Loading summary
Transcript39 lines
- [00:00]
A
Hey, everybody. Tim Miller from the Bulwark here with my buddy, managing editor Sam Stein. It is Monday, June 23, and Trump woke up this morning and he's been bleeding. He's been just posting shit. Posting onto social media across a variety of topics. And so we want to cover them because some of them are silly and mockable and other one. Others are a little scary, which is kind of the general Trump. Ooh, I guess. So, Sam, I want to start with the oil prices topic, if that works for you.
- [00:29]
B
It's not my favorite of the bleats, but this is your. This is your show. Go for it.
- [00:33]
A
My YouTube. Okay. All right, we'll start. We'll do what I want then. And do you mind, I guess, before we get to this, do you mind your Truth Social? Like, do you have Trump's True Social on your phone or.
- [00:44]
B
No, I do not. But I do not. But it's become. So there's accounts on Twitter that I do monitor that, like sort of auto generate the bleeds, but I can. I don't. I don't have time for another screen and social platform. I'm actually kind of impressed he stuck with it. I thought for sure he would give up, because who the hell's going.
- [01:03]
A
It's like a Potemkin business that's worth hundreds of millions. And so if he got off of it, then might hurt Barons, you know?
- [01:13]
B
Yeah, but do you think people are like, sir, you've gotten. You've gotten like 500,000 re on this. Does he know that no one's there? Do you think he knows?
- [01:24]
A
I don't know. That is one part I don't care about. Okay, here we go. Here's the latest. He did two back to back on energy. First one, all caps, everyone. Keep oil prices down. I'm watching. You're playing right into the hands of the enemy. Don't do it. Okay, follow up to the Department of Energy Drill, baby drill, exclamation point. And I mean now. So there are a couple of issues here before I get to your response, just a few fact checks, if you will. A few concerning issues. For starters, you might wonder, why wouldn't the President of the United States just call or issue a memorandum to one of his departments with regards to energy production? Do a more formal process. That's something to think about. Why would he do it via Truth Social that nobody's watching? A secondary and maybe even more important problem is that the Department of Energy has no purview over drilling. That would be the Bureau of Land Management, which is under the Department of the Interior.
- [02:21]
B
I thought we learned that.
- [02:22]
A
Something you should know in your second round as president. I know the first time everybody's like, he's learning on the job. All these elitist libs are fact checking him. He doesn't. He was a businessman. This is his second time, though. You think he would know who's doing the drilling?
- [02:35]
B
And I thought we learned that when, when Rick Perry discovered that he had to deal with nukes. And he was like, oh, oh, wait a second. This isn't just drilling.
- [02:44]
A
What I thought when you made me Department of Energy, I was in charge of the Permian Basin and Texas.
- [02:50]
B
Like, no want that liquid gold. What are the scientists talking about?
- [02:55]
A
I guess just it's slightly concerning that the President doesn't know anything about what he's.
- [02:59]
B
Then the secretary responded, he's like, I'm on it, sir. What are you doing? He responded, not on truth. You responded on Twitter. But go ahead.
- [03:10]
A
Yeah, it's really hard to, to just believe that this is what we have to deal with.
- [03:14]
B
Hey guys, it's summertime and we're all getting out and enjoying ourselves a little bit more. But if you're like me, you don't want to be drinking your calories or waking up with a hangover. And that is especially true because I've got to get up the next day and deal with my kids. I love them, I love them, I love my kids. But I also want to be perfect for our bulwark takes. So that's why I've been reaching out for souls and out of office gummies instead. They're the perfect little lift to keep the good vibes going and they give me that kind of light social buzz, but without the hangover. Sol is a wellness brand that believes feeling good should be fun and easy. Sol specializes in delicious hemp derived THC and CBD products that are designed to boost your mood and help you unwind. Their bestselling out of office gummies were designed to provide a mild, relaxing buzz, Also to enhance your creativity and frankly, to give you a little relaxation. The out of office gummies come in four different strengths so you can find the perfect dose that matches your vibe. You can choose from a gentle microdose, a perfect buzz, a noticeable high, or a fully lit experience, which we call the Tim Miller Special. Sol has so many other amazing wellness products with or without thc, including a variety of gummies and capsules that can improve your sleep, help you with your stress, alleviate some pain, or just help you focus. So bring on the good vibes and treat yourself to Seoul today. Right now, Seoul is offering our audience 30% off your entire order. Yeah, you heard that right. You're not high on Soul's gummies right now. 30% off your entire order. Go to get soul.com. use the code bulwark takes. That's get sold.com promo code bulwark takes for 30% off. You'll love it.
- [04:59]
A
And I guess I would just also say as a capitalist, is the, you know, house capitalists here one of, one of a couple. This isn't how the oil markets work. You know, you can't, the president can't just be like, keep the prices down. You know, it's a global market. There's supply and demand in effect. You know, we're not a state run economy anyway. So like there are a lot, I guess there are a lot of just substantive issues that it's worth, worth pointing out. I guess there's a political question I'm curious. Your take on is he does seem to be worried about this. It seems among his and maybe even a greater concern than like the lives of our troops and, and such in the Middle East. He's concerned about his, the political impact of, of increased prices with.
- [05:41]
B
Oh yeah. Well, I mean this seems very unbrand for Trump to be concerned about like oil prices and not like, you know, geopolitical fallout and stuff like that. But it does strike me that this is a concern. It was such an obvious thing that was gonna happen if he did this. And so, you know, who knows what's going through his head. I, my assumption is he saw some sort of segment on Fox and Friends and was like, you know, straight of our moves. What is, what is that? And they're, they're turning around these carriers and we gotta go. And, and, but there's like a larger thing here. I kind of, kind of glossed over it at the top.
- [06:14]
A
Chili come from the Strait of Hormuz.
- [06:17]
B
I, I do think there's something, I know we're, we're making fun of truth social, but there is inherently corrupt about it. He owns the platform and he's announcing like that we're bombing Iran on the platform. And like this is there, there, there's a clear conflict here where he's trying to draw, he's trying to use this platform that he owns to be the megaphone of the presidency and directing cabinet officials to do official business through this platform that he owns. I mean it's like not top 20 concerns, but it should be a concern probably.
- [06:48]
A
Yeah, we Made Jimmy Cotter sell's peanut farm.
- [06:50]
B
Exactly. It's one of those things, like, what, are we just gonna ignore this? I suppose, because there's so much.
- [06:55]
A
Yeah, he's corrupt. I thank you for raising that, Sam. All right, I wanna move to what I think is your favorite bleat from the morning. Yes, I'm gonna read it.
- [07:03]
B
Okay.
- [07:03]
A
Did I hear former President Medvedev from Russia casually throwing around the N word? I'm gonna stop there. He's feeling very clever with this.
- [07:13]
B
Very funny.
- [07:13]
A
Then he puts in parentheses nuclear exclamation point and saying that he and other countries would supply nuclear warheads to Iran. Did he really say that, or is it just a figment of my imagination? He posted it on social media. This whole thing is just hearing here. It was a social media post from Medvedev. Anyway, if he did say that and confirm, please let me know immediately. Well, here. Here we are, Mr. President. I'm letting you know that it did happen. And he then goes on the N word. Funny. This is a long post.
- [07:43]
B
Just to be clear. People should buckle in here.
- [07:45]
A
Yeah, the N word should not be treated so casually. I mean, I just. I can't with this. But he goes on. I guess that's why. Putin's quote, the boss. Whose boss? Trump's, maybe. By the way, if anyone thinks our quote, hardware was great over the week, so many quoted words, far and away, Far and away. The strongest and best equipment we have, 20 years advanced over the pack, is our nuclear submarines. Now, we get concerning here. They are the most powerful and lethal weapons ever built. He's referring to our nuclear submarines there. And they just launched 30 tomahawks. All 30 hit their mark perfectly. So in addition to great fighter pilots. Thank you, Crypto and crew. Sam, what do you make out of all that?
- [08:28]
B
The journey? Oh, you kind of took a few points here that I was going to make, which is one medieval. I've never made this point verbally. It was a post again, I think he's just watching Fox and Friends and he saw someone read the post. He's like, did I hear that correctly? And then it just like, it's like one of these journeys that goes from being, like, stupid and. And like, you can tell Trump's trying to be funny to like, oh, this is. Actually, it's getting a little. Little concerning. Threatening.
- [08:52]
A
Which part is concerning for you in particular?
- [08:54]
B
Well, I think the part where he's talking about the nuclear submarines and he's directing this at Russia, and I feel like we're back in The Cold War era, that's concerning. But this is clear. This is Trump, right? He did the same thing to North Korea and he's done the same thing to your Iran. It's all fun and games until, you know, someone hits the button.
- [09:12]
A
Until someone calls us bluff, right? And so Bill and I sort of arguing, not really arguing, a friendly disagreement over his views on the Iran attack versus mine. And one of the concerns I raised with Bill was like, we get that. You get, you can get down an escalatory pipeline in these things where it's just like hubris and machismo take over. And we're like, Trump might not have ever really had any interest in using a nuclear submarine. Like, all of a sudden he feels backed into a corner because we bombed Iran and then Iran did something to us, and then Russia does something to so and so, and then Trump feels like he can't seem weak and next thing you know, like he's doing something that wasn't part of the plan, but just because he's in a fucking small dick contest with the other countries. Is that the likely outcome of all this? I don't think so. Is that like a legitimate risk right now? That's greater than it was some 72 hours ago, I think. Yeah.
- [10:05]
B
Oh, 100. First of all, it's funny, I was just saying this on another call, but, you know, HuffPost Sam from 2006, if you ever told him, he'd be editing Bill Crystal's pro war, pro Iran war diatribes and morning shots. I don't know. Might have to.
- [10:21]
A
Welcome aboard.
- [10:22]
B
Yeah, this is out of body for me, but secondly, and I, you know, I, I, I joke, but I think it's, it's healthy to have like a large, you know, internal debates around these things, and I'm glad that we have them here. I, I take your point very seriously. I also think the other thing to look out for is that, you know, Trump's the type of guy that strikes me that if he has success and in certain, you know, foreign policy ventures, that he assumes that he'll never not have success. And so, you know, Soleimani Takeout was a success. You know, on a, on a tactical level, what happened on Saturday was a success. The fact that, you know, he got, you know, North Korea to back down or play footsie with him and be nice, I guess, was a success in his mind. But then you start, you know, doing stuff like this and look, I'm not saying they were a success. I'm saying he internalizes as all successes and at some point, you know, things won't go well. And that's just how it works. And I, I, I, you know, I, I don't like the escalatory nature of these things. I think your point is exceptionally valid. Which is a tit for tat ends up being a tit for tat. And the tats get bigger, and then tits gotta get bigger. Did I just say that?
- [11:30]
A
Let's delete that a. Jamie. Yeah, we'll leave it in. We'll leave it in. It's fine. You're wearing a pink shirt. So you're not very gay. You're, you know, we're, we're, we're changing so many ways, Sam. We're like. You're, you're editing girl.
- [11:41]
B
Only at the Bulwark do you get war. You know, pro war. Pro trans. We're gonna make Iran a trans utopia. That's what we're gonna do.
- [11:50]
A
Don't. Don't give a clip to the fucking people that hate us. Don't give Fox News a clip to use. All right, everybody, thanks so much. That's the managing editor, Sam Stein, who said all that stuff at the end that I don't endorse and subscribe to the feed. We'll be seeing you soon.