Angry Americans with Paul Rieckhoff

Trump is not hiding the ball. He is telegraphing, in plain sight, that his number one strategic priority is dismantling the next election — because free and fair voting is the one circuit breaker his power can't survive. This episode drills into the emerging steal-the-midterms playbook aimed squarely at Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, the hypocrisy of a president attacking mail-in voting while mailing in his own Florida ballot, and why Ossoff and Kelly punching back hard is the template every serious candidate needs to copy. From there the conversation widens out to the crypto-bro press conference at a White House that is quite literally open for business, the tapered flagpoles and bomb-bunker cocktail bar while Americans get crushed on gas, groceries, and rent, the nepotism spectacle in South Carolina and a genuine call for Stephen Colbert to come home and run, and the AOC-Markey-Moulton fight in Massachusetts that will test whether progressives can still out-organize the establishment. It's a no-BS scan of a rigged two-party system where one side is stealing the country in broad daylight and the other keeps eating its own. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A Secretary of Defense stumping at a congressional campaign event in Iowa. A carrier crew stretched past the breaking point with no embedded reporters to tell the story. A crypto press conference from the White House on the same day primary voters were talking about gas prices, housing, and the Iran war. Paul Rieckhoff pulls together a week of his MSNBC, CNN, and NewsNation hits to connect the dots the cable segments only got to touch — and to name what the two-party conversation keeps missing. He lays out why the USS Lincoln is becoming a political problem that cuts across every partisan line, why data centers and AI have quietly become the new third rail in 2026 races up and down the ballot, and why three million Florida independents sitting out a primary is a bigger story than any single candidate. Along the way: Mark Kelly finding his range, military families going around the Pentagon to reach the American people, and a reminder that when the guardrails between politics and the troops come down, the country gets less safe — not more. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The “Illegal” Iran War, His Favorite Wrestler. DJT in the WWE Hall of Fame. Hegseth, Klobachar, The Debt, USS Lincoln, Socialism's Surge, La Casa De MSNBC. And The Indy Senate Candidates On The Cusp Of Doing What He Did. Jesse Ventura returns to Independent Americans and does what only Jesse can do — say the quiet part loud. He rips into an illegal war in Iran that Congress refuses to vote on, a $40 trillion debt Republicans are quietly stacking on the national credit card, and a Trump family that has never once put on the uniform while profiting off defense contracts and the drone industry. He calls the country's slide unmistakable: when federal troops are doing daily law enforcement on American streets, that is the working definition of a third-world nation, and we are living in one. From there Paul and the Governor go wide. They break down the USS Lincoln stranded at sea for nine months, Pete Hegseth treating war like a football pep talk, the rise of a viable independent Senate bench — Bodnar, Bangs, Osborn, Achilles — and Jesse's standing offer to fill Amy Klobuchar's seat if she has the guts to make the ask. Jesse revisits the story of how MSNBC and General Electric paid him for three years to keep him off the air before the Iraq invasion, why money-as-free-speech is a lie, and why every war in his 75 years has been built on lies nobody was ever held accountable for. It is history, hot takes, and a hard shove toward the independent majority — delivered by the man who proved independents can win. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And Dems Nominated Another Socialist for Senator. And a Former Republican-turned-Dem who Can't Win. Darline Graham Knows Nothing. Calling Stephen Colbert!  Three million independent Floridians were barred from every contest on this week's ballot. More than 640,000 of them are veterans. That is not a glitch — it is the design of a rigged two-party system that closes the books a month early and dares you to switch teams just to be heard. In episode 604, Paul Rieckhoff walks through the numbers county by county, exposes how the Democratic Socialists of America keep hijacking closed primaries and then getting flattened in general elections, and makes the case that Florida is not Manhattan and Michigan is not Manhattan. He also introduces two independent veterans already on the November ballot — Mike Klein, a West Point infantry officer running for U.S. House in Florida's third district, and Lacey Villarreal, an Air Force veteran running for West Melbourne City Council — plus the widening lane for a Stephen Colbert Senate run in South Carolina against the installed Darlene Graham. Add in Pete Hegseth campaigning in Iowa while sailors on the USS Lincoln go without adequate resupply, a measles outbreak in Iowa, and a president still all gas, no brakes, and the stakes could not be clearer. Independents are not moving the needle. Independents are the needle. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Independent Veteran For Spokane Prosecutor on: Open Primaries Real World Impact, 60,000 Displaced Neighbors, And What Right Looks Like. Why The Uss Lincoln Story Should Scare Every Veteran. Spokane County spent the primary season choking on wildfire smoke — 800 structures gone, 60,000 people displaced, plumes visible from the parade route — and voters still showed up to the ballot box. In the middle of that devastation, Iraq combat veteran and independent candidate Danny Tarkenton did something the two-party machine insists is impossible: she cracked the top two in a county prosecutor race with no billionaire donor, no party infrastructure, and no partisan jersey. She finished a hair behind the Republican incumbent, advanced to the November general, and proved that Washington's open primary is a working model for what right looks like in American democracy. Paul sits down with Danny to unpack how she did it — walking with her community instead of standing above it, refusing party money so she only answers to the people, and bringing an interdisciplinary background in philosophy, psychology, forensic science, and combat engineering to an office that should never have been partisan in the first place. They dig into the human cost of the wildfires, the toxin exposure her community will be processing for a generation, and the contrast between leaders who acknowledge a crisis and leaders who pretend it isn't happening. It's a movement, not just an election — and it's a preview of what independents can do everywhere the system isn't rigged against them. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Twenty-five years on, the loudest lesson from 9/11 is still the quietest one: appreciate every damn day. In this replay from the Independent Americans archive, Paul Rieckhoff — combat veteran, 9/11 first responder, and founder of IVA — hands the mic to his friend firefighter Rob Serra and Al Barry of Engine 65. Al walks us floor by floor up the North Tower stairwell, through the May Day at 22, through the collapse of the South Tower that he first mistook for elevators being recalled, and through the black cloud on West Street where he ended up at the bottom of a pile of strangers under a police car. It is not a war story. It is a working man's story about a job that turned into history. The conversation goes where most 9/11 retellings will not. Al talks about the years after — the ceremonial bugler who couldn't hit the notes on TAPS anymore because his lungs were shot. The brother firefighter lost to suicide. The retired 40-year man lost to cancer. The father-in-law and the father and the brother, all gone in eighteen months. He talks about finally sitting with a counselor, about how the guys from Vietnam in his firehouse never spoke of it, and about how the newer generation is finally starting to. If you were not born yet in 2001, this is the episode to share. If you were there, this is the brother-to-brother conversation you already know by heart. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Twenty-five years on, the stories from 9/11 are the ones we cannot let calcify into a slogan. In this replay conversation, Paul sits down with retired FDNY firefighter Rich Naviasky — a Squad 18 brother, English major turned accidental fireman, and one of the countless first responders who walked from a gorgeous blue sky straight into what he calls Armageddon. Rich takes us minute by minute from his Long Island City apartment to the West Side Highway, onto a commandeered MTA bus loaded with tools, into the pile, into the pit, and into the quiet, gutting moments of recovering brothers he could not identify. From there the conversation opens into everything that came after — the 2007 Deutsche Bank fire that killed two of his brothers, the autoimmune disease that dropped his platelet count to 19,000 while the job refused to call it line of duty, the Halloween 2017 bike path attack, and the toll all of it takes on a marriage, a family, and a mind. It's brotherhood, dark humor, mental health, and the fight to make sure no first responder is ever again told their sickness doesn't count. If you want to understand why we say never forget — and why the fight for 9/11 responders is still not finished — start here. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sent Back to School While the Fires Still Burned. Why Isn't Women's Health Covered by the 9/11 Health Program? 25 Years of Political Theater. Twenty-five years on, Washington still frames 9/11 as a story of heroes and villains — and quietly counts on the rest of us to forget the civilians in between. Paul sits down with survivor advocate Lila Nordstrom, who was a high school junior three blocks from the World Trade Center when the towers fell, and who was marched back into that building on October 9, 2001 while the fires were still burning. Her story is not a footnote to the first-responder fight. It is the part of 9/11 the political class worked hardest to bury, because acknowledging it would mean admitting the reopening of lower Manhattan was political theater with a body count. This conversation cuts through the symbolism. Lila breaks down the two-tier structure of the Zadroga Act, why the survivor program forces you to get sick before it will screen you, and why uterine cancer — the only major reproductive cancer still excluded — keeps getting rejected for coverage. She and Paul connect the dots from 9/11 to Flint to COVID to PFAS in firefighter bunker gear, and expose the same rigged pattern every time: leaders choose short-term optics over long-term lives, and then dare exhausted victims to keep coming back to Washington to beg. It is a masterclass in how citizen activism actually works, why it should never have had to, and what independents owe the next generation of Americans who get caught in the next disaster. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Another Firefighter Lost 30 Minutes Ago. Why ‘Never Forget' Became A Punchline. His 9/11 Anniversary Message: “Don't Be A Dick”. Inside The Deutsche Bank Fire. The Halloween Attack. The Illnesses Still Killing First Responders. Rob Serra is a legendary FDNY firefighter whose first day on the job was September 11, 2001. He's spent the twenty-plus years since burying brothers, fighting his own government for basic acknowledgement that the air wasn't clean, and refusing to let the country slide into the comfortable amnesia of an annual hashtag. In this conversation, Paul Rieckhoff sits down with Rob as another FDNY firefighter dies of a 9/11 illness thirty minutes before they hit record — a gut-punch reminder that 9/11 is not a memory, it's still killing people this week. They get into the moral injury that connects 9/11 first responders to Afghanistan veterans: the same government that stood at the microphones promising "never forget" is the same government that told sick firefighters to go beg, and the same government that left Americans and allies on a tarmac in Kabul. Rob talks about the 257 FDNY brothers lost to 9/11 illness, the Deutsche Bank fire, raising kids while his body breaks down, an eight-year-old son who called him lazy, and why his sign-off is "stay low." It's raw, it's specific, and it's the kind of conversation that reminds you why humanity — not partisanship — is the thing worth protecting. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Independent Movement's Tipping Point. How One Senate Seat And Two Or Three House Seats Are All It Takes To Break Both Parties. For the first time on Independent Americans, Senator Joe Manchin and Heather Manchin sit down with Paul Rieckhoff to lay out exactly how they plan to break the grip of the rigged two-party system. Joe Manchin knows what one honest vote can do — he was the deciding vote in a 50-50 Senate and got more done in the 117th Congress than most Congresses in a generation. Heather Manchin brings the business mind: mapping the billions of dollars flowing left and right, the closed primaries in 16 states that shut independents out, and the digital strategy needed to punch through the echo chambers and actually win. Together, they make the case that this is the tipping point — and that a handful of independent seats in the House and Senate could change everything. And that their efforts through their new Independent Leadership Council initiative can help to propel that change. The conversation goes deep on Montana, where combat veteran Seth Bodnar now has a true three-way shot after the DSCC's preferred Democrat refused to step aside and the GOP hand-picked a Trump rubber stamp. Joe and Heather explain why independent veterans are the natural leaders of this movement, why the "spoiler" slander is draconian and antiquated, and why building a leadership pipeline from mayors and school boards up to the Senate is how you actually rewire American politics. It's a candid, tactical, and deeply hopeful conversation about turning frustration into structural power — and doing it before the 2026 midterms. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Check out the Independent Leadership Council here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Most Americans checked out for August. Paul Rieckhoff didn't. From a beach house on Long Island, he cuts a fast, urgent episode to hit what the corporate media won't touch: today is primary day in Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wisconsin, and across those four states 21 of 22 U.S. House races are effectively decided before November ever arrives. Connecticut is the sharpest example — the only fully closed primary this week — where 935,892 unaffiliated voters, the largest voting bloc in the state, are legally barred from casting a ballot in the election that will actually pick their representatives. Paul breaks down the numbers town by town, names the 129,563 Connecticut veterans caught in that lockout, and explains why so many of them refuse to join a party on principle — the same principle they swore an oath to defend. Then he pivots to Montana, where Democrat Alani Bankhead just blew past the 5 p.m. deadline to drop out, guaranteeing she'll split the anti-Republican vote and torpedo independent veteran Seth Bodnar's shot at an incumbent Trump rubber-stamper. It's a rigged two-party system on full display in a single news cycle — and a reminder that nobody else is counting these voters, so we will. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Check the IVA overview of Washington State's primary this week.  -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Pete Hegseth is on thin ice, and the reason should worry every American with a family member in uniform. U.S. commanders are reportedly picking and choosing which Iranian missiles to intercept and which to let fall. Our stockpiles of Tomahawks, ATACMS, and Patriots are draining. Ukraine's civilians are dying for lack of munitions. And the response from the White House is to hunt down leakers, blame subordinates, and ask Congress for another $67 billion — roughly $20 billion of it for weapons the administration should have planned for in the first place. This is what happens when leadership refuses to take responsibility and gets way ahead of its skis. At the same time, the Trump family is cashing in on Defense Department contracts while the commander in chief ramps up warfare around the world and pushes a $1.5 trillion defense number. It may not be illegal. It is deeply, deeply wrong — and it is exactly the kind of grift that unites independents, moderate Republicans, and anyone who still cares about basic ethics. Paul breaks down Elizabeth Warren's "gelatinous blobs" broadside at spineless Senate Republicans, the small cracks opening around Cornyn and Tillis, the widening MAGA civil war between Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie and the establishment, and where a wandering Tulsi Gabbard might land next. If you want to know where the off-ramps and pressure points are heading into 2026, this is the map. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Check the IVA overview of Washington State's primary this week.  -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Democrats Drop Out in Idaho and South Dakota. Media Blitz Pod The rigged two-party system delivered another round of primary results this week, and the pattern is impossible to miss: the extremes keep winning the nominations while roughly 44% of Americans who identify as independent get shoved further to the margins. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed squeaked past Haley Stevens in a race that was supposed to be close and somehow got closer — and now Democrats have ninety days to figure out whether a DSA-aligned progressive can hold a battleground state they cannot afford to lose. Paul Rieckhoff joins the news desk from Detroit alongside Lauren Wright and former Congressman Conor Lamb to lay out the stakes with no spin and no jersey. From there the conversation widens to the races nobody in cable news is covering yet. Democrats have dropped out in both Idaho and South Dakota, clearing the runway for independent veterans Todd Achilles and Brian Bangs to go head-to-head against Republican incumbents. In Montana, Green Beret and Rhodes Scholar Dan Bodnar is running as an independent — if the Democrat will finally step aside and stop playing spoiler. It is a real-time test of an alternate theory of the case: that the way to beat entrenched incumbents is not to nominate a mirror-image extremist, but to run rooted, mission-first veterans who can actually reach the middle. This is what the map looks like when you stop pretending the two parties speak for everyone. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Check the IVA overview of Washington State's primary this week.  -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brian Bengs—Indy Vet For Senate in South Dakota: the Dem Dropping Out & His Head-to-Head vs GOP Incumbent Rounds The independent movement is surging — and the machine is fighting back. In episode 594, Paul Rieckhoff breaks down the biggest under-covered story of the week: Mayor Mamdani's Board of Elections quietly rejected 42,000 petitions from New Yorkers demanding open primaries, a direct shot at the one million independents disenfranchised by New York's rigged partisan system. Paul also digs into the Politico report that Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie and Joe Kent are sowing the seeds of a new third-party project at Carlson's Maine compound — and why a third party is not the same thing as being independent. Then an exclusive with South Dakota independent veteran Brian Bengs, who now has a cleared head-to-head against unpopular Republican incumbent Mike Rounds after the Democrat dropped out. Bengs — a dual-service veteran and expert in the law of armed conflict — makes the case on the unauthorized Iran war, tariffs as a surgical tool versus a wrecking ball, the affordability crisis hitting South Dakota farmers, rural veteran healthcare, and why he refuses to caucus with either party. With Dan Osborn in Nebraska, Todd Achilles in Idaho and potentially Seth Bodnar in Montana all clearing head-to-head shots, the independent fulcrum in the Senate is no longer a talking point. It's a plan. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Check the IVA overview of Washington State's primary this week.  -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"Let's F***ing Go." Dem Drops Out in South Dakota: Brian Bengs vs Mike Rounds Is On. Two Independent Vets Win in Washington While Their County Burns.  Michigan is not Manhattan. That's the through-line of this one. The Democratic primary in Michigan handed the U.S. Senate nomination to Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left progressive in a state where roughly 17% of voters are independent and Mike Rogers is waiting on the Republican side. Paul Rieckhoff calls it what it is: another gift from a rigged two-party primary system to the MAGA machine, and one more reason the Democrats will not save you. The Bernie-vs-Schumer civil war is nominating candidates who can't galvanize independents or win general elections — and it's happening on the biggest stages in the country. But this episode is also a scoreboard for the independent veteran movement. In South Dakota, Democrat Julian Bedouin dropped out, clearing a one-on-one between IVA-endorsed independent veteran Brian Bengs and Republican Mike Rounds. In Idaho, Todd Achilles is head-to-head with 83-year-old Jim Risch. In Montana, spoiler candidate Alani Bankhead is being called on to step aside for Green Beret and Rhodes Scholar Seth Bodnar. And in Washington's top-two nonpartisan primary — the fairest system in the country — four independent vets ran while the wildfires burned, and at least two are moving on to November. Michigan is what wrong looks like. Washington is what right looks like. This is the map. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Check the IVA overview of Washington State's primary this week.  -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

PLUS: The Pentagon's Body Count Bookkeeping Trick. Blanche Ready to Weaponize DOJ. Democrat Spoilers in the Way in Montana, South Dakota. A Marine Vet in Tennessee Steps Up. Spokane is burning. Three wildfires have merged into the Spokane Complex, torching more than 8,000 acres, destroying over 700 structures with a final count that could top a thousand, and forcing 65,000 people under evacuation orders. The Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center sits inside the evacuation zone and has been shuttered, its veteran patients moved to partner hospitals. And in the middle of that inferno, an election. Four IVA-endorsed independent veterans were on the ballot — Nate Powell, Danny Tarkington, Erin Croft, and Ronald McCoy — three of them running to serve the county that is on fire right now. Paul Rieckhoff walks through what a real open primary looks like, what it means when veterans meet the moment, and why Washington state's top-two system is what right looks like. From there the show swings to the other Washington, where the fires are political but no less dangerous. Todd Blanche is being teed up to weaponize the Justice Department. CENTCOM is literally crowdsourcing ideas to "pressure and punish Iran" while stockpiles of precision-strike missiles run dry. Pete Hegseth's Pentagon is splitting the wounded count into two ledgers to hide the true cost of the Iran war — the same muscle memory that lied about Vietnam and Afghanistan. And in Montana and South Dakota, spoiler Democrats with zero chance of winning are refusing to clear the lane for independent veterans Seth Bodnar and Brian Bengs. Plus a live endorsement alert: Marine Corps veteran Shane Eaton is on the ballot in Lawrence County, Tennessee — and he needs supporting fire this week. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Check the IVA overview of Washington State's primary this week.  -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Plus: "Independents Aren't Real"? Kasich's Partisan Slander, Manchin's New PAC, and 45% of America Says Otherwise. Trump says he's close to an Iran deal. He's been saying he's a week away from a Putin deal for a year and a half. Paul Rieckhoff calls the head fake for what it is, warns the media not to fall for it again, and lays out the chaos Congress is trying to jam through before its six-week recess — including Todd Blanche's nomination and the weaponization fund built to compensate January 6th insurrectionists. The forever wars don't take August off, and neither do we. Then the real story: on August 4th, four independent veterans appear on a single top-two primary ballot in Eastern Washington. Nate Powell for U.S. House, Danny Tarkenton for Spokane County prosecutor, Aaron Croft for the State House, and Ronald McCoy for State Senate. Across those races, roughly 131,000 independents and 53,000 independent veterans can vote — a decisive bloc the corporate media isn't covering. Paul breaks down why open primaries are the battlefield, why John Kasich is wrong that independents aren't real, and what's coming next with Senator Joe Manchin, Heather Manchin, and Senator Angus King joining the show. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Check the IVA overview of Washington State's primary this week.  -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Governor John Kasich went on national TV and told Paul Rieckhoff, to his face, that independents aren't really independent — that come November they'll just go back to the bench and put the old jersey back on. Paul's response is the spine of this episode: that's an antiquated way of looking at America in 2026. Sixty percent of young people are unaffiliated. Fifty percent of veterans are unaffiliated. Ten thousand Americans are walking out of the Republican and Democratic parties every single week. Trump is sitting at a 22% approval with independents and a 32-34% approval overall — the Bush line — with an unpopular Iran war, tariffs jacking prices, and a party heading into the midterms with 96 days on the clock. This is a media-blitz sweep of a very big week. Paul rolls through his hits on CNN, News Nation, and MS Now to break down the races the rigged two-party system doesn't want you watching: Todd Achilles running head-to-head against 83-year-old Jim Risch in Idaho after the Democrat dropped out, Seth Bodnar in Montana, Dan Osborn in Nebraska, Yemi Mobolade already governing as an independent mayor in Colorado Springs. He takes on the Politico poll showing MAGA voters shrugging off DUI convictions, bribery, domestic violence, and sexual assault allegations — and names the command climate that made that possible. And he pushes the Democrats hard: outrage isn't a plan. What's your alternative on affordability? What's your alternative to end the war in Iran? Independents are listening. So is a country starved for character. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Trump's approval with independents just hit 24%. Republicans are going home to their districts and getting an earful about an unauthorized, unconstitutional, and wildly unpopular war with Iran that is now pulling in the Saudis, the Egyptians, and Iranian proxies from Iraq to Yemen. Paul Rieckhoff calls it what it is — a sucking chest wound — and lays out why Senate Republicans are finally breaking, why Lindsey Graham comparing Trump and Netanyahu to Roosevelt and Churchill isn't landing, and why supporting the troops means demanding a coherent plan, not a blank check for one man's war. From there, the episode moves to John Cornyn refusing to be rolled on Trump's weaponization slush fund, Todd Blanche's Epstein problem and his condescending meeting with survivors, and the acting-AG limbo that could stretch into September. And it closes with a tribute to Coach Yeoman Wilder — the New York youth baseball legend who stood up to ICE agents at his practice, protected his players, and reminded a country full of capitulating law firms and universities what actual patriotism looks like. Righteous anger, patriotic hope, and a call to meet the moment. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

9/11 Families Telling Mamdani to Stay Away For 25th Anniversary Next Month. Media Blitz Pod The Iran war is overflowing. Saudi Arabia is now actively engaged. Egypt is getting hit with drone strikes. Roughly 50,000 American sons and daughters are in harm's way — and Congress has authorized none of it. In this episode, Paul Rieckhoff broadcasts from the Huntsville, Madison County Veterans Memorial to lay out exactly how bad it's gotten, why the president's expletive-laced tough talk is a sign of desperation rather than strategy, and how this war is dragging vulnerable Republicans down with it heading into 2026. Paul also breaks down the Fauci hearing — 111 invocations of the Fifth — and makes the case for a 9/11-style bipartisan commission instead of a partisan witch hunt, because the next pandemic is coming whether we're ready or not. He connects the dots on the Idaho Senate race, where independent veteran Todd Achilles now goes head-to-head with Jim Risch, and reflects on what the 25th anniversary of 9/11 should really be about. If you want no-BS analysis of a war spiraling beyond our control — and a reminder that veterans still know what courage, sacrifice, and duty actually mean — this is the conversation. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Iran War, Skyrocketing Prices and Jim Risch—A Really, Really Old Opponent. Like Really Old. Defending Public Lands. Independents Are Not The Spoilers. The Shuttle Trailblazer, Southern Nice and Space City Week Continues.  The Democrat is out in Idaho. That single sentence rewrites the 2026 Senate map. Independent veteran Todd Achilles is now in a one-on-one race against three-term incumbent Jim Risch — chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the third most powerful voice on American foreign policy, and a man who has rubber-stamped an unauthorized Iran war while public lands go up for sale and 160,000 Idaho veterans wait on understaffed VA clinics. Paul Rieckhoff gets Achilles on the line for a national exclusive from Space City, USA, and the message is blunt: this is the most competitive Senate race in the country, and almost nobody in the corporate or partisan media is telling you about it. Achilles breaks down the numbers — 75% of Idahoans want a senator who works across the aisle, his internal polling has swung from minus-14 to plus-20 in three months, and 350,000 votes is the win number in a state where the majority self-identifies as independent. Paul connects the dots to Dan Osborn in Nebraska and Seth Bodnar in Montana, and to the bigger strategic prize: an independent caucus with the leverage to hold both parties accountable on forever wars, public lands, and the VA. This is what the independent movement looks like when it stops being a slogan and starts being a ballot line. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Lindsey Graham Funeral—Zelensky in DC. The Dem Spoiler in Montana. Space City Week Continues. Media Blitz Pod From the 100 degree shadow of the Saturn V in Huntsville, Alabama at NASA, Paul Rieckhoff delivers a no-BS field report on a week when the stakes continue to get higher. President Zelensky is in Washington, Senator Lindsey Graham laid to rest, and the bipartisan opening to finally pass  a Ukraine support bill with stronger sanctions, more weapons, more money — is right in front of Congress. Meanwhile, Trump is openly signaling he intends to attack the November elections, and the confirmation of unqualified loyalist Jay Clayton to run the intelligence community is a warning shot about what happens when loyalty replaces competence at the top of America's national security apparatus. Paul lays out why independents — now 45% of voters and growing by 10,000 defectors a week from the two major parties — are the circuit breaker this country needs. And breaks down the new polling from the Montana Senate race, where Green Beret and Rhodes Scholar Seth Bodnar can actually win—if the partisan Democrat in the race stops playing spoiler.  And in a special media pop from his weekly segment on CNN with Erin Burnett, Paul rips into Clayton, and explains why the elections themselves are the last firewall against a president who has told us exactly what he plans to do. This is the ground truth from Rocket City: patriotism, unity, and vigilance, delivered straight. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Insurrection Act and The Role of Governors. How to Win Over the Other Side. WNBA All-Star Game. Rocket City, USA, NASA and Trash Pandas. Trump is federalizing National Guard troops, threatening Chicago, New York, and LA with domestic deployments, and using the White House podium to launch personal attacks at anyone who pushes back. Governor JB Pritzker is one of the few Democrats actually fighting — in court, in public, and inside his own party. In his first appearance on Independent Americans, he sits down with Paul Rieckhoff for a no-BS conversation about Trump's nasty WHCD remarks, the Bears' stadium standoff, the Mamdani-Sherrill-Spanberger split in the Democratic coalition, and why he thinks the real divide right now isn't left vs. center — it's team cave vs. team fight. Paul presses Pritzker hard on the stuff independents actually care about: open primaries, the public funding of private party elections, national security credibility on the Democratic bench, and whether governors — not senators, not congressmen — are the best bet for 2028. Pritzker pushes back, defends his grocery initiative, warns about the Insurrection Act, and tells a story about calling other Democratic governors during the Minneapolis crackdown that should make every voter in America pay attention. This one is a real conversation, not a campaign stop. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Secretary of State went on television and refused to rule out striking civilian targets. "A head for an eye," Marco Rubio said — boasting about sending a country back to the Stone Age. At the same time, the Pentagon has cancelled press briefings, killed reporter embeds with combat units, and gone dark on casualty numbers. Paul Rieckhoff joins Katy Tur on MS Now to lay out what that combination actually means: an administration waging war without the accountability the Constitution demands, and military families left in the dark about whether their people are coming home. Paul draws on his own time as an infantry rifle platoon leader in Iraq to explain why the laws of war exist in the first place — they protect our troops when they're captured, they hold the line against retaliation on our allies, and they're the difference between a professional military and a political weapon. He also breaks down the president parading a Gold Star family at a Georgia rally, the New York Times reporting on strikes against Iranian escape routes, and why the erosion of the wall between the troops and the politicians is the exact mistake America made before Vietnam. This one is short, sharp, and essential. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Iran Now Less Popular Than Iraq, Vietnam, Or Afghanistan. Media Blitz Pod A president who never served is once again diminishing the cost of war — calling traumatic brain injuries "just headaches," parading a fallen soldier's family at a political rally, and standing next to a Secretary of State who openly floats a "head for an eye" doctrine against Iran. Meanwhile, MSNBC reporting confirms the US military has been targeting civilian infrastructure inside Iran, including a bridge families were using to flee the danger zone. This is not how a country that claims to believe in the rule of law fights a war. And it's not how a country that claims to honor its troops treats them when they come home in boxes. Paul unpacks the strategic and moral consequences of a Pentagon that has canceled press briefings, killed embed programs, and gone silent on military families who deserve to hear from the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs every single day. He connects the diminishment of American sacrifice to the diminishment of Iranian civilian life — and to the invisible injuries a whole new generation of veterans will carry home. If you want to understand what forever wars actually cost, and why separating the people from the policy is a matter of national security, this is the episode. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mamdani vs Netanyahu and Why The Answer to the Extreme Right Isn't the Extreme Left. Media Blitz Pod Four young Americans are dead. The Secretary of Defense is asking Congress for more money after months of all gas, no brakes. The Saudis are quietly telling the world they don't trust Trump to neutralize Iran — so they're going to build their own bomb. And now the Washington Post reports the administration is weighing strikes on Mali, the eighth country hit since Trump returned to office. This is what a forever war looks like when nobody in Congress is willing to stop it. Paul Rieckhoff cuts through the noise from Union Square with a no-BS media blitz — MSNBC with Nicole Wallace, CNN with Erin Burnett — and lays out the human cost the White House doesn't want you to see. He calls out Mayor Mamdani's Netanyahu stunt as the extreme-left mirror of MAGA, honors Sergeant Angel Rampersat of Queens, and asks the question no anchor will: if this war is so noble, why isn't the president's own 20-year-old son in uniform? Independents are 45% of this country. The extremes running our politics are barely a quarter. It's time to act like it. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Another War, Another Congress That Can't Stop It. Media Blitz Pod Six months in and Americans already revile this war more than they came to revile Vietnam. Trump went all gas, no brakes — no declaration, no authorization, no plan — and now Pete Hegseth is on the Hill with his hat in hand asking Congress for the money he swore he didn't need. Meanwhile Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton of North Carolina, thirty years old, husband and father, is dead in Iraq. Two more service members are dead in Jordan. And the Secretary of Defense can't tell you how many Americans have been wounded, because per New York Times reporting, this Pentagon is undercounting them. Paul brings the ground-truth veteran perspective live to MSNBC alongside David Rhodes and Tom Nichols: the human cost first, the political theater second. He calls out the joint hearing farce, the Hegseth spin, and the senators — from both parties — who still won't force a vote to stop this. This is what happens when you commit the troops before you commit the country. This is what a rigged two-party system looks like when the bodies start coming home. And this is why 'Independent is an attitude' isn't a slogan — it's the only posture left that makes sense. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hegseth's $37 Billion Ask. Three Weekend KIA Troops Identified. Media Blitz Pod. Arizona is where the MAGA machine keeps breaking its teeth, and this episode explains why. Paul Rieckhoff files a rapid recap from inside 30 Hudson Yards after two hours in the Hegseth hearings and a night of primary results — with 34% of Arizona voters registered independent (more than Democrats), a Trump-aligned Andy Biggs winning the GOP nomination while still refusing to admit Trump lost in 2020, and Cindy McCain openly fundraising for the Democratic incumbent Katie Hobbs. It's McCain's revenge, it's a preview of the general, and it's a warning about where the money is about to flood. From there Paul widens the aperture: Pete Hegseth's $37 billion ask on Capitol Hill, Chairman Dan Kane on the record, three troops killed in and around the Iran war whose names deserve to be spoken, and a Republican war chest that now sits $541 million ahead of the Democrats. The primary system is broken, campaign finance is broken, and both parties are pushing more extreme candidates while the actual American middle — independents, veterans, mavericks — gets treated like an ATM. If you want to understand where 2026 is actually being decided, it's not in a party HQ. It's in Arizona. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dr Vin Gupta on How To Stay Healthy in Trump's Summer of WTF. Every six months, Paul brings in a doctor the country can actually trust. This time it's Dr. Vin Gupta — pulmonologist, ICU physician, Air Force Reserve major, and one of the sharpest independent voices on public health in America. They open with the human cost of Trump's Iran policy as a third service member's death is confirmed, then move to the Pentagon, where Pete Hegseth is pushing blanket testosterone screening for men over 30 while simultaneously making flu vaccines optional. Gupta, who has spent fourteen years in military medicine, calls it what it is: culture-war medicine with no readiness justification, dressed up as toughness while units at Lackland get sidelined by preventable flu outbreaks. From there the conversation widens. Wildfire smoke is no longer a Western problem — over thirty states now see native wildfires in a given year, and New York skies look like Seattle's used to. Gupta lays out concrete, no-nonsense steps to protect your indoor air and your family's lungs while the federal government abdicates. They dig into the cyclospora outbreak tied to Taco Bell suppliers, why you can't trust the current FDA's messaging, and what to actually do if you or a loved one gets sick. It closes where the show always does — on hope, connection, and the small acts of vigilance that keep a family and a country whole. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Two US service members were killed and one is missing after another Iranian strike on American forces in Jordan. That brings the confirmed US KIA count to sixteen since the start of a war that Paul Rieckhoff calls unauthorized, unnecessary, and increasingly unpopular — a war Trump owns, and one the White House and the Pentagon show no sign of winding down. Two more families are getting the most devastating call of their lives while the rest of the country tries to enjoy a lake weekend and the World Cup final. Paul refuses to look away. In this quick response pod, Paul lays out what we know so far, why the  -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Plus: The Iran Forever War Grinds On. Hegseth's Blue Angels “Morale ”Stunt. Quick Response Pod Donald Trump has been telegraphing this punch for months, and now it's landed. In a prime-time address to the nation, the president laid the groundwork to undermine free and fair elections this fall — the single greatest threat to his power. Paul Rieckhoff breaks down why this speech matters, why it wasn't a policy pitch but an opening salvo, and why the free and fair midterms are the circuit breaker Trump most wants to disable. The Democrats aren't ready. The Republicans are complicit or asleep. And most of America is trying to figure out if summer camp gets canceled tomorrow. Paul connects the dots from Iran to Venezuela to Minneapolis to the National Guard deployment in D.C. extended through 2029 — all gas, no brakes, no matter what Congress, the polls, or his own party say. He also gets into the Blue Angels flyover controversy and Pete Hegseth's “flyovers will continue until morale improves” post, and why using the military as a prop is a violation of protocol and a warning sign about accountability. This is a no-BS field briefing on a forever war that just refocused on the home front — your ballot. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media. And now part of the BLEAV network! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From a smoky, humid Times Square with the Canadian wildfires blanketing the city, Paul Rieckhoff delivers a quick-response warning ahead of Trump's primetime address. His read: this isn't a State of the Union or a policy rollout. It's the same rhetorical build-up we saw before the strikes on Iran and Venezuela — a president throwing rationales at the wall to justify an attack. Except this time, the target is the one thing that can still check his power: the midterm elections. Rieckhoff lays out the pattern already in motion — the National Guard extension in DC, the push against mail-in ballots, Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard sent in to re-litigate 2020, and the coming pivot to blaming China. He argues this is now the number one national security issue in America, and that a failure of imagination is the biggest risk. It's summer. People are at the beach. The MAGA machine is counting on you to tune out. This short pod is a direct call not to. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Pete Hegseth is running the Pentagon like a locker room. He's blocking women from the top ranks of the U.S. military while opening the door for men to get tested and juiced up on testosterone boosters. Read that sentence again. This is the state of civilian leadership at the Department of Defense in 2026, and Paul is not letting it slide past as just another weird headline. It's a window into how the MAGA machine thinks about strength, service, and who gets to wear the uniform. From the middle of a packed World Cup semifinal crowd in New York, Paul flips the frame. England versus Argentina. Spain already through. Thousands of people from every country on earth, standing shoulder to shoulder, holding their breath for ninety minutes. Joy as a form of resistance. This one's all about  what America can still be when we stop performing dominance and start showing up for each other. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Plus: Independents Under Attack: The Fight For South Carolina. E.Jean Carroll Finally Receives Justice. United Removing Middle Seats. Trump's forever war isn't in Venezuela or Greenland anymore. It's on the home front. National Guard deployments in Washington have been quietly extended through 2029, ICE has killed two more people during vehicle stops in a single week, and Trump is now planning a prime-time address to reopen his case against the 2020 election. Paul Rieckhoff walks through why this is the moment — with Lindsey Graham gone, Mitch McConnell sidelined, and the midterms looming as the last real circuit breaker on executive power — that the pieces are being moved into place. Plus: Independents Under Attack in South Carolina, the E. Jean Carroll payout, the Home Run Derby, the World Cup final in New York and New Jersey, and one small piece of good news for anyone who has ever been trapped in a middle seat. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Plus: DOJ Issues Subpoenas for NYT Qatar Plane Coverage. Jay Z is back. World Cup Final Four. MLB Allstar Game is Something Good. No guests today — just Paul Rieckhoff, coming to you from a brutally hot New York City with the five I's to keep you cool: independence, integrity, information, inspiration, and impact. The top story is a shock: Lindsey Graham, the 71-year-old South Carolina senator and staunch Trump ally, has died. Paul reflects on a complicated legacy — the man who voted to send him to war, drilled in the reserves as a sitting senator, disappointed vets by voting against the post-9/11 GI Bill, and eventually folded fully into Trump land, but who stood with Ukraine when it mattered. His pitch: pass Graham's Russia sanctions bill now and name it in his honor. He also flags the deeper problem with naming an inexperienced family member to a Senate seat that votes on war and peace, checks in on a silent, recovering Mitch McConnell, and breaks down Trump's reignited Iran war — the worst ceasefire ever, 140 targets hit over the weekend, and "President Mayhem" at his peak while markets churn. Then the throughline Paul says you can't look away from: ICE running rampant. Two more people killed in a week — in Biddeford, Maine, and in Houston — with DHS slow to explain and accountability nowhere in sight. Believe your eyes, he says: this is unlawful, unaccountable, and un-American, and shutting ICE down is a patriotic stance, not a partisan one — especially with the specter of the Insurrection Act looming. Paul also hits Trump's escalating war on the press (grand-jury subpoenas to the New York Times reporters who covered the Qatari-gifted Air Force One), some good news from the courts holding the line, a quick primary-season heads-up, and — because it's summer — Jay-Z at Yankee Stadium, a World Cup down to four headed for MetLife, and the "something good" of the MLB All-Star Game in Philly. Country over party, people over politics, light over heat. Stay vigilant. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America.   -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Paul Rieckhoff joins the roundtable to dissect the wreckage of Graham Platner's Maine Senate campaign — alongside Bangor Daily News political editor Michael Shepherd, former DNC chair Jaime Harrison, and Puck's Leigh Ann Caldwell. Paul called this one early: Platner was a ship with holes in it from the start, and progressives were so desperate for a gravelly-voiced tough guy that they were willing to ignore the Nazi tattoo, the Reddit posts, and a vetting operation that missed most of it. His bigger point — Maine is an independent-minded state with a Republican senator and an independent one, and the answer isn't another progressive heartthrob but a moderate bridge-builder who can reach the 300,000-plus independents who actually decide these races. That sets off a sharp exchange with Jaime Harrison over what "establishment" even means. Paul argues the party keeps losing, keeps falling for online-video fantasies that end in disappointment, and needs a real reckoning — the consultants who profit off every doomed surge should have no role in leadership. Harrison pushes back hard: Democrats hold the Maine governorship and most statewide offices, "establishment" is just the people who organize, recruit, and win, and the real task is a credible, high-character candidate who can prosecute the case against Susan Collins on abortion and Kavanaugh. Paul's throughline holds — you can't count on the Democrats to save you, and independents like Angus King are proof that Maine rewards something different. Stay vigilant. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A quick-hit media blitz — Paul Rieckhoff's back-to-back TV appearances in one place. First, on NewsNation Now, Paul unpacks Trump's expanding conflict with Iran: the worst ceasefire ever, missiles still flying, the Strait of Hormuz unsecured, and the regime controlling the tempo while our military gets sucked into what he calls a "sucking chest wound" that's dragging down the economy and Trump's poll numbers. He breaks down the new US–Ukraine Patriot partnership announced alongside Zelensky — better late than never, and real upside for American national security — why defeating Russia is the only road to a deal with Putin, and why Graham Platner's collapse won't save the Democrats in Maine, where a toxic party brand and 300,000-plus independents will decide the race. Then, on CNN's OutFront with Erin Burnett, Paul joins former Senator Barbara Boxer to press two questions Americans deserve answers to. First, the president's stumbles — the word confusions, the wrong names, the moments of visible fog — and why, just as with Biden, health questions about a sitting commander-in-chief actively directing troops in combat are fair game and dangerous to ignore. Second, the Qatar-gifted jet: the national security risk of a foreign-donated aircraft, the roughly $400 million in taxpayer money to renovate it, and the murky story behind the blinds-down flight home. Paul's bottom line — we can't believe Trump, we can't believe the Iranian regime, and a president putting himself ahead of national security is deeply troubling. Stay vigilant. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Democrats Will Not Save You in Maine—or Anywhere. Cuba is Next. Sen Mitch McConnell is MIA. Independent is Not “a Schtick”. World Cup. And New Professional Women's Baseball League!  Trump's forever war is expanding faster than anyone in the mainstream press is willing to say out loud. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has quietly invited more than 60 countries to a meeting framing Antifa as a transnational terror threat — the rhetorical scaffolding for troops in American cities and a move on Cuba before the midterms. Iran is a sucking chest wound draining roughly 40% of the US Navy into the Arabian Sea. A brave American, Commander Gabriel Edwards, was lost in the Seahawk crash on July 1st and almost no one covered it. And at NATO, the commander in chief confused Iran with Japan and Zelensky with Putin on camera. Paul goes solo to connect the dots the two-party machine won't. The Graham Platner collapse in Maine is a case study in why Democrats cannot be trusted to vet, to listen, or to win — and why disrespecting the 45% of Americans who now call themselves independent is a losing strategy against Susan Collins or anyone else. Plus: Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized for three weeks with no straight answers, Ukraine is quietly winning, and there's still real reason for hope — the World Cup, a brand-new women's professional baseball league, and a growing independent movement that refuses to put on a jersey. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Two stories broke in the same news cycle, and both are gut punches for anyone who cares about accountability. In Maine, Democratic Senate candidate and former Marine Graham Platner has withdrawn after a Nazi tattoo, ugly online history, and rape allegations from two women who went on the record. Paul was skeptical from day one — and lays out why Platner ducked every veteran interviewer who might have pressed him, why the progressive left keeps chasing candidates who look the part instead of doing the work, and why Maine, one of the most independent states in the country, deserved better than a binary between a compromised Democrat and Susan Collins. Then there's Iran. The so-called ceasefire was never real. Trump is now floating boots on the ground, still talking about hitting Cuba, and managed to blow up relations with Japan, Zelensky, and Putin in a single day. This is President Mayhem at peak volume — all gas, no brakes — with 50,000 U.S. troops in harm's way, 40% of the Navy in the region, and the Iranian regime emboldened. Paul explains why this is Trump's forever war, why Congress likely can't stop it, and what listeners can actually do about it before the December defense bill vote. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Plus: Trump is a Jinx. US Men Implode in Seattle. Platner Continues to Implode in Maine. Optimism for America 250. The New Toy Story is Important. America just turned 250, Team USA just got bounced from the World Cup, and the MAGA machine is running all gas, no brakes on everything from Iran to the ranks of our own military. Paul sits down with Admiral James Stavridis — former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, former Southcom commander, and author of the new novel 2084 — for a morning briefing on where the country actually stands. Stavridis lays out what the administration is trying to land in Venezuela and Cuba, why he believes this time really is different in Havana, and why the Iran war has gone very badly for a White House that never should have started it. They get into the inexplicable firing of General Chris Donahue and Army Chief Randy George, the internal palace intrigue around Hegseth and Vance that may explain it, and the three circuit breakers — the uniformed military, the courts, and the American people — that Stavridis believes still stand between Trump and an Insurrection Act moment this fall. He also makes the case for a four-party America, why the political center is closer to itself than to its own extremes, and what it will take — charisma, message, money — to finally break the rigged two-party system. It's a conversation for every member of the angry middle who needs both righteous clarity and patriotic hope heading into the biggest midterms of our lifetimes. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

FIFA, Balogun, and the Trump Jinx. July 4/America 250/Independents Day Reflections.  It's America 250 week, the World Cup has swept through New York, and tonight Team USA plays Belgium in what host Paul Rieckhoff calls the biggest US soccer match in his lifetime. Naturally, Donald Trump has already elbowed his way into the story — publicly pressuring FIFA over Folarin Balogun's red card, then taking credit for the reversal, and floating that if the US loses, the match might be rigged. Paul draws the contrast that matters: a young Brooklyn-born striker handling injustice with grace versus an authoritarian president trying to suck the oxygen out of a rare unifying moment.  From the Winter Garden next to Ground Zero to open-primary petitioners sweating it out in the New York heat, this solo briefing connects the World Cup to something bigger — the fight for an America that still belongs to its people, not its parties. Paul breaks down the Patriot Front march in DC, Russia's continued assault on Kyiv, the 3.9 million veterans locked out of closed primaries, and the 46,000 petition signatures that just landed open primaries on the New York ballot this fall. It's a no-BS reminder that even when the president is doing his worst, the country is doing some of its best work. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

His Counter-Narrative To Trump On Patriotism, Open Primaries In Md, The Lessons Of The Knicks, And an NBA Team In B'more. Independents Day Special It's Independence Day. And there are few leaders better suited for this moment than Maryland Governor Wes Moore. Paul Rieckhoff sits down with his longtime friend and returning champion for a July 4th conversation about leadership, patriotism, independent voters, Maryland's closed primaries, Baltimore's comeback, the power of joy, and why the future belongs to people willing to disrupt the status quo. Moore talks about his Leave No One Behind slate, the fastest-growing political force in America, and why the two-party system needs to make room for independents before November, not after the race is already over. And as America celebrates its 250th birthday, Moore delivers a message that hits hard: patriotism is not about a person. It's about an idea. It's about sacrifice, service, hope, and the future we all have to build together. The flag belongs to all of us. America's birthday belongs to all of us. And the work of patriotism belongs to all of us. Independence is an attitude. Stay vigilant. Happy Birthday America. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

July 4th is two days away. America is turning 250. And there is nobody we'd rather hear from right now than America's historian, Ken Burns. Paul Rieckhoff is taking a couple days off at the beach with the kids, so we're replaying one of our all-time favorite Independent Americans conversations. Ken Burns joins Paul for a sweeping, urgent, deeply American talk about the Revolution, George Washington, baseball, real patriotism, Congress abdicating its constitutional duty, the danger of “us vs. them,” and why the American experiment is still worth fighting for. It's history. It's democracy. It's baseball. It's war and peace. It's sacred honor. And it's a reminder that the story of America was never clean, never easy, and never finished. Independence is an attitude. Stay vigilant. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey on the Danger of Thinking War Can Be Easy. Plus: Trump, Greenland & the US as a ‘Predator Nation'. Reflections on the End of Iraq. Independents Week Replay Gen. Barry McCaffrey doesn't do polite. In this replay conversation from the Independent Americans vault, the retired four-star general and MSNOW national security analyst sits down with Paul Rieckhoff to name what almost nobody in Washington will say out loud: the U.S. armed forces — the most trusted institution in American life — are being politicized from the top down, federal law enforcement is being militarized to the point of being indistinguishable from an infantry assault, and the guardrails that once separated a constitutional republic from a government of gangsters are cracking in real time. McCaffrey brings the receipts of a lifetime — Vietnam as a young lieutenant, the Joint Staff, three administrations on the National Security Council, and a hard-won view of what happens when political leadership sends troops into fights it doesn't understand. The conversation ranges across the militarization of ICE and the 11th Airborne on standby, the humiliation of Davos, the quiet withdrawal of the last U.S. troops from Iraq, the collapse of trust with Canada and NATO allies, and the dangerous new fantasy — post-Venezuela strike — that war can be clean and bloodless. McCaffrey is blunt about the opposition being incoherent, about institutions being hollowed out, and about why 40% of the country still backs Trump anyway. But he closes with a story about a French counterpart that lands like a punch: when you're in trouble, we'll be there. If you care about what the military is for, who it serves, and whether America can still be the good guy, this is the briefing to sit with. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

“War Is Chaotic — and We Went In Without a Strategy'" with General Mark Hertling. Plus: Iran, Hegseth & 'Fitness Cultism'. Why His Son Chose to Serve. A Father's Wartime Journal — and a Gut Check for This July 4th War is chaotic and complex. You really never know which way it's going to go — and you especially don't know if you go in without a strategy. That's the line General Mark Hertling keeps coming back to in this no-BS conversation with Paul Rieckhoff, recorded as the Trump administration careens deeper into a war with Iran that Congress never authorized and the American people never signed off on. Hertling — former commanding general of US Army Europe, 36 months in combat, and author of the new book If I Don't Return: A Father's Wartime Journal — lays out exactly why this moment feels more like Vietnam than anything we've seen in a generation, and why the silence from both parties is its own kind of sucking chest wound. Paul and the general get into the levers that could still slow this thing down, the cowardice gripping Congress, the very real threat of election interference and attacks on the homeland, and the demented, steroidified version of "fitness" and manhood being pushed by Hegseth, Kennedy, and the rest of the MAGA machine. They also go somewhere most cable news won't: the human cost. Hertling shares the story behind the Army-green notebook he filled with life lessons for his two young sons before deploying to Desert Storm, convinced he might not come home. It's a conversation about war, yes — but also about character, courage, fatherhood, Mr. Rogers, and what it actually takes to be the kind of leader this country is starving for. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What Is an Illegal Order? The Four-Star Navy SEAL Walks Us Through It. A Million Russian Casualties, And The Precedent We Can't Afford To Break. Independents Week Replay Paul sits down with retired Admiral Bill McRaven — Navy SEAL, former SOCOM commander, former University of Texas system chancellor, and one of the clearest voices in American public life — for a conversation built for this moment. McRaven doesn't flinch. He calls K-12 education the number one national security threat facing the country, lays out exactly where the administration's 28-point Ukraine plan goes wrong, and walks troops through the moral and legal architecture of what an illegal order really is. In a week when the commander in chief is calling combat-veteran senators traitors and floating executions, McRaven offers something different: dignity, decorum, and ground-truth analysis from a man who has actually carried the weight. This is the kind of solo briefing the angry middle has been begging for. McRaven and Paul cover the Nuremberg roots of the illegal-order doctrine, the reality of Russia's million casualties in Ukraine, the Mississippi miracle in early reading, the assault on academic freedom, and why most Americans — MAGA or liberal — still share the same core values when you actually sit down with them. They close on hope, on Friday football, and on whether a four-star independent could ever run for the White House. If you're politically homeless and looking for an alternative narrative to the noise, do not skip this one. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Plus: Why Trump Needs NATO More Than NATO Needs Trump. Pete Hegseth has been quietly purging the Pentagon of anyone who might outshine him, contradict him, or threaten his grip on power. This week he came for General Chris Donahue — a West Point graduate, 75th Ranger Regiment veteran, former commander of the military's most elite special missions unit, the architect of the Afghanistan airlift that saved 124,000 allies, and the builder of NATO's Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative against Russia. Paul Rieckhoff is joined by former FBI special agent and national security analyst Christopher O'Leary, who worked alongside Donahue, to explain why this is the purge that finally goes too far. This is a no-BS briefing on what happens when a Secretary of Defense who talks endlessly about toughness and lethality sidelines the actual prototype of an American warrior — because he's threatened by him. Paul and Chris dig into the loyalty purity tests rotting the senior officer corps, the silence of too many retired generals who go quietly into the night, and the ripple effects on Ukraine, Iran, and a NATO alliance that Mark Rutte is now reduced to flattering with PowerPoint charts in the Oval Office. If you've been wondering when the Angry Middle's national security wing was going to speak up, this is it. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Iran Deal is the Worst Deal Ever. DSA Runs the Table, WIll it Cost the Dems? The story of the Real SAV Act. Who Do You Trust in  Post-Truth Era? America has a primary problem, and New York City is ground zero. Less than 500,000 voters showed up to decide who runs a city of five million, while a million independents — Paul included — were shut out by the most closed primary in the country. That's not democracy. That's a rigged two-party system handing the keys to whichever faction can mobilize the most insiders, while the angry middle stands on the sidelines watching the country drift. In this special episode cut from two recent CNN appearances with Erin Burnett, Paul breaks down the seismic NYC shakeup, the Senate's overdue spine on Iran, the worst ceasefire ever, and a White House so packed with sycophants that the president's own assistant leaves him love notes. He digs into why Trump is fixated on the Save Act — because free and fair elections are America's circuit breaker — and why Democrats keeping Barack Obama on the sidelines is political malpractice. It's quick-fire, intel-grade analysis for the angry middle. No jersey. No spin. No-BS. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Primary Fallout. Trump Blows Up Housing Bill for SAVE Act—Because He's Focused on the Elections. DJT Thinks He's a UFC Fighter. Hegseth's Pentagon Purge Continues. Good News for Independents in DC.  Flu Outbreak Sickens Hundreds of Troops.  Mamdani is the new king of the Democratic Socialists, and he didn't get there by accident. He understood that closed primaries are a rigged game where the players are also the referees — and he played that game to perfection while more than a million New York City independents were locked out of the vote that actually decides who represents them. Paul Rieckhoff breaks down what happened in NYC, in Maryland, and in Utah, why Brad Lander worked so hard to kill the open primaries ballot initiative, and what the rise of the far left in safe-blue cities means for the angry middle that has nowhere left to go. From there, the briefing widens out. The Senate finally voted to check Trump's Iran war powers — with an asterisk worth knowing about. Hegseth forced the retirement of General CD Donahue, the last soldier out of Afghanistan, and the patriotic purged are starting to file for office. Trump botched a Medal of Honor ceremony, fixated on UFC fighters' muscles, and pushed a SAVE Act designed to scare Americans away from the ballot box. Paul also flags some good news: DC just funded open primaries, retired Navy Admiral Nancy LaCore won her South Carolina primary, and a six-tour combat veteran named Kate Connolly is coming for Mike Lawler in the Hudson Valley. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Iran Now Costs $80B! Giannis Antetokounmpo to Miami. Will Trump Jinx World Cup Fever? The MAGA machine is cracking. Tucker Carlson — a 35-year Republican defender — just announced he won't support the GOP in the midterms. Marjorie Taylor Greene piggybacked within hours. Shawn Ryan, Joe Rogan, and others have already signaled the same. So what comes next? A more extreme Republican spinoff? A fake-independent rebrand in the RFK Jr. mold? A Tucker run with Tulsi Gabbard? Paul Rieckhoff delivers a hardcore Tuesday solo briefing on what the fractures inside Trump's base actually mean heading into the midterms — and why the angry middle has to be ready for what's coming. It's also primary day in New York, Maryland, and Utah — and more than 5 million independents are locked out of elections they pay for. Paul breaks down the math, the public polling showing 40% of New York Democrats aren't really Democrats, and which governors are stepping up on open primaries and which ones are ducking. Plus: the Pentagon quietly asking Congress for an additional $80 billion to cover the real cost of the Iran war that Hegseth told you was $29 billion, the Giannis trade shaking up the NBA, and why little Cape Verde at the World Cup is the kind of Cinderella story this exhausted country needs right now. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What About an Arc de Healthcare? Trump's Destruction of Our Shared Symbols is an Attack on All of Us. World Cup Joy, Living in the New South, Friendly, Helpful Neighbors and Driving Across America.  Henry Rollins doesn't do small talk. The punk icon, author, USO road dog, and longtime friend of the show returns from Nashville to deliver one of the most blistering hours we've recorded this year. He keeps dragging the conversation back to the number no cable network wants to sit with: 13 dead American service members, and countless wounded, from a war in Iran the president picked and can't justify. Rollins walks through what a USO trip actually sounds like — young troops telling him the mission is simply "get to D-FAC" — and asks the only question that matters from the resolute desk: how do I get every one of them home? From there it's a wide-open briefing on the state of the republic. Rollins on Tennessee's generational shift and the independents rising inside a red state. Rollins on Operation Ajax, the JCPOA, and why no previous president pulled this trigger. Rollins on a White House that paved over Jackie Kennedy's rose garden, demolished the East Wing, and put MMA behind a paywall on the people's lawn. And Rollins on what's still good — neighbors who shovel each other out, strangers who change your tire in the rain, and a country whose arc, even now, still bends toward better. If you're in the angry middle, this one will hit a nerve and put some fight back in you. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.