1078: This is The Stupidest War You Can Possibly Imagine

The Next Level

The Bulwark

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.8 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2026

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller and Sam Stein (filling in for JVL) discuss the Trump administration’s assertion that the effort to protect ships in the Strait of Hormuz is "separate and distinct" from the larger war effort in Iran. Plus, they get into the drama over Ken Martin’s time as DNC chair, the effect the Supreme Court’s recent voting rights ruling might have on the midterms, the wisdom of Senate Republicans allocating $1 billion for the ballroom Trump promised would be completed without public money and how the Senate battleground his shaping up for Democrats this fall. Bonus: Tim coins a new term for presidents hitting historically bad polling numbers.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Nixon hit 24% of August of 74.
0:03.2	Okay, see?
0:04.6	It's doable.
0:05.5	The dick line.
0:07.2	The dick line.
0:09.9	We got it.
0:13.3	Hello, everyone, and welcome to the next level.
0:16.2	I'm Sarah Longwell, publisher of the board.
0:17.9	I'm here with my best friends, Tim Miller, and Sam Stein Sam, the producer tried to make me say colleague. But after JVL shivd us in the heart last week, my colleague, Tim and I colleagues, I wasn't going to do that to you, Sam. I was just going to say JVL's not here. So we're just going to do it. I think he should be pretty nervous about losing his best friend status to Sam. Sam is in the office with you. I've been noticing you guys getting chummy. I've been hearing about some out of office hangs. I think JVL should be nervous about where his standing is and the best friend's ranking. And frankly, I have a bone to pick with them a little bit today because he his newsletter
0:54.6	his triad today which i know sarah didn't read it it's about my focus group is pro stoking the
1:01.0	flames of conspiracy around the correspondence dinner and i've done like eight content
1:07.2	activations against this and he did not tell me it was coming he's skipping TNL today so I don't get to fight with him over it. And I'm a little, I'm not really hurt, but you know, I'm a little, I don't know, I'm a little hot under the collar. I'm a little hot under the collar about it. So there we go. So JPL, watch out. Third best friend status.
1:27.7	I could have told you this was coming because he did this with me on Secret last week. Why are we starting on this note of friction? Let's not. There's no friction. JVL's not here. All of us. This is great. This is the best friend circle now. So sorry, Jayfell. Oh, God. Okay. We love you, JVL, and we miss you.
1:42.7	Okay, guys, it's Tuesday, which means we have to talk about Iran again because the ceasefire that we had supposedly is unraveling again after a series of missile and drone attacks that appear linked to Tehran.
1:56.9	The U.S. has also reportedly destroyed seven Iranian small boats because they were trying to stop the U.S. from helping commercial vessels navigate the strait. Pete Hegseth held a press conference this morning. I'm going to play a clip in a second. But he said the U.S. would be establishing a red, white, and blue dome to protect ships going through the Strait of Hormuz. I've got questions about that.
2:17.9	If it's a real dome or if that was a figure of speech, which I'm not sure. And then he said... Is that the red, white, and blue, though? I don't know. I got questions. That figure of speech would be a little NC-17 if we were still in college in the early arts. Oh. I don't understand that joke. Don't Google it. Giving dome.
2:34.4	Dom right now.
2:36.1	Oh, God.
2:37.1	Why?
2:37.6	Why did I do that? I don't understand that joke. Don't Google it. Giving dome.
2:35.2	Don't worry about it.
2:36.9	Oh, God.
	...

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