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Bulwark Takes
The Bulwark
The news cycle doesn’t slow down, and neither does The Bulwark. Bulwark Takes brings you bite-sized takes on the news of the day from the entire Bulwark team, including Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, and Bill Kristol, and more.
28 claims · Clear filters
Mixed60% confidence8 sourcesSep 15, 2026The Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration's executive order regarding mail-in voting regulations.The Supreme Court did block the Trump administration's mail-voting effort on September 14, 2026, declining to let the Postal Service enforce its rule implementing the March executive order. But on August 24 the Court lifted a lower-court block on the executive order itself, so the claim that it blocked the order is only partly accurate. The post's 'effort to police mail voting' is best read as the USPS rule and implementation, which the Court did block.Mixed60% confidence7 sourcesSep 15, 2026The Republican governor of Wyoming complained that Department of Justice officials were meddling in state elections by attempting to gain access to voting rolls.Wyoming Republican Gov. Mark Gordon did publicly criticize DOJ election monitors as 'aggressive' and 'irregular' and said he didn't like the federal government 'taking our votes,' so the general complaint of meddling is supported. However, the sources describe his complaint as centered on monitors interviewing voters and seeking access to polling machines at the August primary, not on DOJ trying to gain access to voting rolls, which the claim adds. The passage itself is the claimant's recollection and is not evidence.Mixed60% confidence6 sourcesSep 15, 2026The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court to overrule injunctions against the United States Postal Service's election rules six weeks before election day.Said by CThe Trump administration did appeal to the Supreme Court to lift the injunction against the USPS mail-ballot rule, with its application filed September 3 and renewed September 6. However, that is about eight weeks before the November 3 election, not six, and the Court rejected the bid on September 14.Minor detail. The sources confirm the claim; only a minor detail differs, such as a name's spelling, a title's wording or a rounding.Mixed55% confidence4 sourcesSep 15, 2026The Bulwark is hosting a live show in Springfield, Ohio, on September 25th to benefit the Haitian community.Said by BThe September 25 date and the benefit for Springfield's Haitian community are supported by the Bulwark's own announcement and later coverage, but the sources place the show at the Dayton Masonic Center in Dayton, Ohio, not in Springfield. Read literally ('in Springfield'), the claim conflicts with the venue; read as intended (a Bulwark show benefiting Springfield's Haitian community), it is supported. The claim was made on 2026-09-15, and the Bulwark's pre-event announcement of 2026-09-12 already gave the Dayton venue.True92% confidence8 sourcesSep 15, 2026Donald Trump has voted by mail.Said by BMultiple tier1 and tier2 sources (AP, Reuters, Snopes, PolitiFact, NBC, Politico) report Trump voted by mail in Florida elections, including a March 2026 special election and the August 2026 Republican primary, with the White House confirming the August vote. The claim's core assertion is supported; the specific 2026 elections and that the post's passage references the same act are peripheral details, and the claim as extracted matches the passage's 'he also voted by mail'.True90% confidence8 sourcesSep 15, 2026Donald Trump has characterized mail-in voting as an inherently corrupt system.Multiple tier1 and tier2 sources report that Trump repeatedly and directly described mail-in ballots as 'inherently corrupt', including in a July 16, 2026 primetime address and later remarks, so the claim that he characterized mail-in voting as an inherently corrupt system is supported. The claim's wording is a faithful paraphrase of the passage, which refers to mail-in balloting being inherently corrupt; the sources also show he made related statements, and fact-checkers rate the underlying assertion as unsupported, but the claim is about what he characterized it as, which is confirmed.True65% confidence7 sourcesSep 15, 2026ZBiotics has sold more than 14 million bottles of its Pre-Alcohol product.The claim is supported as of 2026-09-15: sources from July 2026 report ZBiotics had sold more than 15 million Pre-Alcohol bottles, which is consistent with the claimed 'more than 14 million'. These figures are company-reported and unaudited, so confidence is moderate.True92% confidence6 sourcesSep 15, 2026The Supreme Court issued a 7-2 ruling denying a stay on a lower court's injunction against Donald Trump's mail-in ballot restrictions for the U.S. Postal Service.Said by BMultiple tier-1 and tier-2 sources report that on September 14, 2026 the Supreme Court voted 7-2 to deny the Trump administration's emergency application for a stay, leaving in place a lower court injunction against the USPS mail-ballot rules, with Thomas and Alito dissenting. The claim matches the reporting, though the sources also note the August injunction history and that the order was brief and unsigned.True90% confidence4 sourcesSep 15, 2026Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred with the majority opinion in the Supreme Court's denial of a stay on the mail-in ballot restriction.Said by BThe Supreme Court's unsigned September 14, 2026 order denied the government's stay request, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh filed a one-paragraph concurrence agreeing with that denial. The extracted claim is faithful to the passage, and the sources confirm the concurrence in the denial.True95% confidence5 sourcesSep 15, 2026Justice Brett Kavanaugh stated that applying the mail-in ballot rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious because election officials lack sufficient time to implement it.Said by BKavanaugh's concurrence in the Supreme Court's September 14, 2026 order (No. 26A305) states that applying the mail-in ballot rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious under the APA because state and local election officials lack sufficient time to implement it; the primary opinion text and multiple outlets confirm this. The claim's added framing ('stated') matches the concurrence, and the passage does not depart from it.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True85% confidence5 sourcesSep 15, 2026Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett voted against Donald Trump in the case regarding mail-in ballot restrictions.Said by BThe September 14, 2026 Supreme Court order refusing to let the Postal Service enforce Trump's mail-ballot rule had only Alito and Thomas dissenting, so Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett joined the majority against the administration's request. The claim departs from the passage in no material way, and the sources confirm it.True90% confidence6 sourcesSep 15, 2026Donald Trump's executive order required states to submit lists of eligible voters to the U.S. Postal Service.Said by BThe claim matches the post's passage and is supported by multiple reliable sources: the March 31, 2026 executive order required states to provide the U.S. Postal Service with lists of voters eligible for mail ballots, and the USPS would deliver ballots only to people on those lists. The order was later blocked by a court and then the injunctions were lifted, but the requirement itself is documented.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.