America Looks Weak Right Now (w/ Bill Kristol) | The Bulwark Podcast

Trump is a terrible president, and he deserves to be criticized, even in personal terms. Our pro-democracy movement has shown time and time again that we can oppose him—and oppose any attempt at violence at the same time. Even putting aside POTUS's own hypocritical calls for violence or his celebrating the deaths of his enemies, Saturday's shooting was related to mental health issues and too easy of access to guns. Plus, Zelensky is the new leader of the free world, Trump looks like he's headed to a humiliating defeat in Iran, the left should work harder to not be false flag cranks, and a look at the Senate map in the context of America Firsters feeling betrayed by Trump's stupid wars and his attempt to redesign D.C. in his image.

Bill Kristol joins Tim Miller.

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Show Notes:
Monday's "Morning Shots": https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/no-violence-no-demagoguery-no-kings-trump-white-house-correspondents-dinner-attack-shooting-fisa-dhs-ice-border-patrol-filibuster?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Ken Klippenstein's reporting on the shooting suspect that Tim referenced:
https://open.substack.com/pub/kenklippenstein/p/assassin-wasnt-on-fbis-radar-sources?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

David French on Zelensky: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/26/opinion/zelensky-ukraine-trump-nato-leader.html?unlocked_article_code=1.eFA.bANs.aPDRa7IjqvW_&smid=url-share

Tickets for our Bulwark Live shows in San Diego and LA in May:
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/bulwark-events

Chapters:
00:00:17 White House Dinner Incident And Reaction
00:02:15 Nonviolence And The No Kings Movement
00:04:09 GOP Response And Policy Opportunism
00:04:58 Trump Ballroom And Authoritarian Impulse
00:07:44 Why The Press Dinner Still Happens
00:10:27 Ad Break - Smalls Cat Food
00:12:17 Rhetoric vs Violence Debate
00:15:25 False Flag Conspiracies Debunked
00:20:31 Iran War Update And Strategy
00:26:36 Ad Break - Fast Growing Trees
00:30:01 Economic Costs And Global Fallout
00:30:20 Zelensky And Global Leadership Shift
00:33:15 Trump Political Decline And Polling
00:44:08 Senate Map And 2026 Outlook

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