The spin machine is at full tilt. The Strait of Hormuz still isn’t clear, oil is hovering around $90, gas is pushing $5 a gallon heading into summer, and the president of the United States is telling Americans not to worry while his cabinet takes turns praising him on camera. Paul Rieckhoff joins Connell McShane on News Nation for a no-BS breakdown of what’s actually happening — and what the MAGA machine doesn’t want you to see.
This is the Angry Middle’s morning briefing on a presidency that doesn’t seem to care about the midterms, a sycophant circle that can’t tell the boss the truth about small business or gas prices, and a Ukrainian military that’s holding the lines, hitting oil refineries inside Russia, and forcing Putin to cancel parades. Paul lays out why the next six months in Ukraine may be the real turning point of this war, why Trump’s distance from working Americans is going to bleed into 2026 congressional races, and why a cabinet built on flattery is bad for any democracy — Republican, Democrat, or independent.
In this episode
- Why Paul refuses to call it a ceasefire when the shooting hasn’t stopped
- Trump’s response to $5 gas — and the urgency gap Americans are feeling on Memorial Day weekend
- “I don’t really care about the midterms” — what the president actually said about 2026
- The sycophant circle cabinet meeting: cabinet members taking turns praising the boss on camera
- Kelly Loeffler on small business “prosperity” vs. the actual profitability numbers
- Why a yes-men-and-women cabinet is bad for democracy, no matter the party
- Ukraine’s turning point: holding the lines, hitting oil refineries inside Russia, and Putin canceling parades
- Why disrupting daily life inside Russia may matter more this summer than territorial gains
- Texas Democrats, James Talarico, and the ghost of Beto
- Trump, Spike Lee, Mamdani, and a plea to leave the Knicks alone
