Trump Plummets in Polls with Independents, $5 Gas, and War With Iran He Can't Spin.

Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff

Righteous Media | Bleav

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

4.6 • 907 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2026

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this special quick-fire episode, Paul takes you out of the studio and into the streets of Midtown Manhattan with highlights from two back-to-back media hits — one left of center on MSNOW, one right of center on NewsNation — same independent read on both. He breaks down why ten thousand Americans are walking out of the Republican and Democratic parties every single week, why Thomas Massie just got elevated by Trump's attacks, why the Democrats are the actual spoilers in Senate races in Nebraska, Montana, and South Dakota, and why the rigged two-party system is finally cracking. Plus a Memorial Day shout-out to Stephen Colbert on his last show, and yes — a Knicks pick.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	that is often kind of a slander against independence.
0:02.5	If you look at, for example, the Senate races that are happening in Nebraska, in Montana, in South Dakota,
0:08.2	the Democrats are the spoiler there.
0:09.8	They're actually polling much lower than the independent candidates.
0:12.4	And you see that in other places as well.
0:14.0	In California, Republicans are actually polling lower than independents are.
0:17.7	So the Republicans and the Democrats increasingly are becoming the spoilers.
0:21.0	And I would argue they spoiled our entire democracy.
0:41.0	Welcome to Independent Americans.
0:44.0	Welcome to Episode 529.
0:46.7	I'm your host, Paul Reikoff.
0:51.5	It is a wild day of news, national security, politics, culture,
0:54.1	and I'm going to do something different.
0:55.5	Not a full podcast today.
1:01.3	I'm going to give you a couple of quick highlights from two media hits that I did early today,
1:05.9	one on MS Now, that's a little left of center, and one on News Nation, that's a little right of center.
1:06.8	I'm talking about Iran.
1:08.1	I'm talking about Trump's Fund for January 6th insurrectionists. I'm talking about the Knicks a little bit and a lot more, but there's a lot happening. I'm here in Midtown Manhattan. You can see the Chrysler building up there. The Knicks are getting ready to play in a couple of hours. The city is buzzing, but there's a lot happening that you need to know about to help yourself stay vigilant. I'm going to mix it up because this podcast is different. We're going to break the walls. We're going to break the norms. We're not just going to be in a studio or behind a desk. I'm going to take you out in the streets and I'm going to try to keep you ahead of what's happening and not just what's happening now, but what's happening next. So here it is a
1:44.3	special media highlights, quickfire episode of Independent Americans that I hope you enjoy.
1:50.4	Also, I want to give a big shout out to Stephen Colbert's his last show tonight. I'll have more
1:55.0	tomorrow, but he's a true class act, a guy who has always added light to contrast the heat,
2:00.8	and I've known him for over 20 years, way below the radar.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 12 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Righteous Media | Bleav, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Righteous Media | Bleav and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.