Will Saletan
@saletan.bsky.social
26K followers 270 following 940 posts
Writer, @thebulwark.com‬. Email: [email protected]. You can also find me at https://www.threads.net/@wsaletan and http://substack.com/@saletan
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saletan.bsky.social
"Republicans are trying to do to [Jack] Smith’s investigations what they did to the Russia investigation: They’re trying to recast Trump as the victim."

In today's Morning Shots, we debunk the lies. "Trump is a criminal. He was convicted in one case and remains untried in three others."
Bondi to Congress: 🖕
The attorney general came to the Hill to deliver a message to Democrats: Your ‘oversight’ couldn't matter to us less.
www.thebulwark.com
Reposted by Will Saletan
thebulwark.com
Donald Trump wants an attorney general who embraces the joint roles of presidential personal lawyer and histrionic TV-ready pundit. And hoo boy has he got one.

Today's Morning Shots, featuring @eggerdc.bsky.social and @saletan.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/bondi-host...
Bondi to Congress: 🖕
The attorney general came to the Hill to deliver a message to Democrats: Your ‘oversight’ couldn't matter to us less.
www.thebulwark.com
saletan.bsky.social
I don't understand why NBA players argue so many calls in the preseason.

Unless you're trying to establish a move (which usually isn't the context), logic says you should concede every preseason call. Then, when the season starts, you can use your enhanced credibility to argue the calls that count.
Reposted by Will Saletan
adamkeiper.com
If the Republicans' shutdown gambit succeeds, "it will prove that Americans care more about choking off aid to undocumented immigrants—even where the aid is *already prohibited*—than we do about helping fellow Americans."

Read @saletan.bsky.social:

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
Reposted by Will Saletan
thebulwark.com
Republicans “are trying to convince ordinary working Americans to oppose programs that are good for us, on the grounds that a little tiny fraction of the money might somehow leak out to help some illegal immigrants.”

@saletan.bsky.social in today’s Morning Shots: www.thebulwark.com/p/when-in-do...
Reposted by Will Saletan
thebulwark.com
If the GOP wins, "it will prove that Americans care more about choking off aid to undocumented immigrants—even where the aid is already prohibited—than we do about helping fellow Americans."

Today's Morning Shots, featuring @saletan.bsky.social and @cathyyoung63.bsky.social:
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
saletan.bsky.social
"Republicans are testing an insidious political strategy: Can they get a majority of voters to oppose programs that clearly benefit American citizens, on the grounds that a tiny fraction of the money might also end up ... helping illegal immigrants?"

Self-destructive nativism. We have to defeat it.
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
saletan.bsky.social
In Trump's America, "military police are heroic patriots by virtue of being in *his* military police," writes @eggerdc.bsky.social. And the law's only job is "getting out of their way."

Conversely, "people who object to his will—whenever, wherever—are dangerous insurgents who must be rooted out."
The Rule of Law vs. The Rule of Trump
A crisis moment in the defining debate of our time.
www.thebulwark.com
saletan.bsky.social
“Is it the administration’s position that hospitals should not have to treat people who come to ERs who are not here legally?”

“No” said Leavitt.

As @citizencohn.bsky.social explains, this means she admitted "the Trump administration... supports taxpayer-funded health care for illegal immigrants."
Illegal Immigrants Are Already Getting Health Care Under Donald Trump
The program financing ER care for illegal immigrants has been around for four decades, and not even Trump wants to take it away.
www.thebulwark.com
saletan.bsky.social
Ah! You're right. Just a cross.
saletan.bsky.social
One of the most effective things you can do to damage Christianity is to stand before the world, with a crucifix around your neck, and lie.
Reposted by Will Saletan
thebulwark.com
Sorry JD Vance, saying "illegal aliens" eight times in two minutes doesn't actually make it true that Democrats are holding the government hostage over funding healthcare for illegal immigrants.

ICYMI, @timmiller.bsky.social and @saletan.bsky.social:
saletan.bsky.social
Tulsi Gabbard says Russia wasn't trying to help Trump in 2016. Its aim was "to sow discord and chaos" in the US.

But that's what Trump and Hegseth did in their speeches yesterday. They used race, gender and party to sow discord in the military and the country. It's straight out of Putin's playbook.
The Silence of the Generals
And the searing words of a veteran on the bench.
www.thebulwark.com
Reposted by Will Saletan
thebulwark.com
"We've been telling you for some time that Donald Trump is an authoritarian, and now there's a new threat, which is we might not be allowed to tell you that anymore." - @saletan.bsky.social
saletan.bsky.social
The "leadership of America’s military has been put on notice. They now understand how Trump intends to use their forces. He told them, explicitly. He wants to deploy them to American cities where they will be used to 'quell' disfavored groups."

@jvl.bsky.social on Trump's speech to the generals.
“It’s a war from within.”
Trump prepares the generals for what comes next.
www.thebulwark.com
saletan.bsky.social
"When we were the Department of War," we had "two massive world wars in which tens of millions of people were killed."

"Maybe being the Department of Defense, where you have international alliances" and work "to deter war—maybe that's a better world."

@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social rebuts Hegseth
Reaction to Hegseth & Trump’s Strange Speech to Generals
YouTube video by The Bulwark
www.youtube.com
saletan.bsky.social
"If you were expecting a scene from Triumph of the Will, that's not what you got. You got fat Elvis."

"We are undergoing a transformation of military affairs... all related to drones... It has fuck-all to do with pull-ups."

@jvl.bsky.social and @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social on Trump and Hegseth.
Reaction to Hegseth & Trump’s Strange Speech to Generals
YouTube video by The Bulwark
www.youtube.com
Reposted by Will Saletan
thebulwark.com
JD Vance is a liar — and he knows it!

@timmiller.bsky.social and @saletan.bsky.social team up to talk the VP
Reposted by Will Saletan
thebulwark.com
To get the Comey indictment dismissed as vindictive, the defense would have to show 1) that the prosecution was based on animus, and 2) that without the animus, it wouldn’t have been pursued.

Those are not very hard to demonstrate. New from @saletan.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-own-...
Trump’s Own Words Have Discredited the Case Against Comey
The evidence that the president directed a vindictive prosecution is overwhelming.
www.thebulwark.com
saletan.bsky.social
The case against Comey is empty, but the case against Trump is strong: He pushed for Comey's arrest, ousted a prosecutor who wouldn't indict him, publicly told the AG to nail him, and installed his own lawyer to do the job.

It's all the evidence Comey needs to get the case tossed. Nice job, Donald.
Trump’s Own Words Have Discredited the Case Against Comey
The evidence that the president directed a vindictive prosecution is overwhelming.
www.thebulwark.com
saletan.bsky.social
Vance on Comey's prosecution: "The idea that this is driven by politics ... is preposterous when you actually read the details of the indictment."

Details? LOL. There are no details. Or evidence. It doesn't even specify the criminal act.

@timmiller.bsky.social and I dismantle the veep's latest BS.
JD Vance KNOWS He’s Lying
YouTube video by The Bulwark
www.youtube.com
saletan.bsky.social
Welker asks about Trump's power grabs: "Is there... any line that he could cross in terms of his executive authority that would prompt you to speak out?"

Thune shrugs it off. "Administrations ... [are] always going to assert as much authority as they can. That's the nature of the executive branch."
Leader Thune says government shutdown ‘totally up to the Democrats’: Full interview
In an exclusive interview with Meet the Press, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) weighs in on the battle over federal funding, just days away from a potential government shutdown.
www.nbcnews.com
saletan.bsky.social
Ty Cobb, who previously represented Trump's White House, calls the Comey prosecution "wholly unconstitutional, authoritarian" and adds:

"Trump wants to rewrite history so... the next generation may not know that he incited a violent insurrection," "stole classified documents," and "was a criminal."
Transcript: Ty Cobb on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Sept. 28, 2025
The following is the transcript of the interview with Ty Cobb, who served as White House Special Counsel during President Trump's first term, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on S...
www.cbsnews.com