It's episode 535 and Paul Rieckhoff is flying solo on a Friday — no guest, just a no-BS rapid-fire briefing on a week where the wheels kept coming off. Trump is still dangling a tentative Iran deal that looks suspiciously like the Obama agreement he tore up, while the Strait of Hormuz stays closed, the regime stays in place, and the nukes stay unsecured. Fourteen wounded American troops are at Walter Reed. The president walked the same halls for his own physical and didn't stop in. Meanwhile, a Russian drone hit an apartment building in Romania — NATO territory — and the silence from this White House has been deafening.
From there Paul takes the briefing into Pete Hegseth's culture-war speech at West Point and his cheesy green-screen propaganda videos pitching a $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget, Trump's jealous AI dumpster video attacking Stephen Colbert, Jaxon Dart's locker-room-dividing endorsement, and a revealing sidewalk confrontation outside his kids' public school with Brad Lander — who openly admitted he opposes open primaries. This is the rigged two-party system in full color, and the Angry Middle is the story. Paul closes with what's still working: game sevens, the Spurs, 500 kids headed to a Mets game, and the reminder that joy is still a form of resistance.
In this episode
- Why the Iran ceasefire is the worst ceasefire ever — regime intact, nukes unsecured, Strait of Hormuz still closed
- Trump at Walter Reed for his own physical — and the 14 wounded troops he didn't visit
- Memorial Day weekend strikes on an alleged drug boat under Southcom — unauthorized, unconstitutional, and Cuba may be next
- Pete Hegseth's culture-war speech at West Point and the $1.5 trillion budget request — with $500 billion earmarked for more war
- Trump's AI dumpster video attacking Colbert: jealousy of a man who's loved and respected
- Jaxon Dart endorses Trump, Abdul Carter pushes back, and a Giants locker room gets divided before preseason
- Putin's drone strike on Galati, Romania — an attack on NATO territory and Trump's silence
- Sidewalk showdown with Brad Lander outside a Lower Manhattan public school: he admits he opposes open primaries
- Mike Duggan out in Michigan, Colin Corbett in as an independent in Illinois — and the 25,000-signature hurdle rigged against independents
- Martina McBride, Young MC, and others walking away from the Trump-branded America 250 concert
