Episode 5357: Huge Victory In Virginia, Judge Strikes Down Dems Redistricting Efforts; Building Back America's Economy As A World Superpower

Summary

Podcast Summary

Bannon’s War Room – Episode 5357

Title: Huge Victory In Virginia, Judge Strikes Down Dems Redistricting Efforts; Building Back America's Economy As A World Superpower
Date: May 8, 2026
Host: Stephen K. Bannon, WarRoom.org

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on breaking news from the political frontlines, specifically the Virginia Supreme Court's dramatic rejection of a Democratic-led redistricting effort, which the War Room team frames as a critical victory for Republicans in the ongoing "redistricting wars." The conversation quickly branches out to coverage of similar battles in other Southern states, the implications for the GOP’s chances to reclaim a House majority, and the broader narrative of institutional fights—between grassroots conservatives, judicial processes, and what the panel characterizes as radical Democratic overreach.

International topics intersect as well, with analysis of U.S. energy security, the ongoing geopolitical standoff in the Persian Gulf, global economic trends (with a focus on gold and reserve currencies), and the challenge to America’s economic superpower status. Prominent guests include activists, party officials, economic thinkers, and geopolitical commentators, all offering “insider insights” in an urgent, combative tone.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Redistricting Wars: Virginia’s GOP Victory and Southern States in Focus

• Breaking News: The Virginia Supreme Court strikes down a "phony referendum" orchestrated by Democrats, described as an "unconstitutional" attempt at gerrymandering. This prevents four new Democratic seats and is framed as a pivotal win for Republicans.
  • "This was four seats that Dems were going to pick up that just came back into play. This is so massive." – Caroline Wren (10:04)
  • "It took a tremendous amount of courage for these justices to do this." – Jeff Reyer, GOP Chair, Virginia (12:54)
• The conversation situates this Virginia win within a broader South-wide pushback, referencing similar fights in Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama.
• Discussion highlights the mechanics behind judicial appointments and how political leanings may influence high court decisions.
  • "A lot of those Supreme Court judges were actually put in under Republican governors." – Caroline Wren (11:50)

Timestamps:

• Virginia ruling overview: [10:04–13:58]
• Broader implications & state breakdown: [14:35–21:05]
• Call to action for grassroots and next targets: [21:05–28:05]

2. Grassroots Mobilization and Political Stakes in 2026

• Call to Action: Repeated emphasis is placed on grassroots activism being decisive both in the legal battles and upcoming midterm elections.
  • "Now is the opportunity to take your government back…you got to overwhelm the ballot with your vote." – Unidentified Guest, likely activist commentator (01:34)
  • "Our grassroots rose to the challenge in a big way…despite being heavily outspent, brought it to our best performance in the state since 2001." – Jeff Reyer (21:56)
• There's a strong, strategic focus on pressing state legislators; mention of primary challenges to GOP senators in states like South Carolina if they oppose new Republican-drawn maps, with Wren stating her personal commitment.
  • "Every single one of them that votes against this will have a primary challenger. I will personally see to it." – Caroline Wren (20:14)
• The "magic number" for a House GOP majority—218—is repeatedly cited, with the team outlining potential pickups and urging continued pressure.
  • "With this Virginia ruling…and the Tennessee map passing…That puts Republicans at 212 safe seats. We need six more." – Caroline Wren (10:04, 25:08)

Timestamps:

• Activism and voter mobilization: [04:52–05:57, 21:05–21:56]
• House majority math and strategic outlook: [25:08–28:05]

3. International & Economic Situation: Persian Gulf, Oil Markets, and China

• International Tensions: Reports on ongoing U.S.-Iranian standoff in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump's blockade strategy is detailed, aiming to put pressure on Iran, who in turn retaliates and sustains the standoff, impacting global oil flows.
  • "What they (Iranians) are making sure of is the strait is closed to everyone because by just a certain amount of violence...insurance companies are not going to be willing to insure oil tankers." – Anderson Cooper (paraphrased reporting) [03:21]
• Eric Bolling provides real-time market updates on vessel counts transiting the Gulf, predicting possible falls in oil price, but warns high gasoline prices are likely into the fall—potentially a political risk in the midterms.
  • "Seven vessels have transited the Gulf in 24 hours...oil could come substantially lower…but you're going to have high pump prices at least mid-summer." – Eric Bolling (37:20, 40:36, 42:12)
• Ties are drawn between Middle East tensions, U.S.–China rivalry, and the threat to the dollar’s global reserve status (via BRICS and gold accumulation).
  • "The BRICS nation, Lula and the Chinese Communist Party are maniacally focused on destroying the petrodollar in the Persian Gulf, are they not?" – Stephen K. Bannon (48:55)

Timestamps:

• Persian Gulf standoff and oil: [03:21, 37:20–42:12]
• Geopolitics, China, and reserve currency debates: [47:39–51:26]

4. America’s Economy and Jobs: How to Build/Preserve Superpower Status

• Economic Assessment: Guest David Malpass (ex-World Bank) interprets jobs numbers as an improvement post-Biden, but stresses the need for more inclusive, non-AI-centric job growth.
  • "There's job growth, which is good. It's amazing. It's recovering from Joe Biden. There's lots more to be done." – David Malpass (32:22)
  • "The answer came back this morning, no, not enough. I want to work more…we need this whole of government effort to have more training." – David Malpass (32:22)
• Critique of past STEM initiatives and the need to balance AI-driven disruptions with strong, skills-based training for traditional and high-tech industries.
  • "We have to have a national effort, like a Manhattan Project, to have job skills coming up through our school system…actual skills training that is tested…" – David Malpass (49:42)

Timestamps:

• U.S. jobs report and economic outlook: [32:22–36:15]
• Response to AI displacement, calls for skills education: [36:15–37:20, 49:42–51:26]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Caroline Wren, on the Virginia Court Ruling & Redistricting:

  • "I have never been more excited to be wrong about something..." (10:04)
  • "You need good state GOP chairs. We need a good, strong national GOP that cares about election integrity..." (27:39)

• Stephen K. Bannon, on GOP Momentum:

  • "We're at 212. Don't. Don't let people. The black pill people take. Suck on this. We're winning this thing. It's a game of inches, like the Western front, World War I. It ain't pretty." (52:26)

• Unidentified Political Commentator, on Grassroots:

  • "What the hell are you talking about, Stacey? This breaks down to a weird, simple thing, and you know it, I know it. Everybody now got to get off their ass... and get busy. About the vote this November…" (01:34)

• David Malpass, on Economic Policy:

  • "We need a whole new system to control government spending like the Magna Carta did with the kings of England." (51:52)

• Eric Bolling, on Oil and Politics:

  • "At this point...Trump should probably keep the blockade on, continue choking the Iranians out of their money, choking the Chinese out of their oil, and suck it up. Buttercup on midterms." (40:36)

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Important Segments & Timestamps

| Segment | Topic | Timestamps | |---------|-------|------------| | 1 | Redistricting battle, Virginia Supreme Court ruling | 10:04–13:58 | | 2 | Southern states' redistricting strategy, grassroots activism | 14:35–21:56 | | 3 | Economic outlook, jobs data analysis & policy responses | 32:22–37:20 | | 4 | International perspective, Persian Gulf situation, oil | 37:20–42:12 | | 5 | U.S.-China rivalry, BRICS, reserve currency discussion | 47:39–51:26 |

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Conclusion and Takeaways

This episode of War Room is pitched as a rallying cry for the conservative base, urging vigilance and ongoing mobilization in the redistricting fights—depicted as structural "wars" fundamental to the GOP's potential resurgence. The intersection of judicial wins, coordinated grassroots activism, and legal battles is contrasted against perceived Democratic radicalism and national media opposition.

Internationally, the U.S.’s position in the energy and currency wars is linked to its domestic political fate, with looming economic risks and rivalry with China and the BRICS nations. The fervent tone combines celebratory breakthrough (Virginia court) with continued calls to arms (midterms, legislative battles), interlaced with granular, strategic analysis and insider updates from state and national GOP operatives, economic policy experts, and market-watchers.

Listeners are left with the message: "Victory begets victory"—so keep up the fight, on every front.

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For Further Information or Action:

• Caroline Wren: @CarolineWren (X/Truth Social/Getter)
• Virginia GOP Decision: @VA_GOP (X), virginia.gop
• David Malpass Analysis: @DavidrMalpas (X), Malpass WSJ op-eds
• War Room Live Updates: warroom.org

This summary covers key content and themes while providing the original energy and urgency reflected in the episode’s tone.

Transcript

[Caroline Wren]

The NAACP almost immediately sued to block

[Stacey]

this effort from Tennessee.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Can you give us a sense of

[Stacey]

what fighting back in this moment is

[Caroline Wren]

going to look like?

[Stacey]

It's going to require that we remember we are the United States of America. And so we have to sit what Tennessee is doing next to the fight that's coming out of Louisiana, next to the fight that will follow in Mississippi and likely in South Carolina. We are watching in real time the restoration of the very laws that pretended racial neutrality but. But were intended to deny black and brown voters the right to participate in democracy, which is one of the principal goals of authoritarianism. They do not want the people who may disagree with them to be heard. And right now, in the United States, race is the strongest predictor of political leanings. And so it's a lucky twofer. They get the partisanship, but they also get the white supremacy that they see. And I sat in a hearing yesterday in London, Nashville, Tennessee, when 1. When the author of the legislation said, well, this is a conservative state. We should only have conservatives. And they intentionally erased the only black district, one of nine districts, the only one that allowed black Tennesseans to have some voice because they've already cracked Nashville. But we have to remember this is happening around the country, and it is part of an intentional nationwide pattern of behavior. We can be angry about Tennessee, and we can laud the Tennesseans who have fought back so ably, but we've got to remember they started in the south, but they're coming for everyone.

[Unidentified Guest (Possibly a Political Commentator)]

Race is a leading predictor. Y' all don't want to talk about DEI out there. Y' all don't want to talk about race, but everything you do touches on all of that. Everything you're doing touches on all of that. It's hitting black people upside the head. It's hitting brown people upside up the head in their communities. So what. What are we talking about here? And I love what you just said. I mean, you have this legislator saying, well, this is a conservative state, right? We should only have conservatives. Then why the hell y' all out here? B word inserted about California and New York and other liberal states, other blue states. So why are you so concerned about what they're doing? If, you know, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, we conservative. So we want all conservative. It doesn't matter that we got black and brown liberals, Democrat, Republican in our state, as long as they're not conservative, they don't get to vote. They don't get the right to have a voice. What the hell are you talking about, Stacey? This breaks down to a weird, simple thing, and you know it, I know it. Everybody now got to get off their ass. I'm sorry. And get busy. About the vote this November, you got to overwhelm the ballot with your vote. If you want to stop this mess, you need to start unelecting these state legislators. And I know I had a hand in putting some of them there. Be honest about it. They turn out to be tickle heads. All right. The reality of it is this is the opportunity now where you begin to take your government back. People. Stacey, talk about that piece of it. Because I don't think people really appreciate how valuable the vote has become. If you never thought it was important before, damn it, it is the most important thing in front of you right now.

[Anderson Cooper]

Essentially, what you had was a deadlock, right? The Iranians had blocked the Strait of Korbuz. Then Trump came up with this idea. No, we are going to block the strait so that no ships can go through, not even your own. And then Trump thought that would be enough pressure to get the Iranians to make massive concessions. It didn't work. So then he decided three days ago, okay, I'm going to try and break this blockade. But by calling it a humanitarian convoy, humanitarian corridor, the Iranians fired back. That didn't work. Now he's tried again in various ways. The basic dynamic is this, Anderson. Trump is trying to see what can put pressure on the Iranians to come to the table and make concessions fast. The Iranians know that and are willing to take the pain as long as the pain is distributed to everybody. So when they fire, it's not like they're getting ships out. What they are making sure is the strait is closed to everyone because by just a certain amount of violence, you know, some drones, some. Some fast productivity insurance companies are not going to be willing to insure oil tankers passing through the Gulf. So effectively, it shuts down this very important pipe of the global economy. And the Iranians, in a sense, have. Have an advantage, which, because all they're trying to do is raise the insurance price, Trump is trying to open up the strait for everyone, a much harder task.

[Stacey]

You are in a safe place. You got to start sending your resources, your support and your intentions to the states that need your help. Do not abandon the South. They incubate evil here, but they. They. They farm it out everywhere. But we also incubate the solutions here, and we know we can win this fight. But, yes, we've got to win in November. That means showing up for primaries. That means Showing up for the general and then it means making sure we're paying attention in 27, in 28 and in 2030 when the census happens, because that's when they start this all over again. We can pull this off, but we've got to start fighting now because we're already behind, but we can catch up. I also think that, I mean, so this ballroom that he's building when, after the revolution in Ukraine, when they chased out their Russian aligned dictator, they turned his estate into a museum of corruption and they preserved everything as it was so that people could walk through and see how he had lived at their expense. And to me, that's kind of a very good potential use of this ballroom because somebody's going to have to preserve this to explain what happened.

[British Conservative Politician]

Good morning, everybody. I am delighted to be here in the sunshine outside Havering Town hall, which I can now say is under new management. And I love to hear, and it's significant, it's our first win of a borough in London. And that in some ways goes against the trend, because the pattern that's emerging over the country is that Labour are being wiped out by reform in many of their most traditional areas. And what you're going to see later on today is the Conservative Party being wiped out in their heartlands like Essex. So London goes a bit against the trend in that the Conservatives and Labour have held up in some of the other boroughs. But I think overall what's happened is a truly historic shift in British politics. We've been so used to thinking about politics in terms of left and right, and yet what reform are able to do is to win in areas that have always been Conservative. But equally we're proving in a big way we can win in areas that Labour have dominated, frankly, since the end

[Stephen K. Bannon]

of World War I.

[British Conservative Politician]

At the moment, we're winning one in three of all the seats that are up. But I genuinely think the best is yet to come. I'm very excited about the north east results, the Yorkshire results, some more to come in the West Midlands. Essex, we're feeling supremely confident and that's significant given that half the Shadow Cabinet have seats in Essex. So it's a big, big day. It's a big, big day, not just for our party, but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way. And it all goes to show that over the course of the last two years, since we made that breakthrough in the general election, we have professionalised the party. We've done it at a very, very rapid rate. I'm thrilled and delighted.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Yesterday morning at 2:41am at General Eisenhower's headquarters, General Jodel, the representative of the German High Command and of Grand Admiral Donitz, the designated head of the German state, signed the act of Unconditional Surrender of all German land, sea and air forces in Europe to the Allied Expedition Expeditionary Forces and simultaneously to the Soviet High Command. Hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight, Tuesday 8th May. We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing. Today is Victory in Europe Day. Tomorrow will also be Victory in Europe Day. We must now devote all our strength and resources to the completion of our tasks both at home and abroad. Advance Britannia. Long live the cause of freedom. God save the King. Friday the 8th of May, year of the Lord 2026. What a day already. Of course we're commemorating the end of the war in Europe back in 1945. Also, massive win by our colleague Nigel Farage in the United Kingdom. Blockbuster news as we came on air. The Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Virginia has nixed the phony referendum by the left wing radical Democrats. Those four seats are not going to Democrats. Jeff Rye is going to join us by phone in a moment, but I want to start with the Caroline Wren. Caroline. Tennessee, South Carolina, now Virginia. Unbelievable. Ma', am.

[Caroline Wren]

I have never been more excited to be wrong about something than I am being wrong about the Virginia Supreme Court. This was a like right before we came on this ruling just came out. I mean that was four seats that Dems were going to pick up that just came back into play. This is so massive. I'm so glad the Supreme Court did clearly the right thing. The process was unconstitutional. We all knew that. I just have lost faith in our institutions. And so it is great to see something like this be upheld. We have two massive court wins now with the VRA ruling, now this. And now we are all eyes are on the magic number, Steve, which is 218. That's what you need for the majority. We do not want speaker Hakeem Jeffries. 218 is what we need. With this Virginia ruling and the Tennessee map passing last night. That puts Republicans at 212 safe seats. We need six more. And guess how many more seats are currently on the board for grabs with redistricting? Six. Louisiana, you've got two. Alabama, you've got two. South Carolina, one Mississippi one. You get those six. That is game, set, match. And that does not even account for, by the way, the fact that we've removed 3.5 million at minimum illegal immigrants from this country who will no longer be voting this time around. So I am very optimistic today.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

No, that's what I told people. You see in the grassroots effort in Texas and the commonwealth Virginia, we're going to put up a fight in this thing. Don't go black pill on us. But the commonwealth Virginia, I think what the. Because these were essentially liberal and Democrat judges, it shows you the length of how radical the Democratic party did on this map that even these judges, the process and the map they couldn't defend. Correct, ma'?

[Jeff Reyer]

Am.

[Caroline Wren]

I think so. Someone explained it to me well about them. A lot of those Supreme Court judges were actually put in under Republican governors. They serve 10 year terms and they are reelected by the legislature. And so I think the argument someone made to me as to why they thought the Supreme Court would do the right thing is, look, if you're one of these Supreme Court judges who's going to be coming up for a renomination by this legislature and you were nominated by a Republican, they're not going to care how you ruled on this case. They're throwing you out anyway. The Dems are radical. Governor Spamberger is absolutely radical. They want one of their radical judges in there. And so there will be no reward for you to basically violate all of what you know is right in the Constitution and say, yes, this is fine, this illegal process is fine. And someone told me that two days ago and it was fairly convincing. And now we're seeing it play out in real time right now.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Okay, hang on a second. Caroline, stay right there because we gotta talk South Carolina, Tennessee, these other six. I want to bring in Jeff Reyer by phone, the chairman of the GOP in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Jeff, amazing victory today. Can you tell us what happened?

[Jeff Reyer]

Well, the Supreme Court ruled in our favor and did so rather emphatically and explained in its ruling that what the General assembly had done was in fact unconstitutional, which was our contention from the outset. And it took a tremendous amount of courage for these justices to do this. And doing the right thing isn't always easy. And we are obviously very, very grateful that the court ruled in favor of the Virginia Constitution and. And in favor of the voters of Virginia, frankly.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Is this put in high relief in front of the entire nation? How radical, Spanberger, in this, in this radical legislature in the Commonwealth. Because this is the people that are going to rule you unless we stand up to them like the Grasschards did in your amazing effort in the referendum. Is it? And I think many of the issues you brought up and pounded over and over Again, these justices took to heart. But does this show once again how radical these Democrats are? They'll rip up any constitution, the US Constitution or a state constitution to get power.

[Jeff Reyer]

Absolutely. It is part of their DNA at this point that their end goal doesn't matter as far as what the means are. They will just go ahead and plow forward regardless. And if it were not for a brave judiciary that's willing to actually look at the Constitution. And a lot of credit here goes to Judge Hurley and Tazewell for pointing out the flog and what they had done just a tremendous amount because that, that took a lot of guts. And if it weren't for that, we'd be sucker.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

I'mma hold you for a break. Just hang on. Wow. Incredible. From the midlands of England to Tennessee to the state capital to the Commonwealth of Virginia, we are on a roll. What did, what did Churchill call it? Victory Day, May 8th in the year of our Lord 2026. Short break. The American health care system is broken. And for most Americans, nothing changes. There's still delays, denials, high cost insurance, roadblocks. So when I find people doing things differently, I talk about it all. Family Pharmacy is not your typical big chain pharmacy. This is an independent family owned pharmacy that gives you access to over 400 medications delivered straight to your door. They've got ivermectin, antibiotics, antivirals, nad, even your daily maintenance medications and so much more. If you already have a prescription, your doctor can send it directly. If you don't, their doctors handle it. As long as there is a medical necessity, they'll take care of you. And I'll tell you this, the feedback from people listening to this show and watching has been incredibly strong. People are using it, it's working for them and they're sticking with it. That's because it cuts out the delays, the middlemen and all the usual nonsense. This is about being ready before you need it. Go to allfamilypharmacy.com that's all one word. Allfamilypharmacy.com Bannon and use code Bannon10 to save 10%. The health care system is broken. Your pharmacy doesn't have to be. Okay, thank you. You saw right there, Tennessee yesterday. I got Jeff Reyer on the phone, chairman of the gop. Blockbuster news right out of Virginia, Caroline Wren. This is what it's about. It's between total anarchy of these Marxists and in the rule of law and the Constitution. You saw the Constitution yesterday being upheld in Tennessee moments ago. The Constitution being upheld by The Supreme Court in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Supreme Court itself, upholding the Constitution a couple weeks ago. Why are these feckless Republicans? It's a fight and it's not pretty. But we need the feckless Republicans in these other states, particularly Georgia, South Carolina, to understand that this is about the constitutional order and the grassroots are prepared to go into battle to defend this. Ma'.

[Jeff Reyer]

Am.

[Caroline Wren]

Absolutely. I do worry a little bit. This ruling could get some of these squishy Republicans to say, okay, you know, now we can stand down. Absolutely not. We have to go full speed ahead. Double down. There are six seats still on the table. Actually, there are. There are 10. But Georgia paths. And I'm sorry to say that I give up, but, like, Kemp isn't going to move. So those are four totally wasted seats that will have to live under an unconstitutional map until 2028. But again, Louisiana, they are still trying to decide to go for one or two. Go for two. Why would you go for one? That is nuts. Go for two. Alabama, there are two seats up for grabs. Alabama's trickier. I'm putting less pressure and kind of throwing out firebombs on that one. It has to do with lawsuits and how quickly they move. One of the lawsuits would just have it refer back to a map. That would make it a plus one. If another lawsuit moves quick enough, then it could be plus two. So it is less about, like, calling your state legislators and more about the legal process. South Carolina, next week. The House is debating it right now. The state Senate is going to take it up. The Democrats are using this ridiculous talking point saying, this is so great. This is actually going to be a dumb mander and we could end up gaining two seats. I'm like, okay, if you really believe that, then fine. The South Dakota state House is going to vote today. Then I expect every Democrat to vote for this, and then we actually don't have a problem and we can let the squishy yards vote. No, because if you really think you're going to pick them up, then put your money where your mouth is. Vote yes. So I've been calling them out today about that. The reality is they use this play in Tennessee everywhere else, saying, oh, this is going to be good. Then when it passes, they are just apoplectic. They are sobbing on the street. I mean, look at Tennessee. Look how unhinged they were. The Tennessee Democrat Party was saying, oh, trying to dare us. Go ahead, try and do this. We'll end up gaining two seats because you'll disperse out Democrats among Your other districts. Well, then it passes and they are literally losing their minds. So South Carolina, take note of the meltdown in Tennessee because that is how the Democrats are going to be when you pass this next Tuesday.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Have South Carolina agreed, have they already agreed to move their primary to August? Is that what the vote is about next week?

[Caroline Wren]

No, there are two votes there. They are in hearings this morning, and those are the debates right now. So one is to move the primary to August 11th and then the other one would be debating the actual map. Then they have to go over the state Senate, which is much more of a problem. We have several problem senators in the gop, the South Carolina state Senate, you know, a lot of these just like they're similar to Indiana to where they are, you know, they, they either want things out of it or they don't watch the national news unless NPR is talking about it. They are unaware of, you know, the grassroots support of this. And so they need to understand that they will. Every single one of them that votes against this will have a primary challenger. I will personally see to, see to it. I've done a lot of South Carolina politics in my life and I have no problem coming and camping out there and running a primary against every single person that votes against redistricting in South Carolina. Mark my words.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Okay, hang on a second. We're gonna have a call to action for the posse. Maybe just stick right there. Jeff Reyer, the grassroots. I want you to see what happened in Tennessee. And if people, it's like a five minute clip that I played twice last night because people are so outraged about it, because that's the difference. That's what we're talking about about. It's either ruled by the savage mob or ruled by constitutional order. Jeff the amazing grassroots effort led by you in the Commonwealth of Virginia clearly influenced Judge Hurley and the Supreme Court. That's why these grassroots efforts are so important. So people know, and particularly people in power know that the, the basic working man and woman, the middle class man and woman out there, are absolutely repulsed by these, by the, these unconstitutional districts and will fight like hell to make sure it doesn't go down. Sir.

[Jeff Reyer]

Yeah, and absolutely. And in our case, they were integral to the, to the effort. At the beginning of this, there was an assumption that we were going to. The forces that were against this were going to get wiped off the map by, by double digits and an overwhelming spending campaign on the part of the Democrats. But our grassroots rose to the challenge in a big way. And despite the outcome, despite being heavily outspent brought it to our best performance in the state since 2001. We took it right to them. And actually, the election results showed why these districts were bad, because what ended up happening, the only place where the yes votes carried were places where Democratic votes were heavily concentrated in dense urban areas, disenfranchising half of the state. And I like to think that it helped to steal the resolve of the judges along the way to do the right thing. And they did, and we're grateful to them. But, boy, we are very grateful to the effort that our grassroots put in and also to the help of the War Room Posse, which was integral to our success. They were with us before anybody else was helping, and it made a huge difference.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Well, Jeff, thank you for the kind words. Steel resolve, I think, is great. Your leadership was unbelievable. Where do people go? They want to find out more about this. This is blockbuster. MSNBC is going to go into a couple of days of mourning here, and so we want to be able to mock them every second. Where do people go on your social media and to your website to find more about. More about this great victory in the Commonwealth?

[Jeff Reyer]

Well, you can read the whole decision because we have posted it already on our, on our X account. It's at capital V, capital A, underscore, capital G, capital O, capital P. And we've already posted it there. We'll be doing more on our website, which is Virginia, spell it out dot gop. And we will still be collecting donations to help defray the costs of this effort because we were represented. Although we got a tremendous amount of assistance from the Republican National Committee for the legal effort. We, we still have expenses left over from our very valiant effort in the referendum. So you donate button in the upper right hand corner. And we appreciate all the help we can get, but this is a great day for Virginia and for constitutional government, period.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Unbelievable. Thank you, sir. The constitutional order. Caroline Wrenn, I want to take a second, go back to your math for all the black pillars and all the doomers. I said, look, if we just, you know, take a deep breath, it's going to be a tough fight. We're a long way from there. But the reditioning wars are everything. If we, if we chop our way through here with a machete, we're going to end up within striking distance of actual victory. And you're telling me now, hey, Bannon, the way I look at this math, we may actually, we get the redistricting wars right in the next couple weeks, we may actually be there. The magic number is 218. We're approximately at 212 right now.

[Caroline Wren]

Yep. With Virginia overturning, we're at 212. That are either categorized. This was, I think Cook report. So like as lean R or safe R. And then, so really, I mean, we need. You need six more and there are six on the board, I guess is my point. That would become safe R immediately. And then, then it's really. I mean, you'd have to have like, catastrophic loss. But even then, like, it's not like it's. It would be some blowout or something. But I do not want to wake up in November with Speaker Hakeem Jeffries because of one seat. And we would have left one seat on the, on the board and say Louisiana or Alabama, we already left four on the board in Georgia. That is why I'm like, no, we have to continue full speed ahead. Again, Louisiana, they go into session today. They are debating right now whether to go for just one seat or two.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Need to.

[Caroline Wren]

There's a lot of background as to why that is. The legislature wants two. Governor Landry wants one. They're trying to kind of carve up this damn district to leave Cleo Fields. That would have Baton Rouge and New Orleans combined. It's basically we're doing their job to gerrymander for them. It's. It's idiotic. Alabama could go for two right now. The way it will snap back to just one if there's certain court rulings. So that is less of the grassroots needing to step up. So that's either gonna be a one or two pickup for sure. They're in session right now. And then South Carolina, that vote we're expecting to happen on Tuesday, it is a big slog. You'll see a lot of stuff on my social media account today about the. Who are the senators trying to oppose this? Where can the grassroots be pushing their efforts? Because that these South Carolina state senators have got to hear from the base today about why this is so important. Mississippi, again, this one is also tricky. Governor Tate Reeves is doing great job. Called a special session. It's starting May 20th. There's an easy seat for grabs. There's. Their primary has happened in March, though. So right now they are trying to figure out, you know, what it would look like if you were to redraw a map. How do you go redo a primary? But to their credit, again, they are all looking at this. Lawyers looking for a solution, trying to find a way to a yes.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Yep. Caroline, you're going to be bomber command today. Where do people go, particularly in Louisiana and Mississippi? Folks, we need you to the ramparts today. You are winning. You have momentum right in football. We are moving the chains. We need to move them more. Louisiana and Mississippi, where they go to get your social media. Caroline Rennie, get marching orders.

[Caroline Wren]

And one last thing. This is why the state parties in the national GOP matter. Joe Gruders has been eminently better than Ronna. He funded these lawsuits you saw right there with the Virginia GOP chair. You need good state GOP chairs. We need a good, strong national GOP that cares about election integrity and lawsuits. Lawsuits. We fought for that for the last four years. We got it. We're seeing it now manifest itself. So thank you to them and you can follow me at Caroline Wren on X Truth Social and Getter.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Okay, let's get to Caroline today. She's Bomber command. Mississippi and Louisiana today at the ramparts. Short commercial break we're going to talk about economics in the war in the Persian Gulf. Modern day the dollar's convertibility into gold ended in 1971. Gold was fixed at $35 an ounce. Well, fast forward to today and the US dollar has lost over 85% of its purchasing power. Gold, on the other hand, is increased in value by over 12,000%. That's why Central banks are buying gold at record levels. That's why major firms like Vanguard and BlackRock hold significant positions in gold. And that's why I encourage you to consider diversifying your savings with physical gold from Birch Gold Group. But it starts with education. Birch Gold just announced their Learn and Earn Precious Metals event. This free online event rewards you for learning the basics of investing in precious metals. Sign up to get a free silver on your next purchase. Get even larger incentives as you go. The more you learn, the more you can earn. But you must act now as this special event only runs through April 30th. The dollar lost its anchor in 1971. You don't have to lose yours. Text my name, Bannon B A N N O N to the number 989-898 to join Birchgold's Learn and Earn Precious Metals eventually by April 30th. Text Bannon B A N N O N to 989-898 and do it today. Here's your host, Stephen K. Bannon. Folks, let me break you down this way about national elections or electoral process. There are three things I think one should and you should take your number two principle out for this. One is structural, two is process and three is content or maybe contents to Structural content and process. Process is the grassroots effort of voter engagement. Okay? We know that we can do that. When people are motivated, they're motivated by content. The structural issues we're taking care of, that's what you're finding. This is what this whole redistricting wars and everything about the voter integrity and, you know, making sure illegal aliens don't vote, all of that, those are structural issues. And right now we are running the tables on them. On the structural side, we are close, within hollering distance of the magic number 218. Because in this situation, the only, you know, victory is everything. The issues we have is, to me is content. Right now we got a big content issue and we have to be realistic about this. Bollinger, join me in a second. I think it's pretty obvious the foreign minister of the Persians of Iran was in Beijing the other day. What in the hell, are they having a meeting with him 10 days or a week before, two weeks before President Trump shows up for a meeting? It's obvious that Beijing and unless we put the screws to him, which we're not right now, totally, that Beijing and the Persians want to drag out this war in some aspect until the summer or fall to make it a major part of the 2026 midterm. Bowling's going to be in a moment to talk about what's transpired in the last 24 hours and what it looks like going forward. David Malpass, former head of the World bank, former number three in the Trump 45 Treasury Department, talked to me about, we just had jobs numbers. And to me the key they talk about affordability. You have to solve for the equation of growth in the economy, growth per individual and of course, wage growth ahead of inflation. If you have if people have discretionary income or have income higher than the inflation rate, at least you've got an argument with them how things are getting better. Are we accomplishing those tasks right now in this jobs report that came out this morning? DAVID malpass, we are.

[David Malpass]

There was job growth, which is good. It's amazing. It's recovering from Joe Biden. There's lots more to be done. And I think that's what people feel in terms of the wages, the affordability issues. We need lots more jobs and we need to be the party of job growth in Britain. You know, they labor under this idea that there's the Labor Party versus the Conservative Party. They need to change the names because if you get a free government going, you get more jobs. President Trump, of course, is the standard bearer for that the construction jobs, the manufacturing jobs. He built big chunks of New York City. Four of my kids born there. And they benefited from each of the things that he did in terms of creating construction and manufacturing jobs. And we need that times 10 for the nation as a whole. So I think that the number this morning was, was good, but we can do a lot better. You know Steve, there's two surveys they do out of the Department of Labor. These are technical issues, but they're really important. They go to companies, especially big companies and ask how many jobs? And they're creating jobs. But then they also go to small businesses, the household survey and ask people, do you have enough work? And the answer came back this morning, no, not enough. I want to work more. There was a -226,000 on the household survey this morning. So what my message is we need this whole of government effort to have more training and you know, we need to start in grade school and junior high and high school junior colleges teaching people that they can have a really good wage by making America great. And that's a message I think that we've got to double down, triple down going into the midterms.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Hang on. We had this program, a program like this started a couple of decades ago in which we're going to change the entire elementary school system, all the grammar schools, everything to stem. We're going to have to teach people math and technology and science and you know, you had to dump art, you had to dump a part of history, you had to dump after school programs because everybody had to be stem. Now yesterday another massive company in Silicon Valley I think had what, 7% of their workforce they bottom blue because of artificial intelligence. How do we handle the artificial intelligence jobs apocalypse at the same time that we're trying to focus on actually building a workforce that has the skill sets you need for today and tomorrow, sir,

[David Malpass]

I think Americans will rise to the occasion. What you were talking about 20 years ago, that was the no Child Left behind program and it went through the teachers union. You know, they never overcame problem. So as what, what's happening right now is we're trying to push back on China, but there's not nearly enough. You know China is still growing in its use of international organizations which one thing that we've talked about here, the IMF and the World bank still getting bigger and bigger which are gives China an advantage. But as as far as the skills then children will gravitate to where they can be successful. They have to be allowed to in the system. And we need coming out every month that say that that are aligned with what President Trump wants to to create the workers of the future. He did it with no tax on tips. Remember, that's very important because people were getting heavily taxed at the elderly are getting taxed when they take Social Security so they don't work. And so we want all those people in the labor force looking for jobs. And then I have no doubt they'll learn how to do AI and use it every day in their jobs.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Everybody will hang over a second. David, I'm gonna come back to you talking about we'll talk about China in a second international debt. So stick there. Eric Bolling, enlighten us, brother Bolling, on what are the markets telling us a particularly number of ships going through what is happening? We have a ceasefire. I guess the, the program of Operation Freedom kicked back in last night. We're going to do more convoy service. Although Navy ships were fired upon, I think President Trump struck back. But he said the ceasefire is not over. The, the, the Iranians have been doing nothing but smack talking us on social media and they sent their foreign minister over to meet with the Chinese Communist Party, which is I think a direct slap in the face to the United States government and to President Trump. I do understand that President Trump heard enough nonsense at Alula yesterday. They shut that whole thing down, which is a good start. That's a good, that's a good pre game warm up for the China for the Beijing meeting. You're tell me what's happened in the Gulf today.

[Eric Bolling]

And I was just texting my guy who has one of my biggest oil traders who has access to that proprietary information, those Bloomberg terminals. And I asked them while you were saying this because I forgot to ask him the vessel count. Remember Steve, four days ago it was 11. Three days ago it was four. I'm sorry, two. Yesterday it was exactly zero. And now today it's seven. So seven vessels have transited the Gulf in 24 hours. Noteworthy that both the US has fired on Iranian ships and Iranian ships have actually fired on a US I believe is destroyed. I'm not sure what they hit, but President Trump this morning outside the White House, I guess in the North Lawn waiting to board Marine, what it looked like said that oh, it was a love tap by the Iranians and then we pounded them into the bottom of the see. All right, so the market opened $2 higher in crude oil and it was very, very nervously traded, very quiet trading. It now slipped to lower. While I was on break with you, I'm going to do this for you, Steve. Only Stephen K. Bannon in the war room. I added to, I put in a very large bearish position expecting oil to come down, maybe not in the next week or two, but a long term bet for oil to come substantially lower while I was waiting to come on the show. No one else is going to give you that, my friend. But talking to these guys, remember yesterday we spoke, I believe, at the 4 o' clock handoff, I said, these are the smartest people in the room. In energy, in geopolitics, everything is because there's so much money on the line for these conglomerate oil companies. And they had shifted from a very bullish stance when we were at CPAC in Dallas to now telling me. They're giving me this indication that maybe this thing has played out to the upside so far and it may be retreating. I will tell you one thing about that economic number that got released today, the jobs report. Combine that with the 2% GDP growth, I do believe it was last week or so, you have two very, very strong numbers now. David Malpass makes a very point. It's job growth. They were expecting 60,000, we got 113,000, ballpark. And that's good. But he would like to see a more broader growth because a lot of the growth happened in the AI space. And this is a very important little asterisk right here. The growth is in capital expenditure in the AI space. In the midst of an Iranian war where oil prices are going up, which should put a damper on anything AI because AI just sucks in energy almost as much as transportation does. It'll get to the point where it may almost compete with transportation as the unknown pull for crude oil, natural gas and liquefied propane gases and others.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Is it obvious the way that Iranians are? Because I don't believe, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think we got the one pager yet. Their draft or their markup, their strategy right now seems to me that they think it's to their advantage to drag this out as long as possible and to take this into the summer, into the midterm elections and try to force the American people to turn on President Trump and the Republican Party. Because there's even, even with the Persians being very careful, close to the vest negotiators, we're not seeing a lot of momentum on this. Correct. You agree with that?

[Eric Bolling]

Yeah, yeah, I agree with you. I'll tell you one thing also that day, late last night, the CIA, the CIA put out a report that said the Iranians are able to withstand the blockade for several months, not weeks, several months. They have enough defensive firepower to withstand the blockade. So that tells me that they're not going to relent unless there's a deal. But Steve, at this point, I mean, you're right up against the ability to turn the energy price market down. Not just crude oil. You can get that down fast. The actual pump prices for gasoline right now we're pushing 30, 40 days ahead. Even if crude starts coming down now, you're going to have high pump prices at least mid summer. If this lasts another two months, you're going to have a high, you have a $4 or higher pump price, first number into September, October. At this point, I have just come around to believe that now Trump should probably keep the blockade on, continue choking the Iranians out of their money, choking the Chinese out of their oil, and suck it up. Buttercup on midterms. Because what you talk to us about with Caroline Wren is wildly widely, it's euphoric, almost think that in the midst of all this stuff going on and high gas price that there's a chance we can still recapture or maintain the House and the Senate. That's fantastic. And you're right. The structural part of that is the way to do it and we're getting it done. I don't know if Caroline mentioned the Florida 4 or 5 that they could pick up. Was that, was that counted in her

[Stephen K. Bannon]

2, 218 or 12 that to, to get to the 212 that you count the Florida and you're counting the Virginia now. That's why it's, those are, those are kind of counted.

[Eric Bolling]

So it's one more dumb question. Jeff, Jeff, Jeff Landry is a very pro Trump, pro conser. Conservative.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

No, he's great governor.

[Eric Bolling]

Why would he not want to.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

There's, there's, there's lots of, there's lots of, as Mike, folks in Louisiana say, there's a lot of local issues tied up with that last seat. So Landry's 100 MAGA. It's this fact of do you take two or take one? And they're saying one now and one later. But folks are saying, Governor Landry, we love you, we know you're MAGA. There's all kind of internal politics about that seat, but we got to have it. And you're seeing that across the board.

[Eric Bolling]

I'm going to go to his alligator hunt and I'll lean on him if that helps.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

That's okay. Eric, where do people get you through the day. We're gonna do a handoff late in the 4 o' clock hour, sir. I promise I'll be prepared.

[Eric Bolling]

Listen, listen. You find me right here. You find me on war room while this oil thing is going on or economics. I'm here for you. See you for 4 o' clock in the 4 o' clock hour with the handoff and I just booked, with your permission, I just booked Caroline Wren for the 3 o' clock for the 4 o' clock hour.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

So yeah, we want her everywhere. Thank you brother. Let you go back to work. Hope that trade works out for you, Bolling. Might have to give up that yacht if it's. It's not Malpass. We're absolutely packed from now to the end. Malpass is going to give us some guidance on all of this. Fellow patriots, the Federal Reserve has portrayed America for over a century. Printing fiat, inflating away your savings, serving globalist masters. But President Trump is ending it. President Trump is wielding a 112 year old law to reclaim control from the rogue Federal Reserve. He's replacing Jerome Powell. Slashing rates, igniting America's re industrialization. Now this is not theory. Government backed industry plus low rates unleashes super cycles. History does repeat. Gold's already exploding. Minors are up over 400% in the last year. What Rickards is calling Trump's gift is wealth for American patriots, not global handouts. Now it's America's turn. Jim Rickards former CIA and Pentagon veteran says act now go to insider2026.com that is insider2026.com to get Jim Rickards Strategic Intelligence newsletter today. Strategic intelligence based upon predictive analytics. It's what chairman and CEO throughout the world read and you should too. War Room here's your host Stephen K. Bannon. Make sure you take your phone out now more than ever with markets and capital markets particularly on fire Commodity markets on fire Tex Bannon Ban 9898 get the ultimate guide for investing golden precious metal. This is a totally free guide. It is no obligation. You get to talk to Philip Patrick and the team. First question you ask him is hey Philip, why are the central bank still buying gold at record race through the end of the first quarter of 2026. What's going on? What's happening? We thought that taper up by now. And what does that mean structurally for the go the market and physical gold? Ask them that question. Get the answer that could change your financial future. So it's upon you go there right now. Get to Philip Patrick Asking the question, what is this continual. I think we're in the third year of it. Record rates of buying by central banks of physical gold. What does that have to do with me? So check it out. Birchgold.com promo code Bannon end of the Dollar Empire or Bannon B A N N O N at 989-898 for the ultimate guide. Two separate documents, all free. All the information from Birch Goal is free. And you want to talk to Philip Patrick's team. David Malpass. Lula comes to the White House yesterday and you know, he's the one trying to lead the BRICS nations and destroying the petrodollar. They have a change normally and we were all set up for it. I was not happy. I'm not a Lula fan. My understanding is the Vice President, President J.D. vance was not happy about it. Marco was not happy about. A lot of folks around the president. Don't know how this got set up, but not happy about Lula coming. I think the president, when Lula got there, sized the matter up and said, hey, ma', am, I'm not going to bring in the pressure right now for a traditional bilat. Let me have this thing play out. It was decided they wouldn't do a joint effort. I think part of that, as a president, understands that Lula is a bad guy. And you got to see, besides all the flattery and the way he's working you all the time, when the president sees that up close in person, particularly Lula's partnership with the Chinese Communist Party. So you've had Lula come to the White House, try to work the president. You had the foreign minister of the Persians go to Beijing 10 days before the meeting. You couldn't have a bigger slap in the face. So, David, what's your assessment? You were head of international finance in the Treasury Department for President Trump. What do you think is going on and what can we accomplish, particularly regarding this war in the Persian Gulf? In Beijing, sir,

[David Malpass]

full pressure on China. But I was glad to see President Trump push back on President Lula. You know, he's a deep socialist. He came to the Hiroshima summit, the G7 summit in 2023, Lula did and lectured Joe Biden. Joe Biden just sat there and took the lecture. It was a lecture all about how the governments are wonderful around the world and they should be much bigger. So it was good to see President Trump push back on that as, as he goes to China. We've got to recognize, you know, China is run by the Communist Party and they're not our friend. They're our, you know, they're, they're a competitor there. We, we have to stand up around the world, including in the Iran, in the Iran sphere, China's been getting this big discount on its oil coming in from both Russia and Iran. And that's got to stop. China has to understand that and that we're going to keep the pressure on there. There's lots of other things I think the US should be pushing on. China says it's a developing nation. You know, the US Needs to go in and say we are the dominant nation. The dollar is much better than the Chinese yuan, and that'll, you know, get their attention because they think they're going to be taking over the world financial system.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Okay, hang on, hang on, hang on. Slow down, slow down, slow down, slow down. You used to run the World bank, you know, the imf, you number three Gun International. You've been saying for years that we, we institutionally, the United States of America allows China to be treated institutionally like a, like a developing nation. And we've got to stop that. But I want to go to the heart of this because we've been making this argument about the end of the dollar empire. I don't want to see the end of the dollar empire unless people have a national conversation that we shouldn't be the prime reserve currency because things would change if we're not. And maybe people think some of us for the better. But the BRICS nation, Lula and the Chinese Communist Party are maniacally focused on destroying the petrodollar in the Persian Gulf, are they not? David Malpass?

[David Malpass]

They are, and so they have institutions to do that. In Shanghai, there's the new development bank. That's what we call the BRICS Bank. And the international system allows it to stand right beside Western institutions as a preferred creditor within the global debt system. That should stop. The World bank is still lending to China and is still requiring 45% of lending to be climate financing, which goes to China. And so there's this pushback that's needed across the board. I think those can be on the table as the President meets and pushes on. President Xi and I think China will figure that out, that the US is just a much bigger, stronger economy with more technology, and they better be aware of that. And then at the same time they have this lock on critical materials. Steve, I want to come back to the jobs thing. We have to have a national effort, like a Manhattan Project, to have job skills coming up through our school system. All the Way, way up. It's not this no Child Left behind stuff that came out of the, out of the 2000s. We've got to have actual skills training that is tested and available for machine tool operators, electricians, people that can build the grid with American products rather than Chinese products. That's going to take time. But President Trump is the right one to launch that. He's the jobs president, the construction president and the manufacturing president. And I think we need to remember that every day and go forward.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

David, where can people go? I'm going to have you back on hopefully another day, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week. About this New York Times article about the national debt and how nobody seems to care except for David Malpass and the. Where do people. Where do people go to get. Particularly you're writing there. They're allowing you to write some great op EDS in the Wall Street Journal. God bless you. Where do people go to get them?

[David Malpass]

So on my Twitter is at Davidr Malpas. That's on X. But then you can put in, into Google, put in Malpass, WSJ. What I did was the fake debt limit. You know, they pretend in Washington that we control it it and we don't. It always goes up. So we need a whole new system to control government spending like the Magna Carta did with the kings of England.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Wow. In the barons. Okay, I'm gonna get on top of that. We're gonna have you back on. We need it, brother. More than ever. Malpass. Keep fighting. Thank you, sir.

[David Malpass]

Thank you.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

David Malpass, former head of international finance for President trump. And for first turn. Wow. Victory begets victory, folks. We're at 212. Don't. Don't let people. The black pill people take. Suck on this. We're winning this thing. It's a game of inches, like the Western front, World War I. It ain't pretty. Remember victory. A victory is a victory. Short break. If you're 65 or already on Medicare. Listen up folks, and grab a pen, maybe even a number two pencil. Call 845-WAR room. That's 845-WAR room. Call it right now. I'm serious. Call it now. Here's why the insurance companies and their lackeys in the Washington swamp have built a Medicare system designed to confuse you and rip you off. Rising premiums denied, claims, fine print. Nobody but a lobbyist understands. Millions of American seniors are paying too much and getting too little. And worst of all, most don't even know it. Hey, that could be you. That's why if you're already on Medicare or will be soon. You need to talk to our friends at Chapter. They have a team of advisors trained to serve American seniors, not the insurance companies. In under 20 minutes, they can find you the best plan for your needs at the lowest cost. Why? They're a data company. They have all the data on every plan. It's totally free. There's no pressure, no bs Just straightforward, honest help from fellow patriots. So don't wait. Call 845 war room right now. That's 845 war room. Tell them Bannon sent you. Now, listen, in the first couple of days of the launch of this company with the Warren Posse, Posse members saved tens and up to hundreds of thousands collectively of dollars in these fees. Go check it out. Today. That's chapter. Call 845-war room. Do it today.