The Bulwark Podcast (Jan 13, 2026): "Susan Glasser and Jacob Soboroff: A Dangerous Lame Duck"

Overview

In this episode, host Tim Miller speaks with New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser and MSnow political reporter Jacob Soboroff. The discussions examine the dangers of Donald Trump’s second term—especially as his status as a “lame duck” ironically empowers more radical moves domestically and internationally. Glasser analyzes the enablers of Trump’s increasingly lawless exercise of power, foreign policy gambits such as the potential acquisition of Greenland, and the unraveling of the international order. Soboroff, joining in the second half, provides a frontline account of recent turmoil in Minneapolis and the national consequences of aggressive immigrant raids, drawing connections between disaster recovery, Trump-era policy, and the lived reality for vulnerable communities. The episode offers both big-picture political analysis and on-the-ground investigative reporting.

Segment 1: Susan Glasser on Trump’s "Golden Age of Awful"

1. Year One of Trump 2.0 and Widening Authoritarianism

Timestamp: 03:11–05:21

• Tim Miller: Opens by inviting Glasser to reflect on the first year of Trump’s comeback presidency, referencing her "Golden Age of Awful" piece.
• Susan Glasser:
  • “The power tripping is not subtle at this point...Trump, Stephen Miller, they're not hiding it anymore.” (03:11)
  • Trump’s breathtaking assertions of executive authority were anticipated, but what’s shocking is “the sheer range and number of people who are making this happen.”
  • It’s not just the Republican Party; enablers in academia, law, business, and the judiciary facilitated the crisis.

2. Enablers and Institutional Collapse

Timestamp: 05:21–07:29

• Complicity isn’t limited to obvious Trump loyalists (e.g. Marco Rubio); “civil society more broadly” has gone along with it.
• Glasser singles out prominent figures: “Yes, I'm talking about you, John Roberts, you are a handmaiden of this just as much as Mitch McConnell.”
• The recent challenge to Fed Chair Jerome Powell is emblematic: “It’s an attempt to weaponize the justice system against a political opponent here in a policy dispute.” (06:40, Glasser referencing Powell’s public statement)
• The lack of forceful business or Republican pushback demonstrates how thoroughly Trump commands the party.

3. The Myth of the “Lame Duck” and Escalating Danger

Timestamp: 08:34–10:49

• Glasser dismantles the notion that Trump’s lame duck status equals weakness: “What I'm focused on is the incredible danger of that moment because Trump is somebody who escalates...put him in a corner—tell him that his power is ebbing...the greatest danger of all might be Donald Trump, the lame duck who...isn't constrained by the need to win re-elect.” (09:30)
• Public and elite resilience to red lines has eroded—actions that would once be universally condemned now elicit muted responses: “A year and a half ago, if you said…would it be a red line if the president did a sham investigation of Jerome Powell…98% of people would have been like, that's past a red line.” (07:29)

Segment 2: Foreign Policy Adventurism – Venezuela, Greenland, and Megalomania

1. Trump’s Imperial Impulses

Timestamp: 10:49–14:30

• Tim raises Trump’s “interim leader of Venezuela” Wikipedia trolling and worries about a taste for “imperialist” actions.
• Glasser: The president’s international moves are “narcissistic unilateralism”—motivated by creating enemies and projecting personal power, not isolationism.
  • “Nothing like a short, victorious war to…swaddle yourself in…reflected glory.” (12:04)
  • “Donald Trump is strong with the weak and weak with the strong.” (French MEP quote via Glasser)

2. The Greenland Obsession

Timestamp: 14:30–23:20

• Tim probes whether the quest to acquire Greenland—a notion mocked during Trump’s first term—is real.
• Glasser recounts her 2021 exit interview with Trump where he said: “It’s not different really from a real estate deal...I looked at it on a map. It's massive. We've got to have it.”
• “Ownership is very important because that's what I feel is psychologically needed for success. That's what he said.” (20:16, Tim quoting Trump)
• The Greenland obsession is about personal immortality: “If he acquires Greenland, then every single map…has to be redone because of Donald Trump.” (20:22)
• Legally, Trump cannot acquire territory without Congress—but little attention is being paid to these constraints.

3. Risks of World Conflict and European Response

Timestamp: 23:20–29:12

• Trump is actively unraveling the international order: “The unraveling of the world order is not a byproduct of Trumpism, but he's now actively facilitating that unraveling.” (23:41)
• European allies are alarmed but have been slow to take action; their dependence on NATO and US military bases constrains them.
• “If Germany is forced to choose between Greenland and the future of NATO ... Germany’s not going to choose Greenland. And Donald Trump on some level knows this.” (27:09, Glasser citing a senior European official)
• On the absurd yet revealing “veepishness vs. menace” hybrid: “If you look back at the history of the 20th century…some of the…worst autocrats…were also cartoonish clowns.” (25:34)

4. Symbolic Authoritarianism

Timestamp: 29:12–33:06

• Discussion of Trump’s White House aesthetic—“gold doodads”, “Cheesecake Factory font"—as an extension of his ego.
• “He wants to rewrite the map. He wants to put his name on things.” (33:02)

Segment 3: Corruption and Geopolitical Entanglements

1. Personal Profit Meets National Security

Timestamp: 33:06–38:27

• Tim highlights the latest: Ron Lauder wins a lithium mining bid in Ukraine; Lauder is the old Trump friend who first planted the Greenland idea.
• Glasser shares that, despite Trump’s claim of personal originality, it was in fact Lauder’s idea—Lauder even tried to act as secret envoy to Denmark.
• “There are so many actors around the world who identify Trump as open to this kind of corrupted deal. And of course they're going to facilitate it.” (36:23)
• Ominous sign for Greenland: “You already saw that in the Middle East last year, Trump's first trip, a co-mingling of official business and his family being in business.” (36:53)
• The Saudi property ad: “The place to be is Saudi Arabia. Welcome to Trump International...where winners reside.” (37:25, Ad audio)

2. Takeaways

• Trump’s personal, financial, and geopolitical entanglements are brazen and unprecedented.
• “We have a president that's for sale, and he's putting his tramp stamp on the side of the White House. And, you know, it's the golden age, as you said, Susan.” (38:44, Tim Miller)

Segment 4: Jacob Soboroff – Fire, Immigration Raids, and Disaster Response

1. Minneapolis "Low Burn" to Crisis

Timestamp: 41:28–43:32

• Soboroff brings frontline insight into the escalating violence and tension in Minneapolis, especially following the shooting death of Renee Goode.
• “They knew this would happen and they have moved forward with this anyway...(raids) are killing immigrants. We've seen people die…and now it's killing Americans as well.” (42:31)

2. Militarized Policing and Immigrant Community Impact

Timestamp: 43:32–46:04

• Federal agents descend on cities in military-style gear, often without identifying themselves.
• “They're going after everybody else,” not just “the worst of the worst.”
• Soboroff recounts stories of law-abiding residents swept up in raids.

3. Political Calculus: Protest, Suppression, and Escalation

Timestamp: 48:55–49:46

• Large-scale protests—seen as both effective resistance and justification for federal escalation—potentially even Insurrection Act invocation.
• “Stephen Miller has made no secret…it's all pretext to invoke the Insurrection Act because they believe...they could say there's violent, riotous mobs on the street.” (49:13)

4. Fires, Labor, and Marginalized Communities

Timestamp: 50:48–55:00

• Soboroff’s book "Firestorm" reveals how immigrant labor (40% of the California construction industry) is critical to disaster recovery—raids have chilling effects on rebuilding.
• Personal narrative: covering the Palisades and Altadena fires, realizing in retrospect the magnitude of intertwined crises—climate, disinformation, labor, and politics.
• “The fire of the future is this conflagration…of obviously climate…the global climate emergency…infrastructure...and maybe most importantly…misinformation and disinformation.” (52:55)

5. Disinformation and Governance

Timestamp: 65:05–67:44

• Conspiracy theories about fires (echoes of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s “space lasers”) now drive both public confusion and official response.
• Gavin Newsom’s media pushback strategy was born in response to Trump/Musk misinformation during the crisis.

Segment 5: Lessons, Governance, and Fallout

1. Mismanagement and Accountability

Timestamp: 67:44–71:26

• Post-crisis, little evidence of bureaucratic learning—“wagon circling” and municipal red tape persist.
• Primary challenges within Democratic Party emerge as some see failed leadership on fire preparedness and response.
• “Why weren't [fire resources] there?...Would this reservoir have made a difference?...Why didn't the mop up…fully extinguish...Would that have prevented all this tragedy?”

2. The Cost to Locals

Timestamp: 70:34–71:26

• Over 40% of fire victims are selling to corporate investors because they can’t afford to rebuild; affordability crisis and labor shortages deepen the slow recovery.

Most Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Glasser (on Trump’s ambition):
  “What I think he's saying…is this is my bid for immortality. I want to rewrite the map of the world essentially with my name on it.” (20:22)

• Tim Miller (on Trump’s transactionalism):
  “We have a president that's for sale, and he's putting his tramp stamp on the side of the White House.” (38:44)

• Glasser (on systemic complicity):
  “It's not just the rottenness of the Republican Party and its enablers…but all these other people. To me, that's going to be the story for the history books.” (05:21)

• Soboroff (on federal raids):
  “...Out of the back of a white sprinter van, these guys look like they're about to storm some foreign capital...and they're going after day laborers in parking lots of Home Depots.” (46:34)

Key Segment Timestamps

• 03:11 – Glasser on Trump’s power grabs and complicit institutions
• 09:30 – Glasser: Trump as dangerous lame duck and risk of escalation
• 14:30 – Greenland focus: historical and current Trump obsession
• 20:16 – “Ownership…needed for success” (Trump’s Greenland logic)
• 23:41 – Glasser: World order unraveling & WWIII risk
• 27:09 – European response: “Germany not going to choose Greenland”
• 36:53 – Corruption and U.S. foreign policy entanglements
• 41:28 – Soboroff: Minneapolis crisis; ICE raids “killing Americans”
• 52:55 – Firestorm: disaster response, intersection with climate, labor, and politics
• 65:05 – Disinformation’s role (Trump/Musk, fires, and global conspiracy theories)
• 70:34 – Housing & labor crisis post-fire; rebuilding and affordability

Tone

• Analytical, urgent, darkly humorous (“veepishness vs. menace”)
• Deep concern for institutions, democracy, and civil society
• Journalistic rigor combined with candid, sometimes irreverent conversation

Conclusion

This episode delivers an urgent warning about the state of American democracy and civil society under Trump 2.0, illustrating the authoritarian rot from cabinet to civil society—and the real-world cost in foreign escapades, domestic corruption, shattered alliances, and the very lives of ordinary Americans caught in the crossfire. On-the-ground reporting by Soboroff serves as a stark reminder that policy abstractions have deeply personal, often tragic consequences.

For more, listen to the full episode or read Jacob Soboroff’s "Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster."