Tim, Sarah and Sam LIVE From the Bulwark Tour Bus

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]I'll I'll explain. We're We're here on the bus. Hey guys, we're here on the bus. It's me, Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller driving from San Diego to LA for our next live show tonight. If you're in LA, come and see us. And we're talking >> [laughter] >> We're talking about pocket hoses for some reason. I love the product.

[00:00:18]Tim's talking about a different connotation of pocket hose.

[00:00:21]>> the product as well, and I've seen all the different sizes.

[00:00:25]The different type of collapsible hose that Tim likes. It's typical. We've had to stop the conversation so that Tim can explain something to me later.

[00:00:34]>> [laughter] >> All right. So, we're on the road one lovely Route 5, Pacific Ocean over there.

[00:00:40]How do you think the show went last night? I thought the show was great. I love the live shows. It's so great to see everybody. But, I thought it was good.

[00:00:47]I thought I was really good. Oh, okay.

[00:00:49]We're going to stop that right here. I was good. I also thought Will Summer Okay, that was what I was going to say.

[00:00:54]I thought Will was like the surprise hit. So many people came up to him and were like, "I've been I've been listening to your podcast since the Daily Beast days. I love you. I need more of Will." And it was going to his already very big head. Yeah. And so Beartopia was really strong. And people got to wait once the live show goes up on YouTube. The Beartopia segment, I don't want to give away any more. Yeah, we're putting We're putting up the Beartopia segment a little bit later, but that's a good tease.

[00:01:19]All right. So, quick news of the day as we're driving here. I guess the big story was the this morning was the DNC autopsy report came out. Finally. I don't want to call it an autopsy report that was written in Calibri font. There's a lot of red edits on there. I thought your tweet was like probably the most spot-on. Why don't you just expand? Yeah. I did This wasn't the tweet, but I did love that it was like and they just basically released the Google Docs with like the comments about how things were wrong. Like they just released a raw Google Doc with people's edits in there. It's like great. Um no.

[00:01:50]My biggest take was like So, there's been for months like these conversations about why isn't it been released? What is the reason? The DNC people were trying to make it seem like it was strategic cuz they're worried about the midterms. The anti-DNC crowd, particularly on the left, there's a a report in Axios that they leaked that they were talking about, which was basically they're not releasing it because it reveals that Kamala's position on Gaza was the reason that she lost and they're and they're covering that up because it's all part of the, you know, corporate elite scheme. The truth was neither of those things. The truth was that the report was written by like a sixth grader who doesn't seem to have been involved in campaigns since the super PAC era started or since there was Twitter. And like the guy that wrote it, I think his last big campaign was the John Kerry campaign in 2004 when we didn't have YouTube yet or blogs. And so the truth about the DNC, like every DNC controversy, it's like the DNC was coming after Bernie, the DNC cheated the Iowa caucuses against Pete. Like everybody has a DNC conspiracy theory.

[00:02:51]No, like the DNC is Veep. Like the DNC is is run by morons. They have no power.

[00:02:57]They just screwed it up like idiots.

[00:02:59]There's no conspiracy. There's no grand cover-up. They just don't know what the [ __ ] they're doing. And so anytime you're curious about what's happening with the DNC, that should be like your Occam's razor explanation. Not a conspiracy, idiocy. So, incompetent, not conniving.

[00:03:16]>> Yes.

[00:03:17]I I guess you raise a really interesting point, which is it appears they put the thing together, did all the Google Doc edits, and then never like accepted the edits. They just left it at that first stage. There's basic factual mistakes in there. It doesn't make any sense.

[00:03:33]Ken Martin. There wasn't even My favorite part, I'm trying to pull this up, is that is that the conclusion?

[00:03:38]There wasn't even a conclusion. Can we see this on the camera? This was the conclusion section. No. Okay. Nothing there. Underneath the conclusion section, there's nothing. And then in the red edit, it says, "This section was not provided by the author." But why didn't they resolve the edits? Why did they just stop? I don't get it.

[00:03:57]Because at some point this became such a farce that they understood that the more ridiculous it looked, the better it was for them. The more incomplete, the more like not a polished product, that that meant that they could just disavow it.

[00:04:10]But, I don't know what tweet you were talking about with his. I think you mean my tweet. Cuz my tweet >> He Yeah.

[00:04:15]>> Okay. My tweet was if you want to understand the communications failures of the DNC, of the Democratic Party, of the 2024 campaign, the the handling of the autopsy release is a much better way to understand the problems in the Democratic Party than what is in the actual autopsy release.

[00:04:37]Like, the anatomy of the autopsy.

[00:04:40]>> That's a good point. Thank you.

[00:04:42]>> [laughter] >> It was a good tweet. I tweeted that and it is That is is clear to me that if you just look at the way the DNC handled this, you're like, "Well, this is the fundamental problem with the Democratic Party." It's that they both they like got a cozy friend to write it. The product was bad.

[00:04:59]Then they decided not to release it.

[00:05:01]Then they get hounded by the press. Then they release it under duress. And when they do, it's garbage. So, that tells a story much more than when you read the actual autopsy, which tells you There's some things in there that are probably true, but honestly, the the piece that was in the Bulwark by Rob Flaherty Rob Flaherty? Flaherty.

[00:05:21]I've Flaherty, which is actually a clothing brand.

[00:05:25]Um by Yeah, it's like filled with soft stuff that a lot of like middle-aged women >> [laughter] >> But, that's not how his name's pronounced. I've only ever seen it seen it I've only ever seen it written down.

[00:05:37]I've never actually seen it I've never heard it pronounced. But, anyway, he wrote a great piece about the autopsy in the Bulwark. You will get much more nutritious information about it from him than you will if you try to navigate this Google Doc.

[00:05:51]Uh that >> [laughter] >> I can't get over your pronunciation.

[00:05:55]It's so good. Uh Ken Martin. Faherty.

[00:05:57]Faherty.

[00:05:58]>> [laughter] >> Uh oh no, Robert Faherty. Uh can we talk about Ken Martin? Does he like does he make it to the midterms? I think we're close enough that he makes it at this point though, right?

[00:06:09]I don't know. I mean, I will just tell you that my sources tell me that there's a lot of incoming phone calls to a lot of different people being like, "Can you please run the DNC?" Like there is a there is a mad dash to try to find a replacement.

[00:06:24]That's what Laura Egan reported.

[00:06:25]>> I've got a nominee. Haley Stevens. Haley Stevens, are you available? You could quit the Michigan Senate race and run the DNC. We'd love to have you. I'm sure I'm sure that the I'm sure the left would be really excited about that.

[00:06:37]>> Yeah, that might not go over too hot. Uh someone had suggested uh Rahm Emanuel, too. I don't know if that's going to go over too hot. Uh there was a question uh was what Who has the authority to fire Ken Martin? And my understanding, I don't know if you know better than I do, is like there's a rules and bylaws committee at the DNC.

[00:06:53]There's members of the committee that'd have to call some sort of session. I don't really know how it technically works.

[00:06:59]Probably get a vote of no confidence, but do you know like the Yeah, well, I do from my RNC time.

[00:07:05]No, it's I mean, it's a it's different because these stupid committees have dumb bylaws with different like provisions, but like the gist is the same. Like there's I actually having been a former Republican only know the number of people on the Republican version of the committee, but you know, there's some some odd dozen members of the committee, you know, and then you know, you'd have to have a parliamentary session, you know, you'd have to call them in, they'd have to vote, but it's it's the members of the committee that would do it. I think Donna Brazile is like the point person now overseeing the members of the DNC. Let me just add this uh on Ken Martin, and then we'll go to break cuz I want to talk a little bit about the um slush fund, the DNC slush fund. But in money thing is it's not People have argued well, how big a deal is the having a competent DNC chair? And it's not nothing, right? It's like you have to raise money and you have to drive message. You have to support infrastructure and you have to be the tip of the spear attacking Trump.

[00:07:59]And this guy has spent 16 months in an absolute defensive crowd doing nothing.

[00:08:07]And this autopsy report is just an a a symptom of a very failed chairmanship.

[00:08:14]Last word and then we'll go to break.

[00:08:17]I mean, what you want the DNC to be is something that is in the background doing its work and not becoming the center of the story. Like the messaging failure isn't just that they're not succeeding in attacking Trump, it's that their incompetence has become the story.

[00:08:30]And once that's happening, and this is where, you know, finding a the the the mechanisms of a no-confidence vote, anything else. Look, Ken Martin obviously can't handle the strategy. He obviously can't handle the messaging, and he obviously can't handle the fundraising. Like at some point, and this is a a Biden lesson, when it gets this bad, you got to step down. Do the right thing for the party and let somebody else lead it. Like that's the right thing for a company, it's the right thing for a political party, it's the right thing for an ancillary group in the political party.

[00:08:59]And so, I I mean, it's over, man. This has been as badly handled as anybody could be. You want the DNC to stop being the story.

[00:09:07]All right, let's take a quick break and when we come back, we're talking J6 operations and will or will the president attend his son's wedding? We don't know.

[00:09:15]Good tease. Talk to you soon.

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[00:10:49]All right, we're back here live streaming from the bus on our way to LA, still on route 5. I've not vomited, which is like a what? You can't.

[00:11:00]>> If you It's a good habit. Are you feeling queasy? Uh I get a little, you know, I I have a very Jewish constitution and I don't like long trips on the bus, so deal with it. For now, I haven't vomited. Uh this morning, Donald Trump gave a press conference. We we were boarding and so we didn't see live, but the clip basically is uh a reporter asked the president, "Are you going to attend your son's wedding?"

[00:11:23]And this will be Don Jr. who's getting married for the second time.

[00:11:26]And and the president said, more or less, "I don't know. Maybe. I got things going on like Iran and I would get killed no matter what I do by the press.

[00:11:37]If I attend his wedding, you're going to say I'm taking my eye off the ball. If I don't attend his wedding, I'm a bad dad.

[00:11:43]I happen to think that no one would get mad at him for attending his son's wedding. I find it odd that this is debatable.

[00:11:50]Am I wrong?

[00:11:52]I think you're not wrong that the press would not give him a hard time about attending his son's wedding. Uh the best part about that clip is him being like I've known this person for a very long time. I think [laughter] I'm pretty sure he means whoever it seems Don Jr.'s like betrothed, uh but it does sound like he's known Don Jr. for a long time. He actually says to he's like he'd like me to come, but I'm like yeah, he says he'd like me to come, but this is a very but I told him, you know, I got a lot of things going on. It's a hard time for me. It reminds me of the episode of Succession where the mogul dad doesn't come to his oldest son's wedding, uh the Rupert Murdoch character, uh and it is, you know, him What is the oldest son's name? Do you remember? Do you guys watch Succession? I can't remember. Whatever, the chat'll give it to us. Yeah, no, Kendall's the No, here's an older son from a first Connor. That's right.

[00:12:48]The one The one who's like not really treated as the oldest son.

[00:12:52]>> runs for president >> Yeah.

[00:12:53]And so he just doesn't go to his No, they have to spend many millions more to get him to 1%.

[00:12:59]That's It's just reminded me of that, which is, by the way, a story about the intense failures of a human being to love his children and then for them to be able to love him back adequately.

[00:13:11]You're going to go to the Do you have any thoughts on the wedding? Um not really. I mean, I don't I don't think that Donald wants to go. I don't I I I guess it is my take. I don't know if this is obvious, but Yeah, it seems pretty obvious when you're floating that you won't go to your own son's wedding.

[00:13:25]I probably Iran. I don't think Iran is the reason. Nothing seemed pretty stable in Iran. We've been in a ceasefire, not ceasefire where the Strait of Hormuz is closed and Donald Trump's threatening to end their civilization one minute and then being like, "Well, maybe not." the next minute. That's been kind of the status quo for about 5-6 weeks now. So, I think that I don't know why >> Yeah, you're right. The the The excuse would be a lot more convincing if he's like, "I really need to see this ballroom through." Like, that's something you care about. Yeah, he's >> [laughter] >> obviously focused on that. He's been spending a lot more time and intensity on that. Uh the other big news um people are asking if others on the bus uh What?

[00:14:00]>> Turn it Turn your camera off. Uh there are others on the bus. Okay.

[00:14:04]They're like >> [laughter] >> I couldn't read that. All right, put it back on us. All right. We could have done an RV though when you look at the at the total number here. Yeah, this bus is excessive. There's a fair number of open seats back there.

[00:14:17]Road rolls to the bullwork. Yeah. All right, the other big story this morning, J6 reparations. There's like an absolute who's who of psychopaths lining up for money here.

[00:14:29]We talked about it a bit last night.

[00:14:30]Michael Lindell wants $400 million.

[00:14:32]Uh there's some rioters who want 5 million, 30 million. Um they put out a DOJ put out a one-pager trying to like clarify the processes by which people will be eligible for this stuff. And one of the things was like, "Hey, senators, you too could be eligible for this if your phones were like, you know, monitored by Jack Smith." And it just struck me as like a very obvious bribe, right? Like, you can get this money if you really want. Um so, we'll see if that works.

[00:15:03]So, obviously, I think the slush fund is one of the most corrupt, nakedly corrupt things we've ever seen out of the government.

[00:15:10]>> honest second? Like, what are the What's the incompetence >> The What are What is the What is the thing that like the NRO keeps talking about? It's like the eagle skeep >> [laughter] >> They say No, I will tell you, there is a line of argument out there on the Twitters by some of the anti-antis that everything Donald Trump is doing right now he learned from the Democrats and I swear to God there is no more pathetic attempt from these people to try to gloss over how nakedly corrupt Donald Trump is being. Like it is it is out front for everybody to see.

[00:15:41]However, I have decided that I sort of like this slush fund story for us meaning every single person if Mike Lindell gets millions of dollars every January 6th insurrectionist that gets millions of dollars OANN getting millions of dollars while people are paying six bucks for gas and their groceries keep going up and inflation keeps going up every news story about who is getting millions of dollars is a news cycle that is bad for Trump and that is emphasizing this level of corruption. Let's like let's just put it all out there and make them defend each one of these one by one. I sort of love that for them.

[00:16:22]Yeah, I mean the my question is people want to know my Yeah, okay. The question I have is like they're trying to claw this back. Like is that even possible at this point, you know? One proposal that's been introduced is to tax every dollar that is used through this given out through the fund at 100% which would claw it back but you need Donald Trump's signature for that. So that's not going to happen. I think there's some other Republicans who want to just sort of put more strict you know requirements on who can apply for it but it's just blatantly corrupt that they even created out of thin air.

[00:16:58]Is there a website for applications?

[00:17:00]Like can we send people on the YouTube there to >> that's the subterfuge thing happening here where everyone's there is this talk in like liberal communities that just deluge them with applications and like see what happens but that just presumes that they haven't already decided who they're going to reward it to. So I don't know.

[00:17:18]Yeah, it's bad.

[00:17:21]It's not good. It's not good. I rank this the most corrupt act. I guess I'll close it on this. Oh, they want to know what road's next. I I'm I don't have one. I'm waiting on some yogurt parfait, which is probably not a good idea.

[00:17:33]Yeah, I don't know. It's been It's been sitting up there in the sun. Excited to dive into it. I have a um I had a banana nut muffin. It was very nice. I spilled my cold brew already in that that chair over there right next to my next to my Oasis bag. You can see the You can see the spill that I did.

[00:17:54]So, I spilled a cold brew. I have some peanut butter crackers that I brought for myself.

[00:17:58]Okay, I think they're under the bus though actually, but we'll see. We can always stop.

[00:18:03]And uh I have a joint too that was given to us last night.

[00:18:08]Yeah, it's in the bag.

[00:18:11]Yeah, I would just say that was a very suspicious joint given to us. It was already opened. He just like came up to me after he was like, "Hey, this is for Tim." I was like, "This thing is opened." Uh your snacks. Oh, sorry. You want to talk about the joint? My favorite joint story from one of our live shows was in Philadelphia when I don't know, we were very security conscious. I forget something must have just happened. So, we had more security than we usually do. And the security was like adamant that they escort me home to the hotel. And I was like, "Okay." And I was like, "But I But I want to run outside and have a cigarette." And I went out there and a guy was smoking a joint. He's like, "I've always wanted to smoke a joint with Tim Miller." I was like, "Okay." So, we turned the So, we turned the corner and I kind of like did a little joint in the corner and the security guy's like, "What the fuck?"

[00:18:50]And I felt like I was a teenager again.

[00:18:52]I was like hiding from the I felt like uh you know, on the on one of those uh on The West Wing or something when the child of the president's like hiding from the Secret Service trying to Why did the security care about your Okay.

[00:19:06]It's your snacks.

[00:19:06]>> What are we talking about now? Am I telling the stories about getting caught smoking weed? Uh I I don't know. Uh uh you know, I brought I My favorite road trip snack is always Combos. When I was uh when I was my younger days, uh the pretzel ones. Uh and listen, they're hideous. Like they are filled with they are filled with processed like canned cheese surrounded by a you know, circular pretzel. But I used to get that and a Dr. Pepper on every road trip when I was young. But I can't drink soda anymore, so now it's just Combos and a and a tepid coffee. You know, the glamorous life.

[00:19:46]>> [laughter] >> All right. Well, we're going to leave it there. I'm looking around. This ride is gorgeous. We got the Pacific Ocean to our left. We got some mountain range to our right.

[00:19:56]Making our way gradually up to Los Angeles for our show tonight.

[00:20:01]If you're in the LA area, we still have a few tickets left, I think.

[00:20:04]bullwark.com/events if you want to get them tonight. For those who watched this and didn't get carsick through our live stream, congrats.

[00:20:13]I made it too. I'm happy for myself.

[00:20:16]We'll see you later tonight, LA.