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Jan. 7, 2023 - Bannon's War Room
48:55
Episode 2425
Participants
Main voices
j
john fredericks
06:44
m
matt rosendale
12:27
m
mike davis
05:54
s
steve bannon
15:50
Appearances
s
scott perry
02:09
Clips
j
jake tapper
00:08
s
symone sanders-townsend
00:53
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Speaker Time Text
steve bannon
This is the primal scream of a dying regime.
Pray for our enemies.
unidentified
Because we're going medieval on these people.
steve bannon
You're just not going to 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've tried to do everything in the world to stop that, but you're not going to stop it.
It's going to happen.
jake tapper
And where do people like that go to share the big lie?
unidentified
MAGA Media.
jake tapper
I wish in my soul, I wish that any of these people had a conscience.
unidentified
Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose?
steve bannon
If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.
unidentified
War Room. Here's your host, Stephen K. Bannon.
There was a, you know, there was a similar effort to try and, you know, tie the debt ceiling to all kinds of concessions. And And, uh, you know, it took us to the precipice of what would have been a catastrophe.
And so, you know, this is why.
I understand the sort of sport of all of this, but the aftermath is going to be very, very important.
symone sanders-townsend
One of the things... What exactly did Kevin McCarthy give away to gain these votes?
And I know that there's lots of reporting out there, we've seen some generalities, but we don't actually know the specifics of what was promised.
How does the Rules Committee seats shake out?
Will Kevin McCarthy actually be able to govern if in fact he clenches the Speaker's gavel today?
And I would venture to say it's very unlikely.
If this is what it's like to pick a Speaker, when Republicans have the majority, the same majority the Democrats had in the last Congress, what will it be like when it comes to funding the government?
When it comes to the debt ceiling?
When it comes to funding for Ukraine?
When it comes to anything of consequence for the American people, can Kevin McCarthy be trusted to negotiate on behalf of his caucus, or will we see these extremists, these never-Kevins, going to take on a more outsized role, where they are now brought into negotiations at the highest levels, because no one can trust if Kevin McCarthy can get their vote.
unidentified
But that's going to have to be the strategy for the rest of the day, is try to pick one by one by one.
There may be some subcommittee chairs and committee chairs born in the next 48 hours.
One guy I'm watching is Rosendale of Montana.
I just think you can't downplay the significance of the Senate primary politics going on.
Montana will be one of the biggest pick-up opportunities for the Republicans in 2024.
Zinke and Rosendale from Montana, the two reps, are circling each other on that race.
If I were Ryan Zinke, And I wanted to be a mischief maker.
I'd get on the phone with Montana media right now and say every time Rosendale casts a vote to prolong this, he's essentially voting with the Democrats to protect Joe Biden from our subpoenas and our investigations.
Of all the issues going on out there that are motivating to the Republican base, the notion of somehow delaying or not investigating Joe Biden would be the most agitating.
So you want to get like hyper-local and how to twist the knife here?
In Montana, that's the way.
steve bannon
Let me tell the folks in Montana, that's Scott Jennings.
He's the running dog of Mitch McConnell, and we'll get into that in a second.
It is Friday, 6th January, Year of Our Lord 2023.
Thank you.
You're here for the late afternoon and early evening edition of The War Room.
I want to start.
A lot going on.
We still haven't seen any deal.
We're hearing about it.
There are guys having press conferences about it, or stand-up press conferences, kind of pop-ups.
We're hearing parts of this.
But clearly a big part of the 21 have gone and said, hey, we're negotiating this.
We have this deal.
It's got a lot of great things in it on debt ceiling, on spending, on the rule, if you look at three buckets, on kind of rules and processes of what I call regular order.
Spending is another bucket with debt ceiling, spending restriction.
They're talking about, you know, going to a fiscal year 22 baseline, all kind of complicated stuff about getting control of the spending.
And then you've got the investigations and particularly you've got this joint committee or a subcommittee now on the weaponization of government.
Really what is called a church committee.
I want to get Matt Rosendale in here and I just wanted to make sure people at home understand Scott Jenning is a talking is a former.
McConnell, a running dog.
And he's on CNN, very slick guy, comms guy.
Right there, that's the big misdirection play.
You know, everybody in the, you know, because all Republicans and all MAGA like the shiny toy, right?
They like the shiny toy.
And so they're looking at the shiny toy investigation.
The investigations are coming, and they're going to be systematic, and they're going to be serious.
Whether that happens today, next week, or the following week, it doesn't matter.
People are already pulling this information from last year, etc.
Also, the number one thing is that investigations are absolutely critical and very important.
But the number one thing is, obviously, get control of the country's finances.
And that's what Mitch McConnell and his running dog, Scott Jennings, never want to talk about.
The number one priority, brother Jennings, write this down, take out your number two pencil, Is to get control of the spending, and yes, sir, since your former boss was the guy that jammed through with the collaborators the omnibus bill, the number one thing Mitch McConnell wants to deliver for all the lobbyists, all the corporations, all the Wall Street cronies and oligarchs is a huge debt ceiling increase.
So no, Scott, we're not taking misdirection play.
Congressman Matt Rosendale from Montana, too, the subject of that last.
So, Congressman, where do we stand?
I think there's what we call the six to save America that are hanging tough.
Never know if some other people may come back, Paul Gosar or others.
But where do we stand?
You guys are adjourned till 10 o'clock tonight.
I'm sure there's a couple of star chambers going on and in the dead of night, we're going to talk about some of the games that may play.
But give us your assessment of where you think we stand right now.
matt rosendale
So we had a, not what I would call a highly successful day for the people of America.
We did lose some ground on the support that we had gathered together to move forward the agenda to actually make real reform in the House of Representatives, to change the rules so that we had a more open system so that each of the members were able to represent their districts equally.
And to make sure that we had leadership in place that we could rely upon to help us achieve that.
So we are still there together.
It's a much smaller group.
You know, Steve, when you are cooking and you're trying to create a really nice sauce for a dish that you're going to serve up to your wife for a special event, Valentine's Day, the more you reduce it, the better it gets.
So by golly, you know, I would like to think we've got the special sauce right now.
And we are still trying to deliver the message to the American people that we are fighting for them.
The team may be small, but we are solid.
And we are trying to make sure that we push forward.
There are negotiations that are going on.
We had pushed forward many of these concepts early on in this process.
As you know, we've been discussing this for quite some time, all the way back in the summer.
And it seems that they are trying to refine more of the points.
But as you made perfectly clear, the rules won't be voted upon until after the speaker is seated.
So that's a bit problematic if they seat a speaker that you're not so sure that will actually push those rules forward and advocate for them and champion them and then uphold them.
So there's an incredible leap of faith that there's a lot of people taking right now that clearly I have not been willing to take that leap.
steve bannon
Let me go to something I talked to a lot of people in the hedge fund community, on Wall Street, throughout the world, different capital markets and corporate executives.
One thing I guess, Rob, when you first approached McCarthy and others first approached McCarthy, was it in the summer?
How long ago have there been discussions about what had to change?
matt rosendale
Yeah, that was back in the summer.
There was a written list of Uh, amendments to the rules that needed to take place, both the conference rules and the house rules in order to give people the ability to represent their districts better.
Um, yeah, that that's sort of back summer.
steve bannon
We do.
matt rosendale
And we really, uh, weren't, um, greeted, uh, to have those, those conversations at that time.
And as I've said, that's because, uh, Kevin thought he was going to have 250 or 260 members in the Republican conference and really was not going to have to contend.
with the people that were there to truly restore this system, our republic.
So it took until November the 9th before we really started having substantive conversations about these rules packages.
Now I do know that they are putting some very good language in place to allow the body to control Spending and appropriations as it goes out onto the floor.
So I know that they are trying to do that.
But you have to remember that sometime or another, Steve, the Speaker of the House is going to have to go over to the Senate and or the White House and negotiate from some point of strength that here is the best deal that they're going to be able to get.
And if they don't negotiate from a point of strength, Then they will return to us and bring a product that's just not going to be acceptable.
And unfortunately, that's what we've seen many times with Kevin in 2015 and 17 and 18 and 19.
And, and the spending measures that were adopted while he was in the leadership that he helped participate in crafting always ended up getting more Democrat votes than they did Republican votes.
And right now, while we are facing $31 trillion.
While the rules might allow us to propose amendments and to try and reduce this spending, there's nothing that is proposed in the rules package right now that would have eliminated the $1.7 trillion omnibus deal being passed that we just saw go through.
steve bannon
What do you mean by that?
It doesn't force it to come to the floor earlier?
matt rosendale
It would bring it to the floor, but you are still going to be able to push that instrument through.
And again, so my wishes were to try and make sure that we could refine the rules process to the point that the members would be able to have more control.
And so much of that control wasn't consolidated.
within the Rules Committee, which is nine members, and the Speaker, him or herself.
steve bannon
I want to go back, you know, because you talk about this and you talk about, you're saying, hey, look, you can draft all the packages possible.
I'm just not comfortable with leadership.
Kevin McCarthy and correct me if I'm wrong, Kevin McCarthy sat in the Roosevelt room, I don't know, four or five weeks ago at a lunch with Schumer, with McConnell, with Nancy Pelosi and Biden.
And he came out and this is talking about getting the omnibus through both houses.
The reporting and the reporting was had unanimity on this.
All four of them agreed with Biden.
They were going to push it through.
Now, it was afterwards when there was a firestorm, and I think that the War Room had something to do with that, a little something to do with it.
There was a firestorm in the house with people like yourself, so that's just not as satisfactory.
That he then came a couple days later and kind of said, well, you know, he had the press conference, I really know that spending here is just terrible.
But once again, his heart's just not in it.
Is that a false accusation or incorrect observation of Kevin McCarthy?
matt rosendale
That's the perception that we all had, that he was voting no and praying yes, you know?
I mean, that is the perception.
And then the other thing that we talk about when people say, we have got to get to work, we have got to get to work, I can describe two things.
Sure, we need to start doing the oversight.
We need to start doing these hearings and finding out and opening up the doors to the FBI and demonstrating exactly what they did.
But Steve, you and I both know, as long as we have a Department of Justice that's compliant with this administration, that the likelihood of us seeing charges and prosecutions coming out of these investigations is pretty thin.
So if the oversight and the investigations take a little bit longer to get organized and begin, I really don't see that as being a problem.
And then I talked with many of the members on the floor today.
I mean, you guys watch C-SPAN.
You see everybody, every time you're You're in between votes as long as they're not close to your name.
You're circulating around the room and you're talking to your colleagues on the Republican side.
You're talking to your colleagues on the Democrat side of the aisle as well.
And the reality is when that omnibus bill passed, it removed all the leverage points from the Republicans to actually start doing something meaningful about securing our southern border.
And about increasing our domestic energy production until the omnibus expires and we have the new budget to present in September.
So really, between now and September, we can plot and plan, but you're not going to be able, there will be, trust me, there'll be a lot of messaging legislation that comes out and they're going to send a bill out that says we're going to defund the 87,000 IRS agents.
And they're going to send a bill out that says, We're going to provide funding for the wall and to secure our border again.
But those aren't going anywhere until you can actually tie them to a funding package that needs to keep our government open.
steve bannon
Can we take a short break?
I just want to hold you through a short commercial break.
We have just a few more questions about all of this.
And also to erase any doubt in the folks in Montana, which I know they don't, that Matt Rosendale is not all over investigations.
Okay, short commercial break.
back in the war room with Congressman Rosendale from Montana next.
Congressman Rosendale, can you, the folks in Montana too, in fact, the folks in the entire state of Montana, I don't think there's any doubt they know that you're going to be all over supportive and getting on with the investigations into the Biden administration, Biden regime and others.
Right?
Fauci, the whole thing.
Is the couple of days we need or the week we need or so to work this through, is that going to really hold anything back?
Is Scott Jennings correct in that, sir?
matt rosendale
No, no.
I mean, a little bit more time to plan this process that eventually is going to take place is not hurting those investigations one single, solitary bit.
I think we've got the highest likelihood of having some kind of success On the Fauci investigations, I mean, my personal opinion, I'm not an attorney and I don't even sit on judiciary, but the Fauci investigations and the Mayorkas investigations.
Mayorkas, I do not think it's going to be too much of a stretch to demonstrate that he intentionally has compromised our national security by ignoring policies that would have helped us secure our southern border.
And we're not talking about just the number of people that have come into our country, Steve.
We are under a chemical attack from China via the drug facilities in Mexico.
All the components come from China, go to Mexico, they make the fentanyl, it comes into our country.
Close to 200,000 people have actually died from drug overdoses in our country over the last couple of years, and that's a direct result of most of it from fentanyl from Mexico.
And then when you start factoring in the additional human trafficking and the rising crime rates, we know that That poor prosecution and prosecutorial measures have contributed to those problems.
But I've talked to law enforcement all across the state of Montana, and they attribute the increase in crime directly to the poor southern border, the fentanyl, and it has actually reached into the state of Montana.
So I believe Mayorkas, we have the highest likelihood of having some kind of legal outcome against him.
And I think that the Fauci investigations must be done so that we can at the same time tie in the suppression of facts by big tech from being able to be shared with the general public.
And all of that sort of culminates together.
And then those will take place.
And an additional couple of days for us to have this debate and to make sure that we have the best leadership in place for every public is worth it.
steve bannon
This package, you know, you've got Daniel Horowitz, you've got other people I really respect putting up that this historic package, what Chip Roy and people have negotiated, you've got the three buckets on the debt ceiling and the spending, you've got the rules in regular order, and you've got the investigations, particularly the church committee or whatever, this weaponization of government to really go after the FBI, DOJ, and others, National Security, DHS.
Is it your belief That because we were going to see something, you know, McCarthy put out something, right, that was not acceptable.
It was too, you know, happy talk.
And then they came back with something.
The letter that came, Scott Perry sent with nine signatures was much was much sharper.
But they said there's going to be another actually a deal they're working on.
It's going to have language to exactly your point that if you vote, then rules have got to be set up and things have to happen.
You're not going to get the bait and switch.
Do you believe that Scott Perry and others that voted today to support McCarthy are giving up their leverage in this historic package that they're trying to—remember, they're comfortable with McCarthy, so that's a big difference than the hard six.
Do you believe they're giving up their leverage in going down the path they're going down right now?
unidentified
Yes.
matt rosendale
I mean, the simple answer is yes.
Have you ever taken a signed contract to an attorney and they asked him to review it?
He says, why?
I can't change it.
You've already entered into this agreement.
They've already entered into the agreement and they have taken an incredible leap of faith that I said I wasn't able to do, wasn't willing to do.
I am very pleased that Chip Roy is still a part of that process.
I will tell you, because he's an incredibly intelligent individual that I have an immense amount of trust for.
And I hope that they are able to conclude this, but they have just taken an incredible leap of faith, and we're going to be completely reliant on the goodwill and the honor of Kevin McCarthy, if he in fact becomes the Speaker, to pass and to uphold this rules package.
steve bannon
So they're depending upon the tender mercies of essentially the cartel, because their thing is they make changes, and these are historic changes.
People have been talking about it for 20 years.
They are historic, and Daniel Horowitz and others will back that up, but it's far from a done deal.
You agree with that?
matt rosendale
Oh, I absolutely think it is far from a done deal.
There's a lot of things that must take place in order for those rules to be passed and implemented.
steve bannon
Um, you know, Commander Zinke is a friend of mine and, you know, I've known him, helped him get to come into the Trump administration, think very highly of him.
But he said some things here recently that, you know, are not exactly, I don't totally agree with.
But here's one thing that's interesting.
I just want to make sure I got this right.
Because the Commander Zinke was very much for, let's just get Kevin McCarthy from the beginning.
If we had not gone through this process, and particularly your brilliant speech on the House floor yesterday, in this four or five days that's been painful, but had to happen, would we be close to having a reform package that people have talked about for 20 or 30 years but have not done?
If McCarthy had been just signed off on immediately, would any of this in your mind have happened, sir?
matt rosendale
None.
None of it.
I mean, that's fact.
It's just not my opinion.
It just simply would not have happened.
And we saw that as we tried to engage in these conversations back in the summer, when it would not have taken this public display of the Republic.
I personally think that this has turned out to be a good thing, so that the public can see what is going on.
They say daylight is the best disinfectant.
And there has been a lot of daylight shed on how The House actually operates and how people across this country think it operates.
And I can assure you that had it not been for the 20 of us standing forward and forcing these votes, that we would not be proposing and listening to and discussing the dramatic restoration of the House rules that we are right now.
steve bannon
So where you stand right now is that unless there's a change in leadership, you're one of the hard six.
You're not really interested.
You need to see the change at the top of the cartel.
matt rosendale
I do.
That is correct, Steve.
I mean, you can't just change the rules because at the end of the day, we have to have confidence in the leadership that's going to be implementing those rules.
And sooner or later, that individual is going to have to go back over to the Senate and or to the White House to negotiate Uh, in good faith for the Republican conference of the House of Representatives.
And, and that is the, you know, that's the person that we have to have that faith in.
It's going to say the same thing in that room, uh, on the other side of the building or the other side of the city that they're saying to us in the conference room.
steve bannon
How do you think this plays out tonight before I let you go?
It's adjourned until 10 o'clock.
matt rosendale
Yeah.
steve bannon
You know, that's normally when the best star chambers take place is late at night.
They say they're going to go all night tonight.
What can our audience and the folks out in Montana to expect?
matt rosendale
You know, I am not sure.
I know that there's two Republicans that are returning.
They have been out of the chamber.
And I don't know if all the Democrats, if any of them are going to be flying out tonight.
have eliminated the proxy voting, so you're going to have to be there to be able to vote.
So, I'm not 100% sure exactly how this is going to shake out tonight.
You know, I'm not.
We've been doing a lot of calls on the floor.
We really have, Steve.
I've heard Omaha yell several times.
I thought Peyton Manning was down there voting one day.
unidentified
A lot of audibles.
steve bannon
Congressman Rosendale, how do people follow you?
What's the social media?
matt rosendale
At Rep Rosendale.
At Rep Rosendale.
steve bannon
Sir, you've really been a patriot and a true leader here over the last couple days.
It's been amazing, so thank you very much.
Honored for you to take away the time tonight to come and join us.
matt rosendale
It's an honor to represent Montana, and this country is worth it.
That's why I do it.
unidentified
Well, I've got to tell you, they've got to be very proud of you out there.
steve bannon
You've changed the arc of this country, sir.
matt rosendale
Scott Jennings probably shouldn't do any consulting in Montana.
Maybe that's why, you know, he's led them to the minority.
steve bannon
Thank you, sir.
Couldn't agree more.
Shouldn't do any consulting anywhere, but that's okay.
Thank you, sir.
I got John Fredericks, I got Mike Davis.
Also, other people are calling and blowing us up, so we're going to try to figure this out.
Let's go to Mike Davis.
I got a long cold open for Fredericks and Davis, but I want to wait to play that on the other side.
Mike Davis, give me your assessment of today.
Particularly, you're a pretty tough lawyer.
What about folks that are agreeing to things that sound good?
Do you think it's any chance you get bait and switch by this crowd that they're negotiating with, sir?
mike davis
I think that these 21 House Republicans are being played by Kevin McCarthy, and what's going to happen is when they elect him Speaker, he's not going to whip the votes necessary for this negotiated rules package to become the House rules, and you're going to see maybe some moderate Republicans working with Democrats And I don't think this rules package is going to go through.
This is, like the congressman just said before us, this is about trusting Kevin McCarthy.
And the reason we are here today after, what, 12, 13 rounds of voting, is because they do not trust Kevin McCarthy.
They do not trust Kevin McCarthy.
They want to strip the Speaker of all of these powers because they don't trust him, right?
And so this is what's so puzzling to me is why Are we insisting that the speaker be Kevin McCarthy if he can't get the trust?
of 218 of his members.
Why is it Kevin McCarthy?
It's like he's on parole.
We don't trust him.
He has an ankle bracelet from the House Republican conference.
It's just bizarre to me.
You're going to have a speaker who is so weakened here because they don't trust Kevin McCarthy.
How is he going to do when he goes into the White House and he's sitting across the table from White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer?
They're going to take his pants down.
steve bannon
Hang on one second.
We'll take a short break.
We got Fredericks.
We got Mike Davis.
I'm going to get to the point.
They obviously don't trust him.
That's what this whole package is and the motion vacate.
Yet, they're trusting him enough not to close that deal before they give him his vote.
Or do they?
Will there be any switching?
Short commercial break.
unidentified
back with Fredericks and Davis next.
Are you now at a one-vote threshold to force a vote to keep or lose the Speaker, if indeed Kevin McCarthy is that person?
scott perry
Yeah, we are now at the one-vote threshold that Thomas Jefferson envisioned that lasted for 200 years, that didn't change until Nancy Pelosi changed it.
It allows any single member of the entire chamber, for the purposes of accountability, to make a motion to vacate the chair, to take the speaker off the chair.
But it still requires a majority to vote that way, but every single member should have that right.
The speaker is the most important and the most powerful person in the building, and there needs to be an accountability unlike any other, not only to the American people, but to the members of this body.
unidentified
So you obviously, as the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, had sway, some persuasive power over some of these other members.
But we just heard the names of those.
You know, this is not going to go Kevin McCarthy's way yet.
And we're going to wait for this next round of voting to get underway.
But he's at 214 right now and he needs to be 216, 217, 218, somewhere in there.
And you still have Eli Crane, Rosendale, Boebert and Gates.
Voting against.
Which of those individuals do you think might peel off and change their mind today or tomorrow or the next day?
scott perry
Well look, I'm not going to speak for them other than to say they are my friends, they are patriots, and their cause is just.
But I will say this, we have a framework of an agreement that we have gotten to in good faith, myself included.
When you get what you ask for, then you should say yes.
If there's something that's missing, that can get them to the point of agreement.
If there's something that concerns them, we want to hear about it, I want to hear about it.
unidentified
What do you think that could be?
I mean, what do you think the sticking points are with these individuals at this point?
Because they seem very dug in.
scott perry
Yeah, I think one of the problems is that, unfortunately, there's a trust issue here.
And the arrangement that we've kind of come to, the framework, is one that kind of doesn't rely on trust as much as in the past.
We shouldn't be reliant on the trust in one person here to get things done for the American people.
And so, that's the framework that's set up.
If it's not enough for them, I get it.
So let's find out what is.
I don't know individually what their issues are, but you can bet that I'm going to ask.
unidentified
Okay, so are you having conversations with these individuals?
And do you believe that when this process is over, Kevin McCarthy will be the speaker?
scott perry
Well, it sure looks like he's headed that way right now, again, based on the framework and good faith.
That's what works for me.
Look, Martha, if this framework gets blown up, I'm out.
I've got to start over again.
But that's what works for me.
But every individual is different.
Their districts are different.
Their concerns are different.
Their constituents' concerns are different.
And so I respect that.
I'm absolutely talking to them.
I've been talking to them.
But as you can see, Once the dam breaks and you start getting what you're asking for on behalf of your country, then it works.
I will tell you this, having been in every bit of the negotiations, not one of these individuals has asked for anything for themselves.
steve bannon
Okay, welcome back.
I just want to make sure, and I'm gonna bring Mike Davis and I got John Fredrickson, because he says right there, and of course they tweeted it out, That if the framework falls apart, I'm out.
And we've got a framework.
I'm kind of confused.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for General Scott Perry.
He's a good man.
He's a tough man.
But I'm missing the point.
And by the way, what they are doing is historical as far as people have been fighting this for 20, 25 years, longer.
I'm just having, you know, Goldman Sachs and other places made my professional life built around negotiation, particularly tough negotiations.
I'm missing the point where you lose your leverage unless you have a solid deal that you can hand to somebody and let the media see it and let your constituents see it.
I see the buckets and I see the verticals on spending and the debt ceiling and the rules and the process and the regular order and also the investigations.
The church committee, if you take those as the three buckets inside there, you got, you know, a border plan for Texas and you got, you know, guys going to vote on term limits.
It's all great.
It's all great.
I just don't know, when you're dealing with the cartel, you're dealing with guys that have no hesitation to play smash mouth immediately, as you're seeing behind, what's happening behind closed doors.
That's why, and by the way, just tweeting out, reporting out, somebody asked Eli Crane, You know, a Navy SEAL with a couple of combat tours, and you know, I know Eli very well.
Eli's got that thousand-yard stare on you.
Eli Crane, one of the McCarthy holdouts, told Kate Sullivan he has not swayed and will not vote for McCarthy for Speaker.
Quote, I'm representing my constituents back home, he told CNN, in my district.
They don't support Kevin McCarthy.
End quote.
Mike Davis, I'll go to you first.
Are you more comfortable with hearing Scott Perry, the head of the Freedom Caucus?
And right now, you know, a lot of people are saying they've given up too much.
You've got these radicals and extremists.
Can this deal, this historic deal, for that part of it, the guys that are saying, I can live with McCarthy, there's certain guys that can't, and they're not going to change that, the head of the cartel.
Do you feel comfortable?
Being a lawyer, and knowing how this town works, and knowing how the cartel works, that they really even have a deal.
Sir.
mike davis
Not at all.
Not at all.
So, Kevin McCarthy needs to write a letter saying that if he does not whip the votes necessary to pass this negotiated rules package, when he becomes the Speaker, he needs to resign.
He needs to stick by it.
That would be the only way these House Republicans would have any assurance that this negotiated rules package is going to get through.
Remember, Kevin McCarthy has 216 votes right now, once Buck gets back into the House.
So there's 216 votes.
434 members in the House because there's one Democrat vacancy.
If one Democrat does not show up tonight, they only need to get 217 votes for Kevin McCarthy.
So out of these six holdouts, Biggs, Boebert, Crane, Gates, Good, Rosendale, Kevin McCarthy will only have to pick off one of them if a Democrat does not show up tonight.
I think that's the play.
I think that's what Kevin McCarthy is going to do.
And then this negotiated rules deal.
Do you think that Kevin McCarthy is going to lift a finger as the Speaker of the House to get this pushed through?
Hell no.
Why would he?
Why would he lift it?
Once he gets the gavel, he's already moved into the office.
So once he gets the gavel and becomes the speaker, which is what all he wants at all costs, he doesn't have a conservative bone in his body, his only guiding principle is Kevin McCarthy.
He's going to get into that office, this negotiated rules package, oh shucks, it went down, you know, there are too many Republicans joined with Democrats and voted it down.
There's no chance in hell this is going to get passed.
steve bannon
John Fredericks, let me bring you in.
Do you feel any comfort, given this historic package, that this is the way to go?
Or can you trust the cartel?
john fredericks
Steve, when you were an executive at Goldman Sachs, if one of your lieutenants brought you this deal, you would have gone to your office, got a paper box, put it in his office, called security, fired him, and tell him he had 15 minutes to vacate and two weeks severance.
This deal, this is swap scum.
Historic this, historic that.
I mean, Mike Davis nailed it.
He doesn't have to do anything.
This is three-card Monty Schell game.
I've got this signed, I've got this deal, we're going to vacate after one.
That vacate rule has been in for 200 years.
Has anybody ever vacated it?
You get the same votes.
Now here's what they're going to do.
And Mike, you're absolutely correct.
He's got 214 votes now, right?
He needs to get to it with With a 434 to 217.
He's three short.
He's not gonna get the three from the six.
So what do they do?
They call a vote at midnight.
It's like the midnight monster mash.
Everybody goes up.
All they need is a handful of Democrats to say, hey, I had a sick daughter, hey, I had a plan at home, my son's getting married, I gotta go, on an airplane, they vacate, they're not voting for McCarthy, but hey, they gotta go.
So they plan a thing at midnight when people go on planes and leave.
This is what the swamp does.
This has gotta be one of the most despicable things.
Just let me ask you, what was the point of these brilliant speeches we heard on the floor all week?
Oh, Chip Roy, let's do cold open.
You did it, I did it, both of us.
We did it.
We heralded him.
He caved, right?
What do we get for this?
We got absolutely nothing.
Because you and Mike Davis have nailed it.
And your instincts, Steve, are spot on here.
You would have fired this guy at Goldman Sachs if he came with this deal.
Here's what basically they're saying, right?
We're going to give everything.
We're going to give McCarthy the Speaker.
And then we're going to hope that he actually does something.
Nothing is going to change here.
It's all going to be the same.
Because the minute he has that gavel, he doesn't care what anybody says.
And when you talk about whipping votes, I mean, he's got to have his leadership team in place to whip votes for something he doesn't want that's not in his best interest.
So why would he do that?
Look, when it comes to shove, and they need to pass this continuing resolution, or whatever else it is they have to do, they're going to get 190 Democrats to vote their way.
steve bannon
and ninety democrats to vote their way it's as simple as it's as simple as that Steve. I want to go Mike the point you made a point that this historic package it was ever come to fruition it the central thesis that the the idea behind the deal is that they don't trust the guy that's going to be speaker they don't They don't trust the Imperial Speaker anyway, but particularly this guy.
And by the way, they did use motion to vacate to get rid of Boehner.
Mark Meadows did pull that off back in, I think, 15, right?
Started August, ended right after the Pope came.
The whole package is because you don't trust the guy on every aspect from debt ceiling to the investigations to the rules package.
Why then would you, in still negotiating it, give him your vote, sir?
mike davis
Because they're getting tired.
They want to go home.
It's Friday.
I just hope these six Republicans hold the line, but here's the problem.
If they can get, again, if they can get three Democrats to not vote tonight, you're down to 431, because there's 434 right now, that you're down to 431, you only need 216 votes.
And so I think that that's, that's, that's the play.
They're going to, they're going to have three Democrats who, I mean, just imagine what Kevin McCarthy had to, what kind of a deal he had to cut with Hakeem Jeffries and house Democrats to get three Democrats to stay home tonight so we can get his 216 votes.
He doesn't need these six Republicans anymore and he can become the house.
steve bannon
John Fredericks, is that your line of thinking, sir?
john fredericks
Well, exactly.
I mean, obviously he cut a deal with Hakeem Jeffries.
But what they're going to do is simply not show up.
So they're going to vacate to lower his number.
Andy Biggs told us that was his strategy at 7 a.m.
on Monday.
This has always been the plan.
He says, oh, he hasn't met with Hakeem Jeffries.
You don't know what these guys are doing behind closed doors.
So Hakeem gives them the wink, four or five, however many they need will not show up.
So they don't have to go on record and say, hey, we voted for the Republican, we voted for McCarthy.
No, all they have to do is leave.
This is why it's done at midnight.
Why isn't it done?
Why?
Why wasn't it done right now, live at five o'clock?
Why are they waiting until ten?
Right.
So you don't get to vote till midnight when no one's there.
And then you wake up and he's speaker and then the whole thing changes.
The swap in action is what you're seeing.
And my point is this.
If you don't trust the guy that's signing your documents, and there's no apparatus to get him to implement anything, what is the point of this?
What was the point of this whole week?
If we're just going to cave, this is the swap in action.
And I tell you.
You guys have no idea what the backlash is going to be.
You know it, Mike David.
Those people out there, you have no idea how this base of ours, our populist movement, Steve, is riled up.
You're able to see it on your own chat every day.
People are fired up.
They got sold out.
They're about to get sold out again.
But look, we got six people voting no.
Let's see what happens.
steve bannon
Okay, hang on for a second.
We're going to take a short commercial break.
I've got Mike Davis and John Fredericks with one more short, tight, intense segment.
Stick around.
We'll be back in a moment.
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The new social media taking on big tech Protecting free speech I'm out.
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steve bannon
Okay, welcome back.
I've got Mike Davis and John Furtick.
Mike, what would be your recommendation?
You've got hard six.
They're going to be playing games all night.
They're going to come back.
They're going to be in the, they're going to be hunted for sport now, right?
What would be your recommendation to these Patriots that have toughed it out?
mike davis
I would say hold the line.
Why do we need Kevin McCarthy as Speaker?
If he's going to be this constrained?
Let's say this negotiated rules package actually works, which it won't, but let's say it does.
Why Kevin McCarthy?
What is the argument for Kevin McCarthy?
He's not conservative.
He doesn't have a conservative bone in his body.
His only guiding principle is Kevin McCarthy.
He does big text bidding.
He takes their money, he does their bidding.
Jeff Miller, his top lobbyist, takes millions of dollars from Apple and Amazon.
He's been in leadership, Kevin McCarthy's been in leadership for what, 13 years?
What has he accomplished?
What has he done?
I mean, it's just like a war of attrition here.
He's the last man standing.
He thinks he should be speaker because he's entitled to be speaker because he wants to be speaker.
It just doesn't make sense.
Why can't we use this opportunity when we actually—this is the only house in D.C.
that Republicans control.
Democrats control the White House.
They control the Senate.
This is the opposition to Biden and Democrats.
Why do we want Kevin McCarthy as the head of our opposition?
unidentified
Why couldn't it go to someone else?
steve bannon
What would be your recommendation to Scott Perry and those guys if this thing crept sideways?
What are they going to do?
Is it going to be too late after you vote for a guy?
Are you going to put a motion—they're going to jump back in and put a motion to vacate in right away?
I mean, I admire Chip Roy and what these guys have accomplished, but it's not a deal yet.
That's the difference.
It's not a deal yet.
You're in the process of making a deal.
You don't give up your leverage until you have the deal.
And you're going to see this in the debt ceiling.
This is why we get so many tough negotiations coming up on the debt ceiling, on the appropriations package.
I noticed also, Mike, before I let you go, that in all the verticals and everything they talked about, the taking apart of the big tech oligarchs was missing there.
Did I miss something?
Did I not read it right?
I kind of sped read through all the different things.
Did I miss that part?
Was that in there?
mike davis
No, and that's exactly why I've been the biggest pain in Kevin McCarthy's butt, because he is Big Tech's biggest champion in the house.
Kevin McCarthy's number one, Jim Jordan's number two, and if Kevin McCarthy is the Speaker of the House, you can kiss goodbye any chance to hold Big Tech accountable.
Going to censor, silence, de-platform, cancel.
They may do what to Twitter what Google, Apple, and Amazon did to Parler, which is kick it out of the App Store duopoly for not doing enough censorship and then kick it off the internet.
This is a very, very bad move for House Republicans and big tech is probably my biggest concern.
steve bannon
Mike, how do people get to you?
You're coming in a little hot on Twitter.
You're coming pretty hot on Getter.
How do people get to you?
mike davis
article3project.org, article3project.org, at article3project, at article3project, and my personal is mrddmia, at mrddmia, and Kevin McCarthy can mail his invitation to my Twitter account.
steve bannon
Thank you, sir.
Appreciate it, Mike Davis.
John Fredericks, your recommendation to the hard six tonight?
You've got Eli Crane just came up and said, hey, I talked to my constituents.
I have their back.
They have mine.
I'm a no.
You heard Rosendale.
What is your recommendation?
How we go forward?
john fredericks
Vote no.
Let the Democrats elect them.
Simple as that.
He will never live down for this, whatever term he's got a speaker, if he's successful tonight, in the dark of night when the cockroaches come out.
He will always be remembered as a Republican speaker that got elected because Democrats vacated.
He will always be the guy that got elected by the Democrats.
And then as soon as everything falls apart and he does nothing, right, he's going to go to the Democrats and he's going to get hundreds of votes from them to get past whatever spending bill they want.
You know what's going to happen in September.
There's going to be another continuing resolution, going to kick the can down the road.
There's going to be another omnibus bill.
He's got enough Democrats to go with him.
There's going to be no change.
All this happy talk about, oh, we got this historic bill done.
There's going to be rules changes.
There's not a damn thing that's going to change in there if this guy wins, because he's done nothing for 14 years but collaborate with the Communists, the Quizzlings, and the Democrats.
All of a sudden, he's going to, like, stand up for something.
What, he found religion today at 4 o'clock?
You've got to be kidding me.
This has got to be the worst deal that I've ever seen.
But you know why he stayed in, Steve?
You know why he went through the humiliation of 13 votes?
Because he knew they'd cave.
You know why?
Because that's all we do is cave.
So once again, we caved again, just like we've done for the last two decades.
The end of the day, we cape.
And he just said, you know what?
If I can get Fox News, the Washington Examiner, all the fake conservative inks, if I can just get them to put enough pressure by getting the phone calls made, if I can ambush them on Hannity, you know, I can wear them down.
They're not gonna want the heat.
They're gonna cave and I'll get to be speaker.
And then my stopgap plan is go to Hakeem in the bathroom, cut a deal with him, do it at midnight, get six or seven.
Democrats say they have to leave, throw their hands up.
That's the plan.
It's despicable.
steve bannon
By the way, I think the donor pressure, some of the institutional pressure on these 14 was incredible.
And they told him, hey, if you don't do this, you're gone.
So I think you're absolutely correct.
And by the way, for a guy you don't trust and you're making a deal that he's hermetically sealed, why do you walk away from the leverage you got until you've actually got the deal that is a historic deal?
John Fredericks, you are on fire.
You're lit, brother.
How do people follow you?
Where do they go?
john fredericks
At JF Radio Show, it's so simple.
I got one handle, all the platforms, at JF Radio Show.
Let's just get off politics for a second.
My Titans are playing tomorrow in Jacksonville.
Win or go home, baby.
Win or play golf.
7-15.
Titans are going to win this game tomorrow.
Get a home playoff game, Steve.
I can feel it in my bones.
steve bannon
Real quickly, what time is your...
What time is your sports book show?
When does that come on?
What time tomorrow morning?
john fredericks
8.30 a.m.
tomorrow.
You don't want to miss that.
We're going to be fired up 8.30 to 10 on the John Fredericks Radio Network.
Hey, I'm going to soon get R.A.V.
I'm going to talk Rob Sagan to pick it up because it's hot.
Steve Bannon, always good to have you.
You're our leader, Steve.
You're our leader.
And I want to thank you for what you do.
You're all leadership.
steve bannon
I'm just another Schmendrick.
Fredericks, let's get that spork spork right.
You never know when you're going to need it.
You never know when you need an anchor to windward there, brother.
Thank you so much.
You've been great.
OK, we've got another hour of this.
We're going to go.
Actually, Pedro Gonzalez is going to join us.
Darren Beatty is going to join us.
Maybe track down a couple of three of these congressmen before the 10 o'clock.
Back in a moment.
unidentified
We rejoice when there's no more.
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