← Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Sebastian Junger. Noem Out at DHS. Senate Iran War Powers Act Fails.
01:13:32
In this all-new episode of Independent Americans, Paul Rieckhoff hits all the breaking news and most urgent topics with bestselling author of The Perfect Storm and Tribe, war reporter, and documentarian Sebastian Junger for a raw, unflinching conversation about the unfolding war in Iran, a US Senator snapping the arm of a protestor, the follies of regime change wars, the human costs of American adventurism, Trump and Hegseth’s nasty brand of fake-leadership, courage, patriotism, and what it really means to live — and almost die — for something bigger than yourself.
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- [00:00]
Commercial Announcer
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- [00:30]
Sebastian Younger
So outcomes are different from motivation, right? What are the outcomes? That may maybe we acted in good faith, with all good intent, but it's so poorly organized. In fact, it's not organized at all. There is no follow through plan that, that a regional war is ignited not because Trump did the wrong thing, but because. But because he had no planning whatsoever for what to do.
- [01:12]
Paul Rykoff
Welcome to Independent Americans. Welcome to episode 4:56. I am your host, Paul Rykoff, coming to you from New York City, usa, where the weather is again, overcast, dark, rainy. That's what this entire season has felt like so far. But we're going to try to bring you light to cut through it. Hope to bring you through it. It is Thursday, March 5, and today's artist is Justin Bieber. The Biebs. Because I love Justin Bieber, I am a believer and I need something to lighten things up in a time like this. And my favorite track off his new album is the first track, Speed Racer. It's a really funky, boppy, happy kind of track and I feel like we need that because we're all speed racers right now trying to keep up with Trump and he's a reckless speed racer and the war is kind of racing forward. It's all racing. But I'm going to help you with the five eyes to help you keep up with all that is racing at us, around us and through us. Independence, integrity, information, inspiration and impact. And our guest today is going to bring it and then some. It is the perfect guest for this moment. If you've listened or watched his show for years, you know him, you love him. The great Sebastian Younger is back, one of my favorites and yours. He is a brilliant author, filmmaker, conscience for America. He's a father. He's an expert on things like democracy and authoritarianism and tribalism and malehood. I mean, he's just absolutely fantastic. And he's the opposite of so much of what we're seeing coming out of this government. He's thoughtful, he's reasonable and he is perfect to talk about Iran. He's got a new piece on Iran and why the Democrats are losing young men. And we're going to talk about the shocking video involving Senator Sheehy and a Marine veteran, which I'll get to in a second. But Sebastian Younger is here and he's going to help us all stay vigilant. But first, there is obviously a lot happening. It is all flying at us speed racers. But there is one top topic that is emerging above all that will likely be our top topic until further notice, and that is Iran. All right. Yes. Iran and the regional war that is unfolding is our top topic. It is the number one national security issue. It is the number one economic issue. It is the number one political issue. It is the number one human issue. And yesterday we finally got a vote. Yes, about five days after the war started, the Senate finally got around to voting and of course it did not pass the Senate Republicans blocked the War Powers Act. As the crisis continues to widen, every single Republican voted for it, voted against the War Powers act, except Rand Paul, the Republican from Kentucky, who we have to continue to focus on because he continues to be a voice of reason. And every Democrat voted in favor of it except John Fetterman. John Fetterman, who is the newest member of the Chicken hawk club and folks thought might be an independent. I think he's just lost. Terrible. But John Fetterman did not have the spine to vote in favor of the War Powers Act. Neither did most of the Senate. So it's on to the House where we will probably see a similar vote. It will not pass, but it's a vote that has to happen. Congress should at least vote on wars that are unfolding now. Of course they're voting after the war start. It would be great now if they did a War Powers act on Ecuador, I would argue, and maybe in advance of Cuba or any other country he might hit in the next couple of days. But Congress continues to be chasing the speed racer that is Trump. They are the mall cops of our democracy and they are not getting it done. And now we have new casualties. American casualties continue to be released. And we found out yesterday the final two names of the of the six Americans who were killed in Kuwait over the weekend. The first one is Major Jeffrey O', Brien, 45 years old, of the 103rd Sustainment Command, Army Reserve Unit in Iowa. And the Pentagon also released a sixth name in a very unusual way. I'll get to that in a second. But his Chief Warrant Officer, 3rd Class Robert Marzin, a medical examiner is working to identify remains. So this is why it's important. But a brave fifth American has been identified along with a sixth, sort of, via Dan Lamoth in the Washington Post. He had it first. And rest in peace to all of them. Again, I want to remind you that you can help support the loved ones of these two men and the others that are killed in action and any other folks that are killed in training accidents or in suicide by supporting the heroic work of TAPS Tragedy Assistance Program for survivors will be there long after the media attention fades. They are true heroes. It's linked in my bio, and here's why I said sorta, because the Department of Defense or Department of War, they want to call it, I won't call it that. Is sloppy always and incompetent and imprecise. And yesterday they. They issued a press release, and here's what the headlines say. Dow identifies an army believed to be casualty. That's what the headline said. It's not a typo? Well, it is maybe a typo, but that's what the headlines say. And then it said the Department of War announced the believed to be death of an Army Reserve soldier who was supporting Operation Epic Fury. Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzin, 54, of Sacramento, California, was at the scene of the accident on March 1 in Port Shevy, Kuwait, and is believed to be the individual who perished at the scene. Positive identification of Chief Warrant Officer Marzin will be completed by the medical examiner. That's what they put out. A second image I posted, this is on Social, is the actual press release. It's a very strange, sloppy, and unprofessional way for the Department of Defense. That's what I'm going to call it, to share this incredibly tragic, important and sensitive information. Read it a couple times. The headline Dow identifies an army believed to be casualty. And they couldn't formally confirm that he was the casualty. It's just absolutely unacceptable. I mean, and this is the kind of sloppiness and incompetence that has epitomized Hegseth's reign as Acting Secretary of Culture War. What the fuck? This is unacceptable. And it's an example of how we all have to demand better from them. If they can't get simple casualty announcements right, what else are they fucking up? The human cost of war is high, immeasurably high. And now we can actually measure the financial course cost. We're finding out it is $1 billion a day. That's the number. And I spoke to notice for a piece about it. And the headline was, can Trump Convince Americans War with Iran is worth It? The answer, I think, is a resounding and nonpartisan no. And I emphasize a point that I've made many times over the year that I want to make again now. Anytime you commit the troops ahead of public opinion, it results in disaster from Vietnam to Iraq to everywhere in between. When you don't have the American people behind an operation, it undermines the operation. And as I highlighted and will continue to highlight, not even George Bush was this disrespectful of the Constitution, of Congress and of public opinion. And Iran is much less popular than, than the war in Iraq was at this point. And protests are starting and continuing and expanding here at home. And there was one yesterday that I have to bring your attention to, especially because we talk about veterans issues and the intersection of national security and culture and politics. There was a very, very disturbing video that has now gone viral. You may have seen it. If not and you're watching, I'm going to play it here. If you're listening, I'll play it and you can listen to what is disturbing sound. I'll warn you in advance, this is disturbing sound. But it is a clash between former Marine Sergeant Brian McGinnis who stood up in a congression a Senate hearing to say that he didn't want. That people don't want to fight in Iran for Israel. He was speaking out. He was protesting. Excuse me. And Capitol Hill police pounced on him, tried to remove him from the room. And then Senator Sheehy, Republican senator from Montana, decided to inject himself into the situation. Check out this very, very disturbing video. And as a warning, it is disturbing. Check it out. No one wants to fight for Israel. His hand. His hand. Oh, his.
- [10:27]
Sebastian Younger
Sir, sir, let go of your.
- [10:31]
Paul Rykoff
Let go of the door. A Senator broke his hand. A city US Senator just broke the
- [10:40]
Sebastian Younger
hand of a Marine.
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Sponsor Voice
Sir.
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Paul Rykoff
Sir. Okay. Sir. A US Senator just broke the hand of a Marine.
- [10:58]
Sebastian Younger
A US Senator just broke the hand of a Marine.
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Paul Rykoff
You're a coward, Hun. Yourself. Why you. That's why you got kicked out. Badass. Otherwise, sit down, please. Sit down, please. Otherwise, sit out with everybody. Sitting down, please. I'm getting out of here. That's fine.
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Sebastian Younger
Everybody sit down, please.
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Paul Rykoff
Is your hand.
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Commercial Announcer
No, it's not.
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Sponsor Voice
This is disgusting.
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Paul Rykoff
Disgusting.
- [11:26]
Sebastian Younger
Just pull it out.
- [11:27]
Paul Rykoff
You can hear it at some point. You can actually hear McInnes's arm break. And it's. It's very, very ugly. You can hear it if you're watching on YouTube. You can see it. I think it's really important to emphasize that no U.S. senator needs to inject himself in this situation. So, Senator, I haven't seen the full video. He wasn't there. He wasn't needed. The police had the situation under control. He might have been all the way up in the front of the room and come forward. I'm sure we'll find out. But no US Senator needs to inject himself in that kind of situation unless he's grandstanding, unless he's puffing up. I mean, and let's underscore too, he shouldn't be doing it for the safety of everyone, including himself. He's a U.S. senator. There's no reason for him to endanger himself in this situation. But it was unnecessary. It was brutal. It's terrible to watch. And I think on some levels this is what America falling apart looks like. I'm going to talk to Sebastian Younger about this video in particular and what it means for the larger clashes happening in our society. Also, Sheehy represents this kind of radioactive macho shit that you see from Hegseth and Trump and others. And it's something I'm going to keep an eye on. Related. Here's more. Yesterday, the White House has been posting all kinds of crazy fucking videos. But they posted this one that I'm going to play for you. And you can listen or you can watch. Unless for some reason they won't let us. But here it is. We're winning this fight. So it's a video that basically makes the combat in Iran seem like war is a video game. And now that's because they actually started the compilation of Iraq war clips with footage from the MGB kill strike animation from Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2. It's a video game. Benjamin Weiss pointed this out on X and it actually it's the one you earn from getting 30 consecutive kills without dying. It replaced the tactical nuke like it has scores lighting up. I mean, they think war is a video game and this shit is inappropriate, juvenile, unacceptable. It reminds me of the Iraq War videos that troops used to burn onto CDs when I was in Iraq and after Iraq with Bodies by Drowning pool playing over explosions and carnage. If you served in 911 or after 911 in Iraq or Afghanistan, you probably remember them and you wouldn't want your kids or your mom to see them. But now in 2026, they're being created and pushed by the White House. Same toxic attitude, same corrupted culture. It's just wrong. It's unprofessional. And it's un American. It's juvenile, it's ridiculous, it's sensational, and it's typical. The same kind of shit that you see from ice, which continues to run rampant across America every day. More bad shit. That video involving Sheehy and McGinnis is reflective of the culture of ice and of this administration that is now extending across our society. But I think it's really important. Whether it's ICE or the Department of Defense announcements, you still can't believe the government. Believe your eyes. Because this ICE crew was still gassing people in Portland and busting into houses without warrants and detaining American citizens and shooting Alex Preddy and Renee Goode. Don't forget about that. I know that Trump is already on to Iran, but ICE is continuing. They're nasty, nefarious shit all across this country. And we have to be able to focus on multiple things at the same time and understand how they're connected. Because if you're not angry, you're not paying attention. Our democracy is under attack abroad and here at home, and they are ripping our country apart piece by piece, every day, more and more by the day. So don't forget that. With Kristi Noem in front of Congress this week, ICE should be on trial, too. And in my view, ICE should be shut down and dismantled. It's not salvageable. But that culture of ICE is now spreading to our military, which is bad for our military, it's bad for our country, it's bad for our democracy, and it's bad for our troops, because, remember, our image around the world is not good. Trump continues to wage war on the truth and on the free press and on so many of our enemies. Greenland still hates us. So does Denmark. More than half of the folks in Denmark think we're an adversary. And Canada is not pleased with us either, either. So we're becoming more and more isolated, more and more hated. And don't forget about Venezuela. We haven't heard about any drunk boats getting hit in the last couple of days. But whatever happened to the full video of the September 2nd boat strike and whatever happened to the allegations of war crimes? We blew right past that. And Congress, who I've been extremely critical of, doesn't seem to be able to keep up because Trump just blasts through them and goes on to the next target. It's why we all, especially now around all of these issues. But everything that comes together in a storm around our national security and our domestic security, we all need to stay vigilant. All right? And there is now, breaking news that I need to address. Trump has finally fired Kristi Noem. This is significant. It's the first member of his administration that he's really fired that he's held accountable. But here's the worst part. It's kind of like getting rid of the Ayatollah in Iran, because what's coming behind him might even be worse. He's named Mark Wayne Mullen to be her replacement at dhs. Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, who I have highlighted as one of, I think, the dumbest, most radical, most hackiest and most chicken hawkish members of the Senate. A guy who talks tough but has never served in military, in the military, never served in uniform. He's a new DHS secretary. I would not expect a change of culture under Mark Wayne Mullen. Trump, I guess, feels like he's got a hold Noem accountable. Maybe he wants to change the subject on some levels, but Mark Wayne Mullen is no improvement. Mark Wayne Mullen for DHS is going to be like the Ayatollah's son in Iran. It's just a different kind of bad because I'm going to come back to it. ICE needs to go. ICE needs to be dismantled. It is not salvageable and you're definitely not going to turn it around with a radical chicken hawk like Mark Wayne Mullen. So strap in, folks. I'll have more in the days to come, but this is yet another reason to stay vigilant. All right, the folks who are staying maybe most vigilant of all and have been for years, are the people of Ukraine. I'm not going to keep my focus off of Ukraine, although many in America have. Today is day 1471 of Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine. That means four years and nine days. And after four years and nine days of our new global reality of war, what we're seeing in the Middle east is just a taste of what Ukraine has been dealing with for four years and nine days. Ukraine is continuing to lead the way, leading the way as leaders of freedom and of what's right and good. And they are now volunteering to help. Of course, around Iran, they know a lot about how to defend against drones. It's ironic now that America is asking them for support. The Trump administration is asking, is asking them for support. After dropping our support to Ukraine by 99%, it's just another, I think, testament to the ingenuity, the creativity, the resilience of the people of Ukraine. Because I've said this many times before, NATO should allow Ukraine because there is no more tested military on the planet, no more creative, innovative, brilliant military on the planet than the people of Ukraine. Our military is awesome, but we do not have the combat experience of four years and nine days like Ukraine does. Not just fighting, but defending their homeland. They are innovating, adapting and overcoming. And they are most more than anyone else in America and more than anyone else in the world, the Ukrainians are staying vigilant. And we need to have them as close to us as possible and have them by our side for whatever comes next, especially as we address the very real and rising threats of attacks on the homeland. If Iranian proxies want to hit the U.S. it's going to be through low cost shahed drones like Ukrainians have been defending against for four years. If you haven't heard my episode with Nolan Peterson from last week, go back and check it out. We talk about the threat of drones and how it's still not front and center for most Americans, but it should be for you. Because if you listen to this show, if you watch the show, you will stay vigilant. All right? You'll also stay vigilant about veterans issues. I will hit on them from time to time as often as I can. And I want to underscore that as Trump is continuing to make many more veterans in Iran and the area, there are still, there's still not a plan from the VA on how to deal with them. I've said this after every new war in the last 20 years, when a country, when our country sends our men and women to war, they should present the American public with a plan for how the VA is going to care for them, because there was no plan for burn pits and IEDs and military sexual trauma and all the other shit that we faced coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan. The VA was always playing catch up on everything from funding to innovation. We should be ahead of our veterans that are coming home, but we're not. Every day, as a reminder, we lose 17 veterans to suicide every day. Men and women who served our country are lost to suicide and they're under tremendous stress right now. I will continue to emphasize that if you are a veteran or if you have a veteran in your life and you need support, reach out. It's not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. And veterans especially, reach out to your buddies right now because this shit is coming at all of us. And it is difficult to handle. And it's even more difficult because, as NBC 5 has revealed, the VA is denying claims from vets and VA psychologists of limits on Mental Health Care so in the midst of all this, the VA is making it harder for veterans to get mental health care. Veterans and psychologists say the Veterans Affairs Department has quietly enforced internal policy changes that limit veterans access to mental health care. It's happening at a time when psychologists are already in short supply and the largest integrated health system in the country is under tremendous stress. Now, of course, the VA publicly denies it, saying there is no directive or memorandum that mandates psychotherapy caps or session limits. But you shouldn't believe them because VA workers and veterans are speaking out. Veterans and former current VA psychologists have told NBC 5 that there's a disconnect between what the VA says publicly and what they say is happening on the ground. We've been here many times before, folks. They are not ready for the influx. And that increase is about to go even higher as more and more veterans need care. Chris Maps is a representative with AFCI, the union that represents 800,000 federal employees, including VA psychologists, and he says it's quite clear that the changes they're making will have direct consequences for the care of our veterans. There's an online petition that started calling for an end to caps on veteran mental health care by a group called Voice for Our Vets. It's garnered more than 28,000 signatures since November, and this is happening when the VA is under increased demand. I want to highlight for you, as NBC did, a recent inspector General report from 2025 showed that 79 of 139 VA facilities, more than 57%, reported that they were experiencing a staffing shortage with psychologists. This has been reported over the last couple of years, but there was already a shortage of psychologists and they've been gutting the va. They've been laying people off. There's been tremendous stress at the VA and now there's an influx of new veterans coming. So don't let them hide the ball on whether or not VA is ready on this issue, especially Republicans.
- [24:07]
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Paul Rykoff
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- [26:34]
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- [27:04]
Paul Rykoff
Democrats, and especially independents, stay vigilant. All right, we're going to continue to stay vigilant around politics, especially at the intersection of politics, national security and our independent movement. I've told you before, independent veterans are providing hope in this moment. They can win in places where Republicans and Democrats can't. And they are the people's champion. They're representing the plurality of America, the 45% of this country that is Independent. We're not just moving the needle. We are the needle. And in politics, things move pretty fast. And yesterday I told you about independent veteran Seth Bodnar, who declared just yesterday he's running against GOP incumbent Steve Daines. Well, hours after he announced, Steve Daines is out. Yes, this gets really, really funky. Okay, so here's why it's been so nuts in Montana. Let me try to put this together. So outstanding vet Seth Boudner announces his candidacy for U.S. senate. A few hours later, the Republican incumbent Steve Daines announces he's not running for reelection, and he anoints Montana Republican Attorney General Kurt Almi to replace him. Almy filed his paperwork eight minutes before the deadline. And then at 7:59pm last night, Trump endorses Almi on Truth Social and praises Daines for passing the torch, steamrolling democracy and Republican voters. Now, there are also at least four Democrats running in this race. But this is a really spectacular example of how broken, failed and corrupt the partisan machines are. All of them in both parties, and especially in the Republican Party, because they hold this seat, are threatened by Seth Bodnar, as they should be, because Seth Bodnar is an independent veteran. He's not with the party or the cronies or the billionaires. He's with Montana, and he's with America. And he's just getting started. And he's going to inspire. I think he's going to unite, I think he's going to win, and I think he's going to make history. Watch this race. It's the single most important senate race in 2026. And Seth Bodnar will join me on this show soon. When I have a confirmation on a date, I will let you know. But remember, independent veterans, especially our hope for the future right now, they're not a silver bullet, but they're a pretty good shot. And they'll help us all stay vigilant. If you want to join Seth Bodnar, you want to support Seth Bodnar and people like him, check out Independent Veterans of America. We are recruiting for more veterans like Seth Bodnar to run. We want to help you run. We want to help you be the change that this country needs. And, of course, stay vigilant. All right? I haven't hit on culture in the last couple of days, but there's a big one that I gotta hit on, because we need escapes. You can't let them take your joy. You gotta find those moments of joy. And there's something coming that I think is gonna bring me some joy and I hope we'll bring it to you. The Peaky Blinders movie is coming. If you don't know, Peaky Blinders has been an incredibly successful show on Netflix over the last couple of years. It is a monster show. It is really, really good. One of my favorite shows of all time. So Tommy Shelby is coming back? Yes, Killian. Killian Murphy is the brilliant actor who plays Tommy. It's scheduled to be released tomorrow, Friday all across the country in theaters and on Netflix on March 20, which, of random note, is the anniversary of the Iraq War. But Peaky Blinders is back and it's a reason to be excited, folks. It's an incredible show. I highly recommend it. If you needed an escape, go back and check out Peaky Blinders and get ready for the movie coming up. All right, not a movie. Sports is still happening and there is a lot happening that intersects with politics and around baseball, if you haven't tracked. Former New York Yankee world champion Mark Teixeira won a primary for his House seat in a reliably Republican district this week, making him a favorite for the general election. He's running as a Republican. He was endorsed by Trump, who called him a total winner on and off the field. He played five seasons with the Rangers and of course he played with the Yankees and he is now likely to be a Republican congressman from Texas. I am not a fan of his politics, his extreme politics, but I am a fan of him as a baseball player and I invite Mr. Teixeira to join us on this show. I would like to have a conversation and hear more about why you're running, what you think you can do and if you think you can appeal to independence especially. All right. Also, there's been a lot of basketball happening. Great time of year. March Madness is coming up, which will be another escape and could be a potential terrorist target. You can't rule that out. The Knicks lost a tough one last night versus The Thunder, and there's some pretty big news that is going to make my little boy river very happy. Breaking news Boston Celtics NBA all Star Jayson Tatum will play this season and could make his debut Friday against the Dallas mavericks, less than 10 months after surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon that's being reported now by Shams at espn. This is pretty amazing. Folks usually don't come back from an Achilles injury that quickly. The Celtics have been doing great without them, unfortunately for my Knicks. And my little boy has no player that he likes more than Jayson Tatum, who I do celebrate as A leader. I think he's outstanding. And Jason Tatum is making a comeback. So we need comebacks to root for, folks. And a reminder, the World Baseball Classic starts today. And the Paralympics talking about comebacks and talking about inspiration. The Paralympics start tomorrow and will include many American veterans on the Paralympic team, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, and they will give us inspiration that we need right now. My voice needs it. As you can hear, I've been going pretty hard, as we all have. We're going to need inspiration and we're going to need to spread it. We're going to get it today from our guest, a returning champion, an Olympic champion of insight, a man who's kind of like a Hall of fame guest on this show. He's joined us many times before. He is the great Sebastian Younger. And especially in this moment, he is going to help us all stay vigilant. All right, Independent Americans around the country and around the world. This is an important time for vigilance. And this is another inflection point for the future of our country and the world. And we need people to help us navigate it, make sense of it, stay vigilant and keep our humanity. And there is no guest that I've had on this show over the years that can do that better than the man joining us now. I think he's a conscience for America. You know him from all of his amazing, groundbreaking writings and films, from Tribe to the Perfect Storm to Restrepo. He's on Substack now and a piece on Free Press and continuing to just add light that this country and this world needs our friend returning to independent Americans, the great and powerful Sebastian Younger is back. Welcome back, buddy.
- [34:20]
Sebastian Younger
Hey, thank you. Nice to see you, too,
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Paul Rykoff
dude. Where the fuck do we start?
- [34:29]
Sebastian Younger
Yeah, good question. Iran seems top of mind. I'm happy to jump in there if you'll jump in with me.
- [34:36]
Paul Rykoff
Yeah, I want to talk about Iran. I want to talk about the piece that you wrote about why the Democrats are losing young men, which will be especially important because so many people consider, I think, foolishly, the fall elections as a circuit breaker. I want to talk to you about this crazy fucking situation with Senator Sheehy and a Marine protester, because you and I have talked a lot about manhood and masculinity and leadership and trauma. But let me just start with the question I ask everybody. Where are you, my friend, and how are you?
- [35:10]
Sebastian Younger
Right now, I'm in New York City in our little apartment. And I share my tiny little office with two bunk beds that my girls occasionally sleep in when they're not sleeping in the family bed, which is right through that wall. So yeah, I joke that we live on a tiny submarine and we gotta make use of every piece of space and if we want to buy like a blender, we gotta get rid of the toaster like that.
- [35:35]
Paul Rykoff
I love it. It's a simplicity that we need more of in this country right now. So your kids are actually not sleeping in your bed anymore?
- [35:43]
Sebastian Younger
No, they go back and forth and I don't know what turns the tide. Sometimes they feel adventurous like Lewis and Clark and they strike out for the horizons and they sleep in their little bunks and then sometimes they're in the big bed so it just goes back and forth.
- [35:58]
Paul Rykoff
And how old are they now, Sebastian?
- [36:00]
Sebastian Younger
Nine and six. Yeah, and when people question me about that, I mean, of course humans have always slept with their young, right? I mean it's just like that. In fact, all mammals sleep with their young, right? Americans are apparently exception. But. But what I say is like look, if you were camping in the Bob Marshall wilderness with your young children, you probably wouldn't put them in a different tent, right? They'd be snuggled up with you because they would want that, you would want that. That's how humans are. Just because, you know, you live in an apartment in New York City doesn't mean that your little baby or your 2 year old doesn't want to feel secure because, you know, like they need to be next to you to know they're safe. So there's a lot of that hardwired into the human mind and we, we try to live with that. With according to that, there's a great website called Evolutionary Parenting. So if you're a parent and want to know how to, to parent in evolutionarily consistent ways in modern society is an amazing website. I highly recommend it.
- [36:57]
Paul Rykoff
We will link to it. I love that and I am with you. My kids are 1 year old, so they're 10 and the little guy just turned 7. And for the most part they're still in our bed. And I'm perfectly great with that. I know there's going to come a time where they don't want to. The other night they were so exhausted from basketball they didn't come in. And my wife and I were like, are they okay? They didn't come in. I mean they were just so exhausted that I don't think they could move. But you know, I think it's really important because I think we need to celebrate closeness and we need to celebrate humanity and looking out for people, because this is such a tumultuous and stressful and chaotic time and we need to go back to that family unit, especially in contrast to a president that I don't think has ever shared a bed with anybody that he didn't pay or rape. But, you know, it's. I always want to talk to you about the contrast in our culture that's happening and your back to basics approach to parenting, to writing, to everything I think is really important right now. Man, I feel like you're a samurai for our democracy.
- [38:00]
Sebastian Younger
Thank you. I like that phrase. That's cool. I hope I'll try to live up for it. Up to it. So, you know, you mentioned my substack. I actually wrote a piece about exactly that. It's called the Great Abandonment and how this society at every scale has abandoned. Abandoned its human relations, including between parents and children. And your listeners might enjoy it and you might enjoy it. It's a kind of an interesting take on all this.
- [38:26]
Paul Rykoff
Can you just give us a top line? I mean, share a little more if you. Because I am interested and I think our listeners will be interested too.
- [38:33]
Sebastian Younger
Well, you know, for thousands of years, despotic regimes used, you know, their own citizens as cannon fodder. But with the advent of democracy, there was this appearance of like, every life matters, right? At least legally. Everyone has their, their individual rights, their basic rights. But then there's the battle of the sum, right, where the English lost 20, I think it was 20,000 men killed in 24 hours or something like that. And where clearly the first time a democracy, a democracy had used human life with that little regard, right? And they were divorcing. The society was divorcing itself from the, from the value of its own, the lives of its own people, right? That was followed after World War I, World War II by this sort of strange change in parenting where people were advised to just keep children at arm's length, put them in a room by themselves to sleep, do not breastfeed. It's bad for them. Give them infant formula, all this sort of arm's length stuff. Really what's happening is that if you want to monetize the mother infant bond, you have to break it open. You can't monetize it because it's a complete thing. It doesn't need a damn thing, right? You have to break it apart and then sell people the, the, the. The intermediary, right. The substitute. Right. Eventually parents having to sort of abandon their kids emotionally in that sense. Right. In the 50s and 60s, 70s, my generation eventually the smartphone came along and children started abandoning their parents. They now have very little to do with them. They're way more on their phones than within their family relations. And eventually, as I say, the ultimate abandonment will be of the self, by the self. Right. Where we actually no longer have any sort of relationship with our own selves because of the static noise, because of this constant frenetic gazing at the screen, and the sort of solipsistic universe that young people are sort of living in right now. And so it's called the Great Abandonment, man. It's like how. How this was foisted off on us. It's absolutely horrific.
- [40:36]
Paul Rykoff
This is so timely. I mean, I know we're going to talk about the military industrial complex, but you've now just highlighted what sounds like the parental industrial complex here in America. Right. But I think it takes us well into this conversation today because there's so much right now that if you're not angry, you're not paying attention. And I want to talk about Iran, but I want to start by talking about the loss of humanity and the celebration of it by Trump. A guy who probably was never breastfed and never had tenderness and care. Right. And Hegseth, another guy who is the worst manifestation of American masculinity that I think we've seen in recent times. Right. And before we went live on this, I asked you to look at the video of Senator Sheehy, who is a Navy veteran from Montana, aggressively breaking the arm of former Marine Sergeant Brian McGinnis, who stood up in a Senate hearing to protest. And they were struggling to get him out. He was fighting back. Right. But at some point, Sheehy takes it upon himself to jump in and is part of resulting in a really gruesome moment where his arm breaks. And I want to focus on it because I feel like there's so many videos flying at people that this one hits. This one hits uniquely, because most folks probably don't know Sheehy's a veteran, whether they do or not. The Marine is in uniform. He's a Marine veteran. He's protesting. Now, granted, he's fighting back and law enforcement struggling with him, but there's this moment where we can all see his arm is stuck in the door, and they can't see his arm is stuck in the door, and they break his fucking army. And I just think it's such an insight into where we are right now in America and the violence and the dehumanization and the aggression, without thoughtfulness and without kindness and without empathy. That's happening. That's a bit of a long winded way of saying, what do you think of that video and that moment, Sebastian?
- [42:41]
Sebastian Younger
Well, you know, it's hard to tell if Sheehy was acting with, with cruelty, intentionally, knowingly, deliberately breaking a man's arm or, you know, it was an awful scrum there and he might, he just might not have known that the guy's arm was tied in the door, et cetera, et cetera. So just, are you a psychopath or were you just a big dude trying to help out during a scuffle while people are conducting government business? Right, so, and so I don't know. Right. And I'm sure I'll never know. But that to me is a huge, it would be a huge question in morally evaluating Sheehy. I don't know why. I mean, frankly, it's the United States. Like, the cops should be able to get someone out of a committee room in, in eight seconds. Like, what, why, why was it even a bar fight in there? Like, I mean, and what we know from the police is often if you have more manpower on the street, there's less violence. Right. When violence can really take off is when it's sort of an even fight and both sides think they can win. It can get really, really dangerous. And so that to me is just like a lapse of, a lapse of protocol or something on the part of the, of the police that were, you know, there to sort of like keep order. I don't understand that. And it takes more than two people to move a big dude out of a room. I'm sorry. That just, that just does. Right, like, yeah. And you know, he had a political messaging that, you know, whatever a lot of Americans are going to disagree with. But I think we all understand that, you know, an American in uniform, or frankly any American has the right to passionately protest something. Right? Passionately and peacefully. Right. And so. And we have to preserve that. Right is what makes us a democracy. Try that in Iran. You'll get machine guns. Right. So, you know, we just have to keep it in that context as well.
- [44:42]
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- [45:43]
Paul Rykoff
So let's, let's, let's talk about Iran, which is the top topic until further notice. And I'm going to start saying Iran and everything else, because I think this is now a regional war. I think that America has busted the top off of it, and it's overflowing in ways that we can't predict and can't control. I think it's a really salient moment for folks to understand that there's lots of things we can't control. You have been in so many different combat zones, and you've seen this. You've studied authoritarianism. You've been, I think, an important conscience in what is to come on everything from ICE to Afghanistan. What are you thinking about right now when you watch Iran? What do you think is most important as this overflow of information in people's screens is coming? What are you thinking about? And what do you think others should be considering about Iran?
- [46:35]
Sebastian Younger
All right, so there's a few different things. We have to sort of break it apart, because if we try to solve them all at the same time, we won't solve anything. So first of all, of concern to many people legitimately, out of necessity, is why did Trump do this? Right. The US has intervened militarily in many situations. My first war was Bosnia. The US Intervened and stopped the genocide. So intervention itself is not inherently a bad thing. So we want to know what were his motivations? Right. Was he truly worried about the Iranian people? Possibly. I can't read minds. Right. I have no idea. Right. Was he inflamed by the Supreme Court decision that basically humiliated him over tariffs? Maybe we've got, you know, we have a president that is vulnerable to that kind of sort of like, psychological reaction. So one thing that concerns Americans is what is motivating the president to do something this big. Right. It's a legitimate concern that's completely separate from, for example, what do the Iranians think? I've, I've, I've talked to a number of my Iranian friends, people I respect, both, in fact, in two cases, people who spent time in prison, four political protests when they lived in Iran, and one of them was tortured for three years. Right. So I asked these people what do you think?
- [47:52]
Paul Rykoff
Right.
- [47:52]
Sebastian Younger
They're both pacifists, they're both anti war, they both are anti US Missiles or whatever. Right. And both of them were like, you know what? It might take this to protect the Iranian people. The, the, the, the regime is, is, is basically sociopathic. They might have killed as many as 50,000 Iranians who were peacefully protesting in the street a couple months ago. If this doesn't trigger a military intervention, what the hell does? Right? Like, where's your red line? Right. And then there's the third component. So that I'm, you know, I'm a liberal, I'm generally against many things that Trump does, but I'm also, because of my war reporting, I'm also very open to the idea that a vulnerable population that's being abused and massacred might need foreign help to protect itself. Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and frankly, the civil war in Afghanistan that preceded 9, 11, all of those horror shows were stopped by military action. Right. So as a humanitarian, you know, I go both ways on it. Right. And then finally, the third component is, okay, he could have had the best of motives, Trump could have had the best of motives, and our heart goes out to the Iranian people and thank God someone's doing something to stop those murderers. Right. But what if the outcomes are terrible? So outcomes are different from motivation. Right. What are the outcomes? That maybe we acted in good faith with all good intent, but it's so poorly organized. In fact, it's not organized at all. There is no follow through plan that a regional war is ignited not because Trump did the wrong thing, but, but because he had no planning whatsoever for what to do. Right. And that was a little bit my problem in Afghanistan. George Bush, easy war, there was a clear moral basis for it. Very poor planning. It fell apart. So you have to distinguish the initiating sort of moment from whether there's follow through or not. And I think my fear for the Iranian people, primarily my fear is, is that there was no follow through. And as a result, more people, like in Afghanistan, more people are going to die unnecessarily.
- [50:04]
Paul Rykoff
I'm so glad we have you here today. This is why I love talking to you and why I know our listeners and our viewers are appreciative of your voice in helping break down all of this fucking chaos into kind of three prongs that are really important to consider each other on their own and collectively. I want to come back to a point that I think is important here, which is ultimately, we're talking about leadership, and we've got A president who's got power the likes of which we've maybe never seen in America. The world hasn't accounted for what can happen with a rogue American president who blows up NATO, blows up the un Blows up Congress. I've said, you know, he is all gas, no brakes, and nothing is stopping him. But can I ask you to talk about and maybe underscore the danger of his approach, which disregards humanity, which seems to not have concern or compassion for Iranians or Americans? The chest thumping. You are kind of an expert on masculinity and strength and understanding that. You're like our manosphere Monday guest every day. But having him, the way he talks to the world, that isolates us. Half of Denmark now thinks we're an adversary. The Canadians don't support us, don't trust us. He went into Ecuador the other day, and it's bookended by Hegseth, who every day becomes this blow hard, you know, guy who's like the guy who wants to beat up everybody else's dad. Can you talk about them as key figures? Because they are setting the command climate, they are making the decisions. They are deciding what to focus on and what not to. But can you talk about them in this moment?
- [51:53]
Sebastian Younger
Yeah. Well, for me, it just. They just look like examples of sort of performative masculinity by men who don't really understand what true masculinity is. I mean, you know, really in its ideal form, masculinity, if you want to use the word, which I think is a fine concept, and it's been around for a long time. If, if you want to talk about real masculinity, it's. It's a man who is engaged in that sort of act, active protection of vulnerable, vulnerable people. Right? Like. And it goes back to what sort of. Like our. Our ancestral roots. Our. Our. Our. Our. Our long, long history as social primates and where men were charged with the task of defending the group and. And women were charged with equally important tasks. But men, for a variety of reasons, that was their role, right? And one of the reasons they were charged with it, they're on average, stronger and faster than women. But that aside, you can kill men all day long, and it doesn't matter to the group, right? You can kill half the men in a group, it doesn't matter. The other half will have their work cut out for them, right, for a few years, but the population will be right back to normal within a generation. Kill half the women in a group, it never recovers, right? So men are one of the, one of the things, one of their most valuable traits is that they have so little value in reproductive terms. That actually makes them very valuable to a society. Right. And you can see that in today's society, in modern society, 95% of combat deaths are male and 95% of workplace fatalities are male. Right. Because it is overwhelmingly men who that do the dangerous jobs we all need done. You know, your house is made out of wood. Someone cut that down in a forest. Incredibly dangerous job. Oh, you drive a car and you put gasoline inside it. Someone drilled that out of the, out of the Texas oil fields. Unbelievably dangerous business, right? On and on. It's mostly men. So we, society still uses men as a kind of can of fodder to absorb the consequences of doing dangerous work. And so what I see, long answer, I apologize. But what I see when I look at Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, people like
- [54:11]
Paul Rykoff
that,
- [54:14]
Sebastian Younger
you know, are men who just like have absolutely no understanding of self sacrifice for the greater good, right? I mean a real leader is someone who will expose themselves to the same risks other people that the people they lead are taking. And in fact maybe even go further than that, take more risk. Among the Apache, very warlike people. The longest lasting free native nation in North America. War leaders. The word in Apache for a war leader was a dew trampler, dew on the grass because the leader went first, the leader got shot first. And after he had passed on a dawn raid, all the dew was shaken off the grass. Right. He was the one who did that because he was in the lead. Where are those kinds of leaders in America today? Bobby Kennedy, when he was shot and I wrote a piece about this called Breathe with Me. When he was shot in 19, I believe 68 in Los Angeles, he was bleeding out rapidly. And a busboy, I believe, from Cuba, 17 year old busboy from Cuba knelt down and cradled his head. It's an extraordinary photograph of this moment. And the last thing that Bobby Kennedy said, you know, he was running for President. The last thing he said, the last words of his life was telling everyone standing around him in shock, telling them, don't worry, it's going to be okay. He took care of everyone else while he was dying. That's what a leader does. I cannot imagine either of those two cowards acting like that if they'd been shot and were bleeding out.
- [56:02]
Paul Rykoff
Thank you, Sebastian. I mean this is why we need Sebastian. Fireside chats maybe every week. We're going to have to talk to you because you're breaking it down in a way we need it broken down. Let me ask you to go into a related topic, and one that I think is below the radar, but not on this show. There is a lot of folks right now, I think foolishly, are saying the November elections are the circuit breaker. I've said, how many more countries could he invade between now and November? We have no idea. How much worse could it be between now and November? We have no idea. I challenged Senator Blumenthal, the Democrat, yesterday, on what is his plan for now that the War Powers act has failed. He doesn't have one. I think that folks are still thinking hope is a course of action, and they think that the Democrats are gonna save you. You wrote a piece that says the Democrats are losing young men. I don't know the exact title. I'm sorry, but talk about that, please. Talk about your piece. Talk about what you found and what you believe and what you think people need to understand about this moment.
- [57:13]
Sebastian Younger
Yeah. So let's go Back to Hillary 2016, Hillary Clinton. So I wasn't a fan of hers, but I voted for her, right? Because voting for Trump just seemed unthinkable. My values just prevented it. But I do understand why a lot of other people did. I truly. I truly did sort of understand it. So I kept hearing that America is this, the patriarchal nation that will never elect a woman, and that's why she lost. We actually did elect her. The popular vote actually did elect her. Right. And 47% of her voters were men. All right? On the Donald Trump side, 47% of his voters were women. You cannot attribute election outcomes to the patriarchy. It's not the correlate. Right. So what happened to Those men, those 47% that voted for her? The Democrats lost 13% of those voters to the Republicans in the last 10 years. 13%, right. Absolutely catastrophic. And, you know, you can read my piece. It goes into more detail. But, you know, my answer is just like, why did this happen? Well, the party that came up with the phrase toxic masculinity, white male privilege, all that stuff, you can. You can argue the merits of those ideas if you like, but if you're the party that coughed that stuff up, fine. But you don't expect young men to vote for you. Vote for your candidates, Right? I mean, like, have that conversation in the academies, in the universities, no problem. Right? It's a. There is an issue there. It does have to be worked out. But when you typecast half the population as toxic, which is way too easy to do with that kind of language. You, you, you will lose elections. And frankly, you should. Right. Frankly, you should for doing that to half the population. So what do you say to a guy who's worked in a coal mine his whole life, making very little money, at risk of disease. Right. At risk of death on the, in the workplace, being one of the 95% of, of workplace fatalities that are male? Are you really going to say that that person enjoys white male privilege? Well, try it. He will not vote for you. Right. For your candidate. So, so right now, coming up in the midterms, I mean, I'm not a pollster, I'm not a pundit, and I'm, I'm certainly. And unsophisticated in how politics works. Right. But it seems like all the lights on the avenue are green or blue, I should say. Right. I mean, it just seems like all the special elections, really surprising results, the public sentiment, and just the way Trump has either failed at or betrayed every single promise that he made to his base. Like, every single one. It's extraordinary. Like, he ran the table on everything. Where's the wall? The wall from Mexico? I mean, everyone's forgotten about the wall, the economy, tariffs, this war in Iran, whatever. You might argue about the merit of it. The base certainly, certainly wasn't expecting that. Immigration, that was a winner for him. He blew that because of the ghastly optics of ICE actions and Border Patrol in Minneapolis, something else that I also wrote about, like every single thing he has either left unfulfilled or betrayed. So I don't, I mean, I just don't see how the Republicans pull this out. And, and I think they know they can't pull it out. I mean, I'm, I'm guessing that the conversations on that side are getting increasingly panicked and desperate, particularly now with Iran.
- [61:05]
Paul Rykoff
Yeah. I think the important point is the Democrats have to offer an effective alternative because, and that's where they failed a lot, I think, especially with young men. If you say, okay, I don't like Trump, so what's my alternative? Chuck Schumer, AOC Elizabeth Warren? Jasmine Crockett? Is it Telo? Is it Mikey Sherrill? Is it Wes Moore? Is it Pritzker? And I think especially in places that they're really going to have to fight for, it's going to be Sebastian Younger. It's going to be. No, it's going to be someone like you. Someone like me. And that's why we focused on the independents. Dan Osborne in Nebraska. Seth Bodnar has now declared in Montana. I think that Seth Bodnar is a great example, a Green Beret veteran, also a Rhodes scholar, has been a president of a university. He's a dad, but he's not Pete Hegseth. He is an alternative to Pete Hegstaff that is also new and fresh and running against all of it. So I do think that this is a moment where people are overwhelmingly sick of Trump, but they don't see an alternative in the Democrats. So I want to just remind people that the Democrats probably won't save you again. Right. I don't know if Telo can win in Texas at the end of the day. And I'm going to keep pushing back and saying we got to look to independence. They're not a silver bullet, but at least they're a good shot. Because people want to vote for someone like you, Sebastian, but they don't have someone like you on the ticket for the most part.
- [62:33]
Sebastian Younger
Yeah, well, we were cheated out of her primary last time around because of Joe Biden's decision. You know, the lateral pass to Kamala on the five yard line, hoping she'll run the field. And so it's just ridiculous, right? Like, that's no way to run a war. Good God. Right? So, so right now, I mean, I have a lot of Republican friends and they're all calling me very sort of quietly, as it were, saying, can you guys please make sure to win the midterms because otherwise we're screwed, right? And my answer is we're doing our best. These are Republicans, right? Like, hoping the Democrats will win the midterm and take the White House in 28. And I say to them, yeah, we're doing our best, but, you know, we're not going to save the Republican Party was willing to betray, trample the basic Democratic principles of this nation. We can win the midterm, but if you all decide that any, any, any election loss amounts to the election having been stolen, we can't save you, right? We can't reform your party. Only you can. And without a reformed Republican Party, the country ultimately is doomed. So you still have to, we still can't save you rip up right now, the Democrats politically, what are their prospects? We're really, you know, this is, these are early days. We, we, I mean, Obama was a very successful president. We didn't see him coming this early out, right? I mean, maybe a little bit, but I don't know. Jason Crow in Colorado, pretty extraordinary guy, right? Seems to have the, you know, he seems to have the magic a little bit, right? This sort of centrist Glsen camp in the Northwest. I don't know. There's some really interesting people out there. I, I don't know how to evaluate a politician as a politician, but I think there are many Democrats that fall into a solid American, sort of patriotic, respectful, you know, if not working class, working class adjacent, like, Persona. That is what, is what we need. I think Elizabeth Warren's a fine woman. I just don't think she fulfills that right. I mean, so, yeah, I think we have a very, very good chance of coming up with the right person. We got, you know, we got, we're, we're several years out now, so I, you know, I think we're still good.
- [64:49]
Paul Rykoff
I just worry about where we'll be by then. I mean, he's got eight countries that he's hit in the last year. Who knows how many he'll have by the time we get to November. And I don't think he has any intention of allowing a free and fair election. And we have the prospect of everything from martial law to the Insurrection Act. They didn't abide by or agree with the election last time, so I don't know if they're going to, you know, take it without a fight this time. But I do think they're looking for breakout voices. And I mentioned you because I do think the Democrats are not creative enough and I don't think they have enough celebrities and enough outsiders that could, that could be that viable alternative. That's why, you know, you've been supportive of our work on Ukraine. You've been supportive of our work for independent vets. I do think this is a moment for new voices and the Democrats would be smart to recruit you. And if not, the independents want you, man. So let me ask you, I want to have you back as often as possible in the next couple of weeks. I want to end this conversation or bracket it with something good. Something good. We always do. And you, you and I talk so much about leadership and male leadership, which unfortunately, in many ways is dominating the national, international conversation because Trump is president and he doesn't elevate too many women. And I wanted to highlight somebody I thought that was a very important, strong and different, maybe kind of American male leadership that is respected around the world. And it was Michael J. Fox. I don't know, unless you watch the award shows, is the Actors Awards. It's not the SAG Awards anymore. In the beginning, they talked about being an actor and they went around to Kristen Wiig and Teyana Taylor and all these folks, and they came to Michael J. Fox. And as soon as Michael J. Fox comes on screen, everybody applauds because they respect him, because he's a man of honor and integrity. And he's been through hardship and he shows what it's like to keep fighting and to care about others. And he defined his part of being an actor. He basically said, if not for acting, I wouldn't have met my wife. I met my wife on a sitcom and now I have four beautiful kids. And that's why acting is great, because it led me to my wife and my kids. And I always remind myself that if not for 9 11, I wouldn't have had the Iraq war and I wouldn't have started an organization that had a board chair, a board member who introduced me to my wife on a blind date. It's not a direct line, right? But I never would have met my wife and I never would have had these two amazing kids. There can be opportunity in crisis. But, but Michael J. Fox's leadership. And if we can play the video, Chris will. If not, it's because of some restriction shit from Netflix. But Michael J. Fox is something good. And I want to elevate good leaders, good fathers that can especially contrast Trump and Hegseth and the carnage in this moment. We need more Michael J. Foxes. And if the Democrats were smart, they'd recruit him to run for office. And if not, Michael J. Fox, if you're watching, the independents will have you. You are something good, my friend. Sebastian Younger over to you on this crazy time. What do you got? This something good.
- [67:56]
Sebastian Younger
Well, I, I mean, what your story makes me recall a story I heard about one of my favorite authors when I was growing up, Peter Matheson, who's Passed Away at Play in the Fields of the Lord is amazing novel. I actually feature it on my substack. I every Monday I, I, I quote an amazing paragraph from English Literature. And then I started talk about why it's so as a writer, why I think it's so good, what I learned from it. So a little tidbit of, you know, writing class Monday mornings if you're interested. But at any rate, so Peter Matheson, extraordinary career, extraordinary man. And as he was dying, you know, he was quite old. He was in the late 80s, early 90s maybe. He had hospice and he was apparently very scared of dying and he had, he had hospice and one of his best friends was sitting with him, a guy that I know. And the last thing, so the hospice nurse was running around doing this, doing that. Gets quite busy when people are dying, right? There's a lot like childbirth, a lot to do. And she was running around doing this, doing that. And the last thing he said was, he said, oh, my God, look at how hard I'm making that poor woman work. Right. Maybe we all think like that in our last moments. Maybe I'm like Bobby Kennedy. We may all be thinking about first and foremost about others. And the good news, if you want the good news is most people do, ordinary people do. Right. It's what makes us humans, for that matter. Right. Like it is the quality of humanity that we come back to over and over again. It will save us. It makes us who we are. And it's apparent every damn day in our world.
- [69:30]
Paul Rykoff
Sebastian Younger, you are amazing and I am so grateful. You are something good. That is a perfect something good. It is a reminder that we need to focus on the hope and the positivity and that hope is still the oxygen of democracy even in these moments and especially in these moments. But you are a person that brings us hope and strength and clarity in the toughest of issues, man. And every time I talk to you, I want to thank you for your constant leadership, your voice, your vulnerability. You put yourself out there and everything from how you almost died to how you've lost, you know, friends like Tim Hetherington. That is so important to remember in moments like this. You remind us of what's possible and what's important. And you are a tremendous public servant. I'm just so grateful for you and all that you do, my friend.
- [70:17]
Sebastian Younger
Thank you so much, man. I really appreciate that very, very deeply.
- [70:21]
Paul Rykoff
Folks, check the show notes. Follow Sebastian on substack. If you're not on substack, it's a good reason to start. I will link to his website where you should get all his books and watch all his films. Sebastian Younger is a guardian of our democracy and a man that we need to hear and follow, especially now. Thank you so much, my friend.
- [70:43]
Sebastian Younger
Thank you, Ben. We'll talk soon.
- [70:46]
Paul Rykoff
All right, y'. All, now you understand why Sebastian is an all time favorite of this show. If you've never seen our archives, go back, go to our YouTube page or go to IndependentAmericans US. Check out all my conversations with Sebastian Younger. They'll also be linked in the show notes. He's amazing and everything he's put out is amazing. Check out tribe Watch Restrepo get on his substack. Sebastian Younger keeps it real, breaks it down. And I would highly recommend you check out his book tribe and share it with people in your life, especially young people. It's a really quick read. It's a brilliant book and it's important for these moments. And we're going to need guides like Sebastian to take us through these wild times. And I want to thank all of you who've been reaching out to me. I've been getting a lot of notes, a lot of emails, a lot of support from all across the country and around the world. And I want to shout out Colleen Fulbright, who sent me a note last night saying, a thousand thank yous. Dear Mr. Rykoff, thank you for being one of the few Americans to tell it exactly as it is. We watched you throughout 2025 and again in 2026. You continue to articulate the state of the country better than any guest on Ms. Now, many of us here in Colorado are so angry with, with Congress's inaction. Thank you for telling it straight to Senator Blumenthal this afternoon. What the hell has happened? Colleen Fulbright, Fort Collins, Colorado. Well, you have happened. So I want to celebrate you, Colleen, for staying vigilant, for reaching out. And if you didn't see it, I had a pretty testy conversation with Senator Blumenthal because he was on with me and Nicole Wallace. And Nicole Wallace said, okay, I'm paraphrasing here. I may replay this conversation in a special episode. But she asked Senator Blumenthal, okay, the War Powers act has failed. What's plan B? And he didn't answer. He just kept talking around in circles because the truth is he doesn't have plan B. And I called him out on that. I said, what is your plan to slow down Trump? What is your plan to stop Trump? What is your strategy? And saying we're not in the majority is not enough. Surrender. And waiting till November is not a strategy. Because as I've underscored, who knows how many countries Trump can hit between now and November? And Blumenthal and every Republican and every Democrat and every Independent will answer to me anytime I'm on the air. What is your strategy? What is your plan? What are you doing to stop the madness? Most of them don't have an answer, but I'm going to keep asking. Senator Angus King will join us again soon in the days to come. And anyone else who comes on, from any party or no party, I will ask them, what the hell are you going to do? But Colleen Fulbright, you're doing the right thing. You're helping us, stepping up and supporting all this work. I was also on News Nation yesterday. Connell McShane was reporting from Turkey. I had a conversation with him. I was on Ms. Now twice. And you may have also seen Late Night with Stephanie Rule. The show crashed while I was on. I was like mid answer talking about how the Democrats should consider impeaching Trump and the feed just stopped. I don't know what happened. Those of you that were watching, I don't know, all of a sudden the feed just stopped. As I posted last night on instagram and on TikTok, I don't know if the FCC shut it down or maybe it was just a technical issue. Maybe it's just gremlins in the machine. But when you're in the middle of a criticism of this president, a president who put Don Lemon in jail and the feed goes out, I was concerned. Yeah, I didn't know what happened. Nobody in the studio knew what happened. Now they say it was just a technical glitch. But it underscored for me how this is an important time to speak out for all of us and you can't be silenced. You got to keep bringing it. And I will keep doing that. I will be on MSNBC again later today, maybe over the weekend. I will be on the Al Franken podcast this weekend. Al Franken, who you may remember was a senator from Minnesota, also used to do a lot of USL work, a lot of good work for veterans. I will be on Al's very popular podcast that will post, I believe on Sunday. And another great patriot, Stephen Colbert. I am confirmed to be on Stephen Colbert's late night show next Monday. It's going to be a lot of fun and I am going to challenge Stephen. So stay tuned for that. It might change if there's breaking news. And tomorrow another patriot, Adam Kinzinger will join us on the show. I will continue to bring you guests to add light to contrast to heat. Follow us everywhere. Hit subscribe. Do it right now. I'll wait. Hit subscribe and ask. Let's say it's March 5th, five of your friends to subscribe and go all the way through. Ask them to actually hit the subscribe button. It's free. Not free. Our IA merchandise on our website, which you can get at a very low cost. You can join our Patreon community, you can chip in and you can subscribe and help us spread the word. Because America has been divided. But here at Independent Americans, I'm working to change that, add light to contrast the heat of the other political shows. And I want to underscore that in every crisis there is opportunity and there is actual unity in America in opposing the Iran war, opposing boots on the ground. Maybe this is the opportunity we need to bring people together finally. And it'll be led by independents, which are increasing in number every day. We're 45% and growing. This, of course, is your show. But Democrats, Republicans, all of you who are independent, curious, come on over. You're welcome here. Our independent movement is growing and it's the hope for the future. Country over party, people over politics, light over heat, busting up the status quo and challenging all of them. Both parties? No parties. Especially in times of war. We gotta challenge him. Do it whatever way you can. And remember, hope is the oxygen of our democracy. Sebastian brought it to you today. If you enjoyed this episode with Sebastian Younger, share it far and wide. Invite others to declare their independence, not just from the corrupt and broken two parties, but also from the broken, traditional, corporate, partisan media. It's never more clear than in times of war how bad a lot of the media is out there. If you want to give your friends, your family an alternative, tell them to check me out. Check this show out, check out our YouTube page and spread the word. We'll help you stay vigilant, my friends, because eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. And it's a price we got to pay right now. But no, you are not alone in your vigilance. I hope you feel that we're all vigilant. We're all in this together. I'm your host, Paul Rykoff. Thank you for tuning into Independent Americans. Thank you for sticking with me, even though my voice is not always there. I'll see you tomorrow. Happy Thursday, Speed racers. We'll help you keep up and we'll keep going and we'll stay vigilant. Especially now. Stay vigilant, America. See you tomorrow. Tells me the left and right are dreams for those without a clue and when you wait 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 good trouble they can bring he says the red and blue I get it. Independent is an attitude and island in the sea of rhetoric and not the rally going left and right Our dreams for those without a clue and when you wait it's time to grow Powered by righteous media.