Hour 3 - Gov't Shutdown Realities
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
iHeartPodcasts
4.5 • 11.4K Ratings
🗓️ 23 October 2025
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hour 3 of The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show delivers a dynamic mix of politics, culture, and sharp commentary. The hour kicks off with the latest on the government shutdown, now stretching into weeks, as Clay and Buck dissect explosive remarks from Democratic House Whip Katherine Clark, who admitted the shutdown is being used as “leverage.” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson fires back, accusing Democrats of holding American families hostage to push for $200 billion in Obamacare subsidies and benefits for illegal immigrants. The hosts argue this political brinkmanship is driven by internal Democratic fears—Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries worried about primary challenges from the far-left, especially after Mamdani’s surprise victory in the New York City mayoral primary, which shook the party establishment.
The conversation pivots to the New York City mayor’s race, analyzing the fiery second debate featuring Curtis Sliwa, Andrew Cuomo, and Mamdani. Clay praises Sliwa’s populist message but warns that staying in the race could guarantee a Mamdani win. They highlight Cuomo and Sliwa pressing Mamdani on housing ballot initiatives, exposing his evasiveness and lack of clear policy positions. Clay brands Momani as a “cipher”—a social media-savvy candidate with no substantive record—contrasting him with Cuomo’s long political history.
Listeners weigh in with passionate talkbacks, challenging Clay’s stance on Sliwa dropping out and sparking a spirited debate on political strategy versus principle. The hour then shifts to cultural commentary, starting with a lighthearted discussion on 1980s music icons, from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and “Billie Jean” to Bon Jovi classics, revealing Clay’s surprising lack of music nostalgia compared to Buck’s picks.
Next, the show tackles the uproar over Trump’s privately funded White House ballroom project, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt assuring transparency and zero taxpayer cost. Clay and Buck defend the addition as a tasteful upgrade, contrasting Trump’s vision with the controversial design of the Obama Presidential Library, which they blast as “one of the ugliest buildings ever,” sparking a broader critique of modern architecture and America’s trend toward uninspiring civic design.
The hour closes with a cultural hot take: Buck rails against the fashion trend of baggy jeans for women, urging listeners to reject styles that sacrifice beauty for conformity. Clay teases a fun Friday segment featuring his own high school photos, promising laughs and nostalgia.
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
For the latest updates from Clay & Buck, visit our website https://www.clayandbuck.com/
Connect with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton:
FB - https://www.facebook.com/ClayandBuck/
IG - https://www.instagram.com/clayandbuck/
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck
Rumble - https://rumble.com/c/ClayandBuck
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@clayandbuck
Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:04.6 | Third hour of Play and Buck, flying by today, everybody. |
| 0:08.6 | Thank you for being here with us. |
| 0:10.0 | We always appreciate getting to hang out with all of you across this great land of ours. |
| 0:15.0 | We had just in the last hour, we pulled the highlight from our friend Caroline Levitt, the White House Press Secretary, |
| 0:22.5 | addressing a whole range of issues, including the government shut down, the White House |
| 0:28.8 | Ballroom Building, of the building of the Ballroom Building, we're the Ballroom Building. |
| 0:35.1 | And then we've also got for you the New York City mayor's race. There was a debate, a second mayoral debate last night. Team, let me know. We've asked Mr. Slee would have come on. Do we have a day yet for when he's going to come on and talk and explain to everybody? Not yet. All right. It's a little busy. There's not a lot of days left to point out. It's a big radio show, though. It's a big radio show. There's a lot of people listening. I just putting that out there. So maybe be good for him to come and talk to us for a few minutes. Anyway, that's fine, but we have invited him. We invited Cuomo as well. We'll see if he wants to join. Probably not. But we're trying. We're putting out the ask. In the meantime, Clay, Democratic Housewhip, Catherine Clark. She is now famous. This goes to the shutdown issue. So we'll come back to New York in a minute. We've got a whole country we've got to talk about as well. |
| 1:35.4 | This shutdown is starting to feel like it's going to have some nasty consequences for some people. |
| 1:37.1 | I mean, there's going to be some paychecks missed. |
| 1:43.7 | I understand people will be getting back pay, but, you know, it's easy to say when you're not living paycheck to paycheck. |
| 2:00.9 | I get it. There's stress there. There's stress there. Here is the Democrat House whip, though, Catherine Clark, who is saying, who said, this was an interview in the Chad Pergram program. Who is that? Do we know who that is? I know he's a Fox guy, right? |
| 2:03.2 | Oh, he's a Fox guy. |
| 2:05.4 | Wow, they said this to a Fox guy? |
| 2:07.5 | Yeah, okay. |
| 2:08.3 | Interesting. |
| 2:11.8 | Here she is interview with Chad Pergroom, and here is how it went. |
| 2:12.3 | Play 11. |
| 2:20.3 | I mean, showdowns are terrible, and of course, there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have. |
| 2:30.2 | I don't think that's what you want to say out loud here. And Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, certainly jumped on this one. |
| 2:36.5 | Play cut 12. |
| 2:39.9 | The second highest ranked House Democrat in leadership, whip Catherine Clark, admitted. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.