‘They’re Serious Allegations’: Buck Sexton on Trump Indictments, DeSantis Chances, And Going From the CIA to Limbaugh

Buck Sexton, co-host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, has emerged as one of the most influential voices in conservative media since taking over Rush Limbaugh’s coveted time slot in 2021. As the 2024 election season approaches, Sexton joined Mediaite podcast The Interview with host Diana Falzone to speak about his career, the race, and the investigations facing former President Donald Trump.

Sexton discussed starting off an analyst for the C.I.A., before turning to the media. He appeared frequently on CNN and Fox News as a commentator, before guest-hosting on the popular radio programs of Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.

In a wide ranging conversation with Mediaite, Sexton argued that despite a wave of negative media coverage, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis remains a strong option for the Republican nomination, and dismissed the notion that his run is already over as “propaganda from other campaigns.” He even worried he’s becoming an “odd duck on the right” due to his willingness to consider a non-Trump candidate in 2024.

When it comes to the question of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, Sexton defended the former president. “Calling January 6th an insurrection is an insult to the intelligence of anybody who has a dictionary or a Google account,” he said.

Additionally, he said he’s not worried about Trump’s mishandling of classified documents: “The president’s not going to prison. The president can do whatever he wants when it comes to classified information.”

While Sexton noted the indictments against Trump contain “serious allegations,” he argued “that doesn’t mean that one, they’re true, and two, I think to decontextualize them from the political realm is to do a disservice overall.”

Listen to the full episode of Sexton and Falzone’s discussion here — and read excerpts from the conversation below. This episode was produced by Payton Selby and Kory Hilpmann.

On Rush Limbaugh’s legacy

Rush wasn’t just a radio host. I mean, he was really a one-man media and political phenomenon. I think even his detractors would have to concede that. And he was a force in the media, in American politics for decades. There has not been, and I will honestly say I don’t think there will be in my lifetime, anybody who was able to have, as a single individual doing a show, that level of influence on the conservative movement, on Republican politics.

On Trump’s indictments

They’re serious allegations as a function of the statute. But then again, we sit here and say this is the likely conspiracy that Joe Biden was engaged in to allow his son, Hunter, to sell influence to the highest public office in America for millions of dollars, including to adversaries like China. That’s not proven yet. I think if we had a different attorney general and different administration, there could very well be indictments relating to that. They’re serious allegations, but that doesn’t mean that one, they’re true. And two. I think to decontextualize them from the political realm is to do a disservice overall […] There’s a criminal case against him in New York. There’s a civil case against him, a civil case against him in state court in New York. So he’s gonna be facing five trials going into the election. Donald Trump had never been charged once with a criminal act in his entire 76 years on this planet. And now he’s running for reelection, and he’s got multiple federal indictments. He’s got a criminal indictment. I mean, at some point, you know, it seems like the fix is in.

On Trump’s mistakes

Trump’s weakness as a guy is very clear. He wants loyalty and people who love him. And I don’t think that serves him well. I don’t think it served him well then. I don’t think it would serve him well in the future. He’s admitted he made a lot of bad decisions about personnel. But I think it was driven by the fact that he wants people who they’re just all about Team Trump. And it’s easy to fake that. You know, it’s easy to put that all together when you want that big job. And Diana, a lot of people will all of a sudden, and we’ve seen this, right? There have been big Trump critics who all of a sudden turn into, oh, well, that was then, this is now. And hey, maybe I’m going to be secretary of state. […] But I think he underestimated the strength, and I think he underestimated the ossification of the bureaucracy.

On the odds for DeSantis

People are saying DeSantis should drop out; that, to me, is just crazy. That’s essentially, you know, propaganda from other campaigns. The notion that DeSantis should just give it up at this point. Why? Why not at least see? […] Let’s see how it goes in Iowa and New Hampshire and then all the states that follow. I do think that everyone is reminded that Trump is the greatest political show on earth. There’s nothing else that compares to it. […] I hear a lot of people calling on radio to say, ‘I don’t like him, but I still just think he’s The Guy.’ It’s this gut instinct. This is the connection that they think he has with them, to fight for them. This stretches all the way back to 2016. I think that with Trump, between the force of personality that he brings and the fact that he was president. So he’s already been in the job, which means he has universal name recognition, 100% name I.D. also has the Trump brand piled on top of that and decades and decades of media exposure and The Apprentice and everything else. To come into that and be a governor, even as I’m very open about this, I live in Florida now, and it’s in no small part to the policies that Ron DeSantis pursued here. I think he is the most successful governor by the numbers in the country, and he’s running against the biggest political force of nature that maybe has existed in living memory in America, certainly since the Democrats, Obama, and before that, Reagan on the Republican side. You’re comparing, and it’s too early to know how it’s actually going on. I think it could have been better than it is at this stage. I think that’s clear from the firings and the changes that have been made. People keep saying, ‘DeSantis has to be more interesting.’ But he is who he is. He’s not going to become Trump. He’s not going to become a funny one-liner guy who had a T.V. show and who was a celebrity before he got into the political arena.

Download the full episode here, and subscribe to The Interview on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

 

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