S6 Ep21: The Heebie Jeebie GOP (with Will Sommer)
The Focus Group Podcast
The Bulwark
4.8 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 24 January 2026
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Some strange, under-the-radar things are happening on the right. Marco Rubio is experiencing a strange rehabilitation with the Republican base, and some young men are excited about taxing OnlyFans. Meanwhile, JD Vance is still on the struggle bus with swing voters, especially women. Will Sommer, The Bulwark’s right-wing fever swamp correspondent, joins Sarah to break down the growing rift between the MAGA establishment and the America First wing—and what it means for 2028.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone and welcome to the Focus Group podcast. I'm Sarah Longwell, publisher of the |
| 0:11.7 | bulwark. And for the last couple weeks, we've been checking in on swing voters, typically our |
| 0:17.3 | Biden to Trump voters in 2024. And this week, I want to focus on the future of the right. |
| 0:24.7 | We're going to see how people are thinking about some of the frontrunners for the 28 |
| 0:29.6 | presidential election because it's never too early for sickos like us and get an update |
| 0:35.2 | from Gen Z Trump voters. |
| 0:37.5 | Now, I think there's like an interesting schism between the MAGA establishment, |
| 0:41.6 | which are the people who will put on the red hat uncritically. |
| 0:45.5 | And a lot of them used to be just like regular GOP types. |
| 0:49.7 | They like establishment, whatever that looks like. |
| 0:52.2 | And then the other side is kind of the America first |
| 0:55.0 | wing in the parties. So think about that as your Marjorie Taylor Greens, maybe your Tucker Carlson, |
| 1:00.6 | and there's overlap, obviously. These are not two distinct circles, but I am starting to see, |
| 1:07.2 | especially among the influencer types, kind of a shift where you could break them up |
| 1:12.0 | and put them in either category. So my guest today is the Bullworks in-house right-wing fever |
| 1:17.6 | swamp correspondent Will Summer, author of the excellent False Flag newsletter. Will, thanks for being |
| 1:24.5 | here. Hey, thanks for having me. You look great, man. Your hair looks great. You're just looking good. You look fresh, ready to go. Well, thanks for being here. Hey, thanks for having me. You look great, man. |
| 1:28.3 | Thank you. Your hair looks great. |
| 1:28.9 | You're just looking good. |
| 1:29.8 | You look fresh, ready to go. |
| 1:31.4 | Well, thank you. |
| 1:32.1 | You and got a haircut, kind of a new look, and I'm working on the same. You inspired me. Oh, great. Great. Okay. Well, you know, obviously, I listen to you and read you and see all of your stuff. |
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