Steve Bannon speaks with Yahoo Finance [TRANSCRIPT]

Below is Yahoo Finance’s interview with former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon from the “All Markets Summit: America’s Financial Future.”

ADAM SHAPIRO: Steve Bannon joined Donald Trump’s campaign for president in August 2016. But Bannon had been pushing the populist cause several years before President Trump became its face and force for change. Bannon served as President Trump’s chief strategist until August of 2017 when he fell out of favor if you want to say it that way.

But Bannon continues to advise members of the administration, and his populist cause continues to gain momentum worldwide. Steve Bannon joins us now. And I have to start with the obvious question about the midterms. But I want to read a quote that you made not too long ago. This is all about an up or down vote, the entire Trump package, the tax cut, the economy. So very simply, what did the voters tell Donald Trump, the Republicans, and the Democrats?

STEVE BANNON: I think it’s a split decision. Look, I think it’s– you know, people talk about division in the country. I thought ’18 was very positive. I thought the– the left and the progressives, (THROAT CLEARING) the Time’s Up movement– Tom Steyer, I think they did the hard work out in the field that the Tea Party did in 2010. I kept tellin’ people that early on. I don’t think we ever actually got engaged on the House side to make it a referendum. I think that’s one of the reasons we lost so many House seats.

I think if we had made it a referendum, I think it would have been much tighter. By the way, I think it’s 12 or 13 seats changed hands with 47,000 votes. So it was tight. But I gotta tell you the left, and the progressive left, the Time’s Up movement, the resistance, Tom Steyer’s movement did the pick-and-shovel work that the Tea Party did in 2010. And that’s why they won.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Are you secretly happy or upset? Because you had a war against Republican establishment. Mitch McConnell still sittin’ (NOISE) in the Senate.

STEVE BANNON: Yeah. No, I– look, we made a rapprochement early on to say, “Everybody’s gotta come together.” Remember, in 2016 one of the first things I did was reach out to Reince Priebus and the establishment. The only way we won ’16, you have to have a coalition, right? You have to kinda put your differences aside to win.

You saw that on the left this time. I mean, there’s– a broad range of differences on the left. And they put ’em– they put ’em aside I think to– to win this time. Here, you know, after the Kavanaugh hearings I was saying good things about Mitch McConnell. We just didn’t pull it off. I do believe there wasn’t enough focus on the House.

I kept saying for months, and months, and months. I went on Hannity with 100 days to go, said the House is everything. But one thing I will tell you. When I first left the White House and met with the senior guys that were overseeing the campaign in the House, at that time they– they were thinking 80 to 100 seats. They were– they thought at one time–

ADAM SHAPIRO: It would be a much bigger wave.

STEVE BANNON: –that this could be like the Tea Party 63 seats in 2010. And so, look, what? 31, 33, 35 seats? It’s– it’s– it’s a big number.

ADAM SHAPIRO: And– and very quickly after the midterms, Jeff Sessions is out. He is a friend of yours.

STEVE BANNON: Yeah.

ADAM SHAPIRO: What can you tell us about the transitions we might see within the cabinet? There’s rumors that– Kirstjen Nielsen will be out. Who else might change in the cabinet? And what about Whitaker? (COUGH) Is there a conflict of interest there?

STEVE BANNON: Well– look, I– I met– Whitaker when he came in and talked– in– talked to us in the summer of 2017, right? And he went over as chief of staff– to– to Senator Sessions or Attorney General Sessions. And I think Senator Sessions was very happy with the job he did as attorney general. Look, Jeff Sessions is one of the founders of this kinda populist movement, right? I mean, he has been doin’ this for a long time. He was the very first guy to endorse President Trump–

ADAM SHAPIRO: Yeah, but you had to recruit him to do that. You literally had to bring him in to do that.

STEVE BANNON: Well, I– I introduced him and made sure he got to know President Trump. He came to that decision on his own. He spent a lotta time– I– I don’t think he did– I think he did it right before Super Tuesday. He– he– you know, he really spent his time with it. I think when you look at Senator Sessions and what he did as attorney general on executing on the basic program with– immigration, law and order, at the Justice Department, I think it’s fine.

But the president gets to choose whether you got his confidence or not. I think in certain areas– Senator Sessions didn’t. I think there are other cabinet positions that just don’t have his confidence. And I think it’s natural after a midterm election that you make some changes. So I think there’s definitely gonna be some changes. I think there’ll be some changes in the White House also.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Will w– Whitaker mess with Mueller? Or do you think that we’re gonna see a conclusion? Will see it before December?

STEVE BANNON: I– I– I’ve been saying this for– for a long time. I think– you know– Mueller has this– I– I’ve always said he’s gonna issue a report sometime in late November or in December and then it’s a political process. Now that you have a Democratic House, I think that they will use that as– as– to go forward to– to have– to have– you know, empanel– a select committee.

I think they will– I think they will really drill down on it. If we had held the House, they would not. But I– look, the investigation’s been the investigation. I said from day one if you get a special counsel they’re gonna have a broad writ that they’re gonna– they’re gonna determine what they’ve got and– and go forward. But when I hear people like, you know, Jerry Corsi is for– for perjury, you kinda gotta wonder where is the– you know, w– w– where– where is the–

ADAM SHAPIRO: Well–

STEVE BANNON: –big issues that–

ADAM SHAPIRO: –you brought it up. Roger Stone, what’s gonna happen with him? Is he spending Thanksgiving with his family?

STEVE BANNON: Well, now, I have no idea. But my point on that is that if that’s where you’re talking about with Roger Stone and Julian Assange, I mean, how serious is this? It’s– you know, th– this was supposed to look at Russian collusion. They’re in h– a lot of stuff. I think the biggest focus has been obstruction of justice. My point is–

ADAM SHAPIRO: Now, 26 Russians have been indicted.

STEVE BANNON: I understand that. I understand that. But it’s– look– you know, Clapper in his book says what? It’s 100,000 Facebook ads up in the upper Midwest. Look, Mueller’s had enough time. He’s had enough budget. He’s doing– obviously doing a report right now. He’ll issue that report, and the American people will have to decide.

ADAM SHAPIRO: I want to ask you this. What is your relationship with the president? ‘Cause he said (NOISE) when you were fired, “Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job. He lost his mind.” You talk to the president these days?

Steve Bannon

STEVE BANNON: I– I– look, I do everything. If I gotta talk to anybody, I do everything through lawyers except if there’s guys at the White House I know. I think if you look at what the president’s policies are, they’re absolutely what we laid out in the campaign. It’s what we’ve been talking about for years.

When he said the other day he was a nationalist, really– I think really went forward and embraced this kinda economic, civic nationalism that is kinda I think one of the big driving forces in American politics. You show that he’s– I think every action he’s taken– particularly about on the economy and about securing our southern border is something I think people in this populist movement couldn’t be happier with.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Do–

STEVE BANNON: And– and– and, by the way, I come from a large Irish Catholic family. I get called a lot worse than that (LAUGH) by my brothers at the dinner table.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Well, Anthony Scaramucci was dropping the president’s name the other day. He says he talks to the president from time to time. You don’t just pick up the phone? The president doesn’t pick up the phone–

STEVE BANNON: I– I don’t want–

ADAM SHAPIRO: –and talk to you?

STEVE BANNON: I don’t want to talk about my conversations with–

ADAM SHAPIRO: But you–

STEVE BANNON: –the president.

ADAM SHAPIRO: –you t– but you have conversations with–

STEVE BANNON: I didn’t– I don’t–

ADAM SHAPIRO: –the president?

STEVE BANNON: –want to talk about that.

ADAM SHAPIRO: But you–

STEVE BANNON: When I left the White House, I left the White House.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Okay. But you also–

STEVE BANNON: I’m an independent actor.

ADAM SHAPIRO: You have conversations with Peter Navarro and with Josh Bolten, don’t you?

STEVE BANNON: I don’t want to talk about who at the White House I have conversations with. But I– you know, I talk to people at the White House.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Do you have influence over the policy direction?

STEVE BANNON: No, absolutely not. I think– look, this is one thing– if you go back and look at what the president’s accomplished, particularly in the economy, and particularly on things like sovereignty about our southern border, and if you look at what he’s done– in this gr– kinda great economic war with China, he’s got very well-thought-through, you know, ideas.

And I think that’s why he’s now got a staff of people like Bolten, people like Navarro, others that are helping to formulate and to sharpen these things. This whole idea– remember, when– when President Trump won, two things everybody said. “He’s gonna be so trigger happy. He’s gonna get us in shooting wars all over the place.” And, number two, “The market’s gonna collapse.” Right? I think maybe even Yahoo Finance with CNBC and others– Wall Street–

ADAM SHAPIRO: Paul Krugman. It was Krugman who said it in the New York Times. And–

STEVE BANNON: The New York Tim– New York Times, Wall Street Journal. People were– you know, their– their heads were blowin’ up. And you seen what he’s done with calming the markets, the strong U.S. dollar– the economy. So what many people said both about his national security policy and what– and– and as a leader as commander-in-chief. And there’s been– no one’s been more prudent than President Trump about the application of American power.

And I also think on the– on the economy and– economic security. So– in both regards, kinda– not just the mainstream media but this hysteria about what Trump was gonna be is wrong. That’s what you’re seeing in the White House. I mean, these are– the– these are very strong beliefs of the president that he’s now articulating through policy. And I think that that’s why you– he’s got a team now I think in place with Pompeo and– and– Ambassador Bolton, Peter Navarro, and– Larry Kudlow–

ADAM SHAPIRO: You know, let’s talk about Navarro and China ’cause this is key to– to financial policy going forward. You said the United States is at war with China and you support the administration’s trade confrontation with China. Navarro–

STEVE BANNON: I said economic war.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Economic war. But– but the–

STEVE BANNON: They’ve been at economic war with us for 25 years. Look, one of the reasons Donald Trump’s president of the United States is that– is that– w– when I stepped into the campaign, one of the things I told him was the studies by Pat Caddell that show for the first time in American history that working class people and middle class people believed America was in decline to the level of 70%. And they thought the elites were comfortable with that. We’ve had– a group of elites. Republicans and Democrats. Kinda this permanent political class runs a city that has been very comfortable with American–

ADAM SHAPIRO: I– I get it.

STEVE BANNON: –decline.

ADAM SHAPIRO: And I think a lot of Americans get it. I have friends in Cleveland, Ohio. A guy I talk about, a buddy of mine, Pat Corilco (PH), we used on old Studebakers together. He worked at a steel mill. I saw his job get shipped overseas. He’s back to work at Mittal, an Indian-owned company by the way. Mittal Steel in Cleveland. But let me ask you about the China policy. Navarro actually in a speech last week attacked Wall Street. He– he threatened Wall Street. Was he attacking Mnuchin? ‘Cause he said, “Stay out of these negotiations.” What’s going on here? Because Wall Street– you know, there’s trillions of dollars in potential trade that could be impacted by our confrontation with China.

STEVE BANNON: Look, go back. Look at the– White House has put out two whitepapers. Put a whitepaper out about what China’s doin’ to suppress the U.S. economy, okay? This was in June. About forced technology transfers and intellectual property. Not theft but the forced technology transfers. Navarro’s speech at CSIS was talked about our defense based and talked about there’s so many aspects of our defense base that are really dependent upon China in the supply chain.

What he’s laying out the case is that this is– as Mike Pence said, if you read his speech, this is a multi-department focus of the U.S. government finally on what China’s been doin’. China’s had a all s– forces of state– confrontation with America. It’s– it’s deeper than just trade. And I think what Navarro was saying if you go back and look– and his was a talk. I don’t think it was a speech.

He gave– I think if you go back and look at the substance of it, he said, “Hey, this is just not about some trade deal. This is just not gonna be some tradeoff in soy beans– that we’re gonna get– a better th– tariffs. There’s non-tariff barriers. There’s forced technology transfers. There’s– there’s currency manipulation. There’s many aspects of this,” of which the president has been very articulate about the entire time.

Here’s the thing. China has been running the tables on us for 25 years. And what Navarro was highlighting, this kinda strategic economic dialogue that– that– that the Henry Kissingers and the Wall Street guys have said, “Oh, let’s have it.” They’ve been tappin’ us along.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Well, Hank Paulson was– was over in China just, what, two weeks ago and was supporting– I don’t want to say the status quo but was supporting the Wall Street line on that.

STEVE BANNON: First thing, I worked for Hank Paulson. I was in Goldman Sachs. He’s– he’s a terrific guy– when I was a junior banker. Paulson made a very big– you’re st– seeing even that element of the establishment. What Paulson said first, “Many of the things that President Trump had brought up and this populist economic financial movement have brought up is actually correct.

“We have depended upon China’s kinda goodwill for too long.” He says, “You can’t do words. We have to have actions.” And then he c– then he made a statement I disagree with. He said, “China is not an existential threat to the United States.” I think if you look at– and this is not the Chinese people. I think the American people– I’ve spent a lot of time in China. I actually lived in China for a little while.

And I s– when– in– when I was in the Pacific fleet, we were all around China. The– it’s the Chinese people– and I think the American people are very close. It is the Chinese Communist Party. You have a reckless– you have a reckless totalitarian regime. And they’ve been particularly reckless– and I would talk to all the people at Yahoo Finance about their financial situation.

And the elites and Wall Street have kinda gone along with this, right? And this is what I think Navarro was saying the other day. We don’t need people coming in here, and talking, and pushing President Trump to try to do a trade deal when there’s many more aspects of this that have to–

ADAM SHAPIRO: So what does– w—-

STEVE BANNON: –be rectified.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Walk me through, help us understand what the end game looks like and what success looks like. You said victory is when they give us full access to the– to their markets. Are you talking complete, unfettered trade? I mean, we don’t give full access to our markets to–

STEVE BANNON: Well–

ADAM SHAPIRO: –to everybody.

STEVE BANNON: –but first– first, we have the lowest t– t– the lowest tariffs in the world, most open markets in the world. If– I think the– the Chinese, number one, stop the forced technology transfers, give our companies not just on the business side but on the– manufacturing and the intellectual property full access. Also, you’ve gotta t– you’ve start to unwind these– these– state-owned industries, the SOEs. I mean, they continue to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into– into– now– now, the SOEs are getting to be–

ADAM SHAPIRO: How do you get–

STEVE BANNON: –a geopolitical–

ADAM SHAPIRO: How do you get 82 Chinese communists– that’s the elite in China. How do you get them to unwind the state-owned businesses? Their economy’s built on that.

STEVE BANNON: Well, that’s– look, this is talking about structural reform. That’s my point, that this is an engagement. I didn’t say this– and President Trump’s not saying this is gonna take an afternoon. This is a long-term plan of real engagement. But the engagement has to be at that level.

Xi gave a speech yesterday. It’s in this morning’s Financial Times. Everybody should see. He starts off the speech by saying, “Hey, because of current developments we can’t get the technologies we want. We’ll have to go back to self-reliance,” which is a Mao Tse-tung term. And he said it at the sta– one of the most famous state-owned industries that was developed in– in– in 1954.

And he says, “We’re only gonna redouble our efforts as state-owned industries.” Whe– and, by the way, when they play this in China, they cut out the part about current developments. Because what it is is that the Trump administration has gotten much tougher, much tougher, helping our companies in Silicon Valley protect their intellectual property.

And so now– and that’s why, by the way, one thing to keep in mind. The entire NAFTA deal– President Trump’s strategic vision of NAFTA– and that’s why a populist socialist in Mexico, that president, helped push it forward. Was to create a geostrategic manufacturing base to take the supply chain– take part of the supply chain back from East Asia and start to bring it back to the Western industrial democracies.

That’s why Japan’s gonna do a bilateral deal with us. That’s why Korea, we’re gonna get a updated deal with them. And that’s why the EU– that’s why Juncker came over and they’re gonna do a deal with us. This is shifting the supply chain, the high-value-added manufacturing jobs back from East Asia to the United States and to the West.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Or perhaps to Vietnam and to India. I– I gotta ask–

STEVE BANNON: Part– by the way, part– part of it– part of it is that. But I also think when you look at risk– and I think when– when– when– when CEOs in capital markets start to t– start to look at this, that’s why this– that’s why NAFTA was so important. That’s why NAFTA had to be the first part. And that’s why the part in Mexico about point of origin so China could not game the system.

ADAM SHAPIRO: I just have to ask you ’cause I want to move on to something about economic nationalism, which is y– your agenda. With China, we have the potential for a meeting at the end of this month. And then we have the real trade tariff war, whatever term you want to use, January. Does this get worse before it gets better? And you should know that the people we interview– we’ve interviewed farmers on Yahoo Finance. Although they’re– they’re being hurt by this, they still support the president. But my question is: Will this get worse in January?

STEVE BANNON: Here’s what I think. I think the president takes a multi– you know, he takes all aspects of this together. I don’t think you’re gonna see President Trump just do some sorta trade deal. Right now, the Chinese look at us as a tributary state. It’s one of the reasons– th– think of what we ship to them. We ship– we ship beef, and grain, and natural resources, natural gas, soybeans, et cetera.

Very little high-value-added manufacturing, okay? That is the entire point of President Trump’s– what he’s talking about. That’s why NAFTA was so important. He says, “No– a major power has to have a strong, robust, vibrant manufacturing base. And our technology sec– sector needs to work around that manufacturing base.” That’s why–

ADAM SHAPIRO: There–

STEVE BANNON: –I don’t think there’s any easy solution. I do not believe that President Trump– as much as, you know, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin– who I’ve known Steven for a long time. He was at Goldman. You know, as– as much as these guys are tryin’ to push just focusing on the trade part, this is not a trade war. When it’s written up as a trade war, it’s wrong.

ADAM SHAPIRO: You– you–

STEVE BANNON: It’s an economic war that’s–

ADAM SHAPIRO: You talk about bringing–

STEVE BANNON: –been run on us.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Economic nationalism, the core of this philosophy is bringing manufacturing back to the United States. I just want to let you know right now manufacturing as part of the labor force is about 8.8%. 12.4 million jobs. According to the Federal Reserve, I mean, you had this peak in 1947. 34% of the labor force was tied to manufacturing. But labor or at least manufacturing is becoming incredibly more productive.

And the decline in labor– in manufacturing labor employment is they would say productivity. Not the shipping of jobs overseas. And then just very simply, you look at 2012, the Obama administration, the manufacturing jobs that were coming back, not much different. Although 2018 is better when seasonally (NOISE) adjusted. It’s pretty much the same. We–

STEVE BANNON: That’s not– that’s not true. Manufacturing jobs–

ADAM SHAPIRO: That–

STEVE BANNON: –are coming– manufacturing–

ADAM SHAPIRO: No, no, manufacturing–

STEVE BANNON: –jobs–

ADAM SHAPIRO: –right now.

STEVE BANNON: –350,000 jobs I created I think in the– in the third quarter with–

ADAM SHAPIRO: No, no. That’s on– that’s a 12-month seasonally adjusted number. But the bottom line is it represents–

STEVE BANNON: By the way, go ask your buddy– go ask your friend– the Studebaker guy in Cleveland, if they think that manufacturing jobs are coming.

ADAM SHAPIRO: His job came back before the president. But it came back because an Indian steel magnate bought ISG, which had bought LTV out of bankruptcy. My point is we keep hearing this resurgence of manufacturing. And manufacturing as a share of GDP and as a share of the labor force has essentially been the same for several years.

STEVE BANNON: By the way, it’s– it’s–

ADAM SHAPIRO: It’s not resurgent.

STEVE BANNON: –it’s the central part of the tax cut. The tax cut was to make our companies competitive with Germany and China. His entire focus is bringing high-value-added manufacturing jobs back. And– and the copout that said, “Hey, it’s all gonna be robots. It’s all gonna be AI,” that’s why China Made in China 2025. China had a strategic plan 10 years ago to say, “We’re gonna have a convergence of advanced chip design, of robotics, artificial intelligence, and maybe genetic engineering.

“But at least those three. And we will dominate the West. We will dominate manufacturing.” You’ve seen now Xi’s makin’ a statement that, “We have to go back to self-reliance.” Why? The West is now stopping the intellectual property theft but more importantly stopping the forced technology transfers. Manufac– under Donald Trump’s and the core of economic nationalism is we can’t be a great nation and serve our citizens, particularly the working class, with service jobs. It just doesn’t work.

This is why tariffs are more than just about taxes. If you read J.D. Vance and Hillbilly Elegies (SIC), which is the finest sociological study of the Trump base, what J.D. says all the time, he cites these studies from– I think from M.I.T. and Harvard that says there’s a direct correlation between the factories that left for China–

ADAM SHAPIRO: And opioid addiction.

STEVE BANNON: –the jobs with ’em, and opioid addiction. This is about dignity and self-worth of our working base. And that’s why they look to President Trump. President Trump is finally gonna fight. And that’s why the Wall Street guys– the Wall Street guys sayin’, “Hey, just focus on this– on– on the trade deal, on the tariffs,” it’s not about the tariffs. It’s–

ADAM SHAPIRO: –having manufacturing and factories that are high tech and perhaps robotic (NOISE) is not going to put people who I d– I care (NOISE) dearly about in Cleveland, Ohio back on a factory line. That’s what the issue of productivity is about. And this resurgence of manufacturing jobs that is the core of your philosophy, it’s not gonna be there to put those people– Hillbilly Elegy on factory line jobs.

STEVE BANNON: By the way– as your previous speaker said– through– through job training, getting people skills up, the working class in our country is still some of the most productive people in the world. Hispanic, black, white working class, lower middle class, those people can be retrained and they will do jobs in manufacturing. We just can’t sit there and say, “Hey, ’cause they have some sort of technology component to it that our people can’t be trained.” That’s just not true. And, by the way, who fights for those workers? That’s what I keep sayin’. Econ–

ADAM SHAPIRO: Donald Trump is fighting. I will give you that–

STEVE BANNON: Econ– economic nationalism–

ADAM SHAPIRO: But–

STEVE BANNON: –doesn’t care about your race, your ethnicity, your religion, your gender, your sexual preference. What it cares about is that you’re a citizen of the United States of America. And it’s that working class that we have abused. We’ve abused ’em by an open borders– immigration policy that lets ’em compete with illegal immigration labor. And then because of bad trade deals, we’re having ’em unfairly compete with foreign labor.

The protection of those workers– and, yes, I am a protectionist. The protections of those workers in the lower middle class is the m– is what we have to d– make sure that– that is vibrant and robust. And if we do that, we’re gonna have a civic society of which we can have capital markets that are the most robust capital markets in the world–

ADAM SHAPIRO: So let me ask you this. I’ve gotta wrap up. But why are you aligning– you want to create a labor party. Why are you aligning with Republicans who you’re at war with, the establishment, when you should be aligned, and you– you’ve talked about with this, with Bernie Sanders and even maybe Marie Svart over at the Democratic Socialists? Wouldn’t you be more in league with them?

STEVE BANNON: No. Because here’s the difference. The future’s populism, okay? The question before–

ADAM SHAPIRO: And you don’t care if it’s right wing or left wing.

STEVE BANNON: No, I do. Look, th– there’s–

ADAM SHAPIRO: You do?

STEVE BANNON: –there’s a fundamental difference between populist (COUGH) nationalism and populist socialism. Okay? What Jeremy Corbyn, and Bernie Sanders, and Ms. Cortez, and these other folks argue is more state intervention into our lives and into– into– into the economy. What– remember, right-wing populism– I said at CPAC, it’s– it’s economic nationalism, it’s America-first national security, and it’s deconstruction of the administrative state.

One of the reasons that Trump’s got this kind of animal spirits unleashed again is not just deregulation but tryin’ to take the leviathan– the leviathan in this city that all of you know, what runs this town, and try to take it apart brick by brick. The fundamental difference in what right-wing populism and left-wing populism is state intervention.

What I say is we’re in a system now of state-controlled capitalism. You’ve had a tremendous consolidation in media companies, in tech companies, in pharmaceutical companies, in manufacturing. So now you have a handful of goliaths, right, in bed with big government. That’s what has to be broken up. The whole purpose of economic nationalism is to give the little guy a piece of the action through better high-value-added jobs and wages but also to start to break up have entre–

ADAM SHAPIRO: Last– last– last question–

STEVE BANNON: -entre– entrepreneurial–

ADAM SHAPIRO: If you’re–

STEVE BANNON: –entrepreneurial finance.

ADAM SHAPIRO: –America first, why are you so concentrated with the movement in Europe? And why are you trying to change and upset the election for the EU parliament? I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but–

STEVE BANNON: No, because it’s in the best interests of– of– of America. Strong nations make s– make great neighbors. What you have in– the world today is this kind of– you have a global populist outbreak, okay? A national– this kind of thing, it’s really sovereignty. Sovereignty of the states, but it’s all based upon the citizen.

So a lot of people have come to me. You have this major election next year in the European Parliament. You’re gonna have all these populists parties and really the sovereigntist parties or these nationalist parties I think are gonna really represent. I’m there because for nine years I’ve been workin’ on it here to develop the tools, the polling, you know, the messaging, how you think about it.

They can all run their own individual parties. Their own individual countries run their elections. I’m there as kind of a backup to say, “Hey, here’s some tools, here’s some things you might want to think about of how you kind of, you know, drive voters out to the– drive voters to the polls– you know, to get out the vote.”

But after– after this November 6th, I think I gotta learn some lessons from the– from the left. One thing I wanna say. I think this election on November 6th was great. People are talking about the country being divided. The country’s divided ’cause we have dif– two different philosophies– of how we oughta– how we oughta go forward.

This has happened in America before. The best way to do it is at the ballot box. And what I admire– I disagree 100% with their ideology. But I like the hustle, the grit, and the determination of the progressive left because quite frankly I think this was won on the ground. And it was won by small donors. And I think the left showed us. And I keep telling people we’ve gotta redouble our efforts. If we wanna win in 2020–

ADAM SHAPIRO: I literally–

STEVE BANNON: –we’ve gotta go.

ADAM SHAPIRO: I have ten seconds. Democrats running in 2020, just gives me their names real quick.

STEVE BANNON: Here’s–

ADAM SHAPIRO: –ten seconds. Beto O’Rourke–

STEVE BANNON: –people. Oh, definitely–

ADAM SHAPIRO: Kamala Harris?

STEVE BANNON: 100%. All of ’em.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Cory Booker?

STEVE BANNON: Yes.

ADAM SHAPIRO: And Joe Biden?

STEVE BANNON: Here’s the thing. They’re gonna force Trump to the right. The left’s gonna pick– a left-type candidate like– like Cory Booker or– or– or– Kamala Harris, someone like that. And Michael Bloomberg is setting up an apparatus today to look for a Mitt Romney type or something like that, to look to have a middle party. They’re gonna look at this election as the election of 1860 (NOISE) where you’re gonna have two sides on the right. They’re gonna do the math and think, “Hey, we can– we can– we can–”

ADAM SHAPIRO: We have to wrap it there, but Cory Booker’s gonna be a guest a little bit later on–

Steve Bannon, I wish I had 20 more minutes with you, but thank you, sir.

STEVE BANNON: Thanks for havin’ me.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Thank you.