Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello and welcome to the Bulwark Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller. I'm delighted to welcome back to the show my buddy, MSNOW Senior Business Analyst, host of The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhl. Well, she was or is for just a little while longer the host of The 11th Hour.
We're going to be moving on June 15th to a new morning show, Money, Power, Politics, with Stephanie Ruhl airing from 9 to 11 a.m. on weekdays. It's Stephanie Ruhl, of course. How are you doing?
I am great. And there's only one, there's only one, because everything else is excellent, terribly sad part of the new show Money Power Politics. There's only one terrible part.
It is terrible. I know what you're going to say. It airs at the time that I tape this podcast.
Yes.
It's going to be very challenging for us to be on air together, but we're going to try to make it work.
We're going to make it work, especially because the show one day a week is going to have a live studio audience. And if there is one thing that makes Tim Miller light up like a Christmas tree, it's this boy with an audience.
I do need an audience.
I'm aware that you tape at the same time, but I have a feeling we're going to lure you to the Big Apple on those days when there's an audience standing by.
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Chapter 2: How does Ivanka Trump's island purchase impact Albania?
It is something else. The point you make with the interview as well, with Ivanka, it's like,
slightly the stakes are a little bit lower i mean the corruption is real i want to talk about the other corruption but with jared it's pretty fucking insane and i had robert garcia on a couple weeks ago and i was asking about this he hasn't testified before congress since 2022 he hasn't done a tough interview in about that long either
He doesn't have security clearance.
He doesn't have security clearance. He does speak on background frequently to reporters who just quote him as senior official, even though he's not. And it's just like, this is pretty crazy, you know, like that he is able to kind of live in this bubble of impunity, you know, while all of this corruption is going on. And I don't know. Like, do you feel like... Is the dam breaking on this?
The combination between what's happening with Albania and the Iran war fuck up while he's got the Saudi money and the Trump personal investments. I don't know.
Do you feel like... I mean, I'd like to tell you that the dam is breaking, but I don't feel like it is, right? Like, we... actively cover it every single day. It's actually one of the main reasons I wanted to move to nine o'clock in the morning because we do a daily segment called White House for Sale? And we're covering it and I'm trying to push it constantly.
I would say where I'm disappointed in this, I haven't seen Democrats tell a cohesive story, connecting the dots, showing the grift, asking what is Jared Kushner is in charge of peace negotiations in the Middle East, whether we're talking Gaza, now we're talking Iran, and at the same time, he's raising money, okay? And just think about Iran as the perfect example. The situation there is a mess.
Trump and his family are making huge amounts of money while the average American who might not own their home or isn't invested in the stock market is struggling, is struggling to put gas in their car, right? Is facing inflation, is paying higher prices at grocery stores. And I've yet to see Democrats really pull together a cohesive message connecting the two, right? When Donald Trump says,
We don't need to talk about affordability. You know, people are doing so well. What Democrats should be doing is laying out. Here's exactly who's doing so well. Here's why they're doing so well. Here's the businesses that are getting huge breaks from this White House. And here's life for you, America.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of Trump's family businesses on American politics?
Big Tech put their weight behind Ethan Agarwal against Ro Khanna. He got 6%. Open AI and anti-AI regulation big tech leaders have tried to make an example out of Alex Boras, who's running against George Conway in New York 12. They elevated him to co-frontrunner. Boras, and that's that competitive race that has Jack Schlossberg and George.
Have you interviewed Alex Boras yet?
Well, it's one of those things where my whole podcast becomes primary interviews. Once I take one, you know, you got to do everybody. And so I wait till the general. But why have you talked to him?
I have. And again, not to bring up heated rivalry, but he is a dead ringer for Scott Hunter. Like if this election doesn't work out for him, he could 100% be doing Scott Hunter lookalike contests and winning.
No, he's a super smart young guy. If I had a dollar for every mom at school or...
mom in the msnbc green room who wanted to talk to me about heated rivalry which is my culture then maybe i'd have enough fuck you money to be buying elections because all you ladies are trying to just you know insert yourself into you know gay culture all right can we not have something can we not have two men kissing for ourselves you know it's just an incredible show moving on
Moving on, but listen, you're making great points. Just because it's big money, it doesn't necessarily mean it wins elections. But I guess my point is- There's a potential backlash. Yes.
Yes.
Well, because they're taking it so far.
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Chapter 4: How are Democrats failing to connect the dots on Trump's corruption?
And they know that Donald Trump will go to extraordinary measures for real or through – you know, smoke and mirrors to try to keep the markets intact. So they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just talked to him or Besson or Howard. Like he's really ready to leave. And I'm like, babe, this isn't like Trump's ready to leave the party. And he called an Uber. So, so it's over.
Trump may be ready to leave Iran. And I think he's been ready to be done with Iran for at least eight or nine weeks. It doesn't end that way.
And we had more attacks this week, like Wednesday. We attacked them. They attacked Qatar. They attacked the airport in Kuwait. They attacked Bahrain.
And what do we do? We just decide to redefine what we call a ceasefire.
Yeah, and oil prices are down. Oil prices are down just in the last five days.
Yes, but I think part of that is based on the belief or the assumption that Trump does want to get the hell out of there.
Yeah. Okay. Well, good luck.
Good luck. Good luck. And tell us what is actually in this peace agreement because we never know. And when we hear it, it hasn't made much sense.
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Chapter 5: What role does media play in covering political corruption?
You've got a great job. It sounds great.
Nobody is long term. Right. Our CEOs aren't long term. We live in a world of ultimate, ultimate short termism because everybody has to get elected next year and meet a quarterly earnings report next month. So there is no long term planning. But that's exactly where the American people we should be excited about how the extraordinary potential of AI.
But instead, we're panicked about what it's going to do to our jobs. Wouldn't it be great if we addressed it?
There's one corruption story I didn't get to because like podcasting with you is like. There's just so many. I can't even guess what it'll be. There's so many corruption stories and there are a million. There's one in particular I want to get to because you shared it. And I had missed it, which shows you the scale of like corruption. It's a random thing. It's a small thing.
Mike Levin, a Democrat congressman from San Diego, is kind of a sleeper. He's been pretty good on all this. He posted this and you reported on it. This is what's happening with the airport in Palm Beach. Have you been to the airport in Palm Beach?
Not recently, but I have been there many times.
Okay.
Have you?
I have been there. Not many times. It's fine. Yeah.
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Chapter 6: How does the Trump administration influence stock trading regulations?
You're going to finally see Republicans like the Bill Cassidy's or the Tom Tillis's who have all been discarded by Donald Trump. They're going to stand up and they're not. And I just don't understand why.
I want to get to that. One more thing just on the airport, because this is why this bothers me, I think. In some ways, I almost want to give them respect.
Because you'd like to have a Palm Beach International Airport hat, and now you don't want to own one?
Is that why you're upset? In theory, maybe. That's not it. But why it bugs me is, I almost want to tip the cap of respect to this petty level of corruption. They made a multi-billion dollar crypto deal, and the UAE is paying them off. They're making ungodly amounts of money, generational wealth. Barron's grandchildren will have trickle-down money from the amount of corruption that they have done.
Barron's great-grandchildren, assuming he ever sires a child, I guess. And they're nickel and diming us for licensing fees at the Palm Beach airport? Like, what?
Okay, that's the killer to me. That's the killer. I'm like, listen, you won the game in terms of grift. Like you now are worth a multiple of what you were worth when you were lying, saying you were super rich. You are now mega, mega, mega wealthy. And still you're like, I've got to scrape one extra pickle from you at the Palm Beach airport. You went 10% off the mug.
You went 10% off the mug. Yes. It's crazy. I'm not built like that.
Okay, but babe, that goes right back to all the times, whether it's the ballroom or anything else, where Trump says, I'm going to pay for that with my own money. And then he never, ever, ever does. Just remember this, okay? If you're wondering, like, where did this come from? In Donald Trump's first term, remember, Trump's family foundation—
was disbanded, was made defunct by a New York judge for misusing funds that they said were going to charity. As part of the punishment, I believe the officers on the Family Foundation, and it was Ivanka and at least one or two of the other, I think it was Ivanka and Eric,
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Chapter 7: What are the consequences of congressional lobbying on public policy?
Nancy Pelosi is my Carl Anthony Towns of politics. She was enemy number one back when I was a Republican. And that, she's tough. I love her. It was beautiful.
When you get to know her. But that's it. And even if you don't like her politics, damn, it's tough to count Nancy out.
It is. Wonderful. Stephanie Rule, what a treat. We'll figure out a way for me to get on that show. I don't know. Maybe I'll have to pre-tape or something. You might have to apologize to the listeners. If I have to pre-tape the show and big news happens overnight, you'll have to owe them an apology. But we'll figure out a way to do it because I do love an audience.
Maybe we'll air the episode on this podcast because you're going to light it up like a Christmas tree.
I love it. Stephanie Ruhl, congrats. Good luck on the new show. Everybody else, it's Friday. Have a good weekend. We'll see you back here on Monday with Bill Kristol. Peace.
Fuck boys you'll never meet Well, you can thank them for why I'm so goddamn reactionary And for the graveyard in my stomach
The Borg Podcast is brought to you thanks to the work of lead producer Katie Cooper, associate producer Ansley Skipper, and with video editing by Katie Lutz, and audio engineering and editing by Jason Brown.
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