The independent movement is surging — and the machine is fighting back. In episode 594, Paul Rieckhoff breaks down the biggest under-covered story of the week: Mayor Mamdani's Board of Elections quietly rejected 42,000 petitions from New Yorkers demanding open primaries, a direct shot at the one million independents disenfranchised by New York's rigged partisan system. Paul also digs into the Politico report that Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie and Joe Kent are sowing the seeds of a new third-party project at Carlson's Maine compound — and why a third party is not the same thing as being independent.
Then an exclusive with South Dakota independent veteran Brian Bengs, who now has a cleared head-to-head against unpopular Republican incumbent Mike Rounds after the Democrat dropped out. Bengs — a dual-service veteran and expert in the law of armed conflict — makes the case on the unauthorized Iran war, tariffs as a surgical tool versus a wrecking ball, the affordability crisis hitting South Dakota farmers, rural veteran healthcare, and why he refuses to caucus with either party. With Dan Osborn in Nebraska, Todd Achilles in Idaho and potentially Seth Bodnar in Montana all clearing head-to-head shots, the independent fulcrum in the Senate is no longer a talking point. It's a plan.
In this episode
- Mamdani's Board of Elections rejects 42,000 open-primaries petitions in New York City
- Why open primaries are the frontline fight for one million independent New Yorkers
- Tucker Carlson, MTG, Massie and Joe Kent huddle in Maine — a third party is not independence
- Abdul El-Sayed's Michigan primary win and the Democratic civil war between moderates and the DSA
- The moment El-Sayed tells Kaitlan Collins there's no real difference between offensive and defensive weapons
- Brian Bengs on finally getting a head-to-head with Mike Rounds after the Democrat drops out
- Why the unauthorized Iran war is a sucking chest wound hitting South Dakota farmers at the pump and the fertilizer bill
- Bengs on tariffs as a surgical tool, not a wrecking ball — and Congress refusing to reclaim its Article I power
- The Teddy Roosevelt / Eisenhower Republican pitch for busting corporate trusts and getting big money out of politics
- The independent fulcrum: Bengs, Osborn, Achilles and potentially Bodnar refusing to caucus with either party
