On this episode of The War Room with Stephen K. Kassam and Jason Miller, the co-hosts of the show and co-founders of the podcast, sit down with former White House Chief Strategist Steve K. Bannon to discuss his new book, Steve and the White House, and what it s like to work with President Donald Trump.
00:01:24.000You know, I've worked with Steve for, gosh, 11, nearly 12 years now, starting off at Breitbart's London Bureau, where I brought a couple of the guys over from the old Breitbart London Bureau to the National Pulse.
00:01:41.000And you're going to meet them in this hour.
00:01:44.000Jack Montgomery and Chris Tomlinson were over there with me, you know, really at the coalface of of Brexit and everything that we did there.
00:01:51.000And you look you look to today of what's going on over in Europe, what's going on in the United Kingdom.
00:01:57.000And it's it's everything that we were doing when we were young, when we were in our 20s, laying the groundwork for this stuff.
00:02:32.000I want you all to understand that because because when he's not doing and he won't tell you any of this himself.
00:02:38.000But when he's not doing this, you know, all day long, it's phone calls and meetings and understanding exactly what's going on and getting the historical context.
00:02:45.000And it's it's just about probably the second busiest job, the second hardest job that you can have in politics in America.
00:02:56.000And number one is being the president of the United States.
00:02:58.000Not if you're Joe Biden, of course, because you're not really the president of the United States.
00:03:03.000But this this audience, you know, the impact that you guys have, the way that you can change the minds of people just by lighting up their phones or going on the apps and hitting them up.
00:03:19.000You know, we never thought on day one, we never thought.
00:03:22.000But this is how this goes. Right. It's how it always goes.
00:03:25.000I think the original CPAC meeting back in the 60s or whenever it was, was about eight people, you know, around a dining room table just saying, what are we going to do?
00:03:35.000And when we started the show, you know, it was it was it was Steve, Jason and myself sitting sitting in a basement with a couple of microphones.
00:03:46.000And I had kind of jerry rigged all of this equipment over the walls to dampen the sound.
00:03:53.000You know, just taping it up there to try and to try and have a little air of professionalism about the production level of the podcast.
00:04:04.000And of course, Dan Fluitt, the original first original producer here, who's done this just amazing book.
00:04:09.000By the way, if you don't have it yet, I got one here up in front of me.
00:04:13.000Rebels, Rogues and Outlaws. Right. It's just an amazing piece of work.
00:04:19.000I think Dan would Dan would never forgive me if I didn't tell you just how much how much I enjoyed this.
00:04:26.000And I especially enjoy it because Dan pays hyper close attention to the things that really matter.
00:04:33.000And one of the things that really mattered was who who's number one in the book?
00:04:37.000That's Stephen K. Bannon, who's number two in the book, ladies and gentlemen.
00:04:40.000OK, just remember that. Just remember that.
00:04:44.000No, my favorite my favorite part of this is not the picture of me, although many people would assume that it's the quote that Dan pulled out here.
00:04:53.000Because we didn't you know, we didn't have anybody who's pictured in this book didn't have anything to do with what you know what he attributed to you.
00:05:00.000And he says at the beginning of this, he says, quote, I am not arguing with you.
00:05:36.000When Raheem when Raheem has that, I think my staff prefer it when I'm busy, when I'm on the road, when I'm giving speeches, when I'm out there doing the thing, because I don't get to scream and shout at them all day like I do usually.
00:05:49.000But Jack Montgomery, my deputy editor over at the National Pulse, let's bring him into the conversation here.
00:05:55.000Jack, I'm jumping around a lot because there's so much to cram into this.
00:06:00.000But I want to say I hope you had a very happy Christmas.
00:07:09.000Just some amazing images that Dan Flewett took over the course of years and years of building out the show and building out this operation.
00:07:13.000So, you know, I want the audience to understand just how hard-working everyone is in this environment.
00:07:19.000And a special shout out to the production team at The Real America's Voice and to Jack and to Cameron and to the Sigs, Rob and Parker and all of those guys.
00:07:28.600It's just it's just an amazing thing to be a part of.
00:07:31.220I do tend to get a little sappy and and nostalgic and all that over the over the holidays, over the Christmas break, especially Jack.
00:07:43.720But I always turn to you to talk me through the Christmas period.
00:07:48.700You are kind of a savant when it comes to these things.
00:07:51.140You've you've written about them so many times.
00:08:00.740Because it feels like today, you know, we really just have kind of the build up, the commercial build up to Christmas, all the adverts on television, all the music and the Mariah Carey's playing in the stores.
00:08:12.620And then after Christmas happens, everybody just kind of forgets about it, moves on to their New Year plans.
00:08:17.600But it doesn't and it shouldn't stop there.
00:08:19.760In fact, Jack, it starts there, right?
00:08:26.380Advent, the season leading up to Christmas, you know, originally was a period for fasting.
00:08:32.260You know, it was Christians were supposed to take it very seriously and, you know, almost approach it in a slightly doer way before the great celebration of the Nativity.
00:08:42.540But, you know, as people who are familiar with the poem will know, it was not only one day.
00:08:48.080Christmas Day is not just December 25th.
00:08:52.980And, you know, if any of your audience over there are Anglos, you know, people of English descent, the first North American colonists, it was Alfred the Great, the first king of England, a unified England.
00:09:07.460The Anglo-Saxons said that the 12 days of Christmas should be, you know, a long extended holiday, not just the one day, not just one celebration, but 12 days for reflection, for celebration on the faith and for family and for all of that.
00:09:23.240Now, you know, as you say, Raheem, we're at a bit of a stage where people are rushing almost straight away back into the secular world on December the 26th.
00:09:34.320Box, we call it Boxing Day in Britain.
00:09:36.860That's a tradition going back, you know, at least probably to the 1600s.
00:09:42.200The Feast of St. Stephen is the older and even deeper holiday associated with the 26th.
00:09:46.240But that was, now it's been sort of displaced by these Boxing Day sales, these post-Christmas sales, right back into the shops, right back into, you know, the commercial, the secular grind.
00:09:59.500You know, Boxing Day traditionally is the giving day.
00:10:03.400Now, we're not sure exactly where the name comes from.
00:10:05.600It may come from the practice of collecting alms from church poor boxes to give to the needy.
00:10:11.460It may come from the tradition of giving out Christmas boxes to tradesmen and people who would work in domestic service back in the day.
00:10:20.820I mean, you know, partly it would be a thank you or award for their hard work through the year.
00:10:25.620Partly it would be because many of them would have to work on Christmas Day, particularly if they were working for one of these great estates, these big families that had butlers and maidservants and what have you.
00:10:35.100But it's something that we can continue to practice today.
00:10:38.460It's a tradition that we can still draw on.
00:10:40.980Christmas Day is a day not only for giving, really, but for receiving, especially if maybe you're a child, if you're younger.
00:10:47.900Boxing Day is a day that's all about giving.
00:10:51.460You know, it's about considering, it's about being grateful for what you have and thinking about what you can give to others.
00:10:57.580Now, if you're in a position to do it, it's a holiday you might mark by doing the stereotypical evenings volunteering at the soup kitchen.
00:11:06.060You know, you can, if you have children, you can sit them around and you can say, let's make a small donation to a particular charity or cause, show them a few and let them pick one out that they like.
00:11:17.180And if they're mature enough for it, you can even give them the story of St. Stephen.
00:11:20.980Now, of course, you know, in America, the religious roots of America are largely dissident Protestant.
00:11:28.520So there's a certain leeriness, wariness when it comes to saints.
00:11:32.680But St. Stephen is a saint with really an impeccable pedigree.
00:11:35.960He's from the Bible, the New Testament, the Book of Acts.
00:11:40.180He's considered to be really the proto-martyr, the first martyr, killed, we think, around the year A.D. 36, you know, like within just a couple of years of the crucifixion of Christ.
00:11:52.100And he was dragged before the same religious council in Jerusalem as Christ, accused of blasphemy for preaching the gospel, as it then was.
00:12:12.520And in his dying moments, like Jesus on the cross, he said, essentially, you know, forgive them, do not forgive them for the sin, you know, do not charge them with it, Lord.
00:12:22.200So it's, you know, a time to really reflect on that sacrifice, that spirit of giving, that spirit of thinking for others, putting others first.
00:12:31.000Just one of the kind of, one of the most famous witnesses, the most famous witness to the death of St. Stephen was a man named Saul, who, of course, would go on to become St. Paul, one of the greatest of the apostles.
00:12:45.180And it really shows you, you know, from that early beginning, that small story, that small act of self-sacrifice in the Book of Acts, we got, you know, so much of the Christian faith as we have it today.
00:13:09.500We push them out every year, this time of year, and every day, a different one to go through and reflect on.
00:13:15.560Jack, I want you to hang over the break because we've got lots more to talk about, more to talk about in terms of the, all the days of Christmas.
00:13:23.080And I also want to talk to the audience a little bit about something I do every year, which is dry January.
00:13:29.240This will be, I think, my 11th year doing it.
00:13:32.540A lot of you are way better than me already, and you abstain from the horrific practice of, but listen, I live in Washington, D.C., okay?
00:13:39.880I need a little martini at the end of my day.
00:13:44.580Those of you who know me well know I have the tolerance for it, so don't worry.
00:13:48.520I'm not stumbling around all over the place up there in your nation's capital.
00:13:53.500But dry January, and I've done that now.
00:13:58.080Nigel got me interested in it, you know, a decade ago, and he doesn't do it anymore, by the way.
00:14:03.960So we might have to push him a little bit in that direction.
00:14:07.360He's got a sober couple of years ahead of him, I think, although he'll disagree with that.
00:14:12.780But, you know, it really is important to understand these things.
00:14:18.280Jack does an amazing job of putting them together.
00:14:20.540Make sure you follow him on social media as well.
00:14:23.600We'll make sure that he gives out all of his coordinates, but he's Jack B. Montgomery on X.
00:14:31.220So make sure you're following Jack B. Montgomery on X.
00:14:34.180And, of course, Will Upton there as well.
00:14:37.040That's W. Upton, Wopton on X, at the National Pulse, at the Nat Pulse on X, I should say.
00:14:44.980And, of course, make sure you're following all of the War Room accounts across Telegram and across the board.
00:16:34.300Suddenly you get to eat all the mince pies that are left over because, hey, you've got to get through them.
00:16:38.000You can't leave mince pies for the audience that doesn't know what a mince pie is.
00:16:43.760It's the real reason I have to do Dry January to shed some pounds over the course of January because I just consume my weight in those datey goodness pies.
00:17:01.280They're not beef pies, if that's what you're thinking.
00:17:05.220Although there is some history behind it that says that's how they originally started, but it's mince meat as in like dates and sultanas and all of that.
00:17:15.740And I eat just a metric ton of them over the Christmas period.
00:17:19.280So I know in January I've got to start hitting my 5Ks again, and that is no fun in the 12-degree January D.C. weather, believe me.
00:17:29.680But it does whip you back into shape very quickly.
00:17:32.680And do we ever have a reason to be in shape for this coming year?
00:17:37.520Everybody has to be shoulder to the wheel, eyes on target, locked in as President Trump retakes the Oval Office because I actually think that as much as the left down tools and were totally shocked and surprised by everything that went on on November the 5th and suing that, I also do think they're going to come back with a vengeance.
00:18:00.500I think they're going to be way more nasty than ever before.
00:18:04.020They're like a cornered and wounded animal now here.
00:18:08.700And, you know, you have to also remember there are hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars that rely, you know, lobbyists, lawyers, armies of these people, the bribes that they hand out on Capitol Hill, all of this stuff that are, you know, and it's the defense industry, it's the pharmaceutical lobby, it's all of this stuff.
00:18:27.440And it's all going, if you thought 16 through the pandemic and all of that was hard and a stitch up on many occasions, actually set to wreck the presidency, set to wreck the country, then I think you need to be prepared for double, triple, quadruple that level of effort this time around.
00:18:49.120You know, we have now we've got, you know, RFK going in there, you know, we've got Kash Patel going in there.
00:18:57.580This isn't this isn't like it was before, you know, we had Bill Barr and, you know, a couple of the other, you know, he had Rex Tillerson.
00:19:09.840This is if you didn't like 2016 and you didn't let us do it in 2020, you really ain't going to like what's coming next.
00:19:20.460But in the meantime, as we build up to January and we build up to Jan 6 and we build up to Jan 20th, and I know I'm going to see so many of you in Washington, D.C.
00:19:32.040I know so many of you coming in for the inauguration.
00:19:37.000We have more to reflect on with Jack Montgomery about the Advent period, about the 12 days of Christmas.
00:19:43.480And it's so very important in preparing us for the next year.
00:19:47.580So I want to bring Jack back into the conversation.
00:19:49.480Jack, I know there's a lot to cover and I know, you know, maybe we don't get to go into detail on every single one of these days and every single one of these feasts and what exactly they mean.
00:19:57.620But that's not the end of the world, because I want people to go to the National Pulse and read your writing on this and internalize it.
00:20:07.920But Jack, tell us about more of these important days, more of these more important occasions, commemorations, celebrations and reverence that we give out over the next couple of days.
00:20:20.380Well, I mentioned before the break, Boxing Day, the 26th.