Steve Bannon and Elon Musk are locked in a war of words over immigration and the H-1B visa program, and it s shaping up to be one of the most important political fights of 2020. Guest: Political analyst and former Lincoln Project adviser Stuart Stevens.
00:19:38.020You can drink this the old-fashioned way, black, just like we do on destroyers, right, when you're in the North Arabian Sea of the Persian Gulf.
00:19:45.500I'll give you my Jimmy Carter story, right?
00:20:11.320They had to get there because the carrier battle groups around Korea had immediately gone to the Middle East, which the Navy was not used to.
00:20:19.240You know, it wasn't really our—the British really controlled that.
00:20:22.640So we went over there, and this is President Carter.
00:20:25.840This was the hostage crisis, and we'd had a workup for months and months and months every day doing the exercises with the helicopters.
00:20:32.820And you could kind of tell—I don't know if this thing's going to work because Iran, when you're there, looks like the mountains of the moon.
00:21:05.300But one thing I did realize then, I'm not so sure what real information gets up all the way to the commander-in-chief and to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to the Situation Room.
00:21:17.280It was a great learning experience for me later when I was in those spots because you just don't know.
00:21:24.600So, like in Syria, when they tell you, oh, yeah, use chemical weapons.
00:21:59.840Think back in those times, what is it, 40 years ago?
00:22:02.040And think where this country is today and the people that sacrificed for the Gulf War, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Section 60 over at Arlington National Cemetery, where our honored dead that gave the ultimate sacrifice for this republic.
00:23:11.600I'll just add a little bit of data to the point you were making.
00:23:14.720You know, you were talking about how, like, we shouldn't be distinguishing between illegal and legal immigration.
00:23:19.080First of all, when I was traveling for my book, Second Class, around the country, interviewing hundreds of working class people from both parties, they totally agree with you.
00:23:27.800They want a full moratorium on immigration, legal and illegal.
00:23:31.640When you hear somebody saying, oh, we can only control illegal immigration, but we should be expanding legal immigration, this is rhino talk.
00:23:39.520This is the kind of thing that Democrats and Republicans are already trying to come together again over in order to expand immigration.
00:23:48.340The problem is, is that legal immigration also reduces wages because labor, like everything else, adheres to the ironclad law of supply and demand.
00:23:58.440The more you have of something, the cheaper it is.
00:24:01.520And so you are completely correct that the thing we should be doing is asking for a total moratorium on immigration.
00:24:07.520If you take the graph of working class wages since the 70s, which was the high watermark, right, when they started to go like this, and you compare it to the graph of immigration, they're like this.
00:24:20.500They are a complete X because the more immigrants, the less wages native born Americans of all races, as you always point out, Mr. Bannon, can ask for.
00:24:30.220And I'll just make one more point on this, which is that the share of the United States population right now that is foreign born is 15 percent, which is the highest it has ever been in the history of this nation.
00:24:42.820The last time it came this close at 14 percent was the Gilded Age, a time characterized by inequality.
00:24:52.700And 1971, the share of the population that was foreign born at that high watermark for working class wages, 4 percent.
00:25:00.220So I think that you are spot on, Mr. Bannon, as always.
00:25:06.420Bantia, where people get your writings, where you're writing today, and, of course, your books and podcasts, all your content.
00:25:12.800You've got a big fan base here in the war room.
00:25:16.140I'm on Twitter, although who knows how much longer my account will be active there.
00:25:22.360Like many of us, I think we're seeing the writing on the walls of a new censorship regime from the so-called, you know, free speech person, Mr. Elon Musk.
00:28:29.360And Grace will be putting it up on Twitter the rest of the day and through tomorrow on New Year's Day.
00:28:35.380Joining us now is Congresswoman Victoria Sparks from Indiana.
00:28:41.400Congressman, you were on the show a couple of times in the big fights of last year.
00:28:46.200You made a decision a while ago to say, hey, look, if this thing is going to be like it is and we're not going to really make any changes, the appropriation bill is not going to get done.
00:28:56.240I'm going to go spend time with my family.
00:28:57.760And then you made a decision, hey, I think I need to be back.
00:29:01.720And clearly the people in your district love you and want you to be back.
00:29:05.180As you're here now getting ready for this, was it the right decision?
00:29:10.100Well, I think, you know, I always look at things and I said, you know what, everything is in the hands of God.
00:29:16.720And I, you know, I grew up under Marxism, in a very tough environment and have enormous appreciation for freedoms.
00:29:23.920And unfortunately, I have to fight my own party.
00:29:27.040And I've done it from Tea Party time because my party is betraying the American people.
00:29:31.920And if we do that, Marxists are going to win.
00:29:34.160So I spent a lot of time in the trenches and I said, oh, my gosh, it's insanity.
00:29:40.520I need to spend maybe more time and get my sanity back.
00:29:44.120But a lot of people in my district were upset and I felt like, you know what, Republicans are failing again and I'll just let people and God decide.
00:30:00.160Now I cannot fail and I have to make sure that Republicans are going to deliver on the promises and that, you know, that we've done and help President Trump to actually have these laws in the code because we thought that's happened.
00:30:13.780When we didn't do it, having majority in 2016, as soon as he was gone, everything was short-lived.
00:30:20.060And Congress became broken and corrupted his institution.
00:30:50.000Well, unfortunately, we need to, like, teach people what about really constitutions about.
00:30:55.540And there are a lot of people that are willing to put their life on the line and freedoms, people like you.
00:31:00.140And a lot of Americans don't realize how many Americans sacrificed for us to have this freedom where we don't have political elites and people on top telling us what to do.
00:31:35.480When we get this agency to the table, including agencies like FBI or DOJs that have been oppressive and say, you know what, you're going to lose your money.
00:31:43.840You have to justify and tell us what in the hell are you doing with people's money.
00:32:48.080He was making deals with Schumer, suspended the rules.
00:32:51.540And then after the rule suspensions, you know, he was making deal with them and have his hundred soldiers that will rub a stamp anything for him and pretty much let Democrats run the show for the last two years, except post office bills.
00:33:07.580It's like Democrats were making fun of us, you know, and it's really sad reality.
00:33:11.720So he doesn't have any trust that I don't trust him that he's going to deliver.
00:33:15.960But I think he needs to on these constitutional duties.
00:33:19.260I don't ask him to do anything beyond what the Constitution requires Congress to do to actually go in front of the American people and said how he's going to be delivering on President Trump agenda to make sure that it has lasting effects, to make sure we're going to eliminate fraud, abuse and corruption and oppression of people.
00:33:36.880And it's all, Steve, about the money if we don't deal with money, it's everything else doesn't matter.
00:33:44.520We had a discussion, but I don't trust he's going to do it.
00:33:47.480So I think he needs to publicly say what he's going to do it.
00:33:50.740And if he's not willing to do it, then he doesn't have courage and he will not do it because he has so many people in the swamp putting pressure and he folded to them every time.
00:34:00.880For the last year, he's been a speaker every time he folded to the swamp.
00:34:06.340So suddenly he's not going to be this warrior and fighter.
00:34:09.880But if he's not willing to do it, then he shouldn't be a speaker.
00:34:12.800But if he says that he's going to do it, he needs to be transparent with the people.
00:34:18.680Okay, so you're saying, hey, I've dealt with this guy enough.
00:34:21.340What he says in the room, and I've heard this from so many people, what he says in the room is not what actually happens.
00:34:26.180You get caught by surprise, like the 1,500-page document with the $300 billion increase over the CR plus a pay raise that I know you didn't want, a surprise pay raise.
00:34:36.600So you're saying, hey, I don't trust you, but if you come out publicly and do these following things and state it publicly and show us a plan that you'll stick to, I can be convinced.
00:34:46.560If he does not come out with that plan, right, if he doesn't feel comfortable or for whatever reason he doesn't come out with that plan,
00:34:53.740given that President Trump and Elon Musk now have both said they have his backing,
00:34:58.280where is Congressman Victoria Sparks on the afternoon of 3 January in the year of our Lord 2025?
00:35:06.860Well, listen, and I understand the concerns that President Trump and Elon have.
00:35:12.300You know, I understand that they want to make sure that things go smoothly in January 12th, January 6th, January 20th is going to happen.
00:35:19.420I get it, and it will happen, you know, but we need to make sure that we have lasting effects and also we'll have a leader who'll help them to deliver.
00:35:27.500So the challenges will also change in the rules.
00:35:31.320So, you know, they're pushing, speaker pushing to change the rules where it will take, I mean, minimum it will be nine people to vacate the speaker.
00:35:38.160So after the speaker is done, if he doesn't commit before it, there's going to be no accountability.
00:35:42.320Unfortunately, you might find two or three people willing to die on a hill, very hard to find nine people there.
00:35:48.800So it's very likely that whoever's going to be the speaker is going to be speaker for the next two years.
00:35:54.840In two years, if we don't deliver, we're probably going to lose majority because people will be pissed off at us.
00:35:59.980So I think this is going to be very important that we have the speaker that is committed to, committed to deliver an agenda and actually add the plan.
00:36:06.980And if speaker is not willing to do it and doesn't have a courage and to actually govern our branch and deliver on promises, you know, I cannot deliver for the people that elected me.
00:36:16.160I, you know, I was elected, but people that grassroots people, Trump support, MAGA people, conservatives, that I said, I will go and take this hill for you.
00:36:25.880So my responsibility is the people I represent in the Constitution.
00:36:29.140If I don't have the speakers willing to do it, I cannot vote for him and I will not vote for him.
00:36:33.620What is, last question, because I know you've got to bounce.
00:36:39.440What is the one, of everything that's coming at us, from the third, kinetic part of the Third World War to the 15 million illegal aliens we've got to get out of here, the H-1B visas, the debt at $37 trillion.
00:36:52.160What is the one problem you would tell the American people that, given your knowledge of the inside, that keeps you up at night?
00:37:00.500This has become destructive for our country.
00:37:02.880We're destroying the health, productivity of our nation.
00:37:05.840We're really killing American people between bad food and, you know, bad medicine that is really right now with subsidizing oligopolies, bankrupting people, bankrupting the country, you know, hyperinflation of price and the outcomes are going down.
00:37:19.700We need to be a healthy, productive nation.
00:37:21.740We need to treat people, but also not just to provide value, good quality of life, have a productive society.
00:37:28.060We're spending so much money on this, subsidizing, and people are not getting healthier.
00:37:32.840So we need to have a healthy population.
00:37:35.060And it's truly the biggest corruption in Washington, D.C., oligopolies on health care.
00:37:41.900And they pretty much bought the Senate, and a lot of people are afraid of them.
00:37:45.600So I think health care is one of the biggest issues.
00:37:47.880If we resolve, we will have a lot of great things happen in our society and make our population more productive, better workforce, healthier workforce, and better future for our country.
00:38:00.860Congressman, people want to follow you particularly over the next 72 hours.
00:38:04.480Where do they go on social media and your website so they can keep up with all your latest thinking?
00:38:09.680Well, I think we'll do it on access, rep, S-P-A-R-T-Z, rep, SPARTS.
00:38:14.500And I try to keep posted as much as I can.
00:38:17.560And, you know, I'm very transparent, and I'll tell how it is.
00:39:52.160Look, this story, I wonder if Denver would very kindly pull up the article that I have here.
00:39:57.440There's some headlines going around to say that Putin and Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister,
00:40:04.740have rejected Trump's peace proposals for Ukraine.
00:40:09.500And I just wanted to come in and weigh on this and suggest, look, I think that the press is somewhat overselling this.
00:40:16.160I think this is more noise rather than signal for a whole number of reasons.
00:40:21.480But essentially, there's no proposals that Donald Trump can either formally or informally make at this point because it's not being inaugurated.
00:40:29.700If you remember back in 2016, this was precisely the issue they got formally.
00:40:34.500This is the issue that they got General Flynn over with regards to the Hogan Act.
00:40:48.680Those guys said we're not going to consider it.
00:40:50.100Is there a deal there, regardless of the timing when President Trump, is there a deal there without a security force made up of NATO and British troops, to your thinking?
00:41:01.720I think all sides, Steve, want now at this point to resolve this.
00:43:27.760We're going to have you back on Thursday or Friday, but I wanted to get you in before the stroke of midnight in 2024 to be our last guest, sir.
00:43:36.580Always good to be in the war room with you.
00:43:38.900You know, I've been highly skeptical of Elon for a long time.
00:43:42.160And, you know, this free enterprise, free trade, normalizing this globalization and the visas is just another great example.
00:43:50.680You know, we're going to create a workaround for the illegal immigration crisis that we face the last I don't know how many generations of American politics by saying we need these people.
00:44:00.780And it's really an insult to the American people.
00:44:03.260We need these people because you Americans aren't smart enough to do these jobs.
00:44:07.360And like you've said before, many people have come on and reiterated there's no evidence for it whatsoever.
00:44:12.120There are Americans that either are skilled enough, have the aptitude, or can certainly be taught to do these jobs.
00:44:18.760And even more so than this, you know, the visas are the issue.
00:44:23.520But the visas are a sort of canary in the coal mine for, you know, America First or MAGA becoming this sort of slogan to be slapped on the next agenda of status quo.
00:44:34.580And we can't let it happen. We're not going to let it happen, like you said, over our dead body.
00:44:38.400And I'm right there backing you 100 percent.
00:44:40.720The MAGA movement, what's special about the MAGA movement is it's uniparty proof and it is status quo proof.
00:44:46.200We have to ensure that that continues to be the case because it's the last hill that we can die on as American citizenship.
00:44:52.660And American citizenship will die on that hill.
00:44:54.800So, you know, Elon and the big issue here is, and I said this exact right after Donald Trump won, the next fight over the horizon is technology.
00:45:05.180And when I said technology, I really meant Elon Musk, but I wasn't saying Elon Musk.
00:45:09.880But it's not just him. It's a mentality.
00:45:12.120It's a sort of cosmopolitan global, you know, globalist mentality that says we can talk about politics on the surface.
00:45:18.340But when push comes to shove, the unfettered technological advancement, you know, blind faith sort of without any real wisdom or protocol or, you know, competence in many regards,
00:45:32.260we're going to push and plow ahead with technology no matter what, whether it's America first, last.
00:45:37.420You know, technology kind of has its own special silo of consideration.
00:45:41.280And everybody should agree with it and go along with it because it's going to make everything more convenient.
00:45:47.700Convenience will be the death of freedom, and it will certainly be the death of American freedom.
00:45:51.820The visas are just a great example, and I'm glad we're having the fight right now.
00:45:57.440Amazing. Look forward to having you back on.
00:45:59.000Royce, where do people go to get all your content?
00:46:00.880I know you're putting stuff up and the show's on fire.
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