Bill Kristol
@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social
Editor at large, The Bulwark.
Director, Defending Democracy Together.
Host, Conversations with Bill Kristol.
Never Trump.
Director, Defending Democracy Together.
Host, Conversations with Bill Kristol.
Never Trump.
“Democrats inarguably got at least one very important win: They have placed a glaring spotlight on Republicans’ refusal to renew the Obamacare healthcare subsidies, hanging the blame for spiking healthcare costs around their necks as the midterms draw near.”
www.thebulwark.com/p/dems-rewar...
www.thebulwark.com/p/dems-rewar...
Dems Reward the Hostage-Taker
Perhaps ending the shutdown was the responsible thing to do. But by caving, Democrats risk legitimizing Trump’s maximum-pain shutdown tactics.
www.thebulwark.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:52 PM
“Democrats inarguably got at least one very important win: They have placed a glaring spotlight on Republicans’ refusal to renew the Obamacare healthcare subsidies, hanging the blame for spiking healthcare costs around their necks as the midterms draw near.”
www.thebulwark.com/p/dems-rewar...
www.thebulwark.com/p/dems-rewar...
Perhaps better headline:
Trump preemptively pardons everyone planning on election subversion in 2026 and 2028.
www.nationalreview.com/news/trump-p...
Trump preemptively pardons everyone planning on election subversion in 2026 and 2028.
www.nationalreview.com/news/trump-p...
Trump Preemptively Pardons Rudy Giuliani, Others Involved in Attempt to Overturn 2020 Election | National Review
Trump also pardoned John Eastman, Sidney Powell, and dozens of other Republicans who came forward to act as alternate electors.
www.nationalreview.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Perhaps better headline:
Trump preemptively pardons everyone planning on election subversion in 2026 and 2028.
www.nationalreview.com/news/trump-p...
Trump preemptively pardons everyone planning on election subversion in 2026 and 2028.
www.nationalreview.com/news/trump-p...
Trump's pardon of allies who helped him try to subvert the 2020 election is important. It's a permission slip--no, it's an encouragement, even an order--to allies to be ready to try to subvert the elections in 2026, and 2028.
politi.co/3WN7A3T
politi.co/3WN7A3T
Trump pardons top allies who aided bid to subvert the 2020 election
Pardon recipients include Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, John Eastman and dozens more.
politi.co
November 10, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Trump's pardon of allies who helped him try to subvert the 2020 election is important. It's a permission slip--no, it's an encouragement, even an order--to allies to be ready to try to subvert the elections in 2026, and 2028.
politi.co/3WN7A3T
politi.co/3WN7A3T
Tim Miller is cheered up by the Netherlands electing a young, upbeat, openly gay center-left prime minister who’s talking optimism, growth, and even building new cities. AEI’s Stan Veuger mostly concurs. A fun and interesting conversation.
www.thebulwark.com/p/tim-falls-...
www.thebulwark.com/p/tim-falls-...
Tim Falls For New Dutch PM? (w/ Stan Veuger)
Tim Miller brings on Dutch economist Stan Veuger for some good news.
www.thebulwark.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Tim Miller is cheered up by the Netherlands electing a young, upbeat, openly gay center-left prime minister who’s talking optimism, growth, and even building new cities. AEI’s Stan Veuger mostly concurs. A fun and interesting conversation.
www.thebulwark.com/p/tim-falls-...
www.thebulwark.com/p/tim-falls-...
Part of me is glad Trump is now unconstrained, and is defacing and demeaning everything he touches.
It means that for the next three years we’ll have constant reminders not just of the need to defeat him, but also of the importance of ripping out Trumpism’s poisonous legacy and beginning anew.
It means that for the next three years we’ll have constant reminders not just of the need to defeat him, but also of the importance of ripping out Trumpism’s poisonous legacy and beginning anew.
November 8, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Part of me is glad Trump is now unconstrained, and is defacing and demeaning everything he touches.
It means that for the next three years we’ll have constant reminders not just of the need to defeat him, but also of the importance of ripping out Trumpism’s poisonous legacy and beginning anew.
It means that for the next three years we’ll have constant reminders not just of the need to defeat him, but also of the importance of ripping out Trumpism’s poisonous legacy and beginning anew.
“The current state of American capitalism isn’t sustainable. It doesn’t deserve to be sustained. And the best way to avoid an American version of “eat the rich” is to fix the current “let them eat cake” distortion of capitalism into which we’ve fallen.”
www.thebulwark.com/p/let-them-e...
www.thebulwark.com/p/let-them-e...
Let Them Eat AI-Generated Cake
Elon Musk and the coming twilight of the elites.
www.thebulwark.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:47 PM
“The current state of American capitalism isn’t sustainable. It doesn’t deserve to be sustained. And the best way to avoid an American version of “eat the rich” is to fix the current “let them eat cake” distortion of capitalism into which we’ve fallen.”
www.thebulwark.com/p/let-them-e...
www.thebulwark.com/p/let-them-e...
“Independence is a concept fundamental to the health of any democracy—and it has been systematically dismantled in Hungary…What’s left is a poor country subsumed with politics, propaganda, and polarization; a state that stomps out independence while feigning conservatism.”
time.com/7332003/vikt...
time.com/7332003/vikt...
Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump’s Attacks on Independence
Independence is "fundamental to the health of any democracy—and it has been systematically dismantled in Hungary."
time.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:57 PM
“Independence is a concept fundamental to the health of any democracy—and it has been systematically dismantled in Hungary…What’s left is a poor country subsumed with politics, propaganda, and polarization; a state that stomps out independence while feigning conservatism.”
time.com/7332003/vikt...
time.com/7332003/vikt...
“In ‘Purge, Merge, and Surge,’ Moynihan details how the administration is creating a federal ‘omniforce’ accountable to Trump that he can use to ‘impose control over Democratic cities, instigate enough unrest to justify escalation, and tamp down any dissent.’”
www.publicnotice.co/p/don-moynih...
www.publicnotice.co/p/don-moynih...
Don Moynihan on "Purge, Merge, and Surge"
"Instead of surging in Iraq, it’s happening here in American cities."
www.publicnotice.co
November 8, 2025 at 7:29 PM
“In ‘Purge, Merge, and Surge,’ Moynihan details how the administration is creating a federal ‘omniforce’ accountable to Trump that he can use to ‘impose control over Democratic cities, instigate enough unrest to justify escalation, and tamp down any dissent.’”
www.publicnotice.co/p/don-moynih...
www.publicnotice.co/p/don-moynih...
Reposted by Bill Kristol
Trying to figure out what #SCOTUS just did with #SNAP, and why Justice Jackson temporarily froze the district court's ruling?
Via "One First," me on what's going on—and why I think Jackson's move was savvy, notwithstanding the awful circumstances that forced it:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/190-snap-wtf
Via "One First," me on what's going on—and why I think Jackson's move was savvy, notwithstanding the awful circumstances that forced it:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/190-snap-wtf
190. SNAP WTF?
A very quick explainer on what (and why) Justice Jackson issued an "administrative stay" in the SNAP case late on Friday night, and on what's likely to happen next
www.stevevladeck.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Trying to figure out what #SCOTUS just did with #SNAP, and why Justice Jackson temporarily froze the district court's ruling?
Via "One First," me on what's going on—and why I think Jackson's move was savvy, notwithstanding the awful circumstances that forced it:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/190-snap-wtf
Via "One First," me on what's going on—and why I think Jackson's move was savvy, notwithstanding the awful circumstances that forced it:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/190-snap-wtf
“If you’re coming under the punk-rock banner and you voted for that f*****g guy, and you support that f*****g s**t that they’re doing, you’ve twisted your mind into knots. The far right ain’t the new punk—you heard it here first.”
open.substack.com/pub/ofthebra...
open.substack.com/pub/ofthebra...
WATCH: The Punk Rock Frontman Calling Out Trump's BS
Dropkick Murphys’ Ken Casey to MAGA supporters: “You’ve twisted your mind into knots.”
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:52 PM
“If you’re coming under the punk-rock banner and you voted for that f*****g guy, and you support that f*****g s**t that they’re doing, you’ve twisted your mind into knots. The far right ain’t the new punk—you heard it here first.”
open.substack.com/pub/ofthebra...
open.substack.com/pub/ofthebra...
“Federal authorities told demonstrators Friday that there would be “no more prayer” in front of or inside the Broadview ICE facility…”
Is there any part of the First Amendment the Trump administration isn’t happy to violate?
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/f...
Is there any part of the First Amendment the Trump administration isn’t happy to violate?
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/f...
Feds Tell Faith Leaders 'No More Prayer' Outside Broadview Facility
In a possible violation of the First Amendment, federal officials instructed demonstrators to stop holding religious gatherings outside the immigration processing facility in suburban Broadview after ...
blockclubchicago.org
November 8, 2025 at 3:23 PM
“Federal authorities told demonstrators Friday that there would be “no more prayer” in front of or inside the Broadview ICE facility…”
Is there any part of the First Amendment the Trump administration isn’t happy to violate?
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/f...
Is there any part of the First Amendment the Trump administration isn’t happy to violate?
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/f...
“Republicans like Johnson were doing everything but reflecting on the national mood. Whether they’re all in on the MAGA project of reshaping government and American life or just frightened of offending Trump, they are duty-bound to avoid that sort of thing.”
www.thebulwark.com/p/republican...
www.thebulwark.com/p/republican...
Republicans Are in Denial About Tuesday
What happens when your party gets killed in an election but you can’t admit that anything is actually wrong?
www.thebulwark.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:12 PM
“Republicans like Johnson were doing everything but reflecting on the national mood. Whether they’re all in on the MAGA project of reshaping government and American life or just frightened of offending Trump, they are duty-bound to avoid that sort of thing.”
www.thebulwark.com/p/republican...
www.thebulwark.com/p/republican...
Thanks, Jay. And I agree with your praise for the Claremont students.
Loved reading this. And it really tells you, or gives you a flavor of, what it's like to sit down and have a leisurely conversation with Bill. Well done, Claremont student-interviewers.
Here, if people are interested, is a wide-ranging interview with a couple of Claremont students from a month ago. A little on contemporary politics and on Trump and on Mamdani, a little on conservatism and liberalism, a little on liberal education.
www.cmcforum.com/post/bill-kr...
www.cmcforum.com/post/bill-kr...
November 7, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Thanks, Jay. And I agree with your praise for the Claremont students.
Reposted by Bill Kristol
For years, Russell Moore (@drmoore.bsky.social) has raised his voice against darkness and sophistry. He has done so at some personal cost. A highly valuable voice in our country. www.christianitytoday.com/2025/11/nazi...
The Church Better Start Taking Nazification Seriously - Christianity Today
Tucker Carlson hosted neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes on his podcast. The stakes are high for American Christians.
www.christianitytoday.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:20 PM
For years, Russell Moore (@drmoore.bsky.social) has raised his voice against darkness and sophistry. He has done so at some personal cost. A highly valuable voice in our country. www.christianitytoday.com/2025/11/nazi...
"The current state of American capitalism isn’t sustainable. It doesn’t deserve to be sustained. And the best way to avoid an American version of “eat the rich” is to fix the current “let them eat cake” distortion of capitalism into which we’ve fallen."
www.thebulwark.com/p/let-them-e...
www.thebulwark.com/p/let-them-e...
Let Them Eat AI-Generated Cake
Elon Musk and the coming twilight of the elites.
www.thebulwark.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:49 PM
"The current state of American capitalism isn’t sustainable. It doesn’t deserve to be sustained. And the best way to avoid an American version of “eat the rich” is to fix the current “let them eat cake” distortion of capitalism into which we’ve fallen."
www.thebulwark.com/p/let-them-e...
www.thebulwark.com/p/let-them-e...
"You don’t have to be a wild-eyed leftist to think all of this has a pre-French Revolution vibe. It feels like a 'let them eat cake' moment—and that’s to say nothing about the Trumpist kleptocracy that competes every day for headlines with our Muskian plutocracy."
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Let Them Eat AI-Generated Cake
Elon Musk and the coming twilight of the elites.
open.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:47 PM
"You don’t have to be a wild-eyed leftist to think all of this has a pre-French Revolution vibe. It feels like a 'let them eat cake' moment—and that’s to say nothing about the Trumpist kleptocracy that competes every day for headlines with our Muskian plutocracy."
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Abolish Border Patrol.
Trump deportation agent: "I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.”
November 7, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Abolish Border Patrol.
"Former West Virginia coal miners with black lung drove to protest on the steps of the Labor Department...They held up photographs of dead friends and loved ones...On the opposite side of the building, an enormous banner with Trump’s face read 'American Workers First.'”
apnews.com/article/blac...
apnews.com/article/blac...
Deep in Trump country, coal miners with black lung say government is suffocating the 'working man'
Lisa Emery, a respiratory therapist, is deeply concerned about West Virginia coal miners suffering from black lung disease.
apnews.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:54 PM
"Former West Virginia coal miners with black lung drove to protest on the steps of the Labor Department...They held up photographs of dead friends and loved ones...On the opposite side of the building, an enormous banner with Trump’s face read 'American Workers First.'”
apnews.com/article/blac...
apnews.com/article/blac...
"There’s One Weird Trick that can help cure stagflation...a cut in tariffs. It’s tariffs that are driving prices up. And it’s tariffs that are dragging growth down...If the justices decide to undermine Trump’s economic agenda, they’ll be doing him a favor."
www.thebulwark.com/p/how-the-su...
www.thebulwark.com/p/how-the-su...
How the Supreme Court Could Save Christmas
If Trump lets them.
www.thebulwark.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:31 PM
"There’s One Weird Trick that can help cure stagflation...a cut in tariffs. It’s tariffs that are driving prices up. And it’s tariffs that are dragging growth down...If the justices decide to undermine Trump’s economic agenda, they’ll be doing him a favor."
www.thebulwark.com/p/how-the-su...
www.thebulwark.com/p/how-the-su...
"Starting in the spring and then escalating over the summer, President Donald Trump sent federal troops or 'called up' National Guard units to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Memphis, Portland, and Chicago...The Founders would be appalled."
www.thebulwark.com/p/founders-t...
www.thebulwark.com/p/founders-t...
The Founders Would Abhor Trump’s Domestic Deployments
And the notion that courts can’t review his National Guard decisions is baseless.
www.thebulwark.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:27 PM
"Starting in the spring and then escalating over the summer, President Donald Trump sent federal troops or 'called up' National Guard units to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Memphis, Portland, and Chicago...The Founders would be appalled."
www.thebulwark.com/p/founders-t...
www.thebulwark.com/p/founders-t...
Lovely piece by @tribelaw.bsky.social
"My parents’ struggle for freedom lives in the symbol of the nation my dad chose. A symbol my mother helped him hide in a prison camp. A symbol of hope, a symbol of freedom, of a place where all are equal before the law."
www.thebulwark.com/p/my-fathers...
"My parents’ struggle for freedom lives in the symbol of the nation my dad chose. A symbol my mother helped him hide in a prison camp. A symbol of hope, a symbol of freedom, of a place where all are equal before the law."
www.thebulwark.com/p/my-fathers...
My Father’s Flag and the Idea of America
Over decades, across continents, and through harrowing experiences, my family held on to this bit of cloth as a reminder of everything they believed in—and were running toward.
www.thebulwark.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Lovely piece by @tribelaw.bsky.social
"My parents’ struggle for freedom lives in the symbol of the nation my dad chose. A symbol my mother helped him hide in a prison camp. A symbol of hope, a symbol of freedom, of a place where all are equal before the law."
www.thebulwark.com/p/my-fathers...
"My parents’ struggle for freedom lives in the symbol of the nation my dad chose. A symbol my mother helped him hide in a prison camp. A symbol of hope, a symbol of freedom, of a place where all are equal before the law."
www.thebulwark.com/p/my-fathers...
Listen, my children, as here is unfurled
The story of the sandwich that was hurled
On the 10th of August in ‘25;
What a moment to be alive!
As many chose to look down and duck,
One man decided he had to stand up,
And so he wound up, and said ‘What the f___’
And gave his sandwich a freedom chuck.
The story of the sandwich that was hurled
On the 10th of August in ‘25;
What a moment to be alive!
As many chose to look down and duck,
One man decided he had to stand up,
And so he wound up, and said ‘What the f___’
And gave his sandwich a freedom chuck.
November 6, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Listen, my children, as here is unfurled
The story of the sandwich that was hurled
On the 10th of August in ‘25;
What a moment to be alive!
As many chose to look down and duck,
One man decided he had to stand up,
And so he wound up, and said ‘What the f___’
And gave his sandwich a freedom chuck.
The story of the sandwich that was hurled
On the 10th of August in ‘25;
What a moment to be alive!
As many chose to look down and duck,
One man decided he had to stand up,
And so he wound up, and said ‘What the f___’
And gave his sandwich a freedom chuck.
“We always been a different sort of media company…We put very few products behind a paywall. We give free memberships to anyone who can’t afford it. We are infinitely more interested in saving democracy than increasing revenue.”
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Milkshakes and Media
Where The Bulwark is going.
open.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:42 PM
“We always been a different sort of media company…We put very few products behind a paywall. We give free memberships to anyone who can’t afford it. We are infinitely more interested in saving democracy than increasing revenue.”
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...