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The Bulwark Podcast

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Tim Miller and guests discuss the latest political news for the flagship podcast of the Never Trump movement and the reality-based community. Every weekday we provide insightful analysis, political hot-takes, an unabashed defense of liberal democracy and long-form interviews that cut through the "both-sides" BS. Plus a few laughs to help you wash down the crazy.

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Tim Miller and guests discuss the latest political news for the flagship podcast of the Never Trump movement and the reality-based community. Every weekday we provide insightful analysis, political hot-takes, an unabashed defense of liberal democracy and long-form interviews that cut through the "both-sides" BS. Plus a few laughs to help you wash down the crazy.

Bulwark+ members can get a totally ad-free version of the show delivered right to their favorite podcast player.
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Episodes

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Trump keeps filling out his administration with the unqualified and the inexperienced, including the recent addition of borderline literate hack Dan Bongino at the FBI.
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Trump keeps filling out his administration with the unqualified and the inexperienced, including the recent addition of borderline literate hack Dan Bongino at the FBI.
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Published 2025-02-21

Adam Kinzinger: It's Starting to Happen

49 min
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Boos at a Republican town hall in Fulton County, and boos at the White House: We're beginning to see signs of people refusing to be ruled by unelected billionaires, oligarchs and CEOs.
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Boos at a Republican town hall in Fulton County, and boos at the White House: We're beginning to see signs of people refusing to be ruled by unelected billionaires, oligarchs and CEOs.
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If Marco Rubio was NOT playing the long game masquerading as a patriotic neocon who gets placed in the State Department to then give Russia everything it wanted, what would he be doing differently?
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If Marco Rubio was NOT playing the long game masquerading as a patriotic neocon who gets placed in the State Department to then give Russia everything it wanted, what would he be doing differently?
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Crypto should be one of the biggest stories out of the Trump administration, but the crypto guys are really good at making it seem more complicated than it is.
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Crypto should be one of the biggest stories out of the Trump administration, but the crypto guys are really good at making it seem more complicated than it is.
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Trump is A-OK with all the murder and mayhem Russia has unleashed on Ukraine, and he's making a mockery of all his enablers who claimed he'd do a Reagan-esque kind of deal. Instead, Ukraine wasn't even invited to the "peace" talks, while Trump tries to impose an extortion deal on the Ukrainian people for daring to fight back against the Russian invasion.
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Trump is A-OK with all the murder and mayhem Russia has unleashed on Ukraine, and he's making a mockery of all his enablers who claimed he'd do a Reagan-esque kind of deal. Instead, Ukraine wasn't even invited to the "peace" talks, while Trump tries to impose an extortion deal on the Ukrainian people for daring to fight back against the Russian invasion.
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Firing air traffic controllers over a busy holiday travel weekend, cutting a veterans crisis hotline, axing and then rehiring people who maintain and keep our nuclear arsenal safe: Musk and his minions aren't trying to "fix" the government.
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Firing air traffic controllers over a busy holiday travel weekend, cutting a veterans crisis hotline, axing and then rehiring people who maintain and keep our nuclear arsenal safe: Musk and his minions aren't trying to "fix" the government.
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Unlike the cowardly Republican senators who are rolling over in the face of Kash Patel's bald-faced lies, the men and women of the Justice Department are taking their oaths of office seriously by refusing to comply with a blatantly political order to dismiss corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.
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Unlike the cowardly Republican senators who are rolling over in the face of Kash Patel's bald-faced lies, the men and women of the Justice Department are taking their oaths of office seriously by refusing to comply with a blatantly political order to dismiss corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.
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While Elon claims he's storming the government to cut waste, he's also getting himself a big fat check for $400 million from the State Department for Tesla armored vehicles—though administration officials are now trying to hide the grift because the Trump glow does not extend to the weird dude.
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While Elon claims he's storming the government to cut waste, he's also getting himself a big fat check for $400 million from the State Department for Tesla armored vehicles—though administration officials are now trying to hide the grift because the Trump glow does not extend to the weird dude.
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If Republican senators had any shred of dignity left, they'd demand that Kash Patel answer why he brazenly lied under oath to them about the purge of agents at the FBI.
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If Republican senators had any shred of dignity left, they'd demand that Kash Patel answer why he brazenly lied under oath to them about the purge of agents at the FBI.
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Published 2025-02-11

Tom Malinowski: Fight the Power, Dems

57 min
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The Democratic Party was made for different times, when rules were followed. But to preserve the basic power of Congress, and to prove that the Constitution is worth the paper it's printed on, the troublemakers in the Dem caucus have to get busy fighting over tariffs and a looming budget deal.
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The Democratic Party was made for different times, when rules were followed. But to preserve the basic power of Congress, and to prove that the Constitution is worth the paper it's printed on, the troublemakers in the Dem caucus have to get busy fighting over tariffs and a looming budget deal.
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Published 2025-02-10

Bill Kristol: The Law Be Damned

47 min
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The new administration has been routinely breaking the law, including late on Friday when it announced it was cutting funding for universities doing medical research—specifically in violation of legislation passed in Congress last year.
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The new administration has been routinely breaking the law, including late on Friday when it announced it was cutting funding for universities doing medical research—specifically in violation of legislation passed in Congress last year.
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Partly because of the courts and partly because the White House keeps stepping on rakes or trying to break everything, the Dems who were too chill about Trump pre- and post-election have fully moved into 'threat to the Republic' mode.
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Partly because of the courts and partly because the White House keeps stepping on rakes or trying to break everything, the Dems who were too chill about Trump pre- and post-election have fully moved into 'threat to the Republic' mode.
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Published 2025-02-06

Michael Steele: Gum Up the Works

49 min
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After the dumbest member of the Senate, Tommy Tuberville, was able to block military promotions for months during the Biden administration, Dems should not back down from slowing the roll of Kash and the other remaining abominable nominees.
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After the dumbest member of the Senate, Tommy Tuberville, was able to block military promotions for months during the Biden administration, Dems should not back down from slowing the roll of Kash and the other remaining abominable nominees.
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Published 2025-02-05

Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life

62 min
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With Elon's 20-something operatives running the Treasury Department, it's hard not to feel that we've been severed from reality and a better Earth someplace else.
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With Elon's 20-something operatives running the Treasury Department, it's hard not to feel that we've been severed from reality and a better Earth someplace else.
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Published 2025-02-04

Anne Applebaum: Outside the Rule of Law

56 min
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If the Chinese hacked the U.S. government the way private citizen Elon has, it would be a major act of cyber warfare. And since Elon is a government contractor, he's now in a position to make policy calls that benefit his own companies and hurt his competitors—following the Russian oligarch model.
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If the Chinese hacked the U.S. government the way private citizen Elon has, it would be a major act of cyber warfare. And since Elon is a government contractor, he's now in a position to make policy calls that benefit his own companies and hurt his competitors—following the Russian oligarch model.
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The president of the United States is putting his Jan 6 accomplices in charge of the Justice Department and the FBI, and clearing out any officials who would be willing to investigate the administration.
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The president of the United States is putting his Jan 6 accomplices in charge of the Justice Department and the FBI, and clearing out any officials who would be willing to investigate the administration.
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While Republican senators worked to protect Kash Patel from answering some ver-wee hard questions at his confirmation hearing, not one of them had the audacity to suggest that he is the best person to lead the FBI.
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While Republican senators worked to protect Kash Patel from answering some ver-wee hard questions at his confirmation hearing, not one of them had the audacity to suggest that he is the best person to lead the FBI.
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Republican senators don't care that Trump's nominees are lying—like Kash pretending he didn't know a Nazi-adjacent podcaster whose show he's been on eight times—because the confirmation process to them is all a game and truth is irrelevant.
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Republican senators don't care that Trump's nominees are lying—like Kash pretending he didn't know a Nazi-adjacent podcaster whose show he's been on eight times—because the confirmation process to them is all a game and truth is irrelevant.
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Published 2025-01-29

Mona Charen: A Moment of Truth

40 min
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Trump is trying to seize powers he doesn't have—like unilaterally rewriting laws and deciding on his own how he wants to spend money Congress appropriated for a particular purpose.
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Trump is trying to seize powers he doesn't have—like unilaterally rewriting laws and deciding on his own how he wants to spend money Congress appropriated for a particular purpose.
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The directives putting a pause on federal grants and the firing of career DOJ prosecutors is about trying to make the entirety of the federal government the tool of the man occupying the presidency.
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The directives putting a pause on federal grants and the firing of career DOJ prosecutors is about trying to make the entirety of the federal government the tool of the man occupying the presidency.
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Published 2025-01-27

Bill Kristol: Trump Loves Fraud

50 min
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Gullible Republicans have really been proving what they're made of recently, including Susan Collins, who claims Trump wants to root out corruption, even though his whole life has been a fraud—the water, the university, and "The Apprentice," just for starters.
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Gullible Republicans have really been proving what they're made of recently, including Susan Collins, who claims Trump wants to root out corruption, even though his whole life has been a fraud—the water, the university, and "The Apprentice," just for starters.
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Published 2025-01-24

David French: Vengeance and Rage

62 min
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Trump launched his first week back in office signaling to loyal followers that they are free to break the law on his behalf, while telling political opponents—including John Bolton and Mike Pompeo—that he'll put their lives at risk.
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Trump launched his first week back in office signaling to loyal followers that they are free to break the law on his behalf, while telling political opponents—including John Bolton and Mike Pompeo—that he'll put their lives at risk.
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Emotionally-stunted video game boys, who are also government contractors and/or quasi government officials, are fighting on Twitter, a POTUS who went all the way to SCOTUS to get immunity for presidents now would like the last president investigated, and America's premiere scientific research institution, the NIH, can't tell us about the bird flu—a widespread and potentially deadly virus that could mutate into a human pandemic.
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Emotionally-stunted video game boys, who are also government contractors and/or quasi government officials, are fighting on Twitter, a POTUS who went all the way to SCOTUS to get immunity for presidents now would like the last president investigated, and America's premiere scientific research institution, the NIH, can't tell us about the bird flu—a widespread and potentially deadly virus that could mutate into a human pandemic.
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All those CEOs cartwheeled down to Mar-a-Lago and then dutifully lined up at Trump's inauguration because they were fed up with social justice warriors and labor having more power—even if their bottom lines were never harmed in the process.
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All those CEOs cartwheeled down to Mar-a-Lago and then dutifully lined up at Trump's inauguration because they were fed up with social justice warriors and labor having more power—even if their bottom lines were never harmed in the process.
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Published 2025-01-21

Tom Nichols: A Farce and a Sham

59 min
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Trump tried to pencil out literal words in the Constitution and then freed 1,500 violent insurrectionists—while the media attempted to normalize it all.
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Trump tried to pencil out literal words in the Constitution and then freed 1,500 violent insurrectionists—while the media attempted to normalize it all.
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Published 2025-01-20

Bill Kristol: Resist the Nihilism

43 min
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Trump wants us to believe that nothing matters, so we'll brush off all his corruption and grifting as though everybody does it.
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Trump wants us to believe that nothing matters, so we'll brush off all his corruption and grifting as though everybody does it.
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Published 2025-01-17

Ron Brownstein: Don't Take the Bait

50 min
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Trump governed as a wartime president against blue America, so expect him to keep stirring up culture battles—but the Dems have to avoid getting drawn into them.
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Trump governed as a wartime president against blue America, so expect him to keep stirring up culture battles—but the Dems have to avoid getting drawn into them.
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Pam Bondi is likely to sail to confirmation—even if she's an election denier and pretends she was born yesterday—because she meets the simple qualifications of being a lawyer and former prosecutor, and because she's not a frat paddle come to life i.e. Matt Gaetz.
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Pam Bondi is likely to sail to confirmation—even if she's an election denier and pretends she was born yesterday—because she meets the simple qualifications of being a lawyer and former prosecutor, and because she's not a frat paddle come to life i.e. Matt Gaetz.
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Being secretary of defense is one of the hardest jobs on the planet. But after Pete Hegseth was plucked from a part-time Fox & Friends gig, Republican senators could only kiss his ass and act starstruck during his confirmation hearing—all to ensure he takes their calls when they need military equipment or contracts in their states.
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Being secretary of defense is one of the hardest jobs on the planet. But after Pete Hegseth was plucked from a part-time Fox & Friends gig, Republican senators could only kiss his ass and act starstruck during his confirmation hearing—all to ensure he takes their calls when they need military equipment or contracts in their states.
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Published 2025-01-14

Peter Hamby: The Politics of a Firestorm

67 min
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Real estate is everything in Los Angeles. Karen Bass's absence from the city when the fires broke out, and now her seeming aloofness, has instantly made her look unfit for the job of mayor.
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Real estate is everything in Los Angeles. Karen Bass's absence from the city when the fires broke out, and now her seeming aloofness, has instantly made her look unfit for the job of mayor.
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Published 2025-01-13

Bill Kristol: Cannons All the Way Down

52 min
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Trump's favorite judge, Aileen Cannon, has been attempting to exercise authority she doesn't have over Jack Smith's required report on his investigations of the Jan 6 case and the hoarding of classified docs—but she'll be a model of loyalty that Trump will expect for all his judicial appointments.
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Trump's favorite judge, Aileen Cannon, has been attempting to exercise authority she doesn't have over Jack Smith's required report on his investigations of the Jan 6 case and the hoarding of classified docs—but she'll be a model of loyalty that Trump will expect for all his judicial appointments.
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"Mother" Pence is owed an apology. She snubbed Trump so hard and so beautifully at Jimmy Carter's funeral—and wasn't about to make nice with the man who was all-in on Jan 6 rioters trying to lynch her husband.
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"Mother" Pence is owed an apology. She snubbed Trump so hard and so beautifully at Jimmy Carter's funeral—and wasn't about to make nice with the man who was all-in on Jan 6 rioters trying to lynch her husband.
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Trump talked a lot more about Hannibal Lecter during the campaign than one of his actual top priorities: extending his 2017 tax cuts.
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Trump talked a lot more about Hannibal Lecter during the campaign than one of his actual top priorities: extending his 2017 tax cuts.
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Published 2025-01-07

Charlie Warzel: Zuck Sucks Up to Trump

55 min
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Mark Zuckerberg is doing all he can to get an audience with the big man at Mar-a-Lago, including praising Trump's (faux) free speech bona fides and restructuring Meta to eliminate fact-checking.
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Mark Zuckerberg is doing all he can to get an audience with the big man at Mar-a-Lago, including praising Trump's (faux) free speech bona fides and restructuring Meta to eliminate fact-checking.
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Kash Patel's Jan 6 lie requires FBI officials to have been able to see into the future: to *know* that Trump would lose in 2020 and then try to get Congress to reverse the election results.
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Kash Patel's Jan 6 lie requires FBI officials to have been able to see into the future: to *know* that Trump would lose in 2020 and then try to get Congress to reverse the election results.
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Published 2025-01-03

Jonathan Martin: A Resilient City

44 min
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New Orleans is the most special city in America, but it's a place that also breaks your heart.
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New Orleans is the most special city in America, but it's a place that also breaks your heart.
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Apart from the death and carnage on New Years Day in New Orleans, Americans revealed another darkness once again: an eagerness to pin violence on someone who doesn't share their political world view.
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Apart from the death and carnage on New Years Day in New Orleans, Americans revealed another darkness once again: an eagerness to pin violence on someone who doesn't share their political world view.
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Published 2024-12-30

Bill Kristol: Exploit the Rifts

47 min
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MAGA v DOGE, the Christmas gift that keeps on giving, is an early sign of the coming infighting that could diminish Trump's power—we're definitely not seeing signs of an iron fist amid all that golfing and DJ-ing at Mar-a-Lago
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MAGA v DOGE, the Christmas gift that keeps on giving, is an early sign of the coming infighting that could diminish Trump's power—we're definitely not seeing signs of an iron fist amid all that golfing and DJ-ing at Mar-a-Lago
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Do you have to pick a side in politics? That was the question Reason Magazine, the flagship publication of the libertarian movement, invited The Bulwark to debate.
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Do you have to pick a side in politics? That was the question Reason Magazine, the flagship publication of the libertarian movement, invited The Bulwark to debate.
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Published 2024-12-20

Jon Favreau: Funny and Horrible

65 min
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While it's still going to be bad, for the first time since the election we're beginning to see that we may actually have a little fun watching these idiots prove they don't know how to govern.
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While it's still going to be bad, for the first time since the election we're beginning to see that we may actually have a little fun watching these idiots prove they don't know how to govern.
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We are seeing in real time what it looks like to turn a democracy over to an oligarch, namely the unstable guy from South Africa who thinks he's going to be emperor of the universe.
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We are seeing in real time what it looks like to turn a democracy over to an oligarch, namely the unstable guy from South Africa who thinks he's going to be emperor of the universe.
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Published 2024-12-18

Mark Hertling: Putin's Weakness

46 min
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Russia is on its weakest footing since it invaded Ukraine: Putin has destroyed his military, his economy is in the toilet, and the North Korean troops who've been deployed to help out are dying in waves on the battlefield. Why would the US bail Putin out?
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Russia is on its weakest footing since it invaded Ukraine: Putin has destroyed his military, his economy is in the toilet, and the North Korean troops who've been deployed to help out are dying in waves on the battlefield. Why would the US bail Putin out?
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Published 2024-12-17

Tom Nichols: Don't Descend into Darkness

58 min
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The existential dread has a strong pull, especially since Trump has made a lot of Americans worse people, but we've had other bad, immoral, and creepy presidents who've sullied the office.
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The existential dread has a strong pull, especially since Trump has made a lot of Americans worse people, but we've had other bad, immoral, and creepy presidents who've sullied the office.
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Published 2024-12-16

Bill Kristol: Fake Nicey-Nicey Sh**t

36 min
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ABC News and George Stephanopoulos have joined the preemptive capitulation parade by settling Trump's defamation suit—and by conspicuously paying out protection money ahead of the inauguration.
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ABC News and George Stephanopoulos have joined the preemptive capitulation parade by settling Trump's defamation suit—and by conspicuously paying out protection money ahead of the inauguration.
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The billionaires rushing to get on board with Trump, and contributing millions for his inauguration, may have missed this key detail: Enhancing the power of a leader—to bend the rules and undermine the rule of law—is often very bad for business.
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The billionaires rushing to get on board with Trump, and contributing millions for his inauguration, may have missed this key detail: Enhancing the power of a leader—to bend the rules and undermine the rule of law—is often very bad for business.
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The origins of the Democratic party's current malaise include ineffective messaging on climate and economic policy, too rigid a tent on cultural issues, and Dem politicians just too scared to speak their mind.
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The origins of the Democratic party's current malaise include ineffective messaging on climate and economic policy, too rigid a tent on cultural issues, and Dem politicians just too scared to speak their mind.
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Published 2024-12-10

Susan Glasser: A Lame Lame Duck

49 min
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A sense of Biden's irrelevance has descended on Washington, with Trump flying off to Paris and meeting world leaders, and also openly conducting his own foreign policy—often at odds with the current US policy.
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A sense of Biden's irrelevance has descended on Washington, with Trump flying off to Paris and meeting world leaders, and also openly conducting his own foreign policy—often at odds with the current US policy.
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