Sarah Longwell and Bill Kristol: We're Governed by Broken Men

Sarah Longwell and Bill Kristol: We're Governed by Broken Men

From The Bulwark Daily by The Bulwark

July 20, 2026 · 52 min

About this episode

Sarah Longwell and Bill Kristol discuss the failures of current leadership and the implications of recent political events.

Trump tried to steal the limelight and the valor of Spain at the World Cup, even as more troops died overseas; Stephen Miller regularly encourages ICE to be violent while Pete Hegseth pushes soldiers to be macho bullies. The leaders in this country are men with no center and no core. Now with the arrest of the Tate brothers in Miami, Trump gets a chance to extend his record of standing by sex pests and assaulters. Plus: Iran and the U.S. are dangerously escalating the war, ICE is going even more rogue, Maine Dems have a replacement for Platner, and generic ballot polling suggests voters aren't necessarily gravitating to Democrats—and the noisy DSA may have a lot to do with that. Bill Kristol joins special guest host Sarah Longwell. Show notes: Monday's "Morning Shots" Sam and Mark Hertling on the Iran strikes on an air base in Jordan Umberto Eco's "Ur-Fascism" piece Upgrade your wallet today! Get 10% Off @Ridge with code THEBULWARK at https://www.Ridge.com/THEBULWARK #Ridgepod

People in this episode

Host: Sarah Longwell

Guest: Bill Kristol

Topics covered

  • political commentary
  • Trump's actions
  • violence and governance
  • Iran-U.S. relations
  • polling trends
  • Democratic Party dynamics

Keywords

  • Trump
  • Bill Kristol
  • Sarah Longwell
  • ICE
  • Iran
  • politics
  • polling
  • violence
  • Democrats

Sponsors

Ridge

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ICE

Products: Ridge

Books & works: Ur-Fascism

Places: Iran, U.S., Maine

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