Bannon Rejects Republican Attacks on Socialism, Warns Against Paul Ryan Playbook

What was said

"You're not going to take Atlas shrugged and throw it at him. You're not going to take Milton Friedman's what? Freedom and capitalism, throw it at him. That's not going to work. Why is it not going to work? Because the elites in this country have sold the country out. all this garbage and talk about free trade and free trade and free trade and you had a mercantalist system run by real hardcore communists in uh in China of which the American business community and most the Republican donors underwrote to take your jobs."

Steve Bannon directly rejected Republican establishment tactics of attacking rising socialist politicians like Zora Mamadani with libertarian economics, arguing the makers-versus-takers framing from Paul Ryan and Ted Cruz is politically dead. Bannon contends American elites sold out workers through free trade policies benefiting Chinese communists, making traditional Republican economic arguments ineffective. He warns Republicans must offer an alternative vision rather than simply labeling opponents as socialists.