WaPo on "The Bulwark"

They have a community, a strong following, it is just that I am not seeing it make a meaningful difference even on the edges.

This morning, my insomnia kicked in at about 1 AM, and I reached for the iPad to see what was happening in the world¹. When this happens, I usually fire up my news apps on said iPad, The Atlantic, New York Times, and The WaPo.

And what pops up in the Style section²? A puff piece about The Bulwark and their “safe space” for homeless Republicans who can’t stomach the MAGA environment. Here’s a gifted link. In general, it is not a bad article, it gets to the genesis, and some of the background of the personalities, and there are plenty of snippets from fans. Mostly center right, but some center left folks (like me) who find solidarity in their hatred and abhorrence of the MAGA revolution, grappling for any sanity from the former “rational right”.

An example:

“To talk of the community that I live in: I dare not mention Trump,” said John Thornton, a 77-year-old veteran from Shippensburg, Pa., who voted for George W. Bush and Barack Obama, at a happy hour the Bulwark held in Washington in February. Thornton’s daughter, who works at a law firm, brought him to the event because her father is, as she puts it, “stuck in Trump country.”

In 2017 I visited a friend in Pennsylvania, where we hung out at his “camp” in the middle of the state (about 30 of us convened there for male bonding, a lot of drinking and bullshitting) and on the drive out and back from Philly it was wave after wave of Trump yard signs, flags, and painted barns showing support for the mandarin tinged rhinoceros a full year after the election. MAGA country.

Meanwhile, the anti-Trumpers of the center-left are, as always, looking for conservatives who agree with them. Together with the refugees from the right, it amounts to a market. With 267,000 subscribers — 37,000 of whom pay for a fire hose of additional content and live chats — the Bulwark ranks third among Substack’s political sites.

So, they are the third largest political ‘Stack, but while 267K subscribers may seem like a lot, it is a drop in the bucket. 37K paid, so that is probably about $3.7Mish in annual revenue.

My take away is that while it feels good, and they are fighting the good fight, it is not clear that it is achieving anything except preaching to the choir. I am not seeing any evidence that their message is resonating beyond that core support group. MAGA is still going strong, Biden is still struggling, and the needle doesn’t seem to be moving.

The last paras are illuminating:

Then again, in a politics dominated by in-groups and out-groups, many Republicans might not be convinced by an outlet that is rooting for four more years of Democratic rule.

Alex Spataro, 36, was also standing in line to meet one of the Bulwark personalities. He, too, sends the publication’s content to the Republicans in his life. But he doesn’t think the Bulwark stuff really changes many minds.

“I wish it did more,” he says. “I feel like the Bulwark has done better at garnering that coalition on the center-left than they have with converting people on the right — which I hope changes in the next eight months.”

Otherwise it’ll be a lonely four years. Maybe more.

Yeah, that rings true. And it is why I stopped paying them, because while it felt good to be part of that tribe, the hopium mixed with backhanded slaps at the Democrats that are the only game to counter the MAGA steamroller.

1. I was unable to get today’s Wordle, goddamn GUMMY… Fuck me.

2. Note that this isn’t in News, or Politics, but in the Style section.

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