Independent Americans is a daily news show hosted by Paul Rieckhoff. He’s a fighter, a patriot, and an independent political and media force to be reckoned with. After serving as a soldier in Iraq in 2004, Rieckhoff emerged as one of the most dynamic political and social leaders in America. In every episode, he breaks down the most important issues facing our country. And he interviews the most influential and compelling people. He’s taking on Republicans, Democrats—and everyone in between. If you’re in the angry middle, Independent Americans reminds you that you’re not alone. We’re all in this together. Join the Independent Americans movement and subscribe now. Produced by Righteous Media.
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“Tactical Penetration” and Rieckhoff’s Unplanned Moment on the Moment with Katy Tur. JD Vance’s Gold Star Fumble. Hegseth’s Popularity Plummets. Media Blitz Pod
Episode 617
Monday, September 7, 2026 • Duration 15:26
Labor Day weekend, the end of one summer and the start of the most consequential fall in American politics in a generation. Paul brings you a rapid media blitz from New York — Brooklyn Bridge behind him, football season in front of him, and a country lurching into an election cycle where the rigged two-party system is asking independents to save it from itself. Only about 9% of independents approve of Donald Trump. The Democratic brand is still toxic in red states like Nebraska, where Pete Ricketts keeps calling Dan Osborn "Democrat Dan" because it works. Independents are the ballgame. The question is whether anyone can actually land the message.
From there Paul walks through the wreckage: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cratering in popularity after Army Secretary Dan Driscoll's resignation, with Tom Tillis finally calling for his firing — a little late for a senator who already voted to confirm nearly every one of these people. JD Vance getting asked about an Air Force widow denied benefits because the Iran conflict isn't "technically a war," and responding by asking a reporter live on air for the widow's personal contact info. A new poll showing the number one regret among Trump voters who've soured on him is Iran — the forever war he promised he'd never start. And the through-line under all of it: the MAGA machine has the bully pulpit and hundreds of millions in dark money, most voters aren't watching cable news, and winning in 2026 is going to come down to what Paul calls tactical penetration — getting the truth to people where they actually live.
-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.
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Republicans Run From Hegseth. Lawler Breaks Rank. Pentagon Purge Continues. The Question Slotkin Asked That Nobody's Answering. Media Blitz Pod.
Episode 616
Friday, September 4, 2026 • Duration 11:35
One week out from the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the Pentagon is being gutted in plain sight. Pete Hegseth is on plan — arguably ahead of it — and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, one of the last circuit breakers inside the building, is gone. The USS Lincoln is limping into Thailand because the Iranians blasted our assets and the Navy can't get sailors safely home to San Diego. Republicans who privately know all this is a sucking chest wound are still hiding behind their pensions and their primaries. Paul sits down with Nicole Wallace for his weekly national security hit and calls it what it is: cowardice, a lack of patriotism, a lack of honor.
This conversation covers the culture-war Pentagon, the transparency crisis around casualties and readiness, and the moral courage vacuum at the top of the uniformed military — Donahue silent, CQ Brown silent, Driscoll silent on the way out. It surfaces the one question from Slotkin's confirmation hearing that should be re-asked on every cable hit and in every town hall: will Hegseth turn the military on American civilians? And it names the tell that finally cracks the wall — Mike Lawler, in a dogfight against an Army veteran Democrat, breaking rank first. If you want to understand why the next sixty days matter more than the last two years, start here.
Is Trump Already Stealing the Midterms? Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania in the Crosshairs. Calling Colbert to Run in South Carolina. Media Blitz Pod
Episode 607
Monday, August 24, 2026 • Duration 08:28
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.
"It Looks Like He's Folding" — Paul Rieckhoff on Trump's Iran Peace Memo
Episode 516
Sunday, May 10, 2026 • Duration 08:17
The White House wants you to believe the Iran war is winding down. A one-page memo. A ceasefire. A market bump. But missiles are still flying on both sides, an Apache just lit up six speedboats, and the regime that murdered tens of thousands of its own people — and 13 Americans — is still very much in charge. Paul Rieckhoff sits down for a no-BS solo briefing on Trump's Iran framework, the four goals the administration set on day one, and why only one of them — eliminating Iran's Navy — looks anything like accomplished.
This is the analysis the cable shows won't give you: where is the enriched uranium, who actually wins if sanctions get lifted and U.S. forces pull back, and why the Iranian regime is openly betting it can wait Trump out the way insurgents waited out America in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Paul lays out the strategic picture, the political incentives behind spiking the ball early, and the one barometer that will actually tell us whether this ended in a win — the Iranian people themselves. If you're in the Angry Middle and tired of being sold easy answers about forever wars, this one is for you.
Worst Truce Ever. U.S. Fires on Tankers. Trump Tries to Silence Sen Kelly.
Episode 516
Saturday, May 9, 2026 • Duration 35:57
Deal Team Six?? Pentagon Releases UFO/UAP Files. Antisemitic Firebomber Gets Life. Stupid Tariffs Ruled Illegal. Dems Slammed in VA. Charlemagne vs Dana White. Bigfoot in Ohio. WNBA Season Begins. Happy Mother’s Day!
The truce isn't a truce. The U.S. Navy is firing on Iranian-flagged oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, gas is climbing toward five bucks a gallon in Ohio, and Trump is on record saying he's fine with $200-a-barrel oil — as long as the war grinds on. Meanwhile, the administration is hauling Senator Mark Kelly back into court to silence a decorated Navy combat veteran and astronaut, sending a clear message to two million military retirees and every troop in uniform: shut up and fall in line. Paul Rieckhoff delivers a solo Friday briefing on what the MAGA machine is actually doing while you're trying to plan Mother's Day brunch.
From the Pentagon's convenient new tranche of UFO files dropping the same week the Epstein files pressure builds, to Don Jr. and Eric landing Air Force drone contracts through their American Venture firm, to a Virginia court torching the Democrats' redistricting gambit — this episode lays out how the rigged two-party system keeps failing the angry middle. Paul also gets into Dana White's bogus apolitical act, Olivia Pichardo making NCAA D1 baseball history, and why the spirit of America's mothers — perseverance, humility, and the golden rule — is exactly the operating system this country needs right now.
Trump Deal or No Deal on Iran? New Names Same War.
Episode 515
Thursday, May 7, 2026 • Duration 26:28
Kamikaze Dolphins. They’re Still Hitting “Drug Boats”. Trump Wins Payback in Indiana. DJT’s Workout Schedule. FDA Blocked Release of Research Finding Covid & Shingles Vax Were Safe. Colbert 2028? Ted Turner, RIP. Bye, Spirit!
They're playing name games to dodge accountability. Operation Epic Fury became Project Freedom overnight — and Congress still hasn't authorized a damn thing. In episode 515, Paul Rieckhoff delivers a solo briefing on Trump's Iran proposal, the unsecured Strait of Hormuz, the enriched uranium still sitting in Tehran, and a regime that's still very much in place. New name, same war. Same forever war. And the most powerful military the world has ever seen is being driven all gas, no brakes by one man with no one stopping him.
From there Paul rips through the stories most cable shows are too scared or too distracted to cover: 180-plus people killed in extrajudicial boat strikes, a national debt now bigger than the entire U.S. economy, a $1.5 trillion defense budget request, the FDA suppressing vaccine safety data, kamikaze dolphin questions at the Pentagon, Russian strikes on a kindergarten in Sumi, and the fight for the soul of the GOP playing out in Indiana and Kentucky. He closes with a case for recruiting more independent celebrity candidates, a sendoff for Ted Turner and the cable news era he built, and a reminder that 45% of Americans are now politically homeless — and that's not a problem, that's the movement.
Running Against Iran, Netanyahu, Gas Prices, Corruption, Trump’s Lies and Both Parties. Ty Pinkins - Mississippi Independent Veteran for Senate.
Episode 514
Thursday, May 7, 2026 • Duration 41:07
Showing the Democrat is the Spoiler. 250,000 Miles Meeting the People. Tomato Seeds and Philly’s Hero Crossing Guard.
Mississippi is showing the outage growing across America. It’s supposed to be a lock for Republicans. Fifteen straight Senate losses for Democrats. Five straight gubernatorial losses. A state both parties have written off as settled. Ty Pinkins is inspiring as hell — Army veteran, three combat tours in Iraq, son of cotton-field workers — isn't buying it. On an inspiring Episode 514, he talks with Paul Rieckhoff to lay out why the rigged two-party system is finally cracking, why $89 to fill a tank is doing more political damage than any TV ad, and why a 27-year-old white Republican mechanic just told him he's voting independent for the first time in his life. The people of Mississippi have had enough of all of it.
This is a no-BS conversation about what's actually moving voters six months out from the midterms: the war in Iran, Trump’s lies, Netanyahu's grip on American foreign policy, AIPAC money flowing to both his opponents, the stock-trading scandal swallowing Congress, and the quiet revolt of the angry middle that partisan polling refuses to measure. Pinkins makes the case that the Democrat in his race is the real spoiler, that corruption crosses every party line, and that fighting against overwhelming odds is the most American thing a candidate can do. If you're tired of hiring the same two failing contractors to patch the same leaking roof in our democracy, this one's for you.
Trump Says Ceasefire With Iran Is Still In Effect—As We Shoot at Each Other.
Episode 513
Tuesday, May 5, 2026 • Duration 16:27
Congress Adds $1B for Trump’s Ballroom! What About the Deficit!?! Secret Service Shoots Gunman Near Wash Monument. Steve Kerr for Governor of California? RIP John Sterling—The Golden Pipes.
Trump told Congress the war in Iran was terminated. Days later, U.S. forces are still being attacked, gas is averaging $4.48 a gallon, the trade deficit just hit $60.3 billion, and Senate Republicans quietly slipped $1 billion for a White House ballroom into an immigration bill. In episode 513 of Independent Americans, Paul Rieckhoff delivers a quick-blast solo briefing on the gap between what Trump says and what's actually happening on the ground — from the so-called Iran ceasefire, to a forever war now spanning eight countries, to a Secret Service shootout at the Washington Monument that barely registered as news.
From there, it’s a quick turn to the politics and the people who could actually break the rigged two-party stranglehold. He breaks down California's crowded, deeply unpopular gubernatorial field and floats a serious idea: Steve Kerr — Hall of Fame coach, voice of reason on guns, Iran, and ICE — running as an independent. And we pour one out for legendary Yankees announcer John Sterling. May his memory be a blessing and a reminder that hope is still the oxygen of our democracy.
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US Gunships Sink 6 Iranian Boats. Fireworks in the Straight of Hormuz.
Episode 512
Tuesday, May 5, 2026 • Duration 38:32
Trump Pulls 5k Troops Out of Germany. We Are Not Pirates. DHS Shutdown Finally Ends. More Bad Days for Hegseth. Ballroom & Arch Unpopular w/ Independents. Kids Save School Bus.
It's Manosphere Monday, May the 4th — International Firefighters Day, Star Wars Day, and Episode 512 of Independent Americans. Paul flies solo to break down a weekend where the fires Trump started are still burning. US warships and Apache gunships shot down Iranian missiles and drones and sank six Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz, blowing apart the four-week truce Trump called peace. He's already lining up the next match at Cuba ("we will be taking over almost immediately"), bragging that American troops are "like pirates," and yanking 5,000 troops out of Germany — including the bases that house European Command, Ramstein, and Landstuhl, the hospital every wounded American passes through. Putin is sending thank-you notes. The artist of the day is the Prodigy, because the firestarter is in the Oval.
Then Paul digs into the cracks: Pete Hegseth getting fried by Republican Joni Ernst and Democrat Elise Slotkin in back-to-back hearings, Trump's net worth tripling to $6.5 billion while gas hits $4.25, brutal new polling showing Americans hate the arch and the signature-on-the-money stunt across every party line, the quiet withdrawal of Casey Means as Surgeon General nominee, and Chairman Dan Caine confirming Russia is actively helping Iran kill Americans. Plus: Heisman winner and Raiders rookie Fernando Mendoza artfully passing on a White House visit, a stacked second round in the NBA and NHL, and a busload of Mississippi middle schoolers who saved themselves and their driver when she blacked out behind the wheel. Be a firefighter. Be a Jedi. Stay vigilant.
The Forever War Machine Shifts Its Sights to Cuba. Hegseth and Trump Want the Focus Off of Iran.
Episode 511
Monday, May 4, 2026 • Duration 04:41
Two months in, $25 billion spent, more than a dozen Americans dead, gas at 4.30 a gallon — and now Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump want to change the subject from Iran to Cuba. This is the forever war machine in real time: shift the target, claim the win, drag allies along, and hope the country doesn't notice. The angry middle is noticing. And they don't feel safer.
Pete Hegseth is on the ropes, and the political class is finally asking the questions that should have been asked two months and 25 billion dollars ago. In this solo briefing, Paul Rieckhoff breaks down why the Secretary of Defense keeps comparing Iran to Venezuela — because he wants you to think it was a win — and why the next target on the board is Cuba. The polling hasn't moved. Americans don't support this war. Wars don't get more popular over time, and the man running this one served in one that proved it.
This is a no-BS look at how the forever war machine drives away our allies, threatens the bases in Germany and Italy that have kept America secure for generations, and leaves the homeland exposed to domestic terrorism while DHS sits shuttered. Paul lays out the math that actually matters in 2026: 27 percent Republican, 27 percent Democrat, 45 percent independent — and 60 percent of young people unaffiliated. The future is none of the above. From Graham Platner's open field against Susan Collins in Maine to gas at 4.30 a gallon, the angry middle is the battlefield, and this episode is the briefing on how to read it.
-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.
-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.
-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.
-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.
-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.
-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.
-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.
-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.
-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.
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