Some news from us: The Bulwark is growing.

Dear Friends,

We are so grateful for Charlie's many contributions and a testament to his legacy is our continued growth. The stakes in 2024 couldn't be higher so today we're excited to share with you some of our plans.

Beginning next week, our Morning Shots newsletter will be written by Bill Kristol and our new White House correspondent, Andrew Egger.

You all know and love Bill; OG Bulwarkers might remember Andrew from the early days. Morning Shots will feature Bill’s deep font of historical perspective alongside day-to-day political analysis, a table-setting look at what you need to know for the day, and Andrew’s reporting from President Biden’s White House and beyond.

It’s going to be the most valuable morning newsletter around. And we’re still going to give it away, every day, for free. 

Tim Miller is taking over the captain’s chair for The Bulwark Podcast. You know what Tim can do—he’s not only the best take-haver on the interwebs, he’s also become a skilled (and fun) interviewer. The Bulwark Podcast is loaded with the best and most insightful guests around and Tim’s conversations with them are going to make it the best daily interview show in America. (Don’t worry Next Level fans: Tim isn’t going anywhere.)

Mona Charen’s Just Between Us will alternate on Tuesdays with A.B. Stoddard and Will Saletan, with the occasional special visit from JVL (exclusively for Bulwark+ members), for an intimate conversation between some of the most thoughtful and honest writers in this business representing the principled center-right and center-left. 

And we’ve got one more new member of the crew: Marc Caputo. 

Marc is one of the best politics reporters in the country—he came to us via Politico, NBC News, and the Messenger. (Some of you may remember him as the guest on The Focus Group warning that DeSantis was a paper tiger at a time when everyone was touting God’s Fighter as the Next Big Thing.)

Marc is in Florida and he’s going to write a newsletter reporting on the MAGA right—we’re calling it MAGAville. It’ll have dispatches explaining why the crazy stuff we all see is happening and provide his insightful and no BS reported perspective on the MAGA power centers. How good is Marc? If you haven’t read his giant, definitive look inside how DeSantis’s Never Back Down PAC blew up, you must do so immediately. This is the kind of reporting you’d expect from the most prestigious outlets in America. And now it’s at The Bulwark.

Oh—and we assume that, like everyone else in America, you have noticed this little show Sarah started a couple of weeks ago that’s now THE #2 NEWS PODCAST IN THE COUNTRY: George Conway Explains It All (to Sarah Longwell).

Bringing George into The Bulwark family has been a huge hit and his and Sarah’s show is appointment-level #content. Don’t miss it.

Okay, now let us give you some context for why we’ve grown in this direction.

The Bulwark is not the New York Times. We are a place for analysis and while we are objective and fair, we don’t play the both-sides game. We are on #TeamDemocracy. But as we’ve grown, our mission has always been to add value for you. 

That’s why we wanted a daily perspective from Bill Kristol, who has served in White Houses and been on presidential campaigns, why we brought in A.B. Stoddard who understands how Republican Washington works as well as anyone, and why we started a new podcast featuring George Conway, who can explain all of the Trump criminal trials’ minutiae to you in terms we can all understand.

We’re not chasing clicks. We’re not looking to go viral. We’re trying to make you smarter and to keep our collective eye on the ball during the most dangerous period our democracy has had in a century.

To that end we have also brought on a robust team of reporters that are fact-based and able to illuminate our audience on the beats that are essential to this fight. It began with Joe Perticone’s Press Pass newsletter reporting from the Hill—so you could have a front-row seat to the fall of Kevin McCarthy and the Republican obstruction of . . . everything. That’s why we’ve added a White House Correspondent to go inside Joe Biden’s Oval and a reported MAGAville newsletter that will help us understand the stories behind the movement that has pushed American politics to a place none of us has ever seen before.

All of this is in addition to all of the other tremendous products The Bulwark creates. Nearly all of which we give away for free. Because—this is a reminder for the new people—The Bulwark isn’t really a business. It’s a mission. And you can’t save democracy from behind a paywall.

And one other note on that score: If you haven't noticed The Bulwark is taking over YouTube. In January alone our page had 6.8 million views during which people spent over 1 million hours watching our content. A million hours!! Why are we making a push into YouTube? Because that’s where a lot of people who wouldn’t otherwise see The Bulwark are getting their news. The only way to save democracy is with more democracy—and be reaching people where they are.

We’re able to carry out this mission because of tens of thousands of members of Bulwark+ who are riding with us. Thanks, friends.

And to anyone who isn’t a member yet: Now is the time to join. 

We’re going hard. And fixing this thing is going to take all of us.

Yours,

Sarah and JVL

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