Since this country's founding, we have been tested. And the Americans before us somehow stood up and fought the good fight. We can't be the generation that loses it all 249 years into this experiment. But that doesn't mean we can't laugh about the stupid clowns—like Trump showing once again that he has no idea how tariffs work. Plus, RFK's dangerous proposed autism registry is selling a cruel fantasy. And Democrats need to lock down what they're selling and listen to what voters want from the government. Beto O'Rourke joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod. show notes Beto's Substack Beto's "Powered by People" NY Post story on the Venezualan stylist, Andry, imprisoned in El Salvador Tim's interview with David Pakman about not traveling abroad Tim’s book recommendation, "Diary of a Man in Despair" Tim's playlist
Chapter 1: Who is Beto O'Rourke and what is Powered by People?
Hallo und willkommen zu The Bulwark Podcast. Ich bin euer Host Tim Miller. Es ist Freitag. Ich brauche ein bisschen Therapie, also habe ich einen alten Freund mitgebracht. Er ist ein ehemaliger demokratischer Kommissar aus El Paso. Er läuft Powered by People, der registriert und mobilisiert Votierende in Texas und arbeitet auch, um langfristige Veränderungen in den Staaten zu machen.
Das wird nötig sein. Er ist auch auf Substack. Jetzt ist jeder auf Substack. Es ist Beto O'Rourke. Was passiert, Beto? Schön, mit dir zu sein.
Chapter 2: What is the importance of town halls and face-to-face voter engagement?
Hier in El Paso. Es ist ein... Absolutely gorgeous day out there. And soon headed to Denton, Texas. We're doing these town halls all over the state of Texas. And we're going to be at this place called Anderson's. It's a brewery on Saturday. So I'm excited to be getting out there and to be with people right now.
Man, ich muss dir sagen, es fühlt sich so gut an, nur auf persönlicher Ebene.
Not to be watching or waiting or hoping or praying, but to be out there with people. And, you know, there's certainly something cathartic and therapeutic about it, right? For everyone concerned, because I'll talk for 10 or 15 minutes and then the microphone goes around the room and anyone, you know, We don't screen for party affiliation. We don't check the questions ahead of time.
Anyone who has anything they want to say is able to do that. And from those conversations, not only am I learning a lot about what's on the minds of people in Wichita Falls, where we just held one, or Rice University in Houston, where we just had one, but everyone else in the room is listening to their neighbors and folks in the community. And they may find common cause. They may
understand from someone who's drawn a different conclusion on an issue that they care about, how they got there. There's something really powerful in that. And then we also, for our group Powered by People, which does voter registration and uses relational organizing to stay in touch with newly registered voters, we also recruit volunteers from those meetings.
We say, hey, we've had a great conversation today and we learned a lot. If you want to now take action, which I believe is the antidote to despair and the key to victory and fundamental to building long-term political power, then sign up with us. We'll train you to become a volunteer deputy registrar to register voters.
We'll train you in our program and then we'll send you out there with other volunteers and you can do the work right now. No waiting for 2026 or, you know, 2028, wenn jemand das tatsächlich macht. Du kannst das jetzt tun. Also, ich denke, das ist essentiell die Formel, zumindest wie ich es verstehe, ist, du musst den Moment treffen, in dem Moment. Du musst da rauskommen, was auch immer es ist.
Wenn es ein Hands-off-Rallye ist, Wenn es um die Schule geht und über die öffentlichen Kommentare spricht, wenn es um einen dieser Stadthallen geht oder um eine Stadthalle selbst zu halten, wenn es um all diese Dinge geht, dann tun wir es. Wir brauchen das gerade. Es gibt echte Macht, um zusammenzukommen. Und wie Lincoln gesagt hat, öffentliches Sentiment ist alles.
And when you get people coming together in numbers larger and larger, they begin to influence and shape public sentiment on the things that we care most about. And I think that gives us ultimately the power to overcome these challenges. But at the same time, you've got to be patiently and persistently building that political power. Democrats, at least in Texas, have sucked at this forever.
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Chapter 3: How did the 2024 election results affect Democratic strategies?
I mean, that's a little dispiriting.
Du kannst die Opposition anschauen und dumm werden, weil sie so unkompetent ist. Sie sind so korrupt. Sie sind so gezwungen. Sie sind umgekehrt von diesen Quislings, die ihre separaten Teile und Ziele mit der Regierung machen, egal ob es Rechtsfirmen oder Universitäten oder die Powerbroker und die Billionäre sind.
Aber wir müssen uns auch anschauen, und ich meine nicht nur die Demokraten, aber vor allem die Demokraten, die pro Demokratie, pro Gesetzesordnung, pro US-Konstitutionsseite. Was gab es für Verteidigte im Jahr 2024? Ich weiß, dass jede Wahl eine Wechselwahl ist, aber je nachdem, was die Leute wollten und für Wechselwahl schreien wollten, war es im Jahr 2024.
And there was one side that offered change. But if you knew nothing else, and if you could be forgiven for being so busy because you're working so hard and you're raising your kids and you're taking care of your folks and you know, fuck politics, I just don't pay attention. All I know is that guy represents change. And those folks look like more of the same.
And this country is not working for me right now. And I don't need any more of the same. I need some fucking change in my life. And so I think we have to look in the mirror and accept that Where we have failed and we failed. We had one job, one job in 2024 and we failed. And that's not on Donald Trump. It's not on the voters who voted for Donald Trump.
It's on those who are offering the alternative. And so we have to learn from that. Right. And we have to both stop him and then we have to overcome him and replace him in elections peacefully, democratically and nonviolently with the change that people are looking for in this country.
When I look back, the more I've thought about it, we have, what, five months distance from it, and look back at our failings, and I think maybe something where you could provide some insight when you said there, like, let's look at what was on offer from this side, from the Democrats, from the anti-Trump, whatever you want to call it. And I think...
The thing that it really comes down to, I was talking to James Carville before the election. And I was like, everybody knew it was on his whiteboard in the Clinton campaign. You know, change is more of the same. It's the economy, stupid. Don't forget help. What was on Kamala's whiteboard? And I asked him that, like, what's on her? What's on this campaign's whiteboard?
And I don't, this isn't meant to like be an attack on her or whatever. It's just like, let's just be honest about it. And he couldn't answer that question. It was like a couple of days before the election. And like that kept sticking in my head. I'm like, I'm worried about this. Like, that's something that worried me. And all the other stupid stuff, like she didn't go on Joe Rogan.
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Chapter 4: What lessons can be learned from Beto's 2018 campaign and voter outreach?
Wir schreien nicht für die Städte. Eine andere Frau steht auf, fragt über Medicaid. Wir sind bereits das least insured state. in the country. You know, we lead the nation in childhood diabetes deaths. We're at the epicenter of this maternal mortality crisis. If they cut Medicaid further, what is going to happen and who is it going to hurt? So people see the train wreck playing out in real time.
They're really concerned about it. They ask these questions. But Tim, they also ask a lot of questions about the Democratic Party. Where are the Democrats? Why aren't they fighting? What's going on here? You know, back when the CR, the government funding debate was taking place and almost every Democratic member of the House but one stood strong and together.
And Chuck Schumer signaled that he and the Senate Democrats were going to do the same. Und dann hat er sich am Ende des Tages gegräbt und von jeder Druck, die er fühlte, gefeuert. Mann, das war wie ein Steak im Herzen von so vielen Leuten, die sich gerade schmerzen und von Trump schmerzen und wollen, dass jemand zurückkämpft.
Und ich denke, es gibt eine echte Verzweiflung, nicht nur von 2024, sondern auch von dem, was in 2025 passiert oder nicht passiert. Und eine echte Leidenschaft für diejenigen, die aufstehen und den Kampf gegen Trump nehmen.
Vielen Dank. Spending months with private teachers is the old way of learning languages and nothing screams tourist like holding the phone translation app up to your face all day. Babbel's tips and tools are inspired by the real stuff you actually need when communicating. With a focus on conversation, you'll be ready wherever you go. As mentioned.
In the podcast here today with Beto and in my conversation with David Pakman yesterday. I am leaving the country. I'm not scared. I'm not going to live in an open air prison because of that fucking small handed Bulgarian trying to, you know, scare us into traveling. So I'm going to Europe. We're going to do a little Babbel. I don't know if I'm going to be ready to learn a whole new language.
I got a lot of podcasting to do, but I'm going to do enough so that I can go into restaurants and order and not feel like a tourist. And I think that's a fun little escape and something that we're working on. And you should do it too. Why not? It's better than doom scrolling. Need proof to Babbel gets you talking.
Studies from Yale, Michigan State and other leading universities continue to prove Babbel works. One study found that using Babbel for 15 hours is equivalent to a full semester at college. Ich höre alles, es klingt großartig. But then I start to think there's something underneath it that gives me a little despair, right?
Which is, number one, the woman's farm is going to go under and she's with Trump. Like, what hope is there that, like, that people that, you know, have smaller challenges, you know, turn on them, right? Than that. Like, that is something that concerns me. I think it's great that you're doing the town halls. I'm jealous, actually. I want to be around more people.
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Chapter 5: Why do some voters support Trump despite economic hardships like tariffs?
Hey, das ist für dich. Egal wie du frühstückst. Ob mit deinem Lieblingsmüsli, einer fruchtigen Bowl oder cremig schaumigen Kaffee. Mit Alpro wird jedes Frühstück einfach für einen gesunden Start in den Tag. Mit wertvollen Vitaminen und Mineralien. Ohne Zuckerzusatz. Und immer phantastisch lecker. Alpro.
I want to go to the actual news, instead of getting in our feelings for the whole podcast. Is there something about the Trump administration? Obviously, there's been so much crazy stuff. What has struck you as the thing that's either the most alarming, most concerning, most maddening?
I think just the full frontal assault on the Constitution and the rule of law. all the kind of hand-wringing before he took office about whether he would precipitate a constitutional crisis, whether it would happen, what it would look like when it did. And now we are in it. And I think it's really hard to I don't know, Tim, if it seems like an abstraction to people.
I don't know what folks at the Jazz Fest were saying about the constitutional crisis that we're in or, you know, if it's too distant from people's lives. I feel like that itself is kind of a patronizing dickish way to think about our fellow Americans. I fully have faith in them.
that they get or soon will get exactly what is happening, that he's disregarding a co-equal branch of government, that it is only going to get worse. At some point there will be a clash between Trump and some majority party. on the United States Supreme Court. And so, you know, you may or one might feel powerless in that. You know, he's got a 6-3 majority there. He has both houses of Congress.
He has a White House. He has the world's richest man. He has all of the social media platforms. Who the fuck am I to be able to do anything against that? And I just, I've got to invoke Lincoln again and that idea of public sentiment. You know, 1965, Also, was ist das? 60 Jahre her. Es ist nicht ein Wahljahr. Die Leute haben seit 75 Jahren an Votingrechten gearbeitet.
1890 hatte der Kongress ein Votingrechtsgesetz davor. Und die Pro-Demokratie-Partei damals, die Republikaner, hat es verdammt. Sie hatten das Haus, sie hatten den Senat. Sie haben es in das Haus gepasst. Es ist auf den Hörnern eines Filibusters im Senat gestorben. Und der Präsident war die andere Zeit so, weißt du was? Ich habe mehr wichtige Kämpfe zu kämpfen. Verdammt das.
Also für 75 Jahre, für 75 fucking Jahre, You disenfranchised and basically de-citizenized so many millions of our fellow Americans. In 1965, that march by John Lewis so galvanized the country. It was this catalytic shock to the conscience. And within eight days, LBJ ist able to bring the country together. And by that summer, he passes the Voting Rights Act.
75 years in the making creates the first true multiracial democracy in American history. More recently, in 2018, you had family separation. It was this quote unquote zero tolerance policy by the first Trump administration. You make it 2000 miles to this point. Wir hatten dieses Event in Tornillo, Texas. Frau Präsidentin Veronica Escobar und ich haben das organisiert.
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Chapter 6: How are Democrats addressing voter outreach and registration challenges in Texas?
And again, why I'm encouraged by what the federal courts are doing, not all of them, but many of them. Not only are the decisions important and not only have we been surprised in some cases by the Supreme Court's validation of those decisions, but back to public sentiment, it really begins to shape the story that people tell one another about what is happening in this country at this time.
So it is a very, very real threat and we should take it seriously.
I totally agree that it's a real threat and we should take it seriously. I also think we should point at him and laugh. I think I presented you a false choice. I think that it's important to say these guys are fucking clowns and you can't let them own you.
I had a conversation with David Pakman on YouTube yesterday because he's born in Argentina and he did this video about how immigration lawyers have told him he probably shouldn't travel abroad. And when I first saw it, I was like, this is a little alarmist. You know, this is like a little, we shouldn't, because I don't want people to be scared.
I don't want people to feel like they're in a prison in their country because of this fucking ass clown. You know, I think that so far he's failing at pretty much everything that he's doing. And so I think it's important to point and laugh at him rather than be scared of him. That said... V.a. wenn du eine rechte weiße Person bist, die ein Bürger ist und genug Ressourcen hat.
Einer von uns, oder ein gayer weißer Mensch, ehrlich gesagt, ich habe keine Angst vor ihm. Ich werde nach Europa reisen. Wenn sie versuchen, mich zu beurteilen, okay, wir werden sehen, was passiert. Wenn ich den ersten US-Bürger bin, den er zu Sakat schickt, dann weiß ich, dass Beto da draußen kämpfen wird. Aber ich sehe es nicht passieren. Aber auf der anderen Seite,
If you were born in Argentina, if you're here on a green card, if you're here on a work visa, if you're trans, the threat is really serious. I think we have to be able to hold those thoughts in our head. He's an incompetent clown that you should make fun of.
Und auch für besonders marginalisierte Menschen, für bestimmte Gruppen von Menschen, ist die Bedrohung jetzt wirklich viel größer, als es war. Und ich denke, das ist eine schwierige Sache, um Menschen in ihrem Kopf zu halten, aber ich weiß nicht, was du davon machst.
Ich denke, du hast es richtig gesagt. Ich meine, du schaust dich an, Und dann sind sie in Kraft. Und du siehst andere Tyranten. Sie haben die Macht gewählt und waren absolut zerstört und unkompetent, um ihr Land zu managen, lediglich den Toden durch die Zerstörung von Millionen in Russland, zum Beispiel, um nur einen zu benutzen.
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Chapter 7: What are the biggest constitutional and political challenges facing the U.S. today?
Tariffs are going to bring back your jobs in Michigan or Indiana or Ohio. Sending people without due process to concentration camps in El Salvador is going to fix our immigration system. These are all... You know, presentations of false hope that people who are understandably desperate, given how badly this country has failed them, are holding on to right now.
So we have to show them that not only does this stuff not work, but that there is something better on offer from those who believe in Constitution, Rule of Law and our democracy. Democrats and the largest possible coalition around them possible.
One last point left. I'm curious if you're hearing anything in particular at this point from people on tariffs. But Trump did an interview with Time Magazine. The reality has not punctured the Oval Office yet. But I just want to read from you a couple of things that he said this morning about tariffs or published this morning. We are a department store and we set the price.
I meet with the companies and then I set a fair price, what I consider to be a fair price, and they can pay it or they don't have to pay it. They don't have to do business with the United States, but I set a tariff on countries. We're a department store, a giant department store, the biggest department store in history. Everybody wants to come in and take from us.
They're going to come in and going to pay a price for taking our treasure, for taking our jobs, for doing all these things. I would wonder, listening to that, whether he's ever been in an apartment store. But I guess we know that he has, because a court has adjudicated that he sexually assaulted a woman in an apartment store. But I don't think he really understands how things work.
And I think that there's going to be a lot of pain for people with regards to these tariffs. And I just wonder what you think is a way to talk about this that resonates with people. Because it is complicated. It's so complicated, the President of the United States doesn't even understand how it works, apparently.
Ja, und ich muss sagen, es hilft nicht, wenn die Demokraten oder diejenigen, die sich dieser Politik und der tiefen Schmerzen und Schmerzen, die er den Leuten um uns herum verursacht, auf dieses oder nicht klar darüber sind, dass diese Tarife schmerzen. Sie werden die amerikanische Wirtschaft zerstören. Die Preise, die Sie in 2024 interessiert haben, werden nur immer höher und höher werden.
Das ist wirklich, wirklich schlecht. Ich denke, man muss das sagen. Und ich denke, man muss auch die Stimmen der Menschen erhöhen. who are being hurt by this in real time. You mentioned the woman at the tchotchke shop in New Orleans. I mean, what does she do next? She's going to go out of business. The soybean farmer in Iowa, what does she do next?
She's going to lose that farm and is not going to be able to pass it on to her kids. You know, the folks who can't afford things that they used to be able to depend on, what are they going to do next? As we become more isolated economically, and through our alliances around the rest of the world, life in every single way is going to become more expensive.
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