
Episode 5442: Stranded Behind The Border; Where We Are With Hispanic Voters ...
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Steve Bannon
This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people. Reasons I got a free shot. All these networks lying about the people, the people have had a belly full of it. I know you don't like hearing that. I know you try to do everything in the world to stop that. But you're not going to stop it. It's going to happen.
Steve Cortez
And where do people like that go
Steve Bannon
to share the big lie?
Steve Cortez
MAGA MEDIA I wish in my soul,
Steve Bannon
I wish that any of these people had a conscience. Ask yourself what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.
Steve Cortez
WAR ROOM here's your host, STEPHEN K. Band.
Steve Bannon
It's Saturday the 13th of June in the year of our Lord 2026. We are going to be everywhere this morning. We're going to be somewhere. We're actually going to open in El Paso Texas with Ben Berkwam at the wall. The one that we built back in 2019 over Memorial Day actually the best mile of wall I guess three quarters of a mile ever built. We were going to be there with Ben bright eyed and bushy tailed. But we're not. We got Ben Berkwam but Ben went on a night patrol last night. Ben Berkwam joined us in a packed Saturday morning here in the war room brother. We want to start up on the top of that ridge right below, what is it, Mount Cristo. Right below where the flags are the flagpoles. That beautiful kind of platform that Brian Kolfage and the team built looking out over Juarez and beautiful El Paso talking sicario. That was a five fact we got you on early last night.
Ben Berkwam
That'd be nice.
Steve Bannon
That was the plan. That was the plan. Hang on. That was the plan. We got you on early in the show yesterday so you could continue the five hour drive from Big Bend Texas to El Paso. So we could open the show with that. But we're not there. Where are we opening the show this morning? And what happened last night on your night patrol?
Ben Berkwam
Yeah. That turned into 13 hours of fun. So I'm in no man's land, Texas. I'm in my truck right now. Slept in the truck. There's this part, I'm about 30ft away from the, the border. I could throw a rock into the border. But I'll just kind of show you just little, little like set the scene. These are my, these are my boots, these are my, my shoes. To give you an idea of what I was dealing With. So I came down here because this is a stretch of. We call it no man's land. It's basically very few law enforcement, very few border patrol. It's pretty much just rugged dirt road that turns to really nasty clay mud this time of year sometimes. And unfortunately I got stuck in it. I was out here, crossed several illegal alien trails actually on the way out here as I left town on this gravel road. Let me just get out of the truck. By the way. Thank God. If you're gonna spend a night on the border, you got to have your. My pillow.
Steve Bannon
Promo code. We're actually going to promo code. It's not promo code. Frontline promo code. War room. Continue on. Michael Lindell would love it. A marketing pitch.
Ben Berkwam
Yes, that might.
Steve Bannon
That My pellet. That might. That might. My pellet. Comes in handy, doesn't it?
Ben Berkwam
It does, man. It does. It's a lifesaver. By the way, don't drink this Gatorade. I'm just telling you that right now. The. You gotta have your patriot mobile hat too. And your patriot mobile phone.
Jack Posobiec
All right, so let me get out of here.
Ben Berkwam
So this is where I'm at currently.
Steve Bannon
Holy. Hang on, hang on. Hold it. Pull it. Oh, my Lord.
Ben Berkwam
So I tried just. Just give you an idea of. And I don't want to stay out here too long because the, the mosquitoes are. I've got like a thousand bites on me. But yeah, so I got. I'm about, I don't know, six feet away from getting up to a place where I could get out. But the problem is this goes on for another half mile. I didn't learn until afterwards when I started doing some recon that there's actually a bypass road around here. But it says private property keep out. I. I learned that that's. That only the locals know that you use that road when this happened. So I got to. I got to here. I have a four wheel drive. So I grew up in the country, you know, I know how to deal with these situations. I came in over here. You can kind of see down that way. And I got. I was pushing it. You got to come in fast. I got up to about here and I was just, I mean literally a couple feet from popping out. And that's it. And I spent about four hours. So I started with no shovel. I hiked about two miles around, found these, some of the wood, the two by fours and stuff to shim under the wheels, hoping that that would loosen it up a bit. That didn't do it. So then I ended up Walking about four miles back to a little village, found a guy named Juan and I borrowed a shovel from him and I spent the next couple hours digging in the clay that didn't work. So, so now I've got another guy with a four wheel drive that's going to be coming down with the sun in a couple hours. So, but that's Mexico. That rock right there, that's Mexico right there. So this is anyways that, that was my night.
Steve Bannon
But, but Ben, hang on. I want to make sure people understand this. This is one of the reasons Ben's going to be deployed back to the border for a while because it's never over. I mean, as strong as President Trump has come in here and building the wall and we've got, you know, that's down to nothing. They're, they're, they are gathering on the northern border of Mexico and at the first inkling that the American government is weak, Ben, you can jump back in, jump back in the car. I don't want you to get eaten alive by mosquitoes. What that shows is think of, listen, the people that want to come here, want to come here. Right there, that is no man's land. It's one of the reasons we don't have border patrol. It's one of the reasons we don't have wall built down there in that kind of, in that sector. But those people will risk that to come through there. My point is that the gravitational pull of American jobs in the American lifestyle and of course all the freebies the government will still give them is a huge gravitational pull and people will think about if you didn't even have the truck, just having to do that on foot where the coyotes oftentimes will just cut you lo and say, hey, There's a village four miles down the road. I hope you find it.
Jack Posobiec
Right.
Ben Berkwam
50 they'll go, they'll go, these guys will go 50 miles. So what I'm, I mean, I, I, I, I actually felt the Lord tell me that last night. Just say, you know, thank, be thankful for what you got. I, I got a truck that's got plenty of gas that had AC in it all night. I got plenty of water. What the illegals are doing is that. So that's a, that mountain is in Mexico right there. Yeah, they'll come over that mountain and then they'll go up stuff like this for 50 miles and they'll be sleeping. I, you know, I got to get in my truck. I had to kill about 100 mosquitoes when I got in my truck. But I, I got to sleep. They'll be sleeping out here in the scorpions and everything else. The coyotes don't care at all about them. Now granted they're coming in illegally, they shouldn't be here. But it is to like, to see what they go through. And you think about who's, who are the people that are going to be coming this way? Like who would, who would put themselves in that situation? And I mean, clearly the answer is someone who's incredibly desperate. Either, you know, desperate to get out of where they're at or desperate because they know if they get caught, they've got bad intentions for this country or they've been deported many times before.
Steve Bannon
We've never demonized these people that do it. It's the people that, the cartels that make it happen. The Mexican government, the Biden administration that opened the door and said, come in. NGO NGOs are the worst. The people are making bank off of this. They're making money. Ben, jump back in your truck. I'm going to go to Cortez, I'm going to talk about some polling. So Cortez, it's, this actually worked out perfectly. You've actually done some, some. And you spent so much time down the Rio Grande Valley and you were one of the first ones, you talked about this years ago when we sat there and go, hey, because I'd spent time down there and we'd launched Breitbart Texas years ago, that these folks are hard working Hispanic American citizens. And they are, they're the ones at the front line getting crushed by the illegal aliens coming, coming across. And we're seeing it building up again. And that's why I keep telling you, as great a job as President Trump has done, the apparatus, the system itself wants the illegal aliens. And you can see from what the system did with not taking the pulte as, as DNI and getting rid of Tulsi Gabbard and confirming Jay Clayton in five days. When the system wants something, the system's going to get it. Tell me what, you've been doing some polling of these Hispanic Americans and cause everybody's running around. You can't have mass deportation. You can't do this because the Hispanic Americans in the country hate it. And they flipped on Trump. Your thoughts, sir?
Steve Cortez
Yes. So listen, I just did a national poll of Hispanics. I believe it's very revealing and I think it's mostly good news, not all good news. Hispanics are upset with Trump, they're upset with the Republican Party, they're upset with the economy right now. But the really good news is they agree with the immigration agenda of America first. And what we're showing right there, I think is the key question that I asked. This is a national survey of Hispanics. And again, I'm not, I'm not stacking the deck here. This was not overall a pro Trump, pro Republican poll. However, when we say what concerns you more, high prices in the cost of living or ICE and immigration enforcement, as you can see right there, 73% to only 19%. So fewer than one in five Hispanics in our poll say that what concerns them more is ICE and immigration enforcement. Instead, we get almost two thirds, excuse me, almost three quarters of Hispanics telling us that what concerns them are high prices. Hispanics, Steve, overwhelmingly, statistically are working class people. That's just who they are. So who we are demographically in this country. So inflation disproportionately harms Hispanic Americans. They are angry about it and immigration is just not high on their priority list. Now if you listen to D.C. republicans, if you listen to the so called experts, to the establishment Republicans, they're all telling us no, we're losing Hispanics because of immigration. My poll shows by the numbers, by the data that that just is not true. It's the economy that they're mad about and again, they are irritated, but it's not because of immigration. And by the way, Steve, as you well know, these two issues are inextricably linked. How do we best get, how do we in the quickest form get to higher pay for working class Americans, including a lot of Latinos? It's immigration enforcement, right? It's making sure that illegals are not coming in, they're not competing in the labor market against American citizens. And even more than that, I believe it's also getting rid of legal American foreigners who are working in this country, legal immigrants coming to this country on work visas. The more we restrict that flow, the better life is going to be for all American citizens, including a lot of Latinos.
Steve Bannon
You know, in the double whammy that's coming and this is the case we've got to make to the Hispanics and to Latinos. Is that what the Democrats taking back over now you're going to get the out of control spending, Spending is bad enough right now, but the out of control spending that fuels inflation. Also supply chain problems, supply side problems because they're not supply side and any type of tax, tax cuts or incentives and they're not interested in bringing manufacturing job back. Plus they're all set to open the borders again. This is. The people have to understand, you know, Louis XIV said this after me, the deluge, after Trump, the deluge. They understand President Trump is a guy with his finger in the dike, but the entire system is trying to work not just to destroy Trump, but this, this is one of their number one priorities. They want to go back to open borders and back to flooding zone because it's bigger consumer markets, right? You know, more consumer, more consumers here to, to, to spend. And also they drive wages down. Steve Cortez.
Steve Cortez
Yeah, you're exactly right. And look, this is capital. What does capital really want? It wants cheap labor, right? That's what capital wants in this country. And for too long, our country, our culture, our politics, our. Our economy have been dominated by the demands of capital from the very highest levels. And the oligarchs want a continual flow of cheap labor into this country. But that has been miserable. It has eviscerated the middle class of this country, which includes a lot of hardworking Hispanic citizens. And again, what they tell us in this poll, I mean, let's listen to them. Let's actually ask the questions in a scientific way, which I did, and let's listen to them. What are they angry about? And again, they're angry right now, okay? That's reality. We have to face reality. Reality is they're angry. They're angry about the economy and specifically about prices. They're not angry about immigration enforcement. As a matter of fact, they fully. When I, in my poll, by the way, when I describe the Trump immigration policy, which is offering incentives to illegal immigrants, and if they don't take those generous incentives, the American people are being very generous with illegals when they don't take those generous incentives that they then get removed. Overwhelming Hispanic support, overwhelming for that policy when it's properly described to them. That's another problem, by the way, a lot of Hispanics don't even know that that is actually U.S. policy. Because if you're a legal citizen of this country, Steve, if you're a, a legal Hispanic citizens in the United States, guess what? You don't obsess over immigration. You just don't. They do in New York newsrooms, okay? They do in a lot of the salons of Georgetown where Republican big shots try to tell us, oh, this is our problem with Latinos. When you actually go and meet Latinos in places like the Rio Grande Valley, you figure out that, number one, they don't like illegal immigration if they're thinking about immigration at all. But for most citizens Again, this is just not top of mind whether they're brown, black or purple. Immigration isn't top of mind. It's prices. That's what's bothering Hispanics right now. So let's take care of the economy. Let's get back to growing real wages, which was happening pre war. Let's get back to that trajectory for bad hombres and proud Latinas out there. And we are going to re earn their support. We got it in record number, record fashion in 2024. We can do it again, but it takes a good economy to do it.
Steve Bannon
Steve, hang on. We'll hold you the next block. Ben Berkram's on the border. Posos coming on. Eric Metaxas, Joe Allen. Huge, huge development last night, right when we went off the air. The government, yes, the United States government, restricted Anthropic's new model from having any access for folks overseas. And it was not voluntary. It was mandatory. A big move by the White House. We're going to get into all of that this morning. Only in the war room. Buy gold and put some silver in your pocket. I know what you're thinking. Everything's expensive right now. How am I gonna buy gold? Pull your head out of the sand. One thing you can control right now that doesn't cost you anything out of pocket is diversifying your retirement savings. Birch Gold Group will help you convert an old 401k from a previous employer or an IRA into a physical gold IRA. Let me repeat that. Birch Gold will help you now convert an old 401k from a previous employer or an IRA into a physical IRA in gold. You know something? That's a hedge against inflation. Listen to this. Right now, Birchgold is going to give you a special America 2501 ounce silver round for every $10,000 you purchase by July 10th. Let me repeat this. With every $10,000 purchase, you get a free 1 ounce silver round. America 250 Commemoration a special. Think about this. Ten years ago, an ounce of gold was about $1200. Today it's around $4,500. Where will it be in ten years from now? Text Bannon B A N N O N 989-898. To take advantage of free America 250 silver with qualifying purchase before the 10th of July. Again, text my name, Bannon B A N N o N to number 989-898. Today, take advantage of this offer. With qualifying purchases, you get a silver round, a 1 oz silver round. Check it out. Qualifying purchase. You got to do it before July 10th. Do it today.
Steve Cortez
Former Trump advisor Steve Cortez is with us. Steve, you tapped into this populist movement in 2016. You were there, you understood it long before, after a very successful career in the finance world, you got this anger. How did Democrats co opt it? Yeah, well, first of all, I don't think they are going to successfully co opt it. But I think that you make an important point here, which is that populism is not a fad, Right? Populism is a systemic shift in the United States because the working class masses believe that they have been cheated, and I think understandably believe they've been cheated by a largely crooked system. So to me, it's either going to be populous populism of the left, which I view as ugly and even violent, or it's going to be the populism of the right, which is patriotic and tradition loving. But the key here, I think, Leland, is in the difference between prior eras of American history, middle class Americans did not resent the wealthy because they overwhelmingly believed that they at least had a shot to get there themselves. That that belief is not widely shared now in today's society. You know you sound like Bernie Sanders, right? Okay, well, but I don't sound like Bernie Sanders when I say one of the answers then, by the way, is to pause immigration, pause even legal immigration, so that American workers make more money, so that we raise the pay. So that is not Bernie Sanders like at all in that case. But the other aspect, Leland, is concurrent with this. Globalization has been an over financialization of our economy. And I say this as a guy who traded bonds for 25 years on Wall Street. But look, the titans of high finance and the titans of tech, and they're often deeply intertwined, have a concentration of wealth now that is simply unmatched in all of American history. And on top of that, a lot of these elites, Leland, they're just garbage people, quite frankly. They're not patriots. They don't have any sense of altruism, any sense of responsibility to this country that has allowed them to become so fabulously successful. You know, if you look at the so called robber barons, I think they were ten times more altruistic and patriotic than any of the tech titans, you
Steve Bannon
know, And Leland, Leland's one of the smarter of these, of these hosts and I really like him, but they've all fallen to that trap. Oh, you guys sound like Bernie. No, no, no, no. You have populism on the left. Papa goes on the right. The populars are right. Number one, we're capitalist. What we want to see is a system called capitalism. The problem we got now is we have a capitalist system with no capitalists. We have a bunch of oligarchs and the concentration of the lords of easy money into a handful of people and maybe another concentric ring around that. And Bernie, you're absolutely correct, Steve, about our sovereignty and our borders and legal immigration, quote unquote. That scam and illegal immigration is the problem with the populace on the left like Mondami. And these guys, they're really not populist. They're Marxists because they're globalists. They want open borders. They don't believe in the country. So when people say, oh, you guys are just like Bernie Sanders. No, no, no, no, no. It's a massive difference. The future of politics in this country and what's going to save this republic is populist nationalism. And I will tell you, the first couple of years since, you know, I met Cortez back in the, in the early days, that first wave, our movement's probably been a little more populous than nationalistic. That's why I think people are now saying America first. I keep telling people we're going to go. This is going to get much more nationalistic as we go forward. And I tell folks, hey, unless you meet the nationalist, you know, at least halfway or maybe even better, we're going to go to ultra nationalism. I see it come as clearly as I saw populist nationalism after the 2008 crash. Right. I see it now more than ever. And something like yesterday's ipo.
Steve Cortez
Yeah.
Steve Bannon
Underwritten by Goldman Sachs only makes me more so. Your thoughts, Steve Cortez?
Steve Cortez
Yeah. And Steve, listen, I don't think I was exaggerating there on Leland show when I said that one of the unfortunate realities is that we have a garbage elite in this country right now. Now every society has elites. Right. It's just, it's human nature. It's. It's inevitable. But for most of American history, we generally had elites. We had ruling class people, power brokers in this country who generally cared about the people and felt that they had some obligation back to the country that allowed them to become so successful. We generally do not have that now. We have garbage elites who are not altruistic, who are not philanthropic, who are not patriotic in any sense. They are pure takers. And they have increasingly constructed a system that works very well for them. And their version of crony capitalism, it's really not even capitalism at all, but their croniest system. And you're exactly correct. But criticizing that doesn't make us Bernie Sanders, not by any stretch. We want Main street entrepreneurial capitalism. We want small businesses to thrive across this country. We want distributivism, meaning we want the economic and political power of the country just as distributed as it can possibly be. It's a very Christian vision of humanity, of society. That's what we want. That's what we're striving for in terms of our goals.
Steve Bannon
And we're going to get there in subsidiarity with the. Where the power and the decisions are made at the lowest level you possibly can make them. It's very simple. A piece of the action. Every man a capitalist, every man and woman a capitalist. Everybody's got a, everybody's got a piece of it. If you have a piece of it in a capitalist system, we're going to thrive. You talk about garbage elites and lease we've had. And this is one of the things I hope we're learning in the book Revolution and as we celebrate and commemorate in the war room Way the 250th is that one. I think the fundamental difference, when you get about philosophy, the fundamental difference in the American and French Revolution that happened at almost the exact same time was that we had elites that in the revolutionary generation that had a concept of the republic and were inextricably linked with the patriots. Remember we just started with like a third with the patrons that actually stepped up and fought because people, the way we teach it Today, everybody thinks July 4th and the huge celebration is because we were just an independent nation. No, that was a declaration of war. That was the inciting incident, you know, politically that started a long seven, eight year revolutionary war that we had to win on the battlefield. And as I keep saying, it wasn't really won until the battle of New Orleans. It was really. The British essentially backed off after Andrew Jackson, Those guys on January 2nd of 1815 destroyed Wellington's part of Wellington's army. He sent here to the United States to put this thing down because the British still thought it was theirs. They thought they boxed us up on the, on the, on the eastern seaboard with that treaty of Paris and they were going to take it back. We had to fight for it. It was a long 20 or 30 year struggle to fight for it. But the elites were on the battlefield. The elites were leading us in the French Revolution. What it devolved to in the aristocracy was, wait for it, a garbage elite. A garbage elite. And that is what happens. And hey, I tell you, if we Continue to defer to the, to the oligarchs and to the garbage elite in this country, it ends in revolution. This is why I go give these talks. I tell these all the fat cats, I say, hey, look, it's very simple. You're going to have our revolution. On one hand, the populist nationalists, right, that the little guy becomes part of the system, becomes a part of capitalist. Are you going to have Manjoni Mangioni and Zorhan Mandami? On the other, you're going to have Marxist jihadists? Or you're going to have guys gun and shooting people in the back, you know, and laying in wait. Sir, your thoughts?
Steve Cortez
Yes, yeah, 100%. Look, populism of the left, when you take it to its logical conclusion, or if we want to call it populism, but you know, the rising movement on the left, it must inevitably lead to violence, and it does increasingly so. Right. We're seeing that more and more. So it is ugly, it is violent, it is not patriotic, it's certainly not Christian. The populism of the right that we're talking about is patriotic, is pro family, is pro tradition, is pro God loves. This country wants to see the broadest level of success across this country, you know, not through government taking and not through central power, right? But through incentivizing main streets and small towns and every small business in America to absolutely flourish. That is obvious our vision. And you're exactly correct, Steve, to a lot of the big shots, many of whom watch your show, right, our message to them is you may not love maga, you may not love all the precepts of America first, but believe me, our alternative is far better for the country, far better even for you, than where you will end up with the left. Because it is a bullet to the back of the head. That's where you end up with the populism of the left. So we are trying to save this country. And some of the elites need to come to terms with that and realize that while they may not love our movement, they need to embrace it.
Steve Bannon
It's a little shaggy sometimes, got a few rough edges on it, maybe shambolic on occasions, but hey, it is what it is, the future. Steve, I know you got tell us what you're doing today and where can we go get the poll? I don't think he put the poll until Monday or Tuesday, where you get all your. Your content and what are you doing today?
Steve Cortez
Yes. So the poll exclusively released by Daily Signal, which gets most of my polling now, I'm in lacrosse Wisconsin, a wonderful part of this country and a Catholic vote is having an America 250 celebration here. It's going to be fantastic. A lot of big speakers. I am the MC for this event. We got to go to mass yesterday at the Shrine of Guadalupe. Believe it or not, a lot of Hispanics here way up north in the US Shrine of Guadalupe is a wonderful spot in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. So we are celebrating our faith and celebrating this amazing country that we're so blessed to live in and this country that we're saving.
Steve Bannon
Steve, go with God. Steve Cortez, appreciate you. Thank you for changing your schedule. Come on this morning.
Steve Cortez
Thank you.
Steve Bannon
Have a great, great, great day with the Catholic vote, guys. Jack Posobic joins me. Jack, thanks you for stepping away from a family event. Join us by phone. After we had you had it on, you had it on human events daily. Then we got into it with Tulsi Gabbard, the great Tulsi Gabbard coming out with the biolabs in the lies of Victoria Nuland and all of them. She got lit up last night online by people that say that she's just a Russian asset. Your thoughts, sir?
Jack Posobiec
Well, Steve, let's remember that these were all the same people that said Donald Trump is a Russian asset. These are the people that said that the 2020 election was the safest and securest election in history. And these are the people who suggested that would be better for us to get into all these wars all around, whether it's Ukraine, whether it's Iran, regime change, all the rest of it. Steve, this is the neocon pathogen response because what Tulsi Gabbard is doing, she just sent a heat seeking missile directly into the heart of the neocon industrial complex.
Steve Bannon
Jack, I tell you what, we got to jump to a commercial break. I want to come back to you. I know you out with the children today. We're going to come back to you and and reconnect right after a short commercial break. Jack Boic's on Tulsi Gabbard getting ready to leave DNI. She dropped a, a bomb yesterday about the biolabs. 140 biolabs, think throughout the world, financed by the U.S. government, controlled by the U.S. government and working on some of the deadliest things in the world. Plus I think there were 40 in Ukraine and they're going nuts. Last night she's a Russian asset because this was Putin's reason for invading. It wasn't the biolabs but guess what? They existed. There's Liz Churchill's great tweet she put out yesterday. Just go through it. There's so much more. We'll connect you to. Tulsi Gabbard was given the receipts and the neocons in this country can't stand it. They hate Tulsi Gabbard. They want to talk. They wanted to turf her out because of the great intelligence she managed that would have kept us out of this debacle in Iran. Short commercial break Jack Bosobic on the other side, Most Americans are forced to spend too much money on health care and getting too little in return. If you're one of the millions frustrated by traditional health insurance, I want to tell you about America's Health Share. Go to Freedom for All Health. That's freedom for all health.org Bannon now that's a mouthful. Freedom for health.org that's freedom for health.org Bannon and discover why tens of thousands of patriots are joining America's Health Share. America's Health Share reduces your health care costs by an average of 60% and it's accepted everywhere. In other words, say goodbye to out of network limitations. They make healthcare affordable, transparent and aligned with your values. Free from surprise bills or skyrocketing premiums. For as low as 68 bucks a month, an individual can get great health care coverage minus the complications and price gouging from health care providers. You can completely scrap your current insurance or use America's health care to supplement your existing policy, even with Medicare. Simply go to freedom for health.org that's freedomforhealth.org Bannon to learn more. Right now, new members get their first month free with promo code Bannon. It's time to make America healthy. Join the community of patriots taking back control of their health care. That's freedomforhealth.org Bannon freedomforhealth.org Bannon promo code Bannon make sure you go check it out. Immerse yourself in the details of America's Health Share. You will not regret it.
Ben Berkwam
Russia has a history also of inventing
Steve Bannon
outright lies like this, which is the suggestion that the United States has a
Ben Berkwam
chemical and biological weapons program, or Ukraine
Steve Bannon
does that they're operating. Russia is the one is the country that has a chemical and biological weapons program. So the objective was to make clear the inaccuracy of the information, the misinformation they're trying to put out and make clear to okay, right there. Psaki I'm gonna play Tulsi in a minute. Jack Posobec. You heard it right there, brother. That was the very day that it happened, that was the very day that Victoria Nuland perjured herself in front of Marco Rubio, sir.
Jack Posobiec
Well, Steve, remember. Remember what Vicki Newland did, right, when, when Rubio asked the question. I don't think Rubio was even trying to do a gotcha. I think he thought it was a softball, you know, like a layup kind of thing so we could knock it down. I mean, he knew it is what I mean. And she goes, he said, do you have any of these bio labs? And she goes, well, there may be some research facilities. So even then she has to admit the truth of what's there. And Steve, let's remember these are the same people, the same exact system, by the way, which was lied to about Wuhan and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. And so we know this game. We've seen this game. We knew about it, number one. We knew about the Wuhan Institute. We knew about the ties to the Chinese military. We knew about the ties to Fauci to gain a function to all of them. We don't need to re litigate this. We've all seen it. We've all seen the liars. And I loved, by the way, I loved seeing all the people come after Tulsi. I love seeing the freak out, the pathogen response by the Neocon system. Because, Steve, I've learned that it's not about what the people say. It's, you know, when they're, when they're coming out against you putting out the truth. It's about who is saying it. Understand the grouping because that's how you can see the network. You can map the network. You can map the system that's been triggered, the system that's been alerted to come after you. And that is how we can update our mental model of who is on the side of the American people, who's on the side of the Lao Beijing, who's on the side of freedom and democracy. And as you mentioned before, the populist right, who actually cares about our countries and who is on the side of the special interests and the foreign interests?
Steve Bannon
Well, the national, the nationalists, also the populist, nationalist right, and who's on. And who's, who's really rooting for the, for the, for the foreign entities and powers trying to control this company country. One of the things they're trying to do, Jack, I want your comments for you. I'll let you bounce back to the game is they're trying to also use this to scuff up Tulsi because they understand that the Investigation and commission. We're going to put out all the information, intelligence on how we got in this war. President Trump's trying to bring this word to conclusion. Working nonstop. You know, you got term sheets, you got mouse, you get all this. President Trump's trying to juggle it all with the military to bring this thing to conclusion. And I keep saying we're in it now, and that's going to be a focus, but there's going to come a moment, and that moment is not too far, not too far distance in the future. We're going to go back. We're going to go back to the spring and summer of 2025, and we're going to go back to Charlie Kirk's heroic stand on this. We're going to go back to get the receipts themselves, the receipts of what the CIA said and the receipts of what Tulsi, Gabbard and DNI said. And I don't care who doesn't like it, okay? What they're trying to do is, oh, she's a Russian asset. That's crap. This woman's a patriot, Colonel. Right now in the military, she served overseas. She served her country, which I noticed most of her detractors did not. Jack Bosobik, your thoughts about that? Because this is really why they're coming after. They're coming after her because they understand she understands. She's got the receipts on how we got into this debacle, sir.
Jack Posobiec
It seems that's exactly right. And you see these type of systems, these are the type of people that want us in a hot war with. With the Russian state. They want us in a ground war with Iran. They've wanted it from the very start. I was proud to stand there with Charlie Kirk throughout all of 2025, saying what we said. I'm proud to stand on where I stand today. This is the central animating feature of our time. Do you stand with the populist nationalists, or do you stand with these views of America as a global empire? America as this globalist system, the system of globalism. This is what the MAGA movement was birthed in this milieu. It was, are you going to surrender this country and its people to the siren song of globalism, or will we be a nation state once more? That was the central animating theme, the credo, as President Trump said himself, America first will be our credo. American nationalism. That is our credo. And so if this is in the interest of any of these foreign affairs are in the direct interest of the American people, you need to State your case and make your case to the American people, and you need to do so with the truth. And if there are biolabs that we are trying to prevent, which, by the way, Barack Obama, when he was a senator, was tied to these Ukrainian biolabs, believe it or not, visited them at one point, you know, visited. And some of the programs, it's all true. It's just. It's as they want to try to cast it in a different light. This is. Scott Adams would have a field day with this, by the way. You know, it's a. It's one of those things. It's kind of like when they talk about demographic change. When Joy Reid goes up and talks about demographic change, they say, oh, it's great. But then if. If Jack Bosobic and Steve Bannon talk about it, oh, that's a crazy conspiracy theory.
Steve Bannon
Jack Bosobic, we're gonna let you get back. Is this the last game of the season? Are we there for. Are we there for the. For the season's finale, sir?
Jack Posobiec
This is the last. Last little game is literally game of the season. This is the last Saturday morning, driving out here to the field, trying to get a couple of more hits we got. But it's some big games, high drama, high tension. Steve, what can I say? And I'll tell you, I. You what something with Little League nationalism. Let me tell you something, folks. It ain't about the baseball. I hope everyone understands that. It ain't about the baseball. It's about men and women and moms and dads and the coaches who are volunteers and the team moms getting together, bringing people together. You come out and what. And what does everybody do before the game starts? You take your hat off and you put your hat, your hand over your heart, and you do this Art Spangled Banner. And it's. It's about little small towns and small leagues doing that everywhere across this country every Saturday morning. That's what we're fighting for. You go eat some hot dogs afterwards with your friends. That's what it's all about. And building those little relationships, that's how you build the little brigades, the bonds of community. That's what they're trying to destroy with infinity migrants to this country, disrupting the status quo. Because if you have the American people join together with that central purpose and that bond of unity, that bond of culture and friendship, nothing will ever break it.
Steve Bannon
That song that you sing in unison with the kids is called the National Anthem of the United States of America. Jack Posobic, thank you One more time. Jack, you're the Associated Press of the MAGA America first movement. Where do people go over the weekend to keep up to date?
Jack Posobiec
Yes, of course. We'll be up at Jack Posobec. A lot of, a lot of drama regarding this potential deal. President Trump and Foreign Minister Arachi say that a deal is in the works. JD Vance, poised potentially to head over to Geneva for a signing is already teens with security equipment sent over should the vice president choose or should the president choose to deploy the vice president. So things are in motion, Steve. Things are in most. The president making it a working weekend amidst. Amidst, of course, the fighting weekend that we have on Sunday at the White House.
Steve Bannon
Thank you, sir. Appreciate you. Jack Posobic stepping away from Little League game. Fantastic. I'm gonna go to Burkholm right now. I'm gonna get back to Tulsi in. In a moment and pulte in that entire situation. Berquam. I want to go back to Steve Cortez's polling of Hispanic Americans in this country. Their, their beef is not with the mass deportation. The beef is not with the immigration policy they got because they're working class. They got. Listen, the, the economy for working class people can be rough right now. This is why we have to have growth, and particularly not just economic growth, but economic growth that's bringing wage growth. And when I say wage growth ahead of, ahead of inflation, that's what their focus is. That means they're hardworking Americans. Right. And they're, they support us on the immigration side, but you see it all the time. Berkworm. What is your feeling about that?
Ben Berkwam
Yeah, it's. There's no doubt about it. Look, I've. I've lived almost my entire life paycheck to paycheck, and that's most people's experience in America. And so even if you agree with us on immigration, illegal immigration, the impact it has, the reality is your priorities are the things that put food on your table, that get those little league cleats for your kids to go play games. It's what gets your wife whatever that special thing is that she wants. It's the things that make your life continue to go. It's all about the economy. Now, obviously, illegal immigration has a direct impact on that, but when you're in a situation like when President Trump came in, we had the lowest gas prices that I can remember in. I mean, in the last 20 years in Arkansas, we were almost under $2. Actually, some places we were under $2 a gallon. And then you go Double that. That's all people feel. They don't remember back to Joe Biden was even higher than we are now. We can say that all we want, all they feel is, it was really low and now it's higher. Everything I'm buying is a little more expensive. Jobs are harder to come by. You know, all these things. The reality is illegal immigration impacts all of that. But to the average Joe out there, they're not thinking about that. All they're thinking about is how do I keep paying my mortgage, how do I keep paying my car payment, how do I keep my wife happy and my kids thinking that I'm a good dad and all these things. That's what really matters to them. And so we have to. Unfortunately, you have a lot of people in politics, they've never lived like that, at least not in a near enough time frame to actually think in those terms. And so everything they're thinking about is, well, I've got everything taken care of. I can do all these existential things and go out into the weeds over here. You got to get back to the roots of this. This is why populist nationalism, why we have to take that ownership back. Because the left, that's why you see the rise of Mandami, that's why you see the rise of Hasan Piker and these idiots, because they've tapped. They're tapping into that. They see that and they say, we can weaponize this. The problem is they're weaponizing it and they're taking it the wrong direction. They're taking it to make it even worse. Our side will actually make it better. We just have to communicate it. And unfortunately, too many people that don't
Steve Bannon
know how to do that. It's just not communication, though. But it's also the ideas hardcore nationalists. And that means the border's got to be secure. And if you're an American citizen, you get a special. A special deal. In fact, the Phoenix engine room informs me this morning that we're talking about this and said, hey, it's called American Citizens First. American Citizens get a special deal. This is what we kind of lost focus on. And part of that special deal is keeping out this whole scam on legal immigration, H1BS, which is a scam, and the illegal immigration, as you see, and the reason you're deployed, you would think, after all this time, why is Ben Berkwan back at the border? You know, he should be in the middle of the antifa raids and the. And, you know, these mass deportation fights in Los Angeles and Minneapolis Doing a great job. Well, guess what? That's all inextricably linked. Their full intention. And Berkhwam's warning the other day was one of the most powerful I've ever seen. It was quite simply, if. If we flinch and we lose political control, as imperfect as it's been, folks, I understand it has not. Has been far from perfect. If we lose control of that, there's another 20 million they're going to get in here in a couple years, then the country's definitely gone. You're going to have, you know, Bovina right now says there's 100 million. There's another 6 million of these legal, you know, immigrants here are legal migrants that are, you know, supposedly legal immigrants here, which are also a scam. But you had another 20 million and then you're just showing, hey, we can't even handle it. We don't have the political will to enforce our sovereignty, the sovereignty of our borders, the sovereignty for a nation, and the sovereignty for our citizens. Ben Berkram.
Ben Berkwam
Yeah, I mean, we're functionally bankrupt as a nation right now, and you're talking about adding more looters to the system. To quote one of my favorite books, Atlas Shrugged, if you haven't read that, I don't like what she says about. I don't agree with her on what she says about religion, but on economics and populism, she's 100, right? And that was, you know, that's where we're at right now. We're living with the looters.
Steve Bannon
Hang on, hang on. Let's go to break. I had Ben Berkwell on a roll, and he's got to go full on. Ran Libertarian, you know, with one of the books I hate more than any book in the world, Atlas Shrugged. Oh, my God. You see, folks, this is the kind of thing I got to do. You know, training POSO and training Berquam. You got to bring these brothers along. Okay? We're taking a short commercial break. Ben, you hang around. Keep those mosquitoes out of the car. We're gonna stick with Berkwan throughout the morning. Make sure he's got some companies down there on the border. Axle deep in mud. Take your phone out, text Bannon, B A N N O N. 989-898. You get Birch Gold. They've got a special on right now, with a qualifying purchase, you get a free 1 oz silver round. I'll show you what that looks like after the break. Do you owe back taxes or you haven't filed your taxes in years. Now is the time to resolve your tax matters. With the national conversation around abolishing the income tax, the IRS is fighting back and proving it's here to stay by becoming more aggressive than ever before. They're sending out more collection notices, filing more tax liens, and collecting billions more in recent years. If you owe, the IRS can garnish your wages, levy your bank accounts, seize your retirement and even your home if you owe or haven't filed. It's not a question of if the IRS will act, it's a question of when it will act. Right now, Tax Network USA is offering a completely free IRS research and discovery call to show you exactly where you stand and what they can stop before it's too late. Their powerful programs and strategies can save you thousands or even eliminate your debt entirely if you qualify. Don't make a costly mistake. Representing yourself or calling the IRS on your own waives your rights and cost you more money. They are not, and let me repeat, the IRS is not on your side. Get Protected the Right Way with Tax Network USA and start the process of settling your tax matters once and for all today. Call 1-800-958-1000, that's 1-800-958-10000 or visit tnusa.com Bannon for your free discovery call with Tax Network USA. Let me repeat, 800-958-1000. Tell him Bannon sent you. Don't let the IRS be the first to act. Take advantage of first mover advantage. You move.
Steve Cortez
War Room. Here's your host, Stephen K. Band.
Steve Bannon
Okay, I'm not going to take up too much time Saturday, but Ben Berkho, I just hit my trip right? We're going to actually announce big news with Ben because Ben is one of the great stalwarts of our movement. There's very few books I hate more than Atlas Shrugged, and I think it's a quite dangerous book. When I first got to D.C. in kind of the Imperial Capital with Andrew Breitbart back in the summer of 2011 when we took the Breitbart embassy and Andrew kind of came back almost 50% of his time. The Paul Ryan was like the man. And Paul Ryan had every junior grand Dune that worked for him. Everybody in the staff, they're all read people walking around with Atlas Shrug underneath their arms. It was the book that people had to. No, not, not that one. That. The globalization book. Something else. I'll get to that later. The so Atlas Shrugged and it's, you know, it's about the Ubermensch, the philosophy at Atlas Shrugged. Because Ayn Rand was a free freak. Okay? Atheistic, no moral compass, complete freak. In her personal life, that's a whole different deal. Just a. It was a cult. She was a cult leader. Buckley knew this. That's what Buckley turfed him out. You talk about Buckley going after. Going after the John Birchers. He was actually his focus on that because he realized that's a dangerous cult. Now it turned out the Birchers, hello. Turned out to be right about most things. Just saying. But no, quite dangerous. And I said from the beginning, the philosophy of Atlas Shrugged leads directly to Auschwitz. Leads directly to be happy in your work. Right as a grundoon when Ubermensch is calling the shots anyway. Maybe we'll take an hour one day and do that and get some audience participation. But Ben, it's a perfect segue. Ben, it's a perfect segue. We do have a project with Ben Berkram. It's now official. We haven't given the title and the up on Amazon all that, but we are working on a book with Ben Berkwam. It. I tell you, it is a page turner. The first cut is a page turner. Ben, I'm so proud of the fact particularly your personal journey, which I don't think a lot of people know and I don't want to give too much up now because I'm going to buy the book. Your personal journey is absolutely amazing in the growth of you as a person. But the growth of you as someone as that that presents the news is unbelievable. I think you're one of the finest investigative reporters in the nation and you have put your life on the line in many dangerous situations that it's almost like a military calling. I mean what you and Oscar Blue Ramirez did those many years, it really I think led to the. The nation awakening to what the real threat was on, on this, on the, on the invasion of our border just wasn't folks from Mexico. Right. It was much deeper than that. And the work that you guys did in putting yourself in harm's way is extraordinary. We're working on a project. Hopefully we'll have it out by mid to late summer. Sir.
Ben Berkwam
Yeah, you know, it's. You started saying that. I started getting emotional. When I think back, it's basically a 10 year journey. And like you said, I'm not going to give it all away. But to think about where I started to where God has brought me, it's pretty incredible. So when you go from the lowest of lows and the pits of Hell to a life again. And you see, every day is a blessing. What? And every day is a gift that you get to spend. You realize what you want to spend it on. And so that's what I've spent my last 10 years doing is. Is trying to make an impact. So.
Steve Bannon
No.
Ben Berkwam
And, Ben, I'm honored to be able to do it.
Jack Posobiec
You.
Steve Bannon
You were a mess. You were. You were, quite frankly. And it shows you when God's not in your life, when Jesus Christ is not in your heart, how low a human can go, but when you embrace that, the turnaround you can have. Sir.
Ben Berkwam
Yeah. And you know what's amazing, too, is you got to buy the book to read all this, but is the variables don't change. It's how you approach them, how you deal with them. That's what changes and how God working through you. And so it's going to be incredible. I mean, it's got all the stories from the last 10 years. The coolest part about it is you've got the videos to go along with it. So it's not just me talking about these stories. It's you. You get to go to the jungles of Panama and be in a shootout and then go back to the. You know, where it all began, and then, you know, and then back through it all. And so I'm just. I'm honored to have an impact. I'm honored to. Obviously, there's actually an entire chapter in there about my relationship with Steve and the grainy photo I took with you when I met you at the Republican convention out in Anaheim, gosh, eight years ago, to where we are today, and how no matter how lost you think you might be, how God has a purpose for your life if you choose to accept it, and how you go through that and how you deal with these different situations. So my prayer is. It's powerful, especially for young men, but just young people in general, and really all people that are dealing with similar, not necessarily addiction, but we all have stresses and fears and anxiety in our life and things we have to deal with. And I pray that it has a major impact on people's lives, but it is. It's an absolute honor. And the fact that my first book is coming through War Room is a great honor.
Steve Bannon
Well, we couldn't be more excited. It's about task and purpose, is about human agency from a very. From a very imperfect person. And that's what the power of this book is. Ben, stick around, because I know you're not going anywhere in your car. We're Going to come back to you in the second hour. How's that?
Ben Berkwam
If the tow truck gets here. If the, if the guys get you.
Steve Bannon
No, no, tow tar goes. You get. We're gonna get you right back on. I want to meet the tow truck driver. We'll pick up the tab. Ben Berk. Ben, social media. Give your social media so people can
Ben Berkwam
follow you at Ben Berkwom's my personal. You got Frontline America. That's my website. But obviously real America's Voice is where everything happens. Americas Voice news, get all the episodes of Law and Border and then social media @Real AM Voice or Ben Berkwan.
Steve Bannon
Okay. Stick around. Soon as the tow truck comes, let us know. And don't do this anymore. You're too, you're too valuable now to the country to put yourself in. I know you put yourself in harm's way, but you can't do it in the middle of the night by yourself when nobody else is around. Ben Berkwam, Metaxas is going to be here. We're going to talk about revolution, the meaning and purpose of it and quite frankly, because I think you know, the president. We got America 250. They're trying to do it. But obviously the country is not united. It's divided. It's particularly divided. I think going back to our origin story. That's what this book is so important and this moment is so important. So we're going to do that after a commercial break. Two things. Prices are high. There's no doubt about that. It's when you spend seven and a half trillion dollars like Biden spent, we called it at the time. That's what we started End of the dollar empire with Birch Gold. You got the Patriots edition. You go to birchgold.com bandit, you get the Patriots edition. It's on back. Order seven free installments there. We've done an eighth free installment that's up online. So you get all eight of them. We're working on number nine right now. But you can get to understand the difference between, you know, fiat currency and physical goal. Why goal's always been a hedge. I think given what, what Jeffrey Tucker has done about the devaluation of the dollar. Oh. Since Biden took office is quite important. We'll spend more time on that right now. Also, Birchgold is tossing into the mix with a qualified purchase. You get a 1 ounce free silver round. It's not a coin. It's around. Check that right there. It's got to be a qualifying purchase. And talk to Philip Patrick best thing to do is talk to Philip Patrick and the team about it. Birchgold.com spanner End of the Dollar Empire we don't want it to end, but you keep spending like this and it's going to end. Short break Eric Metaxas, Joe Allen on the other side, everyone's focus on how the conflict in the Middle east is raising oil prices. But there's another grim reality to this contention. Oil isn't the only resource being constrained. About one third of global fertilizer trade happens through this region. And with spring planting season on top of us, American farmers are sounding the alarm with some saying they can't afford to plant their fields. When one piece of the supply chain gets hit this hard, you know what comes next? Higher fruit prices, Reduced availability, maybe even panic buying. That's why having an emergency food supply at home makes so much sense. And that's where our friends at my Patriot Supply come in. Right now@preparedwithbannon.com that is preparewithbannon.com we've set up an entire just site for the war room posse. You go to preparewithbannon.com that's all one word. Preparewithbannon.com you get a three month emergency food supply. They'll include a free mega protein Upgrade, an incredible $200 bonus you don't want to miss. It's a simple way to protect your family from whatever comes next. Go to preparewithband.com that is preparewithbannon.com to get your emergency food supply today. That's preparewithbaned.com do it today. Go check it out.
Date: June 13, 2026
Podcast: Bannon’s War Room
Host: Stephen K. Bannon (WarRoom.org)
In this episode, Bannon’s War Room examines the multifaceted crisis on America's southern border, the lived realities and dangers of border reporting, shifting trends among Hispanic voters, and the broader ideological battle within American populism. Field updates from Ben Berkwam (reporting live from Texas), polling insights from Steve Cortez, and commentary from Jack Posobiec feed into a wider discussion about economic pressures faced by working-class Americans, the manipulation of immigration issues by elites, and the future of American nationalist populism.
Timestamps: [00:53]–[07:58], [39:07]–[43:05], [49:12]–[51:50]
Setting the Scene:
Ben Berkwam describes his harrowing, unexpected 13-hour ordeal stuck in the muddy, lawless borderlands near El Paso, Texas, after taking a night patrol—spending the night in his truck surrounded by mosquitoes. He recounts assaults by nature, the dangers of traversing these lands, and the resourcefulness required to free himself.
Humanizing the Crossing:
Berkwam reflects on the desperation and physical toll faced by migrants, drawing a distinction between their determination and the failure of US policy.
Policy Perspective:
Bannon anchors this personal narrative as a case study of the broader border problem, emphasizing systemic failures and the role of incentives in drawing migrants.
Timestamps: [09:24]–[14:29], [46:17]–[51:33]
Steve Cortez Polling Insights:
Cortez presents new national polling among Hispanics:
73% cite high prices/cost of living as their biggest concern, not immigration enforcement (ICE).
Most Hispanic voters are working-class and are more focused on the economy and inflation than immigration.
Overwhelming Hispanic support for strong immigration enforcement when polled, contrary to elite narratives.
“When we say what concerns you more, high prices in the cost of living or ICE and immigration enforcement...73% to only 19%. Fewer than one in five Hispanics in our poll say that what concerns them more is ICE and immigration enforcement.” — Steve Cortez [09:24]
“If you listen to D.C. republicans...they're all telling us no, we're losing Hispanics because of immigration. My poll shows by the numbers, by the data, that just is not true.” — Steve Cortez [09:24]
Campaign Strategy and Economic Links:
Bannon and Cortez contend that only through economic populism—raising wages, restricting immigration (both legal and illegal), and combating inflation—can the MAGA movement continue to win Hispanic support.
"How do we best get, how do we in the quickest form get to higher pay for working class Americans, including a lot of Latinos? It's immigration enforcement." — Steve Cortez [09:24]
“Capital wants cheap labor, right? That's what capital wants in this country. And for too long, our...economy have been dominated by the demands of capital from the very highest levels. And the oligarchs want a continual flow of cheap labor into this country.” — Steve Cortez [12:26]
Timestamps: [16:43]–[24:10], [24:10]–[25:22], [25:22]–[26:16]
Defining True Populism:
Bannon and Cortez debate the distinctions between left-wing populism (“ugly and even violent,” rooted in Marxism, globalism, and open borders) and right-wing populist nationalism (patriotic, family-oriented, pro-Christian, pro-worker).
Garbage Elites & Oligarchy:
The hosts rail against America's current concentration of wealth and power (“garbage elites”) and lost sense of elite responsibility—a theme given historical context by Bannon’s comparison of the American and French revolutions.
“We have garbage elites who are not altruistic, who are not philanthropic, who are not patriotic in any sense. They are pure takers. And they have increasingly constructed a system that works very well for them.” — Steve Cortez [20:30]
“What we want to see is a system called capitalism. The problem we got now is we have a capitalist system with no capitalists. We have a bunch of oligarchs and the concentration of the lords of easy money into a handful of people...” — Steve Bannon [18:46]
Timestamps: [26:16]–[38:15], [30:24]–[36:06]
Attacks on Tulsi Gabbard:
Jack Posobiec joins by phone to discuss attacks on Tulsi Gabbard over biolab revelations, the legacy establishment's pattern of smearing “America First” dissenters as Russian assets, and the difficulty of getting to the truth in US foreign policy.
Media Manipulation and Power Structures:
Bannon and Posobiec discuss mapping the networks of power by observing who attacks voices like Gabbard and posit the necessity for a populist nationalist foreign policy doctrine.
Timestamps: [36:13]–[37:27]
Preserving American Bonds:
Posobiec elegantly reflects on how American small-town rituals (like Little League games and the National Anthem) reflect the cultural fabric at risk from unchecked migration and globalist policies.
Timestamps: [43:05]–[46:17]
Securing the Border & American Privilege:
The hosts return to the urgency of border enforcement and place the needs of American citizens above all, framing their philosophy as “American Citizens First.”
Perils of Inaction:
They warn of the “looters” (a reference to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged), runaway welfare abuse, and a demographic/democratic tipping point if border control is lost.
“Ask yourself what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.” — Steve Bannon [00:30]
“The future of politics in this country and what’s going to save this republic is populist nationalism.” — Steve Bannon [18:46]
“We want distributivism, meaning we want the economic and political power of the country just as distributed as it can possibly be.” — Steve Cortez [20:30]
“It must inevitably lead to violence, and it does increasingly so. Right. We’re seeing that more and more. So it is ugly, it is violent, it is not patriotic, it’s certainly not Christian. The populism of the right...wants to see the broadest level of success across this country...through incentivizing main streets and small towns and every small business in America to absolutely flourish.” — Steve Cortez [24:10]
“Believe me, our alternative is far better for the country, far better even for you, than where you will end up with the left. Because it is a bullet to the back of the head. That’s where you end up with the populism of the left. So we are trying to save this country.” — Steve Cortez [24:10]
“Be thankful for what you got...the illegals are doing is that. So that mountain is in Mexico right there. Yeah, they’ll come over that mountain and then they’ll go up stuff like this for 50 miles...” — Ben Berkwam [06:45]
Books and Ideology:
The hosts debated the merits and dangers of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,” with Bannon criticizing it as the “most dangerous book” and Ben Berkwam referencing it as prescient about today’s “looters.”
Forthcoming Project:
Announcement of a book in progress with Ben Berkwam chronicling his personal and professional journey as an investigative reporter on the border.
Cultural Messaging:
The episode repeatedly underscores populist themes—economic fairness, secure borders, elite accountability—through both data and personal anecdotes.
This episode offers a dynamic blend of field reporting, data-driven political analysis, and broader commentary on the cultural and ideological crossroads facing America. Its raw tone, reliance on poll numbers, and focus on the lived experiences of both border reporters and working-class constituents reflect the War Room’s populist, America First ethos.