Hour 3 - Were You Paddled in School?
Hour 3 of The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show opens with 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.” The Hour 3 DOGE interview expands into the larger challenge of America’s roughly $40 trillion national debt, growing federal budgets and rapidly increasing interest costs. Clay, Buck and Hassen debate whether Washington has a revenue problem or a spending problem and whether economic growth alone can prevent the debt from becoming unsustainable. Hassen argues that government needs more entrepreneurs, engineers, lawyers and private-sector leaders willing to spend one or two years in public service, calling for an elite, bipartisan effort that continues across presidential administrations. He also discusses fraud in federal programs, federal grants flowing through state governments, Medicaid and Social Security, and praises efforts to trace where taxpayer dollars ultimately go. His proposed philosophy is to not merely “drain the swamp” but to “flood it with talent.” He also describes working late into the night with Elon Musk, discusses DOGE engineers facing intense public criticism and threats, and praises their efforts to modernize antiquated federal technology systems. Hassen also identifies Congress as a major obstacle to federal spending reductions, recounting how Interior sought a substantial budget reduction only to encounter congressional resistance. He discusses a multibillion-dollar rescission package while arguing that substantially more spending restraint is necessary. The conversation examines the sheer complexity of the federal bureaucracy, the difficulty of determining who is accountable for individual expenditures and the outdated IT infrastructure within government agencies. Hassen nevertheless says he believes the national debt can ultimately be addressed if Washington commits enough time and capable people to the task. The interview concludes on a lighter note as Hassen, who has known Buck since childhood, recalls their school days, academic competition and dodgeball games before discussing his new book and his goal of presenting an insider’s account of DOGE. Hour 3 then pivots to President Donald Trump, CNN, MSNBC and Politico, with Clay and Buck discussing Trump’s decision to exclude certain news organizations from covering some of his events. Clay predicts the dispute could ultimately produce a court fight over press access. The hosts use the controversy to examine the changing American media landscape, arguing that X, formerly Twitter, has expanded the marketplace of political ideas while the Washington Post, CNN and CBS News have begun providing a broader range of viewpoints than in previous election cycles. Clay argues that these changes could have major consequences for the 2028 presidential election and political media narratives, particularly if CNN becomes less ideologically predictable. Buck notes CNN’s increasing willingness to feature pro-Trump commentators and contrasts that with what he characterizes as the network’s approach during earlier stages of the Trump era. Clay and Buck then play comments from President Trump explaining his criticism of CNN and MSNBC, his complaints about persistently negative coverage and his contention that news organizations have an obligation to be fair. Trump also points to his administration’s economic and foreign-policy record while defending decisions restricting access for outlets he considers unfair. The hosts discuss whether presidents and other government officials inevitably make subjective choices about which journalists receive access and note that, although the controversy has generated significant concern within the media industry, they believe it has attracted comparatively little attention from the broader public. A major portion of Hour 3 of Clay and Buck returns to public education, parental involvement, classroom discipline and school culture. Responding to listener feedback, 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. The education conversation also returns to the significance of peer groups, private schools and family culture. Clay argues that many parents who can afford private education are purchasing not merely classroom instruction but access to a peer environment built around stronger academic and behavioral expectations. He invokes former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz to make the larger point that parents have a limited window to establish values before teenagers become increasingly influenced by their friends. Clay and Buck suggest that the behavior and expectations of classmates can have major consequences for an individual child’s educational experience, reinforcing their wider theme that culture within schools cannot simply be repaired by increasing budgets. Sports also enters Hour 3 when Clay delivers disappointing news for New York Giants fans about quarterback Jaxson Dart, saying reports indicate the knee injury Dart suffered against Los Angeles could potentially end his season. Because Dart had previously introduced President Trump at a rally, Clay predicts that some political opponents online will celebrate his injury, tying sports back into the program’s recurring examination of political polarization and social-media behavior. Buck jokes that Clay has effectively “paddled” Giants fans across the New York tri-state area with the news. Finally, Hour 3 of The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show closes with a brief look toward the 2026 midterm elections. Clay reports that Kamala Harris has arrived in Michigan to campaign alongside Abdul El-Sayed and says he hopes her return to a public campaign setting will generate new audio and provide another indicator of Democratic messaging heading into November. The program ends with additional listener memories about school paddling and discipline, bringing the hour full circle from the enormous institutional challenge of controlling federal spending to the equally spirited debate over controlling behavior in American classrooms. 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