Episode 4436: The Casino Market; Stopping The Illegal Smuggling Taking Place In The US

Summary

Podcast Summary: Bannon’s War Room – Episode 4436: The Casino Market; Stopping The Illegal Smuggling Taking Place In The US

Overview In Episode 4436 of Bannon’s War Room, host Stephen K. Bannon delves into two critical issues facing the United States: the ongoing economic confrontation with China and the escalating problem of illegal smuggling within the country. The episode features in-depth discussions with analysts, commentators, and expert Todd Bensman, providing listeners with a comprehensive analysis of these pressing matters.

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1. US-China Economic Relations: A Battle of Systems

Tariffs and Economic War The episode opens with an unnamed analyst critiquing former President Donald Trump's approach to China. The analyst argues that Trump's implementation of tariffs was a strategic misstep, likening it to being dealt a poor hand in a game of cards.

Unnamed Analyst (00:00): “Donald Trump dealt himself a bad hand on China. He enacted tariffs that threatened to tank the economy... He dumped himself a 2, 3, 4, 5, 7. All unsuited.”

Strategic Implications The discussion emphasizes that Trump's aggressive tariffs aimed to corner China economically but inadvertently destabilized the U.S. markets, making it risky for the American economy. The analyst uses a metaphor to illustrate the strained negotiations, comparing it to a thief asking for the return of stolen items under unfair conditions.

Unnamed Analyst (01:29): “They’re not true. He completely made them up with a formula that we believe Peter Navarro invented.”

Commentator’s Perspective An unnamed commentator furthers the argument by declaring that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been at economic war with the U.S. for two decades, bypassing international agreements and exploiting organizations like the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Unnamed Commentator (02:28): “The Chinese Communist Party has been at economic war with us for 20 years.”

Trump’s Stance and Determination When the moderator questions Trump's recent conciliatory statements towards China, the commentator remains steadfast, asserting that Trump is not backing down. He suggests that Trump views manufacturing as a premium market and is determined to win the economic battle against China.

Unnamed Commentator (02:28): “If you think their system’s going to win, you’re kidding yourself. It’s not. We’re going to win this. The American people are going to win it.”

Potential Tariff Reductions The conversation touches upon recent reports from the Wall Street Journal about possible reductions in tariffs on China, though no definitive decisions have been made. The presence of Chinese officials in Washington sparks speculation about upcoming negotiations.

Unnamed Commentator (07:35): “The White House is considering slashing tariffs on China to de-escalate the trade war in some cases by more than half.”

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2. Internal Security: Combating Illegal Smuggling

Human Trafficking Concerns Expert Todd Bensman discusses a recent incident involving a smuggling operation in Tennessee, highlighting the pervasive issue of human trafficking networks operating within the U.S. He underscores the failure of law enforcement to adequately address these crimes.

Todd Bensman (47:12): “They got arrested, prosecuted, pled guilty to the charges and spent 18 months in jail. By the time he got out, it was the Biden era and Biden was letting all the criminals stay.”

Systemic Failures The commentator criticizes the Tennessee State Police for their mishandling of the case, pointing out that the individual involved was connected to a known human trafficking boss from Houston. This case exemplifies the broader systemic failures in immigration enforcement and law enforcement's inability to curb smuggling effectively.

Unnamed Commentator (48:33): “He had eight in the car. And it’s outrageous that the Tennessee State Police didn’t take them downtown right then or take them to the relevant authorities.”

Constitutional Crisis and Executive Power Bannon draws parallels between current events and historical instances where Presidents faced constitutional challenges. He warns of a looming constitutional crisis akin to those faced by Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, emphasizing the expansion of executive powers during wartime.

Stephen K. Bannon (Various Timestamps): “They are forcing a constitutional crisis at the Supreme Court. They are not going to back Trump... they are trying to force Trump's hand on deportations of the 10 million.”

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3. Defense Spending and Strategic Military Posture

Expansion of Defense Budget The discussion shifts to the U.S. defense budget, critiquing the addition of $100 to $150 billion to the existing $900 billion authorization. Bannon questions the rationale behind maintaining multiple carrier battle groups, questioning their necessity and efficiency.

Stephen K. Bannon (Throughout Defense Discussion): “We have two carrier battle groups... why are we bombing the Houthis? They’re an ally.”

Pacific vs. Atlantic Focus Bannon highlights the strategic importance of the Pacific theater, noting that U.S. military presence there has been pivotal since World War II. He contrasts this with current operations in the Red Sea and criticizes the allocation of resources.

Stephen K. Bannon (Defense Spending): “This is the projection of American power ashore... in the Pacific.”

Call for Hemispheric Defense Advocating for a shift, Bannon proposes a return to hemispheric defense, suggesting significant cuts to the defense budget as a means to achieve financial sustainability.

Stephen K. Bannon (Defense Strategy): “If we went back to hemispheric defense... we cut $200 billion out of the defense budget today.”

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4. Economic Outlook and Fiscal Sustainability

Unsustainable Fiscal Policies Bannon warns of an impending financial crisis driven by unsustainable government spending. He cites a projected $2.5 trillion deficit for the fiscal year ending September 30th, emphasizing the dire need for financial reform.

Stephen K. Bannon (Economic Outlook): “This system is not simply, it's not simply unsustainable because it's unsustainable at two and a half. We're going to have a $2.5 trillion deficit this year.”

Critique of Federal Spending The episode critiques the excessive federal spending on defense and other sectors, arguing that the current expenditure is neither logical nor sustainable. Bannon calls for conscious and intentional decision-making to address these economic challenges.

Stephen K. Bannon (Economic Critique): “We can't have that happen. This is an insane system that's not sustainable.”

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5. Constitutional Crisis and Executive Authority

Historical Parallels Drawing from historical events, Bannon compares President Trump’s potential confrontation with the judiciary and DOJ to the actions of Presidents Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln during crises, highlighting the use of expanded executive powers.

Stephen K. Bannon (Historical Comparisons): “Lincoln ran the Civil War as a warlord... they are trying to force Trump to be Andrew Jackson.”

Executive Powers and Legal Challenges The conversation underscores the tension between executive authority and judicial oversight, predicting that the Supreme Court will be thrust into a constitutional dilemma regarding immigration and deportation policies.

Stephen K. Bannon (Constitutional Crisis): “This is going to go to the Supreme Court and it's going to be a constitutional crisis.”

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6. Security and Global Conflict

Third World War Narrative Bannon frames the ongoing global tensions, particularly the conflict in Ukraine and Middle East engagements, as part of a “Third World War.” He criticizes Russian aggression and highlights President Trump’s efforts to broker peace.

Stephen K. Bannon (Third World War): “We’re in the third world war. I was trying to tell at the World Economic Conference... a room full of globalists.”

Trade Wars and National Security The episode discusses the interconnectedness of trade wars with national security, emphasizing the strategic importance of maintaining open sea lanes and countering adversarial nations’ economic maneuvers.

Stephen K. Bannon (Global Conflict): “We’re fighting a global trade war because they’re all ripping us off... we have to keep the sea lanes open.”

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Conclusion

In this episode, Bannon’s War Room offers a critical examination of the United States' economic and security policies, focusing on the contentious relationship with China and the rampant issue of illegal smuggling. Through robust discussions and expert insights, the podcast underscores the challenges of maintaining economic stability, national security, and constitutional integrity in a rapidly evolving global landscape.

Notable Quotes:

• Unnamed Analyst (00:00): “Donald Trump dealt himself a bad hand on China... All unsuited.”
• Unnamed Commentator (02:28): “We’re going to win this. The American people are going to win it.”
• Stephen K. Bannon (02:28): “It’s a battle between two systems... We’re going to win this.”

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Disclaimer: This summary excludes advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content sections from the original podcast transcript to focus solely on the substantive discussions and analyses presented during the episode.

Transcript

[Unnamed Analyst]

A list of things for myself that Donald Trump was not dealt a bad hand on China. Donald Trump dealt himself a bad hand on China. Okay? So here's one. He enacted tariffs that threatened to tank the economy. So that creates risk for him. He backed China into a corner, which every person, every treasury sector I've known over 20 years will tell you. The first thing you don't do is back China into a corner. He made the Fed incapable of responding. So the Fed can't help. He's tanked the markets, the bond and the dollar, and there's no endgame and no plan here. So five cards, five lousy cards. He dumped himself a 2, 3, 4, 5, 7. All unsuited, essentially, is what he did right there. So it's a good thing that China has said it's open to negotiations. But the question becomes. I was trying to think of a metaphor for this. Stephanie, tell me if this is the right way to think about it. A guy stole your wallet and your necklace, and he says, let's talk about it. And he says, I'll give you back your wallet. He said, no, give me back the wallet and the necklace. And the reason that metaphor may work is because Donald Trump invented these tariffs that he put on China as being commensurate with the tariffs that China put on us. They're not true. He completely made them up with a formula that we believe Peter Navarro invented. So I don't think, I don't know that China comes to the table without saying, get rid of this nonsense and then we'll talk.

[Unnamed Moderator]

I mean, are the markets up too much? Should people be selling if they believe that?

[Unnamed Commentator]

It's irrelevant to me. The daily trading of the stock exchange, it's irrelevant. The Chinese Communist Party has been at economic war with us for 20 years. And if you look at what they've broken, they've gamed the World Trade Organization most favored nation. The cyber deal Obama cut with them in 2015, they never lived up to the Hong Kong. In 2019, they walked away. President Trump worked for two years with Lighthizer, had that amazing deal, took all the seven original sins of the Chinese Communist Party economics away and integrated this into a total global economy. And they walked away. Li, he and the team walked away in 2019. And so you've seen what's happened. They're at war with us. They've planned for this.

[Unnamed Moderator]

But so Donald Trump yesterday says that he's going to be nice to them, that he. I mean, is there a turn here? Because it really looks like he is walking Back from the city.

[Unnamed Commentator]

I don't think there's a climb down there. In fact, right when we walked in here, Caroline Levitt came in. So it's not going to be any unit. Unit. Terry unilateral walk down right to 50%. Now, I will tell you about President Trump. He went up the escalatory ladder quickly, right to 125 and 145. But this is a long, tough process. So I think people trading on this every day is just the computers or the algorithms or folks. I think you have to see that he's bound and determined to, number one, treat this as a premium market where if you don't bring your manufacturing back here, you're going to have to pay a premium to get to this market. Like you buy a premium skybox at a sporting event or front row at a concert, he sees a premium. If you bring your manufacturing back, it's a different deal. But this is a long, tough fight. It's not going to be solved. And the media is running around the market. Stock market, this, it's very complicated and we're dug in. It's a battle between two systems. If you think their system's going to win, you're kidding yourself. It's not. We're going to win this. The American people are going to win it. And Lao Beijing, the, the common man in China is going to win it also.

[Unnamed Moderator]

We had Ferguson here earlier talking about that. So I guess on the other side of the ledger in a way, on the cut side, on the Tesla earnings call yesterday, Elon Musk said you start to step away from his government work. Have you won like that?

[Unnamed Commentator]

But it's not about personalities, right? I do support Doge because you got to deconstruct the administrative state. If you want to get to deregulation, you have to deconstruct this choking administrative state that constitution the founders never thought of. I think with Elon, what I do think we have to do and we have to be very specific before he leaves to go back to Tesla, although he's going to hang around part time, we need to have an accounting. He's questioned the integrity of the system. Okay, like treasury is $6.5 trillion. They can't find all this Social Security, IRS. We need to have a very specific accounting of what he found. As far as fraud goes and waste and I mean details. Treasury's got to sign off that OMB's got to sign off and every department head, we need to know exactly where to found. Because he went from 2 trillion a year, to 1 trillion a year, to $150 billion next year with nothing this year. None of this makes sense. The cuts you've seen that have been announced are programmatic, whether it's USAID or doe, that's a totally different thing.

[Todd Bensman]

And on, on the DOGE effort overall.

[Unnamed Commentator]

In this interview with the semaphore said, and I thought this was notable, he said we need to have a very specific accounting of what he found as far as fraud goes and waste and I mean details. He said, quote, none of this makes sense. And he says he wants to see a letter of certification showing that no one has taken any data from the administration or from the government.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, I was, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm with Steve Bannon on that. I think it's going to show he did a lot of hand waving and not much else. I mean, he obviously was making great. Like he does with everything. He always says, you know, there's going to be a Robotaxi this week. And of course he hasn't had one and Google's been operating one for years. I riding them in San Francisco. He does this all the time in his businesses. This is going to happen next year, next year, next year. And I think he made a lot of he over promised here and underdelivered. And so I think Bannon's. Oh, God, I can't believe I'm saying this. If Bannon's correct, there should be an accounting of what he found and not and checked out, because everything that gets checked out by people like David Fahrenhole from the New York Times seems to be not real. Like it wasn't savings. It wasn't real savings. And as I said before, the only thing this is kind of proving is that maybe the government is working a little better than it should. It's actually smaller than it was 30 years ago and there's more people it's serving. So I don't know. I think, I think we need an accounting of it. And we have to make sure the data that he's been bringing together is not, is not gone off somewhere, is not within any. Anything he has. And that's going to be difficult because they let people, including Scott Bessant, they let Musk's troops run rampant within these systems without enough security. And that's been warned over and over again by people in the government.

[Unnamed Commentator]

Also, I think we have to have a letter of certification that not one data set or piece of data of the United States government or citizens of this country are withheld, are held by anybody or any copies held, except for the Trump administration, the U.S. government. And that has to happen, I think, in the month of May.

[Unnamed Moderator]

It sounds like you don't trust him not to take data.

[Unnamed Commentator]

Trust, but verify. Today the Wall Street Journal reported that.

[Unnamed Guest]

The White House is considering slashing tariff.

[Unnamed Commentator]

On China to de escalate the trade.

[Unnamed Guest]

War in some cases by more than half. That still gets you above 50%. And the problem is, don't get too excited. The President has not made a final decision. Plus, while the White House sends mixed signals on whether or not there are active talks with the Chinese, the Wall.

[Unnamed Commentator]

Street Journal is reporting that there actually.

[Unnamed Guest]

Is a delegation of Chinese officials, including the finance minister and governor of the People's bank of China in D.C. right.

[Unnamed Commentator]

Now, but they have not scheduled any.

[Unnamed Guest]

Meetings with the administration and they're supposed to leave tomorrow. Sources say that could change if they do get meetings with White House officials.

[Unnamed Commentator]

And secondly, would you support a millionaire tax? I think it would be very disruptive because a lot of the millionaires would leave the country. You know, the old days, they left states, they go from one state to the other. Now with transportation so quick and so easy, they leave countries. You lose a lot of money if you do that. That would. And other countries that have done it have lost a lot of people. They lose their wealthy people. That would be bad because the wealthy people pay the tax. And here's the thing. The alternative the populist nationalists offer is an alternative that you can see the sunlit uplands, tons of change has to happen. But the other alternative, I'm telling you, is this. Luigi the look has treated like a hero. He's treated like Robin Hood. That should scare you to the marrow of your bones because that's the alternative. If the system keeps going like it is, that alternative is your alternative. We offer the populist nationalists offer something you're not going to love, but you'll be able to live with. 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. And where do people like that go to share the big lie? MAGA MEDIA I wish in my soul, I wish that any of these people 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. Ban. Thursday, April 24, April, year of Allure 2025. Today in the imperial capital, the kinetic part. Let's take all three. Remember the central verticals of President Trump, plus the additional fourth in the administrative state and the deep state. Let's go with the kinetic part of the Third World War, which President Trump is leading an effort to bring peace to both the Middle east and peace to Ukraine by dealing with the Russians. The Russians. I think we'll have some footage in a little while. Putin and the Russians dropped a sledgehammer on Kiev last night in an attack President Trump's just put out moments before he came on air saying, hey, this is not going to wash. This thing must stop now. So President Trump is deep into settling and sorting out the kinetic part of the Third World War, because folks were in the Third World War. You could see that yesterday. I was trying to tell at the World Economic Conference, and that is the guys over at Semaphore, Ben Smith and those guys. And they should be applauded for having me speak because you don't have a lot of populist nationalists invited there to talk. And that is a room full of globalists. Those are the people that control the money that makes the world work as it works today. And Ben was, I thought, very generous. Good questions. And let me get answers out on the second part, the deportations we're going to have. Todd Benson's going to join us at the bottom of the hour because the reality of this guy that they're saying needs to have, you know, due process and hearings, everything is a human smuggler. He was caught by Tennessee, he was caught by Tennessee police, and he was part of a human trafficking gang out of Houston. Obvious, that's what the Democratic part, this is, how radical they are. But their strategy is smart from what they're trying to accomplish. And this is what we have to understand. They're trying to slow us down and slow the president down, to delay us, to deny. Now they're doing it across all these federal jurisdictions. And now they've gotten a little savvy. They've backed off of doing the countrywide injunctions, the TRO somewhat in Denver. They just filed the other day for the, the gang in Colorado. I gave that speech out there to the Colorado gop. It was one of the top of mind things for those folks, how Colorado is being terrorized by this by the Venezuelan gang. The judge is now given a stay for 21 for deportations there. What is going on? And it's obvious they're trying to force a constitutional crisis. They, the opposition trying to force a constitutional crisis at the Supreme Court level to force President Trump's hands on deportations of the 10 million. Ladies and gentlemen, we're never going to get to the 10 million. The 10 million have to leave the country. The Wall street guys are going to say it's impossible because they add to gdp, it's going to kick us in a recession. The corporate guy saying you can't do it because it's lowered inflation, because it lowered wages. You're going to have every intellectual argument in the world. And now they're going to force us. And this is why DC Drano yesterday with that magnet or two days ago with that magnificent putting on the table like in the war room, we put ideas out there and then develop those ideas. The rid of habeas corpus, they're going to force Trump's hand like they tried to force Andrew Jackson's hand. And a little known story, they tried to force Abraham Lincoln's hand because Abraham Lincoln, for as much as people admire him and what he accomplished, he ran the Civil War as a warlord. As a warlord, they're trying to force a constitutional crisis. In the middle of this, we have an economic and financial crisis and we need to stop the happy talk. The moment is now and this show and this audience. And I'm going to speak some hard truths, but hard truths that have to be spoken today. If we make these decisions, let's make sure we make them consciously and like with intent. Just like Donald Trump came back from Mar a Lago to get into the race to take back the presidency in the White House, understanding everything that was before him, we have to be that conscious of these decisions. We cannot happy talk ourselves. And all I'm hearing here in Capitol Hill is nothing but spin and happy talk of people who do not want to face the crisis we are in regarding spending. Johnny Khan's going to take us out. We're packed all day today in the war room. Short commercial break Back in a moment. I got American baby. 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 Burch 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 O N to 989898 and let the experts at Birchgold have help you secure your financial future today with Gold. Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban. Okay, the breaking news. President Trump is going to sign a executive order today targeting Act Blue. Natalie Winters called shot for Natalie Winters, who by the way is on page one of the style section of the of the fake news failing New York Times with an incredible article about her work here at the War Room and at the White House. And I'm going to address the Mike, Mike Davis is coming on at 11 o'clock with some additional stuff going on with the oligarchs. And I realize people you, you know who you love, the viceroy maybe are not ecstatic about the interview last night about the Justice Department. There's a method to our madness here just on look, I think it's bottom line, let's cut to the chase. The Justice Department is so overwhelmed you throw this eel on them and others. I think it just calls. You got to get a special prosecutor. You have to have a special counsel that reports directly to the White House in the office of the president. Look, if we're going to, if we're going to call their bluff on Article 2 Powers, chief executive, he can cut people and, or cut money and they're going to do some impoundments or I think they're going to start with rescissions. It's going to be a $9 billion rescission that comes up in the next 10 days. But impoundments about and this is part of the Doge thing, I think there's some impoundments, I think there's some impoundments there. And that'll all have to go up, you know, on the boards. He's got that power. He's commander in chief. This is what they're forcing the constitutional crisis at the Supreme Court Write this down. They're forcing this. I can see their plan right now. They are going to call our bluff on the, on the Article 2 powers on the unitary theory of the executive as commander in chief in this situation with this guy and Todd Benson, we're going to force him. They're going to embrace the fact that he's a human trafficker because I've heard of come up with the Deep States National Intelligence Estimate that says it's phony. That snuck through Tulsi Gabbard. It turns out I believe she's turned over three senior intelligence officials for investigation to doj. And I don't think it's related to this. I thought so yesterday, maybe, but we got to find out who did that. This thing is building to a, a crescendo. You're going to be, you're going to have a ringside seats. We don't need anybody up on the ramparts quite yet because we've got to work out the battle plan. But this one's coming. It's to stop the mass deportations of the 10 million. Right. They want, first of they want as many gangsters and criminals in here as possible, don't get me wrong. But their big goal is to stop the deportations of 10 million. They're going to force him to go Andrew Jackson, which is okay, I read the, I read your opinion now enforce it. That's coming, folks. This act blues. But, but you can't. What, what we're looking for, what I think is necessary in the world of Tom Fenton and people like that in this audience is there's too much. They're overwhelmed over doj. They just got a huge story today. Harmeet Dillon's over in the civil rights division. There's already a revolt against Harmeet because she's over there with that nest of vipers, particularly that's the election fraud division. At the same time, the antitrust is on fire because they cleaned out Omid and Gail Slater, who are just doing a magnificent job. But Davis is going to be on here to talk to you about how people are trying to end run that these lobbyists to get to the president. What's happening in this capitol right now on every different vertical is all out warfare, absolute warfare, trying to blunt President Trump from achieving his objectives. That's why in the cold open, I wanted you to hear what they're saying, like particularly on China and China's coming to a showdown. Gasparino just got a tweet out that says, hey, India may be the template or Japan but it looks like Besant's got Japan, Korea, Vietnam, a bunch in holding patterns looking for an architecture of a memorandum of understanding. And that memorandum of understanding would be that, you know, in the site. And I had the. And I don't have my FT from that day. It's over at my other desk which showed the retaliation the CCP is going to do against countries that buy into that architecture. India may be the farthest down. India is a complicated one because India is not the best when it comes to their terrorists, how we're treated. So it's going to be quite interesting what I said to the folks yesterday too, said with the stock market up or down, you know, up or down, hey, it's a casino. This is Jack Posobic this morning. To me, it's a casino. We don't care. We don't care. The role of the roulette table every day. That's not urgent. The bond market is different because we borrow so much money we're jammed in. This gets back to the discussion we have to get on the table. The big beautiful bill, you got to break it down into kind of pieces that lead up to the big beautiful bill. First off, number one, there's. They're coming out now with. They're going to add 100 to $150 billion to the 880 or $900 billion already in the defense authorization. And this is why Pete's tweeting out in all caps, excited. It's a trillion dollar defense bill. And so riddle me this, this is. I'm confused about this. Why do we have two carrier battle groups and a carrier battle group? Just so you understand, it's got an aircraft carrier with an air wing on it. The whole purpose of this is the projection of American power ashore to one, keep the skies clear so that then fighter bombers can go across and deliver payloads on bad guys or people that are enemies of this country. That whole battle group, it's got cruisers, it's got destroyers, it's got frigates. I was honored to be a junior officer on a destroyer in these carrier battle groups in the Pacific and in places like the North Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Although the carriers don't go in there, thank God, the destroyers and frigates do. But you got supply ships, you have oilers, you have all of it. Huge amount of ships, right? I don't know, 10,000 sailors, let's say. In addition, you have submarines, nuclear powered submarines in direct support. Fast attack, not boomers. Fast attack and direct support. These are big, complicated war systems of Everything from aviation to submarine warfare to surface warfare, you know, missiles, guns, air defense, everything. That's the projection of American power. That is since the Second World War in the Pacific, not in the Atlantic. In the Pacific. That has been the basic building block of American projection of power. And to keep the sea lanes open, we are in. So riddle me this. In the Red Sea, we have two. Caribbean, not one. We have two. And we're bombing the Houthis. Why are we bombing the Houthis? They're an ally. They're a proxy like Hezbollah for the Persians. And they're on the Arabian Peninsula and both the Saudi Arabia and UAE who have failed to remove these guys after decades and decades and decades. And hey, I'm not putting the toll blame on them because the Egyptians tried for 10 years and got wiped. It was their Vietnam back in the 60s and 70s. The Houthis are tough hombres. They're kind of like the North Vietnamese, right? Live on very little and fight you to the death. You meet a lot of these groups around the world, right? You get the bat, what Sun Tzu said, they're on the death ground, so they got no place to back up. They know that if you succeed, they're finished. So they're going to fight you to the best and they're given as good as they get. Over there, they already took down an F16. You read the combat reports. These guys going over these runs. It's not, it's not the best. But we're sitting there on a $1 trillion defense budget which is a centerpiece of the discretionary spending of this out of control spending of the 6.5 or 7 trillion that we're adding or seeing me, 900 billion. We're adding $150 billion for more weapons, more toys. And we're keeping open the sea lanes of the Red Sea to the Suez Canal, which opens up, coming from the Persian Gulf through the Suez Canal to Europe. Only 3% of the trade comes through the Red Sea of the Suez Canal. That goes to the United States of America. The rest of it goes to Europe. And we're in the process of negotiating deals with these guys that were upside down in commercial relationships with Germany, in Italy. In Italy. Politico. I'll get it. Next thing. What have we said on this show about Maloney in Italy, in NATO? Lead story in Politico this morning on the European, on the European edition was how Italy's not going to get to the 2% of GDP for defense spending. We told you, never going to get There. And the accounting gimmicks they've got that they expose is ridiculous. As we told you, they're not paying for the defense. Why? There's too much pressure for the broken health care service. We told you this years ago. And I don't want to hear about Maloney as the Trump whisperer. President Trump and Waltz has said they want Europe up to 5% of GDP. Think we're at 3 and a half. They want them at 5% because they've so underinvested for years. Italy's not at 2%. And you and your kids are keeping with two carrier battle groups. This. You have to think through the world system and how central the United States of America is and most importantly, how central the deplorables are in their kids that your kids, your sons and daughters are on those battle groups. And yes, I understand the Navy has a mission to keep the ceilings open. Hell, that's what I did as a young man. Right. It was more defined then because the Soviets, the Bolsheviks were at. Were at a cold war with us with nuclear missiles kind of, you know, pointed at each other. But there has to be. This is why the hemispheric defense is so brilliant. Yet we have a total mismatch. Pete, brother, love you. We're fixed bayonets to make sure they don't run you out of there because you're the man. But you gotta get control of the building because the building runs the deal. The building is the defense contractors. And all these original gangster generals and colonels have been there forever and gonna go work for the defense contractors right afterwards. And I don't fault them for that. They've spent their entire adulthood in service to their country. They've been underpaid that entire time. They gotta make a little money. I got it. But it sets up a system. Did Elon not break his pick on that? Remember we kept saying cross the Potomac. Cross the Potomac. Cross Potomac. Because you can't talk about fraud and waste and abuse seriously in this town unless you're gonna go to the Pentagon. And you know what's happened since he went over there? Crickets. Because they're tough hombres. They're tougher than the Houthis. Right. Particularly when it comes to spending money. Your money. So I said yesterday in front of this, we're looking up. The system we have is not sustainable. Our alternative makes it sustainable. But if you continue on the path, you're going to get Luigi. And Luigi's going to be gunning. Is going to be gunning for Those people in that audience, which I think the audience understood what I was saying, they took it to heart. Let's say we're going to show you the madness. Todd Bensman, the best. We got to use Todd while we got him. Todd Bensman is going to be here and walk you through something. Your head's going to blow up, and it should. The April 15 tax deadline is coming and it's coming fast. Do you have unfiled tax returns? Can't pay the irs. The IRS is more than aggressive and the more aggressive than ever. And the longer you wait, the worse it gets. Wage garnishments, bank levies, even property seizures are all on the table. You need to get ahead of this and you need to get ahead of it today. But going up against the IRS alone is a big time mistake. Take my advice. Call the experts at Tax Network usa. They know the system. They have an edge, a preferred direct line to the irs. They know which agents to deal with and which ones to avoid. Whether you owe $10,000 or $10,000,000, their genius strategies are designed to quickly settle your tax problems in your favor. Tax Network USA's attorneys and negotiators have already resolved over $1 billion in tax debt. Let me repeat that. They've already resolved over $1 billion in tax debt. Tax Network USA can help you, too, but you need to move. You need to move fast because April 15th is already here. Remember, if you get that letter, don't put it in the drawer. It just metastasizes. Talk with one of our strategists today. It's totally free. Stop looking over your shoulder. Stop the anxiety, stop the worry. Put it all behind you. Call Tax network USA at 1-800-958-1000. That's 800-958-1000 or visit tnusa.com Bannon that's Tax Network USA. Go to tnusa.com/bannon. Here's your host, Stephen K. Bannon. So I want to read this from the president. United States. I'm not happy with the Russian strikes on Kiev. Not necessary and very bad timing. Vladimir, stop. 5,000 soldiers a week are dying. Let's get the peace deal done now. There's been another announce. I haven't seen a formal announcement. I asked my crack staff to check this out. Is the about the socially? A joint press conference tomorrow with Zelensky and President Trump. I'm seeing that cross. I don't know if that's accurate or not. Can we check that out? That would mean Zelensky would be coming here because the president doesn't leave for Rome until Friday night. Nothing. Okay, I'm seeing that. I thought it sounded screwy but you never know. Things are moving rapidly in an accelerating pace. That's why Birch Gold ended the dollar empire. Understand this and you understand a lot about where the world is financially and where you are financially, where your community and family are. This is why we wrote it started four years ago. Six free installment end of the dollar empire. Go to birchgold.com Bannon get it. Get all installments free. But most importantly get in with Philip, Patrick and theme. They'll give you more research. You start to understand it. It's not the price of gold. I keep telling you it's the process of what drives gold as a hedge. You understand that. You understand a lot and you don't need a Harvard MBA to understand it. We will guarantee you that. We'll make it accessible to you and Birch Gold will make it accessible to you. But go check it out now. So I talked about the verde with President Trump right there on the third world war and the negotiations for the kinetic part. We're in the third world war. I told these guys yesterday and they know it. The Chinese Communist Party has been engaged in an economic war and that's why I walked through everything they broke. We got them in the World Trade Organization. We gave them most favorite native status and they stiffed us. And they've stolen $600 billion a year of intellectual property. 600 billion a year stolen or forced in joint ventures. They have Obama's big cyber deal he signed. They never lived up to any of it. Joe Biden, the Hong Kong which they gave 70 years of freedom 2019 they're cracking down, locked, putting everybody in jail and they run the deal now. Chinese Communist Party runs Hong Kong. I can't go there because I'm sanctioned by the ccp. I can't go to Hong Kong. President Trump spends two years with Lighthizer to negotiate the deal that would integrate them into the. You talk about coupling. It would couple. They spit in our face after two years. Lee, he walked away. We got the skinny deal later. But even on the skinny deal they haven't lived up to anything. Nothing. They're at economic war with us. We have to face it. Talking about President Trump climbing down. Hey. And I don't. She's not going to knock on not going to blink. So you have two options as I see it. Number one, a third party can intervene and you use a third party to maybe start talks. But I think you have to have the India, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Taiwan layered over which they're so freaked out about. As least the architecture of what those trade relationships are. And remember, we got carry battle groups all over there to keep those folks free in air assets and marine assets. We're paying for their security. That's why Your defense budget's $1 trillion a year. Okay. Particularly when we're going back to a hemispheric defense. If we went back to the hemispheric defense, which Trump says we're going to, if we went to that and restrained the military rent, we cut $200 billion out of the defense budget today. I can show the Pentagon 200 billion today. Not in 10 years. Today, today. The third part of the second part is the deportations. We'll get to that. We're going to get to the financial. I want to go to the deportations in a second. Remember, take your number two, Prince a lot and write down the strategy here. What they are doing is making sure that the 10 million that came here, and I use that number because Todd Benson, that's the closest number we got. People came before. I deal with that later. Let me deal with the 10 million that came here illegally in an organized invasion by people are not being investigated. And gotta be. David's gonna come back over here. We're gonna talk about that. We're gonna give him a Skype about the DOJ thing in the deportations. The game is they're going to try to slow us down and force our hand here on the most radical members of the gangs. Glenn Beck, who was here the other day, went to the White House, had a great interview with President Trump and President Trump, Glenn lays that it's a judicial insurrection. And Trump agrees with him. Trump walks over. He gave every guy a due process hearing. It take us 200 years. Well, we don't have to. A lot of these guys, 1.6 million of them already have orders to get it. Get the hell out of here. 1.6. Another 2 million, as Todd Benz has told us, is all these phony things on the app are burning off. So you got three and a half million we can deal with right now. This is why they're going to the Supreme Court. And this is what Roberts in the court that we picked, write this down. Assures the turning of the earth. We're going to have a cataclysmic hearing at the Supreme Court. And they're not going to back Trump. They're not. They are not. They do not want to take the Heat that will be heat much higher than they took on the abortion ruling. And that scared them to their core. They're frightened, they're intimidated, as many people get intimidated. And then Trump's going to have to think through habeas corpus. He's going to have to think through Andrew Jackson and Lincoln. But get. I'm going to get bring in Benson right now. Explain to what they're defending. You know, Jackson, they said, hey. Jackson said, hey, they pass it now go enforce it. Lincoln, in the early days of the Civil War, they couldn't get the troops from the North. He called for 50,000 troops right after Fort Sumter, 50,000 troops from the various states to come to Washington to defend the Capitol because they were afraid the Rebels, the Confederates, might move on DC Immediately. That battle ended up right outside of DC At Manassas. Bull Run to Yankees, Manassas to Confederates. Remember the Yankees all name them. On the Creeks they were defending in the Confederates, on the towns that they were taken, like Antietam or Sharpsburg Picket pick them. You had to come through Baltimore. Lincoln had to sneak into the Capitol disguised. Pinkerton had disguised on a midnight train when he got to Baltimore, because Baltimore was essentially a Southern city, like Washington was a Southern city. They had to sneak him in here. And he went to the Willard Hotel, got it like the Red Eye, got in overnight from Baltimore, snuck in, and he regretted it the rest of his life because the media mocked him totally, said later regretted it doing it, but they felt it had to be done. When the troops got. When he called for the troops to come in, the Baltimore City Council, the rebel forces in that town, the plug uglies, essentially shut the city down. Said, nothing's going south here on a train. Not. Not going to happen. No troops are going to Washington, D.C. because we kind of are Southern sympathizers. Because in rural Maryland, there was a lot of. And this is where the plot to kill Lincoln later was from. You know, from Maryland. Right? All those Marylanders and ran the Surratt. Mary Surratt ran the. Ran the house here with the Confederate Secret Service. And she was from Maryland. Her old man owned a tavern out there. All Confederate sympathizers. So in 1861, they block it. And so what did Lincoln do? He went and arrested. He arrested the Baltimore, I think the mayor and the city council of Baltimore and put him in jail and open up for the troops to come through and essentially save Washington, provide defense. Which were the darkest days of the Civil War for them occurred then because they didn't Think any troops were coming? They thought the game might be over when they started. Taney, the chief justice of the Supreme Court who had written the Dred Scott decision. Right. This is a beauty. He'd written the Dred Scott decision. Kind of got us in here. Anyway, he sends over a thing to Lincoln is saying, hey, I noticed that on, you know, on that the Baltimore city council, the mayor, you got them locked up and you've brought no indictment. And so for habeas corpus you got to either give me an indictment or the Baltimore official federal attorney USA Drink. Gotta give him an indictment or you gotta let him go. And in Lincoln called Hayover John Hay. The Hay Adams is named after him. He became the secretary, say one of the most famous men in the 19th century. Young, 21 year old secretary, all secretary and male secretaries said, yeah, don't write this down, but take this over to him. Just remember what I tell him. Tell him if he, because Tony said, if it doesn't happen 24 hours, I'm going to let him go. Haig goes over to the chief justice. I got a message with the President. I states, oh, young man, what is it? He says, the president says if you release the city council and the mayor in 24 hours on because of habeas corpus, he's going to put you in jail. Taney didn't say anything else. And I believe the city council mayor stayed in, stayed in jail for the duration of the war. Lincoln ran as a warlord. Shut down the press, arrested guy. Hell, guys in Congress ran to Canada. He ran it as a warlord. You know why? That's the only way he could beat the Confederacy. He had to run as a warlord. You think he used to talk all the time about they were shredding the Constitution. They talked about the expanded powers, the inherent powers of the executive. Right. He and that war cabinet were some of the smartest lawyers in the country. The group of really smart lawyers, deal lawyers. They used to talk about the implied, the implied, the implied powers of the constitution for Article 2. It's got that scene in the movie Lincoln where he finally had it. He's trying to get the amendments at the end of the war. You know why they needed these amendments to try to justify. Just saying later on the reason nobody's tried for treason. They didn't think they could win in federal court. Just saying, just saying. That's why they had to get these done. Lincoln was on thing, get them done, get to get these amendments passed. And remember, he's horse trading guys that come in. He want to be post office. Gotta give a guy post office. All the, all the guys that got beaten in the, in the election, all these deadbeat congressmen needed, needed something because they could still vote. Because back then it was in March when, when, when everything flipped over or when the President was inaugurated. So he had some time. So. And he says, he bangs the table and finally says I had enough of this. I'm President of the United States. Endowed with virtually unlimited power. That's Lincoln. This is where it's coming to folks. Write it down in your notebook. On a financial crisis we have in the beginning of the kinetic phase of the third World War. The man's trying to bring peace in a global reordering of commercial relationships. So finally we can stop the madness of us being ripped off and underwriting the security. The people ripping us off. Defense Department, House Armed Services Committee. I know you love spending the money because they're taking you out to the big dinners and they're giving you stipends and you, you know, and yes, in your districts you got high paying jobs, God bless them. But at some point in time we're going to have to hammer the swords and the plowshares. It's madness. This system is not simply, it's not simply unsustainable because it's unsustainable at two and a half. We're going to have a $2.5 trillion deficit this year. This year. This fiscal year ending September 30th. Write that down in your notebook too. It's unsustainable. It's also insane. It doesn't make any sense. There's no logical connection to this. We're fighting a global trade war because they're all ripping us off. Not just on tariffs but on non tariff ways. They don't listen to the country and there's no manufacturing here. And we've become a total consumer that we have to. It's all federal money. Shutting down the law firms. What it was about federal money. Shutting down the universities. What's about federal money? It's all federal money. It's all your money. Because we just keep the money machine cranked up and eventually can't pay for it. And you underwrite the defense of the. You essentially our beloved military of which I served in with pride and mo served in, in pride coming out of West Point. They've tried to turn our military and basically rent a cops to the casino. We can't have that happen. That's what they're trying to do. This is an insane system that's not sustainable. And the only people that can make changes are you having President Trump's back. Benzema next. 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 US 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 patriot mobile.com bannon or call 972-patriot. Get a free month of service with promo code Bannon. So if you call in, tell them Bannon also switch today. That's patriotmobile.com Bannon or call 972 Patriot. Here's your host, Stephen K. Bann. Okay, at the top of the show we talked about Steve Liesman, the big liberal over at CNBC is ripping on Trump. No plan, no strategy. I said there's two alternatives now basically because there is a process. Besson has a process going. Is that process moving as quickly as people want? No, because they are trade. These are complicated things even to get to the architecture, the memorandum of understanding, however, I said now there's two passions go down. One is a third party and get in the room of the Chinese or continue to work your deals, work your process and escalate. This is from President Trump, hot off the press. Just came across Truth Social. Boeing should default China for not taking the beautifully finished planes that China committed to purchase. This is just a small example of what China's done to the USA for years. And by the way, fentanyl continues to pour into our country from China through Mexico and Canada, killing hundreds of thousands of our people. And it better stop now. They're at war with us. There's not going to be happy clappy. And of course the casino doesn't like it because the casino likes Lao Baijang. Being a slave laborer. The casino likes dumping money into China. That's the casino. Thank you, Jack Bosoba, for reminding me of that. Todd Bensman. They're going. This is going to go to the Supreme Court and it's going to be a constitutional crisis and they're going to try to force Trump to be Andrew Jackson. Right. Tell me about the individual. I want to make very clear because this is not getting enough air. We had Leahy on last night, but this is. John Solomon's done great work. Leahy's done great work. Benzeman's done great work. What exactly are they defending, sir?

[Todd Bensman]

Well, the pro criminal crowd chose this hill, the Abrego Hill, to die on. For some reason, it just keeps getting worse and worse. We now have new information about Abrego, a traffic stop out of Tennessee. State traffic trooper in 2022. The guy had seven or eight what he called construction workers that he was driving from Texas to Maryland. The trooper, according to the reports, said that he believed this was a smuggling event. So he took a bunch of information, he collected what he needed to. I don't know why he didn't arrest. We still don't have that information about why he didn't arrest. But one thing he did say is that that car is my boss's car. The vehicle just news came out with the vehicle owner's name, his boss's name, which turns out to be Jose Ramon Hernandez out of Houston. An illegal alien crossed after he was deported again. Who was running a smuggling operation out of Houston in 2019. The guy got convicted.

[Unnamed Commentator]

His boss. Hang on. He said he told the troopers because he didn't had an illegitimate license because it's for illegal aliens that Maryland, these radical Democrat states give these guys driver's license, but there's only to use in the state. He had that the registration. He was driving somebody else's car. Normally, unless you can really confirm that they put him. Lock them up right there. Tennessee State Police dropped the ball here. Unless they come forward quickly and say you dropped the ball and the FBI dropped the ball. But I'm not shocked about that cash. That's another reason they should be shut down. He told the state. Hang on. We got to get the. He told the state trooper this is my boss's car. His boss was convicted of human trafficking out of Houston, which Todd Bensman has taught us now the last four years, is one of the hotbeds for human trafficking in the United States. Am I correct in all that, Todd Benson?

[Todd Bensman]

That's right. And you don't even have to take it from me. Because the boss, Abrego's boss, waived his Miranda rights and said everything told the this one happened in Mississippi. He got caught with a load of nine illegal aliens, several of whom had recrossed. So they were doubly criminal aliens. And those guys were all interviewed also his brother in law was arrested at the scene and they waived their Miranda rights. So it's all right there in the court records. You can read all about it. They'd been doing the business for at least five or six months, had done half a dozen trips to five different states. South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland. It's a smuggling operation. And they got arrested, prosecuted, pled guilty to the charges and spent 18 months in jail. By the time he got out, it was the Biden era and Biden was letting all the criminals stay rather than deporting them as necessary, required by law. And so it looks like he went right back to his smuggling game, which was booming in 2022 when Abrego got caught in that very boss's vehicle, he said, with a load of aliens. So those who are trying tothe pro criminal crowd that's out there trying to paint this guy as a loving father of five who just kind of got in a tiff with his wife once or twice, but otherwise was great, are working overtime to return this guy back to the United States so he can deliver another brutal beating to that wife, who by the way, is out there stumping on his behalf, weeping and crying and Scott GoFundMe pages and is making all this money undoubtedly to, to, you know, advocate on his behalf.

[Unnamed Commentator]

Right, of course. I don't care what the wife's. I don't care what the wife says. I don't care what the kid says. I don't care about any of that. He said he was driving his boss's car and his boss is convicted of human trafficking and he had eight in the car. And it's outrageous that the Tennessee, the Tennessee State Police didn't take them downtown right then or take them to the who's gal just to figure out what's going on. They let them go. This is what happens every day in this country. Don't think the law enforcement is not totally on top of this. We love the cops, but this happens every day because it's too much of a. Once you do that, you're in immigration. It's a pain in the ass. They want to go. They want to go lock up bad guys. I get that. But don't think that Because ICE is not around once in the interior, they move around. You're seeing it right here. This guy was a human trafficker in the process of trafficking eight individuals to Maryland to work for slave wages. Because that's the way the system works. And unless you call it out every day, nothing changes. Ben, you're going to hang on. I got Davis. I'm talking about this constitutional crisis. So much more in economics. I got a shocking story to Colorado. I know. I can't believe something shocking is happening in Colorado. On the polis. Guy wants to be president, United States. Well, when you hear what they got rolling down there, I don't think he's going to be the top of your list. Okay, Birch Gold. Take your phone out. You want to get smart? Take your phone out. Text Bannon B A N N O N at 989-898. The Ultimate Guide to investing in Gold and precious metals in the era of Trump. We are back in two minutes. 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 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 torickards war room dot com. That's all one word. Rickards War Room records with an S. Go now and claim your free book. That's rickardswarroom.com do it today.

[Unnamed Moderator]

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