Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 13h

If the Democratic Party hopes to become again the governing party of a dynamic, prosperous nation, it must become more comfortable with the free market—in policy, but also in temperament. It must embrace dynamism in the marketplace and within government itself…”

open.substack.com/pub/michaelw...

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 13h

“I wish I could be the guy who says, ‘everyone calm down; things have been just as bad before, and we got through it.’ But I can’t be that reasonable-sounding moderate floating above it all. Things are very bad. People should be far more alarmed than they are.”

open.substack.com/pub/michaelw...

The Emerging Shape of American Politics

Dynamism v. Reaction / Open v. Closed

open.substack.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 20h

"But what is an illegal order?

A legal body tells you it’s illegal. Maybe it’s a more senior officer. Maybe it’s someone from the JAG corps.

Which is why the Trump administration’s moves to push out senior officers and dismantle the JAG corps are so troubling."

open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

“Legal Orders” and Trump’s Military

Authoritarians don’t take power by openly flouting the law. They look for pretexts and legal theories.

open.substack.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 21h

"Michael Ellis, deputy director of the C.I.A., has abruptly demoted a career lawyer who had been serving as the agency’s acting general counsel and installed himself in that role."

Was the career lawyer balking at something Trump wants to do--relating to Venezuela?

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/u...

C.I.A. Deputy Director Has Replaced Agency’s Top Legal Official With Himself

www.nytimes.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 22h

Pam Bondi's shameless stonewalling of the Senate Judiciary Committee today is of course a total negation of Congressional oversight. "Oversight" is impossible if they won't let you see anything.

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 23h

whole conversation here:

conversationswithbillkristol.org/conversation...

James Carville on Politics Today, 2026, and 2028 - Conversations with Bill Kristol

On politics today, 2026, and 2028.

conversationswithbillkristol.org

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 23h

“I’ve was actually more aghast at what Hegseth said… I was a Marine 60 years ago. I got news for you, they’re much better trained than we were…The Secretary of Defense is telling our own people that they’re no good…They don’t like America, that’s what I really believe.”

youtube.com/watch?v=Va1u...

James Carville on Pete Hegseth

YouTube video by Conversations with Bill Kristol

youtube.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 23h

“The crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and those who participated in them is a decades long abdication of institutional and personal responsibility, brought to light by a handful of dedicated journalists and the breathtaking bravery of once isolated, ignored vulnerable women.”

slate.com/news-and-pol...

The National Failure at the Heart of the Jeffrey Epstein Story

It is a great challenge to pay sustained attention to any one of the onslaught of moral or legal indignities unfolding in this moment.

slate.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 23h

"Stephen Miller type-screamed that the Oregon judge who blocked their Portland deployments, Karin Immergut, was engaged in “legal insurrection” against the president. However it goes, just remember: The criminals are whoever Donald Trump—er, Miller—says they are."

www.thebulwark.com/p/when-in-do...

When in Doubt, Blame the Immigrants

No. You’re not experiencing déjà vu. The current Republican government shutdown talking point is the same one they’ve trotted out before.

www.thebulwark.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 23h

"Asked yesterday whether he would consider pardoning Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell—who has been publicly petitioning him for a pardon for months—Trump didn’t rule it out. 'I’ll look at it.'”

www.thebulwark.com/p/when-in-do...

When in Doubt, Blame the Immigrants

No. You’re not experiencing déjà vu. The current Republican government shutdown talking point is the same one they’ve trotted out before.

www.thebulwark.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 23h

"The history of these attacks is instructive. It shows that no matter what lawmakers do to exclude illegal immigrants from a program, the GOP will find a way to claim that some of the money will go to these immigrants."

open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

When in Doubt, Blame the Immigrants

No. You’re not experiencing déjà vu. The current Republican government shutdown talking point is the same one they’ve trotted out before.

open.substack.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 1d

Not be a sourpuss or anything—but do leading Democrats really have to rush to tell us that they REALLY want to negotiate with Trump, and that they’ll be “at the table” the MOMENT Trump deigns to talk with them? And God forbid they put “on the table” Trump’s use of the military or the Epstein files.

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 1d

“The memos classify huge swaths of political advocacy and belief as potentially contributing to political violence and domestic terrorism, directing law enforcement and federal agencies to investigate and possibly charge advocacy groups and their funders.”

talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-tru...

The Trump Admin’s Mostly Unnoticed Move to Crack Down on the Opposition

Last month, the White House issued two executive orders that direct federal...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 1d

ICE is provoking violence in cities, and the rhetoric coming from Trumpists about their desire for an authoritarian strongman is alarming. But some governors and judges are trying to defend the republic. And Dems should consider broadening their aims in the shutdown.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOzw...

Trump Turns a Navy Ceremony Into a MAGA Rally (w/ Bill Kristol) | The Bulwark Podcast

YouTube video by The Bulwark

www.youtube.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 1d

“In an authoritarian context, all journalism will tend toward propaganda unless it is explicitly formulated as anti-authoritarian…Unless an institution is explicitly designed to counter authoritarianism, it will end up aiding the authoritarians.”

open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

The Washington Post and CBS News are dying. The Bulwark is the future.

We drink their milkshake.

open.substack.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 1d

Speaker Johnson continues to stall the swearing in of Rep.-elect Grijalva so as to avoid having to deal with the Epstein discharge petition. Why shouldn’t Dems make support for reopening the government contingent on adding to the funding measure a provision mandating release of the Epstein files?

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Reposted by Bill Kristol

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 1d

"Hemingwayesque in their brevity and violent candor, the films are humanistic tragicomedies, with a tenderness and a poetry in their language and assumptions about life."

Hannah Long on the best westerns you never heard of:

Randolph Scott, Virtuous Loner of the West

Lonesomeness, nobility, and anti-machismo: the ‘Ranown’ westerns are an underappreciated treasure of American cinema.

www.thebulwark.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 1d

"It’s fine for Democrats to continue to make the case for our health care. But they need also now to make the case for our Constitution, and for our republic, and our country."

www.thebulwark.com/p/the-rule-o...

The Rule of Law v. The Rule of Trump

A crisis moment in the defining debate of our time.

www.thebulwark.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 1d

"Don’t Democrats need to say that they will not vote to fund an administration that’s trying to impose martial law at home? Don’t Democrats need to demand that provisions curbing the administration’s authoritarian moves be attached to legislation funding the government?"

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 1d

"We are facing a clear and present authoritarian danger.

In these circumstances, can Democrats in Congress continue to take the position that their demand from the Trump administration is simply to restore health care funding?

I don’t think so."

www.thebulwark.com/p/the-rule-o...

The Rule of Law v. The Rule of Trump

A crisis moment in the defining debate of our time.

www.thebulwark.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 1d

"Right now, America is a country governed partially by the rule of law and partially by the rule of Trump. The two are in increasingly open conflict."

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 1d

"The most important battle in America right now is rhe battle between two visions of what justifies state violence: between the rule of Trump and the rule of law."

www.thebulwark.com/p/the-rule-o...

The Rule of Law v. The Rule of Trump

A crisis moment in the defining debate of our time.

www.thebulwark.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 2d

and of course No Il Duce.

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 2d

No Kings. No Caesar.

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 2d

Contrary to Stephen Miller, the president is not "commander-in-chief" of law enforcement within the United States. The invocation of the title "commander-in-chief" to justify anything Trump wants to do anywhere is a sign of how far down the road the administration is to Caesarism.

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