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Chapter 1: What updates are shared about the upcoming live shows?
Hey, everybody, just an update on the live shows. Next week, we're in Minneapolis. I really just can't wait. I'm so excited to be with you all. February 19th show is sold out. We added one on February 18th. There's about 100 tickets left. So go on and grab one or make a last second jaunt up there if you're from...
neighboring state and want to go support our friends in Minneapolis who have been out there in these streets. And then we're down in Texas, March 18th and 19th for a show in Dallas on the 18th and Austin on the 19th. Looking for a little more warm weather. We'll see you all there. Up next, it's Monday, so it's Bill Kristol. Hello and welcome to the Bulwark Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller.
It is Monday, February 9th. We're on Super Bowl Monday. Slight Super Bowl hangover for everybody. Boring game. Good halftime show. Bill Kristol, that was at least my take. That feels like the conventional wisdom. The President of the United States didn't agree. What was your take? Did you even watch, or were you kind of just doing old BBC documentaries last night? Yeah, that's a good thing.
Thank you, Tim.
No, we went over to one of our kids' houses, and there were a couple of kids, a lot of grandchildren. We all watched the game. Not a great game, I'm just going to say. I know we're supposed to say in a sophisticated way that it was a great defensive struggle, but it was just a boring game, but... I'm pro-bad bunny because I'm, of course, just ideologically, I mean, anti-anti.
I'm anti-anti-bad bunny is really where I am. I don't really understand or appreciate the music or the whole thing. So I want you to explain to me, I want you to justify my being anti-anti-bad bunny and be actually.
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Chapter 2: What were the hosts' opinions on the Super Bowl halftime show?
You didn't love the set design. I mean, I thought the set design was so cool. The dancing grass. That was good. And then he comes down and he's, you know, he's underneath. So the people in the stadium couldn't have seen him. And then he comes out and you're, you know, you're feeling like you're on a sugar plantation. And then, you know, you got the guys playing dominant.
You know, the whole set was... It was impressive. It was a cultural moment. And I thought that it was high energy. It kept my daughter engaged. Sometimes this stuff keeps kids bored. I saw somebody online said that it was like, it reminds me of the Sesame Street set. And I mean that in the best way possible. Sesame Street set, actually very sophisticated. Yeah.
You know, it was the reason it was successful for so many years. So, yeah, I thought it was really good. I played Nueva Yol for David French on Friday after I played him all the disgusting Kid Rock songs. And I thought that was good.
I saw his reaction to that. That was good. Did you watch the Kid Rock one? I mean, that was the best of America, Tim. I mean, none of this foreign language stuff. None of this, one of the most popular musicians in the world. Let's go back and let's get Kid Rock lip syncing and, you know, other real highlights of American culture, you know?
Yeah, a bunch of people I'd never heard of, you know, talking about how they can't tell their kids that the boy can't be a girl or else they'll get canceled. It's really high-octane stuff. Was Kelsey Grammer there doing a set? I don't know. I didn't catch it. I'll let you know. Neither did Trump, by the way.
I should say that the Mar-a-Lago TVs were on Bad Bunny, which was, I think, an affront to TPUSA. And Trump said, his take was that the Bad Bunny set made no sense. It doesn't represent our standards. of creativity are excellent. It's not up to the standards of the Trump University, of the Trump Taco Bowl, Trump Tower. It wasn't up to the standards of that. A lot of others jumped on with that.
My old friend Clay Travis asked, would any other country in the world have their signature cultural event in a foreign language? A lot of countries are multilingual, so... Yeah, I think. I don't know. I do think that the Canadians do some French stuff, and we could go down the list. These guys just want to be upset about something.
The other thing is, even if you didn't like the halftime show, if it wasn't for you, not that big of a deal, really. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it signifies the end of, you know, the fall of Rome. A halftime show you don't like.
I think some conservative friends, including back when I was in that world, they've been upset about Super Bowl halftime shows for like 30 years, I feel like. And, you know, they kept expecting it to be the imminent decline of America. And it didn't seem to have much effect one way or the other, honestly. A lot of people hated Kendrick's halftime show last year, Too Black. Yeah. Good point. Yeah.
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Chapter 3: How did MAGA react to athletes speaking out on social issues?
right now, I think. It's a little hard. There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't. If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I'm representing it. Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S.
So yeah, I just kind of want to do it for my friends and my family and the people that support me getting here.
Love and respect and just want to represent the elements of the country that I align with, my moral architecture. Seems fine.
Yeah, it's very telling, isn't it, that people get offended when someone says we should treat everyone with love and respect. It's like they understand that to be an attack on MAGA and on ICE, which it is. It's not an attack exactly, but it is a rebuke to them. Yeah. They're asked the questions. They weren't going out being grandstanders, to be fair, right?
And they're giving press avails, whatever they do, press conferences over there. They're asked the question. They gave honest and I thought rather thoughtful and eloquent answers, really. I mean, they distinguished the country from the Trump administration, basically. So they weren't just saying America's a horrible place because we have a horrible president.
They went out of their way to do that. I sort of admire them. And as you say, the key point is, I mean, they could decline to answer the question, I suppose, but you don't see the Saudis or the Russians or the Iranians or the Chinese doing a lot of this. And you know what? I'm glad the Americans are doing it. So no, I'm totally with you.
And MAGA world and Trump himself, the grievance culture, it is really insane, right? I mean, they just want to be offended by stuff Yeah, they love to complain. It's so much at the heart of what they are. I guess I've sort of underestimated that, I think, maybe over the years. They're running the country. They're stealing tens of billions of dollars.
They're beating up and killing, not to make light of it, people who are protesting against them. Pardoning the people, their criminals, that they're supportive of their crimes. Totally. And they still are just full of grievance and resentment that some 23-year-old kid in whatever those bizarre sports that you like so much are. What are those things? Freestyle skiing. When did those become?
I'm a little behind in the winter Olympic sports stuff. Anyway, it's looking kind of fun. I watched about 10 minutes, though, of them flipping around in the air and stuff. Yeah, they're talented. It's impressive. And I do think the culture of that one is so funny because it's so much the opposite, don't you think?
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Chapter 4: What implications arise from Trump's administration's actions?
The Republicans at some point say we can't accept them. The Democrats say, well, fine, then separate out the other stuff, fund the Coast Guard and FEMA. And we're just not going to fund. I mean, the good news is the, The CR runs out on Friday, right? So if there's no funding, there's no funding.
Then they'll draw down some of the funding that's already in there, unfortunately, from last year's five-year appropriation to fund stuff they want. But at least there'll be less money sloshing around ICE and Border Patrol world.
And that's Katie Britt. She was crying with the New York Times last week about what ICE and CBP has been doing. And so maybe she will come along. I don't know. You never know. Maybe those tears were authentic and she wants to put some policy backbone behind those feelings. We are on offense on this and we being the people that are opposed to this.
The key, honestly, is to stay on offense. And the key is not to sort of say, we're not going to really negotiate in public here. We're going to have backroom discussions, Chuck Schumer, this, that, you know, and we'll work it all out here quietly. Negotiations work better, Tim, when they're not all public. They need to just hammer these people and say, why are you against this?
Chapter 5: How do Olympians express their political views in the current climate?
the warrants? Why are you for the masks? And you defend that publicly. And Katie Britt, you said you were very upset. Where are you? They really, I think, need to maximize this opportunity.
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That's ZipRecruiter.com slash Bulwark. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. Related news. This is from the Times over the weekend. We all knew this, but when you have reporting, it's good to just accentuate because like the news cycle moves so fast, people forget stuff. And it's just like it's important to just have on the record.
There were FBI agents that were preparing to do routine forensic analysis of the scene following Renee Good's killing. They received orders from political leadership to stop. Those orders came from senior leadership, including Kash Patel.
Obviously, we also know that there is an ongoing cover-up of the whatever kangaroo investigation that they're looking into with regards to the Preti killing, because they're not working with local officials. We've heard from Fry and Walsh and others on that. So it is striking just in the sense of...
This is different, you know, like lying, spinning, trying to, you know, whitewash stuff like that's been in the playbook for Trump, for sure. But other presidents in the past, like we're getting back to Hoover days where it's like, no, the head of the FBI is saying, no, we need to cover this up because it's going to make the president look bad.
Yeah, totally. Maybe they should make that a condition, incidentally, of ICE funding as well.
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