The Afterlife Has Receipts: Epstein’s Emails Tag Trump
For this week's Elephant in the Room, Rick Wilson dives headfirst into the bombshell trove of newly unearthed emails—yes, the ones dragged straight from the digital grave—linking Donald Trump to the Epstein network in ways that blow apart every denial he’s peddled for years. These aren’t rumors, whispers, or gossip; these are receipts from the beyond, pulled out of long-buried archives investig...
39m Nov 14, 2025
39m
“F*cking Do It”: Adam Kinzinger Dares Trump to Prosecute Him
Rick Wilson sits down with former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, star of The Last Republican and founder of Country First, for a blistering look at what may be Donald Trump’s worst week yet. From the Supreme Court’s tariff showdown and GOP election losses to Trump’s tone-deaf Great Gatsby party at Mar-a-Lago, Kinzinger and Wilson rip into the chaos with trademark dark humor and political fire. The...
44m Nov 11, 2025
44m
While Americans Starve, Trump Throws a Gala 🥂
For Trump, empathy is like one of his contractors — it never gets paid. Rick explores how Trump’s austerity policies, SNAP cuts, and Medicare rollbacks crushed millions while he partied with billionaires. The 2025 Democratic election surge wasn’t luck — it was justice. • • • • • Rick Wilson is on X at @TheRickWilson, on Bluesky at @TheRickWilson.bsky.social, and you can check out Rick's Substac...
34m Nov 07, 2025
34m
Election 2025: Rick Wilson’s Real-Time War Room Report
The 2025 elections aren’t just mid-cycle noise — they’re the dress rehearsal for 2026. In a very special election episode, Rick Wilson walks you through the field with his trademark mix of snark and strategic clarity: from the knife-fight in New York, the gubernatorial brawl in New Jersey, and Virginia’s bellwether races, to the California Prop-50 slugfest and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court sho...
40m Nov 04, 2025
40m
AI: The New Nuclear Option
Rick Wilson sits down with Nate Soares — executive director of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and co-author (with Eliezer Yudkowsky) of the New York Times bestseller IF ANYONE BUILDS IT, EVERYONE DIES — for a brutally funny, deeply unnerving tour of how humanity might code itself into extinction. Together, they shred the techno-utopian hype and lay bare the reality of Artificial Ge...
55m Nov 04, 2025
55m
How Autism Became His Superpower: The Leland Vittert Story
He’s covered revolutions, disasters, and political meltdowns. Now, former Fox News host turned News Nation anchor Leland Vittert covers something even bigger—himself. In his new book, he shares how understanding life on the spectrum helped him finally find peace in a world that never stops talking. Bullied mercilessly as a child and delayed in his learning, Leland mastered his ability to observ...
48m Oct 31, 2025
48m
Nobody's Girl: Virginia Giuffre's Reckoning for Epstein, Maxwell, & the Billionaire Elite
Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s memoir NOBODY’S GIRL: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice -- is more than a book — it’s a final act of truth-telling from a woman who refused to be silenced. In this episode, Rick Wilson honors her story by sitting down with co-author Amy Wallace and Virginia's brother, Sky Roberts, and his wife, Amanda, to examine how Virginia's courage blew the lid ...
1hr 27m Oct 28, 2025
1hr 27m
Extreme Makeover: Authoritarian Edition
The White House East Wing didn’t fall—it got vibed out of existence. Trump’s building a ballroom fit for his ego, bulldozing history for a disco ball. In this week’s Elephant in the Room, Rick drags the Trump ballroom demolition 2025 mess like it’s an HGTV fever dream gone fascist. We’re talking $300 million in private “donations,” government accountability in shambles, and a former president w...
33m Oct 24, 2025
33m
House Arrest: Mike Johnson Locks Out AZ
Arizona’s Adelita Grijalva won her election fair and square, but Speaker Mike Johnson’s government shutdown has become a hostage crisis. Grijalva would have been the 218th vote to release the Epstein Files. Instead of being sworn in, Grijalva’s locked out while Johnson clings to power and uses the House swearing-in delay to feed his MAGA base. Rick Wilson tears into this clown show—how GOP powe...
41m Oct 21, 2025
41m
Trump Has NEVER Been "America First"
Trump’s newest fiction comes with a price tag: $40 billion to Argentina. It’s not aid, it’s a favor — a payoff to Wall Street insiders and political loyalists who bankrolled his second term. While American farmers drown under tariffs and export bans, Trump’s cronies are cashing foreign checks. And right on cue, he approves a Qatari airbase in Idaho, conveniently following his Doha golf course d...
36m Oct 17, 2025
36m
It’s the Economy, Stupid. It’s the Stupid Economy.
Imagine the Roaring Twenties, but with cable news, Bitcoin, and orange hair. Andrew Ross Sorkin joins Rick to discuss his new book '1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--and How It Shattered a Nation' (out 10/14/25), which shows the collision course between Wall Street excess and regulatory failure that sparked the Great Depression. Today, Trump’s tariff tantrums are gutting s...
41m Oct 14, 2025
41m
He's In His Coup Era 🏰
Trump is flirting with invoking the Insurrection Act, and when he says he “can do something,” he usually means he's GOING to do it. This week, Stephen Miller encouraged the fantasy of Trump’s so-called “plenary authority” to deploy the National Guard in Chicago and Portland. At the same time, Kristi Noem floated an ICE expansion to “restore order.” Rick Wilson breaks down how Trump’s martial la...
35m Oct 10, 2025
35m
Trump’s $83 Million Ego Check (Sad!) 🪦
He said she was “not his type.” The jury said he was lying. In this can’t-miss episode, Rick Wilson talks with E. Jean Carroll about her jaw-dropping victory in the Trump defamation and sexual assault civil case. They discuss the courtroom madness, the appeals court ruling that upheld her $83.3 million judgment, and the surreal moment she realized Trump’s mouth had finally cost him real money. ...
33m Oct 08, 2025
33m
MAGA’s New Draft: Obey or Else
In Trump’s America, the enemy isn’t abroad—it’s you. His latest military speech made it clear: he sees the U.S. Army as his domestic police force, his red hat shock troops, his tool for shutting down dissent. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court keeps handing him authoritarian cheat codes, the government shutdown grinds on, tariffs crush farmers, and Democrats keep pretending they’ll “find their messag...
29m Oct 03, 2025
29m
Whitewashing History, Blacking Out the Press
Welcome back to America’s Groundhog Day: where Reconstruction never really ended, Jim Crow 2.0 is trending, and Trump authoritarianism feels like a bad sequel. Antonia Hylton (MSNBC) walks us through how the post-Reconstruction era is colliding with today’s civil rights crisis. Then Charlie Sykes breaks down how the Trump crackdown on the media, the DOJ's weaponization, and a supine Supreme Cou...
58m Sep 30, 2025
58m
Winter is Coming
Ukraine is hitting back harder than ever, as its military pushes Russia out of key regions and puts Moscow’s most significant targets in range—all while Russian gas prices skyrocket to a staggering $25 a gallon, deepening Putin’s crisis.  At the same time in the U.S., late-night TV is on fire: ABC’s controversial decision to reorder Jimmy Kimmel Live! sparked massive backlash, wiping $4 billion...
32m Sep 26, 2025
32m
When You Come At The King with Elie Honig
Elie Honig joins Rick Wilson to discuss When You Come at the King, exploring the intersection of presidential power and the law. Nixon's Watergate scandal, Reagan's Iran-Contra affair, and Clinton's Monica Lewinsky scandal all tested the limits of executive power in their own ways. However, Trump has altered the game when it comes to executive power and has zero shame about it. Trump's presiden...
43m Sep 23, 2025
43m
Kimmel: The First Casualty of State Media
Donald Trump and his handpicked FCC chair, Brendan Carr, just made satire a crime. After punishing ABC and Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show getting pulled off-air, America is staring down the barrel of state-run media where free speech is no longer protected, jokes are illegal, and satire is treated as sedition. This episode dives into Trump’s FCC censorship crackdown, the chilling rise of state-...
31m Sep 19, 2025
31m
Fresh Blood vs. Fossilized Fools with James Talarico
Texas is breaking at the seams—divided, bitter, and locked in a political cage match that’s left ordinary Texans stuck in the middle. For decades, the state has been painted bright red, but now the cracks are showing, and a fresh wave of underdog organizers and voters is daring to repaint the map purple. From the San Antonio Spurs to street culture, from BBQ pits to the Capitol floor, Texas' fr...
49m Sep 16, 2025
49m
The Death of Debate
America is bleeding out from within. In just the past few years, the U.S. has been rocked by political violence, extremist attacks, and assassinations that have pushed democracy to the brink. From right-wing radicals to left-wing extremists, the rhetoric of hate has turned deadly, fueling a surge in domestic terrorism and political assassinations. The killing of Charlie Kirk in Utah and the sho...
35m Sep 12, 2025
35m
Trump: The Fifth Crime Family
Donald Trump’s New York story isn’t just about gold-plated towers—it’s about shady deals, mob ties, bankruptcies, and the grift that built his so-called empire. In this episode, host Rick Wilson sits down with Jonathan Mahler of The New York Times Magazine to dig into Trump’s corruption in New York real estate, his mob connections, and how those dirty deals shaped the man who would later seize ...
44m Sep 09, 2025
44m
Orange Is the New Red: Trump’s Intel Inquisition
The free market just flatlined—and Donald Trump pulled the plug. While pretending to be the defender of capitalism, Trump has become its greatest enemy. His new 10% stake in Intel, combined with a push for Soviet-style business control, exposes the breathtaking hypocrisy of MAGA’s so-called “free enterprise” movement. Just like his idol Vladimir Putin—who used the exact same strategy to crush r...
45m Sep 05, 2025
45m
Surviving Epstein with Jess Michaels
**Content Warning: The following episode features the story of a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein, references sexual assault, and may be triggering. Please take care.** This week, Rick sits down with Jess Michaels, who is a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, to expose not just the predator himself, but the powerful system that enabled him. As Jess tells her story of surviving the billionaire’s we...
41m Sep 02, 2025
41m
Redistricting Roulette: House Always Wins
Forget ballot stuffing — the real con is happening at the drafting table. Rick Wilson and redistricting assassin Dave Daley rip into the 2025 gerrymander scam that’s turning democracy into a rigged casino. The lines are drawn, the fix is in, and voters are the suckers at the table. From Texas to New York, Republicans are carving maps like mobsters carving turf — locking in power before a single...
28m Aug 26, 2025
28m
Re-up: Rick + John Bolton
Former UN Ambassador, attorney, and foreign affairs expert Mr. John Bolton stops by the studio to talk with Rick about America's status on the global stage. Bolton articulates all of the complicated moving pieces of how America impacts the world and sheds light on threats toward the U.S., the effect of tariffs on our U.S. allies, Russia and Ukraine, and local security.  ・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・ You...
22m Aug 22, 2025
22m
Trolling the Troll
This week, Rick's Elephant in the Room is fighting the fight where it's at. And, not to go too hard on Dems, but they *could* stop hating the game and instead take a page out of Gavin Newsom's playbook. When Newsom logs on, Donald Trump takes the L. This past week has been one nonstop stream of viral trolls, clapbacks, and dunks, with Newsom torching Trump across social media. We’re breaking do...
12m Aug 22, 2025
12m
The GOP’s Texas Hold ‘Em
Texas just went full throttle and dropped the wildest political heist of 2025 — a mid-decade redistricting blitz where Republicans rigged the map, Democrats fled the state, and cops chased lawmakers like it was a Netflix drama. Add in nationwide “Fight the Trump Takeover” protests and blue states plotting revenge, and you’ve got the biggest battle for Congress before 2026. Rick sits down with ...
18m Aug 19, 2025
18m
Mapf*cked: The Lone Star Screw Job
This week, Rick's Elephant in the Room is the redistricting gunfight in Texas. Ahead of the 2026 midterms and to mitigate Trump's terrible polling numbers, Governor Abbott and the Texas GOP just “remixed” democracy — and not in the fun, dancefloor kind of way. They’re locking in their power with lines so crooked they make Watergate look like a paperwork error. Meanwhile, Democrats in California...
11m Aug 15, 2025
11m
Doomscrolling, Disinformation, and Algorithmic Tyranny
Most of us have heard by now that the US is experiencing an ongoing disinformation war online, taking on damage from our global adversaries, various capitalistic social media platforms, and, worst of all, Trump, MAGA, and the far-right. Dr. Caroline Orr Bueno -- a PhD in Disinformation and Social Networks who's built a resistance against political propaganda -- sits down with Rick to shed light...
33m Aug 12, 2025
33m
Trump's Vladdy-Daddy Issues
This week, Rick's Elephant in the Room is Trump and Putin's desperate, evil, and megalomaniacal love affair as a diversion tactic. Trump, perilously seeking a distraction from the Epstein files, has a meeting with Putin soon, and Rick has a hunch of what Trump is willing to do to change the headlines to ANYTHING ELSE...even if that means some sort of deal with the Russian devil. Currently, 80% ...
15m Aug 08, 2025
15m
Epstein's Entrapment with Julie K. Brown
Journalist Julie K. Brown -- whose Miami Herald reporting in 2017 and 2018 led to additional charges for Epstein and identified nearly 80 of his victims -- sits down with Rick to unravel all of the significant details that the public might not know yet, or might not be paying attention to. Blowing the lid off of an already UNBELIEVABLE story (again), Julie sheds light on the victims' stories, E...
39m Aug 05, 2025
39m
You're Holding the Smoking Gun, Donny
This week, Rick's Elephant in the Room is that America has spoken, and we're not letting the Epstein cover-up go. America is locked on target, and justice for the sexual assault victims matters. Exposing the truth about Donald Trump matters. Maybe we're growing up as a country? After ten years of distraction whack-a-mole, maybe we've matured and are no longer taking his bait. Facts are louder t...
14m Aug 01, 2025
14m
Killing the Press: Russia's Early Red Flags
Russian expats, anti-authoritarian journalists, and co-authors Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan join Rick this week to share their heroic story of fleeing Russia in order to give the rest of the world a picture of how people within the country reacted to the war in Chechnya (and now the invasion of Ukraine), how the death of journalism paved a path for state-run misinformation channels, and wh...
30m Jul 29, 2025
30m
The Rank Stench of Carte (Todd) Blanche
This week, Rick's Elephant in the Room is the foul odor of the Epstein files -- and now Todd Blanche meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell in Florida. Blanche, who was Trump's personal attorney throughout cases brought from 2020 through 2024 is now serving as the Deputy Attorney General under the Trump Administration. Backed up by numerous photos and previously released court documents that can be fou...
14m Jul 25, 2025
14m
More Everything Forever: AI, Crypto, and Silicon Valley's Hype Hijinks
Calling all AI prompstitutes/askholes, crypto whales, and everyone who grew up nerding out on Science Fiction...this episode is for you! Special guest Adam Becker, an astrophysicist, author, tech journalist, and scientific philosopher, joins Rick to dissect Silicon Valley's beating heart: techno-futurism and the Silicon Valley bros. Inspired by all of the weird stories he's heard at parties in ...
40m Jul 22, 2025
40m
Lies Are Killing You, Donald
This week, Rick's Elephant in the Room is -- is Trump dying? From his bruised hands to his swollen cankles, Donald Trump is taking on water like a pregnant woman with pre-eclampsia. As of yesterday, Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency (or as we joked internally, "venus deficiency" or "a lack of love from the ladies" -- which totally tracks). According to a quick Google search,...
15m Jul 18, 2025
15m
Trump-cession with Economist Justin Wolfers
Economist Justin Wolfers sits down with Rick to discuss the absolutely bananas state of the American economy. Running his campaign on the economy, now Trump -- the ultimate flip-flopper -- has left Americans and American businesses holding the bag. The wishy-washy nature of the tariffs isn't good for anyone...and he knows it. How much are those eggs now? • • • • • You can follow Justi...
35m Jul 15, 2025
35m
Trump's Kryptonite: The Epstein Files
This week, Rick's Elephant in the Room highlights the incredibly contradictory statements made by Pam Bondi, Dan Bongino, and Kash Patel as they backtrack on their previous comments about the Epstein files, now claiming "there's nothing to see here, folks." (Shocker.) This has caused a major MAGA meltdown -- cut to Alex Jones crying in a self-filmed iPhone video, Steve Bannon calling for a spec...
14m Jul 11, 2025
14m
According to Sources + "Off the Record" with Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, + Isaac Arnsdorf
We have a very special, breaking story and episode premiere for you all. Rick sits down with investigative reporters and co-authors -- Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of The New York Times, and Isaac Arnsdorf of The Washington Post -- for a behind-the-scenes, no-holds-barred 360° look at all angles of our last presidential race in 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and t...
39m Jul 08, 2025
39m
How America Was (Really) Won with Rick Atkinson
 As we approach the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America (July 4th, 2026), we are bringing you a very special episode commemorating this Fourth of July. In this special episode, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson joins Rick Wilson (who is also a history buff) to re-examine the history of the Revolutionary War and how the grit of great Americans ultimatel...
28m Jul 04, 2025
28m
Law vs. Executive Disorder
Democracy Docket founder and legal legend Marc Elias joins Rick to unpack everything that’s currently going on with the law and the Trump administration. Shedding light on various cases and what’s really going on, Marc Elias shares his breadth of knowledge on the legal lay of the land when it comes to Trump, the Supreme Court, the DOJ, and States’ rights. ・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・ Follow Marc Eli...
23m Jul 01, 2025
23m
If You're Explaining, You're Losing: Pete Hegseth Edition
This week, Rick's Elephant In The Room focuses on Trump, General Ratliff, and Pete Hegseth selling the American people a bill of goods about the US's attacks on Iran last weekend. It's a general rule of thumb in politics -- if you're having to defend your position, you're losing. So, when Trump blindly and prematurely tweeted and spoke to the media about his "total obliteration" of the nuclear ...
17m Jun 27, 2025
17m
The Plan To Take Down Iran Was Israel’s, Not Trump’s: Inside Israel’s Plan To Defeat Iran
In the episode, Rick sits down for an exclusive with Israeli experts and co-authors of Target Tehran: How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination – and Secret Diplomacy – to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East Yonah Jeremy Bob & Ilan Evyatar. These Israeli experts break down how their book which was published two years ago predicted recent events (and surprise it was ...
35m Jun 24, 2025
35m
Who is that Man in the Mask?!
This week, Rick’s Elephant in the Room touches on the lack of accountability when those who are sworn to “protect and serve” do neither by concealing their own identities. A construct of every major dictatorship, secret military forces such as the Nazis’ SS and Russia’s KGB have always been a lynchpin in the descent into autocracy. Let’s face it, we do not need Seal Team 6 — or as these agents ...
11m Jun 20, 2025
11m
Trump's Tyrannical Takeover with Asha Rangappa
Rick's dear friend, Asha Rangappa -- who's an American lawyer, former FBI agent, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Senior Lecturer at Yale University's Jackson School of Global Affairs -- sits down with Rick to unpack all of the moving legal pieces between Trump and the courts. Invoking emergency powers when there isn't a real emergency, Trump continues to use presidential powers for nefarious r...
31m Jun 17, 2025
31m
No F*cking Kings
This week, Rick's Elephant in the Room is twofold -- 1) no f*cking kings, and 2) the United States military belongs to its citizens. Look up the Posse Comitatus Act -- this is a federal law, passed by Congress following Reconstruction, signed in 1878 by President Rutherford B. Hayes, that limits the powers of the federal government in the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic po...
12m Jun 13, 2025
12m
Mike Davey “Gives a Damn” about FL’s 27th
Mike Davey, who’s an attorney and the former Mayor of Key Biscayne, sits down with Rick to discuss why he’s running for congress in Florida’s 27th District. A father and husband to strong Latinas and a local leader who many turn to, Mike is taking on Trump’s immigration warfare, Florida’s housing shortage and property insurance issues, and incumbent MAGA María Salazar who has sold out her commu...
29m Jun 10, 2025
29m
Everything Trump Touches Dies (And Elon Should've Known Better)
This week, Rick's Elephant in the Room reflects on the fallout of Elon Musk and Trump (the girls are fighting!). Elon should have heeded Rick's golden rule or read his book, Everything Trump Touches Dies, to fully understand what he was signing up for. Watching the fiery tweets ping-ponging back and forth this week, Trump seems to have finally met his match. Waiting to see what happens next, wh...
18m Jun 06, 2025
18m
Ken Burns on the 81st Anniversary of D-Day
Legendary filmmaker Ken Burns sits down with Rick to discuss the events and circumstances that won D-Day and gave America its Greatest Generation. Touching on how Americans' grit and innovation turned the tide that day, Ken and Rick reflect on the significance of WWII and what lessons we can learn from that war and all of those brave souls who served on D-Day. This episode is a tribute to them....
33m Jun 06, 2025
33m
Unpacking Trump, the Degenerate, with The New York Times
Jonah Bromwich, who's a criminal justice reporter at The New York Times and author of his new book Dragon on Centre Street, joins Rick to drill down to what the Stormy Daniels case actually meant for the American people. The book focuses on Donald Trump’s criminal trial, but it’s also about the way that our institutions have failed to keep up with the 21st century. At heart, this case wasn't ab...
34m Jun 03, 2025
34m