Bannon Says the Betrayal of America’s Working Men Built Trump’s Movement — and Consumer Pushback Shows Elites Are Losing Control

Steve Bannon argued on Wednesday’s WarRoom that Hillary Clinton and the globalist elite sold out America’s working class through globalization and institutional capture, creating a disaffected class of young men who became the backbone of Trump’s political revolution. He warns that corporate-government collusion to censor and punish dissent is "very dangerous,” but points to consumer pushback — like Disney’s backlash — as proof the grassroots won’t stay silent. His prescription: maximize political power, seize institutions, and make gains irreversible.

Quick Clip:

BANNON: We have millions and millions of young STEM-qualified Americans who can't find jobs. SEND THE FOREIGNERS HOME TODAY!!

It's time for AMERICANS to have the jobs that they worked for! STOP CRUSHING THE GREATEST ASSET WE EVER HAD! pic.twitter.com/ceiTX8QaE8

— Bannon’s WarRoom (@Bannons_WarRoom) September 24, 2025

Clinton as Symbol of Betrayal

Bannon opens by casting Hillary Clinton not just as a political opponent, but as a symbol of everything that went wrong with America’s ruling class. To him, Clinton embodies the globalist mindset: cozy with bankers, NGOs, and international institutions, while ignoring the economic devastation in places like Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. He says her leadership class sold out American workers to Wall Street and Beijing, and the consequences were catastrophic — entire communities gutted, factory towns hollowed out, families broken.

Trump, Bannon insists, didn’t create this grievance. He recognized it. That’s why Clinton’s defeat in 2016 wasn’t just a partisan loss — it was a referendum on decades of elite betrayal.

The Disaffected Young Men Thesis

Bannon’s most urgent point is that globalization didn’t just wreck factories; it wrecked futures. Millions of young men — predominantly white, working-class men — lost decent-paying jobs, saw their prospects evaporate, and retreated into online and gaming subcultures. Instead of being breadwinners and community anchors, they became politically alienated, treated by the media and schools as cultural villains.

This isn’t just an electoral demographic problem, Bannon says. It’s the foundation of Trump’s movement. By promising to reshore jobs, protect industry, and prioritize American workers, Trump turned grievance into realignment. Without addressing the economic dispossession of young men, there is no durable America First coalition.

Consumer Pushback: The Disney Lesson

Bannon highlights corporate punishment of dissent — the so-called "Disney suspension” case — as a flashpoint. Elites, he argues, assume they can silence critics through deplatforming, HR purges, or economic penalties. But ordinary Americans are pushing back. Consumer boycotts and grassroots backlash reveal a new dynamic: the people are no longer passive. They see corporate censorship as political warfare, and they’re willing to make corporations pay.

For Bannon, it’s proof that the populist resistance has cultural power, not just electoral power.

The "Very Dangerous” Moment

Bannon makes a warning: what the elites are doing — colluding across media, government, and corporations to shut down opponents — is the playbook of authoritarians. He calls it "very dangerous” because once norms collapse, the fight becomes about raw power. His answer: don’t retreat, maximize. Seize institutions, entrench reforms, and make the revolution permanent.

Bottom Line: Bannon’s comments fuse populist grievance with strategic urgency. He paints Clinton as the avatar of elite betrayal, disaffected young men as the political powder keg that fueled Trump, and consumer pushback as the proof that elites are losing control. But his prescription — seize institutions and escalate the fight — signals a politics that could just as easily destabilize democracy as restore it.

Watch Wednesday’s WarRoom for more: