The Majority Report with Sam Seder: Episode 3562

Title: What is Ukraine Fighting For; Trump's Assault on Puerto Rico
Date: August 18, 2025
Guests: Denys Pilash (Ukrainian academic/activist), Alberto Medina (Puerto Rican independence advocate)

Episode Overview

In this episode, Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland examine two major international stories: Ukraine's ongoing struggle against Russian aggression and the latest political developments for Puerto Rico under the Trump administration. The episode features extended interviews with Denys Pilash, speaking from Kyiv, and Alberto Medina, publisher of Free Puerto Rico, exploring both the on-the-ground realities and the broader political implications. The hosts also critique U.S. policy—especially the Trump administration's approach—to global crises and vulnerable populations.

Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Opening & Domestic News Recap

[06:21–10:42]

• Brief banter about the return to "the insanity that is the Trump administration."
• Major news items previewed, including: Trump's upcoming meeting with Zelensky and European leaders, White House denial of visas to injured Gazan children, and recent Israeli actions in Gaza.
• Critique of the U.S. historic xenophobia via a Ken Burns documentary on America's refusal to accept Jewish refugee children during WWII, drawing parallels to current denials of entry for Palestinian children.
  • Sam Seder: "It's all rhetoric that we hear again today. It's just a different set of people that those bigots are now focused on." [10:14]

2. Trump Administration Halts Visas for Palestinian Medical Refugees

[10:42–18:07]

• Laura Loomer’s tweet led the Trump administration to ban visas for Gazan children seeking life-saving medical treatment in the US.
  • Hosts mock and condemn Loomer's Islamophobic framing—calling children “Islamic invaders.”
• Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State, justifies the visa pause by claiming “some organizations bragging about acquiring these visas have strong links to terrorist groups like Hamas.” [15:39]
• Hosts call out Rubio’s lack of evidence and contrast with past U.S. failures to admit vulnerable populations.
  • Emma Vigeland: "It’s even more of a responsibility for us to allow in these Palestinian children who have exhausted health options elsewhere… At the very least." [10:42]

3. Interview: Denys Pilash on Ukraine’s Reality and U.S. Geopolitics

[24:37–51:03]

Life in Wartime Ukraine

[24:37–28:30]

• Pilash details the devastation and daily dangers of living under near-daily Russian bombardment.
  • "You live in constant air raid sirens... Many people had to flee. Many people have actually lost their lives. Just the previous two months… have been one of the deadliest.” –Denys Pilash [24:37]
• Emotional account of friends lost, including anarchist artist David Chichikan.

The "Proxy War" Narrative & Ukrainian Determination

[28:30–31:47]

• Pilash dismisses the idea that Ukraine is merely a proxy for the U.S., calling attention instead to a growing authoritarian axis of Washington and Moscow under far-right leadership.
  • “No normal person wants to live in a war… but we are put into this situation when [Russia] says Ukraine has no right to exist... a very conservative one, very authoritarian one.”
• He recounts examples of Russian torture and occupation.

Hopes for Peace and Dilemmas

[31:47–37:54]

• Ukrainians want peace, but not at the price of ceding people and territory to Russia.
  • "It's not about territory so much as it's about the people..." [34:25]
• Russians insist on “maximalist demands” during peace proposals—analogies drawn to the Munich Agreement appeasement in 1938.
• Cites the 2022 surprise Ukrainian resistance using mostly Soviet-era equipment and limited Western aid.

Social Impacts, Worker Protests, and Corruption

[37:54–46:13]

• Discusses the heavy burden borne by Ukraine’s working class—fighting the war, facing austerity, and suffering from cuts to healthcare and labor protections.
  • Denys Pilash: "The government is run by this neoliberal logic of optimization, cuts and austerity... people ultimately got really fed up." [39:50]
• Recalls major protests against anti-corruption efforts being undermined by Zelensky’s administration.
• Emphasizes the significance of street mobilizations in maintaining some democratic accountability—contrasted with the slide towards unchecked presidential power.

Ceasefire vs. Peace Agreement: The Trump/Putin Dynamic

[46:13–50:44]

• Trump’s post-Putin “peace agreement” is code for accepting Russian terms, which Pilash frames as an imposed settlement at the expense of Ukrainian sovereignty and lives.
  • "This is actually quite, you know, dangerous because… this may be a point of no return." [47:18]
• Fears that the U.S. and Russia will settle, splitting Ukraine and exploiting resources, without input from Ukrainians.

Notable Quotes:

• Pilash [24:37]: “Life since Russia has unleashed its attack on Ukraine has been obviously terrible… You live in constant air raid sirens.”
• Pilash [28:30]: “Now with a far-right president in the US that serves as a beacon for all the reactionary, authoritarian, xenophobic forces throughout the world… there is this clear alignment into a new axis between Washington and Moscow.”
• Pilash [46:58]: “Trump has moved from wanting a ceasefire to accepting Putin's desire for a peace agreement… All that seems to have come out of that was that the Trump administration has moved from wanting a ceasefire to accepting Putin's desire for a peace agreement.”

4. Interview: Alberto Medina on Puerto Rico, Debt, and Colonialism

[52:18–77:26]

Background: Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis and "La Junta"

[53:42–57:43]

• Explains the origins of the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB/"La Junta"), established after Congress barred Puerto Rico from bankruptcy and the island racked up massive public debt.
  • Alberto Medina: “It’s a board of seven unelected members appointed by the President of the United States that are… almost unlimited [in] power over Puerto Rico.”
• Highlights the board’s imposition of austerity: slashing pensions, education, and services.

Trump’s Hostile Takeover and Laura Loomer’s Influence

[57:43–61:12]

• Two weeks prior, Trump fired five of the board’s seven members under pressure from Laura Loomer and far-right actors, further eroding the island’s political autonomy.
  • Loomer’s outsized influence is again highlighted; hosts note her simultaneous impact on both Palestinian visas and Puerto Rican financial oversight.
  • “[Loomer] seems as though she’s running the government and these board members were sort of her latest victims.” –Medina [58:05]
• Maintains this is to install even more bondholder-friendly members.

Hedge Funds, Austerity, and Ongoing Exploitation

[61:12–68:08]

• Hedge funds, especially GoldenTree Asset Management, want higher payments and further increases in Puerto Ricans’ already exorbitant power bills.
  • “Puerto Rico already pays one of the highest rates… for electricity. They just want to increase the power bill even more so that bondholders can get paid even more.” [62:27]
• Privatization of the public utility (Prepa) as a case in point.
• The FOMB is costly and enriches U.S. consultants, lawyers, and former politicians at the expense of Puerto Ricans.
  • “The executive director… makes $625,000 a year… higher salary than the President of the United States. The estimates I’ve seen put the costs of the board at $2 billion over the last ten years. And this is all getting paid for by Puerto Ricans.” [64:17]
• Hosts clarify: bondholders knowingly bought risky, high-yield “junk” bonds, now want to change the rules and extract returns from Puerto Rico’s poor.

Statehood, Independence, and U.S. Colonial Control

[68:08–77:26]

• Medina describes the decades-long struggle for self-determination: repeated, non-binding plebiscites with ambiguous or manipulated outcomes.
• Notes increasing support for independence or sovereignty, even as official results often overcount statehood support by ignoring blank protest ballots.
  • “If you account for the blank ballots, statehood got under 50%... a lot of Puerto Ricans think of them as a joke now.” [71:26]
• Argues Congress alone holds Puerto Rico’s fate, and independence is more politically feasible than statehood (which would require 60 Senate votes).
  • “When it comes to Puerto Rico being a colony, this is what colonies are for: economic exploitation. It’s finance, it’s the Jones Act, it’s all of these sometimes bureaucratic, technocratic things that are hard to wrap your head around. But this is how Puerto Rico is abused and exploited in 2025.” [66:47]
• Medina frames independence as the only just solution given Puerto Rico's colonial history, comparing it to Ukraine’s struggle for sovereignty.

Notable Quotes:

• Alberto Medina [54:50]: “It’s a very colonial, imperialist entity that… has basically tried to restructure the debt by implementing massive austerity on Puerto Rico.”
• Medina [66:47]: "This is what colonialism looks like in Puerto Rico in the 21st century."
• Medina [74:56]: “There are many Republicans who, you know, would support Puerto Rico's independence because it means, hey, we don't have this threat of statehood… and we don't have to keep sending tens of billions of dollars a year to these poor brown people in the Caribbean…”

Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• Sam Seder [10:14]: “It would diminish the purity of the American people. It would slowly, they would take over from the whites. I mean, it's all rhetoric that we hear again today. It's just a different set of people that those bigots are now focused on.”
• Emma Vigeland [10:42]: “Except this time we're providing the bombs with our tax dollars that are killing these very children and maiming them.”
• Denys Pilash [24:37]: “The lives of tens of millions of people have been uprooted... Your life is affected here. You live in constant air raid sirens.”
• Denys Pilash [28:30]: “Now with a far-right president in the US that serves as a beacon for all the reactionary, authoritarian, xenophobic forces throughout the world… there is this clear alignment into a sort of a new axis between Washington and Moscow.”
• Alberto Medina [54:50]: “It’s a very colonial, imperialist entity that… has basically tried to restructure the debt by implementing massive austerity on Puerto Rico.”
• Alberto Medina [66:47]: "This is what colonialism looks like in Puerto Rico in the 21st century."

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Start of Ukraine Interview: [24:37]
• Discussion: Working-Class Protest in Ukraine: [39:50]
• Ceasefire vs. Peace Agreement, U.S.-Russia Collusion: [46:13]
• Start of Puerto Rico Interview: [52:18]
• Trump’s Firing of the Financial Board: [57:43]
• Bondholders, PREPA, Privatization: [61:12]
• Statehood vs. Independence: [68:08]
• Feasibility and Mechanisms for Independence: [74:40]

Episode Tone & Speaker Dynamics

• Sam Seder: Sarcastic, sharply critical of U.S. hypocrisy, relentless in questioning structural power.
• Emma Vigeland: Empathetic, focused on the humanitarian and social dimensions, particularly with Palestinian and Ukrainian children.
• Denys Pilash: Sober, direct, foregrounds the lived experience of Ukrainians under attack, and candid about internal Ukrainian challenges.
• Alberto Medina: Analytical, historically informed; conveys frustration at U.S. colonial control, but hopeful about rising support for independence.

Summary

This episode offers a detailed, critical exploration of two ongoing crises of sovereignty: the Ukranian fight against Russian aggression and Puerto Rico's deepening economic colonialism. Both interviews underscore themes of foreign domination, internal politics, and the struggle for self-determination, linking international affairs with U.S. domestic and imperial policy. Looming over both is the Trump administration, with its taste for authoritarianism, cruelty, and deference to reactionary actors like Laura Loomer—an avatar for broader right-wing policy across borders.

Listen to this episode for:

• Firsthand accounts of survival, resistance, and protest in Ukraine
• A deep-dive into the structure and abuses of financial colonialism in Puerto Rico
• Connections between domestic U.S. politics and global authoritarian trends
• How “the banality of evil” operates in real-time U.S. policy, from Gaza to San Juan

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