THE WAR ROOM WITH STEPHEN K. BANNON, APRIL 9TH, 2026 (EP.#5285)

Summary

Podcast Summary: THE WAR ROOM WITH STEPHEN K. BANNON, APRIL 9TH, 2026 (EP. #5285)

Overview

This explosive episode of "The War Room with Stephen K. Bannon" focuses on the chaos and uncertainty surrounding the newly announced Mideast ceasefire, with particular attention to the ongoing interplay between the US, Israel, Iran, and regional actors. The discussion is deeply critical of both US policy and mainstream coverage, delving into the complex geopolitics of the Strait of Hormuz and its impact on global energy. The latter half of the episode pivots to US domestic politics, notably Texas’s ongoing battle over Islamic influence and education, with Texas AG candidate Chip Roy taking a hardline stance.

---

Key Themes & Insights

1. Ceasefire Confusion and Middle East Geopolitics

Fragile & Contradictory Ceasefire Details

• The ceasefire between the US, Israel, and Iran is poorly defined, with each party offering conflicting interpretations.
• Iran claims several clauses have already been violated, especially due to ongoing Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
• There is widespread confusion regarding whether Lebanon is covered by the ceasefire—Israel says no, Iran says yes.
  • Key Quote: "It's clearly a very tenuous, fragile cease fire at this moment... how much confusion there is as to what was exactly agreed upon..." – Maya Kosoff (02:37)

Negotiation Dynamics

• Face-to-face talks are planned in Islamabad, with Jared Kushner and JD Vance attending as American envoys.
• Trump threatens severe military action if terms are not met:
  • "The shooting starts bigger and better and stronger than anyone has ever seen before." (01:18)

Iran’s Growing Leverage

• Iran now holds effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil chokepoint, giving it significant negotiating power.
• Their new government is described as “far more militaristic and far more hardline.”
  • "Iran has found a piece of hyper strategic deterrence... to replace the three pillars it lost before." – Anderson Cooper (06:13)

Israeli Objectives & Netanyahu’s Role

• Skepticism abounds that Netanyahu is deliberately undermining the ceasefire to maximize hits on Hezbollah.
  • "Netanyahu reportedly convinced Trump to start this war to begin with... All sounds pretty sketchy to me." – Maya Kosoff (07:15)
• Disputes over whether Israeli strikes in Lebanon constitute a breach of agreement.

US Military Capacity and Morale

• Bannon and others repeatedly question US force readiness and decry the lack of clear, honest communication from the White House.

---

2. The Global Energy Crisis & Market Repercussions

Strait of Hormuz: Strategic Flashpoint

• Oil prices are volatile, surging past $101/barrel amid the uncertainty.
• Iran threatens to limit Strait passage, even proposing to charge passage tolls in cryptocurrency, positioning the Strait as “their Panama Canal.”
  • "Apparently they're even going to charge in cryptocurrency to navigate the strait. They want to turn this into their Panama Canal." – Anderson Cooper (09:27)

Market Anxiety & US Leverage

• Eric Bolling reports from the Money Show in Miami: the prime concern among American investors and CEOs is oil, not manufacturing or attacks.
• He highlights the US’s dwindling leverage due to Iran’s control over this global chokepoint, accusing the US of looking “like a supplicant.”
  • "You can't be a supplicant to these bandits. You can't be a supplicant to a theocratic regime..." – Steve Bannon (13:10)

Call for Energy Independence

• Chip Roy and Bannon argue for an aggressive return to domestic energy dominance, calling for the removal of “green new scam” subsidies for renewables and expansion of natural gas and nuclear.
  • "If you've got true natural gas that we're pumping out in Texas through fracking, then America's unstoppable." – Chip Roy (37:20)

---

3. US Domestic Politics: Budget, Defense, and the Texas ‘Islamification’ Fight

Fiscal Conservatism Amid War

• Chip Roy, Texas AG candidate, voices firm support for Trump’s strategic aims but rejects “blank check” funding, demanding targeted, transparent, and budget-neutral military spending.
  • "I wasn't interested in boots on the ground unless we've got a very specific and very concrete targeted mission..." – Chip Roy (30:03)
• The need for fiscal responsibility is cast as a national security concern, linking budget deficits to weakened resolve and readiness.

‘Sharia Law’ and the Texas Political Battleground

• Extensive discussion on the efforts of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and similar organizations, whom Roy labels as fronts for the “Islamification” of Texas schools and culture.
• Roy advances the hardline assertion that Islam, when politicized, is incompatible with Western legal/cultural norms—a point he pledges to act on as AG.
  • "We cannot allow Islam to hide behind the First Amendment when in fact it is a political ideology...” – Chip Roy (40:14)
  • "You can't win a war you don't acknowledge exists." – Chip Roy (41:34)
• Criticizes his opponent Mays Middleton for bills that would “enable” mosque building in Texas cities.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Bannon on Communication Breakdown
  "I'll be blunt. I just don't understand what the vice President was talking about right there. The Israelis, America's greatest ally, have not set us up for success in any part of this war." (12:14)

• Anderson Cooper on Iranian Strength:
  "Strategically they have a position of strategic strength going into the negotiations... any type of deal the US can get out of this now is going to be far worse than the deal we could have gotten on February 27th." (06:13)

• Eric Bolling on Market Realities:
  "Every single question wasn't about attacking, wasn't about manufacturing, it was about oil. Oil is a story. You're 100% right." (20:09)

• Chip Roy on Substantive Reform:
  "Get the reforms we need to get in place. Come tell us what you need to build up the military. We'll fund it, but it's gotta be real tools for real military dominance. And I don't want us to be engaged in endless conflict.” (34:55)

• Chip Roy’s Defining Maxim for Texas:
  "You can't win a war you don't acknowledge exists." (41:34)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Ceasefire Confusion and Early Analysis: 00:34 – 09:27
• Iran’s New Power Dynamic / Israeli-Lebanon Friction: 05:28 – 10:22
• Bannon’s Editorial on Strategic Situation: 12:14 – 19:50
• Energy Market Analysis with Eric Bolling: 19:50 – 24:31
• Budget, Deficit, & Military Spending Discussion: 30:03 – 39:29
• Texas Islamification & AG Race (Chip Roy): 40:14 – 49:01

---

Structure and Flow

The episode opens with deep skepticism about the ceasefire, pivots into global market and energy implications, and then focuses intently on the Texas AG race as emblematic of America’s domestic battles. Throughout, commentary is energetic, combative, and openly critical—reflecting the self-described “unfiltered” and “honest” approach of The War Room.

---

Conclusion

Listeners get a shot of high-stakes geopolitical analysis, a warning about energy dependence and financial mismanagement, and a front row seat to Texas’s culture war—a three-pronged narrative that positions The War Room as both chronicler and crusader in today’s fractious America.

---

For More

• Chip Roy’s Campaign: chiproy.com
• Twitter: @warroom
• Next Up: Hour 2 promises even more incendiary content as the episode continues.

---

“You can’t win a war you don’t acknowledge exists.”
– Chip Roy (41:34)

Transcript

[Steve Bannon]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human the right window treatments change everything.

[Chip Roy]

Your sleep, your privacy, the way every

[Maya Kosoff]

room looks and feels.

[Steve Bannon]

@blinds.com, we've spent 30 years making it surprisingly simple to get exactly what your home needs.

[Maya Kosoff]

We've covered over 25 million windows and

[Steve Bannon]

have 50,000 five star reviews to prove we deliver. Whether you DIY it or want a pro to handle everything from measure to

[Maya Kosoff]

install, we have you covered.

[Steve Bannon]

Real design professionals, free samples, zero pressure right now.

[Maya Kosoff]

Get up to 45% off with minimum

[Steve Bannon]

purchase plus get a free professional [e-mail] rules and restrictions apply.

[Eric Bolling]

The US, Israel and Iran agree that a ceasefire is now in effect, but they're contradicting each other and themselves in terms of what's actually been agreed to and what's happened. What happens now? Tonight the speaker of Iran's parliament claims three clauses of its workable proposal to Trump have already been violated. That includes new Israeli strikes to day in Lebanon, which Israel has refused to stop. Iran also claims its right to nuclear enrichment was laid out very much in a 10 point plan accepted by Trump. But the White house suggested a 10 point plan reported today by Iranian state media was, well, just an early draft.

[Maya Kosoff]

Vance is set to attend face to face talks with Iran along with Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son in law Jared Kushner in Pakistan on Saturday. Iran's delegation is expected to arrive tonight. The President posted overnight that the United States military will be remaining in the region in place, as he put it, quote, until such time as the real agreement is reached is fully complied with. If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, he writes, then he levels the new threat. The shooting starts bigger and better and stronger than anyone has ever seen before,

[Chip Roy]

cleared up in any kind of actual cease fire agreement.

[Anderson Cooper]

I think with normal administrations that's the key case. Normally you have a text and all the sides look at it and change sentences or words or phrases. This latest cease fire, which evidently was at the initiative of the US administration and they used Pakistan to bring it about, seems to have been off the cuff and it seemed to have included a full secession of all hostilities to include Lebanon. But evidently Israel wasn't consulted enough or agreed to disagree. So this is why we have a cease fire that never took hold, that no sides are are living up to except the US military, which is where we are now.

[Maya Kosoff]

I think there's a lot of concern there. It's clearly a very tenuous, fragile cease fire at this moment and I think one of the biggest concerns as we're waking up this morning is just how much confusion there is as to what was exactly agreed upon when both sides announced that they were joining this two week cease fire. You mentioned, you know, what's happening with these Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon is a crucial, crucial sticking point. I think one of the big parts of this cease fire was Iran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. You heard the White House, Caroline Levitt, the press secretary, arguing yesterday that they had seen some traffic ticking up in the street, but that was very minimal. Iran later said that they were closing it because of those ongoing attacks in Lebanon. And really coming down to what we heard the vice president argue was just a fundamental misunderstanding of whether or not Lebanon was exactly in the agreement. And so that has created a lot of consternation and of course, something we have to see how that is going to be resolved. You did hear the vice president just after that clip you played, he went on to say that Israel might be checking themselves when it comes to their attacks on Lebanon. We'll have to see if that's actually what the path forward is here, if Israel will be the one to seize those attacks, to try and ensure that the Strait is reopened and this cease fire remains intact. But I think another big part of all of this, Kate, is also again, what are exactly the points that they are basing, you know, using as the basis for the negotiations that are set to kick off in person in Islamabad this weekend. One of the things that was most notable to me, I know that, you know, shortly after that cease fire proposal was agreed to Tuesday night, you know, you saw Iran, their supreme National Security Council, putting out this statement that included what they argued were the 10 points, something CNN reported on. The president, I was told, was very livid about that statement. He tried to characterize the CNN statement, or excuse me, the CNN reporting on that statement as fake. But we have not seen any type of language repeatedly now from the White House and our sources. What are the 10 points then that this is based on? You heard the White House press secretary Yesterday say the 10 points that have been flying around, they had Iran initially given the United States 10 points. They threw that in the garbage. Now they're using a separate 10 points as the basis for these talks. But again, we have not seen those. And we still are wondering exactly what the 15 point plan, what the specifics of that are. And so there's so much confusion around this. From my conversations with my sources in that building behind me, they do tell me they are confident that the talks this weekend will continue and they are hoping that can kind of clear a lot of this up and be the start of potentially several intense negotiations to come. But again, very fragile this morning and a lot of questions about how this is actually going to proceed if I

[Chip Roy]

mean, Iran is now in control of the Strait of Hormuz. They were not previously they didn't have official control over it.

[Maya Kosoff]

Certainly the Iranian nuclear program, obviously they've

[Chip Roy]

suffered huge losses in terms of infrastructure and ballistic missiles and the like there are still still obviously able to shoot down some US Planes and they're able

[Maya Kosoff]

to fire drones and others at neighboring countries.

[Chip Roy]

But their nuclear program or their nuclear desires remain. And the regime seems the same and

[Maya Kosoff]

or perhaps more hardline, less experienced.

[Chip Roy]

Do you believe Iran is in a stronger position now than before the war? In a strange way, not a strange

[Anderson Cooper]

way to an obvious way. They're strategically they have a position of strategic strength going into the negotiations. The US Had a big strike stick it brandished for years its military, they used it. The dreadful has already happened and now Iran realizes that it can take that punch. Additionally, Iran has found a big stick of its own that up until now it had hesitated using, which is control of the Strait of Hormuz. And don't forget, even though it's closed now, even when it's putatively open under the cease fire, Iran says they're only going to let through about 12 ships a day. So Iran has found a piece of hyper strategic deterrence to replace the three pillars it lost before. And finally, you're quite right, Anderson. The new government that we put into place as a result of decapitation is far more militaristic and far more hardlines. So any type of deal the US can get out of this now is going to be far worse than the deal we could have gotten on February 27th.

[Maya Kosoff]

Given what we've seen in Lebanon today and the increased attacks from Israel, is there any concern that Netanyahu is trying to kill the ceasefire? Maya, of course there should be a concern. I mean, Netanyahu reportedly convinced Trump to start this war to begin with, something he'd tried with other presidents in the past while Netanyahu was somehow meeting in the Situation Room, according to new reporting. And the United States and Israel have had different objectives from the beginning, which is a huge flag and has always been. And even when you get down to the details of how the flimsy deal came together yesterday, the Pakistani prime minister, who has been acting as a mediator of the negotiations, specifically mentioned the Ceasefire would also take effect in Lebanon. And then within hours of the cease fire, Israel launched the largest waves of attacks on Lebanon in weeks and claimed Lebanon wasn't a part of the ceasefire. Then JD Vance claimed today it was all somehow a misunderstanding. All sounds pretty sketchy to me, Maya.

[Steve Bannon]

I would emphasize these are really baby steps right now. There's no real indication that the strait is going to reopen. And it seems like a flimsy ceasefire to say what's obvious.

[Maya Kosoff]

I mean, Anderson, there's no indication that the Strait of Hormuz is open at this time. The Iranians have said that it is closed, that they closed it once again after Israel began carrying out these very deadly strikes that we saw in Lebanon today, strikes that even France is condemning as indiscriminate. Tonight, the French president calling them indiscriminate. What we have seen is that two Iranian vessels apparently went through the strait earlier in the day and one Chinese vessel went through. That's according to the Iranians tonight. You know, ship tracking data from Marine Tracker is showing no evidence of any ships passing through this strait. And as you heard from the vice president there, he has said that if the Iranians don't open this strait, it's going to be problematic for the United States and whether the US Keeps up its commitments to this cease fire, that it doesn't carry out strikes inside of Iran. So it really just seems like we're in a very untenuous position here. Something's going to have to change. Either Iran's going to have to reopen the strait, the US Is going to have to pressure Israel not to carry out strikes against Hezbollah, or perhaps we see a return to war.

[Anderson Cooper]

And there are numerous items on the Iranian plan that there's just no way we can accept removal of all US Forces, right to Enric, right to control the Strait of Hormuz, and apparently they're even going to charge in cryptocurrency to navigate the strait. I mean, they want to turn this into their Panama Canal. So there's a lot of very tough negotiating that's going to have to take place. But you do see the leverage that Iran is able to wield by this control of the Strait of Hormuz, and it could lead to President Trump insisting that Prime Minister Netanyahu cease operations in Lebanon. In fact, I think one reason why you saw such intense operations today was Israel taking advantage of whatever remaining time they have to degrade Hezbollah as far as they can. And they have done a great deal of that to ensure that they can't threaten Israel the way that they have in the past.

[Maya Kosoff]

There's a lot of bad faith negotiation and a lot of bad faith, you know, propaganda going on. I think this comes from a legitimate misunderstanding. I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn't. We never made that promise. We never indicated that was going to be the case. What we said is that the ceasefire would be focused on Iran and the ceasefire would be focused on America's allies, both Israel and the Gulf Arab states. Now, that said, the Israelis, as I understand it, again, I'm supposed to get a fuller report when I get on the plane, have actually offered to be, frankly check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful. That's not. Because that is part of the ceasefire. I think that's the Israelis trying to set us up for success. And we'll, of course, see how that unfolds in the next few days. But look, if Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them, and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that's ultimately their choice. We think that would be dumb, but that's their choice.

[Steve Bannon]

This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people. Reasons I got a free shot. All these networks lying about the people. The people have had a belly full of it. I know you don't like hearing that. I know you try to do everything in the world to stop that, but you're not going to stop it. It's going to happen.

[Chip Roy]

And where do people like that go to share the big lie? MAGA media. I wish in my soul, I wish that any of these people had a conscience.

[Steve Bannon]

Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my

[Anderson Cooper]

country, this country will be saved. War room.

[Steve Bannon]

Here's your host, Stephen K. Band. It's Thursday the 9th of April in the year of our Lord 2026. Eric Bolling is going to join us in a moment. We're going to talk about markets and talk about this current situation. I think the Iranians had just put out a tweet a while ago. I don't know, one of the guys that says we're negotiating with them, that there's been so many violations of this. There's been so many violations of this that, you know the ceasefire is about to not hold. I totally don't understand. I'll be blunt. I just don't understand what the vice President was talking about right there. The Israelis, America's greatest ally, have not set us up for success in any part of this war. And I think we need to be blunt now with the American people and also with the people across the table. I think communications, particularly communications of objectives, goals, all of it would behoove us. And no, the Israelis are not setting us up for success. That would not be the case. And they need to be part of this global settlement of at least things were put down, the weapons. I just don't see us getting to a signed document. This is not going to be like Japan on the decks of the Missouri. The reason is and the Wall Street Journal reports this, I'm not saying it's a fact, but it's definitely a fact in their mind. The Iranians think they're winning. They've shifted the center of gravity to the Persian Gulf. As we told you two and a half weeks ago, they have taken the straight Hormuz and still have some sort of control of this. Bowling will be here. I think 12 ships have gone through versus 125. We may come down to a simple fact that the United States Navy, in combination with the Air Force and others, may have to go and just open up the Straits as the straits have been open for decades and decades and decades. You can't be a supplicant to these bandits. You can't be a supplicant to to a theocratic regime that the farther down the food chain you go of killing, you're just getting harder and harder core people because they were formed in this incredible World War I type atmosphere they had back in the 1980s with Iraq. We've got a very determined enemy. They're very determined. They're very determined and they think they're winning. We have to take away some pieces that they have to show them they're not winning. We're going to get into all this this morning. Eric Bolling's going to join me also. We're going to talk about do you do what Napoleon said, when you can't solve a problem at one scale, you scale it up and deal with it. There is the solution for this in Beijing in the middle of May when Donald Trump gets in the room with Xi principal to principle, the Chinese Communist Party in the United States of America. Short commercial break Back in the World here's your host, Stephen K. Ban. Eric Bolling's with us. We're gonna get more into this about the situation of you know, we might have to open up the straight ourselves. Might come down to that. You can't certainly be like a supplicant in this situation, and you can't be a supplicant with America's greatest ally. What they're doing in Lebanon, there's plenty. If that's what they're going to do, there's plenty of time to do that does not need to be done today unless they're trying to get as much done as possible before the ref calls the, blows the whistle. And in that case, it's not acceptable. We need to drive the train here because this is quite complicated. And we're in it now. We're in it now and we have to win this thing. And I'm very opposed to this war. And I'm very opposed to the war for exactly the reason we're in it right now. And you see the New York Times article, which has not been refuted by anybody. Once again, this was bad information, bad intelligence pushed by the Israelis. And if somebody can please give me a counter to that, I'm open to it. But Tel Aviv Levin and this crowd have not come up with it. I keep getting back to 47 years of being bad guys. Well, you know what? They are bad guys. But the Chinese Communist Party has been eating our lunch on something important and major like the destruction of our country for longer than that. And yet we welcome them and embrace them with open arms. Eric Bolling, Markets today. You know that it's not going according to plan when Fox News, which we refer to here as TV for stupid people, presented by stupid people, are going to the Easter bunnies and the rabbits. Easter was a couple weeks ago. They're going to everything spring when they cut away for cooking and they cut away for, let's go pet some animals. That is the top, guys. That's Murdoch saying, hey, you know, this thing's not going well. Let's, let's divert the stupid people that watch our channel, right? The people there with their mouths open that just, you know, take all the crap, all the neocon, militarist CRAP, the Mitch McConnell School of Politics, and just accept it, right? Let's, let's, we gotta change the programming here. Let's throw some rapids up there, right? Let's have some bunnies. Let's cook an omelette and tell the audience how, how great an omelet. We're going to have a whole different take on omelets. That's what Fox is doing right now. We need to get damn serious about this. And if this Islamabad, it has to be real, like this new. The modified 10 points. Okay, it's a modified 10 points. That's great because the 10 points they gave us, eight of them are not worth having a meeting about. Because you don't want to give the impression that I'm prepared to even hear your argument on reparations. Not interested. Your argument on you're controlling the straight or horror movies, but you're going to give a discount to somebody if they take it in Juan. Or crypto. Not interested. So I don't even know why we're going to Islamabad. We're going there to send a senior delegation to talk to a foreign minister or something. I don't get that. Let's just go principle to principle. Trump's the best dealmaker in the world. She not a bad dealmaker himself. A font of evil. But sometimes you have to deal with evil. Let's just do it in Beijing. Principle to principle, because the Chinese got involved. The only reason you even have any kind of accommodation to get to a cease fire was the Chinese involvement with the Pakistanis, who they own. Don't think the Pakistanis are a buddy. The field marshal and others are quite close to President Trump and that's a true relationship. But the Pakistanis are owned lock, stock and barrel by the Chinese Communist Party. One belt, One road kind of focused on Pakistan. Right on Pakistan, because he realized it's a countervailing power to India. And there was all about the one belt, one road initially was about surrounding India. Eric Bolling, what are markets telling us today? Give us some deep thoughts from the markets this morning, sir.

[Eric Bolling]

I got a lot for you, Steve. I'll start with what you pointed out about Fox. I think you were texting this morning and I was saying, you watch War Room and you see where we are in this war geopolitically, where we're headed, and you flip over. And I took a picture screen grab of some of the hosts playing with puppies, literally playing with we're at war. I mean, our markets are gyrating. I'm watching oil prices tick up over $101 a barrel as we speak right now. And there's the difference, right? You watch something that's going to make you more intelligent or something. You want to cook. You want to watch cooking and animals. Go watch Fox. Let me tell you, Steve, you were remember we did the handoff yesterday at 450 or so, and everyone thought it was a great day except you and I because we saw oil go from $115 a barrel down to. It went under 92 yesterday, late in the afternoon, 9150. But I watched it trade from 91.50 back up to $97. It closed at $97. I said, Steve, people aren't seeing this. The oil guys are and they have been and we have like we see dead people in markets. They saw at the end of the day yesterday something wasn't right. Something was wrong with this deal. Maybe it was the 10, 15 points or none of them are really, really doable. Most of them are really not doable. But they brought it from 91 up to 97 on the close. We're trading $101 a barrel right now and people are just lost. I'm here in Miami doing the money show. It's the major financial show every year where investors come out, CEOs come out. I'm delivering a keynote speech about different aspects, different sectors in the market. And then I open up the questions. Steve, I am telling you, every single question wasn't about attacking, wasn't about manufacturing, it was about oil. What's happening with oil? How is oil going to affect my business? How is oil going to affect my portfolio? Because it affects every human being in America. Oil is a story. You're 100% right. These things, you watch Fox enough, you'll hear a very Israel backed position, Mark Levin, et cetera. They have a very high concentration of, let's be honest, Israeli and Jewish followers and they don't want to offend them. So they're giving you that dose. Problem is some of their loudest voices are pro Israel. I'm married to a Jewish woman. It's not about that for me. It's what I see in the markets. I'm telling you, you can't do what they call a non starter in Iran where they control the Strait of. You can't do this. There's so many shenanigans they can play. They can charge more for American oil tankers, which aren't many, or they can charge less for the Chinese, their favorites, et cetera. Pakistan. Pakistan is beholden to the Strait of Hormuz for their oil, like almost Taiwan. Some of these Asian countries get 90% plus of their oil through the Strait of Hormuz. Why is it our problem? Why do we care? Yes, the whole supply chain, but they're not going to leave it closed. Iran has to rebuild itself by selling oil. They got to get it to the end and place to the refineries in countries in order to collect Payment on that stuff, Steve, that was a nonsense starter for me.

[Maya Kosoff]

There.

[Eric Bolling]

There are a couple in there I just don't see. Remember, we talked about this yesterday on your show? I said, it looks great, but we're only one tweet away. And I misspoke. I should have said one truth post away. You know, if Trump comes out and says we're out, you can see 120, 130. But. But in the final thought, J.D. vance. I had no idea what the hell he was talking. I have no. It's almost like he was there. Like the country that's on their knees begging to stop being pounded daily. They're in control. And JD Vance is coming in like a. Like, sorry, that'll get picked up, but sorry. Hey, how about you man up, J.D. we're America. We have control of the ball. We could destroy your civilization. Trump doesn't want to. That is the real threat. Somehow Iran is calling the shots. I'm scratching my head. Iran is telling us in international waters, technically, that they're going to monitor the strait and put tolls on the strait. Who the hell is Iran? What about Oman? What about uae? They're. They're two miles north. Uae, that holds that border. We have another toll for UAE as well. And Saudi Arabia. Come on, let's finish this. Let them. Let them play those stupid fanatical Islamic games in the Middle East. We don't really need the oil coming through the strait. Yeah, it'll affect our prices, but time to pull the hell out or. Or get it over with. Rip the band aid off and destroy that civilization. And then built, I guess, a way that benefits the United States.

[Steve Bannon]

Number one, the guys you're trying to negotiate with are sitting there going, you can't even control your ally. Who has driven much of this. Remember the New York Times? And, hey, if the reporting is fake, I need the White House to come out and say line by line, this is not true. Haven't heard anybody say it's not true. They told us that. They told us. Besides the imminent part, they told us that the massive bombing would lead to a major uprising and not to worry about Hormuz. That they wouldn't have the military capabilities after the first couple of days of strategic bombing to do anything in Hormuz. Need to hear that. Countered by what the facts were. If those aren't the facts, because that is a major strategic miscalculation. You know, we've heard Seb Gork and other Tariba, exquisite intelligence. I'm not seeing it. You're not seeing it now. Just remember, more importantly, Steve, whether it's a reality or not, these people think these people think they're winning. They think they're driving the initiative. Now, Eric, you've said oil's fungible. Why all your guys at the money conference are asking about oil is because even President Trump's plan is predicated upon full spectrum energy dominance. His ability to work to drive energy prices down led to the Trump massive boom in 2019, and it's really led the way of his plan in the second term with Scott Besant. Right. And so, yeah, that requires yesterday. I think we got hang on. I think we've got some bad news.

[Eric Bolling]

Okay, go ahead.

[Steve Bannon]

Yeah, no, I think we got some bad news yesterday because I believe the NATO meeting, which went longer than was supposed to, and I don't believe the NATO secretary general came to the sticks. President Trump didn't bring him into the OVO to have questions, which would normally happen if we had an upbeat meeting and had some positive things to say, because I think they told them, hey, we just don't have the military, we don't have the naval assets to even be a reality here. We've allowed these guys to lean on us so long that they're sitting there now and saying, we just we don't have the we don't have the resources, we don't have the assets. So if it stays closed hang over a second, Eric, I'm going to ask you to stay over. If we don't have the assets, then you got to keep it open. And the reason you got to keep it open or fight to keep it open is because it's in your benefit as much as ours because of this, the integrated nature of the world's energy and oil markets. Short commercial break we're going to return to the war and by the way, Birch, goal, take your phone out, text Bannon B A Nice at 989-898, the ultimate guide for Investing in Gold and Precious Metals in the Age of Trump. Check it out. Most importantly, get access, direct access to Philip Patrick and his team. Remember, you want to immerse yourself in information that gold is a hedge war room. Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban. Okay, welcome back. You just had Bolling. Bolling's going to come back in a second. He gave a keynote today, I think it was, in Miami, to one of these money conferences where all the hedge fund guys come and all the investors, the guys that put the pension fund money to work, all of that, and individual investors and what they want to talk about they want to talk about oil. Why they want to talk about oil because energy is the underlying predicate to an economy. So we've had a two week recess next week. The House and the Senate come back. They come back next week and you're going to have microphones in everybody's face about this war. The intensity of the information war about this conflict is about to go to the 10th power because right now all the congressmen are gone. So it's tough to get to them. But you're going to hear just guys going to studios or maybe doing a pickup hit next week. They're going to have, you're going to be overwhelmed by this. So the political heat on this is going to ratchet up big league. Congressman Chippewa joins us. Congressman, we've been saying from the beginning and I think this is one of the reasons that from being a leader in the House Freedom Caucus, you decided, hey, I got to go back to my home state and be attorney general because Texas is in a bad way right now. This Islamic invasion of Texas, sharia law, the H1B visas, there's so many problems around the great state of Texas and it's the crown jewel. But just your thoughts right now. You've been a hawk, a deficit hawk. We have a budget and I think our friend and the former contributor here, Russ Vogt's going to go before, I think, the House and the Senate next week to talk about the budget that's being put forth, which has pretty big deficits. And at a $1.5 trillion, you know, $1.5 trillion now for the military budget. And I don't think that includes the $200 billion supplemental for the Iran conflict, which people are saying it's got to be pay as you go, you got to pay for this. But just your thoughts on that. You've been a deficit hawk. The direction of this, the direction of the economy, which clearly being hit right now on this conflict, the supplemental bill. Before we pivot to Texas, where I think the real fight is, what's your assessment of what's going to happen next week when the House and Senate come back and CNN's got every microphone in the world jammed up in somebody's face, Sir.

[Chip Roy]

Well, first of all, it'll be great to have our mutual friend Russ Vogt. He's going to appear before the House Budget Committee on which I serve. I'm sure we're going to have some good spirited conversation in there. He's a dear friend and he's doing the Lord's work over there. But this is going to be a central issue that we've got to deal with. And I've been very clear to the administration privately and publicly that I very much support what the President is doing to try to reset the geopolitical landscape. President Trump has a long vision about what we need to do to put pressure on China and Russia and to kind of reclaim the Western hemisphere and the actions of Venezuela. But I've been very clear about not wanting a blank check that I wouldn't grant or agree to or vote or support a blank check and that I wasn't interested in boots on the ground unless we've got a very specific and very concrete targeted mission that will be in and out up. I've said no more soccer fields. I don't want soccer fields in Tehran. I didn't want them in Baghdad. And you know, I remember we've never talked about this, Steve, but in 2008 I went on a trip over to Baghdad in the middle of that conflict and I had a three star general taking me around and showing me soccer fields. The American people didn't sign up to put men and women in danger for that sort of thing. Now the good news is I don't believe the President or Secretary Hegseth or the leadership of this administration want to do that. But we've got a lot of complex issues that are all coming together at once. And as you said, look, I believe in you got to pay as you go for any of this stuff. So put aside the defense buildup question which we were already wrestling with before engaging in Iran. Now we've got some requests for somewhere between 100 and 200 billion dollars. And I gotta be honest, you know, a bunch of people from the budget committee went over the Pentagon before this recess, visited with them and they didn't deliver what they needed to deliver in terms of specifics as to what we would use money for to build munitions and to make sure the military is as modern as it needs to be. We have a job as Congress. As much as I love this president, this administration, we've got a job to do to hold them accountable. By the way, FISA is another issue that I'm going to be on Monday. When we come back, you know, I'm not agreeing to move forward on FISA unless we're going to protect American citizens from government spying. So there's a lot of issues we've got to keep working on.

[Steve Bannon]

I want to go back to your trip in 2008. I remember you did, I think you did tell me about the store. I believe he took that trip. And they're talking about soccer fields and the amount of money we're pumping in. That was a couple of months, I think before the financial collapse in September of 2008. And that got people quite focused on these wars about what we had to do. Everybody collectively is pushing for the Trump agenda to work, particularly his economic agenda, because that drives so much of this. But we do have to come to a reality check here that our financial situation is a massive national security issue. And when people bring this up, they're not saying we're not supportive. We're trying to say, hey, look, do not forget this fact of this financial. And we are still in a financial crisis, even given the what President Trump and Besson have is getting traction to reverse the plague years of Biden in this financial situation, particularly the Pentagon increase up to 1.5 trillion. And like you said, people are gonna have to deliver here. Specifically why do we need this increase? Where's it gonna come from? Are we gonna cut these other programs which I think are rife with corruption and fraud? Then let's do it, but then let's have the stones to see it through. Chip, your thoughts?

[Chip Roy]

Yeah, Steve, this is exactly right. If I might extend on something you said in the segment as you're coming into to my joining about energy. Okay. And it's all related. Give me one second on this. So last year, you remember now we're almost a year removed from the big beautiful. I was fighting as hard as I could to drag that thing to the fiscally responsible direction. Remember, it was in May that I joined with three Republican colleagues in the Freedom Caucus to stop vote down. I voted against the big beautiful bill. Now I'm getting all sorts of heat from the President, the White House, from Speaker Johnson, the Senate. Chip, what are you doing? You're going to destroy this. You're going to ruin the tax cuts. So guys, you're allowing Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski and a bunch of the squishes in the Senate it to take away the reforms we were putting in place to be fiscally responsible Medicaid. But importantly, they were getting rid of all of the stuff we were doing on the green new scam subsidies. So we fought and we got about half of those green new scam subsidies put back in fast forward. Now I'm running for attorney general, a PAC in California. A bunch of leftists ran a million dollars of ads against me in Texas saying they, quote, want to end my career. Now look, I'M gonna win this race for Attorney General. But I have news for them. My career's not ending whether I win or lose. But I'm gonna win because I'm gonna keep fighting these Marxists and these leftists no matter what. They wanna take out our ability to be able to have energy freedom and energy security, which is at the center of this entire conflict. We've gotta be fiscally responsible. We fought in the big beautiful bill, but as you and I agreed on this show a year ago, it wasn't good enough. I supported it in the end to be a team player, to work to get what we wanted to get done for the President. But we should have gone further. Now we need to do more. Now we've got a bunch of our moderates who are supporting the stupid dignity amnes. Those same people are saying, chip, we can't vote for more reforms. Like, look, we gotta end the fraud that five months ago everybody was on fire about, about Minnesota. Where are we talking about that now? End the fraud, End the waste at the Pentagon. Get the reforms we need to get in place. Come tell us what you need to build up the military. We'll fund it, but it's gotta be real tools for real military dominance. And I don't want us to be engaged in endless conflict. That's what next week's gonna be about, having an honest conversation. We wanna back the President's strategic aim, but we're not going to let the swamp do what it always does and bankrupt this country while we pretend that we're doing something fiscally responsible when we're in fact making housing more expensive for higher interest rates, inflation going up, et cetera.

[Steve Bannon]

I'm glad you brought this up because I want to go. We're going to have. Rosemary Jenks is going to join us in the second hour. What Chip is talking about a group of Republicans, Republicans have put up in with Democrats essentially an amnesty bill. Like we don't have enough problems. They're going to join with Democrats and put an amnesty bill. We're going to get to that in a second because Laura Ingram, I thought, did a good job last night over at Fox of peeling back wallet. But we're going to get to that rose from the jinx show in detail. But this gets back to the Green New scam part of it. You know, to get Murkowski in these moderates, you got to go and you got to offer them this stuff. And the Green New scam stuff is still out there and President Trump is a top priority. Right? Is that. That Stuff's got to go. So walk me through. To get energy, you know, to really get full spectrum energy dominance and get serious about this now that it looks like more than ever that we need to make sure that in the Western Hemisphere we're fully set here so we don't have to worry about the Strait or Hormuz. That's really, you know, it's essentially Europe's problem. But we're there to help. What do you need to do still in the green new scam that's out there? I thought all that stuff got taken out before the big beautiful bill was voted on.

[Chip Roy]

No, last year. A year ago, it was all of our reforms, to be clear, right. We had these subsidies were put in place which were destroying our incentive infrastructure for natural gas powered plants, for our ability to move oil and gas products because there was so much money flowing into wind and solar, which are inefficient and unreliable. So we were fighting to pull those subsidies back. Well, we had really good provisions in there to pull back most of the subsidies. And the squishes in the Senate, the Democrats pulled them all out. That's what I stood up and I literally voted against the big beautiful bill that weekend and took the scorn from everybody. And we were able to get about half of those back in. You have to estimate it a bit. My view is we need to plow forward and remove the remainder of those subsidies to open up a full, true competition. Look, if wind and solar can compete, great, but they're competing right now with crony capitalism, with the subsidies that are fueling them. That undermines our ability to have a more reliable grid. So that's one thing we need to do. The second thing we need to do is open up nuclear rapid fire. We are taking way too long to move forward to get true nuclear moving and running again. That's actually good, solid, reliable power. The third thing we gotta do is deal with permitting and you put all that stuff in the pot. If we can get the permitting on the nepa, the environmental protection guidelines and all those things, we can actually move forward and be able to get the true full independence of what we were capable of doing in America. If you got nuclear power and if you've got unsubsidized wind and solar, fine, use it where it's useful. And if you've got true natural gas that we're pumping out in Texas through fracking, then America's unstoppable. That's what we've gotta do. Don't follow the European model where they're now reliant on the rest of the world. And by the way, this is President Trump's genius is going after the pressure points here and putting pressure on Europe, China, Russia. Everybody else has to step up and go figure it out instead of us carrying the burden of keeping the Straits open. That's all on the back of the shale revolution in Texas. I was in Midland yesterday. Those people will go produce the energy we need if we'll just free Texas up to do it.

[Steve Bannon]

Chip, I've said that. And we only got a couple minutes. I got to hold you through the break. Right. So we've been saying that, hey, the bigger fight we have is not the Middle east but here in this country. And one of the biggest fights we have is in Texas. We're going to Brandon hall on a second. They're staying up till 2 and 3 in the morning down in Austin on the Texas Education Board because patriots are flooding the zone down there and want to speak and want to get in front of the microphone. But why? I'm going to get to the other part about your opponent after the break. But right now, how can we be spending days making sure that CARE doesn't influence Texas? History is taught to Texas kids in textbooks. It sounds bizarro, but we're in a fight. The vote's not even gonna be till tomorrow, I don't think, sir.

[Chip Roy]

Yeah, it's ridiculous. I mean, what's happened is Texas is front and center. The Muslim Brotherhood, CARE and all the organizations Amy, Mac and Rare have documented, there's 600 organizations that are all funding this push of the Islamification of Texas, the march of Islam across our state and the country. And you can't win a war that you don't acknowledge exists. And we cannot allow Islam to hide behind the First Amendment when in fact it is a political ideology that is designed in its own length language in the Muslim brotherhood memorandum from 1991 to wage jihad against the West. We know this to be true. We know that it's all been flowing out in terms of the Holy Land Foundation 25 years ago. What care has been up to. I have new legislation I'm going to introduce next week on cair. I will make sure you guys see it first. I can't announce it yet, but to go after them. I already introduced a bill to take away their tax status. I already introduced the pause act vet people for Sri Lanka law. But Texas is behind the eight ball on this. We need to be much more aggressive. We're, we're, we're trying to play catch up. The legislation that they passed is fine, but we got to go much further because what you're seeing right now is they're using our own rules against us to indoctrinate our kids.

[Steve Bannon]

Chip, hang on for one second. Chip Roy, runner for AG in Texas.

[Chip Roy]

Next in the world,

[Steve Bannon]

here's your host, Stephen K. Ban. Congressman Chip Roy, who's running for Texas ag. So, Congressman, you used a phrase in the last segment I can tell you, I think is resonating with people. You can't win a war you don't acknowledge exists. That's a pretty good quote about framing about where we are. So here's the question. The state of Texas is the jewel in the crown and they know that our enemies in this, the enemies of the United States of America and us as a constitutional party, fully understand that from its history, the mythology, the current, you know, the current state of its economy, which is what, the sixth or seventh biggest in the world, how it's a countervailing power to California in our own union, particularly the way the, the way it's run in the way it's governed. The question gets to be for folks is, you know, war room and others. Did it turn out hundreds of, of patriots to go to Texas school board and drive and take their time and money and go there to testify and people are lost about care is being designated a terrorist organization in the state of Texas and in Florida and in UAE and in Qatar.

[Chip Roy]

Right.

[Steve Bannon]

And they're kind of sitting there going, why is it allowed to be in Austin, Texas and not just be the organizer, I mean, to bring the speakers, to prep the speakers, to hold a press conference outside that was 10 times more followed by the left wing media in Austin and nationally than the Frank Gaffney press conference of the Patriots. So how can that happen and what are you prepared to do about it in Texas to sort this problem out and to win this war?

[Chip Roy]

Yeah. First of all, we have been behind the curve on this, in my opinion, in Texas and have been relatively asleep at the switch, allowing people to hide behind, as I said, I say, hide behind the First Amendment. You and I are stalwart defenders of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. We'll fight that battle anytime, anywhere. But this is a political ideology and we have to recognize that because we've got too many people today. Literally in the conversations I'm having right now, Steve, with leadership in Austin, with people around the state, they always hedge when I say, wait a minute, we do not want to see more mosques being built. We do not want to see taxpayer funding for these Islamic schools. We need to stop caring. We need to do. The office of Attorney General has extraordinary power to open up and look at the books of nonprofits and NGOs. As Attorney General, my first order of business will be to assemble the team and go immediately on day one and open up all these books. Find where they have connections, connections to terrorist activities and terrorist groups. Pull their charters, cut their funding, don't allow those funds to proceed to continue to do what they're doing. But the key element to all of that is the. The using the bully pulpit and delivering the message legally. Making the arguments that this is not, in fact, something that is gonna be protectable as religion, but that you gotta recognize that it is a political movement designed to tear down our walls. That goes back to my point. You can't win a war that you don't acknowledge exists. People hide behind Sharia. I talk about Sharia, too. There's a reason we named it the Sharia Free America Caucus. But it's not just Sharia. This is an important point. In the hearing I held as the chairman of the subcommittee on the Constitution, I made this point about Sharia and my Democrat ranking member acknowledged almost immediately. She said, well, wait, if you're talking about Sharia, that means all Muslims. That means everybody that's practicing Islam. And I let her make that point. But the reality is Sharia is central to it. All of this is inconsistent with the west, inconsistent with our laws. If you don't acknowledge that, how can you win? And look, I'll give credit. Governor Abbott has said, look, we gotta stop these dollars flowing to these Islamic schools through the school choice programs. That's exactly right. As Attorney General, I'll defend that. But we gotta go further and we've gotta cut the head of the snake off. We've gotta stop care, polar charter, go after any of the elements of the Muslim Brotherhood. But as Amy Mack has pointed out with rare, there's 600 organizations. So care is front facing. They're calling me a terrorist, they're calling me a hater, all of those things. And I don't care. And, you know, I think you got to stand up and fight for this stuff. And that's what I'm trying to do.

[Steve Bannon]

I hope if we make a recommendation, Amy Mack, as a senior advisor to you as Attorney General, she is really a rock star. And her efforts to bring just the video and hear these people in their own voice, I think is such so powerful Chip. Where do people go to follow this more closely because this is heating up now. Now, the AG's race, I think will be even more intense than the Senate race. But where do people go to follow you to find your travel schedule, to see more and to give you questions and weigh and measure?

[Chip Roy]

Chip Roy, chiproy.com, the runoff is on May 26th. I just got to make one point here. My opponent, Mays Middleton, as a state senator last year introduced a bill, SB854. That bill was designed to be something to promote religious liberty and help help the developing cities and entities push religious entities being able to develop these areas. But in doing so, it was going to specifically promote the ability of mosques and Muslim oriented and Islam centered entities to be able to sue local jurisdictions to stop them if they prohibited these mosques from being built and these Islamic cities like Epic City from being built. Now, my colleague, I don't know whether he did it intentionally or naive, but I know that he tried to dupe people because he amended the language that was the description of the video, but he didn't change the text of the bill as it moved through the Senate into the Senate Calendars Committee. And the problem here is, Steve, you can't be naive and be the Attorney General of Texas. You can't go up and do a nice sounding bill that's good for religious liberty and then ignore the fact that you're going to give fuel to the Islamists who want to remake Texas. You got to have the smartest lawyers in the world working at the office of Attorney General. And that starts at the top. And I've been a prosecutor, I've been a lawyer lawyer. I've been in court. I have led the office under Ken Paxton. My opponent has done none of those things. There's no room for on the job training. And so this is an important issue people need to pay attention to. The Federalist broke this story yesterday. It's a really important glimpse into what a naive Attorney General could do to the state of Texas. That's why I need everybody to turn out May 26th.

[Steve Bannon]

Was that, was that bill? Was it? Has that bill been killed? Are those aspects of that bill been killed?

[Chip Roy]

So that bill got to the calendars, they pushed it out of committee, got it to the floor. It did stop and didn't get signed into law, thank God. But, but my opponent should have known better. And again, he tried to dupe people by changing the description but not changing the bill. He should have pulled the bill and he should have ended it. But he was trying to hide behind religious liberty and not acknowledge that he was going to give power to Epic City and to those trying to create Islamic cities. We've got to rethink how we deal with all of this because in the for example, you have prayer time in schools. Muslims are now going to use that to take over our schools and be gone five times a day for prayer on their prayer rugs pointing to Mecca. We cannot do that. It's going to destroy our Judeo Christian culture and our Christian nation.

[Steve Bannon]

This fight is I'm telling you, there's a real fight in Texas. Think about about that for a second in the great state of Texas. We got a fight. It's a fight. Chip Roy, thank you so much for being on the front line.

[Chip Roy]

Thanks, Steve. God bless.

[Steve Bannon]

Short commercial break Second hour is going to be even more lit than the first. Stick around. You're in the war room.