Jim Swift
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Senior Editor @BulwarkOnline | Formerly @Weeklystandard, GOP House & Senate staffer.
Articles by Jim Swift
The Alex Pretti Election Original
It’s Election Day, and boy, do we have election coverage for you: Tim, Sarah, and JVL will kick off our election night broadcast at 7:00 p.m. EST on Substack, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch. Sam and the rest of the Bulwark team will carry us through the night as results come in across the country. Everyone is welcome. See you tonight! Happy Tuesday and happy Election Day. (Photo illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Bulwark | Photos: Getty) by Andrew Egger So here we are at last.
Tricks, Tariffs, and Trump’s Corporate Enablers
Happy Halloween 👻! Once you’ve recovered from tonight’s spooky activities, hang with the gang tomorrow night for a preview of what to expect on Tuesday. Sunday’s members-only live stream starts at 8:30 p.m. ET. Tim Miller, Sam Stein, Lauren Egan and more of the Bulwark fam will be covering the latest races and taking your questions, which you can drop in the comments of this post. So grab your favorite beverage, candy, kick back your feet and tune in to prepare for the week ahead.
The Top Campaign Issue of the Decade Has Vanished
We’re nearly to the climax of Spooky Season: The midterms are just four days away. Bulwark+ members can join us on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET for a livestream on all things midterms—we’ll give you the state of play, our best predictions, and take your questions! Happy Friday. (Photo illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Bulwark | Photos: Getty, Shutterstock) by Andrew Egger In 2022, the Supreme Court struck down Roe v.
Is This Heaven? No, It’s the Midterms.
“Any election that doesn’t go my way is fraud.” That’s the Trump model, and his right-wing allies around the world are starting to embrace it too. “The elections in the state of Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted yesterday on X.
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Elon Musk?
A new New York Times poll today has some surprising findings in close Senate races: South Carolina is basically a tie at 48 percent for Sen. Darline Graham and the same for Annie Andrews. Florida isn’t nearly as close: Sen. Ashley Moody, at 50 percent, is six points ahead of Democrat Angie Nixon. In Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan is at 54 percent, while Michele Tafoya is basically on the sidelines of her own race. Happy Wednesday.
Wave Goodbye to a Republican Congress
Can Bibi Netanyahu hang on? Israel’s six-term prime minister faces a stiff challenge in Israel’s elections today. Polls show the bloc led by Netanyahu’s Likud party neck and neck with the bloc led by former military chief Gadi Einsenkot’s Yashar party, and voters are turning out at levels not seen in Israel for half a century. Meanwhile, Yair Golan of the Democrats party faced an apparent assassination attempt at an election-day campaign stop just hours ago. Happy Tuesday.
Trump’s Rallies Have Become What He Covets: Ass
Eight days to go. Happy Monday. As supporters cheer, President Donald Trump does a little dance after speaking at a rally in Gastonia, North Carolina, on September 16, 2026. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty) by Andrew Egger In a weird way, it’s almost sad to see. Donald Trump has spent a decade as the main character of our politics. He has managed to break and destabilize shockingly much in that time.
Putin’s Pal, Pete’s Pep Talk, and Vivek’s Meltdown
🕯️ “The Heavy-Hand Cheer (and the ID-Fear Gear)” They shout from a podium, cameras all bright, With flags in the back and the headlines in sight. They wave at the crowd and they grin with a glow— Then aim all the chaos at folks down below. “Support the police!” they say, loud as can be— But listen real close to the how and the glee: When Trump told officers, “please don’t be too nice,” That wasn’t “keep order”—that’s cruelty’s advice.
The Monsters Among Us
What’s driving the coming blue wave? More than anything else, the latest New York Times/Siena poll finds, it’s a sharp reversal among young voters, who got Trump-curious in 2024 but have snapped back hard ever since. Voters 65 and older have crept back toward Democrats by two points, voters 45 to 64 have stayed put, and voters 30 to 44 have slid five points left. But voters aged 18 to 29 have jumped back toward Democrats by fifteen points—55 percent to 70 percent. Happy Thursday.
How Low Can Vivek Go?
Trump and his cronies keep using slurs like they’re going out of style—which, to be fair, they are. On Monday in Kansas, Trump denounced news reports that he said portrayed Sen.
Fasten Your Seatbelts: Trumpism Is Beginning Its Final Descent
Hello from Atlanta, the third stop in The Bulwark’s Good Fight Tour and the first where your Morning Shots correspondents are along for the ride. Say a little prayer on our behalf that our hotel wifi holds up for our regular Tuesday livestream in a bit here—and if you’re coming to the show tonight, we’re excited to talk to you there! Happy Tuesday. (Photo illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Bulwark | Photos: Getty) by William Kristol There are two weeks left until election day 2026.
‘Happy Birthday, Vlad. Yours, Always.’ - DJT.
In Donald Trump’s telling, he wins everywhere, from Florida to California, when the votes are counted properly, and his campaign rallies do nothing but juice the Republicans he deigns to share the stage with. “MY RALLIES ARE SAVING THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, AGAIN!!!” he wrote this month. But Punchbowl News notes this morning that Trump’s actions tell a different story.
We’re On the Road Again...
Happy Saturday! We kicked off our fall tour last night with a sold-out show in Columbia, South Carolina. Annie Andrews and Bakari Sellers joined us for an evening of Southern politics, 2028 superlatives, The Next Level and The Trio. A great crowd and a great way to start the tour. Charlotte, North Carolina is up next. Join us this Sunday night for a Bulwark LIVEstream featuring Pete Buttigieg + the gang broadcasting live from Charlotte. This livestream is exclusively for Bulwark+ members.
Katie Zacharia’s Problem Is That She’s Bad at Lying
We’ve come a long way since Jordan Peele’s 2018 PSA warning about the future of political deepfakes. Back then, everyone assumed that AI-faked video would mostly be the work of nefarious outside actors. Today, a remarkable chunk of the political ecosystem has openly embraced them, particularly on the right. The New York Times reports today that candidates and PACs, predominantly Republican ones, have already spent more than $137 airing AI-generated ads this year alone.
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Donât look now, but more crazy House-GOP leadership drama may be just around the corner. CNN reports that if Republicans lose the house and Speaker Mike Johnson loses his gavel, Rep. Jim Jordan may challenge him for leadership of the conference. Happy Thursday. Join Bill and Andrew for an extraMorning Shots Live today at 11:00 a.m. EDT on Substack and YouTube. A visitor to the National Mall walks past the Capitol Building at daybreak on September 16, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by J.
Ramaswamy Campaign Ad Accidentally Featured a Sex Offender Original
(Photo illustration by Bill Kuchman/The Bulwark | Photos: Getty, Shutterstock) PROPERTY TAXES ARE A HOT-BUTTON issue in Ohio, where Republican Vivek Ramaswamy is trying to run as a change candidate for governor in a state long run by Republicans. And in his latest campaign ad, he tried to press the button hard. The spot featured a woman from Amherst (a Cleveland suburb) named Patricia “Patty” Edwards, who is fretting about losing the family farm.
Trump’s Strategic Flunky Reserve Is Running Low
Good money to be made in the oil trade these days, if you’ve got a little inside information! Bloomberg reported yesterday on how a sudden Truth Social swerve in Iran policy this month was immediately preceded by billions of dollars in suspicious trades in oil futures—and how, when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission began to look into the suspicious trades, their senior political leadership shut the investigation down. Probably nothing. Happy Wednesday.
Donald Trump Got Mugged by Reality
The midterms hammer hasn’t fallen yet, but it’s getting closer every day. Today, the New York Times reported that top Republican super PACs are giving up on two embattled House incumbents, Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and New Jersey Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. The PACs are pulling more than $10 million out of the two races, essentially giving them up for lost in an effort to spend more on other seats they hope will be more defensible.
Winning the Midterms Is Not Enough
Elon Musk has spent $276 million trying to help Republicans win the midterms, according to a new report from the New York Times. The bulk of that money went into the main Republican Senate super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund. Musk has a net approval rating of -16.2, according to Nate Silver. But that’s still better than Donald Trump’s -22.4. Happy Monday. Join Will Sommer and Sam Stein for MAGA Mondays live today at 10:00 a.m. EDT on Substack and YouTube.
Guilfoyle’s Grift, Trump’s Pepto Problem, and Hegseth’s Gross Execution Spectacle
Happy Saturday! This week, in a truly wild interview Sam Stein talks to the Cincinnati-area man at the center of the Kimberly Guilfoyle scandal, Sarah Longwell finds that Trump’s taxpayer-funded ads are making voters queasy, and Catherine Rampell explains how Trump turned a good savings idea into another favor for billionaires. Plus, Cathy Young on the Russian dissident America sent back to Putin, and Sam and Mark Hertling on Hegseth’s planned execution spectacle.
Our Big Fat Greek Bribery Scandal
Last year, Donald Trump pardoned Democratic Rep. Harry Cuellar, who was under indictment for federal bribery charges. All he expected in return was that Cuellar, out of gratitude, would immediately switch parties and become a Republican. To his shock, Cuellar never did. “Many considered this to be a tremendous act of disloyalty,” Trump fumed on Truth Social last night, “and certainly showed him to be an extremely ungrateful person.” He then encouraged Texas voters to vote Cuellar out in November.
Reasons for Hope. Reasons for Alarm.
Donald Trump is a friendly boss; he lets his top aides freelance. Two of those aides, James Blair and Chris LaCivita, are spending most of their time spearheading midterms spending for Trump’s PAC. But last week, they both managed to find time for a quick trip to the Balkans, where—the New York Times reports—they have each been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to consult on behalf of the pro-Russian sub-national government in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Seems fine. Happy Wednesday.
Grandpa Trump Is Getting Desperate
The hot-mic moments just keep coming for Texas GOP Senate hopeful Ken Paxton. Last week, it was leaked audio of Paxton admitting that Trump’s ballyhooed midterm convention had actually hurt his numbers. This week, it’s audio of Paxton complaining about how little control he has over his own campaign strategy—since most of the money behind him is super PAC money from Trump.
A Death. A Funeral. And the Trump Rally Down the Block.
Let’s get into it. Happy Monday. Join Will Sommer and Sam Stein for MAGA Mondays today at 10:00 a.m. EDT on Substack and YouTube. (Photo illustration by The Bulwark/Photos by Reuters, Getty) by Andrew Egger Springfield, Ohio— They buried Pierre Damas Bel on Saturday. That night, Donald Trump came to town to take a victory lap on the policies that killed him.
MAGA’s Heir, the Bumbling GOP Smear Squad, and Trump’s Cheese Problem
Happy Saturday! This week: Joshua Tait examines the man who would inherit MAGA, Will Saletan takes on the Republicans smearing Jack Smith, and Mona Charen explains how corruption killed Trump’s populist image. Plus, Catherine Rampell on a trade war that isn’t even helping the cheesemakers, Ben Parker and Mark Hertling on Hegseth’s remaking of the military, and Will Sommer gets the script for the Daily Wire’s latest pro-ICE movie.
Not To Alarm You, But Trump’s Brain Is Melted
Just how bad has Donald Trump’s leadership been for the Kennedy Center’s financial health? CNN reports that, after Trump slapped his name on the building late last year, donation pledges plunged more than 100 percent compared to the previous three-month period. That’s so dramatic it sounds mathematically impossible, but it isn’t: “A decline of that size is possible,” a tax expert told CNN, “if earlier pledges were withdrawn.” But hey, that’s just a building’s economic well-being.
Trump + AI = Blue Tsunami
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Yesterday, Trump dusted off his old attacks against former Fed Chair Jerome Powell: “He should be forced to resign, IMMEDIATELY! If he doesn’t resign, he should be sued, at the highest level, by the United States Government, for either corruption or incompetence.” It’s all great news for new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh: He hasn’t been able to lower interest rates yet, either, but for now, Trump seems content to keep blaming Powell. Happy Thursday.
Eric Schmitts the Bed
For Republicans trying to outrun a blue wave, the verdict is in: The Dallas midterm convention was a stinker. Don’t take it from us, take it from Texas GOP Senate nominee Ken Paxton. “To be honest with you, the numbers—when we did that convention—it dropped our numbers,” Paxton said in leaked audio reported today by the New York Times. “Everybody’s numbers dropped.
Impeach Him Again
Senate Republicans only have a few work days left before the November midterms, but fear not: They’re still hard at work on the president’s priorities. This morning, for instance, the Judiciary Committee is hauling in former Special Counsel Jack Smith, who oversaw several criminal investigations into Donald Trump, in the hope of finding some pretext for charging him with crimes.
‘We Are Losing Our Soul as a Nation’
The less popular Trump gets, the more shameless his open lawlessness becomes. This weekend, an old Trump campaign ad was back on airwaves across the country, with Trump railing against the “communists, Marxists, and fascists,” vowing to expel the “deep state” and “warmongers,” and declaring this “the final battle.” In 2024, the ad was paid for by the Trump campaign. Now, the ad discloses, it is “paid for by the U.S. Government.” Your tax dollars at work. Happy Monday.
Trump Shuts Out the Press, ICE Opens Fire, and We Stand with Springfield Original
Happy Saturday! This week, Will Saletan looks at Republicans cheering on Trump’s ban of White House reporters, Adrian Carrasquillo reports on an ICE shooting in Austin, Brendan Hartnett watches six hours of Trump TV so you don’t have to, and Cathy Young examines the white nationalist language showing up at the State Department. Plus, a remarkable night in Dayton, where more than 1,000 of you joined us to stand with Springfield.
Why We’re Going to Springfield
When yesterday’s Morning Shots went to press, the White House was still barring journalists from Politico, CNN, and MSNOW from entering the premises, despite a court order that they should be let in. Later in the day, the White House finally complied—kinda. Reporters from the outlets Trump had tried to ban were allowed into the White House complex to gather news, but some staff from CNN and MSNOW were refused entry to the state dinner President Trump was hosting for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump Kowtows to China
Well, that was fast. Less than a week after Donald Trump banned three news outlets from the White House, a federal judge ordered all three outlets reinstated in a ruling early this morning.
Trump’s Quadrangle of Doom
Oil markets breathed a sigh of relief this morning, with the price of Brent crude dipping back below $100 a barrel on two pieces of hopeful news. First, Saudi Arabia announced it had resumed flows through the crucial oil pipeline that was damaged by a drone strike from Iranian proxies this month.
Trump’s AI Hubris Is a Blue Opportunity
Things are pretty stupid out there, but don’t you ever think they can’t get stupider still. Take the massive Triumphal Arch that our Napoleon-idolizing president wants to build at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.
MAGA’s Alternate Realities, Fractured Elbows, and a Fast-Moving War
Happy Saturday! In case you missed it, George Conway joined Andrew Egger and Catherine Rampell for an emergency livestream from the Kennedy Center last night. We also have an excerpt from Sarah Longwell’s newly released bestseller, lessons from a fractured elbow, and a look at why the Iran war is moving too fast for Washington. Plus, an upcoming event (in Ohio!), a book club update, and a remembrance of my old boss, Jon Kyl.
Why Do We Even Have a Constitution Day?
The White House’s posture toward Russia is getting more bizarre all the time. On the one hand, Trump has promised to sign a sweeping package which—as Andrew wrote yesterday—would hit Russia’s elite with new sanctions and give Trump the ability to hit Russia’s energy customers with tariffs. And Russia is getting more reckless with attacks and plots that threaten to pull America and other Western countries deeper into the war.
Congress to Trump: MORE TARIFFS, PLEASE!
What a week in the House of Representatives! Surprise articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth, a sweeping new Russia sanctions bill passed at the eleventh hour (about which more below), and—per new reporting from the Washington Sun1—a giant blowup fight between GOP factions over suspending the gas tax to try to rein in costs and cool down an irate public ahead of the midterms.
Bill Smokes the Hopium Pipe in the Land of Corn
Here we were thinking nothing interesting would happen in Congress for the rest of the year—and suddenly there was Rep. Thomas Massie yesterday, introducing articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The eight articles charge Hegseth—among other things—with waging unlawful wars in Iran and Yemen despite the disapproval of Congress, carrying out extrajudicial killings against suspected drug traffickers, and ignoring laws that minimize civilian casualties.
Trump Learns You Can’t Spell Mail Without an L
President Trump spent much of yesterday posting about his unlimited support for AI development and data-center construction and calling criticism of it a “hoax.” It’s rare to see a politician stake his ground on the 20 side of an 80–20 issue. But that’s our president! Next, we suspect he will launch into caps-lock tirades against ice cream, puppies, and the Beatles. Just fifty days to go before the election! Happy Tuesday.
AI Is a Test of Our Maturity. *Gulp*
AI fears—as Bill discusses below—are scrambling our politics and making for some extremely strange bedfellows. How strange? Well, how many issues could put Steve Bannon, Bernie Sanders, and an industry whistleblower all on the same D.C. stage? Andrew will be attending and reporting on tomorrow’s “Pro-Human Assembly”—so watch this space. Happy Wednesday. Join Will Sommer and Sam Stein for MAGA Mondays today at 10:00 a.m. EDT on Substack and YouTube.
Let’s Stand Together for Springfield
Happy Saturday!ICYMI: We’re bringing Bulwark LIVE to Dayton, Ohio on Friday, September 25 for a live show to benefit the Haitian community in Springfield. More on that below.
Out of Gas. Out of Ideas. Out of Time.
Today marks twenty-five years since the September 11th attacks. In many ways, it feels like another age—and the pre-9/11 era even more so. But the pain lingers, especially for those who lost someone that day. They’re in our thoughts today. Happy Friday. Join Catherine Rampell and JVL for Receipts Live today at 12:30 p.m. EDT on Substack and YouTube.
Dying Inside In Dallas
One day of midterm convention down, one to go! You might have thought he got it all out of his system in his nearly two-hour ramble last night, but Donald Trump still intends to follow his vice president’s keynote with yet another speech tonight. If you don’t want to tune it out completely—and we certainly understand if you do—we’ll be live again on Substack and YouTube with convention coverage tonight. Happy Thursday.
Trump Wants to Exhaust Us. He’s Failing.
Labor Day is in the rearview mirror, and the midterms are suddenly only fifty-six days away. Keep your head on a swivel. Happy Tuesday. Join Bill and Andrew for Morning Shots Live at 10:00 a.m. EDT today on Substack and YouTube. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One on August 14, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images) by William Kristol I trust you all had a better Labor Day weekend than Donald Trump.
The Cruelty, the Chaos, the Casualties
Happy Saturday! In case you missed it this week: A young Haitian student stripped of his TPS status in Ohio died by suicide this week, the tech bros’ alliance with MAGA is falling apart, leaks from Pete Hegseth’s “book” reveal a national-security crisis, and Trump is helping keep Venezuela’s dictatorship in business. Huddled Masses Trump Took His Status. ICE Took His Dignity. He Took His Life.
Iran War? What Iran War?
This summer’s jobs reports have mostly been clunkers, but this morning we got a more encouraging one. The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, while unemployment held steady at 4.1 percent and the labor force participation rate—which had sunk throughout the year—ticked back up a hair. Happy Friday. Join Catherine Rampell and JVL for Receipts Live today at 12:30 p.m. EDT on Substack and YouTube.
When You Control the Mail, You Control the Nation
Two months from the midterms, how bad are the coalition vibes for Donald Trump? Even some dyed-in-the-wool MAGA pollsters are starting to sound the red alert. “Republicans are going to run out of a coalition soon if they don’t build on what he started to build in ’24,” Big Data Poll Director Rich Baris told Tim Miller in an interview yesterday.
Mike Johnson, Wet Noodle
Donald Trump has spent two years openly favoring red states over blue ones while disbursing federal disaster relief funds, but it’s still surreal to see him talk openly about it.
We Found Her: The Most Absurd General-Election Candidate in America
It was a close call, but it sure looks like Donald Trump is going to get his East Wing ballroom, at least for now. Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 that construction could continue. The Court declined to rule on the actual legality of Trump’s decision to tear down the East Wing, but held that the historical preservationists who had brought the suit to stop it lacked the standing to sue. Sure seems we’re hearing that a lot these days! Happy Tuesday.
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