The Bulwark Podcast - A Thanksgiving Message from Team Bulwark

Episode Date: November 24, 2022

Bulwarkers join Charlie Sykes to share their thoughts of gratitude for the holiday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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and to talk about what they are grateful for. Hi, Bill Kristol here, editor-at-large of the Bulwark. Every Thanksgiving, I'm grateful to people close by, obviously, as we all are, family, friends, colleagues, fellow Americans. But on this Thanksgiving in 2022, while I have all the gratitude to friends, family, fellow Americans that I normally have, my thoughts do turn especially to the brave men and women fighting for freedom in Iran and in Ukraine, men and women whose courage remind us of the worth

and the cost of freedom. Hi everyone, Jim Swift, Senior Editor here. We at The Bulwark are sharing what we are thankful for. I don't want to get too cliche on you, but the answer is you. I know in our modern digital life, opening up one's email is something that you don't often want to do. Email seems like a burden. But for me, actually, unread emails at the bulwark is something I look forward to opening because they come from you. Whether you pay us or you don't, I treat all emails the same. I have dreaded opening emails in the past, including at the Weekly Standard where a lot of us used to work or when I worked in the Senate or the House of Representatives. I dread opening my own personal email, but I do not dread bulwark emails because I get so many very fun stories, even when people are disagreeing with something that I or one of my colleagues wrote.

I love talking to you guys, and I love hearing your stories and becoming friends with you this Thanksgiving. I'm just thankful for you guys and your thoughtful messages, whether you agree or disagree or sharing a recipe or you're asking about Charlie's dogs or my dogs or my twins or wanting to talk sports. You know, overtime is obviously based on my love of sports, but I'm thankful for all of you. And I hope you know it's not a cliche. Love you guys. It's Mona. Happy Thanksgiving. This is my absolute favorite holiday and my family is gathering as I hope yours is. And I know our listeners too are probably getting excited about the great feast and family time. But I would not be honest if I did not say that one of the things I'm grateful for this year is how the elections

turned out. Honestly, if it had been Dr. Oz won and Doug Mastriano won and Carrie Lake won and Trump triumphantly announcing his third bid for the White House, I would have found some way to gird my loins and swallow hard and plunge forward. But I got to tell you, I would have been devastated and I would have been really in despair about the future of this country. So that's how serious it was. And the fact that the voters made a different decision and so uniformly in the competitive races, in the important races, rejected, recoiled, really recoiled from the election deniers, the crazies, and the Trumpkins is a sign of civic and political health. So I am super grateful that that's how it turned out.

Now, it doesn't mean everything is going to be roses from here on out by any stretch, but it does give me a sense of hope and optimism about going forward that I'm not sure, I know for sure I would not have felt if the elections had turned out differently. So that's the first thing. Also, I think it's worth saying, I am grateful for Charlie Sykes, who day after day, week after week, does a fantastic job, both with morning shots and with podcasting. And I know for a lot of our listeners who feel this way and readers that, you know, they feel like it's a lifeline to sanity. Well, I've always felt that way. And I marvel at your work ethic, at your output. It's just so appreciated. So happy Thanksgiving to our whole Bulwark family, who are all just so wonderful.

And I'm very proud to be part of this team. Hey, everybody, it's Tim and JVL with a little Thanksgiving double team for you. So firstly, and most importantly, I'm thankful to people who not only listen to the Bulwark Flagship podcast and me on Fridays, but also come over and hang out with us on the next level, support the Bulwark Plus. In seriousness, this is gonna seem cliche and maybe kind of like I'm just begging for love here

a little bit, a little desperate, but it's just true. This has been the most meaningful experience of my life doing the bulwark. The fact that it's still going a few years on, the fact that we all played a small part in saving democracy this past year. I'm just so grateful for all of you for allowing me to do it, for reading me, for challenging me, for letting us tell you what we really think instead of pulling punches and saying what we feel like we need to say to help some team on the back end. So I'm just so grateful for all of you. And this has just been wonderful. JVL, what do you think about that? Was that too earnest for you? No, no. Look, I'm just grateful for what I'm grateful

for every year, which is my family. Oh, you're pulling the family card on me? I haven't mentioned my family yet. Are you showing me up? My sincerest wish is that all of you guys out there and all the people I work with, all my colleagues like New York Times bestselling author Tim Miller, just get to be surrounded by the people you love and the people who love you too. I hope that you guys all have that in your life this Thanksgiving. And if you don't, I hope you know that there are those of us out here who appreciate you. And to all the people who I've actually become friends with

through the Bulwark, I've got cadres of people who are regular and irregular email buddies now who are just like readers, where I chat back and forth within the comments. And I'm so grateful to have their friendship. And even if you're not one of those people, but you are here in this weird relationship that you have with us, because the podcast relationship is a weird relationship with listener and host. Even if you don't know us, we appreciate you and we love you. It is amazing to get these messages. I had someone that brought me a little maple syrup gift in New Hampshire and apologized for messaging me, for bugging me. No, that is wrong. I am genuinely grateful for every message I get. I don't reply to every single one. I'm not as good as JVL. He's meticulous. He's type A. I do my best. Sometimes I get busy. Sometimes I get distracted. You know, sometimes I want to give

you a thoughtful message. And as a result, I kind of forget to reply altogether. So that's bad. That's something I'm going to try to work on next year. But I'm still grateful to everybody. I'm also grateful for homosexuals and drag queens, especially this year. And I'm going to try to support their establishments this weekend. And yeah, I'm thankful for my family. And Tyler and Toulouse don't listen to this, but my mother does. So I'll let her know I'm thankful for her. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

Peace out, y'all. Hey, this is Amanda Carpenter. Now, I wish that I could send each and every one of you the biggest, fattest pie, like an apple or cherry, one that has like the really nice crust where you pinch the edges and they get all nice and crinkly. But short of that, please accept my thanks to you for listening to all our pods, reading all our stuff, commenting, tweeting, subscribing, all the things that help us push back on the crazy and help get our political

conversations to a better place. What we have going on here is really special. And it's not just for us who write and talk. You are a part of this new coalition that's trying to find something different, something that's better. And you know what? We are. So do this. Take a minute to celebrate what we've done, what we have done together over the past few years. There's more work to do. I know we will do that. But for today, for now, let's be happy, be thankful. And please know that we are also very, very thankful for you. Hi, this is Will Salatin. I'm a writer at The Bulwark. And this Thanksgiving, I'm thinking about somebody who recently passed away. His name was Mike Gerson. He was a speech writer for President George W. Bush, and later he was a columnist for The Washington Post.

He died a few days ago from cancer. He was only 58. Mike's death reminded me that life is fragile and that we should be grateful for every day we have. But I'm also grateful for his life and for the goodness of people like him. I got to know Mike through the Faith Angle Forum, a project that brings together journalists and speakers to talk about religion. I was Jewish and he was Christian, but he was one of those Christians who took the teachings of his faith seriously. Politically, he and I disagreed on a lot of issues, but when it came time to face the rot in his own party, the rot of Trumpism, the rot of racism, he did not flinch. At The Bulwark, we talk a lot about the so-called leaders who failed us, the cynics, the cowards, the collaborators.

Sometimes we don't talk enough about the people who spoke up, who stood up, who did the right thing. Mike was one of those people. I'm grateful for his integrity and his courage. And I'm grateful that despite everything that's wrong with this world, through people like him, goodness lives on. Hey, everybody, it's Sonny Bunch, host of Across the Movie Aisle, Bore It Goes to Hollywood. I wanted to say that I am thankful Goodness lives on. Cook movies go to the theater anymore. Lots of great stuff out there. I mean, I love The Banshees of Inishereen. We talked about that on Across the Movie Isle this week. It's great. It's by Martin McDonough. He made the wonderful In Bruges. It's darkly comic, kind of like that movie. Stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, like In Bruges. So Banshees of Inishereen, very good. Go check it out. If it's playing in a theater near you, hopefully it is.

There's also a movie out called Tar, which is about a composer and conductor at a symphony who gets kind of me too. But maybe she deserves it. I don't know. It's very ambiguous. I love this sort of movie that doesn't really tell you what, just a good movie, entertaining, fun. Also, again, very darkly comic. And there's all sorts of stuff coming the rest of the year. You know, new Steven Spielberg movie, The Fablemans. I'm looking forward to that. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. The new Damien Chazelle movie, Babylon, looks crazy. You know, 1920s Hollywood, who doesn't want to see stuff like that? And we've got another airplane movie. Top Gun Maverick is the biggest movie at the box office this year domestically. And Devotion, also starring one of the guys in that movie, looks pretty good, entertaining. Again, I don't know that that's necessarily a big award season thing, but it looks like big blockbuster type fun. So that's what I'm thankful for. And I'm also just thankful for all the great community that we have here at The Bulwark.

You know, it is nice to be able to have a reasonable discussion with people in the comments or over email. I get emails all the time from folks who just want to talk about movies, and that's fun. I like to hear that. I got a lot to be thankful for this year. Hopefully you do, too. And here's to another great year. Hopefully you do too. And here's to another great year. Hi, this is Katie Cooper, senior podcast producer. In 2016, I refused to celebrate Thanksgiving, a holiday that has always been one of my favorites. I was so mad at my country over the choice that was made in the election that year. So my family and I sat it out. But in 2022, I can't help but think of an American icon, Mr. Rogers, and one of his most famous pieces of advice. When bad things are happening, look for the helpers. I really think this election was about looking for the helpers.

And I'm so grateful that more people came out for the candidates who want to help safeguard our democracy than the candidates who wanted to cripple it. We have a rocky road ahead, but thank you, voters, for helping me feel a little less worried about America. Hey, everyone. This is Ted Johnson, and I am thrilled to wish our Bulwark family a happy Thanksgiving. Around these parts, we'll be partaking in the Tidewinder Johnson tradition of frying a turkey and standing around the bubbling grease, dropping in little cloves of garlic and slivers of onion to serve as a snack while we wait for the bird to get done. And then, of course, we'll stuff ourselves and fall asleep in the first quarter of whatever football game is on. Very much looking forward to this. But I want

to share a message that I shared with some friends on Veterans Day that I think also applies to this Thanksgiving. The first is we are not as divided as some people would have us believe. And frankly, our Bulwark community is proof of that. And two, it's possible to be proud of our country and to be thankful to be an American while also recognizing that we have many miles to go before we become the more perfect union that we aspire to be. My best wishes to you and yours on this Thanksgiving. Hi everyone, this is Ben Parker. I wanted to express my gratitude for all the interactions we at The Bulwark have had with you, our readers and listeners, this year and in the last four years. We've chatted a lot with you over email and the Thursday Night Bulwark chat on Twitter

and even in person, like at our first in-person event earlier this fall. I'm always struck every single time by how interesting our audience is, by how informed, by how passionate, and by what interesting things you all have to say. And we are just really lucky to have you all as an audience to interact with and have you all as friends and colleagues. So thank you so very much for making our jobs that

much easier and more enjoyable and wishing you all the best this Thanksgiving. Hi, this is Kathy Young. I always feel that I have a lot of reasons to be grateful on Thanksgiving, especially as an immigrant in America, and perhaps now more than ever as an immigrant from Russia. But this year, I'm also especially thankful for the Bulwark, which I recently joined as a staff writer. I'm thankful for this publication, which I think remains a voice of sanity and balance on an often fractured and polarized political scene. I'm grateful for our wonderful team. And of course, I'm very grateful for our wonderful readers who expect the best from us, and I hope you usually get it. I look forward to interacting with more of you in the months to come. And in the meantime, I wish you all, the readers and my colleagues at The Bulwark, a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Hey, it's Joe Pritikone, national political reporter at The Bulwark. This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for a lot of things, among them being new opportunities, the happiness and health of my friends and family, and the United States finally returning to the World Cup for the first time in almost a decade. All of those are the product of hard work and how we support each other, but I am also thankful for the lessons I've learned this year that have made me a better person and motivated me to continue doing my best every day. I'm excited for what next year will bring and hope it is rewarding and full of good surprises and good memories for everyone. I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving. And finally, I get the last word. Looking back on

the last year, I am so grateful for so many things, for having a chance to be part of this conversation, and for all of you who have been so supportive through this difficult time. For my extraordinary wife and for my growing family, a new baby this year, a family wedding, a transatlantic family reunion, bonus time with Pete, which made me appreciate all the more the time I have with Augie and Eli, and of, my wonderful children, Jay, Alex, and Sandy, and all of those wonderful grandchildren, Elliot, Silas, Charlotte, Emmy, and the latest arrival, Tess. We are very, very blessed, and we should probably remember that every day, not just on designated state holidays. And finally, thank you for making us a part of your

lives and for joining us in the fight for democracy. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers and sisters. Thanks for listening to the Bulwark Podcast. I'm Charlie Sykes, and we'll be back. In the meantime, have a very happy Thanksgiving.