r/thebulwark

Are we still an anti-fascist country, or not?

"The next senator from Michigan must be willing to confront the forces that are making life harder for working people. That means taking on corporate greed, the private health insurance industry, Big Pharma, polluters, landlords, private prison companies, and the billionaire-funded political machine that has warped our democracy.

El-Sayed is the only Democrat in this race who has shown the moral clarity, policy imagination, and grassroots support to do that."

We see it coming. It's like clockwork. It takes about an hour from the first time I hear it coming out of Trump's mouth till I hear it coming from my friends on the right.

This time it's Communism. They can't govern. Some on the right can see the fault lines. As midterms approach they need something to get the Right wing faithful to the polls. With their governing failures these people are likely to sit out the midterms unless they can catch hold of something to fear.

It's not the caravans this time. It's communism. Just watch it rise. It'll be everywhere in a week or two.

In a move that has sent shockwaves through the football world, FIFA has overturned a straightforward red card suspension for United States player Folarin Balogun, clearing him to face Belgium. What should have been a routine application of the rules (Article 66.4 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, which mandates an automatic one-match ban for any sending-off) has instead become a glaring example of how external pressure can bend sporting justice.

The sequence was telling. The referee, supported by VAR, reviewed the incident and issued a red card. For days, the suspension stood, consistent with every previous red card at the World Cup. Then, suddenly, it was reversed. The timing and outcome leave little room for doubt about what changed: President Donald Trump's very public intervention. And FIFA listened.

This is not merely about one player or one match. It is about the naked reality that a high-profile political figure can now pick up the phone, or simply tweet, and alter an on-field disciplinary decision. Football has long claimed to operate above politics. That illusion has now been shattered. Gianni Infantino and his organization have effectively declared, without apology or concealment, that they can do what they want. The usual timelines for appeals were ignored. Established precedents were discarded. The message to the world is clear: rules are flexible when it suits those with influence.

The damage runs deep. Referees must now operate knowing their authority can be retroactively revoked by higher powers. Other teams, facing their own contentious red cards, will rightly ask why the same leniency does not apply to them. If Balogun's case can be reopened days later, why not a decision involving England, Brazil, or any other nation with powerful backers? Subjectivity, once confined to the moment of the referee's whistle, has been turned into a negotiable commodity.

Infantino's FIFA no longer bothers to maintain the pretense of impartial governance. From controversial tournament decisions to selective disciplinary leniency toward star players and powerful associations, the pattern has been building. This episode removes any remaining doubt. By yielding to political pressure so openly, FIFA has signaled that popularity, geopolitics, and external advocacy now carry more weight than the integrity of the sport itself.

Football has survived many scandals, but this one strikes at its core. When Trump can override a referee's final decision and FIFA's own rulebook, the game ceases to be a contest of athletic merit and becomes another arena of influence and favoritism. The organization that governs the world's most popular sport has openly demonstrated it answers not to the laws of the game, but to the pressures of the moment. That is a loss from which recovery will not be easy.

I know a lot of folks don't love Galloway 'round here, and I don't love a lot of his stances. But he does have his lane, and the first half of this episode is a great explainer of how the AI oligarchs are trying to fuck us.

Serious question: What are Stephen Miller's views (if any) beyond immigration? Like, he is described as a true believer and a shadow President who really dictates the agenda, but I didn't manage to understand what his views are aside from his tough stance on immigration, which isn't so unique among Conservatives. What makes him stand out in his agenda, aside from being tough on immigration? Does he even have any views?

I know this sub hates gun rights, but this is how republicans keep rural whites folks on board despite all the bad stuff.

Until the pro-democracy movement protects all rights they’re gonna keep taking massive losses.

The Bulwark and its fans are missing out on a very simple way to win. You’re going to almost completely lose the ability to regulate guns in the next Supreme Court session, so embrace them.

Turn the tables. Win instead of losing.