Steve Bannon explains why believes a Republican victory in the 2026 midterms is imperative

[0:01] midterm elections are just over three weeks away with control of the house and senate very much [0:07] up for grabs one person with a distinct rooting interest on the right is former trump advisor [0:14] steve bannon senior contributor ted koppel joined bannon in his war room there he was on the cover [0:23] of time magazine february 2017. steve bannon chief white house strategist they called him [0:32] the great manipulator he threatened at times to overshadow the president himself [0:39] not the best career move and for a while he visibly fell out of favor i don't talk to him [0:47] i don't talk to him i don't talk to him that's just a misnomer to this day though he remains [0:53] a passionate trump supporter when trump decides to leave the stage actively he can't be replaced like [1:00] washington or lincoln these are people that they named the age of i can't believe that you're [1:05] mentioning trump in the same breath as washington and lincoln oh i am i think he's at that level i [1:12] hear you i know you're doing it because i think general washington was there at the birth of the [1:16] nation yeah lincoln was the rebirth of the nation and i absolutely believe and i think 99 of maga [1:24] believes that trump was there for the salvation of the nation they're not going to shut up bannon and [1:29] they're certainly not going to shut up maga bannon is a man of unwavering commitment he did four [1:35] months in prison for contempt of congress for refusing to testify about his role in the events leading up to [1:43] january 6. all hell is going to break loose tomorrow war room here's your host stephen k bannon he set up an [1:53] influential podcast the war room going to be maga in the room counting the votes because only maga can [1:59] count fair two hours in the morning two hours in the evening demand a moratorium on all immigration you [2:07] have a taste for the right wing definitely it's no doubt i am right wing i'm not conservative i'm a [2:13] right winger and proud of it trump did not budge he stood in the breach the great manipulator is by most [2:20] accounts once again in regular and amicable communication with the president but bannon has [2:27] no illusions if democrats gain control of the house in a couple of weeks the age of mega is in jeopardy [2:36] we lose the house it's going to turn the white house to fort apache i think you'll see bobby kennedy [2:40] impeached i think you'll see pete hexath impeached i think you'll see subpoenas flying every day they [2:45] will look to destroy president trump and will be bogged down for two years that sounded like your [2:50] argument for you got to vote republican this year it's pretty compelling i think well it's it's [2:56] compelling to you it may not be so compelling to the majority of american voters but you don't need [3:02] the majority here's my point on the midterm remember midterm elections are always driven by [3:08] base getting out and the base's ability to get more of their low propensity voters out all bushes [3:14] and bush relate people you suck bannon has few if any illusions about the agenda of old line republicans [3:23] they are all set for getting beyond trump you're there you're almost there if you're not beyond [3:30] trumpism what's your future well i i just first off president trump i'm the i would say the leader of [3:36] trying to get president trump to run for a third term it appears that he's not interested or it just won't [3:43] happen the idea of the third term for trump it's against the constitution oh i think you could [3:49] drive a truck through that amendment really yes i talked to constitutional lawyers and there were i [3:55] think a number of different alternatives would it be contested yeah it'd be contested because everything [3:59] the president does is contested in the courts the president is also confronting the same nemesis [4:05] as his predecessor old age he's 80 years old his superpower is his energy look i'm in my 80s you [4:15] lose a step or two you're not as quick as you once were the president quite seemed pretty quick the [4:22] president quite clearly has lost a step or two oh i don't agree with that oh absolutely why do you say [4:28] that there's no he's working 20 hours a day there is no question that he's able to keep going that he [4:34] keeps moving yeah some of his speeches are just rambling drivel i would not call him drivel president [4:41] trump has been known to go off script they could take out a city let him take let it let him take [4:47] out los angeles let him take out san diego trump has lost his fastball he's not as quick as he used to [4:54] be why do you say that i see what he looks like i don't think americans have ever been quite as embarrassed [5:02] as they have been by donald trump ted if you're part of the media elite you're if you're part of [5:08] the east coast elite if you're certainly if you're if you're if you're atlanticist what president [5:13] trump has done yes you're not going to like it and probably you're going to hate it and i understand [5:17] this war is a is a huge issue but i think working class americans are not embarrassed they're supportive [5:23] of president trump and how he presents the united states i think americans are very uncomfortable [5:29] with this war in iran i think they are saying why the hell did we get into that in the first place [5:37] we were in better shape before the war than we are right now let's bifurcate the war if you look [5:43] at the first part the 12-day war and president trump the total obliteration of their nuclear program [5:49] except it isn't totally obliterated we know that i believe it's obliterated enough what we're doing [5:54] with tearing down their economy through economic warfare of scott besant given what he's doing with [5:59] their currency given the blockade on the oil interviewing steve bannon still offers the [6:05] occasional surprise pound for pound as far as the number of deaths yes we have caused tremendous [6:11] terror all around the world if the democratic socialists sometimes offer positions that make [6:17] more traditional democratic candidates wince count on steve bannon to find hidden advantage for republicans [6:30] while seeming to praise the opposition these people are very focused some of the candidates may [6:36] say way outside the mainstream but they have a ground game that people have to understand that they have [6:42] dedicated people and they're going to turn out their vote bannon reminded me that he got into politics [6:49] making films for the tea party people had to decide what kind of country we were going to be where we [6:54] were going to go as a nation what our future was all about and what values we held i had a very [7:00] particular take on it very populist very nationalistic critics came and said hey this is fascist filmmaking and i [7:06] said look lenny riefenstahl was one of the most powerful filmmakers ever indeed she was lenny riefenstahl made [7:15] the nazis look mythical her coverage of military parades and the berlin olympics of 1936 has influenced [7:26] filmmakers for decades among them steve bannon what would lenny riefenstahl do how would lenny cut that [7:35] scene but most of all she is known as hitler's image maker she was amoral and she was a filmmaker [7:42] for the nazis but her films were very powerful and what i was trying to do is to try to recreate the [7:47] power of those films to make sure that people particularly the little guy understood that they [7:53] could they could have a voice you're a part of a worldwide movement that is bigger than france [7:58] bigger than italy bigger than hungary bigger than all of it over the past nine years steve bannon [8:05] has cultivated ties with far-right movements across europe including germany's fiercely anti-immigration [8:13] party the afd alternative for deutschland is in town the politicians who are coming on your show [8:20] yeah tonight alternative for deutschland alternative for deutschland we're very close to those folks [8:26] let's say for country just do reasonable stuff alternative for deutschland is now here to teach [8:33] us they went to ground and what they did is they went door to door and they convinced people with no [8:37] campaign money that our way our policies to re-industrialize germany stop this mass immigration [8:44] re-migration are policies you should vote for i think that we can learn a lot from them [8:49] is the united states in the final analysis moving toward all right i'll say the word fascism [8:57] it's not fascism it's actually more inclusionary it's more entrepreneurial it's not fascism at all [9:03] remember if you go back we went at the ballot box the mega movement has only lost the pelosi [9:09] election of 18. the core belief of the mega movement is we won the 2020 election but you didn't that's [9:15] not true we did you didn't we that's just not true steve it's not it's it's not it's not true [9:21] i respect you you're a brilliant guy but how many court cases were there 60 some odd court cases [9:29] go debate this another time we didn't we didn't have standing we never even got into you lost every [9:34] case bannon's technically correct they didn't have standing they couldn't find a judge who thought they [9:41] had a significant case worth hearing so for six years they've just kept saying the same thing over [9:50] and over if you had to push all the chips into the center of the table right now which way is it going [9:57] to turn out i would push all our chips in the middle of the table and say guys there's no retreat and [10:06] there's no substitute for victory let's let's fight like hell that's a frightening prospect though isn't it [10:13] because what you're saying is we can't afford to lose oh we can't afford to lose i don't think there's [10:18] any doubt about that yeah but i mean if steve bannon says we can't afford to lose that doesn't just [10:24] mean that all the chips are on the table it means we got to do whatever it takes to win this fight [10:32] exactly well said all right so be it