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Sam Stein
Hey, everybody, it's me, Sam Stein, managing editor at the Borg, and I'm joined by Kathryn Rampel. This is our first. This is our first take together.
Kathryn Rampel
I think it is. Yeah. It's like all of our takes to this point have been just.
Sam Stein
Yeah, private takes.
Kathryn Rampel
Private takes.
Sam Stein
I was gonna compare this to like a second bar mitzvah for me. I feel like this is a maturation process in my life here, but I'm very excited about this. Almost a little nervous. Catherine.
Kathryn Rampel
Ah, well, I won't make you do the horror, so there's a lot I do.
Sam Stein
Yes. Actually, we're actually going to be talking about Your latest newsletter receipts, which everyone should be signed up for because it's an incredible newsletter. It's off to a great start. This one was kind of funny because, well, I guess all of yours have kind of hit on personal interest. But this one, I felt like you've been storing up a lot of data points for this and it was about, I don't know, how do you describe it? Like weird bribery efforts to get on Trump's good side. Is that it?
Kathryn Rampel
Yeah, it's basically all of the. That companies are having to spend their time preoccupied with related to like appeasing Trump, sucking up to Trump in various ways, things that they're doing instead of actual business stuff.
Sam Stein
Right.
Kathryn Rampel
So that might mean something like coming up with a golden plaque for the president, as Apple did, or.
You know, Switzerland came up with a gold Rolex clock.
Sam Stein
Yeah, I want to get into the ranking, like the best suck ups. But I also want to know, put this in the back of your mind, I want, I want you to think about by the end of this, if you were a foreign leader, let's say you're the president of whatever, you know, run Palestine, and you had to like ingratiate yourself with this White House. I want to know what you would give Trump, what you think would be the smartest gift. Don't say it yet. Hold on to that thought.
Kathryn Rampel
I have an idea.
Sam Stein
Okay. But I also want to note that this is like not isolated incident. You mentioned. Two, but even this morning, for instance, after you published your newsletter before we did recorded this, take Michael Dell, who is, you know, one of the richest people in the world, announced that he was donating something like $6.25 billion to what do they call Trump bonds or Trump.
Kathryn Rampel
What are Trump accounts?
Sam Stein
Trump accounts. And they're like these accounts that kids get and they can accrue a bunch of interest over time. And you know, they're no longer called Trump accounts because I think the IRS didn't want to seem too political. But the White House is just like going ballistic. They love it. They think it's great. They're going to pitch it as Trump accounts. And it's just like this is another case of someone who has clear interest before the government doing things, making strategic investments that he or she knows will, you know, go a long way towards appeasing the president.
Kathryn Rampel
Yeah, yeah.
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That.
Kathryn Rampel
The other piece of all of this is Rush Hour 4, which was unmakeable for many years.
Sam Stein
Describe why it was unmakeable.
Kathryn Rampel
Well, a number of reasons. One is that probably as a genre or as a franchise. Rush Hour, like it met the moment. It was a very popular franchise, late 90s, early 2000s. The but may not work as well today because like it relied pretty heavily on racial stereotypes which, you know, like, I'm not sure how much a lot of that would hold up, even though these were obviously very successful films at.
Sam Stein
One point and we're in the anti woke era now, so maybe there's some new.
Kathryn Rampel
Maybe, maybe there's a new audience to mine. Also, Jackie Chan, who was half of the buddy cop duo, is 71, probably doesn't have quite the same kung fu prowess that he once did. Chris Darker hasn't headlined a film since then, since 2007.
Sam Stein
Has it been that long? Jeez.
Kathryn Rampel
And then the most damning piece of all of this is that the director of the franchise, Brett Ratner, has been unemployable since roughly 2017, when he was me tooed when half a dozen women, including some relatively famous celebrities like Olivia Munn, came out and accused him of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, sexual assault, various kinds of sex pe.
Sam Stein
So why make this?
Kathryn Rampel
Because Donald Trump wants it. You know, this is a very. But this is a very cheap way to bribe the president, essentially, right? He wants this movie made. And if you have business before the president, even if this cost you $100 million, a couple hundred million dollars to make this film that maybe nobody wants to see except for the president, it's still going to have a great return on your investment, particularly if you are, let's say, Paramount. So Paramount, Skydance recently merged. They got put through the ringer. You know, as folks may remember, this is part of the reason why there was that big CBS settlement owned by that joint company now, because they wanted to merge. Normally there would be big antitrust concerns, but those go away if you do something nice for Trump, like paying him off. And it is Paramount that has reportedly agreed to distribute this film. That again, nobody wants to because Paramount is also in the midst of trying to buy another gobble up another company, Warner Brothers. So basically, if you are Paramount, you have tens of billions of dollars potentially on the line in this proposed merger that they're trying to get through. Again, it's pocket change to make $100 million film in the grand scheme of things, even if nobody watches it, even if you lose all that money.
Sam Stein
And they're not even like that subtle about not Paramount talking about the administration. They're not really all that subtle about the fact that they will take these br. So simultaneous to the announcement that Rush Hour 4 is in development. There's talk that the administration is a little concerned that Netflix might buy Warner Brothers because they think that's too much of a conglomerate. But they haven't really expressed any concern about Paramount, which, you know is more to their liking.
Kathryn Rampel
So they. And you know, Allison is like, there, there are a whole bunch of reasons why they might get slightly different treatment than they otherwise would at another administration.
And I guess the way that I think about this is like, obviously corruption of any kind is bad. Like, you want the president to be making decisions based on what's good for the country, whether that means consumers or national security or whatnot, rather than what's good for his ego or his cinematic tastes or his pocketbook. So, like, in and of itself, that is bad. But there's another piece of all of this that I'm very interested in and that I've been exploring in various ways that's about what does this mean for the economy? Right.
Sam Stein
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Kathryn Rampel
Yeah. So there was a Nobel Economics Prize, technically Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, that was awarded last year, 2024, for research looking at exactly this, that institutions and economic growth. And basically the research had found that when you have degradation of rule of law, when you have more corruption, you end up with worse economic outcomes. And that's because like, businesses are no longer businessing, right? They are focused on what, what appeases the political powers as opposed to how to develop more popular products, get new customers, increase their efficiencies, improve their management. Again, all of the things that companies should be doing in a healthy economy to make themselves profitable and via the invisible hand, grow the economy writ large. If everybody is like trying to produce better products, you end up eventually with higher living standards. So that's what companies should be doing. Instead, they're pissing away a lot of their time on this bullshit, whether it's figuring out how to suck up to the President or not piss him off. Right. Like you've seen a bunch of stories about how Target, amongst others is, you know, they're deciding what to stock in their stores, not based on, again, what's going to make them the most money, what's going to appeal to their customer base, but what's going to least upset the President. Like no pride onesies, no rainbow onesies. So if they're focused on and all of that, then they're less folk. They're not optimizing on the right things, essentially. And it's not just, it's not just about corruption, to be clear. Like there are a whole bunch of other reasons why Trump has been a drag. It's also tariffs and sure, I was.
Sam Stein
Going to say, like, it's one thing, I mean, whatever, like Paramount putting whatever money they're putting into Russia for like, sure, it's not going to have like the most damaging economic consequences. They didn't develop a better movie that could have attracted more audience. It's another thing when you have companies that have to do a bunch of bullshit and jump through a bunch of hoops to avoid tariffs, right? And that actually could have real economic impacts. And you wrote about that too, where it's like companies basically spend a lot of time having to stock up inventory or hire lawyers or work lobbyists and things like that, when they could be actually doing more efficient stuff.
Kathryn Rampel
Your profit center, if you are a company, should never be the guy whose full time job is monitoring Trump's truth social feed. Right? And that's what this is. Rather than figuring out innovation and product Development and better marketing and all of that. The most profitable part of a company is instead the guy who's like looking at Trump tweets and trying to figure out, like, what's going to be tariff when.
Sam Stein
Yeah, in term one. And I remember reporting on this, one of the things, there's a version of this in term one where a lot of people were hiring lobbyists and media consultants in hopes of getting their pet issues on Fox and Friends or just getting a chyron because they knew Trump would be watching and they wanted to make sure that their causes were in front of the President. And that's just a remarkable, silly expense that you have to make when he's the president.
Kathryn Rampel
You just create these cottage industries that are essentially regulatory parasites or.
It'S not an efficient use of resources. I guess how I would think about it, like, if, if we are taught if this president allegedly wants freer markets and an economic boom, this is not how you get it by basically dragging down companies with. With a bunch of nonsense that is not optimizing. Like, actually a great example of both of these things that I'm talking about with wasting time on bullshit relating to sucking up to the President and wasting time on tariffs is Coca Cola.
Sam Stein
So, yeah, yeah. Wait, hold on. Before you get into it, because we're going to do this, I want to gamify this. I'm going to read the examples that you put in your piece and then you got to rate your favorite one. Okay, I'm just going to read them. Okay. So I think this is going to be a favorite one because you've been obsessing on this one. But FIFA is issuing its first annual Peace Prize that it's going to reward soon. We obviously have the World cup coming up in North America. The president of FIFA has said that Trump quote definitely deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. We're waiting to see who gets the first FIFA annual Peace Prize.
Kathryn Rampel
First annual, yes. I'm sure this was not just an ad hoc thing. They're gonna do it forever.
Sam Stein
We have Tim Cook Giving TRUMP His 24 karat gold glass, which was amazing. We had the Coca Cola Company, which you were just alluding to, bestowing upon Trump, the, quote, first ever presidential commemorative inaugural Diet Coke bottle. We know Trump loves Diet Coke. These are also good. It's like rating your favorite child. South Korea gave Trump a gold crown after a recent no Kings protest. That's a nice touch. The ceremony lunch included a capped off with a brownie adorned with gold. You were starting to get a theme here with the Gold. In Trump's honor, we have the Nixon foundation giving Trump the Architect of Peace award. Right around the time of the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded. The Swiss delegation giving him a Rolex desk clock as well as a 1 kg personalized gold bar. Oh, my God, so much gold. Trump has received Olympic medals, a luxury jet from Qatar, Egypt's Nile Collar, UAE's Order of Zed. I don't know what that is. An honorary silicone disc from Nvidia, and a McDonald's fry cook pin. All right, which one do you think was the best?
Kathryn Rampel
I love the Diet Coke example.
Sam Stein
Oh, I thought you're going to go with FIFA. Oh, my God.
Kathryn Rampel
Oh, no, I love it. Well, look, we don't know for sure if Trump's going to get the FIFA prize, so I don't want to count my chickens. But the Diet Coke, I don't know. The Diet Coke one is just so funny to me because the White House was clearly very excited about this. They tweeted it out as, like, look at this amazing award that that Donald Trump got. Which is. It kind of reminds me of there's this Simpsons reference that I'm going to bungle, but it's like the Montgomery J. Burns Award for excellence in the field of excellence or something like that. It's like clearly a made up thing, and it's just there to suck up to the president, so he gets his, his Diet Coke award. Also, I'm a Diet Coke drinker, so maybe I'm just a little bit jealous. I know it's. It's bad, but I drink a lot of Diet Coke and I didn't get a personalized Diet Coke, so.
Sam Stein
Well, if the government relations arm of the Coca Cola company is watching this, your next award should go to Catherine. All right, I asked you up front, like, you, you're the leader of a country. You got to suck up to Trump. What are you giving him?
Kathryn Rampel
I think a gilded Big Mac.
Sam Stein
That's pretty good.
Kathryn Rampel
Yeah. It's just.
Sam Stein
I was gonna go bigger, though. I think you got to find a golf course and you got to spruce it up and you got to, like, be like, I bestow upon you a golf course because he loves.
Kathryn Rampel
But they're already doing that.
Sam Stein
Who is?
Kathryn Rampel
I don't know. He's. He's developing golf courses.
Sam Stein
He's the other man's business. But if you had like a. I don't know or some. Yeah, whatever. I think he's. I mean, he's being.
Kathryn Rampel
He's being given golf courses already. I think this is less innovative than innovative than you realize. You know, he's being given these things. He's been being given all sorts of opportunities to develop Trump branded properties.
Sam Stein
Fair enough. Well, how about this for those who are watching? For those who are watching this in the comments section, offer your suggestions about what a good bribery gift is for Trump if you had to, and we will try to pull out the best ones for consumption. All right, Catherine, thanks so much. I hope this experience wasn't too horrible for you, being on a take with me. I know.
Rocket Money Advertiser
Not at all.
Kathryn Rampel
Not at all.
Sam Stein
We'll do it again. All right, everyone, subscribe to our feed, subscribe to Katherine's newsletter, and we will talk again soon.
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Sam Stein
Okay, it's kind of embarrassing how bad I am at budgeting.
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Sam Stein
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Sam Stein
I can't cook. You know this.
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Sam Stein
Okay, okay.
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Sam Stein
All right, I'm in. What do I have to do?
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BJ's Wholesale Club Advertiser
Cyber week deals at BJ's Wholesale Club are so great, we called in the North Pole's top IT expert to tell you about them. Al the IT elf here. This time of year, I'm asking everyone two things. Have you tried rebooting? And have you seen BJ's Cyber Week savings through December 7th, get a $20 digital coupon when you spend 200 plus through December 4th, get up to 40% off TVs, tech and appliances. And, like remembering your password, remember that these deals are only on BJ's.com or the BJ's app. Visit BJ's.com cyberweek for holiday savings.
Podcast: Bulwark Takes
Date: December 3, 2025
Host: Sam Stein
Guest: Kathryn Rampel
In this sharply satirical and insightful episode, Sam Stein (Managing Editor at The Bulwark) joins forces with columnist Kathryn Rampel to discuss her latest newsletter "Receipts," focusing on the sprawling—and at times bizarre—network of corporate and international efforts to curry favor with President Donald Trump. The episode dissects how big business and foreign leaders offer gifts, invest in dubious projects (like "Rush Hour 4"), or make strategic donations, all aimed at appeasing Trump for political and economic advantage. The conversation also explores the broader consequences for the U.S. economy and corporate behavior, filled with memorable real-world examples, irreverent banter, and a tongue-in-cheek "best bribe" competition.
[01:30-02:24]
"This one was kind of funny because ... you've been storing up a lot of data points for this and it was about, I don't know, how do you describe it? Like weird bribery efforts to get on Trump's good side." —Sam Stein [01:59]
[02:24-04:22]
"This is another case of someone who has clear interest before the government doing things, making strategic investments that he or she knows will, you know, go a long way towards appeasing the president." —Sam Stein [04:08]
[04:24-07:09]
Discussion of why the long-dormant "Rush Hour 4" movie is being made: not because of audience demand, but reportedly because Trump wants it.
Issues cited: genre's dated humor, actors' waning careers, director's #MeToo scandal, studio mergers.
Trump's personal interests are so influential that studios are "bribing" him by producing his favored content in hope of favorable regulatory treatment.
"If you are Paramount, you have tens of billions of dollars potentially on the line in this proposed merger... it's pocket change to make $100 million film... even if nobody watches it, even if you lose all that money." —Kathryn Rampel [06:35]
Notable Comparison: Netflix faces regulatory skepticism while Paramount (after "Rush Hour 4" offer) is seemingly favored by the administration.
[07:45-12:19]
Rampel connects the phenomenon to larger economic theory: corruption and the degradation of rule of law undermine business innovation and societal growth.
She references the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics, awarded for research on how institutional quality and corruption affect economic performance.
Quotes & Insights:
"When you have degradation of rule of law, when you have more corruption, you end up with worse economic outcomes. And that's because like, businesses are no longer businessing, right? They are focused on what appeases the political powers..." —Kathryn Rampel [09:53]
Real-World Effect: Companies focus on appeasing Trump, not on better products or services.
Example: Target adjusts inventory not for customer satisfaction, but to avoid upsetting the administration.
[12:19-13:21]
Companies are devoting entire positions to monitoring Trump's social feeds and media for signals—shifting resources from innovation to political appeasement.
"Cottage industries" emerge to serve this new kind of corporate strategy.
Stein references how in Trump's previous term, organizations hired lobbyists solely to get on Fox News in hopes Trump would see them.
"Your profit center, if you are a company, should never be the guy whose full time job is monitoring Trump's truth social feed." —Kathryn Rampel [12:19]
[13:50-15:33]
"The Diet Coke one is just so funny to me because the White House was clearly very excited about this. They tweeted it out as, like, look at this amazing award that that Donald Trump got. ... It's just there to suck up to the president, so he gets his Diet Coke award." —Kathryn Rampel [15:37]
[16:27-17:21]
On the landscape of corporate appeasement:
"They're not even that subtle about... the fact that they will take these bribes." —Sam Stein [07:09]
On the inefficiency of this new normal:
"If this president allegedly wants freer markets and an economic boom, this is not how you get it by basically dragging down companies with... a bunch of nonsense..." —Kathryn Rampel [13:21]
On the satire of awards:
"There's this Simpsons reference that I'm going to bungle, but it's like the Montgomery J. Burns Award for excellence in the field of excellence... It's just there to suck up to the president." —Kathryn Rampel [15:37]
The discussion is irreverent, dryly humorous (“diet coke envy,” “Montgomery J. Burns Award”), and critical of both Trump’s transactional politics and the business world’s readiness to debase itself for regulatory favor. Throughout, both Stein and Rampel maintain a playful banter while delivering substantive insights.
This Bulwark Takes episode skewers the escalating arms race of bribery and flattery—public and private—that keeps the gears of Trump-era business (and pop culture) spinning. Rampel and Stein offer not just a roundup of absurd and revealing examples, but a deeper dive into how such behaviors erode institutional trust and economic productivity, delivered with sharp wit and a clear sense of alarm.
For listeners who missed it:
You'll come away amused, bemused, and perhaps a bit horrified by the new normal in American political-business relations—and you'll never look at a "personalized Diet Coke bottle" or a gilded Big Mac the same way again.