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Clay and Buck

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Clay’s Surprising Take: The Super Bowl Is Everything Good About America

13 Feb 2023

Clay is out in Arizona after a spectacular Super Bowl. Many of you have turned your back on the NFL because of its woke agenda, but in the audio link above, Clay makes the counter case for the meritocracy.

Yes, many of you disagree.

The Kansas City Chiefs prevailed (thanks in part to questionable call), but the Philadelphia Eagles played a good game. It was a great, capitalistic spectacle of what makes immigrants like Rihanna come here. We saw this in her halftime show.

By the way, other than the game resulting in more points than Clay thought, he nailed the winner and MVP.

Chris Stapleton’s National Anthem was awesome.

The Eagles coach was in tears before the game during the national anthem. By the way, from his perspective on site, Clay noted that he didn’t see one person kneeling — and the only celebrity to be booed was the leftist LeBron James — and you wonder why President Biden didn’t show up to get booed?

These were some of Clay’s favorite ads.

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Buck’s Honeymoon Looks Like It’s Going Well

13 Feb 2023

A sneak peek at the honeymoon on social media.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Buck Sexton (@bucksexton)

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Tudor Dixon Talks Whitmer, China, UFOs and the Sorry Lions

13 Feb 2023

CLAY: We now are headed up to Michigan where Tudor Dixon, Republican candidate for governor, is. She is doing a podcast soon that will be a part, I believe, of the Clay and Buck Network as a part of iHeart.

And she ran against Gretchen Whitmer in November. Tudor, appreciate you joining us. We wanted to talk to start about what got shot down in Michigan. Do we have any idea — and why don’t we have a fuller picture of what exactly is going on as one of these unidentified objects was shot down, I believe, near the U.P. in Michigan?

DIXON: Yeah. Wouldn’t it be great to have more information? Thank you for having me. By the way, I’m excited to be on. We are, in Michigan, certainly wondering exactly what this was. But the whole country is. I mean, this is the fourth thing that we’re talking about being shot down. These are being called “objects.” The first, of course, was the supposed surveillance spy balloon. But we don’t even have enough information on that. Think about how bizarre this is when you already have Justin Trudeau — who has come out and addressed his nation — Joe Biden is ducking reporters still running into SUVs.

CLAY: It’s so bad for Gretchen Whitmer, by the way, that Jake Tapper at CNN is even doing journalism. I want to play you a cut of Gretchen Whitmer being asked — particularly in light of the fact who knows where this object that was shot down is from and whether it might just be Joe Biden overreacting now, his administration, because they blew it the first time we had the Chinese spy balloon come across the country and now they’re shooting down things the left and right, whether they’re associated with China or not. But I did think this was a good question from Jake Tapper on CNN of Gretchen Whitmer about her embrace of TikTok given what’s going on in the country right now.

WHITMER: Let’s use TikTok on one device that has nothing else on it. It is a communication tool. We don’t do it because it’s fun, although some people think what I put out there can be fun on occasion. My kids disagree. (laughing) I don’t.

TAPPER: I don’t buy that you don’t have fun doing TikToks.

WHITMER: But the point is, we have it on one device that has no access to anything else because so many people get their information that way. Whether we like it or not, that is a tool for disseminating important information, and — and that’s how we use it. But we’re always evaluating because we want to make sure that we are protecting data in Michigan. And that’s why we’re — we’re always evaluating. But at this point, the way we use it is — is secure.

CLAY: We might have shut down something from China over Michigan, and Gretchen Whitmer is fine with using a Chinese-based app to communicate with Michiganders and beyond. What do you think about that, Tudor?

DIXON: This is how little she cares about national security. Chuck Schumer is out there saying there should be a federal ban on TikTok on all government devices. Now, you expect me to believe that Gretchen Whitmer has some secret TikTok burner phone? And she’s like, “Look, the dogs are doing something that Michigan has to see! Grab the burner phone! We’ve got to do a TikTok!” Give me a break.

CLAY: (laughing) This is really funny to argue. Yeah, like, they have a special burner phone that only has TikTok downloaded on it. I mean, who is paying for this phone? Is this like, how many burner phones does Gretchen Whitmer need if she’s using different phones for different apps? This is crazy. I mean, that makes no sense. It’s a great point.

DIXON: “I feel a TikTok comin’ on! You got to get the burner phone.”

CLAY: (laughing)

DIXON: I mean, and the things that she says are so incredibly important are like her leather jacket fashion show. She did that. She dances with her daughters. And I’m meant to believe that there’s constantly a staffer around her that’s like, “Well, let me make sure this is secure. Let me make sure that this is nothing that the Chinese need,” because obviously, this important information that is so critical that she has to communicate on TikTok is important enough for people in Michigan, but it doesn’t matter to the Chinese. It’s not that important. I mean, come on.

This is a vanity issue here. This is somebody who wants to be out there constantly in the public eye, cute and adorable. This is not what a governor does, and it’s certainly not what someone who’s taking national security seriously does. But look, she’s not taking national security seriously. We’ve got an announcement today that… Well, if you look at the media, it will say (summarized) “Ford” is bringing a new battery plant to Michigan. Let me remind you of a couple of weeks ago when Governor Youngkin came out and said, “Listen, Michigan can take our sloppy seconds because I’m not interested in having a Chinese corporation in Virginia,” and Gretchen Whitmer said, “We welcome a Chinese corporation.” It’s not Ford.

It’s a partnership with a Chinese corporation that will buy property in the state of Michigan and have a company. And let me tell you something, China is not saying, “Yes, we are… We are going to welcome American companies to buy property here.” We don’t own property in China, and we shouldn’t allow the Chinese to own property in Michigan. But she has zero economic plan. She stated this from the very beginning. The only economic plan she had the entire campaign was she was going to offer people abortions, and that was truly it. When she was asked her economic plan, that was truly what she came out and said. Now she’s going to play footsie with the Chinese. Beyond footsie, she’s welcoming them into the state and she’s using their funny little social media apps that are sucking information out of state government into China. It’s absolutely horrendous.

CLAY: And I would think I mean, you’ve got your heartbeat on the pulse — the pulse on the heartbeat of Michigan right now. This is crazy to me. When we did Friday’s show, Tudor, I said, “We’ll certainly know what we might have shot down by the time we come on Monday’s show.” Since then, we’ve shut down more things over the weekend — again, including in Michigan. Isn’t it kind of crazy that we don’t have any idea what’s actually going on here?

DIXON: There’s a couple of things that are disturbing here. We ask, “Well, how all of a sudden are all of these things floating above the United States?” and the government says, “Oh, we tweaked the radar a bit.” (laughing) What?

CLAY: Yeah.

DIXON: “Yeah, the radar. But, yeah, this could have been always happening.” What? What? What are these things? And to your point, are they dangerous? Are they something from another country? You know, everybody’s saying, “Well, these are unidentified objects,” and so people are like, “UFOs!” UFOs are obviously not always alien. But, you know, then there’s the rumors that go around that it is self-propelled, it’s just a cylinder floating above the earth.

Yes. We should have some briefing from the government about this because the reality is people are terrified. I mean, there really are people across the country that are like, “What is happening? Are we going to get invaded? Are these things that could be holding bombs? Could they hold bioweapons?” We just went through a pandemic, and this administration came in and said, “Our number one issue is going to be to keep people safe, get people back to normal life.” But they’re not telling us when we have something that appears to be a major safety issue. Why? I mean, if you have jets scrambling to shoot something down, you sure as heck better tell the American people what’s going on.

CLAY: No doubt. And that’s a great point about “tweaking the radar” as well, because that to me means maybe the radar wasn’t working. Like, the whole purpose of the radar is for us to know about potential threats that could be in our airspace, and it’s not crazy to think that when Joe Biden allowed a Chinese spy balloon to enter the United States in Idaho, go all the way across the country and then exit in South Carolina, that China or some other foreign adversary might have thought, “Oh, I wonder what we can get away with now,” and that is now precipitating these issues. But the fact that we don’t know coming up on basically 72 hours since the first object was shot down off the coast of Alaska is kind of crazy.

DIXON: Right. This idea that suddenly they say, “Oh, don’t worry, we’ve tweaked it a bit and now we can see a heck of a lot more, but now we’re shooting things down.” (laughing) What do you mean? Were we using radar from like the fifties and then they realize —

CLAY: Yeah.

DIXON: — “Oh, actually, things have gotten a little bit better. Maybe we enhance this a bit.” So, yeah, I think it’s irresponsible. But this just goes along with the Biden administration. And then you’ve got the press secretary out there stumbling and fumbling over her words because she clearly has not been briefed effectively to tell anybody in the country what’s going on, which I think makes people more uneasy when they see a press secretary — who is so unprepared to answer questions and incapable — falling over her own words. It’s like having Kamala Harris up there giving us a press briefing.

CLAY: (laughing) We’re going to play that audio for people who haven’t heard Karine Jean-Pierre attempt to explain what’s been going on. I’ll play you that for you the next cut. Last question for you, Tudo r– and this is the real hot seat: Will the Detroit Lions win a Super Bowl in your or mine’s lifetime?

DIXON: (laughing) Someone asked me, “Who are you rooting for in the Super Bowl?” And I was like, “You know, the Bears and the Lions have not been in the Super Bowl for a long time. So I’m out again on this one. I’ll let you know.” That was a big question during the campaign, though. People said, “We’ll vote for you if you can make sure that the Lions win the Super Bowl,” and I was like, “Okay. Obviously, I mean, at this point, I just have to give up the vote.”

CLAY: I my wife, obviously, as you know, is from the Detroit area. So the amount of frustration from Lions fans, I didn’t really understand until we got married —

DIXON: (laughing)

CLAY: — and I bet you really understood it when you were on the campaign trail hearing about the Lions all the time. To be fair, they had a good run at the end of their season, but they’ve only won one playoff game — again, sorry Lions fans — since the 1950s. Tudor, we will talk to you again soon. Keep up the good work.

DIXON: Thank you.

CLAY: That is Tudor Dixon.

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Defense Expert Bridge Colby Analyzes China’s Intentions

13 Feb 2023

CLAY: Joined now by Elbridge Colby, who is an expert on China and United States relations, and he also is the co-founder and principal of the Marathon Initiative. He is a former U.S. assistant deputy secretary of defense for strategy and force deployment. His latest book, “The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict.” All right, Bridge, appreciate you taking the time to join us. I know you’ve been on the show before. What in the world do you think is the most likely explanation for what has been going on the last 72 hours as we have now shot down at least three different — still unidentified — flying objects?

COLBY: Great to be with you, Clay. Always a pleasure to be on the show. I mean, I have to say the most likely explanation is that it’s part of the Chinese surveillance program. But I don’t have ironclad confidence that that’s what it is. I mean, it could be other countries. I mean, it’s not beyond the pale that it’s the Russians, maybe even the North Koreans is not out of the realm of possible. It could be private companies. I mean, some of the things they’re talking about… I saw Kirby on the news earlier this morning. You know, he was saying they haven’t even been able to dredge these things up. I mean, a lot of them are really forbidding places and a number of them are quite a bit smaller than the massive Chinese surveillance. So I think the most likely is that it’s part of the same Chinese program, but I don’t think that’s open and shut.

CLAY: When should we know? I’m kind of stunned that we shot this one down off the coast of Alaska 72 hours ago and we still don’t really have an explanation from the administration. Do you think they have a really good idea what this is? Do you think they don’t? Are they being level with us?

COLBY: I don’t know. My impression is that they don’t fully understand it. I mean, I was struck by this sort of, you know, General VanHerck, the NORTHCOM commander. I mean, he said there’s been real gaps in our understanding of what’s going on in our air space over the last few years. So some of this, I think, is, you know, somehow we’ve managed to get an improved sense of what’s going on. I mean, maybe that’s fiddling with the radar. I don’t know what that is. Maybe there’s new technologies.

But some of this is obviously, you know, the Chinese we know have embarked on a massive balloon building program. So I think that’s a reasonable suspicion. But, I mean, you know, we still… I don’t think we’ve still recovered a good chunk, at least, or maybe most of the original balloon a week and a half later and I mean, that’s in that’s in relatively, you know, balmy waters off the coast of the Carolinas rather than rather than off the Yukon or Alaska. So my guess is we’re not entirely sure yet.

CLAY: Chuck Schumer came out and said it was “humiliating” for the Chinese to have their spy balloon shot down over the coast of — off the coast of — South Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean. Do you think it’s viewed that way by the Chinese? How would you assess the relative humiliation factors between China sending a balloon across the whole United States and us shooting it down after it left the Continental United States?

COLBY: Well, I think it’s much worse for us to have a balloon cross our entire country and Canada, too, in our territorial airspace.

CLAY: Yes.

COLBY: And then, you know, after almost a week, then we shoot it down, you know, once…. I mean, and it’s not… One of the things that I assumed was the administration, the government had known about it for the first few days. But it’s not entirely clear to me that we knew about it for the first few days. And this is a you know, this is a very large balloon. I mean, it’s like three football fields, I think, the balloon and, you know, the sort of thing it was holding below it — you know, the surveillance stuff basically — was like the size of a couple of busses. So I think that’s you know, that’s definitely not a win for our side. But, of course, this is this is far from over, this whole dynamic.

CLAY: Does this impact Taiwan in a significant way in your mind? Are we learning anything based on where Chinese-American relations are right now as it pertains to this spy balloon and potentially these additional unidentified flying objects in the event that they are from China in terms of what it might mean for the United States and China squaring off over Taiwan?

COLBY: I think it does tell us something very, very important and interesting and disturbing, which is just the global reach of the People’s Liberation Army. I mean, I think there’s a sense, you know, in a lot of the discussion and the news reporting is really focused on Taiwan. But I think that’s a mistake because the Chinese military has been dramatically increasing its capability over the last few years — and in ways where it can not just surveil, but potentially threaten to attack the American homeland. So this is not simply about Taiwan in some narrow, localized sense.

This is about the Chinese flying a massive balloon — and potentially doing so without or even knowing for several days — over American territorial airspace. And what are they what was it doing? Well, I mean, it was flying over our ICBM base in Montana. It was also apparently flying over or nearby Whiteman Air Force Base, the home of the B-2 bomber, the most — you know, the kind of one of the crown jewels of our military. So, I mean, and this is not alone. I mean, a year plus ago, we had the Chinese testing hypersonic missiles that according to the newspapers, some of our scientists didn’t even know that some of their capabilities or maneuvers were theoretically possible.

So what I think this says is that China is really not just kind of a narrow threat in terms of Asia or the western Pacific or the first island chain or Taiwan. It’s also very much about the ability to threaten the homeland. And I think that also tells us in a more fundamental way, the stakes, the stakes are about something well beyond Asia. I mean, this is a country that can do something in a sense that the Soviets never really tried. I mean, it was a long time ago now. But, I mean, it’s got an economy that’s of equivalent size. It’s flying balloons, It’s flying satellites over us. It has long-range aviation. It now has more nuclear missile launchers than we have, long-range missile launchers. Let’s not get this, let’s not, you know, get mixed up about what this is. This is this is a country with global reach and global ambitions.

CLAY: Let’s talk — last question for you; I was talking about this in the last segment — is there a possibility that this actually reflects weakening of Chairman Xi’s absolute power in China and that this could be a Chinese military-driven plan that he’s not necessarily signing off on, given the timing with Secretary Blinken and a potential state visit or do you think that this is Chairman Xi himself who ordered this Chinese spy balloon? How would you assess the internal palace intrigue, so to speak, of China and what that might tell us about this situation?

COLBY: It’s really hard to know. I mean, I find it hard to believe that there are military elements in the PLA that are willfully bucking Xi Jinping. I mean, he’s really consolidated power over the last few years, and it’s a party army. You know, it’s really a Communist Party army. So, but it is it is puzzling. Why would Xi Jinping do this now? Because the Chinese are on a bit of a charm offensive. I think they’re on their back feet over the economy, Zero-Covid, you know, decreasing, you know, sort of popularity around the world for China. So, it is it is puzzling. I mean, I could see… You know, I think there’s one explanation which could be they’re probing us.

They’re challenging us. I mean, you know, almost like a kind of a negotiating style where you kind of put a dig into the opponent and kind of like humiliate him a little bit to see how he reacts and push him back. That’s a tried-and-true Chinese and communist negotiating tactic. It’s also possible that they didn’t fully appreciate what the response was going to be or fully coordinate how everything was going to go. But I think that’s… You know, it’s hard to know. But I think that, you know, we have to step back and say, “Look, we can’t know what’s going on in Xi Jinping’s head.

“We can’t know what’s going on inside the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Politburo, of the People’s Republic of China.” We have to deal with what the reality is. They’re flying balloons over airspace. They’re continuing an unprecedented military buildup. The leopard has not fundamentally changed its spots. Doesn’t mean we have to be willfully aggressive or provocative, but it means we shouldn’t get distracted and we shouldn’t go for this kind of “compete while cooperating.” We should make sure that we are operating from a position of strength. That is what Xi Jinping, that is what the People’s Republic of China government respects — and from that position of strength, we can take a more moderate position. But first, we have to be tough and hawkish in order to get to that place.

CLAY: Bridge Colby, if you like this conversation, Buck Sexton and Bridge Colby had a long-form discussion. You can find that in the Clay & Buck podcast feed. Appreciate the time, my man.

COLBY: Great to talk to you.

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What’s Really Going on In China?

13 Feb 2023

Clay couldn’t believe that the Senate Democrat leader, Chuck Schumer, would try to spin that China was humiliated after being able to fly a spy balloon all over America without paying any price. As if! The only question is what the internal machinations are for Beijing’s all-powerful leader and his military.

Tweet us your take @ClayAndBuck — or, if you’re a 24/7 VIP, send us an email. Plus, remember to subscribe to the iHeartRadio podcast so you don’t miss a minute.

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The Unsolved Mystery Over America’s Skies

13 Feb 2023

Remember the Unsolved Mysteries theme? This will take all you ’70s and ’80s kids back in time. It was spooky!

The Biden administration is out there giving no information on what they’re shooting down, but acting like aliens are in play. Is the Biden administration is so gun shy about screwing up, they could be overreacting — without telling us if this is China, Russia, or some other adversary testing or defenses.

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Clay Offers to Be KJP for a Day at the White House

13 Feb 2023

Clay wished that just once, he could handle the White House Press Room, ’cause he could do a better job than Karine Jean-Pierre. Just listen to this painful answer. Doesn’t it make you feel unsettled as we have UFO’s — not the alien kind, but certainly unidentified — floating overhead?

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CNN Endorses Biden’s Decision to Snub Fox

13 Feb 2023

Since Fox Corp. had this Super Bowl, they offered up some Fox News anchors for the traditional interview with President Biden. He demanded to do an interview on “Fox Soul,” which even Clay who works there had never heard of like most of us. So Fox agreed, and Biden still dodged it.

This is emblematic of 2023: Someone unwilling to talk to people that they think don’t support them, but leftists were all for it.

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The Sports Media Isn’t Sports

13 Feb 2023

How much of your hate for sports comes from the people who cover sports? USA Today “race and inequality in sports” editor — what? — calls it the “most black Super Bowl” ever. Why does that matter?

Clay reminds us that the sports media is leftist, but the game itself doesn’t seek “diversity and inclusion,” because only the best can compete. A team that matched the racial breakdown of the country wouldn’t win a single game, but the team photo sure would look good!

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Rupert and Elon Sets Left-Wing Twitter Ablaze

13 Feb 2023

Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch are on the left’s political enemies list. Therefore, when cameras showed them sitting together at the Super Bowl, Twitter exploded.

Don Lemon — who was demoted from prime time at CNN to a show in the wee hours of the morning that nobody watches — tried to get attention off the shot, too.

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