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Steve Bannon
This is an iHeart podcast.
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E.J. Antoni
Donald Trump apparently has some regrets about the National Guard. Not their politically targeted deployment to cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Memphis, but regrets about not ordering them to seize voting machines after the 2020 presidential election, which Donald Trump decisively lost to Joe Biden by more than 7 million votes. In a new interview, the New York Times asked Trump why he did not follow through with the threat. His response? Well, I should have adding, they're good warriors. I'm not sure that they're sophisticated enough in the ways of crooked Democrats and the way they cheat to figure that out.
Rob Bluey
I've read both the Minnesota and Illinois lawsuits. They're really political diatribes masquerading as lawsuits. If you look at what both states are asking the courts to do, it's to kick ICE out of those states and cities and to bar ICE from carrying on federal law enforcement. In Illinois and Minnesota, that's the top thing both states asked to do. And they cite zero precedent for that. There is zero precedent for that. There is no way a judge can say, you, federal law enforcement agency, you are not allowed to execute federal law. And in a certain state or city, I think the most that the states could get out of this if they get sympathetic judges, is a judge who's going to ask questions of ice, who's going to hold hearings, who's going to demand questions about how they're training, how they're carrying out their policy. You also could have judges that issue sort of symbolic orders along the lines of ice, you are not to violate the law. But that's already the case. It's already not allowed for ICE to violate the law. So these lawsuits, which appear to be coordinated, they're potentially powerful political statements, but I don't give them much of a chance of achieving the legal thing that they're asking for in the courts.
Steve Bannon
Even today, an hour outside Minneapolis in St. Cloud, Trump's agents, dozens of them, tried to muster some, some kind of military style show of force at a mini mall parking lot in St. Cloud, Minnesota. They were soon surrounded by hundreds of local residents telling them to get out. They were so overwhelmed with the way the neighborhood responded, Trump's agents got stuck there in the mini mall parking lot. A Democratic state senator had to intervene to ask the crowd to please let the federal agents leave because they otherwise couldn't. Finally, after about an hour, people allowed these tough guy masked agents to turn tail and leave with their tails between their legs. Our top story this hour, of course, the state of Minnesota and the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are suing the Trump administration over a surge of federal forces. There are. The lawsuit argues that federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, have acted unconstitutionally and unlawfully by violating the state's sovereignty and civil rights laws.
E.J. Antoni
The American people are the most generous.
Rob Bluey
People in the world. You just can't take advantage of us.
E.J. Antoni
When immigrants come here, you got to learn which side of the road to.
Rob Bluey
Drive on, customs and laws to follow, and that you cannot steal from the.
E.J. Antoni
US Government the way you did from your government.
Steve Bannon
What I hear is that he believes a mistake in 2020 wasn't the big lie. It was actually the restraint. The mistake wasn't the lack of evidence.
Stephen K. Bannon
But the lack of force.
Steve Bannon
The mistake was that he didn't bend the system far enough. I think he is telling us, broadcasting very loudly, what his strategy is for the next election. I'm not talking about 2028. I'm talking about 2026 and what he would like to do or what he plans to do there if things don't go his way. Yeah, I think we should be honest about it. And I don't think that it's just fantasy that's happening in his brain. He tried in 2020. He directed Rudy Giuliani to go to the DOJ and DHS and to seize the voting machines. Bill Barr said no. Ken Cuccinelli said no, they made it public. There was enough guardrails around him at the time that said you can't do these things. But right now, the person in charge of elections at the Department of Homeland Security is Heather Honey. She was a 2020 election conspiracy theorist. She just recently said that you can take extraordinary actions, including like seizing voting machines based on either things that they find from 2020 or things that they haven't yet determined but will materialize. So, I mean, there, it's not just Trump's mind here. The pieces around him to facilitate these fantasies into reality are there as well. That's what the last year has demonstrated to us. And we should all just be aware of it and acknowledge it and then actually start to think about solutions. Tell us what you think right now, tonight, the situation on the streets of Iran is and how a free Iran.
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Will make a safer United States.
Steve Bannon
Well, thanks for having me, Laura, to your first question.
Stephen K. Bannon
I think in the 47 year failed history of the Islamic Republic, I think.
Steve Bannon
The people of Iran have never been closer to obtaining the liberty they enjoyed before 1979.
Stephen K. Bannon
Second, in terms of what may or.
Steve Bannon
May not need to be done about.
Stephen K. Bannon
It, I think your points about the.
Steve Bannon
Concern about how the United States has proceeded with regime change are completely val. But I don't think there's any circumstance in which President Trump is going to insert the United States into the equation. I think rather what he will do and has done is to set conditions so that the people of Iran could.
Stephen K. Bannon
Establish and reestablish control for themselves and take control of their own future and destiny.
Steve Bannon
And I think he's done three critical things to do. He's applied economic pressure to restore it.
Stephen K. Bannon
And to exacerbate the stress. He's demonstrated they can't provide security and.
Steve Bannon
Stability working with Israel in the Operation Midnight Hammer. And lastly, he's been the first president to offer rhetorical support for the people of Iran. And I think we're seeing the results of that.
E.J. Antoni
This idea of Trump meddling in the 2026 election was laid out for me today in the 20 in the Washington Post, and they did, I thought a great job of noting a couple of things. He's trying to change how these midterms are going to play. I say he's already started to do that because he's already meddled in a number of states. But some of the things pushing states to redraw House districts, demanding to end mail voting, attacking voting machines, seeking millions of voters, private information, staffing the administration with election skeptics as you've just noted, and deniers calling out the troops who are right now on a lot of streets across the cities across the country. But where are those cities? They're in blue states. Right. Where the voting population is likely larger and going to turn out. So if you can cut that short on the front end, you have to worry less about it on election day on the back end. Right. Am I missing something here or is this part of the authoritarian playbook? Simone likes to give us the history of how they play the game, but the reality, folks, is being played out right in front of you right now. That's his role.
Rob Bluey
Right?
Steve Bannon
And we see this in international law. International arena might makes right power and the exercise of power to implement your ideas. Why does that somehow not apply domestically? Everything so far is demonstrated that he's willing to do it. The one thing that I would add to that list is that the misinformation engine of fox news in 2020 is quaint compared to the environment that we're in now. By the time we move into the midterms, Larry Ellison will have control of TikTok. CBS News is no longer a fixture. A whole bunch of Trump entities have been buying up local media properties and aligning it. I mean, the landscape to backfill the narrative that Trump puts out there is way more potent than we saw in 2020. That doesn't mean we're impotent and we don't have any ability to respond. There are just increasingly few levers. And so there, I think, you know, now there's the. So what comes in and that is, you know, there are a few senators that always express concern. Republicans, they should be on the record now that they're not going to. They're not going to tolerate this stuff. They're not going to put out statements. They're going to change their party in caucus with Democrats if they start to see this kind of nonsense. They need to start drawing red lines and needs some political pressure for them to do it. That's one lever of power. It's not the be all and end all. But we're going to need to start putting antibodies into the system because this is the reality that we are living and it's happening.
E.J. Antoni
That's part of following the money.
Rob Bluey
There are evidently some disturbing tapes of A.G. ellison in meetings with people who donated to him. Them calling for political favors to stop the investigations.
Stephen K. Bannon
So we'll see.
E.J. Antoni
But again, I don't want to get out ahead of the investigation.
Rob Bluey
It's going to be very methodical and.
E.J. Antoni
Chris I can guarantee you when these.
Stephen K. Bannon
When the bear trap snaps, we're going.
E.J. Antoni
To get these folks and again we're going to follow the money whether it's all, whether it's over the two counties.
Rob Bluey
Here in Minneapolis, St. Paul's or whether.
E.J. Antoni
It'S to East Africa and there's tons of luxury properties, cars that have been.
Rob Bluey
Bought over there and how the hell did this happen?
Stephen K. Bannon
How did it happen?
E.J. Antoni
President Trump is outraged.
Rob Bluey
I'm outraged. The American people should be outraged.
Stephen K. Bannon
December REID I on consumer price index we're expecting a headline number up 310 of a percent and it delivered. That's exactly what we received, up 310 of a percent. Now if you look at the previous month in August it was up 4 10. September it was up 3 10. So this fits right in. If you look at ex food and energy known as core on a month over month it's a tenth cooler than expected. It's up 2 10. Now if you look at year over year up 2.7 expected 2.7 arrives. The one glimmer here on the year over year is the core comes in a tenth light expectations but the 2.6 level is where we've been and my favorite numbers and they really are my favorite numbers. Joe if we look at the index, the index on the non seasonally adjusted index, this started in 1913. The index number 324. And why is that important? Because once again it's a new all time high. Pretty much, not all the time but pretty much every month we get a new all time high 1913. And if you look at the 1957 rendition which is the core CPI, it comes in at 331 and change and of course that's also an all time, all time high.
E.J. Antoni
2028 is on the chopping blocks as well. I think the end game is to if we can cancel it, I get to stay in office and that's with Venezuela and Greenland and a whole lot of other stuff that's going on outside your windows right now, folks.
Stephen K. 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. And where do people like that go to share the big lie?
Steve Bannon
MAGA media I wish in my soul.
Stephen K. Bannon
I wish that any of these people had a conscience. Ask yourself, what is my task and.
Rob Bluey
What is my purpose?
Stephen K. Bannon
If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved. War Room here's your host, Stephen K. Ban. It's Tuesday the 13th of January, year of our Lord 2026. As we've laid out here on the War Room over the last couple of months, as President Trump is Secretary Bessant's economic plan starts to kick in and you can see that it's getting traction and building up. The radical Democrats, the Marxist jihadists that hate this country and have tried to bring in or did bring in 20 to 30 million illegal alien invaders will get crazier and crazier. There you see it all night long. It's President Trump setting the conditions to steal the 2026 election in the midterms. Because now they ain't feeling so good. They're not feeling so good. I told you and told you and told you. As the economy starts to kick in and we get affordability and all that crap off the table, right, and you got growth, you have GDP growth, GDP per capita growth. You've got job growth, you got real wages growth. They're going to get crazy. They're going to get crazy and crazier and more dangerous, and you're seeing it every day. Let's get down to the bay. By the way, present is in route. He'll leave here, I think, shortly or may just left to go to Detroit. He's going to visit some factories and some plants, talk to some Ford Motor execs, I think others about manufacturing. He's going to give a major address at about 2:00 clock Eastern Standard Time, I believe, to the Detroit Economic Club. That'll be a major economic dress. And yes, the secretary of treasury is with him, Scott Besson. I want to go now to treasury, to Joe Lavonier. Joe, I got a couple minutes on this side. Just tee me up and I'll hold you through the break. The numbers this morning, I liked them. I thought they're pretty good. But it fits into the narrative that you and the secretary have been talking about, about a disinflationary. Disinflationary boom, sir, what do you got?
Joe Lavornier
Disinflationary boom, Steve, the last month when the data came out the markets, investors were surprised that the numbers were softer than expected. And the argument was that it was temporary, that you'd see an acceleration or a payback, if you will, in December, that did not happen. The core CPI, which strips up food and energy for example, the three month rate of change remained at 1.6. There are a lot of positives in the report. We're going to make significant further progress, which is going to take a little bit of time. So we cancel patients because we had a mess that we inherited. But the point is the numbers on the inflation side are trending powerfully in the right direction. And of course the boom aspect you see in the GDP numbers near 5% private sector GDP, the last two officially reported quarters. The widely filed Atlanta Fed has growth over 5% for the fourth quarter. That would take growth for the year despite the weak Q1 when Biden was in office of over 3%. So when we talk about a disinflationary boom, we're talking about surging gdp, rising incomes and an inflation rate that starts to fall and and doesn't preoccupy people's concerns.
Stephen K. Bannon
Joe, hang on for one second. We're going to take a short commercial break. I also think now more than ever, with every couple of days, every couple of hours, gold and silver hitting all time highs. You need to understand it. Take your phone out, text Bannon B A N N O N at 989-898. You get totally free and with no obligation. The ultimate guide for investing in gold and precious metals. Don't forget silver in the age of Trump. It's not the era. Trump is the age of Trump. Check it out today. Most importantly, talk to Birch Gold Philip Patrick in the team. Trying to get Philip on this afternoon. We're gonna have EJ and Tony's gonna join us this afternoon to break down more economic numbers and the President's major economic address to the economic club of Detroit where he will be this afternoon with with Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessen.
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Scott Adams
Course he waited till just before the show started, but he's not with us right anymore. I'm going to try to get through this. He has a final message that he wanted to say, so I'm going to try to read it. Trying to be strong. If you are reading this things did not go well for me. I have a few things to say before I go. My body fell before my brain. I am of sound mind as I write this January 1, 2026. If you wonder about any of my choices for my estate or anything else, please know I'm free of or inappropriate influence of any sort. I promise. Next Many of my Christian friends have asked me to find Jesus before I go. I'm not a believer, but I have to admit the risk reward calculation for doing so looks so attractive to me. So here I go. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and look forward to spending an eternity with Him. The part about me not being a believer should be quickly resolved. If I wake up in heaven.
Stephen K. Bannon
I.
Scott Adams
Won'T need any more convincing than that. I hope I'm still qualified for entry. With your permission, I'd like to explain my life. For the first part of my life, I was focused on making myself a worthy husband and parent, as I find as a way to find meaning. That worked. But marriages don't always last forever, and mine eventually ended in a highly amicable way. I'm grateful for those years and for the people I came to call my family. Once the marriage unwound, I needed a new focus, new meaning. And so I donated myself to the world, literally speaking the words out loud in my other wise, silent home. From that point on, I looked for ways I could add the most to people's life, one way or another. That marked the start of my evolution from Dilbert cartoonist to an author of what I hoped would be useful books. By then, I believe.
Stephen K. Bannon
Let me okay, let me take it.
Scott Adams
I had enough life lessons.
Stephen K. Bannon
Scott Adams A real giant died this morning. Accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior at the end. Somebody in the engine room has told me it's like the thief on the cross, right? Very powerful. Scott Adams. Just a great guy. Maga and really had the, really had a lot to say about this movement and the president United States and his suffering there at the end, pretty intense. But like he said in that, in that last statement, kept his brain. Scott Adams died this morning. And we'll play that the entire he's got a show going on. They're playing a show. And so we'll cut into that a little bit later. Joe lavarnier, the you've talked about this strategy for growth. I kept telling everybody, don't lose, don't lose it. And people came out back in those elections in November said everything in 26 is going to be about affordability. I said, no, it is not. Just take a deep breath. You know, don't get sucked into the Democrats narrative. There is a plan here. It is a sophisticated plan and the plan has scale. In fact, we're sitting here on tenterhooks right now waiting for the Supreme Court to talk about President Trump changing all the commercial relationships throughout the world and what we call trade and through tariffs, okay, but the tariff aspect, the commercial aspect, the trade aspect is one big piece coupled with the supply side tax cut to incentivize capital to pour back into this country into high main high value added manufacturer jobs. Hence why the president, United States is on a plane this morning going to go to Detroit, going to look at some factories and look at, you know, because one of the gauges here is how many F150s one can sell, right? President Trump's going to see all that and they give a major address. Disinflationary boom is not just jargon, it is the concept here. I want to go back and make sure because I got Rob Bluey on next from the Daily Signal. They've written a brilliant piece about how we get to a balanced budget. Because part of the problem we have here still, still too much federal spending. One of the ways you get there is, wait for it, folks, GDP growth, economic growth. This is a growth strategy. Scott Bessen, as a contributor here on the show for years, sat as a contributor and said we have one last shot to be to have a supply side tax cut which is driven on production and bringing manufacturing back. A part of that is the key to that is growth is GDP growth, wage growth, job growth. What you're seeing now, and I want you to explain the audience because this is not a concept you heard during the Biden years because everything was about this massive federal spending that got us into this hole. The whole of inflation, the whole of this huge debt, the interest payments we have to make on the debt was all Biden because the demo, the radical Democrats just believe in government. They don't believe in private industry. So tell us the difference. The Atlanta Fed are putting up numbers that are shocking how good they are about private company or private market GDP growth. I just want to make sure the audience understands the difference because this will tee up brother Rob Bluey and his strategy to balance the budget.
Joe Lavornier
Sir, if you take gdp, gross domestic product and you strip out federal side, which to your point was booming on an unsustainable track over the previous four years, GDP in Q2 and Q3, President Trump's first two full quarters in office, the economy grew almost 5%. GDP excluding the government sector grew actually 4.8% annualized over those two quarters. Fast forward to the fourth quarter which there was a government shutdown and people worried the economy would be depressed. The Atlanta Fed has GDP growth predicted at 5.1% but related to the President's re industrialization, manufacturing policy and tariffs. The trade deficit shrunk to its lowest level in the last month's reading. The since 2009. 2009 as imports plunged and exports went up. So you've got the private sector that means business investment, household consumer spending in addition to exports and a rejuvenation and revitalization of manufacturing that is driving growth faster. And as we look to 2026, Steve, when the secretary talks about a boom and the president talks about a golden era, we're seeing it in these data figures which are undisputably positive. And the next piece that will come will be good high paying jobs that will be central to really restoring the economy from the sugar high unsustainable government spending blowout that we've had over the previous administration.
Stephen K. Bannon
And of course the president yesterday putting out executive orders talking about how to keep electricity, the whole thing with data centers. Because right now, AI, the only thing that would hurt on the jobs part is artificial intelligence, taking away some administrative, managerial and coding jobs for folks 20 to 30 years old. And that's going to be an issue. But somehow President Trump and Besson will figure it out and work around Joe. Where do people go? Go ahead, sir. Go ahead.
Joe Lavornier
Yeah, sure. I was just going to say, you know, you made an energy. You know, people did not believe that gasoline prices could fall well under $3 a gallon. They're around 275 to 80. That's a huge tax cut for businesses and consumers. And the president's initiatives on the utility side should also help. So it's all good news. They could Follow the Treasury Secretary at Sec. Scott Besson at U.S. treasury and then I can be followed at Lavornomics now.
Stephen K. Bannon
And the president's on a, on a populist terror. He's dealing with the mortgage issue. He's dealing with the affordability of housing issue. He's getting into the big banks about capping the interest rates at 10%. He's all over full energy, full spectrum energy dominance and particularly dealing with these data centers to make sure they can't come back on the grid and torch folks. He's all over this is President Trump is on a populist tear right now for economics and we love it and there's even more to do, but we love what we're seeing so far. Joe, thank you so much. And thank you, Joe, for putting the, putting the intellectual framework, the disinflationary boom that you can see in the numbers right now. So thank you, sir. Appreciate you.
Joe Lavornier
Thank you.
Stephen K. Bannon
Rob Bluey, before you talk about the plan, we got a minute or so before we go to break it. Just tell me about the Daily Signal. It's one of the places I go every day. We, we, we push the Citizens Free Press and Gateway Pundit. All the great sites out there that are free are not behind a paywall. Give me a minute on Daily Signal, sir.
Rob Bluey
Well, I got to hang out with Jordan yesterday. Steve from Gateway Pundit on the trip with Secretary Pete Hex up to Texas where War Room is now live and loaded. So Daily Signal was started about a decade ago by those of us who are at the Heritage Foundation. And then when, when Joe Biden and the folks in the White House took away our press credentials, we became an independent media organization. But yeah, we are free. We make sure our content is widely available and our goal is to translate the policy issues that are happening in Washington for the American people. And that's why we love partnering with people like E.J. antoni, who I know is a regular on War Room, to help explain economic issues in ways that the American people can understand and also put the pressure on members of Congress and other lawmakers to do the right thing.
Stephen K. Bannon
Hang right there because you take policy seriously, as we do, and you've broken down. How do we get to a balanced budget? Because the other aspect, if you get this growth going, you've got to cut federal spending somehow by hooker crook. We got to get, we got to make sure we take care of these deficits because that's Damocles sword over top of not just future generations, but you in this audience now more than ever. Markets have been turbulent. But you know, it's quite interesting. As I said, I'm quoted in Bloomberg today, yes I am on the terminal. I said hey, the equity market and the bond market bomber got a little choppy, I say, but no, no big deal. I think they've got the back of President Trump on this fight with the central banks. President Trump is not just about the inquiry into the his and testimony of Powell. This is President Trump going full Andrew Jackson on the central bank. Jackson did it on the bank of the United States. President Trump's doing on the Federal Reserve. Short Commercial break Rob Blowy, Tom Fenton, Alex DeGrasse next.
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Stephen K. Bannon
Certainly the court could do that. Your honor, the court has not done that before as I think we both agree. And the the result of that would be judge made exceptions. Right now at the Supreme Court there's there is a major a case that's about transgender. This is about guys and women's sports, not transgenders. Anyway, it's guys in women's sports. It's being argued the Supreme Court. Terry Shelley is going to be on later. In fact, we're changing out. Degrasse is going to join us either tonight or tomorrow because we got to get shilling in here about this topic and we will do that momentarily. Back to Rob Bluey. Rob, first off, lay out the case. This is actually a proposal that's out there. I think it's from the Republic. Is this the Republican Study Committee's take on this 10 year budget to get to break even in 10 years?
Rob Bluey
That's right, Steve. The Republican Study Committee traditionally puts out their budget first, but now you can expect others to start releasing their budgets as well. Some individual members of Congress do that. Of course, the president and the White House will do that. And I think the thing that's key is you and Jill were talking about previously on the show is the uncontrollable spending that we've witnessed, particularly during four years of Joe Biden. But I mean, let's not discount George W. Bush and Barack Obama and others who contributed to this problem. When George W. Bush left office, the national debt was about $10 trillion. Today it is $38 trillion. I mean, so you can just imagine what's happened in the course of those presidencies. And the Republican Study Committee is vowing that they can get it balanced in a matter of 10 years. Now that's just making sure that there's no deficit, no more money added to that debt.
Stephen K. Bannon
Now how do we do that? Now the president just came out, said he wants a $1.5 trillion defense budget of which we love the military and love the president. We're, we're not fans of that, but let's leave that aside. And the Republican Study Committee people realize it's a huge entity. It used to be kind of the center right. It's not full MAGA because it's got a lot of, I would say, moderates in there, but it's a kind of center right group. But for years they've been going through this exercise and I think it's a good bellwether to kind of get it as a baseline. Just walk me through mechanics of how do you go roughly from we got five, you know, Scott Bessens, the we're gonna have Tax Network USA on here today to talk about that. Scott Besson's overseeing the irs and Scott's got a mandate to squeeze every penny you can possibly get. But you have a $2 trillion deficit. It looks like you have a two. It's five and a half trillion coming in. Seven. Seven and a half trillion going out. How do they propose to close that, sir?
Rob Bluey
Well, and first, to your point about the Republican Study Committee, I believe they have 189 members and right now there are 218 House Republicans, so pretty much includes a vast majority of House Republicans. And so by them putting their weight behind it, you would hope that that would signal that they're serious about cutting government spending. But, Steve, you and I both know because President Trump tried to do this upon taking office last year, how difficult it is when you actually get into the process of eliminating government programs and reducing that deficit that you talked about. And so what the Republican Study Committee is attempting to do here is to go through department by department and eliminate what areas that they think are duplicative, wasteful, try to find efficiencies throughout the government. Obviously, the president adding, you know, this 1.5 trillion for the Pentagon will be a hurdle that lawmakers in Congress will have to overcome. But I think just like you and I are expected to balance our budget on a monthly basis, we should expect the same of our congressional representatives. And Republicans have for years, if not decades, put promise that they were going to do this all the way, going back to the Tea Party when this issue first surfaced and became such an explosive topic among, you know, conservatives in particular, I think it's really incumbent upon them to do so. And again, to go back to the point that Joe and you were making earlier, the spending that we saw during the Biden years contributed to the inflation crisis that the American people faced. Now, Scott Besant and Donald Trump have done yeoman's work to bring those levels down, the levels of inflation down. But think about how much more progress we can make and the economic juice we can give them. This White House, if we were able to also reduce government spending.
Stephen K. Bannon
But isn't a charade because what we're seeing out of Minneapolis, the federal part of that was all approved by, you know, since John, since Johnson's been speaker and McCarthy's been speaker, since we've taken the House in 2022, there have been a number of budgets. All of that spending, all that spending was approved, including, I'm finding out now, the National Endowment for Democracy, which has gone out of its way to shut down conservative voices. I mean, just a horrible group they've got in this budget currently, I think it's $350 million. So how can people take credibility from the House? And look, I'm calling the House now. I have been for six months, the Duma, because it's just all performative. How do they get around the fact that everything, every, everything we're seeing with the Somalians and it's worse than that. You know, we're going to David Hoke on here probably tomorrow when he releases his new report, the Somalian thing. You see now it's actually 10x when you look at all the programs and it's in every state, particularly California and New York, which is worse. This is the business model of the radical Democrats, right? They get the illegal aliens in here, they get these bogus legal immigration, then they get them on welfare programs. They are stealing. And this is. This is their. This is their Tamney hall vote getting. So how can people take seriously the Republican Study Committees, which I'm all for? I mean, my point is, let's do it in five years, not 10, because you're going to have the economic growth, the GDP growth underneath it to actually make this thing doable. But when Congress that we've had since 22 has approved budgets that have gone and led to this Somalian thing, and the Republicans looked the other way, you saw those fights. You see them on the floor in the middle of the night when they're going through the appropriations. You got Eli Crane and people out there, you know, Andy Biggs, the budget hawks, the deficit hawks, arguing we gotta cut these programs. And the Republicans are worse than the Democrats, just kicking the can down the road, sir.
Rob Bluey
Steve, there's so much I wanna say there. So, first of all, one of the things that first got me into this fight was the move way back when in the 2000s, when people like Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint and others were rallying against earmarks, and we were able to successfully stop earmarks in Congress. Now, earmarks as a grand scheme of things didn't really make that much of a dent in the budget deficit. However, it was an important step because everybody talked about earmarks as the gateway drug to more spending. And if you got rid of earmarks, then maybe Republicans would start to make other changes to those welfare programs. You're absolutely correct. The fact that we've had millions of illegal aliens come into this country and now take benefits that should go to the American people is a huge problem and needs to be addressed. But, yes, even look at these recent budgets. And I go back to a conversation I had with Russ Vogt, who was the director of OMB during President Trump's first term, and is again. And he said, oftentimes the problem lies exactly where you just placed it, Steve. It's with Congress. They refuse to make the tough choices and the budget cuts. And that has been a consistent theme going all the way back to when Republicans had control even in President Trump's first term. And so I hope that they can move at a pace where they balance the budget within five years. Maybe we should demand that they have an even aggressive timeline, because it's going to only Help President Trump achieve what he wants and Scott Besant have the economic growth that they think is possible.
Stephen K. Bannon
I tell you what, I'll talk to you after the show and we'll put some different assumptions in on economic growth. And roblouie Daily Signal in the war will come up with a five year plan. But here's where they catch us every time is when they want a defense budget increase, which is really the industrial policy of the United States. Let's be blunt about it. It's industrial policy of the United States. So every time we want a Defense Department increase, we've got to accept some percentage social program increase. And the catch is you can't go and really look at the social programs. That's the Democrats slush fund of how they stay in business. If you choke that down and cut it off, they're out of business. That's their business model, their business, a little starter cash is put up by the sources and those guys, right? And these NGOs, that's to get the field troops out there. But the way they fund it, because they're not going to fund all of it is on taxpayer money. And those taxpayer monies are all through these social programs. And, and when the Defense Department, when you want to increase defense budget, sacrosanct is the social. As you know, Rob, the social program has got to go up. But most importantly, they won't let you get under the hood of the social programs. What Minneapolis is showing is the business model of the Marxists of the Red Green Alliance. It's right there in living color in War Room Texas. One of the things we're drilling down on, we don't really even have a handle yet on what Texas, the state of Texas and the federal government. There's one number out there, it's $4 billion of state and federal money have gone to build mosque, Islamic centers, school choice with Islamic thing. That's their business model. If we can lance that boil. And I remember because at Breitbart, as you know, Rob, we partner with you all the time. They fight the years we fought for earmarks. And you're right, overall it's a small part, but it was a gateway drug to bigger spending. Now they've, now they've gone back and they're doing earmarks like crazy. So we have a big fight in front of us, Rob, but we'll partner with you because right now the reason the legislators don't take it seriously is that it's still financeable at some point in 2035. I think you look at the 10 year budget, it's $2.5 trillion annually just for the interest payments, it's over $2 trillion. So when this hits, it's going to hit like a punch from Sonny Liston right up in your face and you're not gonna be able to recover from it. Rob Blowy, your thoughts, sir?
Rob Bluey
Yes. And I think the other important thing to point out is that when you have strong economic growth under a president like Donald Trump and a Treasury secretary like Scott Besson, it's perhaps not necessarily the most glaring thing that's staring you in the face. But with a Democrat in control who's only going to pour gasoline on that fire and probably not have the type of economic growth for our country. Country. Yes, Steve, you're absolutely correct that it is going to be a serious challenge that we will have to confront. And who is it going to impact most? Probably those young people who are entering the workforce and are staring at years to try to pay down this huge debt. To go back to an earlier point that you said, what's the old quote? Once you have a government program, it's impossible to actually remove it or eliminate it. And that is true, as we saw with Obamacare and these subsidies. Right. I mean, the Democrats put that into place. That's why for years we as conservatives tried to repeal Obamacare and get it out of the government because we knew that this was going to be a situation where eventually the government would say, oh, we'll take care of you, don't worry, we'll just put more subsidies on it. And then you end up with a situation like we're in now where nobody wants to give up their subsidies and somebody's going to have to be the bad guy. And too often that falls on the feet of the Republicans who in some cases are too weak kneed to say no. And you have a situation where it goes on in perpetuity. And so I understand they have a narrow margin in the House. It shrunk even more at the beginning of January, unfortunately. But there are some tough calls they need to make. And by the way, Steve, they can start this month because let's not forget that the government funding runs out on January 30th and there's an opportunity to make some cuts to the federal government right now, right here and now. Let's do it.
Stephen K. Bannon
Rob, we got about a minute and Tom Finn is going to talk to us about voting clean up the rolls in 2026 and what it means. So the great Tom Finn is going to join us. But I think right now we're heading to a government shutdown because I think the Democrats are sitting, they're going to dig in and say, hey, we're not going to fund ice. So that's going to be a big fight. And my point is bring it if you got, if that's what you're going to say, if that's what you are for, if you're for no deportations and open borders and all this because it's the heart of their business model. Right? Let's just, let's just get it on and come back with a bunch of cuts and show them how, how we can roll. Rob Bluey, Social Media, Daily Signal how do people get there? How they follow you on social media?
Rob Bluey
Yeah, they can follow me at Robert Bluey and certainly follow the Daily Signal, a signal we are keeping it on. We've got our reporters out there at the Supreme Court today, Steve, following the action there and all over D.C. so thank you for having me back on War Room. It's always a pleasure.
Stephen K. Bannon
Thank you. We'll get make sure we get your coverage of this huge, huge case in front of the Supreme Court today. And Terry Schilling is going to join us. A great Tom Fitness. Up next, All Family Pharmacy. We had a great interview with the founder and CEO yesterday. Go to allfamilypharmacy.com/bannon. Use a promo code BANNON30, you get 30% off. Go check it out if you want real medical freedom. It's not just going up against big pharma. It's all the big, you know, McKesson and these distributors and then the end these, these big pharmacies. These guys have come for the model to cut the cost to you, make sure that you get access to doctors and people that actually prescribe this stuff to you. Allfamilypharmacy.com go there today, check it out. Promo code Bannon30, you get 30% off. Check it out.
E.J. Antoni
Here. Critically, everyone agrees that for sports for 99% of men it's reasonably tailored is just the 1% of trans identifying individuals who take drugs and, and then those drugs are effective. That's a problem. And this court's decision in Michael M. Makes clear that that's not a viable as applied claim. In Michael M. This court upheld a statutory rape law that applied differently to men than women and the rationale was because women faced a unique risk of pregnancy. But of course, if either the male rapist or the female victim was infertile, there'd be no pregnancy. So on Their theory, you could, could have come in and said, well, I have an as applied claim that I was infertile, so it was okay to rape the underage girl. And this court not only rejected that, the court said it would be ludicrous. Ludicrous to say that you could bring an as applied claim for infertile prepubescent girls. That's just not the way as applied scrutiny works in intermediate scrutiny cases. That's equally true. As my friend said in Win. In the court's decision in Win, the justice justification for the law was making sure that the parent knew that they were the parent and had an opportunity to have a relationship with the parent. But Wynn's father knew about the birth, was present with Wynn the whole time, and brought Wynn to the United States. Nevertheless, the court held for the class of men overall, it was recently tailored, and they weren't going to focus on the specific facts of Win.
Terry Schilling
You said started Mr. Moupon, by saying.
Stephen K. Bannon
Terry Shilling on here, this is how insane these people are. This is about men, these transgender freaks in women's sports. Now, I will give you an example for my own personal life. It's, it's Mo is a little girl. You know, she played all the different sports. And I coached nor in bass. I coach her in basketball. She played swarm ball or soccer, baseball, which she was excellent. Made the regional team in baseball, basketball. She played high school for a while, but volleyball was her big love and being a setter. And she went to a school called American Martyrs in Manhattan Beach. And Manhattan beach is where Karch Karai and the, the beach volleyball Olympic team trains. So she was right there. All the coaches at this Catholic grade school were, had played at USC or ucla, and a lot of those people were either Olympic people or people had started at the top programs in the country. So she was trained from a very, as a very little girl to that. And then she got started and they had a championship team at American Martyrs for the Catholic League and for the State League. And then she went to a big time prep school that specialized. One of the big specialties was women's sports. And she played volleyball there under an incredible coach. People would come from all over to play for this coach, but in volleyball, as many of these sports, it's not really the school system that does. It's club teams, because people could be in a school district that's just not going to be competitive with club teams. And these club teams are as close to a professional athlete as you can get. I mean, it is a great Year round. They want you to drop other sports and totally commit. If you want to play to big school, Division 1, right, you gotta commit. And you go to these massive things over the weekends, right? I'm talking hundreds, hundreds of teams in Vegas and in Arizona and California. And you'd sit there and watch these little girls and the parents. It's a way out. You see the Hispanic, the working class white, the black, and it's a way out. It's a way to get a ticket punched. It's a way to get your ticket punched to division one or some ride a division to school. And I mean great schools like the Lafayettes and the Hamilton colleges, the Union colleges, these schools back east, they'll recruit these kids non stop. You go the recruiters non stop. And these kids are dedicated. They put in hour after hour after hour. It's intense, it's competitive. And you're building up the spirit of the American people and doing it. This is the stick to it in this. This is the grit, this determination. Are you kidding me? You're going to let men compete with these girls as they're striving to achieve their goal? It's revolting. And I don't want to hear about some freak that thinks he's a girl. That's his problem and that's his fricking parents problem. And now you got to go all the way up to the Supreme Court and like give this official status. Are you kidding me? This is how insane the left is. Naomi Wolf's going to be up here in a moment and she's going to tell you, is it got. I get Naomi, I got you on for something different. But go up and talk. This, this thing is driving me nuts because I'm no feminist, but I saw in sports the way for the working class kids of all races to get a ticket out. And to hear this thing that you let boys come in and compete with them, it's a freak show. Why are we putting on these little girls, these becoming women and the type I mean, aggressive, tough, stick to it, no quit. Every American quality you want, right? What Title IX was supposed to do it. Actually, I saw that because my sisters, my dad was a great athlete. My brothers, my sisters weren't great athletes because that just wasn't the thing you did back then. It's totally different now. And yet we have this freak show. And that's what it is. It's a freak show, ma'. Am.
Terry Schilling
Well, I don't agree with you that people who identify themselves as transgender are freak shows or Freaks. I don't think that's helpful. Language doesn't help us understand each other. But I definitely think that men who are seeking to.
Stephen K. Bannon
We can dis, we can disagree with that. We can disagree with that. But in my small McBrain, they're freaks. But continue on. I understand that. I understand. Continue on.
Terry Schilling
Sure. But I definitely think it's more, even more serious. Right. Than, you know, name calling, that men who are seeking to compete in women's sports are engaging in really abusive, intimidating and inappropriate behavior on many, many levels. It totally violates Title 9 and then going down to the level of minors. I think you are a feminist in spite of yourself, Steve, because, you know, no one I've heard yet outside of a very small group of women like Jennifer say the former, I think Olympian athlete who's been very vocal about this, has expressed so well what the injustices are, as you just did, you know, again, in spite of your commitment to not being a feminist, that's a very feminist set of empathic comments you made about the struggles of girls. And you're 1,000% correct. It's girls from low income neighborhoods. It's girls from the barrio. It's girls from, you know, middle class, hard working, working class backgrounds. And this is their one shot. They're not going to come up with $60,000 a year to, you know, pay. Their families won't pay for that college education. If they want a college education, it's going to be through that hard work, that effort, that grit, as you put it, of playing a sport and excelling. And the minute you've got a guy in a dress or with a ponytail or whatever de minimis thing, you know, he thinks he needs to do to be called a girl competing, there's the advantage gone. But it's deeper than that. There's the meritocracy gone. There's her sense of fairness gone. It's a crushing of dreams. It's wrong.
Stephen K. Bannon
Hang one second. We got a heart out. You're going to stick with us. We got much more to talk about. Naomi's going to get my mind right on this topic. Naomi Wolf joins us. Short commercial break, back for hour two. In a moment.
Steve Bannon
This is an iHeart podcast.
Stephen K. Bannon
Guaranteed Human.
Podcast: Real America’s Voice<br> Host: Stephen K. Bannon (with guests E.J. Antoni, Rob Bluey, Joe Lavornier, Terry Schilling, Naomi Wolf, and others)<br> Date: January 13, 2026
This episode of War Room is a high-energy, multi-topic show focusing on current U.S. political battles, especially as they relate to Donald Trump’s approach to governance, the 2026 midterms, election integrity concerns, economic policy under Trump, federal spending, and legal/cultural flashpoints like transgender participation in sports. The tone is combative, populist, and explicitly anti-establishment, offering conservative commentary and strategic outlooks as the “war room” audience gears up for another electoral cycle.
Trump and Voting Machines: E.J. Antoni opens by highlighting Trump’s recent regrets about not ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines in 2020, quoting a NYT interview. Trump believes his mistake was a failure of force, not lack of evidence.
Discussion on Authoritarian Tactics: The panel analyzes Trump’s signals about potential strategies for 2026: influencing redistricting, attacking mail-in voting, demanding voter data, and deploying federal forces in blue cities.
DHS and Conspiracy Theorists: Notably, Bannon says the current DHS election chief, Heather Honey, is open to “extraordinary actions” like seizing voting machines, echoing 2020 narratives.
Minnesota & Illinois vs. ICE: Rob Bluey critiques lawsuits by these states seeking to exclude ICE from enforcing federal law, dismissing their legal chances as “political statements masquerading as lawsuits.”
Mini-mall Standoff Story: Bannon recounts an incident where federal agents in St. Cloud, Minnesota, were blocked by local residents—a vivid example of resistance to federal law enforcement in blue states.
CPI and GDP Trends: Stephen K. Bannon and economic advisor Joe Lavornier tout strong GDP numbers and a “disinflationary boom,” tying it to Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Besson’s “supply-side” and manufacturing-centered policies.
Contrasting Trump and Biden Eras: Bannon asserts that current economic growth stems from private investment and manufacturing, blaming government overspending in Biden’s term for inflation and debt burdens.
Tariffs, Manufacturing, and Housing: Populist populism on energy, manufacturing, AI’s impact on jobs, and pressure on banks and data centers is heralded as Trump’s winning agenda for the working and middle classes.
This War Room episode delivers muscular, no-holds-barred right-wing commentary on the state of American politics, economics, and culture as the country eyes the 2026 midterms. It spotlights Trump’s evolving strategies, critiques on government spending, economic performance under Trump vs. Biden, and the emotionally charged fight over identity in sports. The repeated theme: vigilance and action are essential to resist what Bannon calls the “dying regime”—with strong language, clear battle lines, and calls to conservative activism.
For listeners seeking insight into the thinking, rhetoric, and strategy of the populist right as the U.S. heads into a crucial electoral period, this episode is a dense and revealing listen.