The Bulwark Podcast

If anyone in America was still thinking that Trump's ties to Epstein were a nothingburger, Trump’s own behavior this week has disabused them of that notion. His panicking and flailing around sure seem exactly like how a guilty man would act.

While the Trump administration is doubling down on fossil fuels, China is annihilating us in the clean energy space. Right now, 75% of all renewable projects anywhere in the world are being built by a Chinese company.

In addition to eviscerating the top leadership at the Bureau, Kash Patel has assigned whole squads of agents to immigration enforcement. Seasoned FBI veterans who used to focus on national security or run RICO investigations are now doing perimeter security during ICE round-ups of kids and grandmas.

The majority of elected Democrats would prefer to talk only about policy, but that's not enough for today's freewheeling new media environment.

With the Epstein case, the conspirator-in-chief has finally found a hoax that MAGA isn't buying—and he's risking his credibility among his newer supporters in the manosphere by continuing to hawk it.

Republicans are creating, and celebrating, an immigration police state financed by their megabill. Our cities will be militarized, we'll have prison camps, more masked agents, and more dehumanization—like their sicko alligator hats.

Trump has moved public opinion against his own immigration policy platform by sending masked agents out to nab people off the street.

Ever the journalist, E. Jean took assiduous notes about her two civil suits against Donald Trump, the only occasions he has been held liable for his lies since he became president.

Thom Tillis finally showed some backbone and opposed Trump—because of the giant Medicaid cuts in the Big Fugly Bill—but now he has to self-deport from the Senate.

USAID was shut down in the name of government efficiency, but instead, we've spent at least $6 billion to dismantle it—and we've killed a lot of kids in the process, despite what Elon and Marco Rubio say.

Trump was so awestruck by Israel's intel infiltration and air supremacy over Iran that he just had to give himself an executive producer credit.

A DSA candidate winning a Democratic primary in New York City is not an ideal laboratory for other Dems to draw lessons from, but Mamdani sounded authentic, he successfully juggled our fragmented media environment, and he had the right message for this cost-of-living moment—as well as the proper amount of party heresy for this anti-establishment age.

While Trump and his administration are the ones politicizing the rule of the law, ignoring due process, and annihilating democratic norms, it's Republicans leaders saying and doing nothing in response that poses a bigger threat to our country and democracy.

Tim and Bill may have different takes on the wisdom of the U.S. bombing of Iran's nuclear sites—and on potential regime change—but they see eye-to-eye on the risks of Trump's ego and his incapable advisers in a dangerous situation.

What if it had been a Harris-Cuban ticket in 2024? Well, it turns out the billionaire entrepreneur had been seriously considered for the VP slot—and we can all dream of a potentially different outcome in the election.

Because half the country so desperately wanted Trump back, we may now be on the verge of attacking Iran because the fake peacenik president wants some credit for Israel's military accomplishments against Tehran.

Iran is in a vulnerable spot for a variety of reasons, and Israel sees this as a stars-aligning moment to decapitate the Iranian state. But if the U.S. helps out, we'll face the same questions we did with Iraq and Afghanistan: Who will run the place? As Tucker had to embarrassingly school Ted Cruz, Iran is a giant country.

NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani joins Tim and Cam for a special edition of the daily pod to discuss making the city more affordable, building more housing, and ending food deserts—as well as antisemitism and Islamophobia.

In contrast to the saddest military junta parade in history, millions of patriotic people took to the streets on Saturday to defend American values and principles against Trump.

On Saturday, Trump would like nothing more than images from Los Angeles of tear gas and balaclava-clad anarchists throwing bottles at Marines to complement video of himself in the stands at his military parade, saluting the troops amid a field of flags.

Trump is outright fabricating a justification for sending Guard troops into Los Angeles, and his directive is not limited only to LA. So, if someone acts violent during a 'No Kings' protest on Saturday somewhere in America, would he deploy the National Guard there too?

Trump keeps wrapping himself in the American flag while while behaving in a very anti-American way—like threatening to shut down protests at his $45 million birthday parade or giving a highly partisan speech in front of soldiers in violation of military policy.

Where is Obama? Where is George W. Bush? A Marine battalion and the National Guard have been deployed in response to a spark Trump set off by sweeping up people who aren't doing anything illegal besides being present here.

Trump and Stephen Miller wanted a backlash against the immigration raids, because even they know that humans will respond when the federal government is snatching people off the street.

Elon went nuclear, accusing Trump of being a pedo, taking credit for his election victory, and calling for his impeachment. Trump in return may try to destroy Musk's businesses, or worse. While the public feud is entertaining—Thursday was one of the best days for Twitter and Steve Bannon—their meltdown is also frightening.

Trump's and Musk's very public breakup may be amusing, but don't lose sight of the fact that DOGE was a failure—despite what the manosphere says.

The lovelorn TACO trader has been hanging by the phone at 2am hoping China's Xi will call him to make a tariff deal. But that call is not coming without America paying a very high price— because world leaders know that Trump is a feckless, desperate negotiator. Meanwhile, Republicans are blowing off Elon's take-down of the reconciliation bill and prepping to turn themselves into roadkill in the midterms. Plus, Scranton Joe went missing in the White House, and the Dems need to stop listening to the very smart and very sophisticated (202) babies who think sharing the right pronoun is more important than kids actually knowing what a pronoun is.

Rahm Emanuel joins Tim Miller.

show notes
Action for Andry: Protest at SCOTUS at 5pm Friday, followed by Free Andry live show

Jamie Dimon is spooked about the bond market, business uncertainty about tariffs is dragging the economy, and it seems like no politician will get serious about our nation's debt until it's too late. Meanwhile, Republicans don't even like their own spending bill since they only lie about it—it's just in service of making Trump happy.

Mike Johnson and Russ Vought outright lied on camera about the proposed Medicaid cuts and the impact they would have on millions of Americans. Marco Rubio lied about the children who are dying because of USAID cuts. And Joni Ernst is reimagining Christianity to be about Jesus teaching his followers not to care about the sick and the poor because they're going to die anyway.

The Trump administration is trying to exert ideological control over every knowledge-producing institution in the country. And the assault on colleges is not only about having fewer highly-educated voters, but also depriving Americans of trusted sources of information.

Adam Kinzinger joined Tim on stage in the Windy City Wednesday night to dis Chicken Trump, who's made bitcoin bros, private prisons, his family and friends—and himself—the main winners in his 'TACO' trade economy.

Our VP used to think his path to power was through the ruling class at Yale Law School.

Democrats need vastly more imagination to confront the enormous challenges the country faces politically, economically, and on climate.

Despite our missteps in some of our more recent wars, we were fighting to bring freedom, democracy, and self-governance to others.

Public corruption used to be a congressman hiding $90,000 in his freezer. Now, we have a president taking "me time" to rake in $40 million from a Chinese crypto billionaire who was facing fraud charges under POTUS 46.

Republicans moved at such lightning speed that even they don't know how many people would lose health insurance— or how much they'd be spiking the deficit with their highly risky and big, ugly turd of a bill.

On deportations and on foreign policy, the Trump administration is swapping out American values and violating everything the U.S. has stood for in exchange for kleptocracy and transactionalism with the world's worst tyrants.

One day Trump sounds like Bernie promising the government will provide for everything.

No, the Trump administration is not focused on the forgotten man or bringing industrial jobs back. Instead, the real estate developer is handing out threats left and right—fresh off his Middle East trip, where he scored numerous deals with Islamofascists for himself, his family, and his cronies.

MAGA is having a performative tantrum calling for James Comey to be jailed over a seashell meme because the daily job of Trump's supporters and Cabinet members is to try to warm his heart—that includes Kristi Noem changing her face and Tulsi firing top intel officials because they told the White House the truth it doesn't want to hear.

American taxpayers may have flown Donald Trump to the Middle East, but he's not there to negotiate on behalf of our strategic or national interests—he's on the prowl for goodies, and happy to make policy changes in return.

The five men on the Supreme Court are so easily triggered and seem to be making law based on their emotional needs.

China sounds downright Reaganesque and is acting like a more stable, attractive trading partner than the country that launched a trade war.

Trump can't abide flying around in crusty, old Air Force One. Qatar—funder of both Hamas and the leading U.S. college Gaza protest group—just happens to have a spare, pimped-out 747 lying around, which they'd like to gift to Trump so he can use that instead.

First, the Vatican chose a Bulwark pope, not an AR-15 loving, immigrant-hating pope. Then, in a major blow to Steve Bannon, Trump pulled his nominee for U.S. attorney in D.C.—forcing the avid TV watcher in the Oval Office to turn to Fox News for the 23rd time to help fill his administration—this time with Jeanine Pirro.

Protest is the new brunch again. We're witnessing historic levels of pro-democracy grassroots engagement across a broad-based movement of everyday people.

The Supreme Court is working hard to tend to Mr. Presidential Immunity's wounds because he just can't abide lower federal court judges telling him he can't kick trans people out of the military, or that the 14th Amendment is a real thing.

Because Donald Trump's stupid trade embargo has us reading shipping charts, we now know that 40% of containership traffic between Asia and the U.S. has been canceled.

Trump 2.0 is showing so little concern for his political standing that even Fox made primetime room for Karl Rove to vent about how he's failing at the fundamentals.

Just imagine Fox's histrionics if a President AOC had said that American kids have too many dolls and that she's raising the price on them. Now the supposedly pro-family administration is doubling down on 'just pay more’ for toys, while it waits for China to blink on tariffs.