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The news cycle doesn’t slow down, and neither does The Bulwark. Bulwark Takes brings you bite-sized takes on the news of the day from the entire Bulwark team, including Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, and Bill Kristol, and more.
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Will Saletan takes on a series of moments showing how Donald Trump is pushing past basic limits of presidential power—from putting his face on coins and signature on currency to calling judges “criminals” and claiming he doesn’t need Congress for war or NATO decisions. As millions joined “No Kings” protests, the pattern becomes hard to ignore: a president who treats the rules as optional, surrounds himself with loyalists, and increasingly acts like the law doesn’t apply to him.
1Tim Miller gives his take on Donald Trump’s latest Truth Social spiral and why he's boosting pro-war voices like Mark Levin, who’s floating plans that sound more like a uranium heist than a real strategy. Tim breaks down how Trump’s feed has become a window into his decision-making, why the signs point toward escalation and possible troops on the ground, and how the war is already causing global disruptions. He also reacts to the surreal Palm Sunday moment with Trump sharing a letter from Franklin Graham about Trump getting into heaven.
The Bulwark's own Jim Swift joins Bill Kristol to talk about No Kings.
Sonny Bunch and Adrian Carrasquillo take on The Pitt’s ICE episode—how a single raid transforms the ER, triggers fear across patients and staff, and mirrors real-world reporting on immigration enforcement. They discuss the show’s attempt at “balance,” the ripple effects of fear, and why dramatized storytelling can land harder than traditional coverage.They also explore the reaction online, the pressure on Hollywood to soften political edges, and why The Pitt is connecting right now as a rare show that forces viewers to see these issues up close.Read more here: Why the ICE Raid in ‘The Pitt’ Matters: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/why-the-ice-raid-in-the-pitt-matters-hbo
Join JVL, Catherine Rampell, Andrew Egger, and many, many others from The Bulwark for live "No Kings" rally coverage.
Sam Stein takes on a series of bizarre Trump appearances, ranging from crude jokes and made-up stories to comments that may have revealed something far more serious. The pattern raises a bigger question: when the president speaks, how much of it is real?
Tim Miller was on MS NOW's Deadline: White House to explain why Trump’s Iran decision may be doing lasting damage to his own coalition. From GOP infighting to failed election interference efforts and another Democratic win in Washington, MAJOR cracks are starting to show.
Sam Stein and Tim Miller give their takes on the latest fiasco for FBI Director Kash Patel after Iran-linked hackers breached his email and released a trove of personal messages and photos. From embarrassing photos during a trip to Cuba to serious counterintelligence concerns, it’s another brutal moment for a guy already struggling to prove he’s up for the job.
JVL and Catherine Rampell are going live on Trump’s economic messaging, falling consumer confidence, and rising recession fears driven by oil prices.
Tim Miller, Sam Stein, and Will Sommer give their takes on Kash Patel’s girlfriend, a country music “sensation,” over her bizarre Twitter rant about Michael Flynn, Candace Owens fights with MAGA media darling Nick Shirley, and comedian Druski mocks Erika Kirk in viral video.Text TAKES to 64000 to get a FREE pocket pivot and their 10-pattern sprayer with the purchase of ANY size Copper Head hose. Message and data rates may apply.
Sam Stein and Andrew Egger watched an hour-and-a-half long Trump cabinet meeting and it was a mess. From ranting about $1,000 pens and fake gold columns to personal attacks on Gavin Newsom’s dyslexia and Jerome Powell, Trump spent more time complaining about the Kennedy Center than he did on foreign policy. We break down the top five most unhinged things that happened during Thursday's meeting.Text TAKES to 64000 to get a FREE pocket pivot and their 10-pattern sprayer with the purchase of ANY size Copper Head hose. Message and data rates may apply.
Tim Miller talks with Ezra Levin—co-founder of Indivisible— about Saturday's “No Kings” protests. They get into whether protests actually work, how movements grow beyond a single weekend, and why discipline, nonviolence, and even humor can throw off an authoritarian playbook. Plus: the rising threat of political violence, how organizers are preparing for it, and what comes next if this keeps growing.Text TAKES to 64000 to get a FREE pocket pivot and their 10-pattern sprayer with the purchase of ANY size Copper Head hose. Message and data rates may apply.
Tim Miller was on with Katy Tur to take on a surprising shift in Florida politics after Democrats flip a seat in Trump’s own backyard. Is this a one-off—or the start of something bigger? Plus: the corruption questions that still aren’t being investigated—and what it all could mean for 2026.Visit https://upwork.com right now and post your job for free.
JVL and Andrew Egger take on a surreal White House briefing where everything is supposedly “going great”—even as TSA chaos, rising gas prices, and a widening Iran conflict tell a very different story. Plus: how JD Vance is getting boxed into a political no-win situation.Visit https://upwork.com right now and post your job for free.
Katie Couric joins Tim Miller and JVL to dig into some of the biggest stories so far this week on a special edition of Bulwark Takes happening live on Wednesday at 6:30 PM ET. With Iran rejecting a cease-fire proposal, what will President Trump do next? And why is Iran requesting that Vice President JD Vance come to the negotiating table? Plus, reactions to new reporting from NBC that for the last few weeks, Trump has been shown by his team highlight reels of destruction in Iran. Plus, a look at whether there will be a breakthrough on Department of Homeland Security funding to finally end the growing chaos and delays at U.S. airports, a report from Status that CBS News is seeing its latest ratings of any first quarter this century and Katie has a very important reminder she hopes you and your loved ones to take seriously.Visit https://upwork.com right now and post your job for free.
Daniel Biss joined Lauren Egan to discuss his win in a crowded Democratic primary for Illinois' 9th Congressional District. AIPAC spent more than $7 million trying to stop him. Biss, whose mother is Israeli and whose grandparents are Holocaust survivors, opens up about what it felt like to be personally targeted and why he believes those attacks backfired. He also breaks down the strategy behind his campaign, taking on outside money head-on, defining the race early, and turning a flood of spending into a liability for his opponents.Visit https://upwork.com right now and post your job for free.
Sam Stein, Joe Perticone, and Will Sommer give their takes on the bizarre rise and abrupt fall of Nick Adams, the self-styled “alpha male” known for his tweets about boobs, Hooters, and American exceptionalism. Adams saw his ambassador nomination pulled before landing in a made up new State Department role.Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month Shopify trial today at https://shopify.com/bulwarktakes.
Sam Stein and Lauren Egan take on a real idea circulating among Democratic operatives: run more “hot” candidates. They discuss what that actually means—youth, charisma, online presence—and whether it reflects a deeper effort to fix the party’s image and win back voters.Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month Shopify trial today at https://shopify.com/bulwarktakes.
Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger are going live to discuss the DHS funding fight, ICE at America's airports, and Trump's erratic flip-flops in Iran.
Tim Miller was on Deadline: White House to take on the political fallout from Trump’s Iran war, warning that the real backlash hasn’t shown up in polling yet as rising costs start to hit voters. He also looks at growing cracks inside the GOP, where even MAGA voices are struggling to defend a war with no clear objective.Plus: chaos at U.S. airports after ICE agents are deployed to “help,” a Supreme Court case that could reshape mail-in voting ahead of the midterms, and Trump’s reaction to Robert Mueller’s death.Watch Deadline: White House on MS NOW: https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house
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wait.... what exactly did they say? I'm 52 raised fundie and taught that the jews were god's chosen people in childhood. my feelings toward jews have not changed. they are a larger people. Israel is a state. my feelings toward supporting Israel are different. I believe they've forfeited protection by doing what they did. and the Christian church that has supported it is no longer Christian. period.
well done!
Rumpy doesn't care about his own citizens why would he care about refugees from Iran?
yes republicans have gerrymandered all of the states they control completely. change my mind.
guys, I feel bad telling you this. in 50 years of being a woman, I've never seen a man, ever, call out sexism in a peer. ever. not one. women had to do it
That post was way too coherent to have been written by the orange Mussolini
she said clearly...I am autistic. it takes me a second to understand. she has freaking processing delay. she was being literal. she does not immediately understand shouted orders from gestapo thugs. if you work for ICE at this point... there's something wrong with you. Full stop.
the jan 6 shooting... the cops were never going to fire into a packed crowd. one.. you draw that weapon in close quarters you're giving your attacker a weapon. two. there were guns in that crowd and they knew it. they fire and Maga fires back. it would have been all bad things.
that noise was as he pulled his weapon. what i heard was a hand on the hood. she reacted i think to the gun. he'd pulled it several seconds before he fired. it's clearly murder. felt like he was working his way up to try
He assumed it was his supporters that did this. I had the thought before I heard there was an arrest. that was talking to his base abs I'll go further, implying this is what pleases the Mango Messiah so go do it.
😳 This explains why Candace's podcast has the followers it does. It's a whole train wreck with a plane crash flown by Bigfoot and staffed by the Illuminati over there.
The mate was a mighty sailing man, The skipper brave and sure. Five passengers set sail that day For a three hour tour, a three hour tour.
Please get a better microphone Senator.
When I tried to play this, the audio was cutting in and out, making it impossible to listen to. Please fix.
Don't defend John Bolton. He is a war criminal at the end of the day. He deserves to be behind bars or worse.
Am I the only one that thought orange Mussolini was falling asleep while putting was talking?
Good old Uncle Tim!!
I had to turn this episode off. I kept missing words Bill was saying because he's audio is so poor. Audio quality matters Bulwark.
Does anyone know why some of this episodes are getting numbers in the title now? I haven't found a rhyme or reason for which get a number and which don't, and the inconsistency is beginning to bug me.
I am sick and tired on Sam Stein's foul mouth. It is so difficult to listen to him and his loud nasty tone full of awful language. BTW, I am a deep democrat, just feel his style is revolting.