Tim, Sarah and Sam LIVE From the Bulwark Tour Bus

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Bulwark — Tim, Sarah and Sam LIVE From the Bulwark Tour Bus

Date: May 21, 2026
Hosts: Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, Sam Stein
Episode Theme: Live commentary from The Bulwark’s team discussing the latest DNC drama, the aftermath of their recent live show, and contemporary Democratic Party challenges, all from the road between San Diego and Los Angeles.

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Overview

In this lively, on-the-road episode, Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, and Sam Stein deliver candid, often humorous insights into current political news and reflect on The Bulwark’s live tour experience. The major focus is the fallout over the DNC’s 2024 autopsy report, exposing deep problems in party leadership and messaging. The trio dissects this fiasco, muses about party reform, and entertains with their trademark banter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Live Show Recap and Will Sommer's Surprise Popularity

• [00:40–01:14]
  • The team reflects fondly on the energy and success of their San Diego live show.
  • Will Sommer is hailed as the unexpected star, receiving enthusiastic feedback from long-time fans:

    “So many people came up to him and were like, I’ve been listening to your podcast since the Daily Beast days. I love you. I need more of Will.” — Sarah ([00:51])

  • Tease for the “Bear Topia” segment, promising strong content in the upcoming YouTube posting.

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2. DNC Autopsy Report Fiasco

• [01:14–05:52]
  • The episode pivots to discuss the highly anticipated, ultimately disappointing DNC autopsy report, which was accidentally released with raw Google Doc edits still visible.
  • Tim interprets the controversy:

    “Every DNC controversy… like the DNC was coming after Bernie. The DNC cheated the Iowa caucuses against [Pete]. Like, everybody has a DNC conspiracy theory. No, like, the DNC is veep. Like the DNC is run by morons. They have no power. They just screwed it up like idiots. There’s no conspiracy... It’s a idiocy.” ([02:36])

  • Sarah presses on the incredible lack of professionalism in releasing an incomplete, unedited document:

    “It appears they put the thing together, did all the Google Doc edits and then never... just left it at that first stage. There’s basic factual mistakes in there. It doesn’t make any sense.” ([03:16])

  • Sam points out that even the “Conclusion” section of the report was left blank with an editor’s note:

    “There wasn’t even a conclusion. Can we see this on the camera? This was the conclusion section. No. Okay. Nothing there. Underneath the conclusion section, there’s nothing. And then in the red edit, it says, this section was not provided by the author.” ([03:32])

• Discussion of why the DNC handled it this way:
  • Sam:

    “The handling of the autopsy release is a much better way to understand the problems in the Democratic Party than what is in the actual autopsy release. Like the anatomy of the autopsy.” ([04:15])

  • They cite a Bulwark piece by Rob Flaherty as a much more informative source about party dysfunction than the report itself.

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3. DNC Chair Ken Martin and the Search for Leadership

• [05:52–09:06]
  • The conversation shifts to DNC Chair Ken Martin’s future:
    • Sarah wonders if Martin survives through the midterms, while Sam relays rumors:

      “My sources tell me that there’s a lot of incoming phone calls to a lot of different people being like, can you please run the DNC? Like there is a... mad dash to try to find a replacement.” ([06:08])

    • Names like Haley Stevens and Rahm Emanuel are floated—mostly humorously—as potential replacements, with skepticism about their likelihood or effectiveness ([06:24–06:36]).
  • Tim draws on his RNC experience to explain the complex (and “dumb”) committee rules needed to oust a DNC chair, noting Donna Brazile as a key player:

    “I think Donna Brazile is, like, the point person now overseeing the members of the DNC.” ([07:35])

  • Sarah and Sam agree the party needs the chair to be competent and effective, not a headline:

    “People have argued, well, how big a deal is having a competent DNC chair? And it’s not nothing… you have to raise money, you have to drive message… you have to be the tip of the spear attacking Trump. And this guy has spent 16 months in an absolute defensive crouch doing nothing.” — Sarah ([07:35]) “What you want the DNC to be is something that is in the background doing its work and not becoming the center of the story. Like, the messaging failure isn’t just that they’re not succeeding in attacking Trump. It’s that their incompetence has become the story... Ken Martin obviously can’t handle the strategy. He obviously can’t handle the messaging, and he obviously can’t handle the fundraising.” — Sam ([08:15])

  • The group concludes Martin should step down for the good of the party:

    “At some point... when it gets this bad, you got to step down, do the right thing for the party, and let somebody else lead it...” — Sam ([08:15])

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Notable Quotes and Moments

• “No, like the DNC is veep. Like the DNC is run by morons. They have no power. They just screwed it up like idiots. There’s no conspiracy... It’s a idiocy.” — Tim ([02:36])
• “The handling of the autopsy release is a much better way to understand the problems in the Democratic Party than what is in the actual autopsy release.” — Sam ([04:15])
• “What you want the DNC to be is something that is in the background doing its work and not becoming the center of the story. Like, the messaging failure isn’t just that they're not succeeding in attacking Trump. It’s that their incompetence has become the story.” — Sam ([08:15])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Live Show Recap & Will Sommer – [00:40–01:14]
• Bear Topia Segment Tease – [01:05–01:14]
• DNC Autopsy Report Discussion Begins – [01:14]
• Exposing the Incompetence and Internal Debates – [01:36–05:52]
• Discussion of DNC Chair Ken Martin’s Fate – [05:52–09:06]

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Tone & Style

The conversation is unscripted, quick-witted, and irreverent, exposing both frustration and fondness for the political process. The hosts don’t mince words about Democratic dysfunction, using humor and plain language throughout.

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For more political analysis and Bulwark tour updates, check out thebulwark.com

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Transcript

[A]

All right, we're here on the bus. Hey, guys, we're here on the bus. It's me, Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, driving from San Diego to LA for our next live show tonight. If you're in la, come and see us. And we're talking. We're talking about pocket hoses. For some reason, I love the product. Tim's talking about a different connotation of pocket hose.

[B]

I love the product as well. And I've seen all the different sizes,

[A]

different type of collapsible hose that Tim likes.

[C]

We've had to stop the conversation so that Tim can explain something, something to me later.

[A]

All right, so we're on the red one. Lovely Route 5, Pacific Ocean over there. How'd you think the show went last night?

[C]

I thought the show was great. I love the live shows. It's so great to see everybody. I thought it was good.

[B]

I thought I was really good.

[A]

Okay, we're going to stop that right here.

[C]

I was good. I also thought Will Summer.

[A]

Okay, that was what I was going to say. I thought Will was like the surprise hit. So many people came up to him and were like, I've been. I've been listening to your podcast since the Daily Beast days. I love you. I need more of Will. And it going to. Is already very big head.

[B]

Yeah. And so Bear Topia was really strong. And people gotta wait. Once the live show goes up on YouTube, the bear Topia segment, I don't want to give away anymore.

[A]

Yeah, we're putting. We're putting up the Bear Topia segment a little bit later, but that's a good tease. All right, so quick news of the day as we're driving here. I guess the big story was the. This morning was the DNC autopsy report came out finally. I don't want to call it an autopsy report. It was written in Calibri font. There's a lot of red edits on there. I thought your tweet was, like, probably the most spot on. Why don't you just expand?

[B]

Yeah, I did. This was in the tweet. But I did love that it was like. And it just basically released the Google Docs with, like, the comments about how things were wrong. They just released a raw Google Doc with people's edits in there. It's like, great. No, my biggest take was like, so there's been for months, like, these conversations about why hasn't it been released? What is the reason the DNC people were trying to make it seem like it was strategic. Cause they were worried about the midterms the anti DNC crowd, particularly on the left. There's a report in Axios that they leaked. They were talking about what? Which was basically, they're not releasing it because it reveals that Kamlo's position on Gaza was the reason that she lost. And they're covering that up because it's all part of the corporate elite scheme. The truth was neither of those things. The truth was that the report was written by a sixth grader who doesn't seem to have been involved in campaigns since the super PAC era started or since there was Twitter. And the guy that wrote it, I think his last big campaign was the John Kerry campaign in 2004, when we didn't have YouTube yet or blogs. The truth about the DNC. Like every DNC controversy, it's like the DNC was coming after Bernie. The DNC cheated the Iowa caucuses against Peach. Like everybody has a DNC conspiracy theory. No, like the DNC is veep. Like the DNC is run by morons. They have no power. They just screwed it up like idiots. There's no conspiracy. There's no grand cover up. They just don't know what the fuck they're doing. And so anytime you're curious about what's happening with the dnc, that should be like your Occam's Razor explanation. Not a conspiracy, a idiocy.

[A]

So incompetent, not conniving.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

I guess you raise a really interesting point, which is it appears they put the thing together, did all the Google Doc edits and then never, like accepted the edits, just left it at that first stage. There's basic factual mistakes in there. It doesn't make any sense. Ken Martin.

[B]

There wasn't even my favorite part. I'm trying to pull this up. Is it the conclusion? There wasn't even a conclusion. Can we see this on the camera? This was the conclusion section. No. Okay. Nothing there. Underneath the conclusion section, there's nothing. And then in the red edit, it says, this section was not provided by the author.

[A]

But why didn't they resolve the edits? Why did they just stop? I don't get it.

[C]

Because at some point this became such a farce that they understood that the more ridiculous it looked, the better it was for them. The more incomplete, the more like not a polished product. That that meant that they could just disavow it. But I don't know what tweet you were talking about. I think you mean my tweet. Because my tweet. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

O.

[C]

My tweet was. If you Want to understand the communications failures of the DNC of the Democratic Party of the 2024 campaign. The, the handling of the autopsy release is a much better way to understand the problems in the Democratic Party than what is in the actual autopsy release. Like the anatomy of the autopsy.

[B]

That's a good point.

[C]

Thank you. Was a good tweet. I tweeted that. And it is, that is clear to me that if you just look at the way the DNC handled this, you're like, well, this is the fundamental problem with the Democratic Party. It's that they both, they like got a cozy friend to write it, the product was bad, then they decided not to release it, then they get hounded by the press, then they release it under duress, and when they do, it's garbage. So that tells a story much more than when you read the actual autopsy, which tells you there's some things in there that are probably true. But honestly, the, the piece that was in the Bulwark by Rob Flaherty.

[A]

Rob Flaherty.

[C]

Flaherty. Flaherty. Which is actually a clothing brand, but yeah, it's like filled with soft stuff that a lot of like middle aged. Yeah, yeah. But that's not how his name is pronounced. I've only ever seen it. Ever seen it written down. I've never actually seen it. I've never heard it pronounced. But anyway, he wrote a great piece about the autopsy in the Bulwark. You will get much more nutritious information about it from. Than you will if you try to navigate this Google Doc.

[A]

I can't get over your pronunciation, it's so good. Ken Martin, Flaherty, Robert Faharty. Can we talk about Ken Martin? Does he like, does he make it to the midterms? I think we're close enough that he makes it at this point though, right?

[C]

I don't know. I mean, I will just tell you that my sources tell me that there's a lot of incoming phone calls to a lot of different people being like, can you please run the dnc? Like there is a. There is a mad dash to try to find a replacement.

[A]

That's what. Laura Egan report.

[B]

I've got a nominee. Haley Stevens. Haley Stevens, are you available? You could quit the Michigan Senate race and run the dnc. We'd love to have you. I'm sure that. I'm sure the left would be really excited about that.

[A]

And I might not go over too hot. Someone had suggested Rahm Emanuel, too. I don't know if that's gonna go over too hot. There was a question, who has the authority to fire Ken Martin? And my understanding, I don't know if you know better than I do. Like, there's the rules and bylaws committee at the dnc. There's members of the committee. They'd have to call some sort of session. I don't really know how it technically works. Probably get a vote in no confidence. But do you know, like, the.

[B]

Yeah, well, I do for my RNC time. Is it the same? No, it's. I mean, it's different because these stupid committees have dumb bylaws with different, like, provisions. But, like, the gist is the same. Like, there's. I actually, having been a former Republican, I only know the number of people on the Republican version of the committee. You know, there's some. Some odd dozen members of the committee, you know, and then, you know, you'd have to have a parliamentary session. You know, you have to call them in. They'd have to vote. But it's. It's the members of the committee that would do it. I think Donna Brazile is, like, the point person now overseeing the members of the dnc.

[A]

Let me just add this on Ken Martin, and then we'll go to break because I want to talk a little bit about the slush fund, the J6. On the Martin thing. It's like. Like it's not. People have argued, well, how big a deal is having a competent DNC chair? And it's not nothing, right? It's like you have to raise money and you have to drive message. You have to support infrastructure, and you have to be the tip of the spear attacking Trump. And this Guy has spent 16 months in an absolute defensive crouch doing nothing. And this autopsy report is just a symptom of a very failed chairmanship. Last word, and then we'll go to break.

[C]

I mean, what you want the DNC to be is something that is in the background doing its work and not becoming the center of the story. Like, the messaging failure isn't just that they're not succeeding in attacking Trump. It's that their incompetence has become the story. And once that's happening, and this is where, you know, finding the, the mechanisms of a no confidence vote. Anything else? Look, Ken Martin obviously can't handle the strategy. He obviously can't handle the messaging, and he obviously can't handle the fundraising. Like, at some point, and this is a Biden lesson, when it gets this bad, you got to step down, do the right thing for the party, and let somebody else lead it. Like, that's the right thing for a company. It's the right thing for a political party. It's the right thing for an ancillary group in the political party. And so, I mean, it's over, man. This has been as badly handled as anybody could be. You want the DNC to stop being the story?

[A]

All right, let's take a quick break, and when we come back, we're talking J6 reparations and will or will the president attend his son's wedding? We don't know. Good tease. Talk to you soon. All right, we're back here live streaming from the bus on our way to LA. Still on Route 5. I've not vomited, which is like.