The Bulwark

Merry Christmas Eve! On this week’s supersized episode to get you through the airport, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) ask if it’s a controversy or a controversy that Blake Lively’s costar and director, Justin Baldoni, seems to have orchestrated a virtual sliming of her in response to fears he was going to get called out for harassing her on the set of It Ends With Us. (You can read the whole New York Times story discussed in this episode via this gift link.) Then they review Emilia Pérez, Netflix’s main awards-season contender and one of the most deranged movies of the year. But hey: at least it’s not boring! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thebulwark.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com It’s a giant, super-sized Monday edition—a Christmas miracle! Sarah and JVL talk about John Fetterman’s heel turn. Then JVL pushes Sarah on the death penalty and Sarah pushes JVL on gay marriage. And finally they talk about Elon Musk’s embrace of Germany’s AfD party. How could he not-see what those übermenschen are all about? Nothing to see here! Just tw…

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Brandon Wainerdi to discuss DK’s hefty and handsome new reference book, Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy. We discussed how he broke into writing about Star Wars, researching his entries for the book, and why so much of what we obsessives know about Star Wars comes not from the films but the surrounding products. Brandon’s interview podcast, Talking Bay 94, is a must-listen if you’re a fan of the series. I’ll just say, on a personal note, that this is a really beautiful book: lots of illustrations, tons of information. If you have a precocious tween who loves Star Wars in your life, you could do much worse than this as a gift for them this Christmas. And if you enjoyed this episode, I hope you share it with a friend! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thebulwark.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com The podcast-sphere was one of the most covered stories of the 2024 election, with Joe Rogan standing above all. Podcaster extraordinaires Tim Miller and Sarah turn over why this medium is appealing to the newest Trump voters (specifically the Rogan fans), and what our new long-form world means for the future of politics. Watch, listen, and leave a comment. The Focus Group podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. Ad-free editions are available exclusively for Bulwark+ members.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com 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. Meanwhile, we've also got aspiring authoritarians on the left who think they're right at any cost. Plus, the challenge of holding on to American ideals, how to reach low-info voters, Tim's take from Phoenix on TPUSA, and can Tim make Jon cry? And one more Biden critique (that comes toward the end)... Merry Christmas. Jon Favreau joins Tim Miller. show notesJon's piece in The AtlanticClip from Stavros Halkias about not voting Trump that Tim referencedTim's playlist As always: Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Ad-free editions of The Bulwark Podcast are available exclusively for Bulwark+ members.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com George and Sarah talk about Co-President Musk, Trump's BS lawsuits against the media (and which companies are pre-surrendering), whether Trump can still be prosecuted in Georgia, and how Judge Merchan in New York is supposed to sentence a convicted felon who will soon be president of the United States. Watch, listen and leave a comment. Don’t care for video? Use the controls on the left side of the player to toggle to the audio edition. Follow George Conway Explains It All wherever you get your podcasts and YouTube. Ad-free editions are available exclusively for Bulwark+ members. Upgrade for more ad free shows.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com There’s a special guest this week! George Conway joins to talk about whether or not Liz Cheney has legal vulnerabilities. After he takes off, Sarah and JVL talk about President Elon, Matt Gaetz, and The Bulwark’s thrashing of the libertarians at Reason. Finally we talk about fake vs. real trees and Christmas movies. It’s a giant, super-sized show. The Secret Podcast is exclusively for members of Bulwark+ featuring Jonathan V. Last and Sarah Longwell. To listen to this episode become a Bulwark+ member today.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Mona and the gang bid farewell to this format, discuss what will replace it, and offer a glimpse of future plans. Highlights / Lowlights: Mona outlined the future of her new show. Bill previews his forthcoming book on political psychology. Linda: The Silver Candlesticks: A Novel of the Spanish Inquisition, Linda’s forthcoming book, which you can pre-order …

With Eliot traveling, Eric welcomes back prolific historian and author Hal Brands to the show to discuss his forthcoming book The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World (New York: W.W. Norton, 2025) which will be published in mid-January. They discuss the ideas and careers of geopolitical thinkers Halford Mackinder, Alfred Thayer Mahan, and Nicholas Spykman whose views about the influence of geography on international affairs became enormously influential among political leaders of all stripes in the early to mid-Twentieth Century. They touch on the costs of deterrence versus the much higher costs of great power wars, the breakdown of the international trading system in the 1930s and how it presaged military conflict, why regional crises in the interwar period rapidly metastasized into the most costly global conflict in history and how our contemporary world resembles the world of 1940-1941. They also discuss the rise of China and the bipartisan consensus it has spawned on diagnosing our current international environment but has not yet led to a bipartisan execution of policies to remedy the situation. They also discuss the rise of geopolitical super predators in the 1930s, the evolution of "Fortress Eurasia" -- the emerging alliance among the PRC, Russia, Iran and North Korea, Senator Mitch McConnell's recent Foreign Affairs article arguing against retrenchment, and why it is hard to imagine a future conflict not becoming a global conflict today. Shield of the Republic will be taking a break for the holidays and will return in early January. The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World: https://a.co/d/2XQ7lWa The Price of American Retreat: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/price-american-retreat-trump-mitch-mcconnell Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thebulwark.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Tim Miller and Sam Stein talk Mike Johnson's role in the looming government shutdown, as Elon Musk's tweets stir the pot over details in the CR bill, and Rand Paul calls for Musk to be the Speaker next term. Bulwark+Live is the home for daily short-form videos, archived live events, and livestreams for Bulwark+ members. Add this feed to your player of choice, here.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com 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. It's also very authoritarian to threaten members of congress with a job loss if they vote to provide hurricane relief or to rebuild part of the interstate highway system. Plus, the need for a pro-democracy media ecosystem, the difference between liberal and left, and the William McKinley era was terrible. Heather Cox Richardson joins Tim Miller. show notesSome of Heather's books: “Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America" "Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre" West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Ad-free editions of The Bulwark Podcast are available exclusively for Bulwark+ members.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Michael Steele speaks with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about the possibility of a government shutdown, rebuilding the Democratic party, reaching bipartisanship with the new administration and the unseriousness of Marjorie Taylor Greene leading the DOGE subcommittee. Check out Leader Jeffries' book, "The ABCs of Democracy," here: https://www.amazon.com/ABCs-Democracy-Hakeem-Jeffries/dp/1538770369 Check out the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Timothy-Snyder/dp/0593728726 Watch, listen and leave a comment. Don’t care for video? Use the controls on the left side of the player to toggle to the audio edition.Ad-free editions are available exclusively with a Bulwark+ membership. The Michael Steele Podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. To add this to your player of choice, click here.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com AB Stoddard and Bill Kristol discuss the power struggle between Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Mike Johnson in preventing (or purposely not preventing) a government shutdown, GOP following Trump’s orders to go after Liz Cheney, how Democratic leadership snubbed AOC, and where are the Democrats speaking out against Trump’s cabinet picks. Bulwark+Live is the home for daily short-form videos, archived live events, and livestreams for Bulwark+ members. Add this feed to your player of choice, here.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com The gang discuss the GOP’s plans to investigate Liz Cheney, Elon Musk potentially causing a government shutdown before Donald Trump’s new term has even begun, and Bret Stephens renouncing the Never Trump title. Watch, listen and leave a comment. This ad-free video edition of The Next Level is exclusively for Bulwark+ members. Use the controls on the the left side of the player to toggle to the free audio-only edition or find the show wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. You can add The Next Level to your podcast player of choice, here.

OVER THE PAST EIGHT YEARS, Donald Trump has sparked fierce and unrelenting opposition over both his chaotic governance and the threats he posed to governing institutions. But what if Democrats were a bit too feverish in their response? That’s the concern of one of the party’s leading members as he and others contend with Trump’s return to office. “I do think it matters whether or not we are at an 11 every morning. And I don’t think we should be,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said in an interview with The Bulwark. “We cannot be the party of ‘Can you believe he did that?’ Which is different from saying that we won’t oppose and fight and mobilize and do everything we can to protect people and institutions. But I think we’re going to have to demonstrate to the public—which is paying less attention than the resistance—that we are not immediately wishing for his failure.” In a wide-ranging interview, Schatz did not downplay the threats that he believes Trump poses. But he argued that, as a tactical matter, Democrats over the past several years have erred in treating each of those threats with equally immense gravity. Doing so, he said, led voters to view the party as a bunch of hysterics—and even as something like “Soviet”-style defenders of government bureaucracies. Schatz offered COVID as an example. “We told people, ‘Hey, listen, you’re going to die.’ Then, definitionally, the people who didn’t die are still around, right? And then we say, ‘Democracy is going to die,’ right? And then democracy doesn’t die. And then we say four years later, by the way, this time is the time to be worried about American-style democracy collapsing. And I just think people just stopped believing this idea that we’re always at the precipice of a catastrophe. They don’t like living like that.” As one of many Democrats offering postmortems and prescriptions for the party in the wake of its November defeat, Schatz’s perspectives appear influenced by his relative youth. At 52, he is both firmly middle-aged and a relative youngster by Senate standards. He’s one of the more outwardly engaging officials in the chamber, routinely responding to readers on X—often to the chagrin of his comms team. Schatz said that Democrats needed to engage in media ecosystems well beyond the outlets they find most comfortable and comfortable—not just to show voters that they are, in fact, normal, but to better understand how voters feel. He noted how off-key the party’s messaging about inflation was. “You know, if you get, whatever, these fancy-pants, progressive economists on TV, they’ll say we have performed better than other industrialized countries,” he recalled. “And if I’m trying to buy eggs, I’m like, ‘F**k off. What does that even mean?’” The Bulwark is a reader-supported publication. If you like these interviews, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Despite his invocations to fellow Democrats not to freak out over every Trump action, Schatz did spotlight ones that would necessitate that type of hair-on-fire response. Declaring martial law “for no damn reason,” or jailing “members of the media,” fit into that category. So too would pulling back on widely accepted vaccine requirements. “The biggest vulnerability for the Trump administration are the ones [the cabinet nominees] most likely to cause immediate harm in a way that is understandable and causes people to go like, ‘Hey, I wanted a disruptor, but like not in my kids’ elementary school,’” he said evoking the possibility of rubella or measles or mumps epidemics. Ultimately, the balance Schatz said Democrats need to strike is a simple one: Discerning the signal from the noise. That means not exhausting the public with freakout theater. But it doesn’t mean laying down in defeat. “Is it alarming? For sure. Is it the end? Absolutely not,” he said of Trump’s reemergence. “And I just worry very much that people who are very critical about ‘obeying in advance’ are also catastrophizing to the point...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com 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? Meanwhile, MAGA world is trying to distract us with phony DEI issues in the military while we're dealing with some of the biggest challenges we've ever faced in the international space. Plus, with 180,000 US troops currently deployed overseas and 100+ Navy ships at sea, the DOD probably needs someone with a little more breadth of experience than a weekend talk show host on Fox. Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling joins Tim Miller. Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling joins Tim Miller. show notesHertling's piece on the Army's and America's valuesHertling's piece on North Korean troops fighting for Russia in UkraineTim and Sarah's live event with Reason magazine in DC Wednesday nigh Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Ad-free editions of The Bulwark Podcast are available exclusively for Bulwark+ members. Don’t care for video? Use the controls on the lefthand side of the player to toggle to audio. Add the show to your player of choice, here.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com 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. Meanwhile, Vance is basically the invisible man while Elon lives in Trump's bedroom, and Andreesen is loading up a pile of BS to justify his vote. Plus, a Tim v Tom Christmas playlist. Tom Nichols joins Tim Miller. show notes Tom's audiobook version of "The Death of Expertise" Tim's Christmas playlist Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Ad-free editions of The Bulwark Podcast are available exclusively for Bulwark+ members.

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) looked at The Entertainment Strategy Guy’s breakdown of podcast stats and asked if this truly was “the podcast election.” Then they reviewed Kraven the Hunter, a movie so bad it killed an entire cinematic universe. (Kinda.) Make sure to swing by Bulwark+ on Friday for our bonus episode looking ahead to 2025. And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thebulwark.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com 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. The potential chilling effect on a key First Amendment issue is breathtaking. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney backs off of his criticism of Trump and Vance. Plus, the anti-oligarchic, semi-populist grounds for challenging the incoming administration. Bill Kristol joins Tim Miller. show notesNYT piece Bill mentionedBulwark debate on potentially ending Daylight Saving TimeBill's conversation with Jack Goldsmith Watch, listen, and leave a comment. Ad-free editions of The Bulwark Podcast are available exclusively for Bulwark+ members. Don’t care for video? Use the controls on the lefthand side of the player to toggle to audio. Add the show to your player of choice, here.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com Atmospheric scientist Matthew Cappucci joins Sam Stein to explain the mass hysteria surrounding the reports of drones in congress and on social media, and the importance of listening to scientists. Bulwark+Live is the home for daily short-form videos, archived live events, and livestreams for Bulwark+ members. Add this feed to your player of choice, here.