Trump's forever war isn't in Venezuela or Greenland anymore. It's on the home front. National Guard deployments in Washington have been quietly extended through 2029, ICE has killed two more people during vehicle stops in a single week, and Trump is now planning a prime-time address to reopen his case against the 2020 election. Paul Rieckhoff walks through why this is the moment — with Lindsey Graham gone, Mitch McConnell sidelined, and the midterms looming as the last real circuit breaker on executive power — that the pieces are being moved into place.
This episode also launches a new recurring feature, Independents Under Attack, opening with the South Carolina GOP's July 4th lawsuit to close the state's open primaries — a move that would lock roughly 1.5 million independents and 165,000 veterans out of the elections that actually decide who governs. Paul makes the case that independents are the needle, not just moving it, and that the fight to protect open primaries is the fight to protect the vote itself. Plus: the E. Jean Carroll payout, the Home Run Derby, the World Cup final in New York and New Jersey, and one small piece of good news for anyone who has ever been trapped in a middle seat.
In this episode
- Why Trump's forever war is now aimed at the home front, not overseas
- The DC National Guard extension through 2029 — and why it was always the plan
- ICE ordered to halt most vehicle stops after two killings in one week in Houston and Maine
- Plan A (military), plan B (ICE), plan C (the pardoned minions) — Paul's framework for how Trump preserves power
- The Thursday prime-time address to relitigate 2020, and why the networks should refuse airtime
- Steve Bannon's tell: airport ID checks as a warm-up for ICE at the voting booth
- E. Jean Carroll finally receives her $5.6 million from Trump
- Independents Under Attack: the South Carolina GOP's July 4th lawsuit to close open primaries
- 165,000 veteran voters in South Carolina at risk of being locked out of the ballot they fought for
- World Cup final in NY/NJ, the Home Run Derby walk-off, and United killing the middle seat
