Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff

Independent Americans is a daily news show hosted by Paul Rieckhoff. He’s a fighter, a patriot, and an independent political and media force to be reckoned with. After serving as a soldier in Iraq in 2004, Rieckhoff emerged as one of the most dynamic political and social leaders in America. In every episode, he breaks down the most important issues facing our country. And he interviews the most influential and compelling people. He’s taking on Republicans, Democrats—and everyone in between. If you’re in the angry middle, Independent Americans reminds you that you’re not alone. We’re all in this together. Join the Independent Americans movement and subscribe now. Produced by Righteous Media.

Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff is a commentary podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 604 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 89. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff, a commentary show with 604 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #605

  EXCLUSIVE: Jesse “The Body” Ventura is Back! And Unloading! Is He Running for President? The Trumps: “A Family Of Cowards.”

  Aug 21, 20261h 7m

  The “Illegal” Iran War, His Favorite Wrestler. DJT in the WWE Hall of Fame. Hegseth, Klobachar, The Debt, USS Lincoln, Socialism’s Surge, La Casa De MSNBC. And The Indy Senate Candidates On The Cusp Of Doing What He Did. Jesse Ventura returns to Independent Americans and does what only Jesse can do — say the quiet part loud. He rips into an illegal war in Iran that Congress refuses to vote on, a $40 trillion debt Republicans are quietly stacking on the national credit card, and a Trump family that has never once put on the uniform while profiting off defense contracts and the drone industry. He calls the country's slide unmistakable: when federal troops are doing daily law enforcement on American streets, that is the working definition of a third-world nation, and we are living in one. From there Paul and the Governor go wide. They break down the USS Lincoln stranded at sea for nine months, Pete Hegseth treating war like a football pep talk, the rise of a viable independent Senate bench — Bodnar, Bangs, Osborn, Achilles — and Jesse's standing offer to fill Amy Klobuchar's seat if she has the guts to make the ask. Jesse revisits the story of how MSNBC and General Electric paid him for three years to keep him off the air before the Iraq invasion, why money-as-free-speech is a lie, and why every war in his 75 years has been built on lies nobody was ever held accountable for. It is history, hot takes, and a hard shove toward the independent majority — delivered by the man who proved independents can win. -WATCH full video of this episode here . -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we’re doing to change that . -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything . Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office . -Learn more about Paul’s work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America . -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here . -Remember Independent is an Attitude . -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) , and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area . Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It’s a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube , Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X , Instagram , Threads , and Bluesky - Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. - And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media . And now part of the BLEAV network ! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #604

  3 Million Independents Locked Out of Voting in Florida’s Closed Primary.

  Aug 20, 202627 min

  And Dems Nominated Another Socialist for Senator. And a Former Republican-turned-Dem who Can’t Win. Darline Graham Knows Nothing. Calling Stephen Colbert! Three million independent Floridians were barred from every contest on this week's ballot. More than 640,000 of them are veterans. That is not a glitch — it is the design of a rigged two-party system that closes the books a month early and dares you to switch teams just to be heard. In episode 604, Paul Rieckhoff walks through the numbers county by county, exposes how the Democratic Socialists of America keep hijacking closed primaries and then getting flattened in general elections, and makes the case that Florida is not Manhattan and Michigan is not Manhattan. He also introduces two independent veterans already on the November ballot — Mike Klein, a West Point infantry officer running for U.S. House in Florida's third district, and Lacey Villarreal, an Air Force veteran running for West Melbourne City Council — plus the widening lane for a Stephen Colbert Senate run in South Carolina against the installed Darlene Graham. Add in Pete Hegseth campaigning in Iowa while sailors on the USS Lincoln go without adequate resupply, a measles outbreak in Iowa, and a president still all gas, no brakes, and the stakes could not be clearer. Independents are not moving the needle. Independents are the needle. -WATCH full video of this episode here . -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we’re doing to change that . -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything . Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office . -Learn more about Paul’s work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America . -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here . -Remember Independent is an Attitude . -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) , and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area . Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It’s a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube , Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X , Instagram , Threads , and Bluesky - Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. - And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media . And now part of the BLEAV network ! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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  Episode #603

  Beating The Machine. Wildfires And Why Spokane Is Looking More And More Independent. With Danny Tarkenton

  Aug 19, 202635 min

  Independent Veteran For Spokane Prosecutor on: Open Primaries Real World Impact, 60,000 Displaced Neighbors, And What Right Looks Like. Why The Uss Lincoln Story Should Scare Every Veteran. Spokane County spent the primary season choking on wildfire smoke — 800 structures gone, 60,000 people displaced, plumes visible from the parade route — and voters still showed up to the ballot box. In the middle of that devastation, Iraq combat veteran and independent candidate Danny Tarkenton did something the two-party machine insists is impossible: she cracked the top two in a county prosecutor race with no billionaire donor, no party infrastructure, and no partisan jersey. She finished a hair behind the Republican incumbent, advanced to the November general, and proved that Washington's open primary is a working model for what right looks like in American democracy. Paul sits down with Danny to unpack how she did it — walking with her community instead of standing above it, refusing party money so she only answers to the people, and bringing an interdisciplinary background in philosophy, psychology, forensic science, and combat engineering to an office that should never have been partisan in the first place. They dig into the human cost of the wildfires, the toxin exposure her community will be processing for a generation, and the contrast between leaders who acknowledge a crisis and leaders who pretend it isn't happening. It's a movement, not just an election — and it's a preview of what independents can do everywhere the system isn't rigged against them. -WATCH full video of this episode here . -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we’re doing to change that . -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything . Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office . -Learn more about Paul’s work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America . -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here . -Remember Independent is an Attitude . -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) , and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area . Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It’s a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube , Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X , Instagram , Threads , and Bluesky - Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. - And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media . And now part of the BLEAV network ! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #602

  Engine 65’s 9/11: Five Floors, a Bad Knee, and a May Day That Saved Their Lives. Firefighter Al Barry Tells All.

  Aug 18, 20261h 8m

  Twenty-five years on, the loudest lesson from 9/11 is still the quietest one: appreciate every damn day. In this replay from the Independent Americans archive, Paul Rieckhoff — combat veteran, 9/11 first responder, and founder of IVA — hands the mic to his friend firefighter Rob Serra and Al Barry of Engine 65. Al walks us floor by floor up the North Tower stairwell, through the May Day at 22, through the collapse of the South Tower that he first mistook for elevators being recalled, and through the black cloud on West Street where he ended up at the bottom of a pile of strangers under a police car. It is not a war story. It is a working man's story about a job that turned into history. The conversation goes where most 9/11 retellings will not. Al talks about the years after — the ceremonial bugler who couldn't hit the notes on TAPS anymore because his lungs were shot. The brother firefighter lost to suicide. The retired 40-year man lost to cancer. The father-in-law and the father and the brother, all gone in eighteen months. He talks about finally sitting with a counselor, about how the guys from Vietnam in his firehouse never spoke of it, and about how the newer generation is finally starting to. If you were not born yet in 2001, this is the episode to share. If you were there, this is the brother-to-brother conversation you already know by heart. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we’re doing to change that . -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything . Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office . -Learn more about Paul’s work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America . -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here . -Remember Independent is an Attitude . -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) , and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area . Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It’s a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube , Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X , Instagram , Threads , and Bluesky - Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. - And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media . And now part of the BLEAV network ! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #601

  9/11: 25 Years Later (Replay) - Ground Zero Firsthand. “From Blue Sky Into Armageddon.” FDNY (Ret) Rich Naviasky On 9/11, Deutsche Bank, And The Illness The Job Wouldn’t Cover.

  Aug 17, 202654 min

  Twenty-five years on, the stories from 9/11 are the ones we cannot let calcify into a slogan. In this replay conversation, Paul sits down with retired FDNY firefighter Rich Naviasky — a Squad 18 brother, English major turned accidental fireman, and one of the countless first responders who walked from a gorgeous blue sky straight into what he calls Armageddon. Rich takes us minute by minute from his Long Island City apartment to the West Side Highway, onto a commandeered MTA bus loaded with tools, into the pile, into the pit, and into the quiet, gutting moments of recovering brothers he could not identify. From there the conversation opens into everything that came after — the 2007 Deutsche Bank fire that killed two of his brothers, the autoimmune disease that dropped his platelet count to 19,000 while the job refused to call it line of duty, the Halloween 2017 bike path attack, and the toll all of it takes on a marriage, a family, and a mind. It's brotherhood, dark humor, mental health, and the fight to make sure no first responder is ever again told their sickness doesn't count. If you want to understand why we say never forget — and why the fight for 9/11 responders is still not finished — start here. -WATCH full video of this episode here . -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we’re doing to change that . -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything . Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office . -Learn more about Paul’s work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America . -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here . -Remember Independent is an Attitude . -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) , and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area . Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It’s a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube , Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X , Instagram , Threads , and Bluesky - Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. - And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media . And now part of the BLEAV network ! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

  ListenShow Notes

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