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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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Sam Stein is joined by Sen. Chris Murphy live in Austin, TX to talk the Epstein files fight, Trump’s threats to democracy and abuse of pardons, shutdown politics, and how Democrats should respond. Plus, an audience Q&A on AI, gun violence, and rebuilding a broad pro-democracy coalition.
NOTE: There are a few moments when the recording cuts out. We apologize for these issues.
JVL and Andrew Egger take on Donald Trump’s messy public split with Marjorie Taylor Greene and what this rift signals for the future of the MAGA movement.
Sam Stein gives a rapid rundown of a chaotic 24 hours in Trump-world, from corruption allegations and lavish gifts, to meltdown posts, MRI secrecy, and Trump lashing out at critics. It’s all so over the top, even MAGA’s most influential figures are beginning to notice the blatant corruption.
Tim Miller takes on JD Vance’s latest lie, the immigrant scapegoating cycle, and why Trump’s economic crew keeps bending reality on prices, tariffs, and the state of the economy. He also joins Nicolle Wallace to dig into it.
Watch Deadline: White House on MSNBC: https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house
NOTE: There are a few moments when the video cuts out. We apologize for these issues with the recording.
Sam Stein sits down with former Congressman Adam Kinzinger at the Texas Tribune Festival to talk about “The Last Republican,” how the GOP became a personality cult, what January 6 did to his family, McCarthy’s surrender in Mar-a-Lago, the DOJ’s failures, and why winning back ex-MAGA voters means not shaming them. Kinzinger also weighs in on Trump’s $400M Qatar jet deal, corruption, his future in Texas politics, and whether he’d ever take on Ted Cruz.
Tim Miller gives his take on Donald Trump promoting Paul Ingrassia, the racist Twitter troll whose private texts about having a "Nazi streak" were so vile that even MAGA group chats were telling him to dial it back. The Senate refused to confirm him for a previous job and now he's going to be deputy general counsel at the General Services Administration.
Watch Tim's video on Ingrassia's texts: https://youtu.be/MInUIlH7sfU
Tim Miller takes on Megyn Kelly and Batya Ungar-Sargon’s appalling attempt to spin Jefferey Epstein’s 15 and 16-year-old victims as nearly-adults, as they try to manipulate the well-documented accusations in effort to rewrite the story to protect Trump.
Watch Tim’s conversation with Stacey Williams
Donald Trump has a new message for Americans worried about the economy: you’re wrong. Andrew Egger and Will Saletan share their take on Trump's message, breaking down his bizarre insistence that prices are “way down,” that gas is $2, that groceries are cheaper, and that any reporting to the contrary is just a “manufactured” media conspiracy.
Sam Stein and Will Sommer take on Kash Patel’s government jet scandal, the MAGA pile-on targeting his girlfriend, the absurd “Mossad honeypot” conspiracy, and the escalating lawsuits shaking up the right.
Read more in Will Sommer's latest False Flag newsletter: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/kash-patel-girlfriend-alexis-wilkins-driving-maga-nuts
The House just hit 218 votes to force a floor vote on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files — a rare bipartisan revolt that Donald Trump tried, and failed, to stop. Sam Stein and Andrew Egger share their take on what's next before the files could be released, why MAGA world is panicking, and what the newly released Epstein emails reveal about Trump’s own connections to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.
Get 40% off your subscription to Calm’s entire library at https://Calm.com/BULWARKTAKES
1Sarah Longwell and Andrew Egger take on the explosive new Epstein emails that suggest direct links between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein—including messages showing Epstein and Michael Wolff scheming to help Trump, and evidence that Trump knew about “the girls.”
Get 40% off your subscription to Calm’s entire library at https://Calm.com/BULWARKTAKES
Atul Gawande joins Jonathan to expose the deadly consequences of Trump’s foreign aid cuts—hundreds of thousands of lives lost, programs dismantled, and America’s moral leadership destroyed.
Learn more about the documentary "Rovina's Choice": https://rovinaschoice.com/
Check out the PEPFAR Impact Tracker: https://pepfar.impactcounter.com/
Get 40% off your subscription to Calm’s entire library at https://Calm.com/BULWARKTAKES
Tim Miller joins Nicolle Wallace on Deadline: White House to discuss Trump’s economic mess and why his “man of the people” act is collapsing under the weight of gold-plated excess and billionaire buddies. Tim explains how Trump lost touch—and why Democrats are finally gaining the upper hand.
Watch Nicolle’s on MSNBC: https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house
Tim Miller talks with Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman about how Democrats are quietly racking up wins in the redistricting wars—from Utah’s shock court ruling to key shifts in Virginia and California—and what it all means for control of the House in 2026.
Tim Miller takes on Ghislaine Maxwell’s outrageous “Club Fed” treatment with investigative reporter Julie K. Brown. They discuss the newest leaked emails, political cover-ups, and why powerful people keep escaping justice in the Epstein saga.
Sam Stein is joined by Blueprint's chief strategist Alyssa Cass for her take on Blueprint's new poll, unpacking the data behind Trump's actions and what policies voters consider "authoritarian."
Blueprint: Authoritarian, Just Unpopular, or Both? Trump’s Actions Under a Microscope: https://blueprint-research.com/polling/authoritarian-test/
Tim Miller takes on the Truth Social AI that accidentally tells the truth. From tariffs to Ivanka to Venezuela, Trump’s own chatbot keeps debunking Trump's lies.
Sam Stein speaks with Former U.S. Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer for her take on Trump's latest round of pardons for Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and several other top officials who tried to overturn the 2020 election. Liz warns about how Trump's pardons are "blatantly corrupt" and could test how far presidential pardon power can go.
You can follow Liz's writing here: https://www.lawyeroyer.com/
Sam Stein, Tim Miller, and Will Sommer share their takes on Nancy Mace’s bizarre feud with Charleston airport security. It started with a tantrum at the Charleston airport before Mace accused her opponent of protecting pedophiles and somehow dragged Senators Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham into it.
Sam Stein and Joe Perticone discuss the breaking news that it appears the Senate has enough votes to approve a budget and end the government shutdown, moving the pressure over to Mike Johnson and the House of Representatives.
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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.
Can Sam Stein lighten up and be less aggressive and vulgar his words? When he is host, I now turn the podcast off, just can't handle listening to that anymore.
Bill's sound clarity is awful.
Vance's comments in Munich were not merely astonishing but Appalling.