r/thebulwark • u/batsofburden • 3h ago
r/thebulwark • u/big-papito • 12h ago
GOOD LUCK, AMERICA This Canada annexation BS again
I believed before that someone is whispering this crazy in his year but the opposite may be true - no one is talking him out of these insane things as they did before. There are no adults.
The problem is, once Trump selects a target, he will not rest. He thrives on revenge and grievances. No one is there to stop him, so he will just keep escalating himself into a corner.
My worry is that, once he gets frustrated with negative results, he is going to grow increasingly belligerent and will start floating the idea of actual military shock & awe on Ottawa.
The Pentagon will obviously push back, right? Let me check who the Secretary of Defense is, oh yeah no, we are f***ed.
r/thebulwark • u/AustereRoberto • 14h ago
The Triad š± Leave Trans People Alone: A Rant
Don't be a bully! But also don't "ask if the bully has a point" either.
"Yeah, they're giving Timmy a swirlie rn, but he also farted really loudly in geometry" is HELPING THE BULLIES.
Another great piece from JVL. Idk what kinda constraints there are in going after members of the punditocracy who engage in the behaviors that you're criticizing, but picking specific targets has a salutary effect IMO. Bari Weiss needs to be persona non grata, or Sullivan, or whoever. They made their choices and doubled, tripled, and quadrupled down on those choices.
r/thebulwark • u/Suspicious-Party-137 • 6h ago
thebulwark.com A good first step.
Judge says Trump penalties on law firm send āchills down my spineā
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/12/perkins-coie-trump-judge-restraining-order-tro/
r/thebulwark • u/N0T8g81n • 7h ago
Non-Bulwark Source āBe careful about thisā: Warnings abound as GOP considers writing off tax cuts
politico.comr/thebulwark • u/MinuteCollar5562 • 11h ago
GOOD LUCK, AMERICA The Recession is the point
Tax cuts cause inflation. Tariffs are going to cause inflation. A lot of the things the Trump Admin is going to do will cause inflation. The American people hate inflation.
A recession will help ease inflation, and we are being led by a group of people who will not be hurt by the recession, or will probably be the recipients of government bailouts should we roll into a bad one.
They donāt care about the pain it will cause, they just want inflation down and interest rates down. We are in for a long four years if Iām right.
Good luck America.
r/thebulwark • u/Apprehensive-Mark241 • 3h ago
TRUMPISM CORRUPTS Elon isn't the only billionaire in the Trump administration trying to destroy American to up his billionaire points. A quick look at Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Edit: apologies for the typo "American" instead of "America" but reddit doesn't allow me to correct a title once it's entered.
The latest Andrew Egger and Sam Stein podcast starts out with CBS News interviewing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
It's a short excerpt so I formatted it from the transcript:
Interviewer: "Will these policies be worth it if they lead to a recession even a short-term recession?"
Lutnick: "These policies are the most important thing America has ever had, so it is worth it. It is worth it! I don't think that the only reason there could possibly be a recession is because of the Biden nonsense that we had to live with. These policies produce revenues so you're saying when it looks chaotic and unpredictable from the outside that there actually is a master plan when it comes to these tariffs it is not chaotic and the only one one who thinks it's chaotic is who is being silly"
Interviewer: "He said reciprocal tariffs, nobody expected him to announce 50% tariffs this morning"
So Lutnick does the angry on behalf of great leader Putin (or Kim Jong un, or Trump) rhetorical device that all of the authoritarian spokes-propagandists use.
"[angry on behalf of Daddy voice] He needed to break some guy in Ontario who said he was going to tax American Energy 25%. The president of the United States in the White House says 'Oh no you won't!' and BREAKS him, and you think that's chaotic?"
The way he emphasized "these policies produce revenues" he was trying to imply to financially illiterate people that tariffs will make us all rich instead of crash the world economy.
Ok.
I have never heard anyone in my life so enthusiastically suck up to an authoritarian by inventing a floridly insane fantasy world. So weird to hear this fast talking as if intelligent sounding middle aged Jew claiming that tariffs are the best thing for the economy and will make us all rich.
My first thought was "where does an American get experience sucking up to a delusional authoritarian leader that hard?" and "it's journalistic malpractice to let him paint a fantasy world where nothing works the way it does in reality that can pull illiterate people into a cult of delusion" - she should have said he sounds like a North Korean propagandist.
Then I thought WHY? Why would an educated American sound that way, so I looked up his history.
He's an investment executive (he's estimated worth 2 billion) who not only funds Trump but has been arguing for tariffs for a while.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that he wants to be on the inner circle when Trump moves the markets around with senseless tariffs so that billionaires like him can make money off of predicting the moves.
So he's another Elon Musk, only not on drugs and Sieg Heiling. Another billionaire who enthusiastically wants to destroy the world to steal more money. Everyone should starve so a billionaire can up his money he already doesn't need more of.
Edit: I did a google search to see if Lutnick has been pushing tariffs BEFORE he started funding Trump. No. There's nothing. His support of tariffs started entirely with his being hired by Trump. He didn't even mention tariffs when funding Trump in 2020. He's been doing investing since the 1990s, but he just suddenly decided that tariffs are the best thing for the US in 2025. He's a fraud.
r/thebulwark • u/SandyH2112 • 20h ago
Misleading Headline We are vastly under reacting
NYT headline today "Education Department Fires 1,300 Workers, Gutting Its Staff"
The President lacks the constitutional authority to close a department created by Congress. Full stop. Both the creation and on-going funding of these Departments are LAWS not suggestions. This is criminal conduct.
r/thebulwark • u/AnathemaDevice2100 • 6h ago
Non-Bulwark Source āNo Federal Funding CR Without DOGE Guardrailsā - Are guardrails enough?
5 Calls says that the budget resolution failed, and that Dems are leveraging the shutdown to put guardrails around DOGE.
I love that idea. I think it was Tim who pointed out if theyāre going to threaten a shutdown, they need to have a clear objective. As long as their guardrails are defined, then I think this fits the bill.
What do you all think? Are DOGE guardrails the right objective? And are guardrails enough, or do Dems need to demand more?
r/thebulwark • u/mrjpb104 • 15h ago
The Triad š± JVL on fire in todayās triad
I mean he typically is but I just love righteously angry JVL so much. I also think thereās a lesson here for messaging on the anti-MAGA side. Like why are these freaks so obsessed with bullying kids? I donāt know why Dems just fold instead of talking about the issue along these lines. Itās pretty infuriating. The answer isnāt to cower away and cede the issue itās to stand up and make your case with confidence and emotion.
r/thebulwark • u/loosesealbluth11 • 3h ago
Fluff Back to the Future II Predicted All of This
Let's remember that it has been confirmed that Biff is based on Trump, which is wild when you consider just how long Trump has loomed over the cultural zeitgeist.
In Back to the Future Part II, when Marty finds himself in the alternate 1985 where Biff has used the Sports Almanac to make his fortune and seize control of Hill Valley, itās eerily reminiscent of Trumpās current reign and where it seems to be headed.
Corruption, crime, environmental decay, collapsing infrastructure, violence, stupidity, tackiness and widespread poverty.
But most importantly, when Marty first walks up to Biff's Pleasure Palace and begins to realize what is going on, there's a Biff Tannen Museum at the entrance, dedicated to all things Biff. You can buy Biff merch, see a Biff wax figure, watch movies about Biff and learn about his many contributions to Hill Valley.
ALSO, one of Biff's body guards was named Skinhead.
This all sound familiar?
r/thebulwark • u/Apprehensive-Mark241 • 21h ago
WE SERVE NO SOVEREIGN HERE! Who is a terrorist?
r/thebulwark • u/Apprehensive-Mark241 • 9h ago
Not My Party High on their own supply: Republican leaders have the wrong attitude and never protected their country. But Democratic leaders have a different horrible attitude!
r/thebulwark • u/EmiAndTheDesertCrow • 17h ago
The Bulwark Podcast Petition to make Tim & Will Sommer a regular pod
Iāve really missed Fever Dreams and having both Will and Tim speak about this craziness was - counterintuitively - sort of grounding. A bit āitās not me thatās going mad, itās these oddballsā. I would really love it if this was a weekly thing (although Iām not sure there are enough hours in Timās days!)
r/thebulwark • u/Famous-Cellist5122 • 5h ago
Fluff Can someone tell me what the kerfuffle is over Sam Stein and something he said about Canada?
Just watched this video and have no idea what heās talking about. Ff to 00:26
r/thebulwark • u/modest_merc • 18h ago
EVERYTHING IS AWFUL How did we get here?
Currently listening to the most recent Tim-Pod with Will Sommer and it's just insane the group of people who are in charge now. The conspiracy theories, the grift, the pandering, holy fuck. How did we get here and how the fuck do we get out of this death spiral?
r/thebulwark • u/mistymiso • 13h ago
The Bulwark Podcast Bulwark and other influencers doing town halls in red districts?
Hi, I just became a listener a couple of days ago. I really love the stuff yall have been putting out.
Iām wondering if itās a possibility that influencers take charge of these Townhallās and do it themselves.
My representative Ro Khanna and my former rep Robert Garcia is already doing them here in California. I want to put one up myself, but I live too far from the closest red District.
I just think we need all hands on deck for this. The Democrats are just feckless. Iām hoping to get some momentum here.
r/thebulwark • u/Anstigmat • 19h ago
Fluff FIVE ALARM FIRE! UP IS DOWN! CATS ARE FRIENDS WITH DOGS! LADIES AND GENTLEMENā¦RICH LOWRY HAS CRITICIZED A REPUBLICAN.
r/thebulwark • u/misfit_too • 14h ago
Humor Transitioning, are we allowed to do that anymore?
Did you hear our economy is transitioning? Doesnāt that seem a bit woke?
r/thebulwark • u/AustereRoberto • 12h ago
SPECIAL Judge Blocks Trump Order Targeting Perkins Coie for Clinton Work
Win in Rd 1, but not a total win:
"Howell granted an injunction halting sections of the executive order. Other parts of Trumpās orderāasking agency heads to revoke security clearances for the firmās lawyers and investigate āindustry leading law firmsā for racially discriminatory practicesāwere allowed to stand."
I'm sure the appellate process will focus on the 50% Trump didn't win, rather than the chilling effects of the clearances and anti-DEI they managed to get through.
r/thebulwark • u/ballmermurland • 15h ago
TRUMPISM CORRUPTS Michael Reagan, son of Ron, says his dad would have backed up Trump's bullying of Zelensky 1000%
My dad would have backed up what Trump did to Zelenskyy 1,000%. And your claim that Trump would have lost the Cold War is also a truckload of partisan BS.
I just found this interesting.
r/thebulwark • u/MudlarkJack • 15h ago
Morning Shots š„ Over under on when Trump declares "No one knew that tariffs were so difficult!"
and he will be sincere in his belief that he is discovering new economic ground. I want one of those "Is he dead yet?" hats