Today's GOP is not a governing party—it's a grievance and trolling party, and Trump has the nihilist vote all locked up. Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham and others are pushing a Hiroshima model in response to Gaza. And because we all still need to laugh, the pod now has a new segment, "The Right Stuff." Will Saletan joins Tim Miller today.
show notes:
Jonathan Karl on Johnny McEntee
CBS News segment on the mother rescued from Gaza
You raise the issue of what the Republican blowhards have to say about Biden's withholding certain weapons from Israel's efforts in Rafah. The question is, what do the likes of John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, have to say about that decision?
A further issue, Saletan said that Israel has been successful at killing 30,000 Gaza civilians. Are you aware that Hamas has been making up numbers when it comes to casualties? It is conceivable that 30,000 have been killed, but elements of Hamas saying so is not valid evidence, and thus there is no valid evidence that that number have been killed.
The only possible response to the McEntee video is the universal New Yorker Cartoon caption: "Christ, what an asshole!"
It was a subtle compliment, but Tim's opinion of Will Saletan's mom simply shone out in the first few minutes. Tim's opinion was that Will's mom had obviously done a good job. This is so typical of the Bulwark team! They are the most professional, intelligent, respectful and straightforwardly nice people. I'm proud to support these folks.
McEntee and that crowd are like 15 year olds. That apparently passes for edgy now. I doubt he would get close to enough to a homeless person to hand fake money to. He probably got a friend or two together to fake the encounter. A lot of the video on Twit X and TikTok are created just to illustrate a point...you know the ones I mean...the horrible high school student who cusses out a teacher or a fight in the hallway all designed to show how degraded everything and everyone is.
A disproportionate number of the homeless are veterans. I hope the Deputy President feels good about possibly passing bad money to them. Having said that, given Trump’s opinion that anyone in the military must be a sucker and/or loser, he’s probably just echoing his master’s voice.
i know that on morning joe he equally said that the UN had found that the casualty report was less, but its actually misreporting [spin] primarily lead by Foundation for the Defence of Democracy & HonestReporting both are israeli advocate groups[which the mainstay press took the lead off], with FDD stated mission is "provide education to enhance Israel's image in North America and the public's understanding of issues affecting Israeli-Arab relations" & Honestreporting - A pro-Israel media watchdog, it describes its mission as "combat[ting] ideological prejudice in journalism and the media, as it impacts Israel"
Sadly as now the UN is clarifying in case of such spin, they are clarifying that they beleive the deathcount is accurate[and should be unchanged]its just they were reporting that 10,000 of the deaths are unclear of who is dead and unidentified clearly
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-05-14/ty-article/un-says-total-number-of-gaza-deaths-unchanged-after-halving-toll-of-children-killed/0000018f-739f-dff1-a9af-73bf60770000?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=Content&utm_campaign=israel-at-war&utm_content=9028e212cf
"The UN said on Monday that the figures had earlier been based on a breakdown by the Hamas-run Information Ministry, with the updated number coming from a revised breakdown by Hamas' Health Ministry provided to the UN late last month. It says the number of total dead, around 35,000, remains the same.
OCHA's report for May 6, which uses figures from Hamas' Information Ministry, says that some 9,500 women and 14,500 children have been killed in the war. In its May 8 report, it cites the Health Ministry and says 4,959 women and 7,797 children have been killed. It added that there were still 10,000 deaths not included in the breakdown because there were insufficient details.
UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Monday that the Hamas-run Health Ministry's figures – cited regularly by the UN in its reporting – now reflected a breakdown of the 24,686 deaths of "people who have been fully identified."
"There's about another 10,000 plus bodies who still have to be fully identified, and so then the details of those – which of those are children, which of those are women – that will be re-established once the full identification process is complete," Haq told reporters in New York."
edit : the lefty site Owen has a UN offical clarifying speaker - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAodtIxR6RY at [ @7:37-10:16]
Where do we submit questions to the life advice section?
By the way, have you heard Tommy Ramone’s love song to Maria Bartiroma?
Tell me more
https://open.spotify.com/track/5PuBEHHXFYpQH1tuKUzlpC?si=depxhpkTQRyqmi9oSfbc5g
Sorry, it was Joey Ramone.
I made my living working for a magazine. Everything I know deeply comes from literature and I suppose the Church. So many stories of our lives revolve around the possibility of redemption. I don’t come to Michael Cohen through a “political resistor” perspective but through seeing him go through his Trump trials. Yeah, he did horrible things and he’s since offered himself as someone who lied and went to jail for Trump. He lost his law license etc. etc. I think he’s a great witness.
Tim did misspeak about the UN changing the death figures. That was a misrepresentation of what actually happened.
I finally see what gets Lindsey off. It's not women, it's not men. It's blowing people up.
Looks like those of us who said, "Not so fast" to lauding Mike Johnson have been validated: see his performance in NY today. As Liz Cheney posted, “Have to admit I’m surprised that Speaker Johnson wants to be in the ‘I cheated on my wife with a porn star’ club. I guess he’s not that concerned with teaching morality to our young people after all.”
The Republicans criticizing the Biden decision to withhold arms are cynical slime. I'm pretty sure detonating a nuclear bomb over a city today would violate international laws that we have agreed to follow according to treaty. But I disagree with Biden's decision. I also disagree with the administration's opposition to evacuating Gazans from the war zone. I see no sign that Biden put pressure on Egypt and other countries to take refugees. All I hear is BS about how that would be "ethnic cleansing" and undermine the creation of a Palestinian state. The U.N. has opposed it as well. Never mind tens of thousands of lives could be saved.
I'm glad one service member was able to get his mother out of Gaza. I'm sorry about his dad. I cannot imagine losing a parent in a war. My dad served in WWII. I believe I wouldn't be here if the U.S. had not dropped the nuclear bombs. If the U.S. had needed to take Japan by invasion, there would be fewer Americans and Japanese alive today.
I'm certain there are instances where the IDF has violated international law either knowingly or accidentally. But I am unmoved.
In the long run, more Palestinian lives will be saved - and liberated - if Israel can defeat Hamas as quickly as possible. I'm not so pessimistic about the progress Israel is making toward that objective. I'm pessimistic about how the international community will keep trying to prevent Israel from reaching its objective.
Great episode guys. Thank you for bringing some humor into the darkness.
It really boggles my mind why Tim and Wil don't understand why Biden is running behind the Senate candidates. It's really simple. He has been bashed by every single media outlet for every reason imaginable. Inflation? His fault. Age? Too old. Gaza? His fault. Border? His fault.
Fox News? Senile
WaPo? Too old.
NYT? Too old and won't do interviews
Regardless of the leaning of the voters, they are only getting negative stories about Biden.
The old thing is actually insane when you think about it. This is the first time I can recall in my lifetime when a thing that 2 candidates have in common is actually a concern that is talked about by the media about only 1 of the candidates. They are both FUCKIN old. I literally can't remember the last time this happened. When Romney/McCain ran against Obama, nobody focuses on the fact that Obama was a man as a negative. Why? Because they had it in common!
We need to drop the "liberal media" label because this coverage has proven that it is objectively BS. If it was true, they would t spend hours/days just repeatedly shitting on Biden.
Projection is the way to look at Trump, when he was debating Hilliary Clinton, he was the one that brought those women that were accusing Bill Clinton, as he thought it would matter. If he thought it would matter then, why wouldn't it matter now. As for the vaccines, someone needs to run some commercials with his voice, when every public school in America has a vaccine mandate, even Mississippi. As for John MacEntee, how hard would it be to get him for passing counterfeit money.
Guys…did u see the Howard Stern interview? As a Joe Biden fan, it was frightening! Did u also see him on UTube’s chat session with Obama & Clinton? We have to be quite concerned! Let’s face it…it’s hard to imagine that he has the physical stamina to last another 4 years!
I'm concerned, too; he seems worse recently. What can we do but hope somebody decent is in charge enough to keep the administration running, and find a way to show VP accomplishing and being in charge of more things (unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be her strong suit. I'm hoping that's an image problem more than anything, but I fear it's not). Give her something less hopeless than immigration, but more substantive than just campaigning (although that's important, too). I also think asking Biden to keep relentlessly campaigning is a bad idea if it takes a big toll on him. Get the surrogates out; there's enough on Biden's plate to justify cutting back.
As a swing voter in a swing state who voted for Biden in 2020 but am very uncomfortable with his age for 2024-2028, I am profoundly distressed that the only answers are to hide Biden and Kamala during the campaign and hope that appointees will keep the administration going once Biden has a health crisis. This is not inspiring me to vote for Biden-Harris in 2024. It confirms my very deep concerns.
I have never understood the pessimism about VP Harris being able to handle the presidency. The job of a VP is to go to state funerals if the president can't go and to stand around waiting for something bad to happen to the president. VP nominees have been picked to balance the party ticket geographically and sometimes ideologically...a symbol to those who maybe didn't like the presidential nominee.
I think people hold VP (or at least Harris) to the standard of "someone I'd vote for to be President." But that's stupid*; All a VP taking over needs is competence to keep the country from falling apart until the next election, not to be a saint. I think people give too much weight to her public speaking and too little to what she's good at, like asking tough questions and understanding complex issues.
*especially considering the ridiculous, contradictory standards we hold for our presidential nominees: must be strong, smart, tough, caring, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, and simultaneously somebody we'd like to have a beer with.
Hey Tim, As JVL reminded you at your last live event, months ago, you said the time to freak out was end of April showing bad polls. Now it's mid-May, and the Times/Sienna polls are horrendous. I don't know about you, but I'm freaking out. Biden is losing in all swing states except for WI. Trump even hits 50% in some. As you point out, the polls show Democrat incumbent Senators are far out pacing Biden's support in those swing states. As Will suggests, that's an indicator of Biden's singular electoral problem. The President needs to step aside from his candidacy; a competition between Biden and other Dems would be self-defeating, for any subsequent anti-Trump candidacy. (And I don't think a Harris replacement candidacy is appropriate when illegal migration was supposed to be her portfolio, and the continuing migrant crisis is likely the number one issue for get-able anti-Trump Rs or I's. Besides, what would be her poll numbers in those swing states?) Why won't Biden step down for the sake of the country and honor his 2020 "bridge" promise? Does the Bulwark think its ant-Trump voyage is sinking based upon the ego-centric obstinance of the President? Is there truly no other Democrat who could do better against Trump?
Yep the polls suck. As I’ve said for over a year and half it was always going to be a 50/50 shot with Biden. With anyone else it was going to be a definite loss. Seriously every other dem polls worse against Trump. If we are going to believe the polls then believe them.
The better question is what should he do to pivot. According to the polls we need to pivot hard on Israel. You ok with that?
People if we are going to lose the polls and the polls say minorities and youth don’t like the FP then pivot on FP. IM for support for Israel and Ukraine but if it means Biden loses…goodbye Israel and Ukraine.
The only likely one would be Newsom. But he would have an uphill battle in the swing states. There’s too much at stake with the economy still uncertain for many voters & the wars in Ukraine & Israel. It’s agonizing! But Trump? It would be an even worse disaster!
Biden supporters better hope and pray their organizers have a plan for the convention in Chicago that thinks through every possible scenario. The professional agitators have stated their intention to escalate. As the college year winds to an end, they will have to take their act on the road and the convention in Chicago with all of the 68 nostalgia will be an irresistible target. I don’t know enough about local Chicago government to know who holds the power over local law enforcement but if the mayor’s office has ultimate authority over the police…look out. The protesters will have carte Blanche to wreak havoc and guess who will be blamed? The Trump adds will write themselves. Scratch that, Trump won’t even need to make adds.
Trump is worried about the RFK voters, thus the vaccine nonsense.
So thrilled for will Monday! 😊 Great episode.
More and more I feel aligned with the burn it all down crowd. The majority didn’t want abortion bans, taxes going to kill innocent civilians AND a TikTok ban. These people have become too big for their Britches. We all need to bitch slap them back into reality. They work for us.
Not helpful…
oh good, an educated debate
I understand that what you’re saying and I may have commented the same a year or two ago. I am talked out. I have talked to teachers, pastors, bar buddies, neighbors and family. I have emailed and called all of my elected officials. I comment and comment and dm people in media. The truth is, our elected officials are captured and I have done my part as a citizen who is educated to try to educate and listen and not judge….i really , really have. I do not want my kids to grow up in what I clearly see coming. I’m starting to give up hope. Sometimes the only way to feel anything is in my control is to write a random post on a podcast thread. The truth is, no one will blink an eye at that either.
Hmm I actually have no idea what you are proposing. I’m pretty lost by this comment
I think that was the point.
Of course Israel doesn't know how to kill Hamas. If they did know how to pull that off, they would have done it years ago and not waited for a 10/7 like event. Who exactly would have stopped them from making an incursion into Gaza?
Can't wait to hear more "Right Stuff" segs, but JFC, this fuggin guy MacEntee does to the unsheltered what Bubs did to heroin dealers in season wire of The Wire via fake money. Every time you think these people can't get any lower they prove you wrong.
I'm not overly concerned about the NYT poll right now simply because it's May, but at this point, I've just made peace with a potential Donald Trump win. If Americans decide to elect Donald Trump despite the fact that he isn't a serious person, he attempted a coup, he sexually abuses women and is he probably going to be a felon at the end of the month, I think that's on us as Americans more than Joe Biden and his campaign. We're not a serious electorate already (which is how we ended up with Kari Lake, Dr. Oz, and Doug Mastriano as 2022 nominees), and that'll be even more apparent if Biden loses.
Kari Lake, Dr Oz and Doug Mastriano all lost in 2022. They were that bad. Even GOP voters didn't vote for them. Like 2016, the presidential election in 2024 is for the Dems to win. Unfortunately, Biden-Harris risks being like Clinton-Kaine.
I think James sums it up very well here. I haven't given up hope, since it's still be about 50-50 to eke out another win like 2020. But, win or lose, the fact that it's even close shows that the American polity is, and has been, unwell. I don't believe someone with Trump's "resume", given James's accurate description above, would have a prayer in any Western country, say Canada, Britain, or France. So, yes, "that's on us". Sad but true. Still, we may yet pull it off again. Despite the polls, the (forward-looking) betting markets have it 50-50, so don't abandon hope.
I’ll think it’s 50/50 if Biden was up 10 a week before we start voting.
I want the Bulwark folks to start discussing what we are going to do if trump wins… the right is organizing for either eventually and we need to do the same
The new poll showing almost no up-tick for Biden has my stomach in knots.
I know the crowd size debate gets stupid, but even Reuters says there were tens of thousands at Trump's New Jersey rally.
Do any of us believe that (short of a Taylor Swift guest performance) a Biden rally could attract tens of thousands?
Will's point about the new American political dynamic is very apt, it's the radical populist party vs the institutionalist party. It's been that way since at least 2015.
I also concur with Will that even if there's a guilty verdict that Trump's support base will shrug that off just like they did with J6th, the E Jean Carrol case, etc. My *hope* is that on the margins it'll make some movement and that'll be enough, but by and large I think nostalgia for the pre-2020 economy and Biden's age/energy issues will beat out any misgivings a lot of people will have about Trump.
And yes, Donald Trump's supporters in the senate would do things for him that Melania wouldn't, including sleeping in the same bedroom as he does lol
Agreed but it’s not populist. I don’t even know what they recommend that would be considered even remotely populist.
Yeah but.. is trump against masking Hannibal Lecter?
I think the problem with the blowing it messaging is that there isn't a counter argument about what it will be replaced with. Which I know makes everyone fall asleep but is the crux of the contrast between Biden and trump. Ya, sure, Trump will blow it up but this is what it will be replaced with when the system is torn down. I don't think they have thought through what tearing it down really looks like...because we are spoiled Americans.
I think a lot of voters are perfectly fine with autocracy so long as it is entertaining and stuff is cheap.
I thought it was pretty clear that was project 2025?
Project 2025 isnt widely known and needs to be distilled into a few commercials and ads. My guess is most of America thinks it's a liberal conspiracy.
The anti-science thing is 100% from the GOP base rather than Trump, and yes, Trump is a follower here and not a leader. Go back before CV-19 vaccine denial and you'll find climate change denial from the pro-drilling wing of the GOP base and evolution denial from the evangelical/baptist wing of the base. The GOP has long been the anti-science party between the two. It's where Tom Nichols' "death of expertise" thing largely comes from because it applies to *data* just as much as scientific consensus. For example, no matter how many times the data shows that immigration is a net benefit for the country the GOP base will consistently be defined by anti-immigration stance--both legal and illegal. The GOP is the anti-data/science/expertise party and that comes from its base. It's denialists all the way down, and now it applies to election data in addition to all the other aforementioned data. The GOP is a party that's defined by willful ignorance and denialism at its core at this point.
We are where we are! Let’s talk about potential solutions! We have to reach out beyond our bubbles!