The Bulwark

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein and former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos give their takes on the flurry of international headlines over the weekend. The Houthis have escalated attacks on Saudi Arabia, including strikes on Riyadh, while Ukraine has launched a major wave of drone and missile strikes on Moscow and Russian energy infrastruct...

Tim Miller is back with another installment in his continuing series on the Republican candidates running in key races across the country. This time it’s Michael Whatley, Trump’s handpicked Senate candidate in North Carolina, whose record includes appointing a convicted child sex offender to a state GOP committee, hard-line abortion politics, financial interests tied to policies he supports, and q...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Bill Kristol talks with Robert Kagan about how Trump’s Iran war is accelerating America’s retreat from the world, leaving allies to fend for themselves while China and Russia gain room to maneuver. They also discuss Trump’s unfinished ambitions in Greenland, Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, and Kagan’s warning that t...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Donald Trump has banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, and this time, he followed through. Will Saletan and Will Sommer discuss Trump’s escalating attack on the press, his claim that the outlets can return if they start covering him more favorably, and what the crackdown could mean for journalists acro...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Ben Parker and Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling (Ret.) break down the latest developments in the Iran war, including reports that AI-generated intelligence nearly led the U.S. military to board a Chinese vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. They discuss the dangers of relying on false intelligence, the importance of human oversight,...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Recorded on Monday, Sept. 14 at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Sarah and Pod Save America’s Dan Pfeiffer discuss her book, How to Eat an Elephant , what focus groups are, why she does them, and she uncorks some fresh focus group content on-stage. Sarah will be back behind the mic next week. Watch, listen, and...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com JVL is joined by Alex Wagner to trace how four conservative power brokers built the legal machine that would reshape the Supreme Court decades later, and how that project helped create the politics we’re living with today. Plus, they break down Samuel Alito’s dissent in the Supreme Court’s mail-ballot ruling and Trump...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Join George Conway, Andrew Egger and Catherine Rampell as they cover the protests at the Kennedy Center.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Bill Kristol talks with Nathaniel Zelinsky, the lead counsel challenging Trump’s efforts at the Kennedy Center, about the president’s demolition threats, the judge putting new limits on what the administration can do, and what happens if Trump simply refuses to obey a court order. Zelinsky explains why this fight over...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com In Greenland, the Trump administration has got tech bros and hedge fund guys running an influence operation there. The aim may be to fulfill Trump's territorial ambitions—or to create a sovereign state run by CEOs. In Venezuela, the administration is imperialistically seizing its gold, oil and other assets with no ove...

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

On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by the one and only Chris McKenna who, alongside writing partner Erik Sommers, co-wrote the highest-grossing film of all time, domestically: Spider-Man: Brand New Day . He broke down the thought process that went into getting Peter Parker back together with his friends, the tricky negotiations between Marvel and Sony over who could use which characters and when...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein and Will Sommer give their takes to The Daily Wire’s bizarre new movie, Run Hide Fight: Infidels . They dig into the film’s deeply anti-Muslim premise, its portrayal of liberals, LGBTQ students and campus progressives, and the strange political fantasy at the center of the story. Will explains the chaotic pl...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Republicans are reeling, the vibes are shifting, and the wave is building. Jesse serves up a particularly optimistic view of the Democrats’ chances in the midterms, with even stretch districts now in play. And ahead of Saturday’s Ole Miss-LSU game, Wright shares how Mississippians are responding to the gutting of the...

Trump is threatening the future of the Kennedy Center if he doesn’t get the recognition he wants. Andrew Egger and George Conway give their takes on Trump’s push to put his name on the institution, his talk of demolishing the building, and the surreal image of Trump looking at a mock-up of the Kennedy Center in ruins. They also discuss the growing clash between the Trump administration and the cou...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com A quick note: Bulwark+ members make shows like the Trio possible, including the substantial workplace hazard of making Will Sommer investigate all these weirdos. Join today and help us keep Will where he belongs: several Chrome tabs deeper into the internet than any sane person should be. Tim Miller, Sam Stein and Wil...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Gas prices are surging and this time, the outlook is getting even uglier. Tim Miller is joined by Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, to break down why oil prices are climbing, why diesel prices are hitting record levels, and why Americans could be facing $7 and $8 diesel this winter. De Haan expl...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com The Fed raised interest rates to curb inflation, as expected, but mortgage rates are surging and flailing Scott Bessent remains the treasury secretary. Meanwhile, the alarm raised in the AI community is not an op despite the backlash from people like Nvidia's Jensen Huang, who seems to get everything he wants from Don...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Mona Charen is joined by Sonny Bunch to talk about The Odyssey for the September edition of The Bulwark Book Club with viewers. Mona and Sonny read Emily Wilson’s translation–the first English translation by a woman–and discuss the differences between the epic poem and Christopher Nolan’s recent film adaptation. Octob...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Ben Parker and Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling (Ret.) give their takes on the rapidly expanding Iran war, from attacks on U.S. military installations and disruptions to oil supplies to the growing conflict with the Houthis and the strain on American forces across the Middle East. They discuss the potential economic consequence...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Sam Stein is joined by Chris Whipple, who wrote in Vanity Fair about the remarkable political transformation of J.D. Vance, from a young Trump critic at Yale Law School to Trump’s vice president and a potential MAGA successor. They dig into Vance’s behind-the-scenes efforts in 2016 to help Hillary Clinton defeat Trump...

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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Trump is raging at the Supreme Court after his own appointees helped block his administration’s mail-ballot rules, and George Conway joins Sam Stein to discuss the ruling, Trump’s extraordinary attack on the justices he picked, and what could come next as the midterms approach. Then things take a sharp turn as they wa...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com The co-author of the signature book inside Trump 2.0 says the media only knows 5% of what is happening inside the administration—particularly when it comes to national security, the money-making, and the self-dealing. Jonathan does have new reporting about how the administration keeps pretending that our military is n...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Bill Kristol and guest host Ben Parker break down the latest New York Times/Siena polling showing Democrats with a significant advantage on the generic congressional ballot heading into the midterms. They discuss why Democrats are now leading Republicans on the economy, cost of living, immigration, and foreign wars. T...