The Bulwark

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Catherine Rampell and Andrew Egger break down Donald Trump’s bizarre new interview with Time Magazine, from his claims about having the “highest” IQ to his ever-changing story about how long the war in Iran was supposed to last. They also discuss Trump’s claim that annihilating Iran would create peace, his latest atte...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Finally, some accountability in Washington: Sen. Eric Schmitt’s general counsel and poster-holder is in career limbo after the infamous basketball mix-up in the Jack Smith hearing. And Americans seem to be holding Trump responsible for their economic frustrations—he’s below the Bush Line. Josh Barro explains: We’re no...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sarah Longwell and Andrew Weissmann discuss Jack Smith’s latest Senate testimony, including the questions Republicans didn’t ask about the actual cases against Trump and the Eric Schmitt gotcha that blew up in spectacular fashion. They also dig into the turmoil inside Trump’s DOJ, the fight over White House press acce...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) joins Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling (Ret.) and Ben Parker to share her takes on what she learned from her recent trips to Hungary and Poland and what those lessons could mean for America after the Trump era. Slotkin explains how countries can recover from authoritarianism, why she believes the U.S....

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos and national security reporter Michael Weiss take on the attempted hijacking of a flight bound for Tel Aviv, a suspected plot targeting an air base in Britain, and the troubling signs that Iran may be taking its fight abroad. They also ask whether America is prepared for a renewe...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com If sitting through 16 minutes of Hegseth talking about “fatties,” testosterone, and the wisdom of Newt Gingrich sounds like a lot, become a Bulwark member. We watch this stuff so you don’t have to! Sam Stein and Ben Parker give their takes on Pete Hegseth’s bizarre State of the Force address, from his “no fatties, no...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com The Trio comes together on the daily pod for the first time to give a little taste of the MAGA-land news Sam, Will, and Tim are covering for The Bulwark. The latest developments include speculation that Candace Owens may be a lesbian and that Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds pretended he was Jamaican. He...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Ken Paxton is caught on tape blaming Donald Trump for hurting his Senate campaign, telling a small group of donors that Trump’s Texas convention actually hurt his numbers. The New York Times first reported on the leaked recording, which came from a small Paxton fundraiser where an attendee recorded the conversation. J...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Ben Parker and Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling (Ret.) give their takes on Pete Hegseth’s reported plan to cut twenty percent of the military’s general and flag officers, and what that could mean for military leadership, congressional oversight, and civilian-military relations. They also discuss Hegseth’s push to remake Departm...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim, Sarah, and JVL are all together in-studio. It turns out things are so bad for the GOP, even JVL is hopeful. They discuss Marjorie Taylor Greene calling BS on the GOP's 'caravan' tactic, whether Pete Hegseth could be the administration's fall guy for the Iran war, and a new Marist poll showing Democrats with an al...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Vigilance is still in order, but Trump’s efforts to rig the midterms have so far flopped. And that includes Trump’s self-sabotaging of his own plan to blame China for hacking our voting machines. But should the Dems win back Congress, they’re going to be busy tracing all the money that was stolen for the ballroom, the...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein and Andrew Egger give their takes on Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt’s disastrous attempt to catch former special counsel Jack Smith in a perjury trap during a Senate Judiciary hearing. Schmitt thought he had a smoking gun showing Smith was in Atlanta for a Hawks game on the same day as a controversy involving...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Andrew Egger and Bill Kristol give their takes on Jack Smith’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Smith defended his decision to prosecute Donald Trump and said he would make the same decision regardless of whether Trump were a Republican or Democrat. They also discuss Republicans’ focus on the for...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Why are we in a trade war with Canada, exactly? What was Canada’s alleged transgression? In the latest episode of Receipts , Sam and I discussed how Trump has lost the plot on the whole Canada tariffs thing, which this week transmogrified into an all-out ban on importing certain Canadian goods. Roughly $1 billion of C...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Michael Weiss and Marc Polymeropoulos are back to give their takes on the latest allegations of corruption and counterintelligence concerns surrounding the Trump administration, including Alina Habba’s star-studded wedding and the appearance of FBI Director Kash Patel alongside a former informant who was suspected of...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com The Trump administration stole our tax dollars to run a campaign ad during NFL games on Sunday. They're also breaking the law on congressional funding appropriations—and enjoying rubbing the public's face in all the illegality they're getting away with. In Dayton, The Bulwark had its largest live show ever, and the co...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein and Will Sommer break down the latest drama on the online right, from a bizarre AI video posted by Trump aide Dan Scavino to the growing influence of QAnon conspiracy theories inside Trump world. Will explains why QAnon followers believe Scavino was sending them a coded signal and what the reaction reveals a...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Trump says he’s banning news organizations over negative coverage. Then his own officials go on TV and insist that’s not what’s happening. Will Saletan meticulously breaks down Todd Blanche’s defense of Trump’s press crackdown, Mike Waltz getting confronted with the president’s own words, and the shifting story about...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com This bonus episode of The Next Level was recorded during Bulwark LIVE: Benefit for Springfield on Friday, September 25. Tim, Sarah, and JVL dig into the quieter tactics behind Trump’s deportation crackdown, what Sarah’s Ohio focus groups are saying about Vivek Ramaswamy, Sherrod Brown, John Husted, and Amy Acton, and...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Trump’s White House is racking up losses, picking fights with the press, and increasingly operating without anyone willing to tell the president no. Bill Kristol talks with former Trump White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews about what’s happening behind the scenes, why Republicans are suddenly putting some...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Mona Charen talks with Casey Revkin of Each Step Home about what happens to children and families caught inside the immigration detention system, including U.S.-citizen kids separated from their parents, postpartum mothers separated from infants, and families detained after showing up for routine ICE appointments. Rev...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Catherine Rampell and Will Sommer take on Trump’s escalating war on the White House press, the amateur-hour MAGA media operation stepping in to replace the traditional White House pool, and Byron Donalds’ awkward attempt to put a little distance between himself and Trump. Plus, Kimberly Guilfoyle’s misadventures as am...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Ohio used to be the biggest swing state in the country. It's turned pretty red, (Trump won it by 11 points in 2024) but it's very hotly contested this year, and there's one big overarching local issue driving it. Signal Ohio state government and politics reporter Andrew Tobias joins Sarah to break down the major playe...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com JVL is already in Ohio. Sarah is about to run to the airport. It’s a wheels-off kind of show. This week: * The government seems to have lied to a court again. * JD Vance was the leaker who threatened national security. * Mary Peltola gets caught in context collapse. * Trump had compromat on Susan Collins. * JVL feels...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Trump pulled out all the stops at the state dinner to regale the guy who is working with our enemy: Not only has China been helping Iran target and kill American soldiers, it's also been shipping Tehran component parts for drones and missile guidance systems. Senate Republicans, of course, blocked an effort to end the...