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Ben Harnwell
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
Steve Bannon
This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people. Reasons I got a free shot on 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
Stephen K. Bannon
to share the big L MAGA media.
Steve Bannon
I wish in my soul, I wish 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.
Stephen K. Bannon
War Room, here's your host, Stephen K. Banner.
Steve Bannon
Okay, well, Tuesday the 31st of March, year of our Lord 2026. We're through the first quarter of 2026.
David Zier
Wow.
Steve Bannon
And we're in the middle of a war. Maybe not in the middle of it, maybe towards the end of it. President Trump is, is working towards that. We got a lot more. We're going to get back to birthright citizenship tomorrow. The Mass Deportation coalition also going to have the airports are now. People are flowing through. Shocking when you pay people and they show up. Of course, the ICE agents deployed have been spectacular. We're talking about that. Todd Blanche from the stage at CPAC the other day saying that he 100% agrees with the war room that we can and will send send ICE agents to the polls in the fall. All that we're going to get to, I want to get back to. So Ben Harmo joins him from Rome. Ben, let me do the level set here, and then I need you to jump in this war. We've got Israel as an ally, America's greatest ally. We have the Gulf nations, which President Trump's gone over and done, you know, done these last spring, did this big meeting over there of all the business opportunities and Dubai's the new influencer capital of the world and everybody's moving over there and it's all great and Islam is all great and it's fantastic, and it's a religion of peace, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And then our NATO allies, we've been underwriting bail them out in World War I, bail them out in World War II, and I mean really bailed them out both times. Bailed them out in the Cold War, rebuilt Europe and then paid for the defense for decade after decade after decade. Won the Cold War with some help from them, but not Enough. Some help from them. And now I've underwritten this. And as President Trump said, hey, Maybe you should pay 2% in the first term, which they committed to after the Ukraine situation. All they did was whine and bitch and moan. And so now we're in a situation where there's a shooting war and we have 50,000 young American men and women in harm's way. And we've put forward to the Congress a $200 billion butcher's bill for this to be paid for, I guess, by Congress. And we've argued from the beginning, hey, just like in the Gulf War in the early 90s, the Arab nations and maybe Israel, you know, pass the hat. We don't care who puts the most in, but we want, if the number's 200 billion, we want the hat to add up to 200 billion. And by the way, we want to see where your armies are. If we're going to take Carg island, we want the UAE guys, those special forces, because they've got a really good small army. But if punches way above their weight, we want to see them on the first wave. We want to see the IDF in there, we want to see the Saudi infantry in there. And it looks like we're getting the exact opposite. I think the Gulf nations put out a proclamation overnight saying they wanted the United States to continue and to finish the job here, but no commitment of their, of their military. President Trump did say, hey, I think we got to look to you guys to pay for this. Israel came back yesterday and Lisa was, it was, I think the channel, the independent channel, was at 12, which is normally pretty accurate. Came back and said, officials said we got our hands full in this ground war in Lebanon. We're not going to be of any help, but thanks for, you know, thanks for asking, but, you know, no, no troops, no combat troops, no boots on the ground. And that's bad enough because that's the region that we're in there. Remember, the number three purpose of this military operation is to make sure that the Iranians can't project power regionally. And that would be against Israel and of course, against our great Arab allies. But the one I think sticks in the crawl the most and looks like it's sticking the crawl of the president the most is the Europeans, because the Strait of Hormuz is either it's either going to Asia or it's going to Europe and the Red Sea. Down with the Houthis is all. Suez Canal is all going up to Europe. And I think we have the British are in the mumble tank. Nothing happening there. France, nothing happening there. The Italians and the Spanish. The Spanish are going out of their way to kind of hurt us, not even saying they're not going to cooperate. You know, you can't use Spanish airspace. The Italians. Giorgio Meloni, the bridge between President Trump and Europe has said we're not going to do it. And I think even Poland said, hey, look, when you talk about our patriots or dads or whatever, we're worried about the Russians. You know, we love you guys, but we don't know if we're going to be able to do it. Give me assessment and let's start in Europe. And you just sent me a story just as you're about to come on about it looks like some of our great allies over there are dumping US Treasuries, which we warned the audience that was going to happen. And that's why maybe more than ever, you got to get the end of the dollar empire, because for as much as we. And this is what for Europe starting 100 years ago, to bail the aristocracy out, to bail these feckless nations out in World War II, to fight the Cold War, to do it all. And now to be this whole thing with Russia and the Ukraine situation of which, and by the way, if we give a security guarantee and do anything to help these people in Ukraine, people ought to have their heads examined because I warned you and I told you on this show and Ben Harnwell told you this is who they are and they're showing you who they are and they want an American security guarantee. They want us up at the line of contact. Ukraine, hey, put it where the sun don't shine. Ben Harnwell, the floor is yours, sir.
Ben Harnwell
Well, Steve, that's such a magisterial synthesis. I've basically flagged up four or five different articles I was going to bounce off progressively. Let's start off with. Yeah, I mean, that's basically the situation. President Trump has sent out invitations to his best mates asking for RSVPs, and the responses are coming in saying, thanks, love to prior engagement. So sorry, it's, it's been tragic to watch even from my glittering, beady, cynical eyes. Let's start off with the FT article because I think that's, that really is quite substantial because this shows you what your friends and allies who, who, who will never say no to schlepping over to the White House for the photo, but actually doing behind the scenes. So since February 25th, don't forget the, the takeout of the, of the Ayatollah was on the 28th. So from this is according to the Fed's own data, Steve, since February 25th, nations have sold $82 billion worth of treasuries. Now, it's difficult to pinpoint who exactly has been doing this. So the FT suggests it's Turkey and India. Turkey has sold $22 billion worth of Treasuries, but not necessarily exclusively US Treasuries, just $22 billion worth of bonds of central bank holdings. So those are the two figures and I flag up India and Turkey specific there Turkey. Now, President Prime Minister Modi always very happy to go over to the White House for the photo op, but here, protecting his, his own nation's interest. Erdogan NATO ally Edem let's look at the, the Spanish and Italian developments because these are interesting, different in their responses, but just the no is just as firm and just as unyielding. So Spain, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez a month or so ago said, no, you can't use, you can't land and fly into the Middle East. You cannot use the, the, the two military bases, Rota and Moron, it's actually called you. You can't use either. And these are joint Spanish and American bases. And then yesterday, out comes the, the escalation from that. No, if an escalation were indeed possible. Spain has closed its airspace to the US military flights heading to the Middle East. Spain's Italy's development. Our dear friend Giorgio Phoney Meloni is, as you would expect, slightly more well placed.
Steve Bannon
But hang on, but hang on. But hang on, but hang on. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on, hang on. Slow down. It's one thing to say, I'm not even with the British. Was it Fairmont for the British say, hey, we need six hours because we have 51 Muslim members of Commons and, you know, we're basically controlled by the Muslims now. And so we need six hours of optics before he can let you fly. Or it's one thing you're going to get into Maloney and others. But to close the airspace, and particularly Rota, Spain is a major naval facility. To actually close the airspace adds a massive logistics issue to the United States. I mean, that puts people in harm's way. We had this problem, and I think it was with France when they closed their airspace during the attack on Gaddafi back in those days. And we had a couple of F1B111 bombers that are fighter bombers that actually, I think went into the drink because they ran out of fuel back in. I think 84, 85. But this is a big deal for a government that's supposed to be allied with us, that a government that we have supposedly a working relationship to close the airspace in the middle of a shooting war is that is telling you we're not your ally. And you know, we got a problem with what you're doing and we got a problem with how you're doing it. So tell me about Spain for a second because I think that's, we've understood it's a probably the most socialist and you've got a bunch of people you see all the time, these Marxists up there that get up there and say, yeah, we believe in the replacement theory. We want to take as many migrants from North Africa as possible and replace the population. Particularly if you're right wing. I mean they're up in your grill saying if you're a right winger, we would rather have a Muslim fighting age male migrant with all the danger that brings from North Africa than have you that are part of VOX or part of some of these other parties. Maybe even farther right than vox. But for the Spanish government to say, and this is folks, it's the great de masking the unmasking. I mean, how can Spain sit there and say we're not going to allow you to use our airspace when we've got a working agreement with them, sir?
Ben Harnwell
Well, Steve, you have put your finger on it. Closing your airspace to another country is what you do in military conflict and you close your airspace to those countries either that you're fighting against directly or in the second order sense to those countries that are allied to the people that you're fighting. So it's one of those two categories that, that you, that you block airspace to, you don't block airspace to your own allies. So that's absolutely right. And that that point needs to be made. The Spanish question is rather, I find it difficult to. I mean I get where they're coming from being Spain, but their argument is basically this is illegal to use these bases because this isn't a NATO war. There's no Article 5 here. The problem is the two bases here, they aren't NATO bases, they are Spanish American operated bases. So then the NATO dynamic is really a foreign excuse here. Obviously Spain is a NATO ally, but it's not a formal NATO base. Like for example, you have a formal NATO base in Naples in Italy. Not an operational base, it's a headquarters. The actual again American Italian run bases, the one in Sigonella in Sicily, that's the one that that the, the Italians said no to while the plane was mid flight. They said, no, no, you, you can't land here. You haven't given us the notice to say that you're coming in because we, you know, we need to discuss this in parliament.
Steve Bannon
This gets back to a debate that a lot of people didn't focus on years ago in saying that, you know, because wrote of Spain, these were our bases and with I guess long term leases and then we got in the situation, we made them joint bases, had some agreement with the Spanish government and now in a shooting war where the United States has young men and women in harm's way and we have the nation's prestige on the line, we're trying to accomplish things, they just sit there and shut it down. I mean this is a problem, a big problem. I don't know why we're not going back to Spain to say, hey look, thanks for the memories but actually they're our basis and we're going to do what we want to do. I mean this is, this is outrageous. And particularly you have such a radical government. I mean they're up in your face all the time about the harder elements of that government, about, about replacement theory. Ben, hang on for one second. We're going to stick here because President Trump is put people on notice that hey look, I don't know how long we're going to be here. We're gonna, we got a punch list of our objectives and once they're done, we're probably moving on and you know, to stop make sure that we don't have world economic turmoil. Somebody's gonna have to step up here. And we don't actually have a lot of people that are saying, oh yeah, I can do that. In fact, they're saying the exact opposite. Birch Gold, there are decades in which nothing happens and weeks in which decades happen. I think think this Holy week is one of those weeks. Make sure you check out Birch Gold and Philip Patrick in the team. More of that when we return to the War Minimum War Room.
Stephen K. Bannon
Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban.
Steve Bannon
War and the Rumor of Wars. Remember where they say that? I think it's Mike Tyson's quote. Everybody's got a strategy in either boxing or in war. Until you make the first contact with the enemy. In fact, he says until you get punched in the face the first time, then it's all and the same thing with war. First contact with the enemy, everything changes. That's why David Zier is going to join us in a moment. Our Pentagon correspondent is Just doing a great job. And that's what takes the professionalism and the planning, but particularly just training, training, training all the time. So it becomes second nature, especially when things go wrong that the, and remember these young kids, you, these are 18, 19 year old sailors, the, the marines, army, the airmen. You got these enlisted people that come in, the kids are very, very young. You got non commissioner officers are not, as Neil can tell you, not that much older then you have an officer corps and the officers start very young, in their early 20s. It's just you couldn't be prouder of them because they know how to basically think through a situation and make it second nature. And that just comes from practice and drill, drill, drill. So it's second nature, especially in times when things don't go right. When you're up at general quarters and the tempo, this goes back to what we said at the beginning of the show. The tempo here is pretty astounding. 30 days into this, I think it's 11 or 12,000 sorties they've had or targets with another 3,500 or 4,000 go and they're always coming up. Pete talked today about dynamic targeting, which is what happens when you're actually in the mission. You've already got a pre planned target and a target of opportunity comes up. That's dynamic targeting. So they're adding things all the time. The one things we try to do here in the war in particular with our sponsors is make sure the angst and anxiety and all this uncertainty in different elements of your life is taken care of. One of the ones we're proudest of is working with this Home Title act because look, 80 or 90% of your net worth is tied up in that home. And the rudimentary system we have in this country, which is very rudimentary, lends itself to bad hombres that want to take advantage of. Whether that's artificial intelligence with cyber or these bad actors or even, as I keep saying, rogue lawyers, rogue accountants, rogue financial advisors, rogue friends, relatives, rogue, you know, significant others you just don't know. And you have to make sure that is impenetrable. You got to make sure you've locked this down because 80 or 90% of your net worth is tied up into it. And more importantly, when something like this happens, your entire life change, you will just focus on this and the anxiety work on you like, like acid right onto your soul. And so that's why it's so important for pennies today to really talk to home title lock and make sure that you have this locked down. Tom Simons, who's a retired field special agent for the FBI and this kind of especially, Tom, what I love is you come on and you give us examples from real life. And I sit there and go, this couldn't have happened. You go, no, it actually did happen. And this is what people have to understand, particularly your home. There are trillions of dollars of these assets in the United States. The home ownership and people, and particularly bad guys, understand that this is a very vulnerable system. And the state and local authorities are not going to do anything to make it better. You have to take it. You have to do it on your own. What do you got for us today, Tom?
Tom Simons
I got a crazy story for you today. I wouldn't believe it if it wasn't true. At the center of the storm is a realtor named Glenys Cardona who worked with three co conspirators to steal a $1.5 million house in Burbank, California. Here's how she did it. She orchestrated the sale of this house from an unknowing owner to the stolen identity of an unwitting buyer. And then she arranged for lenders to fund $975,000 of the home sale using forged deeds filed with the county clerk's office. The trick was Glenis was also the escrow agent for the transaction. So when the lender sent the money to escrow, it was Glenis and her crew who received the money and split it among themselves. So let's take attendance here. We have a homeowner who never consented to the sale of his house. We have an unwitting home purchaser who is now saddled with almost a million dollars in debt. We have two lenders that aren't getting paid back the money they lent and a title company who unwittingly insured the transfer of the title from seller to buyer. Now, my former colleagues at the FBI put the criminal case together. Three of the fraudsters were busted. The fourth is currently a fugitive. But the problem, as you alluded to in your introduction, Steve, is that a criminal case. The does not restore home ownership to the rightful owner of this house. That's still a mess. And that person's gonna have to spend a fortune in legal fees to unring this bell. Unless he has a product like Home Title Lock.
Steve Bannon
I want to reiterate to the audience that this was done. The owner didn't even know any of this stuff was happening. This can happen, given the rudimentary system we have for these titles and how busy people are and how people can get in this and this is example a rogue real estate agent working with some bad hombres, not using even artificial intelligence or cyber because that's the big way they're coming. But you've got these rogue people that had these devious minds, they think this up, next thing you know you're out of a home and they're looking at you to pay back the loan and your whole life from that, from that period forward, nothing. Your family, your friends, your hobbies, war room, everything that you did is just second theory. And you came and focus on it because you're sitting there looking at financial ruin. You had a, you had a secure, fairly secure life with, this was your nest egg, right? Because most people's home is really their retirement, the home equity in it. And in one fell swoop, it's gone. That's what's so scary about this. Tom.
Tom Simons
Exactly. And you know, and had this homeowner had home title lock, he would have had home title like monitoring the status of his home title, notifying him if any monke was going on. And then they have a US based restoration team that's going to spend a million bucks restoring that home back into you at no out of pocket cost to the homeowner. It's a no brainer. I subscribe and I sleep better at night because I do
Steve Bannon
hometitle lock.com promo code. Steve, you right now, you get a two week, you talked to Natalie Dominguez and the team. You go there, you get a two week free trial on the $1 million triple lock protection, including what they'll put up in legal to solve this. And it's just pennies a day. That's why, you know, don't take it for Tom, don't take it from me. Just go talk to Natalie Dominguez and the team, get the information. I think you'll see how this, it's, it's the cost benefit analysis is just, it's, it's, it so overwhelms you to, for the benefit of it. Particularly now when you've got AI Cyber and you've got rogue lawyers, accountants and even a real estate broker. I mean she was a very, she having been in the real estate business, knew how easy this was to do, correct? Tom?
Tom Simons
Yeah, she knew exactly what strings to pull because she had experience in the industry and it was sort of the perfect storm.
Steve Bannon
Tom, thank you so much. Another harrowing example. Tom, thank you. And like Tom said, remember with the FBI and guys coming in for the criminal side that doesn't do anything at all on the Civil, doesn't do anything all you getting your money back or your house back. So don't let it happen. And this is hometitlelock.com promo code. Steve it's so simple. Zir's with us, but I want to play Zier's cold open at the bottom. I'm going to go back to Ben Harnwell, Ben Giorgio Maloney. And I've been, people have been already been lighting me up in Italy that know me saying he doesn't understand why President Trump hasn't come out and given her special attention like he gave the French and he's given, he's given the British. She's the bridge. She's the self proclaimed bridge between President Trump and Europe. We've always dismissed that as nonsense. And why is she not jumping in here being a full ally to the United States of America, sir?
Ben Harnwell
Well, you know, whenever she does describe herself as being a bridge between the United States and the European Union, immediately it always comes to my mind the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, folks, if you ever remember that undulating bridge that eventually is the second largest suspension bridge ever built in the world which collapsed within a couple of weeks after opening and that is the bridge to nowhere, which is George Maloney. So she said no formally, it was via the defense minister on the basis that Italy hadn't been consulted before the flights. We're talking more than one US Bomber here before they took off. And therefore Italy said no. And Italy cited its, its treaties with the United States. And in as far as it goes, there is a, you know, I have no time for this government or, or its prime minister. But there is a legitimate question to be asked as, as considering this. The same thing happened with regards to, to Spain on the same excuses why the Department for War hadn't put in the phone calls, the U.S. department for War hadn't put in those necessary phone calls beforehand. That is a legitimate question to ask. But beyond that, because it is simply a procedural excuse on Italy's part and you can guess that it was simply a procedural excuse masking a political refusal for the time being by the fact that we know about this. Because in the Spanish situation the government was very gung ho in telling all and sundry that they'd said no, that they'd blocked the airspace, the United States with regards to the Italian situation. Steve this actually happened by all accounts last week. It's only come out into the press now and it first came out to the Italian press, to Corriere della Serra through one of their sources, presumed to be though it's not said explicitly on the Italian side rather than the US Side. And that, Steve, I think is the indication that this leaked out to the press, is the indication that the government really wants the Italian people to know that they have said no. And that's because there are, there is a lot of antipathy here in Italy towards the US Maneuvers in Iran specifically. But it's still, I think worth taking note of.
Steve Bannon
Ben, I want the answer when we get back. And we're going to bring zero into this conversation too. The President's laid it out today. He's saying, look, we defanged these guys, we've declawed them, have essentially destroyed the their operating military. They can still do scattershot. We've broken them. He's said twice. I think today we've had regime change because now I'm dealing with a third or fourth tier guy. It's time now for somebody to pick up the slack. And he's looking for NATO, looking for the Royal Navy, the French Navy, the Italian Navy, an air force to step in here. Is this practical? We're going to. Because I gotta tell you, when President Trump gets an idea like this, he normally acts upon it. Ben, stick around. David Zier is going to be with us. As the president has looked like he's focused on an off ramp to kind of wrap this thing up. Birchgold.com promo code Bannon Enter the Dollar Empire. There's a free eighth installment. Get it today. The seven installments, all free, still up online. Obviously you got it also in a book, the Patriots edition of the End of the Dollar Empire. If you want one in print, you can get that. Birchgold.com promo code Warwick Shortbread
David Zier
Real America's Voice and I witnessed that enthusiasm on the lines in our submarine builders and ironworks. It's unbelievable. But I just wanted to ask you what's the status of the delivery of any harm hardened bunkers for additional protection for our troops? And without getting too specific, what kind of measures are we taking to protect some of the larger, more strategic aircraft like the sentry and other.
Stephen K. Bannon
Well, it's great, great question, I'll say. What I witnessed where I went was a completely locked in discipline of bunker use and bunker improvement. So from the beginning, as we stated very clearly, the first thing we did was set up a defense and make sure our defensive capabilities were maxed out before any of this even started. That included fortifications as much as possible, but it also included disbursement. If all of Our people are in one place. You could imagine why that's a big problem. So dispersing is part of that defeat. Alongside that disbursement is more and more bunkers. And I can tell you, talking to base commanders, talking to our allies in Israel, talking to others, rapidly fielding that and then improving those positions is a theater priority, no doubt, as are the air defenses and the layered air defenses. It's not just patriots and Thads, it's fighters in defensive caps, it's other kinetic defeat systems, it's electronic warfare. So the defense of our, of our troops and our assets is max. I will say on some of those other assets you talked about, air wings, airframes, there's some things adversaries are doing to provide info and intel that they shouldn't. We're aware of it and ultimately we move things around and don't. One of the biggest principles you learn in the military is to not set patterns, predictable patterns. And so we're commanders are working hard to adjust in real time with those systems and make sure they're in the right places and not easily targetable.
Steve Bannon
You don't want pattern recognition here. Be specific, David. Why did you ask that question about bunkers? What was on your zeal? What was on your mind about this?
David Zier
I was reminded about Iraq, right, when Rumsfeld said, you go to war with the army you have, not with the one you wish you had. And I was remembering the soldiers welding steel plates to the sides of the Hummers. Now, they didn't have the advanced IEDs at that point, the liquid metal forming stuff that just cut our columns in half. But I was, I'm concerned, you know, covering the dignified transfer for rav. You know, I'm concerned about more lives being lost because these guys only have to get it right a couple of times and they can do major damage. And I just thought it was really important when I saw the articles coming out that they were trying to streamline deployment and delivery of hardened structures over there. You know, I hope he can do it fast and especially with this AWACS devastation. Half a billion dollar aircraft, we lose one more, we're in trouble in the global fight, right? Maybe. So these questions are all based on what are we going to do to protect our troops? Also I asked him last week about what are we going to do to turn the Internet back on for the people and how do we do that as they try to shut down all these VPNs and the Iranian militias and stuff. So, you know, what's one of the Reasons you haven't. Yeah, yeah.
Steve Bannon
But are you concerned that. Are you concerned that they're very noticeably not giving a level of specificity, even when Admiral Cooper comes on about just, even some of the math about this? Right. Because we talk about uptempo, we talk about the bombing every night. They're asserting this, but so far they've been very remiss to get into details. And I realize you got operational security. You don't want to tell the enemy what you're doing, but a little bit, we're all kind of in. We're all kind of in the fog of war here and a little bit of an abyss because, you know, there's still the scattershot of the Iranians. We understand they've dispersed their command and control. I think, as Erik Prince continues to tell us, to like, 31 different units. But you get a sense that the, that the Pentagon has a strategy here, kind of a media strategy or briefing strategy, to make sure the American people are fully apprised so that they can think through and make sure they support or not support President Trump's strategy.
David Zier
I think they've been careful not to discuss policy. Right. And they are taking these measures. Hegseth was with the troops in Central Command a few days ago over there. Right. So I believe that. I believe they're in a spot because, you know, again, how many. It only takes a dozen drones to hit a target ground zero and hurt a lot of people or take out, you know, listen, in the Red Sea, a missile came within a half mile of the Harry S. Truman, and if it wasn't for the cwiz, I think it could have hit it. So, you know, these threats are real and imminent. And no matter how much planning you do, I think they do have a plan. I think they really care. I think Hegseth really cares about the troops. But there's a lot of unpredictables here. And we spoke last summer, Steve, and at the Army 250 celebration, and we talked about during the June strikes, you know, about a wider war with the Gulf states and other. And the regional, you know, geostrategic elements going on here. So there are unpredictable elements here as nothing's really fermenting on the ground. The MEK is attacking the Iranian guard and other things a little bit, but there's nothing gelling with Pahlavi or anything. So, you know, where does it leave the people? Where does it leave our troops for the long term? How many additional casualties will we have? I think it's a legitimate concern
Steve Bannon
about the Gulf Arab, the Arab allies, and as we got Ben up here, the NATO allies. President Trump has clearly now, over the last 24 hours, maybe 30 hours, has been pretty adamant that he needs people stepping up to the plate, that we're going to only bear this burden by ourselves for so long. What's the sense you got from the building? Because these are the direct connect. It's not a diplomatic. A lot of it's military to military. And I know they're very close relationships, particularly with the Gulf armies, specifically uae, very close relationship with the Pentagon. Do you get any sense that Hegseth and General Kane are making any progress on this, or is this still all at the White House level and diplomatic?
David Zier
Well, I think it is that. And it's also, I think UAE agreed to jump in the fight to protect the ships in the Strait. I think other nations have come on board. I think Saudi Arabia will as well. But, you know, Europe is always there when they need us. So, you know, I think there will be some success for Donald Trump in putting together a coalition to target this. But how many weeks out will oil hit? $150 plus. There's a lot of questions here, but I don't think they're operating in the dark. I think, you know, I wouldn't underestimate Trump. I do think he's in a little bit of position because, you know, Iran's four times the size of Iraq. You know, how do you do that? My grandfather told me 48 years ago he used to make altimeters for the bombs. And he always told me, hey, you could bomb the not out of a country, but unless you've got ground forces, you can't change it, you know, so, you know, again, what level of success is enough for Trump and what nations will come on board to help? You have 11 million barrels a day of oil missing from, you know, the world's supply right now. All these tanks, all these storage things are at capacity over there in the Gulf States, and there's nowhere to go. So I'm not going to throw in the towel, though I think Hegseth, you know, he's under fire. They're looking to hang him at every turn. I was at the county cartel conference in Doral with the SOUTHCOM a couple of weeks ago, and he signs his historic agreement with 17 defense ministers of the 31 countries under the AOR for Central Command from South America, Caribbean and Latin America. And they're talking about how he gave a Nazi salute in the Shields of America speech. You know, so anything he does is going to be ripped apart. I think he's very careful on not to commit too much and doesn't want to get into too granular on stuff at the briefings they're short. He picks 15 questions or so. I'm trying to be respectful but my concern is for the troops.
Steve Bannon
David, where do people go? What's your social media? Keep up with you throughout the day?
David Zier
Sure. I'm Avezear on X and David Zier on everything else.
Steve Bannon
Else Zir great job. Thank you sir. Appreciate you over the Pentagon.
David Zier
Thank you so much.
Steve Bannon
Steve Ben Harwell the president's looking to at least get an alternative optionality with the President range of alternatives. There's clearly he's thinking through hey I've got options of if I got to put combat troops in, if I got to keep bombing these guys, if I need another regime change besides the guys I'm talking to. But one he's clearly looking to do is have the allies step up here and bear some of the burden. From your perch in Rome, David Z is pretty optimistic that eventually Europe will do the right thing. In your beady eyed assessment, do you see that happening?
Ben Harnwell
It might happen on a sort of bilateral basis with the US tapping certain countries like the UK or have you or Greece for example, who has been quite cooperative. Whether it's going to take place formally through the NATO infrastructure. At the present moment I find that slightly more doubtful that the elements are there to do that. I frankly find it difficult that the President's going to succeed in getting any sort of bilateral agreements country by country to come on board on this because if it's true that the President is looking for for an off ramp here for here in continental Europe, they're not looking for an off ramp because they never got on the on ramp in the first place and they sort of extremely concerned that they don't want to be moving in that direction largely because the on ramp isn't, isn't a static thing. It's dynamic. It's like a conveyor belt. You need to get on and do nothing and you're going to be moved further on into this and that's really not where the, the European countries are. The reason being as I've indicated before, y Y it's because, because the, whatever you say about our, the European branch of our sociopathic overlords, they know how unpopular they they are broadly because of the immigration issue. Anyway you've got the, the, the, the far right iteration sort of nipping at the heels. They realize that getting their countries involved in A third Gulf War in as many decades is politically suicidal. They don't want to, they don't want any, they don't want to keep the horn. They don't want anything to do with this. They don't even want to be.
Steve Bannon
But, but to keep. I know, but Brent oil. Yeah, but, but, but. I got it. But Brent oil is $118 a barrel right now. It's going to go higher if they don't see. If President Trump says, hey, look, it's your problem, you got to step up here also, this has to has major implications for the Ukraine situation. The citizens of the United States are seeing what's happening here. They're seeing the President. It shouldn't be the president's responsibility to get allies to come on an on ramp. Particularly. Let me just make sure this is stated is that coming out of Hormuz is oil and natural gas, lng, going to Europe, going past the Houthis in the Gate of Tears down there into the Red Sea, And Suez is 100% going to Europe. You got carrier battle groups right now with American kids keeping those open. This is a European problem. This is a European issue. And that's why you shouldn't have to take a bayonet and get them onto an on ramp. They should be there as an ally to be an on ramp. That's not happening. The resistance, this is my point. President Trump, he's lighting these guys up now. True social. Because not only are they not getting on the on ramp, people like Spain are saying, hey, upon further review, we got these joint bases, really not NATO. It's us and you and we got the superior hand. We're not going to let you use the naval facility or the naval air base at Rota, Spain. That's off. And you can't use our airspace. That's not just not being an, that's not being an ally or having allies got problems. That's being somebody that's saying, no, you can't use our airspace. We think you're the problem and we don't agree with your military. The oil that Europe uses $118 a barrel is going to go a lot higher. President Trump says, you know, upon further review, we're going to pull back. I tell you, Ben, hang on. I want to take you to the next segment because the president has now talked about this for 30 hours. You can tell this is. I'm not saying he's going to pull this option, but he's clearly thinking through every alternative regarding this option. Both the Arab allies with Israel and particularly with NATO. And let's throw Japan, maybe even the Korean Navy in there. CCP I'm sure a volunteer Patriot Mobile one of the great sponsors, great company. Jenny Story what she's doing down there to organize the grassroots particularly around this situation of Prop 10 is heroic. Patriot MO972 Patriot support the company by making the switch today. Call and talk to somebody with an East Texas accent and customer service will tell you all about it. 9723 Patriot Oru here's your host, Stephen
Stephen K. Bannon
K. Ban
Steve Bannon
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Ben Harnwell
Well, no one's particularly stepping up at the moment. President Trump is calling a party, saying the party's on, but at the moment the music might be playing but no one wants to go to this party apart from, as you mentioned earlier on, your Gulf allies and this is what I put out on geta this morning. You do have and this is what semaphore carried that officials from Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have told their US Counterparts that they want the conflict to continue until Tehran changes its behavior, but as of yet have offered no boots on the ground to send in, as you've been highlighting consistently. Steve, look, I'll quickly close with this point, this observation because you mentioned it just before the break and you said it's a very important consideration. How much is this war affecting what's going on in Ukraine? And yes, President Zelensky has been, bless his little cotton socks, has been trying desperately to insert himself into this narrative as well and largely failing, but he is doing what he can do. But I'd like to reframe your question, Steve, because I don't think it's so much that the fact isn't so much how much is this war affecting what's going on in Ukraine is how much has what happened in Ukraine over the last three or four years affecting the operability for the Gulf War? And this brings us to the Patriot battery situation which Poland has refused to help and that is nobody. If you ask which if America asks which country now which of our allies has Patriot surplus to send to us. In Iran, in the Strait of Hormuz or wherever to help defend Israel. The answer is no one has excess capacity anymore because it's all been used up in Ukraine. And that I think is a further illustration of the rule, the law of unintended consequences which continue to reach forward to the present day of what happened in was it February 2022?
Steve Bannon
Ben Harnwell, where do people go to get your beady eyed analysis, sir?
Ben Harnwell
On Getter. It's my social media platform of choice, tap in my surname Harnwell and all of my posts which have been so popular with the the war room posse. You can find them there at the top of the feed. Thanks, Steve. God bless. Catch you tomorrow.
Steve Bannon
Thank you, brother Appreciate you appreciate the Wednesday and Friday shows you do which are just outstanding and taking on various topics. The markets are all over the place, particularly market for gold today and oil, oil increasing. President Trump dealing with this problem. We have much more. We come back at five o'. Clock. Charlie Kirk show will be next. Birch Gold, take your phone out. By the way, end of the dollar empire. We have an eighth free installment. Get it, read it, study it, we'll talk about it. Plus the print edition of the first seven, the Patriots edition, really spectacularly put together. Great graphics, great art for the first seven installments. The eighth installment is out today. We put up in cpac. Going to get Philip Patrick and the team on here to talk about what's happening in gold gold up today. But it ain't the price, it's the process that drives value. Mike Lindell joins us. Mike Lindell, your factory, they a bad guy, bought it, threw you out of it. But of course you can't put my pillow out of business, sir. They've tried and they failed.
Mike Lindell
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Steve Bannon
Yeah, we'll see you back here in the five o' clock show. The Charlie Kirk show is next. Poso. After that, bowling. I'll do a transition with bowling. Backyard five. See you then.
This episode of The War Room with Stephen K. Bannon (March 31, 2026) focuses on the escalating geopolitical crises involving U.S. military commitments in the Middle East, the reluctance of key allies to share burdens—financial or military—and the shifting dynamics of global alliances. Host Steve Bannon, joined by Ben Harnwell (reporting from Rome) and Pentagon correspondent David Zier, delivers an unfiltered critique of European and Gulf allies' limited support for U.S. operations, the consequences of global de-dollarization, and the internal political implications for both America and its partners.
Bannon sets the scene: The U.S. is carrying the primary load in a shooting war, with 50,000 American troops deployed and Congress considering a $200 billion bill.
Bannon’s demand: Echoes Gulf War I model—insists allies “pass the hat” for $200B and show military presence.
European responses:
Spain: Socialist government refuses U.S. access to joint-use bases (Rota and Morón), escalating by closing airspace altogether.
Italy: Meloni government uses procedural pretext (“you didn’t ask properly”), but Harnwell suspects it's a cover for political reluctance.
“This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people.”
On European Dependence:
Harnwell on Spanish Policy:
On Italy's Excuses:
Bannon on Ally Reliability:
Harnwell Conclusion:
| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | Speaker | |----------------|----------------------------------------------------|--------------------| | 00:06 | Opening monologue – “primal scream” | Steve Bannon | | 01:03 – 06:39 | Setting the international scene; allied pushback | Steve Bannon | | 06:40 – 13:32 | Ben Harnwell: Europe’s financial & political retreat| Ben Harnwell | | 13:32 – 15:05 | Strategic impact of base closures | Bannon, Harnwell | | 15:11 – 18:41 | U.S. military readiness, pressures, home security | Steve Bannon | | 18:42 – 22:30 | Title fraud example, civil vulnerabilities | Tom Simons | | 23:28 – 25:53 | Italy’s stance; Meloni’s “bridge to nowhere” | Ben Harnwell | | 25:54 – 33:08 | Bunker deployments, real-time risk | Zier, Bannon | | 33:09 – 36:48 | Diplomatic vs. military coalition-building | Zier, Bannon | | 36:49 – 38:27 | Harnwell: “On ramp” analogy, political pitfalls | Ben Harnwell | | 38:28 – 41:09 | European energy dependency, oil prices | Bannon | | 41:09 – 43:22 | IRGC threats to US tech companies, Gulf states | Bannon | | 43:23 – 45:45 | Ukraine’s legacy on current conflict capabilities | Ben Harnwell |
Bannon maintains a combative, unapologetic, and confrontational tone, calling out traditional allies for their lack of participation and warning listeners of “the de-masking” of alliances. Harnwell delivers sardonic but incisively analytical commentary from Europe, and Zier injects frontline caution. The entire episode is “America First”-centric, skeptical of globalist institutions and European commitments.