Per NBC News, the cult is still a cult. It’s funny because Maisie is a hard right conservative. He votes with Trump on everything except the Epstein files and some foreign aid/corrupt deals by Trump admin. But that’s not enough.
Anyone in DC is welcome to go down and join. He says he’ll be projecting for a while (unless the feds try and stop him).
Trump has now agreed to a settlement with an IRS commissioner he can fire and an acting attorney general who wants a nomination to drop his $10 billion lawsuit in exchange for a $1.7 billion slush fund to "compensate" the henchmen who committed crimes for his benefit. This could include the nearly 1,600 people charged with attacking the Capitol to overturn the results of the election on January 6th.
This is a theft from the American taxpayers, playing out right in the open. The White House is going to use our money to pay off himself and the thugs who committed political violence on his behalf. There will certainly be legal challenges ahead, but as Rep. Jamie Raskin has pointed out Congress has power over spending, which means they can stop it from going forward... and if they don't, it's because their members/leadership are making a choice to allow it. 🗣️ Let’s reach out to our reps and demand they prevent a single penny of our money from being used for Trump’s slump fund. We can find scripts and email language to use here, or text SIGN PMLDMK to 50409 to send this message directly via Resistbot. 🗣️
He watches the pod
Rest in peace to the narrative that young progressives won’t vote.
Is this the single largest incident of political corruption in history? If not, I'd like to know what is.
"In a sweeping one-page addendum to Monday’s settlement agreement establishing a nearly $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund, Blanche agreed that the U.S. is 'FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims,' including 'monetary relief,' that 'have been or could have been' asserted by the IRS against Trump, his family or his businesses."
We just lost the war in Iran, went to China and admitted that America is in decline, Trump is setting up a tax payer funded MAGA reward slush fund...But Rich Lowry wants you all to know that Helen of Troy, was NOT BLACK. I'm assuming this means that Rich has abandoned Christianity and accepted Zeus as his God, given that Helen was his daughter.
Seriously what the fuck is wrong with that man?
Seriously, is there really nothing that can be done to stop this asshat?
Jamie Ager, a fourth-generation West North Carolina farmer and the Democratic nominee for the Eleventh Congressional District, is kicking off weekly Tuesday evening phonebanks tonight at 5PM! Ager is running hard on addressing the federal government’s shortfalls in Hurricane Helene recovery, the affordability crisis and taking on corruption.
Ager is running in an R+5 district that was already on the radar before we learned incumbent Republican Chuck Edwards was under Ethics Committee investigation over accusations of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. There have been allegations that the congressman had an affair with a then-staffer, in direct violation of House rules, and that he singled out two young, female staffers for inappropriate attention. ☎️ Let’s help take down this creep. We can sign up for phonebanks tonight and on Tuesdays to come here. ☎️
MAKE CALLS FOR JAMIE AGER TUESDAYS
Donald Trump—as a private citizen—sued our government, which he runs, and then settled the lawsuit with $1.8 billion that he stole from the U.S. Treasury. See, he needs a secret fund of taxpayer money so he can pay not only reparations to his band of Jan 6 rioters, but also to incentivize future (election) criming on his behalf. In a special emergency The Next Level (TNL), Tim, Sarah, and JVL break it all down.
Plus, Martha explains how Iran’s demands for money may be why Trump won’t officially end the war. And she discusses Zelensky's resiliency, along with her new book about the 9/11 generation that fought our wars.
Martha Raddatz, Jonathan V. Last, and Sarah Longwell join Tim Miller on today's Bulwark Podcast.
Advocates and scientists tell Jonathan Cohn that the U.S. response to this Ebola outbreak is—along with the ongoing hantavirus situation—an example of how America’s diminishing global presence under Trump could ultimately harm Americans directly.
Read the latest edition of The Breakdown: https://lnk.thebulwark.com/4dvAa1x
Quick fact check on Tim from Monday's pod. He claimed that Tina Peters had served nine years in prison, which was more than enough time given the crime. However, nine years is what she was sentenced to, she only served two and then had her sentence miraculously commuted by Jared Polis.
I do agree that two years in a federal prison for an old geezer is probably adequate punishment, just had to hop on yee ol' Reddit for a quick ☝️WELACHUALLY
This is more than through the looking glass. Hunter Biden or better known by his artist pseudonym Amtrak Failson is breaking up powder and doing lines off the looking glass. And Candace is just climbing the crazy ladder to the top.
The progressive versus centrist debate inside the Democratic Party is an argument worth having, and both sides have legitimate points. Progressives are correct that voters need something to actually vote for. Centrists are correct that candidates who cannot win purple states cannot govern. This fight has been ongoing for years and it will probably never fully resolve, because the Democratic Party is a big tent and big tents have disagreements.
Now however this argument is consuming time and energy that Democrats do not have.
The Republican Party has been running a long game for over sixty years to roll back the policy gains of the 20th century, and they are getting close to finishing it. One of the key tools has been what is sometimes called the "Two Santas" strategy. When Republicans are in power, they cut taxes, run up deficits, and keep the economy growing. When Democrats take over, Republicans suddenly find religion on fiscal responsibility and use the debt as a sledgehammer to block everything Democrats want to accomplish. It is a cycle that has repeated for decades and it has kept the Democratic Party perpetually on defense. The damage runs deeper than lost legislative battles. By painting Democrats as fiscally irresponsible on one hand and unable to deliver on their campaign promises on the other, this strategy has steadily eroded trust within the party's own coalition, disaffecting centrists and progressives alike.
The national debt has now surpassed annual gross domestic product. That is not a talking point, that is a slow moving economic crisis, and if it reaches a critical threshold it hands the Republican Party exactly the justification they need to dismantle Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. That has arguably been the goal all along.
And Democrats are sitting here arguing about Medicare for All.
Medicare for All is worth debating. So is the centrist versus progressive question. But none of that matters if Democrats do not secure durable control of the federal government and begin making serious structural changes in the near term. Not just winning an election, but holding power long enough to address things that are genuinely broken. The civil rights gains, labor protections, environmental regulations, voting rights, the rule of law itself, none of these are permanent. They are political achievements that require political defense, and right now they are under sustained attack.
The choice in front of Democrats is not Medicare for All versus electability. It is whether they can set aside an internal argument long enough to fight the one that actually matters.
For reference:
Discussion from this morning: Here
Milwaukee Independent Two Santas article: Here
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/05/19/polls/times-siena-national-poll-crosstabs.html
In my view, after listening to Frum's Monday appearance on the main pod, there's no way for the Democrats to recover with many of these groups (young people, minorities, etc.) can recover without the type of bold actions that are going to cause pearl clutching in The Bulwark wing of the coalition.
Really think it's a rock and a hard place position, because we've seen what safe moderation looks and polls like. I think it would fracture this community, as we repeat the typical debates (standard moderation vs. innovative progressivism).
Also noting that 49% of white people are very dissatisfied. I'm too tired to do my routine on why that is, but it's not something that the Democratic coalition is well positioned address in this climate.