The Bulwark

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller and JVL take a victory lap through some of the most confident predictions from the Iran War's biggest cheerleaders. Scott Jennings, Ben Shapiro, Hugh Hewitt, Mark Levin, and Bari Weiss' bloggers promised total victory, regime change, and a transformed Middle East. Instead, Trump ended up signing a deal with...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Trump is so embarrassed by his own personal vandalism of the Reflecting Pool that he's got the Justice Department investigating his latest conspiracy about bad guys that don't exist. Of course Fox News is happy to oblige by menacing journalists who dared to report on the damage POTUS did to the national monument. Mean...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Eliot reviews the week’s jackassery and offers his thoughts on Juneteenth and the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He then welcomes Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, distinguished professor at Emory University and prolific author. She explains her background as a historian of th...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein and Will Saletan take on the messy first day of U.S.-Iran talks—Trump's threat to seize the Strait of Hormuz and kill negotiators, JD Vance appearing to get publicly snubbed, and the Lebanon clause that may have handed Hezbollah a veto over the whole deal. As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwa...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Bill Kristol sits down with Civil War historian Kevin Levin to examine Trump’s effort to reshape America’s story ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary. Read Civil War Memory As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to short videos, livestreams, and event archives exclusively for Bulwark+...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Mona Charen welcomes military analyst Andrew Fox for a conversation on Trump’s Iran ceasefire, whether America squandered its leverage against Tehran, the growing influence of Qatar and Turkey, Israel’s military and political mistakes, Hamas’s strategy in Gaza, and the battle over public opinion that could shape the f...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Barrels of ink have been spilled about James Talarico, Ken Paxton, Graham Platner, and Susan Collins. For the first time, we’re listening to how swing voters in Texas and Maine are assessing these two races. We hear from 2024 Trump voters in Texas who disapprove of the president, and Mainers who voted for Joe Biden fo...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com JVL and Sonny Bunch take on the bizarre saga of Washington’s algae-filled Reflecting Pool and John Cafaro the Trump-connected donor who landed the contract to fix it. Plus, an unexpected detour into wrestling history, Paul Bearer, and why this whole scandal feels more like a cartoon than real life. As always: Watch, l...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com The Iran war deal is falling apart (already). Israel is turning on Trump. And the two most insipid trad-Cath poasters in America are podcasting together again. Plus: JVL (finally) explains his disdain for the NYT’s DEI Trump apologist. Hit the like button ❤️ and come to the comments so JVL doesn’t get all needy. show...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Obama never thought Trump could win in 2016, perhaps because he underestimated how much the opposition loathed him. At the opening of his new presidential center on Thursday, he spoke of presidents acting with duty, honor, and kindness—even though the current occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is all about destroyin...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com JVL and Catherine Rampell take on the bizarre saga of Trump’s Reflecting Pool contractor, the strange new world where convicted fraudsters are lining up for MAGA pardons, and the MAHA crusade against blue M&M’s—all while Trump’s Iran ceasefire claims leave markets shrugging and investors wondering what, if anything, s...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Will Saletan takes on JD Vance's TV blitz defending the Iran nuclear deal—and checks his claims against the actual text. As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to short videos, livestreams, and event archives exclusively for Bulwark+ members. Add Bulwark+ Takes feed to your player of cho...

On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by my first guest, the great Richard Rushfield, to talk all things TV. What’s the deal with Fox buying Roku? What does the post-peak-TV era look like? And, perhaps most importantly, who is on the Mount Rushmore of television ? All that and more on this week’s episode. Leave your pick for the all-time-top-four TV figures in the comments! This is a public episode...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein, Tim Miller and Will Sommer take on an insane MAGA scandal in DC—fake Secret Service badges, a strip club blowup, tearful confessions about an Iran airstrike that never happened, and an arrest that finally brought the whole charade crashing down. Plus: what exactly is going on with Kari Lake's face? Read Wil...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Donald Trump gave away the store in the second worst treaty signed at Versailles. The bounty POTUS delivered has already started to flow with the lifting of oil sanctions on Iran. The unfreezing of restricted assets—and a $300 billion reconstruction and investment fund—is just around the corner. Trump is even defendin...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein, Brendan Hartnett and Sarah Matthews are going live to cover the mess at Trump's renovated Reflecting Pool. As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Bulwark+ Takes is home to short videos, livestreams, and event archives exclusively for Bulwark+ members. Add Bulwark+ Takes feed to your player of choice...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller and JVL attempt to read JD Vance’s new memoir 'Communion' and discover a book full of contradictions, self-owns, political rationalizations, and some very revealing clues about the vice president’s worldview. Buy Vance's new book (or don't!): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GTQ68YZN CORRECTION: Talking about a...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Journalist Michael Weiss, editor of The Insider, and retired CIA veteran Marc Polymeropoulous take over The Bulwark for the kind of conversation they have with each other every day about the intelligence world, what the hell is happening in the United States and what it means around the globe. As they started recordin...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sarah Longwell is joined by law professor and Strict Scrutiny co-host Leah Litman to discuss the White House’s plan to suspend habeas corpus, JD Vance’s push to invoke the Insurrection Act, the Gavin Newsom investigation, and the 19 Supreme Court decisions that could reshape American democracy before the midterms. Wat...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com The pro-Israel hawks are still reeling from the terms of Trump's initial deal with Iran, which grants access to funds that had been frozen because of the regime's support of terrorism. The neocons got bamboozled by Trump, like so many before them—in this case believing that he would always have Israel's back. On the d...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein, Andrew Egger, and Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling (Ret.), went live to cover Trump's appearance at the G7 conference. Plus, the gang reacts to the U.S. unveiling the text in their official MOU with Iran.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling (Ret.) and Ben Parker are joined by Tom Nichols to discuss the week's military news.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com JVL, Sarah Longwell, and Tim Miller discuss the Iran "deal" that isn't really a deal—a memorandum of understanding that lifts sanctions immediately and hands Iran $300 billion while punting everything else down the road. Then: the war hawks who drummed up the Iran war—Thiessen, Graham, Levin, the WSJ editorial board —...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Vance is trying to sell the administration’s initial deal with Iran as a signal that the regime is ready to end its reign of terror and join the community of nations. Never mind that the CIA is outwardly saying that the Iranians can’t be trusted and that the developing agreement looks like a disaster waiting to happen...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein and JVL give their takes on a bombshell new report from the Washington Post showing Trump's White House ballroom project could cost more than $600 million with taxpayers footing half the bill. They break down the ballooning price tag, the demolition of the East Wing, and whether a future president should jus...