Prince Andrew’s reported arrest in the widening Epstein scandal has reignited explosive questions about the Epstein files, elite corruption, and whether the United States operates under a two-tier justice system. While global headlines focus on the Prince Andrew arrest, a deeper issue is surfacing: why did Pam Bondi’s DOJ never investigate core co-conspirator Les Wexner, tied to the Epstein network? In this episode, we break down the latest Prince Andrew news, the unresolved controversies surrou...
Feb 20, 2026•47 min
For the first time ever, alumni of The Lincoln Project are running for Congress — and the 2026 midterms just shifted. In this special double-header, Rick sits down with Fred Wellman, running in St. Louis, Missouri (MO-02), and George Conway, running in New York, New York (NY-12), to break down what it means for the Lincoln Project to move from ads and strategy to actual ballots and House races. They dive into the stakes of the 2026 election, the fight to flip Congress, the threat of MAGA extremi...
Feb 17, 2026•1 hr 20 min
Rick's Elephant in the Room this week is simple: Pam Bondi and the Epstein files. Under oath, in open court, Bondi melted down while dodging direct questions about Jeffrey Epstein, the sealed records, and what the Department of Justice knew — and when. The exchange has ignited new outrage over the Epstein case, the handling of court testimony, and whether political protection is shielding powerful figures from accountability. Rick breaks down Bondi’s courtroom performance, the legal gymnastics a...
Feb 13, 2026•36 min
This week, Rick Wilson is joined by Taylor Rehmet to break down one of the most important political upsets in Texas in years: a historic Texas State Senate special election win that flipped a deep-red seat by doing something radical in modern politics—talking to people like human beings. Rehmet walks through a community-first, common-sense campaign built on knocking doors, rejecting corporate cash, focusing on affordability, public education, property taxes, and showing up in real life instead o...
Feb 10, 2026•40 min
The Elephant in the Room this week is power—how it protects itself, who it destroys, and why accountability never seems to reach the top. With the release of the Epstein files, what’s exposed isn’t just one predator but a global system where wealth, status, and proximity to power shielded abuse of women and children for years. The documents pull back the curtain on how elites across politics, finance, and international circles used silence, intimidation, and institutional protection to evade con...
Feb 06, 2026•38 min
Rick Wilson is joined by Jacob Frey, Mayor of Minneapolis, for a raw, unfiltered conversation about the escalating ICE raids, federal overreach, and what many residents are calling an occupation of an American city. As immigration enforcement, civil liberties, and constitutional rights collide, Frey breaks down how ICE operations are impacting local communities, why local leaders are pushing back, and how an overwhelming citizen response, mass protests, and community organizing have turned Minne...
Feb 03, 2026•33 min
This week’s Elephant in the Room is simple: Trump is losing—and everyone can see it. Inflation is still squeezing voters where it hurts, and no amount of fear-mongering can spin grocery bills, rent, or gas prices. On immigration, the administration’s answer has been to let U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement run feral—escalating raids, brutality, and spectacle that dominated headlines this week and triggered backlash even among swing voters. The result? A political own-goal: cruelty without...
Jan 30, 2026•32 min
This week, the mask comes all the way off. In a chilling double-header, we expose how Stephen Miller’s extremist agenda has metastasized into unchecked power inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement—with deadly consequences. Journalist Greg Sargent joins us first to break down Miller’s ideological grip on ICE and the escalation of federal violence, including the killing of Alex Pretti this past weekend—an event that underscores how cruelty is no longer a byproduct of policy, but the point. The...
Jan 27, 2026•1 hr 16 min
Rick's Elephant in the Room this week is peak TACO — Trump Always Chickens Out. After floating threats against Greenland and saber-rattling his way into another foreign policy meltdown, Donald Trump took the stage at Davos and delivered a speech so erratic it left allies openly alarmed (as he GRIPPED the podium). The World Economic Forum appearance wasn’t just inflammatory — it reinforced how isolated the United States has become under Trump’s chaos-first diplomacy. Within days, Trump backed dow...
Jan 23, 2026•33 min
This week’s double-header episode confronts America’s moral crisis from two sides of the same coin: what happens when leadership becomes corrupt and power-hungry—and what it looks like when leaders choose decency instead. First, journalist Mary Clare Jalonick joins Rick to break down her urgent new book Storm at the Capitol, a chilling account of how ambition, radicalization, and moral cowardice led to January 6 and exposed what happens when power is severed from principle. Then, veteran politic...
Jan 20, 2026•1 hr 10 min
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' fresh politics is colliding with an old guard terrified of losing power—on fights over voting rights, ger...
Jan 19, 2026•49 min
Coming off last week’s examination of the killing of Renee Nicole Good, Rick lays out how the United States is sliding into an American police state—one powered by ICE intimidation, fear-based propaganda, and a rapidly expanding government surveillance apparatus. Rick breaks down how ICE relies on spectacle, misinformation, and selective enforcement to force citizen compliance, while the Trump-era state deploys AI surveillance and facial recognition, license plate readers, and Flock Safety camer...
Jan 16, 2026•44 min
Donald Trump didn’t speak for the working class—he played it. In this episode, Rick Wilson sits down with Dropkick Murphys frontman Ken Casey to unpack how Trump’s brand of fake populism conned millions of working Americans while delivering power, tax cuts, and protection to billionaires and authoritarians. Rick and Ken break down how grievance replaced policy, how MAGA culture turned resentment into a loyalty test, and why the people waving the biggest flags ended up getting sold out first. The...
Jan 13, 2026•33 min
This week, we confront MAGA’s escalating performative cruelty following the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis — a woman shot and killed by an ICE officer and then posthumously smeared as a “domestic terrorist” to justify the violence. As facts emerged, the Trump movement did what it always does: lied, dehumanized, and closed ranks around power. JD Vance went even further, effectively arguing for blanket immunity for federal agents, treating U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as an untou...
Jan 09, 2026•39 min
This weekend, the capture of Nicolás Maduro didn’t close a chapter in Venezuela — it ripped one open. History tells us exactly where this movie goes: swagger first, strategy never. Venezuela isn’t just another “bad guy taken off the board”; it’s an oil-soaked, politically fractured, economically shattered country where outside powers think force can substitute for understanding. That’s how Iraq started. That’s how Vietnam metastasized. And now, under Donald Trump, America is once again flirting ...
Jan 06, 2026•49 min
Giving you an extra special bonus episode of The Lincoln Project podcast, Rick Wilson is joined by special guest Chris Whipple of Vanity Fair, the reporter who just detonated Trumpworld with his explosive reporting on Susie Wiles. Whipple doesn’t just recap the headlines—he reveals new secrets, pulls back the curtain on how power actually operates inside Trump’s inner circle, and explains why Wiles may be the most important—and least understood—figure in modern MAGA politics. As more breaking ne...
Dec 20, 2025•31 min
As the holiday season hits full throttle and millions of Americans flood airports during record-breaking Christmas travel week, this episode takes a clear-eyed look at what real holiday cheer means in a year dominated by nonstop headlines. From winter storms snarling flights and causing massive travel delays to violence interrupting festive gatherings and global tensions refusing to pause for Christmas, this week's news cycle offered little comfort—or quiet. Breaking down the biggest stories -- ...
Dec 19, 2025•28 min
Rick Wilson is joined by Scott Galloway—NYU professor, bestselling author, and unapologetic truth-teller—to talk about lonely young men, collapsing purpose, and a culture pretending the crisis isn’t real. Drawing from Scott’s newest book, ‘Notes on Being a Man,’ they cut through culture-war bullsh*t to explain how isolation, economic pressure, and algorithm-fed rage are pushing men toward the worst possible answers. This isn’t grievance politics—it’s a blunt conversation about reality, responsib...
Dec 16, 2025•50 min
In this blistering episode, Rick Wilson breaks down why MAGA absolutely sees the future coming — and is reacting like a herd of political dinosaurs staring straight at the meteor and insisting it’s a hoax. With Trump's historically unpopular presidency (at a 36% approval rating), the desperate need for "affordability" (hitting the MAGA base the hardest), the movement shrinking, and GOP leaders screaming into the void, MAGA is pretending the shaking ground and the bright light in the sky are just...
Dec 12, 2025•38 min
Strap in: Rick Wilson is joined by Carol Leonnig and Aaron Davis, who just detonated the political world with their blockbuster book Injustice . It’s the ultimate tell-all on DOJ dysfunction, politically motivated indictments, the Trump-era push to weaponize federal law enforcement, and the internal rebellion of career DOJ officials trying to stop an authoritarian slide. Rick, Carol, and Aaron break down everything from the classified documents scandal to the war on independent prosecutors, the ...
Dec 09, 2025•45 min
In this explosive episode of The Elephant in the Room, Rick Wilson breaks down the stunning new reporting that Jared Kushner and real estate billionaire Steve Witkoff held a secret meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this week (as of 12/4/25). Rick analyzes why two American power brokers advising Russia’s authoritarian leader is raising alarms across the national security, intelligence, and foreign policy communities, and why experts are calling the covert conversation a potential act ...
Dec 05, 2025•40 min
In this scorching episode, Rick Wilson and former DOJ titan Andrew Weissmann expose how America’s so-called “law and order” system is being hijacked in real time. From the Supreme Court’s shockingly unified pushback on Trump’s tariff overreach to the DOJ’s clown-show prosecutions and selective-vendetta cases, they break down how abuse of power has become official government policy. With food aid on the chopping block, courts dodging accountability, and legal norms collapsing at warp speed, Rick ...
Dec 02, 2025•44 min
Rick Wilson breaks down the political firestorm ignited by the viral military veterans ad, reminding Americans—and the armed forces—never to obey illegal orders. This ad (and Trump's subsequent meltdown) is Rick's Elephant in the Room this week. The veterans-PSA ad featuring Elissa Slotkin (Senator and former intelligence officer), Mark Kelly (Senator and former Navy pilot), Jason Crow (Representative and Army veteran), Chris Deluzio (Representative and Navy veteran), Chrissy Houlahan (Represent...
Nov 21, 2025•38 min
This week on The Lincoln Project Podcast, Rick Wilson sits down with investigative reporter Tara Palmeri (The Tara Palmeri Show, The Red Letter) for a brutal, no-BS breakdown of the new Jeffrey Epstein emails naming Donald Trump, what they reveal about his long-denied ties to the Epstein sex trafficking network, and why Republicans in Congress are suddenly cracking over the push to release the full Epstein files. Tara walks through how Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Trump, billionaire bankers, mode...
Nov 18, 2025•45 min
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 investigators never expected to see daylight again. Rick breaks down what the emails reveal, why Trumpworld is ...
Nov 14, 2025•39 min
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. They break down Trump’s economic disaster, his narcissism, and how he’s turned the Republican Party into a...
Nov 11, 2025•44 min
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 Substack at therickwilson.substack.com . You can check out more of LP's work at www.lincolnproject.us and on X...
Nov 07, 2025•34 min
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 showdown that could tilt national law for a generation. Every one of these contests is a test run for what...
Nov 04, 2025•40 min
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 General Intelligence: machines that learn faster than their makers, billionaires racing to build digital ...
Nov 04, 2025•55 min
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 observe, listen, and unpack the real news story. Rick Wilson joins him for a candid, often funny, always huma...
Oct 31, 2025•48 min
