Verdict with Ted Cruz - Bonus： Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Oct 7 2025

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.560 Guaranteed human.

00:00:04.440 Welcome, everybody.

00:00:05.540 Tuesday edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

00:00:09.740 kicks off right now.

00:00:12.120 Coming to you live from Washington, D.C.,

00:00:14.600 our nation's capital, a.k.a. the Swamp,

00:00:17.560 although it is lovely this time of year.

00:00:18.920 Not very swampy.

00:00:20.380 Clay is on vacation today.

00:00:21.960 He'll be back with us Thursday.

00:00:24.580 Is that Thursday, right?

00:00:25.580 Yes, Thursday.

00:00:26.200 So he is working on his tan by the Gulf of America.

00:00:32.000 We are diving into the news of the day, my friends.

00:00:37.320 And there is a lot of it.

00:00:39.700 More on the showdown between the Trump administration

00:00:42.320 and various Democrat-run cities,

00:00:46.800 notably Chicago and Portland.

00:00:49.240 But the mayor of Chicago has done something pretty remarkable.

00:00:53.480 He thinks that he can create federal government enforcement-free zones.

00:01:01.380 And we shall discuss what that looks like.

00:01:05.600 We shall have a conversation about how absurd

00:01:08.620 the Democrat position on all this is getting.

00:01:12.020 As a CNN anchor decides to throw down with Stephen Miller,

00:01:14.980 it does not go well.

00:01:16.360 Spoiler alert for the CNN anchor.

00:01:19.180 Stephen Miller having none of it.

00:01:21.720 President Trump, some comments yesterday from the Oval

00:01:24.500 that I wanted to get to today.

00:01:26.400 The government shutdown continues.

00:01:29.960 I'm here in our nation's capital,

00:01:32.140 and I don't know, it feels fine.

00:01:34.720 It doesn't feel very shutdown-like.

00:01:36.940 It feels okay.

00:01:38.280 Things are kind of just doing what they do.

00:01:40.620 So there's that.

00:01:42.520 We'll discuss, though, the latest with it.

00:01:44.700 And also, it is, of course, the two-year anniversary

00:01:47.500 of the October 7th terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel.

00:01:50.780 Our friend and podcast host, Carol Markowitz,

00:01:55.460 will be with us in the third hour to discuss some reflections two years on

00:02:00.020 as the Trump administration is trying to bring a ceasefire

00:02:05.700 and some kind of peace deal into effect in that region.

00:02:10.520 It has been two years of conflict.

00:02:12.880 But I wanted to dive in first to this situation,

00:02:18.060 and it is more of the deep state weaponization that we have known about

00:02:23.240 but continue to find new things out.

00:02:27.500 This is now the surveillance of United States Republican senators.

00:02:34.760 The FBI, or in this case, actually,

00:02:38.400 came out from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley.

00:02:42.160 He released this publicly.

00:02:43.500 But the FBI, led by Director Patel and Deputy Director Bongino,

00:02:48.860 is providing transparency, as promised,

00:02:52.700 about what kind of weaponization has occurred

00:02:55.180 at the Federal Bureau of Investigation,

00:02:57.620 and notably on this Arctic Frost operation that they were running.

00:03:04.200 And this is about election J6 2020 stuff.

00:03:11.140 And they clearly were on a hunt for individuals

00:03:16.260 that were political targets instead of actual criminals.

00:03:21.220 That's a problem.

00:03:21.920 I think Donald Trump summed it up well with this.

00:03:25.400 This was on Truth Social.

00:03:27.420 Deranged Jack Smith caught with his hand in the cookie jar

00:03:31.580 a real sleazebag.

00:03:34.060 Indeed, the President of the United States pulling no punches

00:03:37.500 and letting it be known how he feels about

00:03:40.160 the unduly anointed prosecutor Jack Smith in this whole situation.

00:03:46.280 But we've got this.

00:03:48.940 From the FBI,

00:03:50.120 we have an electronic communications tally here,

00:03:55.400 as in surveillance of the cell phones of toll analysis records.

00:04:01.920 You've got Mike Kelly, Lindsey Graham, Bill Haggerty,

00:04:05.500 Josh Hawley, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville,

00:04:08.720 Ron Johnson, he'll be with us tomorrow, Senator Johnson,

00:04:12.400 and Cynthia Loomis, Marsha Blackburn.

00:04:16.220 These are the names on this release.

00:04:19.360 Well, this is not just one of those times where we're finding something out.

00:04:25.300 There's already been action taken.

00:04:27.640 The FBI, and this is from Director Patel,

00:04:30.440 has terminated some employees that were involved in this

00:04:34.940 when the Republicans had their private communications,

00:04:39.060 their private phone calls tracked.

00:04:40.720 Director Patel put this out.

00:04:43.000 We are cleaning up a diseased temple three decades in the making,

00:04:47.580 identifying the rot, removing those who weaponize law enforcement for political purposes,

00:04:52.520 and those who do not meet the standards of this mission while restoring integrity to the FBI.

00:04:57.720 I promised reform, and I intend to deliver it.

00:05:01.260 So that was in a statement to Fox News.

00:05:03.820 So that is where we are right now.

00:05:05.960 It is more information to add on to the pile about weaponization of government that has happened.

00:05:12.460 But we had A.G. Pam Bondi testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on this issue. 0.98

00:05:20.400 I wanted you to hear it from the Attorney General herself.

00:05:22.580 This is cut to hit it.

00:05:24.040 When I was confirmed as the 87th Attorney General of the United States,

00:05:28.000 I took office with two main goals, to end the weaponization of justice

00:05:32.540 and return the department to its core mission of fighting violent crime.

00:05:37.340 As to ending the weaponization of justice,

00:05:39.860 we learned that former FBI secretly investigated you and your colleagues.

00:05:45.100 Why?

00:05:45.860 They wanted to take President Trump off the playing field.

00:05:48.740 They were playing politics with law enforcement powers

00:05:51.500 and will go down as a historic betrayal of public trust.

00:05:56.360 This is the kind of conduct that shatters the American people's faith in our law enforcement system.

00:06:02.740 We will work to earn that back every single day.

00:06:07.300 It's critical because when the people have a lack of faith,

00:06:13.520 and rightly so, in the fair-minded, in the ethical application of the rule of law,

00:06:21.840 especially when it comes to the fearsome powers of the FBI,

00:06:28.680 when the public no longer believes that that is being done in a nonpartisan fashion,

00:06:32.780 we have a very big problem on our hands.

00:06:36.080 And the public is right to not just question the FBI,

00:06:40.300 but to have lost tremendous respect for it as an institution.

00:06:43.200 And that is why Director Patel, Deputy Director Bongino,

00:06:46.260 and other good men and women in the FBI under this Trump administration

00:06:50.540 are trying so hard to first deal with the rot, excise it,

00:06:57.480 but also to set things right.

00:06:59.360 We cannot have an FBI that is pulling the phone records of Republican senators

00:07:04.560 to try to jam them up on some nonsense.

00:07:07.420 We already had an FBI, as we know,

00:07:10.720 that was involved with the entire Crossfire Hurricane debacle,

00:07:15.880 involved in trying to pin a lie on a president, Donald Trump,

00:07:21.760 to destroy his administration,

00:07:23.360 and perhaps even to send him and members of his family and top advisors to prison.

00:07:28.520 One thing I will note, and you should all keep this in mind, too,

00:07:32.540 there are a whole bunch of Republicans who have actually gone to prison from Trump world.

00:07:37.000 There's a whole series of people that have served time for, overwhelmingly,

00:07:42.720 the most petty offenses imaginable.

00:07:45.700 And we've seen an FBI with James Comey

00:07:48.660 that was willing to pretend it was investigating laws

00:07:53.300 that no honest person thinks are the basis for any investigation,

00:07:57.320 like the Logan Act against General Flynn in the first Trump administration.

00:08:02.080 So the weaponization has been broad, it has been consistent,

00:08:05.420 and it has been taken as far as the investigative body, the FBI, can take things.

00:08:12.200 Meaning that they have brought these cases, they have used these tools,

00:08:15.340 they have used FISA, and it is a very dangerous thing.

00:08:19.060 Let me tell you, coming from a CIA analysis background,

00:08:24.300 when you have what is effectively the secret police in a country

00:08:28.720 playing games, using surveillance powers to undermine one political party or another,

00:08:35.940 it doesn't lead to good places.

00:08:38.020 In fact, sometimes it leads to a straight-up coup,

00:08:41.560 and maybe the head of the secret police running the country.

00:08:44.320 And if you've paid attention to James Comey in recent years, that is terrifying.

00:08:49.320 I think a Comey administration might even be worse than a Kamala administration. 0.98

00:08:53.120 And I just read Kamala's book.

00:08:55.960 And it is also deeply, deeply troubling,

00:09:01.160 because it is so boring and so awful that you think this woman could have been president in this country. 0.86

00:09:07.540 I know Trump beat her soundly, but the fact that so many people voted for her,

00:09:12.480 I think, should keep us all on guard.

00:09:15.120 It is a wow moment.

00:09:18.360 One of the least talented politicians of our lifetime

00:09:22.100 somehow managed to be the Democrat nominee

00:09:24.220 and got tens of millions of votes.

00:09:26.980 Anyway, back to FBI weaponization.

00:09:31.080 I'm weaving. Isn't that what Trump says?

00:09:32.880 I'm weaving. Isn't that the term, right, when he starts going off?

00:09:35.780 I haven't used that one in a while, but if Trump says it, I'm weaving.

00:09:38.680 I'm getting back to it.

00:09:41.140 I don't think Trump has said that in a while, either.

00:09:43.000 That was a big Trumpism for a while, when he would start to go on tangents.

00:09:48.060 So, yes, the reality here is cleaning up the FBI is absolutely essential.

00:09:52.360 I'm just a few blocks from the Hoover building, so it feels very close.

00:09:55.780 It feels very real that this is underway right now.

00:09:59.320 But this is essential.

00:10:01.660 And then there's also, speaking of cleaning up law enforcement,

00:10:05.060 there is the deployment issue here about National Guard going to these cities.

00:10:11.100 Pam Bondi also, in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee here, 0.58

00:10:14.740 saying to Senator Dick Durbin, another deeply unimpressive fellow,

00:10:21.580 very Kamala-esque in that respect.

00:10:24.340 Here he is, or rather here, Pam Bondi is, explaining that, you know what?

00:10:28.560 National Guard's going to Chicago. Deal with it. Play three.

00:10:31.500 The National Guard is on the way right now as we speak.

00:10:35.040 Oh, by the way, so is Director Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

00:10:38.940 You're sitting here grilling me, and they're on their way to Chicago to keep your state safe.

00:10:43.980 Madam Attorney General, it's my job to grill you.

00:10:47.860 Mm-hmm.

00:10:49.180 No, I mean, he could just ask questions and be respectful.

00:10:51.140 However he wants to position this, of course.

00:10:55.120 But this is now going to let me transition into this ongoing fight over bringing safety and security to these cities

00:11:03.260 and allowing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to do their job without obstruction,

00:11:10.740 without being unduly burdened by lunatics in the streets who are throwing rocks and bottles and Lord knows what else at them.

00:11:20.820 It is time for a law enforcement reckoning here.

00:11:24.800 Remember, when it came to January 6th, the Democrats were willing to not only have the National Guard deployed for four or five months

00:11:32.100 with big fences around the Capitol, but they used the FBI very much like a secret police force in some third-world country 0.81

00:11:41.920 to hunt down people for nonviolent crimes, to bust into their homes sometimes in the pre-dawn hours with tactical teams.

00:11:50.920 And, I mean, just look what they did.

00:11:52.540 Well, they've done this so many times.

00:11:53.900 What they did to Roger Stone in an earlier era,

00:11:56.460 they're willing to abuse the powers of the FBI, of the DOJ, for the most nakedly partisan purpose.

00:12:05.500 It's got to stop.

00:12:07.460 And that means consequences.

00:12:09.120 That means people have got to get fired, and it means people have got to go to prison.

00:12:13.220 If they can send Bannon to prison for nothing and Navarro to prison for nothing and a whole bunch of others,

00:12:20.560 maybe we can send some Democrats to prison for something, as in breaking the law, which they've done.

00:12:27.240 I think that's where we need to go.

00:12:29.060 I think that's where people are recognizing we have to go.

00:12:34.740 And I will take your calls on this one.

00:12:36.080 800-282-2882.

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00:13:23.120 Saving America, one thought at a time.

00:13:28.040 Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

00:13:30.720 Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:13:35.280 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00

00:13:37.440 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.

00:13:41.900 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:13:45.540 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:13:46.800 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:13:48.040 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:13:51.780 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers.

00:13:55.340 All at different stages of their journey.

00:13:57.540 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:14:00.520 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:14:06.220 People ask us all the time how we can save the next generation.

00:14:10.360 We've got our show, and the info is an antidote, but we also have a couple books coming out, Clay.

00:14:15.300 That's right, and you can pre-order both of them right now and be book nerds just like us.

00:14:20.320 You'll laugh, you'll nod, and you'll get smarter too.

00:14:23.260 Mine's called Balls, How Trump, Young Men, and Sports Saved America.

00:14:26.880 And mine is Manufacturing Delusion, How the Left Uses Brainwashing, Indoctrination, and Propaganda Against You.

00:14:33.780 Both are great reads.

00:14:35.140 One might even say they would make fabulous gifts.

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00:14:39.000 So do us a solid and pre-order yours on Amazon today.

00:14:42.660 Just want to let you know, if you were trying to listen to the interview yesterday with the president of Taiwan,

00:14:47.860 if you happen to miss any of it, it is up at clayandbuck.com, or you can listen on the podcast.

00:14:53.600 I think it is well worth going to check it out, because things are heating up in that part of the world.

00:14:59.860 China is definitely gearing up for an invasion of Taiwan.

00:15:03.840 It's just a question of when and if they pull the trigger, when they pull the trigger.

00:15:09.500 So, very important part of the world, and a really interesting series of conversations there,

00:15:16.020 most notably with the president of Taiwan.

00:15:17.340 So you can see that at clayandbuck.com, and please go and check that out.

00:15:22.600 Now, President Trump just in the Oval Office a few moments ago.

00:15:28.080 He's down the street.

00:15:29.360 He's not far off from where I'm doing the show.

00:15:31.980 And here he is on the Democrat Party, what he thinks of their leadership, 34.

00:15:38.180 And I really think that these are people that, I think they have nothing to lose.

00:15:43.260 They have a party that's out of control.

00:15:45.020 They have no leader.

00:15:45.720 Nobody knows who the leader is.

00:15:47.800 I look at people with very low IQs, like Crockett, this woman Crockett. 0.91

00:15:51.500 I never met her.

00:15:52.600 But she's a low IQ individual. 1.00

00:15:54.760 I look at AOC talking about how, if they want to negotiate, they can come to my office.

00:16:00.160 She's not in that position to do that. 1.00

00:16:02.160 And who the hell is she to say that? 0.95

00:16:04.000 And then I watch Nancy Pelosi not knowing what to do.

00:16:06.580 I watch their leadership.

00:16:09.060 Look, Schumer is petrified of a primary because he's not going to win probably against anybody in a primary.

00:16:15.380 You know, Schumer did the right thing, but he handled it badly originally a year ago.

00:16:20.620 He did probably the right thing, but he handled it badly.

00:16:24.100 I think Schumer is incapable of making a deal.

00:16:27.120 They are a mess.

00:16:28.020 They're a party that has no leadership.

00:16:30.240 They have, and they have no policy, you know.

00:16:33.080 We have great, we have great, I think we have great leadership.

00:16:36.200 But we also have great policy.

00:16:39.240 Their leadership.

00:16:40.480 Look, Schumer is petrified of a primary because he's not going to win probably against anybody in a primary.

00:16:46.860 You know, Schumer did the right thing, but he handled it badly originally a year ago.

00:16:52.100 He did probably the right thing, but he handled it badly.

00:16:55.580 I think Schumer is incapable of making a deal.

00:16:58.620 They are a mess.

00:16:59.400 They're a party that has no leadership.

00:17:01.720 They have, and they have no policy, you know.

00:17:04.560 We have great, we have great, I think we have great leadership, but we also have great policy.

00:17:10.460 I think he's right.

00:17:11.600 But let's unpack this for a second.

00:17:14.540 The claim from the president that the Democrats don't have leadership right now.

00:17:20.060 I think you'd have to agree with that.

00:17:22.200 To the degree that it is possible for me to be objective on this, which I know is, that's a challenge, right?

00:17:30.440 Because I am a Republican and don't agree with the Democrats.

00:17:33.980 I understand all that.

00:17:34.880 But trying to take a step back and look at this as honestly as possible, if the Democrats had a day fact to Taiwan,

00:17:44.240 but the brutal experience of reading Kamala's 107 days, and it felt like it took 107 days to read, so the title is apt.

00:17:53.240 And really, I think she did not endear herself to anyone in the Democrat Party or the reader.

00:17:58.760 I came away from it thinking this is a person who has never really been tested, has been elevated by the system for superficial characteristics all along.

00:18:12.600 And you have somebody who's just not a talented politician, got way beyond her skill set.

00:18:19.900 And so I don't think that she's going anywhere in politics, meaning I don't think she's going somewhere, it's off the stage.

00:18:26.340 You have Gavin Newsom.

00:18:29.280 Oh, you've got Pritzker.

00:18:31.240 He's really trying to make a go of things these days.

00:18:34.120 He really believes that he's a big deal.

00:18:39.020 And this is what this is the kind of leadership.

00:18:41.060 This is cut 10.

00:18:41.880 This kind of leadership you get from this guy. 1.00

00:18:43.720 He's a jerk. 1.00

00:18:44.760 Play it. 1.00

00:18:45.240 Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation's cities.

00:18:55.220 For weeks now, Donald Trump, Kristi Noem, and Gregory Bovino have brought their militarized CBP and ICE agents to the streets of Chicago to cause violence and chaos in this city.

00:19:08.560 They need to stop inciting our city's residents.

00:19:12.560 Since the beginning of this invasion, families have been snatched up off the streets or removed from their homes, zip-tied and detained for hours, including especially U.S. citizens and legal residents of our state.

00:19:27.200 Inciting the people of Chicago?

00:19:30.120 Think about the framing from the governor here, who certainly thinks of himself as a heavyweight.

00:19:37.240 Think of the way that he discusses this.

00:19:42.260 The problem isn't the riots.

00:19:44.360 The problem isn't the lawlessness and the disrespect shown to federal officers.

00:19:51.240 It's that they're there and Democrats in Chicago are having some kind of collective nervous breakdown in response to it.

00:20:02.100 And so they can't be held accountable for their actions.

00:20:04.700 The real problem here, the real issue is the deployment in the first place.

00:20:10.620 That's a pretty crazy point of view, isn't it?

00:20:15.840 And yet this is the governor of Illinois, who certainly thinks of himself as a contender for the mantle of Democrat leadership.

00:20:25.720 Chuck Schumer, as Trump and others have been discussing, he's just trying to hold on.

00:20:29.960 Because the Democrat Party that he has managed to sit atop in different ways for a long time now, he's been involved in this longer than I've been alive, actually.

00:20:51.660 Chuck Schumer has been in the Senate longer than I have been on this earth.

00:20:55.360 So that tells you something.

00:20:57.540 But this is where we are now.

00:20:59.700 Chuck Schumer running for cover.

00:21:01.060 He knows the radical left fringe of his party is ascendant.

00:21:05.780 And they can't stop it.

00:21:07.880 This is the thing. 1.00

00:21:09.660 They can't reason with their left wing base any more than we can because they're lunatics. 0.98

00:21:15.380 And so, by definition, there's no way, there's no common ground to have with them. 0.79

00:21:21.720 The only thing that they can do is try to keep them at bay long enough to fool enough voters to keep the Democrat seats in more purplish areas.

00:21:35.300 And this is the game every election cycle.

00:21:38.240 Democrats, to win enough votes to have power, have to pretend that they're not actually Democrats.

00:21:42.400 Democrats, it's certainly what's going on with Allison, whatever her name is, in Virginia. 1.00

00:21:47.840 And by the way, it might as well be whatever her name is, her last name, because her whole game is nobody knows anything about this lady, really. 0.55

00:21:54.340 Like, what does she stand for?

00:21:56.040 I don't know.

00:21:57.520 Is it a Democrat?

00:21:58.620 Is it a lady? 0.84

00:22:00.460 That's about all we know.

00:22:02.340 You know?

00:22:03.620 Spanberger.

00:22:04.440 Spanberger.

00:22:05.680 What does Spanberger stand for?

00:22:07.200 Well, if you really were to dig into it, it would be probably abortion all nine months of a pregnancy, and DEI, and transgender stuff, and all the... 1.00

00:22:16.000 But she doesn't talk about that. 0.83

00:22:18.340 The whole game is, ah, I'm so boring and lacking in charisma.

00:22:24.820 How dangerous can I be?

00:22:26.800 And that's what a lot of these Democrats do.

00:22:28.980 So, they put forward this Trojan horse in the purple states of, well, I'm not one of those AOC Momdani Democrats. 0.88

00:22:38.840 I'm something else.

00:22:41.260 And unfortunately, because a lot of people spend time thinking about their lives and not politics, and I can respect that.

00:22:47.700 I don't really cast stones.

00:22:49.820 I wish everybody was very informed on these things, but, you know, you got lives to lead.

00:22:54.360 And so they just, whatever's on the TV, they go, okay, this person seems pretty moderate.

00:23:00.380 I mean, what is a moderate Democrat these days?

00:23:02.400 Chuck Schumer is starting to look like a moderate Democrat these days, just because he's not insane.

00:23:07.140 I mean, he's bad news, but he's not as loony as some of these others, and he's maybe going to lose his job because of it.

00:23:14.920 So, we go back to the initial question, or the initial premise by President Trump, who is the leader of the Democrat Party.

00:23:20.360 This is the first time in a long time there has not been an, nobody would have asked that question, obviously, for the eight years of Obama.

00:23:30.240 And if it wasn't Obama, the answer was Clinton.

00:23:33.980 And somehow, believe it or not, when the answer wasn't Clinton, the answer became Biden.

00:23:38.560 So, there has been a leader of the Democrat Party for a long time now.

00:23:44.300 And I would argue that in the Bush years, even, the answer was still Clinton for a lot of people.

00:23:49.680 That's why that show, The West Wing, where that half-wit Martin Sheen plays the, like, brilliant scholar president, it was really just this stealth presidency for Libs during the Bush years.

00:24:01.840 And I remember, I was in the CIA at the time, and so, yeah, I would flip this thing on sometimes.

00:24:06.060 I'm like, oh, this is where the Libs get to feel safe and warm.

00:24:09.840 Oh, look at this president.

00:24:10.940 He has a PhD in economics, and he likes baseball, just like all the Democrats.

00:24:15.520 You know, that was, it was their fantasy land, their Aaron Sorkin-provided fantasy land presidency.

00:24:21.820 But we've always known who the leader is.

00:24:24.760 We've always known who the top dog is in the Democrat Party, until now, because there isn't one, and Trump is just pointing that out.

00:24:32.980 He's, he's, wait, what did I say?

00:24:34.480 Yeah, Abigail Spanberger.

00:24:35.680 I did, I got her name right, didn't I?

00:24:37.060 It took me a minute.

00:24:37.620 Oh, did I, oh, I said, there you go.

00:24:41.640 That's how memorable she is.

00:24:43.120 Allison, Abigail, potato, potato, whatever.

00:24:47.780 Yeah, Abigail Spanberger.

00:24:50.580 Man, she really stands for a lot.

00:24:54.320 You know, no idea.

00:24:55.800 She's just hoping that enough Virginians get their politics from having, like, the drone of CNN on in the background, 0.98

00:25:03.140 and then, you know, when they're watching Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and there's some political ads running that say,

00:25:08.500 oh, she's going to do great things for the schools, and she's going to help working families. 0.51

00:25:13.360 It's just the pablum.

00:25:15.420 The, the, the milk toast, like, the, the way the Democrats win in purple states is like,

00:25:23.380 it's like they, they smother you with a boring pillow of, it'll be fine, you know,

00:25:29.600 she's not going to do anything crazy, and you just go, oh, okay, how bad can it be?

00:25:34.780 And at some level, by the way, this was the, the Biden play in 2020.

00:25:38.980 Good old Joe.

00:25:40.320 He's so old. 0.62

00:25:41.380 He's so old and, and, and kind of feeble.

00:25:44.560 How dangerous can he be?

00:25:45.780 Well, very, as we saw, because he wasn't calling the shots.

00:25:50.440 The left-wing activists around him were the ones calling the shots.

00:25:54.540 So, in a sense, the answer to the part, the question, who's the leader of the Democrat Party is,

00:25:58.280 well, because they're leftists and increasingly commies, it's really a collective, you could say.

00:26:05.300 There is no one leader.

00:26:06.780 There are a bunch of different people who adhere to an ideology of collectivism,

00:26:11.700 and they, like the committee, if you will, they're like the committee for the undermining and destruction of America.

00:26:18.320 That's what the, that's the leader of the Democrat Party.

00:26:21.560 Other than that, you can put in a bunch of different names.

00:26:23.980 You know, you can look at narcissistic individuals like Newsom and Pritzker.

00:26:32.000 I, you know what the thing about someone like Pritzker is?

00:26:34.400 I know his people say, oh, he's a billionaire.

00:26:36.860 Guys, has he ever had a, I know he's the governor now, but let's be honest, anybody can do these jobs, right?

00:26:42.820 This is one thing that we've learned in this new era of politics.

00:26:46.260 It's hard to get some of these jobs.

00:26:48.880 You need a lot of money, you need a lot of name recognition, but doing it, I don't know.

00:26:53.680 Look at some of these people who have had these jobs.

00:26:56.780 Has Pritzker ever done a hard day's work is really the question.

00:27:01.420 And no, I don't mean like in the gym.

00:27:03.860 I mean in general.

00:27:04.900 Has he ever done a hard day's work?

00:27:06.880 I, I, I don't think so.

00:27:08.880 Does he have any understanding whatsoever?

00:27:10.740 Oh, people will say, but how dare you look at Trump?

00:27:13.640 He grew up also very privileged, everything else.

00:27:16.580 Yeah, but people who do hard day's work like him.

00:27:19.720 And he seems to understand them and have a kinship with them.

00:27:24.200 And you can't fake that because the people who do the hard day's work can tell.

00:27:28.520 They know John Kerry tried it.

00:27:31.060 A lot of others have tried it.

00:27:32.420 Oh, I'm just like you.

00:27:33.500 I'm like, hello, fellow working class people.

00:27:36.140 Look at my Carhartt jacket.

00:27:37.580 Like, it doesn't work.

00:27:39.140 It doesn't work.

00:27:40.660 Somehow Trump is different.

00:27:41.720 And we all know that.

00:27:44.440 Look, I'll take your calls here.

00:27:45.820 800-282-2882.

00:27:47.340 Do you think, who is the leader of the Democrat Party?

00:27:48.980 I put that question out to you.

00:27:50.540 Trump says there isn't one.

00:27:51.540 I tend to agree with him.

00:27:52.620 I think right now, if we were ranking them, I go, wow, this is like, this isn't, this is not a fun list.

00:28:01.000 You know, this is like ranking painful medical procedures or something.

00:28:04.940 I go Gavin Newsom, number one slot.

00:28:07.980 I go, I might put AOC at number two.

00:28:15.240 And I know she's not senior, but she's more powerful than these other Democrats. 0.97

00:28:19.840 She just is.

00:28:21.160 Please, you think if Pritzker and AOC go head-to-head, I mean, she's going to smoke that guy. 1.00

00:28:27.420 So, yeah, we'll see.

00:28:29.500 Let me know what you think.

00:28:30.360 Following the 9-11 attacks, New York City firefighter Daniel Foley assisted in the rescue and recovery efforts at Ground Zero.

00:28:36.040 At that time, he couldn't have known that his heroism would later cost him his life.

00:28:39.940 Daniel spent months at Ground Zero searching for victims, including his firefighter brother, Thomas Foley, who was killed in the attacks.

00:28:46.120 Daniel's father also took part in the efforts at Ground Zero.

00:28:48.380 He died years later from a rare 9-11-related leukemia.

00:28:52.460 Daniel's death, like so many others, was also a direct result of 9-11-related cancer.

00:28:56.940 He leaves behind his wife, Carrie, and their five children.

00:29:00.300 Tunnel to Towers paid the mortgage on the family's home.

00:29:03.300 Every day, we see the toll that 9-11 continues to take on heroes and their families.

00:29:07.700 Your donation today can make a world of difference to a family like the Foley's.

00:29:12.080 It can provide a sense of security and stability in the face of uncertainty while also bringing hope.

00:29:17.080 Donate $11 a month to Tunnel to Towers at T2T.org.

00:29:20.740 That's T, the number 2, T, dot org.

00:29:23.780 Want to be in the know when you're on the go?

00:29:27.020 The Team 47 Podcast.

00:29:29.440 Trump highlights from the week, Sundays at noon Eastern, in the Clay and Buck podcast feed.

00:29:34.500 Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:29:39.120 All right, third hour of Clay and Buck kicks off now.

00:29:42.260 We're joined by our friend Carol Markowitz, host of the Carol Markowitz Show on the Clay

00:29:47.060 and Buck podcast network, which, thanks all of you, is growing every single month.

00:29:51.980 And also, normally, which she co-hosts with Mary Catherine Hamm.

00:29:55.560 And that is doing fantastic numbers as well.

00:29:58.280 So thank you all for your support.

00:30:00.220 And, Carol, great to have you on the program.

00:30:02.040 Thank you so much.

00:30:02.680 Hi, Buck.

00:30:03.240 Thanks so much for having me.

00:30:04.640 Two years, Carol.

00:30:05.700 Two years since the events of October 7th.

00:30:09.160 I want to get into some of the policy-specific conversation in a moment with where Trump is

00:30:14.860 trying to end this thing between the IDF and Hamas and all of that,

00:30:18.820 as well as some other news of the day.

00:30:20.860 But first, I just wanted to ask you to reflect on how you view this day

00:30:28.240 and what you think about, given what's happened over the last two years.

00:30:33.100 You know, the first thing I want to say is today is the first day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. 0.56

00:30:39.120 And I'm not a super observant Jew.

00:30:42.120 I should be better, but I'm not.

00:30:43.980 But many observant Jews, our friend Josh Hamm or some other people, are offline today.

00:30:49.060 So they can't commemorate October 7th.

00:30:51.180 So I'm just so grateful for you and so many other people for noting this today

00:30:56.060 in the absence of Jews being online. 0.97

00:30:58.760 And I think that that's really incredible and special.

00:31:02.080 And I feel just grateful to have you as, you know, an ally, as a friend,

00:31:06.940 and to have non-Jews care about what's going on in Israel or with Jews in the world is so meaningful to me.

00:31:15.280 And I hope that you know how much I appreciate it.

00:31:18.180 Oh, absolutely.

00:31:18.940 Clay and I have felt very strongly about this issue from the very beginning

00:31:23.120 and have felt like this was a clear case of right and wrong,

00:31:28.660 not just, of course, on the horrible day of October 7th and what was done to Jews in Israel,

00:31:34.080 but so much of what we saw afterwards I think was shocking to people, Carol,

00:31:38.460 who haven't followed this issue and don't understand some of the dynamics at play.

00:31:42.580 I mean, the calls for, for example, the calls for a ceasefire while the Israelis were still counting their dead

00:31:51.460 and preparing to bury them was just an astonishing show of bad faith

00:31:58.620 and, quite honestly, the worst kinds of anti-Semitism.

00:32:02.020 Yeah, absolutely.

00:32:02.840 And it's been just a really tough two years, I would say.

00:32:06.980 And it's interesting because, you know, I went to Israel during that time

00:32:10.520 and they are so resilient and strong and they're really,

00:32:15.060 they've been prepared for how long this is going to take

00:32:18.160 and they understood it wasn't going to be overnight and all of that

00:32:21.280 and they want their hostages back so badly.

00:32:24.120 But it has been a tough time to be a Jew in America, a Jew in the West.

00:32:29.300 I have such faith in America and Americans

00:32:31.580 and I know that it's just a tough time right now.

00:32:35.060 But it is hard to watch that commemorations of October 7th

00:32:39.480 are taking place in our biggest cities and they seem like celebrations.

00:32:43.640 And they're, you know, Zionists, quote unquote, are being pushed out of various spaces.

00:32:49.600 I mean, it's been going on on the left for years and years.

00:32:52.140 I wasn't very surprised about the reaction from the left on October 8th.

00:32:56.400 I know a lot of people were, but I had seen it coming for the better part of a decade.

00:33:01.240 I just hope the right doesn't follow them down that path.

00:33:04.720 And like I said, I do feel very comfortable and so blessed that I feel like conservatives

00:33:10.140 are largely on the right side of this and that they, I do feel like I have allies standing with me.

00:33:16.200 Well, you know, Trump, I think is a consistent, consistent ally and friend of the state of Israel,

00:33:21.620 which is, and sees this issue with the clarity that it demands.

00:33:28.640 And on that issue of clarity, you know, we've had you on, Carol, before to talk about

00:33:32.680 the so-called genocide and the New York Times running a story with a photo

00:33:38.920 as the primary photo of somebody who looks emaciated, having nothing to do with hunger.

00:33:44.240 It's actually a birth defect or, you know, a congenital birth issue that that person had.

00:33:51.900 And I think it's, you know, to me, it always seemed like, hold on a second,

00:33:55.660 there's not a genocide going on and here's why.

00:33:58.320 And we made that case before.

00:34:00.380 This is a term, of course, that's thrown around with the additional salt in the wound

00:34:04.700 of the genocide that was committed against the Jews in the Holocaust and World War II.

00:34:08.560 So the opponents of Israel used this, knowing the full implications of the term in this context.

00:34:14.420 But now we have a peace plan or at least a ceasefire plan put forward with all of these steps.

00:34:21.220 It's essentially Hamas has to stop fighting, hostages have to come back,

00:34:25.900 and then there has to be some responsibility from the Palestinian side.

00:34:31.200 And it seems like it's not a genocide because they say, no, we're going to keep fighting.

00:34:34.700 Right. It's amazing. The first victims of genocide ever to say, no, we're going to keep going.

00:34:41.540 It's baffling to me that anybody cannot see what's going on here.

00:34:45.720 And you're right. Trump is such a friend to Israel.

00:34:48.540 I find his clarity on the matter to be breathtaking.

00:34:54.960 And, you know, I make all of the Trump 2028 jokes in our tests because of it,

00:35:00.960 because I really feel like he holds back a lot of the insanity around the world.

00:35:05.980 And, you know, when Britain or France, when you recognize, quote unquote, the Palestinian state,

00:35:12.720 Trump sort of laughs at them and says, who cares what they think?

00:35:15.880 And that's meaningful and amazing that an American president is such a leader on the world stage.

00:35:20.920 But you're right. It's the idea that there's a genocide going on while that population of Palestinians in Gaza

00:35:27.980 has actually grown in the last two years makes no sense.

00:35:31.540 And it makes no sense that really chubby moms are holding starving babies 1.00

00:35:36.960 because that's generally not the way that it goes.

00:35:39.320 So I'd love to see more clarity from other world leaders.

00:35:43.940 There's some really good ones. The president of Argentina is amazing.

00:35:46.940 The prime minister of Italy is fantastic.

00:35:48.880 But in general, a lot of them are afraid of their Muslim populations or their leftist base.

00:35:55.900 And they are really bringing down the idea of civilization around the world.

00:36:00.640 It's not just about Israel.

00:36:02.000 It's it's really a civilizational question that they would have to contend with in their own countries.

00:36:07.060 What will our countries be with this unchecked immigration that we've allowed to go on? 0.99

00:36:10.860 It's all tied together.

00:36:12.100 I would also note that if there was a starvation genocide underway, the photos of it would be everywhere accessible and obvious.

00:36:23.240 It would not be in the least bit difficult in the social media Internet era that we all live in to see this.

00:36:29.300 And yet the reliance on photos by the biggest newspaper in the United States, for example, that is essentially a falsified premise.

00:36:38.640 I think that speaks very loudly about what is going on here.

00:36:42.120 What are the chances they just happen to pick a photo that doesn't depict what's going on if there are endless photos that would.

00:36:48.580 Right. I mean, that just makes it makes no sense.

00:36:50.440 So you can supply logic to this and it falls apart.

00:36:53.260 Yeah. And they cropped out his healthy looking brother out of the photo because they wanted to project that the starvation thing was happening.

00:37:00.240 And the very healthy brother would show that that wasn't going on.

00:37:04.460 What is going on on the right with and you know what I'm going to ask you, Carol, but to the degree that we can cover some of this now,

00:37:13.180 there seems to be some how some questioning and even some hostility to Israel specifically that I haven't seen from the right on the left.

00:37:26.560 It's been there for a long time. Yeah. And but on the right, it seems like there's some problems bubbling up.

00:37:33.620 Where is that coming from? You know, I don't want to ascribe bad motives to people.

00:37:39.440 I'm not going to say they're all paid by Qatar, although kind of seems like they're paid by Qatar.

00:37:45.000 It really could be any number of things. I understand questioning foreign aid, for example.

00:37:51.520 But if you're questioning a foreign aid means that Israel should be the first country stripped of it.

00:37:57.520 I'm sorry. That is not a real argument. And a lot of the time there'll be people saying we're allowed to criticize Israel.

00:38:04.100 Of course, you're allowed to criticize Israel. I criticize Israel. 0.68

00:38:06.600 There's a million mistakes that I think Israel has made before and since October 7th. 0.99

00:38:11.540 And you're absolutely allowed to criticize any number of things.

00:38:15.740 But the idea is that Israel is allowed to exist and should exist. And that is Zionism. 0.94

00:38:21.760 So it's really not that crazy to say Israel is a country. It exists.

00:38:26.820 It's going to continue to exist. And we should support that.

00:38:29.320 I hope the right doesn't get wound up in conspiracy theories, which is largely what a lot of this comes down to.

00:38:35.520 And I get where it comes from. We were lied to again and again and again over the last decade.

00:38:40.760 And I feel like people have lost all faith in everything. But you have to remember, not everyone is lying to you all the time.

00:38:48.080 And you have to find the people that you trust. And they shouldn't be people who lie to you.

00:38:53.220 If your favorite podcaster is telling you things that you know to be a lie, they're probably lying about other things as well.

00:39:00.740 And that's how you should look at it. You should trust the voices that you listen to.

00:39:04.920 And if you can't do that, then you shouldn't do it on anything.

00:39:08.180 You know, I've begun to see finally, because I've been trying to make this case for a while.

00:39:15.740 As somebody who was involved in some capacity among millions of other Americans, including those who actually served in the military,

00:39:23.280 I was a civilian trying to do a part of what we call the GWAT, the Global War on Terror.

00:39:28.440 But the the level of violent hate that has been inculcated in some of these Middle Eastern societies and specifically in the case of Gaza,

00:39:39.820 I'm a little surprised that so many people on the right seem to have either forgotten or aren't able to draw the obvious parallels that these they're not upset about foreign aid in Gaza.

00:39:53.580 They're not upset about the lack of of some, you know, my some agreement that would move things forward.

00:40:01.240 They actually have been trained and taught to hate Jews and Israelis.

00:40:05.900 Yeah, this is this is very straightforward.

00:40:07.880 And I think this has gotten lost in the conversation, even on the right for some in a way that bears reminding everybody.

00:40:15.860 Yeah, I will say that poll after poll continues to show that the people on the right support Israel.

00:40:22.100 And so no matter how many loud voices are trying to change, I think that's an important distinction you're making.

00:40:27.780 It's not to interrupt you. So far, it hasn't moved the needle at all.

00:40:31.100 I would say that abortion is a more contentious issue on the right than Israel is.

00:40:35.180 It's an overwhelming, positive, supportive point of reference for the right on Israel.

00:40:41.800 And so, you know, I I don't know what again what the motivations might be.

00:40:46.720 But I will say that anti-Semitism is not a bigotry.

00:40:50.720 And I think when people think of it as a bigotry, they get it all wrong.

00:40:53.800 It is a it's a mind virus.

00:40:57.140 Once it grabs people, it's all they can think about.

00:41:00.380 So, again, if you think if you're if your favorite podcaster has suddenly become multiple wall Israel, every single episode is Israel, Israel, Israel. 0.80

00:41:08.300 They're on a dark path. And it's not about Jews as a kind of culture. 1.00

00:41:14.320 It's about a larger mind virus that will really swallow them up. 0.84

00:41:19.380 And you've seen this happen in societies in history where once it gets going, it really doesn't stop.

00:41:25.300 So I hope that the trend where the larger right just blocks out those voices continues.

00:41:32.120 And that's what I'm going to be looking.

00:41:33.980 What are you going to be talking about this week on on normally, Carol?

00:41:37.160 So normally just celebrated our one year anniversary, Buck.

00:41:41.080 Mary Catherine Hamm and I completely didn't realize the date.

00:41:45.360 So it's actually a year and a week and a half or so.

00:41:49.240 But we're really thrilled to be on the Clay Travis Buck Sexton podcast network.

00:41:53.300 It's been amazing.

00:41:54.520 We cover news of the day in a funny way.

00:41:56.600 And I hope your listeners will tune in.

00:41:58.800 Yeah, no, you guys are doing a great ladies, I should say, are doing a great show. 0.99

00:42:02.220 I love it.

00:42:04.060 Yeah.

00:42:04.340 Carol, thank you so much for being here.

00:42:05.800 Appreciate talking to you as always.

00:42:07.360 And we'll talk to you again soon.

00:42:08.780 Thanks so much.

00:42:10.840 Two years ago, we woke up to the horrific news from Israel that terrorists were on a rampage slaughtering innocent civilians.

00:42:17.320 By the end of the day, the death toll was 1,200 with 250 people taken hostage.

00:42:21.260 The equivalent to that in the U.S. would be 40,000 Americans, to give you a sense of the magnitude.

00:42:25.720 Americans have supported the people of Israel for the past two years in big and small ways with the help of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

00:42:34.200 One way is by joining a growing movement called Flags of Fellowship.

00:42:37.840 The Flags of Fellowship unites churches across America, planting over one million Israeli flags across our country.

00:42:43.980 Show the world that Israel is not alone.

00:42:46.240 To get more information about how you can join the Flags of Fellowship movement, visit ifcj.org.

00:42:52.760 That's ifcj.org.

00:42:56.240 Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

00:42:58.840 Mic drops.

00:42:59.980 That never sounded so good.

00:43:02.640 Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:43:07.560 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00

00:43:09.620 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.

00:43:13.600 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:43:17.620 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:43:18.720 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:43:19.940 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:43:23.680 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:43:29.440 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:43:32.680 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:43:38.220 All right, everybody.

00:43:39.200 Welcome back in.

00:43:40.120 And I'm joined by my friend Leland Vittert on Balance.

00:43:43.860 Leland Vittert is a show on News Nation, a program that I'm honored to occasionally get to grace with my presence,

00:43:51.340 or I am graced by its presence, either way.

00:43:55.100 And speaking of presence, I'm here in our studio, and I am feeling like a fraternity bum or something. 0.81

00:44:01.620 This guy comes in here dressed like Gordon Gekko.

00:44:04.480 This is the difference between TV and radio.

00:44:07.200 I'm wearing, like, sweatpants and a fleece, and Leland comes in here, crisp as a $100 bill, ready for television at a moment's notice.

00:44:15.720 So I'm just saying, good for you, my friend.

00:44:17.740 Respect.

00:44:18.800 Respect.

00:44:19.360 You got to do it how you do it.

00:44:21.160 We've got this book.

00:44:22.760 It is doing very well.

00:44:24.660 Born Lucky, A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism.

00:44:29.740 This has really struck a chord with people.

00:44:32.000 Tell everybody a bit about it.

00:44:33.000 So, Buck, Born Lucky is the story of my father, when I was diagnosed with autism, choosing to adapt me to the world rather than the world to me.

00:44:43.600 So this goes back to the 1980s.

00:44:45.640 And this book is for every parent of a kid having a hard time.

00:44:49.240 It doesn't matter if it's a parent of a kid on the autism spectrum, ADHD, anxiety, social issues, bullying at school.

00:44:56.420 It is proof to parents of how much agency they have and how much hope there is for a loving parent to really dedicate to their kid and help their kid be more and achieve their full potential in a way they never would if they listened to the experts.

00:45:13.000 Tell me more about that part of this.

00:45:14.840 Like, what are some of the hurdles, the artificial hurdles that are put in place by expert opinion about autism, how to deal with this?

00:45:24.000 Look, there is a movement in America, and the experts will tell you, to meet kids where they are, right?

00:45:30.680 So you just sort of put little Sally in bubble wrap and tell her that she's perfect and everything's great and we're so proud of you and everything else.

00:45:40.620 1988, 89, my parents are told that I have to be evaluated.

00:45:45.320 So they take me to one of those little medical centers.

00:45:47.440 You're a new dad.

00:45:48.600 Worst thing a parent could possibly hear, right?

00:45:50.740 So they take me to one of these little medical testing centers, linoleum floors, old magazines, stale coffee, whatever.

00:45:57.280 The woman comes back with me after two hours.

00:45:59.680 They're nervous.

00:46:00.820 And the woman says to my parents, we have no idea what's going on inside his head.

00:46:04.720 Well, can I ask, what were some of the signs?

00:46:06.260 How did they know that you needed to be tested?

00:46:08.920 So, you know, I had terrible behavioral issues. 0.53

00:46:11.220 So if a kid touched me in the lunch line, I'd turn around and slug them.

00:46:13.760 I had awful behavioral issues, sensory issues, couldn't really wear a lot of clothes or socks or anything else because I didn't like how it felt on my skin.

00:46:22.560 Big learning disabilities.

00:46:24.180 So from the IQ test, two halves of an IQ test make up the average of your IQ.

00:46:31.580 Buck doesn't have to do an average.

00:46:33.100 His is additive.

00:46:33.900 It just goes very high. 0.99

00:46:35.640 Mine was half genius, half mentally retarded. 1.00

00:46:39.540 So 20-point spread on your IQ test is a learning disability. 0.97

00:46:42.360 I had a 70-point spread.

00:46:44.640 And the woman said to my dad, look, you know, there's not much you can do.

00:46:48.420 And my dad goes, as any father would, anything we can do.

00:46:51.440 And she goes, generally not.

00:46:53.940 Got to meet him where he's at.

00:46:55.380 And my dad said, if I meet him where he's at and I adapt the world to him and I give him extra time on tests and behavior modification plans in school and tell everybody what's happening, he's not going to know how to operate in the real world.

00:47:06.840 So this was my dad's quest to adapt me to the real world.

00:47:10.220 What were some of the things that, in that process, he did, he learned, and congratulations to your father.

00:47:16.780 I mean, I also just, so I have no personal experience of anyone in my family with autism.

00:47:23.560 I have people in my extended family that have serious mental health challenges, people who have, we have my, I have a second cousin with Down syndrome, but I've never experienced somebody close to me with autism.

00:47:35.720 And so my knowledge of it is really just from reading, picking things up in the media, we'll hear about the spectrum.

00:47:44.380 What are some of the things that your father had to learn and had to understand to push you through this process?

00:47:49.720 It's a great question.

00:47:50.680 And this was much less about autism, because at the time autism was really not understood very well, to a father leaning in and saying, I am going to push my son to be more, right?

00:48:02.500 So he knew I couldn't get self-esteem from school because of learning disabilities.

00:48:06.260 I wasn't going to have any friends, so I couldn't be the popular kid.

00:48:08.900 And I couldn't do athletics because I was completely uncoordinated.

00:48:11.260 So at six years old, he started me doing 200 push-ups a day as a way to start earning self-esteem, 200 push-ups a day, five days a week.

00:48:20.260 Now, what expert would ever tell a parent to do that, right?

00:48:23.420 But it was to teach me effort in equals real results and real achievement.

00:48:30.020 He was big on character.

00:48:31.560 He said the two things you can control are your character and your work ethic.

00:48:34.700 That was something that he forced me to take a lot of pride in.

00:48:38.040 And then it was trying to teach me almost minute by minute the social skills that come naturally to people and the human equation.

00:48:45.440 So he would take me out to lunch with one of his friends.

00:48:47.460 I had a lot of free time because no kid wanted to hang out with me.

00:48:50.280 And we'd show you in Born Lucky, he would take me out and he would sit me down at lunch with one of his friends.

00:48:56.760 I'd start talking to the guy and badgering him, and my dad would tap his watch.

00:48:59.720 And that was a signal for me to stop talking, number one.

00:49:02.940 But in Born Lucky, then we take you into the postgame, right, where he would sit there and be like, okay, when Mr. Sexton, never buck, never by a first name.

00:49:11.460 But when he was talking about his new child and his dog, why did you want to talk about how many commercials are in his radio show?

00:49:21.200 I don't know, Dad.

00:49:21.760 I thought it was interesting.

00:49:22.620 Well, what do you think Mr. Sexton wanted to talk about?

00:49:24.980 It was this minute-by-minute teaching of the human equation.

00:49:28.760 Emotional skills.

00:49:29.720 Yeah.

00:49:29.980 My emotional intelligence was about the near freezing level.

00:49:34.060 My IQ, my EQ was freezing.

00:49:36.180 How long did it take?

00:49:37.320 I mean, I wouldn't have known from, I mean, we've known each other professionally.

00:49:40.860 Dude, we're getting old.

00:49:41.760 I think I probably met you a decade ago, so it's been at Fox.

00:49:44.520 At least, yeah.

00:49:44.780 Yeah, I mean, it's been a long time.

00:49:46.140 I did your show at Fox a long time ago.

00:49:48.760 I would not have known.

00:49:50.220 And again, I'm somebody who, there's a lot of people listening who have autistic children or grandchildren or have dealt with this themselves.

00:49:56.000 So they have a much higher understanding of it.

00:49:58.280 But in layman's understanding of it, I would never have known that you struggled with autism.

00:50:05.400 Is your level of functionality in day-to-day unusual for somebody who's ever been diagnosed with autism?

00:50:12.820 I mean, people always talk about this spectrum.

00:50:14.700 I mean, how do you describe that so that there's an understanding?

00:50:18.540 Yeah, I'm not an expert on it, right?

00:50:19.960 Sure, sure.

00:50:20.460 But from your own experience.

00:50:21.720 Yeah, from my own experience, though, what I would say is it's an everyday struggle.

00:50:25.520 Was there a point at which, though, you were, you felt like you were more normal?

00:50:30.980 You know, I'm saying like the point in time when you said, okay, I've caught up.

00:50:36.100 I have that emotional intelligence.

00:50:37.600 It's a great question.

00:50:38.740 I would say it's still a struggle every day, every hour to force your mind to think through the way that my dad taught me to think rather than the way my mind normally would think.

00:50:49.280 In the book, in Born Lucky, he compared a little bit almost like to alcoholism, that it's never a cure.

00:50:53.940 It's something you work on every day.

00:50:56.320 But, sure, you know, my dad used to always tell me when I was bullied and isolated and alone in middle school and high school,

00:51:02.800 what's making you bullied and isolated and alone is what's going to help you succeed later in life.

00:51:09.560 And there was a time, sure, once I got into TV and started working, that hard work, good character made up for a lot of the emotional intelligence that I didn't have.

00:51:22.240 But certainly it's something I still deal with every day.

00:51:25.380 So this was a progression over time.

00:51:27.520 We're speaking to Leland Vittert.

00:51:29.560 And the book is Born Lucky, A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism.

00:51:36.340 Obviously this conversation about autism also comes up a lot in the context of RFK Jr.

00:51:42.140 I'm not going to put you on the spot.

00:51:43.600 No, you're welcome to.

00:51:44.820 Do you have thoughts?

00:51:46.200 Yeah.

00:51:46.380 I guess I will put you on the list.

00:51:47.240 Do you have thoughts about why there's been this explosion in diagnoses of this condition?

00:51:52.020 That part of it I think everyone agrees that there's a lot more of this than there has been.

00:51:56.060 Absolutely.

00:51:56.980 And I'm not a doctor.

00:51:58.240 I'm not a scientist.

00:51:58.820 I have the chemistry grades to prove it.

00:52:00.780 So I won't discuss Tylenol dosing.

00:52:03.160 You don't want to hear from me on that.

00:52:04.400 But I think it's fantastic that this is now the scientific question of our time.

00:52:08.820 One in 1,500 kids when I was diagnosed.

00:52:11.360 Now one in 31.

00:52:12.980 Three times higher for boys.

00:52:15.620 And higher still in poor and minority communities.

00:52:18.100 This should be the scientific question of our time.

00:52:20.860 And look, you're a new father.

00:52:22.240 If my wife was pregnant, I'm newly married, and you said, hey, check a box.

00:52:25.860 Your kid can have autism or not.

00:52:27.380 Now every parent, prospective parent, is checking no, right?

00:52:30.940 Yeah.

00:52:31.840 It's a big challenge.

00:52:32.840 I know that.

00:52:33.340 I have friends who have autistic kids.

00:52:34.720 Yeah.

00:52:34.900 So why would we not try to solve this problem?

00:52:37.480 And I wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal before Born Lucky came out, effectively saying,

00:52:42.440 you know, does the left or does the anti-Trump crew hate Trump more than they love our kids?

00:52:48.380 Because if all you're going to do is demonize RFK and Trump on the search for this answer, that's the only explanation.

00:52:54.000 So you believe, obviously, that the public focus, well, the Trump administration focus on this is clearly a good faith effort to try to get an answer that we should all want.

00:53:04.020 But, of course, this becomes politicized because anything Trump and RFK Jr. now are involved in, people view through a partisan lens.

00:53:10.460 Right.

00:53:10.660 Everybody views everything now in America through a partisan lens.

00:53:14.100 And I think part of the reason Born Lucky has gotten such a tremendous response, right, we're now in our third printing in our first week,

00:53:20.140 is because it proves to parents how much hope there is and how much agency they have.

00:53:26.620 And no one is telling parents that, whether it's autism or ADHD or anything else.

00:53:31.020 I had a parent come up to me and say, your book speaks so much to me.

00:53:34.040 And I knew both of these women's kids. 0.97

00:53:37.380 They were both very successful college athletes at an Ivy League school.

00:53:42.360 I said, you know, your kid didn't have a hard time.

00:53:43.780 He said, oh, well, my kid had a nut allergy.

00:53:46.560 And they told me when my son had a nut allergy just to pull nuts out of every classroom that he was going to be in.

00:53:52.260 And instead I said, I'm going to desensitize him to nuts.

00:53:55.280 So that is the Born Lucky story just through various different challenges that every parent faces.

00:54:00.860 So now I'm one of these people that is particularly interested in the book because it resonates with me.

00:54:05.640 And I'll tell you why.

00:54:07.360 As I say, so you are a, you know, in our business just to be employed is, I think, successful.

00:54:12.320 No, really.

00:54:13.040 I mean, to be, you know, you have your own show.

00:54:15.100 I share this huge platform with Clay.

00:54:17.280 The fact that we get to do what we do is you're beating the odds and very blessed and very fortunate.

00:54:22.420 Right.

00:54:22.540 But you're a TV presenter, and so your ability to connect with audiences is your currency in one way or another.

00:54:28.600 Right.

00:54:28.900 That's the way it works.

00:54:29.980 I'm a radio host.

00:54:31.000 I had a speech impediment as a kid.

00:54:33.040 I had a speech impediment, and it made me so uncomfortable.

00:54:38.620 I mean, I would mispronounce my own name.

00:54:40.220 It made me so uncomfortable that they thought about pulling me out of school.

00:54:43.480 And it was my mother who really stepped in and said, no, I will work with him.

00:54:50.580 No, we will figure this out.

00:54:51.920 And I went to speech therapy, and I had tutors after school and all of this because she didn't want me to be one of those kids who felt like he couldn't be with the other kids.

00:54:59.980 And that was a reminder.

00:55:03.300 I will never be able to thank my mother enough for that one.

00:55:05.840 And the story that I always tell is here I was, a kid who could not pronounce his name.

00:55:10.060 True story.

00:55:10.720 I could not pronounce my own name in first, second, going into third grade.

00:55:15.060 Constantly made fun of for that.

00:55:16.780 And here I sit on a microphone.

00:55:18.440 We're speaking to a few million people right now, something two to three million depends on the day.

00:55:22.680 Let's say you've done pretty well.

00:55:23.420 And so radio, which is obviously about the ability to verbalize and communicate, is how I make a living.

00:55:29.760 And I started out with a speech impediment.

00:55:31.280 And then with the tutors, by the way, they got me to the point where I was about two years ahead of grade level in terms of academics within 18 months.

00:55:37.640 Right.

00:55:37.820 So went from you can't speak, you need to go to a special place, you can't stay with your friends, to my mom saying, just like your dad did, we're going to figure this out.

00:55:47.580 And I think that that really does resonate with people.

00:55:50.780 The parents make the difference.

00:55:53.640 Parents make such a huge difference in all of this.

00:55:56.660 Born Lucky is the book, everybody.

00:55:58.260 I have a feeling right now a lot of people are going on Amazon.

00:56:00.920 A lot of people are looking to be a part of your third printing of this.

00:56:04.340 Congrats on the success of it, Leland Vittert.

00:56:07.600 And I'll be seeing you on your News Nation show very soon.

00:56:11.320 Very soon, indeed.

00:56:12.140 You do great work over there.

00:56:13.460 And thank you for this important book.

00:56:15.400 And good to see you here in the studio, even though you make me feel like I'm underdressed in my own studio.

00:56:20.480 That's okay, though.

00:56:21.400 That's okay.

00:56:21.960 Oh, look, one of the better investments I've made is the purchase of gold.

00:56:25.480 This year alone, it's up 47% in value.

00:56:27.740 I think it just crossed the $4,000 an ounce threshold today, which is an all-time high.

00:56:31.700 It's not slowing down, folks.

00:56:33.260 Goldman Sachs is saying it's going to go higher.

00:56:35.180 I mean, a lot of people see this as just the continued thesis of gold has value in a world where the printing presses of the central governments are going off.

00:56:45.560 So central banks are flocking to gold.

00:56:48.080 You can still get gold, though.

00:56:50.140 I mean, this is the key point.

00:56:51.460 It's not too late at all.

00:56:52.420 In fact, Birch Gold Group wants a lot of first gold buyers to consider an entry point now.

00:56:57.560 And you can convert an existing IRA or 401k with Birch Gold into a tax-sheltered IRA in physical gold.

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00:57:22.840 That's B-U-C-K. 0.70

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00:57:27.200 Get with Birch Gold Group today.

00:57:30.680 Keep up with the biggest political comeback in world history on the Team 47 podcast.

00:57:37.140 Clay and Buck highlight Trump replays from the week, Sundays at noon Eastern.

00:57:41.420 Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:57:45.760 This is an iHeart podcast.

00:57:47.720 Guaranteed human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - October 07, 2025

Bonus： Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Oct 7 2025

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