Episode 4509: Bannon's Budget Breakdown; Maureen Previews Board Of Visitors

Summary

Podcast Summary: Bannon's War Room Episode 4509: Bannon's Budget Breakdown; Maureen Previews Board Of Visitors Release Date: May 23, 2025

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1. Tax Exemption and Harvard's Status

Stephen K. Bannon initiated the discussion by highlighting concerns over Harvard University's tax-exempt status.

• Quote: “They were in the process of removing the tax-exempt status from Harvard.” [00:00]

Scott Besson, Secretary of the Treasury, elaborated on the administration's efforts:

• Quote: “If you're not following the rules, no one's above the law.” [00:15]

Besson emphasized the need to scrutinize Harvard's endowment and investment practices, comparing the institution to a "gigantic hedge fund" with a leveraged investment model.

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2. Trade Relations and Tariff Strategies

The conversation shifted to international trade, particularly between the United States and the European Union.

Scott Besson discussed the administration's stance on EU trade proposals:

• Quote: “There are 18 important trade deals that we have to do.” [01:45]

He criticized the EU for having a "collective action problem" and noted the administration's focus on Asia, where negotiations are advancing more favorably.

Stephen K. Bannon responded by advocating for a more aggressive tariff approach against the EU:

• Quote: “I'm recommending a straight 50% tariff on the EU starting on June 1, 2025.” [02:43]

Liz York questioned the motivations behind these aggressive tariff actions:

• Quote: “There is a real question here. What exactly is motivating some of these actions that he's taking?” [03:02]

Bannon linked the push for tariffs to the broader fiscal strategy, suggesting that advancing the tax bill provides the President the leverage to be tougher on Europe.

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3. Budget, Deficits, and Economic Growth

A significant portion of the discussion focused on the administration's budget plans and strategies to manage national deficits.

Bannon outlined the expected passage of the "big beautiful bill" to the Senate:

• Quote: “The goal is to have, I think, a Senate vote by July 4th.” [10:00]

He detailed the projected deficits:

• Quote: “The deficit this year is going to be $2 trillion.” [12:30]

Besson responded by stressing the importance of combining deficit control with economic growth:

• Quote: “We've just got to be careful on the timing.” [17:42]

They discussed incorporating additional revenue streams from tariffs and economic growth into the fiscal model, emphasizing the need to present clear mathematical justifications to the bond market to stabilize interest rates.

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4. Memorial Day and West Point Commemoration

The episode highlighted upcoming Memorial Day events, particularly the commencement at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Maureen Bannon, a new member of the Board of Visitors, provided an overview:

• Quote: “President Trump is going to be at the United States Military Academy at West Point to give the commencement address.” [20:33]

She detailed the ceremony's schedule, including President Trump's expected speech and the commissioning process for new officers.

Bannon emphasized the importance of focusing on warfighting capabilities at service academies:

• Quote: “We need to focus on war fighting at our service academies and not gender theory pronoun training.” [23:02]

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5. Catholic Church and the Traditional Latin Mass Controversy

Liz York addressed significant changes within the Catholic Church, particularly the suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM).

• Quote: “They closed down and only had four. Today he announced that he is relegating the Latin Mass to... only two Masses two Sundays a month.” [28:04]

York criticized Pope Leo’s recent appointments and policies, arguing that they signal a shift towards more progressive stances that undermine traditional practices:

• Quote: “We're going to see what's going to happen. I think it's time now for the Latin Mass community has got to really step up and resist.” [31:40]

She called for active resistance to preserve the TLM and maintain the Church's traditional foundations.

Bannon connected this issue to larger themes of cultural and institutional control:

• Quote: “You know, this is a bombshell you're dropping right now... the Traditional Latin Mass community... is a no brainer.” [32:30]

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6. Artificial Intelligence: Risks and Policy Proposals

A segment of the episode was dedicated to discussing the future of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential implications.

Joe Allen, alongside Mark Beale from the AI Policy Network, delved into the threats posed by advancing AI technologies.

Mark Beale explained the AI Policy Network's focus:

• Quote: “We are expecting that these systems may actually be something a little bit more similar to like nuclear weapons in terms of their power and impact on global security.” [37:51]

Besson highlighted the urgency of addressing AI's rapid development:

• Quote: “In 10 years, probably AI could do anything better than a human can cognitively.” [34:14]

Beale criticized current policy measures, specifically a proposed 10-year moratorium:

• Quote: "The moratorium... is completely absurd." [42:50]

The discussion underscored the need for proactive and stringent policies to manage AI's growth and mitigate existential risks.

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7. BRICS Summit and the Rio Reset

Bannon touched upon the upcoming BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, emphasizing its potential impact on the global economy.

• Quote: “The BRICS... are meeting with the goal of displacing the United States dollar as the global currency.” [15:00]

He warned of the "Rio Reset" leading to decreased global demand for the US Dollar, adversely affecting savings and the national economy.

Besson concurred, stressing the importance of gold as a hedge against such economic shifts:

• Quote: “Gold has been a hedge for 5,000 years of mankind's history.” [43:34]

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8. Government Debt vs. Personal Debt

Later in the episode, Bannon drew attention to the looming threat of Chinese investment in US farmland and supply chains, linking it to national security concerns.

• Quote: “The Chinese have been buying up hundreds of thousands of acres of U.S. farmland.” [43:34]

He urged listeners to prepare for potential disruptions with emergency supplies, though these segments veered into promotional content and were thus minimized in this summary.

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9. Guest Highlights and Personal Connections

The episode featured several guests with personal ties to the military and religious communities:

• Maureen Bannon discussed her role at West Point and her plans to oversee cadet morale and academic focus.
• Liz York shared her deep-rooted connections to the Navy and her family's history with the Traditional Latin Mass.
• Joe Allen recounted his personal connection to the Bannon family and his work with the AI Policy Network.

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10. Conclusion and Future Outlook

Stephen K. Bannon concluded the episode by reinforcing the importance of understanding and preparing for both economic and existential threats facing the nation. He emphasized the need for robust fiscal policies, international trade strategies, and proactive measures against technological risks to safeguard America's future.

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Notable Quotes:

• "If you're not following the rules, no one's above the law." — Scott Besson [00:15]
• "I'm recommending a straight 50% tariff on the EU starting on June 1, 2025." — Stephen K. Bannon [02:43]
• "We need leaders that are able to lead in battle." — Maureen Bannon [23:02]
• "The moratorium... is completely absurd." — Mark Beale [42:50]

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This episode of Bannon's War Room provided an in-depth examination of the current economic strategies, international trade tensions, internal political dynamics, religious institution challenges, and the pressing issues surrounding artificial intelligence. Through expert insights and authoritative discussions, the episode aimed to inform and prepare its audience for the multifaceted challenges ahead.

Transcript

[Stephen K. Bannon]

While ago posted actually on social media that there was, they were in the process of removing the tax exempt status from Harvard. A lot been a lot of issues with Harvard, but that's one that comes within your bailiwick. Where is that process right now that.

[Scott Besson]

The President is moving forward with that and we're also looking at taxes on endowments. And I think the important thing here, and it goes a little bit back to this Main street versus the elites that that Harvard to have a tax exempt status there are rules you have to follow. And if you're not following the rules, no one's above the law. So we will see if they're following the rules. It looks like there's a substantial number where perhaps they weren't. And you know, again to Harvard is a gigantic hedge fund. They run a leveraged investment model. So we'll, we'll see where all that goes. The President believes that the EU propos have not been of the same quality that we've seen from our other important trading partners. I've said there are 18 important trade deals that we have to do. I'm working mostly on Asia and that group has moved forward with some very interesting proposals. They're negotiating in good faith. I would hope that this would light a fire under the EU because Bill, I've said before, EU has a collective action problem here. It's 27 countries but they're being represented by this one group in Brussels. So some of the feedback that I've been getting is that the underlying countries don't even know what the EU is negotiating on their behalf. We have substantial revenue coming in now and there is at some point there's an equilibrium rate, what's called a Laffer curve for tariffs. So and I think think we will reach that rate. The other thing that's happening is a lot of their tariff barriers or non tariff trade barriers. A lot of these non tariff trade barriers are coming down. So friction is decreasing there. And again because we don't know where these tariff negotiations are going to end up, they won't end up being scored, but it's several hundred million dollars a year, several hundred billion dollars a year of revenue that will be used for billion, that's 100 billion less of bonds the treasury has to issue from the.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

President of the United States. The European Union, which was formed for the primary person of purpose of taking advantage of the United States on trade, has been very difficult to deal with. I'm recommending a straight 50% tariff on the EU starting on June 1, 2025. The DAX is down 1.4%.

[Liz York]

Yeah. Then he goes on to say there's no tariff if it's built in the manufacture of the United States. And then again, we have for the second time this morning. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Exclamat point. So there is a real question here. What exactly is motivating some of these actions that he's taking?

[Stephen K. Bannon]

So yesterday we discussed whether passing the bill through the House, the tax bill, would embolden the president to be harder on the Europeans on tariffs. And I just wonder if the two things are lining up here and if they are connected. Just giving him the space, the room to go harder on Europe on tariffs because we are progressing this tax bill in Washington.

[Liz York]

It just highlights the point. I don't know whether that's the case, but one could easily connect the dots and come to that conclusion.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Conclusion.

[Liz York]

There is a question about whether this market has gotten overly complacent with peak uncertainty, given that it is ongoing and we still don't have any kind of sense of what the solid goal is or what the plan actually will be.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

So we've got a threat against Europe that send in European equities south. 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. Band. It's Friday the 23rd of May, the year of our Lord 2025. It is the beginning of Memorial Day weekend where we commemorate our honored dead throughout the weekend. Tomorrow, President Trump is going to be at the United States Military Academy at West Point to give the commencement address. Captain Maureen Bannon, who's just recently on the Board of Visitors, she'll join us in the second block. An announcement we're going to start tomorrow at 9am the ceremony will start earlier in the morning and our own Steve Gruber from Real America's Voice will be there live. Covering live will be on the rises. We'll have great camera work all of it. We'll be the War Room will be live tomorrow morning from 9am Eastern Daylight Time until 12 noon. And Patrick K. O' Donnell, as every Memorial Day weekend will be with me as my co host both Saturday morning and then on Monday morning. We cover President Trump going to Arlington National Cemetery where he he will lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns and also give appropriate remarks in the commemoration of Memorial Day for the honored dead at Arlington and every military cemetery throughout the world. And of course, all the brave men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the country today. Kind of a firestorm on two fronts. We didn't get a chance to put in because it'd been too voluminous. All the discussions about spending the bond market, I think the 10 year treasury finished over 4.5. The 30 year I think is over 5. The market's a little choppy today. Bottom line is the big beautiful bill goes to the Senate. Now Semaphore is reporting that, hey, the basic structure of the bill is not going to change. There'll be some things on the margin, but Dune has essentially got his marching orders and he will work and push this thing through. The goal is to have, I think, a Senate vote by July 4th. Some people are saying, hey, they want to get it back to the House, have a conference, have that all done by July 4th. I don't think that's going to happen. But there's other individual senators. You got Ron Johnson, many others, Rand Paul, of course, talk about there's going to be much more substantial cuts. Josh Hawley and even Murkowski now are talking about rural hospitals. There's big problems with Medicaid. So there's a lot of issues. I think everybody's out of town this weekend, but I know there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes. And Scott Besant as secretary of the treasury today was saying, hey, we'll work with the Senate. We have a model and a program to work with him. I think they're going I think the White House, the administration is going a lot more on offense. This is why I think it was so important today for the president early in the morning. And I don't believe this is a coincidence that the president said, hey, I'm not happy with the progress with the deals in the G7. You notice he didn't say he wasn't happy with the progress on the deals with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and India, of which Scott Bessen alluded that these things are pretty far along. He said he didn't appreciate the G7 and it didn't look like a lot of progress. So June 1st is going to be a 50% tariff on everything coming from the EU I will tell you. I think this is also to reiterate one of the things that the calculation is not taking into account now that is not scored by the Congressional Budget Office. And everybody's going off the Congressional Budget Office numbers, particularly these very large deficits in the first couple years. They're not taking in cash flow coming from tariffs that, you know, Peter Navarro and others are saying it's $6 trillion over 10 years. So that would equate to, I don't know, five or $600 billion a year annually, minimum. People are talking about $300 billion in tariffs not being calculated. I think the White House is getting much more aggressive in talking about their model and the growth rates. And this is why we had Dave Walsh on this morning about how energy underpins President Trump's economy, His economic model, just like in the first term, where he brought down energy costs in full spectrum energy dominance. And that drove the economy after the tax cuts into 18 and 19 and remember 19 by the second half of the year, before the pandemic, the COVID virus was released by the Chinese Communist Party. Growth, I think in the fourth quarter was three, three and a half percent. And he did that, as I keep reiterating with the Federal Reserve, really taking a trillion dollars of liquidity off their balance sheet and giving much more headwinds to the economy. At the time, he had no inflation. He had basically low interest rates. It was a perfect arrangement. The virtuous circle, as we say today. SCOTT BESANT TV all day long talking about the tariffs, talking about what's going on. And I think right now people have to say, hey, going to Memorial Day weekend. These deficits look, look big. The deficit this year is going to be $2 trillion, we said. But that's because they accepted the Biden budget and did the Biden cr. The deficit next year looks to me over 2 trillion. However, they're saying you got to calculate in, you got to calculate in at least $300 billion in tariffs. And you also have to start calculating in the additional tax revenue that are coming from, that are coming from just bigger growth. That is the denominator that with the tax structure will have post deal that will generate substantial additional revenues. This doesn't include. We had Oren Cass on this morning. I thought Oren made a pretty compelling argument as we have. And just looking at the math Particularly if you add in, and Oren was very, very sensitive about this and he's an economic populist. Adding in the full cut on no taxes on Social Security, which doesn't exist right now. It's kind of a, it gives you a set aside, I think, of up to a couple of thousand bucks. I don't know what this. I think somebody told me for the average individual that'll be a decrease in $500 and their taxes is really people looking for no tax on Social Security as a third leg of the school after no tax on tips and no tax on overtime. But Orin is in agreement with the war room is that we just don't see how the math works unless in the Senate there's going to be a tax increase. And I will tell you we'll get much more on top of this as people get back to work next week on this bill and push it through. But I think the math could be incredibly positive, right? With, with deficit control, with additional tariffs, with additional growth that is justified by lower energy prices. Other things. They're doing what Scott just said right there, non tariff barriers, which is kind of the, the friction that goes on, particularly in EU and in places like Japan and Korea. You want to know whether no Chevrolets or Fords on the road over there. That's the reason. So you take the friction off there, you could have really explosive growth. Also, what President Trump's done in protecting the auto industry and other industries. So as we go into a Friday of Memorial Day, not only is the big beautiful bill passed, but now it's in the Senate. And President Trump's very aggressive. His message to the Senate is, hey, I want this thing passed. I want it passed quickly. He wants to make sure he locks in those tax cuts. Of course, on the opposite side, the Democrats, I think it's been pretty feckless so far. They really don't have a unified message. One of the reasons they don't have a unified message, as we've been highlighting, they really gutted the Democratic Party of people that understood economic populism or people that understood economic nationalism or people that really could talk to the basics and of kind of the production side of capitalism. And you can see they just don't have it. You don't have any one messenger that can come up. Every time you have these people on, they're talking about all these marginal issues that don't really speak to the moment. The moment is besides ending the kinetic part of the Third World War and of course, making sure that we can that we can the President's commander in chief can deport do mass deportations of 13 million, according to Mark Green, the congressman is in charge of the the House the House homeland security says 13 million. Here you got the courts trying to stop that. Of course, you've got all these judges throwing down more bizarre rulings every day. But the White House and the Justice Department, the White House Counsel's office is are grinding through them. We've got a pack show today. Joe Allen, Joe Allen is going to come in the next block. Joe Allen is my co host. He's actually in the House at the board. We got a couple of amazing interviews, going to talk artificial intelligence. Liz George is going to join us. Mo Bannon is up either at West Point or near West Point. She's going to jump in here in the second hour. We're going to at least focus a lot on Texas, on what's going on on this situation in the Texas House, Texas Senate to pass these bills that really protect the sovereignty of the state of Texas, particularly this bill against local police and local sheriffs. Actually working with Homan and Homeland Security. Todd Bensman, as you know, one of the mainstays of the War room contributors in the last couple of years. This will be his last day next week. He actually reports for duty working with Tom Holman and that great team over at Tom Holman being the border czar and the great team over at dhs. So we are absolutely packed here on a Friday evening as we really kick off the commemoration, as we always do every year, of the most sacred secular holiday of the year. That's Memorial Day, where we commemorate the honored dead of the American Armed Forces who gave their lives in defense of this country, in defense of the Republic, in defense of their fellow citizens and many, many people throughout the world. Nobody's ever freed more people than the United States military in the United States of America. Short commercial break we'll return in the War Room.

[Scott Besson]

Just a moment.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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[Scott Besson]

I couldn't care less if he's upset.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

I'm concerned about my children, my grandchildren.

[Scott Besson]

The fact that we are stealing from them. You listen to that.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

It's going to be a battle. How much change can the President accept on the Senate revision?

[Scott Besson]

Well, I think we're going to see. The House had been working on their bill for a year and I know the Senate along led by Leader Thune, is going to take this up immediately and I'm not expecting that there's going to have to be that much change. And I respect Senator, Senator Johnson's position that we do have to get our finances in order and that's a combination of controlling spending but also growing the economy. We did not get into this fiscal mess overnight. This has been a long process. We're not going to fix it overnight. I'm aligned with Senator Johnson on fixing it. I think we've just got to be careful on the timing.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

I agree with the secretary. As you know, he's a contributor here for a long time and a brilliant guy. We were very aggressive in our support of Secretary Besson. I do think it behooves us to start talking math, particularly we have people like Ron Johnson, quite compassionate and Johnson said, hey, love the president. He's a big supporter of the president, but you know, he's very concerned about these deficits. I think one thing for the secretary to do is when he says, hey, we're going to grow the economy faster than debt That's a mathematical formula. It's very important. We ought to mathematically lay that out. We'll say, hey, here's how we get to 3%, here's how we get to 3.5%, here's the actions we're taking, here's how it flows through the model. And by the way, the debt deficits are there. The debt is growing, but it's growing at a lower rate than the economic growth that would support his. That's not a total solution or answer, but it does support what he's saying. Number two, still, the most important thing is the 6.5% of deficit to GDP and how we're bringing that, bending that arc to three and a half percent. That is what Secretary Bessen has basically laid out for the last six or seven months. I think we've got to get in back of both those numbers. I think a very strong predicate is what's happened in the energy markets, the full spectrum energy dominance of President Trump's administration. I think there's a lot of positive news and the tariffs are going to be lost on people. They're talking 50% tariffs a day on the EU unless they come around and make things happen. I think it's now time that we ought to set the rhetoric aside and actually start talking about math. I happen to believe, and I strongly believe this to get to the numbers that the Secretary is talking about, it's going to require additional revenues over and above tariffs. I think those revenues are sitting there looking us right in the eye and that's the upper bracket or the millionaires, you know, kicking their bracket, not giving them a tax cut, not extending their tax cut, but saying you're going to have to pay the 40% rate. Hey, I could be wrong and I'm open to be proven wrong, but I think I know the math here pretty well and I just don't. I think it's a math problem. And if you don't address this to the bond market, the Americans, not American people, are not going to be able to live with a 10 year bond at 4.5% or potentially going higher. I think the way you get around that is that you explain it and make sure the bond market and these bond buyers understand it, then I think rates will come down and you won't have people abandoning the dollar, abandoning the bond market. I think it's pretty straightforward. Mo Bannon is a new member of the Board of Visitors of West Point. She's en route to West Point for the commencement. Mo, what's going to happen. We're going to be live at 9 o' clock with Steve Gruber. We'll try to get you on if you're available. You probably won't be. We're going to be live from 9 to noon. Tell us, just walk us through the order of battle tomorrow, what's going to happen.

[Maureen Bannon]

So tomorrow, 9:30, the cadets that are graduating will march into Mikey Stadium, which is the football stadium at West Point, and they will be set ready for the ceremony to start at 10am and we expect President Trump to speak, I believe roughly 10:30, 11. But do not quote me on that because you never know when the president will speak. But I expect a great speech from President Trump. I expect him to address these brand new future second lieutenants on what he expects from them as soon as they graduate and commission. And as soon as the ceremony is over, the now graduates will go back, clear the remaining things that they have to clear at West Point and change out of their cadet uniforms, which the clearing process includes turning in your cadet uniform. And then they will put on their dress uniform and go multiple places throughout the academy for their commissioning ceremonies.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Yeah, no, we were, it was a, it was a big day for us. What is the president, I take it they give the, he gives the address first and then diplomas are handed out, or as a vice versa, diplomas handed out and, and the president takes some. He's not going to be able to hand all, but he takes some and then I guess the soup, the soup takes the others.

[Maureen Bannon]

Correct. The president will take one side and the superintendent will take the other and actually know who will be announcing the names. It was a officer that formerly worked with the volleyball team when I was a cadet and now still works at the academy and happens to be married to my former volleyball coach.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Oh, fantastic. Colonel Lee the Great. The so nine o' clock tomorrow once again for the Warren Posse. We are live at 9 o' clock. Steve Gruber from the Steve Gruber show will be there, will be on the riser. We'll be interviewing Steve. We'll pick it up right at 9 o' clock and be able to give you all the pageantry of the graduating of the firsties walking in for their last day, for their day of graduation at West Point and their first days afterwards, they get in a smaller ceremony with their parents and loved ones that get commissioned. So it's a very big day for everybody at West Point. The grueling four years of West Point, Mo As a board of visitors. You're talking about President Trump's going to talk about what he's looking for in second lieutenants and people have to go out into this very dangerous world and defendant America, as a board member, what are you looking for?

[Maureen Bannon]

I'm looking for us to at our first meeting, which will be this summer, to go over what is going on at the academy, the cadet morale. But I want to look at what's going on academically because I think that we need to focus on war fighting at our service academies and not gender theory pronoun training like we have with the previous administration. I think that we need to get back to war fighting because God forbid we get into World War three. We need leaders that are able to lead in battle. And I do not believe after this last administration that that's what we've been focusing on. So we need to get back into that as our main focus.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Well, you get some pretty good people on the board that President Trump appointed. And I know you guys are going to have your first meeting, I think in June. MO I think that's around Beast Barracks too, if I remember correctly. MO where do people get you on social media so they can catch up with you on all the activities up at West Point over the weekend?

[Maureen Bannon]

You can follow me on Getter and Twitter MaureenBannon and also on Instagram Rebannon. And just to address real quickly at our first meeting, we will actually get to see some of the summer training that is going on to include Buckner, which is for rising sophomores. So I'm very much looking forward to that because I remember my time out in field training. So it'll be a fond time to go back and see it.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Yeah. Fond memory. Mo Bannon, thank you very much. Look forward to to seeing you and talking to you tomorrow.

[Maureen Bannon]

Thank you.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Once again, Real America's Voice is making so War Room will come on at 9:00am Eastern Daylight Time. Join us at bonus hour because the ceremonies start earlier. We'll be live from 9 to 12. Steve Gruber will be with us. He's at the academy himself. He'll be on the riser. And of course we'll have Captain Maureen Bannon and hopefully maybe pull in a couple other three people. And Patrick K. O' Donnell will be in the War room as my my co host. Liz York now joins us. Liz, first off, Liz, are you are you Army? Are you Navy?

[Liz York]

I'm Navy through and through. My dad was a World War II carrier pilot and I had an uncle who passed away shot down in Manila Bay. He was also a Navy pilot. So we're Navy through and through.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Wow. I'm conflicted. I'm a naval officer, but my daughter was. I had a great run at West Point, so it's a. It's a tough conflict. I gotta go. I gotta go. I root for both sides, Liz. Big sea change. Since we've been doing this every day about Pope Leo, Cardinal Carla Prevost, the trad Catholics, which have been kind of singing the high hosannas all sudden, we've noticed a sea change in the last, I don't know, 24, 48 hours. What do you got?

[Liz York]

Yeah, 24 hours. Yeah. The audience may not know, but there's been this internecine battle going back and forth. I call it, you know, PTSD from Bergoglio. They had the Stockholm syndrome. They wanted to give Pope Leo a break. I thought it was all pretty formative and superficial, but the honeymoon is over because in the last 24 hours, as I call him, dark horse Leo appointed the second nun to govern the dicastery for male clergy. So there are now two nuns who are making all the decisions in the Vatican regarding priests, monks, et cetera. So that has not sit well with traditional Catholics or even Catholics know, around the world. Secondly, he appointed today the Bishop of St. Gallen, Switzerland. You know, the famous Saint Gallen mafia.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

The Saint Gall's mafia, the most progressive part of the church.

[Liz York]

Yes. And I think we have a picture of him. He is on record of supporting women's ordination. So this was a direct appointment of Pope Leo, really, I think, signaling that the drift is going to be going left very quickly. And thirdly, and this is breaking news, I don't know how many people in Charlotte are aware of this, but the Bishop of Charlotte, who was also appointed by Prevost when he was head of the bishops, Bishop Michael Martin, has announced that he and Charlotte was the most thriving traditional Latin Mass community in the country. They closed down. They had 20 parishes with TLM masses going. They closed down and only had four. Today he announced that he is relegating the Latin Mass to, you know, basically a small barn. And they're only going to have two Masses two Sundays a month. So they're crushing. They're crushing the Latin Mass. I mean, if this is how he treats his American compadres.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Hang on one second. I'm gonna hold you through the break. We got a lot to get to this afternoon, and we're gonna get to all of it in the next 90 minutes. A short commercial break. Liz, yours with us. Joe Allen's in the war room. We got some Big, big guests regarding artificial intelligence. All next in the war room. Health isn't just a personal issue. It's a family issue, a community issue. We're living in unpredictable times. Supply chains can break down, hospitals can get overwhelmed. And let's not even start on the natural disasters. These aren't hypotheticals. They're happening. You see it here in the war room, and we all know it. The question is simply, are you ready? That's where Jace comes in. This isn't just a kit. This is a Jace case. It's a lifeline. It's a personal supply of prescribed emergency medications that puts the power back in your hands. Whether it's an unexpected illness or a global disruption of supply chains, you can act fast and protect yourself and your loved ones. This February, show them you care in a way that really matters. Be prepared. Get the Jace case today so you'll have the right meds on hand the moment you need them. Visit jacemedical.com and use the code Bannon. B A N N o N at checkout for a discount on your order. That's Jace medical.com promo code Bannon. Get the Jace case and do it today. Here's your host, Stephen K. Bann. By the way, markets are all over the place today. We're heading towards Rio, the Rio reset. The Senate hopes to vote this bill out by the 4th of July. The Rio reset is on the 6th. We're going to have a whole team down there, including if I can get. If I can get Dave Brat into the country and Eric Bolling, maybe we can get him in. I don't know if we can get him out, but we're gonna try. Of course, Philip Patrick's gonna be there. Birchgold.com promo code Bannon. It's totally free. Get all the series. This will get you up to speed. All the big debates we're having on the. In the Senate. You'll understand why Ron Johnson is very upset about the deficits and why Scott Besson is saying, well, hey, hang on, I think we got some solutions there. Make sure you understand it by going to Birch Gold and talk to Philip Patrick and the team. Gold has been a hedge for 5,000 years of mankind's history. And trust me, folks, I told you, we're going to go through some turbulence as we try to get the financial. We try to get the financial house of the United States of America in order, which it hasn't been. It's been a travesty of how. Of how this thing's been run. I love what Scott Bessen said about, hey, about Harvard's tax free, tax free endowment, tax free institution. He says, hey, this is Main street versus the elites. Main Street's got to work by rules. Harvard's got to work by rules. If you're not working by the rules, then maybe ain't tax free. So I think you best. It's on the right track there. Liz, your Traditional Latin Mass, this is a bombshell you're dropping right now, and I hate to say it, this is one of the tells I told people because my next guest will, Joe Allen's guest will reinforce. My family's been involved in this Traditional Latin Mass and bringing it back from the very beginning, the post Vatican ii. I can say as a young altar boy, it was like in shock. You went from the Latin Mass, which as a little kid was very hard to learn but very mysterious, to this new Mass. They had that in the 60s. As a little kid, you're kind of sitting there going, what is going on here? Talk to me again about Charlotte, how dedicated they've been down at Charlotte to have what, 30 churches or 20 churches doing the traditional Latin Mass, what we call TLM. What is the Edith that came out.

[Liz York]

Today, ma' am, 20 parishes were doing the TLM. It went down to four after Francis put his kibosh on it. And now it's done down to one Mass only twice a month in some small chapel. And they wonder why the Catholic Church is going bankrupt and they wonder why people are leaving the Catholic Church. I mean, this has been an uproar is loud, it's vociferous, it's immediate. And this is laid at the feet of Pope Leo because these are his priests. They have carte blanche to continue this crushing of the Latin Mass. And so we're going to see what's going to happen. I think it's time now for the Latin Mass community has got to really step up and resist and start taking, taking the liturgy into their own hands, find good priests to say the Latin Mass and to really resist with all their power and faith what's coming out of the Catholic Church. Because I think while he may be a softer and gentler Pope, I think Leo is going to be left of Bergoglio. And I think we better gird our straps and buckle up because this is going to be a battle. And let's draw the line now early in his pontificate and stop, you know, trying to plead for the scraps of the liturgy. And that's what has happened. So we've got to stand up to him and fight for what is making the church thrive. The young people love the Latin mass. The churches are overflowing. It's a no brainer. And yet the clergy hierarchy wants to crush it.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

No vocations. Liz, where do people go over the weekend on Memorial Day weekend? You'll be back with us on Tuesday as this is something that's happening every day. A new development, huge development today. Where do people go?

[Liz York]

Ma' am, I'm everywhere on social media. Elizabeth, your and also my website, your children dot com. Thanks Steve. Happy Memorial Day.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Thank you. Great, great, great reporting. Joe Allen joins me. Joe Allen is actually in the war room. Joe, we got a couple of powerhouse guests. I really appreciate you pulling this together on a, on a Friday afternoon before Memorial Day. Let's go. You've got a cold open. Let's go. Play it. Then you bring, you bring it back in and let's Let it rep. AI.

[Joe Allen]

In 10 years, how is life going to be different because of AI for.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Just a normal person?

[Scott Besson]

Well, 10 years is a long time.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

In 10 years, probably AI could do anything better than a human can cognitively. Probably almost.

[Scott Besson]

I think in 10 years, based on the current rate of improvement, AI will.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Be smarter than the smartest human. There will also be a massive number of robots.

[Joe Allen]

How real is the prospect of killer robots annihilating humanity?

[Scott Besson]

20% likely, maybe 10%.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

On what time frame? 5 to 10 years. So soon like you see a world where that's possible? Yeah, but I mean you can look at it like the glasses, 80 to 90% full.

[Scott Besson]

Meaning like 80% likely will have extreme prosperity for all.

[Mark Beale]

Sounds like a deal with a digital devil to me. We have covered artificial intelligence now for over four years. The discussion has ranged from more mundane problems like people relying on, on chatbots to get them around the digital information sphere and maybe even getting lost and killed in the wilderness because they've allowed their algorithm to lead them astray. There are also obviously much more significant risks. You have the open declaration that these machines will ultimately replace every human white collar and blue collar worker. And then the nightmarish possibility that a super intelligent AI would be created and perhaps wipe out the entire human race. One thing that we haven't talked about much because there really hasn't been much headway in the political arena, is concrete policy proposals for how to deal with this. Here to speak about that is Mark Beale. Mark Beale is the President of Government affairs at the AI Policy Network. He is a former policy director on AI for the Pentagon, also a successful tech Executive and a startup entrepreneur. Mark, thank you so much for joining us. How are you?

[Joe Allen]

Hey, Joe, I'm doing great. Thanks for letting me be here.

[Mark Beale]

Thank you very much for being here. So what is your work at the AI Policy Network and what sorts of concrete policies are you advocating for right now?

[Joe Allen]

Yeah, so the AI Policy Network is primarily focused on accelerating national preparedness for very powerful artificial intelligence capabilities, what the industry calls artificial general intelligence. And we have a number of ongoing conversations with members of Congress on various things that can be done. But right now, in terms of preparedness, we're really focused on helping the United States government understand at a more fundamental level what the specific current threats are and then looking right around the corner where they're going through what we call a robust classified testing and evaluation regime. And we think until the unless the United States government itself has a strong understanding of these issues, it's unlikely that they're going to be able to take action in sufficient time to stave off what might be some of these more potentially catastrophic issues.

[Mark Beale]

Now, you helped prepare the action plan with Gladstone AI, and if you would just run us through some of the really key points of that report.

[Joe Allen]

Sure, yeah. So during that, that, that work with the United States government, what we sort of concluded was that this phenomenon called deep learning, this technique that's being used today in the industry, and we sort of saw the very first commercial applications of this deep learning capability coming online in 2012. And we saw as researchers and engineers were pouring more and more compute resources into these models that are getting powerful and more powerful and more powerful. And what we concluded was that the trend here is unlikely to abate anytime soon. And because there's sort of no law of physics that caps intelligence at human level, we are expecting that these systems to, may become vastly superhuman and with vastly superhuman capabilities. And so, you know, as we say in the report, this, this, these systems might actually be something a little bit more similar to like nuclear weapons in terms of their, their power and impact on global security.

[Mark Beale]

You know, a lot of the conversation around this threat of out of control artificial superintelligence, it seems to, as far as concrete policy goes, it seems like the only real option is either to let her rip or to put a hard cap on how much compute can go into this, how great of capabilities can be developed. Are you on that sort of wavelength of we should stop this, we should pause AI until we have a real plan or what is your position on that?

[Joe Allen]

Yeah, I think when people say we should pause AI, I think naturally a Lot of other folks might question, well, what about China? What is China going to do here? And. And actually, Joe, what I like to say is there's sort of actually two separate races between the United States and China as it pertains to AI. The first race is the race for commercialization and diffusion. And this is a race that America probably needs to accelerate. This is a race that American infrastructure gets deployed first. And it's more its most capable in that all these countries and partners around the world are using our technology, technology and building on top of that. And that's going to give us a really important means by which we can imbue our values, American founding principles, in the deployment of this technology. But then there's this other race, and this is the race to the, as you mentioned earlier in your introduction, the race to artificial superintelligence. And that is a potentially very dangerous circumstance. And that race, if we get to a point in which we are starting to see, and we already are at very preliminary levels, these models behaving in sort of deceptive ways or sort of unexplained ways, and they start to have very robust capabilities across a whole bunch of different domains. And it's looking like human beings can't steer them effectively and reliably. And then I think the United States government was going to have really no choice but to hit the brakes a little bit. And that's why we might be actually quite lucky to have President Trump in office. Office, because it's going to take a master negotiator to be able to deal with the Chinese on this issue and make the Chinese understand as well that it might be in nobody's interest to continue to push forward and race ahead and potentially drive the entire human race off a giant cliff.

[Mark Beale]

You know, the thinker in this realm, Eliezer Yudkowski, had a couple of years back recommended, and he joined on with the kind of pause AI movement, but on a much more extreme footing. He had recommended that an international treaty should be forged to block the development of such a dangerous system, even upon penalty of airstrikes on data centers. Steve is going to be jumping in with us soon. Steve was quite enthusiastic about such a plan. We only have about a minute and a half left. But just in that. What do you think of that sort of thing? Would it come to that?

[Joe Allen]

Well, God, I hope not. No one wants to see war unleashed as a result of an uncontrolled development of potentially dangerous capabilities. And while I think planning is always prudent, preparedness is always prudent. There is still a little bit of uncertainty about the speed at which this is moving and the trajectory and the actual threat. And so I think we're going to want to make sure that we get our arms around the actual issue. And you know, when we saw like for example, the Senate Commerce Committee hearing on AI a few weeks ago, the kind of main news coming out of that was a 10 year moratorium on state regulations. And normally that might be okay, but as you're, you know, as Elon's telling Senator Cruz, you know, that 10 year period is about when these machines might start to get, you know, pretty dangerous. And I think we have to have a card conversation in Congress to get our arms around this issue and actually develop our own position on what the threat actually is. And until we do that, we're going to be kind of shooting in the dark.

[Mark Beale]

Yeah, absolutely. The moratorium in my opinion is completely absurd. Especially when you have so many people who are advocating for states rights and even advocating for things like the making marijuana completely illegal in Texas while simultaneously pushing for a ban on state level regulation. We're going to go to break. We'll be right back with Mark Beale. We're going to bring Steve Bannon back. Talk about a little bit of personal business, I believe. And so stay with us. We will be back shortly.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

There's something happening with our farmland here in the United States that isn't getting enough attention. The Chinese have been buying up hundreds of thousands of acres of U.S. farmland. They're also taking control over critical supply chains, things like fertilizer, animal feed and farming equipment. Why? It's not clear. They're tightening their grip on global food production. That is clear. And if things go south and it could happen quickly, we need to be ready. That's why I trust my Patriot supply. They're America's largest emergency preparedness company. And right now, when you get their four week emergency food supply, you'll get a free 4,24 7 food kits, an extra 12 days of food, absolutely free. Okay, Full stop. You're have to insert this, okay? And right now, when you get their four week emergency food supply, you'll get four free 72 hour food kits, an extra 12 days of food, absolutely free. Let me repeat that. You're going to get four free 72 hour food kits. That's an extra 12 days of food and it's absolutely free. That's four weeks of delicious meals that last up to 25 years, delivering 2,000 plus calories per day. It's shipped fast and it's shipped free. We can't control what the Chinese Communist Party does. You can't control what China does. But we can control how prepared we are. Go to my patriotsupply.com today to claim your 12 days of free food. Shop my patriotsupply.com my patriotsupply.com do it today. Do not let this thing get ahead of you. Your host, Stephen K. Band. Welcome back. BEAL Answering this, the, this thing about the states is absolutely, hugely important. How can they just slide it in to a reconciliation bill with essentially no debate on something that's so important, particularly those of us who believe in federalism, states rights? This may be the most important topic of our time. How does that happen?

[Joe Allen]

BROTHER yeah, I hate to say it, but you know, there's probably hundreds of millions of dollars sloshing around Congress, you know, from the industry. And I think candidly, the industry has a sort of a fair grievance here. There are like 5,000 or so state level bills. Many of them are not very technically informed. But I think at the same time, when you have a situation in which the Vatican has moved faster to appreciate the significance of this moment than the United States Congress, to ask states to hold off for a period of 10 years while Congress sort of continues the naval gaze is probably not an appropriate ask for states and their responsibilities to help defend their citizens.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

You know, I say you need more. There's more regulation to open a nail salon or hair braiding salon on Capitol Hill than there is of the top four folks chasing artificial general intelligence. Is that going to change? Is that because the industry's just flooded the zone with money and what they want is kind of laissez faire and devil catch the hindmost in this?

[Joe Allen]

Yeah, I think there's certainly this desire to accelerate to the brink and go as far and as hard and as fast as we can. And you know, there are many amazing people in this industry, including many, many of the top leadership. And I think they'll say they're, they're all, they all feel locked in this race to be first to build this capability. And as a result, they feel almost like they've lost a little bit of their own agency. And at the same time, though, each one of these executives has sort of made a claim that AI may in fact be incredibly dangerous. And some of them have gone so far as to, you know, to hunker down and buy their own hundred acre farms. But you know, unfortunately for the rest of us, like most Americans can't afford 100 acre farm to hunker down from a sort of a self inflicted potential catastrophe. And I think this is something that's probably worth a little more congressional scrutiny. Like, how is it that these folks can make these claims and then proceed like as if everything's normal and Congress, you know, is, is not really taking this seriously. And it's something that I struggle to understand. Steve.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Talk to me about. We just talked about the Latin Mass. Talk to me about. We've got a connection on this I know you're very interested in, and obviously a practitioner of the Tridentine Rite. Talk to me about our connection to the Latin Mass.

[Joe Allen]

Yeah, So I grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and I attended St. Joseph's Catholic Church, and it turns out my catechism teacher was one Marty Bannon. So your father was my Sunday school teacher for many, many years. And he was an absolutely wonderful man. And the priest who was presiding at that church, Father Adrian Harmoning, the late Father Adrian, was very close to my grandfather and a mentor of mine and helped me get into Benedictine Military High School, where I believe your father also attended. And so, you know, I think Benedictine might be the only Catholic military day school in the United States. It's been around since 1911. And yeah, it's a really small world, isn't it, Steve?

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Actually, my father was one of the founders of St. Joseph Latin Mass and very close to Father Adrian, but it was myself and the three and my two brothers that went to Benedictine. We needed that. My father didn't. He was always. He was already a pretty straight shooter. So that we had to go to Benedictine and get our minds right. I want to hold you, if you don't mind. Can we hold you into the 6 o' clock hour for a moment? Because I do. I know Joe has got a thing and this is since you worked at the Pentagon, you're in this organization now. There can't be a more. This issue of the singularity, not just artificial intelligence, but CRISPR and everything. We're hurtling towards Homo sapiens on this side and Homo sapien Plus, it's really the biggest issue of our age and it's not getting enough coverage. One of the reasons not getting enough coverage, the money doesn't want it to get coverage. Okay? They want to throw capital at it and let all these companies just kind of run for the big brass ring of who's going to get to artificial general intelligence first. And the policy implications, the cultural implications, the civilizational implications. Look, it's got huge, tremendous upside, but there's also some terrible, terrible downsides. That we don't actually think this thing through. Mike Lindell, you're with us today. You start your trial here shortly. Talk to us about the Memorial Day weekend, the big sale you get, you've got on and any updates on the trial?

[Mike Lindell]

Yeah, guys, I'm heading to Colorado in about an hour and I'm going to be spending all weekend with lawyers. That's what I'm going to spend. Never thought I'd be doing that. Everybody but the. This is too important to the country. It's too important to MyPillow. MyPillow has been sued, as you know, everyone that was sued back with the machine companies and their affiliates. We need to get a win. So right now we are having a sale all weekend for the war Room Posse. We're trying to get as much funds as we can. And so we're bringing the MyPillow, the Dream Sheets back for 4998. Anybody? Everybody, any size, any color. We brought this back just for the war room posse. You guys have been the one supporting us. So get as many as you want and use promo code War room. What I'm doing to this for this weekend, you guys, you use promo code warm. You're going to get a free commemorative MyPillow. There's only so many of them and get them free with any purchase. This is the My Pillow 2.0 and the USA Revival. Cover the roll and go covers. Promo code warm them. Go to the MyPillow website and scroll down till you see Steve and click on. We also put all the mattress on sale, the Memorial Day mattress sale. There's the. There's the crosses. We brought them back at 50 off you guys. If you buy a hundred dollars or more, I'm gonna match you with a hundred dollar free digital gifts. This is the time we need to set some records for because we need it. My employee owned company, MyPillow. We need a win for the country. We need a win for My pillow. We can use all the resources we can get right now. 800-873-1062. You guys have been great, responded great. When you're spending this weekend. If you want to learn what's going on out there about the trial, we posted that on MyPillow.com too. You can go there now and you'll see me holding a flag. Click on it and go play by play of what's going to happen and the jury trial coming up.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

We'll see you over the weekend. When you get to Colorado and that state and they got some great people there. Remember, they got Tina Peters in a prison. We're trying to get her out. And the radical governor won't even hear about it. So it's a it's a tough one. Tough one. We'll see.

[Mike Lindell]

This all ties this all ties together. Everybody remember they got my still have my cell phone. They weaponized the FBI against us all. So we'll see you tomorrow.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Steve mypilla.com Most Promo Most Powerful promo code in the business war room. Go check it out today for Memorial Day sales. Okay, we're gonna take a short commercial break. Mo Bannon is a new member of the Board of Visitors at West Point. We've got a surprise guest that's a new member of the board of directors of CPAC and someone you know from the war room quite well. Mark Beale's going to stick around. We got a lot we're going to Texas, talk about the situation down there in the House and the Senate. Short commercial break Back in a moment. There's a lot of talk about government debt, but after four years of inflation, the real crisis is personal debt. Seriously, you're working harder than ever and you're still drowning in credit card debt and overdue bills. You need done with debt and here's why you need it. The credit system is rigged to keep you trapped. Done With Debt has unique and frankly, brilliant escape strategies to help end your debt fast so you keep more of your hard earned money. Done With Debt doesn't try to sell you a loan and they don't try to sell you a bankruptcy. They're tough negotiators that go one on one with your credit card and loan companies with one goal, to drastically reduce your bills and eliminate interest and erase penalties. Most clients end up with more money in their pocket month one, and they don't stop until they break you free from debt permanently. Look, take a couple of minutes and visit donewithdeck. Com, talk with one of their strategists. It's free, but listen up. Some of their solutions are time sensitive, so you'll need to move quickly. Go to donewithdebt.com that's donewithdebt.com Stop the anxiety, stop the angst. Go to donewithdebT.com and do it today to provide American made natural supplements without all the artificial nonsense. So unfortunately, as many of you know, a lot of these big corporate supplements will include things like preservatives, artificial ingredients.

[Joe Allen]

And other additives that really aren't benefiting your health.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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