The Bulwark Daily

Tim got his hopes up that Bill Cassidy was going to come out against Blanche as AG. But of course, the senator showed once again that Republicans will do anything to stay on Team Trump—including turning our government into a corrupt, gangster oligarchy. Never mind that ordinary Americans are still dealing with the stink bombs Trump dumped on our economy with his tariffs and failed war: We’ve got lousy job numbers and higher prices across the board. Plus: The deportation of legal immigrants is a moral stain on our country, Russia’s energy crisis has backed Putin into a dangerous corner, and Trump is on a goldmaxxing spree. Susan Glasser joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod.
show notes:

Catherine’s latest “Receipts” newsletter

Sam and Catherine on the jobs numbers

Evan Osnos’ New Yorker piece, “The Future, Made in China”

Tim’s playlist

POTUS has always used lies to great advantage, but his fakery can’t disguise the dangerous reality that the United States is running out of missiles. What a time for Trump to don an SNL-grade wig. Meanwhile, AIPAC may be evolving into a Trump super PAC, Max Miller keeps showing everyone he’s a sociopath, the GOP Islamophobia is looking very 2002, and Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo accidentally admits Trump is looking out for the billionaires. Plus: The new Democratic Senate nominee from Kansas, pastor Adam Hamilton, joins Tim to discuss that sleeper race and how incumbent Roger Marshall is all about championing Trump and not the people of Kansas.
Sam Stein and Kansas Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Adam Hamilton join Tim Miller.
show notes:

Inc.'s profile of The Bulwark

Adam Hamilton's website

Brian Poindexter's website (Dem running against Max Miller.)

Trump's new wig

The polling was way off, but suburban Dem voters in Michigan nonetheless showed that they’re sick of the party establishment and enraged by Trump, the war, the lies, and the corruption. AIPAC didn’t read the room. But party leaders are sounding united behind El-Sayed and Jane predicts he’ll bring a Mamdani-like energy to his campaign against Mike Rogers. Meanwhile, Republicans are sticking with sh*tbag Max Miller. Plus: Federal agents are threatening Americans for speaking out against ICE, Vance is always looking for a way to signal that he hates the war, and what other former podcast hosts can try to segue to elected office?
Jane Coaston joins Tim Miller.
show notes:

Jane's podcast, "What A Day"

El-Sayed with influencers Monday night

Photo of Chuck Edwards

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Sam Altman wants a supercomputer to talk to his kid so he doesn’t have to. Elon thinks Grok can make a better Odyssey than Christopher Nolan. And Silicon Valley has been cultishly hyping AI so much that they’ve lost the plot. Regular people are sick of all the synthetic slop, they don’t trust the tech titans, and their opposition to data centers is just the tip of the iceberg of a growing tech backlash. The political winds are shifting just in time for the midterms, so Elon's dumping more than $100 million to try to overcome them.
The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel joins Tim Miller.
show notes:

TNL live at 9pm ET on Tuesday's primaries on YouTube or Substack

Lauren on data centers in Democratic campaigns

Charlie's "The Myth of SpaceX"

Politico on the growing backlash against the AI buildout

Jasmine Sun on how LLMs don't write well

Both the left and center-left are acting like the other faction within the party is the enemy—and not Donald Trump. Democrats need to keep their eye on the ball: Trump and the corruption, lying, and incompetence across his administration. In the past couple of days, the massive dishonesty has included Doug Burgum’s doubling down on the Reflecting Pool lies and Todd Blanche’s sham document on the IRS and the J6 weaponization fund. And why is Schumer signing off on a deal with Republicans to keep the government open? Plus: Max Miller is finally a national story, and Tim unloads on getting dragged into the Michigan Senate race as well as AIPAC’s massive spending on behalf of Haley Stevens.
Bill Kristol joins back-from-vacation Tim Miller. 
show notes

Monday's "Morning Shots"

Bill's "Bulwark on Sunday" with Ron Brownstein 

Bill's interview with Margaret Donovan on Hegseth last week 

TNL live tomorrow on Tuesday’s primaries: on YouTube or Substack

Tim's candidate list