1079: Secret Podcast Preview: The Primary Was Over Before It Started
The Next Level
The Bulwark
4.8 • 3.2K Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The full episode is available exclusively to paid members of The Bulwark. You can join on Apple Podcasts, Substack or YouTube.
Sarah and JVL had a big show planned for you. Lots of different subjects. Important news. Funny stories. The whole nine.
And then everything derailed as they went SUPER deep on Graham Platner and the meta-debate about him. If you think Platner has electoral upside, you love Nazis. If you have concerns about Platner’s populism, you’re a closet Republican. The internet has spoken!
It’s a whole thing.
Also: This marks the first time in the history of the show that Sarah read JVL’s piece and JVL . . . didn’t even realize Sarah had written something? The shoe is on the other foot, my pretties!
Read JVL’s Triad newsletter: https://www.thebulwark.com/s/thetriad
Read Sarah’s 'The Man Behind the Tatoo': https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-man-behind-the-tattoo-graham-platner-maine-democrat-focus-group
ON SALE NOW: Bulwark Live is coming to San Diego on May 20 and Los Angeles on May 21. Just announced! We’re adding some chatty friends to the lineups for both shows. Grab your seats now to join Sarah, Tim and Sam for an evening of politics among friends and keep an eye on https://TheBulwark.com/Events for more announcements.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone. This is JVL here with my best friend, Sarah Longwell, publisher of the balk. |
| 0:07.3 | What's up, JVL? |
| 0:07.7 | Hey. Sarah, happy Friday. |
| 0:09.3 | Happy birthday, JVL. |
| 0:12.5 | Thank you. |
| 0:13.1 | It's such a classic thing for you where I had to find out it was your birthday from somebody else. |
| 0:18.1 | And then I had to text Tim and you on our chain, which you ignored until the following day, |
| 0:24.3 | to say happy birthday. |
| 0:25.5 | What is it about you and birthdays? |
| 0:27.0 | Are you just, do you not, do you keep a low profile? |
| 0:29.5 | Do you not tell people? |
| 0:32.1 | I love birthdays. |
| 0:34.8 | Huge birthday fan. |
| 0:36.4 | I don't, like, I don't make a big deal about it externally, but internally, we got an ice cream cake. |
| 0:42.5 | Oh, ice cream cake. |
| 0:44.1 | It's my favorite. |
| 0:45.7 | And, no, it was absolutely lovely. |
| 0:47.9 | And I wrote for myself a big birthday newsletter that nobody cared about. |
| 0:56.3 | Is this the insidification one? |
| 0:58.1 | It is. |
| 0:58.8 | It is. |
| 0:59.1 | I got to tell you. |
... |
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