Podbit · The Bulwark Podcast
Trump lost on birthright citizenship, the National Guard in Illinois, tariffs — the centerpiece of his domestic agenda — and the E. Jean Carroll appeal. He won on TPS and agency heads. David French's bottom line: Trump's attempt to recreate the American Republic has been rebuffed pretty decisively.
Where this was said
At 34:15 · chapter starts 33:30
With the term essentially complete, French and Miller do a rapid-fire scorecard. The wins: TPS, agency head firing power (Slaughter). The losses: birthright citizenship, tariffs (the centerpiece of Trump's domestic agenda), the National Guard deployment in Illinois, and — 'most deliciously' per Miller — the E. Jean Carroll damages appeal, meaning Trump must now pay the woman whose sexual assault was adjudicated in court. [1] — David French "Trump lost on birthright citizenship, the National Guard in Illinois, tariffs — the centerpiece of his domestic agenda — and the E. Jean Ca…" 34:15 Miller floats a dark joke that maybe losing on tariffs was the Court helping Trump save his own economy. French's overall assessment cuts through the complexity: if you're evaluating Trump's attempt to transform the American Republic — to move from a creedal nation to a blood-and-soil, heritage-American model — the term was a decisive rebuke. Some wins, but the big constitutional bets failed. Miller takes a moment to shout out Robbie Kaplan, Carroll's attorney, who previously listed her past sexual partners on the podcast in what Miller describes as 'the best list ever.'
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states may accept mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day if postmarked by Election Day, a Trump loss.
Fei-Fei Li went back to Stanford from Google in 2018 specifically to build a multi-stakeholder governance framework for AI. Her argument: market forces are not societal norms. Just as biology uses IRBs and cars have safety laws, AI needs layered oversight from educators, governments, and the public — not just a few industry titans.
Andrew Santino's personal MCU of political villains is collapsing. He and Bobby speculated that a circulating photo of Mitch McConnell with a Chinese official was AI-generated compositing two separate images.
Mass surveillance is here to stay. The real battle isn't stopping cameras — it's ensuring judges and laws keep that data out of family court and civil disputes, admitting it only for violent crimes and national security. The surveillance economy currently yields more upside than downside, but only if we build the legal guardrails now.
When people cite Scandinavia as proof socialism works, Galloway says they've got it backwards. Northern Europe runs highly competitive free-market economies with more competition in many sectors than the US — they just make sure taxes are actually paid and redistributed. Billionaires and universal healthcare can coexist.
Two percent adjustments to income tax and stamp duty tweaks are deck-chair rearrangements. The UK's competitiveness hinges on four structural levers: currency valuation, energy costs, regulatory burden, and tax rates. Devalue the pound, build 56 nuclear plants, slash red tape, introduce a flat tax — and the country transforms.
Lisbon had one of Europe's worst heroin crises. Then Portugal legalised drugs and redirected all enforcement money into rehabilitation and housing. Crime collapsed. Addiction fell. Then politics moved the money elsewhere, and the problem started creeping back. Chesterton's Fence: you forget why you were spending that money.
Congress passed the Boland Amendment 411 to 0, explicitly banning CIA and Defense Department funds for the Contras. Reagan signed it — then immediately moved the operation deeper underground, essentially responding to a bipartisan prohibition by going more illegal.
The CIA planted mines in Nicaraguan commercial harbors, wrote the Contras' press releases taking credit, and promptly blew up ships from four allied nations. The Wall Street Journal broke the story, Congress erupted, and the Boland Amendments multiplied.
Oliver North was a decorated Marine and devout Catholic with zero covert operations experience. He ran the entire shadow war against Congress — planes, airstrips, arms shipments, shell companies — learning on the job. And by every operational measure, he crushed it.
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