Episode notes
With Republicans in tight races stripping Trump’s name off their campaign websites, the president is in need of some love from Republicans he has summoned to Dallas to celebrate him. The fake convention also conveniently serves as a distraction from the surging price of oil. Plus: Vance may be the source who’s leaking about the missile depletions, Fox is giving more leeway for criticism of Trump, anti-Muslim hysteria is driving the complaints about Mamdani attending the 9/11 memorial in NYC, and Jessica from “The Five” has what she’s calling a “survival manual” for how to talk about politics…
The Bulwark Daily
by The Bulwark · English · News
Tim Miller and guests discuss the latest political news for the flagship podcast of the Never Trump movement and the reality-based community. Every weekday we provide insightful analysis, political hot-takes, an unabashed defense of liberal democracy and long-form interviews that cut through the "bo
More from The Bulwark Daily
-
14 Sep 2026 · 52 min
Bill Kristol: It Always Comes Back to Trump/Russia
A Putin bestie who's involved with the kidnapping of Ukrainian children bankrolled Don Jr.'s island wedding for some mysterious reason. Kushner is calling on Ukraine to give in to Putin's territorial demands. And Trump himself is blaming Zelensky for the high cost of diesel even though prices shot up after Trump launched his war of choice. It's the whole Trump family that tends to remind us of their close ties to Russia, Russia, Russia. Meanwhile, POTUS is not troubled by China's involvement with the death of U.S. soldiers in the Mideast.
-
11 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
Mehdi Hasan: 9/11's Fallout 25 Years Later
Rudy Giuliani and others who purport to represent the families of 9/11 victims ginned up the idea that it would be wrong for the Muslim mayor of NYC to attend Friday's memorial at ground zero. Republican politicians and Laura Loomer keep pushing their trash Islamification conspiracy. And a law-abiding Muslim family has been imprisoned for five months because Rubio declared them a national security threat—and most of the media could care less. At the same time, Tucker has a new, large Muslim fan base because they like what he's saying about Gaza and the Palestinians, even though he's a solid…
-
10 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 29 min
Sarah Longwell and Pedro Gonzalez: Meet the Young MAGA Edgelords—and the One Who Got Away
As Sarah explains in her new book, Trump has been so successful teaching a new generation of Republicans about the political value of vice signaling that Nazi talk and racism has become the norm among young MAGA edgelords. Disdain for women is also a key element. One former true believer, Pedro, says the right sees all of Trump's corruption and abuse of power as justified because he's focused on the country's true enemies: brown people, immigrants, and their white allies. And Vance buddying up to the racists shows that he is the real heir apparent to Trump.
-
8 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 11 min
Adam Jentleson and Pablo Torre: This Country Is Being Scammed
From politics to sports, business, and tech, the rich are breaking the rules, looking out for their friends, and still getting rewarded in the end—maybe with the help of a little trip to the White House with a POTUS gift in hand. For the midterms and beyond, Adam is bullish in his new book about the Dems' prospects to win on a grand scale and pass the kind of policies that help regular people. Part of the trick is cooling it on the purity tests over fraught issues like Israel. And in this Trump era, when accountability is so scarce, Pablo shows with his Pulitzer-winning reporting on the LA…
-
7 Sep 2026 · 1 hr
Bill Kristol: A Blue Wave vs. the Toxic Red Tide
With just under two months until Election Day, Tim and Bill revisit the run-up to the midterms in 2006 and 1994, two major wave election cycles where the bottom just fell out from under the party in power. The 1994 blowout was more about the end of an era, while 2006 was about an unpopular war in the Middle East, a scandal, and a disappointed base. What do those wave elections suggest about the prospects for a big blue year in 2026?
-
4 Sep 2026 · 55 min
David French: MAGA Is Making America Less Free
Marco Rubio is using dubious powers to create a new class of immigrant political prisoners. Meanwhile, DHS officials are bragging about how they're brutally shackling and frog-marching Haitians who came here under protected status. On this American holiday weekend, David takes a "nerd moment" to explain that the Founders always intended our Constitutional liberties to apply to noncitizens as well—including even despicable Milo Yiannopoulos.
-
9 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 25 minNew
Derek Thompson and Adam Carlson: The Republicans' Strength Is Now Their Weakness
While the cult of Trump is dragging Republicans' popularity down, the Democrats have good, ideologically diverse candidates running all over the place. And voters aren't stupid: They know Trump's war and his tariffs are why prices are higher. But high-profile polling misses in recent years still haunt Dems, so Adam takes a deep dive into whether Republicans are doing better than the polls are showing.
-
8 Oct 2026 · 57 min
Susan Glasser: Trump Has a Man Problem
The king of the birther conspiracy knows he needs to round up the white male vote, so he's serving up one of his old faves—straight-up anti-Muslim bigotry. And he's added a new one: Making Americans pay for another political ad, this time about what a tough guy he is. But Trump also has another corruption problem, courtesy of Trump Jr.'s ex-fiancée, Amb. Kimberly Guilfoyle, who seems to have a habit of calling in very expensive favors.
-
7 Oct 2026 · 56 min
Angie Nixon: People Power
Florida's Democratic nominee for the Senate says average Americans right now are living in the dreams of oligarchs and the super-rich, and it's time for regular people to live their own dreams. The progressive maverick promises to fight to help all Floridians—regardless of party—to be healthy, prosperous, and safe. And while Republicans like to point out Nixon's DSA affiliation, the Trump administration itself is acting socialist, while also sending immigrants back to countries like Cuba and Venezuela.
-
6 Oct 2026 · 49 min
Michael Lewis: Don't Bet Against the Country
Destroying trust in the government is one of Trump's key sources of power, but Michael reports from the front lines of the deep state that there still are good employees serving the public interest. In his new book, Michael celebrates some of the heroes who either managed to survive DOGE—or were stupidly pushed out despite the vital roles they filled. And the absolute failures of DOGE raise serious questions about how Elon could be trusted to run any enterprise.
