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Heather Cox Richardson: An Attack on Our System of Government Oct 15, 2025

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Republicans in Congress know that what they’re doing is deeply unpopular—on healthcare, supporting troops in the streets, and on redistricting. That’s why they’re basically in hiding, plotting new ways to try to shift the narrative. But because they’ve given their Constitutional power away to Trump & company, unelected officials in the administration are now making the taxing and spending decisions. Meanwhile, Trump has another monument in the works. Plus, Democrats and the Senate race in Maine, another military strike in the Caribbean, and MTG may be a bellwether of MAGA’s future.
Heather Cox Richardson joins Tim Miller.
show notes

JB Pritzker and Franklin Foer: Like Living in an Authoritarian Regime Oct 14, 2025

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After a court temporarily blocked the deployment of Guard troops in Illinois, ICE agents began ramping up their operations around Chicagoland. They are now demanding that residents produce their papers—particularly if they have brown skin. Officers stand outside churches holding Spanish-language Mass or they go into tourist areas to confront people, including U.S. Citizens. If someone doesn’t have an ID with them, they’ll be detained. The power-hungry officials around Trump, including Stephen Miller, are likely behind the enhanced menacing. Meanwhile in Israel, the resilience of the surviving hostages—after a sustained campaign of deprivation—is worthy of celebration. Plus, the Hamas executions of Gazans, our American pharoah’s comfort with Middle East strongmen, and even Newsmax says the new Pentagon press rules are a bridge too far.
Gov. JB Pritzker and The Atlantic‘s Frank Foer join Tim Miller.
show notes

Sam's 'Bulwark Take' with former Amb. Dan Shapiro
Frank's book, "World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech"
Ian McEwan's "What We Can Know," referenced by Frank
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Bill Kristol and Ty Cobb: Recapturing America Oct 13, 2025

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Peaceful protesters in Chicago and Portland have been so clever and effective at ridiculing the masked Stasi agents in their cities that the political momentum for putting troops on the street feels like it’s petering out. And while Republicans keep smearing this weekend’s No Kings day as about hating America, the real ‘Hate America’ side is the one calling patriots ‘terrorists’ because they intend to exercise their First Amendment rights. Meanwhile, the Comey and Tish James indictments are all about Trump’s mental illness and narcissism. Plus, the joy and the sadness around the release of the hostages, the Dems look to be winning the shutdown fight despite their messaging, and it may take a generation before the Justice Department is restored to its rightful role of ensuring the rule of law.
Former Trump attorney Ty Cobb and Bill Kristol join Tim Miller.
show notes

Jacob Soboroff and Sarah McBride: Democracy at the Ground Level Oct 10, 2025

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The administration may be trying to lay the groundwork for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act by invading Chicago, but the real human stories are breaking through: ordinary Chicagoans are outraged that good, decent immigrants are being snatched off the street and their families’ lives ruined. And while Kristi Noem keeps promoting the bad guys that are being rounded up, ICE is also treating American citizens abhorrently. Plus, from our live show in D.C., Rep. Sarah McBride talks with Sarah Longwell about the need for a big tent coalition without purity tests, and how the Dem demands for a renewal of the ACA subsidies is also a challenge to Trump’s authoritarian power grab.
Jacob Soboroff joins Tim Miller and Rep. Sarah McBride was live with Sarah Longwell.
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Sam Stein: A Bunch of Violent Keystone Cops Oct 09, 2025

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ICE and other armed federal agents are doing their best to incite violence in blue cities so they can help Trump realize his unfulfilled dream from 2020 to impose a military crackdown. At the same time, Trump can only point to what happened in Portland five years ago during Black Lives Matter protests to try to bolster his case. Meanwhile, Comey has a pretty good shot to get his case dismissed—thanks in part to a Truth Social post that was supposed to be a DM to Bondi directing her to go after his enemies. Plus, doubts around the longterm sustainability of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, the butch-up cosplay behind the blowing up of boats off of Venezuela, and the real power of conservative media influencers like Candace and Tucker. Sam Stein joins Tim Miller.
Sam Stein joins Tim Miller.
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Casey Newton: Lawlessness and Danger in Tech's Brave New World Oct 08, 2025

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Trump's TikTok deal looks like classic crony capitalism as well as open theft. But China has bigger fish to fry with trade than its TikTok algorithm—which led Congress last year to ban the app in the U.S. Meanwhile, Silicon Valley thinks they're building a machine god with AI, but we really may be heading into catastrophe. Plus, the armed invasion of Chicago, Sam Altman seems disconnected from reality, and Tim Cook's pathetic bending over for backwards for Trump.
Casey Newton joins Tim Miller.
show notes

Casey's Platformer newsletter
Casey's "Hard Fork" podcast
JVL's emergency 'Triad' on Chicago
Tim's 'Bulwark Take' on DHS using Zach Bryan's music in a propaganda video
Tucker's interview with Sam Altman
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Jake Tapper: Trump Is Making the Country Less Safe Oct 07, 2025

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A new kind of McCarthyism has settled in at the Justice Department, where career prosecutors—including those handling tough national security cases—are getting canned for voicing any opposition to politically-motivated demands from top DOJ officials. And those who survive the ongoing purge are literally working in fear that they are being surveilled by the FBI. Meanwhile, MTG may play a role in resolving the shutdown. Plus, Tapper’s timely new book, his maybe/maybe not text interview with Trump, and the heat he’s still taking over his earlier Biden book.
Jake Tapper joins Tim Miller.
show notes

Jake's new book out Tuesday, "Race Against Terror"
Jake and Alex Thompson's book on Biden, "Original Sin"
Bulwark Live in DC (10/8) with special guest Rep. Sarah McBride
On sale at TheBulwark.com/events.
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Bill Kristol and Jane Fonda: The New 'Fierce Urgency of Now' Oct 06, 2025

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ICE is intentionally provoking violence in the nation’s cities and then glorifying it with their crack video team. Meanwhile, the rhetoric coming from Trump true believers about their desire for a ‘benevolent’ authoritarian strongman is truly alarming. But governors and members of the judiciary are behaving like we still have a republic —and that the insurrectionist president can’t just deploy Guard troops in whatever state he wants. Plus, the Dems should consider broadening their aims with the shutdown, and Jane Fonda is reviving her father’s McCarthy-Era free expression group.
Jane Fonda and Bill Kristol join Tim Miller.
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Monday's "Morning Shots"
Bill's "Bulwark on Sunday" with Ryan Goodman
Fonda's Committee for the First Amendment
"Bulwark Takes" podcast
Lauren on Geoff Duncan's campaign for governor in Georgia
Tim at Barstool HQ with KFC
Pic of Kristi Noem working out
Where to watch the Fonda's 1971 film, "Klute"
Bulwark Live in DC (10/8) with special guest Rep. Sarah McBride
On sale at TheBulwark.com/events.

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Tom Nichols: All The Circuit Breakers Are Gone Oct 03, 2025

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President Trump’s loyalty purges continue. Prosecutors are fired from the U.S. attorney’s office in Eastern Virginia, including people who had nothing to do with the Comey case. And Kash Patel pushes out an FBI agent in training for displaying a rainbow flag in his workspace. Meanwhile, reports surface that Marco Rubio is leading a push among Trump’s top aides to topple Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols joins Tim Miller to discuss.

Bulwark Live in DC (10/8) with Sarah, Tim and JVL. Tickets on sale now at TheBulwark.com/events.
Tim's playlist

Symone Sanders-Townsend: The White House’s Goal Is Enacting Pain Oct 02, 2025

Show notes

The Trump administration is turning up the heat now that the government has shut down, cancelling billions for green projects, targeting funding for infrastructure in New York and threatening mass firings of federal workers. Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to hold the line in the Senate with their demands about health care. Elsewhere, the White House is asking a group of top universities to join a compact supporting the president’s political agenda so that they can get federal funds. MSNBC’s Symone Sanders-Townsend joins Tim Miller to talk about the shut down fight and whether the president has overplayed his hand, how Democrats can eventually win seats back in the Senate and what the administration’s pressure on academia is really all about.
Show Notes:

Bulwark Live in DC (10/8) with Sarah, Tim and JVL. Tickets on sale now at TheBulwark.com/events.

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