Episode 5057: The Fraud Continues In Minnesota; Color Revolution In America

Summary

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Bannon's War Room – Episode 5057

"The Fraud Continues In Minnesota; Color Revolution In America"

Date: January 10, 2026
Host: Natalie Winters (filling in for Stephen K. Bannon)
Main Guests: Mike Benz

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Overview of the Episode

This episode delves into ongoing unrest and accusations of systemic fraud in Minnesota following the death of Renee Goode during an altercation involving federal agents. The discussion, led by Natalie Winters and guest Mike Benz, frames the incident and its aftermath as part of a broader pattern of orchestrated social destabilization—a "color revolution" strategy modeled after regime-change tactics used abroad. The episode examines the political rhetoric, funding networks behind protest organizations, the political use of immigrant communities, and how disruptive protest is increasingly viewed as a legitimized tool of left-wing activism. The conversation expands to connect these domestic events with historic and international parallels in places like Venezuela, Iran, and Somalia.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Breakdown of Minnesota Unrest

• Incident Overview:
  Renee Goode was killed by a federal agent during a protest. The official response and the subsequent protests are dissected as not only a local tragedy but a symptom of broader political and cultural conflicts.
  • Governor Tim Walz calls for peaceful community reflection, but is accused on the show of downplaying lawlessness and systemic incentivization of fraud.
• Protest Excerpts:
  Protesters' chants and confrontations with law enforcement are played, highlighting escalating rhetoric and threats of violence (see [04:01]).

2. Natalie Winters’ Framing: The ‘Phalanx of Fraud’

• Community and Division:
  • Natalie Winters [06:08]:
    "You are not part of their community... They are making it very clear that community does not include customs and border patrol. It does not include Maga, it does not include you. If you think that America deserves to have a border..."
  • Democrats use "community" as an exclusive concept, creating an "us vs. them" narrative.
• Critique of Protest Culture:
  Liberals are portrayed as glorifying protest regardless of the underlying legality or morality.

3. The 'Color Revolution' Template and the 3.5% Rule

• Mike Benz's Analysis [12:40]:
  • Current unrest is framed as a "suppressed attempt to recreate George Floyd 2.0"—a controlled, repeatable process to keep activist networks "warmed up" for future mass mobilizations, especially as the 2026 midterms approach.
  • Evidence of violence, such as the alleged attempt to run over a law enforcement officer, is used to push back on the victim narrative.
• 3.5% Rule Discussed [17:54]:
  • A political science rule suggesting that mobilizing 3.5% of a population makes a government change essentially inevitable, often cited in color revolution studies.
    • Political Scientist [17:55]:
      "Once you have 3.5% of a population protesting nonviolently against a dictator or an authoritarian, that is essentially an unstoppable force..."
  • Benz highlights the irony: This same 'magic number' doctrine is viewed as a threat if used domestically by the left, while supported by both GOP and Dem foreign policy hawks abroad.
    • Mike Benz [19:33]:
      "...what they're talking about is toppling a government...the protests will be too big to contain. The government will have to step aside..."

4. Funding & Organization of Protests

• NGO Funding and Ties:
  • Groups like "Indivisible" are described as major recipients of funding from organizations such as the Open Society Foundation, allegedly organizing and coordinating "rent-a-riot" actions (see [19:33]).
  • Academic and institutional training for protest leaders at places like Harvard Kennedy School is posited as evidence of a professional infrastructure for mass protest organization.
    • Mike Benz [19:33]:
      "...a rent a riot theoretician group and incubator. They bring riot leader riot coordinators from foreign countries to Harvard Belfer center and the Harvard Kennedy School..."
  • The techniques, including blocking roads to provoke police responses, are said to mirror CIA handbooks for destabilizing governments abroad, now allegedly implemented at home.

5. Refugee Populations as Political Instruments

• Somali Community in Minnesota:
  • The show argues that U.S. refugee policy has imported large populations from conflict zones—such as Somalia—not merely for humanitarian reasons but to foster political patronage systems and influence power dynamics both in the U.S. and overseas.
    • Mike Benz [32:00]:
      "What really started to happen during the Cold War was you began to have city specific ethnic enclaves develop through immigrant and refugee programs attached to CIA and military activity in their home regions..."
    • Historic analogies to Tammany Hall (Irish in NYC) and Miami (Cuban diaspora) are drawn.
  • Allegations surface that the U.S. government tolerates or even encourages local fraudulent activity so long as it helps fund U.S. international objectives (see [36:03]).

6. Global Parallels: Venezuela and Iran

• Venezuela:
  • Alleged CIA complicity in drug smuggling and creating the "Cartel of the Suns" as techniques similar to the domestic dynamics the hosts criticize (see [36:03]).
• Iran:
  • Current protests in Iran are contextualized as part of the long-term regime change agenda of U.S. foreign policy.
    • Mike Benz [45:28]:
      "The enervated energy pumping into Iran with these protests is going to, even if they don't result in substantial change to the Iranian government at present, [...] reveal networks city by city that can be capacity built through US Government and allied government supports."

7. Closing Reflections

• Natalie Winters wraps [47:01]:
  • Shifts to viewing protest clips from around the country, with commentary on the different quality and motivation of protesters, suggesting that escalation and division are increasing.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On ‘Community’ and Exclusion ([06:08]):
  Natalie Winters: “You are not part of their community… they have perverted that word probably more than they have transgenderism or free and fair elections or election integrity.”

• On Color Revolution Tactics ([12:40]):
  Mike Benz: “It’s a kind of deflated winter, suppressed attempt to recreate George Floyd 2.0… they need to keep this… people-powered color revolution… almost like deploying troops to keep the troops in ready position…”

• On the 3.5% Rule ([17:55]):
  Political Scientist: “Once you have 3.5% of a population protesting nonviolently… that is essentially an unstoppable force…”

• On NGO Funding ([19:33]):
  Mike Benz: “…one of the main organizers here is Indivisible which got $7 million at least in 2023 money… from George Soros Open Society foundation which is a very popular rental riot organizer…”

• On Refugee Population as Political Tools ([32:00]):
  Mike Benz: “During the Cold War…city specific ethnic enclaves develop through immigrant and refugee programs attached to CIA and military activity in their home region…”

• On Government Complicity in Fraud ([36:03]):
  Mike Benz: “…the FBI looks the other way, law enforcement looks the other way, because this fraud ends up capacity Building US military and CIA activities…”

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Important Timestamps

• [00:59]–[02:48] — Governor Walz's address: calls for peaceful protest, moment of silence, and action in memory of Renee Goode.
• [04:01]–[04:53] — Protester calls for armed resistance and says “time for peace is over. They fired the first shot. It is time to end this by any means necessary.”
• [05:43]–[12:40] — Natalie Winters’ segment on the “phalanx of fraud,” the twisting of “community,” and the logic of the episode’s argument.
• [12:40]–[14:47] — Mike Benz on failed attempts at mass mobilization, comparisons to George Floyd, and the new video evidence.
• [17:54]–[19:33] — The 3.5% rule and color revolution strategy breakdown.
• [32:00]–[36:03] — Benz discusses the origins and uses of Minnesota’s Somali population for international and domestic politics.
• [36:03]–[41:37] — Parallels to Venezuela and the CIA’s role in drug running.
• [45:13]–[47:01] — Discussion on the meaning and implications of regime change in Iran and how these tactics are mirrored domestically.
• [48:03] — Protester chant montage: “No justice, no peace… No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA…”

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Episode Flow and Audience Utility

The episode is direct, combative, and conspiratorial in tone—characteristic of Bannon’s War Room. The conversation is densely packed with connections between local events, ideological divisions in America, and longstanding tactics of regime change in foreign lands. For listeners unfamiliar with the events in Minnesota, the episode provides a perspective that situates these protests within both domestic political conflict and a global pattern of engineered revolutions. The arguments are underpinned by references to both historical precedent and specific institutional actors (NGOs, government agencies), leveraging both anecdotal and theoretical evidence.

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Where to Follow Up

• Mike Benz:
  • X (formerly Twitter): @MikeBenzCyber
  • YouTube & Rumble: Mike Benz Cyber

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This summary offers a comprehensive, timestamped roadmap through Episode 5057, capturing the major narratives, memorable moments, and analytical threads for anyone seeking to understand the show’s perspective and arguments regarding recent events in Minnesota and beyond.

Transcript

[Minnesota Governor Tim Walz]

To hear this from me, I. The desire to get out and protest and to speak up to this administration of how wrong this is. That is a patriotic duty at this point in time.

[Protester 1]

That's fine, dude. I'm not mad at. Boy, show your face. I'm not mad at.

[Protester 2]

That's okay.

[Protester 1]

We don't change our plates every morning. Just so you know, it'll be the same plate when you come talk to us later. That's fine. U.S. citizen, former. You want to come at us? You want to come at us? I said go get yourself some lunch, big boy. Go ahead. Out of the car.

[Advertiser/Host Voice]

Get out of car.

[Mike Benz]

Get out of the car.

[Protester 1]

Foreign.

[Minnesota Governor Tim Walz]

Minnesota Governor Tim Walls here. You witnessed in Minnesota yesterday a tragedy, the death of Renee Good on the streets at the hands of a federal agent. You also witnessed last night a beautiful vigil, a peaceful visual people expressing their constitutional and First Amendment rights in a peaceful manner. And for that, I say thank you. I've been very clear. We need a couple things here. We need Minnesota to carry out this investigation, to make sure that the professionals at the BCA and the local law enforcement, who's in charge of law enforcement, make sure we do the investigation and then to pull back this unnecessary surge. And so with that, I would ask for all of us to continue to do this peacefully, continue to raise our voices, but do so in a manner that brings about that sense of community in Minnesota. I'm declaring tomorrow at 10am on January 9th. I'd ask everyone to pause for a moment of silence, to remember Renee Goode, also to remember all that's good and right about this nation. And I'm going to ask folks if they can. I'd ask employers to give their people some space. I'd ask each and every one to find a way to contribute in your community. Might be shoveling your neighbor's walk. It might be being at a food bank. It might be pausing to talk to someone you haven't talked to before, but to show the goodness, to rise up, to make sure that we're being very, very clear about this, that we expect our constitutional rights to be respected, that law enforcement is local, that we expect accountability of our elected leaders, and that we are not going to go quietly and we're not going to give up on those things that matter so much to us. And chief amongst those is human dignity, respect, rule of law, all of the things that we know make this country great.

[Protester 1]

Go ahead, shoot me. Shoot me. Shoot me. Go ahead, shoot me. Shoot me. Shoot me. You want to shoot me? You want to shoot me. Shoot me. Go ahead, shoot me. Shoot me. Pepper. Shame me. Hurt me. Shame at you. I'm your grandmother.

[Protester 3]

Trump.

[Protester 1]

Down with Donald Trump. Up, up with immigrants. Up, up with immigrants. Down with Donald Trump. Down, down with Donald Trump. Up, up with friends and neighbors. Up, up with friends and neighbors.

[Protester 4]

Down, down with Donald Trump with no cause and. And murdering people for trying to flee and for obeying a command to leave the area and then shooting her in the face like that after she drops her kid off at school. There's. We have to show up with guns. We have to. There's no other way around it. I don't care if I don't have a Minnesota carry permit. I'm unarmed right now. But this is the last time I show up to face these guys without a weapon. There's no way I got shot with a pepper ball five minutes after walking in here. I never laid a finger on them. I never raised a hand to them. I've only been using my voice. The time for speaking is over. The time. The time for niceties is over. The time. The time for peace is over. They fired the first shot. It is time to end this by any means necessary.

[Advertiser/Host Voice]

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.

[Mike Benz]

You'Re not going to stop it. It's going to happen.

[Protester 3]

And where do people like that go.

[Mike Benz]

To share the big lie? MAGA Media. I wish in my soul, I wish.

[Protester 3]

That any of these people had a conscience.

[Advertiser/Host Voice]

Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my.

[Mike Benz]

Country, this country will be saved. War room. Here's your host, Stephen K. Bann.

[Natalie Winters]

You're in the war room. It's Friday, January 9th, in the year of our Lord 2026. It's Natalie Winters hosting, filling in for Stephen K. Bannon. I think he's down in Texas doing, I'm sure, a wonderful live event. So I was going to say you're stuck with me. You're not stuck. Don't worry. We got a pack show. We're going to speed through. I think basically all the show kind of do a special just with Mike Benz for at least B, C and D blocks. I am going to tee off a bit on the cold open. We just played for you. That's everything going down in Minneapolis, across the state, all things ice, all things dhs, cbp, commissioner, you name it. I think what you're seeing there, we can call it the phalanx of fraud. We like the Praetorian guard analogy here too in the war room. But what you're seeing, I think is a definition, fence, line form essentially. So you cannot get to the heart of what we are really probing in Minnesota. It's not about the authority or the rights of border patrol officials, ICE agents, law enforcement, take your pick. It's about the systemic fraud, not just that happened there, but that was pushed and urged on, turned a blind eye, if not outright incentivized by the elected leaders there of the Democrat party on the state level, the local level, but most importantly the national level. I mean, let it sink in. Tim Waltz, how wild is it that a VP candidate not that long ago, in a very alternate universe he could be sitting in the White House right now. Not only has he dropped out of the race, but his state is in complete and utter disarray over something that is really not all that radical, really a foundational issue of this country. Sovereignty, border security, the idea that our tax dollars should not be subsidizing a bunch of third rate foreigners who hate this country, are Islamic extremists, that's being euphemistic. And have no respect for this country. And when they think about what it means to be American, that means how many government subsidies and programs can I get enrolled in so I can, I don't know, live off the welfare state? That's their definition of what being an American means to them. And I think it's quite telling. For those of you who are maybe a little skeptical about the fraud, the large vast swaths of it going down in Minnesota, all the proof you need is the response that you're seeing. I think they what sometimes like to call it an antibody, right? That's the resistance to the fraud. Although I think what we're seeing is more of a full blown outright virus. If you disease. If you look at some of these people protesting, I'm not sure, maybe it's a mix of tetanus and HIV or monkeypox. But I want to drill down. You know, here in the war room we really pay attention to words and language and rhetoric and something that we're hearing a lot and we're going to play some more clips is really focusing in on this concept of community. Community, community. And I wanted to juxtapose Tim Waltz's words before the alleged Attempt to basically kill an ICE agent with a vehicle. Obviously that lady was killed, she died. Then you see Tim Waltz going on Twitter doing the whole casual video, talking about how, oh, we need to have a moment of silence for the community, the community and all the kind of Democrat members of Congress are really toeing in, toeing the line on that one. And I think that that's very telling because what they're trying to signal, not just because they're community organizers and community activists, but, but it's that you, whether you're a hard working, tax dollar paying, tax paying American citizen, a member of this audience, a member of maga, you are not part of their community. And they have perverted that word probably more than they have transgenderism or free and fair elections or election integrity. But they are making it very clear that community does not include customs and border patrol. It does not include maga, it does not include you. If you think that America deserves to have a border and even through leg immigration pathways, this country should not be continued to be exploited and pillaged at the hands of third world foreigners. That's not radical. I think that's what the founding of this country was about. And let me just say that this is a reminder to the weak Republicans who what, every like week or so feel the need to tell us that we need to seek unity, right? That's their favorite word, unity. These are the people that they're telling us to seek unity with. And I don't know about you guys, but I want no unity with people who are as deranged as the clips that I just played. Right? The modern left, the progressive left, what you're seeing, they inherently treat protest and disruption as some sort of moral good, which really doesn't make sense at face value. But that's how you see them now, justifying the most outlandish things, whether it's, you know, states rights, the ideas that these states can do what they want. I think I remember that in history. I don't think the Democrat Party necessarily on the side of that contextually. But more importantly, you also see them endorsing things like second Amendment rights. Remember when they're saying that they should fire on the investigative reporter Nick Shirley for showing up to these Somali daycare centers. It's a complete inversion of their whole worldview because the only thing that they care about is creating chaos. And it's quite, I think, an Alinskyite projection that they got going on there, tying it back to community organizing where they're essentially accusing these ICE agents of, of basically what they are guilty of, whether it's the Somalians, the left wing NGOs, right. Oh, these people are showing up, they won't reveal their true identities and they're misusing funds, they're misusing resources. I'm pretty sure that's exactly why they were sent, because there's a bunch of foreigners who are doing that. Using your taxpayer dollars to scam you out of, I think, billions of dollars more than the entirety of Somalia's gdp. And that's a generous. That's still even with all the World bank money flowing in. Anyways, I think it's time that Tim Waltz issues his formal retraction of calling what us Republicans. We're the weird one. I think. Weird ones. If we're the weird ones, then I think I don't want to be normal because your state is in complete and utter disarray. And we're going to, like I said, we're going to play more Eclipse. You can see from North Carolina to New York to all around and across the country, this is metastasizing from. Hopefully it's not a Fort Sumter moment, but you never know with the state of the modern left. I think we got Mike Benz. Mike, I rambled enough. I want to bring you on. It's been a while since we've had you on. We've only got a few minutes. But I just want sort of your top line assessment before we get really granular because I know that's what the audience wants of everything that we're seeing go down in Minneapolis right now.

[Mike Benz]

Well, it's a kind of deflated winter, suppressed attempt to recreate George Floyd 2.0. I think the cold weather and maybe lack of a protected identity group status about this makes it less of a hotbed. I don't think it'll reach anywhere near the George Floyd levels of things. But this is. They need to keep this we talked about a million times. But this kind of people powered color revolution. People on the streets, force hungry, enthusiastic and active. It's almost like deploying troops somewhere to keep the troops in ready position so that when the hot summer approaches, they're warmed up and good to go. This, I think is effectively what we're doing. We're seeing in Min. Once again, Minnesota. This is the same Minnesota that kicked off the George Floyd riots. But you know this tape that came out today about the. The car hitting, which I think was the opening clip that you played in that montage, hitting the. The officer ending once and for all with incontrovertible smoking gun evidence that she had indeed effectively tried to run him over. You could hear the the thudding, the whacking sound of the car actually hitting the officer and his looking like his body camera having to jerk away because of him being hit. But effectively that this is the equivalent of if the actual police report had been made public about George Floyd in the early days of things before the I can't breathe narrative was allowed to saturate for was effectively five months and no revelations about the fentanyl overdose. But they will continue to try this as and sit up mass parallel kind of. Chaz but we need to go after these networks.

[Natalie Winters]

I guess old habits die hard, especially when the funding sources are probably the same. We got more Mike Benz for the rest of the show right after this break.

[Advertiser/Host Voice]

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[Protester 3]

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[Protester 4]

No.

[Protester 1]

What are you waiting for?

[Natalie Winters]

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[Advertiser/Host Voice]

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.

[Mike Benz]

Want to know what Steve Bannon's thinking go together. That's right. You can follow all of your favorites, Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk, Jack Posovic and so many more.

[Protester 3]

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[Natalie Winters]

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[Protester 2]

I know you highlight these peaceful protests on your show regularly.

[Mike Benz]

Do you think they do any good? Do you think that anything comes from them?

[Natalie Winters]

Yes.

[Mike Benz]

You do.

[Political Scientist]

Yes, I do. I mean, in political science terms, there's what's called the 3.5% rule, which is that if you look at authoritarian regimes of various kinds all over the world over the last century, Once you have 3.5% of a population protesting nonviolently against a dictator or an authoritarian, that is essentially an unstoppable force that they can't oppose and that precludes them from consolidating dictatorial power.

[Mike Benz]

Three and a half percent.

[Political Scientist]

Three and a half percent. It's not that much larger a number than what we're already seeing in the.

[Natalie Winters]

Streets against Trump, you're back in the war room where 3.5% is a very important number and figure. Let that sink in. That's of course, Matt out. You know the political theorist. Well, I would just remind her humbly of who is it? Max Weber, talking about the monopoly on the legitimate use of force that does not rest with crazy rogue, as Steve says. Karen. Leftists driving cars or freaky liberal protesters or Somalians trying to kill ICE officers. Shoot them. Do whatever. It rests with the state. Just my two cents. Mike Benz, I want to bring you back in where we left off. Looking at this through the lens of that 3.5%, which I think squares kind of nicely with what you were talking about, the sort of ready reserve status of the left wing color revolution extraordinaires. What else do you think our audience needs to know about what's going on in Minneapolis.

[Mike Benz]

While you're playing that segment? I kept looking over to my kitchen and thinking if I had time to grab a spoon, I wanted to get all of this a shoehorn here. I want to gag myself. A political scientist, Rachel Maddow didn't come up with that. That was conceived in the literal color revolution studies. I mean they call it democratization studies and it's a subfield of political science, sociology, the psychology, international relations. This is essentially the color revolution theoretician number that they always constantly cite. Science has empirically validated that if you can mobilize 3.5% of the population into the streets, it's the magic number that makes a tipping point that makes it impossible for police and security services to contain the protests. And so the President, the democratically elected president, is forced to flee in a helicopter to a non extradition country so that we can install a tin pot dictator of our own who will serve our own donors and corporate interests. It's nauseating. It's hilarious. The FBI designated the 3 percenters effectively a kind of domestic terrorist group. The right wing group who cited the 3% of the population who stood up to the British folks and they openly tout this 3.5%. And there's no FBI watch list for Rachel Maddow. But the fact is, is what they're talking about is toppling a government. I mean, what you just heard her refer to is that the protests will be too big to contain. The government will have to step aside. If we can simply. I mean, this is what we see playing out right now, and this is what makes it dirty, is that Republicans love this three point. There's a bipartisan consensus on it, even though we, you know, conservatives tend to chafe when Democrats use this, especially at home. The fact is, is Lindsey Graham is champing at the bit for a 3.5% in Venezuela and in Iran. And as dictatorial as those countries leaders may be, the fact is, is this is our stock and trade technique. If a government we don't like will not willingly give us power. We seek to put 3.5% of the population on NGO payroll, on we're on dark money payroll, we're on drug money payroll, as we tried to do in Afghanistan and Iraq and Syria in order to make sure that they are sufficiently beholden to us that they have an incentive to take to the streets to get more money. And do you see the same sort of riot for hire networks at play in Minnesota? We saw them in Seattle and Portland. This is, you know one of the main organizers here is indivisible which got $7 million at least in 2023 money which was an off year. That was just their latest Form 990 from George Soros Open Society foundation which is a very popular rental riot organizer for CIA and State Department. 3.5% protests abroad but it's you know they're trying to make fetch happen. The fact is is it's cold, it's isolated, just Minneapolis. The facts of the case here are very weak but they, you know the plan is as the summer approaches and as the 2026 midterms approach the attempt to, you know, when you listen to these people because this 3.5% number was really touted by Maria Stefan and Erica Chenoweth at the US Institute of Peace which is a famous drug running gun running CIA cut out in their for that that the CIA has carte blanche to, to enter the premises and collaborate. It's supported by you know the wall of donors on, on the wall is Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and a bunch of oil companies. Erica Chenoweth is out of the Harvard Belfer center and the successor to the Harvard CIA. It's called the Harvard, it was called the Harvard center for International Affairs A cheeky play on CIA where it was caught doing CIA work directly in the 1970s and 80s and then rebranded to the I think C C T C S I a center for science and international Affairs. He put that in there, sort of blunts it. But they're a rent a riot theoretician group and incubator. They bring riot leader riot coordinators from foreign countries to the Harvard Belfer center and the Harvard Kennedy School where ekachenoweth is to train them on how to start how to kickstart a revolution in your country in Belarus, in Moscow, in Venezuela, in Ukraine ahead of 2014. So these are professionals. These are professional folks who are paid their entire career usually directly but but often even indirectly through pass through grants and sub grants by the U S taxpayer to so called serve American interests by overthrowing foreign gun countries and in installing what are supposed to be American corporations but often end up being British, Canadian, Spanish, Saudi, Pakistani and other other corporate firms that are allied to to exploit foreign resources. But here they want to exploit the treasury so that they can all pay themselves. This is what they were doing with John Podesta's 375 billion dollar climate scam. This is what the EPA was doing with $92 billion in last minute payoffs to their own friends out of the U.S. treasury, to their, to NGOs. And you know, it's something that I hope the Trump administration has learned a lesson from during the first time around. The thing I'd stress about this is going after the it is perfectly lawful to do a genuinely peaceful protest. In fact, it is our First Amendment right. We don't just have a freedom of, you know, freedom of speech in the First Amendment. We have a freedom of assembly to be able to peacefully protest. But when you are hitting police officers with your car, when you are burning down police precincts as they did in Minneapolis in 2020, or throwing Molotov police cocktails in police cars as they did in New York during those prior protests. And, and I think more interestingly for this Justice Department is the concept of blocking roads. In that, in that very video, you notice in that montage, you'll, you'll see that they, they were organized blocking of major city intersections, which is a tried and true technique in order to induce a standoff, to create a martyr. In fact, you can hear Maria Stefan, the touter of this 3.5% figure. I think even co wrote a book about the 3.5% figure where she, on US government payroll from the US Institute of Peace, actually gave a training manual for how to organize people to block roads. Well, that may be useful for the CIA to do in a foreign country to destabilize it and force a showdown with the police, but that's a felony to do in the United States of America. And the idea that what I don't like from this Justice Department's current attempt to try to go after this is, is I, I think when you see organized blocking of roads, the, what you, I think you need to do is interrogate the organizers about premeditated road closures. And once, once you have a insider manual, go to indivisible, go to MoveOn, go to the SEIU or the AFL CIO or to the Immigrant Defense Force, which is this collection of 100 NGOs in Minnesota around this. And the moment you get the training guides that show premeditated intent to block roads, you have a mass felony arrest.

[Natalie Winters]

Like Ben's. Hang with us through the break. I know the audience wants more of this. Certainly Erica Chenoweth, we've done a lot of reporting on her, her resume reads like a rap sheet. It's all about violence and trying to topple regimes. They say President Trump is guilty of that. We'll be right back after the short break.

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[Mike Benz]

Here's your host, Stephen K. Band.

[Natalie Winters]

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[Mike Benz]

Well, certainly. So what you see with, with refugee concentrations is they, they typically come here. I mean, you've had, you've had this political patronage system of ethnic immigration and then mixed into local politics since the days of Tammany hall in the early 1800s with the Irish in New York City, where you had, you know, effectively, you know, this Boss Tweed political apparatus that would import the Irish into New York City and then give them fake no show jobs, basically big piles of free money using fraud and scams and marked up city contracts, you know, a million dollars for lawn chairs type thing. And then they would then rally the Irish to vote Democrat in New York City. This has been going on with pretty much every immigrant group's first arrival into the United States in some form. But what really started to happen during the Cold War was you began to have city specific ethnic enclaves develop through immigrant and refugee programs attached to CIA and military activity in their home region, where we import vast sums of the population of a country that's undergoing a civil war as part of the effort to tilt that civil war in the US military and CIA's favor. And this is because those refugee populations, often endangered by local police or rival gangs, are, are much more useful, protected and made rich here in America, where they can then disperse money to their at home lower level grunts, as well as huge, huge remittance payments back to the home country in order to essentially serve as a alternate US Aid to fund the specific side of the civil war that the US military and CIA want to win. This is in part why Miami is disproportionately Cuban. 25% of Miami Dade is Cuban. And this was because of the CIA importing huge amounts of the Cuban community in an attempt to create a shadow government, a government in exile and a diaspora network that could champion the cause for Cuban liberty. We saw the same thing happen in Minneapolis and in Columbus, Ohio, in part because of the significant role that U.S. air Force bases played during the outbreak of the Somali civil war in 1991. Somalia was backed from the late 1960s until 1991 by a CIA backed government. Somalia is more oil than Iraq, it's got huge amounts of minerals and it sits near a very important choke point for global trade along effectively the whole strait that leads into the Persian Gulf. And so what you have is in 1991, when the CIA US government backed government in Somalia fell and a civil war broke out and there was a big power vacuum for two decades, effectively Somalia had no government at all, actually no central government. What it had was effectively a remittance system and then a proxy battle between different great powers vying backing different Somali warlord factions. And it was exactly at that moment.

[Protester 4]

That.

[Mike Benz]

Mass immigration from Somalia to the United States started, principally in Minneapolis and in Columbus, Ohio, which both had, again as I mentioned, this substantial US military vectors to Somalia. An interesting one in Columbus, Ohio, for example, where people are finding what appears to be equivalent level frauds in Minneapolis. Columbus, Ohio is a particularly interesting example because the Rickenbacker Air Force Base was used as the launch point for logistics to somalia. When George H.W. bush in 1992, December 1992, announced that the U.S. would begin a U.S. military ground presence in Somalia. Now nominally, this started with usaid. This was the, the reason the Trump administration is still involved in Somalia. We just bombed Somalia last night. We're said to be at war with Al Shabaab in Somalia, which is essentially a rival, well, a semi rival faction. It's actually kind of complicated, but there's, we're fighting for mineral rights and, and control over minds and trade in port areas. And there are rival warlord factions. So nominally we have our special forces out there carrying out assassinations of those warlords. But how did we get dragged into this? Why are we in Somalia? Well, it started with George H.W. bush in Columbus, Ohio. The second largest population of Somali Americans now adds no Somali Americans effectively at all until 1992. But as soon as the US military began launching operations from there, we imported masses of the leadership of the Somali warlord tribes that we were backing in order to enrich them. And I think this is part of the reason the FBI looks the other way, law enforcement looks the other way, because this fraud ends up capacity Building US military and CIA activities. This is the same reason that the CIA allowed drug running. Not just that, but actually built up drug running in Afghanistan, in Colombia, in Venezuela. This is now seeing the blowback of this right now frankly. In the charges against Maduro, the original 2020 indictment was listed the cartel of the Suns 32 times and framed Nicolas Maduro, President of Venezuela as being the leader of the cartel of the Suns. Well, in the revised indictment issued just six days ago, they've eliminated the references. There's only two references in the superseding indictment and they don't mention it him as a leader of it at all. And now a big part of this is because the cartel of the Suns was created by the CIA in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was created by General Ramon who was the head of the, of the Venezuelan military intelligence who was a sanctioned CIA asset a paid on the literal on the CIA payroll. And the CIA was busted. In fact the Drug Enforcement Agency, the DEA chief actually resigned when the CIA authorized through the head of the cartel of The Suns, this General Ramon, the shipment of 1500 kilograms of cocaine to the streets of Miami to be sold for the proceeds to support to buy US backed arms in the neighboring conflict zones in Latin America. But this was a case where you had at the very least the CIA greenlighting it. Greenlighting what is a international crime, the very crime they're charging Maduro with. But I suspect that many of these NGOs are training the Somali immigrant population on how to do these scams, how to exploit the system for doing it. Many of these NGOs are directly on U.S. state Department payroll. The State Department which, the very State Department that the CIA serves. And so I think that the more scam money is produced, the more money you have for the American war in Somalia. And so it's very difficult to tamp down on this fraud without running into weird corners of the blob of the bureaucracy within the US Federal government. Because cracking down on this fraud means cracking down on what is essentially pass through money in many respects to support a covert military campaign that benefits many of the both Democrat and Republican donors in the oil industry, in the metals and mining industry. And so as much as you might want to crack down the fraud, it's the same reason we never crack down on the drugs.

[Natalie Winters]

And Mike, can you just tee off on Iran too?

[Mike Benz]

Well, you know, it's, it's, you know, the domino that they were going to do my job.

[Natalie Winters]

I'm sorry.

[Mike Benz]

Well, it's it's an incredible week. I mean this is, this has been a long time coming. This is not the first attempt to topple the, the Iranian regime through a people powered revolution. It is likely not the last. But we are seeing, we're seeing breakthroughs, I guess as they would say in, in ways that past violent protests did not have the energy for. I'm, it's one, you know, this is one of these complicated factors. I think that it is in the US interest, for example to take the oil in Venezuela. Venezuela is the largest oil reserves on planet Earth. Even more than Saudi Arabia. Venezuela has more gold than every mine in Africa combined. Iran itself I think has the world's third largest reserves of oil and fourth largest reserves of natural gas. It is like Venezuela, one of the most bountiful plots of dirt on all of planet Earth. And if both Venezuela and Iran can be effectively regime changed, I don't want to say within a week because it's going to take a very long time. I don't know whether to call what's happening in Venezuela full regime change at this point because it's a weird combination. It's not a military coup and it's not a color revolution. It's kind of a, we've kind of put what appears to be, I don't want to say an asset, but a more pliable negotiating partner in the form of Delsey Rodriguez in power through this. But in Iran, the level of COVID action here is, is going to be through the roof. And I think whatever networks are, I.

[Natalie Winters]

Think Mike, most people get to break the audience is going to kill me.

[Mike Benz]

We'll talk more about.

[Natalie Winters]

It's not my choice. We got a few minutes left in the show. We'll be right back.

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[Natalie Winters]

Welcome back to the War Room. We've only got a few minutes left with Mike Benz. Mike, wrap sort of what you were saying, but also more importantly where people can keep up to date with everything you're working on. We know you never stop. You're digging into all of this.

[Mike Benz]

Well, the Iran situation is going to have months long fallout. I think the enervated energy pumping into Iran with these protests is going to even if they don't result in substantial change to the Iranian government at present, it will effectively reveal networks city by city in Iran that can be capacity built through US Government and allied government supports. And so I think that you can expect to see new fresh rounds of sanctions and kind of military encirclement, if not outright military strikes in conjunction with the protest to try to effectuate the toppling of the government. And I think that this is one of these things where interests versus ethics are kind of the main pivot point here. I think what we're seeing in Venezuela and Iran are things that a regime change would undoubtedly be in U.S. interests. The question is, are the, are the ethics of the tactics used the sort of thing that the means can justify the ends, so to speak. And we will see on all that. But you can, in the meantime, you can follow all my work and coverage of this on X@MikeBencyber. Also on YouTube and Rumble I post long form videos.

[Natalie Winters]

Mike, thank you so much for joining us, taking the time out of your very busy schedule. We appreciate it. I speak for the audience.

[Mike Benz]

Thank you Natalie.

[Natalie Winters]

Thank you. Have a good one. And Warren Posse, I want to go out into the weekend playing some clips of how these protests are escalating. A lot of these clips are not from Minneapolis, they're from North Carolina, they're from New York. They're from all over the country. But also just some good viewing because there are some good protesters amidst all of this on our side of the football and some really crazy ones. And Eric Swalwell is just saying absolutely asinine stuff. I guess the whole Fang Fang thing makes sense. Have a good one. Enjoy.

[Protester 1]

No peace, no justice, no peace, no justice. No peace, no no peace, no peace, no justice. No peace, no justice, no peace, no justice, no peace, no justice, no peace, no justice, no peace. No fascist usa. No ice, no kkk. No fascist usa. No ice, no pkk. No fascist usa. No ice, no kkk. No fascist usa. No ice, no king.

[Protester 2]

Hey, Congressman. What's going on, man? What the is up with ICE rearing a woman in Minneapolis. She has a name, right? Renee Goode. Looks like she was a mom of three and had every right to go see her kids last night. And instead, she's dead. And, of course, this is what would happen when you have a president who surges his thugs into our communities masked, unidentified. And I guess you're lucky now if all that happens is you're thrown in the back of a van or you're dragged by your hair through the streets, because now they're just shooting people in the face and bodies are piling up, and we have to do something about it. We're not helpless. None of us are helpless. We have to strip these guys of their immunity. That makes them feel like they're invincible. We have to ban masks and require them to show their faces. And we have to make sure sure they're prosecuted locally. Otherwise they're going to just roam around terrorizing people, terrorizing women, terrorizing moms. And no one with a mom or a wife or a daughter should have to think about that, and no woman should have to go through that. So, yes, to ice, my message is stay the out of California. I think that's the message that every leader has to deliver across the country, because we're better than them. We're going to get through this, and there's going to be good on the other side. But right now, we need leadership, and we need to go on offense.

[Protester 3]

So as I arrived at church yesterday, I noticed that there was something going on just a block and a half from the church. And so I grabbed my whistles because we're used to doing that. And I went down to see what was going on, and I realized it was an ICE raid, and there were many, many protesters. So I joined the protesting, and before I knew it, I saw ICE agents circling a young woman who appeared to be Hispanic. And so I approached her, and we were at that point chanting, we are not afraid. We are not afraid.

[Mike Benz]

Go.

[Protester 3]

Go out of our state. We are not afraid. And I said to this ICE agent, take me. Stop harassing her. Take me. The agent came, got in my face, pointed a gun at me, and said, are you afraid now? To which I said, I am not afraid. The next thing I knew, they were putting handcuffs on me, and they put me in the back of an suv. They came back three times, and they asked me if I was afraid yet, to which I replied, hell, no. I'm not afraid of you, and I'm never going to be afraid of you. The third time when they came back, they asked for my identification. They asked for my cell phone. I asked them if I was under arrest. They didn't answer. And then they said to me, well, you're white. You won't be any fun anyway. You can get out of the car. I was astounded to experience and see such blatant racism and the effects that this is having on our community.

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