
Episode 5509: Building Back America's Architectural Legacy ...
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Stephen K. Bannon
This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people. 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.
Political Commentator 1
And where do people like that go
Stephen K. Bannon
to share the big lie?
Political Commentator 1
MAGA MEDIA I wish in my soul,
Stephen K. Bannon
I wish 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.
Eric Metaxas
WAR ROOM here's your host, Stephen K. Ban.
Stephen K. Bannon
It's Saturday the 11th of July in the River Lord 2026. We got a very big week ahead of us and we're going to lay some of the groundwork for that today during the show. But I want to start so that we remember what our fight is and if we don't quit, we will win because you're the direct heirs of the revolutionary generation passed down from generation to generation in an unbroken chain of patriots. Eric Metaxas joins us. Eric and the book Revolution, number two in the New York Times bestseller list and obviously want to drive it to number one. It's, it's your beach read for the summer. This book reads like a novel. You will not want to put it down. And as I tell you, if you carry it to the beach, people will say, wow, what a smart person. That's like a 600 page history book. Look at that. If you start reading it and we'll put it down, you will be smart so you'll get the all the acclaim of wow, that's a smart person. Look at that, bringing a big history book to the beach as your friends, neighbors, kids run around. ERIC Metaxas, We've got Matthew Taylor is going to join us here momentarily from the, from the plaza where they've done these amazing sculptors sculptures of the American patriots and the spirit of liberty. It's really, I think, one of the most breathtaking things President Trump has done and Vince Haley and all the great people have been working on, you know, Freedom 250 and America 250. It's also the reason we have Matthew today following you. It's going to continue on. Like I said, the 4th of July was the kickoff for the 250th and every day we're going to talk about this because it's absolutely essential to continue this revolution and to make sure that we keep our sovereignty in the. In the process. One of the things that Vince Haley wanted to do and Matthew, as the kind of the. The guy that executed on the plan, was to talk about things people don't realize and what the sacrifice was in the American Revolution. And it starts with panels about the Brooklyn prison ships, which very few people know.
Eric Metaxas
The.
Stephen K. Bannon
What's ironic to me is that yesterday you gave this very moving. The people loved it. A description of what happened at Battery and what happened at Bowling Green right there at the tip of Manhattan, which is today the financial district, looking over the tall ships, looking over the naval. And many of those troops that listened to General Washington read the Declaration of Independence at the command of John Hancock, said, I want the troops to understand this. Many of those 60 days later, 90 days later, were on those prison ships after these battles. Eric Metaxas, the floor is yours.
Eric Metaxas
Well, I'll tell you, Steve, I say this over and over. When I go to write a book. There's so much I don't know. I don't want people to think I'm some scholar. And then I decided to put all my knowledge into a book I just knew. I want to tell the story of the birth of America 250 years ago. And in the research that I did, many things came to me that I had no idea about. One of those things, which is all through my book, is the barbarism, the brutality of the British. And we have to understand, this comes out of their world view. The Americans and the American leaders were dramatically Christian. They said, we will treat our prisoners the way we would want to be treated if we were prisoners. We are held to a higher moral standard. God will bless our efforts if we do what God wants us to do in this sacred cause. The British, just the opposite. They were barbarous. And one of the examples that when I read about it, it's very difficult to read. They treated their prisoners like. Worse than dogs. Like the Japanese in World War II, like the Nazis. Their worldview was, we don't care about God. We don't need God's favor. We have the power to crush you. We're going to crush you. Shut up. And so the prisoners that they took, they put in prison ships. These were old hulks that they couldn't use. They were not seaworthy. They had no air, no ventilation. And basically, these, they were dungeons, floating dungeons. And 10,000American men died, died on those ships. Imagine, they didn't die in battle. They died in these prisons. And the barbarity of the British in doing this, George Washington and others wrote angry letters to General Howe and others demanding that these conditions be improved. The British didn't care. They were just really animated by the devil. They could not care less about how they treated their prisoners. It's so barbaric. It's so awful. And this is another one of the reasons I say we owe these men who died a debt, because they could have said, we swear allegiance to King George iii, they would have been let go. That's maybe the most dramatic thing that I encountered was that one. Often they were, you know, sort of tortured in that way. Right. All you have to do is denounce the American effort. And they did not do that. So you realize that they were willing to die, to suffer and die. We owe them. Knowing their story, knowing what it was that they were engaged in, it was a sacred cause. This was not just one political entity fighting another political entity. They really believed God was with them in this battle against a wicked nation. The British nation had been taken over by people who were deeply wicked. And the Americans stood against that. And we prevailed. I believe. And I think they believed because they had the moral high ground. They said, we're going to be the good guys. We are not going to do what the British do. And it is so astonishing, when you read about what they suffered, you start realizing we owe them everything. So the least we can do is know their story. That's. That's why I wrote the book.
Political Commentator 2
Book.
Eric Metaxas
Is, Is.
Stephen K. Bannon
Is.
Is this a continuation, really a part of it, of the. And the reason the brutality was the English Civil War and that Massachusetts was founded by the Dissenters, founded by the Pilgrims, founded by the Puritans that detested the Church of England. Forget the Catholic Church, they detested the. The Church of England was this. And was the harsh treatment almost like it was a civil war, that the British troops and the British officers and the. And the politicians were detested. The fact that these English subjects, British subjects, for the first time, would really break off from the British Empire and basically say, the King does not have a divine right to rule us and we're just going to go do our own thing. So you build up this animosity and this hatred.
Eric Metaxas
Well, that's part of it. In other words, I think it was probably different with every officer had a different point of view. But I think basically, yes, their opinion, I mean, or I should say their view, the British view, was, we are the mother country. You need to shut up and submit. Now. The Americans said, we don't Know what you're talking about. We, in the previous century, we thought it had been established that we have rights, that British subjects have certain rights. So the idea that Britain could cavalierly tell us to do this or to pay these taxes, they had such dignity. And again, this comes from a biblical worldview. They had dignity. They said, this is who we are in God's eyes, and we're not going to submit to tyranny. That would be really to disobey God. I mean, so they were motivated by this religious passion, most of them really were. And they thought, I'm not going to be dishonorable to God. I'm not going to be dishonorable to my own beliefs by simply saying, well, you know, what? If I want to get along and I want them to treat me right, I'll just keep my mouth shut shut. That would be to be a coward and a bum. They had tremendous dignity. And I think that, you know, in this day and age, we know people who have that same attitude who are willing to die for the truth. And we know plenty people who don't give a damn about the truth. They don't believe in the truth. Like Pontius Pilate, they say, what is truth? Just give me the money or let me pass. I don't want any trouble. But if you're a patriot, you say, I was made for trouble. I was made to do what God's will is, to do the right thing for my family to be a man, and in this hour, and I will not shrink from that. That's truly the spirit of 70, 76. And we need to understand that's real. That's not just something we say, you know, to puff ourselves up with kind of fake patriotism. This was real. This was true. We need to know these stories and that these men were truly great men who deserve our gratitude. And we need to know who they are. We need to know their stories, and we need to tell our kids these stories so that we can be as they were. That's really the point of telling these historical stories.
Stephen K. Bannon
And here. And here's the thing, the book is so accessible, you could buy one for a young person. They'll be able to get through it. It's. It'll be a great exercise. Eric. I've gotten so much feedback that people want to meet you and see you. Tell us where you are today. First off, how do we get the book and where do we go to find out your travels and where you're. I think you're making a major address today at the at what the the this is the Libertarians.
Eric Metaxas
I've been in Las Vegas at Freedom Fest headed up by Mark Skousen. All kinds of people here. Kelsey Grammer is going to be here this morning. Glenn Beck was here yesterday. But I'm now flying to Dallas. I'm speaking in Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas. That's tomorrow morning. At both services, I'll be signing books as long as people want me to sign books. Next week I'm going to be in Maine. After that I'm going to, I'll be in LA. If you go to my website, ericmataxas.com, everything is laid out there and I just love meeting people and signing the books and hanging out. It's a joy for me. It's an honor for me. And it goes on and on into September. So just go to ericmetaxis.com you can see where I'm going to be. Otherwise, it's not possible to get signed books. So for now, that's what you have to do.
Stephen K. Bannon
Well, that's great. I think people want to meet you and share their love of this book and, you know, talk to you about your ideas and your thoughts about this because it's been extraordinary. This is kind of like its own little mini movement. And I can't thank you enough for timing this to come out. It's just been a perfect thing for the, for the 250th year.
Eric Metaxas
This is the summer. This is the summer that we reconnect. This is ordained by God. The 250th year. We Americans, patriots, are to reconnect with the spirit of 1776 for such a time as this. This is not a coincidence. It's not a marketing thing. This is our opportunity as Americans and I believe God has ordained it so we can take the nation back for God's purposes. That's what we're, that's what we're all about. This is not about, oh, it's a fun history lesson. This is about where we are right now.
Stephen K. Bannon
Eric, thank you so much. I appreciate you. We'll let you get on your way. Good luck down at in Dallas for all the great folks in Texas. Appreciate you.
Eric Metaxas
Thank you. God bless you. Steve.
Stephen K. Bannon
It's absolutely correct. That's why this 2 50th, the reconnection and I think what's so amazing and what we're going to do over with Patrick K. O' Donnell and others, Matthew Taylor is going to help us on this here in a minute is that this started, which is really Never tied together that much. This started with a bang. The Declaration of Independence obviously spoke to all mankind in the magnificent and the beauty about our rights and our rights coming from God. God, right, inalienable rights, or unalienable rights. That was the fight, John, at the only fight that. Well, I shouldn't say the only. The fight they had at the end between inalienable and unalienable. He and Jefferson, which Adams got fixed at the printer as he said, the British already knew that this was a declaration of war. They weren't prepared to tolerate that. That's why they sent an expeditionary force. And then you have it building. You have Washington. And what they want to do is fire up both the people, come together, volunteer for the Continental army and also for the militia. So right there at Battery. Right there at the Battery and in Bowling Green, overlooking beautiful New York harbor, and particularly where the Royal Navy was coming at anchor with these combatants. And the troops were disembarking at Staten Island, 32,000 of them to let them know that British might and British power was about to. They were about to drop the hammer. And so Washington steeled his troops for the hammer blow that was about to come. Well, you're the troops of the modern revolution. You're the vanguard. Using your agency, you become a cadre that moves the needle. And we got a lot to talk about today. And next week is going to be a very big week for you folks. And we're going to have to put our shoulder to the wheel, but we'll talk all about that a little bit later. I want to thank the sponsors. Just talking about going to Texas. Patriot Mobile, Glenn's story, Jenny's story. They've got the backs of the grassroots movement. Hey, we wouldn't have gotten Prop 10 done. I'm not so sure that Paxton would be in the shape he was in. It was not for patriot mobile. 9, 7, 2, patriot call now. Talk to someone in their customer service. Don't have an east Texas accent. Maybe do a prayer session. They're down for it. Most importantly, talk about the best phone service in America and what you need to do to take make the shift today. You get a free month by saying you part of the war room posse. Also, Birch Gold man, oh, man. Talking about the deficit they just announced today. They slipped out on a Friday night. Guess what? Wait for this. You're going to have a CR jam down your throat. Just a temporary cr. We'll talk about that in these ballooning deficit. It's a little later in the show and all throughout the week birchgold.com Bannon end of the dollar empire. Understand what it all means. Read it this weekend. Short break.
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War Room. Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban. Also on Birch. We are coming out with the ninth free installment. That's why I think it's important. If you haven't had a chance, read the eight and also share that to your friends. Not just revolution, but share the end of the Dollar Empire. I think it gives a good framing of how to think about current capital markets and particularly what people are looking at as a hedge and physical assets like gold, I think oil, real estate, others. Birchgold.com Bannon into the Dow. All the information we put out with Birch Gold and the Birch Gold folks is totally free of charge. No charge and most important, no obligation. They want you to be a smart consumer customer. One of the quick ways to do it is take your phone at text Bannon at 989-898 and you get the access to the ultimate guide for investing in gold and precious metals. Age of Trump. Most importantly, both methods get you to fill up. Patrick and his team, Philip can't join us today. We're gonna have Philip on probably Tuesday, Wednesday of next week to break down a bunch that's happening, particularly cr. You heard it first here. We said this is going to happen. You're going to get a crisis. Bills are not done, not finished. They're coming back on Monday. They're coming back Monday. They take off the first week of August. I think they're actually gonna go to August 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, maybe the 10th. They're gone to September 14th. Write this down. Take your number two brunch slides, your vacation that long. They're going September 14th, they're here for two weeks, and then in October, they're going home to campaign. So essentially they're here for, I don't know, three or four weeks. The rest of the. For this Congress, I guess you call the lame duck. Anyway, it's gonna. This thing's all gonna blow up and the Senate is a absolute disaster. Still fighting President Trump. I don't care what they say about. Well, they're trying to work with him. They're not. However, I think Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, next week, we're going to have what we call a forcing function. Just stand by. I'll give you more on that. To force people's hands on all this. Matthew Taylor, President Trump. One of the concepts he had in Vince Hayley, the people who worked at smartcraft is the state fair was going to be the run up to the. To the 250th on 4th of July, we were going to have a party and like the birthday celebration. But the idea was also take this 250th year and use some devices that would draw people in. One of the most impressive and quite frankly, as I've sent people there, they're blown away is what you and Vince and others have done in that park. It's a very historical little park. Right? That's right across from a little plaza, I guess we call it, right across from the historic Willard Hotel Catacorner to the Willard, and right across from Saban Howard's magnificent World War I monument, which is breathtaking. We covered that for years of Saban putting it together. So walk us through particularly, we just had revolution in Vince Haley's thing about the concept of it. He wanted to make sure people knew about these prison ships, the suffering and sacrifice. But also then some of the glorious monuments that you guys have created the sculpture to. Really, it's quite uplifting to people. Matthew Taylor, the floor is yours, sir.
Matthew Taylor
Thank you, Steve. Yep. We're here at Freedom Plaza. And the Fourth of July was just the beginning of the celebration for it's the whole year. You know, the state fair was a fantastic, you know, homage to the great states of this nation. But what we really wanted to do was come up with something that would last for the entire year and that would tell the story of the revolution so that the story was always fresh. So here at Freedom Plaza, we built a series of statues, 21 statues, and of course, brought Cesar Rodney back. And so the best way to experience Freedom Plaza in person, of course, is to come to the park. And behind me, you'll see that they've turned on the fountain for the. The first time in 17 years. And that is the prison ship. As you were talking in your previous segment on the prison ship is just not something the British prison ships. People just don't know that much about them. And we really wanted to not just inform people about this. This horrible. This horrible situation with the British, but we actually wanted to make it something that you would experience. And the British prison ship is eight panels that are shaped in the shape of a ship. And you actually enter into the ship and you see all the different reliefs of what these prisoners went through. And the final relief, which is only 4ft tall, is them being set free after the war. But what's great about it is because the fountain is back on. While you stand in that prison ship, you hear the water, the fountain, the panels are at different heights, so they emulate the rocking of the ships. And so that is really the best place to start your experience in Freedom Plaza. And then as you look, as you look this way, you see the giant resurrected Cesar Rodney statue that was torn down in 2020 and has been brought here to kick off the second part of the experience, which is the entire.
Stephen K. Bannon
Can I play some B roll on the Rodney? I think we got some B roll on that. I want people to understand. I think it was in the summer of love when these anarchists and Marxists and people that hate this country. Let's play. Play. Let's do a split screen with Matthew. Matthew, tell me about Caesar Rodney. Cesar Rodney kind of broke the tie. It was Cesar Rodney that was so important as a Delaware representative. This is one of the great men in American history. Tell me about the statue, how it was abused and what you guys did to make this a central part of this Liberty Plaza.
Matthew Taylor
Well, you know, in 2020, many statues were torn down and some were destroyed. Cesar Rodney was taken down, I believe, by actually the Delaware government. You know, just they said to protect him. But he was put in a box, and he sat in a box for many, many years. And so, you know, thanks to people like Vince Haley, who took a great interest in Cesar Rodney, we found him, we brought him to Washington, D.C. we built this beautiful pedestal, as you can see behind me, out of precast concrete and put him in the middle of this beautiful installation. And, of course, Cesar Rodney had cancer. He had emphysema. He rode through a storm, through the night to sign to, you know, to show up and be the tiebreaker that would set all of this in motion. And so, you know, while he's not always the common name on someone's. On someone's lips when they talk about the founding Fathers, he is a critical piece of why we are here at all. And we are so honored to be able to put him up here in the middle of Freedom Plaza, a place that has represented all sorts of activism and other things. And he is one of the original guys that got it done. And so he sits here in the middle of the plaza, of course, with the 12 soldiers of the revolution. We have five or six black patriots that we are honoring. There's all people from all ages, all creeds, and everywhere that came together as ordinary people to create an extraordinary nation. And so you go from Cesar Rodney's ride, you walk through what we like to call the Revolutionary War. The soldiers, they have plaques that you can read to learn who they are and to understand them. They're all in motion. That's one thing that was very important in the design of the sculptures. We wanted to show these guys doing things, being active. And so when you finally go through all of those soldiers of which you can spend quite a bit of time on, because their stories are all so fascinating, when you get to the end of that, you get to the spirit of Liberty. The Spirit of Liberty is a 21st century American icon similar to the Statue of Liberty or the Statue of Freedom on top of our U.S. capitol, of which this plaza sits, you know, not far from. And she represents what all of this is here for. Why Caesar Rodney rode, why those prisoners decided to stay on those ships when all they had to do was renounce the cause and walk off. Why these soldiers fought and died to build this nation. And so she is 23ft tall. She holds the Declaration of Independence. In one of her hands, she has a sword to the sky. And on her base, there's three reliefs. And the three reliefs tell the entire story of the Revolution. There's the signing of the Declaration of Independence. There's the Crossing of the Delaware, and there's the Surrender at Yorktown. So you get to experience the entire revolution based off three very famous paintings that we love. And that's what Freedom Plaza is. It will be here for the duration of the 250th celebration, and it will be here for you to experience, for you to take your children to. I come here almost every day just to see how people are enjoying the statues. And it's wonderful to see families and people of all backgrounds reading the. Taking pictures. And so we're very, very excited for everybody to come see this experience. The statues stand inside the prison ship and, you know, celebrate this amazing, amazing country for the next year or so.
Stephen K. Bannon
Yeah, no, the feedback we've gotten is tremendous. I'm going to hold you through the break. Quickly, before the break. The Park Service deserves a hat tip here, you guys. I mean, it's amazing that you and Vince and you're the main guy in charge, but Vince's idea, the president's idea, was able to execute in such a limited amount of time. You could not have done it without some great support by a National Park Service, correct?
Matthew Taylor
Absolutely. The Park Services have been absolutely amazing, and they took a whole year to restore the plaza. I mean, honestly, we had not seen the fountain turned on. I didn't even know there was text in half of this plaza. So the Park Service has done an amazing job in Freedom Plaza, and frankly, they've done an amazing job across the entire city. You know, I'm from this area, and a lot of these fountains I've never seen turned on. A lot of this has not been cleaned. Cleaned. They outdid themselves in a record amount of time. And. And I. It's a great honor to work with the Park Services.
Stephen K. Bannon
Matthew, can you just hang right there? We're gonna come right back to you. A couple other things, a couple other details. Want to make sure people get. And this is a great way to commemorate it, support this, you know, not just simply the revolution book, other content we're going to be putting up. Like I said, we're going to go through the. What happened here. Patrick K. ODonnell is going to be joining us next week. In the weeks to come come other historians about the revolution and to connect to the Patriots today. We have a lot of work to do, a lot of work. And you're going to see next week, I think, the scale of. Of what we can accomplish and what is necessary to. To save this republic. Let me put it that way. I want to thank, by the way and the sponsors. One of the things we do with the sponsors, make sure that you have access to the senior people in the company and in addition that they're giving us special deals for the war on posse all the time. One of the ones that's knocked it out of the park is chapter. This new data company, 845 War Room, they've already saved $1 million for War Room posse members that call that number 8 for 5 War Room. What do they do? They take all the data out there, all the perturbations of these Medicare plans which are mind numbingly confusing. It's like quantum mechanics, right? They make it simple for you to ask questions, get results, think it through. Not just to save money but also to get the best plan, an optimum plan for you at the right cost. 845 War Room the folks over there just absolutely amazing chapter at 845 4. Make sure you do it today, over the weekend and just take your time.
Political Commentator 3
Welcome to it.
Stephen K. Bannon
You'll get, you'll get. You'll start to understand the complexity of Medicare but how they can make it simple. Get the right plan at the right cost. Short commercial break we're going to go back to Freedom Plaza. Matthew Taylor next,
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War room. Here's your host, Stephen K. Band. Matthew O. I want to make sure people get a chance when they come. This is totally free and you will enjoy it. The kids will enjoy it. You get the photos, all of it. I want people, where do they go in the interim to find out more about this? I think you've already set up a mini tour online where they get the information so they can find the location. You also can enjoy. Right across the street from the plaza is Saban Howard's magnificent work on World War I. And as you know, we covered Sabin in detail, the making of it, the pounding of it, all of it, the creation of it for years. It's also on January 5th, this is where all those fire breathing speeches took place. And I think starting Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we're going to be able to connect those speeches to current events. Let's say that. Matthew, where do people go and where do people go to the Park Service to find out more about what you guys have created here?
Matthew Taylor
Absolutely. So yes, Freedom Plaza is on Pennsylvania Avenue. Like Steve said, it's right next to the, the World War I monument across from City hall and it is free. It is a park. Most people don't even know this park is here, but they know now because it feels completed with these statues here. If you want to find it online, the National Park Services has done an exceptional job at putting Freedom Plaza online. You can even just search NPS Freedom Plaza on Google. Google itself has done a walkthrough so you'll be able to actually experience it at home. If you do not come to Washington D.C. you'll be able to walk through the park and see the statues online through Google Earth in Google Maps. So yeah, it is absolutely free. It is a extension of what is already here in the monumental core of Washington D.C. which, as you know, all of these monuments celebrate our nation and our founders and, and so yes, come to Freedom Plaza. Bring your entire family, come many times and have an experience of a lifetime.
Stephen K. Bannon
Yeah. And I want to thank you not just for doing it in the Brooklyn prison ships, but also the Spirit of Liberty. I think it's one of the most breathtaking, you know, classical pieces of sculpture I've seen and it's such a, it's so fantastic to have it right there in the heart of Washington. I just can't thank you guys enough for conceiving the shoe and Vince and for making sure this got done so quickly. When you told me about it, I said, okay, that'll be done in 10 years. Check back with me at the end of the decade. But no, you guys got it done and want to thank the Park Service, everybody involved. Matthew Taylor, thank you so much, brother. Appreciate you.
Matthew Taylor
Thank you for having me, Steve. Appreciate it.
Stephen K. Bannon
Make sure you go down there. It's going to stay for the entire year. And it's extraordinary, I think in Vince Haley, you know, most of the great speeches that Vince, you know, since middle of 2017 when Vince came aboard, like the Warsaw speech, so many of the great speeches Vince has had with Stephen Miller has been like the chief architect of. So just done a fantastic job and he brings a real sense of American history to the White House. Okay, we're going to connect that our revolutionary founding in this magnificent generation of men and women that fought and would not give up. Remember, folks, the reason we have our freedom is not a document. The reason we have our freedom is that we fought for it for year after year after year. And hey, as we're going to see as we go through this summer in the fall, all the way up to. All the way up to Christmas night, it was virtually one unrelenting defeat after the other. Now, amazing heroism and amazing courage and valor and just to stick in there. And some of the things that you will, will go in detail like the American Thermopylae in Brooklyn with that renowned Maryland regiment, the American Dunkirk right there where Brooklyn Bridge is today, right at Brooklyn Heights to basically save the army, the Continental army and the militias from total destruction with their back to the east river to get to Manhattan. The retreat across Manhattan, the retreat across, the fighting retreat across New Jersey where the army never collapsed. That took courage and bravery. We'll get into all of that. But we also have to have our new courage and bravery to make sure that we can bequeath the greatest nation in the history of the earth to future generations. That is the task and purpose, or that is the task at hand. And if it becomes your purpose, we'll get this done. If it's not, and this audience is absolutely central to that. I don't know. I just don't know. If you guys put your shoulder to the wheel, we'll win. Let's play today's cold open. Kurt Mills is going to join us right afterwards, so go ahead and play the cold open.
News Reporter
This is Pickaxe Mountain, another site where Iran is believed to be advancing its nuclear capabilities deep underground. And in recent weeks, vehicles could clearly be seen going in and out of the tunnels. Experts told CNN this was likely a violation of the terms signed with the US which required Iran to maintain the status quo regarding their nuclear program. In contrast, other prominent nuclear sites did not seem to have been touched. Like Isfahan here, Bordeaux here and Natanz. There has been activity at some missile sites. The US and its allies have long been concerned about Tehran's missile capacity. And the latest imagery suggests Iran has already started repeating repairing some storage sites. This is new paving laid out at Tabriz missile base in recent days. And at another missile base in Kermanshah, we can see excavators and tunnel entrances being cleared. Lastly, we've also spotted repairs at air bases in recent days. You can see a crater being filled in here at Tabriz air base. With the US Resuming its attacks on Iran, a peace agreement is seeming increasingly out of reach.
Axios reports that the traffic Trump administration has given Iran a deadline of today to publicly announce that the Strait of Hormuz is open and stop attacks on commercial ships. That's according to three U.S. officials. And according to the Wall Street Journal, officials said that the administration believes that a nuclear deal with Iran is growing increasingly unlikely. The Journal also reports that Israel recently shared new intelligence with the US That Iran was considering a plan to assassinate President Trump. According to people familiar with the matter. President Trump told the New York Post that he's left instructions should Iran succeed in their plots to quote, just literally bomb them at levels they've never seen before. He reiterated that threat on social media late Friday, saying 1,000 missiles are locked and loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran if the Iranian government carried out an assassination attempt against him.
Political Commentator 2
If you look at the Cauchy prediction mark and the chance that six House Democrats go down to defeat, lose their president primary in 2026, this number has consistently over the last week or so been hovering 80, 90%. And when we talk about history books, the history books, right? If in fact six House Democrats went down to defeat in 2026, it would be by far, it would be the largest number, be the largest number in a post redistricting cycle for Democrats and get this, over 50 years. That's why I got this picture of the Tea Party on your screen right now.
Political Commentator 1
We begin this hour with the clear message from the Trump administration about the midterm elections. Carry it out the way we want or face the consequences. That's basically what the White House said after Trump fired the remaining three members of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission this week. A White House official told Ms. Now quote, the president and head of the executive branch reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the Importance task of securing America's elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted. Nowhere did that official indicate how these members failed in their task, but it may very well be that they were just not, quote, totally aligned with Trump's view of securing the election. And the consequences have become even greater for the states. The New York Times reports that the administration could hold back the tens of millions of dollars in anti terrorism funds to states that do not agree to make changes to their election process, including transitioning to paper ballots and verifying the citizenship of voters. And if noncitizens were to vote, which is extremely rare and already against the law, the DOJ is threatening top election officials nationwide with criminal prosecution, according to a letter sent to all 50 states of and reviewed by Ms. Now the DOJ is also planning to send election monitors to 15 jurisdictions in six states for the remaining primary elections this summer to quote, ensure voter confidence in the upcoming primary elections. At least that's what they say.
Political Commentator 3
That's what they say.
Political Commentator 1
That's what they say.
Jonathan
It's a little bit like Groundhog Day. As you mentioned earlier, this, the cease fire never actually went into effect. Fire never ceased. Trump violated it from the beginning by threatening the Iranians, which was something that was prescribed in the MoU. This recent example of supposed assassination threat against Trump. And by the way, the Iranians are not good guys and have been leaders of global terrorism for a long time. But the fact of an American president threatening genocide against the whole people in case he's assassinated is more than unseemly. It's, it's incredibly vulgar and undiplomatic language which is what we've seen all week. So again, I think they're just playing for time. The Iranians may have overplayed their hand. They got so much in the MoU. I would have just said guys, go, go home and just us start collecting the hundreds and millions and billions of dollars which the US promised to you. But what I think ultimately will happen is sort of like what has happened in Gaza. We're not talking about Gaza anymore. Where was the great peace deal in Gaza? Well, I think Trump will just kick this down the road for months and even years and there'll be occasional flare ups, but they'll never be a nuclear deal along the lines of what the JCPO did under Obama.
Political Commentator 1
The elections are secure, non citizens. What was that story that we had was like vanishingly rare that a non citizen votes. And that is not, you know, on purpose, it's like accidental. But. Go ahead, Eugene. I mean I'm Sputtering here.
Political Commentator 3
Well, because it's frustrating.
Political Commentator 2
Yeah.
Political Commentator 3
And it feels like we have been having a same, the, a similar conversation as a country since 2020, which is that Donald Trump created this lie from the beginning because it was in the summer that he started saying that the election was going to be stolen because of mail in voting during COVID And he laid the groundwork, has been getting people riled up, people died on January 6 because of this and has continued on. And now he is back in the White House with all hands on power. He has a DOJ that seems willing to do whatever he wants, despite the that fact, fact that Bill Barr, who was the, who was the head of the doj, who was the AG at the time, said, no, the election was not stolen. I'm not about to go do what you want. He gets rid of this. All the people in this Election Assistance Commission, which is supposed to also find ways to make sure that the states have what they need to do their own elections, because we don't have federal elections. They have, you know, 50 plus little elections. And so what it appears to be is that Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to shenanigan in the election, at the very, very least making it harder for people to vote, making it harder for secretaries of state to do their job. We will talk to him in a second, but it is over and over and over.
Political Commentator 1
The new supreme leader this morning, in a statement posted on to his telegram account, he called for revenge for the death of his father, his predecessor, saying it was, quote, the, the demand of the nation, end quote, must certainly take place. How do you, being a former State Department official, how do you view that comment from the new supreme Leader? And how do you think that's going over in the West Wing right now?
Jonathan
Well, I think, Jonathan, it's equally irresponsible to Trump's statements, but one of the things we almost never talk about is the assassination by the US And Israel of the leader of Iran's Shia Muslims, the religious and spiritual leader of Iran's Shia Muslims, the spiritual and religious leader of the world's 250 Shia Muslims, and something that offended probably the billion and a half Sunni Muslims around the world. I mean, it's just an incredible thing that happened. And I think what we saw with the outpouring of grief for the ayatollah, of course there's, there's going to be a spirit of revenge there. I think he has to escalate his language. There's like escalation, dominance of language because of what Trump says that they have to reply to that. So I don't think it's responsible. I certainly, you know, hope nothing like that exchange happens, but it's pretty predictable.
Stephen K. Bannon
Okay, we're getting to all this. Kurt Mills is going to join us. We're going to break it all down for you all. Family Pharmacy has extended their special buy one, get one free. Go to allfamilypharmacy.com Bannon buy one get one free. Check it. They've extended it till midnight Eastern Daylight Time on Monday. This has been such an overwhelming success. Buy one get one free allfamilypharmacy.com Bannon do it and do it now.
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Eric Metaxas
War Room here's your host, Stephen K.
Jonathan
Bannon
Stephen K. Bannon
about I want to get into all this, but I really want to get into it with with Kurt Mills about this whole thing on assassinations because present in the middle of the night. Put this thing out too, where he's essentially saying, I'm putting a dead hand on this. In other words, if I'm assassinated by the Iranians. That and we're dealing with old Charlie Kirk assassination. We just finished five days. That which is extra could be linked with what we're going through now. And people will say, well it's either transgender or Israel or whatever. But it's, it's, it's all through the anarchy we're seeing in the world right now. So Charlie Kirk has been assassinated. President Trump now they're saying, hey, he was almost assassinated the other day. Assassin attempt. And of course the stories in the Wall Street Journal, which did the best reporting, said that senior officials didn't buy it from the Israelis and, and thought. And this I'm just quoting, I've got it up on my getter account thought it was just another move by them to continue us in this war. And I think we have to be very careful about that. And I would argue to the President be very careful about it. We've kind of had a. There's been this. I don't say it's a gentleman's agreement. We did not get involved in the, in the assassination attempts on Hitler. That came from, you know, that came from the various members of the Wehrmacht and other members of German society that tried to do it. We did not try to, you know, assassinate many of the leaders. One of the assassination attempts. Just to go back in history that the toward in 1864, after Gettysburg, remember after Gettysburg, there was really went 10 months, almost a year before any major military operations in the East. The command structure of both armies were so destroyed. The battle it was like three Waterloo in a row, day after day after day that by January and February of 1864, with an election coming up, you know, Lincoln thought it's kind of over. I'm not going to win reelection. This thing's as bad. They came up with this attempt to go take Richmond or at least try to free the prisoners of Richmond. It's called D's raid. And D's raid went down in Dahlgren, who was the son of an admiral. Eventually, the raid failed. The way to Richmond. The Calvary unit off it was a fiasco. Dahlgren was killed near Mechanicsville, Virginia. On Colonel Dahlgren's body, they found an envelope with the orders. That's been argued whether these are real orders or fake orders. But the orders were this was all a diversionary tactic. It was a Kirkpatrick's order regiment that was going down Dahlgren. It was a total distraction so the Dahlgren could go to the Confederate White House, capture the cabinet of the Confederacy and Jefferson Davis and either assassinate them or hold them hostage and bring them back to Washington, D.C. in A. In a bold stroke that would end the war in one movement. Well, whether papers were right or not, the Confederacy done and the Secret Service of the Confederacy in Montreal and in New York City. And remember, New York City was a hotbed of Confederate activity. Began the. The assassination plot on Lincoln. And they got a agent for the Confederate Secret Service. Confederate, you know, the Confederate military intelligence, which is John Wilkes Booth and of course, Mary Surratt, her family from Maryland, they were up to their necks in Confederate and. And being Confederate spies and part of a Confederate network of really assassins. And they tried several assassination attempts on including the inauguration, including Outside the Willow. They're trying to blow up the White House when Grant was there, all these operations and finally succeeded at Ford's Theater. My point, these things get incredibly messy when you go down this road. Now, Kurt Mills, here's my point. Part of Israeli. And look, they're fighting long odds because they're fighting all the Arabs at one time. And this is why we say that we're not a fans of this Greater Israel Project. But assassination is part of their. When this thing first started on that first night, back in the 12 day war. Let's go back to the beginning. They killed the negotiators. They were supposed to have a meeting on Sunday in Oman. Witkoff and Jared, they killed the negotiators as their first blow. When we get to this part, they're trying to kill.
They set the thing off.
Reason President Trump kind of takes Qatar aside. They went and set a missile over in Qatar to guess what, get negotiators. They have a history of doing this, sir. And you're going down a very dangerous road. Now we got the President, United States, that's saying, hey, if I'm assassinated, there's going to be a thousand missiles a day. They're going to hit Iran till we take it off the face of the map. And I would just tell the President, Mr. President, please get a food taster immediately. If you put out a claim like that, you know, somebody may take you up on it. It's. It's a. It's a very serious claim. And we got to think about this very seriously. Kurt Mills, your thoughts?
Kurt Mills
Yeah, I mean, this is. I don't know what could be more serious than this. You know, you described there as the rise and kill first doctrine, which was explained in great detail by the New York Times reporter Ronan Bergman in the first Trump administration. You know, Israel has assassinated, you know, we think more than More, more people, more political officials than any Western government since World War II. So, you know, Israel exists within its own plane. Of course, the allegation funneled by Israeli intelligence and then of course expounded upon by their allies in the United States is that Iran is seeking to assassinate the President of the United States. And you know, we don't know that's the whole, that's the whole nature of allegations and why allegations shouldn't ipso facto create action or policy. But I think it's pretty conspicuous that those who are most keen on this are for instance, allies of Mitch McConnell. I thought it was extremely conspicuous this week that Mitch McConnell is on his deathbed or something approaching it. He's not with his wife, but he's talking with former aides about what's the top agenda item? Iran. And you know, that is put out by the Scott Jennings person on cnn. And that's injected into the mainstream and into President Trump's vision and additionally President Trump's so called battle instructions or battle plans. Look, I think Trump defies gravity more than any figure in American history. But I don't think that any successor would be at all honor bound to initiate this plan. So I think Vance would do what he wanted. But secondarily, if Vance were honor bound, somehow that creates this. And this is not my observation. Glenn Greenwald, the great journalist, also observed this. That creates the greatest incentive for not Iran to assassinate President Trump and somebody else.
Stephen K. Bannon
Yeah, yeah. I think, Kurt, just hold on for a second. We got a lot more to break down here, but the President very, I mean, very serious. There's a great book out there if you want to find out more about this. I think it's called Rise and Kill First. It's, it's basically the philosophy of the Mossad that strikes first on this. And it's excruciatingly detailed. And you can see they've got a. They. When they execute on this, they execute on this. We've got Kurt Mills, we're working on Tina Peters, Mike Lindell. We're going to talk about the machine means.
Matthew Taylor
Right.
Stephen K. Bannon
Remember, I'm not a machine guy. However, they're a big part of all the problems here. We'll take a short commercial break or leave me the One Nation. Great, great, great songs up on the charts. One Nation, short break. We're united, strong and free.
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Date: July 11, 2026
Host: Stephen K. Bannon
Guests: Eric Metaxas, Matthew Taylor, Kurt Mills, Political Commentators
This episode of Bannon’s War Room revolves around the ongoing efforts to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary (“Freedom 250”), the importance of preserving revolutionary values, and the significance of new architectural monuments dedicated to the Founding Fathers and unsung patriots. The discussions interweave current events, reflections on American history, the challenges facing the nation, and updates on global political tensions.
Bannon sets the tone: The host frames the episode as both a call to action and a tribute to American heritage, connecting today's political atmosphere to the unbroken chain of revolutionary patriots.
Eric Metaxas’ new book ("Revolution"):
The legacy of the Revolution:
Matthew Taylor describes the Freedom Plaza initiative:
Monument details:
Accessibility and experience:
Restoration efforts:
Bannon on the Revolution’s struggles:
Implication for today's audience:
International affairs:
Election integrity debates:
On Revolutionary Sacrifice:
On Patriotism and Courage Today:
On the Freedom Plaza Project:
On Responsibility to the Future:
The conversation is fervently patriotic, reflective, and at times combative, with a pronounced emphasis on American exceptionalism, religious roots, and vigilance in the face of perceived threats—be they historical or contemporary.
This summary provides a thorough walkthrough of the episode’s central themes, key arguments, and memorable moments, and allows those who haven’t listened to grasp both the factual content and the passionate tones that animate Bannon’s War Room.