Bill Kristol: Escalating the Authoritarian Project

The Bulwark Podcast

The Bulwark

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 8.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In seven months, Trump has accumulated an astonishing amount of unchecked power. No one inside his administration is challenging his will, and Trump is assuming war powers with barely any explanation—while blacklisting Tom Hanks from West Point. At the same time, in the business world, only one MAGA-friendly hedge fund billionaire has raised mild concerns about the Fed, but top-shelf tech leaders can't thank Trump enough just for existing. But, the resistance is showing up in Chicago and the Dems have a chance to throw their weight around with a potential government shutdown. Plus, Vance is an amazingly succinct liar and the White House Rose Garden has had a Panera patio makeover.

Bill Kristol joins Tim Miller.

show notes

Today's "Morning Shots"
Gov. Pritzker responding to Trump's Chi-pocalypse meme
Backgrounder on the Bobbsey Twins
Bulwark Live in DC and NYC at https://www.thebulwark.com/p/bulwark-events. Toronto is SOLD OUT
Get 15% off OneSkin with the code BULWARK at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod

Transcript

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0:37.3	Hello and welcome to the Bullard podcast. I'm your host Tim Miller Miller. It is Monday, and he's back, editor at
0:37.7	at large, Bill Crystal. Hey, Bill. Hey, Tim. How are you? You had an opening sentence to the Morningshots newsletter this morning, which people can get at the Bullock.com, if they haven't. It comes out every day. And, you know, it's a sentence I don't like to deal with around here, but I think that it's worth setting up our conversation
0:54.1	today with. You say this, it's sad but true. Donald Trump has had a strikingly successful
0:59.6	first seven and a half months in office. Is that right? Do you think that's, is that right?
1:04.0	Are you being Bill Crystal just trying to get under my, you know, get under my skin on a Monday morning?
1:08.3	Well, I think being Bill Crystal is coincident with being right, obviously.
1:13.7	So I don't make that distinction that you so cavalierly and I'd say even equally make.
1:18.9	But, yeah, I'm being a little.
1:20.3	I'd say sometimes Bill Crystal is right and sometimes he's trolling with maybe a hint of truth underneath the troll.
1:27.2	Exactly. I'm maybe saying it a little for effect. And I of truth underneath the troll, maybe sometimes. Exactly. I'm maybe
1:29.0	being saying it a little for effect. And I do say in the bees actually that his popularity is down
1:33.7	and especially the intensity is down. That's an opportunity for elites to seize if they would only
1:38.6	step up. But I mean, just the authoritarian project, what I mean by that really is, is further along
1:43.3	after seven and a half months that I think even you and I thought it would be. And it doesn't seem to be losing
1:48.4	much steam. It's not as if, you know, things are now, there's huge reactions and he's losing
	...

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