Snapshot · The Bulwark Podcast
Both Kristol and Miller argue Trump's stock trading and insider enrichment constitute a straightforward impeachment case, even if Senate conviction is unrealistic.
Where this was said
At 8:42 · chapter starts 6:40
The conversation deepens into a diagnosis of America's institutional decay. Miller argues that what Trump is doing — enriching himself, allowing his children to profit from inside information, using the presidency as a business franchise — is not uniquely American dysfunction but the standard operating procedure of countries without rule of law. He recounts Trump's rambling public defense of his children's conflicts of interest, essentially declaring they will have inside information on everything and that nobody needs to care. Kristol, not to be outdone, frames it historically: the founders used the word 'corruption' to describe exactly this kind of regime rot. His conclusion is stark — the US has probably already gone further than Orbán's Hungary and is now operating in territory that looks like Putin's Russia. [1] — Bill Kristol "Trump publicly stated his children will have inside information on virtually every business deal and declared his administration doesn't ne…" 05:22 The only corrective, as Miller notes, is for there to be a clear line drawn: this will not be allowed to stand.
Trump publicly defended his children having inside information about virtually every business deal because of his presidency, saying 'we don't have to care about it.'
Impeachment is morally justified but strategically complicated — and Kristol and Miller spend real time wrestling with both sides. The risk: Democrats look like they only care about retribution. The opportunity: force Republicans to publicly defend the indefensible. The verdict is nuanced, but both agree the case is clear enough to make loudly.
A total of 8 states have filed lawsuits against social media platforms, including an ongoing case in Tennessee, using product liability and public nuisance theories to seek accountability.
France built 56 nuclear plants in the 1970s and now has the cheapest energy in Europe, making it independent of Russian or Middle Eastern energy geopolitics.
Estonia has a single tax form, a law preventing the government from asking citizens for the same information twice, and a flat rate of tax — enabling competitive taxation.
Portugal's Lisbon, once a city with a major heroin problem, legalised drugs and redirected enforcement spending into rehabilitation and housing, dramatically reducing crime.
The first Boland Amendment banning CIA and Defense Department funds for the Contras passed the House unanimously — yet the Reagan administration ignored it.
Over just two years, Saudi Arabia alone donated $32 million to the Contra rebels, giving loosely affiliated factions millions they had no way to spend on arms.
The National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty raised $6.3 million for the Contras but only $3.3 million reached them — a shockingly low 52% program expense rate.
Richard Secord and Albert Hakim marked up their arms shipments to the Contras by as much as 300%, making enormous personal profits from the covert operation.
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, tapped to run the entire covert Contra support operation, had no prior experience in covert operations whatsoever — he was learning as he went.
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