THE WAR ROOM WITH STEPHEN K. BANNON (EP. #5044)

Summary

Podcast Summary: THE WAR ROOM WITH STEPHEN K. BANNON (EP. #5044)

Podcast: Real America’s Voice
Host: Stephen K. Bannon
Guests: Eric Prince, Brian Kennedy, Jack Posobiec
Date: January 5, 2026

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Overview

This episode of War Room with Stephen K. Bannon explores the parallel political and geopolitical shocks shaking America and the world, dubbed “The Tale of Two Cities”: the unfolding political scandal and gubernatorial resignation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the dramatic ouster and arrest of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, now facing trial in lower Manhattan. Through lively and unfiltered discussion, Bannon and his guests dissect U.S. immigration crises, hemispheric defense strategy, emerging regime changes, and America’s posture on the global stage, all under the shadow of the Trump administration’s bold new actions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. American Political Earthquake: The Minneapolis Scandal & Governor Walls’ Exit

[00:58, 02:58, 35:51]

• Minneapolis is at the center of national focus because Governor Tim Walls is stepping down amidst a massive daycare and immigration scandal involving money laundering and alleged funding of the Democratic Party through illegal daycare centers and votes from undocumented immigrants.

• Bannon calls the immigration system a “scam” and demands a total 10-year moratorium on all forms of immigration, underlining the threat to working-class Americans and national security.

• The “Somalian scandal” is portrayed as an emblematic failure of border and immigration policy, leading Trump to vow cuts to federal funding for blue states resisting ICE and National Guard deployment.

• Quote:
  “You’re not getting any daycare. You’re not gonna get any of this crap until you can show me that it’s not being spent on just the invasion of this country with a bunch of illegal…whether they're asylum seekers or migrants…they’re illegal.” – Stephen K. Bannon [01:30]

• Brian Kennedy's insight:
  The Minneapolis crisis is repeatedly linked to a broader narrative of national decline tied to open borders and Democratic policies.

• Jack Posobiec adds:
  “There’s something going on in Minneapolis... for some reason, all of our national stories, these national narratives, seem to converge there.” [35:55]

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2. Venezuela’s Regime Change: Maduro Ousted, U.S. Muscle on Display

[03:00, 04:47, 06:54, 07:00, 10:48, 13:53, 17:14, 19:17, 22:24, 23:06, 23:48, 29:06, 39:20, 40:17, 42:41]

• Maduro ousted and facing trial in Manhattan. Trump administration orchestrates a dramatic extraction, refusing “boots on the ground” for nation-building but employing strategic pressure, coordinated quarantines, and targeted sanctions.

• Eric Prince calls Maduro a “useful idiot” selected by his wife Celia Flores (Chavez’s former lawyer), with Venezuela run by what he calls “a criminal gang” and “a mob family.”

• U.S. is leveraging quarantine of Venezuelan oil (“ghost fleet”) and gold shipments to choke off revenue to new regime power brokers, with a willingness to escalate bounties on remaining “bad hombres."

• Quote (on removing Maduro):
  “It was the F around and Maduro found out exactly what that feels like.” – Eric Prince [13:53]

• Strategic significance:
  The move is not mere regime change but a play for hemispheric security—forcing U.S. adversaries (Russia, China, Iran) out of the Americas.

• Venezuela eyed Guyana’s oil in “a geostrategic plan to become a world power” via military moves, potentially making the region an “energy superpower.”

• Quote:
  “If you get Guyana's reserves or even part of them and put them with the reserves of Venezuela, you have a superpower, do you not, sir?” – Stephen K. Bannon [08:13]

• Prince and Kennedy note the billions rooted out of Venezuela, with asset freezes (e.g., Switzerland) only scratching the surface.

• Breaking news:

  • Venezuelan authorities hunting for “supporters” of the U.S. operation—senior analysts think it’s a test of U.S. resolve, may require further U.S. action. [23:06]
  • The theme: The U.S. will not tolerate “bad actors” in its backyard.

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3. U.S. Hemispheric Defense, the Monroe Doctrine Reborn, and Greenland

[17:14, 19:17, 41:05, 42:41, 46:39]

• Trump is reviving “hemispheric defense,” asserting a modern “Monroe Doctrine”—this time, “the Don Row Doctrine.”
• Greenland’s pivotal role as a mineral-rich strategic northern flank is raised; Trump is pushing for U.S. control or protectorate status over it to block Russian access and ensure Arctic naval security.
• Quote:
  “I need Greenland because Greenland is going to cut off the Russian submarines and I can assure American security. The Danes ain’t happy.” – Stephen K. Bannon [16:48]
• Guests see this as consistent with “America First,” not traditional neocon expansionism—keeping foreign powers at bay rather than democratizing others.
• Quote:
  “We need to make sure that the world behaves itself so that the United States is secure and free and tranquil and prosperous.” – Brian Kennedy [42:41]

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4. Global Hotspots: Tehran, Ukraine, and New Realities

[19:17, 20:28, 22:24, 29:06, 31:33, 32:49, 34:20]

• Iran:
  Guest commentary is skeptical about the effectiveness of internal protests, arguing the regime will maintain power as long as China buys its oil. Advocates “covert action” and “clipping enough of the regime" to encourage toppling the mullahs.

  • “That regime will kill its way to success. Meaning they will kill as many protesters as they need.” – Eric Prince [20:28]

• Ukraine and Europe:

  • Paris is to host meetings brokered by the U.S. on a possible rapprochement between Israel and Syria.
  • Debate over Western troop involvement in Ukraine; the “coalition of the willing” concept revived.
  • Intelligence services and power tussles within Ukraine (Budanov's rise) hint at a deepening U.S. role.
  • Calls to investigate and “bust down” U.S. Senator Mark Kelly’s military rank amidst allegations of sedition. [34:20]

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5. Strategic Purpose: Where Is America Going?

[41:05, 42:41, 46:39]

• Brian Kennedy argues:
  • The America First vision is not nation-building or exportation of democracy but establishing secure U.S. boundaries and eliminating hostile powers from the hemisphere.
  • Removing Maduro was step one; step two is purging Russian, Chinese, and Iranian influence (“what are the Chinese, Russians and Iranians doing in Venezuela but staging an operating hub, as it were, to be able to cause harm to the United States”).
• Quote:
  “If we can't solve the Somali problem in Minneapolis, Minnesota, what are we doing here? ... In Caracas, Venezuela, the reason the president went in there was...something existential about the fact that you had Russia, China, and Iran... operating in Venezuela in defiance of what he termed the Monroe Doctrine.” – Brian Kennedy [39:20]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Bannon on regime change strategy:
  “We can't do a nation building, right? I don't want to see us... We can't have any troops on the ground.” [03:41]
• Prince on Maduro’s fate:
  “He really was the useful idiot. And now he's going to spend the rest of his life in prison.” [06:09]
• Bannon comparing Venezuela’s elites:
  “Her family… they're like a mob. They're like a Venezuelan mob family… she's tough as boot leather. This girl's like Tony Soprano's daughter, right?” [06:32]
• Prince on leverage:
  “Now a lot of people around them will see them as a payday and a retirement path if they bring him in…it's an instant way for Trump to change the internal calculation.” [11:28]
• Jack Posobiec on regime change specials:
  “There are no conspiracies, but there are no coincidences when Human Events Daily is running a regime change special. Right when Maduro gets arrested.” [38:10]
• Bannon reframing the hemispheric doctrine:
  “Not the Monroe Doctrine, I’m doing the Don Row doctrine. Right with the Trump corollary. We’re not having any bad hombres in our hemisphere anymore.” [16:56]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction, Scandal in Minnesota: 00:58–03:00
• Immigration Moratorium Discussion: 01:30–03:00
• Eric Prince on Venezuela’s Criminal Power Structure: 04:47–06:09
• Geostrategic Play for Guyana’s Oil: 08:13–10:48
• US Quarantine Strategy on Venezuelan Oil: 10:48–11:28
• Trump’s Bounties Tactic: 11:28–13:04
• Trump’s Boldness & Maduro Extraction: 13:53
• Greenland as Strategic Asset: 17:14–19:17
• Iranian Regime, Oil & Protest Suppression: 20:28–22:24
• Breaking: Venezuela police hunt US allies: 23:06
• Swiss Freezing Maduro’s Assets: 23:48
• Military Justice for Senator Kelly: 25:04–25:46, 34:20, 34:31
• Jack Posobiec on Regime Change and Ukraine: 29:06–31:33; 32:49–34:20
• Brian Kennedy on America First vs. Neocon View: 42:41
• Conclusion: Hemispheric Security, Next Steps: 46:39

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Tone and Language

• Hard-hitting, combative, unapologetically nationalist and “America First”
• Dismissive of traditional media narratives and political establishment
• Framing discussions with high urgency (“primal scream of a dying regime”)
• Guests and host freely mix intelligence, strategy, and sharp partisan humor

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Closing

This War Room episode is a torrent of strategy, debate, and breaking developments tying together immigration, regime change, geopolitics, and America’s evolving stance in world affairs. As Bannon’s guests argue, the U.S. is shifting from defensive postures and “boots on the ground” quagmires to strategic leverage, targeted actions, and new doctrines to assert American security—both at home and across the Western Hemisphere.

For a deeper analysis and the latest developments, follow:

• Eric Prince: @realericdprints
• Brian Kennedy: presentdangerchina.org | @BrianTKennedy1
• Jack Posobiec: Human Events Daily | @JackPosobiec

Transcript

[Steve Bannon]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Guaranteed Human. This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people. Christians not 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.

[Eric Prince]

In the world to stop that, but.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

You'Re not going to stop it. It's going to happen.

[Steve Bannon]

And where do people like that go.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

To share the big L? Mega media.

[Steve Bannon]

I wish in my soul, I wish.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

That any of these people had a conscience. Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.

[Steve Bannon]

War room, here's your host, Stephen K. Band.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Okay, welcome back. Monday, the 5th of January, year of our Lord 2026. One of the engine room was saying, hey, there's so many plots going on, it's getting confused. There's a lot going on. Geostrategically, geopolitically, geo, economically, hemispheric defense. President Trump's on a roll. The United States military, magnificent and what it accomplished over the weekend, but also an earthquake out of Minnesota as we've been kind of driving that to focus here. And you've got this complete scandal that's spreading state to state. President Trump did come out last night on the way back from Mar a Lago. He gave one of those open press avails on Air Force One and he said, I think he said he's cutting off money to Illinois, California, all these big blue Democratic states where they're fighting him on bringing in ICE agents and federalizing the National Guard where there's a constant fight. He's going, hey, about these scandals, the Somalian scandal, I'm cutting off the money. You're not getting any daycare. You're not gonna get any of this crap until I can, until you can show me that it's not being spent on just the invasion of this country with a bunch of illegal, whether they're asylum seekers or migrants, you call them anything they want, they're illegal. As every one of these programs is a scam. That's why here in the war room, we have called for a ten year moratorium. Ten years on all underlying, all including student visas, all a moratorium on any type of immigration in this country. It is so screwed up and such a scam of what we're funding our own demise, our own destruction and the destruction of working class men. Whether you're Hispanic, black or white. It's Got to stop. And the way to stop it is cut off the money and cut off the access and then do away with things immediately like the H1B programs. No need for a moratorium. There's so a lot going on. I want to bring in Eric Prince. Eric. So Walls resign. Walls is not running again. That's an earthquake. They think they're going to throw a clover in there and cauterize the wound. That's not going to happen. This thing in Minnesota is spreading like a. Like a disease. You've got Maduro at 12 noon. Walls is going to. And this is the tale of two cities. You're going to have Minneapolis and Walls basically saying, I'm essentially resigning. I'm not going to run for a third term. And they're going to turf him out here as quickly as possible as a governor because he's going to be having to spend time on his criminal defense. And then you've got lower Manhattan, Caracas, Lower Manhattan, where you brought in Maduro. And I keep saying, look, Maduro is a guy. And I realize, you know, he hit Trump's tripwire. As, you know, negotiations been going on a long time with this guy to figure out something. And he's a bus driver. It's not like this guy's not Chavez, right? This guy's a bus driver who's a union guy. I mean, the bad hombres, as you've identified around him, are also, you know, I think if you're going to clean this mess up, you're going to have to do something with them. But talk to me about. So last time we left you on Saturday morning, you said, hey, this is, you know, a great extraction, but, you know, we can't do a nation building, right? I don't want to. I don't want to see us. We can't have any troops on the ground. No boots on the ground.

[Brian Kennedy]

Don't.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

President afterwards said, hey, I'm thinking about boots. We gotta do it, we gotta do it. The VP's gonna work with us. She said no. Then President Trump says, well, she's gonna say yes. She has said yes. Now she's coming out and saying, hey, I understand what they're doing. They're putting pressure. The president's already called for a quarantine of any of the oil going out. And now you've got some more of the bad hombres there. They're not letting people go out in the streets, they're restricting access, etc. Talk to me about the current situation. You had kind of warned, hey, Taking this guy out's great. You got to take some more out. But you don't want to get too involved in this thing because it could get messy, sir.

[Eric Prince]

Well, and that's just to close the thought on the Minnesota debacle. That was a money laundering operation. Those illegal daycare centers provided $35 million of funding to the Democrat Party. So of course they want to cover it up. Of course they want to flood the area with more illegals because they become their reliable illegal voters. Now, to Venezuela, as I said, there is a criminal gang. It's not just Maduro. Celia Flores, his wife, who was also arrested and indicted. She was Chavez's lawyer. She's the one that picked her reliable husband to be the next ruler after Chavez was taken out by cancer. So, yes, the cut has to go deeper. At least now when Trump negotiates with the other remaining parties, the Delsey, the Jorge Rodriguez, the Diaz, Donna Cabello.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Hang on, you bring up an interesting topic. You bring up an interesting. Hang on, you bring up an interesting topic. Cause Chavez was not exactly a Rhodes scholar, right? But he was one of those kind of Castro type personalities. She's a little bit the brains. She was the attorney General, I think she's the brains of the opera. Remember, she and Maduro didn't get married for 25 years or something. She kind of selected him and made sure he was there because he's the bus driver, right? He's Ralph Cramden and she's calling the shots.

[Eric Prince]

And it was not even selected, not even selected for breeding stock because she had two sons that were major, major criminal drug traffickers already. They'd already been arrested once and they got. They got released in a swap. So, yes, he really was the useful idiot. And now he's going to spend the rest of his life in prison.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Well, hold it. And then you've got the vice president who's in charge. Her family is. They're like a mob. They're like a Venezuelan mob family. Even before Chavez came up, and the Socialists and the Communists, they were a mob family from the beginning. I mean, she's tough as boot leather. This girl comes. This girl's like Tony Soprano's daughter, right?

[Eric Prince]

That's correct.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

So President Trump's got. I mean, he's not working with any beauties down there, as he would say, right?

[Eric Prince]

No, that is correct. Her brother Jorge and Delsey, their father was a career murdering, kidnapping, extortionist, gangster, as you described. And so that perhaps runs in the family, in the family bloodline. So it. But at Least they should be of a mind that they saw what happened to Maduro and maybe they're not going to get arrested next time. Maybe they're just getting a, a JDAM in their house. So again, President Trump has definitely done the benevolent thing by removing Maduro. He'll have the luxury of standing trial. He's not going to get. He wasn't killed, but a lot of Cubans certainly died trying to defend him under reported fact. But hopefully those folks decide to do the right thing and run either an honest election or do an interim government, whether it's Maria Carina Machado or Enrique Capriles. That's the guy that won the previous election that was also stolen by Maduro. That's how you get to a better interim transition government to bring some sanity back to Venezuela.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Well, and her father, you know, when you say extortioners, he made his money. I think kidnapping American oil executives was part of his, part of his business. These people are, it's a very dangerous crew down there. These are not good government types. They also though Maduro and his henchmen had a geo. They're not dumb, okay? They had a geostrategic plan to become a world power. And that just wasn't on the biggest reserves or the second or third biggest reserves in the world, depending on how you calculated. But they looked at their next door neighbor, Guyana, and they realized with the military intrusion down there, when you got people like Biden and Obama and these people that are very passive, a military intrusion into Guyana. If you get Guyana's reserves or even part of them and put them with the reserves of Venezuela, you have a superpower, do you not, sir?

[Eric Prince]

Yes. So the fastest economy growing in the world last year was Guyana because of the Starbrook formation, which is a massive offshore gas, oil and gas discovery made by Exxon. They went into production and obviously Guyana's economy really exploded then to, to distract from the corruption, incompetence and socialism of the Maduro government. Maduro trotted out a 130-year-old border dispute which had been settled 130 years ago on an area called Essequibo area, which is about 30% of the land mass of Guyana that suddenly Venezuela claimed again, that's where all the oil was. And they started rattling their sabers and putting special forces across the border and all the rest. It would have actually seizing. That would have grown the Venezuelan economy by more than a third. It would have truly made them an energy superpower. Already Venezuela has more proven reserves than any place on Earth. Add to that the starboard formation and the other extensions from that, it would be truly extraordinary. Venezuela has unbelievable natural resources. Much of it is still unexplored. There's a reason they called it El Dorado, the city of Gold. Under better, even semi sane leadership, the country will be enormously more wealthy and peaceful and not be seeking to export millions of people to its neighbors. I'm just in Europe now and you see little spontaneous demonstrations of people wrapped in Venezuelan flags or Venezuelans living in various European cities celebrating what Trump did last Saturday.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

What you, you've kind of had this construct and he came on the show a number of times, said, hey, put a bounty on him and you can extract him. But you also said in broader's geostrategic, one of the ways you can get leverage here is quarantining the ghost fleet or whatever the ships coming out. President Trump has basically said this. They're not going to go in and actively, as of right now, step in and run the thing. Although he is going to use his leverage to, quote, unquote, run it. Just explain to the audience what that means. What does it mean to have a quarantine here and to use that quarantine as leverage to make sure that Delsey and the rest of that mob does what President Trump wants without putting boots on the ground of American troops.

[Eric Prince]

The three ways that Venezuelan government makes money right now is on tolling narcotics coming out of the rest of Latin America, particularly cocaine and some fentanyl and method to gold, which is largely flown to Turkey and to other Middle Eastern refineries and of course, crude oil. So if the president enforces a control mechanism over how much of that gold gets, how much of the oil gets produced and shipped, that really affects their funding. And he's effectively done that. When he shut the airspace, it also shut down their ability to ship, to airship that gold. So he's taken a lot of steps already to have a better control in that economy. Remember the padrino, the Minister of Defense dies, Cabello, the Minister of Interior already have multi, multi million dollar bounties on their heads for murder, narcotics trafficking, all sorts of bad charges. So the president also has a means to escalate by saying, okay, instead of the bounty being 25 or 15 million dollars for information leading to the arrest of Diastado Cabello, he could just say Diestado Cabello, dead or alive, $15 million. And now a lot of people around them will see them as a payday and a retirement path if they bring him into whatever US Official will Issue them the check. It's a very, it's a, it's an instant way for Trump to change the internal calculation that those people would be using.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

An incentive program. You mentioned Gold and President Trump and there's more reporting now. He did try to work with these people and said, hey, I want this to happen quickly. I want it to happen with very little American involvement. Let's figure out a deal. But all the deals, including for his henchmen, they had to leave the country. He would not buy off my understanding on internal exile because that would be like them not leaving. Part of that was an option to actually go to Turkey. And the reason for that is the relationship that Maduro and his senior, his colleagues, his cabal have with the Turkish government. Erdogan around Gold, but they turned that down. Is that your understanding? They turned down every option that President Trump gave them just to demand to stay in the country. Yeah.

[Eric Prince]

And I just don't think they, I don't think they figured Trump had the cojones to do something about it. And he certainly showed that he has the cojones. And you know, it was a, it was the F around and Maduro found out exactly what that, what that feels like.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Eric, can you hang on one second? I just want to keep you for a couple minutes on the other side because the song much else going on. President Trump pretty adamant to say, hey, look, this about hemispheric defense and I want Greenland, I got to have Greenland because Greenland is going to cut off the Russian submarines and I can assure American security. The Danes ain't happy. President Trump also talking about Colombia, Cuba and once again talking about Tehran. We're going to get into all of it. We got Erik Prince, we got Brian Kennedy. Poso is going to join us in a moment, I think, with some updates on this. Pete Hegseth about Senator Mark Kelly. Short commercial break the Tale of Two Cities a Day. Minneapolis and Caracas slash Manhattan. Here in the war room. Kill America's Voice family.

[Eric Prince]

Are you on get her yet?

[Brian Kennedy]

No.

[Eric Prince]

What are you waiting for?

[Stephen K. Bannon]

It's free, it's uncensored, and it's where all the biggest voices in conservative media are speaking out. Download the Getter app right now. It's totally free. It's where I put up exclusively all of my content 24 hours a day. Want to know what Steve Bannon's thinking? Go to Getter. That's right.

[Eric Prince]

You can follow all of your favorites. Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk, Jack Posobi and so many more.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Download the Getter app now. Sign up for free and be part.

[Eric Prince]

Of the new thing.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

You like our discussion of national security and geopolitics and capital markets? It's one of the reasons I think most people, a lot of people come to the war room. Jim Rickerts, one of our contributors, has Strategic Intelligence. His newsletter is what chairman of the board and CEOs throughout the world read. Go to rickardswarroom.com that's a landing page we've created that you get access to a deal on strategic intelligence. It's based upon predictive analytics. That's why Rickerts has the reputation he has. Also, he's got a book he throws in MoneyGPT that talks about artificial intelligence and fiat currency. I came to understand or get access to Rickert's thinking when he did Currency Wars. I think it's been 15 years ago. Just a magnificent book. Jim Burger is one of the smartest guys, most dialed in guys around. So rickardswaram.com go check it out today, the landing page. So, Eric, you've been one of the big advocates of hemispheric defense. President Trump given it, giving it to the Danes with the bark on. He says, look, we really need this thing. It's key to our national security, and I need you to pay attention to this. And they're up in arms. Your thought? Explain to the audience why is Greenland so important when we're talking about hemispheric defense? He's trying to clean up Venezuela because he's saying in his defense, people say he can't do nation. But he said, hey, look in our backyard. I'm doing the. Not the Monroe Doctrine, I'm doing the Don Road doctrine. Right with the Trump corollary. We're not having any bad hombres in our hemisphere anymore. I'm cleaning up this mess. Why is Greenland so important to that, sir?

[Eric Prince]

Well, it's much bigger than it even looks on maps. When people look at it, because of the Mercator projection, it is unbelievably laden with significant mineral value and it is part of our northern flank. And as the Arctic Sea becomes more navigable and there's more transits, it becomes super relevant for global shipping. Right now, it's effectively a protectorate of Denmark. The Danes pay the bill for all the defense, even though we pay largely the bill for all of Denmark's defense in Europe. There's I think, 29 or less than 50,000 people total that live in Greenland. I think if you open it up to a vote for them, they would vote to become American citizens and to open and make it a protectorate like Puerto Rico. I think even what Trump offered them was that if we did that, Greenland would still get a 50% carry on any mineral value extracted. So they get none of the costs they have to bear. And 50% of the upside with American naval protection and all the American capital markets plowing capital into develop the various completely uninhabited parts of Greenland for the betterment of Greenland citizens. So to me it makes sense. There will be some Danish nationalists or just some Danish socialists that will not like that idea. But those are to be negotiated. Remember, America grew mostly by acquisition by paying money for land. Whether it's Alaska, which was called Seward's Folly, and again that Secretary of State was, well, they call it Seward's Folly. I think we ended up paying 2 or 3 cents per acre for all of Alaska. The Louisiana Purchase purchased from Napoleon weakened at the end of Napoleonic the French Revolution. He was, yeah, we, we bought land and this is another opportunity to do something similar.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Sue was a genius. He was Lincoln's right hand man. Lincoln Seward didn't think much of him when he won the presidency, but became as big as Samar. Seward was a giant in American history. I want to ask you quickly about Tehran. And then I got two breaking news items, one from Switzerland, one from Caracas, both of them about Venezuela. And I got POSO on deck and Brian Kennedy, Tehran, this thing's expanding because of the economic collapse of the mullahs. And we haven't cut them off from oil yet, which we've been advocating here for years. But now the word is, you know, the IDF just can't. Mossad can't help themselves. IDF can't help themselves. There's all this discussion about the Israelis want to go in and stir up the pot. Wouldn't that be the dumbest thing possible now that you got the Persian people up in arms against the mullahs. Just let nature take its course. They showed in 79 they got a pretty good, you know, when they, they're fed up with something and they're talking about putting the Shah's son right. And if you've ever studied the original revolution, it's not that the Shah in this crowd had a great run. Okay, your thoughts on that, Erik Prince, the natural evolution of what's happening in Tehran versus foreign interdiction.

[Eric Prince]

I am not in favor of the mullahs in Iran. I'm on their hit list yet. But the problem is, yes, it's great that the people are in the streets protesting, but the sad thing is that regime will kill its way to success. Meaning they will kill as many protesters as they need. As long as they can continue to sell their oil. They have a customer. China will buy their crude. That will keep the regime alive. There is a surprising amount of military technology there. Their shahed drone, a long range, effectively cruise missile drone. They've sold a lot of those, thousands and thousands of those to Russia as part of the Ukraine war. I've long advocated that covert action enabling the Iranian people to rise up and just clip enough of the regime to take away its inevitability is the way to bring that house of cards down. I don't know that anyone has done the work to build that preparation in the field with a few hundred, a few thousand Iranian dissidents to do that. But until you can chop away the irgcuts force, Mois forces, it's going to be bad.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

I deserve this. Why did I ask the world's top mercenary that question? But we'll get, we'll do that on another day. So you're for that? Okay, I got it. I got it. You got away a couple of heads.

[Eric Prince]

I'm not, look, I'm not, I'm not in favor of us. I understand having to send people, but unless people. Look, when American, when American patriots decided to be independent from the UK it wasn't just American patriots that got it done. I got it right. You had France. France.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Would you not advocate those. Should we not try? Should we not try? One of the options is let's cut off the oil to the Chinese Communist Party. I think it's part of the play in Venezuela. They're not getting any more. All the President Trump says we'll give them access. I think that's getting cut.

[Brian Kennedy]

Cut off.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Kennedy's going to talk about that in a second. The is. It isn't the play here. At least the next part of the play is. Let's just, let's see how the Moodles do with no incoming cash. Right. We can do that easy and see what people think. Hey, I'll get back to you on the. I want to get these two news items. The two news items are. Reuters is reporting. Eric. Breaking from Caracas, Venezuelan authorities have ordered police to find and arrest anyone involved in supporting the US attack. Do you think they're just doing that for, for pr or do you think they're going against President Trump's wishes and desires and actually going after people that assisted the military in the extraction process?

[Eric Prince]

I have no doubt that, that the gangster class that still remains in Venezuela will Definitely test the wire and see if it's electrified or not. So, you know, having done one on Saturday, there might need to be two or three more done remotely for people to get the full memo of what is expected from them by the United States.

[Brian Kennedy]

Wow.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Okay. Last thing was Switzerland's just announced. The Swiss government's announced they have frozen all assets related to anybody associated with Maduro or his government. How big a deal is that? Sir, that's.

[Eric Prince]

I don't know that Switzerland was harboring many of those resources. I think a lot of that money was in Russia and in Turkey and in the Gulf. But great. If Switzerland wants to get ahead of that, there's an enormous asset recovery effort to be done in searching out because it was focus. It should have been the most per capita the wealthiest country in the western hemisphere but it's been looted systematically for the last 30 years. So there's a lot of wealth to be tracked and recovered.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Erik Prince, where can people get you? Sir.

[Eric Prince]

I am on X at real Eric D Prints and they should also check out an unplugged phone because if they're serious about communication security, if they're serious about communication security, you can buy [e-mail] war room we designed this phone to protect your digital survivor, your digital sovereignty, to protect your first and your fourth amendment rights of the Constitution, free speech and against illegal searches. Control your data, especially in an era of AI.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

They've just sent a letter of censure to Mark Kelly and Pete Hegseth is designated the Secretary of the Navy to look into every alternative of how to basically effectuate that censure, I assume including calling back to active duty. Do you believe that Kelly should be called back? He's a captain and they probably is going to get busted down. But do you believe he should be called back and tried in a court martial? Sir.

[Eric Prince]

It is very dangerous for the over politicization of our officer corps in the Civil War. It was super political. It was ridiculous. I think it's one of the things that contributed to a civil war. And so letting officers, letting military officers.

[Brian Kennedy]

Be.

[Eric Prince]

Military professionals, fantastic. If they want to take their uniform off and retire, do that, but don't elicit subversion like he and the other clutch of Democrats are trying to do by, by what they did, claiming it was don't follow illegal orders. Yet they couldn't identify one specific order that was illegal.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Eric Prince, thank you for taking time away from your busy schedule overseas to join us. I appreciate you sir and I promise I'll have you back on and we'll discuss Tehran in the mullahs.

[Eric Prince]

I wish them. I wish them, I wish that. I wish the Iranian people peace and free freedom by any means. Peace and freedom.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Thank you, sir. Appreciate you, sir. Brian Kennedy, Jack Posobic, Oscar Blue Ramirez. The tale of two cities. Today, Minneapolis Waltz is throwing in the towel because he's got to spend time on his criminal defense just like Maduro's got to do in southern Manhattan in federal court. All of that at noon today.

[Steve Bannon]

Here's your host, Stephen K. Band.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Make sure every dream you've had which is tied up in your, in your title, your home if you're lucky enough to own one. Remember first time buyers now the average age is 40. Is that ridiculous? Absolutely ridiculous. Your net worth, I don't know, 80 or 90% is in that home. Make sure no one can get access to it but you. Hometitleock.com promo code Steve learn about the $1 million triple lock protection. This is pennies a day. You don't get the angst, you don't get the anxiety. It's the opportunity cost. Make sure this thing's secure. Hometitle lock.com promo code Steve Talk to Natalie Dominguez and the team. They're spectacular. Also this Friday I think there's still some seats. We put it up, I think they expand into another ballroom to get I don't know like 750. This, this event is huge. Gert Wilders myself are going to Texas to have the back of the Texans to stop the Islamic invasion of their state. And that's what it is. We've lost New York. New York has fallen. Got to make sure Texas doesn't. They get Texas, they'll control the United States of America no doubt. Just like you see in Paris, Brussels, London, all of it. Make sure you go to take it just I tell you what, call Patriot Mobile 972 Patriot. They can talk to you and hook you up for tickets right now may even Talk about switching 972 Patriot. The great team at Patriot Mobile Glenn Story and the folks more on that tonight. Really excited about getting down there visiting with the people. So Posobec you've had now in cooperation with President Trump their Reuters are reporting the regime is saying they want to arrest everybody, help the Americans. The Swiss have just frozen all their assets. This thing's going to be kind of a donnybrook. I mean these are bad hombres and they're just not going to roll over the president of state saying hey, they're going to pay attention to what I tell them or bad things are going to happen. Your thoughts, sir?

[Steve Bannon]

Well, Steve, this is exactly what you and I were talking about over the Christmas New year's break. Those 15,000 UF sailors, the flotilla that is off the coast of Venezuela right now, the pressure that's being put on the regime. Obviously. Now, of course, with the stunning events of the last weekend now coming into focus. And you look at, look, you know, my own personal feelings are, of course, I fully support the policy of black bagging communists and taking them to Guantanamo Bay. And in fact, I have a list if anyone would like to check it out. But when it comes down to it, when it, it always comes. And if you go back and look at the Human Events series that we ran last week, regime Change, Tales of regime Change. We talk about Iraq, we talk about Afghanistan, we talk about Ukraine, 2014, we talk about Syria. The question always comes, what comes next? Now, Venezuela's different situation. Secretary of State Rubio pointed that out. This is very, very different country than someplace over in the Middle East. It's a very different set of characters. It's a very separate cast. And Steve, what did I say here on the show on Saturday? I said, is this a full on regime change or are they just taking out one guy? And it appears to be that that's what the president and Marco Rubio said afterwards because the president said we are not installing Machado. He was very clear about that. Cold water all over it. And then Rubio coming out and saying that, that he was having discussions with the vice president of Venezuela who had been sort of this henchwoman for Maduro. But of course she's off there. Kind of looks like she's going into business for herself as it is. So again, we will see what comes next.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Okay. In the I had Eric on here about this whole situation at Tehran, the spontaneous self organizing demonstration at the mullahs and we're still letting the Chinese Communist Party get oil, monetize it. Now there's reports out of Paris that the Israel's Israel is actually in discussions now with Syria about actually reaching some sort of rapprochement. You just informed me that it's Witkoff and Kushner that are putting this together. And they just announced, I guess Zelensky is going to go over there because Orban said this morning, no Budapest meeting because there's nothing really to talk about now. Putin's not going to come, Trump's not going to come. I thought this might happen right after Davos and My understanding is the president's going to Davos, so a lot of these things can come together. What do you know about this Paris situation, sir?

[Steve Bannon]

Yes, Steve. So Davos is still a couple of weeks away, but that is obviously going to be a big summit that's coming up. I'm sure the President will be there, as well as key members of his cabinet. What we're hearing. That's right. So tomorrow in Paris, or really all this week, is going to be meetings between the Syrians, the Israelis, brokered by the United States. Witkoff, Kushner will be there. Then you're also going to see on the sidelines of that, a secondary meeting that takes place on Kushner, Witkoff. And you remember when President Trump went and sat down with Putin in Anchorage, happened to be a fly on the wall on that trip. The very next day, what did he do? He came back to the White House and they had that meeting with the coalition of the willing and the coalition of the willing. The European leaders all came in. Zelensky flew in as well. The very next day, they all sat down at the White House. Who's going to be meeting now in Paris? That same coalition. Because the big deal here, the deal, potentially deal breaker for everyone. What are these security guarantees you got? People like Tusk was going into business for himself in Poland. The. The globalist prime minister there, who we're trying to. Who, you know, we'll see how much longer he lasts in that position. By the way, he was up there going to business for himself, saying that US Troops are going to be on the ground in Ukraine. I'm not sure that the President.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

No, no.

[Steve Bannon]

Has come down.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

No, no, no. Worse, worse. Hold it, hold it. Don't protect him just because there's a poll. Don't give a. No. He said worse.

[Brian Kennedy]

He said.

[Steve Bannon]

I would even.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

He said on the line. He said on the line of contact, US Troops, not just in Ukraine, but really up, cheek by jowl, right?

[Steve Bannon]

So they were like, you guys demilitarized? No, these. Demilitarized zone. No. Donald Tusk, he's a Pomeranian. So we'll talk to the true polls about that. But. Okay, here we go. But no, this is. This is a real question. We're going to see American troops, British troops, French troops. What is the coalition of the willing? And who do we see? Christina Freeland just got appointed by Zelinsky. So she had been the Canadian, you know, the Canadian deputy to Trudeau. She just got appointed by Zelensky. She, of course, of Ukrainian extraction. So she just got A big appointment by him. And what are we also seeing Zelinsky took? And people who have been following our Ukraine analysis for a while at Human Events Daily. Remember, we've talked a lot about Budinov. We said, watch this guy. Budinoff is the CIA's guy in Ukraine. He's the one that was running those 17 CIA intelligence centers that were on the line of contact, the border with Russia, who just got appointed to head the presidential office of Zelensky Budanov himself. So there's a lot of questions potentially, could this be a successor in the making? The CIA's man in Ukraine, Budinova, the.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Deep states all over this. Real quickly, Mark Kelly, Pete, he's sending him a letter of censure. Is this start the process to recall him to active duty and court martial him and put him in Leavenworth.

[Brian Kennedy]

Sir.

[Steve Bannon]

Well, Steve, when I was at the Pentagon, I had the opportunity to question this from the press secretary, Kingsley Wilson over at the Department of War and specifically on Mark Kelly and this seditious video that came out at that point. It was under review by Secretary Fallon over at the Navy Department. And now that the review has been done, it was submitted to the, to the secretary, the overall Secretary of War. He's come down and said, we're going to see, number one, it will be a, this, this administrative action and number two, we're going to see reduction in rank and the opening, the opening of a broader investigation and proceedings against him. This is unprecedented with we have not ever seen something like this happen to a sitting United States senator. And potentially, yes, this could include, depending on the way they go with it, it could include the full return to active duty. It could potentially include a courts martial. It could include all of it. And I say bust him down to a butter bar, put them on bread and water rations.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Last thing. And I got Brian Kelly coming in right now in the Tale of Two Cities, which is our theme for today's show, Minneapolis and the earthquake there of Walls and Caracas, Lower Manhattan, Right. For the American people in the MAGA movement today, what is more important?

[Steve Bannon]

Well, today you got to focus on, you have to absolutely focus on Minneapolis and you have to figure out what's going on. Why is it this one city? Steve, think about it. GEORGE Floyd, Minneapolis, all right, the trans shooter at the, at the Catholic school, Minneapolis, just two weeks before Charlie Kirk's murder was up there in Minneapolis. The massive Somali fraud. Minneapolis, there's something. And the great Liz Collin over at Alpha News perhaps could answer this better than me. There's something going on in Minneapolis that for some reason, all of our national stories, these national narratives seem to converge there. Maybe it's a convergence site. Maybe it's a place where the Democrats and the left and the globalists are converging. Therefore, honestly, I don't even know the answer for it. But what I do know is that Minneapolis 30 years ago did not have these problems. They did not have the massive importation of. Of Somalis there. And they, these scams, this insanity was not being run. Then they pluck up Tim Walls, they try to push him out. They push him out of his bubble in Minneapolis and suddenly when real media gets a sense of him and when the broader media gets sense of they're not completely bought off, then we made short work of him. And by the way, Steve, mark my words, we'll do the exact same thing to Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania that happened to Tim Waltz. Joshi, little Joshi. Take a good look at Tim Waltz right now. That is your future. The minute you try to step out.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Of Pennsylvania, Charlie Kirk shows up next. And posto after that at 2 o', clock, posto, where do people go for all your content, sir, we're up.

[Steve Bannon]

Human Events Daily. Go check out the great special. Everybody's talking about it, Tales of Regime Change. People are saying it's the best podcast series they've seen on these regime change situations that have gone on the last 30, 40, 50 years PO all around the world, why these things happened, why the history happened. Incredible reviews. Want to say thank you to War Room and the entire war room, engine room, Grace and everybody for gigging it up and streaming it across the war room platforms and of course, putting it out there. If you haven't had a chance to listen yet. Well, folks, you know, I can't say that I was privy to all the information regarding the Venezuelan actions, but let's just say it's kind of. There are, there are no conspiracies, but there are no coincidences when Human Events Daily is running a regime change special. Right when Maduro gets arrested.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Hold on. That ends on the very night that you ended. And then he went. Then they went live. They went.

[Steve Bannon]

Yeah, I was telling, I was telling the team. I said, guys, I think volume. I think volume five is taking place right now.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Real quick. Twitter feed. Where do people go on your Twitter?

[Steve Bannon]

It's, it's at Jack Posobic. And Steve, I just have one question for you before I run that. You know, I want to get out here. Do you have any tips for Maduro on federal prison.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Whoa, listen, this is my question about DEA. DEA at Danbury. @ Danbury. They're not, they're not coking and joking with you and not letting you change your uniform. They're not changing you every 30 minutes. I got to find out about this DEA thing about, you know, Maduro didn't look like he was sweating the program. Don't get it. Jack Posobic, thank you very much. That's the way the Bureau of Prisons rolls, I can tell you. Thank you, brother. Brian Kennedy got you on here for, for, for some deep smart thinking today in the Tale of Two Cities, sir, what is more important for the American people? What's happened in Minneapolis and a political earthquake or the geopolitical earthquake in Caracas and lower Manhattan.

[Brian Kennedy]

Sir? Well, since Jack already said Minneapolis, I'm going to go with Caracas. Of course, Minneapolis is important because if we can't, if we can't solve the Somali problem in Minneapolis, Minnesota, what, what are we doing here? We have to get that right. And that's a very high priority. But in Caracas, Venezuela, the reason the President went in there was because he thought it was something more than just drug dealing by Nicolas Maduro. He thought it was something existential about the fact that you had Russia, China and Iran, who are enemies of the United States, some more than others, of course, who are operating in Venezuela in defiance of what he termed the Monroe Doctrine. So I think here, Steve, this is a major strategic shift on the part of the President to take seriously, for the first time in my lifetime, this.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Idea. Yeah, I want to get. I want to give you time because you've been one of the architects of America first. And when people hear that, they go, man, is Brian Kennedy going neocon on me? So I want to give plenty of time to think about this on the other side and maybe even get you back up here tonight. Brian Kennedy is with us. We're going to take a short commercial break. Tax Network USA, Scott Bessant. Look, he's got to close a $2 trillion gap. Doge didn't do it. He's got to. They're looking for every tax dollar. TN USA 800-958-1000. Tell him the war room sent you. Tell them your tale of woe. They've solved a billion dollars worth of tax problems. They will solve yours. Tax Network usa Check it out.

[Steve Bannon]

Today. Here's your host, Stephen K.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Ban. Okay, Brian Kennedy is back with us, by the way, and turbulence. You know, gold's at close to record high. Silver blew up to 80. Backed off a little bit Find it. It ain't the price, folks. It's the process. It's the pattern recognition. That's what Birch Gold gives you. That's what Philip Patrick and the team give you. Birchgold.com promo code ban in the end of the dollar empire. Now, it's also a hardback edition. Know some of you wanted that. I'm also going to be signing some of these, so you get a signed edition. That's all I'm working at. 3 the logistics of it. Birchgold.com promo code Bannon end of the dollar empire understand why the dollar is the prime reserve currency is one of the most important factors in your life. You understand that you're going to be miles ahead of even some of the tycoons on Wall Street. Check it out. And Philip Patrick, I get him up in the next couple of days. So much going on. Brian Kennedy, you're one of the intellectual architects of the America first concept and construction. Now, you know this is this regime change, is it nation building? The hemispheric defense, which I think we need to articulate even more because it's such a brilliant construct completely thought of by President Trump and now he's taken ownership of it. Not just the Monroe Doctrine, because of the Don Row Doctrine, which I love. The Danes right now are in total freak out because President Trump's saying, look, I gotta stop the Russian submarines. I need Greenland. Your thoughts, sir? Is this. Have you gotten soft on us? Have you gone from America Firster hardcore to kind of Marco Rubio's wingman.

[Brian Kennedy]

Sir? Well, I do think Marco Rubio is doing overall a pretty good job here for the President. I disagree with him on a few things. I'm not sure why Maduro is in a New York prison, not in some hole in Gitmo. I'm not sure what due process Nicolas Maduro deserves today, if in fact he's a narco terrorist, which I think he is. The neocon view would be we need to democratize Venezuela, we need to democratize Latin America and South America and we need to make sure the world is safe for democracy. The America first view is we need to make sure that the world behaves itself so that the United States is secure and free and tranquil and prosperous. That's, I think what President Trump is doing here with his calling out the Monroe Doctrine. During the period when Monroe doctrine was in 1823, it was written by, mostly by John Quincy Adams. He thought then, as did most Americans up until really the early 20th century, that the European powers should not get a foothold anywhere in the Americas because if they did, they'd be able to exert influence that would not be in the interests of the United States. What has happened over the last 50 years especially is you have China, Russia and now Iran in a place like Venezuela and throughout Latin America and South America exerting all sorts of influence there in ways that are detrimental to US Interests. What matters from the Monroe Doctrine point of view is that whatever is nearest is dearest. We're not talking here about Ukraine, we're not talking about Africa, we're talking about South America. You look at Venezuela on a map, missiles that are put in Venezuela, like missiles that are put in Cuba could reach the United States. We don't know what, what the Russians, the Chinese or the Iranians have put in Venezuela over the last decade. These are bad actors. This is a communist regime that means harm to the United States. President Trump is saying we're not going to live anymore with nations that are enemies of ours so close to us exerting this kind of influence. Getting rid of Maduro is one thing, I agree with that. But now you have to take the next step and make sure that you have a regime in Venezuela that removes from Venezuela the Chinese and all of their investments there. The Russians and the Iranians. What are the Chinese, Russians and Iranians doing in Venezuela, but staging an operating hub, as it were, to be able to cause harm to the United States, whether it's drug trafficking, which the Russians have always been involved in, were the building of terrorist bases to import into the United States, or weapon systems that can be used, advanced missiles, including potentially nuclear missiles aimed at the United States. Again, this is not the Middle east. This is not Eastern Europe. This is our hemisphere within, As I say, 30 minutes reach of, of the United States. That's something the President saw and he thought that was intolerable. Now we have to take the next step in this hemispheric defense and make sure the Chinese are out of South America, make sure that the, the limitations on any foreign power in those places is absolutely minimal. And we do that not for the people of those countries, Steve. We do that for the people of the United States to make sure that we, the United States are secure from any of their nefariousness. And you see this all throughout South.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

America. What's your social media? I won't have you back on because we need to drill down on this and like take the 6 o' clock hour, drill down this so that we have, we can work this, work it through because people need to understand this because there's a lot of confusion. Where do they go to get your content?

[Brian Kennedy]

Brian the website is presentdangerchina.org on X I'm Brian T. Kennedy. One on getter. I'm Brian T. Kennedy and also on Truth Social. Thank you very much.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Steve. Thank you. I look forward to getting you back on here in the next couple of days. Mike Lindell joins us, the CEO of MyPillow. Sir, we're starting off a week already with an insane amount of news analysis. They're going to have a press conference at noon in St. Paul. In Minneapolis. St. Paul Walls is going to throw in the towel. We're going to have another one or not. A press conference is going to have an arraignment of Maduro in lower federal court in lower Manhattan. Sir, our thinking here is that with all the geopolitics aside, Minneapolis is the story of the morning. But the war room wants a deal. They want to deal on a pillow, a sheet, a towel, give it to a.

[Mike Lindell]

Sir. That's right. And we're all fighting for the American dream, everybody, which I have lived with the MyPillow and my employee owned company. And we want to thank you all. We're running the the New Year special. We're running it right now. This is a war room exclusive. All of our flagship products. We've even lowered them more. And guess what? Free shipping on your entire order. Get the Giza Dream sheets all. A lot of this stuff came in restocked now right after New Year's you guys. So if you didn't have your your size or color before, check it out now. Get yourself the the My Pillow Mattress topper and the My Pillow mattress you saved up for now get them now with that free shipping, there's the micros back in stock. You guys be part of helping helping my pillow, my employee owned company. But most of all, help yourself with the best sale of the year and free shipping. 800-873-1062. 800-8731062 promo code WAR room.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Steve. The most powerful in the business. Stick around. Waltz in Minneapolis. Maduro in Manhattan. We're back at five live. See you.

[Steve Bannon]

Then. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed.