# The Bulwark (website)

The Bulwark is an American conservative, anti-Trump news and opinion website launched in 2018 by Sarah Longwell, with the support of Bill Kristol and Charlie Sykes. It initially launched as a news aggregator but in 2019 was revamped using key staffers from the recently closed The Weekly Standard.

## History

Following the end of publication of The Weekly Standard in December 2018, editor-in-chief Charlie Sykes said that "the murder of the Standard made it urgently necessary to create a home for rational, principled, fact-based center-right voices who were not cowed by Trumpism." The site was created in December 2018 as a news aggregator as a project of the Defending Democracy Together Institute, a 501(c)(3) conservative advocacy group led in part by The Weekly Standard co-founder Bill Kristol. Several former editors and writers of The Weekly Standard soon joined the staff and within weeks of launch began publishing original news and opinion pieces. The website has frequently published pieces critical of Donald Trump and of pro-Trump elites in politics and the media.
As a non-profit project, The Bulwark does not run advertising, and is supported by donations. By January 2019, approximately $1 million had already been raised for the site, which was said to be adequate to keep the site running for one year. In 2021, The Bulwark launched Bulwark+, a program that provides paid subscribers with "exclusive podcasts, newsletters, and live-streams" for about $100 a year; within a few months, the website reported roughly 16,000 subscribers. In February 2025, The Bulwark claimed to have 76,000 paid subscribers to its newsletter, and was adding hundreds of new subscribers every few days.
In 2021, Washingtonian magazine observed that content on The Bulwark is primarily geared toward readers seeking "serious coverage of events through a center-right filter" but that its editors have sought to attract centrist Democratic readers who may be "uncomfortable with the excesses of the progressive left".
In 2024, Sarah Longwell, Bill Kristol and Tim Miller sent the names of prominent Republicans to the Democratic campaign and in October Will Saletan wrote that Trump was running an "openly fascist campaign".

## Notable Staff & Contributors

Sarah Longwell is the publisher of The Bulwark, and also co-hosts several podcasts for the publication. Jonathan V. Last is the editor. The staff and writers also includes editors William Kristol, Adam Keiper, Jim Swift, Martyn Wendell Jones, Benjamin Parker, Sonny Bunch, Mona Charen, Sam Stein, Tim Miller, Will Saletan, Cathy Young, Joe Perticone, Adrian Carrasquillo, and Andrew Egger.

## Podcasts

The Bulwark produces and distributes several podcasts, which cover news, political analysis, culture, and foreign affairs. They also publish weekly private podcasts.

### The Bulwark Podcast With Tim Miller

The Bulwark Podcast is a news, opinion and interview show hosted by Tim Miller. The podcast is released every weekday and published in audio and video form. Until February 2024, the podcast was hosted by Charlie Sykes. The show launched on December 21, 2018. The Bulwark's Publisher Sarah Longwell said that each of the podcast's January 2021 episodes were downloaded about 100,000 times.

### The Next Level

Co-hosted by Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, and Jonathan V. Last, The Next Level is a weekly podcast that covers the news of the week, with a focus on politics and elections.

### George Conway Explains It All (To Sarah Longwell)

Co-hosted by attorney George Conway and Sarah Longwell, George Conway Explains It All covers legal and political news, with a particular emphasis on Donald Trump's legal issues.

### The Mona Charen Show

The Mona Charen Show, hosted by Mona Charen, is a weekly interview-style podcast that covers politics and cultural issues. Charen previously hosted the panel-style podcast Beg to Differ.

### The Focus Group

The Focus Group is a weekly podcast hosted by Sarah Longwell. Longwell invites a guest to review audio clips of focus groups to learn what voters think about candidates, issues, and events.

### Shield of the Republic

Co-hosted by former diplomat Eric S. Edelman and political scientist Eliot A. Cohen, Shield of the Republic is a weekly podcast on national security and foreign policy.

### The Michael Steele Podcast

Hosted by former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele, The Michael Steele Podcast is a weekly "barbershop-style" discussion of political and cultural events.

### How to Fix It with John Avlon

A weekly podcast hosted by journalist, speechwriter, and congressional candidate John Avlon.

### The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood

Hosted by Sonny Bunch, The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood includes interviews with interesting people who work in the entertainment industry.

### Across the Movie Aisle

Co-hosted by Sonny Bunch, Alyssa Rosenberg, and Peter Suderman, Across the Movie Aisle is a discussion of movies between writers with different political perspectives.