It's Memorial Day weekend, and Paul Rieckhoff is in no mood to soft-pedal. Tulsi Gabbard has resigned as Director of National Intelligence — the second Trump appointee to defect over Iran in months — and the administration is already telegraphing its next war. The Justice Department just charged Raul Castro with murder. The USS Nimitz arrived in the Caribbean the same day. Stephen Miller is on Fox doing the warm-up act. Meanwhile, the president is downplaying the 13 American service members killed in Iran, pausing a $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan, ignoring Ukraine, and telling a Coast Guard Academy audience he won't be leaving in 2028. This is a solo briefing for the angry middle, delivered with the urgency the moment demands.
Paul walks through the GOP mutiny finally pushing back on Trump's $1.8 billion slush fund for January 6th insurrectionists, the three-plan scheme to disrupt the 2026 midterms, and the independent veterans — from Rick Bennett in Maine to Karen Matthews in California — fighting brutal ballot-access barriers to give the 45% of Americans without a party a real choice. He closes with a Memorial Day reflection on TAPS, the Good Grief camps, and a tribute to Stephen Colbert as a true patriot and conscience for America. This is what no-BS analysis sounds like when the stakes are this high.
In this episode
- Breaking: Tulsi Gabbard resigns as DNI — personal reasons, or the latest Iran defection after Joe Kent?
- Why Cuba is next: Raul Castro charged with murder, Nimitz in the Caribbean, Stephen Miller on Fox — the same playbook used on Iran and Venezuela
- Trump downplays the 13 American service members killed in Iran and says he 'gets a kick' out of the coverage
- The $14 billion Taiwan arms sale put on pause because Iran is becoming a sucking chest wound
- Trump tells a Coast Guard Academy audience he won't be leaving in 2028 — and we should believe him
- Plan A, B, and C: how the Insurrection Act, ICE at polling sites, and pardoned insurrectionists could be used to disrupt the 2026 midterms
- The GOP mutiny finally stirring against the $1.8 billion slush fund for January 6th defendants — and why Senator Cassidy is suddenly free to vote his conscience
- Independent governor candidate Rick Bennett qualifies for the Maine ballot — and what ballot-access barriers tell us about the rigged two-party system
- A Memorial Day call to support TAPS and the Good Grief camps, and to go silent at 3 p.m. ET
- A tribute to Stephen Colbert: combat-zone visits, quiet support for troops and veterans, and why he should run against Lindsey Graham
