CLAY: We talked about New York City starting to get a little more sane in terms of the rules that they are putting in place. One of New York City’s most famous residents, however — relating to covid, that is, the rules that they’re changing — Howard Stern, is furious. I just can’t get over the fact that Howard Stern, who is one of the most rebellious radio people of all time — and for those of you out there listening, I think it’s fair to say that Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern are the two most iconic radio people, by far, in the last 50 years, Buck.

I don’t even know who would be in that category alongside of those two guys, and we’re obviously honored to be sitting in the chair, alongside where Rush — and talking to all of you, where many of you have spent decades listening to him. But a lot of people have also spent decades listening to Howard Stern, and of anyone in the media, I’m not sure that anyone is crazier, Buck, than Howard Stern. Here he is on his show, complaining about the mask mandate being lifted in New York City, and saying, “the wackos are winning.” Listen to this.

“The reason they’ve lifted these mask mandates is because we gave into this small minority of people who are completely out of their f*cking mind … the wackos are winning!” — @HowardStern https://t.co/RvAZdeneL1 pic.twitter.com/cyny1Mthg8

— Mediaite (@Mediaite) March 23, 2022

BUCK: He sounds like a neurotic little old cat lady, honestly. This is absurd. He sounds like someone who is always calling the police because a neighbor went by on a skateboard. What is he even talking about?

CLAY: Howard Stern is not an unintelligent person, and he’s also not someone who is opposed to sometimes being on an island with an opinion that is not shared by the majority of people. I think it’s such a fascinating instructive window into the psychology of some people, Buck. I know that Stern was a germaphobe and had high levels of anxiety surrounding germs in general, even before covid — and to your point, Buck, I believe what we’ve done is the exact opposite of what Stern is arguing here.

I think we’ve allowed a small minority of anxiety-ridden germophobes to dictate what our national policy has been. And those people are so fear-laden, that they won’t even look at the data and recognize that masks make no sense! Now, every single day, we gain a few people. And I know that we were talking about off the air, the Politico report, because they polled parents. There’s still a lot of parents, though, who believe their kids need to be in a mask.

BUCK: So it’s multi-faceted. The Fauci-ite mask madness. The core, the base, the vanguard, the shock troops of double masking are people who really truly terrified. And for them — I’ve said this for a long time — this is an anxiety napkin. You have said kids with security blankets. Right? This is an adult version of a facial security blanket. “I wear my maks, so I’m safe.” Somehow, I’m still safe, when I pull my mask down to eat and drink and do other things or to fix it or whatever.

Because the virus goes, “Oh, hold on. He called a time-out. So I’m not going to freely circulate in the air anymore.” Never mind the fact that you actually look at the size, the microns of that represented virus versus the mesh of most of the cloth masks that we’ve been wearing, and people have been pointing out from the very beginning, the virus actually easily passes through the air passage above and below the mask, as well as — this part of it I say, I wasn’t as into in the beginning, but as well as — through some of these masks.

So here you have those people, but you also have the political affiliation component of it, Clay. I think that became certainly the bigger aspect of it, and now it lingers because there are a lot of people, for whom it’s like a symbol of their adherence to the Democrat norm and of their defiance of the evil, red state Trumpers who want them to be able to breathe air. Think about what this argument boils down. You and I sit here telling people, “It’s okay. Just breathe normally again. You can do it. It’s actually fine.

“It really makes no difference. You should just go about your life breathing as human beings have been breathing throughout all of human history,” and the left says, “No, that’s crazy. I want to be uncomfortable and breathe through a piece of cloth all take, because that makes me feel better about myself.” Howard Stern is clearly in that category. He also, to your point, doesn’t know anything about what the actual data shows, not only about masking, but even about vaccine efficacy or anything else. But he doesn’t care.

CLAY: And this ties in with the Politico poll that we were talking about before the show… Sorry, it’s a Harvard poll; I’m reading from the Politico article about it. This is interesting: 40% of parents of school-aged children believe that masking harmed their children’s overall school experience. I can’t believe it’s only 40%, by the way. But this is the interesting part, Buck: Only 11% said it helped.

So if you’re a parent of a school-aged child — and certainly, I’m in that camp right now. I have three school-aged kids. I see parents every single day making like a lightbulb moment recognize that the masking didn’t make any sense — and over half, nearly half of parents said that masks make no difference. Now, that’s disappointing that it’s only half basically of parents saying masks made no difference. But I take away, when four-in-ten say it harmed their kid’s school experience, and only 11% said it helps, this matters. Because the Fauci-ites, Buck, based on the numbers going up in Europe, are already starting to make arguments that they may need to bring back masks on kids in school and masks in general.

BUCK: “We got to get those….” Well, what did he say to Leonardo DiCaprio in Wolf of Wall Street? “Those are rookie numbers. We gotta get those numbers up!”

CLAY: Yeah. The great Matthew McConaughey and Leonardo DiCaprio scene.

BUCK: Apparently, McConaughey used to do that just to get himself psyched up before a scene sometimes —

CLAY: That doesn’t surprise me at all.

BUCK: — and Scorsese saw it and said, “No. Do that in the scene.” Anyway, so, yeah, “Those are rookie numbers.” Forty percent said it harmed their kids? No, no, no. It needs to be 80%. It needs to be only the 20% of wacko libs who think that we can’t define a woman and they should double mask alone in the shower, “just to be safe from the virus.” It has to be down to that layer, that sliver of the American electorate before we can actually stop the pressure campaign here, Clay, because they were wrong. They were wrong all along. But notice does anyone…? This is interesting. I was thinking about this the other day and I was going to text you. When was the last time a blue check came after you on any of this stuff?

CLAY: It’s been a while.

BUCK: Yeah! It’s been a while.

CLAY: It’s a great point. Yeah.

BUCK: Early on, I had blue checks, “Why are you so mean? You don’t care if old people die. You’re evil,” and everything else. Because I was saying maybe lockdowns — which now we see increased alcoholism or alcohol-related deaths by 25%.

CLAY: Yes, that’s right.

BUCK: Tens of thousands of people, mostly in their prime earning and living years, raising families. Tens of thousands of people die. Anyway, couldn’t talk about that. Couldn’t talk about the missed cancer screenings. Couldn’t talk about any of these things, or else you were a bad person. I haven’t had a blue check want to throw down with me over this stuff in at least three or four months now. At least three or four months.

CLAY: It is interesting, Buck. I will say, my audience, when any of those blue checks come after me, and I just kind of put it out — my audience, our audience. They’re really funny. But they are also vicious in destroying the mask paparazzi out there. The blue checks who come after you all the time. So I think a lot of those guys are scared. I think that one of the great lessons that you learn is that Twitter gives these blue checks to anybody, and a lot of those guys and girls don’t have an audience.

So they just run around popping off all day, and there’s nobody that actually supports anything that they’re saying — and then they step into the dojo, so to speak, into the Thunderdome, and they were not anticipating the blowback that they were going to get. So I appreciate all of you, who got Buck and my’s back, @ClayTravis, @BuckSexton out there for the arguments that we’re making.