Bulwark Takes – "Trump Turns the NBA Scandal Into a Delusional Rant"

Podcast: Bulwark Takes
Date: October 28, 2025
Hosts: Tim Miller and Jonathan V. Last (JVL)
Theme: The episode centers on former President Donald Trump’s reaction to the NBA gambling scandal and how he uses the incident to reassert his baseless claims about the 2020 election. The hosts discuss the delusional logic behind Trump's response, the implications for American democracy, and the ongoing dangers posed by his rhetoric as future elections approach.

Episode Overview

The Bulwark team, primarily Tim Miller and Jonathan V. Last, use the day’s NBA betting scandal as a lens to analyze the ongoing threats posed by Donald Trump’s behavior and rhetoric. Trump’s response to the NBA scandal spins sharply toward his grievance about the "stolen" 2020 election, illustrating his habit of making virtually any news story about himself and his claims of victimhood. The hosts dissect both the absurd and serious dangers posed by this behavior—especially as Trump pushes for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to pursue imaginary election crimes with renewed vigor.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Trump’s Reaction to the NBA Scandal

• Trump twists the NBA scandal to fit his election grievance:
  • Tim Miller reads out Trump’s statement, which leaps from NBA players cheating to broad, racially-tinged insinuations of further crime, and then quickly to Democrats supposedly rigging elections.
  • Tim Miller [02:13]: "He had a take on this... but it was a little strange…it didn't seem like he was weighing in on the merits of what Terry Rozier was up to. He writes this... Black people must probably be doing. Other crimes we don't really know, but we can just assume there are other crimes happening."
  • JVL notes the racially loaded rhetoric: JVL [02:33]: "Wouldn't say that about golfers, would he?"

2. Trump’s Ongoing Obsession with 2020

• Trump continues to cast the 2020 election as the “biggest scandal in American history” and urges the DOJ to prioritize investigations into this supposed crime over real-world issues.
• Tim Miller [02:35]: "Shouldn't you be focused on the biggest crime in history? When we pretended that I had lost the 2020 election?"

3. The Absurdities and Risks of This Behavior

• Veep vs. Autocrat:
  The hosts draw a distinction between the absurd, TV-skit element of Trump’s autocracy attempts and the real-world dangers it can pose.
  • Tim Miller [09:27]: "It's kind of porous between these two buckets... you have the, like, absurd veep side of Trump's attempt to become an autocrat. And then you have, like, the scary, like, real threats."
  • JVL elaborates that most totalitarian regimes are both figures of fun and objects of fear (JVL [10:41]): "If you look at totalitarian regimes throughout all of modern history, almost all of them are a combination of veep plus Stalin, right? Even Stalin was a combination of Veep plus Stalin."

4. Limits of Corruption and Prosecutorial Power

• The criminal justice system, despite its vulnerabilities, remains difficult to fully corrupt.

  • JVL [05:10]: "The criminal justice system is probably the least subject to total corruption... at the end of the day, they do have to get, like, 12 normal Americans to sit together on a—"
  • Tim Miller [06:08]: "They haven't really shown that they have, like, the balls for a just full effort to... totally co-opt the criminal justice system."

• A genuine criminal enterprise would be required:
  Yet, as the hosts note, Trump has never quite attracted a true “mob” of loyal lieutenants needed for total autocracy.

  • Tim Miller [09:00]: "You need a real criminal enterprise. You need the mob. You need to actual mob boss instead of, like, a pretend one that he's trying to—"

5. Setting the Stage for Future Election Chaos

• The hosts warn that Trump is already laying the groundwork for another "stop the steal" narrative for the next election cycle, specifically referencing claims about upcoming California ballot measures.
  • Tim Miller [13:49]: "He's already out there saying... the California prop vote is going to be... dishonest, millions of ballots being shipped."
• They speculate what could happen if state or federal officials refuse to certify elections or seat members of Congress—moving from the hypothetical to very real concerns about American political stability.

6. Mental Fitness and the Normalization of Delusion

• Tim Miller delivers a pointed critique of Trump’s mental fitness, stressing how abnormal his public behavior has become—even if the public is getting used to it.

  • Tim Miller [11:45]: "This person, the president, is mentally unwell... it is an unstable mind."

• JVL concludes on the dangers of everyone underestimating the seriousness of Trump's blend of clownishness and threat:

  • JVL [11:22]: "Dictators are always half figure of fun and half serious. And that's part of what makes them successful... and I, that's, that's dangerous."

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Trump's deflection tactics:

  • Tim Miller [02:13]: “His take was a little bit of a kind of a right turn. It didn’t seem like he was weighing in on the merits of what Terry Rozier was up to. He writes this... Black people must probably be doing. Other crimes we don't really know, but we can just assume there are other crimes happening.”

• On the consequences of taking Trump literally:

  • JVL [04:17]: “If the 2020 election was stolen, then it means we had an illegitimate president for four years and we were living under a coup. Right. I mean, this would be like the biggest story in Western civilization following World War II.”
  • Tim Miller [04:43]: “I thought this was the biggest scandal in American history. The election was stolen from Donald Trump. He has now all of the power and resources of the government at his hands. Shouldn't they be using that to go after the perpetrators... the President now is just expressly advocating that his DOJ does look into this.”

• On the resilience of the justice system:

  • JVL [05:10]: "The criminal justice system is probably the least subject to total corruption... at the end of the day, they do have to get like 12 normal Americans to sit together on a [jury]."

• On the dangers of clownish autocracy:

  • JVL [10:41]: “If you look at totalitarian regimes throughout all of modern history, almost all of them are a combination of Veep plus Stalin... That’s dangerous.”

• On the normalization of Trump's instability:

  • Tim Miller [11:45]: “This person, the president, is mentally unwell... the idea that the President of the United States would watch the news story about... NBA players... and then deciding not to play their good players. Serious stuff... [but] the response to that is, I'm sorry, shouldn't my FBI director be focusing on the... imaginary crimes that happened to me instead? Like that is deranged. It's a delusional response.”

• On the lasting threat:

  • JVL [13:04]: “What's dangerous is that he is also projecting forward to... the 2026 elections. And he has said pretty clearly... What happened in 2020 must never be allowed to happen again. What does that mean?”

Important Timestamps

• 01:00 – Start of substantive discussion – Trump’s response to the NBA scandal
• 02:13 – Reading and deconstructing Trump’s statement
• 04:17 – Consequences if Trump’s claims are taken literally
• 05:10 – Limits and resilience of the criminal justice system
• 09:27 – “Veep” side vs. real threat of Trump’s autocracy attempts
• 10:41 – Dangers of combining buffoonery and menace in autocrats
• 11:45 – Miller's explicit statement on Trump’s mental instability
• 13:04 – Projecting the danger ahead to future elections

Tone and Style

The hosts alternate between wry humor, resigned irony, and clear-eyed alarm. They keep a conversational, analytical style, using specific examples and occasional self-deprecating asides to keep the discussion lively yet serious.

Final Notes

• The episode concludes on a somber yet mordant note, with Tim Miller finding comic relief in NBA star Nikola Jokic's “ethical basketball” and JVL wishing America good luck as the political situation hurtles toward further uncertainty.
  • Tim Miller [15:04]: "Well, uplifting as usual, JVL... at least we have Jokic, who will be playing tonight. We know he doesn't cheat—ethical basketball only from Nikola Jokic…"
  • JVL [15:22]: "Yeah, good luck, America."

For listeners who missed it:
This episode deciphers not just Trump’s latest outburst, but what his continued focus on imaginary grievances portends for the American system as real future crises approach. It's a blend of dry humor and direct warning—delivering a clear-eyed perspective on the risks of both not taking Trump seriously enough, and the dangers of getting too accustomed to his abnormal behavior.