“We’ve got to do something.”
Hey guys, it’s Sarah.
We started The Bulwark almost seven years ago with a simple mission: Call out the authoritarian lies that are breaking our democracy, and give people the plain truth about what’s happening in the country.
The response has been overwhelming. You guys showed up, and this place has become a real community. And over the past few months, you all were part of something extraordinary.
When we first found out about the case of Andry Hernández Romero, the gay makeup artist who Trump kidnapped and illegally sent to El Salvador, Tim said:
“We’ve got to do something.”
Andry’s case was just the grossest encapsulation of everything Trump stands for—the unnecessary cruelty, the arbitrariness and vindictiveness, the refusal to admit any wrongdoing, the doubling and tripling down on the bad behavior.
“If this community means anything,” Tim said, “we’ve got to do whatever we can to help Andry.”
That’s how you got our Bulwark Live show and fundraiser for Andry, and our partnership with his lawyers, who have been incredible. It might not have been much, but it was the least we could do to try to help this innocent man who has been persecuted in our name, as Americans.
And so, when we got the news that Andry had been released from prison and returned to his home country, we were overjoyed. Tim landed an extraordinary one-on-one interview in which Andry’s integrity, grace, and deep well of human kindness were on full display.
Make no mistake: You guys helped make that happen.
This is a big-hearted community, and the outpouring of support we saw for Andry was something truly special. So, more than anything, we want to say: Thank you. Thank you for being part of this with us.
We’re still living through an emergency. Andry might be free, but the pain our government inflicted on him for no reason will remain. And there are countless others who are suffering at the hands of this administration and will continue to for years to come.
The Bulwark exists to bring you the truth about what’s happening in our fast slide into authoritarianism, and call out the people who are enabling it. We have fourteen podcasts and nine newsletters—plus tons of daily video content—to help you “see around corners,” as JVL likes to say, and make sense of this moment.
That’s all only possible thanks to the support of our Bulwark+ members. Most of what we do, we give away for free. And the only reason we can afford to do that is because we have a robust community of people who are willing to support our work and our mission through Bulwark+.
So we need you guys riding with us. What makes this an extraordinary community is the people who choose to be a part of it. And if you share our love for what America can be at its best, and our horror at what it currently is at its worst, then we want you on our team.
Sarah Longwell
Publisher, The Bulwark