The Ken Harbaugh Show

With less than two weeks until the American Midterm Elections, Retired U.S. Navy Commander Bobby Jones sat down again with Cait Conley, the Democratic nominee in New York's 17th District and one of the tightest House races in the country. She's a West Point graduate, a 16-year Army veteran with three Bronze Stars, and a former NSC counterterrorism director. We talk about the Iran war, oversight of...

In a single week, Russia launched more than 2,500 strike drones, 1,500 aerial bombs, and over 50 missiles at Ukraine, killing civilians like a one-year-old in her stroller. Trump and Witkoff responded by praising Russia, with Trump saying it is “doing fine on Ukraine” and Witkoff calling Putin a humanitarian. Ken Harbaugh talks with Army combat vet Kris Goldsmith, founder of Veterans Fighting Fasc...

In this episode of the Meidas Defense Podcast, host Joe Plenzler sits down with cryptocurrency researcher and journalist Molly White to expose the darker side of the crypto industry and its growing influence on American politics. White explains how cryptocurrency has become a speculative industry that often benefits wealthy investors while leaving everyday Americans vulnerable to financial losses....

Ken Harbaugh sits down with Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan to unpack the coordinated, implicitly violent backlash that followed her remarks on holding lawbreakers in the Trump administration accountable. They discuss what it’s like to be the target of a MAGA and presidential pile-on, and the panic in Trumpworld driving this kind of reactionary behavior. Support VALOR Media Network here: https:...

Trump just pulled the plug on Pete Hegseth's livestreamed execution. That decision tells you a lot about the man running the Pentagon. Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan will still face a firing squad. But Trump has now scrapped Hegseth's plan to stream it, the plan that would have made it America's first public execution in 90 years. "This event will not be streamed," Trump wrote on Truth Social. Reti...

Ken Harbaugh talks with Brian Bengs, the Navy and Air Force veteran running as an independent against Sen. Mike Rounds in South Dakota, about how he’s reaching former Trump voters in a state where Trump’s policies are proving toxic. They also dig into the true cost of the Iran war and the Pentagon’s quiet upward revision of the death toll. Subscribe to Ken’s Substack here: https://thekenharbaughsh...

Ken Harbaugh reacts to new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia’s rocky first briefing, and to her history of amplifying Pizzagate, calling to “Suspend Habeas Corpus,” and facing questions about her legal credentials. Ken also talks with Tara Palmeri of the Red Letter Substack and The Tara Palmeri Show, who watched the briefing live with him and shares her take on it before turning to her su...

In this episode of the Meidas Defense Podcast, host Joe Plenzler sits down with military defense attorney Cody Harnish to discuss the controversial prosecution of Air Force Major Jason Watson, who faces charges after publicly criticizing U.S. military operations and calling for constitutional accountability. Harnish, who attended Watson's preliminary hearing, reveals troubling details about his tr...

Ken Harbaugh sits down with Joanne Carducci, better known as JoJoFromJerz, for the second half of their conversation, a deeply personal one about the assault she survived at 17 and the scars she still carries. At a moment when young people are watching leaders reject empathy and treat power as the only thing that matters, Ken and Jo make the case for starting with hard conversations. Subscribe to...

Maj. (Ret.) Richard Ojeda is a combat veteran who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.  Now he lives in Aberdeen, and he's the Democratic nominee in North Carolina's 9th District. His opponent is Rep. Richard Hudson, who has held the seat since 2013 and chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee. That makes Hudson the fifth-ranking Republican in the House and one of the most pow...

Meidas Defense host Joe Plenzler sits down with retired U.S. Army Colonel Steve Miska to discuss why abandoning the local partners who served alongside American forces isn’t just a humanitarian issue; it can directly undermine U.S. national security. Miska explains the critical role interpreters and other “soft networks” play on the battlefield, recounts his efforts to help Iraqi allies escape thr...

Ken Harbaugh argues that November 3rd is a referendum on Trump and on a Republican Party that followed him over the cliff, and that Ohio is already showing signs of a shift. He then talks with Brian Poindexter, the union ironworker running to flip Ohio's 7th District against a former Trump aide. Learn more about Brian’s campaign here: https://poindexterforcongress.com/ Read Ken's latest feature in...

Army tank officer. Tech executive. State legislator. Now an independent running for U.S. Senate in Idaho. Todd Achilles has been a Republican, a Democrat, and now neither. He left the Idaho House to take on three-term Sen. Jim Risch as an independent, because he says the two-party system is broken. Retired U.S. Navy Commander Bobby Jones and Todd talk about service, partisan politics, and how Idah...

Ken Harbaugh argues that Trump is losing and dragging the entire Republican Party down with him, and asks what Democrats can do to make November as bad as possible for the GOP. In conversation with Hunger Games screenwriter Billy Ray, who has advised Democratic candidates for 11 years, Ken explores how better storytelling can move voters. Read Ken's latest feature in The Atlantic, "The Armored Sar...

Ken Harbaugh sits down with former Republican strategist Stuart Stevens for part two of their conversation, on why Democrats can't choose between rebuilding and accountability – they have to do both, starting the moment the gavel passes on January 3. They also discuss the latest from Ukraine, where the two have travelled together several times. Chapter: For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (7...

On this episode of the Meidas Defense, Joe Plenzler speaks with Dr. Roman Sheremeta and Ken Harbaugh about the war in Ukraine, why it matters to U.S. national security, how Russian propaganda has shaped the debate, and how drones, AI, and electronic warfare are transforming modern combat. Sheremeta breaks down the history behind Russia’s invasion and the case for continued U.S. support, while Harb...

Ken Harbaugh breaks down a taxpayer-funded ad pushing Trump's authoritarian rhetoric, arguing it's backfiring as his approval craters ahead of a potentially historic November. He's joined by former Republican strategist Stuart Stevens — who ran Romney's 2012 campaign before breaking with the GOP — for part one of a two-part conversation on how Democrats turn a wave election into real political rea...

First, Navy officials said they had "not identified an increase" in suicide attempts. Now the Acting Secretary of the Navy has confirmed eight. In a letter to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Acting SECNAV Hung Cao disclosed eight suicide attempts across the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group since the deployment began in November 2025. The count covers the carrier, the air wing, the escorting destr...

Ken Harbaugh argues that Donald Trump has so thoroughly discredited the Republican Party that November will bring not just a blue tsunami but a true political realignment. He then talks with Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, who chairs the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, about the safeguards that protect our elections from Trump's attempts to hold on to power. Get your free...

Ken argues that Trump's ridiculous bluster, including his UN threat to "annihilate" Iran, has destroyed America's credibility, and that Pete Hegseth's gutting of the Pentagon is compounding the damage. He then talks with retired Army Brigadier General Leela Gray, a 30-year veteran now running for Congress in Florida, about the threats facing the country at home and abroad, and about how the purge...

On this episode of Meidas Defense, Joe Plenzler is joined by retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Tony Carr to discuss the growing culture of fear inside the Pentagon under Pete Hegseth, the escalating war with Iran, and the consequences of silencing dissent within the military. Carr also breaks down the dangers of concentrating power and why protecting constitutional checks and balances matters n...

Episode Description: Ken Harbaugh answers Trump's dismissive Epstein question, "Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?", with a firm yes, arguing that the administration, from Kash Patel's FBI to Todd Blanche's DOJ, has met the survivors with contempt. Ken then speaks with survivor Dani Bensky about her fight for justice and the national tour of the Trump-Epstein Reading Room, an exhibition...

Her husband deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan with the Marines and came home with PTSD and a TBI. She became his caregiver, then became a lawyer who helps veterans get free legal help. Now Callie Barr is running for Congress in Michigan's 1st, because Northern Michigan families are done waiting. As a retired Navy Commander, Bobby Jones can tell you that Military families serve too. He interviews Ca...

Ken Harbaugh traces the line from Trump family drone deals, defense stock trades, and oil market manipulation back to General Smedley Butler's 1935 book War Is a Racket, which warned that war too often profits the few at the cost of the many. He sits down with Army combat veteran Kris Goldsmith to discuss the book's re-release, featuring Goldsmith's introduction. Buy War is a Racket here:&nbs...

Ken Harbaugh breaks down how Trump's bungled Iran war has left both the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb under threat, shut down a critical Saudi pipeline, and somehow left Ukraine taking the blame for rising diesel prices — all while new revelations tie a Putin-linked oligarch to Don Jr.'s wedding. Then he sits down with PBS NewsHour's Simon Ostrovsky, who's covered Russia's war since 2014,...