Bulwark fam — because I'm a dork and love cross-tabs and opinion data on all of the insanity like this going on, I built an interactive app to gauge how different communities stack up across a bunch of takes by different media audiences & dimensions. Dedicated page for the Bulwark community: https://votto.app/bulwark
Answer enough takes, and it’ll generate incredibly cool readouts synthesizing your worldview back to you too!
Meant to be more like a living vibe check + opportunity to reflect than dry, polling mush. The synthesis in the Reads are quite interesting, and I know Bulwark readers will have some fascinating divergences from other communities.
My guess is that the founders of the T. Rump criminal enterprise will never find themselves in a cell eating peanut butter sandwiches courtesy of the taxpayers. YMMV.
I can't for the life of me understand why Democrats are not making this a central message. I know we all have our own ideas about what Democrats should and should not campaign on. Many of those topics and policies bring out factional divisions: emphasize or silence this or that and you're tacking to the right, or to the left.
Surely, everyone can be outraged at corruption. It's a great unifier. By now, there are whole categories: the Trump family; the cabinet; international wheeling and dealing; demolition derby and vanity monuments in the White House and DC; presidential pardons; favors and punishments for corporations, states, and economic sectors; and the list goes on and on. We should making some of main characters public villains and household words. Force every member of the GOP to answer for the administration's corruption.
I’ve been reading comments at the WSJ for years. I’ve noticed this: a great many of them thought Biden let in way too many (non white) migrants. It comes up over and over: it’s their number 1 issue.
So Trump gets a pass on massive corruption because he went to the opposition extreme: he’s closed the border tight and stopped all refugees but a handful of white South Africans.
So I conclude that racism is stronger than desire for a decent government. ☹️
I agree there's a core of Trump voters who aren't going anywhere---and race/immigration motivate big chunks of those, but I wonder if the corruption issue could get more Americans off the sidelines. When we do get to read more about some of these cases, they're cartoonish and pretty easy to understand. His wrecking ball approach to the White House back in the fall did give his poll ratings a hit.
I am a member of Indivisible Abroad. I lead my own group in my city in Northern Germany. Indivisible Abroad and Indivisible are some of the organizations supporting Free Speech for People's campaign to impeach Trump and his cabinet. Would you please read my piece explaining it and help us get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
Corruption sunk Viktor Orban, although only after sixteen years. In theory it could sink Donald and his Republican collaborators as well.
I suspect we ought to operate as though it could, rather than giving in to the usual "woe is me, it's too late, it's all over people, Magas are stupid, the billionaires rule the world, we're so effed" spirit of doomerism that spirals out of social media at light speed 24/7 and is so seductive to a large subset of the American people.
Unlike the Hungarians we don't have a tradition of understanding and being proud of our country's history. Perhaps this is why we're less inclined to fight for our country than we are to complain about it.
Left wing Americans regard the US as innately evil from its founding, capable of becoming good only if it is purged of its past, only if WrongThink is eliminated. Right wing Americans believe it used to be good in some Golden Past of whiteness and Christian endeavor, but is now evil and can only be good again if cleansed of All The Wrong People. Our angry myths make us less open to sensible political action than Hungarian voters appear to have been.
Nonetheless, it makes sense to believe that it is possible for a majority of the people to do the right thing, and to behave accordingly: starting with cleaning up after the Trumps and their fellow-travelers.
The Hungarian opposition united across the political spectrum to oppose corruption and the outright theft of public money which led to economic stagnation. So it was a both and argument. The progressives put aside their ideological differences to support a candidate who could actually win. They created an actual big tent. I expect that the new Hungarian government will be more "liberal" than we would assume. For example seeking to improve the public health service. That is not a "conservative" project in the U.S. It may take more time to undo the corruption in the U.S. Remember that Magyar spent TWO years on the road in rural Hungary before winning the election.
willoughby, I am a member of Indivisible Abroad. I lead my own group in my city in Northern Germany. Indivisible Abroad and Indivisible are some of the organizations supporting Free Speech for People's campaign to impeach Trump and his cabinet. Would you please read my piece explaining it and help us get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
Sorry to be so cynical, but either these people don't know about the long list of billions of dollars being sucked into the family's fortune OR they don't believe it and therefore don't care. Or, they think it's well deserved because he's "saving The Country." I don't see any of that changing in the next few months or years.
Yes, the list is long and deep. But, the past 10 years have shown that nothing he does matters as far as legality, morality, and ethics considerations are concerned. So, the Qatar plane or the suit-settling or the crypto or....etc. etc. etc. isn't enough to jolt millions of fans into suddenly rethinking their political choices. ONLY a tanked economy that can't be blamed on Biden or Obama will do that. If the economy affects the millions and millions of Trump fans enough to make them regret their votes, the corruption is not the change agent here.
I've given up nearly all hope, in case that's not apparent. :-/
I did just see an article and a poll that stated his supporters think its okay.
Conservative views on the Trump family's immense wealth accumulation—estimated at over \(\$5\) billion following their 2025 cryptocurrency ventures and foreign business dealings—largely mirror their defense of his first term: a mix of apathy toward ethical concerns and a strong belief that the business acumen of the family is a virtue.
Even when independent analyses indicate massive profit increases alongside government contracts, this is often perceived by supporters as savvy management.
These same people excuse rape as a normal response to trying to curb a man's normal urges.
I have to laugh at your headline…the majority of people in congress are corrupt, the doj has been corrupted-who is going to stop him? We, the citizens, can’t vote until November and it looks like he will corrupt our elections as well☹️.
The billionaire ruling class are all much more wealthy than they were when Trump took office the first time. His corruption is a feature, not a bug. Trumpism is an excellent ROI for billionaires. Happy markets = happy billionaires.
Rose-colored glasses, I'm afraid. If our selfish, greedy, grasping, venal, ignorant, something-for-nothing society holds a mirror up to itself, they see Donny, and his equally despicable spawn. He's our "Picture of Dorian Grey" hiding in the closet. Or as Pogo once said, misquoting someone else, "We have seen the enemy, and he is us."
I am a member of Indivisible Abroad. I lead my own group in my city in Northern Germany. Indivisible Abroad and Indivisible are some of the organizations supporting Free Speech for People's campaign to impeach Trump and his cabinet. Would you please read my piece explaining it and help us get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
I beg to differ. NOTHING will "sink Trump." I read with great delight (and sadness) David French's column this week, "https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/opinion/trump-iran-ukraine-true-believers.html " "Joining with Trump doesn’t just mean that you gain access to the room where it happens, to use Lin-Manuel Miranda’s memorable phrase. For a substantial number of supporters, it means access to a degree of autonomy and impunity that’s virtually unknown in modern American politics." Autonomy and impunity. The GOP has to be voted out like addressing a virus: stop the transmission and vaccinate for herd immunity.
julie, I am a member of Indivisible Abroad. I lead my own group in my city in Northern Germany. Indivisible Abroad and Indivisible are some of the organizations supporting Free Speech for People's campaign to impeach Trump and his cabinet. Would you please read my piece explaining it and help us get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
Sorry for the second post, but the results in Indiana show his continuing strength. I have not seen analysis of those races, ie. what was voter turnout, how much was spent but still a win is a win.
I am hoping you are right but so far I dont see a lot of evidence the economy is sinking. Could be my circle. Gas prices have to be hurting and food prices certainly are not dropping. My family members who support Trump say yes he is corrupt but no worst then the Dems. So, so far they are ok with it. Wouldnt it be nice if we said ‘no’ to corruption.
Idk. Feels like it should, but I thought that in 2016 and 2024. Can we stop acting like there is this mass of virtuous voters? The only way forward is to appeal to people’s selfish self interest. Always has been. Dems lost the plot thinking they could make the world better and people would be smart enough to understand that and support them. We needed to give the voters that are purely self interested candy so they wouldn’t throw a tantrum and tear everything apart. Hindsight I guess
Bulwark fam — because I'm a dork and love cross-tabs and opinion data on all of the insanity like this going on, I built an interactive app to gauge how different communities stack up across a bunch of takes by different media audiences & dimensions. Dedicated page for the Bulwark community: https://votto.app/bulwark
Answer enough takes, and it’ll generate incredibly cool readouts synthesizing your worldview back to you too!
Meant to be more like a living vibe check + opportunity to reflect than dry, polling mush. The synthesis in the Reads are quite interesting, and I know Bulwark readers will have some fascinating divergences from other communities.
My guess is that the founders of the T. Rump criminal enterprise will never find themselves in a cell eating peanut butter sandwiches courtesy of the taxpayers. YMMV.
I don’t think anything will fully sink Trump until he shuffles off his mortal coil.
I can't for the life of me understand why Democrats are not making this a central message. I know we all have our own ideas about what Democrats should and should not campaign on. Many of those topics and policies bring out factional divisions: emphasize or silence this or that and you're tacking to the right, or to the left.
Surely, everyone can be outraged at corruption. It's a great unifier. By now, there are whole categories: the Trump family; the cabinet; international wheeling and dealing; demolition derby and vanity monuments in the White House and DC; presidential pardons; favors and punishments for corporations, states, and economic sectors; and the list goes on and on. We should making some of main characters public villains and household words. Force every member of the GOP to answer for the administration's corruption.
I’ve been reading comments at the WSJ for years. I’ve noticed this: a great many of them thought Biden let in way too many (non white) migrants. It comes up over and over: it’s their number 1 issue.
So Trump gets a pass on massive corruption because he went to the opposition extreme: he’s closed the border tight and stopped all refugees but a handful of white South Africans.
So I conclude that racism is stronger than desire for a decent government. ☹️
I agree there's a core of Trump voters who aren't going anywhere---and race/immigration motivate big chunks of those, but I wonder if the corruption issue could get more Americans off the sidelines. When we do get to read more about some of these cases, they're cartoonish and pretty easy to understand. His wrecking ball approach to the White House back in the fall did give his poll ratings a hit.
There’s also a growing crowd in the comments that are fed up with Trump. That’s encouraging!
I am a member of Indivisible Abroad. I lead my own group in my city in Northern Germany. Indivisible Abroad and Indivisible are some of the organizations supporting Free Speech for People's campaign to impeach Trump and his cabinet. Would you please read my piece explaining it and help us get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
Corruption sunk Viktor Orban, although only after sixteen years. In theory it could sink Donald and his Republican collaborators as well.
I suspect we ought to operate as though it could, rather than giving in to the usual "woe is me, it's too late, it's all over people, Magas are stupid, the billionaires rule the world, we're so effed" spirit of doomerism that spirals out of social media at light speed 24/7 and is so seductive to a large subset of the American people.
Unlike the Hungarians we don't have a tradition of understanding and being proud of our country's history. Perhaps this is why we're less inclined to fight for our country than we are to complain about it.
Left wing Americans regard the US as innately evil from its founding, capable of becoming good only if it is purged of its past, only if WrongThink is eliminated. Right wing Americans believe it used to be good in some Golden Past of whiteness and Christian endeavor, but is now evil and can only be good again if cleansed of All The Wrong People. Our angry myths make us less open to sensible political action than Hungarian voters appear to have been.
Nonetheless, it makes sense to believe that it is possible for a majority of the people to do the right thing, and to behave accordingly: starting with cleaning up after the Trumps and their fellow-travelers.
The Hungarian opposition united across the political spectrum to oppose corruption and the outright theft of public money which led to economic stagnation. So it was a both and argument. The progressives put aside their ideological differences to support a candidate who could actually win. They created an actual big tent. I expect that the new Hungarian government will be more "liberal" than we would assume. For example seeking to improve the public health service. That is not a "conservative" project in the U.S. It may take more time to undo the corruption in the U.S. Remember that Magyar spent TWO years on the road in rural Hungary before winning the election.
willoughby, I am a member of Indivisible Abroad. I lead my own group in my city in Northern Germany. Indivisible Abroad and Indivisible are some of the organizations supporting Free Speech for People's campaign to impeach Trump and his cabinet. Would you please read my piece explaining it and help us get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
I’d sign a petition but I’m not an American.
I think it is more effective if you have a real zip code in the US that you can use. I think these get checked. Thanks for the offer though.
Sorry to be so cynical, but either these people don't know about the long list of billions of dollars being sucked into the family's fortune OR they don't believe it and therefore don't care. Or, they think it's well deserved because he's "saving The Country." I don't see any of that changing in the next few months or years.
Yes, the list is long and deep. But, the past 10 years have shown that nothing he does matters as far as legality, morality, and ethics considerations are concerned. So, the Qatar plane or the suit-settling or the crypto or....etc. etc. etc. isn't enough to jolt millions of fans into suddenly rethinking their political choices. ONLY a tanked economy that can't be blamed on Biden or Obama will do that. If the economy affects the millions and millions of Trump fans enough to make them regret their votes, the corruption is not the change agent here.
I've given up nearly all hope, in case that's not apparent. :-/
I did just see an article and a poll that stated his supporters think its okay.
Conservative views on the Trump family's immense wealth accumulation—estimated at over \(\$5\) billion following their 2025 cryptocurrency ventures and foreign business dealings—largely mirror their defense of his first term: a mix of apathy toward ethical concerns and a strong belief that the business acumen of the family is a virtue.
Even when independent analyses indicate massive profit increases alongside government contracts, this is often perceived by supporters as savvy management.
These same people excuse rape as a normal response to trying to curb a man's normal urges.
I have to laugh at your headline…the majority of people in congress are corrupt, the doj has been corrupted-who is going to stop him? We, the citizens, can’t vote until November and it looks like he will corrupt our elections as well☹️.
On the corruption front. There is nothing this administration won't do for our tax dollars including human rights abuse:
https://corruptioninc.substack.com/p/how-private-prisons-get-rich-off?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=43nrad
The billionaire ruling class are all much more wealthy than they were when Trump took office the first time. His corruption is a feature, not a bug. Trumpism is an excellent ROI for billionaires. Happy markets = happy billionaires.
By far! Billionaires are by and large not seeming to be so happy, just greedy. Happy Markets=greedy billionaires.
Rose-colored glasses, I'm afraid. If our selfish, greedy, grasping, venal, ignorant, something-for-nothing society holds a mirror up to itself, they see Donny, and his equally despicable spawn. He's our "Picture of Dorian Grey" hiding in the closet. Or as Pogo once said, misquoting someone else, "We have seen the enemy, and he is us."
Jean, I always say that and like to couple it with this image. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/93798/picture-of-dorian-gray
I am a member of Indivisible Abroad. I lead my own group in my city in Northern Germany. Indivisible Abroad and Indivisible are some of the organizations supporting Free Speech for People's campaign to impeach Trump and his cabinet. Would you please read my piece explaining it and help us get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
I beg to differ. NOTHING will "sink Trump." I read with great delight (and sadness) David French's column this week, "https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/opinion/trump-iran-ukraine-true-believers.html " "Joining with Trump doesn’t just mean that you gain access to the room where it happens, to use Lin-Manuel Miranda’s memorable phrase. For a substantial number of supporters, it means access to a degree of autonomy and impunity that’s virtually unknown in modern American politics." Autonomy and impunity. The GOP has to be voted out like addressing a virus: stop the transmission and vaccinate for herd immunity.
julie, I am a member of Indivisible Abroad. I lead my own group in my city in Northern Germany. Indivisible Abroad and Indivisible are some of the organizations supporting Free Speech for People's campaign to impeach Trump and his cabinet. Would you please read my piece explaining it and help us get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
Sorry for the second post, but the results in Indiana show his continuing strength. I have not seen analysis of those races, ie. what was voter turnout, how much was spent but still a win is a win.
GOP primary voters are going to lean very Trumpy.
I am hoping you are right but so far I dont see a lot of evidence the economy is sinking. Could be my circle. Gas prices have to be hurting and food prices certainly are not dropping. My family members who support Trump say yes he is corrupt but no worst then the Dems. So, so far they are ok with it. Wouldnt it be nice if we said ‘no’ to corruption.
Could be your circle. A circle of Nazis I presume.
Idk. Feels like it should, but I thought that in 2016 and 2024. Can we stop acting like there is this mass of virtuous voters? The only way forward is to appeal to people’s selfish self interest. Always has been. Dems lost the plot thinking they could make the world better and people would be smart enough to understand that and support them. We needed to give the voters that are purely self interested candy so they wouldn’t throw a tantrum and tear everything apart. Hindsight I guess