Last month, Trump fired the “woke” job numbers person after she released weak employment data. Now, we have even worse jobs numbers—and burgeoning signs of a tariffs-triggered manufacturing recession. Meanwhile, the administration may be working on a de facto military policy that would fulfill one of Trump’s biggest longtime wishes: summarily executing drug dealers. Plus, a trans gun ban would be grotesquely unconstitutional, the blood-and-soil types at NatCon are missing what the Founding Fathers intended, Tucker can’t quit his Putin obsession, and why Gen X enthusiastically embraced helicopter parenting. David French joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod.
show notes
Bulwark’s live reaction to RFK hearing, with Sam, Jon Cohn, and Will Saletan
David on Gen X helicopter parenting Gen Z
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/opinion/helicopter-parents-genx-genz.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jk8.xSe6.KGsFjKLC1qbC&smid=url-share
More from James Madison in 1785
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-08-02-0163
Post-recording news: Pentagon is deploying F-35s for a counter-narcotics mission
https://x.com/JenGriffinFNC/status/1964001832172179733
Tim’s playlist
Bulwark Live in DC and NYC at https://TheBulwark.com/events. Toronto is SOLD OUT
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42 Comments
I object to equating progressive democrats with magats. The progressives are principled and science/fact based. They support economic and social justice and true democratic representation. MAGAs are either disingenuous greedy fraudsters or people who are the victims of fascist propaganda. I refuse to listen to “both sides” bs. There is no comparison between these groups. In fact this assertion is part of what brought this fascism to the fore.
Anyone know what the song was at the end of this pod?❤
Thanks, Tim and David. I could watch y'all talk every day. So good! 💙🇺🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦
I can totally relate to the 'latchkey' aspect of being a kid in the seventies… Both parents worked, but one 'preferred' to work. Lots of dysfunction, but even I idealize the era in an attempt to mask over what reality was… Fantastic guest, Tim.
If Trump is taking drug dealing SO seriously then why did he pardon Ross Ulbricht?????
Bill Clinton signed NAFTA when caused millions of jobs to leave our country. Thanks a lot Democrats.
the supreme court now stinks to high heaven WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT MISTER???? THEY ARE CROOOKKKKED AS HELL
Aggravates me that Nutlick's kids betting against tariffs to make a windfall, while Nutnick pushes tariffs, which are killing small American businesses and increasing bankruptcies. HATE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CORRUPTION.
B. S. "True Americans" remark by Schmidt.😱
Didn't Trump inherit a good economy from Obama, who cleaned it up after G.W. Bush?
Listening to the comment about "Commie Mommies" reinforces the feeling that all of our resources currently available to us should be put into brainstorming how to split the country.. They are never going to meet us even halfway and all of us are exhausted trying to "Fight". Why can't we divide the country? create a safe transportation corridor across the northern part for us and a corridor across the south for them to connect their parts. provide a generous relocation fund for people who find themselves in a district they don't want to live in. There are bound to be lots more creative ideas that would be helpful Why is no-one talking about this Aren't we sick of trying to explain to gun nuts that we don't want our children to die???
Putin murdered and keeps murdering his political enemies. Not so, Biden.
Very interesting guest. Thank you.
First of all, it's apple-atcha…
Post pandemic inflation was in part due to a fictitious notion by the natural gas markets that gas was going to run out. https://youtu.be/nkDO888L-Q0?si=t1okD5ryiA46xm4f
Scotch is the drink, Scottish describes the people. Sounds very uneducated otherwise.
Wouldn’t law makers be scared if ever person who was able purchased an AR 15? So we’re all walking around with guns? Would that make some change?
Maggot guest
Yeah, every time I watch those videos on how "free" we were back in the day I think about all the bad stuff that happened to kids who roamed without any supervision. They don't ever mention that
This guy is such a gullible idiot. The Supreme court gave Trump king like powers.
Thank you Tim Miller and David French from Sterling Heights Michigan
To me it was apparent Trump inherited Obama’s economy
Also killing without any trial…
I wish I still had half the faith in the Supreme Court that this gentleman has.
I am listening to sports talk, and every third commercial is announcing Trump media groups 6.5 billion dollar crypto treasury? Ahhhhh
I love how every conspiracy theory about Democrats is now materializing on the Right: FEMA CAMPS, taking your guns….
The Supreme Court ruled against Biden s student loan forgiveness because he was a Democrat. They are now granting Trump all kinds of unregulated powers because he is a Republican.
The historical competence level of these people is ridiculous. They are espousing a mythilogical ideology that has no more root in reality than the Nazi ideology. And that is the point and the problem.
David French shows his Republican DNA when he maintains (with a straight face) that the Supreme Court is impartial or nonpartisan- he's not stupid enough to believe that.
The Russian per capita GDP is something like 1/4 of the US.
😅 42:45
GenX latchkey kids were screenagers too. (I love that term btw) we just had fewer options. 3-8 channels from rabbit ears and a Nintendo were way better options than the Texas heat from May-August.
I'm not too worried about screentime as long as they're getting things like, in our case, Scouts/swim lessons/piano lessons/reading at bedtime. But my kids also won't get a phone unless the school tells me the need in for some reason. And the tablet needs my fingerprint approval for social media, which they won't be getting until they're paying for their own devices.
But yeah, my only real job is keeping them safe and loved. I'm not ashamed to helicopter a little.
Question: When Trump totally destroys the economy with hyperinflation and 20+ percent unemployment, who will he blame?
It's disingenuous to say that the SCOTUS is fine because they rule against Trump sometimes. The cases themselves matter-they gave him immunity, and now have upheld racial profiling in ICE detentions. Stop pretending that a small loss for him (or even many small losses) outweighs rulings of that magnitude.
Wait, now that we don’t teach about the attempted annihilation of Native Americans, hundreds of years of slavery, racism, misogyny, religious persecution, etc., we have ALWAYS lived up to the US Constitution, Tim!
I really don't like David French defending the Supreme Court in any way. They are 100% enabling Trump in every possible way.
Scotch is the drink. Scots/Scottish are the people.
The huge difference these days regarding letting your kids play outdoors freely is that when boomers and gen x were out all day, parents never had to worry about other kids killing them. The violence in children these days makes parents afraid to let their kids roam freely all day.
Tucker should move to Russia.
Really appreciate the legal commentary. I truly didn’t think the legal weeds were ever going to change my life, but right now i feel humbled i didnt pay attention to courts more.
I find the murder of those 11 people very troubling, and I cannot believe it is not raising more outcry. The US cannot become the people who just kill people willy-nilly around the world. Surely this is impeachable?!
David French is awesome!