The Next Level

JVL's on the west coast for Sarah's book event, and he, Tim, and Andrew Egger discuss Mitch McConnell's triumphant (?) return to the Senate, Donald Trump casually floating conspiracy theories over the Butler, PA assassination attempt, and Thomas Massie's articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth. Then, they turn their attention to a New York Times poll with some GREAT news for Democrats in the midterms (with the exception of one issue: AI). They discuss the developments from the world of AI in the last week and how our political leaders should respond. Then: Is Gavin Newsom really thinking about NOT running for president? There's a really, really, REALLY racist Republican running for Texas Railroad Commission, and Tim debriefs on a rather contentious interview he did on The Bulwark Daily.
Show links:

Read JVL’s Monday and Tuesday Triads on the AI race, and how our political leaders can respond.

Get your tickets for our September 25 show in Dayton, Ohio to benefit the Springfield, OH Haitian community. 

Get your copy of How to Eat an Elephant, Sarah’s first book! 

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The Secret Podcast is a special bonus just for paid members of The Bulwark. If you like this preview, become a member at thebulwark.com, on YouTube, or through Apple Podcasts.
JVL and Bill Kristol look at the increasingly messy fight to succeed Trump, from JD Vance and Don Jr. to Tucker Carlson, as Trump keeps the possibility of a third term hanging over the party. Plus, the war with Iran is getting worse, Pete Hegseth’s damage to the military is becoming harder to ignore, and 25 years after 9/11, they consider the unsettling question of what terrorism can set in motion long after an attack is over.
Sarah, Tim, Sam and JVL are coming to South Carolina, North Carolina, and Atlanta in October for Bulwark LIVE. We’re bringing lots of friends.
Tickets are on sale now: https://thebulwark.com/events

Tim, Sarah, and JVL discuss Trump's Labor Day Weekend with his favorite person, Corey Lewandowski's possible ‘light extortion,’ and whether Trumpworld will circle the wagons around him. Plus: why the GOP's midterm convention shows Trump losing his fastball, ABC News's bizarre framing of Rudy Giuliani's Islamophobic comments about Zohran Mamdani, and John Fetterman's total lack of interest in doing the job of a U.S. senator.
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Get your tickets for The Bulwark's Good Fight Tour this October, coming to Charlotte, Columbia, and Atlanta, with special guest Pete Buttigieg joining us in Charlotte.

Today Sarah and JVL try to figure out who’s worse: John Fetterman or Susan Collins. (Give us your answer in the comments.) Also, the Big Orange Arch is coming. And we chew over Doug Sosnik’s recommendations for the Democratic party. It’s a big show.
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Plus: it’s almost Book Week!
Don’t let Teddy Cancun and High Life Clarence win. Order a copy of Sarah’s book now. (If you haven’t already, I mean.)
How to Eat an Elephant drops on Tuesday and the Best Friends really want to get it to #1 on the NYT best seller list. To do that, we have to unseat... a biography of Clarence Thomas by Ted Effing Cruz.
Buy it on Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/how-to-eat-an-elephant-one-voter-at-a-time-sarah-longwell/6a0996cb43d2ef5b?ean=9781250464170&bkshp-astro=t
Buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/How-Eat-Elephant-Voter-Time/dp/125046417X
Become a Bulwark member to keep watching the full conversation, plus get access to all our members-only shows and segments.
Show notes:
See Bill Kristol and Doug Sosnik’s conversation: https://conversationswithbillkristol.org/conversation/doug-sosnik-on-two-very-different-elections-2026-and-2028/

Tim, Sarah, and JVL discuss the U.S. Supreme Court letting Trump’s ballroom go ahead (for now), why JVL thinks John Roberts is the Susan Collins of the Supreme Court, and whether Sarah is warming up to tearing down the ballroom in 2029. Plus: Trump says Kristen Welker should be punished for pointing out that his endorsed candidates are losing more often, and JVL wonders whether Republicans will have to be an anti-Canada party now. Later: The gang discusses Bari Weiss’s kinda racist headline about Abdul El-Sayed’s past tweets, why elected Republicans around the country (but especially Ken Paxton) are feeling depressed about their midterm prospects, and an absolutely wild story about a Florida congressional candidates in today’s Morning Shots.
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If you want more of Tim, Sarah, and JVL doing what they do here—looking past the daily Trump spectacle to figure out what survives him, where Democrats have openings, and what the next political era might actually look like—become a Bulwark member and support The Next Level.
Show links:
Read JVL’s Triad (https://www.thebulwark.com/p/lake-america-and-the-dogma-of-trumpism)
Read Andrew Egger’s Morning Shots (https://www.thebulwark.com/p/we-found-her-the-most-absurd-general-election-candidate-te-brown-illinois-florida-congress-fraud-primary-election-putin-whale-orca-polar-bear-russia-ukraine)