The Next Level

Full episodes of the Secret Podcast are available exclusively to paid members of The Bulwark. Join on Apple Podcasts, Substack or YouTube.

Sarah and JVL are ready for midterms.

- Early voting numbers and the possibility of a Republican turnout collapse.
- Why gas prices might be Trump’s biggest problem.
- JD Vance getting the “pugnacious” treatment from the New York Times.
- Peggy Noonan’s MAGA redemption fantasy.
- Haley Stevens’ jaw-dropping weekend.

It’s the last Secret Podcast before Election Day. The hopium is flowing.

Full episodes of the Secret Podcast are available exclusively for paid members of The Bulwark on Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Substack.

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This is it: The last Friday Secret before the elections.

• JVL has complaints!
• Sarah has solutions!
• Are the polls right or wrong?
• Will Sarah ever read the Triad?

And at the very end, we have the surprise you’ve been waiting for . . .

Tim, Sarah, and JVL are back together for their last Next Level before Election Day. They discuss Marco Rubio helping Flavio Bolsonaro take refuge in the United States after losing Brazil's presidential election, RFK Jr's wildly racist comments about Arabs in Michigan, and the continued fallout from Vivek Ramaswamy's ghoulish ad against Amy Acton.

Then: a Kansas City Star report finds Roger Marshall’s own hometown turning on him, and Susan Collins is running a snobby ad against Troy Jackson. The gang runs through the whole Senate map and how big the Democratic wave could get, then they react to reports that Pete Hegseth has his eye on Marsha Blackburn’s Senate seat. And finally, after seeing the new Elizabeth Holmes documentary, Tim is soft-on-crime. Again.

Send your political questions or pleas for life advice for future Next Level episodes to nextlevel@thebulwark.com.

The Secret Podcast is exclusively for paid members of The Bulwark. Join on Apple Podcasts, YouTube or Substack.

Sarah and JVL talk:

Elon dropping another $76m on the election

Fake pollsters

Trump grifters getting cut loose by Big Orange

But the big story is Vivek Ramaswamy working with a woman who aided and abetted a pedophile-rapist. You know the ad we’re talking about. Sarah did a focus group with Ohio Trump voters. They all knew about the ad. And what they told Sarah is . . . not great for Vivek.

If you have questions for Tim, Sarah and JVL, send them to nextlevel@thebulwark.com and they may answer them on an upcoming episode of TNL.

This week’s Next Level starts out as a Secret Podcast episode, before Tim and Sam crash the stage. They discuss Sarah’s interview with Pete Buttigieg, why Jon Ossoff might be history’s choice for 2028 whether he likes it or not. Plus: some hopium on some key races across the South. Then the crew turns to Vivek Ramaswamy’s despicable ad featuring Amy Acton’s estranged mother, and whether JD Vance might be (shudder) underrated in 2028. who they most want to see hauled before Democratic committees in 2027, with Elon Musk, RFK Jr., Todd Blanche, and Jared Kushner all making the list.

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Sarah and JVL talk about:

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The Media obsessing over the wrong problem with Katie Zacharias.

•

The Alina Habba - Ric Grenell cage match.

•

Kimberly Guilfoyle’s stylist Ruby Rhod Fancy James.

• Another big inflation jump.

And that’s before they get into Senate polling numbers looking really bad for Republicans. You want schadenfreude with a side of hopeium? The best friends have you covered.

Show notes:

• If you have questions for Tim, Sarah and JVL, send them to nextlevel@thebulwark.com and they may answer them on an upcoming episode of TNL.

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Note: We're doing something a little different today. Paid members of the Bulwark get exclusive access to a extra, super, jumbo-sized TNL with a play-by-play breakdown of Katie Zacharia's disastrous press conference. It's a lot of fun, and you should definitely join to see it. You can join on Apple Podcast, Substack and YouTube.

Tim, Sarah, and JVL are back together for a super-sized, off-the-rails show. They wish Kimberly Guilfoyle well after she was forced out of the Trump administration, dig into the background of our new White House Press Secretary, discuss the DHS raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar's home, discuss the right-wing meltdown over James Talarico's absence from the campaign trail, and gloat about the GOP pulling resources out of some key House races.

Then, they go behind they paywall, and it REALLY gets fun: They watch Katie Zacharia's entire White House press briefing (all 15 minutes), and give their minute-by-minute commentary. Then: Sarah and JVL ask Tim whether he's reconsidered his stance on a take that got MANY Bulwark listeners mad a few months ago.

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The Secret Podcast is available exclusively to paid members of The Bulwark on Apple Podcasts, Substack and YouTube.

Elon Musk threatened to destroy Trump’s Republican allies. Now he’s spending hundreds of millions to keep them in power. Sarah Longwell and JVL discuss Musk’s humiliating surrender, the billionaires lining up behind Trump, the MAGA smear campaign against James Talarico, and why Trump’s desperate deal with Putin represents a stunning display of American weakness.

Plus, Sarah has some ideas about holding Trump’s wealthy enablers accountable, and JVL has some big news.

Full episodes of The Secret Podcast are available exclusively to paid members of The Bulwark. You can join on Apple Podcasts, YouTube and at https://thebulwark.com. If you want to join, you're in luck: We’re running a 30% off October Surprise sale, so it’s a great time to get the full Secret Podcast and all of our members-only reporting.

Sarah and JVL break down Jon Ossoff’s Terminator-style destruction of Mike Collins. Seriously: It was so brutal that someone should have stopped the debate.
Then it’s off to:

• The Eric Deters interview that broke our brains.
• Pete Hegseth tugging it at the prospect of a livestreamed execution.
• The Pro-Life movement is practicing its strategic silence.
• Potato discourse.
• And The Golden Girls!

Definitely a top quartile show.

Want a Woke Bill Kristol tee? Get it at The Bulwark Store.

Will Sommer joins Sarah and JVL for a wild, wild show. They congratulate Kash Patel on his engagement, discuss JVL's Triad on the White House reporter-turned-press staffer from Real America's Voice. Then: Megyn Kelly's ghoulish rant against Cornell's Jane Doe, and whether we're happy to see John Roberts experiencing public shame. Finally: Two VERY weird campaign ads, one filled with weird innuendo, and the other featuring Angela Paxton announcing her vote for her cheating ex-husband. They wrap up by discussing a long New Yorker article about the Heritage Foundation's groypery turn.

show links:

• Read JVL's Triad
• Emma Green's New Yorker feature on the Heritage Foundation

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A quick note: Bulwark+ Memberships are 30% off for our October sale, a discount so large that JVL and Sarah would like it known they personally object to it. Please take advantage of this terrible business decision while you can: https://thebulwark.com/surprise

Full episodes of The Secret Podcast are available exclusively to paid members of the Bulwark. Join on Substack, YouTube or Apple Podcast.

Sarah and JVL are back apart, as God intended. And there’s lots happening:

- The new jobs report is bad!

- Should Democrats try to impeach Pete Hegseth?

- Trump is sending a third aircraft carrier to the Middle East.

- And then there are the two interviews. JD Vance seems to be living in one world while mush-brain Donald Trump is living in another reality.

Plus: Trump’s DoJ wants to go after the real villains of Watergate: The prosecutors who investigated poor, innocent Richard Nixon.

Also: JVL needs help picking a so-bad-it’s-awesome family movie.

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You asked, we listened! Bulwark LIVE: Charlotte featuring Pete Buttigieg & The Gang—will be live streamed on Sunday, October 18 starting at 7pm EDT.

Paid Bulwark members will be able to tune in from home for this exclusive members-only live streamed event. At Bulwark LIVE we can promise you a night of politics with lots of laughs—and maybe a few tears too. We’ll keep you sane.

If you live in Carolinas or Georgia and want attend one of our Bulwark LIVE: Good Fight Tour stops from Oct 16-20 details and tickets are available at https://TheBulwark.com/Events.

Tim, Sarah, and JVL are all together in-studio. It turns out things are so bad for the GOP, even JVL is hopeful. They discuss Marjorie Taylor Greene calling BS on the GOP's 'caravan' tactic, whether Pete Hegseth could be the administration's fall guy for the Iran war, and a new Marist poll showing Democrats with an almost-too-good-to-be-true lead on the generic congressional ballot.

Later: Did Scott Jennings REALLY talk to Mitch McConnell for 30 minutes? Can Democrats get to 56 Senate seats? The gang has thoughts on how Democrats should handle oversight investigations in 2027. Plus: Bo French is racist AND wants mass executions, and finally: the gang discusses some interesting rumors about Candace Owens.

Read JVL’s Triad.
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Live from benefit supporting the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, and JVL dig into the quieter tactics behind Trump’s deportation crackdown, what Sarah’s Ohio focus groups are saying about Vivek Ramaswamy, Sherrod Brown, John Husted, and Amy Acton, and just how big the 2026 Senate map could get. Plus, as conservative media struggles to defend Trump, the trio holds a contest to see who can do a better Scott Jennings impression.

You can help, too: https://thebulwark.com/springfield

Full episodes of The Secret Podcast are available exclusively to paid members of the Bulwark on Apple Podcasts, Substack and YouTube.

JVL is already in Ohio. Sarah is about to run to the airport. It’s a wheels-off kind of show. This week:

- The government seems to have lied to a court again.

- JD Vance was the leaker who threatened national security.

- Mary Peltola gets caught in context collapse.

- Trump had compromat on Susan Collins.

- JVL feels guilty about cutting a promo.

And then there’s the big one: The story of the Massachusetts lesbian bar that wasn’t woke enough. It’s a solid B-/B episode!

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Donate here to our Benefit for Springfield—funds go to the Haitian Support Center: http://thebulwark.com/springfield

Want that Woke Bill Kristol tee? Get it at The Bulwark Store: https://store.thebulwark.com/collections/insider-collection/products/short-sleeve-t-shirt

Sarah’s THANK YOU note to the Bulwark family: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/you-guys-are-the-best

How to Eat an Elephant debuted at #2 on the NYT best seller list. We knocked Ted Effing Cruz out of the top spot! Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible. Let’s keep the momentum going:

Get Sarah's book on http://Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/how-to-eat-an-elephant-one-voter-at-a-time-sarah-longwell/6a0996cb43d2ef5b?ean=9781250464170&bkshp-astro=t

...or get it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/How-Eat-Elephant-Voter-Time/dp/125046417X

Sarah's back from the book tour! The gang discusses Sarah's Focus Group Newsletter, George W. Bush's fundraiser for Republican Senate candidates (we thought he was staying out of politics?) Then they get into Trump's ban on CNN, MSNOW, and POLITICO from the White House press pool, and whether we still care. Sarah also has some words about Zohran Mamdani sharing a podium with Donald Trump.

Then, the gang talks about a Wall Street Journal columnist who has "TDS" (maybe not the TDS you're thinking of). Also: The FBI was investigating Susan Collins for bribery, Tim is mad at Jared Golden, and JVL wants to discuss the Department of Defense's "Gender-Affirming Care."

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Show links:
Sarah's Focus Group Newsletter about Vivek Ramaswamy
Amy Acton’s ad
Gerard Baker has TDS
Propublica's investigation into Susan Collins and her Super PAC's donors

Sarah and JVL are together again and JVL is raging.

• The president of the United States accused the Democratic party plotting to assassinate him and . . . everyone just pretends it didn’t happen.
• Diesel prices are going to the moon.
• Trump wants to demolish the Kennedy Center.
• Joe Manchin came back from the grave to endorse Susan Collins.
•

And there’s a 90 percent chance that AI doesn’t kill everyone alive.

It’s a short show, but a great show.

Also: Sarah talks about the book tour and what it’s like to feel the love you guys have shown her. Be careful; it gets a little dusty.

Want that Woke Bill Kristol tee? Get it at The Bulwark Store.

JVL's on the west coast for Sarah's book event, and he, Tim, and Andrew Egger discuss Mitch McConnell's triumphant (?) return to the Senate, Donald Trump casually floating conspiracy theories over the Butler, PA assassination attempt, and Thomas Massie's articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth. Then, they turn their attention to a New York Times poll with some GREAT news for Democrats in the midterms (with the exception of one issue: AI). They discuss the developments from the world of AI in the last week and how our political leaders should respond. Then: Is Gavin Newsom really thinking about NOT running for president? There's a really, really, REALLY racist Republican running for Texas Railroad Commission, and Tim debriefs on a rather contentious interview he did on The Bulwark Daily.

Show links:

•

Read JVL’s Monday and Tuesday Triads on the AI race, and how our political leaders can respond.

• Get your tickets for our September 25 show in Dayton, Ohio to benefit the Springfield, OH Haitian community.

• Get your copy of How to Eat an Elephant, Sarah’s first book!

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The Secret Podcast is a special bonus just for paid members of The Bulwark. If you like this preview, become a member at https://thebulwark.com, on YouTube, or through Apple Podcasts.

JVL and Bill Kristol look at the increasingly messy fight to succeed Trump, from JD Vance and Don Jr. to Tucker Carlson, as Trump keeps the possibility of a third term hanging over the party. Plus, the war with Iran is getting worse, Pete Hegseth’s damage to the military is becoming harder to ignore, and 25 years after 9/11, they consider the unsettling question of what terrorism can set in motion long after an attack is over.

Sarah, Tim, Sam and JVL are coming to South Carolina, North Carolina, and Atlanta in October for Bulwark LIVE. We’re bringing lots of friends.

Tickets are on sale now: https://thebulwark.com/events

Tim, Sarah, and JVL discuss Trump's Labor Day Weekend with his favorite person, Corey Lewandowski's possible ‘light extortion,’ and whether Trumpworld will circle the wagons around him. Plus: why the GOP's midterm convention shows Trump losing his fastball, ABC News's bizarre framing of Rudy Giuliani's Islamophobic comments about Zohran Mamdani, and John Fetterman's total lack of interest in doing the job of a U.S. senator.

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Get your tickets for The Bulwark's Good Fight Tour this October, coming to Charlotte, Columbia, and Atlanta, with special guest Pete Buttigieg joining us in Charlotte.

Today Sarah and JVL try to figure out who’s worse: John Fetterman or Susan Collins. (Give us your answer in the comments.) Also, the Big Orange Arch is coming. And we chew over Doug Sosnik’s recommendations for the Democratic party. It’s a big show.

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Plus: it’s almost Book Week!

Don’t let Teddy Cancun and High Life Clarence win. Order a copy of Sarah’s book now. (If you haven’t already, I mean.)

How to Eat an Elephant drops on Tuesday and the Best Friends really want to get it to #1 on the NYT best seller list. To do that, we have to unseat... a biography of Clarence Thomas by Ted Effing Cruz.

Buy it on http://Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/how-to-eat-an-elephant-one-voter-at-a-time-sarah-longwell/6a0996cb43d2ef5b?ean=9781250464170&bkshp-astro=t

Buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/How-Eat-Elephant-Voter-Time/dp/125046417X

Become a Bulwark member to keep watching the full conversation, plus get access to all our members-only shows and segments.

Show notes:

See Bill Kristol and Doug Sosnik’s conversation: https://conversationswithbillkristol.org/conversation/doug-sosnik-on-two-very-different-elections-2026-and-2028/