← Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Trump: Deal or No Deal on Iran. Putin Hits Romania. Did Trump Just Curse the Knicks? No VA Visits by President Mayhem.
00:36:39
It's episode 535 and Paul Rieckhoff is flying solo on a Friday — no guest, just a no-BS rapid-fire briefing on a week where the wheels kept coming off. Trump is still dangling a tentative Iran deal that looks suspiciously like the Obama agreement he tore up, while the Strait of Hormuz stays closed, the regime stays in place, and the nukes stay unsecured. Fourteen wounded American troops are at Walter Reed. The president walked the same halls for his own physical and didn't stop in. Meanwhile, a Russian drone hit an apartment building in Romania — NATO territory — and the silence from this White House has been deafening.
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- [00:00]
Progressive Insurance Announcer
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- [00:26]
Paul Rykoff
Lines that ensure our military has independence, integrity, professionalism, trust, unity and strength. And XF man, he smashes all those lines more and more by the day. And he's making our military weaker, more distracted, more politicized, more homogenous and more radical. And the damage he's doing on our military will take decades to repair.
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Chris (Producer/Assistant)
Foreign.
- [01:06]
Paul Rykoff
Welcome to Independent Americans. Welcome to episode 5:35. I am your host Paul Reikoff and it is Friday, May 29. Finally, it is Friday and it is NBA Finals Friday. We're almost there at the Finals, folks. More on that in a second. But we're also almost done with maybe wow. And I'm coming to you from New York City, usa, where the weather is damn good. Damn good indeed. And we need some good weather. We've earned it. We deserve it. And today's artist is also damn good. It is the great and powerful Rob Base, the hip hop icon who we remembered last week on the anniversary of his passing. He died on May 22, 2026 surrounded by his family after a battle with cancer. He just passed a legend, an icon, a legacy that shaped music around the world, brought so much joy and positive energy to people. I've read more about him since his passing. I found out he was a loving father, a family man, and definitely a creative force that should never be forgotten, especially if you grew up in the 90s. His biggest hit, of course, was the 88 hip hop anthem It Takes Two with DJ Eazy Rock. The song was a huge crossover success, hit the Billboard Top 100, Top 40 and went Platinum and it became an enduring staple. It takes two. It takes two to make a thing go right. Because it does take two. But it also, in this political environment, takes not the two. As in not the Republicans and the Democrats. We need the two to work together. But more often the two are working together more to screw everything up. And this week has been no exception. I'm going to get into that and more and bring you the five Eyes. I bring you in every single show, independence, integrity, information, inspiration and that Rob Base impact no guest today. Just me and you for a fierce and fast Friday episode. I haven't done one of these in a while, but I am back to take you through it and bring you into your weekend with some fury, some fire and some positivity. So let's get after it on this Friday. Let's get to the weekend, and let's stay vigilant. All right, top topic. It does take two. It. It does take two, but sometimes three or four. But it takes two in our divided government, and that shit ain't working. I mean, it is not working. The Republicans and Democrats can't get together on anything. Republicans really don't pay attention to Democrats. Democrats don't seem to be able to slow down the Republicans. And Most of us, 45% of us, are stuck in the middle. It also takes two to get a ceasefire. And Iran continues to be the worst ceasefire we've ever seen. What kind of ceasefire is it if people keep shooting at each other? That's what we've got. And now Trump is holding another meeting to decide on a tentative deal to potentially open the Strait of Hormuz. This is like the biggest jerk job we've ever seen in American politics. He says gas prices are gonna come down. He says he's gonna have a deal. He's bullshitting. He is bullshitting. I think the regime and Iran are bullshitting. It takes those two to get together to open the straight of Hormuz, and it's not happening. Now, there might be a potential deal. We've heard this before. Trump is holding meetings in the Situation Room, making a final determination after Washington and Tehran maybe reached a tentative deal, which, frankly, sounds like a surrender. Sounds like the deal that Obama had years ago. Sounds like the deal Trump could have gotten without a war and pissing off the whole world and putting 40% of our Navy in the region and losing 13American soldiers. Look, the chief Iranian negotiator says that no step will be taken before the other side acts, saying they're waiting for the US So now we have this showdown. Meanwhile, the Iran Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guard has fired warning shots at four vessels near the strait because they didn't give them prior coordination and authorization. Look, worse, cease fire ever. Bottom line, regime still in place, nukes still not secured, military still has capacity. And Straight of Hormuz still not open as we go into June. This is now month going on, month four of this debacle. And it continues. And it's another reason, especially on a Friday, there will probably be weird breaking news. So pay attention. To that after you listen to this show. But we will definitely have to stay vigilant. All right. Just another example of how this is the worst ceasefire ever. I haven't done a long form show, I think, since Memorial Day. But over the Memorial Day weekend, a lot happened. American forces conducted renewed strikes. We thought he might hit Cuba. That hasn't happened, at least not yet. I still think that's looming. But American forces had renewed strikes on Iran hours after top Iranian officials arrived in Qatar to resume talks. So continues to be the worst ceasefire ever. And I will tell you that there's a broader theme here. Everything that Trump touches goes downhill. Everything that Trump touches has shit on it and turns to shit. And we see examples of that every single day. But before we get to more on that, another reason that Memorial Day maybe was below your radar and things that were happening on Memorial Day were below your radar on Memorial Day weekend. Coming out of Memorial Day weekend, on Memorial Day, at the direction of southcom commander General Francis Donovan, our friends at Joint Task Force Southern spear hit another alleged drug boat, another kinetic strike on what they call the designated terrorist organization. Two male narco terrorists, they say were killed. No military forces were harmed. A boat was blown up. It was unauthorized. It was unacceptable. In my view, it's unconstitutional. It's unpopular, but they just keep doing it. So I've elated. Happy Memorial Day. Another boat strike not authorized by Congress, not supported by most Americans. Still happening. I'm going to get into it more and Hank, Seth in a second. But the most important story in the world is still that Trump can do anything he wants for the most powerful military the world has ever seen, and nothing is stopping him. And Cuba is still likely next. Stay vigilant. All right, Memorial Day was last weekend. War is ongoing. You know what's not happening? Trump's not visiting the wounded. Have you noticed that most commanders in chief, Bush, Biden, all of them, Obama, they would go visit wounded troops? It was a thing that presidents did. I don't remember and I can't see any recent documentation of Trump going to visit troops. And you may know, you may not know. You probably don't know. 14 US troops are in Walter Reed Hospital still recovering. They were wounded in Iran. And over the weekend, Trump went to Walter Reed for his routine medical visit, as the commander in chief often does. But he didn't visit with any of the injured troops. Jonah Kaplan, Kristen Brown, Ellie Watson and Michael Kaplan at CBS News had some reporting on this. So Trump is in the building at Walter Reed. He can walk Right down the hallway and visit the wounded troops. But he won't. Look. I'm not going to speculate as to why, but I will tell you it's not happening. And you can't show America the cost of war if you don't show the wounded. And that's probably the intention. Watch this space. Keep your eyes open. I'll let you know if it changes. In the meantime, stay vigilant. All right. Trump is attacking Iran. He also, over the weekend and over the week, attacked Colbert. Colbert had his big farewell last week. I've talked about it at length. I was on his show recently. I have tremendous respect and admiration for Colbert. And over the weekend, I didn't talk about this. I want to talk about it. Trump posted an AI generated video of himself throwing Stephen Colbert in a dumpster. It was gross, it was bad, and it was, you know, feels kind of violent. Not a good idea for the President to be throwing people around, even if it is AI but here's the bigger issue. Trump is jealous. Trump is jealous of all the love and admiration he's seen flowing all over Colbert for the last couple weeks. He attacks Colbert because he's two things that he can never be loved and respected. He just can't get that. No matter how hard he tries, no matter how much AI he pushes out, no matter how many press conferences or sycophantic circular cabinet meetings he has, he just doesn't get the love of respect. But he does mess up everything he touches. And you know who he touched over the weekend, too, over the last week? The quarterback of my favorite football team. Play the clip, Chris. Go, Big Blue. What an honor, what a privilege it is to be here. And without further ado, I'm grateful, I'm honored, I'm pleasured to introduce the 45th and 47th President of the United States of America, President Donald J. Trump. All right. If you haven't seen it by now, it's become a pretty big controversy in the sports world, and I think it should be. Young quarterback Jackson Dart, who played at Ole Miss and had a great rookie year, introduced Trump at an event upstate New York and Rockland county for Republican Congressman Mike Lawler, who's been on this show before. Maybe I'll have him back on to talk about it. But here was my immediate reaction. Oh, no. Damn. Just a disappointment. As my wife said, he's dead to me. Good thing my kid got a Scatter Boo jersey instead of a Dart one. I'm sure this is going to galvanize the locker room. It's just so stupid on so many levels and especially if you want to unite a team behind you, especially in a place as diverse as New York. And it should be no surprise that some folks pushed back, including Giants linebacker Abdul Carter, who was the other first round pick for the Giants last year. He posted a message on Twitter after Dart debuted and came out of the closet as pro. Donald Carter wrote, I thought this shit was A.I. what we doing, man? Yeah. So he took public issue, which was totally predicted and to be expected. And now there is controversy swirling around the team. I don't care what they tell you, it is going to be a problem for this team. It's a great way to start preseason. Not. But it's 100% on Dart. You have to know that if you step forward and do something with Trump, it's going to be divisive. Are you entitled to your political views? Of course. But are you entitled to do something that will divide your locker room, that will distract from the team, that will distract from the mission? No. That's why a thoughtful leader like Fernando Mendoza, who played in Indiana, won the national championship and has now been drafted by the Raiders, turned down an invitation from Trump. He said, I have to focus on football. This is going to haunt Dart and this team endlessly. Now, some have said, and I want to call people out on this, some have said that Abdul Carter wasn't too pleased. And although he has a right to his opinion, wouldn't a conversation conversation. This is what Doug Rush wrote on on threads. Wouldn't a conversation in person or a phone call or text message have been a better way to say this than over a social media posting? Boomer Esiason also slammed Abdul Carter. I think you're missing the point here. Dart also could have called or texted his whole team and gave them a heads up that he was going to endorse a fascist. It's on Dart. Don't get it twisted. It's on Dart. It's on him. All him. That's leadership. Especially when you're a QB and he's failing badly. This is just going to get started. It's a stupid mess. President Mayhem strikes again. Everything he touches gets messed up. Stay vigilant. All right? When I say everything, I mean everything. And now that unfortunately includes my Knicks. You know by now the Knicks are in the NBA Finals. More on that coming up. But the Knicks are in the Finals. And when a team is winning, every politician kind of disgustingly tries to jump on board and glam on board and they end up just Making it gross. And of course, Trump is no exception. Please play this clip. Chris.
- [13:59]
Chris (Producer/Assistant)
Things are happening. No, I was invited to the. I was going to go on Wednesday, but they closed it out very quickly. They're great. And Jim Dolan's great guy. He's, as you know, owns and in charge of Madison Square Garden. He's having a good year. Boy, what a team. They win all their games. They really. They have some great players. I think I'll be going to one of the games. I was invited by numerous people and Jim. And I think I'll be going. It's great, great to see it.
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Paul Rykoff
I mean, please don't. Just please leave the Knicks alone. I mean, number one, if you put Trump and Mamdani together in any place, you've got the two most divisive people in the country, maybe in the world in one place. Can you imagine being the Secret Service of Madison Square Garden? Madison Square Garden's a nightmare to get in and out of already. I remember the security that was required at the 2004 GOP convention, which I attended when George Bush was getting the nomination. Security was off the charts, and it took forever to get inside. It's just disruptive. And it's a distraction to the players, to the fans. You want to do something nice, buy a bunch of tickets and give them the poor kids. Because tickets are $4,500 and we can't get it. I can't afford it. My kids can't afford it. And Trump and Mamdani, please, just leave the NBA and the Knicks alone. But of course, the Democrats, oh, the Democrats, they can't bite their tongue. They can't sit this one out. That includes our weak and very unpopular New York governor, Democrat Kathy Hochul. Play that clip, please, Chris. You think of him saying he's a lifelong nipsey.
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Progressive Insurance Announcer
I think that's how the Times reported.
- [15:43]
Paul Rykoff
I asked him to name the starting
- [15:45]
Chris (Producer/Assistant)
lineup from 1993 championship team and see how he does.
- [15:48]
Paul Rykoff
Now, Kathy Hochul maybe forgot or didn't know that the Knicks last won a championship in 1973, before I was born. And the last time they went to the finals was not. They didn't win A championship in 93. They went to the finals in 94. And she is an example of how the Democrats, and especially her. That's them in a nutshell, right? That was the Democrats and especially Hochul in a nutshell, pathetically, painfully missing even the easiest of layups. Trump, her mom, Donnie, Hegseth Adams, just all please stay away from the Knicks and The Giants and the Bills and the Yankees and the World cup and the Olympics and maybe just sports in general. Give us just one part of our life that you don't contaminate or screw up. A man can dream, right? Because everything he touches gets messed up. So stay vigilant, All right? And everything that Pete Hegseth touches gets radicalized. That included a speech at West Point. Usually, West Point is off limits for politics. You don't talk about political stuff. You don't talk about trans rights. You don't talk about abortion. You don't talk about the things that divide people unless in a very big umbrella, unifying way. But Trump can't do that. And Hegseth, of course, can't do it. Check out this clip. Please play it, Chris.
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Pete Hegseth
Last and most importantly, seek God and know that we are not him. It's humbling. It's also liberating. As Charlie Kirk often said, remember always, this too shall pass. The good times will pass. The bad times will pass. You're never as good as you think you are, nor are you as bad as you think you are. Seek God in every circumstance.
- [17:53]
Paul Rykoff
Now, Hegseth is doing Hexithian things, so let's play the Hegseth clip. We haven't done that in a while. Now, Hagsett never stops. Never stops, no matter where he is. And it's never acceptable. He's the acting Secretary of Culture War. That's his mission. Culture War above else. He's a radical culture warrior. Always. Now, these are. There are vital lines that separate our troops from religion and politics. Lines that ensure our military has independence, integrity, professionalism, trust, unity, and strength. And Aksef man, he smashes all those lines more and more by the day. And he's making our military weaker, more distracted, more politicized, more homogenous, and more radical. And the damage he's doing on our military will take decades to repair. And our enemies. They're celebrating. Our enemies are celebrating. All right. Hexef also continues to put out crazy videos with, like, green screens and animation behind them. I'll ask Chris to play. Play a clip here and you can listen or watch. Check this out.
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Pete Hegseth
The United States has the greatest military the world has ever known, but not just because we have the best chance jets, the best ships, and the best weapon systems.
- [19:34]
Paul Rykoff
So this was about the budget. The budget request. Number one. I have some. I have some thoughts. Number one, their content sucks. These videos just look absolutely terrible. They just look cheesy and bad. Number two, it's more overtly political propaganda. Number three, the budget hasn't even passed and it's $1.5 trillion, which is a 40% increase, while the deficit continues to skyrocket. In gas, it's 450 a gallon. Yeah. Number four, pay raises. They're great, they're warranted, and they're especially necessary when you're trying to do strong recruiting and retention in a time of unpopular war and people are concerned about a draft. But pay raises are always popular, so I'll give them that. Number five, it's always about Hegseth. He's always the star of every show. Always. Which runs counter to putting the men before me. That is the basis of the military. Number six, he never mentions Iran, of course, or the fact that $500 billion of this $1.5 trillion is for Iran. And more war. Don't let him spin it. Hegsett and Trump want a blank check for Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, whatever comes next, and for forever war. All these other pieces are secondary. Congress needs to stand up, grow a spine, and hold the line. I say it all the time. The most important story in the world is that Trump can do anything he wants for the most powerful military the world has ever seen, and nothing is stopping him. But stopping this insane budget would be a start, and it might at least start to slow him down. So stay vigilant. All right. Trump's still all gas, no brakes. ICE continues to run rampant across America. He's still waging war against the free press and against your health. He's still trying to take over the Western hemisphere. And Ukraine is still fighting like hell, continuing to galvanize the rest of the world, continue to be a beacon for freedom, continuing to inspire. And Today is day 1555 of Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine, and there's been a major development overnight. Putin has hit Romania. Yes. Here's a clip I can play for you of a Russian shahed drone striking an apartment in the Romanian city of Galati, which injured two people. This is not Ukraine. This is not Ukraine. This is Romania, which is NATO territory. Now, Russia is spilling across its borders. Whether it's intentional or not, this is a very significant escalation and expansion by Putin. An attack on any NATO ally is supposed to be an attack on all. But so far, there's been too much silence from Trump and from the Trump administration. NATO has threatened to respond, but this is a major escalation and should be expected because the more desperate Putin gets, the more dangerous he becomes. We'll watch this space. We'll continue to stand with Ukraine and we'll continue to stay vigilant, Stay vigilant around politics because there's so much happening. The Republicans are gone, the Democrats are gone. That's why so many young people are independent and unaffiliated. We are the people's champion. We're not moving the needle. We are the needle. And there have been some developments that I want to quickly recap you on regarding independent politics. Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has dropped out of the race for Michigan governor. Mike Duggan, who was the city mayor taking them out of bankruptcy. The mayor of Detroit was on this show. You may remember him on this show a couple of weeks ago, but he's out. This doesn't surprise me because he was a longtime Democrat who switched parties. And I think that longtime Democrats or Republicans who switch to independent will often struggle because voters are not stupid, especially the independent ones. They know opportunism when they see it. And Duggan was on my show and frankly, didn't impress me. If you didn't hear that one, go back and check it out if you need to or tell me what you thought of that because I frankly, not surprised. But there's been one out and one in. There is a new independent candidate for governor of Illinois, and his name is Colin Corbett. Chris, play a clip of that, please. That's why we're launching a mainstream independent movement in Illinois, because it shouldn't be about left versus right. It should be about right and wrong, common sense solutions that make people's lives better. It's time to stop running our state down and start lifting each other up. So he's a former Republican strategist. He's filed to run for governor as an independent. He says he's dissatisfied with the direction of the Republican Party. He's not alone. Independents or Republicans are jumping ship like crazy. I think we'll see more. We may see Democrats as well. But here's an interesting point. He has to face a unique hurdle as an independent. Statewide, independents must file 25,000 ballot signatures, while Democrats and Republicans only need 5,000. This is another example of how the system is unfairly rigged against independents. More on that in a second. But they're jumping ship. Watch this space. And let's talk about one related thing. Over the weekend, Republican Congressman Tom Massie visited Marjorie Taylor Greene in Costa Rica for fishing and spicy political talks. The New York Times has this story. I didn't know that Marjorie Taylor Greene had a house in Costa Rica, but she's talked about creating something new. Thomas Massie has Been under attack from the Republican, from Trump's led Republican attacks. So the question is, what will happen to the future of the Republican Party? Will Tom Massie leave? Will he join Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ro Khanna and others? I don't know, but it's going to be interesting and you should watch this space. Also, let's talk about independent politics. I want to tell you a story. Let's go below the radar. All right, so this morning we had family Friday at my school and I saw Brad Lander this morning campaigning outside my kids public school. Brad Lander is running for Congress in my district, New York's 10th. He's been a longtime city leader. He ran for mayor and then went all in on Mamdani and is now closely aligned with Mamdani, representing the far left of center, the Democratic socialist. He's running against Dan Goldman, who is more in support of Israel, is a more moderate traditional Democrat. There's no real Republican because this is New York City. But Brad Lander was outside my school so I stopped with my mother in law, my kid, we're going to my other kid's concert. But I asked him straight up, I said, are you going to support open primaries in New York City? I knew the answer, but I wanted to give him a chance. He was catching a rash of shit from my friend Barry before this for supporting Mamdani, but that's separate. I very respectfully walked up to him and asked him if he was going to support open primaries. And he gave me a bullshit answer about how he supports ranked choice voting, which is not the same but great for Democrats in New York City and bad for everyone else. And then he went on the party line about the need to fight gerrymandering. And I asked him to support nonpartisan congressional redistribution, which of course he wouldn't. He kept dodging open primaries and his record like the shadiest of politicians do. So I pressed him and he uncomfortably and eventually admitted he does not support open primaries. Then he told me I should just join a party which is the great revealer. He weakly tried to argue against open primaries. He's used to debating people, I think who are less informed on this issue than I am. But he thinks that people don't know that I don't know that he's been the lead hatchet man for the Democratic socialists and Mamdani in closing out independence in New York City. The moment they won, they tried to push an open primary ballot initiative off the ballot this fall in New York. Why they don't want to Allow it on the ballot for a public vote because they'll lose. And the radicals that are the minority on both sides, left and right, would be shut out. Open primaries means less Mamdanis and less Trumps. Remember, primaries in New York City, like so many other places, like everywhere else, are publicly funded by all taxpaying New Yorkers. And they use public funds, public voting machines, public schools just like the one we were standing outside of. That my kids go to just blocks from ground zero where I served on 911 that I can't vote in next month because Lander, the Democrats and the DSA want to keep their rigged and private system in place. It's corrupt, it's rigged and it's un American. And he knows it. But he still supports it because it benefits him and his extreme side. And he calculates that most New Yorkers and voters in New York's tent won't learn about it. Republicans and Democrats are doing the same thing nationwide, denying us independence, 45% of us who were almost the majority equal power in our democracy. Lander refuses to support an equal vote for all New Yorkers, for an independent veteran like me and hundreds of thousands of others in this city and millions around the country. And he's actively working against it more than almost any politician in America, despite the fact that most New Yorkers and most Americans want open primaries. It reveals his naked and radical partisanship more than anything else. If you don't support open primaries, you don't support equality for all. That's the bottom line. And that's Brad Lander for what it's worth. I'm not supporting the other Democrat, Dan Goldman either. And I don't have an independent candidate that I can support. Maybe one day I'll have to run myself, but the reality is that because of the rigged primary system, this is going to be over. In New York's 10th next month. Lander is likely to win. He's up in the polls. And even if he doesn't, the Democrat, the other one, Goldman, will definitely win. But like tens of millions of independents, I will have no meaningful vote or say in determining my member of Congress. The person who determines votes on my wars, my VA benefits and countless other urgent issues. I have no real voice in Congress, as is the case in over 90% of congressional races in America that are over after the primary. This is what our rigged and corrupt election system looks like. It doesn't have to be this way. New Mexico just made a change. California next week will have an open primary and states are getting it. Right. And I will never stop fighting Lander and the minority of states that still have closed primaries or any other Democrat or Republican that wants to perpetuate the rigged system. Yeah, I'm hard on Trump. I'm hard on the Republicans. I'm hard on the Democrats, too. And we all should be because it's not broken, it's rigged and it's wrong. And I hope you'll stand with me and Independent Veterans America open primaries and tens of millions of others in standing up and making sure that open primaries are everywhere. This is bigger than New York's 10th. It's bigger than New York State. It's about the future of our democracy. And Brad Lander is leading the attack. But we will fight back. We will eventually be victorious. And we will most definitely stay vigilant.
- [30:39]
Chris (Producer/Assistant)
Stay, stay vigilant.
- [30:44]
Paul Rykoff
Stay vigilant. All right. One culture thing I gotta hit on. The Freedom250 has announced this Great American State Fair on the mall June 25 to July 10. And they had this whole lineup of people who are now punching out. It was Martina McBride, CNC, Music Factory, Vanilla Ice, Milli Vanilli, Young MC, the Commodores, Morris Day in the Time, Flo Rider and Brett Michaels. Martina McBride has now dropped out because she said she was misled about what this concert was all about. She didn't know it was going to be run by Trump. She thought it was going to be unifying. So she wrote a long post to clear the air. I want to celebrate that looks like Young mc, Morris Day in the Times. Bret Michaels and others are out by the time this post. It might be more, but I want to say this is what patriotism looks like. America 250 can be a great unifying thing, bringing together all kinds of folks from across all kinds of cultures. Or it can be cannibalized by Trump and ruined like he does with everything else. I'll keep you updated. I invite Martina McBride, Milli Vanilli and Brad Lander, young MC. Anybody else come on over this show. Let's have a conversation. Let's chop it up and let's stay vigilant. All right. Finally, in sports, I talked about how I was worried about Trump cursing the Knicks right after I got on cnn, got off cnn. There was news that New York Knicks Senator Mitchell Robinson had suffered a broken right pinky. And there was no timetable on his return because everything that Trump touches goes downhill and he already had a negative impact. And ugh, I mean, it's not like it's going to impact Mitchell's free throw shooting. I think he's the worst free throw shooter in NBA playoff history. But he may play. He's had surgery. I hope he can play with nine fingers and the Knicks can just go for it. But I hope that Trump will stay the hell away from it and not curse us last night. What a game. What a statement game by Wemby and the Spurs. They win game six. Now we got a game seven. It's easy to root for Wemby and this fun and fierce spurs team until unless they play the Knicks. Game seven is going to be on Saturday tomorrow. It'll be fantastic theater. I hope they go into five overtimes and they come to the finals really, really tired. And I hope that Trump, Mamdani and all of them stay the hell away. All right, that sports one big shout out too. I'm taking 500 kids to the Mets game tonight. So big shout out to all the Little League people who are doing that with me and Little League coaches and youth coaches all across the country. We're in the final stretch. You all are awesome. Just want to give you a shout out and let's go finally to something good. All right. Something good game. Sevens are something good. Really good. Like I'm a Knicks fan, but I am loving this OKC San Antonio series and tomorrow night is a game seven. And Game seven is awesome. Especially when you don't really have a dog in the fight. Like I said, I'm a Knicks fan. I hope these guys go into quadruple overtime and are all tired and banged up when they come into New York next week. But there's nothing better than a Game 7. It is something good. Sports in America continues to be something good. There's going to be a great situation where the NBA Finals will happen. Then we'll have Father's Day. Then we'll have the World Cup. And it could be a really fun summer. Not just in New York, but across America. Places where we can unify and we can have joy. Because joy is still a form of resistance. We will need it. We will need those something goods. We will need to stay vigilant. All right. This has been a rapid fire episode. We covered a lot of space. I had to get you up to speed. We are daily now. We hit number 15 on the charts. If you haven't already, please subscribe. Wherever you're listening or watching, get some IA merch on our website, IndependentAmericans US or you can get it on our YouTube page. A reminder, the Morning Independent is hitting inboxes for free. Every morning. It's great. Shout out to Chris if you want. Tmi. Tmi. Subscribe now at Independent Americans us. It's free and we will continue to bring light to contrast the heat. If you didn't check out my episode yesterday with Martha Raddatz, please do. It was really a great one. My thanks again to Martha for joining me. I've got, I've got more good guests coming up next week. I will have special media hit episodes on Sunday morning and Monday morning to get you up to speed. Really quick fire morsels to get you started on your day. Take a break from cable news and traditional news and check us out because we are bringing people together. We're trying anyway. And we're fighting the forces of ignorance and stupidity and partisanship. America's divided, but we're working to change that, adding light to contrast the heat. So if you're now among the 45% of Americans who are independent, this is your show. Especially all of you in California who will have a very powerful vote next week. Our independent movement is hope for the Future. Country over party, people over politics, light over heat, challenging the status quo and partisans like the Republicans in places like Alabama and Brad Lander in New York City. We are pushing toward a more equal, more fair, more inclusive, more independent democracy. And that's what our new movement is fueling. And our movement is growing. We're winning, they're losing. And we're on the right side of history. And we're bringing hope, which is the oxygen of our democracy. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it far and wide. Share it with Lander supporters, Goldman supporters, none of the above. Supporters especially invite others to declare their independence. And stay vigilant, my friends, because eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. No, you're not alone in your vigilance. We're all vigilant and we're all in this together. And we'll hopefully be in this together watching Game seven on Saturday night. I'm your host, Paul Rykoff. Thank you for tuning into Independent Americans. I will see you on Monday with a new episode. Happy Friday. Enjoy Game seven. Enjoy the weekend. Let's go, Knicks. And stay vigilant, America.
- [36:28]
Chris (Producer/Assistant)
Stay vigilant tells me the left and right are dreams for those without a clue and when you wait it's time
- [36:37]
Paul Rykoff
to grow and it's not cool to
- [36:40]
Chris (Producer/Assistant)
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 are dead and independent is an attitude an island in the sea of red and. And when you wait, it's time to
- [37:00]
Paul Rykoff
grow power by righteous media.