The Bulwark Podcast

Tom Mauser and Bill Kristol: Columbine, 25 Years On

22 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tom Mauser lost his son, Daniel, in the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. He joins Tim Miller to discuss his long fight against gun violence, sm...

Amanda Carpenter: Welcome to Coalition Government

19 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hey, look: Republicans and Democrats are working together! Meanwhile, Trump is still trying to destroy our institutions, Bill Barr is comfortable play...

Ali Vitali and Will Saletan: An Epiphany on Ukraine?

18 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Johnson shows hints of Reaganism with his new push for a foreign aid bill that includes support for Ukraine. Meanwhile, Republicans in Arizona se...

David Sanger: New Cold Wars

17 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the United States lived in a delusion that Russia and China could not touch us. And while Americans ar...

Ross Douthat: Elite Outrage Is Not Enough

16 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Trump wins voters who don't read The New York Times or listen to The Bulwark Podcast, and elite opposition may not be enough to defeat him. Ross Douth...

Bill Kristol and Ben Wittes: The Split-Screen Reality

15 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While Biden spent the weekend helping fend off Iran's missile and drone attack, supposedly pro-Israel Trump embraced the anti-Israel chant, "Genocide ...

Jonathan Chait: Trump Broke the Scales

12 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Pound for pound, the media treats Trump better than any Democrat. Plus, talking about abortion in a way that wins the most votes, NPR and identity pol...

Isaac Arnsdorf and Joe Perticone: Trying to Finish What They Started

11 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Steve Bannon fueled the rise of MAGA by offering true believers a sense of community and purpose. A new book tells the story of ordinary Americans swe...

Olivia Nuzzi: Kari Lake Is No Meryl Streep

10 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kari Lake can deliver a good performance, but she's not really a true believer, as her flip on the Arizona abortion law shows. Plus, the normal part o...

Adam Kinzinger: Yes, Russian Propaganda Is Infecting the GOP

09 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Two powerful Republican congressmen say some of their colleagues are advancing Russian propaganda, but they're still letting Moscow Marjorie run the s...

Bill Kristol: Pure Oligarchic Greed

08 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Trump's billionaire donors had it so bad under Obama, Clinton, and RINO presidents that they just have to go with the authoritarian. Plus, the return ...

Ron Brownstein: A Republican Realignment?

05 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While Trump's calling card is stoking white grievance, he's making unprecedented inroads with Black and Hispanic voters. But in a twist, Biden is matc...

Ruth Ben-Ghiat: There Is No Alternative

04 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Republicans can't get off the Trump highway to hell, but business and media elites are also cozying up to him in case he returns to power. Meanwhile, ...

Rep. Jared Moskowitz and Marc Caputo: The Least Productive Congress

03 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The 118th Congress has made history: by removing a speaker, expelling a member, and holding sham impeachment hearings. Without Dem votes, the governme...

Stephen Richer and Will Saletan: Kari Lake Lied

02 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kari Lake said she'd fight to the bitter end to prove the AZ governor's race was stolen from her, but in court she essentially conceded that it was al...

Bill Kristol: Easter Egg (T)roll

01 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

MAGA spent the holiday weekend arguing that Trump is more faithful than Biden, and also managed to slip in a possible dog whistle to evangelicals abou...

A.B. Stoddard: Liz Cheney Groupie

29 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Cheney makes clear where she comes down on the POTUS rematch and is showing ex-Trumpworld figures how it's done. Plus, the 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty' show...

David Frum: American North Korea

28 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Republicans have entrapped themselves with the promise of a massive surveillance state for American women. Plus, how Never Trumpers can put Biden over...

Justin Kanew and Justin Fenton: Tennessee, Laboratory of Theocracy

27 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As local news is hollowed out, rightwing news fills in the gaps. In Tennessee—ground zero for the culture war—Justin Kanew's site, The Tennessee H...

Don Lemon: Elon Is a Troll

26 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Elon Musk, for all his keyboard courage, couldn't handle Don Lemon's Q and A, but then sicced his Twitter minions on the ex-CNN host after their inter...

Bill Kristol and Joe Perticone: The Quitters

25 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Gallagher is following Ken Buck out the House door, as they both abandon their jobs, their voters, and any sense of public service. Plus, MTG thr...

Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman: White Rural Rage

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rural white voters wield outsized power in our democracy, yet they are also more likely to support violence as a political tool—and to hold antidemo...

Jake Tapper: American Scandal

21 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It used to be that politicians who had affairs, took bribes, and paid people off lost their office or lost their base. Tapper joins Tim to discuss his...

Stephen Hayes: Grading Biden

20 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A recent editorial in The Dispatch rejected both Trump and Biden as acceptable choices in 2024. Tim takes strong exception to that position, arguing i...

Susan Glasser: An Edifice of Lies

19 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Trump's 2024 lies are not just the familiar ones about a 'rigged election' and 'Sleepy Joe.' He's also unleashing a flood of untruths about Biden and ...

Bill Kristol and Ben Wittes: A Subversive Enterprise

18 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Trump stands and salutes the  insurrectionists during the national anthem, and may rehire the treasonous Paul Manafort to help out in '24. Plus, the ...

Amanda Carpenter: Is Trump Depressed?

15 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

He lost, he's low on campaign cash, and he's juggling criminal court dates. Are the bad things he says about America a projection of how he feels abou...

Josh Barro: Dear Fed, Please Lower Interest Rates

14 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One of the biggest reasons voters are not happier about the economy is because interest rates are much higher than they were few years ago. Plus, publ...

Sasha Issenberg: Politics, Disinformation, and 2024

13 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2016, the Trump campaign used microtargeting to suppress the Clinton vote. Since then, digital malfeasance has become the dominant subplot in our p...

Evan Osnos: Biden Brims with Confidence

12 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Biden has the air of a man with no doubt about his campaign strategy—which is not exactly soothing to some Democrats and Never Trumpers. Plus, Hur's...

Bill Kristol and Sarah Longwell: Is the Wishcasting Over?

11 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Old guy Biden got Ezra Klein to back down—and Kristol a little bit as well. Plus, Orbán at Mar-a-lago, the fallout from the "illegal" immigrant lin...

Ben LaBolt and Will Saletan: The Stakes of the Moment

08 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The White House explains why Biden led his State of the Union speech with the threats to democracy at home and abroad. Plus, MAGA's meltdown over Bide...

Tom Nichols: The GOP Needs a Fake Joe Biden

07 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Republicans keep painting Biden as an antifa-loving, Iran-coddling communist as they try to create a moral equivalence with Trump. Plus, McConnell won...

Errin Haines: A Not So Super Tuesday

06 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Biden campaign is facing a buyer's market among voters and will really have to up its persuasion game, particularly with voters of color. Plus, Ni...

Catherine Rampell: Trump Would Be Bad News for the Economy

05 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Trump's plans to add tariffs and shrink the labor force— via an immigration crackdown— would likely reignite inflation. Plus, Biden's secret energ...

Bill Kristol and Ben Wittes: We Still Have to Do the Work

04 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The courts aren’t taking care of Trump and we can’t live in denial about the state of play. Meanwhile, words keep failing him at his weird rallies...

Kara Swisher: A Tech 'Tough Love' Story

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tech has allowed some very bad people to do some very bad things—including in the democracy arena. Swisher joins Tim for the weekend pod to share he...

Jamie Weinstein: The Cowardice of Mitch McConnell

29 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

McConnell wouldn't put the stake in the heart of Trump—will that overshadow his legacy? Plus, Dan Crenshaw is not happy, debating Gaza & media b...

John Avlon: Winning Back the House from the MAGA Minions

28 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The MAGA crew in the House is against majoritarian democracy and thinks bipartisanship is bad—Democrats are the only big tent party now. Avlon expla...

Matt Yglesias and Brian Beutler: The Left Hits Biden Harder than Trump

27 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In our first crossover pod, Tim queries Yglesias and Beutler about Biden's Gaza response, and why Dems aren't holding Kushner hearings—or raising he...

Bill Kristol: A Shot of Hopium

26 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Voters who backed Haley in South Carolina are not buying the American carnage message, and may represent a kind of gettable voter in swing states. Plu...

Bonus Episode: South Carolina Circus Special

24 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tim is joined by John Heilemann, Jennifer Palmieri, and Mark McKinnon, his former colleagues from "The Circus," for a South Carolina primary preview. ...

Rob Reiner and Dan Partland: God & Country

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Christian nationalism is not only a threat to democracy, but also to Christianity itself. Prominent evangelicals, like David French and Russell Moore,...

Glenn Thrush and Tim Mak: Russia's Plots Against the West

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A rundown on double agent Alexander Smirnov, and Republicans' eagerness to amplify information sourced from Russia. And in Ukraine, feelings of betray...

Katie Couric: Not A Libtard

21 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Couric revisits the impact of her Sarah Palin interview, and shares her views with Tim on the evolution of the GOP, the #MeToo movement in the media, ...

Jane Coaston: The Culture War of Absurdity

20 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Charlie Kirk hates Taylor, pro sports, Disney—and anything normal. Plus, the Alabama ruling on frozen embryos, the House is now the destination for ...

Bill Kristol: A Tacky, Low-Life Con Man

19 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The vulgar carnival barker used the holiday weekend to hawk crummy, over-priced sneakers, and compare himself to Navalny. Plus, the House skips town b...

Ben Wittes: Putin's Cheerleaders

16 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Alexei Navalny heroically stood up to Putin, but Tucker and MAGA's worst actors can't get enough of the Russian leader—and Russia itself. Plus, anot...

Robert Draper: The Talented Mr. Meadows

15 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The immunity order Mark Meadows has in the election subversion case could be a big problem for Trump. But his habit of lying could be a problem for Ja...

Rep. Dean Phillips: The Pitch

14 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The congressman states his case for why he's challenging Biden, and Tim Miller grills him.

James Carville: Mock Him

13 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Much of MAGA thinks Trump was sent by God, but King Cyrus probably didn't wear a diaper. Don't skimp on the mockery. Plus, Dems and male voters, jealo...

Bill Kristol and A.B. Stoddard : Soak Up the Schadenfreude

12 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A Super Bowl W for Dark Brandon & the Deep State brings MAGA tears. Plus, Mike Gallagher steps aside as no profile in courage, NATO allies are ala...

David French and Bill Kristol: The Age Thing

09 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The special counsel's report on Biden's docs—and a gaffe about Mexico—have placed Joe's age and memory front and center in the campaign. Plus, SCO...

He's Staying on the Ballot

08 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Supreme Court sounded ready to reject a Colorado ruling that barred Trump from the state ballot. Plus, reading the tea leaves on the next phase fo...

Tom Nichols: Citizen Trump

07 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Supreme Court's legitimacy would really be on the line if it took up Trump's completely lunatic immunity theory after the D.C. Circuit's airtight ...

Jonathan Taplin: The End of Reality

06 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Four billionaires—Musk, Zuckerberg, Thiel, and Andreessen—are part of an antidemocratic turn in the tech world. This interlocked directorate of Si...

The Fifth Avenue Rapist

05 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

J.D. Vance has extended Trump's Fifth Avenue immunity claim to sexual assault, espionage, RICO, and election stealing—as he angles for the VP slot. ...

Michael Steele: Let it Rip, Joe

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Surprise, surprise, Biden drops F-bombs when he talks about the former insurrectionist president. Plus, Mike Johnson is Trump's punk, and the RNC is b...

We're Talking Real Money

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Trump hasn't re-defamed E. Jean Carroll, so it basically takes about $83 million to get him to shut up.  Plus, the big risk in the Georgia case, MAGA...

Joe Klein & John Ellis: A Torrent of Stupid

31 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

MAGA has put Taylor at the top of its enemies list, Greg Abbott is inviting another Jan 6 at the border, and GOP governors have come out for just igno...

Brian Klaas: Why Everything We Do Matters

30 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The world feels like it's falling apart, and black swan events are on the rise. Is this the result of our unquenchable thirst for optimization and eff...

Will Saletan: The New Nikki

29 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Haley has taken a hard turn against Trump, and is calling on him to 'man-up' and explain why he grew the debt and why he praises President Xi. Meanwhi...

Edward Luce: Why Big Business Is Caving to Trump

26 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tax cuts and a gutted regulatory state are a big draw for Wall Street. But under a Trump 2.0, it would be the aspiring monopolists—not the publicly-...

Just What Putin Wanted

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Moscow Mitch capitulated to Trump's electoral interests, Justice Scalia speaks from beyond, Lindsey may have flipped on Trump in Georgia, and reading ...

Benjy Sarlin: Wake up to Reality

24 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As we pivot from primary season to the general election, Biden is telling Democrats to accept that Trump will be the nominee. Meanwhile, the ex-POTUS ...

Michael Kruse: Trump's Grand Finale

23 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As a longtime legal combatant, probably no one else on earth is more prepared to leverage four prosecutions than Donald Trump—he's made an art form ...

Will Saletan: A Rogue Presidency

22 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Trump wants to put his knee on the neck of America with a violent, illegal presidency. Plus, the self-abasement of DeSantis and Tim Scott, Nikki waits...

Amanda Carpenter: The Authoritarian Playbook

19 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump has been making extreme promises on the campaign trail. And unlike in 2016, this time he has a team drawing up the plans for implementing...

Complete and Total Immunity

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

No, American presidents don't need to be able to commit crimes to do their job. Plus, Trump is begging to be made a victim of a big, bad judge, and lo...

Tina Nguyen: The MAGA Diaries

17 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The young people who show up at CPAC and Turning Point events are there because of a deeply entrenched grassroots effort to draw in new soldiers of th...

A.B. Stoddard: Dead Ends after Iowa

16 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Almost half of Iowa's caucus-goers voted for someone besides Trump—evidence that a criminal defendant preaching to the choir can only go so far. Mea...

Will Saletan: The GOP Surrenders before First Vote

15 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Republicans are racing to bend the knee before the Iowa caucuses even start, while also looking like they want border chaos. Plus, racial resentment r...

Karen Tumulty: The World's Biggest Victim

12 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As Trump prepares to clean up in the Iowa caucuses, his campaign narrative has gone full 'Trump: The Victim.' Expect more court appearances and more t...

The MAGA Pathology

11 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Christie dropping out shows that one party is at war with the idea of democratic self-government. Meanwhile, Trump's Fifth Avenue comment makes ...

Mark Hertling: Defending American Values

10 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While North Korea has jumped in to arm Russia, Republicans in Congress are dallying over supporting Ukraine. Plus, presidential hit squads, Lloyd Aust...

Tim O'Brien: The Most Corrupt President. Ever.

09 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Trump is hoping for a market crash on Biden's watch, vowing revenge prosecutions, and plotting on how much he can grift off of foreign countries if he...

Will Saletan: Erasing History

08 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jan 6 insurrectionists are innocent, and the Art of the Deal guy could've taught Lincoln how to negotiate an end to the Civil War—the Republican Par...

Tom Nichols: Claudine Gay Had to Go

05 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Harvard was justified in protecting its academic standards and the institution itself. But people are taking the DEI bait over Gay, instead of seeing ...

What Will the Supreme Court Do?

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

SCOTUS will have to take up up the insurrectionist clause, after Colorado and Maine took steps to remove Trump from their ballots. Plus, Trump's absur...

Susan Glasser: The Fever Won't Break

03 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Trump experience can't just be undone—we are a different country now, and we're not going back to the status quo before his presidency. Plus, wa...

Will Saletan: The Guts to Tell the Truth

02 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Christie makes clear he's not dropping out, because Nikki Haley is not the one we've been waiting for. Plus, with House Republicans signaling th...

The Day After: The Night My Father Scared America

22 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

ABC's The Day After, the 1983 drama about a nuclear strike on America, was the most-watched movie in television history. It had a profound impact on ...

Sam Wasson: A Francis Ford Coppola Story

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Coppola is like a Method actor behind the camera—living the movie to make the movie. For The Godfather, he became like a godfather. And most famousl...

Yair Rosenberg: Israel Is Not a White Colonial Project

20 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The left is lazily applying American ideas about racial identity and intersectionality to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Atlantic's Yair Rosenb...

Anne Applebaum: The Irreparable Damage of a Second Term

19 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Anne Applebaum discusses a ray of hope in Europe with the defeat of Poland's authoritarian government, while also contemplating the consequences for N...

Will Saletan: Trump Is Anti-America

18 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On the stump in New Hampshire, Trump parroted Putin condemning the American political system. Plus, the tension among Democrats over Israel, Christie ...

Ready for 2024?

15 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It was a year of heroes and zeros, highs and lows, and shocks and fizzles. Mona Charen, A.B. Stoddard, and Will Saletan join Charlie Sykes for a speci...

Jack Smith Calls Trump's Bluff

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The special counsel is short-circuiting Trump's foot-dragging strategy and mining his phone data to uncover a mountain of new evidence against the ex-...

Where Have All the Democrats Gone?

13 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Democrats used to be the party of the common man and woman, but they have taken a back seat to Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and Wall Street. In the proc...

David Frum: A Dark Path

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If Trump wins, the first crime of his second term will be committing perjury—when he swears to defend the Constitution. Plus, Republicans aren't rea...

Will Saletan: Political Delusion

11 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Kevin swears that Trump will stop with the retribution talk. Meanwhile, the aspiring dictator says it's a hoax that Democrats call him a threat to dem...

Tim Alberta: American Idolatry

08 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Is the Almighty, who made heaven and earth, also biting his nails over next year's election? Tim Alberta joins Charlie Sykes to discuss the evangelica...

A.B. Stoddard: No One Feared Kevin

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

And now no one is afraid of Mike Johnson—so he won't be able to lead either. Plus, a Christie-Haley alliance is starting to materialize, Marjorie Ta...

Liz Cheney: A Clear and Present Danger

06 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump will never be the lesser of two evils. We must unite, look beyond partisanship, and vote in ways that will maintain the republic. Liz Che...

Philip Bump: The GOP Stumbles Towards Impeachment

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The smoking gun turns out to be a dud, but James Comer and the Republicans move ahead on their evidence-free Biden impeachment inquiry. The Washington...

Will Saletan: The #MeToo Fail

04 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The progressives both-sidesing the sexual violence against Israeli women and girls has only added to the horrors of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Plus, T...

Adam Kinzinger: Why Trump 2.0 Will Be Worse

01 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Trump wants to weaponize the office of the presidency, and who would stop him? We have a built-in weakness of basing our constitutional norms on the h...

The Banality of Crazy

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

From Elon to Trump to Kanye, public decompensation is a part of our culture now. Plus, Georgia's inadequate investigation of the potential Trump-relat...

Michael Steele: The GOP's Humiliation Kink

29 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This is the era of political humiliation: From Kevin nursing Trump back to health after Jan 6, to dominatrixes who get paid to mock your political vie...

David French: It's a Cult

28 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Don't underestimate the power of the belief that Trump is part of a prophecy for many evangelicals. And don't underestimate the general lack of knowle...