Quote · The Bulwark Podcast
Bill Kristol: Trump Wants All-out Kleptocracy
Where this was said
Introduction & Trump's July 4th Spectacle
At 3:00 · chapter starts 1:05
Tim Miller opens with his characteristic irreverence, confessing he skipped watching Trump's July 4th address entirely — choosing instead to watch fireworks from a hospital parking garage roof with his daughter. Bill Kristol had watched it briefly with Sam Stein but largely tuned out too, opting for World Cup games and a neighborhood gathering featuring red, white, and blue popsicles. Both agree that Trump's attempt to co-opt the nation's 250th anniversary as a personal spectacle largely fell flat — Kristol estimates 98% of Americans were simply living their lives. The episode proper begins with Miller pivoting to the morning's news: Trump was in the Oval Office ringing the opening bell for the NASDAQ and Dow, announcing 'Trump accounts,' and urging Americans to buy Dell stock — a company Trump is personally invested in and whose founder Michael Dell had just contributed to the accounts.
Dell's stock surged after Trump urged Americans from the Oval Office to buy Dell stock, where Michael Dell had contributed to the Trump accounts.
Trump's investment accounts made 300 previously undisclosed stock purchases one day before he announced the pause on Liberation Day tariffs.
Trump's investment accounts made 300 undisclosed stock purchases the day before he paused Liberation Day tariffs, then he urged Americans from the Oval Office to buy Dell stock — a company he's personally invested in. Kristol and Miller argue this is the clearest, most obvious impeachment case of Trump's presidency, even if conviction remains politically unrealistic.
