Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff

Latest Episodes:

Trump folds to Putin — again. Zelensky emerges as leader of the free world. Hegseth’s “Culture war bender” and firing squad livestream stunt. Oct 14, 2026

Show notes

Donald Trump is in full spray-and-pray mode. One day he's threatening Iran and Cuba, the next he's cutting a diesel deal with the Kremlin and backstabbing Ukraine again. Vladimir Putin ignored Trump's latest ceasefire within hours, and the Wall Street Journal editorial board noticed. Most Americans and most American veterans still stand with Ukraine. The president does not speak for them. In this media blitz episode, Paul Rieckhoff joins Alicia Menendez and veteran national security reporter David Rhode to name what's actually happening: Zelensky is emerging as the real leader of the free world while the American president plays political bandwagon.

Then the conversation turns to Pete Hegseth and his pitch to livestream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter. Paul calls it what it is — a culture war bender, spectacle over substance, and a Pentagon secretary auditioning for a 2028 run. David Rhode, who spent seven months as a Taliban hostage, explains why a public execution is a jihadist recruiting tool, not a deterrent. This is a no-BS breakdown of a presidency that keeps handing wins to our enemies, a Pentagon chasing viral moments instead of victories, and an independent movement that refuses to let either party define what strength actually looks like.

-WATCH full video of this episode here.

-Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker.

-Let Vets Vote: 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 $25 when you trade $25.

-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!

-Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here.

-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.

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Trump says Ukraine needs a new president. Independents say America does. Oct 13, 2026

Show notes

PLUS: Newsom, the 25th, and a failure of imagination by the democrats heading into the midterms.

Trump floated the idea that Ukraine needs a new president because Zelensky keeps hitting Russian oil refineries and that's driving fuel prices up. Paul Rieckhoff flips the frame: Ukraine doesn't need a new president — America does. From a creek in the Catskills, with his boys skipping rocks in the background, Paul lays out why the most important story in the world is still that Donald Trump commands the most powerful military ever built and nothing — not the courts, not the Democrats, not even a Congressional majority — is currently positioned to stop him. This is a solo episode, raw and unvarnished, built for the stretch of political dread between now and the next election.

Paul walks through the hard math of 2026: even if Democrats take the House, even if they impeach Hegseth, even if they deny the $1.5 trillion budget request, the forever wars keep going — because Bush, Obama, Biden, and Trump all proved they do. He makes the case for a failure-of-imagination warning (Venezuela, Iran, Cuba are all on the board), calls out Gavin Newsom invoking the 25th Amendment, and challenges both parties to say out loud what they'll actually do if they win power. Then he closes with something good: Emerson, public lands, indigenous history, and the reminder that a change of latitude really can change your attitude. Mental health check included.

-WATCH full video of this episode here.

-Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker.

-Let Vets Vote: 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 $25 when you trade $25.

-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!

-Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here.

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

-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.

Could Texas go blue? Paxton’s scandals, Trump’s war, and a Senate race Trump owns. PLUS: The pre-midterm Iran strike debate. Media Blitz Pod Oct 12, 2026

Show notes

Texas is still red. But Ken Paxton is a scandal-plagued candidate standing on that stage only because Donald Trump put him there — and Trump knows it. With a forever war in Iran dragging on, home heating oil hitting six dollars a gallon in the northeast, and a barrel of crude at $105, Republicans are watching their own base turn on them. Paul Rieckhoff joins Katie Phang alongside The Atlantic's Jonathan Lemire and Lincoln Project strategist Stuart Stevens to pull apart a Senate race Trump personally owns, the 1.7 million Texas veterans and 16% independents who could decide it, and the quiet administration debate about whether to launch another Iran strike before voters go to the polls.

This is a conversation about what happens when the MAGA machine runs out of road. Trump is on Truth Social clarifying that he did not, in fact, invite the bombing of San Diego and Los Angeles. His own governor in Texas keeps finding scheduling conflicts. His Nobel Peace Prize fantasy is colliding with the reality that he is the president of a new generation of forever wars. The panel digs into why both parties are failing to go directly at the war, why split-ticket voting could crack Texas open, and what desperate moves a cornered president might pull in the weeks before Election Day. No spin. No jersey. Just the no-BS read independents have been waiting for.

-WATCH full video of this episode here.

-Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker.

-Let Vets Vote: 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 $25 when you trade $25.

-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!

-Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here.

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

-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.

IVN.US Crossover special: EXCLUSIVE - Paul Rieckhoff on the Let Vets Vote lawsuit. Oct 11, 2026

Show notes

Paul Rieckhoff walks his kids to their public school on primary day in New York City — and has to explain to his seven-year-old why Dad, an Iraq veteran and 9/11 first responder, isn't allowed to vote. That's the story behind the Let Vets Vote lawsuit, and in this crossover special with the Independent Voter Podcast from IVN.US, Paul sits down with Chad and Sean to lay out the full strategy. One million veterans in New York City locked out. Sixteen fully closed primary states. Public resources funding private party elections where the real winners are chosen before November even arrives. The players, as Paul puts it, are also serving as the referee — and it's time to end it.

This conversation covers the ground game and the air game: the legal fight building toward the Supreme Court, the structural case for open primaries, and the political reality of a system where the DSA on the left and MAGA on the right both benefit from low-turnout closed contests. Paul connects the dots from the GI Bill fight and burn pits advocacy to this moment — the same playbook of forcing a public reckoning on an issue the political class wants to kill quietly in a back room. If you've ever wondered why your representatives don't sound like anyone you actually know, this is the episode. Forty-five percent of Americans are independent. Sixty percent of young people. More than half of veterans. The market is speaking. Now the courts have to listen.

-WATCH full video of this episode here.

-Check out the important work happening at Independent Voter News at IVN.us.

-Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker.

-Let Vets Vote: 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 $25 when you trade $25.

-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!

-Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here.

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

-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.

Adam Kinzinger: Will Trump attack the 2026 elections? Why GOP support is finally cracking. Can Talarico flip Texas? Oct 09, 2026

Show notes

Adam Kinzinger is back. The former GOP congressman, Air National Guard lieutenant colonel, January 6th committee member, and founder of Country First sits down with Paul to answer the question nobody in corporate media wants to touch head-on: will Donald Trump attack the 2026 elections, and if he does, what will it actually look like? Kinzinger lays out why a blowout is the best defense against an authoritarian steal, where the real danger lives — the margins, the close races, the House deciding who it seats — and why the two-thirds of Republicans who are not ride-or-die with Trump are finally starting to speak up.

From there Paul and Adam go wide. Can James Talarico actually flip Texas, or is this another Democratic head fake? Is there a lane for a true independent — a Kinzinger, a Cuban, a McConaughey — to break the rigged two-party system in a state like Texas? What did Paul see and what did Adam see on the ground in Ukraine, where Kyiv is under attack around the clock and Ukrainian drone innovation could have saved America billions on Patriot interceptors against Iranian Shaheds — if Trump had said yes. It is a no-BS conversation about leadership, retention, and whether the American project still has the independence it needs to save itself.

-WATCH full video of this episode here.

-Check out everything Adam does at adamkinzinger.com.

-Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker.

-Let Vets Vote: 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 $25 when you trade $25.

-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!

-Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here.

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

-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, Vance, Rubio: The 2028 Pentagon primary is already on. Ukraine's brutal winter ahead. October 7th at three years. Media Blitz Pod Oct 08, 2026

Show notes

Pete Hegseth wasn't on the USS Abraham Lincoln when sailors were stuck at sea for more than a year, running short on rations, reporting suicide attempts, and watching supply bases get taken out by drone strikes. He showed up for the homecoming photo op. Paul Rieckhoff joins Connell McShane at News Nation to call it exactly what it is — a 2028 presidential campaign being run out of the Pentagon, with internal camps already forming around JD Vance and Dan Driscoll on one side and Hegseth loyalists on the other. The only person in close November races people are running away from faster than Trump is Hegseth himself.

From there, the conversation moves to the three-year anniversary of October 7th, the worst day in Israel's history, and why Israeli voters are now demanding accountability from Benjamin Netanyahu for the failures that let it happen and for the collapse of Israel's standing in the world. Then Ukraine: scrappy counter-offensives in the Donbas, battlefield innovation in drones and cyber, and a winter that Putin has already promised will target civilian heat and light. No-BS, no spin, just a rapid-fire national security read for independents who are done being lied to by both parties.

-WATCH full video of this episode here.

-Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker.

-Let Vets Vote: 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 $25 when you trade $25.

-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!

-Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here.

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

-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.

WTF Wednesday: Trump’s unhinged Iran speech: “Let Them Take Out Los Angeles.” Shapiro backs open primaries in PA. Indy vets Bengs, Achilles Lead in SD and ID. Oct 07, 2026

Show notes

President Mayhem is off the rails, and he's getting more desperate by the day. On this WTF Wednesday edition of Independent Americans, Paul Rieckhoff breaks down Trump's unhinged Iran remarks — publicly suggesting it would be "a very small price to pay" to let Iran take out Los Angeles and San Diego — and why that kind of talk about American cities can never be normalized, no matter how numb we've become. This is what reckless, unchecked executive power sounds like out loud.

From there, Paul pivots to the good news hiding below the radar. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro just publicly backed HB 280 to open Pennsylvania's primaries to the state's unaffiliated voters — a huge win for the Let Vets Vote fight and open-primary allies who've been grinding on this for years. And the independent veteran wave is real: new Lake Research polling has Brian Bengs leading Mike Rounds in South Dakota, Todd Achilles up seven in Idaho, Dan Osborn within four in Nebraska, and Seth Bodnar still swinging in Montana. The two-party status quo said these races wouldn't be close. They are. The movement is on.

-WATCH full video of this episode here.

-Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker.

-Let Vets Vote: 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 $25 when you trade $25.

-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!

-Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here.

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

-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 runs home to Alabama. GOP internal polls worse than public. Independents below 10% on Trump — the sleeping giant stirs. Media Blitz Pod Oct 06, 2026

Show notes

Trump is retreating to friendly turf while the ground shifts under the whole rigged two-party system. Paul Rieckhoff takes you inside a Media Blitz week — a CNN hit with Erin Burnett and a News Nation sit-down with Chris Cuomo and independent Senate candidate Seth Bodnar — to lay out what the polls, the propaganda machine, and the president's travel schedule are actually telling us one month out from the biggest election of our lifetime. GOP senators are quietly comparing 2026 to the 2006 wipeout. Internal numbers are worse than public ones. And Trump's approval with independents has fallen into single digits, a floor almost no modern president has touched.

This is also the week Paul filed suit against the state of New York to open its closed primaries, with Independent Veterans of America and Veterans for All Voters standing alongside. The conversation moves from the self-licking ice cream cone of state-funded propaganda to the hard math of 45% of Americans and 60% of young people rejecting both parties, to Bodnar's neck-and-neck Montana race against a Republican and a Democrat. If you want to understand why independents are no longer a footnote in American politics — and why the next month is going to decide a lot — start here.

-WATCH full video of this episode here.

-Let Vets Vote: 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 $25 when you trade $25.

-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.

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

-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 Iran war rolls on as Iraq War officially ends. Hegseth auditions for President. Paul sues New York over closed primaries. Media Blitz Pod Oct 05, 2026

Show notes

The last American troops have left Iraq. Donald Trump actually did what Obama and Biden wouldn't. But the present under the tree is a new, unauthorized, never-ending Iran war that most of the country opposes, 19 Americans dead since Operation Epic Fury began, carriers hung out to dry in the Gulf, and a Congress that has been steamrolled for a generation. Paul lays out the uncomfortable truth no elected leader wants to say out loud: you don't stop this war by firing Pete Hegseth or flipping the House. You stop it by stopping Trump.

From there, the conversation hits the Hegseth "state of the force" spectacle at Quantico — the 20% cut to the general and admiral ranks, the height-and-weight theater, the slurs, the taxpayer-funded propaganda ad — and names it for what it is: a presidential audition and a secret purge of the people who could push back on the next war. Then Paul announces his lawsuit against the state of New York, challenging a publicly funded primary system that forces independents to join a private party just to vote. It's a no-BS tour of the Iran war, the Pentagon purge, Dan Osborn's rise in Nebraska, AI as the next nuke, and what it actually takes to put the brakes on an executive branch running all gas, no brakes.

-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 $25 when you trade $25.

-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.

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

-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.

Veterans Sue New York Over Closed Primaries. Hegseth Purges 20% of Generals. Iraq Ends After 20 Years — Iran Just Beginning. Media Blitz Pod Oct 04, 2026

Show notes

The rigged two-party system just picked a fight with the wrong people. Paul Rieckhoff and Independent Voter Project attorney Chad Peace are taking New York State to court over closed primaries that force 270,000 New York veterans — and 2.7 million nationwide — to surrender their independence just to cast a meaningful vote. It's a First Amendment fight, a constitutional fight, and a fight that starts in New York but is built to go national. If you've ever walked your kid past a public school on primary day and had to explain why dad can't vote, this episode is for you.

From there, we move to the Pentagon, where Pete Hegseth's plan to cut 20% of America's generals and admirals mid-war looks less like reform and more like a secret purge of anyone who might push back on the Iran war or the culture crusade. General Wesley Clark weighs in. Then we close with the bracketing of an era: Iraq officially ends after 20 years, while the Iran war metastasizes into what Paul calls "a second sucking chest wound" on the American economy. Democrats are whining about affordability without a plan to stop the war driving the prices. Independents deserve better. This is the briefing the two-party machine doesn't want you to hear.

-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 $25 when you trade $25.

-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.

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

-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.

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