Tim Miller’s Rage Finally Boiled Over

Summary

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Episode Overview

Theme/Purpose:
This episode of The Bulwark (May 9, 2026), titled "Tim Miller’s Rage Finally Boiled Over," features a fiery discussion on recent assaults against voting rights, the manipulation of democratic processes through gerrymandering and judicial action, and the ways Americans can organize to push back. Tim Miller, joined by Ben Wikler and other guests, processes his frustration over developments in Louisiana, Virginia, and Tennessee—and sketches out what it will take to overcome these obstacles, drawing on political history and recent elections.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Erosion of Voting Rights and Rage on the Left

• Voting Rights Setbacks: The podcast kicks off with Tim Miller and Ben Wikler referencing recent episodes and related coverage, specifically highlighting the dispiriting developments concerning the Voting Rights Act, court interventions, and gerrymandering.
• Emotional Toll: Tim explicitly describes how these events have driven him to anger.

  “It is just truly fucking sickening to live in a country where they are going to try to cancel the votes of people here in Louisiana, where they're going to try to deny the people of Memphis any representation at all...try to cheat in a way that hearkens back to the ways that they tried to cheat during Jim Crow.”
  — Tim Miller, 00:59

• Historical Resonance: He points out that the current efforts echo the voter suppression tactics of the Jim Crow era.

2. What Happened: Case Studies

• Wisconsin & Hungary: The discussion draws parallels with entrenched power via “crazily aggressive” gerrymanders in Wisconsin and anti-democratic consolidation in Hungary.

  "Those are two places in which ... the Republican Party came up with this, like, crazily aggressive gerrymander. It kind of locked them into power for a long time, even when they were losing majorities in the popular vote.”
  — Interviewer/Host, 02:18

• Virginia & Louisiana Court Actions: Courts have intervened in elections, notably overturning or canceling elections in Virginia and Louisiana, affecting tens of thousands of absentee voters mid-process.

  "...the Supreme Court ruling, the governor by executive order called an emergency, stopped the, stopped the vote, basically stopped the count."
  — Tim Miller, 03:45

• Memphis & Tennessee Redistricting: The deliberate division of Black voters in Memphis into three districts is called out as “an affront to the law”—a blatant tactic meant to dilute minority representation.

3. The Only Way Out: Coalition & Landslide

• Realpolitik Solutions:

  "...it's sort of an annoying answer to be like, well, you just have to win big enough. But I don't see any other answer at this point."
  — Interviewer/Host, 02:53

• Slow Progress: Miller acknowledges that change is slow, as seen in Wisconsin, and that electoral systems are still out of balance.
• Necessity of Coalition: The path forward is to build broad, sustained coalitions:

  "...the opportunity pointing to Hungary and Wisconsin is if people are pissed off enough about this and if Donald Trump keeps screwing up as much as he is, I do expect there'll be a landslide in November..."
  — Tim Miller, 04:18

• Cold Comfort: He admits this is small solace for those currently disenfranchised—particularly in Memphis, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge.

4. Broadening the Fight: Who Stands to Lose?

• The impact extends beyond Black voters, affecting all residents in cities losing representation:

  "...there's a lot of people who should have an investment in this across all kinds of lines of difference to be able to have a say for your community."
  — Interviewer/Host, 05:18

• Miller points to Georgia's recent Democratic victories as a model: success emerged from Black voter turnout, organizing by figures like Stacey Abrams, and disaffected suburban Republicans uniting with rural white voters hurt by Trump’s policies.

  "...that same coalition's gonna have to get together and maybe on top of that, reaching out to rural voters and rural white voters who are unhappy with the way Donald Trump screws growing up the farm economy."
  — Tim Miller, 05:40

5. Iran Segment: Foreign Policy Crossover

• The episode briefly pivots to international issues, referencing a conversation with Arash Azizi about the realpolitik of Iran and the misconception that Iranian hardliners always dominate.

  "...the idea that the hardliner, the hardest of hardliners are the ones that are in control is belied by the evidence in front of us."
  — Arash, 06:18

• Tim finds this perspective personally enlightening, appreciating the nuance Azizi brings as a historian from Iran.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |-----------|-------|---------| | 00:59 | "It is just truly fucking sickening to live in a country where they are going to try to cancel the votes of people here in Louisiana... harkens back to the ways that they tried to cheat during Jim Crow." | Tim Miller | | 02:53 | "It's sort of an annoying answer to be like, well, you just have to win big enough. But I don't see any other answer at this point." | Interviewer/Host | | 03:45 | "...the governor by executive order called an emergency, stopped the, stopped the vote, basically stopped the count." | Tim Miller | | 05:18 | "...there's a lot of people who should have an investment in this across all kinds of lines of difference to be able to have a say for your community." | Interviewer/Host | | 05:40 | "...reaching out to rural voters and rural white voters who are unhappy with the way Donald Trump screws growing up the farm economy." | Tim Miller | | 06:18 | "...the idea that the hardliner, the hardest of hardliners are the ones that are in control is belied by the evidence in front of us." | Arash |

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:59-02:15: Tim Miller’s emotionally charged "rant" about the current assault on democracy and his belief in eventual victory
• 02:18-03:03: Case studies of Wisconsin and Hungary, discussion of the mechanics of durable gerrymandering
• 03:03-04:18: Deep dive into recent court actions in Louisiana and Virginia, specific effects on voters
• 05:00-05:29: The broader coalitional angle—why all residents of affected areas are being disenfranchised
• 05:29-06:18: Lessons from Georgia and the model for organizing an effective coalition in the South
• 06:18-06:50: Pivot to foreign policy—summary of conversation with Arash Azizi about Iran

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Tone & Language

The episode is urgent and impassioned—particularly from Tim Miller, whose frustration is matched by a stubborn optimism about what coalition politics and persistence can achieve. The language is direct, sometimes explicit (“fucking sickening”), echoing the severity of the anti-democratic developments being discussed.

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Summary

This episode of The Bulwark delivers a raw diagnosis of ongoing threats to democracy in the US, focusing on manipulated elections, voter suppression, and the legal system’s failure to protect citizens’ rights. Drawing on both domestic (Wisconsin, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana) and international examples (Hungary, Iran), the discussion is grounded in political strategy, history, and personal outrage. The hosts challenge listeners to recognize the broad impact of these anti-democratic moves and to recommit to building the wide-ranging coalitions necessary to win—not just at the polls, but in the soul of American democracy.

Transcript

[Tim Miller]

Hey, everybody, Tim Miller from the Bulwark

[Ben Wikler]

man, was it a Long Friday?

[Tim Miller]

You know that Adam Starwood podcast?

[Ben Wikler]

If you missed, go check it out and also subscribe to the feed if you haven't here on YouTube, people are upset. You know, you could just tell how shook Adam was. And I'm not talking out of school.

[Tim Miller]

He admitted that at the top of

[Ben Wikler]

the pod, just about how dispiriting it is, what is happening with the Voting Rights act combining with other shenanigans in Virginia and elsewhere with regards to the redistricting and the impact on the midterms and beyond. And we worked through it over the course of the whole hour. And then after that I went on

[Tim Miller]

to Katie Tur and we talked about it a little bit.

[Ben Wikler]

And also she had a really smart panel on to discuss the thinking in the Iran war. And we kind of bounced around some of the themes that were discussed on the podcast earlier this week with Arash. It's easy.

[Tim Miller]

But then finally, by the time Friday

[Ben Wikler]

night came around and I was on the Chris Hayes Show, I really do think that my rage had bubbled over. And it is just truly fucking sickening to live in a country where they are going to try to cancel the votes of people here in Louisiana, where they're going to try to deny the people of Memphis any representation at all, deny people here in either Baton Rouge or New Orleans with representation, try to cheat, try to cheat in a way that hearkens back to the ways that they tried to cheat during Jim Crow. And it is enough to spike your cortisol, so to speak. But I also think we're going to beat him. I also think we're beat him and it's going to take time. It's going to take work. We're going to beat him. And so anyway, wanted to give you guys a chance to listen to kind of my revised and extended remarks from the storyboard podcast after I had a few hours to settle in the old noggin. Up next is my rant with Chris Hayes and the conversation with Katie Tur. Hope you enjoy it. Stick around.

[Tim Miller]

We'll be back this weekend. Thanks.

[Ben Wikler]

There's any news in Iran or elsewhere?

[Interviewer/Host]

You know, Tim, the two examples that I've had in my head are Wisconsin and Hungary. And the reason I have those two examples in my head because those are two places in which the ruling party in Wisconsin, the Republican Party, came up with this, like, crazily aggressive gerrymander. It kind of locked them into power for a long time, even when they were like, you know, losing majorities in the popular vote, they would manage to sort of stay in power. And what happened in that state, Ben Wickler, STATE CHAIR they kind of went through the process of building statewide majority coalitions big enough to start to unwind some of that. And we've seen the same thing in Hungary. And it's sort of an annoying answer to be like, well, you just have to win big enough. But I don't see any other answer at this point.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, well, that it takes time. And look, there's still kind of things reverberating from that in Wisconsin now. I mean, the Republicans still in the state legislature in Wisconsin have a disproportionate representation to their vote share. But look, I guess I'll be negative first and then give you what I think the only option out of this is. I shared your rage from the intro. One thing I'd add to it is courts have canceled two elections, basically overturned. They've overturned the one election that you focused on in Virginia, but they nullified the votes of about 42,000 people here in Louisiana as well. In addition to that, we should say people had already voted absentee. Where I live in Louisiana, based on the current maps, the election had started. And as a result of the Supreme Court ruling, the governor, by executive order called an emergency, stopped the, stopped the vote, basically stopped the count. And so now, yeah, so now that's what we're now they're going to try to redraw their maps to try to draw out, you know, one of the two majority minority representatives here. So that's happening here and in Tennessee, you know, what is happening is just unbelievable, an affront to the law and the idea that they're cutting up Memphis. It's illegal for them to make a decision based on race and they just so happen. Cut up Memphis a third, a third, a third. The black voters in Memphis are cut up equally into three districts. Like, how else do you describe what's happening? And in Tennessee now, Nashville and Memphis won't have any representation. So what's that? How do you overcome that with democracy? I understand people who are frustrated with that. I think the opportunity pointing to Hungary and Wisconsin is if people are pissed off enough about this and if Donald Trump keeps screwing up as much as he is, I do expect there'll be a landslide in November. And it may mean to that won't turn out as big as it could have been because of the ways that they're trying to jerry rig the system. But that is the only way out of it. And that's probably cold comfort for people of Memphis and who aren't going to have any representatives and somebody either here in New Orleans or in Baton Rouge. But, like, that's it right now.

[Interviewer/Host]

Tim, last question here. Just about the sort of coalitional politics of this. You're talking about Memphis and Nashville, and obviously this is directed at black voters, but there's a lot of non black voters, a lot of white folks, a lot of all kinds of people who live in these cities who are having their representation taken. Like, Nashville doesn't have a congressman. Memphis doesn't. They're trying to get rid of part of Louisiana, like of New Orleans or, you know, and only have, like, there's a lot of people who should have an investment in this across all kinds of lines of difference to be able to have a say for your community.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. And look, I think Georgia is a good example of this about how to push back against it. You know, I mean, look at the kind of coalition that you're talking about, this coalition on politics. How did the Democrats take back Georgia have a. A Jewish and a black senator for the first time? It was big turnout among black voters who were upset. Stacey Abrams obviously organizing. It also included a lot of, like, former Republican voters who were upset about Donald Trump in the Atlanta suburbs that weren't happy with the way that the party was going. That same coalition's gonna have to get together and maybe on top of that, reaching out to rural voters and rural white voters who are unhappy with the way Donald Trump screws growing up the farm economy. You know, and I wish that there was a more grand strategy I could offer than that kind of just ranked politics, but that's it. Like, that's the coalition in the south to win back some of these districts.

[Arash]

Tim Miller had a great conversation just the other day with Arasha Zizi, and Arash was saying that he believes that there is more of a desire for a deal from the Iranians and that the idea that the hardliner, the hardest of hardliners are the ones that are in control is belied by the evidence in front of us. So, Tim, I found that conversation to be really enlightening, and it really pushed back against some of our preconceived notions about the way this war has been going.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, I agree with that. Look, I mean, Arash, who's from Iran, is so smart on this and has been covering as a historian, and I think the point that he was trying to make is that the now dead Ayatollah Khamenei was simultaneously, like, extremely.