Will Saletan

This is the definitive story on how Lindsey Graham degenerated from Trump's strongest critic to Trump's accomplice. Here's the text version, published in 7 chapters by @thebulwark.com. It also has links to a book-length version and an audio version, which you can listen to as a series of podcasts.

If anyone you know — friend, family member, colleague, neighbor — is thinking of voting Republican in this election, send them this video. It's the case against Trump and his party, as presented in multiple rallies and interviews this month by ... Donald Trump. www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6ny...

"The same people who insist on policing public bathrooms to protect little girls [are] smearing an actual child rape survivor." "It is a microcosm of the broader Trump agenda: professing support for the vulnerable while shielding their abusers." @crampell.bsky.social on the GOP's vile ad in Ohio.

Johnson says polls undersample Republicans. At GOP events, he says, "Show me your hand if you've answered a poll in the last six months." "There'll be like 3 hands among 300 people." Do the math, Mike. There are 343M Americans. If 3 of every 300 Republicans are being polled, that's *oversampling*.

Maybe the real voter fraud was the voter fraud we committed along the way. Another grotesque display of Republican hypocrisy, exposed by @brendanhartnett.bsky.social in @thebulwark.com. www.thebulwark.com/p/gop-operat...

"This is a classic Collins move: bragging about bringing home a slab of bacon, when you gave away the rest of the pig." ICYMI @saletan.bsky.social:

Stephen Miller might look the part, but Brendan Carr is actually Trump's most dedicated authoritarian apparatchik. In a fascist regime, he would do anything the boss ordered. x.com/BrendanCarrF...

"Her message is: If you’re unhappy with Trump and the GOP, only Susan Collins—by being powerful, and being a Republican—can reduce your suffering. It’s a bleak pitch." @saletan.bsky.social on Susan Collins:

Susan Collins has spent 30 years accumulating power in Washington. Now she's asking Maine voters to keep her there so she can protect them from the damage inflicted by the very Republican Party she's helped keep in power. @saletan.bsky.social examines her record. lnk.thebulwark.com/3U90IQv?utm_...

"Again and again, Collins comes back to the same twisted argument: Only she can limit the damage her party is doing." "The question is whether Mainers will settle for that grim bargain, or whether they’ll give her seat to a party that will take on Trump for real." www.thebulwark.com/p/the-case-a...

@saletan.bsky.social says you know the Republican Party is losing when even Fox News is asking the tough questions: “It's embarrassing, and honestly, it's kind of hard to watch unless you think these guys have been screwing our country, and they deserve exactly what's coming.”

@saletan.bsky.social and @samsteindc.bsky.social on Energy Secretary Chris Wright contradicting Trump’s rationale for the Russia diesel deal: “It’s totally plausible that Trump is the dumbest of all these people and that he’s cutting this deal thinking that the diesel is available when it’s not.”

AI is already on the job

Daughtergaetz has returned. www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

Did you think that because you're a citizen, you would be safe from Trump's deportation machine? If they don't like your religion, your accent, your ancestry, your politics, or your color, they will come for you. You have a chance to vote the Trump party out of office. Do it while you still can.

Collins in tonight's debate: “I voted with the Democrats to bring the war to an end. But there were not sufficient votes for that to happen.” Jackson: “Then we probably ought to have Democrats in charge of the U.S. Senate, so that we have the votes to stop this war.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cXh...

In case you ever thought this multibillion-dollar Republican propaganda machine was a news organization. x.com/foxnewspolit...

Excerpt:

Oops! Republicans just stepped in Schmitt again. This time, it's a nutball conspiracy theory about @jamestalarico.bsky.social. In this report, @willsommer.bsky.social and @eggerdc.bsky.social shred the bogus story. Their takedown is delicious. www.thebulwark.com/p/maga-james...

Kudlow on Fox today: "Has the Marist poll ever, in any state, for any office, ever come out and said the Republican is going to win?" Kellyanne Conway: "Definitely not in the Trump era, Larry, which spans 10 or 11 years." Incredible how lazy these people are. Three 2024 Marist headlines attached.

The danger for the GOP isn’t just that Trump’s 2024 voters won’t show up in the midterms. It’s that the 31% who have turned against him will.

House GOP Whip Tom Emmer says Trump had to attack Iran because it posed an imminent threat. "They've got ballistic missiles that can hit western Europe. And if they can hit western Europe, Jon, they can hit the homeland right here in the United States of America." Um... abcnews.com/video/137174...

My intrepid colleague @willsommer.bsky.social has found the Tate brothers violating morays again. www.thebulwark.com/p/republican...

Susan Collins tried to distance herself from Trump in last night’s Maine Senate debate. Her big defense? She didn’t vote with him 95% of the time—it was 72%. @saletan.bsky.social on why that answer may have only made her problem worse.

@saletan.bsky.social synthesizes Jack Smith testimony from last week and earlier to create the J6 "trial that could have been." Some points are familiar, others are revelatory. All woven into a very strong case. Fascinating. Video and transcript here: www.thebulwark.com/p/jack-smith...

@saletan.bsky.social of @thebulwark.com looks at the evidence that Trump was repeatedly told the truth about the 2020 election, & breaks down Jack Smith’s testimony to prove that he would have been convicted in both the January 6th case & the Classified Documents case. 👍🏻 youtu.be/AzZ4Bcxv-1Q?...

This is a community note for the ages.

Excellent recap by Will @saletan.bsky.social @thebulwark.com outlining how trump LIED #2020Election using Jack Smith testimony youtu.be/AzZ4Bcxv-1Q?... Even his staff advised him he lost Trump wasn’t looking for ‘honest answers’ Then he created insurrection Jan 6th to not certify results

Obstruction, bad court rulings, and Trump's reelection robbed you of the chance to see him put on trial by Jack Smith. Now, through video excerpts from Smith's testimony before Congress, we can show you the case he was ready to present. Enjoy. www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzZ4...

Testimony by Jack Smith over the past year, assembled by @saletan.bsky.social to lay out the powerful case the special counsel would have made against Donald Trump in court.

This was an awesome indictment of Trump by @saletan.bsky.social w/evidence bombs dropped by Jack Smith during the hearings and testimony. Good watch. Full vid: 📺 youtu.be/AzZ4Bcxv-1Q?...

@saletan.bsky.social makes the case against Trump and looks at evidence Jack Smith brought up in a deposition last year: “  If you think that Trump believed the election was stolen…DOJ officials told him that they didn't believe it was stolen…He knew he was telling them to lie.”

By putting together Jack Smith's testimony in two hearings and a deposition, we can now show you what you never got to see: the trial of Donald Trump for trying to overthrow the 2020 election. Watch it, and tell us how you would have voted if you were on the jury. www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzZ4...

@saletan.bsky.social on whether Democrats should consider impeaching President Trump again: “I am not against impeachment proceedings if the point is to investigate and expose the various crimes of the Trump administration. But…does it really need to be in the context of impeachment?”

Donald Trump posted Tom Cotton's private phone number because the Arkansas senator is blocking his push for permanent daylight saving time. @saletan.bsky.social and @cheetah.bsky.social break down this strange fight.

Breaking Bad. Veep. Game of Thrones. Fleabag. Succession. Mad Men. Curb Your Enthusiasm. The Wire. The Sopranos. On popular TV shows, "We live in an age of antiheroes," writes @sonnybunch.bsky.social. And it's a reflection of, if not a contributor to, who we are. www.thebulwark.com/p/the-age-of...

Two Republicans on the committee weren’t entirely hostile to Smith. Both, not coincidentally, are on their way out the door. For the rest of them, it's still Trump's way or the highway. @saletan.bsky.social on the Jack Smith smears:

🤡 Schmitt beclowns himself 🤡 Schmitt concocted an elaborate conspiracy theory that Smith traveled to Atl for a Hawks game and to collude with Fani Willis, & flashed his "evidence" before accusing Smith of perjury. There's just one problem -- his facts were totally wrong. Here's the whole sequence:

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Democrats of being “incredibly disingenuous,” saying they do “360s on every single policy position they have.”

"Like propaganda in other authoritarian countries, Trump’s videos defy reality." And they're also paid for by you. New from @saletan.bsky.social:

Trump has found a new use for your tax dollars: promoting himself and his party in the midterms. He’s running campaign ads thinly disguised as PSAs. And through taxation and unauthorized spending, he’s forcing Americans to pay for them. My takedown of the president’s latest theft.

Yesterday the attorney general said the president can selectively ban news organizations from the White House by calling their coverage "misinformation" and classifying them, on that basis, as threats to national security. That is straight-up authoritarian BS. I take it apart in this video.

Rubio defends Trump's blockade of media he dislikes. “They’re not banned,” he says. “We’re not closing CNN. There aren’t a bunch of police officers or soldiers kicking down the doors of [MS NOW] and arresting people." That's how Trump's lackeys justify his authoritarianism: Be glad it's not worse.

“Trump invented this excuse on Monday, three days after he explicitly said he had targeted the three offenders because they tried to ‘diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration,” writes @saletan.bsky.social. “His lackeys in Congress were happy to spout the new party line.”

The Bulwark community has raised more than $100,000 for the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, Ohio, which is helping families with food, transportation, legal assistance, and other basic needs. If you’re able, please consider donating.

The excuses Republicans have offered for Trump's press ban are worth examining, in part as a measure of their willingness to justify any abuse of power. @saletan.bsky.social breaks them down:

Trump actually is an internationalist and a global meddler, except in all of the worst possible ways for our nation's interests. @saletan.bsky.social from the archives:

This position is a recipe for endless war. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/u...

Oh, so *that’s* what they meant by “Live Free or Die”

It's not very good for the Republican party - or for America - when "I'm just like President Trump!" is the go-to defense for corruption and scandals. ICYMI @saletan.bsky.social: