The Bulwark Podcast - podcast cover

The Bulwark Podcast

The Bulwarkwww.thebulwark.com
{"_":"Tim Miller and guests discuss the latest political news for the flagship podcast of the Never Trump movement and the reality-based community. Every weekday we provide insightful analysis, political hot-takes, an unabashed defense of liberal democracy and long-form interviews that cut through the \"both-sides\" BS. Plus a few laughs to help you wash down the crazy.
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\nBulwark+ members can get a totally ad-free version of the show delivered right to their favorite podcast player.\n","$":{"audioboom:html":"1"}}

Episodes

S2 Ep1054: Adam Serwer, Lauren Egan, and Justin Jones: The Attack on Knowledge

The Trump administration is trying to exert ideological control over every knowledge-producing institution in the country. And the assault on colleges is not only about having fewer highly-educated voters, but also depriving Americans of trusted sources of information—much in the way Trump in 2020 wanted to stop counting Covid cases so it looked like he had the pandemic under control. Meanwhile, we're getting too much information about Elon's bladder control problems on his way out the door. Plu...

May 30, 20251 hr 1 minSeason 2Ep. 1054

S2 Ep1053: Live from Chicago

Adam Kinzinger joined Tim on stage in the Windy City Wednesday night to dis Chicken Trump, who's made bitcoin bros, private prisons, his family and friends—and himself—the main winners in his 'TACO' trade economy. Meanwhile, Obama's nuclear deal with Iran may be getting resurrected, and Trump finally seems to realize that Putin is a warmonger. Plus, Dems should put Qatar and El Salvador on notice that there will be a cost for their free gifts in the future, and we are the guys and girls on the w...

May 29, 202544 minSeason 2Ep. 1053

S2 Ep1052: George Packer: JD, Hollow Man

Our VP used to think his path to power was through the ruling class at Yale Law School. But after 2016, he saw that his route was through Trump, so he swapped one set of elites for another. And now as a lord among the MAGA ruling class, he's embracing his true cruel, lying self—and railing against the globalists who nitpick about this silly due process thing. Meanwhile, even Elon doesn't like the bankruptcy-threatening reconciliation bill, even if it's larded with kickbacks just for him. Plus, A...

May 28, 20251 hr 17 minSeason 2Ep. 1052

S2 Ep1051: Pete Buttigieg: Dream Bigger, Talk More Boldly

Democrats need vastly more imagination to confront the enormous challenges the country faces politically, economically, and on climate. The party can't just focus on stopping what is happening in Washington. Meanwhile, Trump can't stop insulting the intelligence of the American people, every part of the political spectrum has something to hate about the reconciliation bill, and libertarians need to speak up about a president disappearing people to a foreign black site. Plus, cracking the manosph...

May 27, 20251 hr 4 minSeason 2Ep. 1051

S2 Ep1050: Bill Kristol: Something Worth Fighting For

Despite our missteps in some of our more recent wars, we were fighting to bring freedom, democracy, and self-governance to others. Now, Trump's mercantilist agenda is showing us what it looks like to not have an American-led world order. And even after Russia's largest aerial assault on Ukraine since the war began, he still won't threaten Putin—only Zelensky. Meanwhile, just looking at the math alone, the reconciliation bill is alarming. Bill Kristol joins Tim Miller for a Memorial Day pod. show...

May 26, 202532 minSeason 2Ep. 1050

S2 Ep1049: James Comey: Uncomfortably Numb

Public corruption used to be a congressman hiding $90,000 in his freezer. Now, we have a president taking "me time" to rake in $40 million from a Chinese crypto billionaire who was facing fraud charges under POTUS 46. And that's just a drop in the bucket of some of Trump's recent haul. Of course, today's FBI will do nothing about it, and his buddies at the top of the bureau are instead focusing on celebrities who are definitely not Team Trump, or a person who posted a benign beach meme about 47....

May 23, 202553 minSeason 2Ep. 1049

S2 Ep1048: Jonathan Chait: House GOP Doesn't Care How Bad the Bill Is

Republicans moved at such lightning speed that even they don't know how many people would lose health insurance— or how much they'd be spiking the deficit with their highly risky and big, ugly turd of a bill. And they don't care because they're cosmically committed to stopping the government from making rich people pay for healthcare for people who aren't. Plus, Dem leaders have an age culture problem, environmental groups are stuck in a Ralph Nader time-warp, and the danger of radical politics ...

May 22, 20251 hr 7 minSeason 2Ep. 1048

S2 Ep1047: Susan Glasser: American in Name Only

On deportations and on foreign policy, the Trump administration is swapping out American values and violating everything the U.S. has stood for in exchange for kleptocracy and transactionalism with the world's worst tyrants. But at the same time, Trump can't even seem to grasp that Putin has been waging war for decades to accomplish his goals and is not interested in cutting a deal to end the bloodshed in Ukraine. Plus, the very dim appointees running our federal agencies, Elon and Marco are now...

May 21, 202551 minSeason 2Ep. 1047

S2 Ep1046: David French: Schizo-in-Chief

One day Trump sounds like Bernie promising the government will provide for everything. Then the next, he's like Paul Ryan the belt-tightener, prepping for austerity. And Code Pink was the order of the day when Mr. Tough Guy was in Saudi Arabia—attacking the foreign policy of the United States in the land of the 9/11 hijackers. Plus, Trump's SCOTUS appointees show some spine, Marco is truly pathetic, the big, insane reconciliation bill would gut Medicaid and hurt MAGA voters even if Trump denies ...

May 20, 20251 hr 12 minSeason 2Ep. 1046

S2 Ep1045: Bill Kristol: A New Gilded Age

No, the Trump administration is not focused on the forgotten man or bringing industrial jobs back. Instead, the real estate developer is handing out threats left and right—fresh off his Middle East trip, where he scored numerous deals with Islamofascists for himself, his family, and his cronies. And no matter what he says, the 'Palace in the Sky' is for him, once taxpayers pony up all the funds for retrofitting. Meanwhile, House Republicans are attempting to ram through their reconciliation bill...

May 19, 202553 minSeason 2Ep. 1045

S2 Ep1044: Peter Hamby: All in Service of Kissing Trump's Ass

MAGA is having a performative tantrum calling for James Comey to be jailed over a seashell meme because the daily job of Trump's supporters and Cabinet members is to try to warm his heart—that includes Kristi Noem changing her face and Tulsi firing top intel officials because they told the White House the truth it doesn't want to hear. Meanwhile, fentanyl deaths and violent crime fell dramatically last year, and border crossings have plummeted, but the administration keeps hyping a "crisis" to t...

May 16, 20251 hr 27 minSeason 2Ep. 1044

S2 Ep1043: Michael Weiss: All Bribes Accepted

American taxpayers may have flown Donald Trump to the Middle East, but he's not there to negotiate on behalf of our strategic or national interests—he's on the prowl for goodies, and happy to make policy changes in return. Like, the new Syrian president offering a Trump Tower in Damascus: Zap, sanctions on Syria are over. Or the jumbo jet-giving Qataris requesting that Trump go 'easy' on Iran: 'Not a problem, no sirree.' Sorry to all the hawkish Trump voters out there who thought he'd deliver a ...

May 15, 202552 minSeason 2Ep. 1043

S2 Ep1042: Leah Litman and Andrew Egger: Grievance All the Way Down

The five men on the Supreme Court are so easily triggered and seem to be making law based on their emotional needs. Meanwhile, they also see discrimination in some of the best things about America—like equality or the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. And at the White House, the press office got totally bored with the worshipful questions from MAGA media and invited The Bulwark's Andrew Egger over—so Karoline Leavitt could mix it up with a reporter who'd definitely ask tough questions. Plu...

May 14, 20251 hr 6 minSeason 2Ep. 1042

S2 Ep1041: Justin Wolfers: Trump's Centrally Planned Economy

China sounds downright Reaganesque and is acting like a more stable, attractive trading partner than the country that launched a trade war. And even though Trump loves play-acting businessman, and calling CEOs by their first name, no one on Wall Street and no one who studies economics likes his continuing tariffs—they know they hurt American companies and American consumers. And the uncertainty is paralyzing. Meanwhile, the GOP will use fancy terms to try to paper over their budget, which would ...

May 13, 202556 minSeason 2Ep. 1041

S2 Ep1040: Bill Kristol: A Golden 747 from Hamas's Sugar Daddy

Trump can't abide flying around in crusty, old Air Force One. Qatar—funder of both Hamas and the leading U.S. college Gaza protest group—just happens to have a spare, pimped-out 747 lying around, which they'd like to gift to Trump so he can use that instead. Pay no attention to the complete hypocrisy of an administration that says that students protesting for Gaza are a threat to our foreign policy. Plus, Trump's fake drug price cap, the White House caves to China on tariffs, Herr Miller becomes...

May 12, 202555 minSeason 2Ep. 1040

S2 Ep1039: Amanda Carpenter: MAGA's Bad Week

First, the Vatican chose a Bulwark pope, not an AR-15 loving, immigrant-hating pope. Then, in a major blow to Steve Bannon, Trump pulled his nominee for U.S. attorney in D.C.—forcing the avid TV watcher in the Oval Office to turn to Fox News for the 23rd time to help fill his administration—this time with Jeanine Pirro. And in the North Carolina Supreme Court race, the Stop the Steal candidate finally conceded to his Democratic opponent seven months late. Plus, Trump is acting like a Soviet cent...

May 09, 202559 minSeason 2Ep. 1039

S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'

Protest is the new brunch again. We're witnessing historic levels of pro-democracy grassroots engagement across a broad-based movement of everyday people. The leaders of Indivisible join Tim to discuss how the movement needs to stay focused on what it agrees on— no kings—and to save ideological disputes for another day. Plus, it also needs to get more young people involved. But it definitely should keep ignoring political consultants who tell Dems not to talk about immigration— because it turns ...

May 08, 202551 minSeason 2Ep. 1038

S2 Ep1037: Katie Phang and Greg Casar: Trump & Co Are the Real Flag Burners

The Supreme Court is working hard to tend to Mr. Presidential Immunity's wounds because he just can't abide lower federal court judges telling him he can't kick trans people out of the military, or that the 14th Amendment is a real thing. Meanwhile, Kristi Noem is defiling her own birthright citizenship by kidnapping people and sending them to a foreign gulag. Plus, how the Dems should fight the party that only wants to break things—and craft a better economic message that appeals to both modera...

May 07, 202558 minSeason 2Ep. 1037

S2 Ep1036: Jonathan V. Last: An Economic Tsunami Is Coming

Because Donald Trump's stupid trade embargo has us reading shipping charts, we now know that 40% of containership traffic between Asia and the U.S. has been canceled. That means a shortage of consumer goods, which will push prices higher. At the same time, the business environment is too unpredictable for companies to plan. Meanwhile, Trump is reorienting the American economy to a corrupt oligarchy—as he rakes in billions in bribes off his crypto. Plus, Hegseth wants to clear out a chunk of the ...

May 06, 20251 hr 12 minSeason 2Ep. 1036

S2 Ep1035: Bill Kristol: A Reckless, Tin-Pot President

Trump 2.0 is showing so little concern for his political standing that even Fox made primetime room for Karl Rove to vent about how he's failing at the fundamentals. Our aspiring Gaddafi doesn't care that tariffs aren't popular or that he sounds like Mr. Scrooge when he says kids should have fewer toys. And while belt-tightening is good enough for average Americans, he's throwing himself a giant, ostentatious military parade that will cost tens of millions of dollars. Plus, conservatives in the ...

May 05, 202549 minSeason 2Ep. 1035

S2 Ep1034: Derek Thompson: Trump's War on Dolls

Just imagine Fox's histrionics if a President AOC had said that American kids have too many dolls and that she's raising the price on them. Now the supposedly pro-family administration is doubling down on 'just pay more’ for toys, while it waits for China to blink on tariffs—an unlikely event given that it makes a lot of the things the world needs and wants. Meanwhile, AI's economic threat may be here for recent college grads, Marc Andreessen has deep thoughts on VC, and the NIH (and future Amer...

May 02, 20251 hr 5 minSeason 2Ep. 1034

S2 Ep1033: Tom Nichols: The Hollow Opportunists

Marco Rubio was supposed to be one of the only adults in the room, and now he's become a shell of himself executing Trump's unwinding of the US role in the world. Meanwhile, Pam Bondi just can't keep her blubbering sycophancy under wraps. Plus, Mike Waltz's ouster at NSA, our shakedown of Ukraine with a minerals deal, Trump's pettiness is getting lost in the firehose of his revenge, and even the president of El Salvador doubts the criminality of the people ICE is sending to CECOT. Tom Nichols jo...

May 01, 202550 minSeason 2Ep. 1033

S2 Ep1032: Tony Blinken: America Alone

For 80 years, the United States built strong economic, military, and political alliances around the world. But in just 100 days, that trust has been dismantled, and our friends are now working without us to forge new relationships. Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken joins Tim to discuss how hard it will be to rebuild after what Trump has done—plus the Biden administration's response to the Gaza protests, and the continuing questions over why Biden did not step aside earlier. And, Alex Wagn...

Apr 30, 20251 hr 1 minSeason 2Ep. 1032

S2 Ep1031: Joe Weisenthal: Everything Screams Recession

The markets may be hanging in there but they also held strong in early 2020—right up until Covid hit New York. Meanwhile, tariffs are driving consumer confidence down, firms are talking about cutting back on hiring and investments, and Goldman Sachs is predicting that the U.S. will have the highest inflation and lowest growth of any developed economy this year. Plus, Scott Bessent is not a calming influence, and Trump has a real 'War on Christmas' in the works. The Stalwart Joe Weisenthal joins ...

Apr 29, 202553 minSeason 2Ep. 1031

S2 Ep1030: Bill Kristol: Creepy and Wrong

Tim Miller and Bill Kristol discuss Trump's poor polling, overreaching immigration policies, and potential economic recession. They also analyze the influence of tech billionaires and the challenges Democrats face in winning Senate seats. The episode ends with praise for Scott Pelley's bold stance at 60 Minutes.

Apr 28, 202550 minSeason 2Ep. 1030

S2 Ep1029: Beto O'Rourke: Never Lose Hope

Since this country's founding, we have been tested. And the Americans before us somehow stood up and fought the good fight. We can't be the generation that loses it all 249 years into this experiment. But that doesn't mean we can't laugh about the stupid clowns—like Trump showing once again that he has no idea how tariffs work. Plus, RFK's dangerous proposed autism registry is selling a cruel fantasy. And Democrats need to lock down what they're selling and listen to what voters want from the go...

Apr 25, 20251 hrSeason 2Ep. 1029

S2 Ep1028: Cory Booker: A National Crisis and a Global Crisis

Donald Trump is trying to foist the worst peace deal in the last 100 years on Ukraine, as he gets repeatedly played by foreign leaders on the world stage. At home, he's turned JFK's "Ask not" upside down to 'Ask what you can do for Donald Trump.' But when will the cowardly law firms or CEOs groveling for a tariff exemption stand up for patriotism, our core constitutional values—and America's better vision of itself? Plus, Tim challenges an 11-year-old block from Twitter's golden era, and Booker ...

Apr 24, 202553 minSeason 2Ep. 1028

S2 Ep1027: Jonathan Rauch: Focus On the Corruption

Trump may be brilliant at assaulting us with his daily distractions, but Democrats need to relentlessly target his corruption because that may be his weak spot. He is running the government in a pre-modern way—like it's his own personal piggy bank. And he has replaced rules-oriented bureaucrats with mostly incompetent loyalists who are only there to do his bidding. Meanwhile, Christianity could help heal the country's partisan polarization if it returns to the teachings of Jesus instead of the g...

Apr 23, 202557 minSeason 2Ep. 1027

S2 Ep1026: Michael Steele: Your Voice Matters

Trump and the people around him are trying to weaken our constitutional protections like due process. But the administration is getting rattled, because people see that the Abrego Garcia story is not about the man, but our rights, and because people keep protesting. We have to keep gumming up the works. Meanwhile, why aren't the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups howling while Trump single-handedly ruins our country's global economic status? Plus, our fully-grown SecDef is blaming the...

Apr 22, 20251 hrSeason 2Ep. 1026

S2 Ep1025: Bill Kristol: Hegseth Keeps Proving his Unfitness

Republican senators could have insisted on someone who was even minimally competent to run our military, but because of their spinelessness, we've now got a SecDef who can't resist texting top secret war plans. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court shows it doesn't trust the Trump administration, and judges on lower federal courts have stopped believing what its lawyers say. Plus, Joe Perticone joins from Rome to discuss the passing of Pope Francis. And the uncanny relevance of the American revolutionari...

Apr 21, 202552 minSeason 2Ep. 1025
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