The Bulwark

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein and Tim Miller break down the shocking video from Minneapolis where an ICE agent fatally shot an American woman in her car. Sam and Tim give their take on the deadly escalation of federal ICE operations, and the dangerous spin already coming out from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. As always: Watch, listen, and l...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com 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...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein talks with Rep. Ritchie Torres about the explosive rise of political prediction markets—and the serious corruption risks we face. As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to short videos, livestreams, and event archives exclusively for Bulwark+ members. Don’t care for video? Use...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Five years after January 6th, the diehards came back to the scene of the crime. Pardoned rioters, conspiracy theories, and a fierce counterprotest collided on the National Mall. Jared Poland gives his take to Sam Stein on what he found from reporting on the ground as Americans argue again over what really happened on...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sarah Matthews was inside Trump’s White House on January 6. Matthews, the former deputy press secretary explains to Sarah Longwell what it was like watching the Capitol attack from the West Wing, why Trump refused to meet the moment, and how that day finally pushed her to resign. Five years later, she reflects on Repu...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sarah, Tim and JVL discuss the legality and consequences of the Venezuela operation, the emerging split between “America First” and “Trump First,” Stephen Miller’s grotesque worldview, and why Greenland suddenly feels less hypothetical. They also debate the legacy of neoconservatism and Iraq, MAGA influencer drama, an...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com 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 adminis...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joins Sam Stein and Lauren Egan to give his take on why Trump’s Venezuela policy risks another disastrous war. A veteran of the Iraq War, Gallego says the administration is lying about its intentions, prioritizing oil interests and deportation deals over stability and democracy. He also discu...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Five years after January 6, Bill Kristol sits down with Tom Joscelyn, the lead writer of the House January 6 Committee report, to assess where the country stands today. They give their takes on why January 6 was not an endpoint, but the beginning of a new political reality: one defined by a lack of accountability with...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com JVL and Jonathan Cohn give their take on the shocking changes coming from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services. The federal government is now recommending fewer vaccines for American children, including RSV and Hep B, while flu, COVID-19, and rotavirus vaccines move to “shared clinical decis...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com 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 ove...

Senator Mark Warner joins Sam Stein to give his take on the Trump administration’s dramatic actions in Venezuela, congressional oversight, and what comes next. Warner warns that extracting a foreign leader, sidelining Congress, and talking openly about “running” other countries reflects an imperial mindset that America has spent decades trying to move away from. As always: Watch, listen, and leave...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Trump promised a manufacturing comeback and cheaper prices. Instead, jobs are shrinking, costs are rising, and America’s economic credibility is taking a hit. Catherine Rampell joins Mona to discuss why the factory revival was always a myth, how tariffs backfired, and why chaos, favoritism, and attacks on rule of law...

A recording from The Bulwark’s live video reacting to the news that Tim Walz is dropping out of the MN Gov race. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thebulwark.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Will Saletan takes on Donald Trump’s post-invasion claims about Venezuela and Maduro, putting Marco Rubio into a series of awkward Sunday show cleanups on war powers, oil, and pardons that exposes just how much of Trump’s story doesn’t add up. As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to sh...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Bill Kristol and Sarah Longwell discuss Bill's thoughts on possible paths 2026 could take—from a democratic rebound to a far darker slide. As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to short videos, livestreams, and event archives exclusively for Bulwark+ members. Don’t care for video? Use t...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com John Avlon sits down with Oliver Libby to talk about why the American Dream feels out of reach—and what it would actually take to fix it. From healthcare and housing to energy, infrastructure, and the crisis of trust in institutions, they make the case for a “strong floor, no ceiling” approach rooted in practical poli...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein and Sonny Bunch take on new reporting on Donald Trump’s health—from repeated cognitive tests and confusing medical disclosures to visible signs of aging and a White House press operation that won’t give straight answers. Read the WSJ article: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/as-signs-of-aging-emerge-trump-respond...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein, Mark Hertling, Sarah Longwell, Ben Parker and Joe Perticone cover the breaking news about the Venezuela regime change operation and react to the Trump administration’s press event. Please note: The population of Venezuela was incorrectly stated during this conversation as "about 90 million." It is about 30...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sarah started doing focus groups in 2018 and 2019 hoping to save the Republican Party from Trump—by finding a primary challenger who wouldn’t embarrass themselves. Instead, she discovered voters who were fine with Trump, and she picked up a years-long addiction that turned into this show. We listen to audio from Sarah...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sarah is off this week so Andrew Weissmann joins Sam Stein to explain why the Epstein files rollout has become a legal and political disaster—from blown deadlines and redactions to the DOJ’s credibility crisis. They also discuss Supreme Court’s spotty pushback against the administration, Trump’s use of military power,...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com The Bulwark team makes their predictions for 2026—from MAGA infighting and Trump’s fading grip on power to economic fallout, media chaos, a midterm backlash, and changes to Trump’s cabinet. As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to short videos, livestreams, and event archives exclusivel...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com 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 tr...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com From the Trump–Elon Musk Twitter war that briefly melted everyone’s brain, to the election of the Bulwark Pope, and the moments of real tragedy and moral collapse, the year of 2025 delivered a nonstop barrage of chaos, absurdity, and consequence. The Bulwark team looks back at the craziest, most astonishing moments of...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com JVL, Sarah, and Tim look ahead to what’s next—and it (mostly) isn't pretty. From Trump’s plans for the Fed and crypto chaos, to billionaire media consolidation, and some truly unhinged foreign policy ideas, they game out what could break, what might finally collapse Trump’s support, and why things probably have to get...