GOP VICTORY IN VIRGINIA, IRAN WAR UPDATE | WAR ROOM WITH STEVE BANNON AM EDITION

Summary

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Podcast Summary: WAR ROOM WITH STEVE BANNON AM EDITION – GOP Victory in Virginia, Iran War Update

Podcast: Real America’s Voice (iHeartPodcasts)
Date: May 8, 2026
Host: Stephen K. Bannon
Guests: Caroline Wren, Jeffrey Reyer, David Malpass, Eric Bolling, Nigel Farage, others
Episode Focus: Breaking down the GOP’s legal and political victories in Virginia and other states, the dynamics and economic fallout of the Iran conflict, and the broader struggle for control of Congress and global economic positioning.

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Main Theme

This episode centers on major wins for the Republican Party in recent state court battles over redistricting—particularly a surprise victory in the Virginia Supreme Court—while also examining the escalating Iran conflict’s effects on global oil and U.S. politics. The show combines real-time news, historical context, and action-oriented conservative commentary, emphasizing a fight for constitutional order against what the hosts see as radical leftist encroachment, both domestically (through elections and maps) and internationally (China, Iran, global finance).

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Supreme Court Victory in Virginia – Redistricting Wars

• Context: The Virginia Supreme Court ruled against what Republicans describe as an unconstitutional Democratic redistricting effort, thereby blocking Democrats from picking up four additional seats.

  • “The Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Virginia has nixed the phony referendum by the left wing radical Democrats. Those four seats are not going to Democrats.” – Stephen K. Bannon (10:42)

• Reaction:

  • Caroline Wren expressed surprise and satisfaction:
    • “I have never been more excited to be wrong about something than I am being wrong about the Virginia Supreme Court. This was... four seats that Dems were going to pick up. That just came back into play. This is so massive.” (11:24)
  • The win energizes the tally towards the "magic number" of 218 House seats needed for a GOP majority.
  • “With this Virginia ruling and the Tennessee map passing last night, that puts Republicans at 212 safe seats. We need six more.” – Caroline Wren (11:24)

• Behind the Ruling:

  • Supreme Court judges, though considered liberal, stuck to constitutional process over party loyalty due to their appointment history and upcoming renomination pressure. (13:09)
  • “It took a tremendous amount of courage for these justices to do this. And doing the right thing isn't always easy.” – Jeffrey Reyer (14:14)

• Key Quote:

  • “Their end goal doesn't matter as far as what the means are. They will just go ahead and plow forward regardless. And if it were not for a brave judiciary... we'd be suckers.” – Jeffrey Reyer (15:18)

• Grassroots Role:

  • “Despite being heavily outspent, [the grassroots] brought it to our best performance in the state since 2001. We took it right to them.” – Jeffrey Reyer (22:55)
  • Bannon underscores the grassroots’ power to pressure both courts and legislators, especially in key redistricting battlegrounds.

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2. Redistricting Nationwide: The Battle for 218

• States in Play: Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi—with continued legal and political skirmishes over maps.

  • “There are six seats still on the table... Actually there are ten. But Georgia... I give up... we have to live under an unconstitutional map until 2028.” – Caroline Wren (19:05)

• Warnings and Mobilization:

  • Wren urges not to let wins make Republicans complacent. “We have to go full speed ahead. Double down.” (19:05)
  • Details intricacies in each state, e.g., legislative and court bottlenecks, state-specific electoral hurdles (21:13–22:04).

• Call to Action:

  • “I have no problem coming and camping out there and running a primary against every single person that votes against redistricting in South Carolina. Mark my words.” – Caroline Wren (21:13)

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3. Broadening the Lens: National and International Stakes

A. U.S. Elections: Structure, Process, and Content

• Bannon segregates GOP strategy into:
  1. Structural (laws, district maps, barriers to illegal voting)
  2. Process (voter engagement, grassroots turnout)
  3. Content (policy messaging)
  • “On the structural side, we are close. We're then hollering distance of the magic number 218. Because in this situation, the only, you know, victory is everything.” (29:04)
• Stakes are high: even one seat can decide control of the House.

B. The Iran Conflict and Global Oil Markets

• Military/Economic Standoff:

  • David Malpass describes a high-stakes back-and-forth:
    • Trump’s efforts to force Iranian concessions by blockading the Strait of Hormuz have had unpredictable results, with Iran exploiting insurance and risk premiums to hurt global trade. (04:41)
  • “Trump is trying to see what can put pressure on the Iranians to come to the table... The Iranians...are willing to take the pain as long as the pain is distributed to everybody.” – Malpass (04:41)

• Oil Shipment & Market Update:

  • Eric Bolling shares insider data on Gulf vessel counts, reflecting market volatility:
    • “Four days ago it was 11. Three days ago it was four... Yesterday it was exactly zero and now today it's seven.” (36:55)
    • Predicts a possible long-term dip in oil prices, but warns of persistent high gas prices if the blockade endures into the election period. (40:11)

• Geopolitical Maneuvering:

  • Iranian and Chinese coordination is interpreted as aimed at dragging out conflict to impact U.S. midterms. (29:04)

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4. Economic, Jobs, and AI Challenges

• Jobs Report:
  • Malpass highlights strong job growth but underlying weaknesses, especially for smaller businesses and wage earners. (31:57)
    • “There was job growth, which is good...But then they also go to small businesses, the household survey...the answer came back this morning, no, not enough.” (31:57)
• AI Impact:
  • Bannon/Malpass discuss the double-edged sword of STEM education and rapid AI-driven job losses.
    • “[About 20 years ago] you had to dump art, you had to dump history...because everybody had to be STEM...Now...another massive company...had what, 7% of their workforce they bottom blue because of artificial intelligence.” – Bannon (33:50)
    • Malpass: “Americans will rise to the occasion... They have to be allowed [to succeed] in the system... no tax on tips...elderly...so they don't work. We want all those people in the labor force looking for jobs.” (34:35)
• Education System Reform:
  • Strong call for a "Manhattan Project" for workforce development and skills retraining (48:01).
    • “We have to have a national effort...all the way up. Not this no Child Left behind stuff...actual skills training.” – Malpass (48:01)

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5. China, BRICS, and the Global Economic Order

• BRICS and ‘Petrodollar’ Threat:
  • Lula’s visit to the White House and Chinese coordination with Iran are positioned as efforts to undermine U.S. financial supremacy.
    • “They [BRICS] have institutions...to do that. In Shanghai, there's the new development bank...as a preferred creditor within the global debt system. That should stop.” – Malpass (48:01)
• Policy Response:
  • Bannon and Malpass insist the U.S. must stop treating China as a ‘developing nation’ in global finance.
    • “China...getting this big discount on its oil coming in from both Russia and Iran. And that's got to stop.” (45:58)
• U.S. Leadership:
  • President Trump is praised as best positioned to defend U.S. economic primacy and push for “full pressure on China.” (45:58)

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6. Historical Resonance & Symbolism

• VE Day Reflection:
  • Archival Churchill clip and hosts frame GOP victories as echoes of wider struggles for freedom and “constitutional order.” (09:14; 10:42)
  • "'Victory begets victory.'...It’s a game of inches. Like the Western front. World War I. It ain’t pretty. Remember, victory. A victory is a victory." – Bannon (50:55)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Redistricting & the Courts:

  • "This is so massive. I’m so glad the Virginia Supreme Court did clearly the right thing." – Caroline Wren (11:24)
  • “Doing the right thing isn’t always easy. And we are obviously very, very grateful that the court ruled in favor of the Virginia constitution and in favor of the voters of Virginia, frankly.” – Jeffrey Reyer (14:14)

• On Grassroots Engagement:

  • “We took it right to them...the only place where the yes votes carried were places where Democratic votes were heavily concentrated in dense urban areas, disenfranchising half of the state.” – Jeffrey Reyer (22:55)
  • “Every single one of them that votes against this will have a primary challenger. I will personally see to it.” – Caroline Wren (21:13)

• On International Challenges:

  • “China has to understand...we’re going to keep the pressure on there...The dollar is much better than the Chinese yuan, and that’ll get their attention.” – David Malpass (45:58)
  • “The BRICS nation, Lula and the Chinese Communist Party are maniacally focused on destroying the petrodollar in the Persian Gulf, are they not?” – Stephen K. Bannon (47:14)

• Economic Stakes:

  • “We need a whole of government effort to have more training...teach people that they can have a really good wage by making America great.” – David Malpass (31:57)
  • “Combine [oil price spikes] with the 2% GDP growth...you have two very, very strong numbers now.” – Eric Bolling (36:55)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [10:42] – Breaking news: Virginia Supreme Court ruling, immediate reactions
• [11:24] – [12:43] – Caroline Wren on the implications for GOP congressional majority count
• [13:09 – 15:18] – Inside look at the Supreme Court’s motivations and redistricting aftermath
• [16:00 – 17:46] – Bannon’s victory framing, call to grassroots, segue to broader redistricting battle
• [19:05 – 22:04] – Strategies for Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi; warnings to “squishy” GOP legislators
• [24:34] – Where to read the court decision and support the Virginia GOP
• [29:04] – [31:57] – Structuring U.S. elections: process, content, and structure
• [36:55 – 40:11] – Iran war update: oil shipment data, geopolitical calculations
• [45:58 – 48:01] – Malpass on global finance: China, BRICS, “petrodollar”
• [48:01 – 50:11] – Education reform, economic competitiveness, and maintaining currency leadership

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Overall Flow & Tone

• Language & Tone: The show maintains a combative, urgent, and triumphal tone, reflecting its conservative, activist audience. Hosts and guests are direct, at times blunt, and unapologetically partisan, using military and historical analogies to drive home urgency and the stakes involved.
• Engagement: Constant calls to action—especially for grassroots involvement, pressuring state legislators, and supporting GOP legal/election fights.
• Analysis: Mixes real-time political updates, deep dives into legislative and legal details, and big-picture economic and geopolitical commentary.

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For Listeners New to the Show

This episode is particularly useful for understanding:

• GOP strategies and optimism following unexpected legal wins in the long-running redistricting wars.
• How domestic electoral fights are intimately tied to global economics and America’s international standing, especially in relation to oil, China, and the Iran conflict.
• The show’s activist approach: victories are celebrated, setbacks dissected for lessons and next steps, and listeners are mobilized at every level—locally, nationally, and globally.

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Transcript

[Eric Bolling]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Caroline Wren]

No problem. Anyone can shine on Tick Tock. Post your first video today. Real life, real story, real you. Download TikTok and get started.

[Stacey Abrams]

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

[Unidentified Caller/Guest]

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

[David Malpass]

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

[Stacey Abrams]

You are in a safe place. You got to start sending your resources, your support and your intentions to the states that need your help. Do not abandon the south. They incubate evil here, but they, they, they farm it out everywhere. But we also incubate the solutions here and we know we can win this fight. But yes, we've got to win in November, but that means showing up for primaries, that means showing up for the general, and then it means making sure we're paying attention in 2020, in 28 and in 2030 when the census happens, because that's when they start this all over again. We can pull this off, but we've got to start fighting now because we're already behind, but we can catch up. I also think that, I mean, so this ballroom that he's building when, after the revolution in Ukraine, when they chased out their Russian aligned dictator, they turned his estate into a museum of corruption and they preserved everything as it was so that people could walk through and see how he had lived at their expense. And to me, that's kind of a very good potential use of this ballroom because somebody's going to have to preserve this to explain what happened.

[Nigel Farage]

Good morning, everybody. I am delighted to be here in the sunshine outside Havering Town hall, which I can now say is under new management. And I love to hear, and it's significant, it's our first win a borough in London. And that in some ways goes against the trend because the pattern that's emerging over the country is that Labour are being wiped out by reform in many of their most traditional areas. And what you're going to see later on today is the Conservative Party being wiped out in their heartlands like Essex. So London goes a bit against the trend in that the Conservatives and Labour have held up in some of the other boroughs. But I think overall what's happened is a truly historic shift in British politics. We've been so used to thinking about politics in terms of left and right, and yet what reform are able to do is to win in areas that have always been Conservative. But equally, we're proving in a big way, we can win in areas that Labour have dominated, frankly, since the end of World War I. At the moment, we're winning one in three of all the seats that are up. But I genuinely think the best is yet to come. I'm very excited about the Northeast results, the Yorkshire results, some more to come in the West Midlands, Essex. We're feeling supremely confident and that's significant given that half the Shadow Cabinet have seats in Essex. So it's a big, big day. It's a big, big day, not just for our party, but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way. And it all goes to show that over the course of the last two years, since we made that breakthrough in the general election, we have professionalised the party. We've done it at a very, very rapid rate. I'm thrilled and delighted.

[Winston Churchill (archival)]

Yesterday morning at 2:41am, at General Eisenhower's headquarters, General Jodel, the representative of the German High Command and of Grand Admiral Doenitz, the designated head of the German state, signed the act of Unconditional Surrender of all German land, sea and air forces in Europe to the Allied Expeditionary Forces, simultaneously to the Soviet High Command. Hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight, Tuesday 8th May. We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing. Today is Victory in Europe Day. Tomorrow will also be Victory in Europe Day. We must now devote all our strength and resources to the completion of our tasks both at home and abroad. Advance, Britannia. Long live the cause of freedom. God save the King.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Friday 8th May. Year of alert 2026. What a day. Already, of course, we're commemorating the end of the war in Europe back in 1945. Also massive win by our colleague Nigel Farage in the United Kingdom. Blockbuster news as we came on air. The Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Virginia has nixed the phony referendum by the left wing radical Democrats. Those four seats are not going to Democrats. Jeff Rye is going to join us by phone in a moment, but I want to start with the Caroline Wren. Caroline. Tennessee, South Carolina, now Virginia. Unbelievable.

[Eric Bolling]

Ma'.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Am.

[Caroline Wren]

I have never been more excited to be wrong about something than I am being wrong about the Virginia Supreme Court. This was a like right before we came on this ruling just came out. I mean that was four seats that Dems were going to pick up. That just came back into play. This is so massive. I'm so glad the Virginia Supreme Court did clearly the right thing. The process was unconstitutional. We all knew that. I just have lost faith in our institutions and so it is great to see something like this be upheld. We have two massive court wins now with the VRA ruling, now this. And now we are all eyes are on the magic number, Steve, which is 218. That's what you need for the majority. We do not want Speaker Hakeem Jeffries 2. 18 is what we need with this Virginia ruling and the Tennessee map passing last night. That puts Republicans at 212 safe seats. We need six more. And guess how many more seats are currently on the board for grabs with redistricting? Six. Louisiana, you've got two. Alabama, you've got two. South Carolina, one Mississippi, one. You get those six. That is game, set, match. And that does not even account for, by the way, the fact that we've removed 3.5 million at minimum illegal immigrants from this country who will no longer be voting this time around. So I am very optimistic today.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[Jeffrey Reyer]

Am.

[Caroline Wren]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[Jeffrey Reyer]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[Jeffrey Reyer]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

I'm a hold you break. Just hang on.

[Unidentified Caller/Guest]

Wow.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Incredible. From the midlands of England to Tennessee to the state capitol to the Commonwealth of Virginia, we are on a roll. What did, what did Churchill call it? Victory Day, May 8th in the year of our Lord 2026. Short break.

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[Jeffrey Reyer]

That's okay.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Thank you. You saw right there Tennessee yesterday I got Jeff Reyer on the phone, chairman of the gop. Blockbuster news right out of Virginia, Caroline Wren. This is what it's about. It's between total anarchy of these Marxists and in the rule of law and the Constitution. You saw the Constitution yesterday being upheld in Tennessee moments ago. The Constitution being upheld by the Supreme Court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Supreme Court itself upholding the Constitution a couple weeks ago. Why are these feckless Republicans? It's a fight and it's not pretty. But we need the feckless Republicans in these other states, particularly Georgia, South Carolina, to understand that this is about the constitutional order and the grassroots are prepared to go into battle to defend this. Ma'. Am.

[Caroline Wren]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[Caroline Wren]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[Jeffrey Reyer]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[Jeffrey Reyer]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[Caroline Wren]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Need to.

[Caroline Wren]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[Caroline Wren]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Okay, let's get to Caroline today. She's bomber command. Mississippi and Louisiana today at the Ramparts. Short commercial break we're going to talk about economics in the war in the Persian Gulf. Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban. Folks, let me break it down this way. About national elections or electoral process, there are three things I think one should and you should take your number two principle out for this. One is structural, two is processed and three is content or maybe contents too. Structural content and process. Process is the grassroots effort of voter engagement. Okay? We know that we can do that. When people are motivated, they're motivated by content. The structural issues we're taking care of that's what you're finding. This is what this whole redistricting wars and everything about the voter integrity and, you know, making sure illegal aliens don't vote, all of that, those are structural issues. And right now we are running the tables on them. On the structural side, we are close. We're then hollering distance of the magic number 218. Because in this situation, the only, you know, victory is everything. The issues we have is con, to me is content. Right now we got a big content issue and we have to be realistic about this. Bollinger, join me in a second. I think it's pretty obvious the foreign minister of the Persians of Iran was in Beijing the other day. What in the hell are they having a meeting with him 10 days or a week before, two weeks before President Trump shows up for a meeting? It's obvious that Beijing and unless we put the screws to him, which we're not right now, totally that Beijing and the Persians want to drag out this war in some aspect until the summer or fall to make it a major part of the 2026 midterm. Bowling's going to be in a moment to talk about what's transpired in the last 24 hours and what it looks like going forward. David Malpass, former head of the World bank, former number three in the Trump 45 Treasury Department, talked to me about we just had jobs numbers. And to me the key they talk about affordability. You have to solve for the equation of growth in the economy, growth per individual and of course, wage growth ahead of inflation. If you have if people have discretionary income or have income higher than the inflation rate, at least you've got an argument with them how things are getting better. Are we accomplishing those tasks right now in this jobs report that came out this morning, David malpass, We are.

[David Malpass]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[David Malpass]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[Eric Bolling]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[Eric Bolling]

Yeah, yeah, I agree with you. I'll tell you one thing also that day, late last night, the CIA, the CIA put out a report that said the Iranians are able to withstand the blockade for several months, not weeks, several months. They have enough defensive firepower to withstand the blockade. So that tells me that they're not going to relent unless there's a deal. But Steve, at this Point. I mean, you're right up against the ability to turn the energy price market down. Not just crude oil. You can get that down fast. The actual pump prices for gasoline right now we're pushing 30, 40 days ahead. Even if crude starts coming down now, you're going to have high pump prices at least mid summer. If this lasts another two months, you're going to have a high, you have a $4 or higher pump price. First number into September, October. At this point, I have just come around to believe that now Trump should probably keep the blockade on, continue the choking the Iranians out of their money, choking the Chinese out of their oil and suck it up. Buttercup on midterms. Because what you talk to us about with Caroline Wren is wildly wily. It's just, it's euphoric. Almost think that in the midst of all this stuff going on at a high gas price that there's a chance we can still recapture or maintain the House and the Senate. That's fantastic. And you're right. The structural part of that is the way to do it and we're getting it done. I don't know if Caroline mentioned the Florida 4 or 5 that they could pick up. Was that, was that counted in her 218?

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Oh, yes, yes. That to, to get to the 212, you count the Florida and you're counting the Virginia. Now that's why it's, those are, those are kind of counted.

[Eric Bolling]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

No, he's great governor.

[Eric Bolling]

Why would he not want to.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[Eric Bolling]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[Eric Bolling]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

So yeah, we want her everywhere. Thank you brother let you go back to work. Hope that trade works out for you. Bowling. Might have to give up that yacht if it's, if it's not Malpass. We're absolutely packed from now to the end and Malpass is going to give us some guidance on all of this. Here's your host, Stephen K Ban. Make sure you take your phone out now more than ever with markets and capital markets particularly on fire commodity markets on fire. Text Bannon B A N N o N at 989-898 get the ultimate guide for investing golden precious metal. This is a totally free guide. It is no obligation. You get to talk to Philip Patrick and the team. First question you ask him is hey Philip, why the central bank still buying gold at record race through the end of the first quarter of 2026? What's going on? What's happening? We thought that taper up by now and what does that mean structurally for the go the market in physical gold. Ask them that question. Get the answer that could change your financial future. So it's upon you go there right now get to Philip Patrick asking the question what is this continual. I think we're in the third year of it record rates of buying by central banks of physical gold. What does that have to do with me? So check it out. Birchgold.com promo code Bannon end of the dollar empire or Bannon B A N N O N at 989-898 for the ultimate guide. Two separate documents all free. All the information from Birch goal is free. And you want to talk to Philip Patrick's team. David Malpass Lula comes to the White House yesterday and you know he's the one trying to lead the BRICS nations and destroying the petrodollar. They have a change normally and we were all set up for it. I was not happy. I'm not a Lula fan. My understanding is The Vice President J.D. vance was not happy about it and Marco was not happy about a lot of folks around the President don't know how this got set up but not happy about Lula coming. I think the president when Lula got there sized the matter up and said hey ma', am, I'm not going to bring in the pressure right now for our traditional bilat. Let me have this thing play out, and it was decided they wouldn't do a joint effort. I think part of that, as the president understands that Lula is a bad guy. And you got to see, besides all the flattery and the way he's working you all the time, when the president sees that up close in person, particularly Lula's partnership with the Chinese Communist Party. So you've had Lula come to the White House, try to work the president. You had the foreign minister of the Persians go to Beijing 10 days before the meeting. You couldn't have a bigger slap in the face. So, David, what's your assessment? You were head of international finance in the Treasury Department for President Trump. What do you think is going on and what can we accomplish, particularly regarding this war in the Persian Gulf? In Beijing, sir,

[David Malpass]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[David Malpass]

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

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[David Malpass]

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

[Unidentified Caller/Guest]

Wow.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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

[David Malpass]

Thank you.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

David Malpass, former head of international finance for President Trump in the first term.

[Nigel Farage]

Wow.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Victory begets victory. Folks. We're 212. Don't let people. The black pill, people, take suck on this. We're winning this thing. It's a game of inches. Like the Western front. World War I. It ain't pretty. Remember, victory. A victory is a victory. Short break.