1038: Mike Johnson’s Speakership Is Hanging by Dental Floss | The Next Level

The Next Level

The Bulwark

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.8 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, and JVL get through a chaotic week in Trump’s Washington: Elise Stefanik and Mike Johnson tearing each other apart, Hegseth’s shifting alibis for a possible war crime, Trump nodding off while his cabinet members freelance policy, and a fresh round of immigration extremism that targets even legal residents. They also discuss population-collapse warnings, the “narco-terror” fantasy, JD Vance’s pathetic theatrics, and Tim’s interview with Olivia Nuzzi.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Don't you think that's what Mike Johnson looks like?
0:02.0	The elf on the shelf?
0:03.0	The elf from Rudolph?
0:04.0	They both feel like they'd have a very uncomfortable touch.
0:07.0	Like, could you imagine giving the hug to Mike Johnson?
0:10.0	It feels like a chill is good on your spine, wouldn't he?
0:12.0	He would have to let his son.
0:14.0	Right.
0:15.0	Hello everyone, this is JVL here in Meetspace, in real life with my best friends.
0:23.4	Sarah Longwell.
0:25.9	Tim Miller of the bulwark.
0:28.2	Welcome to the next level live.
0:29.6	It's a very special holiday edition.
0:31.3	Are we live?
0:32.8	I mean, we're not live. We're all in person.
0:34.4	We're live with each other.
0:35.3	We're live to tape.
0:36.3	Live to tape with each other. And Christmas all in person. We're live with each other. We're live to tape. Live to tape with each other.
0:38.8	And Christmas has come early because this morning Politico reported that Elise
0:44.6	Tefonic and Mike Johnson had finally buried the hatchet and gotten past things.
0:50.9	And then 35 minutes before we sat down to tape, the Wall Street Journal,
0:56.5	released an exclusive interview with her in which she said, among other things,
	...

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