Real Talk
Hey y’all -
You might not have noticed but it’s getting wild out there and the “legacy media” doesn’t always know how to handle it. No, I’m not joining the mEdIa bIaS brigade. When it comes to indictmentpalooza most of our top outlets have been fair and sober-minded, and are knocking it out of the park covering the nitty-gritty details of what’s happening.
But it’s hard for them to contextualize the reality when they are bound by traditional strictures. Because these moments don’t call for bothsidesism or delicate descriptors.
When you’ve got a four (!) times indicted, twice-impeached former president attempting a democracy-threatening comeback bleating insane threats at witnesses while promising to tear down the Western alliance and the rule of law if he regains power . . . people need real talk.
That’s what we provide at The Bulwark.
Whether it’s Charlie Sykes’s clear-eyed morning roundups about how a man who has been charged with conspiracy, fraud, obstruction, rape, and now racketeering couldn’t be hired to manage an Arby’s. . . .
Or JVL’s daily doomsletter providing facts not feelings about the Biden economy and stirring up a hard but necessary discussion about the choices leaders are going to face if (when?!) the Trump guilty verdicts come down. . . .
Or Sarah giving us the medicine we need—actual voters’ thoughts—rather than the candy we want. . . . Or Joe and me traipsing across Iowa to explain what’s happening in the deluded minds of Trump’s primary opponents. . . . Or Will inside the mind of Lindsey Graham, Cathy on Russia, Kim and Dennis on the lawsuits, Mona giving David Brooks the what for. . . .
And, of course, there’s Bill Kristol eviscerating the GOP traitors while still waving a lonely flare about the risk posed by the incumbent president’s most acute vulnerability.
This is the kind of moment that The Bulwark exists for.
Many of us have been cast out of one tribe or another, which has freed us to tell you what we really think at a time when that kind of candor is desperately needed.
So that’s why I’m asking you to join Bulwark+. It will help fund this effort and get me back out on the road to see Vivek rap in person and report back the gory reality to all of you.
Maybe even more importantly, joining Bulwark+ ensures that we hear real talk from you.
The discourse on how to handle the “Trump pardon” question in our members-only comment section last week was as good as anything anywhere on the internet. This types of good-faith community isn’t supposed to be possible on the internet but the Bulwark+ community is defying the odds. I get substantive, expert-level feedback on issues we bring up almost every day.
To see what this community is all about and to support the work of The Bulwark, try a Bulwark+ membership FREE for the next 30 days. Cancel anytime.
So climb aboard. It’s gonna be a crazy 16 months. I wouldn’t want to spend it with anyone else.
Appreciate y’all always,
—Tim