S2 Ep165: The Reflecting Pool is a Symbol of Trump’s Failure (w/ Andrew Weissmann)
The Illegal News with Sarah Longwell
The Bulwark
4.9 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 25 June 2026
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sarah Longwell and Andrew Weissmann talk about the Iran nuclear deal—why the "win" Trump is selling actually leaves America with less leverage, fewer allies, and zero nuclear resolution than where we started. Plus: what Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman's book reveals about JD Vance's behind-the-scenes opposition to the war, Trump's habit of comparing himself to history's worst tyrants, and the new DOJ legal theory that could gut Americans' right to sue polluters under environmental law.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Is this PG or is this not PG? |
| 0:02.3 | No, it's not PG. |
| 0:03.0 | This is, we're talking about legal stuff. |
| 0:04.3 | No one's listening to this with their kids. |
| 0:09.5 | Hello, everyone, and welcome to the illegal news. |
| 0:14.4 | I'm Sarah Longwell, publisher of the bulwark. |
| 0:16.2 | And back with me today is my guy, Andrew Weissman, bestselling author of Liar's Kingdom, host of MSNal podcast, Main Justice, lawyer, professor, New Yorker, dogdad, and a multi-hyphenate Renaissance man. Andrew, glad you're back. That is a great introduction. I love it. Including the dog part. It was great. Loved it. Geez. |
| 0:38.3 | The more we do the show, the more things I have to say about you. |
| 0:41.1 | Okay, I'm coming back. |
| 0:43.2 | Great. |
| 0:43.7 | Okay. |
| 0:44.0 | Before we dive into the illegal news, my producer has just like, ask Andrew if he has a story from his weekend. |
| 0:53.2 | No, wait, wait, no. |
| 0:55.5 | No. |
| 0:56.8 | Wait, that's, I have a feeling that's like why I brought it. |
| 1:00.8 | You're probably like, no story? |
| 1:03.0 | Yeah. |
| 1:03.8 | If I hadn't just seen it, I would have been like, skip this part, skip this part. |
| 1:08.6 | Okay. |
| 1:09.3 | No, instead of stories from your weekend, we're going to talk about Iran. |
| 1:13.6 | Just because that was actually the story of my weekend because I was pretty glued to the |
| 1:18.2 | negotiations because they're both on one hand. |
... |
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