Telling Fake Matt Gaetz Apart from Real Matt Gaetz

How the new MAGA social media networks can make the truth confusing...

Leading The Bulwark…

Telling Fake Matt Gaetz Apart from Real Matt Gaetz

JIM SWIFT: Trumpism, social media fakery, and a cagey congressman.

🎧 On the Pods… 🎧

Kim Wehle: On The Fate of Democracy As We Know It

On today's podcast, Charlie Sykes and Kim Wehle discuss cameras in the classroom, the transformation of JD Vance, the semi-anniversary of the insurrection, and SCOTUS's recent voting rights decision.

ATMA: 'The Tomorrow War' Podcast

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch, Alyssa Rosenberg, and Peter Suderman discuss the great Richard Donner, who died on Monday at the age of 91. They also discuss the new Prime Video offering The Tomorrow War.

For Bulwark+ Members… 🔐

MORNING SHOTS: Six Months That Changed America 🔐

CHARLIE SYKES joins the piling on of J.D. Vance.

THE TRIAD: Why China Is Crushing Its Own Tech Sector 🔐

JVL on power centers.

ATMA: Favorite Movie Presidents 🔐

On this week’s special members-only bonus episode, Sonny explains why President Thomas Whitmore is not only the greatest movie president of all time, he’s the greatest Republican movie president of all time. Alyssa explains why the president in Love Actually helps reveal how silly that movie is. And Peter picks a TV show president, naturally.

From The Bulwark Aggregator…

• Haitian President Jovenel Moise assassinated – France24

• Ransomware Hackers May Be in Over Their Heads. They May Not Even Get Paid. – Shannon Vavra, The Daily Beast

• Tucker Carlson’s Populism Is for the Small-Time Rich – Eric Levitz, Intelligencer

• New Treasury Data Shows That the Rollout of Emergency Rent Relief Continues to Be a Hot Mess – Christian Britschgi, Reason Magazine

• What Does Mitch McConnell Do Now? – Peter Nicholas, The Atlantic

• Rhode Island Democrats look for an opening – Mary Frances McGowan, National Journal

• Trump told chief of staff Hitler ‘did a lot of good things’, book says – Martin Pengelly, The Guardian

In Today’s Bulwark...

What We Lost When We Won the Cold War

MONA CHAREN: We defeated tyranny, but did we abandon liberty?

Getting to Yes on Voting Rights

MICHAEL S. STEELE: Don’t let the perfect get in the way of the possible.

🚨OVERTIME 🚨

Happy Wednesday! For the first time in a long time, England has something to be happy about, as they defeated Denmark 2-1 in extra time.

Speaking of Britain… They’re importing the Fox News-style culture wars. But it doesn’t seem to be doing too well in the UK.

Cilantro sauce… Here’s a recipe you can use. And it’s a testament to the level of work that goes into restaurant, or in this case, food truck recipes.

Ohio Republican women against Josh Mandel… The Ohio Senate race just got a little spicier.

Tired: Earthlink Lawyers.
Wired: AOL Lawyers.

Adam Steinbaugh @adamsteinbaugh

Donald Trump is suing Facebook for violating the First Amendment. Here's the complaint:

dropbox.com2461b9b5-69db-452a-b3b7-25a89366376f.pdfShared with Dropbox

No offense to the AOL users among us, but if I had to rely on a lawyer in a must-win case, I am not sure I would go for one whose primary work email is with America Online. That’s just me, though. Maybe I’m missing out.

America is already great. Juvenile has refashioned his big hit to push vaccines.

While we’re talking about vaccines… This, as Sonny points out, doesn’t really make any sense…

Sonny Bunch @SonnyBunch

As a matter of symbolism I don’t think this makes any sense. Like, the “Come and Take It” flag displays a cannon that is, y'know, a threat: if you try to take this, we will shoot you with it. But “Come Inject It” has a needle that you don’t have and don’t want?

Ой…

Jonathan Swan @jonathanvswan

New: Tucker Carlson was talking to U.S.-based Kremlin intermediaries about setting up an interview with Putin shortly before he accused the NSA of spying on him. U.S. gov't officials learned of this outreach ... but that's where details get cloudy.

axios.comTucker Carlson sought interview with Putin at time of NSA spying claimCarlson learned that the U.S. government was aware of his Putin outreach, sources tell Axios.

This is probably not the last we’ll be hearing about this, as it seems Tucker was making the NSA allegations in an effort to get out in front of something that wouldn’t look good for him. Is this it? Time will tell.

I’m old enough to remember when conservatives thought, rightly, Putin was bad. Tucker isn’t sure whether he is, you know, bad. Он просто задает вопросы!

That’s it for me for today. We’ll see you back here tomorrow. Tech support questions? Email support@substack.com. Questions for me? Drop me a line: swift@thebulwark.com

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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.