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Bulwark Takes

Bulwark Takes
Author: The Bulwark
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© Bulwark Media
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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.
789 Episodes
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Sam Stein is joined by Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii to discuss the ongoing government shutdown amid Russ Vought's government control, and the situation in Chicago with the Texas National Guard and Trump calling for the mayor and governor’s arrest. Plus, Schatz’s surprising recent retweets of Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Tim Miller breaks down Joe Rogan’s rare moment of moral clarity on immigration, where Rogan slams the idea of deporting longtime residents and families. Tim explains why this clip could shift the conversation, and why even some conservatives don’t want to be the “bad guys” in America’s immigration fight.
Sam Stein and Will Sommer break down one of RFK Jr.’s strangest moments yet: suggesting during a Trump cabinet meeting that circumcision might cause autism. The pair unpack the pseudoscience behind RFK’s claim, the misuse of disputed Danish studies, and the way his comments echo the administration’s earlier Tylenol panic.
Andrew Egger and Will Sommer take on of the most surreal events of the Trump era: a White House “roundtable” where Trump met with right-wing influencers to discuss Antifa as if it were an organized terror group. Egger and Sommer expose the theater behind the event, the made-up claims of an “Antifa hierarchy,” and the absurd partnership between DHS and online agitators. It’s part authoritarian propaganda, part farce, and all dangerous.
Lauren Egan sits down with Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas to look beyond D.C. and see what the government shutdown really means for Americans far from Capitol Hill. Mayor Lucas explains how tens of thousands of federal workers in the Midwest are going unpaid while still expected to work, and how that strain ripples through food pantries, healthcare, and housing programs. He calls out the moral hypocrisy of a government that enforces bills on citizens but refuses to pay its own. The conversation also turns to Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to blue cities and his bizarre threat to move World Cup games.
Candace Owens and Dinesh D’Souza are in the weirdest feud on the internet, and somehow it involves farm animals. Then Candace brings up a dream she had where she was visited by a ghost. JVL, Sarah, and Will try to make sense of MAGA’s new reality show.
JVL and Andrew Egger take on Donald Trump’s latest threats to jail his political opponents—including governors and protesters—as he sends National Guard troops into Chicago.
Sam Stein and Will Sommer take on Candace Owens leaking Charlie Kirk’s texts, the “New Charlie Kirk” Brilyn Hollyhand’s failed debut, and MAGA turning on Trump’s own lawyer.
Read Will Sommer's newsletter — False Flag:
https://www.thebulwark.com/s/false-flag
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Tim Miller joins Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House to discuss the alarming National Guard escalation in Chicago, DHS using Zach Bryan’s music as propaganda, and his interview with Kevin Clancy from Barstool Sports.
Watch Deadline: White House on MSNBC – https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house
Get 30% off your first order from Soul at https://GetSoul.com with promo code BULWARKTAKES.
Sam Stein and Andrew Egger are live, reacting to the extremely contentious Pam Bondi Senate hearing. Attorney General Pam Bondi is under fire before the Senate Judiciary Committee after the shocking indictment of former FBI Director James Comey—part of Donald Trump’s widening campaign to punish his political enemies.
Get 30% off your first order from Soul at https://GetSoul.com with promo code BULWARKTAKES.
Tim Miller and Sam Stein take on Donald Trump’s bizarre response when asked about Ghislaine Maxwell—pretending not to know her, name-dropping Puff Daddy, and dodging questions about pardoning a convicted sex trafficker.
Get 30% off your first order from Soul at https://GetSoul.com with promo code BULWARKTAKES.
Tim Miller and Sam Stein discuss the explosive online feud between Sam and Stephen Miller over the weekend, with Sam calling out Miller for saying a Trump-appointed judge is “terrorist,” and Miller’s response claiming Sam is “repugnant.”
Tim Miller takes on AOC and Ruben Gallego’s takedowns of MAGA’s macho posturing, explaining why ridicule can hit harder than outrage.
Sarah, JVL and Sonny Bunch take on A Few Good Men — Aaron Sorkin’s courtroom classic about loyalty, law, and the dangerous allure of obedience. They discuss whether Colonel Jessup was ever right, how “Code Red” culture echoes in today’s politics, and why Demi Moore’s character still divides audiences decades later.
Sam Stein and Will Saletan take on Mike Johnson’s ‘Meet the Press’ appearance where he repeatedly lied about the shutdown being over undocumented immigrants receiving free healthcare, struggled to answer on Trump’s call to use the military against citizens, and said the unprecedented federal firings during the shutdown are completely up to Russ Vought.
Read Jonathan Cohn's article for The Bulwark: https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/government-shutdown-emergency-medical-care-illegal-immigrants
Bill Kristol is joined by law professor Ryan Goodman to discuss the Trump Administration’s expanding use of “national security” at home and abroad, NSPM-7, National Guard deployments, Chicago raids, and lethal strikes on boats in the Caribbean. Plus the legal pushback, Posse Comitatus, district court rulings, and the looming War Powers in Congress.
Tim Miller invades Barstool HQ for a real talk with KFC about Trump, politics, and “free speech.”
Leaked Signal messages from Trump officials show them casually discussing deploying the 82nd Airborne into Portland—and JD Vance pushing prosecutions against influencers. Sam Stein breaks takes on the chaos, the incompetence, and the absurd “douche canoe” moment inside Trump’s inner circle, thanks to stellar reporting from the Minneapolis Star Tribune's Andy Mannix.
"Trump officials discussed sending elite Army division to Portland, text messages show" (Star Tribune): https://www.startribune.com/trump-officials-discussed-sending-elite-army-division-to-portland-text-messages-show/601485729
Sam Stein and Will Sommer take on the treasury announcement that Donald Trump is planning to be on the $1 coin in 2026 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States, possibly illegally.
Tickets to Bulwark Live in DC (10/8) with Sarah, Tim and JVL are on sale now at https://TheBulwark.com/events.
Tim Miller joins Michael Steele, Symone Sanders-Townsend and Alicia Menendez to discuss the military crackdown and national guard going into new cities, and the White House admitting there will be suffering from the government shutdown.
Watch The Weeknight on MSNBC: https://www.msnbc.com/weeknight
Am I the only one that thought orange Mussolini was falling asleep while putting was talking?
سبحان الله و الحمدلله و لا اله الا الله و الله اکبر 🇵🇸❤️🇮🇷 Free Palestine boom boom Tel Aviv
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.