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"}}
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Episodes

Bill Kristol: The MAGA Elites Are Such Frauds

JD originally made a name for himself as an economic populist but now spends all his time lying and ignoring the woes of the white working class. Stephen Miller is far more interested in authoritarianism than the American worker. And the biggest MAGA warrior of all, Steve Bannon, was downright smitten with Jeffrey Epstein. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is busy trying to hide the identities of other co-conspirators in the Epstein documents. Plus, the CBP has no business being deployed on th...

Feb 02, 202650 min

Michael Steele: A Petty, Punk-Ass President

In the wake of the massive winter storm, the power is still out in some places, trees are down, and the death toll continues to rise. And where is FEMA? Don’t pester Trump about it because he is very busy going after political opponents like Don Lemon, re-litigating once again his 2020 loss in Georgia, and keeping up his terror campaign in Minnesota in hopes of invoking the Insurrection Act. Plus, he’s got a side hustle orchestrating the payment of $10 billion in taxpayer money to him and his fa...

Jan 30, 202649 min

Ta-Nehisi Coates: This Is Armed Identity Politics

Trump has decidedly built a white supremacist army within the government. And this was always the risk when the Department of Homeland Security was created after 9-11. Influential people warned at the time that our norms would not protect us against someone who was determined to violate them using DHS. At the same time, white people are putting themselves on the line in a way that is reminiscent of the abolitionists. Plus, some often overlooked elements of the Civil Rights Movement, Jared Kushne...

Jan 29, 202651 min

Adam Serwer and Bobby Pulido: MAGA Got Proven Wrong

The mass deportation operation was supposed to be about the manly men pulling out all the stops in defense of Western civilization, which they claim is being brought down by brown and black immigrants. But it is the multi-racial, multi-faith people of Minneapolis who are fighting—at the risk of their own lives—for the cause of community, neighborhoodism, and social cohesion. And that is not the same social cohesion of JD Vance, who thinks white people need to live next door to other white people...

Jan 28, 202655 min

Gov. Tim Walz and Jason Zengerle: The Assault on Minnesota

The deployment of dangerous, untrained, and violent federal agents on the streets of Minneapolis met its match in a massive, organized, nonviolent resistance that truly showed what democracy looks like. And though the ostensible immigration enforcement operation is not over, the administration thought the tough guys would easily prevail. But Gov. Walz says the real strength was with the ordinary and decent Minnesotans who stood their ground to continue protesting and documenting the agents’ beha...

Jan 27, 20261 hr 3 min

Bill Kristol: The Murder of Alex Pretti

The Trump administration’s version of the Stasi murdered Alex Pretti in cold blood because he was exercising his First Amendment right to peacefully assemble and his Second Amendment right to carry a licensed firearm. But in MAGA land, those rights only apply to the people on their side, not all Americans. The few Republicans who are starting to feel queasy about menacing agents running around our cities should also recognize that they are complicit in the killings of Pretti and Renee Good becau...

Jan 26, 202646 min

Mike Murphy: We’re Living in a Nightmare

Trump is taking billion dollar bribes for his ‘Board of Peace,’ where he can pretend he’ll be the head of a new world order in partnership with Putin. He’s also looking for his next foreign policy adventure since he didn’t get any mileage with Greenland or Iran. And he’s acting like socialist-fascist Juan Perón—taking stakes in U.S. companies while continuing to sic the American gestapo on the Twin Cities. Meanwhile, a handful of House Dems took a bad vote to fund DHS. Plus, the latest in the an...

Jan 23, 202651 min

Fiona Hill: Putin and the Art of Manipulating Trump

Donald Trump is so enamored with Vladimir Putin he doesn't even know the Russian leader is regularly making fun of him in ways that can’t easily be translated. Trump is also running the White House like it's the Kremlin, with backdoor deals, quick enrichment schemes, nefarious activities, and cronies calling the shots—while people in official positions, like Marco, are just fig leaves. It’s the exact kind of political world where Putin flourishes. And his operation against the United States cont...

Jan 22, 202659 min

Rep. Sarah McBride: Our President's Drunk History Take

In his rambling mess of a speech at Davos, Trump confused Iceland and Greenland, and demonstrated that he doesn't understand how NATO works. The infamous draft-dodger also seemed to call Truman and Eisenhower "stupid" for not just taking Greenland after WWII. Nevertheless, his threat to somehow get the island is undermining our international rules-based order. Plus, the secret, imperfect alliance in Congress that is blocking anti-trans legislation, the growing Dem opposition to the DHS funding b...

Jan 21, 202649 min

David Plouffe: Democrats Have to Run Against Their Party

The Republican Party may be deeply unpopular, but the Democratic Party is even more so. The Dems' brand is weak despite the success of the off-year elections in 2025. To have a shot at winning back the Senate in the midterms, and the White House in 2028, the most successful Dems will be the ones who run against the status quo of their own party. In the meantime, Dems should be aggressively holding Republicans responsible for the tariffs, the threat against Greenland, and the terrorizing of Minne...

Jan 20, 20261 hr

Bill Kristol: Trump Is Humiliating Us

The president's demented rant that the United States has to take Greenland because the Nobel committee has not awarded him his much coveted peace prize is farcical and embarrassing—we are in 25th Amendment territory. At the same time, Trump's alternate claim that conquering the island is about being tough on Russia is so phony since he's busy trying to help give Ukraine to Putin. Meanwhile, ICE agents' constant videotaping of members of the public may be tied to their use of facial recognition s...

Jan 19, 202649 min

Wright Thompson: The Ghosts of Mississippi

Official Mississippi doesn't really want to talk about the murder of Emmett Till—or teach about the murder of Emmett Till. Almost 71 years later, the intentional attempt to erase the crime lives on. On this MLK Day weekend, Wright joins Tim to discuss the role of history and black history in our public consciousness. Meanwhile, Trump and MAGA are busy trying to rewrite the history of modern-day political violence, including the thuggery of ICE agents. Plus, a ranking of the best SEC college town...

Jan 16, 20261 hr 5 min

Sam Stein: Trump Is Trying to Instigate Unrest

For some reason, the president thinks he is winning the news cycle by occupying a great American city and ordering his agents to violently confront U.S. citizens. But polling and anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise. At the same time, Dems have got to stop tying themselves up in knots over what language to use about ICE. Just keep the messaging fight focused on Trump, Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, and ICE. Plus, a strike on Iran is looking less likely, Jeff Bezos is a chicken and should sell The...

Jan 15, 202652 min

Mark Hertling: The Cowards of ICE

To the people who have actually served in war zones—and been up close and personal in real do-or-die situations—the masked, heavily armed agents who are stalking our streets are thugs and cowards. And they would be nobodies without the badges and guns that have been gratuitously handed to them. Meanwhile, amid all the action around Venezuela, Russia's relentless attacks on Ukraine's power sources in the dead of winter is being overlooked by much of the American media. And Trump's fixation with G...

Jan 14, 202653 min

Susan Glasser and Jacob Soboroff: A Dangerous Lame Duck

Trump's low approval ratings may be giving people the idea that he is weak and disempowered. But Trump backed into a corner could well be more unconstrained and more dangerous—and it could also fuel his imperialist ambitions toward Greenland, an island he has been obsessed with owning since his first term. Meanwhile, DHS always knew people would die because of their mass deportation efforts and it still wholly accepted the risk of its military-style operations. But the opposition on the street i...

Jan 13, 20261 hr 6 min

Bill Kristol: This Is Accelerationist Authoritarianism

Grandpa Trump looked like he was losing the pep in his step at the end of the year. But with him threatening the independence of the Fed, justifying the killing of an American in cold blood for teasing a federal agent, and toying with the idea of taking an ownership stake in oil companies, he's now dramatically ratcheting up his authoritarian tendencies. At the same time, he's losing sight of America First through his Venezuela distraction—and opening the door to challenges from MAGA true believ...

Jan 12, 202656 min

Anne Applebaum and Jacob Frey: Using Lies to Justify Violence

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says ICE descended on his city with hopes of rounding up undocumented Somalis. When agents couldn't find any, they started driving around terrorizing people. And now with the killing of Renee Good, they are clearly making the city less safe. But federal officials are also lying about Good's actions before the shooting and her character—and with their bold claims of absolute immunity for ICE agents. More broadly, the administration is trying to intimidate ordinary cit...

Jan 09, 20261 hr 9 min

Ryan Grim: An Unconscionable Reaction to a Summary Execution

Most law enforcement departments train officers not to stand in front of vehicles—or shoot at moving ones—but masked ICE agents in Minneapolis did just that after descending on Renee Good's Honda Pilot and spitting out conflicting instructions to her. Not only did the president of the United States lie about the condition of the officer who shot her, Vance and Noem disparaged the deceased 37-year-old mother of three. Meanwhile, Americans are not down with the idea of the US running Venezuela. An...

Jan 08, 20261 hr 7 min

George Conway: Trump Is a Vampire

Biden and Merrick Garland thought Trump would just go away, but malignant narcissists must be made to leave. And with Congress not fulfilling its constitutional obligation to hold Trump accountable for running the country like a mob boss, newly minted congressional candidate George hopes to join those Democrats on the Hill who aren't afraid to investigate—and impeach—the president and his miscreants. Meanwhile, Trump is rambling about postponing the midterms as he orders the military to commit p...

Jan 07, 202650 min

Jonathan Blitzer: The Stars Aligned Against Venezuela

Trump wanted to alpha male and take some oil, Hegseth wanted to bomb something, Rubio wanted Maduro gone, and aggrieved Stephen Miller wanted to bully the weak. The White House eventually settled on Venezuela as the best place to take out its aggressions and drive home its anti-immigration message. And now the administration finds itself depending on an acting Venezuelan president who has a long history of being extremely anti-American. Jonathan and Tim take a deep dive into the back story of ou...

Jan 06, 20261 hr 15 min

Bill Kristol: A Stupid and Insane Foreign Intervention

Toppling the leader of Venezuela looks to be about greed and Trump's vanity. It's not about national security, and is likely to produce bad outcomes—including more repression of ordinary Venezuelans and more refugees fleeing the country. And even the monetary value of plundering a sovereign country's oil is vastly overstated. Meanwhile, fake imagery of Venezuelans celebrating in response to the US intervention are being shared across social media, and a polymarket bet before the strike smacks of...

Jan 05, 202658 min

John Heilemann: The Year Is Ending a Lot Better than It Started

Only six months ago, the wheels felt like they were coming off of America, and our democracy experiment. But since the Epstein case broke wide open, the wheels started to come off Trump instead. And he's not just lost his way in politics but in the broader culture too—with his despicable words about Rob Reiner, his trying to get Jimmy Kimmel fired, and his pedophile cover-up. At the same time, we are likely stuck with his family grift, which will last for generations. Over on the Democratic side...

Dec 31, 20251 hr 12 min

Julie K. Brown: Hiding the Truth in the Epstein Files

The DOJ is releasing random Epstein documents to distract the public, while also intentionally covering the faces of men in images. It's also pulling docs that reveal Trump's name. Epstein's victims think the government's messy release is all designed to protect their not publicly-known perpetrators. Meanwhile, more victims are coming forward to Julie, THE reporter who got the Epstein matter reopened after her investigation of his 2008 deal that no other modern pedophile would ever have received...

Dec 30, 202547 min

Bill Kristol: Trump Has Lost the Plot

After a campaign built on the promise that Trump was going to look out for his voters, he started his administration getting sidetracked by DOGE and Musk's phony ideas about saving money. After that petered out, he got distracted by his need to put his name all over the place. In the process, he's totally forgotten to help his people—or even fake trying to help them. Meanwhile, Trump is trapped in a Groundhog Day of his own making on Ukraine-Russia. Plus, his bruising has now moved to his left h...

Dec 29, 202547 min

Kara Swisher: We're in an 'Eat the Rich' Moment

The year started with America's tech overlords kissing the ring at Trump's inauguration, and it's ending with the public fed up with the ostentatiously rich—and more distrustful of Silicon Valley than ever, particularly on AI. Plus, Kara's key role in the revelations about the relationship between RFK, Jr. and Olivia Nuzzi, Trump is giving away the store to China and setting back university research and innovation by a generation, the AI advances in healthcare are mind-blowing, media companies a...

Dec 26, 202555 min

Tom Nichols: The Buzz Has Worn Off

Six months ago, MAGA world was strutting around with their chests puffed out. But now, many of them are having a blue Christmas over the infighting, the economy, the DOJ's inability to deliver revenge, and Trump's cover-up of child sex traffickers—one of the key things they really cared about. All Trump can think to do is plaster his name on another large object, including most recently a new fleet of warships. Plus, the bourbon shutdown, Bari's getting burned by Canada also airing "60 Minutes,"...

Dec 23, 202553 min

Bill Kristol: This Is Trump's Cover-Up

On the Epstein matter, the current DOJ is not just putting its thumb on the scale for Trump. It's his defense team. Make no mistake: The top two officials at the Justice Department are executing Trump's wishes to cover-up the victims' statements and the details about Epstein's 2008 sweetheart deal. It's the president's cover-up, and the mainstream media needs to call it for what it is. And over at CBS's "60 Minutes," Bari Weiss wants Trump to know she's on the administration's side as well. Mean...

Dec 22, 202559 min

David Frum: Trump and Epstein Were Best Friends

Of all the images of Trump, the only times he seemed to be authentically smiling in the presence of another person was when he was with Jeffrey Epstein. The two of them had the same interests, and other people in the 80s and 90s assumed they were best friends. Over in MAGA land, a proxy war has broken out among rightwing influencers—like Ben Shapiro, Tucker, and Candace—because the economy and the party are in trouble. Plus, SCOTUS rulings and cryptocurrency have created a public corruption free...

Dec 19, 202552 min

Patrick Gaspard: A White House Screamathon

Trump's power of persuasion is failing him on the affordability issue. He even broke MAGA creed on live TV by calling on Americans to trust the word of foreign leaders—who supposedly claim the U.S. economy is golden—over the pain they're feeling at the supermarket and at the pump. Meanwhile, NYC's mayor-elect seems to be understand the zeitgeist: We are not living in a right v. left political moment, but an insider v. outsider one. Plus, what Dems can learn from Mamdani, why the party needs to m...

Dec 18, 20251 hr 7 min

Catherine Rampell and Michael Steinberger: Trump Wants to Cook the Books

POTUS is firing or censoring the statisticians who collect data on health and climate, as well as the kind of experts who could verify his lofty claims of an A++++ economy. And while Vance says that Trump is really turning things around, job losses are rising from his destructive tariff and immigration policies. Plus, the back story on Palantir and how it's helping to facilitate the administration's authoritarian ambitions. Author Mike Steinberger and Catherine Rampell join Tim Miller. show note...

Dec 17, 20251 hr 2 min
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