The Bulwark Daily

The party is sticking with Max Miller despite the very credible domestic abuse allegations. Not only is this a gift to his Democratic opponent, Brian Poindexter, in that red district in Ohio, it’s also likely to impact the Senate and governor's races there as well. Meanwhile, Tucker and MTG are talking about creating a third party for 2028. And Trump is losing to Iran so badly he can’t even make a coherent argument about the war for his biggest fans. Plus: the ankle monitoring of Haitian immigrants is very Soviet-era Eastern Bloc, defense contractors don’t want Ukraine making Patriot missiles because they can do it for less money, Trump is literally giving Mexico territory so he can build his corrupt border wall through Big Bend National Park, and Tim keeps his promise and shares some history on bananas.

Bill Kristol joins Tim Miller.
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Tim got his hopes up that Bill Cassidy was going to come out against Blanche as AG. But of course, the senator showed once again that Republicans will do anything to stay on Team Trump—including turning our government into a corrupt, gangster oligarchy. Never mind that ordinary Americans are still dealing with the stink bombs Trump dumped on our economy with his tariffs and failed war: We’ve got lousy job numbers and higher prices across the board. Plus: The deportation of legal immigrants is a moral stain on our country, Russia’s energy crisis has backed Putin into a dangerous corner, and Trump is on a goldmaxxing spree. Susan Glasser joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod.

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POTUS has always used lies to great advantage, but his fakery can’t disguise the dangerous reality that the United States is running out of missiles. What a time for Trump to don an SNL-grade wig. Meanwhile, AIPAC may be evolving into a Trump super PAC, Max Miller keeps showing everyone he’s a sociopath, the GOP Islamophobia is looking very 2002, and Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo accidentally admits Trump is looking out for the billionaires. Plus: The new Democratic Senate nominee from Kansas, pastor Adam Hamilton, joins Tim to discuss that sleeper race and how incumbent Roger Marshall is all about championing Trump and not the people of Kansas.

Sam Stein and Kansas Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Adam Hamilton join Tim Miller.

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The polling was way off, but suburban Dem voters in Michigan nonetheless showed that they’re sick of the party establishment and enraged by Trump, the war, the lies, and the corruption. AIPAC didn’t read the room. But party leaders are sounding united behind El-Sayed and Jane predicts he’ll bring a Mamdani-like energy to his campaign against Mike Rogers. Meanwhile, Republicans are sticking with sh*tbag Max Miller. Plus: Federal agents are threatening Americans for speaking out against ICE, Vance is always looking for a way to signal that he hates the war, and what other former podcast hosts can try to segue to elected office?

Jane Coaston joins Tim Miller.

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Sam Altman wants a supercomputer to talk to his kid so he doesn’t have to. Elon thinks Grok can make a better Odyssey than Christopher Nolan. And Silicon Valley has been cultishly hyping AI so much that they’ve lost the plot. Regular people are sick of all the synthetic slop, they don’t trust the tech titans, and their opposition to data centers is just the tip of the iceberg of a growing tech backlash. The political winds are shifting just in time for the midterms, so Elon's dumping more than $100 million to try to overcome them.

The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel joins Tim Miller.

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Both the left and center-left are acting like the other faction within the party is the enemy—and not Donald Trump. Democrats need to keep their eye on the ball: Trump and the corruption, lying, and incompetence across his administration. In the past couple of days, the massive dishonesty has included Doug Burgum’s doubling down on the Reflecting Pool lies and Todd Blanche’s sham document on the IRS and the J6 weaponization fund. And why is Schumer signing off on a deal with Republicans to keep the government open? Plus: Max Miller is finally a national story, and Tim unloads on getting dragged into the Michigan Senate race as well as AIPAC’s massive spending on behalf of Haley Stevens.

Bill Kristol joins back-from-vacation Tim Miller. 

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At the very least, Hegseth's refusal to acknowledge that it was our Tomahawk missile that killed 120 schoolchildren on the very first day of the war makes him unfit to serve as secretary of defense. Army JAG veteran Margaret Donovan says civilian casualties are a tragic reality in war and the public has the right to know what went wrong. The U.S. military prides itself on its excellence and precision, and that is what separates our fighting forces from those of our enemies. But Hegseth is also dragging this vital institution down because of the munition depletions, the lack of dignity being shown to fallen soldiers, his hare-brained schemes and war crimes in the Caribbean, and his undermining of military discipline by brushing off recent dangerous flyovers in civilian areas.

Margaret Donovan joins guest host Bill Kristol.

At a little-noticed conference on political violence a couple of weeks ago, Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller employed the dehumanizing rhetoric of the Soviets and Nazi mastermind Joseph Goebbels to attack the left. And while they might want us to think they were just talking about the DSA, it sure seems that they meant Democrats generally—including those who might be legitimately protesting Trump's efforts to try to steal an election. Plus: Iran is not acting like it fears the United States, Lindsey Graham probably did more harm than good, and the Fauci drama is the latest example of the MAGA double standard about telling the truth.

Bob Kagan joins guest host JVL.

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Stephen Miller has a free hand to pump out his racist policies; Trump regularly says blatantly offensive things that are way past a dog whistle; and one-time insurgents at the Heritage Foundation and other MAGA institutions are muscling out people who aren't comfortable with openly embracing bigotry. The groypers are running today's Republican Party. At the same time, Trump's Iran war has opened divisions within the administration, and the leaks are coming fast and furiously. Plus: the gullible people who think their bribes will keep them safe from Trump, Rod Dreher's falling out with JD Vance, the ties between the Tates and the White House should be a bigger scandal, Mitch McConnell may be doing the most Mitch McConnell thing of all, and how Cincinnatians fought back against DHS to protect a local chaplain.

Zeteo’s Asawin Suebsaeng joins guest host Will Sommer. 

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