S2 Ep1038: Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin: The Power of 'No'

First, the Vatican chose a Bulwark pope, not an AR-15 loving, immigrant-hating pope. Then, in a major blow to Steve Bannon, Trump pulled his nominee for U.S. attorney in D.C.—forcing the avid TV watcher in the Oval Office to turn to Fox News for the 23rd time to help fill his administration—this time with Jeanine Pirro. And in the North Carolina Supreme Court race, the Stop the Steal candidate finally conceded to his Democratic opponent seven months late. Plus, Trump is acting like a Soviet central planner, the reconciliation bill fight is starting to look ugly, and the economy proves yet again that it does not lie. Amanda Carpenter joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod. Leave a comment show notes Tim's and JVL's 'Bulwark Take' on the new pope JVL's Triad on Pope Leo XIV Damon Linker's tweet about the elderly Fox viewer Linda McMahon's letter to Harvard Poster in Josh Hawley's dorm room Tim and Sam on Trump's fake trade deal with the UK Tim's playlist

Protest is the new brunch again. We're witnessing historic levels of pro-democracy grassroots engagement across a broad-based movement of everyday people. The leaders of Indivisible join Tim to discuss how the movement needs to stay focused on what it agrees on— no kings—and to save ideological disputes for another day. Plus, it also needs to get more young people involved. But it definitely should keep ignoring political consultants who tell Dems not to talk about immigration— because it turns out that the federal government kidnapping people off the street is not popular. Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg join Tim Miller. show notes Indivisible's "No Kings" protest day

The Supreme Court is working hard to tend to Mr. Presidential Immunity's wounds because he just can't abide lower federal court judges telling him he can't kick trans people out of the military, or that the 14th Amendment is a real thing. Meanwhile, Kristi Noem is defiling her own birthright citizenship by kidnapping people and sending them to a foreign gulag. Plus, how the Dems should fight the party that only wants to break things—and craft a better economic message that appeals to both moderates and progressives.  Rep. Greg Casar of Texas and Katie Phang join Tim Miller. show notes Katie's Substack NYT profile of Rep. Casar

Because Donald Trump's stupid trade embargo has us reading shipping charts, we now know that 40% of containership traffic between Asia and the U.S. has been canceled. That means a shortage of consumer goods, which will push prices higher. At the same time, the business environment is too unpredictable for companies to plan. Meanwhile, Trump is reorienting the American economy to a corrupt oligarchy—as he rakes in billions in bribes off his crypto. Plus, Hegseth wants to clear out a chunk of the top brass, U.S. attorney nominee Ed Martin forgot to say he's been on Russian-state media outlets more than 150 times, and the DNC absolutely should not be posting about Kamala at the Met Gala. JVL joins Tim Miller. show notes HuffPost on the trucking company buying Trump's crypto coin The NYT on Trump family business deals JVL on the Ashli Babbitt payout NPR story on Trump voters in Emmitsburg, MD

Trump 2.0 is showing so little concern for his political standing that even Fox made primetime room for Karl Rove to vent about how he's failing at the fundamentals. Our aspiring Gaddafi doesn't care that tariffs aren't popular or that he sounds like Mr. Scrooge when he says kids should have fewer toys. And while belt-tightening is good enough for average Americans, he's throwing himself a giant, ostentatious military parade that will cost tens of millions of dollars. Plus, conservatives in the Anglosphere take another hit, this time down under—and thumbs-up for Maine Gov. Janet Mills, thumbs-down for Gretchen Whitmer.  Bill Kristol joins Tim Miller. show notes Today's "Morning Shots" Jonathan's recent newsletter on Gretchen Whitmer The Atlantic's recent interview with Trump (gifted)

Just imagine Fox's histrionics if a President AOC had said that American kids have too many dolls and that she's raising the price on them. Now the supposedly pro-family administration is doubling down on 'just pay more’ for toys, while it waits for China to blink on tariffs—an unlikely event given that it makes a lot of the things the world needs and wants. Meanwhile, AI's economic threat may be here for recent college grads, Marc Andreessen has deep thoughts on VC, and the NIH (and future American Nobel Prizes) are being burned to own the libs. Plus, the Dems should zero in on how Trump is making America less affordable—and very much like 2020 again. show notes Derek's piece on the job market for recent college grads Derek's podcast, "Plain English" The book, "Abundance," by Derek and Ezra Klein Tim's playlist

Marco Rubio was supposed to be one of the only adults in the room, and now he's become a shell of himself executing Trump's unwinding of the US role in the world. Meanwhile, Pam Bondi just can't keep her blubbering sycophancy under wraps. Plus, Mike Waltz's ouster at NSA, our shakedown of Ukraine with a minerals deal, Trump's pettiness is getting lost in the firehose of his revenge, and even the president of El Salvador doubts the criminality of the people ICE is sending to CECOT.  Tom Nichols join Tim Miller. show notes Tim's interview with Rep. Chris Van Hollen NYT's recent story on the deportations to El Salvador (gift)  The link for tonight's AMA at 8pm ET

For 80 years, the United States built strong economic, military, and political alliances around the world. But in just 100 days, that trust has been dismantled, and our friends are now working without us to forge new relationships. Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken joins Tim to discuss how hard it will be to rebuild after what Trump has done—plus the Biden administration's response to the Gaza protests, and the continuing questions over why Biden did not step aside earlier. And, Alex Wagner joins from Hungary to discuss the mass protests there. Tony Blinken and Alex Wagner join Tim Miller. show notes Alex's "Trumpland" podcast Tim on Trump's ABC News interview

The markets may be hanging in there but they also held strong in early 2020—right up until Covid hit New York. Meanwhile, tariffs are driving consumer confidence down, firms are talking about cutting back on hiring and investments, and Goldman Sachs is predicting that the U.S. will have the highest inflation and lowest growth of any developed economy this year. Plus, Scott Bessent is not a calming influence, and Trump has a real 'War on Christmas' in the works. The Stalwart Joe Weisenthal joins Tim Miller.  show notes Joe and Tracy Alloway's newsletter on how the markets can get things wrong (gift) Recent 'Odd Lots' pod on the coming empty shelves & the War on Christmas Joe's Bluesky post on the War on Christmas

The Trump administration keeps showing it's sooo tough on immigration that it deported three U.S. citizen children, arrested the wife of a member of the Coast Guard because her visa expired, and perp-walked an allegedly immigrant-concealing Wisconsin judge in handcuffs—instead of showing her the kind of deference Trump received over the course of his four indictments. Plus, the wildly wealthy jackasses behind Trump, the missing cargo ships at the ports, and Scott Pelley at 60 Minutes shows how it's done. Bill Kristol joins Tim Miller. show notes Tim on Trump's bad polling numbers for his first 100 days Adrian on a focus group of Latino men in Arizona who are disappoined in Trump Bill's 'Bulwark on Sunday' interview with Ryan Goodman Semafor's piece, "The Group Chats that Changed America"