Digital Social Hour
Tim Miller: Pay-to-Play? Why a President Having His Own Coin Is Next-Level Corruption | DSH #1566
12 Oct 2025
Chapter 1: What is Trump's performance grade according to the guest?
the idea that we sent people to a foreign country to a gulag without due process it just has been unbelievably was just totally unconscionable it feels like it's something that you'd expect from a third world country his whole d-list banana republic authoritarian like wannabe dictator thing i just don't like the whole show really dude i gotta rub your belly to get good stuff from the leader that's just not america
Okay, guys, out here in New York City at the Spotify studios, we got Tim, host of the Bulwark podcast.
Chapter 2: How does political corruption manifest in modern politics?
What's up, Sean? How you doing, man?
I'm good, man. Nice to finally meet. I know we've been chatting for a bit.
Yeah, I'm excited to do it, you know, hash it out a little bit. After the election, I got to get out of my never-Trump bubble and, like, you know, see what's going on.
Objectively, how do you feel about Trump so far, A through F?
Chapter 3: What influence does money have in political campaigns?
I just think he's been a disaster. I mean, I guess I would give him a D minus. Uh, and there've been a couple of things, uh, that have been a little bit better than I expected, but for the most part, I just think the immigration regime has been awful. Like the idea that we sent people to a foreign country, uh, to a Gulag without due process, um,
It just has been unbelievably... It was just totally unconscionable. I don't think the bill they put through Congress was very good.
Chapter 4: How has the Epstein scandal impacted political discourse?
I don't know that we needed another huge tax cut for rich people. The tariffs have been a nightmare. I guess I'll give him a D- because we were on track to an F with his initial tariff launch because he backed off that. I think that's allowed the economy to kind of stabilize, but it's not good. It's gotten worse for folks. And, you know, I just...
Chapter 5: What are the cultural implications of young leftist perspectives?
His whole D-list, banana republic, authoritarian, wannabe dictator thing. I just don't like the whole show. It feels like it's something that you'd expect from a third world country. Give you this trophy. I want you to feel like you have a bigger dick than you really do. I've got to rub your belly to get good stuff from the leader. That's just not America.
Chapter 6: What is the significance of the Candace Owens analysis?
It feels like... You know, it's something that you'd expect from a third-world country. And, you know, bullying the universities to pay them and stuff. Like, on some of the policy stuff, I'm not a huge DEI guy. Like, I agree with him.
Chapter 7: How does the current political climate reflect past administrations?
But, like, the notion that, you know, you've got to pay the president a ransom to avoid the government coming after you, it's just – it's not in the American system, man. So I'm pretty – I think it's been not really great. And I don't know that regular folks –
I felt like their lives have gotten any better unless, you know, if you're like an ICE agent or you're in the private prison industry, it's doing pretty good. I guess you're in AI. AI and crypto are doing well. There are a couple sectors. Crypto, yeah. There are a couple sectors that are doing good.
But if you're just a regular person that's working somewhere in the country, you got on board with them because you thought he was going to care about you, the forgotten man.
Chapter 8: What ethical concerns arise from reviving extinct species like the woolly mammoth?
Yeah. Unless you got a lot of money in ETH, I don't think you've been doing that well.
And that's where being objective comes in handy, right? Because I can recognize that. My life's way better. I'm in crypto. ETH is my biggest bag.
Okay, there you go.
You're crushing it. You can make the argument that Trump played a role in that, but crypto also cycles every four years, so it could have been just good timing. But the average person with these tariffs or with inflation, I can recognize they're dealing with some money.
He's helped a little bit. Like, he's done some of the deregulation stuff. Like, look, I had a big kind of VC guy on my show this week. And, you know, he's like, look, he's helped some things with, you know, you had Lena Kahn that was in there, and you had Gary Gensler, and you had some of these regulators that were going after crypto and going after some of these tech companies.
And this government has sort of backed off that. So that's helped, like, narrowly in some of those industries. But, like, also simultaneously, you've got crypto scammers, right? the president himself, and, like, Justin Sun, and, like, these foreign crypto guys, like, paying off the president. Again, it's like banana republic shit.
It would be one thing if it was, okay, I'm going to deregulate it a little bit. We're going to go after the bad guys. We're going to make sure regular crypto investors, like, you know, can make money. Okay. Like, I'd be okay with that. Like, you know, I think that the Biden administration at some times was a little too hostile to crypto. I agree with that.
But, like, the president having his own coin – I wasn't a fan of that, and I'm pro-crypto. Yeah, not at all going after people that are screwing people over, that have fake coins. There's a lot of stuff that he's doing in that world that I don't dig.
I will say I was in D.C. that week, Inauguration Week, when he launched the coin, and I was hearing some crazy stories of people making stupid dough.
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