Bannon’s War Room: Episode 5085

Date: January 22, 2026
Main Theme:
A critical look at the continued distribution of $26 billion in DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) related payments by the Small Business Administration (SBA) one year into President Trump’s second term, along with how Republicans should approach Jack Smith’s congressional testimony and larger questions around lawfare and globalism.

1. SBA’s 26 Billion Dollar DEI “Slush Fund”

Guest: Chris Rufo, conservative activist and author
Segment: [00:43–13:30]

Key Discussion Points:

• Unbroken DEI Spending:
  Despite Trump’s executive orders against DEI, the SBA is still distributing $26 billion in contracts limited to minorities and women—with white men expressly excluded.
  • Chris Rufo: “In the program’s 45 year history, there’s never been a single audit done.” [02:19]
• Tokenism & Fraud:
  Many SBA contracts go to shell companies with token minority or female leadership, while real control and profits go elsewhere.
  • Rufo: “It’s rife with fraud. … Private companies run by people from all different backgrounds use token Alaska Native firms to keep this flow of billions of dollars over time, tens of billions of dollars, going.” [07:30]
• Legal & Bureaucratic Inertia:
  Trump administration officials like Kelly Loeffler at SBA cite statutory limits and legal risk as to why the program persists. Audits are only beginning.
  • Rufo: “She’s mandated the first audit, reduced the percentage of race based contracting from 15% to 5%.” [04:26]
• Call for Bold Action:
  Rufo and Bannon advocate for the “nuclear option”—ending the program outright and accepting the legal fight.
  • Bannon: “Let’s do a nuclear option here, and, hey, face them in court, because they’re going to sue you anyway…” [10:55]
• Republicans’ Fear:
  Rufo diagnoses congressional Republican hesitation as fear of being labeled racist by the media.
• The Fink/Davos Angle:
  Rufo notes that Larry Fink (BlackRock CEO) has publicly retreated from his previous DEI and ESG stances—another sign that aggressive conservative efforts have shifted status quo incentives.
  • Rufo: “If DEI is perceived as high status, corporate executives will adopt DEI. If DEI is low status, they abandon it.” [13:13]

Notable Quotes:

• Bannon: “How is this not the focus of Russ Vought, over at OMB, and particularly Kelly Loeffler... Why are they just not taking guidance from the President and let’s just get rid of it?” [03:31]
• Rufo: “Race-based contracting … that says any group can apply except for one—white men—is totally unfair, totally illegal, totally unconstitutional.” [04:26]
• Rufo: “This should be an easy layup… We don’t do DEI, we don’t do race-based decision-making. It’s gone.” [08:56]

2. Globalism vs. Nationalism at Davos: The Fink and Trump Paradigm Shift

Guests: Dr. Bradley Thayer (conservative foreign policy analyst), extended panel
Segment: [16:30–28:16]

Key Discussion Points:

• Davos as Old Regime:
  Larry Fink, now “mayor of Davos”, hints at moving Davos to Dublin—signaling desperation as nationalist movements gain traction.
  • Thayer: “He’s not going to escape nationalism in Dublin… It really shows his desperation. He wants to shed the dead hand of Davos, the dead hand of globalism. That’s the old regime.” [17:45]
• Trump’s Speech Contrasted:
  Trump, speaking at Davos, offers a candid, anti-globalist critique, asserting strong borders, shared Western civilization, and calling out the “mythology” of global alliances and elites.
  • Noteworthy Trump Moments:
    • Mocking wind turbines and European gratitude, joking about buying Greenland, and warning European leaders.
    • Trump: “What I’m asking for is a piece of ice, cold and poorly located that can play a vital role in world peace and world protection…” [19:56]
• Establishment Pushback:
  Critics highlight Trump’s “ignorant” rhetoric and suggest US global leadership is “in question.”
  • National Security Expert: “All Americans... really feel that we really have reached this real inflection point where America's leadership on the world stage is not just in question, but also now being seen as absent..." [22:47]
• Thayer’s Framework:
  • Old regime (Carney, Fink, globalists): Globalization, accommodation of CCP.
  • New paradigm (Trump): Borders, sovereignty, Western civilizational identity.
  • Thayer: “It’s a Copernican revolution… If you follow Carney, you’re dead... If you follow Trump, you’re on the path of freedom.” [32:28]
  • Calls Trump’s speech “the greatest since Pericles at Athens.” [28:16]
• Western Civilization:
  Trump’s rhetoric aligns progress and prosperity with cultural and civilizational heritage, not just trade or regulation.

Notable Quotes:

• Thayer: “…It didn’t come from tax codes, right? It came from a shared culture. …the need to defend that civilization. …Europe has to change.” [25:21]
• Bannon: “This is up there with the speech about defense of Western civilization and the Judeo-Christian West he gave in Warsaw and also his first inaugural, American Carnage.” [33:51]

3. Jack Smith’s Congressional Testimony: MAGA’s Lawfare Response

Guest: Julie Kelly, investigative reporter
Segment: [34:33–44:13]

Key Discussion Points:

• Jack Smith Testimony Preview:
  Julie Kelly previews former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s first public testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, emphasizing 10 critical questions Republicans must press him on.
  • Julie Kelly: “If anyone better represents the vengeful, reckless, punitive, destructive lawfare against Donald Trump ... it is special counsel Jack Smith.” [35:23]
• Main Lines of Inquiry:
  • Smith’s appointment: Unconstitutional, never Senate-confirmed; yet continued prosecutorial actions.
    • Kelly: “Judge Aileen Cannon ... dismissed the documents case after determining Jack Smith’s appointment violated the Constitution...” [37:36]
  • Media distortions and Smith’s misstatements:
    • No proof “classified” documents were loose at Mar-a-Lago as claimed.
    • Trump allowed DOJ/FBI access, suggesting cooperation not obstruction.
  • Abuse of Grand Jury, mishandling evidence, double standards in federal appointment protocols.
• Media & DOJ Narratives:
  Smith portrayed as Hague “war crimes prosecutor” brought in for objectivity, but in fact had been lobbying for a DOJ job in domestic terror—closely tied to J6 prosecutions.
  • Kelly: “What Jack Smith disclosed... as early as the summer of 2022, Jack Smith was in touch with Lisa Monaco… he specifically asked to work in the newly created Domestic Terror unit...” [42:15]
• Oversight Goals:
  Kelly urges House GOP to focus on Smith’s abuses against Trump, not just complaints about Smith subpoenaing congressional toll records.
• Prospects:
  Kelly is “a little better than normal” optimistic about Judiciary Committee’s performance but expresses skepticism.

Notable Quotes:

• Kelly: “It is vital for Republicans to take this opportunity and expose Jack Smith for the degenerate dirtbag that he is so the people can see what the President had to deal with…” [35:23]
• Kelly: “The real victim here is Donald Trump…” [41:49]

4. Lawfare, “Sedition Hunters,” and FBI Collaborators

Guest: Julie Kelly
Segment: [47:53–49:08]

Discussion:

• Kelly discusses “sedition hunters”—online activists/informants identified as working with (and being paid by) the FBI to identify and doxx January 6 defendants.
  • Kelly: “They were instrumental in helping the FBI not just identify these individuals, but torment them. …So I mean, I knew they were getting paid, I knew they were working with the FBI. I didn’t know they were being paid that much.” [47:54]

5. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Bannon (on Rufo’s SBA reporting): “This should be an easy layup for the administration. We don’t do DEI, we don’t do race-based decision-making. It’s gone. That’s what I’d like to see…” [08:56]
• Rufo (on status signaling in corporate America): “If DEI is perceived as high status, corporate executives will adopt DEI. If DEI is perceived as low status, corporate executives will abandon DEI. That’s the best way to have influence...” [13:13]
• Thayer (on Davos): “Davos is dead, right? That’s what Fink is recognizing: that it’s over… But you never, rarely… do you have such a juxtaposition between the old paradigms, right? …what Trump illuminated today.” [25:21]
• Kelly (on Jack Smith): “Expose Jack Smith for the degenerate dirtbag that he is so the people can see what the President had to deal with for two years.” [35:23]

6. Timestamps of Important Segments

• SBA DEI Breakdown — Chris Rufo: [00:43–13:30]
• Globalism, Davos Recap, Trump’s Speech — Dr. Thayer: [16:30–28:16]
• Trump’s Speech Analysis — Dr. Thayer: [25:21–28:16]
• Jack Smith Testimony & Republican Oversight Strategy — Julie Kelly: [34:33–44:13]
• Sedition Hunters and FBI’s J6 Efforts — Julie Kelly: [47:53–49:08]

7. How to Follow the Guests

• Chris Rufo:
  • Twitter: @realchrisrufo
  • Website: ChristopherRufo.com
  • Book: “America’s Cultural Revolution”
• Dr. Bradley Thayer:
  • X: @BradThayer
  • Getter/Truth: BradleyThero
• Julie Kelly:
  • X/Twitter: @julie_kelly2
  • Substack: Declassified with Julie Kelly

Summary

In this episode, Bannon and guests deliver a multi-pronged critique of both ongoing Biden-era (and “deep state”) racial favoritism in government contracting—persisting even under Trump’s second term—and of the old Davos-style global governance now said to be in retreat thanks to the Trumpist nationalist “paradigm shift.” Chris Rufo breaks the news on the SBA’s longstanding, unaudited, and fraud-ridden $26B set-aside program as evidence of institutional inertia and Republican timidity. Dr. Bradley Thayer frames recent events at Davos as “the dead hand of globalism” squaring off against Trump’s newly dominant nationalist West, declaring Trump’s latest speech of epoch-defining importance. Julie Kelly previews tomorrow’s House hearing with Jack Smith, urging Republicans to hammer Smith on his record of “lawfare,” abuse of process, and prosecutorial overreach in targeting Trump—warning against distractions and calling Smith the avatar of anti-Trump deep state vengeance.