1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,560 Speaker 1: Welcome in now number two Thanksgiving Eve edition Clay Travis 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: Buck Sexton show Buck is already with his family. He'll 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: be back with me on Monday on this program. I 4 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: hope that all of you who are out and about 5 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:19,040 Speaker 1: traveling are managing to do so safely. I flag this 6 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:23,800 Speaker 1: in the morning. TSA estimates it'll screen around thirty million 7 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:29,640 Speaker 1: passengers over the Thanksgiving holiday, a record fifty five point 8 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: four million people expected to travel fifty miles or more 9 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: between tomorrow and Sunday. And let's see, the busiest day 10 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:45,640 Speaker 1: of all expected to be today and then Sunday, and 11 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: so many of you, like me, are going to be 12 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:49,839 Speaker 1: on the road, like Buck, and we hope that all 13 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:52,159 Speaker 1: of you will stay safe and manage to reach your 14 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:55,279 Speaker 1: family and have a fabulous time tomorrow and throughout the 15 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: holiday weekend. And we also know that many of you 16 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: are going to be out there work because you work 17 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: on the holiday. Certainly I have done that in the past, 18 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:05,319 Speaker 1: and I know many of you will be doing so 19 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:09,400 Speaker 1: as well. We thank you for working, particularly truck drivers 20 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: who are out there every day making sure that our 21 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: country functions military first responders. Everybody in those communities, many 22 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 1: of whom are listening to us right now. There will 23 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: be a best of show tomorrow, I promise. We have 24 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: had a few decent segments so far this year. And 25 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 1: then on Friday, our friend Tutor Dixon, who is a 26 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,240 Speaker 1: part of the Clay Travis Buck Sexton podcast network, will 27 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 1: be in also mentioned this. One of the great benefits 28 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 1: of both Buck and I being able to do the 29 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: show is I believe there's only one week all year 30 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,199 Speaker 1: where you're not gonna hear from one or the other 31 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: of us. That's unprecedented to my knowledge, on any national 32 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: radio show anywhere. The only week we're out is Christmas Week. 33 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 1: We haven't between the two of us missed a day 34 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 1: since July fourth. Now, I'm not claiming this is a 35 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: super difficult job, but we do take it very seriously 36 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: and we want to be with you every single day 37 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: because we think the things that we are talking about 38 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:06,559 Speaker 1: are very important. And I want to take a moment 39 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: here to talk about Thanksgiving, because I know Rush did 40 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: this often on his show, and I also think a 41 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,400 Speaker 1: lot of times Thanksgiving gets lost now in the shuffle 42 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: between Halloween, which every year seems to get bigger and bigger, 43 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 1: and certainly the Christmas and New Year's Holiday, and as 44 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: a result, Thanksgiving sometimes gets lost. So I just want 45 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: to kind of talk about this for a moment wherever 46 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: you live, If you are fortunate enough to be an American, 47 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: I hope that on Thanksgiving you will take a moment 48 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 1: and just contemplate what had to happen for you to 49 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: have the good fortune to have either been born in 50 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:55,520 Speaker 1: America or to have become an American. But in particular 51 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:58,639 Speaker 1: for those of us who were born here. You ever 52 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: read history surrounding Thanksgiving, how many of you have really 53 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: thought about this. I heard this and I couldn't get 54 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:11,840 Speaker 1: it out of my mind, and it's still extraordinary to me. 55 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: When the pilgrims arrived here, a squirrel on a tree 56 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:26,240 Speaker 1: could have walked from the East Coast all the way 57 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: to the West coast, from one tree to another. You 58 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: want to talk about how wild this land was, just 59 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: think about that for a moment. There were so many 60 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: trees that a squirrel. I've read this, and I believe 61 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 1: it to be true. A squirrel could have been on 62 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: the East Coast and could have walked across the entire 63 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: United States from tree to tree. And I don't think 64 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: we talk enough about the ships that these people got 65 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: on to come here. I want you to think about 66 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: it for a minute. I just finished reading a great 67 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: book about Magellan. These ships were tiny, and whatever risks 68 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:23,200 Speaker 1: you are taking in your life, I want you to 69 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:27,839 Speaker 1: think about what it would have been like to get 70 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: on a ship in Europe and make the decision that 71 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 1: you were going to leave behind everyone that you had 72 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: ever known and every land that you had ever known, 73 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 1: and probably that you would never see those people for 74 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: the rest of your life, and that there was a 75 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:50,919 Speaker 1: tremendous risk that something awful might happen to you on 76 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: that trip to the United States. And by the way, 77 00:04:56,120 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: this is true no matter what your ethnicity is. As 78 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: Thomas Saul has pointed out in many of his books, 79 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: while This Country focuses on the legacy of slavery almost 80 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,599 Speaker 1: to the exclusion of everything else that happens historically, every 81 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: single person who is of African descent that lives in 82 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: the United States today is far better off than they 83 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:22,960 Speaker 1: would have been if they had never come to the 84 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: United States at all. It's a stat that doesn't get 85 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: a lot of attention. You know, the poorest Americans, the 86 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:35,839 Speaker 1: absolute poorest people in the United States of America today 87 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: would be in the twenty percent wealthiest if they lived 88 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: in India right now. Our poor people, even if you 89 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: feel like you don't have a lot to be thankful for, 90 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: our poor people would be the wealthiest people in some 91 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 1: of the biggest countries in the world. Our poorest person 92 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,160 Speaker 1: would be in the top twenty percent wealthiest in all 93 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:09,039 Speaker 1: of India. Think about the risk that was involved in 94 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:13,159 Speaker 1: making the decision to come to this new land, a 95 00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: place that was truly wild, sparsely inhabited, and where you 96 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:25,039 Speaker 1: were likely to never see any of your friends and 97 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 1: family ever again, if you were fortunate enough to make 98 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,920 Speaker 1: it on the perilous journey to these shores. One of 99 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: the things that I worry about the most as I 100 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: think now, as I've moved into middle age and I've 101 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: now got three kids of my own, I'm thinking about 102 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:47,360 Speaker 1: the world as it may exist after I'm gone, presuming 103 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: I've got a couple of generations left. I'd like to think, 104 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:58,599 Speaker 1: what are we teaching our kids and how much safety 105 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:03,720 Speaker 1: ism and lack of risk taking are we trying to 106 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: embed in their lives. One of the things that troubles 107 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: me the most about young people today is very much 108 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: they're coddled and they lack the ability to take risk. 109 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 1: This is a country of boundless opportunity because of the 110 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: risk takers, because of the people who've been willing to 111 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: put their lives on the line. Study American history as 112 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:41,840 Speaker 1: we have this Thanksgiving holiday and look at all the 113 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: things that the people who came before you were willing 114 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: to risk, and ask yourself what you're risking. It seems 115 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 1: to me that America today has a national epidemic of cawariss. 116 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 1: Your ancestors were willing to risk their lives to come 117 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 1: to this country, and a lot of you and a 118 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: lot of your grandkids aren't even willing to post what 119 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:19,080 Speaker 1: they actually think on social media. Worse than that, they 120 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: call people they disagree with Nazis. We have moved, in 121 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 1: the space of a few generations, from a country that 122 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: fought actual Nazis to a place where the great grandchildren 123 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:39,800 Speaker 1: of the people who killed and beat and preserve freedom 124 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 1: for the world by defeating the Nazis now think that 125 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: they are heroic and courageous because they call people they 126 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:49,560 Speaker 1: disagree with Nazis. Just played it for you. You're questioning it. 127 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:52,959 Speaker 1: Claire mccaskell on MSNBC. You see it every day happen. 128 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:55,840 Speaker 1: Even in the wake of October seventh, when we had 129 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: the most deadly day in the history of the Jewish 130 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:04,240 Speaker 1: peace people since the Holocaust, people are still running around 131 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:09,200 Speaker 1: calling Trump a Nazi. And I tie all this together 132 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving. Yes, we have a tremendous amount to be 133 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 1: thankful for. But what are you conserving by taking real 134 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:25,080 Speaker 1: risks for your country? What are you putting on the 135 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: line on a daily basis, What are you actually risking 136 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: compared to the people who made this country great. It's 137 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:41,800 Speaker 1: something that I think we need to have a real 138 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:45,040 Speaker 1: national discussion about, and I hope it's something that you 139 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: will think about when you sit down to celebrate Thanksgiving 140 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: with your friends and family and recognize the immense and 141 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: bountiful gratitude that we all should share for being Americans. 142 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:01,320 Speaker 1: How much of that is part of our national discourse 143 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:06,600 Speaker 1: right now. I'm not super old. I like to think 144 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: I'm not super old. I'm middle aged now, I'm forty four. 145 00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:13,960 Speaker 1: I don't remember in the nineteen seventies and the nineteen 146 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:17,080 Speaker 1: eighties and the nineteen nineties and the two thousands. I 147 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:23,480 Speaker 1: don't remember people hating America. I don't think it existed 148 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: in my life. And a lot of people now are 149 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:29,680 Speaker 1: focused on what's going on on college campuses. But I 150 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:35,080 Speaker 1: think that's a failure of the adults. We've allowed kids 151 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:40,080 Speaker 1: to be so coddled that they don't even understand what 152 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: evil is. Been thinking about this a lot, and I 153 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 1: think this is important conversation to have with so many 154 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:52,360 Speaker 1: of your families for Thanksgiving. Kids only know what they 155 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 1: are taught. If you have convinced the generation of kids 156 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,679 Speaker 1: that people who have different opinions than them are evil, 157 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:04,600 Speaker 1: what scares me is not only are they coddled in 158 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:08,920 Speaker 1: a verse to risk, they aren't able to see actual 159 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:15,120 Speaker 1: evil when it truly exists. I can't think of anything 160 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 1: that has occurred that is more evil than October seventh 161 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:29,440 Speaker 1: in recent history. Jewish people, just like in the nineteen thirties, 162 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 1: were murdered explicitly for being Jewish, and many people cheered it, 163 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:42,640 Speaker 1: and a lot of people on college campuses did. What 164 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: does it say about us that our most highly educated 165 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 1: in terms of schooling are the least able to recognize 166 00:11:51,360 --> 00:12:02,280 Speaker 1: true evil. I think it's ominous because remember, without people 167 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:09,080 Speaker 1: willing to speak the truth and without an absence of cowardice, 168 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:15,200 Speaker 1: many people are sheep. If you look at what happened 169 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:19,760 Speaker 1: with COVID, how many people just went along rather than 170 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:25,040 Speaker 1: get acknowledged for not being willing to go along. This 171 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: is the country, more so than any other, filled with 172 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 1: the DNA of people who said, I'm not just going 173 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 1: to go along. I'm going to take a risk. I'm 174 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:39,680 Speaker 1: going to get on that ship, I'm going to get 175 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:42,880 Speaker 1: on that horse, I'm going to get in that covered wagon. 176 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:46,360 Speaker 1: I'm going to travel across the horizon to something better, 177 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:52,720 Speaker 1: something that I can't even see. This entire country was 178 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:58,679 Speaker 1: founded on the leap of faith, on the idea that 179 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,640 Speaker 1: tomorrow could be better, on the willingness to take that risk, 180 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:08,360 Speaker 1: on the incredible hopes, dreams, and aspirations upon which this 181 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:14,120 Speaker 1: country was founded. What does it say on this Thanksgiving 182 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:16,680 Speaker 1: when we all have an immense amount to be thankful 183 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,600 Speaker 1: for that some of the youngest and best educated in 184 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:25,199 Speaker 1: this country are unable to recognize both the history of 185 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:28,079 Speaker 1: this country, which is proud and upstanding and greater than 186 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:30,760 Speaker 1: I believe truly the history of any country in the 187 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 1: history of the world. They believe, actually the legacy of 188 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:40,319 Speaker 1: America is one that is awful and reprehensible and evil, 189 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 1: and as a result, they're willing to support actual evil. 190 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:52,120 Speaker 1: It's our fault. We have coddled their minds to such 191 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 1: an extent that we have convinced them that words are 192 00:13:56,400 --> 00:14:01,839 Speaker 1: violence and microaggressions are unacceptable, and as a result, their 193 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:06,880 Speaker 1: brains are stilted, unchallenged, and unable to confront the reality 194 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 1: of evil. So I hope that all of you out 195 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,640 Speaker 1: there will be willing to have this conversation with your 196 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 1: kids and grandkids. And it may get a little uncomfortable. I 197 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 1: don't care. It's past time for being nice. At some point, 198 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: you have to confront evil and be willing to have 199 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:29,960 Speaker 1: conversations with people who can't see it. Maybe they get 200 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: a little bit upset with you. Maybe they say, mom, dad, grandma, 201 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: and grandpa, you don't know what you're talking about. I 202 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:38,320 Speaker 1: would submit that if you have lived in this country 203 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: very long at all, you know a lot more about 204 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: what you're talking about than anybody who's a college age 205 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 1: kid or a high school kid that's trying to defend 206 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 1: Hamas's murder of over a thousand innocent Jewish people based 207 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:54,880 Speaker 1: entirely on their faith. So I hope those are conversations 208 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 1: that you'll have, but I hope you'll contextualize them in 209 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: the larger historical resonance of what is I think the 210 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:06,240 Speaker 1: fabric of the greatest country that's ever existed in the 211 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,720 Speaker 1: history of the world, and one that must continue to 212 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:16,480 Speaker 1: embrace risk taking, to embrace actual courage and physical valor, 213 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,000 Speaker 1: because I don't know that we've ever valued it less 214 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:22,320 Speaker 1: than I'm seeing valued right now.