Sixty days. $25 billion. Gas at $4.23 a gallon. The Strait of Hormuz still contested, the enriched uranium unaccounted for, the regime still in place — and now the administration wants $1.5 trillion more. In this episode, Paul Rieckhoff delivers a no-BS briefing on the high cost of Pete Hegseth and a forever war that has officially hit home, breaking down a brutal hearing where ranking Democrat Adam Smith and combat veterans Seth Moulton and Pat Ryan finally put the secretary of defense through the wringer after two months of softballs from the MyPillow guy and the Pentagon's new propaganda press corps.
From there, the conversation widens into the real stakes: 41% of the U.S. Navy now in the Gulf, Marco Rubio floating strikes on Cuba, Trump on the phone with Putin pretending the Kremlin is a peace broker, and a Department of Veterans Affairs nobody in this White House has bothered to plus-up for the new generation of veterans they're creating. Paul also gets into the Comey indictment, the chilling effect on Jimmy Kimmel and the free press, and why Hegseth — the acting secretary of culture war — may be the variable Trump finally cuts loose to save the midterms. If you want to understand why the angry middle is done with both parties' tolerance for unauthorized wars, this is the episode.
In this episode
- Why Hegseth's hearing was the first real oversight in 60 days — and why combat veterans Seth Moulton and Pat Ryan led the charge
- The $25 billion question: Strait of Hormuz still contested, enriched uranium missing, regime intact — what did Americans actually buy?
- Gas at $4.23, up 42% since late February, with fertilizer and diesel climbing alongside it
- Why Paul calls this a sucking chest wound for the U.S. military — 41% of the Navy now in the Gulf region
- The administration's $1.5 trillion ask, with zero plus-up for the Department of Veterans Affairs to care for a new generation of veterans
- Trump's Putin call and the absurdity of casting the Kremlin as a peace broker on Iran and Ukraine
- King Charles at Ground Zero — and the not-so-subtle contrast with a president who sometimes thinks he's a king
- The Comey indictment, the Kimmel pressure campaign, and the chilling effect on free speech
- Why Hegseth — the "acting secretary of culture war" — may be the variable Trump finally sacrifices to save the midterms
- The forever war pattern: blow past Congress, then come back asking for the money
