The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

As Xi Jinping heads to Washington for another summit with President Trump, the real question is not what gets announced, but what gets delivered. Steve Yates explains why implementation matters more than optics and examines the key tests facing U.S.-China relations, from AI controls and Taiwan to Iran, Ukraine, rare earth supply chains, fentanyl enforcement, and the fate of Jimmy Lai. Listen for a practical framework to separate diplomatic theater from meaningful results and understand what success should actually look like for American interests.
Follow Nation States with Yates for clear, common-sense insights where Steve Yates serves as your personal national security advisor, breaking down world events in ways that matter to Main Street, not just Washington. Connect with the show at Feedback@NationStatesYates.com and follow on X @NSWithYates.
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Lisa Boothe is joined by Tommy Schultz, CEO of the American Federation for Children, for a wide-ranging conversation about school choice, declining academic performance, teachers unions, and the future of K-12 education in America.
They begin with the debate surrounding Nikole Hannah-Jones and her daughter's public-school experience, examining what Schultz argues it reveals about school choice, academic standards, classroom discipline, testing, and the consequences of putting educational philosophy ahead of an individual child's needs.
Lisa and Tommy also discuss the relationship between politically powerful teachers unions and literacy reform, declining test scores, the lingering effects of COVID-era learning loss, and the amount of money being spent on America's K-12 education system. Schultz offers his perspective on why additional funding has not necessarily translated into stronger academic outcomes.
Plus, Tommy breaks down the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, which begins in 2027 and allows eligible taxpayers to claim a nonrefundable federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for qualifying contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations in participating states. Lisa and Tommy discuss how the program could expand educational options for families and why school choice is becoming an increasingly significant issue nationwid
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Clay Travis & Buck Sexton break down President Donald Trump’s major United Nations speech in New York City, focusing on American strength, national pride, foreign policy, military power, energy, technology and Trump’s argument that the United States is stronger and better positioned on the world stage. The hosts contrast Trump’s unapologetically pro-American message with previous administrations and discuss why they believe his willingness to impose consequences gives him leverage with foreign adversaries. That leads into the Russia-Ukraine war, Vladimir Putin, the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal and the enormous human and economic costs of the war in Ukraine, which Buck characterizes as a technologically advanced form of trench warfare combining drones, satellite communications and night vision with largely static front lines.
An in-depth conversation about DOGE, Elon Musk, federal government spending, waste, fraud, the national debt and government efficiency. Clay and Buck welcome Tyler Hassen, former acting assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of the Interior, former senior DOGE official and author of Inside DOGE: The Real Story from a Senior Insider. Hassen offers his firsthand account of working with Musk’s DOGE team and argues that waste inside the federal government is substantially worse than most Americans realize. He discusses DOGE’s reported savings, efforts to increase accountability for federal contracts and grants, and an initiative designed to improve information attached to trillions of dollars in Treasury payments. Drawing on his experience at the Interior Department, Hassen describes finding federal contracts for projects such as groundwater assessments in Mauritania that officials struggled to justify, while explaining the DOGE philosophy of forcing agencies to “defend the spend.”
Clay and Buck discuss public education, parental involvement, classroom discipline and school culture. Buck argues that successful schools depend heavily on parents who reinforce respect for teachers, rules, order and education at home. The hosts discuss the difficulties public-school teachers face when dealing with disruptive students and school fights, including concerns that educators may hesitate to physically separate fighting students because of liability and disciplinary policies. They also discuss federal education policy and disagreements over whether racial disparities in school discipline should be treated as evidence of discriminatory disciplinary practices. Their broader argument is that school discipline, parental expectations and peer culture can matter as much as, or more than, additional education spending.
That discussion leads to one of the hour’s most extended and humorous exchanges: corporal punishment and paddling in American public schools. Clay recounts growing up around Nashville public schools where students could be paddled for serious misbehavior, stunning Buck, who says such practices were completely foreign to his New York City upbringing. The hosts discuss the differences between Southern and Northeastern school culture, the historical use of paddles and “switches,” visits to the principal’s office and the deterrent effect Clay remembers corporal punishment having on classroom behavior. Their production team reports during the program that public-school corporal punishment remains legally permissible in a number of states, which prompts Buck to express disbelief that the practice can still legally exist in parts of the United States. Listeners subsequently send their own stories about paddling by teachers, principals and Catholic-school nuns, including accounts from Michigan, Ohio and Southern California.
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Hour 1 of The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show opens with Clay and Buck breaking down President Donald Trump’s major United Nations speech in New York City, focusing on American strength, national pride, foreign policy, military power, energy, technology and Trump’s argument that the United States is stronger and better positioned on the world stage. The hosts contrast Trump’s unapologetically pro-American message with previous administrations and discuss why they believe his willingness to impose consequences gives him leverage with foreign adversaries. That leads into the Russia-Ukraine war, Vladimir Putin, the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal and the enormous human and economic costs of the war in Ukraine, which Buck characterizes as a technologically advanced form of trench warfare combining drones, satellite communications and night vision with largely static front lines.
The centerpiece of Hour 1 is Trump’s message on Iran and its nuclear ambitions. Clay and Buck examine his declaration that Iran cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon, his suggestion that Tehran faces a choice between reaching an agreement with the United States and continuing its confrontation with Washington, and his assertion that American munitions stockpiles are being rapidly replenished. The hosts debate what Trump’s possible “endgame” with Iran could look like, whether he is seeking a dramatic final achievement that would allow him to declare the Iranian nuclear threat resolved, and whether a diplomatic agreement is still possible. They also discuss the practical obstacles and risks surrounding any potential effort to secure Iranian nuclear material, while speculating that Trump may increase pressure on Tehran before the 2026 midterm elections. The conversation expands to Iran’s internal divisions, its weakened economy, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi oil movements and the relationship between instability in the Persian Gulf and global oil and gasoline prices.
Clay and Buck then turn to the 2026 midterm elections, polling and prediction markets, particularly the battle for control of the U.S. Senate. Clay points to conflicting political signals, including Republican spending in Kansas alongside potentially competitive Senate contests involving Michelle Tafoya in Minnesota, Mike Rogers in Michigan and the New Hampshire Senate race. The hosts discuss how candidate quality and state-specific political dynamics could override a broader national trend, comparing the current environment with Republican candidate problems in the 2022 midterms. Buck argues that Republican candidates may benefit by localizing their campaigns around their states and congressional districts rather than turning every contest into a referendum on national politics.
Returning to the Trump UN address, Hour 1 examines the president’s broader Western Hemisphere agenda, including Venezuela, oil, drug cartels and Cuba. The hosts highlight Trump’s comments about the strategic significance of American and Venezuelan energy resources and his depiction of cartels as a major security threat in the Western Hemisphere. Buck predicts that a future Democratic administration could seek legal scrutiny of Trump-era Caribbean military actions, while Clay and Buck assess the potential economic and geopolitical consequences of political transformation in Venezuela. They devote significant attention to Cuba, including Trump’s prediction that its current system will fall, the Cuban delegation’s reaction to his remarks, reported discussions among Cuban expatriates about a potential post-communist future and the possibility that Cuba could eventually develop a more capitalist, tourism-oriented economy. Their Caribbean discussion also touches on Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, regional investment and tax incentives, Clay’s past legal work in the Caribbean and Buck’s friendship with a veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion.
Artificial intelligence becomes another major theme as the hosts discuss Trump’s push to refer to artificial intelligence as “super intelligence.” Clay and Buck praise the phrase as an example of Trump’s skill at political and commercial branding, arguing that “artificial” can carry negative connotations while “super intelligence” sounds more optimistic. They discuss the origins of the term artificial intelligence with computer scientist John McCarthy and the 1955 Dartmouth research proposal, before widening the conversation to the strategic U.S.-China AI competition, data centers, technological leadership and concerns that public anxiety over AI infrastructure could benefit China. The hosts connect the AI race to their broader argument about American exceptionalism, capitalism and decades of U.S. economic engagement with China, questioning the longstanding expectation that greater trade and integration would lead Beijing toward greater political liberalization.
The hour also includes a discussion of conspiracy theories and public skepticism, with Clay and Buck referencing disagreements over the origins of COVID-19 and Ann Coulter’s view of the wet-market theory, while arguing that skepticism should be directed toward situations in which governments or competitors have discernible strategic incentives. They briefly discuss viral social-media content involving Lindsay Clancy and Sydney Sweeney as part of a broader conversation about public reasoning, misinformation and the tendency to search for conspiracies. Buck uses China and AI as an example of an area where he believes Americans should think seriously about geopolitical incentives rather than dismissing competitive threats.
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Hour 2 of The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show dives into culture, politics, media, education and the approaching 2026 midterm elections, beginning with a viral man-on-the-street interview comparing public reactions to Sydney Sweeney and Lindsay Clancy. Clay and Buck use the interview to explore what they see as the power of social media algorithms, TikTok, online misinformation and political tribalism to shape opinions among people who may be highly engaged online but poorly informed about the underlying facts. They discuss the contrasting cultural reactions to Sweeney’s sports-betting advertisement and the Clancy case, arguing that online communities can determine who is considered an acceptable target for criticism and who receives sympathetic treatment. A caller joins the conversation about Sweeney, DEI and cultural standards, prompting Clay and Buck to discuss Sweeney’s business ventures, equity ownership and entrepreneurship. Clay argues that her efforts to build and own businesses represent the kind of female entrepreneurship and small-business success that should be encouraged, with the conversation also touching on the Kardashians as an example of celebrities converting fame into business ownership.
Hour 2 then moves into a discussion of political polarization and attitudes toward President Donald Trump, prompted by polling Clay attributes to the Center for Strategic Politics. The hosts review hypothetical scenarios involving Trump leaving office through impeachment, the 25th Amendment, military intervention, natural death or assassination, focusing on what they describe as troubling Democratic responses to the scenarios. Clay and Buck connect the polling to their wider concerns about political violence, misinformation and radicalization in online political communities. They reference the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Tyler Robinson, the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt against Trump and conspiracy theories that developed around political violence, arguing that sensational online narratives can distract from examining ideological radicalization and the role of highly polarized internet communities. Buck specifically rejects theories alleging Israeli involvement in Kirk’s assassination, saying such an action would make no strategic sense for Israel and that he sees no evidence supporting the claim.
Later in Hour 2 of Clay and Buck, the focus shifts to Nikole Hannah-Jones, the 1619 Project, New York City public schools, private education and school choice. Clay and Buck discuss reports about Hannah-Jones’s daughter and her educational experience, contrasting Hannah-Jones’s earlier defense of sending her child to a high-poverty public school with the hosts’ description of her daughter’s later concerns about whether that decision left her academically behind. Buck expands the discussion to Stuyvesant High School, specialized and merit-based public education in New York City, racial disparities in admissions and the longstanding political fight over selective schools. Clay compares the system with the magnet-school model and argues that admitting students according to academic performance can produce demographic outcomes that do not necessarily mirror the broader population.
The education debate expands with comments from Sunny Hostin, who describes why she sent her children to private schools and discusses academic resources, race, bullying and differences in public-school funding. Clay and Buck challenge the argument that inadequate funding is the fundamental explanation for failing schools, pointing instead to school culture, parental involvement, classroom discipline, academic expectations and peer environments. Buck discusses New York City education spending, previous attempts to improve struggling schools through additional funding, and contrasting public schools in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood. The hosts argue that parents across racial and political lines tend to seek the strongest possible educational environment when they have the resources and freedom to choose. They emphasize the importance of active parents, strong PTAs, homework, discipline and a shared expectation that education matters, concluding that money alone cannot compensate for a dysfunctional school culture. Clay adds that the same lesson about culture applies more broadly to families, businesses and institutions.
The hour also briefly touches on New York Giants football, quarterback Jackson Dart and his knee injury following the Giants’ loss to the Rams, before returning to the program’s larger political and cultural themes. At the close of Hour 2, Clay and Buck preview the final hour and announce an upcoming interview with Tyler Hassen, described by Buck as a longtime friend and former senior DOGE official who worked with Elon Musk’s government-efficiency effort. Buck says the conversation will examine the inside story of attempts to reduce federal spending, government bureaucracy and the national debt, along with Hassen’s new book. The hosts also tease additional listener calls for Hour 3.
Make sure you never miss a second of the show by subscribing to the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton show podcast wherever you get your podcasts! ihr.fm/3InlkL8

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