Episode 4719: Reforming The Fed; Powell's Job In Jeopardy

Summary

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Bannon's War Room – Episode 4719

Date: August 20, 2025
Title: Reforming The Fed; Powell's Job In Jeopardy

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on mounting pressures to reform the Federal Reserve, the political vulnerability of Chair Jerome Powell, and controversies surrounding Fed Governor Lisa Cook. Host Stephen K. Bannon delves deeply into current U.S. economic issues, midterm political strategies, ongoing foreign policy costs (notably Ukraine aid), and how populist and establishment forces on both right and left are reacting. Special attention is given to the disconnect between legislators and working-class Americans, the economic anxieties brewing ahead of the 2026 midterms, and whether the current monetary and fiscal policies are sustainable – or dangerous. The episode features guest analyst David Malpass (former World Bank president), and economic strategist Steve Cortez, providing detailed critique and policy recommendations regarding monetary policy, inflation, and the structure of the Fed itself.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Populism’s Spread and Party Realignment [00:00–05:00]

• The “Democratic MAGA Movement” is discussed, with Democrats attempting to adapt Trump-era populist methods (e.g., social media activism, adopting an anti-establishment tone).
• Speaker A highlights that progressive energy (AOC, Bernie Sanders) is galvanizing the party but worries this alienates moderate voters ahead of midterms.
• Redistricting and inflation are forecast as major flashpoints; economic anxieties could upend Republican advantages if inflation spikes impact everyday spending ([01:30–02:45]).
• Quotes issues of fairness:
  "People are always feeling like, is the system rigged, is the system fair? And if somebody's paying a lot more for a car, a lot more for oranges... bitterness rises." – A [06:22]

2. Election Integrity & Mail-in Voting Concerns [02:45–11:00]

• Discussion on attacks against the election system and mail-in voting as groundwork for post-election challenges, likened to a repeat of “Stop the Steal” tactics ([02:53–05:00]).
• Fears that trust in democracy is eroding, reinforced by the selective rhetoric and pardons around the January 6 events ([09:00–10:30]):
  • "Who stands up for American democracy when it doesn't go the way they want? And we have not seen a lot of bravery from pretty much anyone..." – A [10:11]
  • Supreme Court’s refusal to indulge 2020 election challenges cited as a critical backstop, but faith in that happening again is wavering.

3. Rising Partisan Combativeness & 2026 Political Setup [11:00–18:00]

• Bannon characterizes Democrat Gavin Newsom’s approach as a “parody” of Trump’s combative style ([11:41]):
  "He's trying to be Fight Club. Of course, it's a parody. Of course, it's a vaudeville act." – Bannon [11:41]
• Bannon urges GOP maximalism in redistricting, rails against “feckless Republicans” lacking fighting spirit, and points to voter intimidation concerns around mail-in ballots ([12:30–13:30]).
• “No illegal aliens” in the census and correcting census “algorithms” for redistricting become rallying cries.

4. Economic Inequality & Tax Policy [17:00–19:00]

• Cross-partisan agreement highlighted:
  "He believes, like me, that billionaires should not be getting tax cuts right now while working class Americans are struggling more and more every day." – A [16:56]
• National debt explosion cited:
  "America's national debt will go up $20 trillion over the next decade. $20 trillion." – B [17:41]
  • Compares recent debt growth to 220 years of earlier U.S. history.

5. Foreign Policy: Ukraine and NATO Guarantees [19:00–28:00]

• Massive skepticism toward continued U.S. aid to Ukraine:
  • Bannon brands allied support as “happy talk,” derides European contributions, and raises alarm over U.S. soldiers and taxpayer dollars essentially underwriting Ukraine’s government, not just military effort.
  • Points out demographic and morale crises in Ukraine’s military ([25:50–27:30]).
  • "We don't have the luxury of going around the world anymore and looking for places to stick our nose in." – Bannon [27:10]

6. Federal Reserve Under Fire: Independence, Scandal & Reform [30:00–43:47]

• News breaks concerning possible criminal indictment of Fed Governor Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud ([30:13]).
• Bannon and guest David Malpass (former World Bank president) discuss:
  • The opacity of Jackson Hole Fed meetings:
    "The Federal Reserve is not transparent... There are meetings where it’s hard to know who’s on the invite list." – David Malpass [32:24]
  • The argument that high interest rates, set by the Fed, disproportionately benefit Wall Street and the wealthy while stifling small business and job growth.
  • Malpass’s position:
    "The interest rates are too damn high. And the central banking around the world thinks that they know what the right interest rate is for a market economy. That’s not possible..." – Malpass [34:22]
  • Calls for a fundamental overhaul of Fed models, tools, and even its core mission:
    "I think we have to have a full upheaval in the models at the Fed." – Malpass [37:44]
  • The importance of dollar stability and the risk of U.S. currency losing its global reserve status.
• Bannon presses for full auditing of the Fed and questions whether the institution even serves the people anymore.

7. 2026 Midterm Risks & Messaging Problems [45:00–52:00]

• Cortez delivers stark warnings that Republicans are out-of-touch on economic messaging:
  "A scant 23% say that your big, beautiful bill will help them... Independents today, they're far more pessimistic on the economy than they were last November when Trump won." – Cortez [45:01]
• Food and commodity inflation (beef, chicken, bananas, etc.) cited as daily frustration points ([48:35–51:00]).
• Emphasis that a “strong dollar policy” is essential if interest rates are cut, else further currency depreciation looms.
• Division emerges between funding trade focused rebates for the middle class versus reining in deficits by slashing Ukraine aid and the defense budget ([52:01]):
  • "I don't want to hear that Republicans on Capitol Hill are going to suddenly get religion on the deficit after they pass this gargantuan profligacy bill... when we need to deliver tangible benefits to middle class people." – Cortez [52:01]

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Notable Quotes & Standout Moments

• On economic populism bridging left and right:
  "If you really get the Steve Bannons of the world on truth serum, they agree a lot with what Bernie Sanders is saying about the dangers of AI, about the rich getting richer, about some of the dangers in that bill going after Medicaid." – A [07:00]

• On race, riots, and the legitimacy of the system:
  "I have worked a lot of riots in my career, but this is the first riot where the rioters thought that they were right. They thought that they were the ones that were in charge." – Paraphrased from an officer’s comment [09:50]

• On the Fed’s role in the “deep state”:
  "If you think about the deep state, it applies to the military complex, the trade complex, the regulatory complex, those spending, government spending and getting bigger. And to central banking, it's the core in many ways of the deep state." – Malpass [32:51]

• On Ukraine and security guarantees:
  "We're still in Germany at the end of the Second World War. We're still in Japan... You're going to be in Ukraine for decades." – Bannon [22:40]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |:---------:|--------------------| | 00:00–05:00 | Growth of progressive populism in Democratic Party, redistricting, inflation’s political risk | | 11:13–13:30 | Bannon rips GOP for inaction, urges aggressive redistricting | | 17:00–19:00 | Discussion of income inequality, billionaire tax cuts, and historic debt growth | | 19:00–28:00 | Critique of Ukraine aid, NATO security guarantees, and foreign policy “addiction” to intervention | | 30:00–36:50 | Lisa Cook scandal, lack of Fed transparency, Fed’s effect on working class | | 36:50–39:09 | Malpass: Need to “rethink” or even “audit” the Federal Reserve | | 45:01–52:01 | Cortez: GOP is losing the economic messaging war, polling shows voter frustration, food/commodity inflation, dollar slide, and debate over deficit vs. rebates |

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Tone & Style

• Assertive, urgent, often combative – Bannon repeatedly calls out perceived lack of willpower among Republicans, employs “primal scream of a dying regime” rhetoric [10:31].
• Deep skepticism of foreign entanglements and elite institutions; calls for realignment with working-class priorities, repeated expectation of imminent economic/financial crisis.
• Frequent citation of polling, practical examples (commodity prices, census, pensions), and appeals for grassroots mobilization.

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Summary Takeaways

• Political and economic populism is deepening on both sides; establishment parties are struggling to bridge the gap with everyday Americans.
• The 2026 midterms could pivot on inflation, redistricting, and whether Republicans can win back economic confidence after passing controversial tax reforms.
• The Federal Reserve faces both policy and scandal-driven upheaval, with top leadership potentially in legal jeopardy.
• Foreign policy “forever wars” (esp. Ukraine) are increasingly unpopular among the War Room’s base, viewed as expensive distractions from domestic needs.
• Pressure is building for a wholesale “audit” and reimagining of the Fed, with calls to prioritize middle-class economic gains and a stronger dollar.
• The episode’s overall drumbeat: crisis—and opportunity—build for a fundamental reset of America’s political, economic, and financial systems.

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Transcript

[A]

From it, it's titled the Rising Democratic MAGA Movement. You write Democrats needing, quote, their own version of a populist, anti establishment MAGA like makeover. So what does that look like, Jim? It looks like what you were just talking about with Gavin Newsom, right? Trying to adopt a lot of the techniques that you saw from Trump, that you've seen from maga, get on social media, be a warrior, curse a lot, try to have a lot of edge, insert yourself into the, into the news cycle. I think the bigger part though is what you've seen happening in New York, what you've seen happen in Minneapolis, the popularity of Bernie Sanders, the number of people turning up for AOC events, that right now the momentum in the party is very much for the very progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which is not that much of a shock, but I think is probably problematic in the off year elections for Democrats. It's just not where the vast majority of the country seems to be. I think it's one of the reasons that the Democratic brand overall is, is low. And so I think that's an important thing to watch. And in terms of your conversation about the backlash to the bill, to me, this is going to be a really, really important conversation three months from now. In three months, we're going to know what's happening with redistricting. If Republicans can really rewire the map in a way where they can pick up anywhere from five to 10 seats, that is meaningful. That is deeply, deeply meaningful. It's harder in these Democratic states to do it. It's easier in Texas and Republican states to do it. The other is watch the next month. If inflation does what I think inflation is going to do, it is going to be deeply, deeply problematic for the Republican Party. If you look at what's happening with the stock prices of Chipotle or Sweet Green or any of these restaurants where people take their money when they have a little bit extra and go and spend it, they're all tanking. If you look at what you're hearing from Home Depot, your Walmarts and others, they're basically saying, listen, we've absorbed as much of a loss as we can from the tariffs. Come August, we have to start passing that on to consumers. If that happens, if that happens in home goods, if that happens in groceries, if that happens in autos, which I think could be the next piece to fall, that is going to make all of this talk about the bill that much more problematic because you're going to say, wait a second, what Joe was saying was right they legitimately did get a massive tax cut, especially if you're super wealthy or you're running a big company. And a lot of people who were on Medicaid were requiring these government programs. Yes, there's some fraud, but yes, there's a lot of people who are authentically not going to get benefits tomorrow that are getting them today. That's when this becomes much, much more than a sideshow at one specific event. It becomes a deep, deep, systematic problem for the Republican Party. I think for a lot of democracy.

[B]

Watchers, this is the nightmare scenario. Attacking our elections, rigging our elections. It's not just the gerrymandering, it's the.

[A]

Attacks on the actual way people vote. What are your thoughts on how vigorously or not vigorously it's being protected? Well, I think it needs to be protected much more vigorously. And I think we need to learn from 2020. Look, none of us can get inside Donald Trump's brain, thank goodness. I'm open to the theory that maybe just Vladimir Putin just has some magic spell over him. And anything Vladimir Putin says, he reiterates. I think that could be one. I think that there's another likely reason why he's targeting mail in voting or other types of voting right now. And it's something that we've all lived through. It's something that Stephen lived through most acutely in 2020, which is laying the groundwork for contesting the election if it goes away, he doesn't like. And I think that this is as simple as that. We're relooking at stop the steel 2.0. He's starting it early. He started that early, really, back in 2020. It's just a lot of us didn't take it that seriously in 2019. But he's throwing this chum in the is laying the groundwork. And so if hypothetically, I don't know, the Democrats win the House by three or four votes next time in a close election, and there are some close races in states with mail in voting, like Arizona or Colorado or California or Nevada, that he will do what he did in 2020 and try to contest the election and prevent those elections from being certified. I think it's pretty clear that that is what, you know, is at least an option that they're keeping open. And I think that threat to me is the most acute. I think actual protection of the elections is very important, too. But I think that post election 2026 time is what we're already seeing. Kind of a Groundhog Day preview of got a lot of Things. Being a NATO member involves a lot of things. But the best thing you get in exchange for being a part of NATO is Article 5, the security guarantee that if anybody attacks you, it's like attacking all the other NATO members and you get to benefit from that. NATO has actually Ukraine has done a lot of Naito ish stuff, right. Since 1994. Their army has operates more like NATO armies, militaries operate. They've got that interoperability. So. So tell me about what Naito without being in NATO would look like for Ukraine. The security guarantee that everybody's talking about that doesn't necessarily at the moment involve NATO's membership. What does that even look like? Well, some. So a step down from NATO membership, which as you point out, as is the gold standard. It's also the cheapest and the most effective security guarantee that there is. But if that's not on the table for now, don't give up on it. But it's not on the table for now, then this coalition of the willing would put troops on the ground with an Article 5 like commitment. That is these, this coalition willing, which is led by the French and the British, but It's got like 30 members, 30 nations that are, that are there, including now the Americans would say that NATO says if you're attacked, we're with you, you know, we'll support you. Doesn't say exactly how we're with you. And each of those 30 nations will do it a little differently as it is in NATO, as in the actual Article 5 about this idea of how easy it would be to attack the fact that rich are getting richer. This isn't actually a political argument, it is a empirical argument. There's no doubt that the rich are getting a lot richer, that the poor are not getting that much richer. If getting richer at all, that that tax bill undoubtedly favors wealthy. Then you look at your stock market, you say, what's happening? Well, most of the growth in portfolios is coming from your biggest tech companies, the top seven, the FAANG companies. Well, who are those? That's your Zuckerberg of the world, right? That's these big, big companies that are already doing well, that are getting massive assistance from the federal government. And the only people who can really invest in a lot of these companies are people who themselves are already rich. Right. If you look at people who have money in 401ks or in the stock market tend to start with a lot of money to begin with. So the rich are going to keep getting richer. This is a fantastic environment. If you have money. There's no doubt about it. And I think that is that it always sits on top of politics, right? People are always feeling like, is the system rigged, is the system fair? And if somebody's paying a lot more for a car, a lot more for oranges, a lot more for eggs, a lot more for stuff at the next trip to Home Depot. Yes, bitterness rises and it's why. Interesting Eugene talks about there are no labels. If you really get the Steve Bannon's of the world on truth serum, they agree a lot with what Bernie Sanders is saying about the dangers of AI, about the rich getting richer, about some of the dangers in that bill going after Medicaid. They're not loud about it right now. But make no mistake, when Trump is gone, there's a bigger disconnect there than people, than people realize, because the Bannons of the world, I would say, are tied more tightly to the working class because they understand that's why Trump exists today. It might not be Trump's worldview per se, but it certainly is there. The headlines, Trump selective stance on justice. Redemption for some, scorn for others. Mr. Trump, himself a felon, they like to point that out, has shown particularly particular leniency to criminals. He seems to identify with people who are white or wealthy or who he believes have been unfairly persecuted or who rioted in his name on January 6. Also in the article, this quote from him, they will never be an asset to society. He said, I don't care. I know we all want to say, oh, they're going to be rehabbed. They're not going to be rehabbed. That was when he was holding up five mug shots of all people of color. What's the difference there? What do you read from that? This is a president who got his political start by trying to undermine the legitimacy of the first black president. The racism of this man and this candidate is baked into everything that he does. One of the things that, saddest for me, hearing that quote and comparing it to what happened on January 6th and the subsequent pardons is with January 6th, you had an overwhelmingly white riot against a perhaps majority or near majority minority police force. I talked to a lot of officers, and one of them said something that has stuck with me for several years now. He said, look, I have worked a lot of riots in my career, but this is the first riot that I worked where the rioters thought that they were right. They thought that they were the ones that were in charge. And what scares me is when you see the president using such racist or racialized language like this, it risks legitimizing what those rioters believed and proves them correct. Yeah. And I think the question is, what happens with the rest of America, Right? Who stands up for American democracy when it doesn't go the way they want? And we have not seen a lot of bravery from pretty much anyone, right? From billionaires to Republican politicians to the Supreme Court, everyone has basically rubber stamped anything Donald Trump wants to do. So there is going to be a moment where we're going to need for democracy to keep going. People are going to have to stand up, and that's going to mean people who are Republicans, members of the Supreme Court. They're going to have to say, like, this election was free and fair and certified. And you'll remember this Supreme Court did, in fact do that in 2020. They did not take up the, you know, Trump's many, many cases. So I think there's a real question about whether that moment will happen again. And that is perhaps the most, if you're going to be concerned about anything. That would strike me as the most disconcerting.

[B]

This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies, because we're going medieval on this. People reasons. I 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.

[A]

And where do people like that go.

[B]

To share the big lie?

[A]

MAGA media. I wish in my soul, I wish.

[B]

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.

[A]

War Room.

[B]

Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban. It's Wednesday the 20th of August in the year of our Lord 2025. From out the world, throughout the world, just more news, more things happening. And so let's cut. Let's get to the signal, not the noise. Number one for 2026, Gavin Newsom's getting traction among Democrats.

[A]

Why?

[B]

He's trying to mimic Trump. He's trying to be Fight Club. Of course, it's a parody. Of course, it's a vaudeville act. I mean, it's Gavin Newsom, after all. Right. But he's, you know, sitting there, he's being a tough guy. He's tweeting out. He's. And so the Democrats love it. One of the reasons they love it, they don't have any fighters over there. They're all gutless. They have no policies now that nobody's. Their shows are all collapsing, their networks are collapsing, nobody's reading their newspapers. They have, they can't control it anymore. They can't control lots, they can't control it now. Are we winning on every front? No, but we're making progress on so many fronts. Remember for 2026, the mid decade census, that has to be right this time. No illegal aliens. And you got to get the algorithms right in the collection. All of the mistakes that we had. Also the redistricting and down in Texas some people are, some conservatives are sitting there and wetting themselves going oh my gosh. Well you know there are rules and regulation, but the Democrats, there's no rules and regulations. You put them on notice, you put the Republicans on notice. That's how we got this far. Don't come back with Robert's rules of order right now. And particularly people say, well you got attend, you gotta attend district map show. Yeah, well good, fine. Your governor's talked about it. Why don't you lighten up your governor, you know, where are the conservatives right now? Get besides the war and some others get up on the ramparts. We have to go maximalist on this. It wasn't Steve Bannon that said 10. We're the ones who started the fight for five. But then of course the feckless Republicans let them all leave and wasted week after week after week. So you should get one for every week you you wasted. That's at least seven. But the governor said he got 10. If you got 10, go for 10. Look what new look what Newsom's doing in California. The last is the mail in ballots. And Senator Mike Lee, the best constitutional we've got is going to come in a mail in ballots. And yes, and the left sitting there going, well gosh, they take away mail in ballots, people are going to have to show up. They're going to have ICE agents around. People are going to be so afraid, intimidated, they're going to afraid they're going to be arrested. Well hey, if you're an illegal alien, you shouldn't be going to the polls anyway. And if you go to try to try to vote, then you got a couple of felonies. Other explosive news, it looks like a sitting governor of the Federal Reserve is going to get indicted for the same thing Leticia James did. We'll get to all that. We got so much going on. Also remember we mentioned here, remember we mentioned security guarantees on war room and I told all these guys are big talk. Kerr Starmer goes back. You just heard that was the, that was the ambassador I think to Ukraine at the time that that was a witness for the Trump impeachment. That's scumbags. And they're going, oh yeah, France and England are in and they're going to be at the front line. It's article five. The British have told us no mas, no mas, no troops, can't do it. Maybe they're going to guard a port, maybe they're going to look at the air. They're going to do some air. But they are not in short break. We'll explain it all to you next in the war room. 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 led 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 to 989-898. Do it today. That's the Rio reset. Text Bannon at 989-898 and do it today because Voice Family, are you on Getter yet?

[A]

No. What are you waiting for? It's free, it's uncensored and it's where.

[B]

All the biggest voices in conservative media are speaking out. Download the Getter app right now. It's totally free. It's where I put up exclusively all of my content 24 hours a day. You want to know what Steve Bannon is thinking? Go together.

[A]

That's right. You can follow all of your favorite Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk, Jack Posobi and so many more. Download the Getter app now.

[B]

Sign up for free and be part of the new thing.

[A]

Well, I mean, Steve Bannon will tell you just that. He, he, he's a fan of Lisa Khan's. He believes, like me, that monopolies should be broken up. I mean, he believes, like me, that billionaires should not be getting tax cuts right now while working class Americans are strug more and more every day.

[B]

And you know, the thing is too, I mean, it is empirical.

[A]

I mean, we're not talking about opinions here, we're talking about facts. The richest billionaires on the planet are getting a lot richer because of this bill. And working Americans are falling further and further behind. It's not even a close call.

[B]

Also, again, America's national debt will go.

[A]

Up $20 trillion over the next decade. $20 trillion.

[B]

The total national debt for the first.

[A]

220 years of this republic's existence. $4 trillion. So over 220 years, the United States government accumulated $4 trillion of debt. This Congress, with a bill they just passed, will allow the federal debt to go up five times that much in the next decade. Why did they do it? Because they wanted to give billionaires, they wanted to give multinational corporations, they wanted to give the richest of the rich, they wanted to give monopolists tax cuts. Huh? I, if I just say if you're a Democrat and you're running next year and you can't win in a swing.

[B]

District.

[A]

Go into something else like take up watercolor painting or something like that.

[B]

So it's gonna be game on, folks. We're gonna have a chance to refute all that with facts. If it's refutable, I say it is. But you're going to have to, have to really get to the math because guess what, it's the 20th of August, and as we've told you on the show over and over again and you know, at midnight on 30 September, fiscal year runs out. Got to start over. President Trump does not want to shut down his government because he's in charge. And quite frankly, we control every aspect of it. Right? The Supreme Court, the Senate, the House, the Executive branch. Well, we're trying to. Of course, the deep state hasn't been turfed out, although Tulsi Gabbard has a start with 37, principally grundoons. There's some non grundoons having their security clearances taken away. I'd like to see some bigger names on there and I'm sure they're working on them. It's a process. We got to get to this math, though. It's not me. For instance, we sell the big beautiful bill here and the supply side tax cut of it in a more sophisticated way, not just the Fox News talking points, in a more sophisticated way with bright people than anybody. Okay. I noticed, Speaker Johnson, that, you know, on the August recess that everybody had to have. You had to have the August recess. You had to do it because you had to get back to your constituents. You had to get back to your town halls. I noticed a paucity of town halls and I realize that there are, you know, Democrats, some of these groups, thugs are showing up and trying to shout people down. So it's not the easiest. But I haven't seen a massive effort to sell the big beautiful bill and actually what it stands for. So we gotta get to that part of what's happening right now. Also with everything going on, you have Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton and the Mitch McConnell faction are pushing through, trying to push through a $58 billion bailout for Ukraine. Let me be blunt. Zelensky's plan came over his 300 billion. They need this. They're going to do $100 billion purchase of our weapons. That's a big thing in his thing. He gave the Financial Times. He leake. So that's a country has no money. All that money comes from you. Because Europeans are not stepping up. They're not going to step up because why their voters are turf them out. Their voters are going to say, well, hang on, you're taking back my pension, you're taking back my August break, you're taking back my health care, my universal health care to pay for Ukraine. No, you can't have that. I told you it was all a farce. We had the ambassador. Oh yes. The two that are really going to be here for Article 5 are going to be the French and the British. The British are already out. They're already out. Remember, you make this commitment. You're there for years and years and years and years and years and decades and decades and decades and decades. We're still in Germany at the end of the Second World War. We're still in Japan at the end of the Second World War. We're still in South Korea on the armistice or truce. Not a peace deal, just a ceasefire in Korea. Still there. Still there. So you're going to be in Ukraine for decades. You're going to be in Ukraine. When the kids crawl around the carpet, little rugrats will be 40 years old. Yep. So you got to go in tight right now of all that cursed armor over here to Article 5 and all the, the deep thoughts on, you know, all the David Ignatius and Richard Haas and Admiral Stavridis. Deep thoughts. It was deep thoughts over the weekend, deep thoughts on Monday. Deep thoughts. Ripping on President Trump. There's no Starmer gets over. First thing he does is the British military comes out and says, you know, I think we can help run a port. The World Navy can help run a port. We can't keep the Suez Canal open from the Houthis, from guys fighting from the 5th century. Except they got a couple of drones. We got to have the couple American carrier battle groups, I don't know, to, you know, five million bucks a day. We got to put two carrier battle groups up there to keep the Suez open. And we can give you a frigate, but we can, we can go maybe off of Odessa, right? We can go off Odessa. We steam off Odessa, or we'll sit back, you know, in Hungary on the border or Moldavia with some air search, and we'll help. They're not going to be there. Told you it was a joke. They're not going to be there. They want the Americans in. They want to tie us up. They're not prepared to do anything. It's all happy talk. And the Brits are the best you got. Those are guys who really have fought with us. Germans already said, can't do it. No troops, can't do it. The Polish guys would even come so big. Told you that. They knew as a farce. They said, hey, how about this? We're not going to show up because you realize these guys are going to try to entangle President Trump in something. So the opportunity costs of Ukraine. Let's set it over there and let Marco work on it for a while. Somebody working around. And let's get back to. Let's get back to the important stuff, which is getting affordability down, getting inflation down, getting the economy rip roaring, because that will crush them in 26. I don't care what Gavin Newsom. These guys are skipping around and Mom, Donnie. But we got to get in. The 55 billion is an insult to the American people. We don't have the luxury of going around the world anymore and looking for places to stick our nose in. That's a European problem. They want to be an EU nation. They want to be a European nation. They're in Eurasia right now. God bless you. Go ahead and do it. Go ahead. But not with American money, not with American troops, not with American arms. So you have Zelensky with $100 billion that he doesn't have, remember, he's broke. They have no money. We pay for the military, but also you also pay for their government. Every month you're paying for it, baby. Their pension funds, they got nice pension funds. The nurses teach, they got pension funds. How's your pension fund working out? It's working out okay for you. That's good. You got that one. They're trying to, they're trying to. You know, these guys are coming after Social Security all the time. The, the billionaires, the oligarchs on your tiny little Social Security. How's that? Because you're underwriting Ukraine. So they got another 55 billion. It's going to be more because they're addicted to American money. So they got $100 billion of money they don't have coming to us on arms. We don't have because we've stripped the Pacific, we've stripped everything from the, from the Persian, the first, you know, the total obliteration of the nuclear program of the Persians and what we've given and what we fed into Ukraine. We don't have the weapons right now. So it's $100 billion. A guy that has no money for a country that doesn't have the weapons right now, that would be us with a bunch of allies around who won't put up any manpower. And the Ukrainians won't put up any manpower because they're out of manpower. The parents are saying, you're not taking any more of my kids. And they're actually allowing 60 year olds. So they're going to have the cutting edge 60 year olds at the front lines. And folks, this ain't hunting terrorists. This is a good old fashioned war. This is brutal. Okay? This is a war. This is like the Western front in World War I. The Russians don't, they don't do maneuver warfare. They do grounded out their artillery, the queen of battle, the tanks, the infantry. And they're not particularly shy about how many folks they lose. Remember the first thing when they go into a place like Stalingrad and it's a little bogged down. The first thing they do is the commissars. They stand up a couple of generals against one. They shoot them for morale purposes. These are not, they're not holistic and they're not about self actualization. They're about take an inch and hold an inch. That's what you're fighting over there. That's what you would get entangled with. And you're our greatest ally. The guys that actually fought side by side with us, the Brits, Kurt Starmer's not even off the plane and Andrew Neal, the old conservative war horse, he's got a tweet up that just blows the whole thing up. He says this thing's totally phony. We're broke. We don't have a military. We can't even defend. What we've got our own territory. I got a thing. They want to give a security guarantee. Why don't they give a security guarantee to the English whose churches are being burned down, Historical monuments are being burned down. They got another one today, I think, outside Liberty being burned down. And you got a mosque en route. Why don't you go into central London, go into Soho, send the troops to Soho, go give a security guarantee for the British people. How about that? I think they'd vote for that. Start with your own country. Since you now and it's not me, it's the British lieutenant colonel from the other day saying, hey, I think we're on the brink of civil war. Think you might need your troops. That car. Starmer knows that no money, no arms, no men. Short break. Talk about the Federal Reserve next in the war room. If you're a homeowner, you need to listen to this. In today's AI and cyber world, scammers are stealing home titles with more ease than ever. And your equity is the target. Here's how it works. Criminals forge your signature on one document, use a fake notary stamp, pay small fee with your county and boom. Your home title has been transferred out of your name. Then they take out loans using your equity or even sell your property. You won't even know it's happened until you get a collection or foreclosure notice. So let me ask you, when was the last time you personally checked your home title? If you're like me, the answer is never. And that's exactly what scammers are counting on. That's why I trust Home Title Lock. Use promo code [e-mail] to make sure your title is still in your name. You also get a free title history report plus a free 14 day trial of their million dollar triple lock protection. That's 24,7 monitoring of your title, urgent alerts to any changes, and if fraud should happen, they'll spend up to $1 million to fix it. Go to hometitle lock.com now use promo code Steve. That's hometitle lock.com promo code Steve. Do it today. That's next move. The Fed's next move is in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. When the chairman gets the committee together and has a big conversation about the future. The elephant in the room is the political pressure coming from the other side of Washington, D.C. more specifically coming from the White House.

[A]

This was the latest this morning.

[B]

We've been tracking this story. The director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte, is urging the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to investigate the Federal Reserve Governor Le Lisa Kirk over a pair of mortgages. The president taking that story, putting it out on social media just moments ago and writing this, that Cook must resign.

[A]

Now, this feels somewhat predictable in some.

[B]

Ways because there has been a focus.

[A]

Of reshaping the Federal Reserve. Putting some of the allegations aside, it just highlights how fraught this meeting is in Jackson Hole at a time where there is so much political focus on reshaping the way that they set monetary policy framework review.

[B]

How valuable is this framework review when we've got a Linked Up Fed chair and an administration pushing to change the Federal Reserve as an institution from the bottom up, yet people will be asking that question and how much does that.

[A]

Threat kind of loom large over some of the way that these things are shifted?

[B]

Look, a real question here, and this is something that the market is looking.

[A]

For, is how much credibility will whoever.

[B]

Whatever comes into the Fed continue to lend the idea of independence and how.

[A]

Much will global leaders on central banks.

[B]

Try to edify that message? Okay, folks, it looks like they're going to indict a sitting governor of the Federal Reserve, Lisa Cook, for this mortgage fraud. The same thing as Letitia James, I think Pulte over at, I don't know, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, one of them went through the, went through, I guess went through the files and came back and turned it over to the Justice Department, referred it to Justice Department for criminal referral. And me thinks that Ed Martin and his weaponization team and he's all over Letitia James. Ed Martin actually put out a statement yesterday telling Letitia James to resign as Attorney General of New York. Big Tish James, right. And he had essentially said, we're going to indict you and we're going to put you in prison because you're guilty, girl. Lisa Cook looks like the same thing and happening. I want to bring in David Malpass. David, I don't believe this has ever happened before. And on the eve of the Jackson Hole meetings, why don't you tell our audience first, what are the Jackson Hole meetings? Why have they become so important, Sir?

[C]

Hi, Steve. In general, the Federal Reserve is not transparent. So there are meetings where it's hard to Know who's on the invite list, who is there? Some will be on tv. They meet in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. So it's an exclusive, controlled environment. There are chosen TV reporters who will be there interviewing people, and they put out the message. And in general, the message is central banking is great and should run the world. And that is the core of the problem. If you think about the deep state, it applies to the military complex, the trade complex, the regulatory complex, those spending, government spending and getting bigger. And to central banking, it's the core in many ways of the deep state. And they're not transparent about what the senior people do in terms of their investments, how they get mortgages, all of that, which I guess they're looking into.

[B]

You wrote this piece. You know, I'm kind of, I'm getting very concerned that there hasn't been the effort to support President Trump. I mean, he had to whip the vote to get the thing done. I mean, think about that for a second. Of course, the Senate left. They didn't think Senator, President Trump was trustworthy enough to go on real recess so he could have recess appointments. So, as you know, it's not nobody staffed, right? You got the cabinet heads. We don't really have anybody else. You got hundreds of people backed up, including U.S. attorney. So that thing's a fiasco. But there really hasn't been a huge effort by the Senate and the House to get out and to basically sell the big beautiful bill. Now you've got a piece, I think, in the Wall Street Journal. You're a growth guy, you're a supply side guy. Walk me through where we are right now and how you believe the central bank is thwarting our ability to really take the chains off and unleash the animal spirits on growth.

[A]

Sir.

[C]

The interest rates are too damn high. And the central banking around the world thinks that they know what the right interest rate is for a market economy. That's not possible, especially nowadays because they pay interest to banks. And so they're distorting and controlling the market and it hurts growth. It means that there's not enough lending to small businesses. They aren't creating the supply chain that's needed to hold down prices, businesses. So they work on this fiction that fast growth causes inflation. Think what that does to the Trump agenda. President Trump has a full growth program in terms of energy, in terms of the dollar as the global reserve currency. The growth of crypto, the, the, the trade changes that are going to bring manufacturing home. All of that is undercut it precisely. By the way, The Fed regulates small businesses and, and disc from doing that, the banks are lending to governments and big corporations and that just kills growth at the, at the, at the median level. The working person is not getting the new jobs. It's going elsewhere, you know, to the upper end of the economy. So that's, and my point in the Wall Street Journal article today, this a big article pointing out that the likelihood is that the Fed, the academics, will join ranks and prevent change at the Federal Reserve.

[B]

How are you optimistic at all that Powers, clearly Powell and the 8,000 economists at the Federal Reserve do not agree with you. They don't agree with President Trump. They don't agree with, was it James Fishback? And all these guys come on here and say, Scott Bessant, Secretary treasury, come and say, hey, the natural interest rates. And we make, we make this analytical argument that rates could be cut. And I think Bessant, who's a pretty, you know, safe pair of hands guy, he's no radical, he's saying that it could be cut by 100 to 175 basis points. So they don't agree with you. Would, you would, you're in agreement with me that they don't, that Powell and his team of economists don't believe that. Correct?

[C]

That's right. They have their head in the sand. But isn't that what's going on in so many of the deep state areas? If you say how many of the traditional economists agreed with Trump on trade, it was 2%. And if you say how many of them actually realize that government spending subtracts from the will of the people and subtracts from the growth of the economy? They don't agree with that. They've been skilled schooled in Keynesianism which says government spending is great. And it's the same at the Fed. They, they really do think that fast growth is dangerous for the economy because somebody might get to raise their prices. And they also think, and this is what's important right now, that in some way high interest rates holds down the inflation rate. They just don't see that the high interest rates hurt small businesses the most. And so they actually are, are keeping the, the, the inflation going within the economy. I think we have to have a full upheaval in the models at the Fed. It's not just the personnel, it's the actual economic thinking on how the economy works. And it's very. President Trump is exactly on the right track. And I think unless there's this magnitude of change at the Fed, then they will undercut what the president is trying to do on growth.

[B]

What do you mean? Not just. I mean financial models come from. From people I know today comes over somebody you got to purge. You got to. You got to rethink. Like Besson's been saying, you got to go back to the beginning on a whiteboard and say exactly what we're doing here. Why do we need a central bank? Maybe we should audit the central bank. What's the. What's the mission of the central bank? Does it have too many mandates? Does it have not enough mandates? And I guess you're saying really rethink this because this deep state on the financial side, tied to the Wall street, tied to the Larry Finks of the world, the hedge funds of the world, they're actually. It's supposed to be independent. It's actually controlled. It's just not controlled by the American people. Is that the case you're making? That this has to be totally rethought our concept of the central banks and how it interacts with other central banks throughout the world.

[C]

That's right. I'm trying to simplify it down for people because I think that people around the country can understand it better than the Federal Reserve can. The high interest rates pays Wall Street. It pays rich people for interest on money. But it's not necessary for. For fighting inflation. If the Federal Reserve had the rate, let's say 50 basis points lower in September, that would be better for the economy. That's what foreign central banks are doing. The bank of England has cut three times this this year. The pound is not weaker. The inflation rate there is not higher. And so it. Because it allows more growth within the economy. So I invite people not to overthink this in terms of economic models and fancy PhD economists that they've had it wrong. That's why we keep getting these waves of inflation that really hurt median income. They hurt people's wages more than. More than the inflation. So people lose ground when the central bank is operating and controlling the economy the way it is now. They set the floor on interest rates and they said it does. The Federal Reserve is setting the interest rates high enough to benefit rich people. And that is is not necessary within economic theory. Why are us. The US is the world's superpower. Why are interest rates higher here than in weaker countries? It doesn't make sense. Important in this, Steve, is that I think the Trump plan has to bring in more about defending the dollar as the world's reserve currency. The whole world want attack that and take down the U.S. china in particular wants to do that. And so a core thing for the, for within the Trump plan is to realize that the dollar is going to be a stable store of value for 50 years. It's the Trump dollar. And if they said that, then interest rates could come down quickly. Right now, I think.

[B]

Also the, I love that about the stable. This is one of the things we teach in the end of the dollar empire, what you have to do. This plan, our supply side plan, which Scott Besson said, this is going to be the last shot you're going to have to really have a supply side solution. It's predicated on 3, 3.5%, maybe even higher growth. We hit 3. Now, people are saying that's an anomaly because of the tariffs and people trying to get ahead of the tariffs. But if rates don't come down. We've only got about a minute here. If rates don't come down, do you see the possibility we could get to 3.5% growth, which is kind of what we need to grow our way out of this financial fiasco that handed to us by Biden?

[C]

I don't think we can get there because the Fed is setting the interest rate at such a high level. So it's hard to see that the supply chain can be repaired by the small businesses that need working capital. Unless the Fed really makes the interest rate cuts. I think they're against Trump and will resist and resist. That's going on this week at Jackson Hole. But it will go on over the coming months that all the PhD economists will say, oh, we can't possibly cut interest rates, even though if you look around the world, everybody else has been able to do it. So this is the moment of truth. It's a golden opportunity for President Trump to really create an upheaval, a full upheaval in the Fed's models that give us better growth and more market confidence.

[B]

If real quickly, if Lisa Cook has to step down, President Trump's demanding she stepped down from the, from the Board of Governors, the Federal Reserve, if she was to step down. Are you available to step in, sir?

[C]

Well, Steve, you know, I'm a MAGA guy, I'm a manufacturing guy. I want to see the country do really well. So everyone should step up to the moment. And so I don't know about that.

[B]

David Malpass, former head of the World bank under President Trump, undersecretary for International Finance, I think number three job in the Treasury. Thank you so much, sir. What's your social media. Can you hit it to me quick?

[C]

Yeah. At Davidr Malpass. So that's the Twitter or the x dot com.

[B]

Thank you, sir.

[A]

Appreciate you.

[B]

What if he had the brightest mind in the war room delivering critical financial research every month? Steve Bannon here. War Room listeners know Jim Rickards. I love this guy. He's our wise man. A former CIA, Pentagon and White House advisor with an unmatched grasp of geopolitics and capital markets. Jim predicted Trump's Electoral College victory exactly 312 to 226, down to the actual number itself. Now he's issuing a dire warning about April 11, a moment that could define Trump's presidency and your financial future. His latest book, MoneyGPT, exposes how AI is setting the stage for financial chaos. Bank runs at lightning speeds, algorithm driven crashes, and even threats to national security. Right now, War room members get a free copy of MoneyGPT when they sign up for Strategic Intelligence. This is Jim's flagship financial newsletter, Strategic Intelligence. I read it. You should read it. Time is running out. Go torickards war room dot com. That's all one word. Rickards War Rooms records with an S. Go now and claim your free book. That's Rickards War room dot com. Do it today.

[A]

Republicans in Washington, wake up. You're losing it on the most important issue in America. America. And that's the economy. And that's not my opinion. It is the reality as expressed by all credible polling, including my own surveys. Now, my newest survey, it was positive overall for Trump and for the GOP voters. Thankfully, they trust Republicans on security issues from street safety to the border, and they massively back deportations. But they are also super upset and anxious about the economy and for very good reason. Right Now, a scant 23% say that your big, beautiful bill will help them. Independents today, they're far more pessimistic on the economy than they were last November when Trump won. Here's why. They can't afford their lives and they now blame you Republicans as the governing party. So the time for real action and a time for a new media campaign is right now. Or get ready to get rinsed in the 2026 midterms, especially without the help of Trump on the ballot. Now, there are solutions. If you get a sense of urgency, immediately see my column for the details.

[B]

Okay, Steve Cortez joins us. Also, you just heard Malpass about the dollar we're going to get. Also hopefully Philip Patrick's this morning. If we can do it. If not, it'll be tomorrow morning. Birchgold, you'll understand it all. It's not the price of gold. It's the process of how the price is determined. Birchgold.com, the endothedollar empire. Birchgold.com Bannon that would be me. That's the promo code. Enter the Dollar Empire. Seven free installments now. Eight and nine are underway. We're also coming out with a physical copy of it, so you can have it. Steve Cortez, Jeffrey Tucker, who I think very highly of. Jeffrey Tucker's got a big piece in Epoch Times, which is the best broadsheet in this nation as a paper that's been linked to by Zero Hedge. I love the Zero Hedge guys. Although let's be blunt, every now and again when you're clicking due to Zero Hedge, I tell people this, you may Click through to RT or to 1 of these think tanks in Moscow that maybe got took a dollar or two from the kgb. Not that some of our think tanks don't take money from usaid, the CIA, but just be, just be aware when you go through. So but Tucker's got a thing about the inflation. His piece, and he's an economist, it really doubles. It really backs up yours that we got to get serious about this now. And my concern is, Steve, is that the House and the Senate are not outselling the big beautiful bill. They're not selling the supply side tax cut of this. We're not getting, we're not getting any momentum on that. And we're coming back, folks, and guess what? Get ready to bend over and grab them because they got a $55 billion, you know, uncle Sugar is going to be tapped for $55 billion, up to $100 billion since Ukraine fiasco immediately. And they're going to jam in the third week of September. Take your number two prince aloud and write it down. They're gonna come back with an omnibus that they're working on right now. It's gonna have a $2 trillion deficit for next year. And they're gonna put a gun to President Trump's head and say, hey, you know, we gotta take care of all this at one time or your government's gonna have to shut down. We gotta get funding. It's all gonna happen, folks. It's all out there to be happening. Steve Cortez, your thoughts?

[A]

Yeah. So listen, Steve, you're exactly correct. You're exactly correct. There is way too much complacency, way too much complacency among Republicans in Washington, D.C. on the foundational and as I point out in that video and in my article, because of my polling and I just Polled the state of Georgia, right? Key swing state overall good poll for Republicans. But on the economy the numbers are bad and they are trending worse. As a matter of fact, Republicans and this administration are roughly where Biden was on the economy before the election last year. So think about that, okay? And take that seriously and get a sense of urgency. You're exactly correct that neither the admin normal nor Republicans on Capitol Hill are selling the economic message the way they should. They believe that once they pass the big beautiful bill that they were done selling. No, that's in many ways the start of the campaign. Right. And they should be promoting the wins on trade, the winds on onshoring, the fact that wages are growing up, going up. There is a lot of good news to tell. But there's also really worrisome news and I think you're exactly right that that article from Jeffrey Tucker, who's brilliant. He points out for example that M2 aggregate money supply is now back near the highs of 20. Inflation was raging at its worst levels of the Biden nomics fiasco. I point out in my article, you right now have beef prices at all time highs. They have set a new all time high in each of the last six months. Chicken @ all time highs, bananas at all time highs. When you look at the United States dollar, one of the reasons that that pain is at the grocery store is a lot of Americans, Steve, they don't realize that they are implicitly currency traders. They may never watch currency markets, but you are buying these goods in dollars. And when you go into a Walmart, the majority of the goods in there are from overseas, which is a shame, but that's the reality right now. So the value of the dollar is directly tied to your buying power at Walmart or wherever you shop. And when you look at the dollar, the Euro currency, for all the problems of Europe, the euro currency has been kicking the dollar's ass all year. Gold well above $3,000 an ounce. Bitcoin well above 100,000, just hit $118,000 per coin. So the dollar is sliding demonstrably. So what I want to see from Capitol Hill and the administration is a decided effort on messaging to start defending the dollar. By the way, I think David Malpass is exactly correct to start jawboning the dollar because if the Fed lowers interest rates and we don't have a concurrent strong dollar policy, then the dollar is going to get absolutely rinsed from here. And that is a very real danger. And in terms of a policy change, tangible policy change, President Trump has floated these tariff rebate checks. Steve, that needs to happen and it needs to happen now. And make them a consequential amount only for middle class folks.

[B]

Hang on, hang on a second, hang on a second. You're, you're not a crazy man. You're very, you're very, you know, you're always very safe. Pair hands. You talk about the economy, you are coming empirically. Last time I looked, we had 37 trillion in debt. We just had 37. We've got, we're going to have a $2 trillion deficit by the time midnight strikes, when it strikes for Cinderella at Midnight on the 30th. $2 trillion for this year. They're going to jam us. I'm telling you, they're going to jam us. In the third week of September, they're going to jam us with the omnibus is going to have another $2 trillion deficit. That's why they kicked up the debt limit to $5 trillion. So how can we give rebate checks off the top when we got to pay down that deficit? Steve Cortez, give me 30 seconds and I'll hold you through the break. What do you got?

[A]

Sure. You know, I'll tell you two ways. One is to cut defense, right. Which we can and should do if we're smarter about our defense budget and not defending the world. And the second one related to that is stop spending on Ukraine. Okay. But also, look, I don't want to hear that Republicans on Capitol Hill are going to suddenly get religion on the deficit after, after they pass this gargantuan profligacy bill, right? I mean, don't tell me now that you've got religion when we need to deliver tangible benefits to middle class people. Middle class people need to have a seat at the table in trade negotiations. They need to have skin in the game in this, in these terrorists. They need to feel a phenomenon financial benefit from what President Trump is doing. And again, I don't want to hear that they suddenly have religion on debt.

[B]

Okay, hang on, hang on a second. We're gonna go out with the right stuff because that's what this show promotes. Mike Lee's gonna join us, the great constitutionalist in the United States Senate from Utah. Steve Cortez is going to stick around. We're going to talk about the make America healthy again and Brazil next. You missed the IRS tax deadline. You think it's just going to go away? Well, think again. The IRS doesn't mess around and they're applying pressure like we haven't seen in years. So if you haven't filed in a while. Even if you can't pay, don't wait. And don't face the IRS alone. You need the trusted experts by your side. Tax Network USA Tax Network USA isn't like other tax relief companies. They have an edge, a preferred direct line to the irs. They know which agents to talk to and which ones to avoid. They use smart, aggressive strategies to settle your tax problems quickly and in your favor. Whether you owe $10,000 or $10 million, Tax Network USA has helped resolve over $1 billion in tax debt. And they can help you, too. Don't wait on this. It's only going to get worse. Call Tax Network USA right now. It's free. Talk with one of their strategists and put your IRS troubles behind you. Put it behind you today. Call Tax Network USA at 1-800-958-1000, that's 800-958-1000 or visit taxnetwork USA tnusa.com Bannon do it today. Do not let this thing get ahead of you. Do it TODAY.