Clay Travis, President Donald Trump, the last time we talked, Georgia-Alabama game, you remember that one?
You're right. I do.
That was pretty good. You've been to the Super Bowl, you've been to the World Cup, you're basically living the NBA Finals, every sports fan's dream. It's the biggest crowd, I think, you've probably ever seen, over 100,000.
Yeah.
What is Neyland Stadium like and what makes college sports so spectacular?
Well, it's one of the very biggest, and, uh, I guess they say the second largest. I don't know what that means exactly.
[Laughs]
But it's a lot of people out there and a lot of friendly people. Uh, we love this state. We love Texas. They're two competitive teams. Looks like a pretty good game so far.
So far so good. Uh, Protect College Sports.
Yeah.
It's a huge focus of yours. You've got 75 or so Senate votes --
Yeah.
-- that are supposed to happen on Monday or Tuesday. Why does that matter? Why do you think it's bipartisan? And are you optimistic the House is gonna be able to come back in session and also pass it?
I think they are. Mike Johnson's fantastic. And we actually had 78 votes, if you can believe it. That's really bipartisanship for the first time in a while.
No doubt.
And I mean, the alternative just is no good. You had people leaving the NFL to play and --
Yeah.
-- uh, the colleges could never have afforded it and nobody could afford it. It was gonna be a terrible thing. I think we -- we've done a great job in putting it together. We have to get it voted on. Uh, and we're counting on the House and I think the House will come through too.
You are a monster sports fan in general. You watched Peyton Manning play.
Sure.
You've watched Eli Manning play. What do you think of Arch so far? What do you think of his prognosis? Do you think he's gonna be a good quarterback in the NFL?
Well, he's already looking really good and he's got -- I know the brothers and they're fantastic, they're fantastic people and great quarterbacks and great football players. And, uh, he's got great genetics --
Yeah.
-- I would say [Laughs]
Yes.
If you're gonna go for genetics, you can't do much better. So, and he's playing pretty well today.
Um, Neyland Stadium. My grandfather played for General Neyland back in the day.
Oh. [Inaudible]
He was a great war hero during World War II. Um, what is it like for you as not only commander in chief, but also the sports fan in chief to be able to go around to all these events?
Well, I love it. I -- they treat me so well that today with, you know, the applause, everything, everybody. I don't think I have any enemy --
Air Force One, by the way, flying over. Pretty cool, huh?
Pretty cool. It was pretty good. And he flew very low. In fact, I said, "That's pretty low."
[Laughs]
But, uh, I love it. I l- -- I love doing it. I think it's important to do it. There's just great camaraderie. Tomorrow I'm going, you know, I was named the chairman or the honorary chairman of the, uh, Presidents Cup in golf.
Yeah.
And I'm going to Chicago, the Chicago area, and it'll be the final day of the Presidents Cup, and I'm -- that's gonna be very exciting. So to be named the honorary chairman was very nice.
You're a monster baseball fan too. Uh, there's dangers of potentially a lockout. I know you've --
Yeah.
-- played and loved baseball for a long time. Do you think there's a role for the president to try to broker peace between owners, players? Is there something you can do, because baseball's on a role, to help make sure that we don't have another missed World Series, prolonged, uh, work stoppage.
Yeah. Well, I would do it if it was appropriate. Uh, I would certainly do it if I could. I mean, I settled eight wars.
Yeah.
And I had nothing to do with most of them.
Yeah.
I mean, India-Pakistan, l- -- lots of very good wars. I'm working on Russia-Ukraine, that would -- that's turned out to be the toughest of all. There's a lot of hatred there between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. Uh, yeah, baseball looks like it could have a strike. And if it does, that would be too bad.
There's tremendous, uh, if you look at sports, I've watched sports all my life, it seems that the baseball players and the owners, uh, do least well.
Yeah.
Although I think the plays- -- players have done well, but there always seems to be -- they don't work it out the same way as other, other sports. So if I could help, I'd love to help.
You were in Dallas, and you and I talked about this recently. You said, "What in the world were the Mavericks thinking when they traded Luka?" Uh, I know that you are a diehard sports fan. We had a conversation, but worst trades of all time. Where would you put Luka? I know you got Babe Ruth. Uh, I know you're a friend of Herschel Walker's, but I think that has to be in the race.
Oh, yeah.
Where -- how would you break him down?
Well, it's broken down. Babe Ruth will probably always be the worst trade in the history of sports. Babe Ruth was a 19-year-old pitcher who led the league in home runs. [Laughs] So they, somebody said, "You know, let's try making him a regular player."
Yeah.
So I think the Babe will go down as the all-time worst trade in history. I don't think, I don't care what happens with anybody else, right? Uh, he was traded for a 36-year-old third baseman who was out of baseball in two months and $100,000. Now, $100,000 then was like probably $10 million now. I don't know what it was, but, uh, it was still one of the worst trades ever.
The other one was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Oh, yeah.
Uh, it was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from Milwaukee for the entire Los Angeles Lakers team. It was a bad trade.
I mean, the Dallas Cowboys, I know you and Jerry Jones have a good relationship, they built the entire dynasty after they traded Herschel, who I know is a good friend of yours too.
Herschel is great and a great guy, but I guess it was Minnesota wanted him so badly and they traded 12 players plus the No. 1 draft choice. Okay. Do you know who the No. 1 draft choice was?
I don't.
Emmitt Smith.
Oh, well, they had Emmitt, they got Troy Aikman, they ran through everything. You see, you're on the --
So think of it, 12 players plus the No. 1 choice, and the No. 1 choice was Emmitt Smith, who was never injured, never hurt.
All-time leading rusher in the NFL to this day.
Yeah, he's not a bad choice.
Let me ask you this. I'm still fired up because they won't let you go into Chicago and clean it up. I think one of the stories that you are getting no credit for, murders have collapsed in, uh, in Washington, D.C. We're here in the state of Tennessee --
And the country, actually.
Yeah, in the whole country. We're here in the state of Tennessee.
Mm-hmm.
Memphis is safer now because they let you come in. It's the lowest murder rate that's ever existed in the history of the United States right now, coming down around 20% again. Why do you not get credit for it? And what could you do if the governor of Illinois and also if the mayor of Chicago came and said, "Let's clean this place up"?
Well, we don't get credit because credit is, uh, bad for them. And, you know, the -- the fake news is just terrible. It's amazing. But, uh, if you look at Washington, D.C., you're there a lot and it's, it's gone down. Crime is down 87%.
Yeah.
Murders are, you know, rarely happen. You used to have two, three murders a week.
That's right.
It's, I hate to even say it, but now it's a really safe city. It's economically, it's, you know, the restaurants were all closed. Every, it was a mess. And now it's one of the hottest places. Everyone, you can't even get into a restaurant and they can't, restaurateurs, they were all leaving and now you can't get a restaurant.
If you wanna open a restaurant, you can't. It's an amazing thing. But Memphis, uh, crime is down almost 80%.
It's amazing.
And, uh, I'll give you another one: Louisiana. Uh, if you, uh, go into Louisiana, the governor there, Jeff Landry's a great guy, called me. New Orleans was in terrible shape. The crime was the worst they've ever had. And I sent in my people. Let's call them people.
Yeah.
They're very good people.
Yep.
They're great people. And, uh, the National Guard and others. And the crime, Jeff will tell you, was down 80%, and they just had the Mardi Gras, and it was the safest Mardi Gras they've ever had. But to me, the, the best one of all of is D.C., because crime is almost non-existent in Washington, D.C. now. And when I got there, it was a killing field.
It was horrible.
I know the toughest thing about being president and going to games is you don't get to watch them as much as you did before you were president, sir. But we appreciate the time, appreciate all the work you're doing, and thanks for coming down here for this big game.
Well, you've been a friend of mine for a long time and you're really good. And I heard your sports show the other day and you were talking about the values and I said, "Hey, this guy's pretty good about that."
Yeah, you gave, you gave me a call. I mean, it's --
I was very impressed.
You ever think what would have happened if you bought an NFL team? Do you think you ever would have run for president?
Well, I've been waiting for 45 years to, for the prices to come down [Laughs] Do you understand?
Yeah.
And no matter whether they lose, bank, it doesn't matter the prices go up.
It's like a big piece of art, right?
Yeah.
People are just paying crazy dollars.
It's truly, it's like a painting. And it's not only the NFL, I mean, it's the others. Now the NFL makes a little bit of money, but the, uh, the others lose a lot of money, but the price keeps going up. I will say though, we have the hottest, the strongest country we've ever had economically. We have, uh, you've probably heard the new numbers, $21 trillion being invested here.
Yes.
And under the previous administration, we had less than a half. It was, it was a tiny fraction, much less. If you take one trillion and cut it in half, that's what we had. We have, and that's for four years.
Yes.
We have 21 trillion in the first 16 months. 21 trillion. There's never been a number like that in any country, including China, anywhere. It's -- what's happening here is incredible. Factories are being built all over the country. It's a miracle, actually. It's amazing. So we're doing well. That's why those prices stay up there for those teams, I guess.
No doubt. Keep up the good work, sir. Enjoy the rest of the game. Thank you for coming down here for college sports, one of the best, most signature events.
You're doing a great job. Thank you --
Thank you, sir.
Appreciate it.
Appreciate you.