BUCK: Biden spoke and now this is what I’ve been worried about. The FDA approval is turning into, “Well, now we’re really gonna go for mandates.”
BIDEN: They looked at the mountains-of-clinical data, clinical trial data and the safety and efficiency data and concluded without question the vaccine was safe and effective for emergency use in December. That same thing we’ve got those shots in arms at the time, 350 million in the United States and billions across the world that kept poring over this data. The FDA approval is the gold standard. And as I just said, now it has been granted. Those who have been waiting for full approval should go get your shot now. The vaccination is free, it’s easy, it’s safe, and it’s effective.
BUCK: Clay, this is what we’re facing.
CLAY: To your point, Buck, look at the data, all right? Let’s look at the data: 73% now of people who are 18 and up have gotten the vaccine, 73%. Of the 65 and up, 91%. We were told — and this goes to, I think, the failure of expectations. We were told, Buck, when 70% of people had the vaccine, adults, that everybody would be able to go back to normal. Are we normal right now, Buck? Do you feel like we’re gonna be normal anytime soon?
BUCK: Oh, we’re never gonna be normal, Clay.
CLAY: That’s the whole point.
BUCK: It’s never gonna be normal. That’s where this… Look, that’s always the dream. The dream, climate change catastrophism. Why do people like this so much the Democrat Party? ‘Cause the dream is you have a perpetual narrative of crisis that allows for the trampling of individual rights, the mobilization of collectivism, and Democrats’ what they would think is benevolent authoritarianism, effectively.
Covid gives them all of that. And unlike climate change, there actually are, there have been a lot of people who have died from it. So they’re not letting this thing go. This is how they want the world to be. You and I are fighting for a world that they think they’ve defeated and is never coming back. They won’t say that now. But they also wouldn’t say eight months ago that they were gonna be mandating vaccines. The big take-away we have from what Biden has been saying here is that, Clay, he wants the private sector corporations to all mandate it.
CLAY: Yes.
BUCK: What’s gonna be…? I understand there are people in red states now are saying, “Oh, all right. I’m not gonna bend the knee. Okay, get the shot or you lose your job.” Some people will say, “I’m gonna go find another job or whatever.” But, remember, if it’s the state or if it’s a federal or if it’s across the board in your state and all the private sector businesses are basically doing it, now you’re just looking at unemployment.
CLAY: Yeah, and here’s my big flaw with this in general. (laughs) It doesn’t solve covid, right? And that’s what is so infuriating to me about all of these updates and everything that Joe Biden is going to say. Like I said, 73% of adults now 18 and up have gotten the vaccine; 91% of 65 and up. If we get those up… Let’s say we get it to 85 or 90% or whatever that number is.
The numbers out of Israel where they are about to set a new all-time high in covid cases, reflect that even if we get it to 85 or 90% like Israel is, this thing isn’t going away! So what is frustrating to me on so many different levels is, the Biden administration refuses to look at what the data is showing, whether it’s on masks in school kids or whether it’s on…
They keep saying, “Oh, we have a pandemic of the unvaccinated.” No, we don’t! The vaccines are going to allow many breakthrough cases. Look at what’s going on in Israel right now, and it’s as if we won’t look at the data and be honest with the American public, which is, “Covid’s not going away. It’s gonna be here for the rest of our lives and many people are going to continue to die of it forever.” It’s the flu. It’s endemic, Buck. Why can’t the president say that?
BUCK: Because you know what that would be? Not only is it a control issue but then there’s also the, “Hold on a second. If we actually just have to learn to live with this, then the reality is we basically should have learned to live with this 18 months ago, within a couple of months certainly of the initial outbreak.”
CLAY: Yes.
BUCK: I still say two weeks, yeah. It’s very hard to say hospital capacity given the numbers we were seeing out of Italy. That was a tough argument to win to say, “We can’t even do that.” But the moment it went after 60 days we should have seen this for what it is. Anything with a knowledge of history what happened with the Spanish influenza and what worked and didn’t work and how we were able or not able to stop it, this should have known and dragged into the madness. I just saw this as we were talking, by the way, Clay. My friend Saagar Enjeti who took over for me at Hill TV when I came up here to —
CLAY: The Hill, by the way, just sold.
BUCK: The Hill just sold. That’s right. I think a $140 million?
CLAY: Yeah, $140 million, something like that.
BUCK: Yeah. Maybe I should have hung on a little bit longer, you know?
CLAY: Yeah, maybe you should have. (laughing)
BUCK: Anyway. But I left to go do radio. I think the radio thing’s worked out pretty well, though.
CLAY: I think you’re doing pretty well.
“My position on removing pandemic restrictions remains the same.” But here’s a young guy, early vaccinator, vaccinated, and he’s sick. He says he doesn’t feel good, and he got vaccinated ’cause you know what? His vaccine probably reached the point of basic failure now.
CLAY: Yeah. Yeah, and I think we’re gonna run into this in sports is gonna be a window into this. The Titans coach, Mike Vrabel, just announced he’s vaccinated. He’s also tested positive. There’s gonna be so many of these sports figures that get so much attention Jon Rahm, golfer, had covid (laughs) like eight times, feel like it’s crazy.
BUCK: I gotta tell you right now, also, if somebody told me… I know we’ve gotta come back here in a second. But, Clay, for a loved one at mine who is at risk, if they said, “All things being equal would you rather have this person already beaten covid and have natural immunity –”
CLAY: Yes.
BUCK: “– or get not only the Pfizer vaccine, but to have it on schedule every year ad infinitum until end of time,” no question I would say, “I’d rather have a loved one who has natural immunity built in at this point, just to give a sense of where the debate has gone. rather have this person already beaten covid and have natural immunity –”
CLAY: Yes.
BUCK: I’d rather have that situation personally.
Clay used his last hour on the air in 2024 to reflect on his trip…
What were the worst media takes of 2024? Watch Clay pick his.
Clay broadcast from Israel. Take a look at the photos and videos he has shared…
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The future WH press secretary covers it all.