
Episode 4434: Focusing On Holding China Accountable On Trade ...
Loading summary
Stephen K. Bannon
This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people. Christians not got a free shot. All these networks lying about the people. The people have had a belly full of it. I know you don't like hearing that. I know you try to do everything in the world to stop that, but you're not going to stop it. It's going to happen.
Dave Brat
And where do people like that go.
Stephen K. Bannon
To share the big lie?
Dave Brat
MAGA MEDIA I wish in my soul.
Stephen K. Bannon
I wish that any of these had a conscience. Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved. War ROOM here's your host, Stephen k.
Scott Bessant
Band.
Stephen K. Bannon
Wednesday 23rd April year of Lord 20:25 Dave Brat riding shotgun. Brat because of audience demand. Bush. Bush, when Bush did the, you know, took a pledge he wouldn't raise. He raised taxes on everyone. It was a tax increase. This is a massive tax cut for the middle class and the working class. It's totally different, the old school, you know, and we were in a very different financial situation then. Dave, Brett, your thoughts as. Cause you've seen these guys they're trying to scare up. But there's a lot of people behind the scenes that fully support this. First off, the politics of it's a no brainer. But let's leave politics aside because we don't do things for politics. When you're talking about finance and economics, if you don't get that right, you can, you know, the politics are irrelevant because it'll catch up with you later. The politics of the moment are not important. You got to think downrange of what it's actually going to do for the country and for the citizens of the country. And the problem is that they don't use the prism of not just America first, but American citizens first. That American citizens should get a preferred deal here because it's a pun. Hey, you rate it. You know why? The entire system rests on your shoulders. You are the full faith and credit of the United States government. You, this audience. And in addition, you know, as consumers, it's been a consumer engine. Now that is one of the things. This is why this is a supply side tax cut President Trump's trying to shift. And what Besson said today, between China, China's been all production and no consumption. We've been all consumption, no production. You've got to have you got to rebalance that. Dave, Brad, thoughts?
Scott Bessant
Yeah. Well, I'm so proud of Besson. Pleasantly surprised he came out a few weeks ago and said, it's your turn. To the American people, Wall street had its turn, now it's time for Main Street. And so when it comes to tax cuts, whatever, Wall street has had the Federal Reserve low interest, zero interest policy for a decade, the Greenspan put fighting on their side for 20, 30 years, the American people have had no one on their side. And so you're right, there's a realignment going on. Tax cuts, etcetera, are all part of it. The American people, we've all learned if you buy a lobbyist for $1 million, you will get a billion dollars back, right? You add one little comma, one little sentence, one little phrase to the budget for a million bucks, you get a billion dollars back. The American people have no such access to that kind of a deal. Only the elites have access to that kind of deal. And it's time they need to step up. And I like your analogy over the past few days too, when you switch the incentives. The CEOs of the Fortune 500 and all the big wigs and the magnificent seven have all been fine with goosing up the size of this budget, running $2 trillion deficits, no feedback from them. So they've been fine with this aggregate top down Keynesian planning, not a word against it. So now we're in a ditch, right? The globalist system has thrown us in a ditch. And people always just say to me, Dave, how are you going to, what are you going to do? I'm going to say, well, first of all, I want you to realize they threw us in the ditch. We have $37 trillion in debt. I didn't vote for that, right? So now we got to be the good guys and the tough guys and have character and fight back. And just lastly on the, you mentioned Harvard and all the education establishments. We have an infinite list of rights now in this country, right? And the World bank and the United nations, if you go to the back of their rights that global citizens are entitled to, you will find a list that goes on for 20 pages of the rights that the rest of the world is entitled to on the US Account. We have to spend our money for their rights with no corresponding responsibilities or ethics or morality coming from them. So the American people now get what's going on. The liberals are gone, we got Marxist leftists, we're fighting with judges and all that. But it's all coming home right now. And thank God President Trump's in there now. It's time for the Congress to step up, up They've been silent for too long on most of this. They need to step up right now and put what we're doing into law.
Stephen K. Bannon
So that they're going to do what they're going to do. They're going to do it. They're going to do what Trump tells them to do. There's no leadership over there at all. It's a disaster. They actually work because they're so confused. You got a handful of really good folks, but they're a small handful. And I don't know how these others get sent back time and time and time again. The World bank, because these are these international institutions set up by the globalists post war that have worked against the American people. Let me be blunt. I believe the Chinese Communist Party, the ccp, still goes to the window at the World bank as a developing nation. Am I correct? In borrowers at near zero, they're developing. So understand this, folks, where you can't get a loan from a bank to do any kind of business because you don't have enough collateral. That would be the real asset that you got to protect. Over@hometitle lock.com promo code. Steve, how was that? Slid that one in there. Good. Right? You can't find a loan because they're not lending to small business, they're not lending to entrepreneurs. But they got your money because you basically essentially fund the World Bank. You got your money, your taxpayer dollars are making accessible to the most murderous dictatorship in mankind's history. That would be the Chinese Communist Party that's killed hundreds of millions of their own people in broad daylight and nobody said anything about it. You know why? Because the world just looks over. They're just Chinese. Who cares? Mao. They were killed by the, you know, they're killed by Mao and these Communists. The crassness of this is that every corporation in the world's running over there to be their buddy. To be their buddy and rub up on them and make money by exploiting Lao Beijing and essentially exploiting the American people at the World bank, they get to go to the window of a developing nation. Last time I looked, their economy is what, two thirds the size of ours, or 80% on one level. If you do it on the PPP or the local pricing, it's actually bigger than the United States. Dave. Brad, how possibly are they still borrowing at the World bank as basically a developing nation at near zero, interest rates underwritten and funded by the American taxpayer who are being destroyed by the same Chinese Communist Party that happens to be at economic warfare with us? Sir.
Scott Bessant
Yeah, well, all of the thought leaders in our country who are responsible for divine defining our moral authority, such as the Harvards or whatever, according to Natalie Winters, are being funded by China. So how do they get away with it? All of our corporations are aimed at quarterly profits and they're trading right up to the last minute with China. And then all of a sudden they're going to discover, whoops, these are the bad guys in the Congress. You mentioned the pigs and the snouts and all that. And I had written down prior to you saying that, you know, Orwell in 84 and whatever in the. Some pigs are created more equal than others. Right. Some pigs are created more equal than others. And the American people have been left behind without rights, without recourse. Everyone's more equal than you. The Chinese, ccp. Right. And just by the way, for the, for the liberals and the leftists out there who still support this stuff in the wars and all this, you know, when Trotsky and the Bolsheviks came in, it's just well documented, he came in and was a dictator and there was no proletariat of the worker ever. Right. When these elitist Chinese top down totalitarians come in, there's no Marxist proletariat of the working class. You know, I mean, I would have liked to seen that experiment, what it looked like, but it's never come to fruition because every time they come in, they're the dictator, they're the totalitarian, and then they gaslight us and call Trump the totalitarian and the fascist for taking down the fascists. We're taking down a fascist order. This ought to be celebrated by all Americans. The fact that we're putting up a fight against the people who, as you say, have killed 100 million of their own people. The moral claims here are extraordinary and it's about time they came to the forefront in our discussion. And the kids unfortunately don't learn any of this in the schools. So imagine them framing the next round of our U.S. constitution with what they know now. So it's urgent we need to get our head on straight and define our terms right now and put it into our institutions.
Stephen K. Bannon
That's Orwell's magnificent. Animal Farm. All pigs are equal, but certain pigs are more equal. Certain pigs are more equal than others. Right? Yeah, all pigs are equal. Just certain pigs are more. Or all animals are equal. Just some animals are more equal than others. Animal Farm, magnificent. It's written about communism, but man, it can absolutely take place in the modern world. Read it and you'll be in Shock. If you haven't read it since you were a kid or since in high school, that's always a good one to dust off. 1984 is good, but better is Brave New World. Brave New World. You read Brave New World today. You are shocked about how accurate Brave New World is, even down to the lingo, is it not, Dave? BRETT.
Scott Bessant
No, that's right. And unfortunately, our literary tradition has been cut off at the knees. The kids no longer read any books. They all are doing technology on phones in front of their face. The schools, if they do literary stuff, it's literary criticism, making fun of our founders, making fun of the Bible, making fun of Christians, making fun of moral philosophers. And that has to come to an end. They can't define any morality. They can't define what rights they, they think we ought to have. And so everybody out there ought to be, you know, at the ramparts on your local school boards. When you, when you take a look under the hood, what they're doing, you'll be shocked and horrified. And you want change immediately.
Stephen K. Bannon
Let's go back to the economics that are we talking about change immediately? It's in front of us. The big beautiful bill is going to be coming. And I just want to go back some unpleasant math. We have a $1.3 trillion deficit on the books through the first six months. That's, that's done, that's locked, that's cash out the door. I predict. I predict. And going forward, we get to the end of the fiscal year on the first year of our watch. And I realize President Trump's only here for nine months, but we did make a conscious decision, folks, to take the CR and just kick it down the road because we were going to get to all the cuts in the first budget and then the reconciliation. The first time you notice we get, you keep getting promised and this kind of gets farther and farther away. Well, the ticker is running. And now you're going to have the bond market. This is why we had this thing when the bond market froze 10 days ago. And remember in the morning here on the show live, and Scott Besson kind of oversaw an auction of treasuries of 10 years that went okay. And Ray Dalio, who's made a fortune over in China with the ccp, so he's no friend of the war room and no friend of maga, no friend of Trump has essentially said, hey, with the way you're running up money and the way you have to finance it, you have a failed treasury auction one and the whole system can collapse. This is why you've had the run up of gold, right? The central banks tuck it away, buy it and tuck it away. So this is getting down to, this is why we have to be serious. One of the reasons of the not giving the wealthy not extending their tax cut permanently, because that's what we're talking about. Part of it is a wake up call. So they start getting focused on getting their lobbyists here and say, hey, this thing can't go on. When people come to me and say, hey, your thing with the tariffs and what President Trump's doing with trade and all this trade war and bringing jobs back and all this about the big beautiful bill and what President Trump's trying to do and reorganize, you know, you're not going to get it. I go, okay, well, hang on, stop. I said give me the alternative. The current system is not sustainable. It's not even close to being sustainable. It's gone on too long as it is. So I said, let's start there. Let's just start there and just, I need to hear it from these people that the current system is not sustainable because they sit there. Stephanie Rule, msnbc, cnbc, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times of London. These are, the guys are supposed to be fiduciaries. This is their job. It's not your job. Hell, you're out and about doing your thing, being a good American citizen, being the schmo that the whole system depends on because you ain't running around doing your business. Every day the system breaks down. So you're the good soldier, you're the hoplite in the system. You're doing your thing. And the guys, the fiduciaries, supposed to be looking at the big picture, they are the most at fault for this. Why now? Why has that happened? Because they've made a fortune. Have you looked at the concentration of wealth? Do you think this just kind of happened? No, it's not a conspiracy, but it's pretty well thought through the interconnecting pieces and everybody just looks the other way. And then finally, hey, whoa, look at this. So finally a guy like Trump says, hey, we're going to give the workers in the middle class something for the effort, little something for the effort, short break, just a tiny piece of the action. You don't go out and buy a life jacket when the boat is already sinking and you don't buy gold when the economy has already collapsed. Clearly, others are heeding this advice as gold hit an all time high. The first part of 2025 multiple times. It's not too late for you. The company I trust to help you diversify into physical gold is Birch Gold, the company I buy my gold from. Birch Gold specializes in helping you convert an existing IRA or 401k into a tax sheltered IRA and physical gold for no money out of pocket. Just listen to this five star review, quote, knowledgeable, helpful, non pressure, end quote. That's what you get with Burt's Gold and that's why I've endorsed them for so long. Get your free info kit on Gold by texting the word Bannon B A N N o N to 989-898. There's no obligation, just useful information with an A plus rating from the Better Business Bureau and countless five star reviews. Text Bannon Bannon to 989-898 and let the experts at Birchgold help you secure your financial future today with Gold.
Scott Bessant
Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban.
Stephen K. Bannon
Okay, the President of the United States just had a few words outside the White House and we are getting it loaded right now and we're going to show it to you in its entirety. Dave, Brett, you make a very interesting point to me during the break about the Federal Reserve. Can you share your knowledge with the audience, sir?
Scott Bessant
Yeah, sure. I find it interesting and shocking that the Federal Reserve over the past couple decades has no, no problem keeping interest rates low for the Fed. The Fed has accommodated $2 trillion deficits over the per year over the Biden years. They also printed money before Biden's election, coincidentally. Explain that one to me. But they won't validate Trump's America first moves to bring manufacturing jobs back to the American worker. So they know what's going on here, right? There's a year lag on everything Trump's doing, right? Tax cuts, energy regulation, all those have about a year lag. But the tariffs and the trade are in right now. So that's why Trump is saying, I want to cut right now. Ordinarily I wouldn't be in favor of a lower interest rate cut, but you put all those four moving pieces together and I do want it. And then the Fed the other day has the nerve and the gall to bring up the dual mandate. You don't believe in any dual mandate at all, Fed, you guys are not for jobs for Main street and for the American person, that is. That was a disgusting comment to say, you know, well, you know, now we're going to have to go up against Trump even more because of our dual mandate, which is, you know, stable prices and jobs Unemployment rate. Trump is actually fulfilling the dual mandate. Right? He's bringing jobs back to Americans and the Fed. I hope Trump pushes them to explain themselves on their dual mandate.
Stephen K. Bannon
Talk to me about this continued. I mean, we were at a moment of an inflection point or truth about this spending. We already know that the global capital markets, particularly the bond markets, because folks, here's the thing. We got up with the deficits of $2 trillion and the deficit this year is going to be two and a half trillion. It's going to be two and a half Trillion. You already see this from the 1.3 trillion we got in the first six months. It's going to be two, and a half trillion. $2.5 trillion just deficit for this year alone. The ability to have to refinance. This is crushing. And the only reason you can even do it. Argentina can't do it. Brazil can't do it. France can't do it. The United Kingdom can't do it. Why couldn't they do it? Why did Liz Truss get turfed out? Because they're not the prime reserve currency. The world runs on dollars. Okay, so you can do it, but only for a while. This is why the brics nation. This is why we started four years ago. Do you think it was random that I sat down with Burch and said, hey, I think we got to talk about. We're going to do a series about the end of the dollar empire that if it happens. Hang over a sec. We got President Trump. Let's listen to President Trump and Brett and I will come back involved with America.
Donald Trump
Be careful, fellas.
Stephen K. Bannon
Mr. President.
Donald Trump
They all want to be involved with America and we have a lot of action going on. We have. We're making a lot of money. This country, this country is not going to be losing money on trade anymore. We were losing $2 trillion. Now we're going to be making money, a lot of money. So that's very good. Every country wants to partake, even countries that have ripped us off for many, many years. China is an example. But it's not just China. European Union, they ripped us off for many, many years. And those days are over. We're going to make a lot of money for our people. We'll be able to lower taxes substantially and we're going to be proud of ourselves. They're not going to be a laughingstock that got taken advantage of by virtually every country in the world.
Stephen K. Bannon
Mr. President, Mr. President, President Trump.
Donald Trump
We're putting up a beautiful, almost 100 foot tall American flag on this side and another one on the other side. Two flags, top of the line. And they've needed flagpoles for 200 years. It was something I've often said, you know, they don't have a flagpole per se, so we're putting one right where you saw us and we're putting another one on the other side on top of the mounds. It's going to be two beautiful.
Dave Brat
Mr. President.
Stephen K. Bannon
Mr. President, on China. President Trump on China. Mr. President, how quickly, when did they.
Donald Trump
Tell you when they arrive? In about a week or so.
Scott Bessant
Mr. President, on China.
Stephen K. Bannon
On China.
Dave Brat
Can you clarify?
Stephen K. Bannon
Mr. President on China, are you thinking.
Scott Bessant
About, are you thinking about lowering their tariffs?
Donald Trump
Fair deal with China? It's going to be fair.
Scott Bessant
Are you talking to them actively now?
Donald Trump
Actively. Everything's active, everything. Everybody wants to be a part of what we're doing. They know that they can't get away with it any longer, but they're still going to do fine and we're going to have a country that you can be proud of, not a laughingstock all over the world for many years. You know, in 1913, they traded to the income tax system. We used to be all tariff and we had no income tax. And we had the wealthiest country we had proportionately from about 1870 to 1913, it was all tariff and we did. We had more money than anybody. They had committees how to spend the money. They had so much money they didn't know how to spend. Then some free in person said, let's go income tax, let's let the people pay. Now we're going to be able to substantially lower taxes when this is finished.
Stephen K. Bannon
How does it look in the meantime?
Scott Bessant
Are you considering lowering the tariffs on.
Stephen K. Bannon
China while you're negotiating?
Donald Trump
We were losing anywhere from three to five billion dollars a day. Think of it, we're losing billions of dollars under Biden and other presidents, frankly. But under Biden, it got really worse. China got out of control. We're losing a trillion dollars a year. Trillion.
Stephen K. Bannon
What about Ukraine, Mr. President?
Donald Trump
And now we're going to be making money with everyone and everyone's going to be happy, but we're going to be, we're no longer going to be the country that's ripped off by every country in the world.
Dave Brat
Thank you.
Stephen K. Bannon
We are. First off, don't bury the lead. It's the two flag poles. How Trumpian is that? You gotta love this guy. You have to love him. God bless him so good. Do you think, Brad, do you think the globalist, he's going out there, he's Gonna put on his own pocket, he's gonna put two big, beautiful flagpoles, like down in Mar a Lago. If you go to Mar a Lago, you see that flag. It's unbelievable. And remember, Bob beach took him to court and tried to do everything for years. Trump, I don't care. You're going to get an American flag now. You're going to get one at the White House. Stunning. But right there, we're going to be, we're going to be proud again. We're not going to be ripped off. That's what it gets down to. This country's been taken advantage of, and the citizens of this country have borne the burden. And for the first time in the history of this country, even with President Reagan, God bless him, and taking down the evil empire and doing the Lord's work, Trump is the first guy ever to put you in the room and quite frankly, put you at the head of the table next to him. Not in the room, not in the deal. And you're in the room right there. He lays it all out, Brett. Tired of being ripped off, and I'm fighting to make this country proud again of what we're doing in global commerce. Your thoughts, sir?
Scott Bessant
Yeah. Well, I've been reading about Trump's biography a little bit, and he's smarter than the press corps wants to acknowledge. When it comes to space and some of the technical issues and physics and stuff, he just plays it off like Reagan. Oh, shucks. And I'm building two flag poles. And, and that is, that is fantastic, because that's what matters, right? And so he's putting the narrative out front for everybody else to follow. And then all the pieces are put in place. This trade deal is huge. It's in place now. That's why the Fed, he's asking for the Fed for lower interest rates because the other pieces, right, the, the, the tax cuts, the regulatory piece, the energy piece, there's a year lag for those to happen. All of this is going to enhance our productivity. That's the key economic variable, Right? Our productivity, according to the world's expert, Bob Gordon, has been going down for 70 years. And that's why CBO and the Federal Reserve, and now the World bank and the IMF have growth at 2% for the next 30 years. That's the constant, right? So you can play all you want, news about the Wall street and the stock market and the equities and whatever, and it's all just noise, right? It's, you know, I don't want to make light of anyone's portfolio. But it's just noise in comparison with the fundamentals that Trump is shifting around. He's shifting around the entire world, geopolitical architecture. He's shifting around the United States of America, macro economy. He's changing it all. He's given your kids a shot at a home again. He's giving your kids a shot at a real education again. This is all just huge. I couldn't be more proud. The folks that don't get what's going on just don't get what's going on. But please don't blame it on Trump. He's doing a Herculean lift. Put some gas on the Congress and on the Senate. Light them up and tell them all they better put this stuff in statute, in law, right? Because we're fed up. And if they won't do it, then you need to turf them out because they're not following what's best for the American people either.
Stephen K. Bannon
Dave, what is your, what's your social media? Where do people go?
Scott Bessant
Yeah, just Brad Economics on getter and on X.
Stephen K. Bannon
Brother. Thank you so much. This is why, you know, hey, I say Trump 28. Dave, Brett's right. A guy like this comes along once a century, once in a country's history. We've had General Washington, we had Abraham Lincoln, General Washington at the birth of the republic, Abraham Lincoln at the rebirth of the republic, and President Trump at the restoration of the republic. And you see, he's taken them all on. Now what we need is the supporting cast, certain members of the supporting cast to step up. Some are stepping up huge because this is a 30 front war. We'd rather just fight on two fronts, but he can't because we're burning daylight to save this country. And right there, you saw a guy walk out there, put his two flag poles up. God, you gotta love him. He's the best. Dave, Brad, thank you for being with us this morning. Appreciate you, sir. To understand it, end of the dollar empire, go to Birch Gold and talk to Philip Patrick and the team Gold's bounce around down today below 3400 yesterday with the futures blowing through 3500. It's a hedge. It's not supposed to trade like a penny stock kind of is because it's very, very turbulent. One of the reasons things are so turbulent is they're looking at this spending and they're not seeing any effort to address it. It Short commercial break birchcold.com Bannon go talk to Philip Patrick and the team at Birch heard me talk about my Patriot supply because I trust them when it comes to my family's well being. And I just got word they're doing something they've never done before. Right now you can get the best selling mega 3 month emergency food supply for the same price as the standard kit. Now what I mean by that, that's more than a $360 off of real beef, real chicken, plus farm fresh fruits and vegetables included at no extra charge. Even better, this kit now gives you 2500 calories a day, more than any other emergency food supply I've seen. And let's be honest, when things go sideways, you're going to need more than just survival. You need strength, you need energy, you need real food. This kit will be there when you need it, stays fresh for up to 25 years and it ships fast and discreetly. If you've been waiting for the right time, this is it. Go to mypageriotsupply.com and claim your mega kit while this offer lasts. That's mypatriotsupply.com here's your host, Stephen K. Ban, fresh from the Caroline Wren joins us. First you did the White Lotus tour. We'll get to that in a second. But you just were over seeing Scott Bessant at the, at the International Economics Foundation. They talking about his address. Day was an IMF and the World Bank. This is another thing that the posse just can't understand. Why is the United States always ahead of everybody else and underwriting this stuff for these guys? Can't get a loan to start a business or of working capital. Now particularly with terrorists you need more working capital. Can't get a working capital loan. But we're funding people who don't have the Americans interests in mind, particularly the World bank where China still borrows as a developing nation for virtually zero interest rates. So we played a little bit of Scott's takedown today, but give us you were in the room, were those folks in shock?
Dave Brat
A little bit. I mean like more than half the room was reporters and I think they were a little bit in shock because it is just so refreshing to see someone like Besson. He's so even keel but then he's also a savage, a killer in his talks, his words. He's so purposeful in everything that he says and it's brilliant. I love the line he said he was like this Pollyannish outlook of the World Bank. He just, he torched the IMF and the World bank and he said he did it in a way though by saying these institutions are essential. However, they've completely lost their way. Like, you focus on idiotic things like climate change and social justice, wars, and has nothing to do. If you actually want to help these countries, help developing countries like Africa and others, help them with energy. Like, that's what they need. They need access to water and access to energy. And he just laid it out in a great, great way. And it was setting the tone for, you know, the IMF meeting is starting this week in D.C. and so he really set the tone for how those discussions should go. And so I love the way he led with strength. And he even said, you know, america first is not America alone, which he is right in that. I mean, we're the head of the global economy, but everyone needs to follow our lead, not the other way around. And he came down hard on Germany, too, and said president Trump has done more to force Germany to start spending their money again and helping out the EU in different ways. But Besant, it just reminds me, he said it's a room of economists in there and then journalists, but he said, I'm not an economist, I'm an economic historian. And he truly is. I mean, he is one of the most brilliant minds. And I am just, I'm so pleased that he's in this administration.
Stephen K. Bannon
Well, no, he's an expert. Particularly knows about the Great Depression and all the monetary crisis, which is what you need. That's always a safe pair of hands. And folks, remember back in that huge fight in Mar a Lago before the. His confirmation went great because there was nobody on the. There's nobody on the committee ever going to try to question him. It was, it was the fight between Lutnick and Besson. If we had had Lutnick, it had been an unmitigated, absolute disaster. The Trump administration, the second term will be over right now. And I say that just obvious. And everybody on Wall street will tell you, everybody in capital markets will tell you. He also put a shot across the bow, the Chinese. He said, hey, we're just not going to have, you know, you're not going to just produce everything and be the producer and sell it to us. And the model doesn't work anymore. There's got to be a balancing. He talked about a balancing overall. How was that taken?
Dave Brat
I think it was taken well. I noticed there was several reporters there who clearly from China, too. So I've always mentioned how they're going to end up covering that. But he is not wrong. And he was saying, like, he's, he's being smart in how he's approaching China, I think, and with his words too, he's being strong against them, but also recognizing that where China's been preparing for this trade war for 10 years, I mean they've been restructuring their entire economy in preparation for this. And so as we head to the table right now to negotiate with 170 countries in 90 days, we need to be mindful of the fact that like China has been hedging their bets, preparing for, for this.
Stephen K. Bannon
And even they threaten retaliation against anybody. It's of course 170 countries are important, but they're 15 that matter.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Stephen K. Bannon
And the top five are East Asian. It matter because the EU is going to do what we brown them into doing. The finally you got Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, India, those big five right there. Throw in Thailand, others, but those big five will, will set that will the East Asian powerhouses, the tigers. Right. Will set the tone. And China knows what's happening.
Dave Brat
Right.
Stephen K. Bannon
They've told, they understand these deals have a. The center of gravity is with the United States of America in a free trading system. Not a mercantiles trading system, I should say a fair trading system because there is no free trade. Right. But the mercantilist systems of the Chinese Communist Party is over.
Dave Brat
Right? Yeah. And I think also with, I mean their economy is based off of manufacturing. Right. And so as we move into this new AI world which is going to be taking over manufacturing, you have to ask yourself what is the Chinese economy going to look like as AI begins to take over? And so they certainly have the energy there to be able to power these data farms and different things. But what are they going to do with the human capital, the people that they have? And so China is going to have to deal with that. Besson's been talking about that for a long time as well. But you know, China always is playing along.
Stephen K. Bannon
You were. And they said this day she's not going to jump on this. Charlie Gasparina put out that he's playing the long game. Of course they're at economic war with us. You were there. What are the nations you went around from Indonesia to Thailand to all of it. What were that when you were there with sovereign wealth funds and the business community? What are they saying?
Dave Brat
They're saying that they, they hate China. China is a terrible partner. They don't want to deal with them. They want to do more business with the United States. They are desperate to. But they also have the reality of China being their neighbor and that the majority of their exports, you know, are between the US and China. And China is going all in on Southeast Asia. I mean, they, President Xi came into Vietnam, he came into Malaysia, he came into Cambodia. He's on the phone with the Indonesian prime minister, just basically telling them exactly what the Financial Times says right there of saying, do not do deals with the United States. Do them with us. And they come in with bags and bags of cash and basically buy up all their infrastructure in these countries. And then what happens is when you buy up all the infrastructure in the countries, you can kind of you own those countries when you do that, when you buy up their ports, their rare earth minerals, their lng. And so we need to be leaning in more on these communities, making sure that they know that we have their back and that they're not just going to be left to China because China's terrible business partner for them.
Stephen K. Bannon
Let's go to. Let's pivot to domestic and had the big article in the Washington Post yesterday about the taxes. Think through the big beautiful bill. You know the donor class as well as anybody. This math justice does. If you have a math and Newt Gingrich and Grover the same thing. Oh, It's Bush in 92. That was a tax. That was Bush said, well, I'm not raising taxes and raising on everybody. The this is a massive tax cut for the middle class and working class. You extend in perpetuity the Trump tax cuts for the working class and middle class of 17 and you add no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security. That is a massive tax cut to put some money into people's pockets. Something when you look through the math at the current spending that you've got, right? And the current growth rate that you have, that's kind of hard mathematics. Somehow you have to bridge a gap or the bond market is going to throw up. It makes sense not to extend the tax cut on the upper bracket. And President Trump says, okay, let's make it a million bucks, which is higher than the. So a bunch of people in the upper bracket and make it 40%. I think the number I saw thrown at this morning was $400 billion over 10 years. So it's not the end of the world. But and not just that, let's leave the politics aside. The economics got to work. Now. How big is the donor class going to revolt against that, ma'am?
Dave Brat
I mean, this is what Bess has been talking about. Wall street has had a very good run of it. They've done very well for a long time. But it is Main Street's turn And so President Trump, the Wall street guys have never really fully backed President Trump. They come in once he actually wins, then they start showing up for the.
Stephen K. Bannon
Inauguration to give them a Lago after, after November 5th. And you're. And you're down, you're down and you come to all the balls and you're sitting around greasing up and hiring lobbyists. But they're not with him.
Dave Brat
No. And so I don't think Trump particularly cares what the Wall street guys have to say about their taxes going up. I think he cares what the Main street folks have to say. And a lot of Trump's donors, even the larger ones, were actually guys that own manufacturing plants in Minnesota, Texas, energy folks. And I think that they are going to be fine with it. They understand that this is what they are supportive of President Trump. They understand what he is doing here. And we do have a spending problem in this country and we have to offset the revenue issues. And so I hope that President Trump moves forward with this. If a couple of donors are angry, okay. I think that President Trump answers to we the people and not the donor class. And I say this as someone who was his fundraiser for a long time, and this is what I've always loved about President Trump. He was the least pay to play president in history. And, you know, President Trump wanted people. Yes. To donate.
Stephen K. Bannon
Well, he's seen that. He's seen that with Zuckerberg and all these oligarchs. Right now we're in federal court blowing up the oligarchs and taking apart. Taking apart piece by piece. Also, I want to go to how tough a fight is. How many people on Capitol Hill do you think right now back that in the House and the Senate, right behind closed doors? A lot.
Dave Brat
Right.
Stephen K. Bannon
But how many are prepared to step forward?
Dave Brat
Well, on Capitol Hill, I would say, especially if you look at people who are on like the Appropriations Committee, financial services, people that determine this, they are disproportionately funded by Wall Street. So they have much less of a backbone than what President Trump has, particularly within the Republican Party, too. And then you have people like Elizabeth Warren, who claims to be for the people, even though she's actually bought off by the big banks, probably worse than anyone else.
Stephen K. Bannon
Big pharma.
Dave Brat
Correct. So I think that you're. If the Republicans were smart on Capitol Hill, they would understand what you've been talking about for a long time, what President Trump talks about, which is the populist movement, which used to be what the Democrats owned, and so force the Democrats have to be the ones to fight for the donor class in Wall street and actually be lock and step with President Trump here is fighting for Main Street.
Stephen K. Bannon
So you see the geo street strategic and also the economic and you see it from the eyes of the donors because you spend so much time with these guys. There's a growing frustration in this audience every day of a sense of urgency. They see other things being worked on and progress being made. Obviously you're getting chopped up and the courts are trying to slow you down because to delays, to deny. But the one thing they feel that we do have the, the power to control is taking down the deep state, not through a doge defunding effort or waste fraud and abuse, but actually going after the deep state. And everything is done to try to shut this movement down, to try to shut President Trump down, et cetera. And they don't see the sense of urgency, whether it's in the CIA and DNI for restructuring intelligence, whether it's in DOJ for investigations. One thing that happened, Klaus Schwab, you know, all sudden, the day the Pope dies, it's announced he's stepping down immediately in perpetuity, forever, the chairmanship of the World Economic Forum. And it's announced immediately the board is investigating him for, you know, fraud and all these other things, you know, money laundering, fraud, et cetera. And the comments in the chat room are in the chat room, hey, how is the board of the WEF investigating Klaus Schwab before the Justice Department is right that we're just, we're not moving off the dime on that. Your thoughts?
Dave Brat
Well, Klashwav actually announced, it was about 10 days ago, I think is when he announced that he was stepping down. And of course the media doesn't want it. So they asked no questions. They just thought, oh, he's old, he's just going away. And I thought, yeah, right, that guy was going to hold on to power until he died. And so then they announced that there was the investigation, of course, when the Pope died to bury it on that day. Now, I agree with you. I want to see more, I guess, aggression out of the DOJ certainly here. I think the Klaus Schwab investigation is going to be fascinating, but if we just leave it to international partners.
Stephen K. Bannon
But that's just one example. What about everything else DOJ and the FBI should be doing?
Dave Brat
Right? Well, I, you know, I'm the biggest Cash Patel fan that you'll ever meet. And I think cash is, you know, we have to remember that these people took a little bit to be able to get confirmed, to get in there. And so he is doing a very, very good job. I'm going to give him a little bit more time and space to kind of see what's, what's going to happen here with what he is doing.
Stephen K. Bannon
You think Tom Fenton is being too harsh? Look, Bongino, Bongino and Cash, people revere these guys. I mean, the fight that we had for Cash to even get him, that was harder than Besant to get Cash Patel selected then to getting confirmed. Right. Is it your concern that there's too much about, you know, FBI 10 most wanted and the Husband Russia team? That's all fine, but quite frankly, MAGA doesn't care about that. MAGA wants the FBI broken up and we don't see any movement on that at all.
Dave Brat
Right. I am going to give him some more time and space to be able to get this done. But I will say that what Tom Fenton is doing is absolutely essential. And what you do on this show is essential. What Mike Davis is doing, pushing the judicial system, pushing the doj. Just because we are now in power doesn't mean we have to go quiet and just sit here and wait for things to happen. Things should happen. Like Tom Fenton is not going to wait any longer for these things. And so if that means suing the Trump administration, he's going to do it. And sometimes that actually helps. It causes that sense of urgency. I'd like to see more action out of Congress where they should be doing some more. I say, you know, we, we have the Republican Chamber and the Senate and the House. They can originate a lot of these investigations too.
Stephen K. Bannon
If you love the capital markets and geopolitics. We do go torickards war room.com Jim Rickert's one of our big contributors here. We're going to try to get Jim on before the end of the week. Rickards were you get access to Strategic Intelligence. It's his monthly newsletter. He'll kick in a free book. Money was a money chat GPT this thing artificial intelligence and currency. Currency trading, the world's economic system. A financial system will scare the hell out of you. But that's kind of the purpose of the book. Make sure Strategic Intelligence by Jim rickards. Rickards war room.com Go check it out. Today, Caroline Ren's in the house. Short commercial break. Back in a moment. You've heard me talk about Patriot Mobile for a while now. You probably know that for years they've stood in the gap for every American who believes in faith, family and freedom. So here's the question have you switched to Patriot Mobile yet? You'll get exceptional nationwide coverage because unlike most cell phone service providers, Patriot mobile utilizes all three major U.S. networks. Switch today without sacrificing quality or service. They even add two numbers on two networks on one phone. Let me repeat. They can even add two numbers on two networks on one phone. It's like you're carrying two phones in one. They have unlimited data plans, mobile hotspots, international roaming, Internet on the go devices and Internet backup. Switching is easy. Keep your number, keep your phone or upgrade their 100% US based team can activate you in minutes. Best of all, switching to Patriot Mobile supports your values. If you believe in our first Amendment and second Amendment rights, the sanctity of life, supporting our veterans and first responders, this is where you belong right now. Go to patriotmobile.com Bannon or call 972-patriot Get a free month of service with promo code Bannon. So if you call in, tell em Bannon also switch today. That's patriotmobile.com Bannon or call 972 Patriot. Here's your host, Stephen K. Bann. If he missed the filing date for the IDEs of April last April 15 on tax day, don't be anxious. All this can be worked out, but you got to make contact. Go to Tax Network USA, 800-958-1000 promo code bannon or tnusa.com promo code bannon. Get a free consultation of everything. If you missed filings before, if you missed this one, or if you got a letter from the irs, that's a ticking time bomb in your drawer. Don't think about putting a drawer. It goes away. It doesn't. The fees, the penalties, interest, all of it accumulating every day. Stop the anxiety. Just call the people at Tax Network usa. It's not the end of the world. The end of the world comes if you don't address it. Take action. Use your agency just like in everything else you've done here. Use your agency for yourself. 800-958-1000 Tell them the war room sent you. Get a free consultation and see if they can assist you in their problem. I think they've corrected $1 billion worth of tax issues for folks. Dick Durbin just announced he's not running. That tells me that Dick Durbin knows they're not going to take the Senate. Otherwise he'd stick around. Being the minority over there, which is a thousand times being in the minority in the House, it's still not the best gig. And so he wants to punch out. Right. Is that the way you view it?
Dave Brat
How do you view it? I think we should be able to hold the Senate. I still get nervous. I mean, Trump drives so much turnout when he is on the ticket. We've seen. That's why we've underperformed in these special elections and in off years. I also think, though, that, you know, you had Mitch McConnell and his cronies running SLF during the, you know, his leadership. Yeah. And just horrific spending decisions. They. I think Mitch McConnell would have rather been in the minority and had people that he could control than actually be in the majority. And so we will see with Senator Thune, I think, has a much better appetite. I think he's working very well with President Trump. He's now taken over that apparatus. So I'm more excited to see what that group is going to do. And you're kind of.
Stephen K. Bannon
You're kind of a. You're kind of a Thune person, aren't you?
Dave Brat
I am a. Why is he glad to see McConnell gone first?
Stephen K. Bannon
Okay, so good.
Dave Brat
And so far, Thune is, I think, been a much better partner to President trump than. Than McConnell ever has been. And so I. And some of the political operation behind Thune I think is much better than what the McConnell operation was. And on top of that, you know, I think Thune is more of a populist, certainly, than what McConnell was. McConnell answered entirely to the donor class and to a set of about 10 donors who determine the entire agenda for the Senate. So I think that Thune so far is doing a pretty good job, but I think we should be able to hold the Senate. We've got some interesting primaries, especially Texas. Cornyn vs. Paxton is one that I'm watching very closely. I'm a huge fan of Ken Paxton.
Stephen K. Bannon
As his audience is, too.
Dave Brat
Yeah. And I really. I think that he can win this. I've seen private polling that shows he can actually win this primary. And then I think every single time the Democrats try and claim in the media that Texas can be close. It's never close. Like we. Ken Paxton can absolutely win a general election. That's kind of the pushback that people are saying, oh, well, if you, you know, can. He can win the primary, then we might lose that seat. I don't believe that for a minute.
Stephen K. Bannon
Talk about Texas. That's Glenn Story and the team go to 972 Patriot, Patriot Mobile. We don't need to pitch you guys on how great they are and how they support. And Glenn Story and his team down there are Absolutely unbelievable. To support your values, but these guys are warriors. But the service of the company itself, because they layered on top of all the major networks, you can get two numbers on each phone. They get every different aspect. Just call them. 972 Patriot. Make the switch today. Support the guys that support you. And the service is absolutely unbelievable. 972 Patriot or patriotmobile.com War Room or Bannon in this case, I think Bannon. Make sure you get it. You get 30 days free when you do it. Glenn Story and his team in Texas, I'm telling you, that's going to be a barn burner. Corn is as bad as they get. Of course, he'll be running down to Trump and Mar A Lago every second. House. The House right now, folks. If Hakeem Jeffrey raises $2 billion and flips some seats in New York and in California, they think they're going to take the House. The first thing they're going to do is peach Trump. And then we're back to the beginning of this whole thing. Right. So what has to happen?
Dave Brat
Well, I do think that the House is going to be much trickier, but they need to be fighters and actually, you know, stand up for things. And as you just mentioned, if they take Hakeem Jeffrey is saying if they take back the House, they're immediately going to start calling for investigations. Well, we currently have the House, so why aren't we calling for investigations? And so I think that our, you know, House leadership needs to stand for much more than they are. They need to get much more aggressive. And also. But if the Democrats are going to take the posture over the next year and a half of just defending, you know, Venezuelan gang members, then I fail to see how they'll be able to win elections. And they are still searching kind of for their soul and their leadership. But if they go the aoc, all.
Stephen K. Bannon
The polling show and AOC is now rising, she can beat Schumer by 20 or 30 points in New York in a Senate race. And she's leading in the polling right now. I understand from Democrats that are doing this polling for the presidential run.
Dave Brat
Well, I've been watching Bernie and AOC's rallies and it is not that much different of listening to War Room, by the way.
Stephen K. Bannon
No, but they don't populate. But they don't talk about any populist economics. They talk about Green New Deal and they talk about healthy. They never quite get. They don't land. They don't land the, the jump.
Dave Brat
Right.
Stephen K. Bannon
Right. They don't stick the Landing.
Dave Brat
Yeah, that. That is true. But I do think that it's interesting to watch just the crowds that they're getting, but also House leadership on the Democrat side. Like they forced AOC out of the House. If they were smart, they would have given her a House oversight chair, by the way. Like, they, they answer to their own old guard on their side, too. And so they're going to be at a reflection point here. And do they go the way of AOC and Bernie or do they go the way of their establishment?
Stephen K. Bannon
Talk about old guard. Mike Lindell, are you out of business? Are you. Are you pleading in federal court for the mercy of a federal judge to have mercy on Michael and Dell? Are you going to sell me some sheets today?
Mike Lindell
There were no tears shed, you guys. But because why? Because you know what? The war room has been there for my pillow and my boys, and we're there for you. We're continuing that sale with the closeout sale of that line of Raquel sheets. You have all responded. We're giving it all to the war room posse. Any size. You've got split kings, California kings, king size, any size, any color. Only 25 with the promo code war room. And once they're gone, they're gone. But you guys have responded and we're able to. But this was the earmark for the box stores. Their loss is your gain, and it's a win, win, win. You guys go to mypillow.com click on Steve. He's right down, about five squares down. And there you see it. You've got the. Oh, they sell the 999 towel set of stuff, all the kitchen and bath towels, all new products for spring. Check that out. That's a war room exclusive. There's the closeout sale and the precale sale sheet. Bedline. You have the my crosses. The biggest discount in the country on crosses. Save 30%. Call 800-873-1062. Promo code, War room.
Stephen K. Bannon
Mike Lindell. Thank you, brother. See you this afternoon. Best promo code in the business. MyPillow.com promo code warm. Go check it out. Today, a massive amount of products. What your. We got Charlie Kirk next, Jack Posic, Steve Gruber, Eric Bolling. I'll do the handoff from Bolling today. Then two hours of worm in the afternoon. So much going on. We're gonna have you totally up to speed. What's your social media? Where do people follow Caroline Wren?
Dave Brat
It is Caroline Wren on Twitter, Truth Social and Gitter.
Stephen K. Bannon
Unbelievable. Thank you for dropping by. Thank you. And thank you for doing all the great reporting. People loved it when you were in Asia and all these deals. 170 countries trying to cut deals, 15 big ones. Scott Bessant leading the way. Stick around for Charlie. We're back here at 5:00. We'll see you when you're back in the War Room. What if he had the brightest mind in the War Room, delivering critical financial research every month? Steve Bannon here. War Room listeners know Jim Rickards. I love this guy. He's our wise man. A former CIA, Pentagon and White House advisor with an unmatched grasp of geopolitics and capital markets, Jim predicted Trump's Electoral College victory exactly 312 to 226, down to the actual number itself. Now he's issuing a dire warning about April 11, a moment that could define Trump's presidency and your financial future. His latest book, MoneyGPT, exposes how AI is setting the stage for financial chaos. Bank runs at lightning speeds, algorithm driven crashes, and even threats to national security. Right now, War Room members get a free copy of MoneyGPT when they sign up for Strategic Intelligence. This is Jim's flagship financial newsletter, Strategic Intelligence. I read it. You should read it. Time is running out. Go to rickardswarroom.com that's all, one word. Rickards, war Room. Rickards with an S. Go now and claim your free book. That's rickardswarroom.com do it today.
Trevor Comstock
Hey, War Room. Hope you're all doing well. My name is Trevor Comstock. I'm one of the co creators of Sacred Human and I wanted to share just a little bit more about our brand for those who may not know of us yet, but about six months ago, we decided to launch Sacred Human with really the simple mission being to provide American made natural supplements without all the artificial nonsense. So unfortunately, as many of you know, a lot of these big corporate supplements will include things like preservatives, artificial ingredients and other additives that really aren't benefiting your health. So that's why we created Sacred Human, really trying to fill this gap of quality supplements and of course, the beef liver being our flagship products. For those who don't know, beef liver is loaded with highly bioavailable ingredients such as vitamin A, B12, zinc, CoQ10, etc. And because it is 100% grass fed and natural, your body is able to absorb these nutrients far better than taking any other synthetic multivitamin or any other synthetic vitamin in general. So we have some other amazing products, but if you'd like to check us out. You can go to sacredhumanhealth.com and cheers to your health.
Release Date: April 23, 2025
Podcast: Bannon’s War Room
Host: Stephen K. Bannon
In Episode 4434 of “Bannon’s War Room,” host Stephen K. Bannon engages in an in-depth discussion with economist Scott Bessant and political analyst Dave Brat. The episode centers on strategies to hold China accountable in international trade, exploring economic policies, geopolitical maneuvers, and the internal dynamics of the United States' economic framework.
Bannon opens the discussion by highlighting the disproportionate relationship between American consumption and Chinese production. He emphasizes the necessity of rebalancing this dynamic to favor American citizens over political interests.
Scott Bessant elaborates on the historical focus on Wall Street at the expense of Main Street. He advocates for tax cuts and financial policies that directly benefit the average American worker.
The conversation critiques institutions like the World Bank and IMF for perpetuating policies that disadvantage the U.S., particularly favoring China through low-interest loans.
Bannon discusses the looming $2.5 trillion deficit projected for the fiscal year, stressing the unsustainable nature of current economic practices and the potential collapse of the bond market.
The episode features remarks from former President Donald Trump, who outlines a shift towards fairer trade deals with China and the European Union, aiming to end decades of financial loss.
Scott Bessant criticizes the Federal Reserve for prioritizing Wall Street's interests over the broader American economy, highlighting the disconnect between financial policies and the needs of Main Street.
The discussion touches on geopolitical strategies, especially in East Asia, and examines how the rise of artificial intelligence is poised to transform manufacturing and global economic landscapes.
Bannon and Brat debate proposed tax cuts aimed at the middle and working classes, contrasting them with tax policies that favor the wealthy and large corporations. They argue that restructured tax policies are essential for economic sustainability.
The episode addresses the necessity of taking decisive action against entrenched governmental interests that impede the administration's economic and geopolitical initiatives.
Stephen K. Bannon [00:02]: “This is the primal scream of a dying regime... It's going to happen.”
Scott Bessant [03:15]: “When you have a $37 trillion debt, you need to be the good guys and the tough guys and have character and fight back.”
Donald Trump [21:09]: “Every country wants to partake... We were losing $2 trillion... Now we're going to be making a lot of money.”
Scott Bessant [16:35]: “The Fed accommodations of $2 trillion deficits...they won't validate Trump's America first moves.”
Episode 4434 of “Bannon’s War Room” presents a critical examination of the United States' economic policies in relation to China. The discussions underline the urgent need to prioritize American citizens and industries, challenging existing international financial institutions that have historically favored China. The dialogues between Bannon, Bessant, and Brat highlight a multifaceted approach combining economic reforms, strategic geopolitical actions, and internal governmental restructuring to restore American economic dominance.
The episode advocates for substantial tax cuts targeting the middle and working classes while critiquing policies that benefit Wall Street and the wealthy elite. Additionally, it calls for aggressive measures against entrenched governmental interests that obstruct progressive economic and geopolitical strategies.
Overall, the episode emphasizes a paradigm shift towards an "America First" policy, aiming to rebalance economic disparities, secure fair trade agreements, and ensure sustainable financial practices to safeguard the future of the United States amidst global economic challenges.
This summary encapsulates the core discussions, insights, and notable quotations from Episode 4434 of “Bannon’s War Room,” providing a comprehensive overview for those who have not listened to the episode.