The Bulwark

Thomas Joscelyn, senior fellow at Just Security, joins Bill Kristol to discuss Trump's authoritarian impulses, how far he will go and if we can stop them.

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Richard E. Farley wrote a book called Drop Dead about New York City’s 1975 fiscal crisis. John Avlon and Richard compare it to today, highlighting similar risks: rising interest rates, job and tax-base uncertainty, reduced federal support, and political dysfunction. Unlike in 1975, today’s polarized politics make federal bailouts harder, emphasizing the urgent need to restore fiscal discipline and cooperative governance.

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Sonny Bunch is joined by Daniel Drezner—professor at Tufts, co-host of Space The Nation, and author of the cult classic Theories of International Politics and Zombies. They discuss why zombies make the perfect lens for understanding global relations, pandemics and government response post-2020.Daniel Drezner's Theories of International Politics and Zomb…

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Cameron Kasky, Tim Miller, and Peter Rothpletz (aka "Peter Twinklage") bring the chaos on this episode of FYPod. We talk about Don Lemon's "white boy," who actually won the Democratic primary in New York, and whether Gen Z is governed more by vibes or policy. Peter also shares his story that he wrote about the gay community's connection to Hooter's.

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We’re stuck in a political time warp. Tim Miller breaks down two stories that show how we’re still reliving the madness of 2020: Donald Trump cozying up to a propagandist from Mike Lindell’s pillow “news” network, and Gavin Newsom suing Fox News for the exact amount they paid Dominion.

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Our season finale is a bit of a pep talk. America is in a precarious place, but Americans everywhere are speaking up against the authoritarian threat. Historian extraordinaire Heather Cox Richardson joins Sarah to discuss the lessons history leaves for this moment, and Americans' role in fighting back.

By Heather Cox Richardson:

Letters from an American

Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America

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Don’t...

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Sonny Bunch and Will Sommer break down RFK Jr.'s $20 million government ad push to make wearable health tech “cool.” But his own Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) base isn’t buying it—raising alarms about surveillance, data privacy, and insider business ties.Plus, an update on the Liver King’s strange feud with Joe Rogan and how ayahuasca may have playe…

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A miracle food paste that fights malnutrition in children, that taxpayers have already paid for, is collecting dust in warehouses. Donated drugs for parasitic infections remain undistributed and are nearing their expiration dates. American-purchased ambulances sit idle because they have no gas. USAID was shut down in the name of government efficiency, but instead, we've spent at least $6 billion to dismantle it—and we've killed a lot of kids in the process, despite what Elon and Marco Rubio say. Plus, Elissa Sl...

Leah Litman, law professor and author of "Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes" joins Sam Stein to discuss the Supreme Court’s ruling limiting nationwide injunctions and its implications for Trump’s executive order targeting birthright citizenship. Also, the potential consequences for civil rights enforcement, and how this decision could reshape the balance of power between the courts and the executive branch.

Read more in The Bulwark, "The Supreme Court Just Made America a Dangerous Place"

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Bill Kristol sits in for Sarah today as he and JVL talk about the lessons Zohran Mamdani can teach Democrats, the hysteria over five government run grocery stores, and how the Iran strike looks increasingly less helpful.

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On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Daniel Drezner—cohost of the Space the Nation podcast with Ana Marie Cox and proprietor of the Drezner’s World Substack—to discuss the eternal popularity of zombies (most recently via the hit movie 28 Years Later, which I reviewed here) and the continued relevance of his book, Theories of International Politics and Zombies, which is now in its third edition. We chatted about the ways different political theories might confront waves of the undead and discussed how this book can help explain basic problems of international relations to even lay audiences...

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George Conway and JVL break down a stunning whistleblower complaint accusing former Acting Deputy AG Emil Bove of telling colleagues the DOJ should ignore court orders and deport migrants anyway. They explore the Supreme Court’s unexplained decision enabling deportation to dangerous countries, the Kafkaesque Abrego Garcia case, and the GOP’s broader assault on Harvard. It’s a legal and political breakdown—Conway says bluntly: “The criminals are in charge.”

(Correction: At about 35:00 and at about 44:00, George and JVL misstate...

Sam Stein and Tim Miller break down the grotesque and dangerous rhetoric from GOP Reps. Andy Ogles and Nancy Mace, who suggested deporting New York mayoral candidate and naturalized U.S. citizen Zohran Mamdani. We go beyond the outrage to explain how trolling rhetoric like this is often a precursor to actual policy, and why ignoring it is not an option.

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Tim Miller just got off MSNBC and has more to say about Jeff Bezos’s shameless attempts to cozy up to Donald Trump, all in the name of winning more government contracts for Blue Origin. Bezos is proving that even billionaires will debase themselves to serve power, from inviting Trump to his lavish Venice wedding to producing a pro-Melania documentary for Amazon.

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Jonathan Cohn joins Sam Stein to go inside the GOP’s latest healthcare debacle, after the Senate parliamentarian blocks up to $400 billion in Medicaid cuts. Can Republicans recover—or are they out of options?

More from Jonathan Cohn on the chaos: Trump’s About to Slash Medicaid. TV News Has Barely Noticed.

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Trump was so awestruck by Israel's intel infiltration and air supremacy over Iran that he just had to give himself an executive producer credit. And he's casting his appointees to help create a Hollywood ending—including using his Val Kilmer-esque SecDef to spike the success of the long-teased, "secret" military operation. At the same time, Trump is hav…

Sarah Longwell and Tim Miller join Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House to discuss the political fallout from Trump’s healthcare cuts, growing voter backlash, and GOP infighting. Sarah also spotlights Home of the Brave, a new campaign sharing stories of Americans harmed by Trump’s agenda.

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The Next Level gang went live Wednesday to talk about all the week’s news: McConnell’s comments on the BBB, the big win in the NYC Dem mayoral primary, do vibes or policies win, Trump’s Iran mess and being brave.

Thanks to everyone who tuned in and participated in the live chat. It’s fun to be together—even in virtual space!

Check out Sarah’s new project Home of the Brave at OftheBrave.org and please s...

Tim Miller talks to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick about how the Trump administration is aggressively deporting immigrants not to their home countries, but to unfamiliar third countries—often places facing severe unrest. This alarming tactic leaves people stranded, without resources or support, raising urgent human rights concerns.

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A DSA candidate winning a Democratic primary in New York City is not an ideal laboratory for other Dems to draw lessons from, but Mamdani sounded authentic, he successfully juggled our fragmented media environment, and he had the right message for this cost-of-living moment—as well as the proper amount of party heresy for this anti-establishment age. Me…

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Sam Stein, John Avlon, and Lauren Egan break down Zohran Mamdani’s stunning win in the NYC mayoral primary, Andrew Cuomo’s abrupt concession, and why moderates are panicking about what comes next.

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Eric and Eliot host a special Shield of the Republic episode to discuss the Iranian response to Trump's strike on Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. They assess the largely symbolic Iranian attack on al Udeid Air Base in Qatar as an attempt to take an off ramp from further escalation as they did in the aftermath of the Soleimani strike in 2020. They also touch on why Trump did it, the difficulties of bomb damage assessment, what happened to the HEU and are there other Iranian facilities, the Israeli intelligence brief, the cracks in MAGA, Trump's sudden endorsement of regime change...

Bill Kristol and Tim Miller break down the NYC mayoral race as Cuomo concedes to Mamdani.

Tim and Sam dissect Marjorie Taylor Greene’s latest deranged fever dream, featuring Jesus, JFK, conspiracies, and a whole lot of unhinged energy. Yes, it’s a real tweet.

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Tim Miller connects with Caolan Robertson, reporting live from Ukraine amid escalating Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure. Broadcasting from an active train station near a recent missile strike, Robertson describes Ukraine’s unshakable resilience—embodied by its rail workers, the “Iron People.”

Don’t miss Caolan's report on Russian Soldiers' Cannibalism.

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Tim Miller and Sam Stein break down the Senate’s rush to jam through cuts to Medicaid, Mitch McConnell’s brutal quote, and why Republicans keep targeting their own voters.

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While Trump and his administration are the ones politicizing the rule of the law, ignoring due process, and annihilating democratic norms, it's Republicans leaders saying and doing nothing in response that poses a bigger threat to our country and democracy. Meanwhile, when it comes to the Middle East, we don't know who Trump is talking to—or listening t…

Tim Miller and Sam Stein deep dive into Trump’s explicit comments at reports as frustration gets the best of him due to the unraveling ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

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John Avlon chats with John Opdycke, Founder and President of Open Primaries, to make the case for changing how we vote, starting with the primaries. They explain why nonpartisan election systems in places like Alaska and New York are working and what it would take to bring those reforms to more states.

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Sam Stein and Adam Klasfeld break down the judge’s decision to order Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release after he was wrongfully detained and sent to prison in El Salvador, delivering a strong and scathing rebuke to Trump’s DOJ.

Read More from Adam in All Rise News, "Kilmar Abrego must be freed, judge rules — but ICE might grab him anyway"

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In this episode, Tim Miller and Cameron Kasky dive into the wild news that the Trump administration just put a 22-year-old with zero national security experience in charge of a major DHS counterterrorism program. Who is Thomas Fugate? Why is he suddenly running an $18 million terrorism prevention effort?

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Trump spent the morning posting to Truth Social about oil prices and nuclear threats. Tim and Sam discuss why the chaotic bleats could be incredibly dangerous.

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Tim and Bill may have different takes on the wisdom of the U.S. bombing of Iran's nuclear sites—and on potential regime change—but they see eye-to-eye on the risks of Trump's ego and his incapable advisers in a dangerous situation. And where is the missing enriched uranium? Meanwhile, Stephen Miller's masked goons violently assaulted an immigrant landscaper and father of three Marines in Southern California. Plus, the trans military ban is un-American, local anti-trans laws are trampling all over pare...

Iran officially retaliated today after the U.S. bombed nuclear sites in the country over the weekend. Tim, Sarah and JVL reacted to it live and chatted further about Lisa Murkowski and the NYC mayoral race.

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Linda Chavez joined Mona Charen to discuss her debut novel The Silver Candlesticks, inspired by a personal revelation during an appearance on Finding Your Roots that her ancestors were secret Jews persecuted during the Spanish Inquisition. The novel explores themes of religious identity, repression, and survival, drawing on her family's history in Spain and the New World, as well as her own experience converting to Judaism. Their conversation also delved into parallels between historical persecution and contemporary immigration policies, warning against...

Tim Miller discusses disturbing footage of the brutal beating, pepper spraying and detainment of father of three Marines by masked men in U.S. Border Patrol vests while working his landscaping job in Santa Ana, CA.

Footage from @santaanaproblems on Instagram

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Tim Miller unpacks how JD Vance, Rubio, and Hegseth got undercut in real time after defending Trump’s Iran strike.

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Sam Stein and Rep. Jim Himes break down the administration’s decision to bypass Congress before striking Iran. They explore the constitutional concerns, the risk to U.S. troops, and what might come next.

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Bill Kristol and Eric Edelman break down the Iran strike, the decision to bypass Congress, and what it reveals about America's foreign policy and future.