← Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
BREAKING: ICE Kills Another Citizen in Minneapolis. Trump Insults Allied Troops, Combat Veterans and Gold Star Families.
00:20:47
Independent Americans host and Iraq War veteran Paul Rieckhoff jumps on the mic from a school stairwell in New York City to react to breaking news: another deadly ICE shooting of a 37-year-old American in Minneapolis. He explains why this tragedy was both preventable and predictable, why ICE’s culture has become “rotten to the core,” and how Trump’s toxic leadership is pouring gasoline on an already explosive situation in cities across America. Paul breaks down the looming threat of the Insurrection Act, the possibility of deploying the 11th Airborne Corps into American streets, and why this is a “circuit breaker” moment that demands calm, peaceful, vigilant engagement from independent Americans everywhere.
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- [00:00]
A
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B
This is very, very important that we understand now is a time to stay vigilant, to seek the truth, to try, as I've said before, stay frosty, try to stay calm, try to respond with thoughtfulness. Don't fight fire with fire. We must remain peaceful. We must remain united. We must remain on the right side of the law and the right side of history. Because it's clear this is the latest example of how Trump and his minions and his goons and ICE are not. All right everybody, welcome to Independent Americans. I am Paul Rykoff coming to you from New York City, usa. I'm actually in a stairwell at a school after my kids basketball game because there is obviously breaking news that we've got to address. By now you've heard there's been another terrible, awful shooting in Minneapolis. ICE has shot and killed a 37 year old American. The video is circulating and here's what I think you need to know and what I think you need to think about. We will continue to see videos over the next couple of hours, but the most important thing I think is that this is a cauldron of toxicity, of friction, of heat, of violence that is continuing to escalate. And just like the tragic murder and preventable murder of Renee Goode, this latest shooting is preventable and predictable. What continues to happen is more and more ICE agents are flooding into Minneapolis. In particular, more and more protesters are flooding into there now. ICE protesters and ICE agents are going into Portland, Maine and you've got a lot of people clashing. And here's the problem, whether this guy had a legal Firearm carry permit or not, Americans can carry guns all across this country. We have created a situation where Americans can legally carry guns. I caught a quick glimpse of the video. It looked again, excessive. It looked unnecessary. It looked like they had him under control. And as many as nine shots were firing into this man. And I think what we continue to see is that the culture of ICE is rotten to the core. This is violent, it is unacceptable, it is unprofessional. And I think it's really important that we all push back and understand that it starts at the top. It really starts at the top. Trump is toxic and makes everything he touches more angry, more unprofessional, more disrespectful, more violent and more volatile. He sets the tone and ICE is a monstrous and scaled reflection of that, as is everything under his command and control, Absolutely everything. And things will get worse until he changes or is out of power. That's the bottom line and that must always be the focus. The Democrats won't save us. The politicians won't save us. It's up to the people. It's up to us. And we are continuing to see Americans in huge numbers push back and record and demand and push and share the truth. Because what's happening in ICE continues to be an escalation. And I want to remind everybody, as you've heard in previous episodes, the Insurrection act is still on the table. The 11th Airborne Corps out of Alaska is still on alert, and Trump has threatened to send in federal troops any minute. Could be the reason he tries to use to justify to send federal troops into Minneapolis and invoke the Insurrection act, which would be unprecedented, would be a critical breakage of glass that has never been broken in this way by a modern president. If you haven't heard our previous episodes with Ruth Ben Ghiat on the threat of the Insurrection act, on the threat of his authoritarianism, and you haven't heard my recent episode with Asha Rangapa, the military legal expert, former FBI agent. Go back and check those out, especially if you're braving for the snowstorm, if you want to find out more information, if you want to get smart, because the reality is that ice, in my view, continues to be unprofessional. They continue to be unacceptable, they continue to be unruly and uncontrollable and un American. ICE needs to be put on trial, ICE needs to be slowed down and ICE needs to be stopped, because this is going to get worse. I wish I was wrong, but we've been talking about it on this show for years. The escalations continue, the friction continues. And Trump continues to pour more ICE agents in, which is like gasoline on a fire. I also want to underscore that this continues to be a huge national security problem. Osama bin Laden must be thrilled wherever he is in hell right now, celebrating Americans killing Americans, fighting in the streets and the overall instability, which is very, very important to underscore. We are not safer. Nobody in this country feels safer. And as I've said this before, if they can shoot Renee Goode and call her a domestic terrorist, or they can shoot this man today in Minneapolis and I'm sure they'll try to call him a domestic terrorist, or they can arrest a five year old like they did earlier this week. If they can do it to them, they can do it to you. This is very, very important that we understand now is a time to stay vigilant, to seek the truth, to try, as I've said before, stay frosty, try to stay calm, try to respond with thoughtfulness. Don't fight fire with fire. We must remain peaceful. We must remain united. We must remain on the right side of the law and the right side of history, because it's clear this is the latest example of how Trump and his minions and his goons and ICE are not. I will continue to bring you updates on this. But most of all right now, more than any other time in recent memory, we've got to stay vigilant. All right, another issue that I've got to respond to. If you don't know, I am an Iraq War combat vet. I founded in lead Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America for many years. I've led advocacy efforts for American veterans and NATO veterans around the world for almost two decades now. In addition to hosting this show, I lead Independent Veterans of America. We try to unite independent veterans, support them, amplify them, and help them get elected. And as an American veteran, I want to send a message to my fellow veterans around the world that are our NATO brothers and sisters. Trump has again, deeply, ridiculously, disgracefully insulted our allies. He's insulted everybody in the uk, in Sweden, across NATO. And he's insulted not only combat veterans, but the Gold Star families, folks who've lost folks in combat. And it's absolutely unacceptable. I want people to know that most American veterans do not support this kind of language, especially toward our fellow veterans who fought and bled and died alongside of us, not just since 9, 11, but all the way back since the creation of America and during World War II. Our allies have always been there. And Trump, who has never served, who dodged the draft, whose kids never served after 9, 11 and perfectly well could have. And his son Baron could still serve right now. He is a disgrace to the commander in chief role. You know, we saw years ago how he insulted the great POW and American leader John McCain, a man from his own party, a POW who is well, revered and respected. He insulted John McCain and we saw a tremendous outcry from people of all political backgrounds saying hell no. That Trump had crossed a dangerous line. We are seeing the same kind of reaction now times 10, times 100. And it's not just in America, it is global. We've seen pushback from Rod Stewart, from Prince Harry, who despite being royalty served in Afghanistan, was a helicopter pilot. We've heard from combat V veterans and gold star families from all across Europe and around the world. And I want them to know that we hear you and we stand with you. I want to read just a couple of posts that I've seen so far just in the last couple of hours because they continue to pour in. This one was from a veteran from the Netherlands. He said they stayed on the front lines. He was quoting Trump saying they stayed behind the front lines. Said the orange pedophile draft dodger. Well, this is the hemlin Province frontline 2009. He and all his mouth breather followers can themselves and forget about crying for help next time. We are less safe now because our allies are less likely to stand up for us because of the way Trump has spoken to them. Let me read to you another one that I saw and these are just pouring in from all over the country. I'm Australian. I served in Afghanistan alongside my American mates. I lost two of my Australian mates. For the American president to say we didn't serve on the front line is incredibly offensive and disrespectful. I even had a bullet pass through my hat. A little gratitude would be nice. Not the shit that we got yesterday. This is an utter and total national embarrassment. That's what he is. And all good standing Americans. If you defend him now, you are nothing but a partisan. You are nothing but a minion because this is indefensible. We must love our country always and our government when it deserves it. And he and his government, especially around these remarks, do not deserve it. Only a man who's never served, who had his kids, who never served, would say something so insulting, appalling, dishonorable to the brave and trusted allies who fought alongside and died alongside American troops like me. It's important for the world to know Trump does not speak for most Americans, definitely not most veterans. We respect and appreciate our allies always. And as a PM in the UK who had served said, never above, never below, always side by side. That's how we feel about our allies no matter what our disgraceful President says. I'll go deeper in episodes to come. I may have a special episode for you tomorrow. Check your inbox and I'll definitely have an all new episode on Monday. We continue to bring independent Americans daily. I will continue to bring you insight, information and and reaction, especially on the issues of national security, domestic security. I'm going to try to keep you ahead of the curve and anticipate not just what's happening now, but what's happening next. And as a quick bonus, here's a quick clip from a conversation I had earlier this week with Aaron Burnett and SE cup on cnn. That's really important, maybe most of all because CNN has an international audience. I'm going to continue to speak out on behalf of our allies and on behalf of America and on behalf of our values. I encourage you to do the same. If you're watching right now on YouTube, please hit subscribe and share. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, subscribe, rate and share and spread the message especially to any veterans you know around the world. Let them know that there are American veterans who appreciate them and appreciate their sacrifice and will always stand by by their side no matter what our disgraceful so called President says. All right, here it is. More Wherever you are America, stay vigilant.
- [11:55]
C
Out front now, Paul Rykoff and SC Cup. So you know, Paul, I mean, you know, every day you never know what you're going to get and then you don't know what you're going to get tomorrow. Right? You can never say something is settled because it actually never is. So Trump withdraws his threat for now, hours after he went on stage in Davos and declared that the US Needs ownership of Greenland and that you know, he wasn't going to going to invade even though he had before said he might, but he wasn't. But they'd crush him if they did, basically. But now we're going to have a framework of a deal. I mean, how does all this manic movement make the United States look?
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B
It makes us look like the bad guys and we've worked for hundreds of years to be the good guys that people respect around the world and across NATO and across Europe. My grandfather fought for three years in the South Pacific and every generation of Americans has been viewed by the world as the Good guys and the good gals. And Trump is throwing that all in the trash. He's attacking our most valuable allies. He's attacking Denmark. He's attacking Switzerland today, he's attacking Canada. And he is continuing to drive the image and the trust and the respect of America into the ground. Mark Twain once said, I love my government, my country, always, and my government when it deserves it. Our government and Trump don't deserve it right now. And that's what many Americans are saying. And I think it's important for the world to hear from people who aren't Donald Trump. He doesn't speak for most Americans. Most Americans don't want to invade Greenland. We don't want to fight with Denmark. We know that the Danes died alongside guys like me in Iraq and in Afghanistan. We don't want to attack Canada. Most Americans don't support what he's doing. And Congress doesn't either, which is an important point to reiterate. Congress continues to be silent. They continue to be steamrolled, and they continue to abdicate their responsibility while he continues to be all gas and no brakes.
- [13:38]
C
And science, even when you think about it, you know, Mark Carney speech, which will go down in history, whatever people think of it or not, but when he talked about a rupture, you know, the standing ovations that he got right, that everyone in that room. And then today when Trump spoke, interesting, of course, he's talking about the great reviews and, you know, that's how he speaks. But that there was so much silence in the room.
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D
Yeah, yeah. Trump's speech felt a little put on. Right. Like if I say it, if I say how great I am and how great we are and don't you want to be just like us? It'll be true. I, I think he did that because he knows it's a persuasion act and no one actually in the room believed that. But I've been sort of following two parallel reactions to all of this today. The eu, NATO reactions, and they are skeptical. As Richard Quest said, they do not believe any of this is over. And why would they trust us? One official said, we're not doing diplomacy by social media. Post right. Like, this isn't how this works. We're going to wait and see. And then the other reaction I'm looking at are Republican lawmakers here at home. And they are relieved. They could not wait to go find cameras.
- [14:43]
C
Like, here's my off ramp. Can I run down, can I slide down a head first?
- [14:47]
D
They ran to reporters to say, well, we never thought he would do this anyway with force, almost saying, don't back off this now. We never thought he'd do it, and we're relieved he's not. Because it's an election year. They don't want to be talking about Greenland. They want to be talking about the economy. They want to be going back to their district with good news and not news of all of this chaos and bridge burning with our allies.
- [15:11]
C
So, you know, Paul, the Norwegian Prime Minister, you know, we actually were having our conversation where he was talking about how unacceptable this was as that social media post happened. So we're talking and I hear it and read it to him. Okay, let me just play the moment when the Norwegian Prime Minister finds out about the post President Trump just posted on his own social media website. Something I wanted to give you a chance to hear. I think we're both hearing it in real time. He said, based on a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic region. This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America and all NATO nations. Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the tariffs that were scheduled to go into February 1st. Of course, he's referring to the tariffs. Right. That were going to go 10%, then up to 25. To anyone who in NATO who was against his view on Greenland, do you what do you think he means by a framework here?
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B
Well, let me say these are good news because this is getting this issue on track to something. And I think that, you know, inside NATO, we should work on how NATO looks after security for the entire NATO region. So if the Secretary General can bring this into a track that we deal with it in NATO, that we could tariff against each other aside, very good sign.
- [16:45]
C
And obviously you got to. It's like Richard said, everyone's sort of taking, okay, this is exhausting and horrifying. And let's just take a deep breath, whatever actually happens from this. But, Pauline, what's stunning about this is does anybody really even know? I mean, even on Wall Street, I challenge any person who knows a lot to just be able to rattle off to me what the current tariff rate is for any country, because nobody actually knows because the threats change every day and the threats don't actually match the reality. So what does it even mean?
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B
He's President Mahem. He's invoking his chaos in the entire world, and he continues to stay focused on things that I think are important to remember. He says he wants to dominate the Western Hemisphere. We should believe him. He says he wants to get out of NATO, we should believe him. He said he wants to use our military all around the world. We should believe him. And I think our adversaries and our allies believe him as well, and they're stuck chasing his latest tweet. But the bottom line is this is another great week for Putin because Putin is celebrating while we continue to eat our own. And the Prime Minister of Norway and Denmark can't trust us. I mean, the Danes deployed combat troops to Greenland because they were anticipating there could be an American military response. I still think the number one story in the world is that Donald Trump can do anything he wants with the most powerful military the world has ever seen, and nothing is stopping him. There have been no guardrails to slow him down, but it looks like he might actually respond to the markets. He doesn't care about public opinion. He doesn't care about Naito. But when the market cratered because he invoked or threatened to invoke tariffs, that seemed to slow him down. So that might be an insight for us to focus on going forward.
- [18:13]
C
That maybe was the reason.
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D
Yeah. Who knows? I mean, the markets have also learned to ignore a lot of Trump's chaos, too.
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C
I was talking sort of a trading opportunity, he says a tariff, you know, if it's, you know. Buy the dip.
- [18:24]
D
Yeah, exactly. But I was talking to some Danish journalists today. I was wondering, like, tell me what people in Denmark are talking about and thinking about. And again, they're also, like, kind of on tenderhooks, like, what is going to. What is going to happen? They don't know how seriously to take him. They want to take him seriously, but also they don't because he changes his mind all the time. It's total chaos. We're supposed to be friends. We're supposed to be allies. As Paul said, NATO troops were sent into Greenland to defend it against us. Us. I'm a child of the 80s. I grew up in Reagan's shining city on a hill. This is so disorienting. Imagine being an ocean away and a NATO ally. Just how disorienting this must be for the people of Denmark and Greenland and the rest of our NATO allies.
- [19:12]
C
And the shame. I mean, the shame that Americans can feel.
- [19:14]
D
It is a shame.
- [19:16]
B
All right, folks, there you have it. My appearance on cnn. My thanks to Aaron Burnett, my thanks to SC Cup. I'll continue to speak out, and I encourage you to do the same and to record what's happening in your community. If you see ICE acting unlawfully, acting intimidatingly, acting in any way, I encourage you to record it and share the truth with the world and to speak out. And I'll continue to bring you more quick response pods as necessary. Like I said, be sure to subscribe wherever you are right now and share it. America is deeply, deeply divided and hurting badly. But I'm working to add light to contrast the heat here at Independent Americans. Because our independent movement is still the hope for the future, maybe now more than ever. Because the Republicans won't save us, the Democrats won't save us. It is the people, the independent American people that will save us. Country over party, people over politics, light over heat, busting up the status quo. And now is when our movement is so needed and we are bringing hope. That is the oxygen of democracy. If you need some of that hope, go back and check out my recent episodes. This week, especially with Willie Geist. We talk about all these issues and we did some football Friday in advance of the games. This weekend we talk about the impending snowstorm. Fantastic conversation with Professor Eddie Glaud. Go check that out. And General Barry McCaffrey join me as well and others. Go back and check them out. You can see all that at IndependentAmericans us and on our YouTube page. And if you enjoyed this special episode, please share it far and wide, and especially right now. Invite others to declare their independence and spread the word to the rest of the world that Trump does not speak for most Americans, especially on these issues. Stay vigilant my friends, because eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. And now especially is it time to pay it? No, you're not alone in your vigilance. We're all in this together, especially our friends in Minneapolis sending support to you, our friends in Portland, and of course always our friends in uk, Ukraine, Iran and around the world. We are all in this together, especially in this moment. This is another circuit breaker moment and we've all got to meet it. I'm your host, Paul Rykoff. Thank you for tuning into Independent Americans. Continue to stay together, continue to stay kind wherever you can. Stay peaceful and most of all, stay vigilant. America tells me the left and right Our dreams for those without a clue and when you wake it's time to grow and it's not cool to believe in school but if I can say one thing I've seen the children of the revolution and the grand good trouble they can bring.
- [21:49]
A
If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant. You know having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering. With on time restocks, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift and you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-granger. Click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. I can't believe they're having a gender reveal for their dog.
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B
No, no, no, no.
- [22:21]
A
This is a breed reveal.
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B
Oh. So yeah, they're finding out the breed.
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A
Of the puppy they're rescuing so they could just be spending all their money on like pet insurance.
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B
Instead we got lemonade for Roscoe and it covered vaccines, microchipping. We saved 90% on vet bills. Oh, here we go.
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A
What do you think beige confetti means? I don't know.
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B
That we'll never get this Saturday back.
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A
Get a quote for any breed@lemonade.com Peter.