
Episode 4498: Trump Heads To The Capitol; Calling Out Hypocritical Spending ...
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Steve Bannon
Okay, welcome. It's Tuesday, the 20th of May, year of Lord, 2025. An extraordinary morning already. It is. I got Dave Brett riding shotgun with me. It is unheard of for the President, United States to go to Capitol Hill to speak to a conference to whip votes on his budget. So already this is pretty historic this morning. Did you ever see it when you were in Congress? Ever heard of it?
Dave Brat
No, no. Once in a while. I state the unions, those kind of things. Maybe an off site once in a while, but that's it. But no, no, no. Coming over to whip votes. No.
Steve Bannon
And he's with heart. Okay, here's what we do. President's in the conference right now. I think it's going to be a little heated because he came in, thrown down hard. There's some voices in there that say, hey, we've got to get our hands around Medicaid. You're going to blow up the deficit. We're going to play a cold open. It's going to go through what the president actually said. We're going to come back. We're going to be covering this live all morning. As soon as the president steps out and goes back to the sticks, we're going to cut immediately to this. Let's go ahead for the cold open.
Political Analyst
To this morning's of the challenges for Speaker Johnson is that he has tight margins and a lot of people wanting a lot of disparate things, at times contradictory things. We've seen President Trump be very successful in keeping the Republican Party in line so far. He has had his priorities pushed forward on Capitol Hill for the most part. But at the end of the day, Speaker Johnson needs to get the votes across the line. And there are despite the, you know, the passage or the clearing of this first step in the House Committee, there is a lot of uncertainty about the next steps. There are moderates who are concerned about salt caps. There are conservatives who are concerned about Medicaid cuts not being aggressive enough. There's just a whole lot to be figured out. And then as you just pointed out, the Wall Street Journal reporting that this is going to add to the deficit, which is going to concern the fiscal hawks in the Republic Conference. So the speaker of the House has quite a bit of work cut out for him in the coming days. At the end of the day, Trump is going to urge them to pass the bill. But it's unclear if Trump is really going to wade in on these specific concerns that various members have. And as we move toward the midterms, these, these more moderate members of Congress who are ultimately going to decide whether the Republicans are going to keep the House are the ones that are going to face some of the most pressure. It'll be interesting to see how they respond, particularly to President Trump and the press we expect him to exert on them in the coming days.
Donald Trump
Mr. Speaker, what do you want to.
Steve Bannon
Hear from the president this morning?
Speaker Johnson
Well, I just got off the phone with the President. He's on his way over. He's excited to talk to the House Republicans this morning, and we're excited to have him. This is a big week for his agenda, for all of us. We've been working on reconciliation for more than a year, as you all know, and it all comes down to these final details. And I think the president is going to encourage everyone this morning to get in line and get the votes done. We need to deliver this for the American people. The America first agenda is all wrapped up into one big bill, and we're really excited to deliver it this morning. So we're delighted I'll be meeting the president when he arrives here very soon, walking him in and introducing him. And I think it's going to be a great morning for the Republican Party and the House Republicans in general. So we look forward to it. Thanks for being here so long standing.
Donald Trump
Sir, one heart attack away from losing the House. Okay, now we have seven. That's a big. Because we won some elections, as you probably noticed, and we're going to win a lot of elections. We have an economy that's roaring. We took out 5.1 billion, if you take a look, 5.1 trillion with a T, not a B. 5.1 trillion out of the Middle East. They're investing more than that. It's going to be ultimately more than that. But 180 wide body Boeing aircraft, they basically, they're spending money at levels that nobody has ever seen. Usually a president goes for a trip and he loses money. In other words, he gives money. We went for a trip, but we took out $5.1 trillion. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. And that's just the beginning. So I think we're going to, I think we're a very unified party. The Senate's doing great. John Thune is doing fantastic and he's a great guy. And we're going to have a bill, the one big beautiful bill I think be it's to going going to be. It's the biggest bill ever passed and we got to get it done. Tremendous tax cuts for people, tremendous incentives, tremendous regulation cuts, all these regulations that are so Horrible. And now you found out and find out what happened because Biden. Look, it's a very sad thing what happened, but I believe we're going to start looking into this whole thing with who signed this legislation. Who signed legislation opening our border. I don't think he knew. I said, there's nobody that could want an open border. Nobody. And now I find out that it wasn't him. He auto penned it. Who was operating the auto pen. This is a very serious thing. We had a president that didn't sign anything. He auto penned almost everything. He opened the borders of the United States of America. And I kept saying, who would do such a thing? Allowing criminals to pour in from all over the world. Not just South America, all over the world. They came in from Africa, they came in from Asia. They came from the Congo. The prisons in the Congo, in Africa. These are rough, rough people. The prisons from the Congo are empty. You know where they are? They're in this country. Who would sign this? Nobody would sign it. No sane person would sign it. You know, sign it. Radical left lunatics that were running our country and the auto pen signed it. And they didn't want him. And they were disappointed in getting him because they wanted Bernie Sanders. And then after about two weeks, they said, wait a minute, this is a gift. He'll do anything. We're going to use the auto pen. And they use the auto pen and everything. He didn't approve this stuff because when Joe Biden was with it, he would never have approved it. You take a look. He would have never approved open borders. Go ahead. Another one.
Congressman
Are Republicans still grandstanding in your view?
Donald Trump
Oh, yes. You have a couple who will grandstand, but I think even the grandstander should look, the Alternative is a 68% tax increase, and you can blame the Democrats for that. And one or two grandstandors. We only have one or two, but we have tremendous support. But you'll have a 68% tax increase or you'll get a massive tax decrease. You'll get a tax cut the likes of which we've never had before. This is bigger than any Ronald Reagan tax cut. It's even bigger than the tax cut that I gave because as you know, that's being extended and increased. So this is the biggest tax cut in the history of our country. Or you'll get a 68% tax increase. And if that happens, I mean, what Republican could vote for that to happen? Because there wouldn't be a Republican much longer. They would get. They would be knocked out so fast. But we're going up the details. This is a. I'm a cheerleader for this party and I'm a cheerleader leader for the country, much more importantly for the country. But I'm a cheerleader for the party. And we're going to go up and I think we're going to have a very good discussion. There are one or two points that some people feel strongly about, but maybe not so strong on one of those points.
Steve Bannon
Do you consider some of the proposals on the table and copay provider tax.
Donald Trump
As a benefit cut?
Steve Bannon
How are you viewing them?
Donald Trump
We're going to look. We are looking at one thing. We're not doing any cutting of anything meaningful. The only thing we're cutting is waste, fraud and abuse with Medicaid. Waste, fraud and abuse. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. There's incompetent things. We have illegal aliens that are multiple killers with multiple murder records getting Medicaid. I don't think anybody minds if we cut that. The Democrats, on the other hand, are going to destroy it because they're going to leave these people on. We're cutting three things, waste, fraud and abuse. We're not changing Medicaid and we're not changing Medicare and we're not changing Social Security. And if I wanted to do those things, I would have done it during my four years that we were. Mr. President, what's your message to your.
Steve Bannon
Fellow New Yorker Republicans who are hung up on the salt issues?
Donald Trump
Well, salt is a very interesting thing because the governors of New York and Illinois, you know, the big JB who's going nowhere probably right now, he couldn't be the worst governor in the country, but Illinois and Gavin Newscomb, those are the people that want this. And they're Democrat states. They're all Democrat states. You know, Ronald Reagan tried very hard to get this passed, was unable to do it the way we have it, where basically everybody's treated equally. He tried it so hard and he never got it done. He was always disappointed he never got it done. We got it done. Now people want to change it. So we're going to be talking about that. But the biggest beneficiary if we do that are governors from New York, Illinois and California. And those governors are the ones that blew it because they weren't able to get it. So I think we're going to be explaining that these are all very blue states that I don't really believe we had honest elections. I don't actually believe. I think I would have won California, I would have won New York I even think I would have won Illinois. I think if they. We have to. You know, we're going to start this after. I was talking to Mike and again, I'm his biggest fan. I love this guy. He's the only guy could have walked in with a one. Think of it. You can't be a guy like me and have a 1 majority. You have to be a guy like him, a nice person. He's very religious, he prays. He's a man of God and so am I. But he's really to a new level. I will tell you, he is a great guy. They love him in Louisiana and they love him and that's the only kind of guy. Somebody said, oh, well, we want somebody that if you put a certain personality in there, you would have never look at the. Look at what he got past, what he's gotten past. And just so you understand, he's getting this pass too. And I don't think there's anybody I could give you guys that is so tough. You guys would run if you ever looked at them. If you ever saw some of these guys, you would not ask them questions. You'd be afraid to. This guy did something that I don't think there's anybody that's more well suited to be speaker of the House, especially under a case like this. Remember, we had a majority of one for six months and that was a very frightening thing because the Democrats have really hurt our country and we are going to go into very much. Remember what I said, the auto. This government was illegally run for four years. Thank you very much, everybody.
Dave Brat
Charging member of Congress that is Donald Trump about to go in and meet with lawmakers to push a massive reconciliation bill, a bill that he said was the largest bill ever. We're going to. Or at least I am going to ignore the auto pen conspiracy theory as well as the stolen elections as dicta. Something that I suppose others may want to chase today. I would rather focus though, Julie, on.
Steve Bannon
The issue at hand. This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies. Because we're going medieval on these people. Britain's not got a free shot on 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 line mega 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.
Dave Brat
War ROOM here's your host, Stephen K. Banner.
Steve Bannon
An extraordinary event. President Trump, let's just be brutally frank. He is at the conference today to whip votes. The votes are not there. He's going to whip votes against the Freedom Caucus and other deficit hawks that are saying, hey, I hear about waste, fraud and abuse, but where's Elon? Where's Doge? I told you all, if it's going to be performative, you're going to pay a price. And now we're paying a price. The president, I just want to repeat the president. United States has gone up to Capitol Hill because Speaker Johnson, it's obvious President Trump loves Speaker Johnson, but Speaker Johnson hadn't done his job. He couldn't deliver this. So the president, this is extraordinary for the president of the United States to go to the Capitol on something that's not the State of the Union and not like a declaration of war to go up. And as we said before, this is the main kind of event. You got the stopping the kinetic part of the Third World War. You've got the sealing the border, which he's done, or closing the border and the mass deportations which he's going to, we're driving towards a constitutional crisis on. But this getting the, the commercial relationships, which is the tariff and the trade deal reset around America first and American workers and then stop the madness of the Biden years on the spending and at the same time be able to reiterate and put forward your, your tax cuts for the middle class and working class. And plus add no tax on overtime, no tax on tips. And look, it's not no tax on Social Security. It's a $4,000 what write off a $4,000 deduction. But at least it's a start. Not perfect a start. However, the spending is very simple. For Russ Vought and all the great guys working on the structural change is to take place in the out years of the 10 year budget. In the first couple of years, the deficits go up. They're asking for a $4 trillion relief to the debt ceiling. In my math, which has never been wrong, shows we're going to blow through that before election day in the midterm elections. But the president's up there and hey, he's not up for, he's not up for a discussion. He's going to throw down hard. So we'll see who has the stones to go to the microphone that's in the conference. We've heard a lot of talk. We're about to see Andy Harrison and crew. If you go the mic, expect to be hit by a have your facts ready because President Trump's not up there for a debate. Pretty obvious. I want the votes, I want them now. I want to move on. We're going to be covering this all morning. My wingman, Dave Brat here on a fixed bayonets day. President United States, Capitol Hill, historic meeting short commercial break. We're going to go cut live to President Trump as soon as he steps out and goes the sticks. Stick around here in the world. This July there is a global summit of BRICS nations in Rio de Janeiro. The block of emerging superpowers including China, Russia, India and Persia are meeting with the goal of displacing the United States dollar as the global currency. They're calling this the Rio Reset. As BRICS nations push forward with their plans, global demand for US Dollars will decrease, bringing down the value of the dollar in your savings. While this transition won't not happen overnight, but trust me, it's going to start in Rio. The Rio Reset in July marks a pivotal moment when BRICS objectives move decisively from a theoretical possibility towards inevitable reality. Learn if diversifying your savings into gold is right for you. Birch Gold Group can help you move your hard earned savings into a tax sheltered IRA and precious metals claim. Your free info kit on gold by texting my name Bannon. That's B A N N o N to 989-898 with an A plus rating with the Better Business Bureau and tens of thousands of happy customers. Let Birchgold army with a free no obligation info kit on owning gold before July and the Rio reset. Text Bannon B A N N O N 298-9898 do it today. That's the Rio Reset. Text Bannon at 989-898 and do it today.
Dave Brat
Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban.
Steve Bannon
Okay, people are tweeting from inside the conference and we're going to try to get as many as possible. Grace and Brad here are going to organize this. So where are we? Here's where we are. I don't know, there's 20 or some votes, maybe a little more of folks that want to say hey, we got a shot here and I'm, I'm a pro Medicaid to the degree it is helping the working class and is not rife with waste, fraud and abuse. As you remember on this show with the, with Elon we kept harping on the fact that don't pick on the runts of the litter and don't go after programmatic things that are going to be taken care of in the normal course of business like usaid, but go after, cross the Potomac and go to the Pentagon and go to Medicaid for the waste, fraud and abuse. So now the President's sitting there going, I fully support taking out waste, fraud and abuse. Okay, like where's the doge? And I hear there's some magic number, you know, 50 billion or 100 billion, but it's going to be through some rescission. Now's the time to get all the, the cards on the table. The President's up, banging heads. I mean, just in the conference he compared Massie, I guess, sitting there to Rand Paul, which I don't know in Kentucky. That may not be a bad comparison day, Brett. I mean, Kentucky's got its own way of dealing things and hey, I'm not going to say who endorsed McConnell a couple of times, but Rand Paul and Massey seem to be pretty dug in there. Kentucky's got its own way they do things. They got a, they got a McConnell branch and they got a libertarian. You know, you get in those hills and hollers up there, you got it. You got a lot. Those Scotch Irish, they were born fighting, they got their own. I know Massey's from, I think the western part of the state. And Massey, look, he's a, he's a different character. We disagree with him on a lot of stuff, but he's clearly smart. He's, he's just sitting there going, and this comes down to Russ Vogt and the guys are saying, are telling the president and they're accurate in this. There are some structural changes that are taking place on mandatory programs and that is a good thing. The reality is those cuts, seeing the actual cuts on those programs don't come to the out years. If you look at the 10 year budget, which I am and by the way is reiterated today in the Journal, Financial Times and Bloomberg with different quotes from financiers on Wall street saying, hey, the only thing people are paying attention here, the first four years, I happen to think, having done a lot of restructurings before, it's the first two years. The benchmark I give is, hey, you're asking for a $4 trillion lift in the debt ceiling. That puts us at 40. And we're going to be at 40, we're going to be beyond 40 because they're asking for it in this reconciliation program to basically the duration of it. It's either the 4 trillion or duration ends a couple weeks after the midterm election in November and 26. My math, which is yet to be wrong. I know the audience is not tired of hearing that. It shows that we're going to blow through the 4 trillion, I don't know, sometime in before Labor Day of 26. Now this is why I keep saying for Hassett, particularly Hassett, the nec, he can go up there and go on FOX all day long and talk about vote counts. I don't need him talking about vote counts. He's the National Economic, excuse me, National Economic Council head, our chief economist, CEA in the first term. We need him coming out and talking about math. He goes out and gives this cheery kind of happy talk on we got the votes, we got the votes. If we got the votes. Hey look, dude, that's fine, but you're not a political guy. Let the political guys talk about the votes. If you got the votes, bro, why is the Commander in Chief and the President of these United States up on Capitol Hill And President Trump is on Capitol. He's whipping votes, right? He's not up there for a discussion. He's not going to give his grand theory. He's up there to whip votes. He's to tell guys, hey look, I want this, this is where I am right now. I hear all the good things you got to say about Medicaid. I'm not interested. I want to get it done. I want to get it done now. Now I would say you got to focus on these deficits blowing up because guess what, the bond market right now, the 10 year treasuries over 4.5, the 30s, close to 5. And we'll say, well Steve, big deal, the people just came out, the economies, I said I got all that but you've got to look down range on these things. This is how we've gotten into this jam. And looking downrange is the fact that I don't think the Treasury Department, the games Yellen played and got us into this jam with Biden, with a compliant Senate Republicans led by a guy from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell. That's how we got here. Okay, you look at this and you understand that hey, we may have, we may have a problem in the out years. Dave. Brett, you're signaling. Just jump into the microphone. You don't have to be so polite.
Donald Trump
What are you so polite for?
Dave Brat
I'm Presbyterian. We're decent and good order people, the Presbyterians.
Steve Bannon
You all think this is foreordained anyway or Whatever. You got the Elect guys like you and a bunch of papers like my burning in the pits of hell.
Dave Brat
It is all for a day and just no one knows it. Only God's mind knows it. And there's the theology for the day. Yeah. The Wall Street Journal of all folks come in on the spending issue today and mentioned the Moody's downgrade and say it's time for the Moody's downgrade. If Denver has the chart, it doesn't really matter. It just shows we're spending way more than we're taking in revenues. It's a long term problem. Japan is blowing up as of yesterday. The tails on their bond sales for 20 years and 40 years is out of whack. They have a huge dilemma now. Either they print money and get blown out inflation or else they, they cut rates and then interest rates soar.
Steve Bannon
I don't agree with these guys, but. Yeah, but they say Republicans could do something about this. May not have the votes. And then Doge has cut around the edges. Yeah, Doge was. And I'm not trying to dump on Elon. I'm trying to say exactly what happened here. The political class up there are looking for a fairy. They're looking for Doyce ex Machina. They're looking for a fairy godmother to come in with a magic wand and saying, yep, back to us. We're gonna, we're gonna take. We're gonna take away from. We're gonna take away from. Are you directing now?
Donald Trump
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
That, that, that. We expect a fairy godmother to come in here and wave a wand and waste fraud and abuse. Going to be a trillion dollars. Remember I said that's ridiculous. Okay. And what happened? They didn't focus on Medicaid. Medicaid's rife with waste, fraud and abuse. Where is it? It hasn't been defined. Every day you can monitor what the treasury puts out. We're spending more cash than ever. We're over a trillion dollars in deficit on the CR that we made permanently. Because the speaker of the House didn't do the work, let's be blunt, didn't do the work that was necessary to get control of this thing.
Dave Brat
Yeah. And the Wall Street Journal, you just said. They just finished their point. Said, well, they may not have the votes for this. Moving on as if there's nothing to say. The Wall Street Journal has done no homework, no sharpened pencil on all of these financial. They're the financial paper in the US they haven't covered any of these sub issues at all. Only tax cuts. Every day, all day. The benefits of tax cuts. Great, we get that.
Steve Bannon
There's also a different theory of the case here, which I and I hope people in the White House, in the treasury at least here's the issue. The deficits being this large means the debt gets larger because they get added. You have to refinance the debt in the refinancing of the debt. My theory of the case or our theory of the case and many people's theory of the case is that that's the embedded inflation.
Dave Brat
Right.
Steve Bannon
This is why Yellen didn't go out and finance in tens and thirties because she realized that would blow up those and make it even more expensive. Remember the 10 year treasury folks controls your financial life. They didn't want to do it. So we did like a banana republic. Did we do it short term? Scott Bess is trying to get away from that, but it's not away from it yet. Not totally. Right. And so you add to these deficits, inflation is going to be there. So next year, if you look down range. Yes, the tax cut in the supply side, although a lot of the supply side stuff is not permanent. Not permanent. And if you had more cuts, maybe you can make them permanent because you want a supply side tax cut which focus on work productivity, capital investment. We're all for that.
Dave Brat
And who validated the shorts? The other adult that's supposed to be in the room is the Federal Reserve Bank. They accommodated all these moves of $2 trillion deficits without question. Now when Trump wants a little tailwinds coming in on the tariff ripple, you know, for a few months while we get the $10 trillion in capital coming into the country in the 2 trillion.
Steve Bannon
You don't think that, you don't think that. You're whining here yesterday at a Greenspan put. Yeah, you want, you want to, you want Powell to cut. Do you think a rate cut right now adds to inflation, Mr. Ph.D. doctor. Where'd you get that? Doctor in economics from?
Dave Brat
Yeah. The American University. I'm a populist. I was the only conservative American.
Steve Bannon
But yeah, not American University.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Donald Trump
Right here. Yeah.
Steve Bannon
Oh my God.
Dave Brat
Here to talk about after seminary. I wasn't, I wasn't properly.
Steve Bannon
You were not ready for that. You talked a nest of left wingers. There's nothing worse. You and Matt Boyle. Matt Boyle is up there I think for a month and they throw him out because he was. Who is this nut? He's a right winger.
Dave Brat
Yeah. But the important point to underscore here is the role of the Federal Reserve they are not the mature adult in the room. Right. They've been monitoring.
Steve Bannon
They're crazy.
Dave Brat
They're 20 years of failure. Right. 20 years, Lords of easy money of failure. Right.
Steve Bannon
And so not failure, worse accommodation to the worst instincts of Wall Street. Right, right. Worsening street. I mean, okay, so this is what he's battling. Yes. All I do think that you've got to do a better case about what you were handed.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
Which is a debacle, a total debacle by a out of control Fed. Which makes the case about ending the Fed. Also about how Yellen ran, ran this like a banana republic and how the accommodationist Republicans, this was the political class approved all this spending. And listen in the fight right now, even cutting out some of the spending is what it's about. The green New deal stuff was 20% of it was supposed to be because it's sprinkled into places that are red.
Dave Brat
And in defense of my easy money ploy, I just, I said Trump as the president, right. The CEO, it's, you know, the philosopher king, he's in charge of the whole lot. Right. And so my easy money play is he's looking at the bond market revolt, the international revolt, the geopolitics. He's weighing all of it. And if he had a little easier money for a little bit, he might be able to make some bolder moves fiscally.
Steve Bannon
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Dave Brat
Here's your host, Stephen K. Bann.
Steve Bannon
Okay, so Jake Sherman is, is putting out some incredible tweets are coming from the conference. He's getting it straight now, folks. You saw President Trump Patton Johnson on the head. I got it, I got it. We have a different opinion here. The President, you know, he calls the shots. So that's the way it is. I can do my yammering, but on something important. Trump is now, this is a direct quote. Trump is now complaining about the debt limit deal that Kevin McCarthy cut with Biden. This is the greatest, this is a greatest hit for Trump. Boom, right there. And that's got us in this jam. We're dealing with. This is a great. They were dealing with a disaster, given what he was handed. Now, I hope that Andy Harris and the Hawks, every hawk, should get up there to the mic, address the president, obviously, with respect, because people respect the president and say, hey, look, here's where our facts differ and we're doing this for you because the implement. This is going to be implemented now or in the summer, in the early fall. The impact's going to come in the summer, early fall, next year, before the midterms. But then, more importantly, Roland, this is about the direction of the country. I want to go back to your thing. Why do you think? Because you're thinking like President Trump. He wants a rate cut now. Why?
Dave Brat
Well, if you just read the papers.
Steve Bannon
Today, I mean, I got commodity prices falling.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
Inflation looks like it's under control right now.
Dave Brat
It's under control. There's energies, there's jobs concerns, there's concerns about the kids coming out of college. Fine.
Steve Bannon
Most of that's AI.
Dave Brat
Yeah, There's. There's a little.
Steve Bannon
So why do you want to cut rates?
Dave Brat
Well, he.
Steve Bannon
Step up to it, man. You're.
Dave Brat
You just. Look, I want.
Steve Bannon
Trump's going to say, hey, this war room thing. He's been calling Rob Sig and said, hey, I think Brad's doing a better job than Bannon. Bannon's are getting a little rusty here. Brad's speaking the gospel.
Dave Brat
I do have easy money. I want Trump's tariff strategy to be very effective. I don't want him to back off of that strategy because of fiscal weakness or something. Right.
Congressman
Okay.
Dave Brat
Just give him some latitude.
Steve Bannon
That is your whole thing about you got to look at the whole geopolitical.
Dave Brat
Yes.
Steve Bannon
And commercial things. You want a little Runway.
Dave Brat
Now he's in charge of the whole.
Steve Bannon
And you risk a little inflation.
Dave Brat
I don't, I don't. I don't think it's a risk right now. The economy is not at full speed. We've been handed a low productivity, low growth. The only reason it's growing at all is because of the government spending. And so if we do a little trimming or signal we're going to do some trimming, that's going to send a forward signal that economic growth may not continue as strong either. Right. If the Congress gets to it. Right. If they do any cutting, which I'm not seeing right now. Right. And the grandstander thing against the. Andy Harris is the least grandstanding guy. Some of these guys are just principled. Massie had a deal back with McCarthy for if we didn't, if they didn't execute and go through on all the process issues and get the budget cuts going and do an entire budget. Right. 12 bills. If you didn't do that. Massie had a promise from leadership back then of 1% across the board cuts.
Political Analyst
Oops.
Dave Brat
That promise went by the wayside. Right. So these guys, and I was with them, they're not grandstanding for no reason. Right. And I've always told the people I would put in place my promises to my people, to my constituents ahead of time. And I don't care what happens in Congress. Right. I voted against the budget. My budget chairman and chairwoman got mad at me multiple times. We're good friends. Still are. But they got ticked because by the rules up there, you're just supposed to, if you're on the Budget Committee, you're supposed to vote for the budget, period. It's unquestioned. You almost have to make an agreement ahead of time that you will vote for the budget if you're on the Budget Committee. That's how messed up the system is. And we've got to break that. So it's in the process of being broken. And so, yeah, I don't want the Fed, you know, runaway printing money, but we're in a doozy. It's just like Japan right now. They're in a no win position. We're kind of in a no win position right now in the immediate short run until the Trump agenda kicks in, then we're going to break free.
Steve Bannon
You're saying if this budget is passed or the big reconciliation bill with the tax cuts. Do you see The CBO says 30 year growth is 2% and that's a plan. Do you see the only way to get out of here.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
Is if you're not going to raise taxes on the wealthy, is that you have to get the denominator up. The growth rate has to increase.
Dave Brat
Right.
Steve Bannon
Do you see you're Mr. Productivity.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
And what you're talking about today, without these cuts to Medicaid and the rest of this. Do you see at these levels of deficits getting above a 2% growth rate?
Dave Brat
Yeah. And I'm not one of these pro growth guys. I am not saying we're going to grow our way out of the debt problem. That is not true. But we will achieve what we achieved last time. We're going to get to 3% GDP growth, which is a huge difference.
Steve Bannon
Right.
Dave Brat
If you track economic growth, the difference between a 2% to 3% growth rate is a phenomenal achievement.
Steve Bannon
Wow. Stunning. Hang on.
Dave Brat
Yep.
Steve Bannon
House Freedom Caucuses coming from Michael Schnell. House Freedom Caucus Andy Harris after Trump meeting. So Trump must be wrapped up and maybe coming out he's saying after Trump made the president I don't think convinced enough people that the bill is adequate the way it is. That is a bombshell.
Dave Brat
Wow.
Steve Bannon
Andy Harris came on here yesterday, dropped a bombshell and told the I mean this is why the president came up today is because of that Andy Harris putting a shot across everybody's bow saying you don't not even close to the votes. Probably got 30, 35 nos. Harris is right now also Laura Weiss. I'll read her tweet. House Freedom Caucus Chair Harris unmoved leaving conference meeting with Trump. He's still a no. Says there's still waste, fraud and abuse and Medicaid and mentions provider taxes. We're still a long ways away, but we can get there. Maybe not by tomorrow. That's what Harris has been saying. He said don't think it's Wednesday. But if they work through this and.
Dave Brat
They'Re they're constructive, they want to get.
Steve Bannon
I got a problem. It's not with Andy Harris. Here's I got a problem with and folks, you know I'm a kick and degree for this but that's a, that's part of the business. I don't mind that Johnson should not put the President of the United States in this situation.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
The President United States should not have to come to Capitol Hill in an extraordinary for the president to come up and talk about budget and math.
Dave Brat
Unheard of, unheard of, unheard of.
Steve Bannon
For him to come up today and have to is he not whipping votes? He's not doing Tom Emmer's job because Johnson, these guys Johnson in these rooms tells everybody what they want to hear. That's why people can't stand him because they don't know what's real and what's not real. He tells assault guys one thing. He tells the Medicaid guys another thing. He tells the fmap we're going to get the fmap then we're not going to do it. So nobody knows where they are. The president people believe because president coming out throwing down. So the president comes up right now to basically give his say so and whip votes and you're hearing guys saying, hey, we respect the President, but we're not there. That should not happen. If he does come up, it should be he makes his point, people say yeah, boom. And then it's a group hug. Yeah, that's not happening. That's not, that's not, that's, that's a Johnson problem. That's not a Trump problem. It's not a Trump White House problem. Yeah, that's a, that's a Johnson problem.
Dave Brat
And I hate to say it, Trump's been clear on the salt things where he made a couple comments. I don't like it and they're not going to get it.
Steve Bannon
Well, he's from New York State. He told Lawler. He just told Lawler and they just tweeted out. He says, hey, I know your district better than you do.
Dave Brat
Right. Right. He knows it. But go read the MAGA base or the American people base behind what's going on on the budget right now. And President Trump knows that. He knows the people and he knows the job is not done yet. Right. The people and the comments on this budget. If you're not gonna cut now, this is the opportunity and we are doing some cuts. Right. There's some cuts going on. But to get to the economic growth and to get the Trump golden age. Right. To get to the golden age. It's a bigger move.
Steve Bannon
To put it in a broader perspective. He does understand that the Democrats, because they love government.
Dave Brat
Yes.
Steve Bannon
They have no problem with the taxes not being extended, the tax cuts being extended. They have no problem at all. The tax cuts run out essentially December 31st this year.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
If it's not done by then, you gotta pass a whole new thing. So it's got that part of it's got to get done. There's no doubt to burden the middle and working class with these higher tax rates. So in the Democrats. And that's why President Trump is saying, hey, we only got a handful of votes to do this. We got to get it done.
Dave Brat
And we're abstracting from the Democrats. We can't forget.
Congressman
Right.
Dave Brat
Lawler and the New Yorkers. And I like all these guys, they got toughed up because who are they dealing with? They're dealing with the Democrat. All political abuse of my own. But they're dealing with Santa Claus. Right. They just never ending government spending. They believe in the new monetary policy where debt doesn't even matter. The leftists actually believe this stuff. They don't know what economic growth is. They don't understand any of these fundamentals. So that's who we're competing against. And the mainstream media, we get no relief. Where's the Democrat proposal on energy, on economic growth, on any of it. Right. On the big corruption, they're silent A.
Steve Bannon
Couple of the people have actually left the conference. The president is not people have left, but the president still in there are still dealing with Johnson. So as soon as the President comes out, I'm sure he'll go the sticks and give his play by play.
Dave Brat
Good.
Steve Bannon
Also he had a couple of shots at, hey, where's the action on Biden? Because we're going to have, if we have time and we can do it, we're going to have Jonathan Allen from NBC News, who wrote the book, I think it's 4 fight, which is amazing about the 24 campaign. And they were very close to the Biden situation. So we're going to get, get him on and we got to get to the bottom. I think this, I think is going to be a massive investigation. The president said last night he had the Kennedy center boards and certain cultural people at the White House for dinner. Man, he went off, he said, hey, you know, they stole the 2020 election. And I came back to, you know, you can't repeat this in flight company in the morning. But he, I mean, he was on fire. Exactly why he came back, exactly why he fought back, exactly why the presidency. And my point to him is that, hey, this Biden thing is a crisis of a constitutional republic. You can't have a guy that covered up two things they covered up. Obviously he was not up to be commander in chief and the Praetorian guard got him in there so he was malleable and they could run the deal. Then they hid that. Then this cancer thing is just not. And I think we've got a doctor. We don't get him on today. This morning we're getting one at six o' clock. He's going to walk through how it's.
Dave Brat
Just essentially, mathematically there's, there's enough news clips in commentary for our side and the mainstream if they want to get at it. But Biden has said on the record, on film, no, I didn't do that. I didn't do that, man. I mean, implying what Trump just said, that would be the stupidest thing ever. Why would I ever sign on to that? And then it turns out he did sign onto that. And you can I see the Obama fingerprints all over, right. The Susan Rice's, the radical leftists. And Obama always said, I wanted another term if there was somebody else who could execute my will, I want another term. And he got his third term.
Steve Bannon
Let me get some more tweets coming out of this thing. And man, this was kind of a Donny Burger Johnson. This is A quote from Sarah Farris on her Twitter. As Johnson aims for a vote tomorrow, Trump is cracking heads on salt, Medicaid, etc. To get ours to accept current bill. But GOP hardliners aren't sold, still want changes. Next test will be tonight. Rules set for a 1:00am vote. Wow, a 1:00am vote.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
On the rules Committee, Chip Roy very poses another tweet. Represent Andy Biggs. The great Andy Biggs, future governor of Colorado, says GOP needs to have more meetings today. Says the groups need to talk it out and listen to his final line. And this is the great Andy Biggs, as good a guy as you're going to meet. And actually they need to read the actual bill.
Dave Brat
Right. Good, good.
Steve Bannon
I'm telling you folks, you got. This is what, this is what upsets me about the President having to go on up and do this, is that there are guys there haven't read the bill.
Dave Brat
Right.
Steve Bannon
Andy Biggs calling people out. Andy Biggs saying, hey, we gotta get in the room, do some real work. Now, this should have been done months ago. The Medicaid President of the United States shouldn't be in a position to come up and say, hey, look, I'm all for waste, fraud and abuse. And you had the doge guys running around everywhere but into the details of Medicaid. Why? Let's be blunt. They didn't want to take on big pharma, they didn't want to take on big medicine. They didn't want to take on the defense contractors. They didn't want to take on big tech. That's who runs the city. I was telling somebody this morning, I said about the first term since 2008, but even since 2017, this city has changed. And from when you were here.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
The concentration of power and money.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
Massive into these industries. Defense industry. Right. That's why you got a trillion dollar bill. Big pharma. That's what Bobby Kennedy's fighting over at hhs. Big agriculture, big ag. Okay. Big tech, big medicine. These are monster. We've got a system now like the Chinese Communist Party. They didn't follow us toward, you know, a democracy. We have a super powerful, big centralized government. And because of mergers and all this antitrust that wasn't around for decades, for all the time, under Biden, you've had concentration of wealth and power into these oligarchs combined with the capital markets of Wall street in the connective, the connective linkage of these big law firms.
Dave Brat
And that is the old traditional definition of fascism.
Steve Bannon
Yeah, exactly.
Dave Brat
That is the old traditional definition of fascism and we don't want any part of it.
Steve Bannon
Fascism is not the maga. The deplorables that are fighting this. And the Galers.
Dave Brat
Americans.
Steve Bannon
Americans fighting this. Right? That's receipt. And that's what's so hard. And the President's being ill served by Johnson basically saying, you got to come up to Capitol Hill and help me. That's his job. His job is to. First off, let's be blunt. His job is first off to make sure everybody reads the frickin bill. When Andy Biggs, who's as good a man as you're gonna have, has to tweet out, hey, we need more meetings. We need to get in room. We need to confront each other, argue this out on facts. And by the way, why don't we start with the actual. Read the frickin bill, okay? The actual bill of what it actually says. And so this is why, you know, the President's up there and I'm sure he's not going. He gonna be in a foul mood.
Dave Brat
Yeah, okay.
Steve Bannon
He's not expecting to leave there and not have a deal.
Dave Brat
And guess who knows what.
Steve Bannon
Is he in a foul mood.
Dave Brat
The war room posse knows what's in the bill. And the Congress for the first time is getting an earful. They're getting educated by the people. The people are educating the elites. And so he says, read the bill. And usually when I was in there, still, you know, it was corrupt and I was learning. I was green and learning. But they would put the full hammer on you and then do precisely this next move. We're going to be out of here by Memorial Day. We need to vote on this in two days. And all the pressure in the world will come down on you. But now due to the pressure of the people, the people have lit up the Congress, right? The congressmen, the women. The Senate's next. The Senate's being awfully quiet. I don't see any profiles in courage coming out of the Senate right now. With some exceptions. Hawley's been out there talking. Ron Johnson out of Wisconsin has done a super job. But I don't hear many voices arguing for just basic sanity. The spending cannot continue. Everybody said the Wall Street Journal lead op ed today. And then they don't follow through on their own logic. There's no push.
Steve Bannon
Harris is saying the Trump, we're still a long ways away, but we can get there. Maybe not by tomorrow, but we can get there.
Dave Brat
We can. That's.
Steve Bannon
And I think that if you get the facts, you get in there. You can get there now. President Trump. Gotta love this. Julie Grace Brufke over. I think she's at the Hill still. Maybe at Politico now. Julie Grace pretty accurate. She's got Trump going full Patrick Henry. Trump in the meeting. Purseaurus. Give me freedom or give me death.
Dave Brat
Wow, Sounds familiar.
Steve Bannon
And it'll be death for all if we don't pass this bill and Dems get the largest tax increase in US Surgery. Boom. That's lays it out right there. Right, right. He's right about that.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
The bill is going to get passed. It's just depending on it's going to get passed. It just depends on if you get these additional cuts also. GOP update. Spirits are high. It seems POTUS has started to move the dial for fiscal hardliners. Birchet is now maybe Higgins is still no. But thinks consensus is more possible. Waiting to talk with the Salters. Consensus is possible.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
You're going to, you're going to get something here. But I think people are going to get their shot of saying, hey, here's what the deficit so historic day. President still has not come out. As soon as he goes to the sticks, we're going to throw out all of our other things that we have on this broadcast today to get this because this is a historic moment is what kind of the war room. The money capital, capital markets now more than ever. I think it behooves you two things. Take your phone out, text Bannon. B A N N O N 989898 the Ultimate Guide to Investing in Gold and Precious Metals in the Age of Trump. I know we say era, but it's actually the age of Trump. More importantly, make contact with Philip Patrick and the team. Find out where gold's been a hedge for 5,000 years. Gold's been kind of on the terror last couple of days. It's not the price, it's the process of the president. We're going to go right to the President of the United States on Capitol.
Donald Trump
Hill said that you didn't adequately convince enough people to vote for the bill. But how you mean after this speech?
Steve Bannon
After this speech.
Donald Trump
Well, what do we see at the Lotus? I think it was a great, great talk. It wasn't a speech. We talked about things. Who do you work for? Nervous. Who? Nervous. I don't even know what the hell that is. You got to get. Get yourself a real. Let me tell you. Let me tell you. I think we have unbelievable unity. I think we're going to get everything we want. And I think we're going to have a great victory and this man has done a great job. And I think this was a tremendous session. You may want to say something.
Speaker Johnson
Yeah, it was a great meeting. The party is unified. The House Republican Conference is excited. Multiple standing ovations. They love this president. The people back home love what he's doing. It's historic. And everybody understands the scope and the meaning of this. If we do not accomplish this mission, every one of you, all the American people are going to have the highest tax increase that you've ever had. Among the debt ceiling clip that's approaching and all the other problems. This is the bill to do it. I think we're going to get it done.
Donald Trump
Mr. President, the Democrats want to raise your taxes. If this doesn't work, if this doesn't get the numbers that the Republicans want, and I think it does. I think it's all Republican votes. The Democrats are going to be raising your taxes by 68% and they will not do the. We're going to have an 85% cut in drug costs. 85% cut in drug costs. The Democrats. The drug prices are going to go up. I can't imagine a Democrat not voting for this. I think the Democrats, if they don't vote for it, that means they're voting for an increase in drug prices. Think of that versus an 80 to an 85, maybe 75. It could be an 85% cut in drug costs. Okay. Mr. President, do you think. President, will you reach out to individual members? We need to make a pitch to individual members. I don't think so. No. That's what I did today. That's really what we did today. I think it was a really great. That was a meeting of love. Let me tell you. That was love in that room. There was no shouting. I think it was a meeting of love. There were a couple of things that we talked about specifically where some people felt a little bit one way or the other, not a big deal. And I covered them. It wasn't so much a speech. I covered certain. And I think there was. I'd be very surprised. No, I didn't tell him. Who told you. I said I'm losing.
Steve Bannon
That's what we heard inside the room.
Donald Trump
Wait a minute. Who's told you that? We heard from people inside the room. It's totally true. I never used the term. I didn't say losing. I didn't even talk about it. In fact, it's the opposite. I think we're going to get it done. I'm not losing patience. We're ahead of schedule. Anybody that told you that he's a liar. Wait a minute. I never mentioned the word losing patience because I'm not losing patience. We're head of. Why don't you go back to your source and tell them they're liars, if the source even exists.
Steve Bannon
Is that okay?
Donald Trump
In some cases they have things that I like even better. No, it always happens. There'll be some, there'll be some changes. John Thune and Mike have been very closely aligned on this. They've been moving it up together. Mr. President, apparently you said, apparently you said don't act with Medicaid. Apparently you did say in the room there is some concern among some Republicans, including Senator Josh Hawley, that this could impact benefits and that could be amount to quote, hidden tax on. Here's what I said. Here's what I said. You want to hear what I said? I said waste, fraud and abuse for Medicaid. If you find waste or fraud or abuse. We want to strengthen Medicaid. We want to strengthen Medicare. Waste, fraud and abuse. The Democrats will let illegals be on. They'll destroy it. It will be destroyed. They want to have illegal immigrants beyond. And if you do that, because that's not, it wasn't designed for that Waste, fraud and abuse. Can you guarantee that your voters who supported the re election, working class voters, will not lose health insurance under this bill? Oh, they won't lose health insurance. Not only that, remember, I'm cutting drug prices by 85% and right now I'm saving it. I'm saving the whole thing because I did something that nobody was willing to do. Other countries pay a tiny fraction what we do. And I instituted favorite nations. We're now going to pay the lowest in the world. We're going to be the equivalent of the lowest country in the world. People go to London, they go to Canada, they go to other countries, many other countries, because they want to buy their pharmaceutical products, their drugs at a fraction of the cost. Now we're going to have the lowest cost anywhere in the world and nobody else would do that but me. And that might be an election by itself, might be election winning. Now when you add that in, when you put that into Medicaid and Medicare, we've just strengthened Medicare and Medicaid and the Democrats won't do that. You know why? Because they're taken care of by the drug companies. And the ones that are taken care of are hard lives. Some Republicans get money from drug companies and that's okay, because they're okay with It. I talked about it. The drug companies take care of everybody. It's the biggest lobby, most powerful lobby in the world. There's no lobby like that. But the Republicans are okay with it. Not only okay with it, they love it. It was time. So we're going to cut drug prices by from 75 to 85. In some cases even more than that. You know, I was telling the story that. And some of you were at that news conference. I gave a news conference where I was the first one in 18 years to cut drug costs for the year. And they were like a quarter of a point to half a point less. And I was very proud of that. Now I'm cutting them by 80, 85% because I stopped the scam. This was a scam between the middlemen and the drug companies. This was a giant scam. And by the way, and other countries, because other countries fought for this. This was a giant scam and we're not going to have it. So remember this. Go back and tell your people, if you'd like to, that the Republican Party is cutting the cost of drugs by as much as 85%. Not 8%, not 5%, not 1%, 85%. And you're going to have the lowest drug prices anywhere in the world because I'm doing favored nations. And it's all done. I signed it. And the Democrats will unsign it, and the drug prices are going to go up. And I think on that issue alone, you can't lose an election with the arrest of a congresswoman. Democratic congressman. Oh, give me a break. Did you see her? She was out of control. You know, those days are over. The days of woke. The days of woke. No, I didn't. The days of woke are over. That woman. I don't. I have no idea who she is. That woman was out of control. She was shoving federal agents. She was out of control. The days of that crap are over in this country. We're going to have law and order.
Congressman
Mr. President, thank you very much.
Steve Bannon
You campaigned on lowering the price of groceries. How do you justify cutting food assistance in this bill?
Donald Trump
Let me just say the cut is going to give everybody much more food because prices are coming way down. Groceries are down. Eggs. You told me about eggs. You asked me a question about eggs my first week. You said eggs. I said, I just got here. Tell me about eggs. And it was going through the roof. You know that. Eggs now way down. Everybody is buying eggs. Groceries down. Energy is down. Gasoline is now buying. They're buying Gasoline now for $1, 99 cent. If you look back, you'll see $354. This country, we're going to lose this country, our country. And I was respected all over the world. All over the world were respected. We were a laughingstock. The entire world was. We were a laughing stock. I went to the Middle east and those rulers of those three countries are very powerful people, very big people, very rich people. They respect our country again. China was going to take them over. You know, China was going to get all, they were going to get into the, if you look, Saudi Arabia, you take a, take a little look what was happening with Qatar, uae, Great people, unbelievable people, unbelievable leaders. But they were abandoned by this country and they're not going to China anymore. They love us. We love them. We're going to take care of them and they're going to take care of us. We came back with $5.1 billion trillion dollars. Trillion. Every other president would have come back having spent $5.1 trillion as usual. And remember this, we were losing $5 billion a day under the past administration. I have to be a little careful the way I talk because there's a lot of anger about that administration. And by the way, Yoda, the real question who ran the auto panel? Okay, who ran the auto pen? Because the things that were signed were signed illegally, in my opinion. I think we've just proved that. But our country is respected again. All over the world were respected. We were laughed at seven months ago. Then you had November 5th and our country is respected again. Thank you.
Steve Bannon
That's the President, United States right there. Tons of information that took a number of shots. Laid out his case, upbeat, said it's going to happen. House Freedom Caucus eventually going to agree to, to maybe get some additional cuts, but we'll get there. And the SALT guys look like they got blown up. We've got Congressman Andy Clyde who was in the room. Congressman Clyde, you've been a note, you've been pretty adamant about you need more cuts. Give us your perspective this morning after the, after this extraordinary visit by the President States to Capitol Hill to talk to the conference.
Congressman
Well, Steve, it's great to be on with you. I'll tell you that. It's always wonderful to hear the President, we love the President. We want to move his agenda forward. And, and so listening to his perspective this morning was very, very important for us. You know, we have got to get this particular bill right. We're going to move forward, but it has to be done in a fiscally responsible way, in a way that reduces the Deficits and doesn't increase the deficits. And also I would love to see a Second Amendment win in this bill because I don't see any other way that we take back our constitutional rights other than through reconciliation, which is only a Republican. It's a partisan bill and requires only Republican votes. There's no Democrat, especially no seven Democrat senators that are going to ever vote to give us back our constitutional rights.
Steve Bannon
So where do you stand right now? How do you put us in the room? How was it the president speak, what he had to say? Would, would people go up to the microphone and say, hey, we've got this problem with the Medicaid, the deficits in the first couple of years. I mean, put us in the room. What happened?
Congressman
Well, he spoke for about an hour and a half almost and there wasn't a whole lot of opportunity for questions. I did stand up and was ready to ask him a question, but I didn't get to do that. He basically commanded the room for the entire time. I'll tell you that. The salt folks got hammered and it was pretty evident that salt is not on his plate today in this particular bill. So I think that's a good thing. You know, for the three states that are literally demanding salt for California, Illinois and New York, that wasn't good news for them, that's for certain. You know, the president had a can, had a speech already written, but he really didn't use it at all. It was just an off the cuff kind of speech that, directly from the heart, I think. And I think and that was very, very important. So there were just, just, I mean, two or three that were able to ask questions and that was about it. It really wasn't a back and forth in the conference room.
Steve Bannon
What is going to. So walk us through the order of battle now. What, what, what happens? They've called for a rules vote at 1am tonight or tomorrow morning, however you want to call it. 1am The Democrats are fighting back. Andy Harris and a lot of the guys in the Freedom Caucus that are all over this Medicaid are saying we have to have meetings. Andy Big saying he would hope people would read the bill. I mean, what's your perspective?
Congressman
Well, I agree. We do need to get back together and have meetings on this and decide exactly where, you know, how much.
Donald Trump
Okay.
Congressman
We can get.
Steve Bannon
Congressman, let's go back to the President.
Congressman
Okay, go ahead.
Donald Trump
You're going to get an 85% reduction in drugs. 85% reduction, not one quarter of a percent, not an increase. The Democrats, you're going to pay 25% more for drugs with me because of what I've instituted. Favored nations, the people of America. And it's about time. Going to get an 85% reduction. They're going to be paying the lowest price in the world.
Steve Bannon
How important. How important is this for your agenda? You've been able to do a lot through executive action. How important is it to have this.
Dave Brat
Piece of legislation for your agenda and your legacy?
Donald Trump
It's very important. It's important for the country. It's not important for me. It's important for the country. This is the greatest bill that will ever. I think it's the most important bill this country just about has ever done in terms of size and scope. That's why we call it the great big beautiful deal. I mean, and it really is. The bill is. I think it's going to be one of the most important. It's the biggest tax reduction in history, biggest regulation reduction in history. Incredible. For Medicaid, for Medicare. The only thing. We're going to leave it exactly as it was, other than for, obviously, waste, fraud and abuse. We're strengthening it. We're going to make these things even stronger. The Democrats are going to destroy Medicare, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and we're going to keep them, but even make them stronger. How are the talks going on those new sanctions on Russia like the EU is? Well, we're looking at a lot of things, but we'll see. I had a very good talk yesterday with President Putin. We'll see how that comes out. They're talking right now. We'll see how it comes.
Steve Bannon
Are you going to Pop Leo?
Donald Trump
Say it.
Steve Bannon
What about Pop Leo?
Donald Trump
Why the Vatican served for the negotiation. Why you suggested that. No, Pope Leo suggested it. And if he'd like to have the talks at the Vatican, I can't think of a better place. I like them. This is a pretty good place, too, come to think of it. Do you like these? American Pope, but I think I like them, yeah. I like the Pope and I like the Pope's brother, you know, one of the Pope's brothers, actually, both of them. But one in particular is a major MAGA fan. Did you know that he lives in Florida. He's got maga, he's got Trump, and I look forward to getting him to the White House. I want to shake his hand. I want to give him a big hug. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
Steve Bannon
Okay, President, right there. Reiterating once again, the stakes. Dave Brat. He's pretty good about getting his Message out, right?
Dave Brat
Yeah, Just the big, the big issues for the American people. Just over and over and over, all the positive wins. We're going to the left was great. When we were in charge of Obamacare, we got annihilated by the left. Yeah. Because our leadership wouldn't explain it. There's Trump. We're going to keep Medicare, we're going to keep Social Security stronger. We're going to make them better. Just weaving in the tax cut, benefits, all the big pharmaceuticals. He's the only guy tough enough to take on pharmaceuticals.
Steve Bannon
Big Pharma, the one guy doing it.
Dave Brat
Yeah, a bunch of wins.
Steve Bannon
So, Congressman Clyde, walk us through. How do we get from here this historic trip of the president I states to talk to the conference to a vote. Walk us through the critical path.
Congressman
Well, first it's going to have to go to rules. And as you said, rules was called for 1am tomorrow morning. And then we're going to have to look and see what the, what's called a manager's amendment is. And that's going to be the modifications of the bill itself from what it currently, where it currently stands. So we'll see if the president, if what the president has said, you know, has moved the various members of our conference, the salt guys, et cetera, and you know, whether they stand their ground for more salt and, you know, greater tax cuts for California, Illinois and New York or whether they don't, whether they, whether they yield and allow us to move forward. But it's also critically important, as I said, that this bill be financially responsible. And that's really what we need to focus on because, you know, we are heading toward a fiscal cliff in this country. We have $37 trillion in debt and the bond market has already responded to that. We saw that on Friday when Moody downgraded us from a triple A to a double A1, which means that they're saying that the US treasuries have an increased risk. So that means an increased interest rate. And all those Treasuries that are literally maturing right now at the low interest rate, like 1% are going to have to be replaced by higher interest rate bonds at three and a half, four and a half, who knows, maybe now 5% because of the bond downgrade. So this is a serious consideration because we're going to be spending more money on interest in the future. So we have got to get to a point, you know, the president has called for a balanced budget. We've got to get to a point of getting on that trajectory of a Balanced budget. And the only way we're going to do that is through budget reconciliation, as in it's a partisan bill. Does not need those seven Democrat senators in the, in the Senate to vote. Yes. To ensure the Senate can bring a vote to the Senate floor.
Steve Bannon
Before I let you go as the manager, manager's memo, which will deal with any changes from the bill, particularly on the Medicaid side and taking care of maybe trying to, trying to limit somewhat these deficits in the first year. Is that going to be circulated before rules or would they vote rules without that being done yet? Is the process in the day to meet and argue and debate and come up with some compromise on this, hopefully on the manager's memo. Would that be circulated this evening before the rules vote or after the rules?
Congressman
Well, it will need to be circulated, you know, before rules actually votes because that's what they're voting on, literally. So we've got to be able to see that. And I don't know when it's going to come out. I'm not on the Rules Committee, so I'm not exactly pervy. You know, I don't have any, no preview to that. But we'll definitely be going through that rules package through that, what's called a manager's amendment. All right. Because I believe that's the only amendment that's going to be allowed. So it's going to be fairly substantial, I think.
Dave Brat
Hey, Congressman, old friend. Dave Bratt, I got. How much are you hearing from the people on the deficits? I think that is the new thing. I think that the base and the average American is now really concerned about deficits and that doesn't come up enough. And not only you, but, you know, folks from other states, other regions of the country. Are they getting the message from the people?
Congressman
Well, I'm hearing from my people in my district and it's hold the line, hold the line. We don't need, you know, the federal government has a spending problem. As I've said, we have an addiction. We have an addiction to opium. That's opm, an addiction to other people's money. We have a spending problem in Washington, D.C. we don't have a revenue problem. It's a spending problem. And I'm hearing that people understand that and they're saying hold the line for more spending cuts.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
Okay, Congressman, social media, where do people go? Because you're, you're putting up good information all the time where they go.
Congressman
Well, thank you. You can go to clyde.house.gov you can follow us at Rep. Underscore Clyde on Twitter or sorry on X and also on Facebook as Rep. Clyde.
Steve Bannon
Thank you, sir. Appreciate you. Great to be on the line.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
Vox populi.
Dave Brat
Yep.
Steve Bannon
Vox deus. The voice of the people is the voice of God.
Dave Brat
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
Okay.
Dave Brat
Well, I wouldn't go that far, but whatever.
Steve Bannon
Well, that's, that's you. Presbyterian. You're Presbyterian.
Dave Brat
God, the spirit, the Holy Spirit, works through the people.
Steve Bannon
Predestination. Just saying. You and Stonewall Jackson.
Dave Brat
Yeah, he was great, man. Never got a bullet.
Steve Bannon
Hang on, I'm gonna drop, I'm drop. Another bombshell. This is from Rachel Bate. I think Rachel's over Politico. A bombshell. Another Trump bombshell. Trump tells me that's Rachel Bate. He hopes the GOP mega bill changes in the Senate because, quote, they have things I like even better. Strap in. As hard as this vote's gonna be, that goes to the thing. And hey, you got Josh Hawley over there. You got Mr. President. Listen to Ron Johnson. Ron Johnson's got $8 trillion of cuts. Josh Hawley's over there. Boy, that's going to be another Donny Burke because they got to pass something. Then you go to conference and then you have a knockdown, drag out. Scott Besson's telling us, hey, extraordinary measures will essentially end by the first week, second week of August, of which time you're going to need a debt ceiling relief. He's doing all the, all the tricks of the trade to keep cash coming in and paying off. Remember, he's got a waterfall to pay everything off. Historic. Okay, folks, you need to understand what a hedge is against times of financial turbulence because we're going into one and it is paying for the past sins of the political class. And the lords of easy money got us in this jam. President Trump and the, and the MAGA forces are trying to get us out. Birchgold.com Talk to Philip Patrick and the team. Birchgold.com Bannon, Philip Patrick and the team. Dave, Brad.
Dave Brat
Yeah, I brought attention to Japan earlier in the show. Everybody go look it up. Our friends at Zero Hedge. Great article. The reason I brought that up is because that can happen here. Their 20 and 40 year bonds are in deep trouble. What's called the tail. The interest rate that they had to sell at. Right. They had to jack up the rate in order to sell them. And that's what's coming our way. The only thing that's saving us is the reserve currency and we've been misusing that terribly. And so that, that's what's coming our way.
Steve Bannon
Okay, Republicans and sticks, we're going to take a commercial break or come back that a short commercial break to pay for this operation. Then we're going to come back. The Republicans at the sticks, you're going to hear from them. We're going to try to get Jonathan Allen on about the book fight. He got an inside look. And particularly the Democrats give us some updates on this Biden situation. Dave. Brat riding shotgun. Good day to be here, Dave.
Dave Brat
That's great day.
Steve Bannon
Good man. Good day to be here.
Dave Brat
Providence.
Steve Bannon
Plus he gets free room and board. Brad will eat you at a house and home too. You got don't. Hey, if you invite Brad down, make sure you got a fully stick stock pantry. Okay?
Dave Brat
My diet.
Steve Bannon
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Podcast Summary: Bannon’s War Room – Episode 4498: Trump Heads To The Capitol; Calling Out Hypocritical Spending
Host: Steve Bannon
Guests: Congressman Dave Brat
Release Date: May 20, 2025
In Episode 4498 of Bannon’s War Room, host Steve Bannon and guest Congressman Dave Brat delve into the historic event of President Donald Trump’s unprecedented visit to Capitol Hill. The primary agenda: rallying Republican votes to pass a massive reconciliation bill aimed at reducing deficits, cutting taxes, and addressing issues within Medicaid. The episode provides an in-depth analysis of the political maneuvering within the GOP, the challenges posed by fiscal hawks, and the broader economic implications of the proposed legislation.
Historic Nature of the Visit: Steve Bannon opens the discussion by highlighting the unprecedented nature of President Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill. This is the first time a sitting U.S. president has personally traveled to Capitol Hill to directly address and rally votes for a budgetary bill.
Steve Bannon [00:01]: "It is unheard of for the President, United States to go to Capitol Hill to speak to a conference to whip votes on his budget."
Congressional Reactions: Dave Brat confirms the rarity of such a visit, noting that presidents typically engage in occasional meetings but not with the explicit intent to secure votes.
Dave Brat [00:22]: "No, no, no. Coming over to whip votes. No."
Economic Growth and Tax Cuts: President Trump emphasizes the introduction of the largest tax cut in U.S. history, surpassing even the cuts implemented during Ronald Reagan’s administration. The bill promises substantial tax reductions for the middle and working classes, alongside significant deregulation efforts.
Donald Trump [02:34]: "This is the biggest tax cut in the history of our country. Or you'll get a 68% tax increase."
Medicaid Reforms: A central component of the bill is the overhaul of Medicaid, targeting waste, fraud, and abuse without altering the core structure of Medicaid, Medicare, or Social Security. Trump criticizes the previous administration for inadvertently opening the borders, leading to increased strain on Medicaid services.
Donald Trump [07:15]: "We're not doing any cutting of anything meaningful. The only thing we're cutting is waste, fraud and abuse with Medicaid."
Drug Price Reduction: The legislation includes an 85% reduction in drug prices through the favored nations policy, aiming to make U.S. drug prices the lowest globally.
Donald Trump [50:02]: "We're going to have the lowest drug prices anywhere in the world because I'm doing favored nations."
Division Within the Republican Conference: Speaker Johnson faces tight margins and conflicting priorities within the GOP. While President Trump pushes for aggressive fiscal reforms, moderates and conservatives express concerns over specific aspects of the bill, such as Medicaid cuts and tax policy.
Political Analyst [00:56]: "Speaker Johnson needs to get the votes across the line. There are moderates who are concerned about salt caps and conservatives who are concerned about Medicaid cuts not being aggressive enough."
Role of the Freedom Caucus: Hardline members of the Freedom Caucus are pushing for deeper cuts and more stringent reforms, challenging the majority’s capabilities to align with Trump’s agenda.
Steve Bannon [12:03]: "Anti-Harris and Laura Weiss are still not convinced enough about the bill's adequacy."
Rules Committee and Manager’s Amendments: The bill is slated for a rules vote at 1:00 AM, followed by potential manager’s amendments that could modify the bill’s provisions based on ongoing negotiations within the GOP.
Congressman [65:23]: "It will need to be circulated, you know, before rules actually votes because that's what they're voting on, literally."
Deficit and Debt Ceiling Issues: The proposed bill seeks to address the national deficit by implementing significant cuts to government spending. However, concerns remain regarding the plan’s effectiveness in reducing the $37 trillion national debt and the potential impact of a $4 trillion relief to the debt ceiling.
Steve Bannon [16:27]: "The first couple of years, the deficits go up. They're asking for a $4 trillion relief to the debt ceiling."
Bond Market and Credit Downgrade: Recent actions by Moody’s to downgrade U.S. debt from AAA to AA1 have exacerbated concerns about rising interest rates and increased costs for servicing national debt.
Congressman [65:30]: "The bond market has already responded to that. We saw that on Friday when Moody downgraded us."
Comparison to Japan’s Economic Dilemma: The discussion draws parallels between the U.S. and Japan’s long-term economic challenges, particularly concerning bond yields and interest rates.
Steve Bannon [71:34]: "Japan’s 20 and 40-year bonds are in deep trouble. What's called the tail. The interest rate that they had to sell at. Right. They had to jack up the rate in order to sell them. And that's what's coming our way."
Speaker Johnson’s Leadership: Speaker Johnson is critiqued for not effectively uniting the GOP or clearly communicating the bill’s benefits, necessitating President Trump’s direct intervention.
Steve Bannon [37:16]: "The President United States should not have to come to Capitol Hill in an extraordinary..."
Manager’s Amendments and Compromises: Pending manager’s amendments may introduce modifications to the bill, potentially addressing concerns raised by fiscal conservatives and moderates within the party.
Congressman [65:23]: "We'll see if the President's perspective has moved the various members of our conference."
President Trump’s Continued Influence: Trump’s hands-on approach and direct communication are portrayed as pivotal in steering the bill towards passage, despite internal GOP resistance.
Donald Trump [35:42]: "We will achieve what we achieved last time. We're going to get to 3% GDP growth, which is a huge difference."
BRICS Summit and Global Currency Shift: The podcast touches on the upcoming BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, where emerging superpowers aim to challenge the U.S. dollar’s dominance as the global currency. This geopolitical shift poses significant risks to the U.S. economy and the value of the dollar.
Steve Bannon [12:03]: "The Rio Reset in July marks a pivotal moment when BRICS objectives move decisively from a theoretical possibility towards inevitable reality."
Global Respect and Economic Recovery: Trump touts the restoration of global respect for the U.S. economy, citing reduced energy prices and decreased deficits as indicators of successful economic management.
Donald Trump [56:16]: "All other presidents would have come back having spent $5.1 trillion as usual."
Expectations for the Midnight Rules Vote: The episode anticipates a contentious rules vote at 1:00 AM, with expectations that the Freedom Caucus and fiscal hawks will continue to push for additional cuts and reforms.
Steve Bannon [47:10]: "They have things I like even better. Strap in. As hard as this vote's gonna be..."
Potential Outcomes: If the reconciliation bill passes, it is expected to significantly cut taxes, reduce regulatory burdens, and implement stringent measures against Medicaid fraud. Failure to pass the bill could result in substantial tax increases and exacerbate the national debt crisis.
Donald Trump [49:37]: "If we do not accomplish this mission, every one of you, all the American people are going to have the highest tax increase that you've ever had."
Long-Term Economic Strategy: The bill is positioned as a cornerstone of Trump’s economic legacy, aiming to stimulate growth, enhance fiscal responsibility, and position the U.S. as a leading economic power globally.
Donald Trump [62:47]: "It's the greatest bill that will ever... It's the biggest tax reduction in history, biggest regulation reduction in history."
Steve Bannon [00:01]: "It's unheard of for the President, United States to go to Capitol Hill to speak to a conference to whip votes on his budget."
Political Analyst [02:30]: "At the end of the day, Trump is going to urge them to pass the bill. But it's unclear if Trump is really going to wade in on these specific concerns..."
Donald Trump [35:55]: "The biggest beneficiary if we do that are governors from New York, Illinois and California."
Steve Bannon [16:27]: "We're asking for a $4 trillion relief to the debt ceiling... My math, which has never been wrong, shows we're going to blow through that before election day."
Donald Trump [50:02]: "We're going to have the lowest drug prices anywhere in the world because I'm doing favored nations."
Steve Bannon [47:10]: "And I think that if you get the facts, you get in there. You can get there now."
Episode 4498 of Bannon’s War Room provides a comprehensive analysis of President Trump’s strategic visit to Capitol Hill amidst a critical moment for the GOP’s fiscal agenda. The discussion underscores the internal divisions within the party, the monumental goals of the proposed reconciliation bill, and the broader economic and geopolitical challenges facing the United States. With significant implications for the upcoming midterm elections and the nation’s economic future, the episode captures the high stakes and intense political maneuvering shaping Congress’s actions.