"The swamp is buying off Sean Duffy so he can take his family to go see Mt. Rushmore and the Arch and the Grand Canyon?... people aren't gonna be able to go on road trips this summer 'cause they can't fucking afford it!" Tim Miller and Bill Kristol on Duffy's tone deaf road trip.

"This is not just the most corrupt presidency in American history, it is among the most corrupt regimes on earth."

“The Southern stuff is pretty grotesque... It’s so undisguised.” Tim Miller and Bill Kristol react to Republicans trying to redraw Black-held districts out of existence across the South, and what it means for Democrats’ path back to the House.

War is unpredictable, but it would be a wise and savvy move, from Putin’s perspective, to quit now, while he’s at least nominally ahead. Then again, that could be why he won’t do it.

"In St. Petersburg, the police arrested (but soon released, apparently without charges) 85-year-old Lyudmila Vasilieva, a survivor of the grueling German siege of Leningrad in 1941–44." Nice way to celebrate Victory Day.

It seems likely that Americans will come to look back on the much-disparaged era of American “globalism” and “primacy” with nostalgia.

"I’ve been struck by how often Democrats here concede that they have to do things differently to compete, only to then explain how difficult it’s been to actually break with party orthodoxies."

"Is Sean Duffy just so rich from 'Real World' 30 years ago that that he can fund this huge vacation?... And the answer is no, it's funded by companies like Boeing, companies that are regulated by the Dept. of Transportation." @willsommer.bsky.social on Duffy's sponsored family vacation.

"The CDC hasn’t 'had a press briefing, we haven’t heard anybody talk about mobilizing investigators across the world who are already working on potential treatments.'"

"One of the fallacies of political analysis is that people often assume that the things they want, or think are best, will be popular."

"Instead of attempting to match Russian quantitative advantage, Ukraine has increasingly shifted toward attacking vulnerabilities across the broader Russian military-industrial system." And it's working.

California, we’re on our way! Join us in San Diego on May 20 and LA on May 21 for two nights of the Bulwark Live with the gang.

"'If their platform does not include how to address the buzzsaw of the Supreme Court to all those programs, then everything else can’t be taken seriously.'"

Nick Fuentes made a career out of harassing non-openly racist Republicans. Now, he is being challenged from his own, even more deranged right flank. The internet's preeminent Groyper is facing off with a gun-toting playboy heir and a coterie of disillusioned followers.

"The pastor doth protest too much about this... Everyone immediately sees it and thinks golden calf, so the first words out of his mouth are 'it's not a golden calf.'" @timmiller.bsky.social and @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social make fun of Trump's golden statue.

In 2016, Trump defeated Clinton by contrasting her slogan, “I’m with her,” with his claim, “I’m with you.” In 2026, Democrats can return the favor. lnk.thebulwark.com/4eKASdP

"The event was less than an hour long, with Putin, surrounded by visible security and wearing a bulky black coat that may have had a bulletproof vest underneath, briskly ushered in and out." Not the parade he wanted, but the one he deserves.

"The swamp is buying off Sean Duffy so he can take his family to go see Mt. Rushmore and the Arch and the Grand Canyon?... people aren't gonna be able to go on road trips this summer 'cause they can't fucking afford it!" @timmiller.bsky.social on the transportation secretary's tone deaf road trip.

Nuclear proliferation and the spread of conventional ballistic missiles of intercontinental range are likely to make the world uglier and incomparably more dangerous than what we have been used to since the end of the Cold War.

"Now that cities like Memphis have been spread across three different congressional districts, Democrats have little choice but to figure out how to appeal to white Southerners."

“The Southern stuff is pretty grotesque... It’s so undisguised.” @timmiller.bsky.social and @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social react to Republicans trying to redraw Black-held districts out of existence across the South, and what it means for Democrats’ path back to the House.

Because Trump had the U.S. withdraw from the WHO, these sorts of communications must take place quietly and often through backchannels—an approach that public health experts told me is slower and clunkier, and can mean key information never gets conveyed.

Voters never like corruption, but they especially don't like it when contrasted with a sinking economy.

"There was a contingent of North Korean soldiers on hand—hailed by the announcer, in Soviet-style bombastic tones, for their heroic contribution to 'freeing the Kursk province from neo-Nazi invaders.' Could it get more cringe than that?"

Perhaps the reason Turkey wants an ICBM isn’t specific, but general. Turkey’s development of an ICBM capability is just one example of what results when American reliability as a security partner is called into question.

"They don’t want Bill Cassidy. They do want Trump. So they blame Cassidy for 'following' the Trump administration’s Covid policies, while holding Trump blameless for them." Logic!

"There was widespread agreement among the Democrats I spoke with that their party would have to do things drastically differently." The only question is, how? lnk.thebulwark.com/4u3ykfo

The result of Trump's second term "is a federal response to outbreaks that is weaker overall, and could falter in the face of a more serious threat." Good timing,eh?

"Putin has still not signaled a willingness to agree to terms that Ukraine would find acceptable....any peace agreement still seems a long way off. But if Putin were serious about suing for peace, it would be a smart move." First one in awhile.

Can Putin, the man who built up and weaponized the Victory Day cult as the sacred foundation of his rule, afford to end a war without a victory?

"Not to put too fine a point on things, an AI video produced to tout the missile (which has yet to be tested) appeared to show it 'hitting nuclear facilities and other targets that appeared to be in the U.S.,' according to the Financial Times." lnk.thebulwark.com/3QXjAQN

"We don't talk enough about how Trump is also destroying companies that he *likes* - mostly by accident because he doesn't understand basic economics." Read about it from @crampell.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/the-americ...

"These voters aren’t capable of saying, Voting to impeach Trump is disqualifying because Trump is right about everything. Instead, they construct complicated rationales to justify their base desire." Today's Triad from @jvl.bsky.social: lnk.thebulwark.com/4cZYppK

Trump: "I feel the same as I did 50 years ago. It's crazy…It's not because I eat the best foods. Maybe they are the best foods. Who knows what the best foods are? Maybe junk food is good and the other food is no good."

While the response has been shock, anger, and—increasingly—despair among Democrats, a harsh reality is sinking in: It’s going to take more than impassioned appeals to morality and history to claw back power in the South.

Q: "Do you think we should still be selling [Taiwan] weapons?" Trump: "Well I'm going to have that discussion with President Xi. President Xi would like us not to and I'll have that discussion."

Trump on Xi Jinping: "He's a great gentleman. I find him to be an amazing man. And when I say that the press always says, 'Oh, that's terrible'…Well, you know, he runs 1.4 billion people with a pretty iron fist."

Trump on Jimmy Lai: "Jimmy Lai, you know, caused a lot of bedlam. It's like saying to me, 'If Comey ever went to jail, would you let him out?' Might be a hard one for me…Because he's a dirty cop. But Jimmy Lai isn't that way. But Jimmy Lai, he caused lots of turmoil for China."

Q: "Do you still believe a diplomatic solution is possible with Iran?" Trump: "I think it's very possible. Look, I've had to deal with them four or five times. They change their mind. They're very dishonorable people."

Trump on Putin's invasion of Ukraine: "That would have never happened had the election not been rigged…Putin and I would talk about it, but there was never any, he would've never done it."

Q: "How long are you going to suspend the gas tax for?" Trump: "Until it's appropriate."

Q: "Are you going to suspend the federal gas tax?" Trump: "Yeah, I'm going to reduce until the — let me tell you, as soon as this is over with Iran, as soon as it's over, you're going to see gasoline and oil drop like a rock."

Q: "What do you think of the handling of the Hantavirus by the U.S.?" Trump: "I think fine."

Q: "For the time being, the ceasefire remains in place?" Trump: "It's unbelievably weak…The ceasefire is on massive life support."

Q: "You rejected a deal from Iran over the weekend. Can you tell us anything about that proposal?" Trump: "It was just unacceptable. You know, a lot of people say, 'Well, does he have a plan?' Ya, of course I do. I have the best plan ever…It's a very simple plan."

"The ability to assess this hantavirus outbreak so quickly is testimony to the sophisticated international infrastructure now in place for disease surveillance and response. And that infrastructure didn’t appear out of thin air." But it can sure go poof. lnk.thebulwark.com/4wETeU7

Trump: "I was hunted by some very bad people. Now I'm the hunter. It's much better when you're the hunter…We call them the dumbocrats, because they're dumb."

Catch @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social on Slate's What Next? podcast talking her new book “How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time.”

"One line in particular continues to rattle around my head some days later: 'I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.'"

The Kremlin strongman looked tired and weak, more cranky grandpa than fearsome leader. And the Victory Day parade wasn't much to cheer him up. New from Cathy Young: lnk.thebulwark.com/3RxnlfO