Author: The Bulwark

The man who cavorted with Jeffrey Epstein for 15 years never even bothers to feign empathy for Epstein's victims—even a sociopath would fake it. And neither Trump nor his administration and supporters can get their talking points straight on the scandal: The files are a hoax, but Ghislaine Maxwell is going to name names; she's a horrible person, but the public is supposed to believe her; POTUS didn't go to Epstein's island but it would have been a "privilege" if he had. Meanwhile, Trump is tying himself in knots on Gaza and Russia. Plus, for our audio listeners, former model Stacey Williams tells Tim about briefly dating Epstein, getting groped by Trump, and why she's going public with her story.

Bill Kristol and Stacey Williams join Tim Miller.
show notes

The deputy attorney general of the United States, who took an oath to help Donald Trump no matter what, is conferring with Jeffrey Epstein's literal partner in crime—a woman who lied about the sex trafficking she orchestrated and participated in. And Ghislaine Maxwell has every motive to exculpate Trump now (and incriminate some other high-profile figure) in return for a pardon or a reduction in her 20-year sentence for sexually exploiting and abusing numerous minor girls, some as young as 14. Meanwhile, JD isn't offering a very vigorous defense of Trump's integrity, the administration is making a giant legal mess for themselves in New Jersey over Alina Habba, and Emil Bove's nomination is all about trying to destroy checks and balances.

Andrew Weissmann joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod.
show notes

The one thing Mr. Authenticity was supposed to be was the anti-politician: the guy who would go after the establishment, clean up Washington, and make a booming economy. Now, Trump's acting just like a typical politician trying to cover-up a scandal—and he's vulnerable to a backlash from the manosphere that went all in on him. Meanwhile, he is getting near-Biden polling numbers on the economy, he's trying to make the Fed chair his scapegoat, and he's the best American president the Chinese auto industry ever had. Plus, Newsom's prospects in '28 and the success of 'change' mayors across the board.

Mike Murphy joins Tim Miller.
show notes

Mike Johnson is racing to shut the business of the House down to avoid a vote on releasing the Epstein files. Trump's own criminal lawyer, who's moonlighting as deputy attorney general, will be minding the matter of Ghislaine Maxwell. And Texas is looking to squeeze out some more House seats to try to protect Trump from having to be held accountable on Epstein. Has any other politician ever acted so guilty? But in this moment, the Dems are finally bringing a gun to a gunfight. And for the midterms, they need to commit to Benghazi-style hearings on the contents of the files—and the Republican cover-up. Plus, securing the border without a terror campaign, and recruiting candidates to fill out a bigger Democratic tent.

Neera Tanden, at the Center for American Progress, joins Tim Miller.
show notes

Republicans are nullifying bipartisan budget deals and planning a mid-decade redistricting to try to hold the House after the midterms. Trump is methodically working to crush dissent in the media, chill major Dem donors, and shut down the party's online fundraising portal, ActBlue. One political party is breaking all the norms, while the other is trying to stick to them. Sen. Murphy tells Tim that democracies die when the rules change and the opposition refuses to adapt. Meanwhile, Trump's detention regime is not only making prison-builders filthy rich, it will also likely draw in ICE candidates eager to abuse their power. Plus, Epstein is a bad story for the administration no matter how you slice it, and Tim shares his thoughts about Hunter. 

Sen. Chris Murphy joins Tim Miller.

show notes

Our government disappeared hundreds of Venezuelans to a hellish Salvadoran prison for 125 days. When Trump's and Stephen Miller's whole CECOT plan even became too much for the dictator who runs El Salvador, Marco Rubio helped orchestrate a political win for Venezuela's strongman, Nicolas Maduro—who gets to look like a white knight in the hostage exchange. Meanwhile, the administration still has not recovered from its rake-step claim that there was no Epstein list. Did Bondi release her memo because the 1,000 FBI personnel who were made to review the Epstein documents kept finding Trump's name? Cover-ups are hard. Plus, now the Dems have new reasons to not cooperate with Republicans.

Bill Kristol joins Tim Miller.

show notes

If anyone in America was still thinking that Trump's ties to Epstein were a nothingburger, Trump’s own behavior this week has disabused them of that notion. His panicking and flailing around sure seem exactly like how a guilty man would act. And the sudden firing of Jim Comey's daughter, Maurene—who worked on the Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases at the DOJ—isn't helping to tamp down the conspiracy theorizing. Meanwhile, Tulsi and Kash are trying to ferret out the unfaithful, and there are still adults in the room when it comes to the Fed. Plus, our nuclear command and control system was organized around the assumption that we would have a sane president, not somebody who has psychotic fantasies about the Unabomber.

Tom Nichols joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod.
show notes

While the Trump administration is doubling down on fossil fuels, China is annihilating us in the clean energy space. Right now, 75% of all renewable projects anywhere in the world are being built by a Chinese company. China is dominating the green energy supply chain with solar panels and batteries, and its electric car can charge in five minutes. The U.S. may be betting on AI, but that build-out needs cheap, fast energy—like wind or solar. We may have thought modernity was a Western story, but that may not be the case. Meanwhile, inland flooding could be the new face of the climate crisis, Silicon Valley overlords want to live in a sci-fi novel, and the Epstein story has legs because it's about elite impunity.

David Wallace-Wells joins Tim Miller.
show notes

In addition to eviscerating the top leadership at the Bureau, Kash Patel has assigned whole squads of agents to immigration enforcement. Seasoned FBI veterans who used to focus on national security or run RICO investigations are now doing perimeter security during ICE round-ups of kids and grandmas. The administration's purge is draining the Bureau of expertise and apolitical people who did real work defending the rule of law and protecting the country. Plus, do four GOP senators care one iota about the whistleblower allegations against Emil Bove? And will Ukraine finally get badly-needed air defense weapons? 

Ben Wittes and Mike Feinberg—a former top deputy at the Bureau who was targeted by Dan Bongino—join Tim Miller.
show notes

The majority of elected Democrats would prefer to talk only about policy, but that's not enough for today's freewheeling new media environment. It's way past time for Dems to figure out how to shoot the sh*t—and stop being the kids at the front of the class who don't know how to talk to the ones in the back. And when it comes to Epstein, Trump & co were either lying about the pedophiles back then, or they're lying now to protect themselves. Plus, make the Republicans own all the healthcare cuts: they are happening because of "Trumpcare." 

Brian Beutler joins Tim Miller.
show notes