Episode 5542: Holding Jack Smith Accountable; Inflated Prices Of AI Stocks

Summary

Bannon’s War Room: July 25, 2026 — Episode Summary

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Episode Overview

This episode of Bannon's War Room, hosted by Stephen K. Bannon, is packed with up-to-the-minute geopolitical, legal, and economic controversy. The War Room contextualizes current escalations in the Middle East (particularly with Iran), analyzes the evolving challenges facing President Trump, and dives into intensifying political and legal warfare between Congressional Republicans and Special Counsel Jack Smith. The latter half examines anxieties in financial markets around AI infrastructure and broader U.S. economic risks, before circling back to the military situation in the Persian Gulf with expert and on-the-ground reporting. The tone is combative, urgent, and deeply critical of both Democratic strategies and establishment media.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Escalation with Iran & White House Pressures

• Oval Office Frustration: Trump is deeply frustrated, describing Iranian leaders in volatile terms and feeling personally burdened by the weight of war, especially after meeting with military families.

  "He called the Iranians lunatics and scumbags and used some other expletives to describe them.” (Ian, 00:06)

• Security Threats: Threats of assassination against the President have led to changes in aide protocols. This conflict is taking real human and psychological tolls at the highest level.
• Saudi Nuclear Deal Disruption: Trump administration officials claim no one jumped ahead on Saudi negotiations, attributing the failure to conditions required by the Abraham Accords and the shifting regional balance.

  “…They were the bully of the Middle East. …You don’t have the same problem you would have had four or five months ago…Their leaders are gone. A lot of things have changed…” (Peter, 01:23)

• Exit Strategies for Iran: The administration sees only two paths—intensified military dismantling, or a negotiated deal. Talks are ongoing, but the White House doubts Iran is ready to make a deal.

  "There's a military exit...or there's a smarter strategy, and that's you make a deal and they want to make a deal. I just don't think they're ready yet." (Peter, 02:38)

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2. Jack Smith, Congressional Investigations, and DOJ Weaponization

• Criminal Referral Drama: House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan pushes a criminal referral against Special Counsel Jack Smith, accusing him of lying about obtaining Congressional members’ communications.

  "There's no evidence, none, zero, nada, nilch, that Jack Smith lied about anything under oath, period.” (Unknown Political Commentator, 03:40)

• Pushback and Legal Breakdown: Legal analysts emphatically call the perjury accusations preposterous, emphasizing the specificity of Smith’s truthful testimony and criticizing the "weaponization" of oversight.

  "You cannot read this letter and in any way view this as perjury." (Unknown Legal Analyst, 06:57)

• Rising Partisanship: Both sides accuse the other of abusing DOJ powers and manipulating the judicial system for retribution and political advantage.

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3. Media, Press Freedom, and Systemic Distrust

• Media Under Threat: Discussion centers on the eroding trust in media, the dominance of corporate ownership, and pressures from both the White House and litigation—Trump is suing a variety of media companies, settlements are being reached or disputed, high-profile hosts are suspended or canceled.

  "In order to continue doing the thing we do, most companies have big corporate ownership...put in a position by this White House to bend the knee." (Bannon, 08:38)

• First Amendment and Impeachment: David A. French floats the idea of impeaching Trump administration officials post-pardon for systematic First Amendment violations.

  "I think it should be on the table in the event of a solid victory by the other side that you impeach these officials and convict them so that they can never serve in public federal office ever again." (French, 10:04; 21:11)

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4. Further Analysis: Republican Response and 2027–28 Election Stakes

• Mass Impeachments and Political Warfare: The War Room predicts that if Democrats retake Congress, they will launch relentless impeachment and criminal referrals against MAGA officials to erase Trumpism.

  "They want to destroy Trumpism, they want to destroy MAGA, they want to make sure...they've cast in that broadly so that they've taken care of everybody, including these great heroes that are in the administration..." (Mike Davis, 23:32)

• Call to Action for Trump Base: Urging listeners to mobilize for the next election, warning that opposition will be "ruthless" if given power.

  "This is where the Trump’s MAGA base needs to get fired up for this election...Democrats...are going to come back with a vengeance if we let them." (Jim Jordan, 24:31)

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5. AI, CapEx, and Economic Bubble Warnings

• Ed Dowd's Economic Analysis:
  • Cites slowing credit, enterprise demand, and rising infrastructure costs as signals that the AI investment boom is unsustainable.
  • Warns that the real value will only come after an inevitable bust, likening the situation to the telecom/dot-com bubble.

    "This is classic bubble investment boom and bust. Bubbles are a feature of capitalism, not a bug. And unfortunately, there's going to be pain coming from this hangover." (Dowd, 34:19)

  • AI large language models are becoming commodities, fundamentally challenging profitability assumptions.
  • The U.S. economy is at risk of "kamikaze flight" — highly leveraged on productivity miracles that are dubious at best.

    "We have a highly leveraged bet on artificial intelligence... This is kind of an economic and financial kamikaze flight, is it not?" (Bannon, 34:19; Dowd agrees.)

  • Elevated deficits and war spending are making the math for sustained growth even worse.

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6. Military Operations and Prospects for the Gulf Conflict

• Situation Report – Persian Gulf:
  • Marines’ Current Mission: Targets have been focused on suppressing Iranian air defenses and fast-boat capabilities, prepping for possible amphibious operations. (Neil McCabe, 37:26)
  • Advice from Military Leaders: Several high-profile generals and admirals are calling for the U.S. to take Iranian islands by force, predicting that "boots on the ground" may be the only solution.
  • Logistics and Risk: The Persian Gulf theater is vast, precarious, and fraught with logistical and operational dangers (“These are not zero risk exercises, sir.” – Bannon, 47:28)
  • Iran’s Regeneration: Overland supply routes (notably via Pakistan and with Chinese assistance) continue to feed the Iranian military’s capacity for resistance.

    “There's definitely some way they're getting resupplied…” (Bannon, 41:59)

  • Potential for Long-term Involvement: Warns that U.S. intervention could trigger a prolonged civil war within Iran (“…once they turn on each other and you pick a side, you’re there for a while, right? You’re just there.” – Bannon & McCabe, 42:43–42:59)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Trump’s State of Mind:
  "So he's frustrated, but I would agree with Ian, he's got no easy answers here." — Unnamed (00:43)

• On Jack Smith Perjury Referrals:
  "This story is not just about the sort of retribution ... this is the complicity of, in this case, Jim Jordan..." — Legal Analyst (06:57)

• On AI Boom/Bust:
  "Party's, you know, we're closing time, it’s 2am in the bar and the lights are about to come on." — Ed Dowd (32:45)

• On Impeachment as Retribution:
  "They want to destroy Trumpism, they want to destroy MAGA... That’s what’s coming. That’s what these folks have in mind." — Mike Davis (23:32)

• On Military Realities:
  "The Marines as an institution got rid of their tanks... and so we're waiting to see if they're going to be given the green light." — Neil McCabe (37:26)

• On Civil War Risks in Iran:
  "It may come to pass that we have to take a side in that civil war going on in Iran between these competing elites." — Neil McCabe (41:59)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:00–02:38: White House turmoil, Trump’s frustration, Saudi deal
• 03:19–04:55: DOJ, Jack Smith, Congressional oversight conflict
• 08:38–11:19: Media suppression, First Amendment, French's impeachment idea
• 16:57–20:27: Jim Jordan and Mike Davis on Smith’s testimony—criminal referral breakdown
• 21:11–24:31: Impeachments, anti-Trump strategies, MAGA response
• 30:31–36:43: Ed Dowd on AI CapEx bubble, economic warnings
• 37:26–50:52: Neil McCabe on Gulf military strategy, risks, Iran’s resilience, prospects for escalation
• 47:28–51:47: Carg Island, strategic risks, Iran’s supply and civil war dynamics

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Conclusion

The episode offers a whirlwind tour of pressing political, legal, economic, and military battles dividing the American establishment, laying bare the existential stakes as seen by the War Room team. From hardline calls for accountability and escalation to worries of systemic economic blowback and warnings of new quagmires, this is a high-energy, deeply adversarial dispatch from the heart of the 2026 news cycle.

Transcript

[Stephen K. Bannon]

The White House escalation. What is your reporting regarding how real that is?

[Ian]

I think it's very real and it was mentioned in the intro and this is great Wall Street Journal reporting. But a separate, separate administration official confirmed to me that Trump did have this tirade during a recent Oval Office meeting. He called the Iranians lunatics and scumbags and used some other expletives to describe them. And then separately, it's sort of taking a personal toll on the President and his top aides. There's threats of assassinations against the President. The top aides have been told to not take regular car services in terms of the threat they face. And lastly, you know, the dignified return. You know, he met those families. He talked very warmly about the families of family, particularly of one soldier. And I think, you know, that brings the reality to him. So he's frustrated, but I would agree with Ian, he's got no easy answers here. And you're corre correct to say, you know, the decision to launch this war, he's, he's put himself in this position

[Peter]

for the people behind me, please.

[Mike Davis]

Hi, Mr. President, I want to ask about the Saudi nuclear deal. This man over your shoulder announces a

[Neil McCabe]

big deal after 18 months of negotiating with the Saudis. Seems like it's all done, it's signed,

[Mike Davis]

and then you come out, throw some

[Neil McCabe]

new conditions on top of it, the

[Mike Davis]

whole thing blows up. So did he get out ahead of

[Neil McCabe]

you or what happened there?

[Peter]

No, nobody got out ahead. I mean, I just say that in order to do it, they have to be a member of the Abraham Accords, which have been very successful. But it's time now that they do it. They and others didn't want to do it because of the problem that they had with Iran. You don't have that problem anymore. You don't have a great power there anymore. You have a problem, but the problem is disappearing day by day. They were the bully of the Middle East. They were not going to be that much of a bully anymore. Probably I think instinctively want to be, but you don't have the same problem that you would have had four or five months ago before. They had no navy, no military, no anti aircraft, no leaders. I mean, their leaders are gone. A lot of things have changed with respect to that country. So no, we want them to. It's a two way street. And we think it's very important for the future of the Middle East. The Abraham Accords have been incredibly successful for the countries, as you know, for the countries in them. And I think it's very important. So, you know, at some point they'll join. They'll join and they'll do their civil. True, I call it civil nuclear, but that's what it is. No enrichment to civil nuclear.

[Mike Davis]

Peter, about Iran, what is the exit strategy?

[Peter]

Well, I think there's a lot of them. There's a military exit where we just keep going just the way we are and we can even make it a heavier dose and it's knocking out everything they have, or there's a smarter strategy, and that's you make a deal and they want to make a deal. I just don't think they're ready yet. But they do want to make a deal. Sometimes they don't want to say they want to make a deal. They want to be the tough guys, but they do want to make a deal. There's two ways. I mean, it's, you can just keep doing exactly what we're doing and take them apart piece by piece. We could do it in a more rapid fashion, which we might do, or we can negotiate with them, which we're also doing right now. I mean, as we speak, we're talking to them.

[David A. French]

Of overreach. The Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Jim Jordan, is now asking Trump's DOJ to investigate former special counsel Jack Smith. Late last night, Jordan sent a criminal referral to Todd Blanche accusing Smith of lying to Congress about his investigation into Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election.

[Unknown Political Commentator]

Now, folks, let's be clear. There's no evidence, non, zero, nada, nilch, that Jack Smith lied about anything under oath, period. But we do know the President and his allies want to punish Smith for telling the truth about the President's actions. And this stunt follows repeated calls for Trump by Trump and from others around Smith to be prosecuted. Tonight, Smith's legal team is fighting back. Smith's lawyers have sent a letter to Jordan and Blanche saying this absurd criminal referral, quote, reflects a chilling eagerness to weaponize the justice system.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

So because of that, can he even just walk away? If the Iranians have control over the strait and they're going to send missiles to provoke people or charge a toll or block up the global economy at will, which they can now do, can the President just walk away and say this mess is for somebody else, I mean, is that feasible? We've got allies in the Middle east who we. Who want to make. We want to make deals with, and they want to make deals with us. Is it possible for the US Just to throw up its hands and say you know what, we're done. We're going to pull all of our troops back or do we suffer more consequences?

[Unknown Military Analyst]

If I were advising the President, God love me, and he was actually listening to me, what I would say is he can and should do that and allow the Gulf states to create a compromise, essentially something that looks like the management of the Dardanelles, where the Omanis and the Iranians, Iranians jointly manage some fund that is paid into by countries in the region, maybe some others, not the United States. Call it reconstruction, call it management. It's not going to be a per ship toll for now. And the reason you do that for now is because right now the Americans do not have the ability to, to defend either their allies in the region from Iranian strikes, shahed drones, ballistic missiles, and do not have the ability to defend the, the the Strait from Iranian disruption. But the Iranian leverage in the region is wasting over time. Countries like the uae, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, they are building alternate infrastructure to avoid the Strait. You need to get radar in place for the Gulf states. You need to get advanced Ukrainian drone capabilities that will shoot down shaheds and eventually ballistic missiles in 6 and 12 months time. With that capacity, you can drive a much harder bargain against the Iranians or else. But the US Is not in that position today. And Trump's ego may not be willing to allow that recognition, but the United States should be keeping its powder dry until they can drive a better outcome for the American people, for their allies in the region and for the global economy.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

But this, but just to be clear as day about this, just tell us what you make of the allegations Republicans are making in this referral.

[Unknown Legal Analyst]

Sure. Because this is one of these instances where I know that usually we're very careful to say, you know, it seems like, or it appears, but this is one where there's just no two ways about it. That this is preposterous. And the easiest way to do that is to just tell you what is alleged. What is alleged is that Jack Smith lied in response to the following question he was asked in did you get the content of text messages from members of Congress through a search warrant? Did you get the content of text messages of members of Congress through a search warrant? To which he said, no, I didn't. I only got telephone records through this other process that is 100% truthful. The fact that Jack Smith also got documents from the National Archives was not asked. He was in any way, shape or form. So this story is not just about the sort of retribution that we've Seen from the Department of Justice. To me, this is the complicity of, in this case, Jim Jordan, who is the signatory of the letter with doing the referral on its face. It is not perjury, period. I'd love to. I usually am more careful to say, you know, it seems like, or we don't know everything they have. You cannot read this letter and in any way view this as perjury.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Americans don't trust the media any longer. And this has been, it's been a downward slope for many years now, many decades. Donald Trump accelerated, yes, social media has divided us even further, all sorts of outside factors, but we have been dealing with this for a long time in the press, haven't found a good solution for it. At the same time, in order to continue doing the thing we do, most companies have big corporate ownership structures that enable them to continue doing the journalists journalism that is so necessary. But those corporate entities are then put in a position by this White House to bend the knee. I mean, we'll put up on the screen Donald Trump demanding money from various media companies. We've talked about this. You understand it. He's suing the BBC. He's suing the Des Moines Register. He's suing News Corp. And Wall Street. The Wall Street Journal has gotten a settlement from Paramount, from Metta, from YouTube, from X, from ABC News and Disney. Stephen Colbert was canceled. Jimmy Kimmel was suspended and then reinstated. How do you, how do you fix this? We don't have the same viewership and trust and readership that we once did. And in order to continue operating, you have these corporate structures and then it's, you know, again, subject to the president. How do you fix it, David?

[David A. French]

It's a great question, Katie, and there's not a great fix right now, especially in a very closely divided country. But here's one thing that I would say is an option, something that needs to be really considered, and that is at the end of this administration, you're going to see in all likelihood Trump engaging in mass scale pardons. But I would say that there is still an option that is available to our branches of government even in the face of a pardon. And that is for those officials in the Trump administration who systematically violated the First Amendment rights of American citizens and systematically attacked the freedom of the press. I think it should be on the table in the event of a solid victory by the other side that you impeach these officials and convict them so that they can never serve in public federal office ever again. Because if we actually have a Situation in which people are able to violate the Constitution with impunity, receive pardons for any criminal activity, enjoy the benefit of broad wide immunity for civil violations, and there's nothing that happens to them. They're just going to reload and recharge for the next time that they're in power. So I do think we need to think creatively about, is there a way to that even in the face of pardons and immunities, we can hold people accountable when they systematically violate the First Amendment.

[Unknown Political Commentator]

You got a statement from Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskins on vindictive criminal referrals. This is what he said yesterday. This referral deliberately distorts and misstates the facts, including what questions the Republicans actually asked at Mr. Smith's interview. The Republicans fault Mr. Smith for not reading the minds of congressional investigators and not for volunteering, sharing information they didn't ask for. This is absurd. Mr. Smith may be telegenic, but he's not telepathic. Very true statement. And this is all out of this effort now, as we saw with Josh Hawley and his crazy, leaving out a significant part of the point in the question, saying that Mr. Smith deliberately lied, that he lied before Congress. Everybody looking at this know that didn't happen. What's your take on that? Knowing Jack Smith, having been in that process, in that crucible with him. I said this about Jack Smith. I've never met the man. I just observed the man from a great distance. And he strikes me as someone you just don't want to trifle with at the end of the day. At the end of the day, this is a brother you just don't want to get in close quarters with because you will, you will find out otherwise. And I think that that's, that is more threatening to Trump than anything else because he is relentless in his pursuit of justice. And that's why this criminal referral crap is being leveled up right now. Yeah.

[Unknown Legal Analyst]

So I'm, I've known Jack Smith for a long time. When he was chief of the Chief of the Public Integrity Section, then I was the spokesman for the, for the Colonel division. So he is somebody that just does what he should. Right. He follows the facts, he follows. He does the right thing in the right way. And if he felt that he could walk away from, from that case, he would have. And so I think what people, what people see is they, they are trying to manufacture anything they can to make life difficult for him. Because the President has multiple times said he wants Jack, Jack Smith to be criminally indicted.

[Peter]

Wow.

[Mike Davis]

So much to uncover there, folks. We told you about the importance of this midterm. We'll play this one again later in the show. Later in this evening show. But talking about the mass impeachments so these people can never serve in public office again. That's what's coming. That's what's coming. That's what these folks have in mind. Just write that down right there. They'll tell you what they're going to do. But Jamie, was it Jamie Raskin said letter that Jack Smith is telegenic? I don't know, Jamie. Don't know. Congressman, I think there's some subtext there that we will not go into on the afternoon war room. Why? We have business to attend to. Mike Davis is going to break it down. This Jack Smith thing is metastasizing. The left is obviously obsessed with it, but so are we. It's a start, but it's definitely not a finish. Mike Davis of Ice Short is going to join us. After a short commercial break. Natasha Owens will take us out. We wouldn't be celebrating America 250 if it wasn't for a strong foundation set by the framers. Hamilton built American's financial foundation on the principle of sound stable money, a principle later embodied by the gold standard. However, we abandoned that discipline in 1971 and have since seen inflation erode the dollar's value. What is the foundation of your savings? It is gold or something that can be shaken, disrupted or devalued. Birch Gold Group has been helping Americans solidify their savings with gold for the past 15 years. They help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into a tax sheltered IRA and gold. Learn how gold fits into your portfolio by texting my name, Bannon B A N N O N to the number 989-898. You'll receive a free no obligation info kit with an A plus rating with a Better Business Bureau and countless five star reviews. Let Birch Gold help build your foundation with gold. Text my name banded to 989-898. That's Bannon to 989-898. Build the foundation of your savings on something permanent. Gold has been a hedge for mankind for 5000 years of mankind's history. Do it and do it today. Here's your host, Stephen K. Band. Welcome back. Mike Davis. President Trump has a saying for guys who look like Jack Smith. He calls them. He says they're a real portrait. I mean, I don't know what Jamie Raskin's drinking, but anyway, Jack Smith is as telegenic as he is. I don't know. Bizarre. I want to get to these mass impeachments in a second, but Mike Davis, they are challenging Jim Jordan, they're challenging the Viceroy. Mike Davis, they're on offense like I've never seen before. They are outraged that a criminal referral was sent for. For Jack Smith. Your thoughts, sir?

[Jim Jordan]

Sounds like House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan's over the target on this criminal referral. If they're panicking like this, so cheers to him. We need more of these types of criminal referrals. Look, Jack Smith was in front of congressional investigators in a deposition in 2025, and he testified that he did not get the contents of 44 or members of Congress's telephone records, text messages, and he actually did, right?

[Ian]

He.

[Jim Jordan]

He made.

[Ian]

He.

[Jim Jordan]

He did not tell the whole truth, which is his obligation to tell the truth.

[Mike Davis]

Well, hang on.

[Jim Jordan]

The whole truth.

[Mike Davis]

But. Hang on, hang on. But this is not like a tiny thing. It was all and for all a long time. It was that he just had the numbers, just had the metadata. The top thing, couldn't see. They came on TV time and time and time again. He didn't have anything else. Turns out he had the text messages, and he read the text messages. That is a huge difference when time and time and time again, they went out and said, well, it's no big deal. He didn't have the text messages. He didn't have the content of the conversations. It turns out the same crowd attacking you and Jordan, right? It turns out they did this, and this thing's a huge deal. And I keep saying, hey, it wasn't a big deal when it happens to Maga or J6 or the rest of the Grundoons, right? Like, like Navarre and Bannon. But as soon as it happens to them, it's a big deal. That's okay. We just want to get Jack Smith because he's an evil criminal. But this was a huge deal, and they knew about it. In fact, they argued the exact opposite the time. Did they not, Viceroy?

[Jim Jordan]

Yeah. And they're trying to say. Well, he testified that he didn't get these telephone, These toll. These telephone records, these text messages from the 44 members of Congress, 44 members of Congress, 20 senators, 24 House members, including the House speaker, and the number two. And he said that he didn't get these records through a search warrant or a subpoena. He got them through a back channel at the, at the Biden National Archives. He lied. Right? He, he, he, he, he knew what he was doing. He was hiding what he did from congressional investigators. And so they're trying to say, well, he didn't, he didn't technically get it through a search warrant. So he didn't lie. He did. He lied through omission.

[Ed Dowd]

Right.

[Jim Jordan]

He, he told a half truth here. This guy is a smart lawyer. He's a smart prosecutor. He knew exactly what he was doing. They asked him if he got the contents of the records. He said no, he just got the toll records. He just got two from duration and did not get the contents. He lied.

[Ed Dowd]

Right.

[Jim Jordan]

And this is a big problem, as you said, Steve, because there's a separation of powers problem. You can't have these partisan rogue prosecutors on these partisan witch hunts and spying on a separate branch of government. They did it to House leadership, senators, rank and file, House members. What if they did it to federal judges? Would that be acceptable? It's not acceptable. And he lied about it to cover it up. That not only can he get charged with perjury and providing false statements under 1001, he can also be charged with obstruction of a congressional investigation. And he should be. And if they want to make these arguments to a jury, make them to a jury. Let, let a jury of Jack Smith's peers decide. But it's unacceptable if he gets away with this.

[Mike Davis]

And this is just the first of, of much of Jack Smith's reign of terror that's, that's being investigated right now and will be brought with criminal referrals. So we'll get to that. I want to play something because you've warned people about this. I'm not so sure people in administration are quite focused on this, but they are looking in this midterm not just to stop President Trump with Trump derangement syndrome. They want to stop what they call Trumpism. They want to stop the mega movement. And one of the ways they want to do it is they want to eviscerate like the Romans at Carthage. They want to destroy it and salt the earth around it. And the way they're going to do that is, is impeachment and criminal referrals. Let's play this clip that they said the quiet part out loud. Let's go and hear it.

[David A. French]

It's a great question, Katie. And there's not a great fix right now, especially in a very closely divided country. But here's one thing that I would say is an option, something that needs to be really considered and that is at the end of this administration, you're going to see in all likelihood Trump engaging in mass scale pardons. But I would say that there is still an option that is available to our branches of government even in the face of a pardon, and that is for those officials in the Trump administration who systematically violated the First Amendment rights of American citizens and systematically attacked the freedom of the press. I think it should be on the table in the event of a solid victory by the other side, that you impeach these officials and convict them so that they can never serve in public federal office ever again. Because if we actually have a situation in which people are able to violate the Constitution with impunity, receive pardons for any criminal activity, enjoy the benefit of broad wide immunity for civil violations, and there's nothing that happens to them, they're just going to really reload and recharge for the next time that they're in power. So I do think we need to think creatively about, is there a way that even in the face of pardons and immunities, we can hold people accountable when they systematically violate the First Amendment?

[Mike Davis]

Right. There. That was President David A. French. No, he actually did run for president against President Trump, actually in the general election. I think he's put his name in. No, he's not the one JD Voted for. JD Voted for the other wingnut from Utah that ran Mike Davis right there. They tell you what they're going to do. Talk to me about it.

[Jim Jordan]

It's amazing. They tried to do this before they, they, they threw you in prison. Steve Bannon. They put Peter Navarro in prison. They tried to use the 14th Amendment to, to throw President Trump off the ballot in Colorado and Maine and elsewhere. They tried to throw Trump in prison for the rest of his life. They look, they're desperate and this is what they fear. They fear American voters. Right. They don't want to have, they don't want American voters to have a choice. They want to take the choice away from American voters and make it work. That Trump, Trump officials can't run for office under this Democrat theory because they're, because Democrats are scared of American voters.

[Mike Davis]

No, this is, they are looking at. I mean, this is what I talked about, Russ. Vote the other day. They're going to impeach. You're going to move. If they take the House, they're moved to impeach Trump in the first week or 2 of 2027, but they're not going to actually bring it to trial for a year. Every day is going to be subpoenas. Every day is going to be front page of the Wall street, the Washington Post and the New York Times. But they're also going after other cabinet officials. They're going to Todd Blanche, they're going to go after the deputy going off the pay dag, anybody that had to get confirmed the 1000. Remember, we get 4000, 3000 show up day one, 1000 take a while. In fact, we still haven't gotten money in because of the Senate. But Mike, they're going to go after everybody because they want to destroy Trumpism, they want to destroy maga, they want to make sure that even after they get President Trump and we're not going to let them, but that they've cast in that broadly so that they've taken care of everybody, including these great heroes that are in the administration are taken, are taking incoming every day, sir.

[Jim Jordan]

Yeah, they can't impeach and bar the Viceroy. So and maybe Steve Bannon as well. So maybe we can run for president and vice president, really make their heads explode. But no, I mean that's the issue. This is where the Trump's MAGA base needs to get fired up for this election and turn out in this election because Democrats are going to be ruthless if they take back the House and take back the Senate and especially if they take back the trifecta in 2028. We cannot get complacent. President Trump needs people to show up to the polls so he can finish the job of securing our border and saving America from this illegal alien invasion. And Democrats, they are vicious, as we know. They put Steve in jail over a bogus charge and they are going to come back with a vengeance if we let them. So that's why we can never let down our guard. We have to get out and vote in this next election.

[Mike Davis]

Mike davis, Viceroy where do people go, sir, now more than ever.

[Jim Jordan]

Article3project.org donate follow us on social media the key action items confirm Todd Blanch. He'll be confirmed by August 6th if both of if the war room posse lights up both of their home state senators, Democrat and Republican, and let's get the Save America act to President Trump for his signature, whether it's reconciliation or canceling August recess. Let's get it done.

[Mike Davis]

Mike, you do you would agree that we're at a phase now particularly they need recess appointments, but you know the president, they're going back and forth between Thune and the president kind of taking some early shots each other. If Save America is not pushed forward, if you don't get more appointments done, if they go on August recess, is it now time to actually say, hey, look, we got to have a leadership fight. I know you're very hesitant. You're a man of the Senate. I know you're hesitant to say this. You got great relationships. You've had a great run over there with Grassley and the team and others that have pitched in. But aren't we, aren't we coming to some end point about this?

[Jim Jordan]

If, if John Thune can't get the Save America act with the support of more than 80% of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, a super majority of minorities and and even a super majority of black Americans who Democrats pretend can't get a voter ID so they can let their illegals vote. If John Thune can't get that to the President's desk. John Thune needs to go back to South Dakota and go, go work at a Walmart because he's not capable of being the Senate Majority Leader.

[Ian]

Wow.

[Mike Davis]

You get, you go pretty far in the woods to get Mike hit Mike Davis's tripwire in the Senate. Mike, thank you so much. Social media where they, where they catch you on Twitter, sir.

[Jim Jordan]

M R D D M I A my initials in Des Moines, Iowa.

[Mike Davis]

Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Birchgold. Talk to Philip Patrick and theme simplest way I think is take your phone out and text Bannon B A n n o n 989-898. They can tell you about gold IRAs. They can talk to you about rolling over your IRA or 401k and tax deferred method. There's all types of methodology, methodologies, modalities, all of it. But how you get into gold. Talk to Philip Patrick also about the end of the dollar empire. The eight free installments a ninth is coming. Talk to Philip Patrick and his team. They will take care of you. We're going to have one of the smartest guys I know in finance join us. Next, Ed Dowd from Mountain Hawaii. He's got something to say about artificial intelligence and capital expenditures. Capex next in the war room. You know just a few years ago if you told someone you were stocking up on emergency food they would have called you a tinfoil hats conspiracy theorists. Not anymore. We've all seen supply chain chaos, devastating natural disasters, inflation, war, civil run rest and preparedness has gone mainstream. That's why we're so excited to partner with my Patriot supply, America's original Patriot preparedness company. Right now they're celebrating America America's 250 with one of the best deals they've ever offered. $250 off their best selling six month food supply available now at preparewithbanded.com that is a homepage they gave us just for the Warren Posse. Preparewithbanded.com this is the exact same survival brand trusted by over 3 million American families. Now why is that? Because they deliver 2,000 calories a day. Their food lasts up to 25 years without refrigeration and it contains no, I repeat, no GMOs or artificial colors or artificial flavors. And you can count on it to keep your family fed no matter what the emergency is. Even at full price, it's still the best decision you'll make for your family with a $250 discount. It's a no brainer. Go to our own homepage with my patriot supply, that is preparewithbannon.com to get your emergency food kit today. That's preparewithbannon.com do it and do it today. Here's your host. Stephen K. Band joins us. One of the smartest hard numbers guys I know. Ed, I want to talk to you. Can we get the piece up as in Zero Hedge today? Fantastic piece about capex AI? The math itself just, just, you know, we've had a number of these really top quality financial analysts go around and say hey look, the candle's not worth the game here. If you run the numbers, they just don't see after it's up and operating these large language models they're saying hey, the ROI is going to be fairly de minimis. You really haven't found business models for this that works. Do you believe that? Is that one of the reasons the CapEx concerns you?

[Ed Dowd]

Absolutely. We got three factors that are changing. Second derivative wise, I follow the second derivative. First is private credit. There's an issue there. That whole sector is stalling and that feeds back into AI. We got enterprise demand cracking. There's been a revolt on the token maxing. And we also have power constraints looming which don't make the math work long term because there's not enough money for all these projects. And capex being announced to plug into the grid so that that's going to make cost projections higher. And then finally open source pricing pressure. Deepseek and others had already been pricing, putting pressure on prices because people that don't need frontier models could use those. And now we have the Kimi K3 moonshot Chinese model that apparently is just as good as the frontiers and that is a third of the cost. So these are all kind of reflexive feedback loops and it always starts and ends with credit. What's been supplying and getting this capex boom has been credit, credit, credit and the credit spigots are starting to slow. So private credit as a category has issues. I talked about that in my beyond the narrative substack last week and today I put out a piece on the AI capex and private credit was supposed to fund 50% of the external financing of the hyperscalers. Well that, that market's paused and you can look at the, the investment grade, the ig, the credit default swap spreads are all blowing out. Goldman Sachs this week said their credit desk is hearing from investors that they're starting to reassess everything. And then the other point to make is the, the, this debt fueled boom has caused AI infrastructure costs to inflate tremendously. Memory chips are up huge. Micron made 86% gross margins for memory chips because prices have risen 50% in some sectors. So this all feeds back into the original models. So it's breaking the math. So the fixed income investors that started the party are going to end the party. And the party's, you know, we're closing time, it's 2am in the bar and the lights are about to come on. So we see the signs and there's

[Mike Davis]

going to be some big ugly when the lights come. Okay, Elon's, you know Elon, the, the con man, that thing's imploding. It stocks I think today at 115 bucks. People are getting wiped out that bought in. This is why I told you, this is why they went to the retail guys then said hey, we got, you want a little bit more Anytime Wall Street's telling you that on a hot IPO run for the hills, as Eric Bolling said and, and, and Philip Patrick, both of them were offered it what, five or six weeks ago. They said we'. And Bolling said hey, by, by July I'll be able to buy that. Under 100 bucks was getting close. Ed, help me out here. Here's my concern for the country and for our economy is that this is a we now as a country have $40 trillion that we're adding or close to it. We're adding, we got $1.4 trillion for the first nine months in a deficit. Looks like we're going to get to 1.8 to 2 trillion. They got another bill up there for this war that you know, only the Americans are paying for it. It's I don't know, 40 billion today, but they're asking 80 billion. There's 3 5th. It's, they're confusing the math so much so you can't see anything. Let's say this, it's costing a fortune and nobody else is paying for except for us. We have a highly leveraged bet. Your point about the credit Mark? We have a highly leveraged bet on artificial intelligence having to work in mass increases in productivity with no mass layoffs. That just ain't going to happen. If you look at it right now, this is kind of an economic and financial kamikaze flight, is it not?

[Ed Dowd]

Absolutely. And look, the biggest problem is that people are discovering that AI large language models are commodities. So all these investments were predicated on the fact that there would be a way to monetize this down the line. So we build all this infrastructure and it's really just a commodity at the end of the day. And I remember during the dot com telecom build out people were getting huge valuations on laying dark fiber on tremendous growth expectations. Then people flipped and realized it was a commodity. Same thing with AI. The real value from AI will come after the bust when companies figure out how to monetize this and use the cheap compute, that's going to be cheap eventually. So this is classic bubble investment boom and bust. Bubbles are a feature of capitalism, not a bug. And unfortunately there's going to be pain coming from this hangover.

[Mike Davis]

Now we had this and we had this with the railroads. This is why you had the financial crisis of 1872 or 1873. You see this consistently. The railroads were the Internet of the sign. This is why I said at the beginning the ROI is not there. The margin in the end product consistently sustainable. I just don't see some of the smartest guys analyze this business just keep saying they just don't see the ROI there. Where can people go and get all your analysis? Because now you're doing I think a lot of kind of macro analysis on this industry and tying things together, particularly about how it's financed. Not just equity markets but also credit markets, the credit market side of the capital markets. Where do folks go?

[Ian]

Ed?

[Ed Dowd]

Yeah, you can go to my new substack. I started three weeks ago at dad. Beyond the narrative we have economic research and a more macro institutional [e-mail] with a pH. I have a personal [e-mail] and I'm found on X oued Edward and I'm excited about the substack. My goal is to write for the financial layman and you know, in a thousand words or less. These posts are going to try to be brief but to the point.

[Mike Davis]

Awesome. And by the way, anytime the Zero hedge team does a great job of curating all the best stuff out there, if it's up on Zero Hedge, that means you got to read it. And they do a great job of following your stuff. Last question before we bounce. How do you get so much serious work done living in Maui? I thought you'd just have your surfboard and be. And be hanging out, brother. How do you get so much serious work done in Maui?

[Ed Dowd]

I get up early because a lot of my work is done with people on the East Coast. So I get up early, I'm done by noon. This is my. After I sign off here, I'm going to the beach and I go to bed early and I catch up on sleep on the weekends. That's how you do it.

[Mike Davis]

Amen. Ed Dowd, thank you so much.

[Ed Dowd]

Thank you.

[Mike Davis]

That's a life in paradise, isn't it? Unbelievable. Maui. Some of the best work out there, I tell you. Who's not in Maui, Maui today, is that our O'. Neill. McCabe, you're still at the White House. I think you've tracked down some sources and got some information for us. Why don't you tee people up about some of the thinking that's going on about the kinetic war that may be upon us?

[David A. French]

Sir?

[Neil McCabe]

Yeah, I just want to sort of. I've been treating these targets for the last two weeks as sort of tea leaves. And basically these are the themes that have emerged. The targets have sought to suppress air defense, disrupt command networks, reduce fast boat and mining capabilities, to isolate coastal and island garrisons of the Iranians, and also secure the sea and battle space for the two amphibious readiness groups that are out there, one led by USS Tripoli, which is with the 34th. Excuse me, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and USS Boxer, which is with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. And, you know, I do want to make this point. The Marines as an institution got rid of their tanks in the last two or three years because they wanted to refocus on small wars, on raids, on landings. And so this is what they said they wanted to do when they got rid of their tanks. And they've basically reordered their whole culture and institution back to this mission. And so we're waiting to see if it's actually. If they're going to be given the green light. I'll also say that a former deputy commander, Admiral Robert Hayward, or Harwood, excuse me, he said that the way this thing ends is to put boots on the ground, take those islands. Two former commanders of Centcom, Frank McKenzie and General Joe Votel, have both said, we have to take the island and so when those guys speak up, you know, maybe they know something.

[Mike Davis]

Well, Harwood was a, a highly regarded Navy seal. He was going to be one of the national security advisors under President Trump. But it didn't come. It didn't come to. It didn't come to fruition. I want to. Let me bifurcate what you just said. We'll get back to the, to the landing part, into the car Guyland part. You talked about air defense. You know, Rickards came on a day and talked about, hey, maybe the B1 is coming over. If the B1's coming over, it shows their. They're probably. Their air defense is shattered and other things. The first part of that is kind of what Pete and the Pentagon told us six or eight weeks ago. So is. And I think this is some of the frustration of people, hey, folks, don't expect this thing to be done overnight, but at some point it's got to be degraded enough. So where do we actually stand with the suppression of air defense? These other communications, command and control, these other basic building blocks of their military punchback of where are they? 50% degraded, 100% degraded? Because essentially, if you listen to the Pentagon briefings, you know, a couple of months ago, it would, it sounded like all that was done then, sir.

[Neil McCabe]

Two, two things. One, you know, there were videos of the B1s leaving England maybe two days ago. So, so that's in play. And, you know, the Iranians have a vote and it is possible to regenerate your forces. And if you have trucks coming into, into your territory from Pakistan, right, you can stand up air defense. But hang on. Stand up missile launchers.

[Mike Davis]

But, but hang on, hang on. Full stop, Full stop. The President's been pretty adamant today. I mean, Pete said, we've said this from day one. Pakistan ain't no ally. I don't care how good a relationship you get with some of these guys is not an ally. The, the, the, the, the Navy has done its job in a blockade, but you got these overland routes in Pakistan that if you read any of the, the declassified research, they're coming across, but they're not coming across with. They're not coming across a material from Pakistan or Kazakhstan or Turkestan. They're coming through with military equipment component pieces etc from the Chinese Communist Party that let them rebuild this because a lot of these are Chinese systems. Now there's some debate now within the Pentagon. The P kind of says that the President says, hey, I talked to Xi, and she says he's not involved at all. Something's coming across those roots of Pakistan and our great allies in Pakistan and the Pakistan army. And maybe they're working off the books, but in that part of the world, a lot of folks work off the books. Maybe that's what's doing it. But there's no, there's, there's definitely some way they're getting resupplied to kind of rejuvenate however weak the rejuvenation is their systems. Correct?

[Unknown Legal Analyst]

Absolutely.

[Neil McCabe]

And there are flights from China that are landing in Tehran or in Iran. And so it's power politics. And these things are going to happen. I think that you also have to look to see the civilian leadership. There's a lot of people who want to cut that deal with the United States and the Revolutionary Guard. They're not so into it at all. And it may come to pass that we have to take a side in that civil war going on in Iran between these competing elites.

[Unknown Military Analyst]

This, this is actually.

[Mike Davis]

Hang on, hang on. You're absolutely perfect, sir. That's exactly how you there for 10 years. I agree with you. It's going to come some point in time. I think if you just play this thing out that they do turn on each other.

[Unknown Legal Analyst]

Right?

[Mike Davis]

They do turn on each other. But then that's a. Once they turn each other and you pick a side, you're there for a while, right? You're just there.

[Neil McCabe]

I don't think I.

[Mike Davis]

Wait, go ahead.

[Neil McCabe]

I don't have to remind you, Steve, we still have troops down south and when was that war over?

[Mike Davis]

I agree, man. You just hit a raw nerve there. And then they renamed the, and then they renamed the bases on top of that. McCabe. Hang on for one second. I'm gonna take a shortcut. I would thought you meant South Korea. No, he meant the American South.

[Peter]

God.

[Mike Davis]

Where's Braxton Bragg when you need him? 4th Bragg okay, we'll take a short commercial break. Bandit at 989-898. Talk to Philip Patrick team do it over the weekend trying to track down Phillips so we get him on tomorrow. Talk about the national debt. These crowding out of investment capital because of the massive interest expense and maybe our allies writing a check to help us out on this defense budget and particularly the spending for this war. Next, who you trust with your health care matters. Too many companies have forgotten what customer service is supposed to look like. That's why I appreciate businesses that still put people first. All Family Pharmacy is a family owned and operated and it shows. When you call you can speak with a real member of their team, including a licensed pharmacist, and get answers from people who actually care. They offer more than 400 medications and getting started is very simple. Complete a secure online medical questionnaire. A licensed physician reviews your information and if appropriate, writes your prescription. Then your medication is shipped directly to your door. If you're tired of big corporations and a healthcare system that treats you like a number, it's worth taking a look at. All family Pharmacy. They're focused on making the process straightforward and believe real customer service still matters. Visit AllFamilyPharmacy.com that's one word. AllFamilyPharmacy.com Bannon and use promo code Bannon10 to save 10% on your order. That's all FamilyPharmacy.com Bannon with code Bannon10. This is Family owned, family operated. These people, Michael Kunstner's team, are absolutely terrific. Take advantage of this today. War room. Here's your host, Stephen K. Bannon. So we get you access to Philip Patrick. See people, all these companies take advantage of it. They want to hear from the war and posse. You don't have to make decisions immediately. They want to inform customers. That's what we've been in investors. That's what we've been doing. The end of the dollar empire now for six years when gold, I think was 1100 bucks an ounce. Obviously in times of turbulence, things are bouncing around all over. Make sure you talk to Philip Patrick and the team at Birch Gold. Also, My Patriot supplies, the number one company in the space of preparedness. You know, at the very beginning of that, years ago, decades ago, people thought, oh, these people are crazy. Well, they don't think they're crazy. Now what you do, go to preparewithbannon.com they've got a site and you can get on there and go to all the offerings that my Patriot Supply has. And it's pretty voluminous and it's a real education. You can talk to their people and learn more. They've got a special $250 off their six month emergency food supply. First time they've ever done it. And this is in commemoration of the birth of this great nation. So go talk to those folks. Really outstanding company, outstanding customer service. Get to know them and get to know the products, get to know the services and. And check it out. My Patriot supply prepare with Bannon.com. i love that. Did their own page for the Warren posse. Neil, let's now go to the islands. We had, we had a clip from General Kellogg today that Kellogg was talking about he looked. General Kellogg is a hero of many of ours. He was head of the 82nd Airborne, just a really great guy. But he's arguing like Harwood and these others, they're now kind of obsessed with, you know, getting onto Carg island and other places there and season them. People should know that. I believe that from Hormuz or right there from the Gulf of Oman in Hormuz all the way up to Krag Island, I think it's about 600 miles. And I mean this Persian Gulf is a not a small piece of water. It is a long way and it's a quite hostile environment. It's enclosed you the reason they used to talk one time putting carries in. They're kind of a sit and duck. This is why big capital ships don't go in there. If we send frigates or destroyers and even that the Navy, you know, is quite hesitant to do it given the armament that you've got to do this. So these are not zero risk exercises, sir.

[Neil McCabe]

Yeah, I was dealing with 400 miles, but I guess it depends on where you place your ruler. But Carg island is far, far away from the Strait. And of course your fifth Fleet in Bahrain, which is just getting hammered and you know, we've moved our army pre positioned stock out of Camp Asa Lea in Qatar and moved some of it to Kuwait and some of it to Jordan just to get it out of range of the Iranian forces. But you know, Fifth Fleet is still there and they're just getting hammered. I want to make two other things, points if I could, sir.

[Ian]

Sure.

[Neil McCabe]

First, New York Times asked President Trump today, you're talking about blowing up civilian power plants and bridges in Iran. Much of the civilized world would consider that a war crime. Do you. And the President asked him where he was from. And when he said the New York Times, the President said, I am not going to answer that question. And then he was asked also the President was asked, you know, how things are going because yesterday he told Axios he's considering ordering a massive new escalation in bombing. And the President said today in the Oval we are talking to them, the Iranians, they are being far more serious than they've been before and you know, we'll see what happens. And so he doesn't know. He says, I don't know if they're

[Mike Davis]

going to get this, but we'll see what happens. But this is his, this is one of his theory of the cases. He said, they haven't had enough pain and I will use the leverage. I think we've had 11 or 12 nights of bombing. I think the New York Times, and I say much of the civilized world, I don't know if much of the civilized world thinks these are war crimes. It's a, it's a, it's a war. I mean, were they war crimes when we firebombed Tokyo? Was it war crimes when we bombed Dresden? I don't think so. Right. I would say what you did during war. But it's, it's, it's a. But I gotta tell you, he's been very open to the Iranian, to the Iranian people and to the leadership of Iran. And look, as you know, we hate this war, we hate how we got in it, and we want it over as quickly as possible. That being said, I think the President has been as open to the Iranian leadership. And I realized in the kind of the quasi decapitation mode, you're dealing with a different set of bad hombres, of which I said they're both at each other's throat. And I think you're right. It may break down into a civil war between the clerics and the mullahs and the, in the dead enders with the, with the, with the military, the Revolutionary Guard, and then you're back in a play in a civil war, and you could be there a couple of decades. But, Neil, I don't know, you, you covered every day. It seems to me he ain't shy about telling the Iranian people in advance, here's what we're going. So you got choices. Either get to the negotiating. I mean, Trump put everything on that MoU, which is now tattered because you can't trust these guys, sir.

[Neil McCabe]

Yeah, he keeps reaching out. He keeps saying, I'll pick up the phone. Like, no one could accuse President Trump of not trying to get this thing done through diplomacy. And I would say that probably the military's most unfair, fortunate acronym is for boots on the ground bog, because it gets you bogged down. And that's, that's the joke that the foot soldiers talk about. And that could be the reality.

[Mike Davis]

Well, I know if you go, that's really going up the escalatory ladder. I do like the fact that, as he said today, they are reaching out, they are talking, etc. What I don't like is we got, you know, Netanyahu's coming for his 25th visit. No, it just feels like 25th visits. He and Zelinsky are coming to, and far be it from the war room to say anything bad about the dead, but they're coming for the for the funeral of Lindsey Graham or supposedly Zelensky and and we'll talk about that tomorrow. Zelinsky and in the prime minister of Israel. Anyway, Neil, what's your social media? Where do people follow you over the weekend? Hey, and I tell you, if, if the, if the balloon goes up in a big way, Real America Voice will be back live and we'll cover it. Whether it's tonight, tomorrow night, anytime of the weekend, you can count on Real American Voice having resources and assets along with the war room to make sure that you get full wall to wall coverage. Where they go.

[Neil McCabe]

Neil, see if they can find me at reporter McCabe on all the socials. Have a good night, sir.

[Mike Davis]

Thank you, brother. Be in touch with you. Ben Harn was going to pick up from here. Amazing show Ben's got lined up, so make sure you stick around. Want to thank all the sponsors, particularly Birch Gold. They've been so amenable to all the changes we've had to the schedule, particularly with the Charlie Kirk trial that took place and other live events. We try to pick up as much of the White House live and the president live as possible and do it more than anybody else. Tomorrow morning show as you know, Saturday morning is my favorite show of the week. It's gonna be incredible. How do you like that? I you give, I give you the, I give you the, I give you the reading. I gave you the rankings. Oh, it's terrific. It's great. Give you the own reviews. I do my own reviews for you.

[Ed Dowd]

See it.

[Mike Davis]

Make sure you check in tomorrow, 10am Eastern Daylight Time tomorrow morning. Have a great Friday. See you tomorrow morning. We're united, strong and free. Most Americans are forced to spend too much money on health care and getting too little in return. If you're one of the millions frustrated by traditional health insurance, I want to tell you about America's Health Share. Go to Freedom for all health. That's freedomforallhealth.org Bannon now that's a mouthful. Freedomforhealth.org that's freedomforhealth.org Bannon and discover why tens of thousands of patriots are joining America's Health Share. America's Health Share reduces your health care cost by an average of 60% and it's accepted everywhere. In other words, say goodbye to out of network limitations. They make healthcare affordable, transparent and aligned with your values. Free from surprise bills or skyrocketing premiums. For as low as 68 bucks a month, an individual can get great health care coverage minus the complications and price gouging. From health care providers. You can completely scrap your current insurance or use America's healthcare to supplement your existing policy, even with Medicare. Simply go to freedomforhealth.org that's Freedom for

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Health

[Mike Davis]

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