Trump’s Poll Numbers Are in the Toilet
February 20, 2025
Rep. Garcia Criticized Elon Musk — Then The DOJ Threatened Him
February 20, 2025
Overtime is for everyone. If you’re a subscriber: thank you. If you’re not, there’s no better time to subscribe to Bulwark+ than today. If you like today’s issue, you can share this newsletter with someone you think would value it.
ON MONDAY, THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT for the District of Columbia published an affidavit from “Terry Doe,” the pseudonym of a USAID employee challenging the Elon Musk-Donald Trump shutdown of America’s foreign assistance programs.
We don’t know where Terry Doe is stationed—maybe in Ukraine helping to keep that country’s energy grid up, or in Central America fighting gangs, or in the Horn of Africa supplying hospitals serving war victims. It doesn’t matter.
AS I WATCHED ELECTION RETURNS on the evening of November 5, 2024, I was struck by the sense that Americans had missed the memo. Across the nation, in blue states as well as red, county after county showed a marked rightward shift—an unmistakable signal of dissatisfaction with the Biden years. It was so familiar, so seemingly normal. What do you do when groceries are much more expensive than four years ago, the border is flooded with immigrants, and crime seems to be rising (even though it actually wasn’t)? You vote for the other guy, and if that turns out badly, well, there’s always another election in four years.
Did you know? Bulwark+ members can listen to an ad-free version of these podcasts on the player of their choice.
Learn more at Bulwark+ Podcast FAQ.
📣Bulwark+ members can now listen to ad-free podcasts on Spotify! Learn more here.
Our 🎥YouTube offerings are the free-versions of shows, and they do have ads.
✍️Also: Did you know that every podcast has a transcript for B+ members? Yes! If you’re more a reader than a listener/viewer, open any podcast and the transcript button is beneath the player.
AFTER THE “ROOKIE MISTAKES” of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in Brussels, the insults and intrusions into Germany’s election hurled by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference, and the kowtowing of Secretary of State Marco Rubio to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov during “peace negotiations” in Riyadh and, finally and most egregiously, President Donald Trump’s scolding of Ukraine for defending itself in a war they “should have never started,” European leaders have come to understand that, after eight decades of Atlantic alliance, the United States has become a feckless and unreliable strategic partner.
LAST FRIDAY, AT THE MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE, Vice President JD Vance lectured our European allies about democracy.
“When we see European courts canceling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we’re holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard,” he preached. “We must do more than talk about democratic values. We must live them.”
Happy Thursday! Elon Musks’s private security guards have been deputized by the US Marshals Service, CNN reports.
🎵On the Jukebox… 🎵 Little Bit Closer by Sam Fender.
Tracking Trump: His actions on education… “The president has said he wants to eliminate the Education Department while fighting ‘woke’ ideology in schools. A week-by-week look at what he’s done.” (The Hechinger Report)
Migrants, Deported to Panama Under Trump Plan… Detained in Remote Jungle Camp (NYTimes 🎁)
DOGE’s Millions… As Musk and Trump Gut Government, Their Ax-Cutting Agency Gets Cash Infusion (ProPublica)
Download your Kindle books ASAP – before Amazon kills this feature next week (ZDNet)
Not The Onion… Trump swaps out Resolute Desk in the Oval Office days after Elon Musk’s son X appeared to wipe booger on it (NYPost)
Northeast plane crash victim wanted his son to go on a school trip to Ghana… Let’s make sure he goes. (Inquirer).
The End of the Postwar World… Trump and Vance are sending a dark message to America’s allies. (Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic)
Love Among The Ruins… Matt Labash shares a word from Father Rick Frechette on how to manage your righteous anger.
Elon Musk… is having a rough CPAC.
Trump floats… running again.
OK, Buddy… Kevin Hassett argues that $5,000 DOGE checks wouldn’t be inflationary.
Leopards eating faces… The private GOP panic over the slash-and-burn DOGE firings (Politico).
It’s Easy To Save Billions In Taxpayer Funds… When Everything Is Made Up (Mike Masnick, Tech Dirt)
Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
—30—
Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.
Great Job Jim Swift & the Team @ The Bulwark Source link for sharing this story.
