Hour 2 - Culture Wars

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Welcome in our number two, Thursday edition, Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us. Continuing to track, unfortunately, the reality that we seem to have no idea who the butler, who the shooter was at Brown University in Rhode Island. Just absolutely nothing that seems to connect anyone to that shooting at all. They have more and more. videos coming out, but none of them are particularly helpful, so we are continuing to monitor that. Also, unfortunately, the Pam Bondi shooting, the fallout associated with that in Australia. There is a plane that has crashed. A small plane with about six passengers in North Carolina may be connected to a NASCAR universe there. According to the headline that is up on CNN, we will update you with the latest there when we know more. Again, deadly plane crash in Statesville, North Carolina has occurred. Reports that there were six people on that private jet. But that is the lead story right now, along with the continued pursuit of who this person at Brown University might have been with better photos now and better video analysis potentially coming out of people of interest in that story. So we will continue to track it. A lot of great feedback you can go. Talk to us at the talkback there, but I wanted to hit you with a couple of different stories that are out there right now. You're talking kind of of how 2026 is going to go, and a big part of how 2026 is going to go is it's the economy, right? We told you on this program, it's as easy as EBC, economy border crime. It's very hard to argue now that things with the border and things with crime aren't better. across the United States right now than they were when Joe Biden was in office. Vast majorities of Americans, they see what's happened at the border. It's shut down. The vast majority agrees with what President Trump has done there. And then on crime, basically, even Democrats are having to acknowledge, yeah. Trump's had some impact in Washington, D.C. He's having impact in Memphis in my hometown of Nashville. The number of murders have collapsed. We're headed for, I believe, a 60-year low. Things are moving better there. It's all going to come down to the economy. And you're thinking, okay, well, did Democrats have a better message on the economy? This was on CNN a little bit earlier in the day. Harry Inton saying,

that based on current numbers, Democrats are the least popular they have ever been. Again, CNN, listen. Democrats in the minds of the American public are lower than the Dead Sea. What are we talking about here? Well, let's take a look. The net approval rating for Democrats in Congress. You said at Cape Baldwin, the lowest ever. Look at this. Overall, they are 55 points underwater. Their approval rating is south of 20%. It's even worse when you look at independence. Look at this. Negative 61 points. That means that their approval rating is 61 points lower than their disapproval rating. Quinnipiac has been polling. this question for the better part of the 21st century, they have never found Democrats, at least those in Congress, and we're shaped than they are right now. Okay. So it would be one thing if you said, well, Republicans are struggling on the economy and as a result, there's going to be a massive beatdown that happens in 2026. People don't really like Democrats either. So there is just a general disdain, discord antipathy that is out there among voters, frankly, for both political parties. And again, I think this is a legacy of Biden inflation. which has made everybody angry because all goods just cost more than they feel like they, than we feel like they should. And also the Trump derangement syndrome means even when Trump does something that should be 100% approval. Okay. Trump said I'm going to give every member of the military $776 in honor of our nation's 250th anniversary and the fact that tariffs revenue is coming in better. We're going to give everyone that is in our military a Christmas bonus. 1.45 million people. those out there that are putting their lives on the line to protect us. I'm being honest with y'all. I don't understand how anyone in America could have an issue with that. But I think it's fair to say that a lot of our soldiers are underpaid. They haven't gotten raises. They're doing their best to raise their families on wages that are often challenging. And President Trump sees that and he says, hey, you know what? Let's just give an end of the year bonus to all the soldiers out there. And let's do it in a way that celebrates the founding of our American Republic. Let's give them $1,776. That seems like something that nobody could disagree with. Well, unless you happen to listen to the view, Whoopi Goldberg, she ain't happy with it. Listen.

The one thing I'll give him credit on is this bonuses to troops. He's giving him basically $1,700. Let's see if they get the check. I want to see the money coming from. He says tariff revenue. That's what I'm most intrigued to see if that's actually the case. Listen, coming off of the government shut down. I got to check that. I don't believe that. Well, in the delay that they all had, they got back pay, but I mean, people need help, but all Americans need help right now. And just a handout isn't the answer? Smart policies are the answer. Well, what he's doing is he's thinking. If I make sure that the soldiers have what they need, they'll back me and what I want, see. Okay. What does that even mean? They'll back me and what I want. I mean, the soldiers are responsible for executing the vision of the commander-in-chief. That is actually the job of the President of the United States to direct our military, and then the soldiers act at the behest of the commander-in-chief. You think that they were going to reject orders from the commander-in-chief, and then suddenly, at the end of the year, you get $1,776 additional, and you say, oh, you know what? In retrospect, now I'll do whatever the president wants. This is crazy talk, okay? This is absolutely bonkers. It's an example of Trump derangement syndrome. That's something that should be, I think, honestly, 100%. 100% approval. Hey, we've had better revenue than we expected with tariffs. Who deserves to get some of that better revenue from tariffs? How about our soldiers hardworking in honor of America 250? And I will say. We had that caller talking about the vibe. Sometimes it's hard to get a vibe on a country of 350 million-ish people, right? What is the overall vibe check? It's constantly going to be up and down. Some states people are happier. Some states people are not happier. I do think that this is significant. Trump gets the importance of big events in helping to drive the overall vibe of a nation. the overall net positivity. And he talked about this last night. And some of you said a couple weeks ago I was up for the World Cup and you say, the draw, and you say, I hate the World Cup. I don't care any of the thing at all about soccer. Soccer stinks. I do think that there is going to be a lot of positivity coming out of hosting the World Cup this coming summer. It's going to be a positive experience, I believe, for our nation, not dissimilar to how it was when we hosted in 1994 the Men's World Cup. And then I believe we hosted in 1999, the Women's World Cup. A lot of young women out there remember that event. I believe that it was when Brandy Chastain won and ripped off her shirt and slid in the sports bra. that iconic celebratory moment that everybody remembers, particularly young women who were fans of that American women's soccer team before they lost their mind and started listening to Megan Rapino's of the world, say, hey, you know what we need more of in women's sports? Dude's pretending to be chicks. That's what we need more of. Here is cut seven. Trump pointing this out, and I do think the UFC fight at the White House, I think the World Cup 250.

I think everything about the 250th anniversary of our nation's founding has the opportunity to uplift us in national consciousness, cut seven. Soon we will host the World Cup and the Olympics, both of which I got, but most importantly, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the... declaration of independence, there could be no more fitting tribute to this epic milestone than to complete the comeback of America that began just one year ago. When the world looks at us next year, let them see a nation that is loyal to its citizens, faithful to its workers. confident to its identity, certain to its destiny, and the envy of the entire globe. We are respected again like we have never been respected before. Okay. So that is President Trump last night. All right. Let's grab some more of your calls. A lot of people want to weigh in. Wayne out in your Belinda, California. That's Richard Nixon territory, if I'm not mistaken. You think the economy is pretty good compared to what you've lived through in the past. Yeah, this economy right now is not near as bad as what it was back with Jimmy Carter. I bought my second home in 1978, and I was paying 14 and a quarter percent interest on my second home. And we were not only dealing with that, but we were dealing with a gasoline embargo. And we couldn't even buy gasoline, except for every odd or even day. I spent many days at my work because I couldn't even get home to my wife and kids. And these people that are whining right now, they don't know how bad it can actually get. And, you know. It just upsets me to hell. I'm not, this economy is not near as bad as what you think because it could be a lot worse. Thank you for the call. Robert in Alabama, you're getting at the issue that I think is a challenge. Here's the biggest challenge that I would say the Trump White House has, and Robert's going to address this. You have to simultaneously tell people things are getting better without appearing to be out of touch. So when you say, and every time I say it, it's true, the economy is getting better. Somebody hops in my mentions and they say, you're out of touch. You have no idea what's going on in my world. The economy sucks. There's always somebody who says that on social media. That reality echoes throughout the country. So the challenge is, how do you tell people things are getting better, which they are, while simultaneously acknowledging that you can seem out of touch if people don't feel yet that things are getting better? And that's what you're calling about, Robert in Alabama. Yes, and they're under this sad misconception that...

You know, as soon as the president gets into office the next day, everything that he promised is going to take place that day. Yeah. And, you know, and that's the sad reality that most people think of because they don't understand the mechanism here, you know, and how all this works. Like you were alluding to earlier about, you know, the mess that Reagan... took over from Jimmy Carter. That's right. We had, you know, a much worse economy then, and it took him nearly four years of the eight years that he was in office to actually turn it around because it just doesn't happen overnight. I mean, and how, and I think that, you know, people like me, and I'm nobody, but, you know, I get it. I understand how this works, but I don't think. There's a plethora of individuals out there that just don't understand this. And I think that language needs to be spoken to these people and get to those people. Because I'll tell you, the one thing that we got to worry about now is the midterms right now, as far as I'm concerned. Because if, you know, all this that Trump has done in just this 11 months. And if we lose in the midterms and then lose, then it gets back to the Democrats, we're, you know, we're back to beyond square one again. No, I agree. And thank you for the call, Robert. That is the challenge, right? Any one individual president. has got so much to do. We need to string together about 20 years of good presidents to help to make up for the disastrous choices that have been made so far. And that's why I said, look, Trump 2.0 to me, he gets an A plus for the first year of Trump 2.0. I can't imagine it being much better. But what Robert is hitting on and what many of you understand is really the presidency comes down to two things. decision making are you making the best decisions that is point one are you making the right decisions are you steering the ship in the direction in which the country needs to go decision making is the most important that's basically what we elect you to do second part is communicating why the decisions that you have made are helping to make the average americans life better I think that Trump in his first year has made the right decisions. He has made, by and large, nobody's perfect, but by and large, he has made the right decisions. Now he's got to communicate how those decisions are making the life of the average American better. And are the average Americans going to accept that argument by the time we get to November? Because again, remember, a lot of times it takes four years. for the economy's change and for the trajectory to be felt. Two years can be very tough, particularly when you look at what Trump was taking over. Look, gold and silver topped the list of investments in 2025. Each of them up over 60% in value. If you made a purchase earlier this year, putting gold into your IRA or your 401k, you're extraordinarily happy with your results. Even if you bought...

by 20% all natural. Get the best deal out there at chalk. C-H-O-Q.com. It's all natural. Use my name Clay. You get the best subscription discount for life. You can cancel any time. Why not make this a new year goal? Put some energy back in your life. Stop dragging around at chalk.com. C-H-O-Q.com. My name Clay, best deal for life. Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. We appreciate all of you hanging out with us. First guest of the day joining us now. I've been impressed at how outspoken she has been on social media of late. You certainly are seeing her a ton all over the airwaves, whether it's Fox News, whether it's Fox Business, CNN as well. Brianna Lyman joins us now. And she also writes at the Federalist. My friend, Sean Davis, got a great company that he helps to drive there. Brianna, I've been seeing you. weigh in a lot on this. I would say maybe echo or continuing lasting legacy associated with this era of taking down historic statues and trying to condemn people based on modern day standards for decisions that they made in the past. And in particular, you've been tweeting a lot about the state of Virginia pulling a Robert Lee statue out of the Capitol where every state has the ability to have two different statues. What strikes you about that decision and what does it say about the culture of America that we are still dealing with these continued reverberations from the crazy era of 2020? Yeah, the point of these statutes are you're supposed to honor people and who you cannot tell the story of your state without mentioning. Robert E. Lee is one of those people that you cannot tell a story about Virginia without talking about Robert E. Lee. And he's not idolized because he was, you know, fighting for the Confederacy, which wanted to preserve slavery. He's more so idolized for what he did after the war. This man became the face of reconciliation. And it's very easy for people in 2025 to sit back and say he should have been executed. He should have been exiled. This man was a traitor. But unless you're in 1860 and you understand that it is not country first, it is state first, that Robert Lee literally said he doesn't believe the Confederacy had a reason. to secede, that he thought it was a bad idea. But he said, if my home state of Virginia secedes, I will not, you know, take up arms against my home state. Right. So that's the valor that we're talking about. And then after the war ended, he convinced Confederists who wanted to go into the bushes and cite guerrilla warfare. They were ready to die to the very end. And he said, no, go home. Rebuild your families. It's okay to ask for a pardon. He did it himself. It's okay to want to be friends with your northern neighbors again.

We need peace and reconciliation. And it wasn't very easy to do. That nation was holding on by a thread. And Robert E. Lee helped convince a very disgruntled South that it's time to make peace. And that deserves remembrance. All of that is 100% true. And this is my Civil War history nerd just geeking out here. Everything that you said is 100% true. I've made these arguments out there. Is it one of the biggest threats that we face in this country a profound lack of historical literacy such that when you just laid out, and I would add, and you and I were sending messages about this, actually there was a huge radical Republican group that wanted to execute as many different former Southerners that fought against the North, as many as they could, including Jefferson Davis, everybody else. And they actually ended up not winning that battle. And as a result, the reconciliation of the nation, which went far better because leaders on the north and the south side said, let's lay down arms and let's actually come back together as a nation. Very few people know that. Why do you think that is? Yeah, and I'm so happy you brought that up. So Thaddeus Stevens was a radical Republican who kind of led that charge to execute and exile these Confederates. But if you go back, even to 1860, Lincoln's first inaugural address, he spoke of mystic cords of memory. What he was trying to do is he was trying to remind both those in the South and in the North that at the end of the day, they were people whose ancestors fought together in the revolution. They were connected by blood and memory, and they were all still Americans at the end of the day. And throughout the entire war, Lincoln's entire goal was keep the union together. He did not want to exile or kill all of the Confederates because he understood they're part of the union. They just need to kind of be coaxed back into it, right? It's the same reason why Grant worked to get such generous surrender terms for Lee. Because they understood that if you want a union to actually be united, you can't have half of them, and we're talking a massive half. be executed or exiled. It didn't work that way. And again, it's very easy for us in 2025 to say, oh, well, they should have been executed. They should have been exiled. But you try holding a country together. And the reason that this story right now is so important. It's not just Robert E. Lee. You and I said this. They tore down statues of Jefferson. And if we are making the standard that if you're not morally perfect, your statue has to come down, then so does Jefferson. So does Washington's because they own slaves. And that's the entire point of this entire woke movement. We don't get to have heroes like Washington or Jefferson because they were stained by slavery. That's it. It doesn't matter what else they did. And that's why we have to make sure that we're being honest about historical realities and about living in those times and what those people did besides, you know, the moral stains of slavery. It's also important to apply it. I think you mentioned Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, certainly the monuments, those guys have been attacked for a variety of reasons. Martin Luther King Jr. used to do an advice column, believe it or not. You may have read this and said that anybody who was gay was victim of a mental illness and that they should be basically committed, essentially.

And that was in the 1950s. Well, now that would be considered reprehensible by many parts of the nation. Do we tear down his statue as well? All of us, even the ones like you and me who think we're pretty good at things and everybody out there listening, we're all going to be judged as lacking. by history because no one lives up to whatever the standard is in the future in a perfect way. You actually, and I think Robert Lee is such an interesting example of this because as you mentioned, in Arlington, he was offered and spent all night pacing trying to decide, do I want to take over command of the entire union forces, or do I want to stay loyal to my state? A lot of people don't understand this in today's day and age, but your state used to be the equivalent of a country for many people because in the 1860s, a lot of people never traveled outside of their state borders because it was so difficult comparatively to be able to travel. And so we think of state residents now as being something that is easy to change and maybe your national character matters more than the state from which you live. But back in the day, your state was more important to a large extent than your country was because most people never left their states. Yeah, and it's, you know, part of that, you know, Ordo Amoris, right, you rank things in priority. And to your point, people, one, didn't travel more than 15 miles outside of their community in most cases. And, too, you have to remember that. Up until 1865, states were operating pretty independent of the federal government, right? It wasn't until after the Civil War that we saw the federal government's role kind of expand, and it's been expanding, you know, it's expanding today as we speak. So states really did function. as that country ideology right there. And Robert E. Lee is someone who loved the union, but he loved his state more. And it's hard for people today, you know, the same people who would go publicly bash Robert F. Kennedy Jr.., their cousin, their brother, whoever it is, to understand that back then people had hierarchies of priorities. And it was God, family, state, country. And it came in that order. And that's what Lee did. So you have to remember Lee. in the times he was in versus the time we are in now. And you brought up a great point when Martin Luther King, Jr., look, this is a man who fought for good things. He also apparently was beating his wife, right? And at some point, there's going to be someone, a big group of people who say, wife beating is bad, which it is, and they're going to say, well, we've got to tear down MLK. Of course, that would be ridiculous. But that's what is going to happen with this slippery slope. And I'm pretty aggrieved that the same people... So we're sitting today convincing us that babies should be murdered in the womb, that we should be transing young kids are suddenly the arbiters of what is good and what's bad. And we're going to listen to them. Martin Luther King also, look, was assassinated in 1968 on that balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, as many people have seen, in the hotel room when he was assassinated, was a mistress. Martin Luther King, as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and John F. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a lot of people of that era in particular was not...

an upstanding family man in the way that many would want men to be today and in the past. And so, again, if you go and look at the past of many of our historic figures who are heroes and change the course of the nation, they all had some form of sorted past or aspect of their personality that would be found lacking. And I just think it's interesting where we draw the line and where we don't. How old are you, Brianna? I'm 27. All right, so you're 27. I and Buck, if he were here, we're both huge history people. I was a history major. I read everything I can about history. When you are around people your own age, how much historical illiteracy do you see? And second part of that, how much of that feels almost intentional? Because if you can tear down the heroes of American history, what you really allow is for... everything to be wiped clean. Because when you're saying, hey, if we can point to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and say they own slaves, therefore their moral legitimacy is questioned, then it starts to allow you to question the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and argue that America was founded on a huge hill of lies. And so we can just wipe clean of everything that the country has been founded on. That feels historically like the goal. Yeah, the goal is to delegitimize the work of the founders. In my generation in particular, you know, we've been indoctrinated in public education and even higher education to a degree where we're ashamed of our heritage and our ancestors. And it's not always been like that. You know, you go back to, you know, the 70s when Robert Lee was given his citizenship back in full. That passed, I think it was like 410 to 3. It was some massive margin. Because everybody, Republican and Democrat, understood that Robert Lee was significant for a few reasons, and it wasn't so polarizing. You go to, what was it, 1993, the movie Gettysburg came out. They didn't portray Lee as an unrepentant racist. At the end scene, he's being cheered on by his soldiers as he goes to surrender, right? And so there was a consensus, really up until the past 20 years, that there are some figures who have a... Definitely a complex path where some things were bad and we don't condone that. But nonetheless, it doesn't take away from the reason that we look up to them or at least recognize their impact on America. I want to write another book. And my last book just came out. But I think what you're getting at, I've been kind of grappling with in my own head. It's do we define people by their ceilings or their floors? You know, do? And a lot of times, and I just came from a funeral of my uncle this week. And he didn't have much of a floor. He had a great ceiling. But if you go and watch a eulogy, it almost always is this is what he or she achieved. Let's talk about the positives. We don't marinate in the awfulness of the failures that we have in our life. At the end of the life, we like to define people based on their ceilings. It seems to me that the Democrat Party in general focuses on the floor of American history, the things that they want to say.

are the worst parts of our historic figures, and it seems in general like Republicans tend to focus on the ceiling. Is that metaphor out of line, or do you think there's some truth to it? No, I think it's accurate. And let's think why does the left focus on the worst of the worst? Because the things that they care about, right, socialism, communism, that is fundamentally incompatible with small our republicanism. And if you actually want to implement communism and socialism on a large scale, you have to fundamentally reshape America. You have to get rid of the Declaration. You have to get rid of the Bill of Rights. You have to get rid of the institutions. And what underpins those institutions, which is Christianity, to start fresh. So they have to focus on trying to sour the sentiment of the American people by bashing our heroes. Jefferson, Washington, those are heroes. They should be revered. And they are going to do this. I'm actually really upset that we're, you know, coming into 250, and I'm not feeling as patriotic as I should be because there are so many people that are trying to tear down the legacy of our founders because they want to delegitimize that they can replace. Are you, so you're talking about 250 and I think it is incredibly important because I wasn't around in America 200, but for those of you out there that remember 1976, it seems like there was a profound national spirit of optimism that came out of that 200th birthday celebration. Are you optimistic that next year we can have something similar on America 250? Or do you think the Nicole Hannah Jay Jones is of the world and the 1619 project? have been so successful in tearing down American history that it's impossible to bring everybody together. I think the Overton window is shifting, and I'm glad that President Trump is in office. I would like to see some changes to the board running the 250 celebrations, because this is a time to honor the founders. And I say this as someone who's, you know, I'm related to Declaration of Independence Day signers. My two sixth-grade grand uncles were militiamen in the battles of Lexington and Concord. My family fought this, they lived this, and honoring their legacy. And everyone else's legacy is so important to me because without their sacrifices, you and I wouldn't be speaking today. Brianna, how can people find you if they want to see your content and or maybe they got kids and grandkids out there that are in your age bracket and maybe they're more likely to respond in a positive way to somebody their own age than people their age? I'm trying to be a patriot maxing. So you could find me on Twitter at Brianna Lyman 2 or Instagram briana.lyman. Awesome. Hey, we appreciate the time. Have a good Christmas. And thanks for fighting the good fight. I mean, I saw you fighting history battles on social media, which I almost never see anybody else doing. And I wanted to make sure we got a chance to talk with you. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Thanks so much.

That's Breonna Lyman. That's fantastic. I mean, history nerding out. I mean, again, when I see somebody defending, she's 27, the historic legacy of Robert E. Lee, I'm like, wow, maybe there are some people out there in their 20s that actually do have knowledge about American history. It makes me a little bit more optimistic. I've got a winner for you tonight. Thursday night football. Matthew Stafford, Sam Darnold, the Rams going up against the Seahawks, each of these guys to throw. one and a half more than one and a half touchdown passes. If you go to PricePix.com, you go to the PricePix app, use my name Clay, C-L-A-Y, you can get hooked up. 3.5X is what that pays off. You're just watching Thursday night football tonight, as many of us, myself included, will be. Great matchup in the NFC West. The Rams going up against the Seahawks. If each of these quarterbacks throws, they got to throw it, one and a half touchdowns or more. then you will get $3.5.x. You can play $5 right now, and you will get $50. You play $5, you get $50 deposited in your account. That is, Pricepix.com, code Clay, Price Picks app. You can play in California, Texas, Georgia. If you're filling left out, 13 million people playing, 40 states, prize picks, code C-L-A-Y. You ain't imagining it. The world has gone insane. Reclaim your sanity with Clay and Buck. Find them on the free iHeard radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in Clay Travis, Buck Sexton show. We got a lot of people who want to weigh in. I'll take some of your calls. A lot of positivity coming in from Brianna. Lyman, I think Buck and I are going to try to do in 2026. as a part of America 250, more guests where we can have sort of a history conversation with people out there so that you can share with your kids and your grandkids, hopefully a little bit more historic knowledge, because as a college history major and a guy who thought about going to get a Ph.D. in history as one of my favorite things to do, When they can control the way we talk about history, I don't think a lot of people have recognized how... deleterious that impact is and how destructive the goal is to try to undermine the entire history of this country. Because again, if you can redefine as Nicole Hannah-Jay Jones did and the New York Times did, the founding of this country in 1619 when the first slaves got here, as opposed to in 1776 when we declared independence from England. then you can argue that the entire country is a pit of despair and awfulness and rotten at its core. And so, therefore, all of American history deserves to be torn down, burned down, and replaced with something else. That is their goal. And 250 in America gives us a great chance to tell them no.