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Sam Stein
Everyone, it's me, Sam Stein, managing editor at the Bulwark, and I am joined by Mona Charan, who for today is Judge Mona Charan.
Mona Charan
That's right.
Sam Stein
Let's see the gavel, please. It's too small. We needed a bigger one. Whatever.
Mona Charan
We need more Bulwark subscribers so we can get a bigger gavel for next year.
Sam Stein
We should run it. We should run a subscription plea that says, buy us a bigger gavel. Mona is dressed like this because we here at the Bulwark believe in accountability more than anything else, honestly. And at the end of last year, we went through the staff, had them make a series of predictions about what would happen in the year 2025. And now we're going to look back at those predictions and make assessments about who was right, who was omniscient, and who was terribly wrong. And Mona's gonna be the judge and the jury. Fair enough.
Mona Charan
This should always be the way of the world. I should always be judging.
Sam Stein
I feel like we already have that. You don't need to wear this costume.
Mona Charan
You.
Sam Stein
You already judging me.
Mona Charan
But besides, I want to thank Renita for. For giving me the costume.
Sam Stein
It's really good. All right, so let's get right into it. We're gonna go through these. We're gonna play videos again. These were done in December of 2024. There's 10 of them. We're going to play them one at a time, and then Mona's going to deliver a verdict. And I'm going to say if I agree or disagree with Mona's harsh sentences, sentencing. All right, let's start. This is at random. Here we go.
Various Prediction Contributors
My dark horse prediction for 2025 is that Donald Trump has a health event. And I think that this is inevitable based on the actuarial tables to happen during his presidency, because, you know, Donald Trump's machismo and his strength is such an important part of his political brand. This was always, I think, a vulnerability of his in this campaign because we live in the darkest timeline. We did not end up in a situation where his fragility as an elderly man came to the fore.
Sam Stein
Okay. Okay, Mona, what's your verdict?
Mona Charan
I would give him half. Half a point. Half a point because.
Sam Stein
Sorry, how many. How many points can one get? Let's just set the standards here. Oh, only one.
Mona Charan
Good point. Yeah. Five. Five is the max.
Sam Stein
Okay, so he gets 05.
Mona Charan
He gets 05 because Trump did not have a health event. But he is. He is declining noticeably. His health is declining. That's clear. He's got those things on his hands. He's stumbling a bit. And he's falling asleep.
Sam Stein
He's falling asleep.
Mona Charan
He's. Yeah, but that's not a health event, so I'm giving it half a point. I have rolled. Bang.
Sam Stein
I would give Tim at least one point, but that's my. I think the. The hand stuff is there's something up there. And there's all this question about why he had an mri. They're not really being forthcoming about it. We don't know. And because it's so clouded in uncertainty, I feel like that deserves at least one point. So we have a little bit of a disagreement. Okay.
Mona Charan
Okay.
Sam Stein
Fair enough. Let's play clip number two.
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So my dark horse prediction for 2025 is that Donald Trump is going to pardon New York Mayor Eric Adams. Why would Donald Trump pardon a Democrat? The reason is Donald Trump is not fundamentally a Republican. Donald Trump is fundamentally a criminal. And so he loves criminals, like white collar criminals. Like himself, he hates the deep state, the weaponized law enforcement. So he sympathizes with guys who have.
Sam Stein
Been convicted by law enforcement, by the justice system. All right, Mona, what do we get?
Mona Charan
Five points.
Sam Stein
No, no, no. He did not get a pardon. Adams did not get a pardon. He got his case dismissed. No power.
Mona Charan
Oh, that's right. That's right. Oh, that's such a good. That's right. I had forgotten that.
Sam Stein
Still revise. You're giving me a five.
Mona Charan
I'm still giving him a five because it amounts to the same thing. And Will's prediction was so specific, and the rationale that he gave was spot on. So I am giving this a 5. And by the way, nobody else in our crew got a five.
Sam Stein
This is outrageous grading. Will didn't even get it right. You're giving him a five. He came close to getting it right. I guess he maybe add a point for the beard. So.
Mona Charan
No, I'm adding a point for the fact that he has my book behind his shoulder.
Sam Stein
Hold on one second. I have.
Mona Charan
See, this is the problem with the judicial system. You never know what biases the judge might have.
Sam Stein
I have your books somewhere here. I know I have it. I'm gonna find it. I definitely have it around here. Okay, fair enough. If. If that's all it takes, I'm gonna find that book.
Mona Charan
There you go.
Various Prediction Contributors
All right.
Sam Stein
If that's what it takes, then fine. He gets a five. All right, let's play clip three.
Various Prediction Contributors
My dark horse prediction for 2025 is that we are going to see a lot more MAGA infighting than. Than certainly we saw in the first term and maybe even than people are expecting right now.
Mona Charan
I mean, mean, I. I actually had forgotten about Egger. So he also gets a five.
Sam Stein
That was.
Mona Charan
That was good.
Sam Stein
Yeah.
Mona Charan
Agree.
Sam Stein
Oh, yeah. No, completely spot. I mean, not. Not exactly the craziest prediction. He didn't really walk out on the. On that one, but I think the actual magnitude of the infighting is much bigger than I actually expected. So Edgar gets five on that one.
Mona Charan
Edgar gets five.
Sam Stein
And everyone knows I'm loath to give Edgar any credit whatsoever. So this is a real five. All right, let's play the next. My prediction for 2025 is that two members of Congress will get into a physical altercation that goes beyond what we've seen in the past couple years. I think this will happen or has a high likelihood of happening, because if you recall, when the 118th Congress started.
Various Prediction Contributors
There was a dust up on the floor. Mike Rogers rushed at Matt Gaetz during the fight over the speakership and he.
Sam Stein
Had to be held back. Okay. I don't know.
Mona Charan
Imaginative, Colorful.
Various Prediction Contributors
Sure.
Sam Stein
Yeah.
Mona Charan
And wrong. Zero points.
Sam Stein
Zero.
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Sam Stein
You didn't get that one. I wish he was right. Yeah. We have not seen a physical education yet. Give it time. Maybe it'll be in 2026. All right, next one.
Various Prediction Contributors
My dark horse prediction for 2025 is that next year we are going to see finally the popping of the AI bubble. So as Ed Zitron points out various installments of his excellent newsletter, AI companies have over promised and under delivered on the key capabilities.
Mona Charan
So what's your rating, Sam Stein?
Sam Stein
So I. It's obviously a zero because it didn't happen, but I think it's going to happen. Maybe. Yeah, it was just a little premature.
Mona Charan
Little premature, I think.
Sam Stein
Do we give any credit?
Mona Charan
Should we give him 0.5? No, I'm sorry. The prediction is just for 2025. So yeah, I'm afraid he gets a zero. But next year he'll be right.
Sam Stein
It was a very Martin prediction too. Some obscure newsletter that he's been reading and like, who is that? Okay, sounds right.
Mona Charan
Martin is very learned.
Sam Stein
Yes, quite. All right, next.
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Various Prediction Contributors
Now By Hope for McDelivery, I've got a downer prediction. I'm not sure how dark everybody else is getting here, but if JBL is on this video it's probably pretty dark. My prediction is that we're going a fairly nasty wave of social violence that we have not seen since the 1970s in this country. And I think it's a combination of social media bringing people together and really, you know, the reaction to the killing of the United Healthcare CEO has been pretty disturbing to me. And I think it's probably not a great thing that the killer is being lionized in certain small but still very vocal circles.
Sam Stein
All right, okay.
Mona Charan
So I 100% agree with Sonny about the disturbing reaction to the United Healthcare guys execution.
Sam Stein
Oh yeah.
Mona Charan
But I still have to give it just maybe a point and a half because there has been no. He talked about a wave of social violence. Compared it to what happened in the 70s. He was thinking of riots and huge kinds of things thing and, and we have had political violence, there's no question. And we had the murder of Charlie Kirk, but I don't think that's what he was talking about. So that's why I say a point and a half.
Sam Stein
I would go with two and a half to three. And it's weird to talk about this on a grave because it's so dark, but I think we're at, we're like at a place where it feels like obviously incredibly more tense. There is statistically more political violence and then you can combine it I think with the immigration raid stuff and you get to this place where there's real friction in the air and often violent confrontation. And I think that's sort of what Sonny was going to ask. I'm going to give him a two and a half to three.
Mona Charan
Okay. At the risk of being serious here for a second and what is clearly a light hearted video, I just have to say Sam, that if there wasn't an outbreak of widespread violence following Charlie Kirk's murder that suggests that there is isn't as much of an appetite out there, that there isn't as much dry tinder as we might have feared because that was really the sort of thing that in a different environment you could imagine igniting terrible violence. And it didn't. Which I think is a really good sign.
Sam Stein
Okay, I'll take it. I appreciate that. Hadn't thought of it that way. But you're Right. Okay, next video. Let's keep rolling.
Various Prediction Contributors
In 2025, I think it's going to become more clear to everybody that Mark Cuban is going to be running for president. I think it's pretty clear that Mark Cuban is the best answer to Trump. He is a pro democracy populist. He was vigorously anti Trump over the course of the last four years. And like Trump, he comes with all sorts of built in cultural memory.
Sam Stein
All right, Judge Mona.
Mona Charan
Well, it could be like Martin, that he's just premature in this prediction, but I have to say that is a zero.
Sam Stein
I'll be generous and give him a point five because maybe there's something there still, but I don't feel I'm just going to be nice and give him a point five. I'm, I'm like Harvard. I'm in. Great inflation.
Mona Charan
Yeah, Great inflation.
Sam Stein
All right, here we go. Next.
Mona Charan
Okay. My prediction is that there will be a, a minimum of three different Republican House speakers. I think Johnson gets ousted early by President Elon being annoyed that Johnson wants to keep the government going and we end up going through multiple cycles.
Sam Stein
Let's just stop there. Oh, my God.
Mona Charan
So I'm tempted to do my Sarah.
Sam Stein
Imitation, which is, can we go negative?
Mona Charan
Okay, okay. Sarah Longwell gets a big fat zero. Now points for. We gotta imagination.
Sam Stein
We got Docker points. Oh, my God, So wrong.
Mona Charan
That was really, really wrong. Actually, we cut it off. But she even went on to say that one of the three speakers was going to be somebody from outside the Congress itself because, you know, they're allowed to do that. Somebody, she said, like Vivek Ramaswamy. So she, yeah, she, she was very bold as Sarah is, but zero.
Sam Stein
I admire the boldness. A little bit disconcerting that her and JVL in our flagship commentary are completely off on this stuff, but we'll put that aside. All right, who's next?
Mona Charan
My 2025 prediction is don't get too comfortable with all of these cabinet choices that Trump has made because there are going to be firings and there are going to be resignations before the end of the year. Trump is sort of like our Hugo Chavez. Chavez was the strongman leader of Venezuela. Okay, cut her.
Sam Stein
We can cut off. Hold on, I'm looking up. I want to look this up. Matt Gates with. Oh, this is. Well, he withdrew in November 2024. So we had passed that point. Okay.
Mona Charan
Yep. So.
Sam Stein
All right.
Mona Charan
I don't know who that person is. Yeah, fat zero.
Sam Stein
That's a zero. I, I will say that was an easy. I would have said the exact same thing. It would have been a simple guess. And yet.
Mona Charan
Yep, here we are. So wrong. Yeah.
Sam Stein
Has there been a single one? I mean, who was the guy who was reassigned to UN Ambassador? Was he.
Mona Charan
Well, yeah, and he did reassign, you know, Elise Stefanik, but, you know.
Sam Stein
Well, she wasn't reassigned. She was just told to withdraw. Yeah. There's really. Has not been any fire.
Mona Charan
No, no, they decided. They made it. They. They made a decision. They weren't going to have heads roll like the first term. So I was wrong.
Sam Stein
All right, well, I'm going to give you. I'm. Look, I'm giving you five points just because I want to. I want goodwill with the judge for when I come up. Okay.
Mona Charan
Very smart. Yeah.
Sam Stein
Let's go. Next. I predict the government will shut down again. Not going on much in a limb here. Tightly divided. House Trump shut down the government when he was president first time, but I think this time around, it's going to be over something crazy and weird like, you know, we're funding too much, you know, biomedical research or something like that, and everyone's like, why would you shut down the government over this? And Trump will, you know, have some excuse, and we will be in it for quite a bit of time because right now, no one really seems to be all that committed to keeping the government open on the certain side of the aisle. Mona, would you like me to give you some lotto numbers as well? Am I. Am I omniscient? Do I. Do I predict the future or what? I know you're about to dock me. I know you're about to dock me, but go.
Mona Charan
Are you. Are you straining yourself, patting yourself on the back there? Well done. Yeah. So, yeah, no, here's the thing. Okay.
Sam Stein
Bring it.
Mona Charan
I give you a one and a half to. I give you two points on this one. Two points. Two points. Here's why.
Sam Stein
2.5. Oh, my.
Mona Charan
Here's why.
Sam Stein
Oh, sorry, I have my gavel, your eminence. Go ahead.
Mona Charan
So, not a bold prediction to predict, as you said yourself, you know, to predict government shutdown, but you did not predict that it was going to be the Democrats who would be taking the lead.
Sam Stein
That's fine.
Mona Charan
But the reason I gave you two points is that you very perspicaciously predicted that there was going to be something about cutting back on medical research, which, honestly, they did do with Doge and all that, and you saw that coming. So I give that the two points for your answer. But there you are.
Sam Stein
I know it's funny to think about it. Because at the time Doge hadn't come into effect and there was no NIH cuts or anything like that. So I will give myself some credit for that. You are right. I did get the instigator wrong. I was right on how long. I said it was going to be very long when it was the longest ever.
Mona Charan
You were right about that.
Sam Stein
So in some ways I get a five. I give myself a five. I will give.
Various Prediction Contributors
Yeah.
Mona Charan
I would never in a million years have predicted that it was going to be the Democrats who would do it. I mean, that didn't become clear until much later.
Sam Stein
Yeah. And yeah, that's a good point. I would not have predicted it. But yeah, okay. All right. I'm really excited to see. That was our last one. I'm really excited to see the staff's 2026 predictions. I already put mine in. I'm not going to spoil it. People can watch that video. But we're going to have to do this again a year from now.
Mona Charan
All right.
Sam Stein
Keep the judge's costume.
Mona Charan
Keep the gavel costume.
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Sam Stein
All right, Mona, chair, thank you so much for doing this. I appreciate it.
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Date: December 25, 2025
Host: Sam Stein
Guest/Judge: Mona Charen
Special Features: Celebrity predictions from the Bulwark staff
This festive episode of Bulwark Takes brings an annual tradition to the forefront: reviewing last year's hot political predictions from the staff, and putting each one "on trial." Managing Editor Sam Stein is joined by Mona Charen, embracing her role (with full judicial regalia) as judge and jury over the staff’s prognostications for 2025. Together, they assess which predictions were visionary, which proved wildly off-base, and where credit is due—even when it’s awarded on dubious grounds.
The entire episode is marked by witty camaraderie, inside jokes, and wry skepticism. Even as the team grapples with dire topics like political violence or government dysfunction, the tone remains brisk and self-effacing. Mona’s mock judicial authority, Sam’s irreverent self-promotion, and their willingness to embrace wrongness make the episode equal parts insightful and entertaining.
The Bulwark’s prediction review is a lively, good-natured exercise in accountability, humility, and occasional self-congratulation. Few predictions were spot-on; most were proven partially or wholly wrong, but the exercise gives listeners both a snapshot of just how unpredictable the American political landscape remains—and a reminder to never take punditry, or oneself, too seriously.