The Bulwark Podcast
Smart, Conservative, Never Tribal
Episodes
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Barbara Walter: Is America at Risk of a 21st Century Civil War?
January 11th, 2022 | 42 mins 59 secs
biden, bombings, bosnia, civil conflict, civil war, elections, jan. 6, milosevic, northern ireland, paramilitary, rural americans, terrorism, trump, violence, voters, white christians, yugoslavia
There have been more than 200 civil wars since WWII — and the conditions that triggered those conflicts are now present here in America. Author Barbara Walter joins Charlie Sykes on today's podcast.
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Tom Nichols: Time for a Grand Coalition
January 10th, 2022 | 52 mins 6 secs
american democracy, arkansas, asa hutchinson, biden, constitution, cult, democrats, jan. 6, mandela barnes, midterms, mike rounds, mobs, progressives, ron johnson, senate, south dakota, stalinist, the squad, trump, wisconsin
Sure, former Republicans in the democracy coalition bear some responsibility for where we are today — and Democrats do too. But the only thing that matters now is who's on the side of the Constitution, and who isn't. Tom Nichols joins Charlie Sykes on today's podcast.
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Tim Miller: Cruz’s Grovel
January 7th, 2022 | 53 mins 56 secs
bannon, biden, black lives matter, cheney, democracy, desantis, fbi, informant, jan 6, kenosha, maga, manchin, portland, ted cruz, tucker carlson
Ted Cruz found out what happens when you don't use the language of the MAGA woke orthodoxy. Plus, liberals grousing about Dick Cheney: Do you want a pro- democracy coalition or don’t you? Tim Miller joins Charlie Sykes on today's podcast.
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January 6 Was Built on Years of Lies and Propaganda
January 6th, 2022 | 36 mins 42 secs
biden, conspiracies, conspiracy, democracy, gop, impeachment, insurrection, jan 6, newt gingrich, obama, republican party, richard nixon, trump, us capitol, watergate
Conspiracy theories are at the core of Donald Trump, and the Republican Party still took him in. The surprise is that we are surprised. The New Yorker's Susan Glasser and Princeton's Julian Zelizer join Charlie Sykes on today's podcast.
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Olivia Nuzzi: The Ambition of Dr. Oz
January 5th, 2022 | 51 mins 14 secs
abortion, david mccormick, daytime tv, democrats, diet pills, dina powell, dr. oz, four seasons landscaping, fox news, giuliani, gop, hannity, mehmet oz, oprah, pennsylvania, quackery, republicans, senate, the 1980s, trump
GOP operatives are none too pleased that Dr. Oz wants to be the next Republican senator from Pennsylvania. Democrats — who remember when the guy from The Apprentice was underestimated — are worried. Olivia Nuzzi joins Charlie Sykes on today's podcast.
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Evan Osnos: Hardening the Hard Core
January 4th, 2022 | 40 mins 17 secs
authoritarian countries, biden, boomers, china, dan bongino, egypt, election 2020, facebook, fox news, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, informational warfare, jan 6, media, parler, podcasts, right-wing media, rumble, rush limbaugh, silicon valley, talk radio, tiktok, trump, youtube
What's sustaining the belief that the election was stolen from Trump? It's rage-makers like Dan Bongino, who feed existential conflict to millions of Americans daily — in between ads for gun holsters and survivalist food rations. The New Yorker's Evan Osnos joins Charlie Sykes on today's podcast.
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Bill Kristol: New Year, New Chance for Democrats to Lead
January 3rd, 2022 | 45 mins 35 secs
biden, buttigieg, cdc, centrists, child tax credit, democrats, electoral count act, elites, experts, fda, gop, jan. 6, janet yellin, liz cheney, meijar, polling, republicans
Democrats say they're the party of government. Why not make it run more effectively — so the FDA isn't so ham-fisted and the CDC isn't so slow? Also, one year after Jan.6, how have our electoral guardrails still not been fixed? Bill Kristol joins Charlie Sykes on today's podcast.
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We're Not All Crying Karens
December 30th, 2021 | 54 mins 15 secs
afghanistan, biden, bill clinton, boston globe, carter, covid, democracy, dershowitz, elections, epstein, foreign policy, julie k brown, jury trials, masks, miami herald, midterms, national review, refugees, regional papers, republicans, rich lowry, soviet union, trump, vaccinations. ghislaine maxwell, voter registration drives
A panel of Bulwark favorites share their predictions (AKA warnings) for 2022. They also take time to give a shout-out to the people who aren't shouting — the people on the ground helping others and working to save democracy. Bill Kristol, Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, and JVL join guest host Mona Charen on today's episode.
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The State of Black Lives Matter Now
December 29th, 2021 | 1 hr 27 mins
adam harris, banning books, beto, biden, black lives matter, blm, chuck todd, civil rights, clint smith, cori bush, drone warfare, ebenezer baptist church, federal judges, fetterman, gifted education, hbuc, heather mcghee, jr., kamala harris, magnet schools, mandel conor lamb, martin luther king, moderates, nikole hannah-jones, ossoff, oz, progressives, public defenders, racial equity, sat, school diversity, stacey abrams, student loans, tim ryan, warnock
BLM signs have come down, and tough conversions now are about what racial equity looks like. For instance, is getting rid of the SAT the best solution? Plus, The Washington Post's Perry Bacon and guest host Tim Miller get personal on the struggle to find a diverse school for their kids.
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When the Main Point of Politics Is Vengeance
December 28th, 2021 | 41 mins 35 secs
ahmaud arbery, american conservative, bannon, biden, coup d'état, derek chauvin, gop, jared schmeck, jill biden, jury verdicts, kim potter, liz cheney, peter navarro, republican party, trump, vaccines, yiddish
The Republican Party is now about knife fights and justifying just about anything -- like Peter Navarro laying out a clear description of the attempted Trump coup. Still, there are 2021 bright spots. Peter Wehner joins guest host Mona Charen on today's episode.
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China's Breaking up with Hollywood
December 27th, 2021 | 39 mins 36 secs
avengers: endgame, box office, bruce willis, chinese communist party, chinese film industry, chinese market, daryl morey, disney, emily blunt, france, hong kong, houston rockets, iron man 3, joseph gordon-levitt, kevin feige, looper, marvel, richard gere, shanghai, taiwan, the dragon feeder, thor, tibet, variety, xi jinping
Hollywood shared its magic with China. Now some of 2021's biggest box office draws were Chinese films. With fewer American movies being shown there, Hollywood's confronting what creative freedoms it gave up to play in China. Author Chris Fenton joins guest host Sonny Bunch on today's episode.
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Trump's Dereliction of Duty on Covid
December 23rd, 2021 | 43 mins 2 secs
2020, authoritarianism, biden administration, child tax credit, churchill, conspiracies, covid deaths, d-day, deborah birx, dunkirk, fda, foreign policy, house select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis, jim mattis, john bolton, john kelly, putin, rapid tests, russia, trump adminisration, ukraine, wwii
The Trump administration's malfeasance in responding to Covid demands a 9/11 commission-style investigation. Plus, Biden's 2020 victory was more Dunkirk, and less D-Day. Churchill fan Bill Kristol joins guest host JVL on today's episode.
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The Republicans' Dangerous Vigilante Messaging Campaign
December 22nd, 2021 | 45 mins 13 secs
abortion, america fest, bannon, biden, bounty, burr, cassidy, cheney, cornyn, democrats, elections, electoral college, electoral count act, fauci, georgia, impeachment, kinzinger, kyle rittenhouse, mcconnell, murkowski, romney, texas, toomey, vigilantism, watters
From lionizing Kyle Rittenhouse, to stopping abortion in Texas, and threatening to take over America's election apparatus, Republicans are sending a dangerous message: Take matters into your own hands. Real Clear Politics' A.B. Stoddard joins guest host Mona Charen on today's episode.
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Democrats Need a Plan to Save Democracy in 2024
December 21st, 2021 | 58 mins 8 secs
2024, abortion, bbb, biden, bill clinton, constitution, covid, democracy, democratic leadership council, democrats, georgia, jimmy carter, manchin, pandemic, public health, reconciliation, republicans, rigged elections, roe v wade, sam nunn, southern democrats, stacey abrams, state legislators, supreme court, swing voters, west virginia, white house, women voters
The ultimate survival of American democracy is going to come down to the Democrats figuring out how to defeat the party that wants to overturn it. Plus, it's Joe Manchin's way or the highway. New York magazine's Ed Kilgore joins guest host JVL on today's episode.
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Manchin Puts Coal in the Democrats' Stockings
December 20th, 2021 | 39 mins 22 secs
adam kinzinger, bbb, biden, build back better, child tax credit, congress, covid, crime, democrats, fox news, infrastructure, jan. 6 committee, liz cheney, lock her up, manchin, messaging, official proceeding, omicron, pelosi, rapid tests, republicans, trump, us code 1512, west virginia
Democrats are furious with Manchin, but they still need him to pass a voting rights bill. Plus, while Biden readies for his big Covid speech, the man who brought us "lock her up" sounds nervous about the Jan. 6 committee. Mona Charen joins guest host Sarah Longwell on today's episode.
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Covid Should Be the Democrats' Culture War
December 17th, 2021 | 1 hr 18 mins
arctic monkeys, biden, breitbart, brexit, chaise longue, college campuses, coup, covid, cpac, democracy, gen z, gender, insurrection, jared polis, khive, left, masks, mckinsey, millennials, owning the libs, polling, rickshaw stop, san francisco, sexuality, snapchat, steve bannon, student loans, vaccine, wet leg, young voters
With Gen Z really not that into Biden, and median voters tuning out politics, Biden definitely needs a new message: Blame the GOP for Covid dragging on. Snapchat's Peter Hamby joins guest host Tim Miller on today's episode.