I’ve enjoyed Reality Checking the Bulwark, an ongoing project by Steward Beckham and Evan Stern. As Steward says, “We believe that institutions matter, but when institutions fail, democracy falters. And institutions that are built to counter Trump should not repeat the same mistakes that laid the groundwork for Trump. We respect and value The Bulwark, but when it becomes a central pillar of our pro-democracy movement, it also needs to be interrogated for narrating our political stories in the same frames that may have produced the problem and also may not be the medicine for that problem. So that’s why we want to identify its failures in the best faith possible.”

I was fortunate enough to speak about this in depth with Steward and Evan. Watch and/or listen to Part One here, and come back next week for Part Two. Also, go check out Steward and Evan’s substacks, Stew on This and Certain Thoughts.

You will hear:

• Discussing The Bulwark - How it started and how it’s going
• Why Steward and Evan decided to discuss conversations happening on the conservative site and debate whether they were getting things right as a talking point to Democrats who are looking to take a more conservative view on politics and their expansion beyond the “Never Trump” crowd
• Is it arrogance or is it victory? - The Bulwark seems to be slow to catch up on matters that will shape an election (after the fact, by a mile) and have a very narrow viewpoint on whose opinion matters
• Stereotypical archetypes are used (the moonshining hillbilly, the longhorn-riding Texan, the Callifornian juicer, etc.) to drive how politician candidates are told to talk to different voters, infantilizing and demoralizing voters
• And more!

Links:

Evan’s Substack: https://substack.com/@therealevanstern

Steward’s Substack: https://substack.com/@stewardbeckham

Stew on This Podcast: https://www.stewonthis.com/podcast

Connect with Stephen:
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Email: [email protected]

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