Bannon's War Room - July 08, 2025


Episode 4617： Over 160 Missing In Texas; Trump's Tariffs


Episode Stats


Length

1 hour

Words per minute

165.56076

Word count

9,997

Sentence count

782

Harmful content

Hate speech

9

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Governor Rick Perry announces a special session of the Texas General Assembly to address the devastating floods that have devastated the Texas Hill Country in recent days. Governor Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. Lupe Valdez are joined by House Speaker Joe Straus and Senate President Pro Tem John Cornyn to discuss the devastating flooding that has devastated the area.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 I'm going to talk about two different things. The first part of your question, and that is
00:00:05.280 an investigation. We know a special session is coming in about 10 days. That's where I would
00:00:14.140 say where it begins. Candidly, those investigations will begin by both the House and Senate before
00:00:17.920 we go into session. So probably beginning later this week or the early part of next week,
00:00:22.760 those will be committees formed that are already kind of working on ideas about ways to address
00:00:27.080 Texas. Second part of the question needs to be addressed. You ask, I'm going to use your words.
00:00:33.080 Who's to blame? Know this. That's the word choice of losers. Let me explain one thing about Texas,
00:00:41.300 and that is Texas, every square inch of our state cares about football. You could be in Hunt, Texas,
00:00:50.060 Huntsville, Texas, Houston, Texas, any size community that care about football. High school,
00:00:55.500 Friday night lights, college football, or pro. And know this. Every football team makes mistakes.
00:01:03.660 The losing teams are the ones that try to point out who's to blame. The championship teams are the
00:01:09.620 ones that say, don't worry about it, man. We got this. We're going to make sure that we go score
00:01:14.260 again that we're going to win this game. The way winners talk is not to point fingers. They talk about
00:01:20.240 solutions. What Texas is all about is solutions. In fact, I want to read you something that I received
00:01:28.440 last night. That's worth emphasizing to put this in context.
00:01:34.520 Tragedy has come. That part is done. What we do now, who we are now, that's what the story
00:01:51.760 is still being written. Let it be one of grace, of grit, of fierce love in the face of grief.
00:02:00.440 Let it be the kind of story that proves that the hill country may flood, but it does not fail.
00:02:07.320 Say what you will about Texas, but when the rivers rise, so do we. Not with blame,
00:02:14.680 not with bitterness, but with boots on the ground, arms around strangers and hearts wide open.
00:02:22.160 That's the Texas I know, and that's the America that I believe in. What this person wrote is what I know
00:02:30.240 is true for all Texans and what we will achieve every single day.
00:02:34.480 Governor Burroughs, what kind of legislation do you hope to see come from this special session?
00:02:40.240 You know, part of the legislative process is policy is not made in a vacuum. We have ideas. I've served
00:02:50.720 on two investigatory committees out of the House before I was Speaker, both Uvalde and Panhandle
00:02:55.360 Wildfires. There are things and things that we can talk about, but it is too early to commit to know the
00:03:01.520 specifics until we actually talk to the members of the community and hear what they think, talk to the
00:03:07.360 experts in the field, talk to the first responders. That's what legislative hearings are for. We are
00:03:13.280 ready to get started. The legislators I talked to, the members of the House, and I know the Senate are
00:03:18.560 very interested in finding solutions to not accept that we can't do better, but we will have those
00:03:24.000 hearings. We will synthesize what we get, and we will come up with legislation that I believe will make
00:03:29.280 it to the governor's desk and make us a stronger, better, more resilient Texas.
00:03:32.800 Governor, what do you say to your families that say these solutions may be a little too late?
00:03:39.600 Well, so one thing that we're focused on is making sure that we deliver the right solutions. One thing the
00:03:48.080 Speaker just said is worth emphasizing, and that is that for us to provide real solutions, we actually
00:03:54.800 need to hear from the people who are the ones most affected. The ones most affected
00:03:59.840 they're dealing with the grievance of having lost a child, or lost a business, or otherwise have
00:04:08.000 their lives turned upside down. They don't have the capability right now providing that information.
00:04:13.920 We'll talk to local leaders, importantly not just here, but across the state, and we want to make
00:04:19.760 sure that we address what happened here, but at the same time we want to make sure that we are able to
00:04:23.840 implement measures that are going to be able to prevent loss in other regions going forward.
00:04:29.360 So we have our work cut out for us, but I know the members of the House, the members of the Senate,
00:04:33.120 I know we'll work and get some meaningful things done.
00:04:45.760 So again, my focus isn't on trying
00:05:00.400 I'm trying to say, oh, you did wrong, or you should have done better there. My job is to bring
00:05:05.760 Texas and Texans together and make sure that we immediately start delivering on solutions. You
00:05:10.960 talk about the heroic effort, and no one has seen the level of response as what Texas has provided
00:05:16.960 over the past four days or so. And we continue to maintain that response here while also
00:05:22.240 going to the state capitol and working on around-the-clock responses there to make sure that
00:05:27.040 we do deliver real solutions for these people sitting right behind you.
00:05:42.080 Sure. So what your question is about what local officials knew, you'd have to ask them. Now,
00:05:49.040 what the state was aware of, the state was aware that there was a possible serious flooding event,
00:05:56.320 days in advance, and we pre-positioned assets and resources and personnel. And remember,
00:06:01.920 the flood began on Friday morning. We originally positioned those assets, resources and personnel
00:06:06.880 on Wednesday. Then when greater clarity was discerned on Thursday, we moved them closer,
00:06:14.320 added and made sure that we had adequate supply going into Friday. So we were ready
00:06:21.760 with the resources on the ground to be able to quickly respond. Some people say, well, we responded
00:06:25.680 so fast. One reason we did respond fast is because we had assets here already. That said,
00:06:32.320 we didn't know the magnitude of the storm. We knew that there was a flash flood warning. And if you heard
00:06:39.040 a flash flood warning, no one would know that that would be a 30-foot high tsunami wall of water,
00:06:45.360 I don't think. But all I can tell you is what we, the information we had, the state had,
00:06:51.120 and that we acted on, was information that catalyzed us to begin putting assets and resources in place
00:06:57.200 two days before the event happened.
00:07:08.160 So this morning I gaveç­– Vert's .
00:07:13.920 Department of Department of Department of Department of Department of Department of Department of Department of Department of Department of Department,
00:07:28.000 and I did that already know how much that they have got to be placed in place.
00:07:30.960 Today, I was out with a team, about 180 of us,
00:07:34.960 um, exploring, uh, my parents, maybe, you know,
00:07:40.960 day morning. I'm a 28-year-old from here.
00:07:44.960 They were not left resorted.
00:07:48.960 I mean, they're here, they're here.
00:07:50.960 How to figure out how they're here was left to play up to each other.
00:07:54.960 And, unless you want to switch a meter and have a way to get it to school.
00:07:58.960 I don't know how many people still don't have water.
00:08:02.960 They don't have it.
00:08:04.960 I went out today, last night.
00:08:08.960 I spent about seven and a half hours doing the auto-form, basically.
00:08:11.960 I don't use social media.
00:08:13.960 A couple days ago, there was a vineyard.
00:08:15.960 No one would touch this.
00:08:16.960 It seems a little bit even clearer.
00:08:18.960 Um, I just, I was like, look, I don't use social media.
00:08:20.960 I'm going to pull this up.
00:08:21.960 I don't use social media.
00:08:22.960 I'm hooked up John in your head.
00:08:24.960 Within, within 10 minutes, we had 20 people and eight students.
00:08:29.960 It was going crazy.
00:08:30.960 Every, that whole thing here, over a hundred days, there was a genuine pair of free days.
00:08:34.960 God bless all the people that showed up.
00:08:36.960 We had people who were not certified, probably condone and breathe about 90% of the recovery I've taken. 0.74
00:08:46.960 We are so grateful for everyone that has been sent.
00:08:50.960 Look, we were strong.
00:08:51.960 We came together.
00:08:52.960 And all of a sudden, we got infiltrated with visitors.
00:08:56.960 We got infiltrated with news crews.
00:08:58.960 And we were told if we didn't have a certification, we wouldn't be here.
00:09:01.960 My only certification is that I've placed every summer, almost since 2017.
00:09:06.960 That's the end, I'd say, when I was on there and thought.
00:09:09.960 Yesterday, I was driving after about seven hours, making the code for resources to grow from my family.
00:09:15.960 And I was actually driving.
00:09:17.960 And some, maybe still walking out there, where it's gas, but I asked this thing.
00:09:23.960 I took them, and I asked what they were doing.
00:09:25.960 They said, I went down there, and they pretty much experienced and told me that things were so hollow.
00:09:30.960 They were just, several, several days, they completely wiped out.
00:09:34.960 This is so efficient.
00:09:36.960 And I can say to myself, I know they recovered.
00:09:40.960 They helped those families that now have answers because they were out there.
00:09:45.960 They said, ma'am, we're dying to bring on us.
00:09:47.960 I said, I got you late.
00:09:48.960 He started off to a couple of steps.
00:09:50.960 About five steps of us had come at 11 days.
00:09:53.960 We got burned and there was a smell.
00:09:56.960 He stopped.
00:09:57.960 He's raised in untouched land.
00:09:59.960 Completely untouched land.
00:10:01.960 It's basically 10 feet from road.
00:10:04.960 And as you said, these were 100 weeks.
00:10:07.960 They went back this last night.
00:10:08.960 I went out.
00:10:09.960 I worked for the night before the kid.
00:10:12.960 We found about the kid in the night.
00:10:15.960 So I took some volunteers.
00:10:17.960 We went out for two-hours last night.
00:10:20.960 We were here to stand for the weekend.
00:10:22.960 We had to show up at 8 a.m. today.
00:10:25.960 They were here to be boarded.
00:10:27.960 Myself, 28-year-old.
00:10:29.960 We just had a classroom in my city.
00:10:32.960 And people who came in there.
00:10:34.960 Chandra and pigs shoot with us.
00:10:36.960 We told them not to support you from out there.
00:10:38.960 I've made you with my first done sir drive a market
00:10:41.960 and me who taught you to.
00:10:42.960 We got authorized.
00:10:44.960 We have.
00:10:45.960 We already had.
00:10:46.960 An .
00:10:47.960 An extra measure out there.
00:10:48.960 Of 3, an affirmative executor.
00:10:50.960 We already had.
00:10:51.960 About damn 15 kids.
00:10:53.960 We had 1.0 aufs museum left into the road.
00:10:55.960 You were ready to go.
00:10:56.960 We are ready to go.
00:10:58.960 We are working hard.
00:11:00.960 In this category,
00:11:02.960 I had one person
00:11:04.960 on the machinery
00:11:06.960 that I was authorized
00:11:08.960 to provide
00:11:10.960 information
00:11:12.960 to provide
00:11:14.960 all the way
00:11:16.960 to the truth we got.
00:11:18.960 This area
00:11:20.960 is fantastic.
00:11:22.960 We have to
00:11:24.960 come in across the building.
00:11:26.960 We are also looking at a 60 foot
00:11:28.960 drop though.
00:11:30.960 It is pretty.
00:11:32.960 It takes a different angle
00:11:34.960 into the block.
00:11:36.960 It is hollow.
00:11:38.960 We had it ready.
00:11:40.960 We were working on it across the building.
00:11:42.960 They show up.
00:11:44.960 They are out of nowhere.
00:11:46.960 I am going to say
00:11:48.960 what they said.
00:11:50.960 I am not going to say what they said.
00:11:52.960 They said
00:11:54.960 to a very long-term agency
00:11:56.960 to get the F off.
00:11:58.960 I know nothing.
00:12:00.960 I know politics.
00:12:02.960 I don't have time to do it.
00:12:04.960 I have been working
00:12:06.960 15 hours shift.
00:12:08.960 I have been working
00:12:10.960 to the 60 floor the other day.
00:12:12.960 Seeing people never
00:12:14.960 come along the same way.
00:12:16.960 I am
00:12:18.960 I am
00:12:19.960 I am
00:12:21.960 I am
00:12:22.960 I am
00:12:24.960 I am
00:12:26.960 I am
00:12:28.960 I am
00:12:30.960 I am
00:12:32.960 I am
00:12:34.960 I am
00:12:54.960 Keep that sound up.
00:12:56.960 Um
00:12:57.960 He is getting
00:12:58.960 a
00:13:00.960 an absolute frontal assault.
00:13:02.960 a parent or something like that. The government is sitting there. I think we're going on seven
00:13:05.780 minutes. I know it's tough to hear, but we're going to cut back to it and just watch until
00:13:08.960 the government responds. You're in the war room.
00:13:32.960 We want to go back out here in the house and we'll travel like this.
00:13:49.960 Some people try to eat. I don't know why you're doing something.
00:13:56.960 We don't want people coming in getting paid to knock down our buildings that we knock
00:14:12.960 down our communities. The people who have been waiting for our construction for over
00:14:17.960 years. We'll do it for three months.
00:14:20.960 We don't need people being paid to do that.
00:14:26.960 Well, so if I could say this. Sure.
00:14:30.960 My question is, we're all very broken here.
00:14:37.960 We are the faculty of this community to really appreciate everything.
00:14:46.960 We're the faculty of this community. We just want to have justice.
00:14:53.960 We have control over the fact that it's black, y'all. We're a little nowhere. 1.00
00:15:03.960 No white, white. No white, white. No resources. We can't be on a field service. 0.60
00:15:09.960 It's black and white. We have no control. And part of our community, part of our recovery
00:15:15.960 is to stay strong and cut that control. We really, really want it. We appreciate that.
00:15:20.960 Okay. I'm going to stay with this. It's a member of the community and the governor is not answering.
00:15:25.960 I'm going to connect you with someone. Yeah.
00:15:39.960 Right. And I got the person for you. I'm going to give you her name, her number,
00:15:46.960 let you connect with her. But let me say this. You know, people talk about how strong Texas is.
00:15:53.960 People talk about how strong Texas is. It's because of people like you.
00:15:58.960 People who don't wait around for orders and instructions. Yeah. I started liking, not just you, but like you.
00:16:04.960 We saw the exact same response in Hurricane Harvey. People didn't wait for a boss to tell them what to do.
00:16:09.960 There was no time clock to check in or check out. They said they're getting out their own canoe, their own kayak,
00:16:15.960 and they're going to start helping neighbors before the sun rose up until after the sun set.
00:16:19.960 But all I wanted to let you know is the spirit that lies within your heart.
00:16:24.960 And use the word blood in your bloodstream. You have in your blood what Texas is all about.
00:16:30.960 And.
00:16:43.960 You're welcome. You're welcome. You can see it in here.
00:16:48.960 You want to go by.
00:16:53.960 This is a press conference that's kind of devolved into a, I think, some accusations or some personal thoughts.
00:17:11.960 It looks like somebody involved went on for about 10 or 12 minutes.
00:17:14.960 CNN and others cut away from it. We're following it. Let's cut back, please.
00:17:18.960 Okay. Don't need me, guys. Please keep the camera where it is.
00:17:22.960 Thank you.
00:17:24.960 There we go. There we go.
00:17:26.960 Hold on.
00:17:27.960 I think we got sound. Let's cut into it.
00:17:29.960 They're moving the camera.
00:17:31.960 Oh.
00:17:32.960 I'd rather have movement than looking at me.
00:17:35.960 Let's get over there and see if we can get sound.
00:17:40.960 Okay.
00:17:41.960 Folks, the biggest reveal today, and we got a packed show, but the biggest reveal, I think a few minutes ago, is that they have now said the missing is 161.
00:17:54.960 This was Ben Berkwam.
00:17:55.960 I got to give a hat tip to Ben Berkwam's question the other day.
00:17:58.960 How many are really missing?
00:17:59.960 Is it dozens?
00:18:00.960 And you haven't put a number up.
00:18:02.960 Is it dozens or hundreds?
00:18:04.960 Or hundreds?
00:18:05.960 And the guy, remember, answered a lot.
00:18:08.960 Didn't take the dozens.
00:18:09.960 And now you know why.
00:18:10.960 161.
00:18:11.960 They're also from morning's press conference.
00:18:13.960 There has not been a rescue of a living human being since Friday.
00:18:18.960 And I think he said Friday afternoon, which was, it hit at what, 4 o'clock in the morning or 3.30, 4 o'clock, 4.30 in the morning.
00:18:25.960 Governor Abbott looks like they may be praying over there.
00:18:28.960 He wheeled over after taking, it sounded like an onslaught of, I don't know if accusations or information or point of view from a woman in the crowd that sounds like she's either a victim or knows the victims or somehow is talking about the community.
00:18:46.960 And Governor Abbott eventually decided to go over and actually mingle with the crowd.
00:18:52.960 He's got the, the kind of head of the, of some of the leadership of the Texas department.
00:18:58.960 It looks like from this, there's a lot more involvement in the state.
00:19:03.960 I think taking control of it's going to be a recovery effort.
00:19:06.960 Looks like it had a lot more input from the state.
00:19:09.960 This was supposed to take place at 6 o'clock our time.
00:19:12.960 In fact, we had the whole show wrapped around doing that.
00:19:16.960 We're going to continue with this picture.
00:19:18.960 Let's bring in, let's bring in our, is Dave Brat with me?
00:19:21.960 Dave Brat joins me, my cohost for today for a little while.
00:19:26.960 Natalie's going to join me in a little while to take over the duty as cohost.
00:19:32.960 Dave Brat, your assessment, you're, you're, you were a professional politician.
00:19:35.960 How do you think Governor Abbott handled that?
00:19:37.960 Looked like an onslaught, sir.
00:19:39.960 Yeah, I mean, speaking as a politician, I went to seminary, you know, 30 years ago.
00:19:48.960 And, you know, there's a time for rational analysis that today's not that time.
00:19:53.960 It's the, it's the time for pastoral care and, and to love the folks and to listen and to be at the bedside.
00:20:01.960 And in the short term, I mean, the devastation is huge.
00:20:05.960 The families are torn apart.
00:20:07.960 The woman speaking was sharing her heart.
00:20:10.960 And so, you know, he was just listening and that's, you know, that's what you should do.
00:20:15.960 There's, there's plenty of time for analysis of all the public policy issues coming out.
00:20:19.960 It's, it's too bad.
00:20:20.960 It's too bad people are taking pot shots in the short run already immediately after this.
00:20:26.960 And, you know, people can make their analysis of who the fair players are, but it looked to me like he was just intently listening.
00:20:33.960 And it looks like he's got, you know, people of compassion around him praying afterwards.
00:20:38.960 And, you know, so that, that it's the toughest job in the world on a, on a day like that.
00:20:43.960 There's great days in politics when things are going great.
00:20:46.960 And then there's the toughest days in the world.
00:20:48.960 And he's in the middle of that.
00:20:51.960 One of the women in the crowd, or a reporter, I think, not a woman in the crowd, said, who is to blame?
00:20:56.960 And he said, look, we're not, we're not going to go there.
00:20:59.960 We're going to do a complete assessment later.
00:21:01.960 Now, now is the time to actually, there's the governor.
00:21:05.960 Let's go back to Governor Abbott.
00:21:08.960 Nim could best answer that. 0.99
00:21:10.960 Nim, when, when.
00:21:13.960 If you know that resources were deployed at hand in this month or the money, at what point do you need to be contacted?
00:21:22.960 Wednesday and Thursday before the Friday morning.
00:21:24.960 I can't answer the whys.
00:21:26.960 I'm not going to answer the whys.
00:21:27.960 You asked when we were in contact.
00:21:29.960 We started having calls and messages on Wednesday from an area of I-35, out I-10, all the way to where it touches I-20, all the way back over to where I-20 touches I-35 again.
00:21:39.960 That is a large chunk of Texas that was anywhere in the potential area of where this kind of rain could have fallen.
00:21:45.960 It picked this spot right here.
00:21:46.960 All right.
00:21:47.960 One more question.
00:21:48.960 Go ahead.
00:21:49.960 The man who's in charge of that assistance is Chief Nimkid.
00:22:00.960 She wants to know how long does it take to get assistance?
00:22:02.960 How long does it take to get assistance?
00:22:04.960 So the disaster recovery centers will be published in the morning of those locations.
00:22:12.960 They can go to those locations and start getting aid.
00:22:14.960 There are plenty of volunteers that are out there ready to offer aid right now in addition to the federal assistance.
00:22:19.960 But you're saying that those centers will be open tomorrow morning?
00:22:21.960 Yes, sir.
00:22:22.960 We have the addresses.
00:22:23.960 I need to confirm them and then we'll put them out.
00:22:24.960 They will be publicized.
00:22:26.960 They will be publicized.
00:22:27.960 Yes, ma'am.
00:22:28.960 Thank you all.
00:22:29.960 Thanks, everyone.
00:22:34.960 Okay.
00:22:35.960 Right there, the governor, and I don't think there's going to be a 6 o'clock press conference.
00:22:38.960 I think they just started early.
00:22:39.960 The governor stepping in and handling it today.
00:22:42.960 The big news, I think we're going to count here, but the big news is that they have announced a number that they haven't had before of missing of 161 folks still down in this area.
00:22:56.960 Do we have Augustus?
00:22:57.960 Is he up?
00:22:58.960 Let me go.
00:22:59.960 I've got Augustus DiRico, CEO of Rainmaker.
00:23:03.960 Augustus, can you walk through, because there's been some controversy about, you know, seeding and geoengineering.
00:23:09.960 Can you take a minute and walk through just what your company is, what it does, and what have you been doing for the state of Texas?
00:23:16.960 I take it by you've been retained.
00:23:18.960 I take it by localities, local governments, individual agriculture businesses to do something about the lack of rain down there.
00:23:29.960 Sure.
00:23:30.960 Yeah.
00:23:31.960 Well, thank you for having me on, for one.
00:23:34.960 My heart and prayers are with everybody affected in Texas and the entire state.
00:23:39.960 I'm going to be down there tomorrow trying to help as I can.
00:23:42.960 I run a company called Rainmaker that conducts cloud seeding to make it rain more for farms, for ecosystem restoration, for residential reservoirs when they're suffering from drought.
00:23:54.960 And we work with municipalities and farmers throughout Texas to, when there is a drought or there isn't enough water, make it rain more.
00:24:02.960 We unequivocally had nothing to do with the flooding that was caused by the remnants of the tropical storm that blew in.
00:24:10.960 And our biggest cloud seeding missions to date have only produced 10 million gallons of precipitation approximately.
00:24:17.960 And that tropical storm dumped about four trillion over the course of two days.
00:24:21.960 So the order of magnitude difference between what cloud seeding is even capable of and what happened is incomparable.
00:24:29.960 And again, I truly am heartbroken about what has happened, but want to make it abundantly clear that cloud seeding was not involved in any capacity.
00:24:41.960 And it's a technology that is used to help farmers when there isn't enough water.
00:24:46.960 Let me ask you, repeat that four trillion, you're saying four trillion gallons was dumped on the, on that time.
00:24:54.960 I think they said 10 inches in the, oh no, excuse me, the river rose 26 feet in 45 minutes.
00:25:00.960 I guess you're saying in the entire time of this storm that hit, there was over four trillion gallons of water that was dumped onto the locale?
00:25:09.960 Correct. Yeah.
00:25:11.960 And cloud seeding, you only do, is cloud seeding that small?
00:25:15.960 What is, what's the purpose, what a farmer, they're doing it when they're that desperate, when there's been like a drought for a while?
00:25:21.960 Yeah. Yeah. They'll, they'll cloud seed either to try to fill up aquifers preemptively or when there is a drought.
00:25:27.960 They not only use it for aquifer recharge and farming in Texas, but municipalities throughout Utah and Idaho also use it.
00:25:36.960 This technology was invented in the United States in the 1940s.
00:25:40.960 And only because of recent advents in radar, radar technology are we able to measure exactly what the results from it are.
00:25:47.960 And that's what Rainmaker has been doing for the state of Texas and other states throughout the country.
00:25:52.960 It's also worth noting quickly that the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation has criteria to authorize cloud seeding operations in the state.
00:26:00.960 Um, where one, you have to have an approved concept of operations, approved materials, and also you have to have what are called suspension criteria.
00:26:08.960 Meaning if ever there's a risk of flooding, if reservoir spillage is risk, then you have to stop operating.
00:26:14.960 And a day before there was any flash flood warning, our meteorologists proactively suspended operations before even that regulatory threshold from the state of Texas.
00:26:24.960 So, um, again, uh, all of our operations were well within bounds from the state regulations and also had nothing to do with the, uh, flooding there.
00:26:32.960 Is the, um, the aquifer situation I hear in Texas, Oklahoma and other places, and maybe even Arizona are kind of in a crisis.
00:26:41.960 At least they were a couple of years ago, the droughts, different droughts have been so bad that the aquifer is where most of the water is obviously people use in a store in the wells.
00:26:50.960 Because of real estate development and expansion is, is that one of the issues here, why your service is used?
00:26:56.960 Yeah, yeah, exactly.
00:26:58.960 Um, the aquifers, namely the Ogalala in Texas are radically drawn down.
00:27:02.960 Um, the Colorado river is very much over allocated.
00:27:06.960 And so now cities like Phoenix, Arizona are turning off water to residences periodically because they just don't have enough farms throughout Utah, Texas, New Mexico, et cetera, are actually being paid by the state to not farm because the state doesn't want them to consume the water.
00:27:22.960 And so rainmakers mission is when there is need for water to produce it, to stop the collapse of the American West, not just our environment, but also our agricultural interests and also to enable the growth or at least maintain the population of all of these Western cities and states.
00:27:40.960 When you say the collapse of the West too, I take it, uh, my understanding is fairly rudimentary, but agriculture is still right now the least efficient use of water.
00:27:52.960 It's not that we don't need agriculture, we do, but when we look at industrial, we look at home, that is it agriculture that's considered the least inefficient about how the agriculture community uses it?
00:28:02.960 You know, um, agriculture far and away is the biggest consumer of water.
00:28:06.960 And that's absolutely true.
00:28:07.960 Um, over time, they've become more efficient.
00:28:10.960 I think that with things like drip irrigation, it's gotten a lot better, but I, I don't think that, uh, it's appropriate to think that, you know, agriculture is to blame for water scarcity in the American West, right?
00:28:21.960 Like I am in favor of more American farms and more growing.
00:28:25.960 Um, and I think that we should have an abundance mindset and consider cloud seeding insofar as it is safely regulated and not just anybody can do it.
00:28:34.960 Um, I think the cloud seeding is one way to facilitate more abundant farming and more abundant cities in drought ridden areas of the world.
00:28:42.960 And, and also it's worth noting that, um, it's not just the United States and it's not just Rainmaker that does this.
00:28:49.960 Uh, I think it's in America's interest to continue doing it because other states around the world, like China, invest $1.4 billion a year into their program to produce more water for their farms, for their hydroelectric, to resupply their reservoirs.
00:29:03.960 Um, and if we don't do it, then not only will, uh, the United States not have the capacity for it, but China will have the biggest program in the world by orders of magnitude.
00:29:11.960 If, if China is 1.4 billion, what, what's the equivalent of the U S what's our total roughly?
00:29:16.960 Uh, the United States federal government spent 2.4 billion, uh, $2.4 million, excuse me, uh, last year on cloud seeding.
00:29:24.960 On, on the cloud seeding, you said during the, the evolution itself, you guys, you have a regulatory apparatus of what it tells you you can do and, and, and monitors that.
00:29:34.960 You said you, you guys voluntarily, uh, took down and stopped.
00:29:39.960 Cause I think you were, you were cloud seeding on the 2nd of July, right?
00:29:42.960 You took it down and didn't do it on the 3rd.
00:29:45.960 That's when the storm hit that night, I guess overnight.
00:29:47.960 No one in the regulatory apparatus came to you.
00:29:50.960 Cause one of the questions people have, and you can see it right there with the governor, governor, what is the regulatory, you know, chain of command for this apparatus?
00:30:00.960 You got national weather service, but you also have local, you got state, uh, who's in charge, who was kind of watching it?
00:30:06.960 I mean, did anybody come to you or do you guys just voluntarily say this looks like it could be bad.
00:30:11.960 No need to, uh, no need to continue to cloud seed.
00:30:14.960 Yeah.
00:30:15.960 So rainmaker acted proactively and suspended operations before the national weather service issued any warnings that would have constituted suspension criteria per the Texas department of licensing and regulations statutes.
00:30:28.960 Um, now that being said, I think that there ought to be more regulation on cloud seeding to ensure that it's done safely.
00:30:35.960 I think that there should be way more transparency in the industry and I'm actively trying to both on X right now and on platforms like yours.
00:30:43.960 And thank you again for having me, uh, advocate for more regulation so that people do know what's going on and so that people can trust that it's being done safely.
00:30:51.960 Well, that, you know, people, obviously you've got the natural process and then once people say we're going to use technology, what is it either about your competitors, the industry overall that you're concerned about either processes that you're concerned about and or transparency?
00:31:06.960 What, what are you pushing for that certain processes shouldn't be done in cloud seeding or there should be more transparency about how everybody does this?
00:31:15.960 So, yeah, I think there absolutely should be more transparency and one way in which we could do that is expand upon the weather modification reporting act of 1972.
00:31:25.960 So right now, uh, if you want to conduct a cloud seeding operation, the only federal oversight for it is a notification to NOAA that you're going to conduct weather modification and then also a report on what your operations consisted of.
00:31:39.960 But I think there needs to be much more rigorous analysis of the effect of cloud seeding from NOAA or some institution like the Bureau of Reclamation, which is, which is responsible for water in the West.
00:31:50.960 Because there should be accountability and a manner by which people can scrutinize what the effects have been.
00:31:57.960 Right now, there's no process like that in the federal government to enable scrutiny and oversight.
00:32:04.960 And if there was, I think people would rightfully feel more trusting of it.
00:32:08.960 Let me go back just the term weather modification.
00:32:12.960 You have this issue of transhumanism and you have a different technologies, artificial general intelligence, regenerative robotics, quantum computing, CRISPR.
00:32:21.960 All these things are saying, people are saying, we're heading towards a point called the singularity.
00:32:25.960 And that's kind of man taking an active role in what heretofore has been a natural process.
00:32:30.960 And clearly there's big advantages of huge, great things of AI, but there's also downside.
00:32:35.960 The same with chipping people. There's moral questions, ethical questions as someone that's dedicated his life, not just to the industry, but then to go out to investors and say, hey, this is a smart thing to do. 0.98
00:32:46.960 We need to do this. Do you have qualms or is it issues when you talk about weather modification?
00:32:51.960 Like, for instance, why should the weather be, why should you have modifications?
00:32:57.960 Why? It's just the weather. Just let it, just let it happen.
00:33:01.960 Totally hear where you're coming from.
00:33:02.960 Do you remember that Ross Dufat, Peter Thiel interview that blew up recently where Ross asked him, like, do you believe that the human race, the right, the human race should persist?
00:33:12.960 And Peter paused and waited to respond to that.
00:33:15.960 Yeah, I do. But, you know, Peter's got a deep moral compass on certain things, other things like particularly on technocracy, we don't totally agree.
00:33:26.960 Is that your pause? Is this your pregnant pause? 0.95
00:33:31.960 No, not at all. I want to say unequivocally, I'm interested in the persistence of humanity.
00:33:36.960 And not only that, you know, I am a Christian.
00:33:40.960 I was lucky enough to be saved when I was 20 years old while I was living in Fort Worth.
00:33:45.960 I didn't grow up Christian. I grew up an atheist.
00:33:47.960 But the guiding principle at Rainmaker is stewardship, right?
00:33:52.960 In Genesis 126 through 28 and then also throughout the Psalms, one of the very first commandments that God ever gave us in the Garden of Eden before the fall was to take dominion and steward the earth, the seas, the skies and everything therein.
00:34:05.960 And so I think that there is a aspect of human nature which is both like inclined to and responsible to responsible for making nature or rather working with nature to steward it for our interest and creations itself to honor God.
00:34:25.960 And so I think not only is it something good to do is cloud seeding something good to do because it can help us produce water for farms in need.
00:34:33.960 But as long as there are droughts, as long as there is severe weather, as long as there is hail, it does damage.
00:34:38.960 And we have the technology to manage it, to mitigate the damage done by it.
00:34:43.960 If we're not deploying it, then we're actually abdicating our responsibility to God to steward the creation that he gave us.
00:34:49.960 And that's the perspective that I have as a Christian when I think about weather modification and whether we should be doing it.
00:34:55.960 I'm more of a New Testament guy.
00:34:58.960 So in the New Testament in Mark, I think it's 13, when the disciples and apostles come back, Christ has sent them out to teach and to heal.
00:35:06.960 And they come back and they say, hey, we've healed these people.
00:35:08.960 We've done this.
00:35:09.960 And he says, oh, that sounds great.
00:35:11.960 He says, no, they say it comes from Beelzebub and that your power comes from that.
00:35:16.960 And he makes a comment to him.
00:35:18.960 He said, there's only one unforgivable sin, and that is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
00:35:23.960 There's only one mortal sin, and that is to basically, you know, blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
00:35:29.960 People would say the Holy Spirit is what innervates, is what the energy of the Spirit that came through Christ, you know, from the time he was baptized by John the Baptist.
00:35:39.960 And that that's the guiding principle.
00:35:41.960 We talked about this in transhumanism.
00:35:42.960 Would that make you rethink it if you felt you were going against the tenets of the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit works through the world, particularly the natural world?
00:35:53.960 If someone were to present to me theological arguments as to why this was not in God's interest or why this was wrong and blaspheming God in some manner, I would stop immediately.
00:36:06.960 I would shut the doors of my company.
00:36:08.960 I would want to participate in that in no way.
00:36:11.960 Right.
00:36:12.960 Like, I'm very concerned with heaven and hell and living a life that is to the extent possible without sin.
00:36:18.960 And so, you know, I'm always open to discourse about it.
00:36:21.960 I haven't yet been convinced that it's against God's interest to try to make creation better.
00:36:26.960 But I also think the Tower of Babel is a story we should consider very seriously and cautiously, right?
00:36:33.960 Whenever man is inclined to make himself God or make himself too much like God without the humility that we're supposed to have, there can be bad outcomes.
00:36:43.960 And so I try to manage this company and this technology very prayerfully.
00:36:47.960 And that's why I proactively, as a business owner, am advocating for more regulation on the technology in the industry so that we can ensure it's done safely and so that we can ensure it's done in the interest of both our country, our farmers in our country, God and all of his creation.
00:37:02.960 You have control of your company.
00:37:05.960 Are you certain there weren't other people cloud seeding, particularly some of maybe these methods that you question or with lack of transparency?
00:37:12.960 Do you think anybody is because here's what happened.
00:37:14.960 You had this horrific thing on Friday, July 4th in the hill country of Texas.
00:37:21.960 Then on on Sunday down in Southern Pines, North Carolina, Pinehurst, all the way up to Chapel Hill, you really had a biblical.
00:37:33.960 In fact, people in the Southern Pines, Pinehurst area and central North Carolina was saying people have been there for 30 years, had never seen rain like this.
00:37:42.960 It just seems odd that within 48 hours.
00:37:45.960 Right. And we don't believe in coincidence here.
00:37:47.960 You had these two kind of biblical biblical downpourings.
00:37:52.960 Do you think in any way could be associated with people doing geoengineering?
00:37:57.960 I have as yet not seen any evidence to suggest that any flooding in North Carolina or again, Texas had to do with cloud seeding or geoengineering.
00:38:08.960 Now, that said, I think that if we as a country, be it through NOAA, the National Weather Service, private institutions or otherwise, have a better forecasting capacity, if we invest in researching the atmosphere more so that we can forecast farther into the future, warn people sooner, then we'll be able to alert people at the very least of these impending calamities and then potentially mitigate them in the future.
00:38:34.960 Now, that being said, as well, there should be more federal oversight.
00:38:39.960 Absolutely. Because if there is something going on that is nefarious or that's just grossly negligent, it should stop and be held to account.
00:38:47.960 And, you know, again, a lot of people, maybe my lawyers would scrutinize me for saying that people contributing to calamities like this should be held to account.
00:38:56.960 But I earnestly believe that and I'm willing to say it because I know that Rainmaker and to my knowledge, no other cloud seeding companies are responsible for those floods.
00:39:04.960 Last question. Since you mentioned the lawyers, you saw the raw emotion.
00:39:10.960 You were here. We had you up. You saw the raw emotion with Governor Abbott and it happened earlier today in the in the other press conference.
00:39:17.960 And people, you know, because, you know, because, look, it's been since Friday morning.
00:39:22.960 People are tired. This is this is a horrific not just event, but the recovery process is horrific.
00:39:28.960 I mean, do you worry that as this thing goes, investigations and lawsuits are that that everything that you wanted to do and felt you were doing altruistically for the betterment of mankind, you may end up in, you know, depositions and hearings, commissions, all of it as they try to get to.
00:39:46.960 And as you know, they're bad actors. In fact, they said the other day in one of the press conferences, they're not giving the names of the victims, particularly the little girls at Mystic, because and this is one of the director operations said people were actually calling the parents and saying, I have your child here, but you got to send me.
00:40:04.960 You got to wire me money or people were saying I've had a vision or I'm a mystic and I can tell you exactly where they're they're calling out for you.
00:40:11.960 Horrific things like this that no parent should have visited on them.
00:40:15.960 So my point is, there's demonic people out there.
00:40:18.960 They're bad actors out there. Are you concerned that everything you try to do altruistically for the betterment of mankind, in your view, may turn out to be something that just keeps you tied up for years?
00:40:31.960 Walking through the events of July 2nd, 3rd, 4th of 2025.
00:40:37.960 Yeah, I can't imagine what the people of Texas are feeling, particularly the parents and those that lost family members or friends in the floods.
00:40:46.960 And so I'm sympathetic. Obviously, again, still can't understand, but I'm sympathetic to how emotions are running high right now, how people are looking for a scapegoat or someone to blame.
00:40:56.960 Of that I'm understanding. And again, even though we didn't have anything to do with it, I understand where people might be coming from in this moment.
00:41:03.960 And I'm trying to transparently and honestly and quickly answer as many questions from the public as I can about this.
00:41:09.960 Now, that said, it would be a tragedy as well if farmers and people were deprived of water that they could have otherwise from cloud seeding because people want to capitalize politically on this tragedy to rally their base around some sort of legislation or investigation that would ban cloud seeding entirely.
00:41:32.960 And so even though I think that that would be a bad outcome, I trust in the United States, in people's ability to scrutinize evidence.
00:41:42.960 I trust in probably not our government writ large, but in the best possible outcome over the course of time.
00:41:51.960 And so there is a lot of controversy about this right now, though I think some people are trying to politically capitalize on the tragedy with unfounded claims and accusations.
00:42:00.960 I think that the truth will always come to light and that cloud seeding will be technology that we can use cautiously and for the benefit of all mankind.
00:42:09.960 And last thing, Tuesday, Tuesday, 8 of July, in the year of our Lord, 2025, at 540 in the evening, you still believe in your heart and in your soul that weather modification and geoengineering are something that we should pursue as a country?
00:42:26.960 Weather modification and cloud seeding. Yes, in my heart and my soul, I do.
00:42:31.960 Geoengineering, dimming the sun, things with global climatic implications, I think deserve a lot more caution and scrutiny because we don't have 80 years of data on what their effects would be.
00:42:45.960 But cloud seeding itself, yes, in my heart and in my soul, absolutely.
00:42:50.960 Augustus de Ricci, thank you so much for coming on. Where do people follow you?
00:42:54.960 I know you want to get your message out. The best way to do that, obviously, is social media and coming on shows like this.
00:42:59.960 Where do people follow you, sir? And where do they go? I want to make sure they go to your company site and check it out.
00:43:04.960 So where do they go? Sure. They can go to Rainmaker.com for more information on our company.
00:43:09.960 And then also on X, Adorico, that's at A-D-O-R-I-C-K-O.
00:43:18.960 Augustus de Ricci, thank you very much for joining us in the War Room on a very intense afternoon.
00:43:23.960 Thank you, sir. Thank you so much.
00:43:27.960 Do I have Natalie? We had to change shift because Dave Bratt's going to do the Matt Gaetz show.
00:43:31.960 Okay, we'll get Natalie up in a second. Do I have Philip Patrick?
00:43:35.960 Yes. We're kind of juggling here because we took along for the Abbott conference.
00:43:40.960 But I thought it was very illustrative of the raw emotions that are now starting to come to the surface.
00:43:48.960 Philip Patrick joins us from Rio.
00:43:51.960 Philip, you brought me a long memo this afternoon. Why don't you, we got some time.
00:43:55.960 Why don't you break it down as we leave here, you know, you leave this conference,
00:44:00.960 and Bolsonaro, President Trump threw down hard on Bolsonaro yesterday about the political situation, the lawfare situation.
00:44:06.960 Lula's at the center of this, although it's the judge, Mauricio, that's doing it.
00:44:12.960 But tell me about his handling of the BRICS conference and your thoughts as you get ready to leave of where we are on all this.
00:44:23.960 Yeah. I mean, last time, I think it was Monday, Monday I was on last, and we were talking about how the entire conference at that point was covert, right?
00:44:33.960 The dollarization without mentioning the dollar explicitly.
00:44:36.960 It was trade security without talking about tariffs.
00:44:39.960 And then, I think it was an hour after our last interview, everything changed, right?
00:44:43.960 Obviously, President Trump came out overnight and posted a warning to BRICS nations, 10% tariffs on any nation if they continue to bypass the dollar.
00:44:52.960 And Lula's response was swift, and it was unusually direct, I would say.
00:44:58.960 But the verbiage was interesting.
00:45:00.960 He said that President Trump's message was very mistaken and irresponsible.
00:45:04.960 And then he went on to say, and I thought this was telling, he said, look, the world has changed.
00:45:09.960 We don't want an emperor.
00:45:10.960 We are sovereign countries.
00:45:12.960 And he said there is no going back.
00:45:15.960 Reducing dependence on the dollar will happen step by step until it's consolidated.
00:45:21.960 So what was perhaps covert before is now in the open.
00:45:27.960 The BRICS have made their intentions clear, and they sort of brought it to the forefront.
00:45:31.960 And we've been seeing it, China and Russia striking deals in yuan and rubles, Brazil and Venezuela bypassing the dollar for regional commerce.
00:45:39.960 So it's happening, and it's at the forefront.
00:45:42.960 You know, the message I sent you, I spent a lot of time thinking last night, what do we do about this?
00:45:48.960 How do we fix the situation?
00:45:50.960 And I think the answer is not to panic but rather to prepare, right?
00:45:55.960 We have to remember the dollar remains the global reserve currency for a reason, right?
00:46:00.960 It's trust.
00:46:01.960 It's depth.
00:46:02.960 It's credibility.
00:46:03.960 What we've been seeing out here is that trust is eroding, not just because of our rivals, but because of what we've done domestically as well, right?
00:46:11.960 So in terms of a plan, I don't know how much time I have here, Steve, so I'll sort of cut it.
00:46:16.960 Hang on.
00:46:17.960 You're going to have all the time.
00:46:18.960 This is incredibly important.
00:46:20.960 We're going to take a short commercial break and bring you back.
00:46:22.960 We're going to have to cover—we're trying to get you in before the press conference is going to take place in Kerrville,
00:46:27.960 but the governor stepped up and did one that took place earlier.
00:46:30.960 So we've got the 6 o'clock hour.
00:46:32.960 Philip Patrick is with us from Rio.
00:46:35.960 Folks, a very big deal down there, and they kind of laid their cards on the table.
00:46:39.960 It ain't going to happen overnight, but they're saying it's going to happen.
00:46:43.960 The end of the dollar empire, according to them.
00:46:46.960 Philip Patrick next.
00:46:48.960 Also, Joe Lavagna.
00:46:50.960 I'm trying to get Joe in from Treasury.
00:46:52.960 Talk all about this.
00:46:54.960 Next in the world.
00:46:59.960 This July, there is a global summit of BRICS nations in Rio de Janeiro.
00:47:04.960 Remember, the block of emerging superpowers, including China, Russia, India, and Persia,
00:47:10.960 are meeting with the goal of displacing the United States dollar as the global currency.
00:47:15.960 They're calling this the Rio Reset.
00:47:18.960 As BRICS nations push forward with their plans, global demand for U.S. dollars will decrease, 0.57
00:47:23.960 bringing down the value of the dollar in your savings.
00:47:26.960 While this transition won't not happen overnight, but trust me, it's going to start in Rio.
00:47:33.960 The Rio Reset in July marks a pivotal moment when BRICS objectives move decisively
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00:51:01.960 Here's your host, Stephen K. Mann.
00:51:06.960 Okay.
00:51:07.960 Phillip Patrick is going to stick with us and into the 6 o'clock hour.
00:51:10.960 Natalie's also here.
00:51:11.960 We're going to get her comments on the Rainmaker situation.
00:51:15.960 I want to go to Joe Lavernier now over at Treasury Council, special counsel to the Secretary of Treasury.
00:51:24.960 You've had the tariff situation, President Trump.
00:51:26.960 You know, you had this two and a half hour, I think, cabinet meeting today.
00:51:30.960 The whole cabinet meeting, most of it was done publicly.
00:51:32.960 President Trump's talking about tariffs.
00:51:34.960 We got letters going out to Korea, south to Japan.
00:51:39.960 You guys now at Treasury are executing on the big, beautiful bill, right?
00:51:43.960 The tax cuts, all the industrial side of it for the supply side.
00:51:47.960 Where are the tariffs fit into this entire strategy, sir?
00:51:52.960 Because I think there's a little confusion.
00:51:54.960 But look, we love tariffs.
00:51:55.960 We're the tariff guys.
00:51:56.960 We love it, what President Trump's doing.
00:51:57.960 But we're a little, is it August 1st?
00:52:00.960 Sure, Steve.
00:52:01.960 Thank you again for having me.
00:52:02.960 It's a very integrated, holistic approach.
00:52:05.960 So the tariffs are used as an incentive to bring capital and monies back to the U.S.
00:52:11.960 And as you know from all the deals that have been announced all over the world, there's trillions of dollars that are coming in.
00:52:16.960 So the tariffs are an incentive to get capital to the U.S.
00:52:19.960 But when you bring that capital to the U.S., you're also going to benefit from low corporate rates, cheap and abundant energy, and very pro-growth tax policy.
00:52:28.960 So everything kind of works together, and that's how you're going to re-industrialize.
00:52:32.960 On the tariffs, what we could say are two things very important.
00:52:35.960 Number one, Steve, we could raise upwards of $300 billion.
00:52:39.960 I mean, the numbers keep going up every month, like around the third week of the month.
00:52:42.960 You get the customs payment that tends to be the biggest.
00:52:45.960 So we're ratcheting higher.
00:52:46.960 I mean, we may have $300 billion in calendar year revenues this year, which is massive.
00:52:50.960 CBO has scored potentially getting $2.8 trillion over the next 10 years.
00:52:54.960 That's not part of their official scoring.
00:52:56.960 So the tariffs right now, we know, are raising tremendous amounts of money.
00:52:59.960 The other point, which is very important, is that my colleagues over at Council Economic Advisors have done incredible work that shows, actually, if you look at the price of imported goods, those prices have actually declined, which is remarkable.
00:53:12.960 Declined in both the personal consumption expenditures deflator, which is what the Fed follows, or the more popular, at least in the Main Street consumer price index, where imported goods prices not only have risen, they've actually declined.
00:53:25.960 So we're not seeing any inflation to this point, which tells us that foreign producers are absorbing it in their margins, which makes sense because the U.S. is the world's largest and most important consumer.
00:53:35.960 We're about 35% of global consumption, or somewhere around there.
00:53:38.960 I think the Secretary also said, I think $100 billion has already been collected, which is just absolutely stunning.
00:53:44.960 That's right. Yeah.
00:53:45.960 Yeah.
00:53:46.960 That's correct.
00:53:47.960 I want to pivot.
00:53:48.960 We got Philip Patrick and our team from Birch Gold have covered for four or five days the Rio reset.
00:53:53.960 And initially, they were just doing, they were trying to hide it.
00:53:56.960 They didn't want to talk de-dollarization.
00:53:57.960 They were doing these bilateral deals and saying it's all for free trade.
00:54:00.960 President Trump came out as President Trump's want to do and say, yo, if you don't sign up for any of this BRICS nonsense, I'm going to add another 10% or more to the tariffs already. 1.00
00:54:11.960 And that chilled things.
00:54:13.960 But I think Lula came out and made a statement, said, hey, it's not going to happen overnight, but it's happening.
00:54:19.960 We're moving away from this.
00:54:20.960 We don't believe that one system for currency is good for our nations.
00:54:23.960 Any initial response?
00:54:26.960 First off, do you believe that the BRICS nation can actually move off the dollar as a prime reserve currency?
00:54:31.960 No.
00:54:32.960 Certainly not.
00:54:33.960 And President Trump, as you know, Steve, is a tremendous negotiator.
00:54:37.960 You saw what happened with Canada, with the digital tax they wanted to impose.
00:54:41.960 And also when the president has threatened significant tariffs on the EU, they quickly backed away.
00:54:48.960 The fact is, when you look at the data, it shows that demand for U.S. assets has never been higher.
00:54:53.960 It's in our own official data that we put out every month.
00:54:56.960 And it's in various private sector reports that show tremendous capital inflows to the U.S.
00:55:00.960 It's still the world's reserve currency.
00:55:02.960 As Secretary Besson has said many times, the dollar's demise has been greatly exaggerated.
00:55:06.960 People have been saying this since right after the Second World War.
00:55:10.960 We've got the reserve currency.
00:55:11.960 We're going to have the strongest, most dynamic economy in the world with the fastest growth rate among all the industrialized countries.
00:55:18.960 Inflation is falling.
00:55:19.960 As I mentioned earlier, we've got all these huge capital commitments that are coming in.
00:55:23.960 I mean, that's the sign of dollar strength that will persist as long as President Trump's policies are in place.
00:55:28.960 Joe, last question.
00:55:31.960 You're one of the guys brought in to help forecast this, put together the dashboard, monitor it, and help execute it with the Secretary of Treasury for the president.
00:55:40.960 Do you feel better, you know, four or five days into this than you did last week when it was up in the air, what was actually we were going to close on?
00:55:49.960 Or are you feeling concerned?
00:55:51.960 Steve, I'm an optimist.
00:55:53.960 I learned that from my old boss in Trump 1.0, Larry Kudlow.
00:55:56.960 I'm an optimist.
00:55:57.960 I was always, I was kind of backing the president.
00:56:00.960 He wanted a July 4th into Speaker Thune and Leader, Leader Thune and Speaker Johnson.
00:56:05.960 They do great working with Treasury Secretary Besson and moving the ball down the field.
00:56:10.960 So I was optimistic.
00:56:11.960 I thought it was going to get done on July 4th.
00:56:13.960 And just as the president wanted, it got done.
00:56:15.960 And it makes me more confident because, you know, people talk about all the uncertainty of the tariffs.
00:56:19.960 What I think they missed or they miss now is the uncertainty the tax policy had posed.
00:56:24.960 Companies not been able to plan for the outlook because they didn't know if they're going to get a huge tax hike next year, the biggest ever.
00:56:29.960 Now that we've got that certainty, yes, I'm much more confident now that it's done, that there are going to be a second-half growth boom.
00:56:35.960 And I'm expecting to see that in the data.
00:56:37.960 We're going to get more CapEx.
00:56:38.960 CapEx is going to give you faster productivity, faster wages.
00:56:42.960 This blue-collar wage boom that we've been talking about persists.
00:56:46.960 And it's going to be great news for Americans all alike.
00:56:51.960 By the way, Larry Kudlow has preached this for decades, and he finally got it.
00:56:55.960 This is a massive supply-side tax cut that's really going to drive things.
00:56:58.960 I'm glad to know someone that was mentored by him is here in the war room.
00:57:03.960 I know it hurts you guys sometimes to talk about tariffs, but President Trump is the tariff guy.
00:57:08.960 I tell Larry all that all the time.
00:57:10.960 Joe, social media, where do people go to keep up with your analysis, forecast, all of it?
00:57:15.960 Thank you, Steve.
00:57:16.960 At Livornianomics.
00:57:17.960 Joe, thank you so much.
00:57:21.960 I'm so glad you're over Treasury.
00:57:22.960 Love having you on the show.
00:57:23.960 Thank you, Steve.
00:57:24.960 Always a pleasure.
00:57:25.960 Thank you.
00:57:26.960 Thank you, sir.
00:57:27.960 My Patriot Supply still got today's the last day for their July 4th.
00:57:32.960 I think you've seen, and by the way, the Imperial Capital here is about to get a massive thunderstorm.
00:57:39.960 Right?
00:57:40.960 Massive thunderstorm.
00:57:41.960 You never know when one of these things is going to sneak up on you.
00:57:44.960 There used to be regular thunderstorms.
00:57:46.960 But man, that thing in Texas, in Hill Country, and also down in central North Carolina.
00:57:51.960 I don't know, man.
00:57:52.960 Different deal.
00:57:53.960 Felt like a different deal.
00:57:54.960 But there'll be people to go through this in quite a bit of detail.
00:57:59.960 My Patriot Supply, they kind of invented the industry.
00:58:02.960 But now it's everything.
00:58:04.960 So just be prepared.
00:58:06.960 Get prepared.
00:58:07.960 Get ahead of the curve.
00:58:09.960 You're smart enough on everything else we talk about.
00:58:11.960 Get smart on this.
00:58:12.960 My Patriot Supply, it's the end of the July 4th.
00:58:15.960 Tonight is the end of the July 4th sale.
00:58:19.960 Virtually everything's on sale.
00:58:21.960 So go check it out.
00:58:22.960 MyPatriotSupply.com.
00:58:24.960 Use promo code BANNON.
00:58:26.960 Best thing they've got is advisors and consultants.
00:58:29.960 Get on there.
00:58:30.960 If you've never done this before, make sure you get all the information.
00:58:33.960 Every time we have a sponsor, we want to make sure that the War Room Posse can make contact.
00:58:37.960 Because not only do you like the receipts, you'd like to talk to a human being.
00:58:42.960 Maybe ask a couple, three questions like we do here in the War Room.
00:58:45.960 Short commercial break.
00:58:47.960 Take you out with the right stuff.
00:58:48.960 Going to bring you back with Philip Patrick.
00:58:50.960 Next.
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