The Ken Harbaugh Show

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's handling of the Iran war is falling apart under scrutiny and we're breaking down exactly how. Since the war began on February 28, 2026, Hegseth has gutted civilian-harm oversight, presided over a school strike that killed more than 150 people with zero accountability months later, contradicted his own claims about Iran's nuclear program in front of Congress, and be...

Ken Harbaugh breaks down Trump's chaotic performance at the NATO Summit in Ankara — from confusing Zelensky for Putin to threatening Greenland while attacking allies who refused to back a disastrous war with Iran. He then talks with retired Army Brigadier General Leela Gray, who is challenging Anna Paulina Luna in Florida, about the damage Trump and Hegseth are doing to the military. Subscribe to...

Ken Harbaugh argues that Graham Platner never should have made it this far — the sexual assault accusations against him are credible, and it's long past time for him to leave the Maine Senate race. He's joined by veteran and anti-extremism researcher Kris Goldsmith to unpack the red flags they saw well before this week's news. Watch the full interview on Ken’s Substack here: https://open.substack....

A US Air Force major, Jason Watson, was arrested at the US Capitol after delivering a speech calling for the impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. He had spoken at a Removal Coalition press conference while in uniform and identifying himself as an active-duty service member, an event also attended by Democratic Rep. Al Green. Capitol Police confirmed the ar...

Ken Harbaugh marks a July 4th shadowed by a hollowed-out MAGA spectacle on the National Mall, arguing that real patriotism is happening far from the president—in backyards and public squares across the country. He sits down with Governor Wes Moore to unpack what it truly means to love America: not blind celebration of what it is, but a commitment to what it can still become. Subscribe to Ken’s Sub...

Most Americans don't picture women like Maura Sullivan and Rebecca Bennett when they picture a military veteran. Hell Cats exists to change that. In this premiere, two women veterans whose lives have run on strikingly parallel tracks — a Marine and a Navy helicopter pilot, both ROTC, both deployed, both moms — start telling the stories of women who served, led, and kept serving long after they lef...

Ken Harbaugh talks with Andrea Chalupa about the Trump regime's Orwellian inversion of language, with Trump warning that "communists" will seize power, even as his administration works to undermine elections. Chalupa, host of Gaslit Nation and author of the new graphic novel Mrs. Orwell, traces the throughline from Stalin to Putin to Trump. Buy Andrea’s book here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/mrs-...

General Chris Donahue. Delta Force commander. 18 combat deployments. The last American soldier to leave Afghanistan. The Army's #1 expert on drone warfare — the exact threat we're facing right now in the Iran war. Pete Hegseth just forced him out..and he isn't alone. Over 20 senior officers, all with extensive combat operations experience, have been pushed out since Hegseth took over the Pentagon;...

Ken Harbaugh sits down with Army combat veteran Kris Goldsmith, founder of Veterans Fighting Fascism, to unpack how Republican-funded dark money groups like "Real Change" and "Lead Left" infiltrated Democratic primaries this week in an attempt to take out veteran candidates. The two break down the staggering scale of the spending, the deceptive PAC names, and why attacking vets' patriotism crossed...

Ken Harbaugh explores how World Cup fans are turning soccer chants into open mockery of Donald Trump, then talks with author and broadcaster Musa Okwonga about football's long history as a vehicle for defying autocrats. Follow the “Our Copa” podcast and Youtube series here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC5DhDrygxhp-4opE43-fT8p1CygQe0MV&si=hmYvOT9SaDGmTpvP To support the fundraiser for the 34...

In this week’s episode of Meidas Defense, host Joe Plenzler sits down with former CIA Station Chief and Russia expert Ralph to examine the rapidly changing face of modern warfare. From Ukraine’s drone battlefield to Russia’s staggering casualty machine and the strategic fallout in the Persian Gulf, Ralph breaks down how technology, autocracy, and great power competition are reshaping the future of...

Ken Harbaugh sits down with Joe Plenzler to go behind the scenes of his latest Atlantic piece, "The Warrior-Witches of Ukraine's Resistance" — the story of Ukrainian women leading the underground fight against Russian occupation. Ken breaks down how the reporting came together, including the surreal moment a MeidasTouch Substack Live was used by the resistance itself to verify his identity. Read t...

Retired Navy Commander Bobby Jones sits down with Jessica Killin — Army veteran, former White House aide, and the Democrat taking on Jeff Crank in Colorado's 5th Congressional District, a seat Republicans have held since 1972. With Operation Epic Fury ending and military families in Colorado Springs paying the price, Killin breaks down what Congress MUST do to hold this administration accountable...

Ken Harbaugh talks with Army combat veteran Kris Goldsmith, founder of Veterans Fighting Fascism, about the South Lawn spectacle: a parade of Trump-related interests promoted one after another, and the administration's habit of using the military to provide a veneer of respectability even as it hollows out everything that institution is supposed to represent. Check out Kris’s podcast here: https:/...

Ken Harbaugh sits down with Alex Finley — a former CIA field operative from the Directorate of Operations whose real name she keeps hidden for good reason — to examine what happens when America's most secretive institution falls into the wrong hands, from the DNI raiding a Georgia elections office to the ominous nomination of Bill Pulte as her interim replacement. DeleteMe: Get 20% off your Delete...

In this episode of Meidas Defense, Marine Corps veteran Joe Plenzler speaks with Mark Cancian, Senior Adviser at CSIS and retired Marine Corps Colonel, about what Cancian calls a major strategic failure in the Strait of Hormuz. While the administration is touting tactical victories against Iran, Cancian warns that the world’s most important energy chokepoint remains effectively closed to regular s...

Ken Harbaugh argues that the American middle class was built not by billionaires but by the labor movement — and that the current Trumpian crisis could be the catalyst for transformative, systemic change. He speaks with Harvard-trained UT Austin bankruptcy law professor Mechele Dickerson, whose New York Times bestselling book The Middle-Class New Deal makes the case for a wholesale reordering of A...

CNN just exposed it: the Pentagon told America the USS Gerald R. Ford fire was "no big deal." The reality? The fire-suppression system FAILED. Sailors fought the blaze for 30 HOURS. 600 lost their bunks. Nearly 600 toilets were broken the ENTIRE deployment. And it's not just the Ford. EVERY casualty number from this Iran war has been downplayed first, corrected later. It’s part of a deception stra...

Ken Harbaugh argues that America's eroding national security posture under the Trump administration creates real danger — and the World Cup may be the moment it's tested. He speaks with extremism researcher and Veterans Fighting Fascism founder Kris Goldsmith about the threat landscape surrounding the world's largest sporting event on American soil. Follow Kris’s show "On Offense" on the VALOR Med...

Ken Harbaugh continues his conversation with award-winning war correspondent Caolan Robertson, whose latest reporting exposes how a Russian-controlled company is exporting a critical Irish resource that may be ending up in weapons killing Ukrainians — a story Robertson is pursuing despite death threats. Follow Caolan on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CaolanReports Subscribe to Ken’s Substack he...

Ken Harbaugh sits down with award-winning war correspondent Caolan Robertson — recently decorated by President Zelensky with Ukraine's Order of Merit for his battlefield reporting — to assess Ukraine's strengthening position, Zelensky's extraordinary open letter to Putin proposing direct negotiations, and what it means for America to have traded its role as the "indispensable nation" for one of ir...

Pete Hegseth declared "Our Diversity Is Our Strength" the "single dumbest phrase in military history." Commander Bobby Jones says he's DEAD WRONG — and he can prove it. From the first Black general in 1940 to the first female four-star in 2008, these trailblazers didn't need a program. They needed a chance. And they earned every star. Subscribe:  @ValorMediaNetwork  Visit https://meidasplus.com fo...

Ken Harbaugh delivers his final dispatch from Ukraine — live from a field position alongside an anti-drone crew tracking incoming Shaheds — reporting on the ongoing Russian bombardments, nights embedded with Ukrainian air defense teams, civilians picking up the pieces in Kyiv, children sheltering underground in Kherson Oblast, and the mines threat still threatening Ukrainian civilians. DeleteMe: G...

Marine Corps veteran and Meidas Defense host Joe Plenzler sits down with award-winning journalist and author Kevin Maurer to break down the escalating conflict in the Middle East, the Pentagon’s handling of the war, and the strategic fallout from Trump and Pete Hegseth’s approach. Maurer explains why the conflict has become a quagmire, how U.S. military power is being tested in dangerous new ways,...

Ken Harbaugh reports from Ukraine, bringing a ground-level picture of a country absorbing Russia's largest bombardment of the war while gaining strategic momentum at the front. Ken sits down with Senator Ruben Gallego in Odesa — just before an air raid alarm sends the Senator to a bunker — for a conversation on what Ukraine needs, what the U.S. has withheld, and what's actually happening on the ba...