Verdict with Ted Cruz - Bonus： Daily Review with Clay and Buck - May 19 2026

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00:01:21.200 Welcome back in here to Clay and Buck.

00:01:24.040 We were just talking a minute ago about some of the big things happening on primary day today.

00:01:29.940 By far the most attention going on the Massey primary in Kentucky, Kentucky's fourth congressional district.

00:01:37.040 The most expensive congressional primary fight of all time.

00:01:42.920 So that's happening right now.

00:01:46.100 And there's also something else going on that is getting a lot of attention, Clay, which I want to spend some of our time on here.

00:01:52.400 breathless very upset reporting from the democrat press about how the there are perhaps 19 members

00:02:04.120 of the congressional black caucus which i might add it is really the congressional black democrat

00:02:10.920 caucus because republicans are not allowed in so that's worth noting isn't it but the

00:02:17.060 19 members of the congressional black caucus which is about a third overall of the uh cbc

00:02:24.920 could between now and 2028 and redistricting lose their seats because there is no longer a

00:02:33.980 a mandate to create special districts that will give us black members of congress that's no longer

00:02:42.620 a thing you can't just be like you know what we're going to draw the lines on the map so that we have

00:02:46.220 as many black voters as possible so they can elect a black member of congress turns out they

00:02:50.580 can't do that anymore um and in many ways i think the fact that it was allowed to continue as long 0.78

00:02:56.520 as it did although you all know my feelings on affirmative action i'm i'm against race-based

00:03:00.760 preferences period full stop i'm against all of these kinds of preferences in any direction

00:03:05.500 hakeem jeffries though clay the minority leader in the house very upset very upset about this

00:03:13.600 not a surprise here he is this is cut 31 listen to him i guess part of how we as house democrats

00:03:19.640 view this moment either maga extremists are going to break the country or we're going to break them

00:03:26.140 and our goal is to break them we will defeat them we have to beat them electorally and then we have

00:03:33.860 to break their spirit because of the extremism that's being unleashed in the american people

00:03:38.600 that's completely and totally unacceptable what extremism i mean i would love to get you know

00:03:45.520 let's let's can we ask let's see if uh if congressman jeffries would like to come on

00:03:50.160 the program because i would love to ask him i don't think he ever gets asked tough questions

00:03:53.440 to be clear ever anywhere in media i don't think he goes anywhere where he ever gets a question

00:03:57.620 that i don't think he's a particularly adept speaker or thinker just saying he's not an

00:04:02.580 impressive guy he never gets difficult questions asked i've never once seen anyone say to him

00:04:07.440 can you expand what is the extremism is it the extremism of the supreme court that says that you

00:04:13.700 can't actually just decide that there are black congressional districts that always have to be

00:04:17.380 represented by a majority of black voters who are overwhelmingly although not always overwhelmingly 0.97

00:04:23.720 going to be voting for a black member of congress is that that's extremism because that's what the

00:04:29.140 supreme court says and it's actually a pretty plain reading of the constitution that gets us 0.67

00:04:32.520 there uh clay do they have to ever specify is it just enough to tell people mega extremists

00:04:39.320 what is i i do think this is an indication of the degree to which they are uh bereft of ideas

00:04:48.500 and so in the same way that what did joe biden say in 2022 when georgia strengthened its voting

00:04:55.640 laws oh this is jim eagle and black voters are going to be super disenfranchised again

00:05:03.120 black voting rates registration wise are higher in the south than white voter rates are uh black

00:05:10.140 voters can go out and vote for anyone they aren't losing the right to vote let me tell you this

00:05:14.560 buck breaking news trump has endorsed ken paxton so he has just posted this is the challenger of

00:05:23.740 john cornyn and i would suspect this race is over now uh we will see texans still are they're in the

00:05:32.140 process of voting everybody should go out and vote here is what trump just posted mere moments ago

00:05:38.200 buck john cornyn is a good man and i worked well with him but he was not supportive of me when

00:05:44.440 times were tough uh and then he goes through several other different aspects um ken paxton

00:05:52.180 has gone through a lot in many cases very unfairly he's a fighter and knows how to win

00:05:57.700 our country needs fighters and also loyalty to the cause of greatness we can never allow what

00:06:04.080 happened to the united states of america during the corrupt biden administration to happen again

00:06:08.820 uh and goes on and says that he is endorsing ken paxton so this was and is a runoff election

00:06:18.260 Everybody is going to be able to vote, but Trump says Ken Paxton has his complete and total endorsement.

00:06:28.140 And let's see, almost immediately in the prediction markets on Calci and on Polymarket,

00:06:36.960 this race is over according to the prediction markets.

00:06:40.520 Ken Paxton is going to be the nominee.

00:06:43.800 Now, all of you should still get out and vote.

00:06:46.680 you can certainly react i think that texas is our biggest state in terms of population of listeners

00:06:52.840 on a day-to-day basis i know a lot of you have very strong opinions on this case and on this

00:06:58.340 race go vote as you see fit but the president has literally in the last five minutes just jumped in

00:07:05.520 and endorsed ken paxton and according to polymarket and calci the race is now over uh president trump

00:07:15.040 giving his endorsement one week away from the actual race.

00:07:20.100 Now, there had been arguments, Buck, we just kind of hinted at them,

00:07:22.860 that Paxton would be a tougher race than Cornyn against Tallarico.

00:07:28.760 I don't buy that.

00:07:31.180 Texas is not voting for Tallarico.

00:07:33.840 Ken Paxton will be, in my opinion, your next senator from Texas.

00:07:43.060 And so there you go.

00:07:45.040 ken paxton with the full endorsement from president trump a little bit of other news

00:07:52.520 buck that also just came down that isn't as significant in the senate race but i was telling

00:07:57.760 you about off air i am super excited for this nashville tennessee my hometown just got awarded

00:08:04.740 the super bowl uh for 2030 so if you are listening to us in nashville get ready uh nashville super

00:08:12.540 Bowl town 2030 that news coming down basically at the exact same time that President Trump has

00:08:18.860 has come out and and endorsed Ken Paxton so Attorney General Ken Paxton just posted I'm

00:08:28.020 incredibly honored to have President Trump's complete and total endorsement no one has ever

00:08:34.000 fought harder for the American people than President Trump and I look forward to championing

00:08:38.740 his America first agenda in the Senate, Texas, get out and vote.

00:08:43.600 That is President Trump's endorsed next senator from Texas.

00:08:50.420 I think you probably agree with me, Buck, that there has been a lot of chatter.

00:08:54.180 Oh, it's going to, the Tallarico, like the Republican is winning this race.

00:08:58.660 Did you see him recently?

00:08:59.740 He was like, you know what being a Christian really means?

00:09:02.560 It means being multicultural, multi-ethnic.

00:09:05.840 he didn't say open borders but i'll say open borders multi-gender it's it's really like they

00:09:13.380 took a uh someone who sounded vaguely like a texas pastor and then neutered him and put him

00:09:21.000 through the left-wing re-education program at wellesley college and then they offered him up

00:09:28.200 to texans and he's like yeah i wear a stetson just like all of you did you also see all 37

00:09:35.100 of my pronouns while i'm wearing my cowboy boots he also i think said that he has a girlfriend in

00:09:41.760 canada did you see that interview no one has ever met her but talarico says that he i think it was

00:09:48.720 a girlfriend who lives in canada now look no one no shot that i'm taking at our uh at our great

00:09:55.320 canadian uh fan base listening right now what do you think has prettier girls texas or canada

00:10:02.300 like if you just said where do you think the women are better looking and i only gave you 0.99

00:10:07.180 two options texas and canada would anyone listening to us right now pick canada i'm just saying if 0.98

00:10:13.260 you're running for senate in texas and you're actually heterosexual i think you should be able

00:10:17.860 to find a girlfriend in the state of texas and not again i correct me if i'm wrong i think he

00:10:22.860 said his girlfriend lives in canada um this is like when you're uh this is like when you're in

00:10:29.720 high school this is like the internet nerd in the 90s who's like sorry you can't meet my girlfriend

00:10:33.700 it's christy turlington and she's really busy on modeling shoots she's been dming she's been

00:10:38.380 sending me messages on aol chat i've got a model girlfriend who lives in paris and you're like

00:10:44.340 really that seems unlikely to me uh you couldn't find anybody who goes to high school with us or

00:10:49.920 even goes to high school nearest uh now to be fair maybe the ultimate unexpected play on this

00:10:57.280 was when Travis Kelsey said he was dating Taylor Swift,

00:11:00.080 and everybody was like, sure, bud, sure you are.

00:11:02.220 And then she showed up for one of his games.

00:11:04.700 So maybe James Tallarico is dating the most beautiful girl in all of Canada.

00:11:10.280 I think Pamela Anderson was from Canada.

00:11:12.180 Maybe he's dating the Pamela Anderson, Shania Twain. 0.97

00:11:14.640 There are some good-looking women from Canada.

00:11:16.900 I'm a bit skeptical. 1.00

00:11:18.240 Hold on. 1.00

00:11:20.400 There's a lot of very good-looking women in Canada. 1.00

00:11:23.100 Not compared to Texas. 1.00

00:11:24.240 It's not Texas.

00:11:25.160 I'm not saying.

00:11:25.760 But there's a lot.

00:11:26.300 This is, you know, you got to be fair.

00:11:28.300 I'm just saying, to me, Tallarico dating a Canadian over a Texan would be disqualifying.

00:11:34.660 I would say I can't vote. 0.53

00:11:36.080 If I'm a Texan, I can't vote for somebody who can't find a girl in Texas today. 0.98

00:11:39.780 I'm sorry.

00:11:40.280 It's a big state. 1.00

00:11:41.220 Lots of pretty girls. 1.00

00:11:42.360 But that's a different thing, right?

00:11:44.740 That, to me, is more of a cake based in reality than, like, Canadian. 1.00

00:11:51.200 Like, there's a lot of really pretty girls in Canada. 1.00

00:11:52.800 but point being, if you live in Texas, you've got a lot of pretty Texans around you. 1.00

00:11:57.880 Texas women dunk on Canadian women. 1.00

00:12:01.140 This is way better. 1.00

00:12:02.880 He's not backing off this one inch, by the way. 1.00

00:12:05.220 No, not a bitch. 1.00

00:12:07.000 Look at this. 1.00

00:12:07.880 I got your back, Texas ladies. 1.00

00:12:10.340 He does, and the Texas ladies have your back. 1.00

00:12:12.900 That is for sure. 0.95

00:12:14.540 And, you know, if the Texas ladies, I hope they, well, the ones that listen to this show know, 1.00

00:12:21.120 Are we going to have angry Canadian women calling in now? 1.00

00:12:23.940 That would actually be amazing if the women of Canada have lost them.

00:12:27.100 I just hope that the women of Texas don't vote for Tallarico because he too paints his fingernails.

00:12:29.760 You know what I'm saying?

00:12:30.360 I hope that that's not where this goes.

00:12:34.700 This will be really funny.

00:12:35.940 By the way, we'll open up your phone calls again.

00:12:38.380 Breaking news.

00:12:39.240 President Trump has waded into the big primary battle in Texas,

00:12:43.600 And he has officially decided that he is going to endorse Ken Paxton over John Cornyn, which is a substantial move.

00:12:52.720 But I want to tell you, as we come up on the 25th anniversary of, unfortunately, the day of 9-11,

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00:14:15.440 when you need them most clay and buck just preset them on the iheart app get rewarded just for

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00:15:35.060 welcome back in hour number two clay and buck we have phone lines like molten lava 1.00

00:15:44.680 and talkbacks like molten lava after i accurately said the women of texas are much better looking 1.00

00:15:50.820 than the women of canada the thick-legged women of canada are already starting to kick

00:15:56.440 at me buck in the mentions i will stand i'll i'll go to the mat on this one uh it is primary day

00:16:03.580 and i'm sure the talkbacks are going to be very entertaining you shouldn't have said they have

00:16:06.840 legs like a moose clay that wasn't nice maybe a little too much maple syrup uh kentucky georgia

00:16:18.200 pennsylvania alabama idaho and oregon all go to the primaries today uh six different states

00:16:25.700 Biggest battle, Kentucky 4, Thomas Massey vs. Ed Galrine, whose name eventually I may pronounce correctly.

00:16:34.440 As it is a 50-50 battle there, $30 million plus have been spent.

00:16:40.240 We are expecting a press conference from the White House with J.D. Vance, Vice President of the United States.

00:16:48.800 White House press briefing soon.

00:16:51.580 It is the lead story right now on both CNN and MSNBC as we prepare for that. 1.00

00:16:58.400 Next week is the Texas primary, where many delectably good-looking women are going to be going to go vote, many of them in the Republican primary. 0.99

00:17:08.080 They're deciding between Ken Paxton and John Cornyn just in the last hour. 0.98

00:17:12.580 Ken Paxton has been endorsed by President Trump effectively I believe ending that primary as

00:17:20.840 Paxton I believe Buck was already likely to win and he had won in the uh Cornyn won by a little

00:17:28.960 bit I think in the initial uh primary back in March and now in the runoff I am betting that

00:17:35.880 the Paxton people were able to show to President Trump and his polling likely reflected as well

00:17:41.880 that paxton was going to win this president trump now cementing and i think effectively

00:17:48.480 ending the texas primary this is significant in the context buck john cornyn uh is likely to lose

00:17:56.680 as an incumbent in his primary and we already have seen cassidy of louisiana lose in his primary

00:18:05.260 This will be the first time that a Senate Republican has lost a primary since 2012.

00:18:12.440 It is likely, I believe, that both of those men are going to be out.

00:18:17.420 But again, next week, everybody go vote in the Texas primary, as well as Kentucky, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Idaho, and Oregon.

00:18:26.020 Go get your primary votes in.

00:18:29.340 Also, my hometown of Nashville has been awarded the Super Bowl in 2030,

00:18:34.920 and I am super excited about that,

00:18:37.120 and I promise that I will have one of the best parties

00:18:39.820 surrounding the Super Bowl in February of 2030, four years from now.

00:18:46.620 Buck, you're going to be invited.

00:18:47.680 You and Kerry.

00:18:48.220 I will be there.

00:18:48.700 You and Kerry.

00:18:49.080 I wasn't even going to wait for you to invite me.

00:18:51.180 I'm inviting myself.

00:18:52.160 I will be there.

00:18:52.800 This will be fun.

00:18:53.480 Whole staff, you also are all going to be invited to the Travis Super Bowl party,

00:18:59.960 which will be awesome and among the best Super Bowl parties that will be thrown in Nashville,

00:19:04.840 if not humbly the best.

00:19:07.200 And so everybody can look forward to that.

00:19:11.060 Again, with the primaries underway, six of them today, everybody go vote.

00:19:16.980 Buck, on top of this, there are a couple of other stories that you and I were going to get into.

00:19:23.480 again we'll go and see if there's any news that is going to come out of this primary that is in

00:19:29.280 short order going to sorry this press conference that in short order is going to begin uh but you

00:19:36.040 were talking about i want to come back to something that you were talking about at the time that the

00:19:41.740 news came down about the ken paxton endorsement and it is a democrat attempt and i do think this

00:19:47.960 is significant and we should address it and we should make you aware of the fact that it is

00:19:52.460 coming. Democrats have made a calculated decision that they are going to try and call it racist

00:19:59.720 if there is any black Democrat who loses his or her seat. And and I do think did we play this 0.59

00:20:09.540 this redistricting cut 28 from a South Carolina Democrat state rep? I don't think we played this

00:20:17.580 when you were starting your conversation correct me if i'm uh if i'm wrong we did or we did not

00:20:23.540 yeah cut 28 south carolina is the latest state let me kind of fill you in so tennessee has

00:20:30.900 eliminated the uh blue congressional seat in memphis so far courts have upheld that

00:20:36.720 alabama is going to eliminate at least one racially gerrymandered seat louisiana is going

00:20:43.160 eliminate at least one gerrymandered seat georgia and mississippi have both said they're going to

00:20:49.640 wait till after the midterms and then readdress their maps uh florida has already added four

00:20:55.860 republican seats texas has added five that was before uh kind of at the same time for florida

00:21:02.980 but before the decision came down in texas race doesn't really involve it doesn't appear at least

00:21:08.720 black and white hispanic uh voters are a big part of the texas redistricting i believe i am correct

00:21:15.140 south carolina is the last state that still has to decide are they going to eliminate the one

00:21:21.840 minority majority district which is actually held by james clyburn this is the argument that you are

00:21:28.840 hearing everywhere all of a sudden cut 28 jim clyburn accuses republicans of creating jim crow

00:21:36.660 2.0. Is he right? Absolutely. We in South Carolina and South Carolina House of Representatives are

00:21:43.080 fighting regressive policies, and we've been doing that for the last couple of days, and we will

00:21:47.940 continue to do that as well throughout the day and well into the night. What we see today and

00:21:52.980 what we've been seeing throughout the South is an attempt to take us backwards. I have a quote that

00:21:58.380 I often like to say, and that is that it's starting to feel more like 1966 and not 2026.

00:22:05.320 We are fighting against voter disenfranchisement, and it's going to be really important that we stand up and that we make our voices heard and say that we're not going back.

00:22:15.280 Can I play the rhetoric here, the rhetoric that is being used?

00:22:19.940 This goes back to the Jeffrey's conversation, Jeffrey's quote or soundbite of last hour.

00:22:26.280 They won't say what they're really trying to say, or rather they won't explain what is the objection here.

00:22:31.760 They say, oh, we're going back.

00:22:33.400 It's regressive.

00:22:34.060 the MAGA extremists, all this stuff, what the claim now has become is that even though

00:22:41.700 the Supreme Court has come down and said, sorry, no more, there is a belief among Democrat

00:22:48.220 black members of Congress that there should be special privileges given to concentrations

00:22:56.960 of black voters in states so that they have special power to have the member of congress

00:23:04.480 generally not always you point out what steve cohen right in nashville but that they will be

00:23:09.640 in a position to determine who goes to congress based on the fact that there is a concentration

00:23:15.020 of people who are black in in that specific district i just think this is very when people

00:23:20.180 hear it that way they go wait why is that the case and also if you're a latino why shouldn't

00:23:25.460 you know why shouldn't you say you know what i want my own i want a latino district where the

00:23:30.060 latino community gets to pick their own now you kind of have that in miami but it's not drawn by

00:23:34.520 you know it's not drawn by uh some voting rights act mandate that's just the way that people happen

00:23:41.920 to live and they they the state of florida has drawn drawn the maps as they have race should

00:23:47.520 not be and cannot be the primary consideration in drawing congressional districts that are

00:23:52.340 specifically intended to advantage black voters that's it yeah it's really not that complicated

00:23:57.880 and when you put it in a straightforward but notice the language they use clay it's not even

00:24:01.840 clear what they're talking about oh they're taking us back oh it's back to racism it's back to jim

00:24:06.840 crow it's back it's what is what is this they never tell you yeah i would actually argue and

00:24:13.600 and i think it's an interesting case so there are examples tim scott who is a senator representing

00:24:19.960 uh south carolina who happens to be black i've said before i think byron donalds is going to be

00:24:25.720 the next governor of florida he happens to be black these guys wesley hunt who uh had a great

00:24:32.940 senate campaign but has represented a majority white district in texas to me in order to win

00:24:40.020 a statewide race it is oftentimes a very different skill set than what is required to represent a

00:24:49.240 majority black district and let me use barack obama as an example do you remember what happened

00:24:55.620 when barack obama ran in chicago and tried to win a majority black district buck he got smoked

00:25:02.100 he a lot of people forget about this because they think about obama and they recognize that he won

00:25:08.100 the senate race in illinois and then he won the presidency obviously in 2008 and 2012 but i

00:25:14.720 actually think the racial politics of barack obama is more interesting he got smoked when he

00:25:20.060 tried to win a majority black district in illinois chicago area just crushed and it was because he

00:25:27.380 wasn't considered black enough and that's in quotation marks to represent an inner city

00:25:33.020 majority black district in chicago so what did he do he ran statewide and he actually won in illinois

00:25:41.220 Now, I don't know exactly how it would have gone if he had won that majority black district, but I think there is an argument that what it takes to win a majority black district actually makes it harder for you to win statewide.

00:25:56.120 And I would be curious to look at the data on this because you have to run further left, you have to be a black representative, you have to join the Congressional Black Caucus, and you are defined then as a member of that party that is basically responding to black-related issues, as opposed to black, white, Asian, and Hispanic-related issues, which is what allows you to win statewide.

00:26:23.580 and so maybe we get Tim Scott on to talk about this Byron Donalds I would be curious Wesley Hunt

00:26:29.960 and maybe some of those guys listening or their staffs listening as they drive around right now

00:26:33.760 I actually think that to have substantial black leadership you might be better off trying to

00:26:41.640 represent a state and appeal to people of all different backgrounds in terms of having political

00:26:47.840 power than to just try to win a majority black district again as barack obama could not do

00:26:54.480 uh in his beginning of his political career and i do think that's an interesting angle to think

00:27:01.900 about um as we go forward i'm not even sure that i buy the thesis underlying what is basically just

00:27:08.960 an attempt to play the race card one time after another by the way a lot of people weighing in

00:27:13.880 variety of topics we'll get to some of those i believe we only have one guest doug brunt

00:27:17.920 in the third hour of this program jd vance has not yet held that white house press briefing

00:27:24.020 amid war in iran that is the headline right now on fox news we will see if there is any additional

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00:29:04.940 Preset your pals.

00:29:06.420 Clay and Buck on the iHeart app.

00:29:08.480 Third hour of Clay and Buck kicks off right now.

00:29:12.680 We've got J.D. Vance still talking.

00:29:14.640 He's holding a presser.

00:29:16.020 And we'll bring you the highlights of that.

00:29:17.340 That's live.

00:29:17.900 That's happening right now as we talk to you.

00:29:20.080 We're not going to join it in progress.

00:29:21.380 We're going to have the team monitor

00:29:23.660 as we are working through the rest of the news with you

00:29:26.460 and bringing you the highlights of it.

00:29:27.980 Any news that breaks, essentially, on air,

00:29:30.820 we will then break to you here in real time as we go.

00:29:36.260 We also had Trump speaking this morning,

00:29:38.220 which I wanted to get to on a whole range of topics, 0.64

00:29:40.580 and eventually I'll find my way to the left-wing lunatic asylum

00:29:46.000 that is the people outside of the Luigi Mangione trial,

00:29:50.180 which is completely, they're just completely what you would think, 0.69

00:29:54.960 and every bit as demonic and insane as you might expect.

00:29:58.380 But, Clay, a few things, because we heard from J.D. Vance moments ago on Iran.

00:30:02.520 Trump this morning spoke on this, too.

00:30:04.520 So, J.D., I feel like at this point of negotiations,

00:30:08.020 there's a little bit of a good cop, bad cop thing with Trump and J.D.

00:30:11.920 Trump is kind of like, you know, you can get it the rough way, which is the Trump way.

00:30:16.340 J.D. is like, hey, guys, why don't we figure out something here?

00:30:18.500 Let's really get a deal done.

00:30:19.680 and they know that jd from the beginning based on all the reporting and what we know jd has said

00:30:24.780 before he is the least interventionist when it comes to military action in the middle east i

00:30:31.840 think of anyone at that level in the administration and so he's a good messenger for the let's figure

00:30:39.860 this out let's make a deal side of the equation trump on the other side this is cut five is saying 0.98

00:30:44.900 i might have to go in there and kick some more ass and get them to understand that they have 0.96

00:30:50.240 no choice in the matter play five we have to make sure that iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon all of 0.99

00:30:54.720 the things that you see me fighting for so hard and it's always tough you know we're negotiating

00:30:59.220 with iran and then you have the democrats i call them the democrats uh putting in a bill that trump

00:31:04.520 should immediately stop you know how it is to negotiate with a country where you're beating

00:31:09.720 them badly they come to the table they're begging to make a deal because they're begging to make a

00:31:14.340 deal i hope we don't have to do the one but we may have to give him another big hit we may have

00:31:19.260 to give him another big hit i'm not sure yet you'll know very soon but how do you feel when

00:31:24.580 you're negotiating you're winning every point and they say but in washington they want to stop you 0.99

00:31:30.020 from negotiating they want to stop you and it's only political it's the democrats they're dumb 0.99

00:31:36.040 okay so a couple things there clay first of all the noises you're hearing we'll get that that is 0.98

00:31:42.180 the construction of the east wing modernization project that is underway and the president also

00:31:50.660 spoke since you since you're hearing the hammering and the nails going in and all this stuff

00:31:54.800 the carpentry in the background this is cut yes continue i just think it's funny this is like

00:32:02.780 trump trolling his critics that he actually had a press conference so they could hear the ballroom

00:32:07.420 being built behind him i i think that is absolutely correct i think this is trump saying

00:32:12.340 yeah this is still happening this is cut three he talks specifically about the project listen

00:32:16.320 hundreds of billions of dollars already under the ballroom and it's coming out i think incredibly

00:32:22.260 we have some renderings of the finished product it's all knit together at the top of the ballroom

00:32:28.820 is what they call a drone gallery.

00:32:33.220 We have tremendous amounts of military

00:32:36.560 able to be on the top.

00:32:38.400 It'll be the highest point.

00:32:40.460 It will be something very special.

00:32:42.760 So if you look up at the top,

00:32:45.300 you'll see some interesting things

00:32:46.680 and I'll show that to you in a second.

00:32:48.060 You want to grab that, please?

00:32:49.800 This is the facade of the building.

00:32:51.360 There will never be another building like this, Bill.

00:32:53.800 I built a lot of great things.

00:32:56.220 There will never be anything like this, Bill.

00:32:58.820 Clay, he's proceeding here, and I truly believe that when the history of this is written,

00:33:06.220 the Trump modernization of the White House will be considered, first of all,

00:33:10.360 it's so on brand for him as a builder of 50-something years now or 60-something years now.

00:33:18.100 It's on brand for him to be doing this, but also needed a refresh.

00:33:22.700 Makes a lot of sense.

00:33:23.860 You were at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, being able to hold events that the

00:33:27.200 white house can control the security situation uh very effectively it's important a hundred percent

00:33:33.180 and i also think this is the criticism you could give trump if you want to criticize him and some

00:33:40.300 people do is he's looking so far into the future that he may not be focused on the present day as

00:33:48.180 much as many would hope and let me kind of just draw these connections from the different things

00:33:54.080 that he's doing the white house ballroom best case scenario buck the white house ballroom

00:33:59.980 is finished just before he leaves the white house a brand new air force one best case scenario the

00:34:08.220 air force one planes are done basically at the time that he is leaving the white house

00:34:14.240 this situation in iran best case scenario it is making the next generation of life far better in

00:34:23.640 the Middle East than today. Cuba, same exact thing. Venezuela, same exact thing. The criticism

00:34:31.680 of Trump is, if you want to criticize him right now, that he has focused years into the future

00:34:40.400 on projects that primarily will benefit the nation after he's gone. And I would just say

00:34:46.780 to many of you out there, is that what you should want the president to do?

00:34:53.640 I get that we all live in a world where every time you look at your phone, there's a new

00:34:58.620 news story, and we need the president to react, and certainly the president is active in reacting

00:35:04.400 to a lot of things in the present moment.

00:35:07.580 But the criticism, I think, that you could levy against Trump is he's trying to make

00:35:12.820 generational decisions in a relatively short period of time, trying to solve issues in

00:35:18.860 the middle east in latin america in the caribbean in uh in the ballroom all of these things the

00:35:27.220 primary beneficiary of most of what president trump is doing right now heck even the lincoln

00:35:33.380 memorial reflecting pool the new arch that he's trying to build these are things that actually

00:35:41.600 will benefit presidents long into the future and if you want to criticize him you could say

00:35:49.940 hey right now what I care about is not whether the ballroom is secure for presidents in 2040

00:35:56.860 it's how much does it gas cost right now right we have this world and the older I get the more

00:36:04.080 I think about it where when you're a kid four years feels like a long time eight years feels

00:36:10.960 like a really long time when Ronald Reagan was in office if you were a kid eight years Bill Clinton

00:36:17.240 Barack Obama even now the Trump era it feels like a long time it's a pinprick and Trump seems to me

00:36:25.620 and I think this is connected Buck if you want me to psychoanalyze him I think this is connected to

00:36:30.300 Butler and I know people just want to forget that the guy came within a quarter inch of getting his

00:36:34.960 head blown off on national television i think that moment changed trump where he said screw it

00:36:41.500 i'm gonna do exactly what i think is the best and i'm not gonna listen to other people and i'm not

00:36:48.420 gonna worry about what uh they think because i'm fortunate to be here and when i get into office

00:36:56.040 i'm fixing everything i'm building things that are gonna endure and i'm not gonna worry about

00:37:01.500 any of my critics because i'm lucky to be alive today and i don't know how many people out there

00:37:05.480 are listening to us right now i don't know how many of you i haven't i don't know if you ever

00:37:09.960 have buck have had a truly near-death experience where you thought hey i got maybe you got injured

00:37:17.460 in a car accident and you survived maybe you got a cancer diagnosis and you didn't expect to

00:37:22.020 survive and you're listening to us right now that perspective of staring down death and not

00:37:27.660 passing a lot for a lot of people i think it's freeing because it makes you recognize that every

00:37:33.160 day that you have gotten since then is in many ways a gift and you don't want to waste it and

00:37:39.360 i really do believe and people can call me crazy on this i think in the wake of butler pennsylvania

00:37:44.820 president trump to the extent that he has thought about this on a perspective i think he feels like

00:37:50.040 he has a new lease on life and a new gift and i think he decided i'm going to solve everything

00:37:54.300 that exists in america and i'm going to do it overnight and that's extremely uh uh extremely

00:38:01.300 aggressive but i think he feels like he has to fix everything and let me give you an analogy

00:38:05.820 on the flip side historically buck you know i'm a history buff you know one reason if you guys out

00:38:12.460 there are history buffs do you know why robert e lee was so aggressive you read the killer angels

00:38:16.520 and they hint at this in gettysburg one reason he knew he was having chest pains and he thought he

00:38:23.300 might well have a heart attack and die and he believed I really do believe this he believed

00:38:28.700 that he was the only one who could win that war and he decided to I think engage more aggressively

00:38:35.760 to try to end that war because he was concerned that otherwise he might not survive it he died

00:38:40.640 in 1870 a few years after the war but I think Trump feels like he uniquely is able to solve

00:38:47.740 the problems that america has and i think he's moving aggressively as a result i think lee did

00:38:53.440 it at gettysburg i think there have been a lot of guys as they age and as they have health conditions

00:38:58.040 as they stare down death that have felt like they have to do everything right now because nobody

00:39:04.600 else can i think that's where trump is and then on the issue of the popularity of some of these

00:39:10.200 things specifically on on iran because i think anyone who supports trump supports the ballroom

00:39:14.960 and even some Democrats have realized it makes perfect sense.

00:39:17.860 Democrats will get to use it.

00:39:19.360 We're not going to sit here and be like,

00:39:20.400 they can't use the Trump ballroom in the next Democrat administration.

00:39:23.340 Of course not.

00:39:23.860 This is for the occupant of the White House to use as they see fit.

00:39:28.000 But here is Trump on Iran and its popularity.

00:39:30.640 This is cut six.

00:39:31.440 Listen to him.

00:39:32.060 Everyone tells me it's unpopular, but I think it's very popular.

00:39:35.440 When they hear that it's having to do with nuclear weapons,

00:39:40.100 weapons that could take out Los Angeles,

00:39:42.400 could take out major cities very quickly.

00:39:45.820 When they hear that, you know, when they're explaining,

00:39:48.540 I'll tell you what, when we explain it to people,

00:39:51.020 I don't really have enough time to explain it to people.

00:39:53.280 I'm too busy getting it done.

00:39:55.260 When they understand, I think it's frankly very popular,

00:39:59.240 but whether it's popular or not popular, I have to do it

00:40:02.160 because I'm not going to let the world be blown up on my watch.

00:40:05.660 It's not going to happen.

00:40:08.040 That's his, I mean, that's really what this all comes down to, Clay.

00:40:11.100 he thinks it's popular but he also doesn't care

00:40:13.360 if it's popular because he says that this

00:40:14.980 was about the safety

00:40:17.480 of the United States in a way that could

00:40:19.300 not be ignored

00:40:20.100 I think that what is popular

00:40:22.500 certainly among Republicans still is

00:40:24.860 and I get this sense

00:40:26.400 people are willing to let Trump play this out

00:40:29.160 like let the man cook

00:40:30.460 is as the kids say

00:40:32.540 that's what I think the attitude

00:40:35.240 is more so than I love that

00:40:37.180 we're in this ongoing back and forth

00:40:39.200 with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz and it's

00:40:40.920 nuclear program i think it's let's see if trump can get us to the other side of this and people

00:40:46.060 don't really want to hear uh much in the way of uh criticism of that until we know what the

00:40:53.280 outcome is right until we know did he get the deal or not if he doesn't get the deal then i think we

00:40:57.760 all have to look at that honestly and assess it but uh or some kind of deal but people are willing

00:41:03.740 to let him have the leeway to do that is the sense that i'm getting and so i don't view this as as

00:41:10.300 Is there being a huge drop in support from this?

00:41:12.860 Well, we'll see.

00:41:13.780 We'll see.

00:41:14.400 We'll look at those polls.

00:41:15.700 I think we'll actually have Ryan Gerdusky on later in the week.

00:41:17.660 He's been crunching some of those numbers about how this looks to the GOP going into the midterms.

00:41:23.640 Yes.

00:41:24.600 And, again, I mean, I think on your point on Iran, it all ties in.

00:41:29.700 The easiest thing for President Trump to have done was just kick the can down the road.

00:41:34.320 He could have just said, we bombed in June.

00:41:36.440 Everything is taken care of.

00:41:37.780 The next president will have to decide what to do here.

00:41:40.180 and some of you would say he should have done that.

00:41:42.780 I think the goal is not to solve things for just his term.

00:41:47.240 I think he's concerned if Kamala Harris ends up in office

00:41:49.780 that he has to fix things that they're inevitably going to break,

00:41:53.060 including the border and everything else.

00:41:55.300 We'll come back. We'll take some of your calls.

00:41:57.060 J.D. Vance still speaking.

00:41:59.560 And, Buck, I can't help but think this feels like J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio

00:42:04.360 both auditioning for the role of President of the United States

00:42:07.560 by having expansive, long-running press conferences in the White House

00:42:12.020 where they take a variety of questions from press on every subject.

00:42:17.080 It feels like an echo of what Marco just did a couple weeks ago.

00:42:21.340 My personal belief on this, I don't think that J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio

00:42:25.520 are going to run against each other.

00:42:27.340 I think that they, by all reports, they have a very close relationship

00:42:31.120 and their families are very close.

00:42:32.420 i think they're going to have a man-to-man talk about you know how do we want to do this and

00:42:38.980 they'll come to a decision meaning you know it's going to be either uh you know i see there being

00:42:44.420 a couple of ways here marco marco at the top of the ticket with the understanding maybe that jd

00:42:49.460 is a secretary of state or he gets to sort of pick his next role if he doesn't want to stay

00:42:54.060 as vice president for another four or perhaps eight years or if it's jd at the top of the

00:42:58.360 Obviously, Marco goes in as VP.

00:43:00.500 I don't see them fighting it out publicly, but I could, again,

00:43:03.820 I thought Kamala was going to see the handwriting on the wall,

00:43:06.360 and apparently what she's seen is she's brilliant and great and should run again.

00:43:09.720 Here, I will say this as we go to break.

00:43:11.760 I just don't think J.D. Vance wants to be, I mean, sorry,

00:43:14.140 I don't think that Marco Rubio wants to be vice president.

00:43:17.360 I think he has more sway now as secretary of state.

00:43:20.000 Does anyone want to be vice president, really?

00:43:22.880 That's what I'm saying.

00:43:23.620 I think he likes the role that he has now,

00:43:25.580 and I don't think J.D. wants to be VP again.

00:43:28.360 So we'll see.

00:43:30.800 We'll see how it shakes out.

00:43:32.520 All right.

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00:45:48.160 Have a great day.

00:45:48.740 Welcome back in to Clay and Buck.

00:45:54.600 We are joined by our friend, New York Times bestselling author, Douglas Brunt.

00:46:01.940 He has a book out today, The Lost Empire of Emmanuel Noble, Romanovs, Revolutionaries,

00:46:10.340 and the Forgotten Titan who fueled the world.

00:46:13.180 Doug, great to see you, my man.

00:46:14.500 How are you?

00:46:16.100 Great.

00:46:16.700 Great to be with you guys.

00:46:17.640 so this is just a you know you got two guys here who have to stop constantly describing themselves

00:46:24.040 as history nerds because people get it you know like but we do love we do love history i'm sitting

00:46:28.580 in a radio studio that's basically just all the bookshelves or history books including the curious

00:46:33.220 case of rudolph diesel by the way your new york times bestseller which i read and have on my

00:46:36.540 shelf from before um but i've got to read this one this one's brand new i do know a bit about

00:46:41.100 the story tell everybody this this guy people think nobel they think nobel prize they think

00:46:46.400 inventor of dynamite they don't think of like the russian rockefeller take us through the story here

00:46:51.200 take us through the history you know it's it's amazing guys the more things change the more

00:46:55.680 they stay the same because the the quest to capture our sources of energy it's the story of

00:47:00.440 our times you open up the newspaper today it's on every page this is the original war the original

00:47:07.500 oil war as you mentioned alfred nobel was an investor in this company but it was run by his

00:47:13.060 nephew, Emmanuel Nobel. He was the largest oil titan in the world. By the time World War I broke

00:47:18.780 out, Emmanuel Nobel had the largest oil concern in the world, larger than Rockefeller's standard

00:47:23.860 oil. He had bought land in southern Russia along the Caspian Sea in Baku, modern-day Azerbaijan.

00:47:31.020 And by the start of the war, he controlled more than half of Russia's oil. And what Stalin did, 0.56

00:47:36.760 you know, as World War I is ongoing, Russia has the Bolshevik revolution, they pull out of the war.

00:47:42.340 What Stalin, Lenin and the communists did to Emanuel Nobel was the inspiration for George Orwell's 1984.

00:47:49.160 You know, there's the scene in that book where they say they renamed the streets, they tore down the statues, they rewrote the history.

00:47:54.680 Well, Stalin took it all over and Nobel Brothers Petroleum Company became the Soviet Petroleum Company.

00:48:01.040 His munitions and engine factory in the north by St. Petersburg became Ruski Diesel.

00:48:05.640 and the history of emmanuel nobel the largest industrialist in the world at the time was

00:48:12.800 completely paved over and repainted by stalin yeah so this is super fascinating to me thanks

00:48:19.640 for coming on uh with us douglas uh brunt the book uh as buck just said is the lost empire

00:48:25.380 of emmanuel nobel romanov's revolutionaries forgotten titan who fueled the world when you

00:48:30.420 do research on this i i feel like russia is so fascinating in many ways uh this the the fact

00:48:37.040 that they had a czar and the way that that entire collapse happened of the ruling family there the

00:48:43.940 the the uh the family that was in a position the czars for so long how much of a historical

00:48:52.240 relic is the uh is the royal family being executed like they were is there a different world where

00:49:00.060 Russia could still have a ruling family that was royal and everything has been different there?

00:49:05.420 I mean, I think it's a really kind of interesting pivot point in history.

00:49:09.500 Exactly. It's the craziest sliding doors moment in history.

00:49:13.940 And there were repeated efforts at reform and then repress, even with the early czars.

00:49:19.040 Czar Alexander II in 1861, he was the one who freed the serfs, you know, famously.

00:49:23.920 20 million serfs are liberated.

00:49:26.060 And that was two years before Lincoln freed the slaves in America.

00:49:30.060 And Alexander II, who was the grandfather of the last czar, Nicholas II, he tried many liberalizing reforms at increasing, you know, the economy to be more Western and more business friendly, allowing freedom of assembly, freedom of the press.

00:49:45.500 And then the Russian people would, they started to sort of organize in these subversive groups following Marxist doctrine, then attempted to assassinate him.

00:49:54.600 And, you know, it's one of these crazy things. There was advice that Nicholas I, the czar in the 1830s, 40s, gave to his son Alexander II. 0.71

00:50:02.540 And he was describing Napoleon. And he said, look, Napoleon, he's this sort of versatile leader.

00:50:06.200 He knows when to be soft. And then he also knows when to be only the lion.

00:50:10.700 And he said, but in Russia, you can be only the lion.

00:50:14.000 And you get these cycles when they have tried to liberalize and reform it, like Gorbachev, you know, made all these reforms.

00:50:20.960 And then it blows up and then you get Putin and it's repressive again.

00:50:24.920 They've been through that cycle throughout history.

00:50:27.620 And while they were moving toward more of a constitutional monarchy and a more Western style of government, it shattered with the Bolshevik Revolution and went into yet another repressive cycle.

00:50:38.420 We're speaking to Douglas Brunt, The Lost Empire of Emmanuel Nobel.

00:50:42.320 I've got my copy right here, which you guys should all go get out today.

00:50:46.600 It's going to be another huge bestseller, I can assure you.

00:50:48.980 um doug talk to me about something i find really interesting i'm a big fan of uh not to bring up a

00:50:55.520 different book but you know i'm sure you like it too daniel juergen's the prize about the history

00:50:59.020 of oil uh it's just sort of a good overview history of the the oil you know the discovery

00:51:04.520 of it the use of it and then and then where it um people don't really get much about or rather

00:51:09.840 i should say we don't hear much about the early days of russia figuring out that it's a call it

00:51:17.620 a hydrocarbon right an oil and natural gas superpower which it is just because it's it's

00:51:22.260 absolutely huge and it has very considerable reserves of those two things what were the

00:51:26.980 early days like you know what what was the equivalent of the saudi sheikhs who had almost

00:51:33.460 no paved roads but were buying up rolls royces as fast as possible in the early days of the

00:51:38.440 saudi kingdom like what were the early days of the russian oil boom like it's amazing the nobel

00:51:44.140 family was mostly in the north, and they were building rifles and bombs and engines, building

00:51:48.420 diesel engines, which is actually how I found the Nobel story with Rudolf Essel. And they get an

00:51:52.560 order from the czar for 100,000 rifles, and they need wood for the shoulder stocks of the rifles.

00:51:57.120 So they go down to the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus, where there are these walnut trees,

00:52:01.600 where they're going to get the wood. And while they're down there, it's this ancient land of

00:52:05.640 the eternal flame, you know, natural gas seeping from rocks that ignites and has the eternal flame.

00:52:09.900 And there was also so much petroleum in the ground, it was bubbling to the surface. So they

00:52:13.660 go down there and they see pools of oil on the surface, but there's no technology. It still looks

00:52:18.420 like an ancient land and people are just skimming it from the surface and using it as a lubricant

00:52:23.140 and other things. No drilling. The most they do is use shovels. So the Nobels are down there to

00:52:27.540 buy wood. The one guy says, I'm not using these 20,000 rubles on wood. I'm buying land. And so

00:52:33.280 they buy a bunch of land and they set up a refining facility and they use all their technology

00:52:38.120 expertise and capital to build an oil company. And they're, with the sort of Nobel expertise

00:52:44.280 and background in manufacturing, they're very quickly one of the large oil companies in the

00:52:49.460 world. And by 1888, the czar has decided like, wow, we've been shipping grain around the world

00:53:00.200 all these years, but now oil is becoming one of our main commodities that we have in the Russian

00:53:04.400 Empire, and they recognize it's yet another major natural resource that Russia possesses.

00:53:10.780 When you did your research, I'm curious, and this book sounds fascinating.

00:53:15.820 There's a lot of talk about the Ukraine war and the desire of Vladimir Putin to reclaim

00:53:22.260 the lost glory of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Empire.

00:53:27.540 Do you get a sense for what his ambition is or where it comes from and how it connects

00:53:32.780 to the era that you were studying?

00:53:35.860 Yeah, it's from the earliest days.

00:53:38.340 You know, Peter the Great in the early 1700s

00:53:40.680 was trying to get down to the Black Sea

00:53:42.600 where they have warm water ports

00:53:44.220 and the Black Sea can connect through the strait,

00:53:46.440 you know, right by Constantinople or Istanbul, Turkey

00:53:48.940 and out to the Mediterranean

00:53:49.960 and you can reach the rest of the world that way.

00:53:53.660 So they're obsessed with Crimea,

00:53:56.240 which is the northern part of the Black Sea.

00:53:58.800 For 300 years of Romanovs into Soviet Russia

00:54:02.140 and the present day. And we see that now in the early parts of this book, Joseph Stalin is born 0.73

00:54:09.020 in the country of Georgia, which is between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. And so he had a

00:54:14.040 front row seat to this oil empire taking root. The Nobels were the leading oil magnates, but also

00:54:20.500 the Rothschild family had a large presence in southern Russia, refining, drilling and refining

00:54:26.560 oil. And Stalin, as a young boy, actually worked in the oil fields of the Rothschilds and the

00:54:32.520 Nobels. So as he's got his sights on the, you know, quote, unquote, capitalist pigs that he 0.95

00:54:36.860 wants to take out, the Nobels are front and center. Well, guys, go get your copy. Douglas 0.92

00:54:45.020 Brunt's The Lost Empire of Emmanuel Nobel. It's really cool. It's really well written narrative

00:54:49.860 history. You're going to love it. And you'll learn a lot of really interesting things. So we highly

00:54:53.840 recommend it doug congrats on the book you got two authors fellow authors here along with you

00:54:58.640 so we know the blood sweat and tears and uh i know it's going to be a big bestseller and clay

00:55:04.240 is demanding your next book be about the civil war but we'll get to that another time we'll get

00:55:09.160 to you know the daniel jürgen blurb you mentioned megan uh my wife was was mocking me for that

00:55:14.300 because i turned i'm like i'm so excited you know i studied this book and in college and and i got

00:55:18.380 this great blurb from jürgen like all the oil historian guys are gonna she's like oh all the

00:55:22.140 oil historian guys all the nerds are going to be really excited for you that's great news

00:55:25.840 doug you're definitely the coolest guy at the oil historian party let's be honest

00:55:30.100 this is like my wife saying she can't believe that she married a guy who went to civil war

00:55:37.540 sleepaway camp which is maybe the nerdiest thing that anyone could have ever done when they were

00:55:42.000 in high school but by the way was awesome totally we're simpatico on that congrats doug guys go get

00:55:50.340 the book the lost empire remaniel nobel dog we'll talk to you soon thank you thanks guys

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Verdict with Ted Cruz - May 19, 2026

Bonus： Daily Review with Clay and Buck - May 19 2026

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