The Bulwark

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Florida's Democratic nominee for the Senate says average Americans right now are living in the dreams of oligarchs and the super-rich, and it's time for regular people to live their own dreams. The progressive maverick promises to fight to help all Floridians—regardless of party—to be healthy, prosperous, and safe. An...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com A quick note: This is exactly why we want Bulwark reporters out in the field: not just watching the Senate map change from Washington, but talking to the candidates and voters who are changing it. If you value that kind of on-the-ground reporting, you’re in luck: Bulwark+ memberships are 30% for a limited time! Lauren...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling (Ret.) and Ben Parker discuss the U.S. decision to pull B-1 bombers out of the United Kingdom over concerns about Iranian drone attacks, and what the move reveals about the changing nature of modern warfare. They examine the growing vulnerability of U.S. military bases, the risks to American for...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Memberships are 30% off for our October sale, a discount so large that JVL and Sarah would like it known they personally object to it. Please take advantage of this terrible business decision while you can. The gang congratulates Kash Patel on his engagement, discuss JVL's Triad on the White House reporter-turned-pres...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Reporter Michael Weiss and former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos break down a staggering spy scandal involving the former head of German intelligence, an alleged Iranian plot targeting U.S. bombers in Britain, and the increasingly strange questions surrounding Kimberly Guilfoyle in Greece. Plus: why Russian intellige...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Destroying trust in the government is one of Trump's key sources of power, but Michael reports from the front lines of the deep state that there still are good employees serving the public interest. In his new book, Michael celebrates some of the heroes who either managed to survive DOGE—or were stupidly pushed out de...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Catherine Rampell and Sam Stein discuss Scott Bessent’s strange interview, from his “I am the house” bravado and boasts about Melania’s friends to his temper and possible political ambitions. They also react to Trump’s latest pitch for $5,000 checks and his remarkable claim that he knows more about basically everythin...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Ben Parker and Bill Kristol discuss Donald Trump’s increasingly frantic attacks as Republicans face a surprisingly competitive Senate race in South Carolina, including Trump’s use of an anti-trans slur against Democratic candidate Annie Andrews. They examine what the race says about the Republican Party’s standing hea...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller gives his take on the Democrats who are already arguing against investigating Donald Trump’s corporate allies, warning that accountability cannot be sacrificed in the name of avoiding political “retribution.” He argues that companies and executives who participated in or benefited from Trump’s corruption sh...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Catherine Rampell and Jonathan Cohn give their takes on Donald Trump’s latest checks to Americans, including $500 payments to some ACA marketplace enrollees and $90 payments to certain Medicare recipients. They explain where the money is coming from, why the ACA payments may lack clear legal authority, and how diverti...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Like all good demagogues, Trump's appeal works when he's got someone to blame. But it's on his watch that we've got a war-related global food crisis brewing and mass layoffs in Ohio—where Trump just happened to hold a rally over the weekend. So, POTUS is focused on getting his family more money through a new bribery s...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein and Will Sommer give their takes on Kash Patel’s engagement, Benny Johnson facing a lawsuit from two anti-ICE protesters, and The Daily Wire’s new pro-ICE movie being filmed in Livingston, Montana. The film reportedly recreates the shooting of Renee Good before turning it into a fictionalized action story in...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller takes on Vivek Ramaswamy’s attempt to show off his strength at a campaign event, then turns to Jon Ossoff’s message to young voters about why they can’t afford to give in to despair and the case for turning frustration and rage into political action. Plus: Tim’s thoughts about James Baldwin and the long his...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Will Saletan lays out the case against Donald Trump that Jack Smith never got to present at trial. Drawing from Smith’s testimony before Congress, Will looks at the evidence that Trump was repeatedly told the truth about the 2020 election by his own advisers, Republican officials, and Justice Department officials and...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Andrew Egger joins Bill Kristol after an extraordinary 24 hours in Ohio: attending the funeral of 20-year-old Haitian immigrant Pierre Bel, then heading straight to a Trump rally, where he found surprising cracks among Trump supporters even as the MAGA faithful rallied around a visibly lower-energy president. They dis...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com A bombshell New York Times/Siena poll shows Democrats running surprisingly strong across traditionally red states, including Texas, Alaska, Ohio, Iowa, and Kansas. Catherine Rampell and Bill Kristol explain what the numbers actually tell us, why Trump’s erosion with his own voters matters, and whether this is what a r...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Mona Charen and Will Saletan discuss the GOP’s disastrous attempt to ambush Jack Smith, the political warning signs pushing Republicans away from Trump, and what Democrats should actually do if they win Congress. Plus, would impeaching Trump again hold him accountable—or accidentally give JD Vance exactly the opening...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Donald Trump posted Tom Cotton’s private phone number because the Arkansas senator is blocking his push for permanent daylight saving time. Will Saletan and Joe Perticone take on the strange fight, the golf-industry interests behind it, and why Trump is picking on one of his own loyal allies with Republicans already s...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com It’s October, and the political environment is really, really, REALLY bad for the Republican Party. Cook Political Report editor in chief Amy Walter explains how Cook is approaching its race ratings this year, and she and Sarah discuss the ever-growing list of reasons swing voters are mad about the state of the countr...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sarah and JVL are back apart, as God intended. And there’s lots happening: * The new jobs report is bad! * Should Democrats try to impeach Pete Hegseth? * Trump is sending a third aircraft carrier to the Middle East. * And then there are the two interviews. JD Vance seems to be living in one world while mush-brain Don...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sarah Longwell went live with her cohost Ben Parker for an AMA about her new book, How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time .

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com What is going on with Trump's legs? He appears to be wearing a brace and a recent video shows him standing in a most unnatural way—as though he is mid-exorcism. But his apparent health issues don't seem to be stopping the administration from re-escalating against Iran with an additional 10,000 troops on their way to t...

Catherine Rampell and JVL break down the weak jobs report, the impact of immigration and tariffs on the labor market, and the economic challenges facing Trump’s manufacturing agenda. They also discuss Trump’s ideas for dealing with the national debt, including his suggestion that inflation could help pay it off, and what his attacks on the Federal Reserve could mean for America’s borrowing costs....

On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Sean McNulty of The Ankler’s excellent morning newsletter, The Wakeup , to discuss some of the big stories in the news. We start with the Paramount-Skydance/Warner Bros. deal going through its final phases before approval, before heading into some discussion of the federal film tax credits (17:10), and then wrapping up with a discussion of the state of sport...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein and Will Sommer break down the leaked script for the Daily Wire’s upcoming fictional movie Pawn Shop, a pro-ICE thriller set amid an imagined Antifa siege of a Minneapolis pawn shop. They discuss the film’s fictionalized version of the Renee Good shooting, its portrayal of ICE agents, Antifa and MS-13, the “...