Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Apr 17 2026

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. If you're trying to grow spiritually while juggling a busy life, Intouch.org is a great place to pause and refocus. You can dive into practical teaching from Dr. Charles Stanley, read a quick devotional, or check out free study guides that speak to real life situations. Whether you need direction, comfort, or just a little encouragement, there's something helpful waiting for you. See how it can support your day at intouch.org. Life moves fast. At American Military University, they're ready to help you keep up. AMU's flexible, affordable online programs in cybersecurity, IT, space studies, and more are designed for service members, veterans, and their families. AMU provides the support you need to take the next step, wherever life takes you. American Military University, made for what's next. Learn more at amu.apus.edu.edu. Saturday, July 25th. I know. I will be the best welterweight in the world. An undefeated phenom. Bad man is a rising star. And a frightening force. What a win for Shemiel Musayev. Ascend on the nation's capital to fight for gold. Thad, the silverback jeans. Silverback nation makes them noise. Versus Shamil Musayev. Oh, it's over! For the PFL welterweight world title. On real. Saturday, July 25th and 10 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Got plans this summer? A brewery crawl? Another lake trip? The same festival you've been to three times already? Do something different. This August, Virginia International Raceway becomes the ultimate summer destination. Watch Inns' Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. August 21 through 23rd brings some of the fastest sports cars to battle through VIR's legendary corners. Camp with friends. Enjoy live music and experience a weekend you'll actually be talking about afterward. Start planning now at govir.net. Welcome in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show Friday edition of the program. We are both in South Florida, although in different studios. Buck is at his home studio. I got to fly out of Palm Beach here in a little bit because we were at Mar-a-Lago last night, helping to emce a charity event. that raised buck, I was told, over $1.3 million to back the blue. So you and I donated our time and effort and energy. And thankfully, that went really, really well. So it's about 500 or so of you that were at that event at the Mar-a-Lago Ballroom, a really well-done event. And we were happy to be a part of that yesterday. We know that money is going to go to be very helpful going forward. And it was great to be a part of that. Now, As if that were not enough, there is all sorts of awesomeness that is going on right now in the Iran ecosystem and everything connected to it. President Trump this morning began to post a long series of great statements here that were pretty fantastic and would suggest that there may be very good news coming.

sooner rather than later. Among them, Buck, that the Strait of Hormuz is basically going to be wide open. The price of oil and gas dropped $10 this morning early. Right now, as I am talking to all of you, that price $81 per barrel to kind of put that into context when this war started with Iran. It was just $68. So... Effectively, much of the price run up almost overnight in oil and gas has vanished. That would mean, and I know you all understand this and how frustrating it is, it's amazing how quickly oil and gas prices can go up and how long it takes them to come down. But the price of oil and gas should be declining rather precipitously in the short term as we move into the rest of April and into early May. So everyone who told you that this was going to be some sort of economic cataclysm. Wrong yet again. Stock market. Up nearly the Dow 1,000 points to near an all-time record high on the Dow. The S&P 500 has surged and continued to set yet more record. Stocks have never been more valuable if you have 401Ks or you have individual stocks or whatever investments you might have in the stock market. And Trump is saying that Iran has agreed to give up the so-called nuclear dust and allow that to be returned to the United States. Basically, what Trump has put out there is nothing less than total and complete unequivocal victory. Buck, I will bring you in. I will say, just in general. that it is worth noting that there likely will be a couple of ups and down some potential hair, you know, interesting and corkscrew moments in this. But it appears, based on what President Trump has put out, and Iran, to their credit, said that the Strait of Hormuz was open, that the mines have been removed. Basically, the World War III. The economy is going to collapse people, and they are who you know they are. There are a lot of them wrong yet again, and we seem to be in a very optimistic space. What did you think as you saw all this news coming down this morning, Buck? Look, if this continues as it is, and I'm very upfront about this, too. I was only really trusting in Trump on this to the degree because there's been so many just. debacles and failures of previous administrations, the Middle East, and Iraq and Afghanistan and Syria, and they just, we're like the, from the leadership side, from the White House side, we're the gang that can't shoot straight. We just were screwing everything up. Bush administration disaster, Obama administration disaster, Biden's obviously an imbecile, and we can't figure this out, right? And then Trump comes along and treats it like a business transaction. What do they have? What do I have? How do I pressure them? Where do we have advantages? Where are they weak? And right now, it looks like he is on the precipice of not just declaring...

a total victory, but actually having one, you know? Yeah. It's one thing to say mission accomplished, but if they agree to a deal that gives us the right to inspect and takes all the nuclear material and all this other stuff, look, we're not there yet, but I have to say this would be if it goes where Trump is saying it is right now. And he put out this on truth social. The Strait of Hormuz is completely open and ready for business and full passage. But the naval blockade will remain in full force and effect as it pertains to Iran only until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100% complete. This process should go very quickly in that most of the points are already negotiated. Thank you for your attention in this matter, President Donald J. Trump. If this is right, and this is where this is going, But Trump will have pulled off the most impressive foreign policy maneuver of my lifetime. I don't know what else would be in the same category of taking on an intractable and critical problem and being able to win where other administrations have failed and to do so with very minimal losses. Every loss, every life we lose is a tragedy on our armed forces side. You know, we're not even in the same stratosphere as what we saw in Iraq and Afghanistan casualties to bring this about. I'm a little bit amazed that this has gone as far as it has in this way. There's a part of me that still holds out. Let's see what the Iranians actually agree to. Trump is great at selling things, not necessarily finishing things. Let's see. Let's wait. But. The fact that they're going to, if it really is the case that Iran won't call his bluff and basically blow up an oil tanker because that was always the concern, if they're unwilling to do that and we can blockade them without consequence, we win. Yes. I don't see a way around that. They cannot sustain no oil leaving their ports. They cannot sustain that. Yes, and the blockade didn't even take very long. The price of oil and gas didn't go up very much when we announced the blockade. And again, as we are talking to you right now, the price of oil and gas down to $81 a barrel. And you say, okay, how does that translate? Well, it was $68 when the war began back in February. And you were paying around, again, I always love it, you were paying around $3 a gallon for your gas nationwide on average. I know those of you in California are screwed, but on average, I would think you've already seen oil and gas prices basically stop going up. They are going to start to back up again. And I would think in early to mid-May, you're going to be talking about $3.20 a gallon oil and gas at this point in time. which is pretty doggone cheap. And then, again, people say, okay, what about during the summer driving season? It'll go up. Traditionally, it goes up a little bit. And then I think, and again, this is the midterm voting cycle coming up, I think by September and October, you're going to see sub $3 a gallon per average gas prices. So gas prices are going to come back to where they were.

maybe even come down a bit more because if all of these agreements are correct, then Iran's ability to curtail oil and gas production or oil and gas transit is even more eliminated. And there's a possibility, Buck, that we're actually, I still find this to be maybe the most difficult aspect of the negotiation. is to actually get the so-called nuclear dust into American possession. But I tweeted kind of a joke, but I could also see it happening that Trump just comes out to a press conference one day, one day, and he's got all of the Iranian nuclear elements, the nuclear dust. sort of a raid in front of him like they have done in the past. And he just says, hey, unlike with the weapons of mass destruction, here was Iran's attempt. And we have now seized it and it is in U.S. possession. And I don't see how you could talk. If all this ends up happening, how this is anything other than a complete and total victory. I'll open up phone lines, 800, 282, 282. Now, some people are going to say, well, there wasn't regime change. Buck, I think it's fair to say if Iran is negotiating to give the United States what Trump has said that they are giving. That's a pretty significant change in the regime and what they are willing to do or able to do compared to what the Ayatollah had done for 40 some odd years. So it may be the case that they're still religious fundamentalists ostensibly in charge of Iran, but they have been neutered on an epic scale if they are basically willing to agree with everything out there. Trump took their key leverage point, and this is the Trump jiu-jitsu that I didn't see coming quite honestly. And he just said, oh, you're going to shut down the straight? No, we're going to shut down the straight for you. And I had not even heard. Was this even being discussed before Trump came along and something to do with Iran? I suggested it. It's brilliant. I'm just going to admit this. This is brilliant. People ripped me to shreds when I suggested it on social media last week. But the reason why he had to do it, Buck, was because everybody in the media was saying Iran controls the straight. And you and I pointed out, well, do terrorists control things? I mean, they're threatening to blow it up. I said they took it hostage. Yes. And Trump, they took the straight hostage. They didn't control it. But if you're not willing to shoot the hostage, you're not really a hostage taker, right? And Trump said, I don't think you'll do it. And that was the part of this where I got to say. I was surprised they wouldn't do it. And as a result, again, the economy is soaring all the people that told you World War III was coming or that you were going to be paying $8 a gallon for gas and the economy was going to collapse and all these things. They were wrong again. And I do think at some point in time, if you're listening to some of these people, you have to sit back and say, wait a minute, are they ever right?

They are constantly telling me that catastrophe is going to befall us. And we should also mention out, by the way, that Trump said, hey, Israel's not going to be attacking Lebanon. Why is that significant? I mean, it was always obvious to you and me and anybody with a functional brain. But one of the criticisms during this Iran maneuver was, oh, Trump is only doing this because of Israel and they control him. Which is funny only because to me they've been trying to tell you that Trump was a Nazi, that he was modern day Hitler, for the last decade. And now suddenly he's such a great ally of Israel that he can't even make his own decisions. The reality is Israel's a country of nine or ten million people. We are the straw that stirs the drink of basically anything going on in the larger economic situation. Trump was not being led by Israel and being told what to do. And now he is basically letting it be known that Israel is not to strike Lebanon and that he wants to bring peace to Israel and Lebanon. He just had Marco Rubio meeting with them at the White House. So again, there's still some details to be ironed out. We still have to see exactly how it plays out. I've said it from the get-go. The traffic through the straight of Hormuz, and when we start seeing 20, 30, 40 ships going through comfortably, you will recognize that things are 100% back to normal. But things are pretty close to being back to normal, except we have neutered the Iranian regime. And we did to Iran, it appears, Buck, what Bill Clinton should have done to North Korea back in the 90s. Between this and Venezuela and I don't think anyone's looking at Cuba now and assuming Trump doesn't have something up his sleeve for that, too. He could be the most transformational foreign policy president. of our lifetime in a good way not a creating catastrophe and quagmires and mess the opposite fixing problems that other administrations were completely incapable of addressing and understanding so i hope this continues i you know me i'm cautious but now i'm cautiously optimistic before i you're joining me on the optimism train I mean, given what's gone on right now, you have to be optimistic. I mean, I think the deal, I think the Iranians are going to start to, you know, wriggle on the hook, if you will, about the deal, and that's going to continue, and there's going to be an extension of, but if we can blockade them, and that's just the situation, their bank accounts are going to run dry, and that government is going to be in a world of hurt, and they don't have any option. There's nothing they can do. We will continue to update you on this. We've got a couple of guests in our three, Kim Strassel of the Wall Street Journal and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is a part of the Trump administration. Both those guys are going to join us in the final hour here. We'll take your calls. We'll take your talk backs. Maybe you have questions here because I think that, again, once again, This show has been sane when everybody else lost their minds, and we've been proven to be correct yet again. Finally, we can talk about Pure Talk's new monthly plan for unlimited high-speed data. No better deal on the market. 3499 is the monthly price for unlimited high-speed data, unlimited calls and text. That's Pure Talk, the company we rely on and recommend. Pure Talk service, same towers network, is one of the better-known companies in the wireless cell phone space.

You get the best 5G nationwide service. There is no contracts to sign, no cancellation fees. Switch to Pure Talk today. Take you less than a half an hour, maybe even 15 minutes to get all those monthly savings going forward. Switch to Pure Talk. Dial pound 250, say Clay and Buck to claim unlimited high speed data for just 3499. Again, pound 250 say Clay and Buck to switch to Pure Talk, America's wireless company, Pure Talk. Laugh, learn, and hang with the guys. Clay and Buck. Preset on the iHeart app. Life moves fast. At American Military University, they're ready to help you keep up. AMU's flexible, affordable online programs in cybersecurity, IT, space studies, and more are designed for service members, veterans, and their families. AMU provides the support you need to take the next step, wherever life takes you. American Military University. Made for What's Next. Learn more at amu.apus.edu. Saturday, July 25th. I know I will be the best walk away in the world. An undefeated phenom. Bad man is a rising star. And a frightening force. What a win for Shabil's Messiah. Ascend on the nation's capital to fight for gold. Thad, the silverback jeans. Silverback nation makes some noise. versus Shamil Musayev. All it's over! For the PFL well-to-weight world title. On Real! Saturday, July 25th and 10 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Got plans this summer? A brewery crawl? Another lake trip? The same festival you've been to three times already? Do something different. This August, Virginia International Raceway becomes the ultimate summer destination. Watch Insa's Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. August 21 through 23rd brings some of the fastest sports cars to battle through VIR's legendary corners. Camp with friends. Enjoy live music and experience a weekend you'll actually be talking about afterward. Start planning now at govir.net. The future won't wait, and neither should you. That's why American Public University offers master's programs designed for momentum, affordable, high quality, and flexible so you keep moving forward. With career-relevant programs in business, health care, education, IT, and more, you can gain skills you can use right away and the confidence to power your next move. American Public University, made for what's next. Learn more at APU.apus.edu. Welcome back in here to Clay Ann Buck. So Clay mentioned this. We wanted to dive into it with you. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas gave a lecture at UT Austin earlier this week. And he was talking about the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and his personal encounters with American founding principles. Clay, no surprise. There were protesters.

as we respected each other. And I don't know how, that's civility, I don't know how you bring it back in the current environment with social media and name calling and people accusing each other various things and animus. I don't know how you do that. And I fear that that's going to infect the institutions such as the court and judges, etc., in the future, because these are young people who will be in these jobs. One of the things I'm most concerned about in law schools, Buck, and I do think it's really significant. It didn't exist when I was in law school is the idea that the cases that you take on as an advocate in some way are your own personal reflections of the world. Now, sometimes that can be the case, right? If you happen to work, say, at a First Amendment Center, you would... be taking on cases typically that would be expansive in the First Amendment. But if you are engaged in many practices of law, it is the fact that you will sometimes represent people you don't like, you don't agree with, but that have a right to be zealously defended under the Constitution. And so I think arguably this is maybe the most important thing that lawyers have an obligation to do is zealously advocate to the best of our ability sometimes, oftentimes say even. for individuals and for situations and cases that we would not personally advocate for if we were not in the job of being an advocate. You know, you're a lawyer. You're an advocate for someone else. You aren't typically espousing your own views. And I think a lot of young lawyers have lost that and they somehow believe, oh, if I represent this case or this person, that's a reflection of my personal beliefs. I think that's one of the big... major institutional flaws that is now taken root across all of the legal profession. It's worth noting that President Trump came up against this where there was a really concerted effort through the upper ranks of the legal profession, private sector side, to prevent any good attorneys from name brand firms from doing any work involving Trump or even the administration or anything at all. They tried to make MAGA untouchable. for the purposes of big law. And that just goes to show you how quickly they're willing to abandon principle on these matters and how some of the most core and basic understandings of what our system is supposed to be all about can be dispensed with so quickly by those who have the Democrat persuasion in their ideology. Buck, this is also a big story that's not getting a ton of attention. California is stripping away the law license of one of, to your point on President Trump's legal advisors, for legal advice to a client that they do not like. This is crazy. I mean, that we would allow a bar association to go to the point of lawyers give all sorts of advice to clients. And unless the legal advice is, hey,

Here's how you dispose of a dead body, right? I mean, there are certain legal standards that are applied. You can't be involved in helping a crime to be committed that is a direct crime. But all of the advice that the president of the United States gets and got about electors, about the entire process surrounding how power is transferred, I thought was very within the bounds constitutionally of acceptable advice. They're taking away this guy, Eastman. I believe it's Eastman. Guys can look at me, correct me if I'm wrong. Taking away his law license in California. And I talked about this the other day, Buck. It's one reason I'm glad that I'm licensed in the state of Tennessee because we have basic common sense in the state of Tennessee. But I think that people would have come after my law license 100% if I were licensed in Washington, D.C. or if I were licensed in California or New York. I mean, remember, our good buddy Eric Swalwell wanted me criminally prosecuted for saying, I don't believe that Trump should be convicted. I mean, he tweeted that. And I got a bar examination into my record for, and I said, hey, I'm a lawyer, but I'm also a prognosticator. I have to be able to say exactly what I think. By the way, Clarence Thomas would become the all-time longest serving Supreme Court justice sometime in 2028. if he continues on the bench. And I think that goal matters to him quite a lot, Buck, because we're playing these cuts of Clarence Thomas. I don't think he's ever really recovered from the nastiness of his confirmation hearings. And I think he sees as the ultimate vindication becoming the longest serving justice as a way to spite his critics. And I think that matters to him significantly. So I don't think he's going to step down. That comes with risk because I believe he's 78 years old. But I do think Samuel Alito is going to step down. I think we're going to have a Supreme Court opening this summer, which will turn into a huge story. It'll be a big story. I'm not sure the fight. One thing would be interesting is if they're going to go with a woman again, just because remember. They couldn't Cavanaugh Amy Coney Barrett. Yeah. That was for sure. Maybe they would try this time around and say that there was some lady that worked for her or something that she touched. But the reality is the Democrat playbook on that stuff was not as effective for obvious reasons the second time around after they tried it on Cavanaugh. So I think. you're likely to get a very good judge from Trump if Samuel Alito steps down. And I feel like Samuel Alito's a team player. Maybe I'm just reading too much into this. But I feel like he thinks, you know, honestly, I believe that he wants a justice who shares his principles, which I would view as actual legal and constitutional principles instead of political whim. or politicized feeling about things, which I do believe. And I understand this is not an, this is, of course I'm going to feel this way. Yes? I think his wife may be ready to be done with it too, because remember they came after her over the flags that she was flying outside of their homes. And he's 76 years old. I think if you're in good health, some of you out there are probably in this position. And you're thinking, hey, I don't know how many more years we have.

Let's go do fun things. Let's be grandparents. Let's not be bogged down in the same way with working. I saw a stat the other day that blew me away, Buck. Only 37% of Americans work after the age of 55 years old now. And I'm 47, and I was looking, I'm kind of in disbelief that only 37% of Americans even continue to work past 55. So the age of some of our political figures, whether it's politicians or judges, and obviously their jobs are less, they're not, you know, putting down asphalt. But it is kind of wild the amount of people. 55 doesn't seem that old to me. to just decide, hey, you know what, I've had enough of this. My brother-in-law retired at 51 the other day. And I couldn't believe it. I'm like, you're retired? You're 51. Anyway, so 76 for most jobs, would be a very advanced age under which to be pursuing them. We got some fun talkbacks. We'll get to some of those from you guys on the Friday edition. A couple of great guests coming for you in the third hour. And... It is spring. You want some curb appeal on your house? Oh, this has got to be producer Alley. You don't want to get mugged by the other houses on the street. Get in touch with fast growing trees. I don't know what percentage of our audience even knows what the word mugged is. But producer Allie, that means that you're just basically rising up and... Dunking. You're infinitely better than everybody else. Online nursery, massive selection of tree, shrubs, plants, and flowers. You guys are signing up like crazy for fast-growing trees. You're loving this company. In fact, producer Allie ordered a shrub. called spilled wine for her mom and another one called Dragon's Blood. What are they named such a such doubters? I don't want wine spilled or dragon blood, but are they beautiful, Allie, are you still there? I hope. Spilled wine sounds like maybe it's red. Dragon's Blood also to me sounds like maybe it's a red. Are they beautiful plants? Yes, yes, she is telling me they are beautiful. Fast growing trees has experts that can help you with everything, what part of the country you're in. Maybe you're not an expert. They will let you know what works and they'll give you an alive and thrive guarantee because that's how well they've nurtured your new trees and plants. Fastgrowing trees.com, perfect this spring, especially for Mother's Day coming up. Clay is my name, as you well know, and you will get 20% off when you type it in at fastgrowing trees.com. My name, C-L-A-Y for 20% off. That's fastgrowing trees.com. Code Clay. Last. Learn.

Hang with the guys right there when you need them most. Clay and Buck, just preset them on the eye heart ass. Welcome in, hour number three, Clay Travis, Buck Sexton Show, the final hour of the week, 14 hours up, 15th hour underway right now. For those of you who may not have been aggressively following it, oil and gas down around $10 to $81. Stock market soaring the Dow up nearly 1,000 points, S&P 500. setting an all-time high as optimism on the end of the Iran War and the Hormuz Strait being open continues to take charge of the markets. We bring in now someone who knows a little bit about the markets. I am told she is in Alaska. I enjoy reading her column in the Wall Street Journal. She is Kim Strassel of the Wall Street Journal. Tons of news from Trump early morning post. Kim, what's your take on where we are with Iran? Is Trump being overly ambitious, overly optimistic? Or do you think we're really at a place now where this conflict is close to being complete? Well, I think there's reason to believe we're in a more optimistic place than we haven't, mostly just because the Iranians, the last time around when they said, oh, well, we'll open the straight within minutes. It was clear that they were messing around. They weren't really going to do this. This sounds like it's more definite. We're going to have to watch. I mean, we all know the game they play, right, is to try to delay things, string things out, wear down the other side so that they can get right back to doing what they want to do. But I do think that this oil embargo that we have put this ship embargo that we've put in has changed the calculus. That economy is already under enormous stress, and we, by not allowing its ships out, are doing very rapid, very large damage to it. And at a certain point, it's going to face enormous uprest internally, which is, of course, what it really worries about. The blockade was a lot of people said that Iran had control of the Strait of Hormuz, even though they were really, as Buck said, just taking it hostage and they were threatening that they might blow up any ship. As soon as we started the blockade, it feels like Iran just crumbled both economically, as you just mentioned, but also even from a negotiation perspective. It feels like that was sort of the coup de grace from Trump. Maybe they didn't anticipate it, but it seems like an incredible play from a negotiating perspective. Well, just think about all the problems that they have with that. I mean, this is their only source really of revenue, their main source of revenue. It's also, for all that they export oil, they depend deeply on a number of imports, just like most countries do, and we are essentially starving them of that. Here's the other problem, too, is that at a certain point, Iran doesn't have a great deal of storage capacity for its oil in country, and a lot of it was about 60% of it was already full. They're going to run out of the ability to do.

anything with the oil they are pumping very rapidly and that requires you to then shutter wells and it becomes immensely difficult to reopen those once that happens uh also a currency problem massive currency problem within the country massive inflation um and you know they don't like the idea of the united states giving them orders but if the the decision that they are making at the moment is well we can accept some orders from the united states or we can lose control entirely. I think they're debating the lesser of those evils. Kim, Buck and I have been debating. In addition, we're talking about the midterms, obviously, but we're already looking ahead a little bit to 2028. Kamala Harris has been speaking out quite a lot. Do you think Clay is a huge, huge Kamala Harris fan, just so you understand, Ken, huge Kamala Harris fan. Yeah, I know. I do. I know. I listen. I got it. Do you think that Kamala Harris will run? As you try and read some of these tea leaves and look ahead, not just to the midterms, but also to the 2028 campaign, what are Democrats going to do? And also, we'll get your take on, do you buy JD versus Marco as ever emerging? Do they run as a joint ticket? I know we're a ways out, but as Buck and I talk about, the day after the midterms, the 2028 political cycle is really fully go. What happens? How does this play out? So on the Democratic side, of course she runs. Okay. I mean, look, you're not in politics. You're not Kamala Harris unless you're ambitious. And for all of the ridicule that we like to heap on her, if you look at the polls out there simply because of name recognition and her prior position, she still begins essentially at the head of the pack. So you can also see some of her movements. She puts out the book. She's been doing these tours. She's keeping in the public eye. She did pass on the California option. Some people were saying, oh, you should come in and sort out this completely messy primary field we have. She's not, well, doesn't want to be governor of California. She still got her eyes on the big prize. I don't think that once she gets in, we know for a fact, just what a fantastic campaigner she is, by the way, that was a joke. She's going to have a lot of trouble. I mean, Kamala Harris next to Gavin Newsom, he's a whole lot smoother. But she has some other. kind of built-in identity politics advantages as well, too. So yeah, of course, I see her running. Now, if I'm wrong, I liked Buck's idea that we memory hold this whole conversation. But anyway, for now, that's what I'm going with. On the Republican side, I find this fascinating. JD Vance is out there all the time trying to remind everybody he's the heir apparent. Marco Rubio, by contrast, is just there every day with his head down, trying to finish his work. And, you know, if you look, his stock is really rising, that kind of quiet approach, loyal to president, get the president's agenda done. And so, you know, we'll see. I don't necessarily see a joint ticket, but I do think there's a long way to run before we see how that little rivalry plays out in the long run.

All right, Kim, I got to ask you, is there any way that the situation in Iran you think could go south in a hurry? Do you see anything? I've also been saying that the Iranians, they're masters at delay games, they're masters at finding ways to just stretch this out. And I do worry that that's where this could end up going, but that's not obviously a catastrophic thing. Is there any way that you think, though, that they can turn around? what they currently face with the power dynamic over the straight and everything else? Or is this checkmate by Trump? And it's never a checkmate with Iran. I don't think. I agree with you. We've been watching these characters for 47 years. I was much more concerned about what you laid out a couple of weeks ago when Trump announced that ceasefire. That did seem as though there were major concessions that the United States was not getting and that we were being put into a delay loop where they were never going to give them. The fact that we decided to do this blockade, and we have continued to say that the bombing will recommence unless you get to where we are. Now, it's all going to matter, though. Yes, it could go sell. We got to watch this. You know, this president also once is done for political domestic reasons, and I get it. Okay. And it's a very big tension there. And there are people within his administration that are very much advising and just to cut it off, take the win, even if they haven't got everything they want. It doesn't seem like he's there. The other thing that I worry about is, are they honest... brokers, I mean, is there going to be a ship that goes through and is it going to come under attack? Is there going to be an explosion? A bomb, you know, a mine, something. Is this a fake head fake? We don't know. I mean, and there's certainly, can I just jump in there, Kim, just because I just, that to me, I mean, I described this, it sounds like you've been tuning into some of the chats with Clay on the air. So thank you for that. But I've described this as they don't control it, but they took it hostage, or at least they claim to take it hostage. Of course, in hostage-taking, they have to believe that you'll actually pull the trigger, so to speak. That is the part of this, that at least to this point, I have been surprised by. I always thought, because otherwise, well, then why do we care at all, right? If Iran is unwilling, now maybe someone argue it's so incapable of doing that now relative to what it would have been before the airstrikes, that's another layer of this. But if Iran is unwilling to open fire on ships in the strait, then... What was the, you know, what was the threat from the beginning? They got nothing. Yeah. Then you're right. They're exposed as nothing. So that to me is the concerning part because they might. We're assuming right now, or I shouldn't say assuming, but right now it looks like Trump is just saying they're not going to do anything because we're going to hit him. Well, if he has called their bluff in this way, it is just a waiting game where we get to sit there, choose which ships go and which don't, which means the Iranian ships, they're fully blockaded, and they're just going to run out of money.

Right. But here's the other scary thing, which I think follows on with you is, you know, it sounds wonderful. One of the first things we did is obviously go in there and take out their leadership, like the top 40 guys, right? But who's actually running things right now? And are they on the same page? And I think that's the other thing that's a big unknown here that's a little bit worrisome, which is it you can have some of these parliamentary figures come out and say, okay, the straight is open. Is that actually the view of... the dug-in militants who believe that their existential survival is at stake here and who operate much less in a rational fashion. You know, they're not thinking real politic here. They're thinking, you know, that they're going to do this out of religious fervor. I think that's a really scary question. Yes, well, that's all. It reminds me, and a lot of people listening who were veterans of our war in Iraq will remember the Iranian move toward providing Shia militias in Iraq, which were effectively Iranian proxies, although obviously this complicated, that's a whole story unto itself, but they were giving them these explosively formed penetrators. Iran figured out that they could mass manufacture these devices very, very easily. effectively in like garage bomb factories where they could punch through almost anything I mean maybe an Abrams tank could stand up to them but I mean everything else was getting chewed up specifically to kill Americans and that was something that had not been considered before on the battlefield so there was a deviousness to the Iranian certainly asymmetrical warfare. And they just did that to kill Americans, right? That was the, there was, they weren't going to take over Iraq, but they wanted to harm Americans as much as they could. For them to just allow the ships to go, I'm, that's the part of this that has really shocked me. So I sit here saying, oh, okay, all of our worries all this time about Iran doing something to ships in the Strait of Hormuz seems to have been neutralized. And if that is the case, I don't see how they end up doing anything other than conceding, at least. The other problem here, Kim, and this is my last thing for you is they may concede to think about future concessions, and I think that's where they get very slippery. Yeah, no, I agree with that. And then again, too, remember, to your point about how the tactics they have used in the past, this is a regime that has relied fundamentally for decades now on the use of proxies. And that has been very effective for Iran, you know, whether you're talking about ones that are very organized, like Hezbollah or the Houthis or Hamas, but it also raises the option or the possibility that you have proxies that ultimately you can't control, right? And so I just think it's really important that we are watching, not just what happens immediately in the straight, but who emerges in the end of this as the actual spokesperson and how

much we trust that they are in control because you can still have real hotspots emerging here or problems in the straight and they might not and they might be coming from actors that the regime as it were doesn't have control over but i agree with you if they're doing nothing this is this is an amazing turn of thanks she's my favorite columnist for the wall street journal you should be yours too go to wall street journal look up kim strassel's latest kim always great to have you and thank you so much for listening we are honored that you give us your time Nope. I love you guys. Listen all the time. Thank you. Thank you so much. She's got great taste in radio. Great writer who's got great taste in radio, everybody. You can't beat that. You can't beat that. All right, the idea of carrying self-protection devices is certainly not new. Women and men have carried non-lethal forms of protection for, well, as long as they've been trying to protect themselves. No company does this better than Sabre when it comes to manufacturing self-protection devices, whether it's Sabres, pepper spray, compact product that you can pack in your purse or backpack to the larger non-lethal projectile launcher for the home. They've got 50 years of experience with non-lethal self and home defense. Sabre is spelled SABRE, and the website is saberradio.com. This may be a good time to secure your home with the Sabre Home Defense Launcher. It's a powerful protection tool that's designed to help keep you safe while you wait for the authorities to arrive at your home. This is an item we both have in our homes. Clay and I do, and it's really empowering to know that you have that non-lethal option. Guys, a lot of you are going to say, well, Buck, I've got 2A stuff here, right? You've got firearms in your home. That's great. I do too, but I like having... Force escalation if I need it, meaning I can start with something non-lethal, and hopefully that stops the threat. Kerry prefers non-lethal as her first option always. So Sabre is where you should go. Sabr Radio.com, S-A-B-R-E-R-E-R-E-R-E-R-D-O-com, or call 844-4-4-Safe. When hanging, you're not just learning. You're also laughing. Play and Buck, just preset them on the I-Hart app. Life moves fast. At American Military University, they're ready to help you keep up. AMU's flexible, affordable online programs in cybersecurity, IT, space studies, and more are designed for service members, veterans, and their families. AMU provides the support you need to take the next step, wherever life takes you. American Military University, made for what's next. Learn more at amu.apus.edu.edu. Saturday, July 25th. I know. I will be the best welterweight in the world. An undefeated phenom. Bad man is a rising star. And a frightening force. What a win for Shemiel Musayev. Ascend on the nation's capital to fight for gold. Thad, the silverback gene. Silverback nation makes some noise. Versus Shamil Musayev. Oh, it's over! For the PFL welterweight world title. On real. Saturday, July 25th and 10 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. This is the race fans wait for all year. EMSA returns to Virginia International Raceway, August 21 through 23rd, as the world's top GT teams and drivers battle for championship points on VIR's iconic road course. See Porsche, BMW, Corvette, Mercedes-AmG, Ford, and more competing wheel-to-wheel. Three days of racing, paddock access, and non-stop action. Secure your tickets now at racevIR.com. That's R-A-C-V-I-R.com.

You want your master's degree. You know you can earn it, but life gets busy. The pack schedule, the late nights, and then there's the unexpected. American Public University was built for all of it. With monthly starts and no set login times, APU's 40 plus flexible online master's programs are designed to move at the speed of life. Start your master's journey today at APU.APUS.edu. You want it? Come get it at APU. Welcome back, everybody. We are joined by Dr. Mehmet Oz. He is a CMS administrator under HHS. He is focused on what is going on in the world of health and the bureaucracy that is supposed to help with that. Dr. Oz, always a pleasure, sir. Thanks for making some time for us. The honors of mine, I tell you, these days, fraud, waste, and abuse, which is a massive affordability problem in our country, has gained a lot of attention. I think in part because the president has gotten so frustrated by the weak rules that were put in place over the last administration, some of them worsened by COVID, which taught a lot of thugs, corrupt individuals that they could steal from the government and get away with it. So we are laser focused, as you know, with the Vice President's Task Force and lots of other efforts. Well, you know, I saw this guy out in California. It was one medical practice, Doc, and you may have seen this one, too, where he was essentially just... over like over billing for medication and they pulled off in California. They pulled off the guardrails within the system. So I think this guy was one clinic billed a few hundred million dollars of medicine that he was paid for, like paid by a California state system. And I think part of it is the scale of one individual fraud like that within the medical system is pretty jaw-dropping, but also that it wasn't caught. until years into the process or years later, I mean. So what is this task force doing now? I mean, how can you tell us that things are going to get cleaned up when there's so much to clean up that it feels like we're just swimming and fraud everywhere? Well, let's go back a second because what you said is really important. You asked with some disbelief how it was possible for this guy to get away with it for so long. There's an implication in that question that this is a flaw in the system. What if it was a feature of the system? What if people wanted this to happen because there were benefits of running a program where anybody wants to get into Medicaid can get on that if you want to get someone to carry your groceries upstairs, someone will pay for it. And it turns out, unfortunately, there are merits to wanting that. Now, here's a couple examples. First off, if you go on public health insurance, we offer you at the same time a path for you to go to vote.

So there's a voter recruitment element. That's by federal law, by the way. And then let's take advantage of the system by hiring people to do things you would not normally hire people to do. For example, things that your family would normally do for you if you don't feel well. Like you drive you to the doctor's office or carry those groceries up the stairs. The number one job in New York State, the number one job. is personal care services individuals. People like in your neighborhood helping you out, right? That sounds innocent, but the federal government is paying the tab on most of that. California, same thing. And how can it be the number one job in the state? And now we're finding out their allegations that these guys are... These programs are growing because there's foreign involvement, so it's professionalized. And then we find out that the unions are maybe getting involved and try to unionize these individuals. So this starts to smell more like his political patronage. And I bring that up because if you're asking me, what... possible ways for is there for us to fix this imagine that it's 2024 we're getting ready for the election and someone says millions and in fact tens of millions of people have come across the border how can you possibly fix it and within months of the president coming in we've cut it down by over 99% why we wanted to we can fix fraud in america we just have to want to do it so you ask about that doctor in california there's right now in the country one third of all of the hospices one third of all hospices in the entire country are in los angeles i mean how many people are dying there how's that possible right there one third are there because the local government didn't want to deal with the issue and there everyone's making money so they sort of let it slide now we just in the last 10 weeks Just in the last 10 weeks have shut down over 400 hospices in California from billing us. They're no longer allowed to bill us. We've made that, you know, shut the cash register off. No money is leaving the building here in Washington. Guess how many have complained to me of those 400 hospices who are suspended? Zero. Not one of those hospices that we've suspended has reached out. Why? Well. The implication is they're guilty because if I stop paying you for coming on the show every day, you'd probably raise hell, right? You'd come back and say, I'm paying my money. These guys aren't complaining because they finally got caught. So, so I got to ask you this. And the doc, I'm glad you're on it. I know J.D. as the vice president is looking at this too, because, you know, it goes beyond, there's the waste of the dollars, which is the thing, but there's also the lack of faith in the system and the system being serious and fair. And I think Elon Musk and Doge really also highlighted this for a lot of people. Like, why am I paying my taxes? Why am I subject?

to the rules if the rules can be so flagrantly violated. But as another part of this, though, just in the in the waste side of it, more of the waste side than the fraud side, New York's Medicaid alone budget. I'm looking here on my screen, pulled it up. It was $84 billion in 2022. The state of Florida's entire budget, the state of Florida, which has more people than New York, is $117 billion, give or take. What is a state like New York? spending all of these dollars for Medicaid on how do you spend almost the same thing as the budget of a of a state with 21 million people on just a Medicaid program in New York where's his money going They're not paying attention to the cash register, and folks are able to lobby them to take money out of it. And that ends up becoming a major crisis for this state. See, the problem here, and you point out the major issue, is if you're... Getting the system defrauded, and these are the precious safe net systems of our country. Medicaid is the payer of last resort. When you've lost everything, Medicaid, our program comes and rescues you. Medicare is the program for our seniors. If we defraud those programs, people lose confidence in them. But here's the unfortunate reality. If you're a scumbag that's willing to steal money from our most vulnerable, you will steal their health. You'll steal their life. And so we... hurt the programs themselves. They lose their reputations. Taxpayers don't want to contribute. Folks lose confidence that you're actually providing high quality care. And you're hurting people all at the same time because they're not paying attention. And you mentioned New York State where it's basically a jobs program, right? Most of the new jobs being created are in health care. So they've actually completely flipped the economic engine of the state upside down, but it's not sustainable. You've got to pay people to help other people in health care, but only pay them when they're doing that. And if you're not willing to do your job, then move out and let someone else do it. Yeah, it's critical that these reforms are enacted and that there's real accountability for this. We're speaking to Dr. Methmet Oz. Dr. Oz, let's talk about some of the, you know, because this is an audience of patriots who pay their taxes and obey the laws. So we know you're looking at the fraudsters out there and that's good. What are things that you're working on to improve people's health, to help people out there, to use the programs? You have a vast budget, right? I mean, you're overseeing a massive entity.

What are some of the good things that are underway, whether to make it more efficient for, say, Medicare, for seniors, or improving care or anything? Give us the highlight real of where the dollars are being used properly. Well, we've been blessed to have an incredible treasure trove of talented individuals come into government. It is a generational opportunity to deliver what you just mentioned, which has improved the quality of care. And just to put some numbers on this, if we can get the average American to be healthier, they feel so darn good, so focused on living their full life, that they want to work just one year longer, that's worth a trillion dollars to the U.S. economy every year. So it's a huge investment return if we're actually able to deliver. So Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who just upstairs for me where I am in the Healthy Human Services Building here in Washington, is big on MAHA for a good reason. Because if we can get the American people to take some preventive steps and nudge them along in this process, as they get healthier, we'll save money because 80% of the money we spend in health care in America is for chronic illnesses. So why not just make you healthier in the beginning? If we make it easier for you to be healthy, you will become healthier. So we've got every major tech company now for the first time participating, building tools to meet people wherever they are. So we'll be able to get your medical records if you want us to have them and say, hey, here's the five things you ought to do to make your life better. And by the way, stop eating that, eat a bit more of this. Here's a coupon for another idea. Here's a doctor's appointment to take because we want you to double check on this one issue. And that's the kind of customized care. Again, AI will help it work. AI will also give us better access to care because a lot of parts of the country, rural America, is a good example, where we have now poured $50 billion more into care. That's 50% more than we normally spend on rural health care for Medicaid. All that money is being put in there to reform the system, to right-size the system, and bringing technology to these areas will give, especially, for example, our vets and others in rural America who want mental health services to access them. We can actually get you the tools that you'll need. And I am very optimistic about the ability to use AI and robotics, by the way, correctly in many parts of the country, because we're going to be able to put guardrails around them. But I do say, without question, that we all got to be focused on it. Because if we don't do it the right way, these tools could be used against us. Well, speaking to Dr. Medvedman Oz, he's the administrator for Medicare and Medicaid services under HHS, which sounds like, what is that for sale? Oh, that's right, the giant program that deals with Medicare, Medicaid, enormous parts of the federal budget. So this stuff is really important and really affects our bottom line as a country, but it also affects our health as a country. To that end, you were going towards some lifestyle things, lifestyle interventions. Elon Musk, I'll just put it out there. He said that he believes. One of the greatest things that could be done for public health in America, and I know he's not a doctor, but he's a pretty smart guy, would be expanding access to GLP medications and helping people get down to a healthy weight. These drugs are, I have many friends who have taken them. I know many people who are on them. I have family members who have taken them, and they say that they're near miracle drugs.

and have changed their lives for the better in dramatic ways. So talk to me about where CMS comes in here, expanding access to those medications, helping with lifestyle programs, because the obesity epidemic by the numbers was one of the biggest drivers of health care costs in this country in recent decades. And it looks like we have a very potent tool to turn that curve down in the other direction. Which is why, under instructions from the president, we have negotiated most favor nation drug pricing for those GLP-1 drugs. Now, we did it for a couple of reasons, and just to put it on everyone's radar, we pay three times more for the branded medications in America than other countries pay for the exact same products made in the same factories, put in the same bottles. So the president said, I don't want that anymore. No mas. Fix the problem. From that one, most favorite nation drug pricing. The drug prices in America need to be the same prices as they are in other countries. We have achieved that now with these GLP-1 drugs. And by the way, 16 other major drug companies as well have come into this area. And these companies, the two big ones that make the GLP-1 drugs, are now selling them at a fraction of the price that they were selling them for even a year ago, so much so that we are giving seniors in America access to these drugs for a very de minimis copay. Why do we do that? this. And why are we making it easy to buy these drugs on TrumpRX.gov? Anyone listening right now can go to that site and say there's no registration fee. It's your site. The American people, you know, you pay for our government. We made the site for you. And I want you to use it to double check that you're getting the right prices for these otherwise expensive medications. But here's the deal. We will within two years be saving taxpayers money if obese people take these medications. Why? Because when you stop the extra weight again, you drop your incidence of high blood pressure and diabetes. Those costs. the strokes, they cause the heart attacks, they cause the kidney failure, the liver disease, all kinds. They cause impotence, by the way, too. And so all these problems mount a huge cost of the health care system, driving roughly 80% of all our charges. So if I can get you to take the medications by making it more affordable, which we've done, we'll actually save money for the system. So we need people to be healthier. We don't want a country that's twice as fat as Europe. We don't want a country that's 10 times heavier than Japan. Let's get back to our playing weight. We can all do it together. Dr. Oz, always a pleasure. Please come back anytime and tell us what you're up to you because I know you're really dedicated to this. You're doing it because you love making people healthier and you're doing some really important things. So thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us today. God bless you, my friend. We're partnering with Americans for Prosperity this spring on their new one small step initiative. This is all about preserving the values our nation was founded upon. This is the right time during America's 250th anniversary year to take this first step. That's because America's story isn't finished. It's still being written by us. America's founding principles still matter, and some would say they matter more than ever. We're talking about the six principles that built this country, dignity, freedom, opportunity, rule of law, limited government, and civic duty.

One small step is about turning belief into action because you, not politicians, not bureaucrats in Washington. You are the one who keeps this country strong. Go online to this new website, afpbuck.com, to sign up for the monthly toolkit. You'll get real specific ways to take action and celebrate core American values. That's afpbuck.com. America's story isn't finished. It's being written right now. The real question is, what step will you take? That website again is afpbuck.com paid for by Americans for prosperity. It's like having your house at the perfect temperature all the time. Preset, Clay, and Buck on the iHeart app. Life moves fast. At American Military University, they're ready to help you keep up. AMU's flexible, affordable online programs in cybersecurity, IT, space studies, and more are designed for service members, veterans, and their families. AMU provides the support you need to take the next step, wherever life takes you. American Military University, made for what's next. Learn more at AMU.APUS.edu. Saturday, July 25th. I know. I will be the best welterweight in the world. An undefeated phenom. Batman is a rising star. And a frightening force. What a win for Shemiel Musayor. Descend on the nation's capital to fight for gold. Thad, the silverback gene. Silverback nation makes some noise. Versus Shamil Musayev. All it's over! For the PFL well-to-weight world title. On real. Saturday, July 25th and 10 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Trade screen time for race time at Virginia International Raceway. August 21st through 23rd, IMSA's Michelin GT Challenge brings some of the coolest cars to VIR for an unforgettable family weekend. Explore, meet drivers, see race cars up close, and experience the thrill of racing from every corner of the track. It's more than a race. It's a memory waiting to be made. Kids 12 and under get in free. Get your tickets at VIRFam.com. That's VIRFAM.com. Online education is convenient, but sometimes it can be lonely. Sometimes the extra help you need can only come from someone else. At American Public University, they make online education personalized, affordable, and memorable. With 24-7 mental health support available in multiple languages, access to career coaches who are industry professionals and lifelong career services, you'll never feel alone on your path to success. APU, digital by nature, human by design. Learn more at APU.APUS.edu.edu.