Bulwark Takes - Tim Miller: MTG’s Exit Is a Bigger Problem Than Trump Thinks

Episode Date: November 25, 2025

Tim Miller joins MSNOW’s Deadline: White House to take on the growing alarm inside the GOP as Trump racks up losses and what MTG’s resignation means for the GOP and the 2026 elections. Check out Deadline: White House on MSNOW: https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house

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please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Hey, everybody, Tim Mow from the Bull Work here. I went on with Nicole today, and we did the what-it-all-means combo with regards to Marjorie Taylor Green and went a little deeper that I was able to run the pot with Bill earlier this morning. But a bunch has happened since the pod with Bill, a bunch of negative for Trump. I thought Nicole is going to ask me about that. She didn't. And so I get to talk to you guys about it.

Here's what I think we're seeing across the board. right now. And this does not mean that this is not reversible. It is. It doesn't mean that Trump's done. He isn't. But a trend is a trend. And for Trump, we are seeing a trend. And it is L. Oh, shoot. Which way does an L look right to you guys? Like this. It is L after L after L after L after L. This has been the month of L's for Donald Trump. Let's run through it all. The elections first week, 2025, in Virginia and New Jersey. He knew he was going to lose them. He lost them by much greater margins than I think even Democrats expect him.

The shutdown message war. Sorry to be right about this, but that was a big L for Donald Trump. How do you know it was a big L for Donald Trump? They are still splashing around trying to find a message on health care. I mean, like just today, there's a bunch of news where Donald Trump was saying, that he, like, was wanting to extend the Obamacare subsidies. The House Republicans don't like that. Senator Republicans don't like that.

They're going to make an announcement today. They're backing it down. It seems like we're still two weeks away from a health care plan for Donald Trump for the 10th straight year. So, you know, Democrats raise the salience to this issue. It is having an effect on voters. Voters are upset about the increasing health care premiums they're seeing. Donald Trump has no message. the messaging war over the shutdown

was an L for Donald Trump Maybe a little bit of an L for all of you Who said I was wrong when I said the Democrats won the shutdown Let's keep going Epstein Obviously the Epstein Discharge possession was an L for Donald Trump And then the other thing that I've been able to talk about today

Because it happened after I taped the pod Lindsay Halligan Lindsay L is for Lindsay Look at that, that was just a coincidence That's Elvis for Lindsay Halligan. And a judge dismissed both of the cases against Tish James and James Comey, where, you know, Donald Trump was trying to get, you know, trying to get Pam Bondi to target his political foes. Pam Bonnie couldn't find prosecutors to do it. She put Lindsay Halligan in place.

She did so illegally, it turns out. And now those cases have been thrown out. L L. So, you know, when it comes to the targeting political foes, when it comes to the campaign politics, when it comes to Capitol Hill politics, when it comes to Epstein, like Donald Trump is just taking L's all across the board, and that gets us back to Marjorie Taylor Green. And at some level, Marjorie Taylor Green leaving and so continuing to fight him is a benefit for Donald Trump.

But the fallout from that, the fallout for the Marjorie Taylor Green, and we did get to talk about this with Bill today, the fallout. The fallout from that is other Republicans on the Hill being like, we might leave two. She's right. And if more Republicans leave and resign, then the Republican majority is even in threat in 2026. I don't think that will actually happen where they lose the majority because they've so many retirements before the midterms happen. But as I get into it with Nicole, all the Republicans on the Hill see the writing on the wall. And so in that sense, Marjorie Taylor Green leaving is the latest L for Donald Trump.

Stick around for more details on that with me and Nicole, some of our other friends. And subscribe to the feed right here. We'll be back later tonight and tomorrow with much, much more. Tim Miller, your thoughts on this moment for Donald Trump and Marjorie Teler Brain. Yeah, look, you laid out nicely in the beginning how this is similar to how some have, you know, in the Republican Party have spoken out against Trump and then retired in the past. and we're seeing that trend continue, which at some level shows that he still, you know,

has a hold over the party. I think the element that's different that is the most interesting is the language that she used in stepping aside. And, you know, I'll leave it to Greg through his reporting and to psychologists to, like, determine what is happening in her brain and how serious she is about this

and what exactly motivating it. But just taking the language at face value, she is basically saying that I, wanted to do work on behalf of the MAGA base that Donald Trump had promised, you know, he was going to work for. And I couldn't do it because Congress was never in session and because the elites within the party, you know, have succumbed to, you know, the influence game of Washington, to the deep state, to the tech elites, right? Like, that's essentially her argument. You know, you always heard from the populace, from the MAGA populace, one common critique was

that there was this uniparty in Washington. Democrats and Republicans might disagree on certain issues, but at the end, they were on the side of the rich, they were on the side of the military and the security state, and they were on the side of corporations. They weren't on the side of you. Well, now Marjorie Tarquin is saying, that's Donald Trump.

You know, he had promised you that he was going to be different. He used to mean outside of it was going to go after those institutions, but he's been co-opted by them, and he likes partying with them. So she didn't use him by name, but, like, in the statement that's very clear what she's talking about, and that is powerful, and that is very different from the other people that have separated from Donald Trump in the past,

because she's coming at him from the place of his core base of support and his core strength. And if even 5% of the macabas agree with her, if more do, you know, even better, but if even 5% or 10% agree with her, that is crippling to Donald Trump's power. That is the first time that he would actually lose the people that, that powered his rise. And so in that sense, I think it was a powerful resignation statement. I think probably it would be more powerful.

She was making that argument from within the halls of Congress. But the interesting thing to be watched will be if other people start to echo that message. Tim, are we bearing the lead here? She speaks about it as a foregone conclusion that Democrats take over the House and that Trump is impeached. Well, the impeachment would end up being, I think, a political judgment by the Democrats, but we probably are bearing the lead as far as a lot of Republicans on the Hill have already basically conceded the midterms. And there's super interesting reporting today from Punch Bowl, D.C.,

which is kind of a capital hell insider outlet. And basically a number of Republicans were calling them after Marjorie Taylor Green's letter came out, saying, essentially, I might not agree with her on all the particulars, and she might have these, you know, various unique issues. But, like, the core of her argument is correct. but like we are doing nothing, we are not serving people, we are about to be in the minority, and I'm annoyed too. And essentially that was the message.

There were a lot of, that there will be maybe more Republican retirements coming because Republicans on the Hill see the riding on the wall that the Democrats are going to win next year. And, you know, it's worth it to stay in Congress, even if you're in the minority, if you feel like you're fighting for something, if you feel like you're doing something. And I think that a lot of Republicans on the Hill don't feel like they're doing anything. They're just ornamentation to die.

Donald Trump's authoritarian takeover, and if it's going to be another one-year slog to their own defeat, well, then maybe others will follow her to the exit side. That was what Punchball is reporting, and that, I think, seems like a reasonable assessment of where we are. Things could change, obviously, but I think that things are looking very bad politically for the Republicans on the help. I mean, Tim, I know we've had this conversation about Roger Telle Green, and you and you and I are sort of, you know, battered ex- Republicans who'll take anyone to come in the boat and road toward democracy that we can get. But David Fram is skeptical,

and I just want to platform his critique. Gullible, as Green was, about crackpot theories and her political association, she seems to have been clear-eyed about our own direct personal interests. Marjorie Taylor Green was one of the most active and successful stock traders in Congress.

In a number of cases, betting for or against companies, about which she likely had advance information. She timed her resignation to take effect two days after her congressional pension vested. She's Mr. Smith goes to Washington, only if the cinematic Mr. Smith have returned home to Montana,

hugely enriched by timely speculations on landholdings near the Boy Ranger can't be championed. But she never did get the joke on the biggest joke in town. The joke that MAGA is about anything more than manipulation, exploitation, corruption, lust, and cruelty. She seems to have sincerely believed the lies that Schrooter players merely mouthed.

She gained her own millions without appreciating that her allies were scheming for building. what do you think fair um i think oh well sure it's a fair critique of marjorie taylor and she deserves to be critiqued i guess the one place where i would part ways a little bit with david is that line that he says where you know that that she was surprised that other people didn't believe what she sincerely believed if that is true that is important in itself right i mean she could be somewhat corrupt um at a small scale compared to the Trumpian corruption and she could be conspiratorial and I'm sure opportunistic and all those

things, but it is telling that if somebody that earnestly believed in the populist part of Maga populism and was a genuine part of the movement, I genuine to such a degree that like she was a MAGA conspiracy poster on Facebook before she went to Congress. I mean, like that that is as core of a MAGA as you could be, right? And she was like for Trump back in the primary when everybody else was against. If somebody like that can go to Washington, be on the inside of the MAG movement, look around and say, we're not actually doing anything. And, you know, maybe I got a little bit of mine and maybe I also got some attention.

But I also believed this stuff. I believe the populist right-wing stuff. And none of you guys do. That's important. Like, that's important even if she is opportunistic, you know, that is important if she's also corrupt. It's still like a very meaningful departure. And the fact that it seems like being David Greene, she sincerely believed it, I think, is why it's politically significant.

Tim, I want to come back to you on these sort of three pillars. You could build in our campaign days, you could build an entire campaign around these three things that she said, the price of everything at the grocery store, the price of your electricity bills and ACA premiums, and then add on to it for good measure a business owner's perspective on the irrationality and insanity of mass. deportations. I mean, you have the current Democratic Party encapsulates all those policies, but I wonder where you think she's positioning herself in the Republican Party. Yeah. Well, look, I think I agree with Molly, as far as where she's positioning herself within the Republican Party. I think I have no idea what she's planning for next, but I think what she's

trying to do is say, look, real mega populism hasn't been tried, right? And that is going to include some pretty crazy cultural and social views. And I think that the same statement that I'm going to give some compliments to also decried the transing of people, like using that as a verb and a derogatory way. And she has, she remains

to have some crazy views. I think she also said that we should cut the capital gains tax for people, which isn't very popular. So, you know, it's a grabback. But the elements that are, that I think are useful to learn from, if you're a Democrat, or, you know, tell us, where she would be trying to differentiate herself

within the Republican coalition is saying, look, I'm trying to focus on bread and butter issues, economic populist issues, about things that are costing too much for regular people, why rich people are doing well.

And I think that the Republican Party is focused too much on the wealthy, and the Democratic Party is focused too much on, you know, caring about these cultural mores, I'm going to be the person that's focused on you. I don't know that Marjorie Taylor Green is going to be the vessel for that message, but I think that that's a powerful message

that could work in either party.