As the Iran war enters its third week, the Trump administration looks like it doesn’t know what it’s doing: It did not bother to consult U.S. allies before the military operation began but it now wants their help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz; POTUS keeps talking about his great victory even with Marine Expeditionary Forces en route; and the disruption in the oil markets is likely to last for months. In the face of the neutered Republican leaders in Congress, the Dems must be a hard “No” on additional funding—unless it’s about helping our people to exit safely. Plus, FCC Chair Brendan Carr is threatening broadcasters for reporting the truth about the war, JD is hiding in the hedge, our enemies are less afraid of us, the "Donroe Doctrine" looks like a joke, and a major intra-right fight has broken out online.
Bill Kristol joins Tim Miller.
show notes
Monday's "Morning Shots"
Bill's "Bulwark on Sunday" with Bob Kagan
Tickets for our LIVE show in Austin on March 19: TheBulwark.com/Events.
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The Bulwark Podcast
In addition to the global energy shock brought on by Trump's war, mortgage rates are surging, and labor costs and prices are rising. And Republicans don't seem to have a plan except to spend more, bl...
For nearly 50 years, since the Ayatollah seized power in Iran and took Americans hostage, the U.S. has known that the regime could single-handedly shut down the Strait of Hormuz. Trump was reportedly...
Trump's shamelessness has been his political superpower, but the regime in Tehran is seeing a desperate and panicked man doing the opposite of what he's said about Iran for the past decade. But his s...
A war of choice may evolve into a war of necessity because the brains at the White House apparently did not anticipate that Iran—in response to the bombing campaign—would shut down the Strait of Horm...
The man in charge is bluffing, blustering, and trying to manipulate the markets by claiming that the administration is in negotiations with Iran and was holding off on further military strikes. Israe...
The U.S. is at war with the leading state sponsor of terror, and Donald Trump appointed Markwayne Mullin—a man with no counter-terrorism experience—to help defend the homeland. At the same time, Hegs...
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A former MAGA influencer who saw the underbelly of the immense power and wealth around this administration says never-Trumpers should show compassion for people who are now feeling betrayed by him—an...
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The Trump administration is preparing to deploy a Marine expeditionary unit to the Middle East along with more warships. But that development was not Hegseth’s highest priority at his Pentagon briefi...
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One of the biggest America First fans tells Tim that he thought Trump 2.0 would be different because like-minded, high-level personnel—including the vice president and top DOD staff—were supposed to...
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Unless the administration is keeping some closely-guarded secret about why America went to war against Iran, the only thing officialdom is saying out loud is that Netanyahu wanted us to. And now Trum...
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The facts on the ground and the ludicrous statements speak for themselves: The administration inadequately planned for the execution of this war. That's likely why six service members were killed in...
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No matter how often Trump tries to change the subject, he keeps getting caught in his own attempted diversions. He blames Somali immigrants for importing bribery, corruption, and lawlessness while he...
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Apart from all the lies MAGA is forced to say in defense of Donald Trump, the movement is actually better at political organizing than Democrats. So while the Dems can pull off the massive No Kings r...
With a shooting at Mar-a-Lago and some real counterterrorism issues associated with Trump's threat of war on Iran, Kash Patel probably had more important matters to attend to than shotgunning beer wi...
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From FCC Chair Brendan Carr—who keeps trying to silence the political opinions of late night TV comedians, to DHS pressuring social media companies to expose anti-ICE accounts, and to the willingness...
The white Anglo-Saxon supremacy in Trumpland is so over the top that even child-of-Cuban-immigrants Marco Rubio claims America’s common cultural heritage is European. But then with a schizophrenic to...