In a Friday WarRoom interview, Bergquam opened up about Step Into Fear—and the difficult road that took him from addiction and personal collapse to confrontations with Antifa, election officials, media institutions and criminal networks.
Ben Bergquam has spent years walking toward places most reporters would rather observe from a studio. On Friday’s WarRoom, however, Steve Bannon turned the camera away from the border, the ballot-counting centers and the political combat and toward the man behind the reporting.
Appearing on the September 4 broadcast, Bergquam discussed his forthcoming book, Step Into Fear: A Journey from Addiction to Courage and Purpose, scheduled for release September 8 by War Room Books.
“Step Into Fear chronicles my journey from addiction, from the pits of hell, to where God has me standing today,” Bergquam told Bannon.
He described a life that once included crack-cocaine addiction, deception and a double identity that threatened his marriage and family.
That confession is what gives the title its punch. Bergquam’s public image may be that of a fearless correspondent, but his message is that fear never disappeared.
“People often say that I’m fearless, and I have to correct them,” he previously explained. “I am afraid all the time.”
His definition of courage is simpler: “Courage is willing to stand up in the face of fear.”
The 240-page book follows that progression from addiction and recovery through faith, family and frontline reporting. It includes QR codes connecting readers to video from the events described—among them violent political confrontations and Bergquam’s reporting from cartel-controlled territory in the Darién Gap. It is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the publisher.
Bannon also connected Bergquam’s story to the political flashpoints he covered. They talked about the battles in the 2020 presidential election and Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial contest. Bergquam said he had been present “from the beginning,” adding that he was in Arizona during both controversies and that his reporting the parts of the story that the corporate media refused to address.
Frontline America readers watched that fight unfold in real time.
In November 2022, Frontline America chronicled how Bergquam and Gateway Pundit correspondent Jordan Conradson were removed from a Maricopa County election press area and directed toward what an official called a “free speech zone.” Bergquam was subsequently denied credentials and later suspended by Twitter.
Gateway Pundit sued. A federal appeals court concluded that the county’s restrictions raised serious First Amendment concerns, warning against allowing government officials to police which journalists qualify as reputable. Maricopa County ultimately approved a $175,000 settlement.
That episode was part of a larger pattern for Bergquam. Frontline America also documented Bergquam’s public dispute with NPR over its reporting about his COVID illness and treatment.
In years leading up to the book, Bergquam’s site, Frontline America, chronicled some of Bergquam’s brave and amazing journey: the border, Berkeley, censorship, Maricopa County, and the Darién Gap. Step Into Fear supplies the missing first chapter the private war Bergquam had to survive before he began reporting on America’s public ones.
For more of the WarRoom discussion, watch the complete September 4 WarRoom interview.