Trump Attacks the Pope. Iran War Peace Talks Collapse. Navy Imposes Hormuz Blockade.

Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff

Righteous Media | Bleav

Politics, News, National Security, News Commentary, Daily News, Veteran

4.6 • 907 Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Trump has escalated his rhetoric to a global scale, launching a stunning series of attacks against Pope Leo, labeling the religious leader "weak on crime" and "terrible for foreign policy." As the 2026 political landscape grows increasingly volatile, host Paul Rieckhoff breaks down why these attacks are driving a historic exodus of Catholic Republicans from the party and why the Pope may be the ultimate "Independent American." But the rhetoric isn't the only thing heating up; following the collapse of peace negotiations, Trump has announced a naval blockade on Iran. Rieckhoff, a combat veteran, explains why this move is an undeniable act of war under international law and issues a blistering call for Congress to end its "dereliction of duty" by holding a formal vote on the conflict.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Trump is attacking the Pope. Again, we used to be shocked when he attacked John McCain and a
0:07.4	Gold Star Dad. And in 26, this is a real headline and post. Soon, he's going to be threatening
0:14.7	to invade the Vatican and sell off all the gold. Well, one upside for America is that he's successfully driving more people
0:22.5	out of the Republican Party by the minute. So, Catholic Republicans, declare your independence.
0:30.0	The Pope is the ultimate independent American. Welcome to Independent Americans. Welcome to episode 491. I'm your host, Paul Reichoff.
0:55.5	It is Monday, April 13th, and I'm coming to you from New York City, USA.
1:00.9	I am back from Los Angeles and the real time with Bill Marshall, which was fun and wild and fiery.
1:08.9	More on that coming up.
1:10.0	And the weather back here in New York is gloomy again, but warm.
1:15.3	It's getting up to 80 degrees this week, which is weird, but 26 has been pretty weird.
1:22.3	And Mondays in America with Donald Trump as president are always weird.
1:25.9	So today's artist of the day, an artist that I share with my boys each day to introduce
1:29.9	them to new music is weird Al Yankovic.
1:33.0	Yes, because these are weird times and we need a break.
1:36.5	We need a little bit of humor.
1:37.6	He's, of course, the genius behind white and nerdy Amish Paradise, eat it, smells like Nirvana, party in the CIA.
1:46.3	Remember that, a parody of Miley Cyrus.
1:48.7	And the legendary comedy musician is going to be on Jimmy Kimmel Live next Thursday,
1:54.6	which is the only late night show.
1:56.3	Apparently he's never been on.
1:58.0	But Weird Al Yankovic is back in the news, and we're going to need a break.
2:01.8	We're going to need a little bit of a diversion because the news is hot, heavy, and intense coming into another new week.
	...

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