
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize: Defeating Trumpism
Plus, the reality behind refusing to enforce laws that ban or limit abortion.
Recently at The Bulwark:
CHARLIE SYKES: The Big Lie Is Just the Pretext
SONNY BUNCH: Diversity at the Multiplex Matters and Elvis Reviewed.
SECRET POD: Together Again. š
You can support The Bulwark by subscribing to Bulwark+ or just by sharing this newsletter with someone you think would value it.
JEFFREY C. ISAAC: Keep Your Eyes on the Prize: Defeating Trumpism.
The testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson seems to have spurred parts of the public to consider anew what happened on January 6th: that the president of the United States attempted to overturn the results of an election by sending a mobāwhich he knew was armedāto the Capitol in order to interrupt Congress as it counted the electoral votes.
Donald Trump, many people now seem to think, is in trouble.
But the purpose of the House January 6th Committee is not merely to hold Donald Trump accountable. It is to hold the entire project of Trumpism to account.
The Atlanticās Peter Wehner joins the group (plus Ted Johnson) to discuss the reasoning and implications of the Dobbs decision. The panel then considers the āimpact of āCassidy Hutchinson and other testimony. āAir going out of the Trump balloon?
We donāt need to hear from any more tough guys talking about making babies have babies. Plus, Tom Nichols gets personal about a pre-Roe abortion, and compares the Cassidy Hutchinson testimony to a peek inside the Soviet archives. Your holiday weekend podcast from Charlie Sykes.
Bulwark+ members can listen to an ad-free version of these podcasts on the player of their choice. Learn more at Bulwark+ Podcast FAQ.
Did you miss TNB? If youāre reading this, yes you did. (We missed you!) But hereās an excerpt that B+ members saw last night:

But you can join and watch all previous TNBs, which we archive, and not miss the next one if youāre a member.
BILL LUEDERS: Officials in Several States Say They Wonāt Enforce Abortion Restrictions.
The day after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers made a public pledge to cut a break to anyone convicted of violating the stateās 1849 law banning abortion.
āI will provide clemency to any physician that is charged under that law,ā Evers said during a rally preceding the state Democratic Party convention in La Crosse. During his convention speech, he said: āI donāt think that a law that was written before the Civil War, or before women secured the right to vote, should be used to dictate these intimate decisions on reproductive health.ā
Wisconsinās Democratic attorney general, Josh Kaul, has also said he will not use the resources of his office to prosecute abortion providers. So have the district attorneys for the stateās two largest counties, Milwaukee and Dane.
These statements naturally elicit a question: Is there any talk about using these pledges of protection to continue to offer abortion services?
šØOVERTIME šØ
Fireworks. š§Ø I love fireworks. Weirdly, Gus, our Westie (AKA āArea Dogā) does not mind them one bit. Weāll see what Rusty, our pandemic dog, thinks. Most dogs do not like fireworks, but in my old age, Iāve gone from a fan of aerial fireworks to a bit of a squish.
When I was younger, around the year 2000, I was out in D.C. for a YAF conservative youth conference, and one night some of my friends piled into my car to go watch a movie at Billy Buchananās house. (Yes, that Buchanan family.) This was well before smartphones, and we missed them at a light in Northern Virginia and we were on our own.
So, we just drove around the NoVa suburbs, a bunch of kids from all across the U.S. in my 1992 baby blue Plymouth Acclaim, when we ended up in McLean off of VA Route 123, at the back entrance of the CIA.
You can guess what happened next: Letās see how close we can get! Unbeknownst to us, the back entrance was the location of an act of terrorism a few years earlier. And I had fireworks in my trunk.
The good ones from Phantom Fireworks. The kind that werenāt legal in most places. Definitely not in D.C. or Virginia. My neighbor back in Ohio liked to have an illegal fireworks show after the city and the local country clubs had theirs. I wanted to contribute.
As it turns out, the CIA is not very visitor friendly, and once youāve made the turn, youāre done for. Theyāre gonna search your car. And search they did. It was foolish. They let us off with a warning.
What really turned me off on home-use aerial fireworks was one that almost hit me in the head when I went back to Ohio a few days later. The tube that you drop the mortar into was fractured and I could have been a statistic.
So, always be careful, and remember, itās not your city or HOA or neighborās responsibility to clean up these things⦠assuming you donāt get caught. And donāt burn your house down. Keep a 5 gallon bucket with water on hand to properly dispose of everything. Douse it out, be safe, and Happy Fourth!
Meanwhile, the Akron, Ohio area has cancelled the 4th⦠Because of what clearly is a disproportionate response from police. Youāre going to hear more about this, and you should care, especially if this is true:
3News Investigates reported on Wednesday that records show that eight Akron Police officers fired approximately 90 shots at Walker, striking him 60 times.
8 cops. 60/90 shots hit and killed Jaylan Walker who, wait for it:
Sources say some of the last shots were fired while Walkerās body was on the pavement. Walker was on the ground dead when medical help arrived. Autopsy records show he was handcuffed after the shooting. He was not armed at the time he was shot, sources said.
A gun, however, was recovered inside Walkerās car, the same sources confirmed.
Uh.
The trads are at it again⦠Damon Linker has this report.
More AZ subpoenas⦠About 1/6 and the Fraudit in Arizona. Such a stark difference between Rusty Bowers in the AZ House and Karen Fann in the AZ Senate.
Free the White House press corps. I am not a WHCA credentialed member of the press, but if I were, I would have signed this letter encouraging the Biden admin to lift some of the Trump-era pandemic restrictions on the press corps.
Crocodile tears from the GOP. You had an opportunity to participate. You took your ball and went home to Fox News.
Thatās it for me. Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
ā30ā
Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.