The Bulwark

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Will Saletan breaks down Donald Trump’s shocking pardon of Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras convicted of trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States. Since the pardon, Republican senators have been asked to explain it, and the results have been excruciating. As always: Watch,...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller and Andrew Egger give their takes on Donald Trump’s rally at the Mount Airy Casino Resort, where the supposed “affordability” message was instead swallowed by recycled riffs, Somali rants, and compliments about his staffers’ lips. As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to shor...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, and JVL sort through a wild week: GOP women turning on Mike Johnson, MTG flexing her new “America First” identity, Elise Stefanik scrambling as a primary threat appears in her race for NY governor, Trump’s snoozy decline, Hegseth’s utter incompetence around Venezuela, and the fight over tar...

Heaping scorn and disdain on Europe, Trump called its countries decaying and its leaders weak, but the U.S. likely needs Europe more than they need us. And while POTUS is whining that Zelensky won’t consider his rigged deal with Putin, the corruption of Trump’s negotiating team is off the charts, with Witkoff and Kushner trying to work a land deal rather than a peace treaty. Meanwhile, the boat bo...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein sits down with CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski to discuss Pete Hegseth’s past comments on military law and unlawful orders. Kaczynski unearthed video of Hegseth defending troops for refusing illegal orders—something he now attacks Democratic lawmakers for saying. Read more of Andrew’s work: https://www.cnn.com/2025/1...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com ProPublica’s Justin Elliott talks with Tim Miller about a fresh set of Trump-connected mortgage records that deserve a closer look. Justin’s story: https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-mortgage-fraud-florida-principal-residences As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to short videos,...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller joins Nicolle Wallace to take on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s 60 Minutes spin, Trump’s meltdown at CBS, and the slowdown in his schedule as images of him dozing off in meetings keep surfacing. Watch Deadline: White House on MSNOW: https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house As always: Watch, listen, and leave a com...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com JVL is joined by Catherine Rampell and Sonny Bunch to give their takes on the wild Warner Brothers takeover drama and the surprising role Jared Kushner is playing in Hollywood’s biggest bidding war. we break down how Kushner and Trump allies are shaping the bidding war and why Paramount and Netflix are fighting over W...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein, Tim Miller, and Will Sommer give their takes on the wild Benny Johnson vs. Milo Yiannopoulos feud that started with with gay allegations, lawsuit threats, and MAGA chaos. Even George Santos somehow becomes the voice of reason in this mess. We dig into the political infighting, factional battles over TPUSA’s...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com ICE and Border Patrol are kidnapping people in the suburbs near New Orleans based on racial profiling—it’s like the South of 70 years ago. Mini Greg Bovino cares far more about his video team capturing him menacing and harassing people going about their lives than he does about due process and the Fourth Amendment. Bu...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller takes on the jaw-dropping story of GOP Rep. Cory Mills with guest Roger Sollenberger—the reporter who’s spent nearly a year digging through Mills’s financial records, sex scandals, secret religious conversion, and his bizarre “rescue mission” abroad. Read Roger’s article on Substack, “‘George Santos With a...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com The Economist’s John Prideaux discusses the lavish gifts and other forms of corruption in Trump’s Washington.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller takes on the ICE raids unfolding in Louisiana, exposing how the operation leans on cruelty, spectacle, intimidation, and political theatrics instead of real public safety. As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to short videos, livestreams, and event archives exclusively for B...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Eric and Eliot return from Thanksgiving to dissect the revelations from the Washington Post about the double-tap strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat in September. They discuss whether the strike was a war crime, the resignation of SOUTHCOM Commander Admiral Alvin Holsey, and the administration’s larger objective...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein talks Donald Trump’s chaotic pardons, from Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar to the Honduran ex-president, and the political mess they’ve left for Republicans to attempt to explain. As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to short videos, livestreams, and event archives exclusively...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Bill Kristol is joined by Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia to discuss the boat strikes, what really happened, and the latest intelligence raising new questions. 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 car...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com John Avlon talks with former Rep. Steve Israel about his new historical thriller ‘The Einstein Conspiracy’, Israel’s life as a small bookstore owner, the politics of Long Island, rising antisemitism, and the reforms he thinks could fix American democracy. Buy The Einstein Conspiracy : https://www.amazon.com/Einstein-C...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein highlights 16-year-old cancer patient Mikaela Naylon, who spent her final days lobbying Congress for the Give Kids a Chance Act, helping revive the long-stalled pediatric cancer research bill, with her story inspiring new momentum and raising cautious optimism it could finally pass. Sam’s piece from Septembe...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Swing voters are pretty fed up with politics in general. They’re often “swingy” because they can’t really stand either party. And in our most recent focus group, they all let political leaders HAVE IT. We also check in with Maine Democratic primary voters on their U.S. Senate race, which is shaping up to be one of the...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein and Will Sommer take on The Blaze’s spectacular pipe-bomb fiasco—from the bogus gait analysis to the wrongly accused Capitol Police officer and the scramble to retract the story once the real suspect was arrested. They discuss how the piece got published, why it collapsed so fast, and whether a brutal defama...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Ben Parker and Catherine Rampell give their take on the absurdity of Donald Trump receiving the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize, a prize that didn’t exist until it was suddenly handed to the most unlikely recipient imaginable. They walk through the surreal ceremony like the Village People performing, the corruption vibes...

Trump is overseeing extrajudicial killings off the coast of Venezuela but nothing was going to stop him from getting a peace prize—even if it’s a fake one from super highly reputable FIFA. He also helped himself to a federal agency that used to work on peace initiatives, but which Elon DOGE’d. Democrats should embrace the spirit of McCain and focus on the massive corruption in the administration a...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sarah and JVL are in meat-space talking about the Donald J. Trump buildings coming soon to a town near you. And also why liberalism needs to fight. But the big topic is all of the feelings they’ve got from being at the annual Bulwark all-hands get together. Warning: Emo JVL is a bit much. The Secret Podcast with JVL a...

On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Scott Mendelson of The Outside Scoop , whom I’ve tasked with answering a very simple question: Is there a good business case to be made for rebooting the Rush Hour franchise or is it merely a (very odd) sop to Donald Trump and his wife’s chronicler, Brett Ratner? (:47). Then we discussed Zootopia ’s crazy popularity in China. (14:16) We taped this episode be...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller and JVL take on the wildly conflicting stories coming out of Congress after lawmakers watched the same “double tap” boat strike video—from Jim Himes’ alarm to Tom Cotton’s macho fantasy version. As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to short videos, livestreams, and event arc...