Bill Kristol: No Kings
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What are the implications of troop deployment in the Middle East?
Hello and welcome to the Bulwark Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller. It is Monday, so we are back with editor-at-large Bill Kristol. Bill's grandchildren suffered a devastating defeat over the weekend, and we're going to save that for the end. We'll do some life lessons. It's important, you know, if you have children or grandchildren who've been disappointed recently, there are things that can be learned from that, and we'll save that for the end. But we'll start with some positives. The No Kings... Rallies were happening over the weekend. I was in attendance at the New Orleans event. It looks like you were somewhere much chillier in the Northeast. What were your takeaways?
It was cold in Waltham, Massachusetts. I should come to New Orleans the next one. I was in Boston for various other reasons and went to the event with a couple of friends, their families actually in Waltham. younger friends. It was good. It was great. I mean, it's a little different from McLean. McLean, Virginia is ex-Republican-ish types, many of whom I know, I've lived here so long. And also, you know, hey, I remember you from, you know, this McCain event or from the Bush administration or our weekly standard subscribers. Waltham, which is a Western suburb of Massachusetts, Brandeis is there. It's a little past Cambridge and Belmont, all those places. It's more like, I used to hate you. Yeah, that was more that.
I can't believe we're on the same side here. 20 years ago, I was in this very place protesting against you. It's a little different vibe, but everyone was friendly. And I was struck by just the... I mean, so this was a more lefty, if you will, group, but they were all sensible so far as I could tell. There were a lot of American flags. There was an attempt to keep on the basic message, but there was not no speeches. This was 1,000 people or whatever honking, but very upbeat bands kind of marching around playing Woody Guthrie, but also the Battle Hymn of the Republic. And so I came away pretty inspired, actually, pretty impressed. What about you in New Orleans?
How do the 'No Kings' protests reflect political sentiments?
We had speeches, which were good, and a lot of local activist groups. It's funny. On the internet, this even actually ekes out into real life. I did the PBS show in Austin that Evan Smith interviews after our live event a couple weeks ago. And there's a Q&A period afterwards, and it's a lot of kind of old, earnest kind of NPR. I mean, literally NPR tote bag boomer liberals in this case, since it was PBS. One or two of them asked me. They're like, yeah. my granddaughter, my son doesn't think this is cool to go to the no Kings protest. They're not engaging. You know, they think it's only for corporate liberals and it's nothing that's going to actually get done. And I was kind of saying to them, I don't, I don't think you should worry about that.
And I think there's value to doing it. And it's funny, like when you get out there in the real world, the no Kings rally in New Orleans was like everybody, you know, there was the communists at a booth and, And then there are the people dressed as the Statue of Liberty and the former Republicans. And I had a guy come up to me and say, you're my second favorite podcaster besides Hasan Piker. I was like, okay, well, that's an interesting pairing. But people are more complicated in the real world. And I think that people have a lot of varying different views. Totally. Everybody I talked to felt good to be out there. It was a good crowd. Registering dissent, organizing, planning other stuff. I think it's valuable for that, for local organizing as well, getting people more engaged, particularly somewhere like Louisiana.
To me, I think that the biggest element of success, sometimes you like to figure, skate, judge this stuff, and it's like, was it big enough? And was there an exact result the next day? And to me, my big takeaway from a Glass Half Full standpoint is... There was a widespread, diverse, but clear message coming from the opposition, which is that we don't like the lawless rule from this president.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the implications of troop deployment in the Middle East?
0:12–1:57
2
How do the 'No Kings' protests reflect political sentiments?
1:57–4:33
3
What lessons can we learn from Lincoln's stance on war?
4:33–5:54
4
Where does Congress stand on war-making powers today?
5:54–7:46
5
What are the economic impacts of the current military actions?
7:46–11:09
6
How is the Trump administration handling the situation with Iran?
11:09–14:29
7
What are the potential consequences of military action in Iran?
14:29–22:02
8
What life lessons can we derive from sports disappointments?
22:02–1:01:17
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Bulwark Daily
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