Bannon's War Room: Battleground EP 838

Date: August 27, 2025
Main Theme:
The episode focuses on two deeply troubling crises: a shooting at a Catholic school and a bombshell controversy in the American Catholic Church involving priests caught on tape discussing sexual practices. The episode explores media manipulation of “Christian nationalism,” perceived culture wars, the negative influence of mainstream media on public paranoia, and the crisis of leadership and morality within the Church.

Episode Overview

• Host: Ben (with Steve Bannon, Liz Yore, Jenny Holland, Frank Walker)
• Purpose:
  To analyze current news from a Christian conservative viewpoint, emphasizing the intersection of crisis—both social (school shootings, LGBTQ/gender ideology) and institutional (Church corruption)—with media coverage and manipulation.
• Tone:
  Urgent, combative, defensive of traditional Christianity, and openly critical of mainstream media and liberal ideologies.
• Trigger Warning:
  Multiple warnings about graphic content related to clerical sexual misconduct (35:40, 31:32).

Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Minneapolis Catholic School Shooting

Timestamps: 03:39 – 07:52, 25:36 – 26:58

• Liz Yore reports:
  A shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis during the first Mass of the school year.
  • Victims: At least 2 children (ages 8 and 10) killed, over a dozen wounded.
  • Trauma extended to witnesses, including other young children.
  • Shooter allegedly identified as Robin Westman:
    • Posted anti-Trump messages (“Kill Donald Trump”) on social media prior to the shooting (25:42).
    • Possible unverified reports of being transgender.
  • Liz’s assessment:
    "The trauma, the pain, the suffering, it’s going to last most of their lifetime... it’s going to last most of their lifetime. And for it to be going on during Mass is especially poignant and sad." (05:03)
    • The show draws a direct line between media-fueled paranoia, mental health crises, LGBTQ teaching in schools, and outbreaks of violence.

2. Media Manipulation & ‘Christian Nationalism’ Narrative

Timestamps: 07:52 – 13:39

• Jenny Holland exposes the ‘narrative framing’
  • Focus on how left-leaning outlets like The Guardian target conservative Christians (case study: Pete Hegseth and his church’s networks).
  • Jenny’s analysis:
    "What they do is they create this impression that is Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, Christian Nationalism. We're going to all be living in the Handmaid's Tale any minute now." (09:20)
  • Accusations leveled at the Guardian:
    • Willfully using regime propagandists as sources (e.g., ex-SPLC officials), creating scare stories to panic progressive audiences.
    • The Guardian’s use of fringe statements to conflate mainstream Christianity with neo-Nazism or theocracy.
    • Their manipulation feeds delusions and misplaced fears among liberals/progressives about imminent fascism, camps, etc.

Notable Quote:

“It’s almost like an ideal laundering factory where they find some, you know, regime probably paid apparatnik to talk these talking points and then they print it and they, you know, rinse and repeat over and over again.”
— Jenny Holland (13:57)

3. ICE Raids, Borders, and Biblical Justification

Timestamps: 15:43 – 21:56

• Jenny Holland discusses ex-pastor Joshua Hames:
  • Guardian coverage points to his social media posts supporting ICE raids and strict border policies, claiming Biblical justification.
  • While Hames denies being a white supremacist, his views (traditional, anti-drag queen, anti-open borders) are spun into broader culture war narratives.
  • Jenny draws attention to how liberals are “traumatized" by these manufactured narratives, believing mass roundups or camps are imminent.

Notable Quote:

“There’s a large segment of American society that really thinks that they are going to be imprisoned in camps imminently and starved and executed. So it's stories like this that feed that mania.”
— Jenny Holland (19:27)

4. Liberal Fear, Media-Induced Paranoia, and National Divide

Timestamps: 21:56 – 25:13

• Ben and Jenny emphasize that tens of millions of Americans (especially abroad) genuinely fear imprisonment or execution by the right, fed by mainstream media and social media echo chambers.
• This is described as both a mental health and political crisis, made worse by what they call "regime propaganda."

5. Child ‘Grooming’ Accusations & LGBTQ Indoctrination

Timestamps: 01:11 – 01:39; 33:03 – 34:26

• Early in the episode, a clip is played of rainbow symbolism and LGBTQ issues taught to children.
• Ben and Liz denounce this as “child abuse”—drawing a line between childhood indoctrination and potential later trauma or violence.
• Liz Yore’s condemnation:
  “Those people teaching these small children, propagandizing, brainwashing them is just absolutely vile.” (33:03)

6. Clerical Sexual Misconduct Scandal: Caught-On-Tape Priests

Timestamps: 31:32 – 41:25

• Frank Walker exposes:

  • Recording from a meeting of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests (AUSCP, described as leftwing, ‘aging, mostly homosexual priests’).
  • An unnamed priest publicly admits “thanking God for the gift of being able to pleasure himself sexually” and combining prayer with masturbation.
  • Two bishops are reported in the audience—they say nothing.
  • Discussion pulls back to 1970s-style sexual theology; minimization of Church teaching on sexual sin.
  • Direct quote from Michael Hichborn/Lepanto Institute report:
    “We heard priests admitting to being homosexual and masturbating. In one case, a priest said that he thanks God for the gift of being able to pleasure himself sexually.” (38:10)

• Denunciation extended to bishops and Church leadership:

  • Senior bishops and cardinals (Wester, Stowe, Cupich, McElroy, Gregory) accused of supporting or turning a blind eye to moral decay.
  • Drawn as evidence that this attitude permeates to the Vatican—linked to Pope Francis (“Francis used to teach... It's not the ideal, but it's not such a bad thing.” 37:48).

Notable Quotes:

"The idea of the sacredness of perverted sex really isn’t just isolated to this meeting… It goes all the way up to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith."
— Frank Walker (39:30)

“It’s absolutely clear that Satan is presently reigning here on earth.”
— Ben (41:25)

7. Crisis of Church Leadership & ‘Globalist’ Vatican Agenda

Timestamps: 44:51 – 49:22

• Liz Yore reports:
  • The Vatican's upcoming "World Meeting for Human Fraternity" draws celebrity speakers (e.g., John Legend, Pharrell Williams) and frames itself with secular ‘buzzwords’ (inclusivity, fraternity, hope).
  • Liz alleges this agenda is Masonic, globalist, replacing genuine Catholic teaching with UN/2030 Sustainable Development goals.
  • Pope Leo XIV (fictional pope, a stand-in for critique of Vatican liberal theology) is named as directly continuing Pope Francis’s liberalizing legacy.
  • Warning: “There is no fraternity in the Bible, nor inclusivity or dialogue... but those are the agendas being promoted by Leo. He is Francis 2.0.” (49:22)

Notable Quote:

“The Synodal Church, which has been introduced by Francis and now is being once again embraced by Pope Leo, is a church that is going to replace the Catholic Church... nothing but a Masonic agenda dressed up in celebrity and the new globalist agenda.”
— Liz Yore (44:51)

8. Closing: Call to Action & Preview of Next Episode

Timestamps: 49:53 – 51:30

• Tease for Friday’s upcoming discussion on “Bread Not Stones,” a documentary about the Latin Mass crackdown and the faithful battle with Church authority.
• Social media and contact information for all guests.

Notable Quotes

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 09:20 | Jenny Holland | "What they do is they create this impression that is Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, Christian Nationalism. We're going to all be living in the Handmaid's Tale any minute now." | | 13:57 | Jenny Holland | "It’s almost like an ideal laundering factory... rinse and repeat over and over again." | | 19:27 | Jenny Holland | "There’s a large segment of American society that really thinks that they are going to be imprisoned in camps imminently..." | | 33:03 | Liz Yore | "Those people teaching these small children, propagandizing, brainwashing them is just absolutely vile." | | 38:10 | Michael Hichborn (read by Ben/Frank) | "We heard priests admitting to being homosexual and masturbating. In one case, a priest said that he thanks God for the gift of being able to pleasure himself sexually." | | 39:30 | Frank Walker | "The idea of the sacredness of perverted sex really isn’t just isolated to this meeting… It goes all the way up to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith." | | 41:25 | Ben | "It’s absolutely clear that Satan is presently reigning here on earth." | | 44:51 | Liz Yore | “...nothing but a Masonic agenda dressed up in celebrity and the new globalist agenda.” |

Concluding Section

• Final thoughts:
  The panel urges listeners to “take the leadership of the church into our own hands,” cautioning against blind faith in the current Church hierarchy. They reaffirm the need for prayer, vigilance, and media critique, and call for solidarity among “faithful Catholics” and conservative listeners as the world “goes medieval.”
• Preview:
  Next episode will feature a documentary about Latin Mass persecution and resistance.

For those who missed the episode:
This War Room installment provided a grim, combative survey of moral, social, and ecclesiastical crisis, painting a stark division between conservative Christian values and what the hosts perceive as a corrupt, decadent culture — both in secular society and the Catholic hierarchy itself. The show’s tone is one of warning, rallying, and diagnostic outrage aimed at re-inspiring traditionalist activism and vigilance among its audience.