The Bulwark

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Will Sommer and Sam Stein are going live to cover the biggest news in the right wing fever swamp. Tickets for our Bulwark Live shows in San Diego and Los Angeles in May: https://thebulwark.com/events

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Steven Pinker joins Mona Charen to discuss why the world is improving in ways most people don’t recognize—and why so many still believe everything is falling apart. They explore the case for Enlightenment values like reason, science, and liberal democracy, the growing backlash from both the left and MAGA world, and ho...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Eric and Eliot discuss Pete Hegseth’s job security amidst the ongoing war with Iran. They recap his contemptuous testimony at a House Armed Services Committee budget hearing and Vice President Vance’s efforts to distance himself from the war through planted stories. They then turn to King Charles III and Queen Camilla...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com On ‘Meet the Press’, Todd Blanche, Trump’s Acting Attorney General, tries to defend the Justice Department’s indictment of James Comey, but the explanation doesn’t hold up particularly well under scrutiny. Sam Stein and Will Saletan take on the flimsy argument, the timeline, and why the case is drawing skepticism, not...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com H. David Baer joins Bill Kristol for Bulwark on Sunday to discuss the lessons of Hungary. Read Baer's article in The Bulwark Tickets for our Bulwark Live shows in San Diego and Los Angeles in May: https://thebulwark.com/events As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to short videos, lives...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com John Avlon talks with Josh Tyrangiel about what AI actually looks like outside Silicon Valley hype. From Operation Warp Speed to quiet upgrades inside the IRS, they walk through real examples where AI improved government—plus why those wins are so rare, how bureaucracy blocks progress, and what a smarter, more effecti...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller talks with Democracy Docket's Marc Elias about the mess unfolding in Louisiana, where votes are already being cast—and now the election itself could be reset. Marc explains the Supreme Court decision reshaping the Voting Rights Act, the rush to redraw maps across multiple states, and why both parties are br...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller, Sam Stein, and Will Sommer discuss a chaotic CNN panel blowup, the strange rise of Scott Jennings as cable news’ go-to defender, and the surreal world of MAGA-themed cruises—from a “Gulf of America” getaway to a gay conservative cruise that left Tim stunned. They talk about the escalating Candace Owens feu...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Usually, an assassination attempt outside a dinner with the president would be a HUGE news event. Instead, the voters in our focus groups weren't talking much about it, and when we brought it up, we heard a LOT of conspiracy theories. We also talked to some Republican voters about whether '86' is really a violent thre...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sarah Longwell is joined by Kyle Sweetser, a former Trump voter and lifelong Republican who is now running for Senate in Alabama as a Democrat. Sweetser explains how Trump-era tariffs impacted his business, why January 6 pushed him into political activism, and why he believes Democrats can compete in deep red states b...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Fox News wouldn't shut up about Hunter and Burisma, but its viewers aren't likely to hear any criticism of Eric and Don Jr. raking it in through government contracts approved by the Trump administration. Unlike in Hunter's case, the U.S. government is paying millions of dollars to the president's sons. Plus, Trump is...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com JVL and Sarah Longwell discuss the signs that voters are starting to regret their Trump vote—and why that doesn’t mean politics is getting any simpler. Gas prices are rising, a gerrymandering arms race is raging and the Supreme Court reshaped the rules. Plus: the Maine race, the rise of populist candidates like Platne...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Catherine Rampell and JVL went live to discuss the week's economic and financial news. Tickets for our Bulwark Live shows in San Diego and Los Angeles in May: https://thebulwark.com/events As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to short videos, livestreams, and event archives exclusively...

Occasionally, someone will ask me if I think they should invest in a movie. My answer is, invariably, the same: you should only invest in movies you really believe in; you should understand that even if you invest, the movie will likely never get made because most movies never do; and you should only invest if you’re willing to lose everything you put in, because even those movies that do get made...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein talks with Jake Sherman about a week of House chaos that somehow ended in a string of wins—key bills passed, a shutdown quietly ended, and hardliners once again backed down. They break down why the threats never stick, how Mike Johnson keeps his conference in line, and why Republicans are still sticking with...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Kate Shaw—ABC News contributor and co-host of the podcast 'Strict Scrutiny'—joins Sarah Longwell to explain a major Supreme Court ruling that reshapes voting rights. Then they discuss a string of notable legal news: a DOJ filing that reads like Trump wrote it himself, Trump suing his own government for $10 billion, an...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller talks with Navy veteran and former NASA Chief of Staff Bale Dalton, who’s running for Congress in a deep red Florida district Democrats usually ignore—but may now be in play. They dig into his opponent, Rep. Cory Mills' the mountain of scandals and lies, and why Trump-era chaos could open the door for an up...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com The bombshell voting rights ruling from the Supreme Court may have been years in the making, but Ossoff sees a tie-in to Trump's sore-loserdom and his inability to accept that black voters in Georgia were responsible for his 2020 defeat. And the senator expects a full-court press to get Alito and Thomas to retire so T...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Enjoy a bonus episode of The Focus Group Podcast—Rachel Janfaza talks with Rotimi Adeoye about why Gen Z feels locked out of the economy. They discuss the “House by 30” idea, why vague promises aren’t cutting it, and how both parties—especially after Trump’s failed affordability pledges—are losing trust with young vot...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein and Jonathan Cohn are going live to cover Trump's newest Surgeon General nominee, Dr. Nicole Saphier, a Fox News contributor and prominent MAHA figure. After pulling Casey Means' nomination, Trump bashed GOP Senator Bill Cassidy for opposing Means. Tickets for our Bulwark Live shows in San Diego and Los Ange...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller was all over MS NOW, talking about Trump’s $400 million “gold ballroom” obsession as his poll numbers slide and voters feel squeezed. He breaks down why the GOP’s usual message machine—coordinated distractions, echo chamber spin, and nonstop attacks—is suddenly falling flat, with backlash over Iran, rising...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim went live to hang out, take questions and talk about some interesting subjects like: Kash Patel's nightmarish few weeks, the coming economic calamity, truly dire approval numbers for Trump, music stuff, and more. Tickets for our Bulwark Live shows in San Diego and Los Angeles in May: https://thebulwark.com/events...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller unloads on the wave of “false flag” theories spreading after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner incident, calling out how quickly people abandon basic facts when politics takes over. Tickets for our Bulwark Live shows in San Diego and Los Angeles in May: https://thebulwark.com/events As always: Watch, l...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein and Will Saletan give their takes on Pete Hegseth’s heated appearance on Capitol Hill, where questions about the $25 billion war with Iran quickly turned into personal attacks and repeated deflections. Hegseth spent much of his time avoiding accountability, focusing instead on blaming Democrats, raising ques...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com At home, POTUS shows how much he wants to be like an Arab despot, plastering his mug all over the place and deploying the Justice Department to fatuously claim that Comey’s use of seashell art can rise to a crime. But on Iran, he seems to have backed off his promise of a short war, and he’s making pretty wimpy threats...