The Next Level

Tim, Sarah, and JVL are back together for their last Next Level before Election Day. They discuss Marco Rubio helping Flavio Bolsonaro take refuge in the United States after losing Brazil's presidential election, RFK Jr's wildly racist comments about Arabs in Michigan, and the continued fallout from Vivek Ramaswamy's ghoulish ad against Amy Acton. Then: a Kansas City Star report finds Roger Marsha...

The Secret Podcast is exclusively for paid members of The Bulwark. Join on Apple Podcasts, YouTube or Substack. Sarah and JVL talk: Elon dropping another $76m on the election Fake pollsters Trump grifters getting cut loose by Big Orange But the big story is Vivek Ramaswamy working with a woman who aided and abetted a pedophile-rapist. You know the ad we’re talking about. Sarah did a focus group wi...

This week’s Next Level starts out as a Secret Podcast episode, before Tim and Sam crash the stage. They discuss Sarah’s interview with Pete Buttigieg, why Jon Ossoff might be history’s choice for 2028 whether he likes it or not. Plus: some hopium on some key races across the South. Then the crew turns to Vivek Ramaswamy’s despicable ad featuring Amy Acton’s estranged mother, and whether JD Vance m...

Sarah and JVL talk about: The Media obsessing over the wrong problem with Katie Zacharias. The Alina Habba - Ric Grenell cage match. Kimberly Guilfoyle’s stylist Ruby Rhod Fancy James. Another big inflation jump. And that’s before they get into Senate polling numbers looking really bad for Republicans. You want schadenfreude with a side of hopeium? The best friends have you covered.  Show notes: I...

Note: We're doing something a little different today. Paid members of the Bulwark get exclusive access to a extra, super, jumbo-sized TNL with a play-by-play breakdown of Katie Zacharia's disastrous press conference. It's a lot of fun, and you should definitely join to see it. You can join on Apple Podcast, Substack and YouTube. Tim, Sarah, and JVL are back together for a super-sized, off-the-rail...

The Secret Podcast is available exclusively to paid members of The Bulwark on Apple Podcasts, Substack and YouTube. Elon Musk threatened to destroy Trump’s Republican allies. Now he’s spending hundreds of millions to keep them in power. Sarah Longwell and JVL discuss Musk’s humiliating surrender, the billionaires lining up behind Trump, the MAGA smear campaign against James Talarico, and why Trump...

Full episodes of The Secret Podcast are available exclusively to paid members of The Bulwark. You can join on Apple Podcasts, YouTube and at https://thebulwark.com . If you want to join, you're in luck: We’re running a 30% off October Surprise sale , so it’s a great time to get the full Secret Podcast and all of our members-only reporting. Sarah and JVL break down Jon Ossoff’s Terminator-style des...

Will Sommer joins Sarah and JVL for a wild, wild show. They congratulate Kash Patel on his engagement, discuss JVL's Triad on the White House reporter-turned-press staffer from Real America's Voice. Then: Megyn Kelly's ghoulish rant against Cornell's Jane Doe, and whether we're happy to see John Roberts experiencing public shame. Finally: Two VERY weird campaign ads, one filled with weird innuendo...

Full episodes of The Secret Podcast are available exclusively to paid members of the Bulwark. Join on Substack, YouTube or Apple Podcast. 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 V...

Tim, Sarah, and JVL are all together in-studio. It turns out things are so bad for the GOP, even JVL is hopeful. They discuss Marjorie Taylor Greene calling BS on the GOP's 'caravan' tactic, whether Pete Hegseth could be the administration's fall guy for the Iran war, and a new Marist poll showing Democrats with an almost-too-good-to-be-true lead on the generic congressional ballot. Later: Did Sco...

Live from benefit supporting the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, and JVL dig into the quieter tactics behind Trump’s deportation crackdown, what Sarah’s Ohio focus groups are saying about Vivek Ramaswamy, Sherrod Brown, John Husted, and Amy Acton, and just how big the 2026 Senate map could get. Plus, as conservative media struggles to defend Trump, the trio hold...

Full episodes of The Secret Podcast are available exclusively to paid members of the Bulwark on Apple Podcasts, Substack and YouTube. JVL is already in Ohio. Sarah is about to run to the airport. It’s a wheels-off kind of show. This week: - The government seems to have lied to a court again. - JD Vance was the leaker who threatened national security. - Mary Peltola gets caught in context collapse....

Sarah's back from the book tour! The gang discusses Sarah's Focus Group Newsletter, George W. Bush's fundraiser for Republican Senate candidates (we thought he was staying out of politics?) Then they get into Trump's ban on CNN, MSNOW, and POLITICO from the White House press pool, and whether we still care. Sarah also has some words about Zohran Mamdani sharing a podium with Donald Trump. Then, th...

Sarah and JVL are together again and JVL is raging. The president of the United States accused the Democratic party plotting to assassinate him and . . . everyone just pretends it didn’t happen. Diesel prices are going to the moon. Trump wants to demolish the Kennedy Center. Joe Manchin came back from the grave to endorse Susan Collins. And there’s a 90 percent chance that AI doesn’t kill everyone...

JVL's on the west coast for Sarah's book event, and he, Tim, and Andrew Egger discuss Mitch McConnell's triumphant (?) return to the Senate, Donald Trump casually floating conspiracy theories over the Butler, PA assassination attempt, and Thomas Massie's articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth. Then, they turn their attention to a New York Times poll with some GREAT news for Democrats in the...

The Secret Podcast is a special bonus just for paid members of The Bulwark. If you like this preview, become a member at thebulwark.com , on YouTube, or through Apple Podcasts. JVL and Bill Kristol look at the increasingly messy fight to succeed Trump, from JD Vance and Don Jr. to Tucker Carlson, as Trump keeps the possibility of a third term hanging over the party. Plus, the war with Iran is gett...

Tim, Sarah, and JVL discuss Trump's Labor Day Weekend with his favorite person, Corey Lewandowski's possible ‘light extortion,’ and whether Trumpworld will circle the wagons around him. Plus: why the GOP's midterm convention shows Trump losing his fastball, ABC News's bizarre framing of Rudy Giuliani's Islamophobic comments about Zohran Mamdani, and John Fetterman's total lack of interest in doing...

Today Sarah and JVL try to figure out who’s worse: John Fetterman or Susan Collins. (Give us your answer in the comments.) Also, the Big Orange Arch is coming. And we chew over Doug Sosnik’s recommendations for the Democratic party. It’s a big show. Weight Loss by Hims offers access to affordable FDA-approved GLP-1 medications, including the Wegovy® pill and Wegovy® pen, with personalized treatmen...

Tim, Sarah, and JVL discuss the U.S. Supreme Court letting Trump’s ballroom go ahead (for now), why JVL thinks John Roberts is the Susan Collins of the Supreme Court, and whether Sarah is warming up to tearing down the ballroom in 2029. Plus: Trump says Kristen Welker should be punished for pointing out that his endorsed candidates are losing more often, and JVL wonders whether Republicans will ha...

Full episodes of The Secret Podcast are a special perk just for paid members of the Bulwark. We put almost every video out for free, because we don't think you can save the country from behind a paywall. This is one of the rare things we do reserve just for members. Come ride with us. - Full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/py-SBnizZ3U - Full episode on Substack: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/m...

Tim, Sarah, and JVL are back together for a JAM-PACKED show. They discuss: -Dolly Parton's passing and her legacy. -America's war (not the Iran war, our trade war with Canada), and why the rest of the world can't count on American anymore--even if Democrats win in 2028. -Sarah's Focus Group Podcast episode from Georgia--which Tim found pleasant (for once). -The South Carolina primary runoff, and w...

The Secret Podcast with JVL and Sarah is exclusively for paid members of the Bulwark on YouTube, Substack and Apple Podcasts. --- Sarah and JVL did a BIG show today. Sample awesome: Sen. Darlene Graham says that voters in South Carolina don’t care about Taiwan—they care about boys playing girls sports. Spoiler: There are exactly zero (0) boys in South Carolina playing girls sports. Top CIA analyst...

Tim, JVL, and Andrew Egger discuss: -(Yet another) story of a former Trump voter seeing a loved one run into the immigration policies he voted for. -The faux outrage from MAGA-world at Sen. Jon Ossoff pointing out that Donald Trump and Natalie Harp travel together a lot. -Karoline Leavitt leaving the White House, and who might come next. -The Florida primary, and how Trump's hand-picked candidate...

Full episodes of The Secret Podcast are available only to paid members of The Bulwark. You can join on Substack, YouTube or Apple Podcasts! Lots of stuff this week. (1) There are still balcony seats left for the Best Friends Show in NYC on September 8. Come sell out the 92nd Street Y with us! You can get tickets here. If we sell this show out, JVL will do something nuts. (2) Sarah, Tim, Sam and I...

Tim, Sarah, and JVL are BACK TOGETHER after a month apart. They discuss: -Bill Cassidy’s pathetic, weepy floor speech before casting the deciding vote to confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General. -What Tucker Carlson is up to these days…from interviewing Hunter Biden, to a monologue that sounds a LOT like the prelude to a presidential campaign. -DSA-aligned Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate France...