As a black man, to watch Jeffries condemn a streamer for his views on Israel. Yet say absolutely nothing about a streamer, who has a direct line to the president, disrespect a sitting black female Supreme Court Justice is absolutely despicable.

But does he condemn Hasan Piker!?

I used to think way more highly of Obama than I do now, and honestly a lot of that is because I just don’t understand how little he seems willing to do about Trump.

Obama is in this insanely unique position. He’s a two-term former president, still one of the most famous people in the country, still a ridiculously good communicator, rich, secure, has no future election to worry about, and can basically get attention whenever he wants it. There are almost no politicians alive with that combination of freedom and influence.

And yet if you listen to how Obama and other Democrats talk about Trump, this is supposedly an extraordinary threat to American democracy and institutions. Okay. Then why does Obama’s response still look like occasional speeches, campaign appearances, endorsements, and interviews every couple of months?

I don’t mean this in some vague “he should speak out more” way either. I mean I genuinely think he should make fighting this his full-time job.

Go on Fox constantly. Go on hostile podcasts. Go to places where people don’t already agree with you. Hold press conferences. Travel around the country. Do local TV. Show up in Republican areas. If Fox doesn’t want you on, park yourself outside their headquarters and make that the story. Just keep moving and forcing yourself into the conversation.

Trump understands that politics is partly about controlling attention better than almost anyone, and Obama is one of the only Democrats who can still command national attention just by showing up somewhere. Why would you not use that?

And I really don’t buy the “former presidents traditionally stay out of politics” thing anymore. That makes sense under normal circumstances. But if you actually believe Trump is an exceptional threat, then I don’t see why preserving the traditional dignity and quiet retirement of an ex-president should matter very much.

I completely understand why Obama personally wouldn’t want to do this. He already gave eight years of his life to being president. He has a family. He has money, freedom, other projects, and I’m sure the last thing he wants is to spend the rest of his life dealing with Trump every day.

But that’s still a choice.

Nobody is stopping him. There isn’t some structural reason he can’t do more. He just isn’t choosing to turn the rest of his life into this fight.

And that genuinely makes me think less of him.

Because regular people are constantly being told that the stakes are incredibly high, that complacency is dangerous, that everyone needs to vote, organize, donate, protest, pay attention, whatever. Fine. But then surely that obligation should be even stronger for someone who has an absurd amount of actual ability to affect the political conversation.

That’s what I can’t get past. If you really think the house is on fire, giving a speech every couple of months is not rising to the occasion.

The margin of error is also 4. So, this would be great if true.

Since we're out here trying to dream up improvements for a new system more resistant to corruption and accountable to the people, if there was some way to implement a process by which the House, by majority vote, kicks off a popular vote for removing the president from office, what would be the pitfalls or real benefits? Would it have helped this far, we think?

I guess you could think of it as the alternative to the Senate conviction vote, or the cabinet vote through the 25th amendment. A popular vote with pure majority wins?

I suspect there will always be a contingent of "let the President have a chance" voters out there, so I don't expect rapid fire recalls would be a thing until there is really a failure in office (as if that would ever happen right? 🤣🫩).

This would also provide a nice balance against the electoral college. The parties can pick their people, and the electoral college can throw the win to a minority vote candidate, but the people have a check of their own.

Jk it's an image from the last cabinet meeting.

I included a bonus image with a super secret tip on how to hack AI for this kind of edgy political content.

https://x.com/ayzacoder/status/2094432370204278814?s=46

Per Bill's idea, I've created this thread to track the Amber Power Rankings.

1) ?

2) ?

.

.

.

Last-1) Andrew?

Last) Sam

Anyone have the other rankings readily available? I'll fill them in as provided.

Is it just me or are all of the members of the Trio getting a handsome glow up in the past month? I’m loving the beards and stubble going on with all of the members.

I remember reading it very fast when it first came out, and boy did I miss a lot. One thing is, Tim's a very good writer, even if he hates doing it.

Another is -- this story about Sean Spicer somehow slid past me the first time. Spicer had a staff person whom he enjoyed harassing because her bio photo was too flattering. She didn't look like that IRL, get it?

So that fucker put up a milk-carton-style poster with the flattering picture of her on it, headed by the word, MISSING.

Now that is an asshole.

Anyway, it's a good read.

I know our favorite Managing Editor Sam Stein has been subject to some significant criticism as of late when he is in front of the camera, and it's not lost on me that there are a lot of people who are not fans of him (and I can understand why). I just wanted to say, I used to follow Sam Stein's work when he was with POLITICO, and I started following The Bulwark because he joined. I find him to be funny, insightful, and a strong member of The Bulwark crew/cast. I know I am probably in the minority here and this is likely an unpopular opinion, but Sam, I just wanted you to know that there are some fans of yours out there.

Edit: to be clear, to my knowledge I don't think anyone at The Bulwark has been particularly critical of Sam, it's mostly people online criticizing him. I do know that he once mentioned that he looked at the subreddit once and saw that people were harshing on him, and I wanted to change that to some extent if I can.

I tried finding my violin to play, but I misplaced it because it was so small. Oh well.

(Mods, please feel free to take this down if it violates rule 4, but we thought this might be noteworthy for the group)

Hey guys! In case you hadn't seen--Shield of the Republic has gone independent after five years of being published by the Bulwark & co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.

BLUF: We now live at shieldoftherepublic.com and you can follow us @ ShieldPod on Twitter and Instagram. If you were already subscribed via Apple, Spotify, or any major podcast provider you should get new episodes right in that same feed (which should redirect at some point today). If you prefer watching on YouTube you can also find us over there @ ShieldPod.

What does this mean for the show? Well, you can still expect the same free, weekly national security/foreign policy analysis from Eric and Eliot as well as the usual insights from guest journalists, historians, and policy figures. But we're also offering a monthly $5 subscription on Substack that gets you access to exclusive book reviews, hot takes, short essays, Q&A episodes, gift links to the hosts' written work elsewhere and even more planned for the future!

We're really excited to embark on this new chapter of the show and hope you'll consider joining us!

As has been discussed, the cruelty is the point and Bovino is long gone, but I came across this picture today.

It’s just so crazy that this administration trotted out a 5 ft cosplayer in full on Nazi gear to lead our Immigration enforcement. Like… you coulda wore a tactical vest, a North Face jacket, a leather jacket, or a sport coat. ANYTHING but a Nazi trechcoat, storm trooper boots and slacks, and a German trooper buzz cut.

No surprise to anyone in the Bulwark community, but if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck… Just so profound to look back on.