side have all the movies all the books all the magazines all the internet all the news

00:29:52.840 um let's actually fight back on this stuff a little bit here and there why why should the

00:29:58.300 oscars be able to have straight up racial quotas for people to be able to win an award for a movie

00:30:05.840 i don't understand how that's even legal it i i agree with you i think it should be looked into

00:30:11.340 By the way, and so if this is true, we don't know if it's 100% true.

00:30:17.720 Braveheart, by the way, Buck, 1995.

00:30:20.540 Gladiator, 2000.

00:30:22.400 Troy, 2004.

00:30:23.960 I think that thesis is 100%.

00:30:25.920 I think Gladiator was so good in particular that if Troy came out in 2020,

00:30:33.140 I think people would have been far more impressed by it than they were by it coming out in 2004

00:30:39.360 because it was so close to that epic, incredible film.

00:30:43.260 But no, look, this is something that I deeply believe in.

00:30:47.480 I put my own money behind it.

00:30:49.320 Obviously, I started Outkick.

00:30:50.820 I'm working on starting a new media company now as well.

00:30:55.360 You have to win culture.

00:30:58.100 You have to matter in culture.

00:31:01.480 You can't just seed it.

00:31:03.220 You can't just say, well, I don't know why you even care about this.

00:31:05.840 you know there's people who will get upset um uh when they're when sports is in the news with

00:31:11.760 politics when culture is in the news with politics um it's like when i started doing sports talk

00:31:18.240 radio buck uh 20 some odd years ago whatever the heck it was now there were guys that would call

00:31:23.200 in and say just give me the scores why don't you just give me the scores i'm like well i mean the

00:31:29.800 scores are easy to find what matters is the context the conversation that surrounds the scores

00:31:35.660 Basic facts are out there.

00:31:38.460 Now, sometimes they're hard to find, but you win with culture.

00:31:41.960 Politics is downstream of culture.

00:31:43.840 That's one of the most true things that I think has ever been said.

00:31:46.880 The culture shift, I'm optimistic, has become significant.

00:31:50.180 I think Nate Bargatze's movie, The Breadwinner, being made.

00:31:53.120 I think the fact that the most popular comedian in America right now is a clean comedian is evidence of there being a desperate desire for something that people can share together.

00:32:04.380 I think one reason sports has gotten popular, new ratings highs, Buck,

00:32:08.460 is because there is a desperate demand in this streaming age

00:32:12.660 for still big events that we all come together and experience together.

00:32:16.940 And so I think culture matters in that context in a massive way.

00:32:20.480 I think Bergazi and there are others who aren't as clean as his comedy is,

00:32:24.140 but there are others who are actually doing, truly doing comedy now,

00:32:27.400 whereas we've gotten used to particularly the late night hosts

00:32:31.220 are leftist commentators who make fun of people.

00:32:34.380 that's what who make fun of republicans that's actually what they are they're not comedians

00:32:38.100 they are leftist political commentators who make fun of trump and people who vote for trump

00:32:42.980 Nate Borghazi is a comedian anyone can go to his shows and they will laugh because it is funny and

00:32:50.080 it is meant for everyone and that's actually the way it should be it should be meant to make people 0.60

00:32:54.740 laugh uh not to be a constant lecture by dimwits who are reading off of a prompter all right when

00:33:01.460 we talk about the people of israel we're talking about people connected to a promise it's a promise 0.83

00:33:04.920 made by god one he's never broken and one that continues even today and that matters especially

00:33:10.040 when the israeli population has been subjected to ongoing missile and drone attacks let alone

00:33:14.400 the terror they experienced by hamas several years ago it's a call for all of us to respond and show

00:33:18.980 our support the international fellowship of christians and jews are the non-profit organization

00:33:23.160 that's built a bridge of support between christians following the word of god and the jewish

00:33:27.540 population in need ifcj are on the ground in israel their team delivers food cares for the

00:33:33.020 vulnerable remind those who serve that they're not alone join us in praying for peace in the

00:33:38.080 middle east throughout israel and beyond visit this website pray ifcj.org that's pray ifcj.org

00:33:45.180 miss the show while you're on the go wind down your day with the daily review podcast

00:33:50.260 find it on the iheart radio app or wherever you get your podcasts welcome back in play travis

00:33:56.520 buck sexton show we are joined now by our friend senator dave mccormick of pennsylvania had a great

00:34:03.560 dinner at his house the night before the white house correspondence dinner and actually we

00:34:08.920 finished the dinner at your house uh senator thanks for having wife and i over among uh among

00:34:15.380 others an awesome time and your wife uh dina powell mccormick who is now at facebook we'll

00:34:21.560 get into all the different political machinations on uh on pennsylvania and more and what's going on

00:34:27.440 in the senate but she's in beijing right now have you been able to talk to her text with her hear

00:34:32.980 from her what has she said about that state visit uh trip so far yeah well listen thanks good good

00:34:39.400 to be with you guys now i'm super proud of her you know she's the president of meta so it's a big

00:34:43.760 deal um we haven't i haven't had a chance to get much of a download on the trip i just know she's

00:34:48.140 there safe. And she told me she was in the dinner and it was amazing. But, you know, it's an

00:34:53.960 important it's an important trip. And, you know, I always start this by saying I think I think we

00:34:59.180 got to we got to talk about China is the true adversary that it is. Our starting point has to 0.95

00:35:05.160 be that China is vying for global superpower to replace America. And so I really applaud the 0.97

00:35:11.580 president's efforts at diplomacy. But we should have no doubt that we're dealing with a country

00:35:15.920 that is seeking to displace America. 0.92

00:35:18.560 And this summit with the president, I think, was focused on topics

00:35:23.660 that we hopefully have mutual interest, but we shouldn't doubt that their goal

00:35:27.920 is to get in front of us.

00:35:30.940 How do you think the trade negotiations, such as they're lined up here,

00:35:36.600 how do you think that's going to shake out with all of this?

00:35:39.220 My sense is from the preview analysis, China wants to push back pretty hard

00:35:45.700 on some of the Trump tariffs, and one of the tools they have in this

00:35:50.300 is certainly the rare earth minerals supply chain issue.

00:35:55.380 What do you think is likely to be at stake there,

00:35:58.600 and how are you hoping President Trump is able to bring this

00:36:02.680 to a next level, a next stage?

00:36:06.300 Well, you know, there's nobody that's been calling balls and strikes,

00:36:10.720 I think, more accurately on the China relationship

00:36:12.420 than President Trump over many decades.

00:36:14.400 He's identified that we've had a very unfair relationship.

00:36:18.040 I think the focus, you know, and I've been someone who said we should be very careful.

00:36:22.180 We should be strategic in decoupling.

00:36:24.960 And what I mean by that is not make ourselves dependent on China for anything that really matters to America's security.

00:36:31.920 But we are, unfortunately, at the moment, very dependent, particularly on rare earth metals, as you say.

00:36:37.000 I think there's a couple of things.

00:36:37.820 One, it's not exactly trade, but I think we've made a lot of progress and the president will

00:36:42.400 double down on the fentanyl pre-factors and stopping the flow of those into Mexico and

00:36:48.840 into the United States. That's what has killed almost 100,000 Americans a year for the last

00:36:53.940 four or five years. I think it'll be a big focus on farm products, soybeans, big deal

00:36:58.740 that China buys soybeans, buys natural gas, buys petroleum. And in a time when Iran is 0.83

00:37:06.860 and the strait is closed, I think American energy is going to be an area where we hopefully can find

00:37:12.220 common ground. It sounds like from the reporting that there's been an agreement on the H200

00:37:17.980 chips from NVIDIA. Frankly, I'm not in favor of that. Respectfully, I disagree with that. I think

00:37:24.540 it's not going to do anything but accelerate China's AI rise. But that was a decision I think

00:37:32.620 made, and that's very valuable to China. I think that's probably allowing them to make

00:37:36.180 some pretty significant concessions on the other side. And so, you know, I think the way I

00:37:41.780 talk about this, I think there's probably some tactical wins that the president's going to be

00:37:46.500 able to bring back and say, we've made real progress. Also making sure that China lives 0.99

00:37:51.540 up to the commitments it's made in the past. You're traveling around all over the ultimate

00:37:57.120 battleground state of Pennsylvania. I want to get kind of your read on what you see on the ground

00:38:02.460 in Pennsylvania. You won a close election, thankfully, Senate seat. John Fetterman is

00:38:08.240 also there. You have a very good relationship with Fetterman. I'm curious what you think his

00:38:12.700 political future is going to be. And generally, when you're going around and talking to your

00:38:17.400 constituents all over Pennsylvania, what are they telling you they care about the most as

00:38:22.140 the midterms get closer and closer? Yeah, I think it's I mean, I think they feel

00:38:27.820 mostly pretty good. Jobs, jobs, jobs. And the economy is the focus. I mean, they're certainly

00:38:34.280 very, very focused on Iran and other things. But I think they're really seeing the benefit

00:38:38.900 of a number of the big things President Trump has done, particularly energy dominance

00:38:43.580 for an energy state. We're the second largest producer of energy. We're the fourth largest

00:38:48.340 natural gas reserves in the world. So, Clay, if we were a country, we'd be number four.

00:38:53.280 And I was in Pennsylvania last week. I visited Shippingport. They're making a big coal conversion to natural gas. That's going to be 1.1 gigawatts, thousands of jobs building the energy capability and also the data centers.

00:39:07.420 I also went to or I've got to download a Homer City. This is a place that they're building 4.4 gigawatts of energy. That's 1% of domestic energy demand. So huge job creation from advanced manufacturing data centers and energy. I think they're feeling some more money in their pockets because of the Working Families Tax Cut Act. $3,500 on average, 11% more money in the pockets of folks.

00:39:33.460 But I also think they're feeling that that jump in gas prices. If you're living paycheck to paycheck, which a lot of Pennsylvanians are, $52,000 a year is the median income. And if gas goes up a buck and a quarter, man, you feel it. And so I don't want to downplay that they're feeling. And I think they know that we can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. So they support the president. But they're feeling the bite. And I think they're hoping and I'm hoping that that will come to an end relatively quickly.

00:40:00.660 You have a good relationship with Senator Fetterman, also from Pennsylvania.

00:40:05.520 I know he voted for your friend, Kevin Warsh, to be put on as chair of the new Fed board.

00:40:11.140 What can you tell us about Fetterman?

00:40:12.800 What do you see his future and about the new Fed chair?

00:40:17.040 You know, I've got a great relationship with him.

00:40:18.980 I admire him.

00:40:20.320 I think he's shown a lot of courage and independence.

00:40:24.020 And, you know, he campaigned against me.

00:40:25.220 But we forged a relationship where we both said, let's – what do we need to do together to help Pennsylvania?

00:40:32.320 Now, he – we disagree on a lot.

00:40:34.000 He votes 80 percent of the time or more with Democrats.

00:40:37.280 So it's not like we agree on everything, but we look for areas where we can do good things for Pennsylvania, whether it's fentanyl or whether it's funding for the highways or whatever it is.

00:40:48.000 I always tease him.

00:40:49.300 He's pretty popular in Pennsylvania.

00:40:50.720 Unfortunately, he's less and less popular with this party.

00:40:53.140 But if you looked across both parties and independents, he's more popular than I am.

00:40:59.080 And I always say, I say, hey, you may be more popular with Republicans than I am.

00:41:02.840 So who knows what his future holds?

00:41:06.260 I'm not sure.

00:41:07.180 I've never asked him what he plans to do.

00:41:09.000 I've never tried to encourage him to change parties.

00:41:12.920 I think he needs to do what's best for him.

00:41:15.560 But I think he's a pretty unique person.

00:41:18.600 And the thing, it's interesting, Clay.

00:41:19.940 I mean, of all the stuff we've done in Pennsylvania, the Energy and Innovation Summit, the jobs, all the investment that's coming, the thing people pull me aside and say the most about is the fact that he and I work together.

00:41:31.280 And I think, you know, maybe it's because Pennsylvania is a purple state.

00:41:34.200 I'm not sure. 0.74

00:41:34.760 But people respect that.

00:41:36.700 They're grateful for it.

00:41:38.040 So I think he's a pretty formidable figure.

00:41:39.900 I'm not sure what he'll do, but I'm wishing him the best.

00:41:43.240 We're speaking to Senator Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania.

00:41:45.660 Hey, Senator, appreciate you being with us.

00:41:47.380 And you unveiled something recently, the Unlock American Energy and Jobs Act.

00:41:54.560 So this has to do with federal permitting process.

00:41:59.280 It doesn't sound like something that's going to blow everyone's mind, but actually, I'm

00:42:02.560 sure it's incredibly important for the speed of business.

00:42:04.940 It's one of these things where government should get in the way a whole heck of a lot

00:42:08.980 less.

00:42:09.560 What can you tell us about this?

00:42:10.720 Yeah, well, first of all, I may not have sex appeal, but this is a big deal.

00:42:14.200 This is a big deal.

00:42:15.360 Let me tell you why.

00:42:16.460 I've told President Trump this, and I think he agrees.

00:42:21.340 This isn't just energy policy.

00:42:22.920 This is the single most important thing we could do for the economy.

00:42:25.900 It's a really big deal.

00:42:28.020 What's happening now is laws like the Clean Water Act and NEPA and other things have been

00:42:33.120 hijacked by the environmentalists, environmental activists, to stop investment, to stop investment

00:42:39.500 in projects like nuclear power plants and gas-fired plants.

00:42:43.780 And so what my legislation does is it streamlines permitting.

00:42:47.520 It takes about six years to get a permit on average for an energy project in America.

00:42:52.720 It took three and a half years to win World War II. 0.93

00:42:55.240 This is ridiculous. 0.76

00:42:56.800 And we have to stop it.

00:42:59.560 And so what the bill does is it basically puts a limited amount of time for environmental

00:43:03.460 review, one year.

00:43:06.000 It requires that if a permit is approved, it's permanent.

00:43:11.020 In other words, you can't re-litigate it down the road.

00:43:14.600 And finally, if you're going to disapprove a permit, you have to give a written justification

00:43:18.740 of how approving the permit would be in violation of the law.

00:43:22.540 Those seem so simple and common sense.

00:43:24.940 If we were able to do that, it would unlock $1.5 trillion of capital that's sitting on

00:43:32.000 the sidelines waiting for these projects.

00:43:33.740 And I was a CEO for a number of years.

00:43:35.660 I was an investor.

00:43:36.200 You can't live in this world of uncertainty where you allocate capital and then it gets re-litigated.

00:43:42.520 That's the reason three pipelines were canceled in Pennsylvania since 2019.

00:43:47.920 So this could be a big deal for the economy.

00:43:49.860 It's an area where I think we can find enough bipartisan support because the permitting, the accelerating and permitting, would be across everything.

00:43:59.800 It's nuclear.

00:44:00.740 It's natural gas.

00:44:01.800 It's coal.

00:44:02.600 It would be solar.

00:44:03.640 It would be wind.

00:44:04.300 Whatever it is, it supports an all-of-the-above-energy strategy.

00:44:08.000 It just extremelines the permitting for all.

00:44:10.760 Stock market is setting a record high today.

00:44:14.080 I shared that fact on social media.

00:44:17.240 Every time I do, people say, yeah, that's great, Clay, but I don't feel it.

00:44:23.640 Obviously, the oil and gas prices are up.

00:44:27.320 It sometimes takes a while.

00:44:29.100 As you well know, you're a business guy.

00:44:31.620 The U.S. economy is an aircraft carrier that you're trying to turn.

00:44:35.180 It takes a while for people to start to feel it.

00:44:37.540 So I'm curious how you straddle this, because Buck and I think about it a lot too.

00:44:43.480 The numbers are actually pretty good for the economy.

00:44:46.340 AI growth so far is very positive.

00:44:48.960 But when people don't feel that yet, when you are too optimistic,

00:44:52.820 you risk seeming out of touch with the way that people feel.

00:44:57.140 How do you reconcile on-the-ground data with really kind of emotional feels with larger economic trends?

00:45:04.380 Because I do think things are getting better, but if people don't feel it, they can say, oh, you're out of touch.

00:45:09.580 How do you balance it?

00:45:10.480 You're right.

00:45:10.820 Well, I completely agree with you in getting that messaging right.

00:45:14.340 The truth is as follows.

00:45:17.240 Things are better. 1.00

00:45:18.460 If you're a working family, things are better.

00:45:21.400 If you're anybody in the economy, things are better than they were under Joe Biden. 0.99

00:45:26.940 Inflation, take away the last two months because of what's happening with Iran,

00:45:33.120 is significantly less than it was during the Biden administration, about half of what it was on average.

00:45:38.700 Wage growth is about double.

00:45:40.840 Wage growth was 2.5 under Biden.

00:45:42.660 It's four.

00:45:43.900 Given the Working Families Tax Cut Act, every family has $3,500 more in their pocket.

00:45:48.840 The job numbers are strong.

00:45:51.620 So the economy is getting better, and there's a lot more on the horizon that's going to make it better.

00:45:57.000 So that is true.

00:45:58.460 The other thing that's true is that people are still feeling pinched and struggling, particularly in three areas,

00:46:05.220 energy prices, housing prices, and health care costs.

00:46:10.100 All three of those continue to grow, and that's putting a lot of pressure on folks.

00:46:14.420 So we need to continue to do the things that President Trump has laid out.

00:46:17.820 For example, the most favored nation provision on pharmaceuticals.

00:46:24.920 Pharmaceuticals are 20 percent of health care costs, particularly have a huge impact on elders.

00:46:30.460 The housing bill that came out of the Senate and the House, we're trying to find a common bill that we can send the president's desk.

00:46:36.860 Housing prices in Pennsylvania up 11 percent last year.

00:46:40.120 So that's a pinch. And energy prices, and particularly the gas prices as a result of the conflict in Iran.

00:46:49.500 The way to address that in the medium and long term is permitting reform and all the things that get more energy into our system.

00:46:56.980 Our energy dominance is incredible, but energy demand is growing.

00:47:00.520 So as we build out this new energy, we have to build out more for consumers to take down prices,

00:47:07.480 even though we're also supporting data centers and other things.

00:47:10.220 So we've got a lot of work to do, but the American people should feel confident that this economy is getting better,

00:47:16.860 and they need to acknowledge that, even as we also acknowledge there's more work to do.

00:47:21.300 Super important question for you before we close, Senator.

00:47:23.880 We can make this one quick. 1.00

00:47:26.260 But Clay has this crazy idea that Kamala is going to be the Democrat nominee in 28.

00:47:31.700 And I still think it's going to be Gavin Newsom.

00:47:33.880 Can you just tell him that I'm right?

00:47:37.560 Listen, I mean, my two favorite guys, here's what I will say.

00:47:41.360 Here's what I will say.

00:47:42.420 I campaigned alongside, I mean, not with her, but obviously she was in Pennsylvania the whole time.

00:47:48.520 And she could not connect to the people of Pennsylvania.

00:47:53.800 And I believe part of the reason Trump won and I won in Pennsylvania was Kamala Harris and Bob Casey could not say the word fracking.

00:48:02.340 It could not come out of their mouth.

00:48:03.640 They could not acknowledge this energy revolution, what was required. 0.99

00:48:06.820 So she's going to have to get she's going to have to get very much a Ph.D. in what the issues are for working people before she's going to be able to win nationwide and certainly win in Pennsylvania.

00:48:18.020 I can't speak for Gavin Newsom.

00:48:19.340 All I know is when I listen to him on these podcasts and he talks about that tough upbringing he had

00:48:25.200 and how he went to the school of hard knocks, I mean, it's hard for me to imagine that that's a guy

00:48:30.200 that's going to connect with people on the fracking rig in Pennsylvania, too.

00:48:33.720 So I give them both a thumbs down.

00:48:35.680 But, you know, what do I know?

00:48:37.580 Good stuff, as always, Senator.

00:48:39.620 Look forward to seeing you again.

00:48:40.840 And thanks for the time.

00:48:42.980 All right.

00:48:43.440 Thanks, guys.

00:48:44.060 Have a good day.

00:48:45.240 Thank you.

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00:50:53.520 Welcome back in.

00:50:58.560 Hour number three, Clay Travis, Buck Sexton Show.

00:51:02.580 President Trump in Beijing.

00:51:04.840 We have talked about it quite a lot.

00:51:06.600 It is right now around 2 in the morning, Friday morning, in Beijing.

00:51:11.380 They are 12 hours ahead of us.

00:51:13.420 The first day seems to have been going and have gone very well.

00:51:19.240 A lot of conversation.

00:51:20.920 We discussed it in the first hour of the program.

00:51:23.660 I'm sure we will discuss it some with Senator Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, who will join us at the bottom of the hour.

00:51:30.060 His wife, Dina Powell McCormick, is in Beijing right now with President Trump as one of those executives that traveled with the president on the China state visit.

00:51:41.920 We will see if Senator McCormick has gotten any feedback from his wife.

00:51:46.000 buck one thing that uh i'm sure is going on is you've been to china before what did you do about

00:51:51.840 phones when you were in china because i i if i were elon musk or i was dina power mccormick or

00:51:58.960 the tim uh cook the ceo of apple right now uh yensen wong all the nvidia ceo i imagine they

00:52:06.380 had to get special phones didn't they wouldn't you want a special phone when you went into china

00:52:10.960 i brought nothing electronic with me when i went to china at all uh at all uh and i was advised not

00:52:18.120 to and i knew about this from my previous life what the capabilities of the chinese surveillance

00:52:24.100 state are and uh when i was there i rented a smartphone which of course could not use it

00:52:31.600 could not go on google or facebook or these other sites uh but i rented a smartphone and knew that

00:52:39.060 everything that i did was under full surveillance the whole time so that's the way that you have

00:52:44.320 to operate when you're in well with and you leave it behind but you don't bring anything

00:52:48.260 you don't buy anything electronic heavens no and bring it back with you either you leave that

00:52:52.600 smartphone there and you hope that they haven't been able to get into your passwords and stuff

00:52:56.940 when you've accessed things overseas so you got to be very very careful because they will so you

00:53:01.820 would you would probably just advise basically those ceos to just not take communication devices

00:53:07.640 while they're over there, and almost just because of the piracy that goes on,

00:53:13.240 the state espionage, the stealing of assets.

00:53:17.980 I would probably just say don't even worry about trying to have a phone 0.63

00:53:21.380 while you're in China, or I would imagine the United States is creating 0.70

00:53:25.800 some form of a skiff, right, that they are able to communicate from

00:53:30.500 while the president is over there.

00:53:32.140 We have secure diplomatic and intelligence channels.

00:53:35.860 uh obviously you know the the embassy is going to be able to communicate back to the to our

00:53:41.740 country without everything at least we would hope everything being read uh and intercepted but in

00:53:47.840 terms of yeah being over there as a civilian you have to just assume that whatever you're doing

00:53:53.920 is being collected and at least scanned by you know ai etc if not actively monitored by a person

00:54:01.080 who works for the vast Chinese Ministry of Security.

00:54:06.000 So, yeah.

00:54:07.400 So we will talk with Dave McCormick about that trip and more,

00:54:10.860 but I did want to not avoid or not ignore the fact that Democrats are increasingly getting crazier.

00:54:19.340 I believe, and Buck thinks I'm crazy for this,

00:54:23.000 that Kamala Harris is going to end up being the nominee in 2028 for the Democrat Party.

00:54:28.400 this would make up for you believing that Michelle Obama 0.85

00:54:31.460 was going to be parachuted in at the last

00:54:33.440 second to take over the last election

00:54:35.120 so I'll give you this way

00:54:37.480 this way so I'm trying to 1.00

00:54:39.340 beat you before you make the Buck Island

00:54:41.380 comments here this way you can make up for

00:54:43.400 that one Clay because this is a long distance

00:54:45.540 call you are making that to

00:54:47.420 me seems

00:54:48.400 I just cannot fathom

00:54:51.180 that the Democrats would do

00:54:53.400 that but then again they

00:54:55.280 did it the last time so how crazy 1.00

00:54:57.560 can it really be so she is now doing interviews we all know how dangerous kamala interviews can be

00:55:04.580 and i want you to listen to what she said she said this is a conversation that we just need

00:55:11.720 to brainstorm i think is the phrase she uses but she talks about expanding the supreme court

00:55:17.460 adding puerto rico and washington dc estates and potentially doing away with the electoral college 0.86

00:55:25.320 all in the goal of dealing with, quote, red states and their radicalism.

00:55:32.100 Listen to what Kamala said here. 0.74

00:55:34.880 This is a moment where there are no bad ideas.

00:55:37.820 No bad idea brainstorm is what I'd like to call it.

00:55:41.280 And in that no bad ideas brainstorm, we talk about what we need to do

00:55:47.180 and think about doing around the Electoral College.

00:55:50.460 We talk about the idea of Supreme Court reform, which includes expanding the Supreme Court.

00:55:58.060 We invite a conversation about multi-members districts, that there are rules in place to

00:56:03.800 actually penalize people for lying to a Senate Judiciary Committee, that we agree that it is

00:56:11.260 right to have ethics rules for Supreme Court justices. And let's put those in place. Let's

00:56:18.200 talk about statehood for puerto rico and dc these are the things i think that we've got to do we've

00:56:24.960 got to neutralize these red states from cheating including blue states expanding their maps

00:56:32.460 what what is this with kamala uh leading into the how do we put this more the urban vernacular i

00:56:41.400 guess you would say you know she's she's talking a little more street perhaps how do you how do we

00:56:47.560 say this what what is the what is this that she where we can all hear it what is it that she is 1.00

00:56:52.160 doing here she knows that black women are her base and she knows if black women do not leave her 0.99

00:56:59.400 she's going to be the nominee and so i think she's look she is going to identity politics this

00:57:06.760 and gender politics this the likes of which we may never have seen before now i like to believe

00:57:13.740 that she is unelectable but buck she was within 240 000 votes of beating trump i know 1.00

00:57:20.480 pennsylvania michigan wisconsin thankfully narrowly went for trump but she would have won a 270 to 268

00:57:28.400 electoral college victory even if she lost as she did the popular vote to trump so look listen to

00:57:36.140 some of the things she said first of all she said we've got to neutralize red states from cheating

00:57:41.580 and she wants to expand blue states,

00:57:44.920 which I assume she means expand the congressional districts there.

00:57:50.680 She talked about multi-member congressional districts,

00:57:53.860 which is actually kind of a radical idea

00:57:56.440 that I haven't even heard talked about very much, Buck.

00:57:59.760 That would mean expanding the House of Representatives, right?

00:58:03.720 We have right now, every year,

00:58:06.940 the districts are growing for the House of Representatives

00:58:09.580 as long as the United States population is growing.

00:58:12.600 And we have 435 members in the House, 218 as the majority.

00:58:20.460 And so she's talking about expanding multi-district.

00:58:23.080 Well, that's big city. 1.00

00:58:25.160 She wants more big city congressmen and women. 1.00

00:58:28.140 She also randomly is saying we need to make it a crime 1.00

00:58:31.280 when you lie to the Senate Judiciary Committee. 0.50

00:58:33.640 That is a crime.

00:58:34.700 It's called perjury.

00:58:35.520 like when you raise your hand and swear to tell the whole truth that is a courtroom proceeding

00:58:42.920 the equivalent of it when you're testifying to congress wasn't she california attorney general

00:58:48.180 am i forgetting not only was she california attorney general buck she sat on the senate 0.92

00:58:52.960 judiciary committee which makes this one of the dumbest takes that i have ever heard she's calling 0.88

00:58:58.280 for a criminalization of a crime that has already been criminalized and that uh people have been 0.93

00:59:04.440 prosecuted for violating now perjury as we have talked about on this program before is a very hard

00:59:10.040 charge to prove because you have to prove knowledge intent uh perjury is just a high standard

00:59:16.440 um and so it is very difficult oftentimes to get a perjury conviction but look i mean let's just

00:59:24.220 focus on this puerto rico and washington dc that would be four in theory four new democrat seats

00:59:31.700 if we know buck that democrats will do away with the filibuster what she is trying to do is say we 1.00

00:59:38.820 need to get to 50 plus the president which would get a tie break and then we can add those two 1.00

00:59:44.420 states that will get us to 54 and democrats are then gambling that if they get four extra senate

00:59:50.920 seats that they would be able to hold control of the senate uh for many years to come particularly

00:59:58.260 Literally, if we abolish the Electoral College, I guess she would go straight popular vote at that point, which, of course, is interesting and ironic and a little bit funny because she lost the national popular vote to Trump.

01:00:09.560 So she would have lost whether the Electoral College existed or not.

01:00:14.340 Obviously, money would be spent very differently if the Electoral College were abolished and the winner-take-all system would be different.

01:00:22.120 my point on all this is this is a radical i understand she's probably going to say the

01:00:28.920 cover is well i'm just brainstorming ideas i'm not saying i'm going to endorse him

01:00:32.720 but expanding the supreme court expanding the senate uh neutralizing red states from cheating

01:00:39.640 whatever that means expanding potentially the house of representatives if democrats get back

01:00:45.600 into power all of the time that you guys out there listening to me uh and buck have spent

01:00:51.440 fighting with each other is going to be so much wasted energy because you're fighting over subtle

01:00:58.760 differences of political perspective and democrats will just drop a political neutron bomb on you

01:01:05.660 and you've been in knife fights and instead you're going to have nuke weapons dropped on you

01:01:10.460 and and it's it's also an answer to anyone who has the question out there still have the democrats

01:01:17.320 moderated have they pivoted have they shifted in response to trump's 2024 win absolutely not

01:01:25.480 so you're wondering hey have they have they learned their lesson um the lesson they've learned

01:01:31.740 is as soon as they're in power they are going to unleash the fury on us as much as they possibly

01:01:38.480 can get as crazy as they can um everything that we can point to and say we've been they've been

01:01:45.220 proven wrong they will go back and try to do those wrong things again whether it's the border or

01:01:50.280 crime or spending or anything they will make a mess of all these things again which is why

01:01:56.040 it's so important that the republicans maintain power and that trump stays on message and keeps

01:02:02.480 the focus here with the agenda going forward to get as much done as possible so that whoever the

01:02:07.660 republican nominee is can run with a powerful party record uh and record of trump achievements

01:02:14.720 behind him or her uh probably going to be him but nonetheless that's where i see all of this

01:02:20.140 and kamala harris oh she was she was speaking by the way clay i didn't know this the team told me

01:02:25.860 this uh she was speaking to a quote win with black women virtual meeting so this is why her

01:02:35.760 your vernacular was noted but again i she as long as she knows this and if i were at kamala 1.00

01:02:42.500 harris's campaign manager uh which uh would be an awful job but if i were that person and i got paid 1.00

01:02:49.240 a billion dollars if kamala were the nominee i would say kamala this campaign is black women 1.00

01:02:57.220 directed black women as long as they stay in your corner you're going to be the nominee 0.83

01:03:02.280 there is nobody else that has a contingent of the democrat electorate this is why i'm saying 1.00

01:03:08.840 poly market cal she like these prediction markets where you can go and you can wager on who the

01:03:14.420 nominee is you can get kamala 10 to 1 she's only 10 chance right now the favorite is gavin newsom

01:03:21.320 what's gavin newsom's base that's never leaving him i don't think it exists could he be more

01:03:27.260 appealing what are you talking about wine moms who are on marriage number three who are thinking

01:03:34.780 wow that guy is handsome see the wind blowing through his hair what a silver fox look at how

01:03:39.780 that shirt is buttoned i will say our friend alexi lawless and gavin newsome they do more

01:03:48.060 alexi law is going to be the head uh fox commentator for the world cup we were hanging

01:03:52.380 out this weekend this week in dc alexi and gavin they have more unbuttoned dress shirts than

01:03:59.900 anybody i've ever seen like you can basically see their belly buttons like you walk in and you're

01:04:04.540 like alexi needs to add like eight chains i'm surprised gavin newsom hasn't gone with the uh

01:04:09.240 the long chain to uh to further expose the navel for the uh unbuttoned shirt

01:04:13.600 making jokes about all this i really don't think gavin newsom has a base i think a lot of black 1.00

01:04:20.260 women are never leaving kamala and buck i think there's a lot of white women like that crazy woman 1.00

01:04:25.840 who was fine with uh getting shoved down the stairs because she didn't want a black guy to 1.00

01:04:29.980 get incarcerated she's gonna like kamala too because it allows her to tell her friends

01:04:34.800 i'm gonna support kamala i think the only if if kamala is able to get around the newsom

01:04:41.680 speed bump then i think that her chances get very real very quickly i mean it's really between those

01:04:49.220 too in the state of california and because think about the donors early on i mean they're going to

01:04:55.080 be fighting over every they're fighting over all the same political real estate right away yes same

01:05:01.880 donors they're both from california they're both going to be trying to use the networks that they 1.00

01:05:06.100 have there so we we shall see i just buck again people can tell me i'm crazy on this black women 0.70

01:05:13.160 aren't leaving her and all that money matters for other attributes but if you get into you only need

01:05:19.420 to win like 30 of the electorate to win most of these primaries i'm just gavin's not i'm i still

01:05:25.240 think gavin's going to be the nominee and he's not drinking chardonnay with clay anymore clay is a

01:05:29.280 fair weather gavin friend that's that much we have established no i think that's fair that is

01:05:33.600 fair no more trips to the vineyard for clay that's for sure all right a week from today we'll be

01:05:38.560 getting ready for memorial day weekend do you know when the first national observance of a

01:05:42.640 Memorial Day took place and what it was called?

01:05:44.740 Clay will probably know because he's a Civil War nerd.

01:05:47.380 Memorial Day started in 1868 and was originally called Decoration Day.

01:05:51.200 It was a day set aside to decorate the grave sites of Union soldiers

01:05:54.380 who died in the Civil War, more than 600,000.

01:05:56.980 Decoration Day was officially changed to Memorial Day

01:05:59.560 and established as a federal holiday by Congress in 1971.

01:06:03.440 For a lot of people, it marks the kickoff to summer.

01:06:05.780 But next week, when someone wishes you a happy Memorial Day weekend,

01:06:08.700 take a moment to honor the legacy our men and women in uniform left behind remember their

01:06:14.860 courage and pause to recognize the responsibility that comes with the freedom that they secured for

01:06:19.660 all of us with their sacrifice sure uh enjoy the time off if you're not working but also remember

01:06:25.440 to appreciate the rights we enjoy and how they came to be in this country because of that ultimate

01:06:30.880 sacrifice that others made before us our friends at americans for prosperity take this all to heart

01:06:37.080 We know you do, too, especially the military families in this audience.

01:06:40.660 What about your neighbors and friends?

01:06:42.100 Let's make sure they do as well.

01:06:43.980 Americans for Prosperity has something to help with that.

01:06:46.620 If you believe we all share a responsibility to preserve what makes this country strong,

01:06:51.000 go to AFPBuck.com for your free guide on how you and your community can get involved.

01:06:58.260 That website, again, is AFPBuck.com, paid for by Americans for Prosperity.

01:07:04.460 Level up your brain, mental mugging with clay and buck.

01:07:34.460 And stream it for free.

01:07:36.320 Have a great day.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - May 14, 2026

Bonus： Daily Review with Clay and Buck - May 14 2026

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