Jonathan V. Last: We Got a Billionaire Problem

Jonathan V. Last: We Got a Billionaire Problem

From The Bulwark Podcast by The Bulwark

June 4, 2026 · 1h 7m

About this episode

The episode discusses the influence of billionaires on politics and society, featuring insights from Jonathan V. Last and Katherine Pompilio on recent events and issues.

Most of the multibillionaires are not only hoarding their money and failing to contribute to the public good, they're also using their wealth-based power to manipulate the government, the markets, or our elections. Like Elon, for instance, who just manipulated the Nasdaq so all Americans with a 401(k) can help him become the first trillionaire by the end of the year. At some point, there is such a thing as too many billions for one person, and we need to start applying the pre-Reagan tax rate. Plus, 'vanilla' Dems are doing pretty well, maybe not so fast on Pratt 2028, and Trump will never forgive Vance for being right about the Iran war. And Lawfare 's Katherine Pompilio discusses her exclusive reporting on the significant number of pardoned J6ers who went on to commit subsequent crimes. Katherine Pompilio and JVL join Tim Miller. show notes Katherine's reporting on the scores of pardoned J6ers committing new crimes JVL on how Marco beat out JD for the Trump's Favorite Adopted Son spot JVL's "Trump Madman Theory’ of . . . the Stock Market" Lauren on the 'vanilla' dems The Secret Podcast Join at functionhealth.com/THEBULWARK or use gift code THEBULWARK 25 for a $25 credit toward…

People in this episode

Host: Tim Miller

Guests: Jonathan V. Last, Katherine Pompilio

Topics covered

  • billionaires
  • political influence
  • taxation
  • pardon
  • crime
  • elections
  • market manipulation

Keywords

  • billionaire problem
  • public good
  • tax rate
  • J6ers
  • crime
  • Trump
  • market manipulation

Sponsors

Function Health

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Lawfare, Pratt

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