{"podcast":{"title":"The Bulwark","slug":"the-bulwark-4018927","podcast_index_feed_id":4018927,"rss_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/87281.rss","website_url":"https://www.thebulwark.com/podcast","image_url":"https://substackcdn.com/feed/podcast/87281/d619df11c786f62219e9b278e6bef3f0.jpg","author":"The Bulwark","episode_count":976,"summary":"The Bulwark is home to Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, Bill Kristol, JVL, Sam Stein, Catherine Rampell and more. We are the largest pro-democracy bundle on Substack for news and analysis on politics and culture—supported by a community built on good faith.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-30T10:17:26.542124+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-bulwark-4018927"},"episode":{"title":"David French: Character Counts For Less","slug":"david-french-character-counts-for-less","published_at":"2026-07-18T10:02:40+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-bulwark-4018927/david-french-character-counts-for-less","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-bulwark-4018927","url":"https://www.thebulwark.com/p/david-french-character-counts-for","audio_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/207489239/a4fde518f9dc9811f502bc3c772b3fe4.mp3","summary":"This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com American politics and politicians are decidedly lower-character than they used to be. So, how did we get here? And why have voters seemingly lowered their expectations? The New York Times ’ David French joins the show to discuss Americans’ relationship with low-character politicians like Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump, and how our major political parties have handled candidates like Ken Paxton and Graham Platner in 2026. Show notes: David French: The Platner Trap There are more tickets to see Sarah and JVL on September 8 in NYC! We are about to sell out the orchestra section—but we want to sell out the balcony, too. It’s a point of pride. Come hang with us. Tickets are here. Watch, listen, and leave a comment . Full ad-supported episodes of The Focus Group Podcast are available wherever you get your podcasts and YouTube . Hit that like 🤍 button and share this episode with a friend. Ad-free editions like this one are available exclusively for Bulwark+ members on the site, the Bulwark App, via your member-only RSS feeds, and the Substack Mobile and TV Apps. Upgrade now to listen without ads and to join the community in the comments.","meta_description":"This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thebulwark.com American politics and politicians are decidedly lower-character than they…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":736,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-bulwark-4018927/episodes/david-french-character-counts-for-less/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-bulwark-4018927/david-french-character-counts-for-less.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}