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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.
108 claims · Clear filters
True92% confidence6 sourcesAug 21, 2026The Treasury Department announced a program to purchase long-term bonds.Said by BOn August 19, 2026, the U.S. Treasury announced it would double the size of its liquidity-support buybacks of long-dated (10- to 30-year) Treasury securities, which is a program to purchase long-term bonds. Reuters, Yahoo Finance, Investopedia and EP Wealth all report this announcement, which predates the August 21 post. The post's wording ('big purchases of long bonds') matches the sources, and the post's 'Scott Besson' misnames Bessent, which does not affect the claim.True70% confidence4 sourcesAug 21, 2026The Treasury Department's bond buyback program is scheduled to begin in September.Said by BAs of 2026-08-21, the Treasury had announced (Aug 19) that its long-dated buyback operations would be at least doubled, starting September 9, and the schedule shows September operations. The literal reading, that the whole buyback program only begins in September, is wrong because Treasury long-bond buybacks began in April 2024 and operations ran in August 2026, so the claim should be read as the expanded September phase, which the sources support. The post's 'they haven't actually done the buybacks yet' refers to the enlarged operations, not the program as a whole. Later coverage shows the September operations did occur, but that does not change the August 21 assessment.True60% confidence7 sourcesAug 21, 2026Scott Bessent is buying up Treasury instruments to push interest rates down.Said by BSources from August and September 2026 show Treasury announced on August 19 that it would double its buybacks of long-dated bonds, with Bessent and Forbes describing the aim as lowering long-term yields, which supports the claim as of 2026-08-21. The Treasury's official stated purpose was market liquidity, and the buybacks did not in fact bring yields down afterward, but the claim's core assertion about intent and action still holds.True90% confidence8 sourcesAug 21, 2026Kevin Warsh is the Fed chair picked by Donald Trump.Said by BAs of the August 21, 2026 posting, sources show Kevin Warsh was Trump's nominee and was confirmed by the Senate 54-45 on May 13, 2026, taking office as Fed chair May 22, 2026, so the claim that he is the Fed chair picked by Trump is supported. The passage's phrase 'most recently picked Fed chair' is a casual paraphrase, and the extraction's 'Fed chair picked by Donald Trump' is a faithful reading of it; later developments (the September rate hike) do not change the August state of affairs.True90% confidence6 sourcesAug 21, 2026Austin Goolsbee is the president of the Chicago Fed.Said by BThe sources consistently establish that Austan Goolsbee has been president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago since January 9, 2023, and remained in that role in sources dated through late 2026, so the claim was true on 2026-08-21. The claim's spelling "Austin" versus the official "Austan" is a minor misspelling that does not change the referent, and the post itself describes him as president of the Chicago Fed.True90% confidence7 sourcesAug 21, 2026Steven Mnuchin served as a producer for the film The Lego Batman Movie.Said by BMultiple reliable sources identify Steven Mnuchin as a producer of The Lego Batman Movie, specifically an executive producer, which is a producer role under the claim's wording. The claim faithfully reflects the passage, which says he was 'the producer, a producer' of the film.True88% confidence6 sourcesAug 21, 2026President Donald Trump has attempted to fire members of the Federal Reserve.Said by BThe sources show Trump attempted to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook in August 2025, which the Supreme Court blocked in June 2026, and he renewed the effort with a letter in August 2026, before the claim's 2026-08-21 date. The only documented target is one governor, so the plural "members" is a minor imprecision that does not change the verdict.True80% confidence8 sourcesAug 21, 2026Scott Bessent has given DOGE access to the Treasury payment system.Said by BAs of 2026-08-21, the record shows Bessent personally authorized DOGE access to a Treasury payment system on January 31, 2025, per a congressional press release and contemporaneous reporting. Treasury's 'read-only' characterization and the later GAO findings about improper access concern the scope of that access, not whether it was granted.True90% confidence4 sourcesAug 21, 2026The U.S. Census Bureau has existed in some form since 1790 and in its current form since 1902.Said by BThe claim matches the post's wording and is supported by the Census Bureau's own history timeline, which says data collection began with the 1790 census and that Congress created a permanent Census Office on March 6, 1902. FactCheck.org independently says Congress established the Census Bureau as a permanent agency in 1902. The 1902 agency was called the Census Office and the Bureau name came later, a minor detail that does not change the core claim.True75% confidence7 sourcesAug 21, 2026A New York Times investigation by Dave Phillips found that a legal loophole allows wild horses to be sold by the Bureau of Land Management and then exported for slaughter.Said by BThe sources consistently report that a New York Times investigation by Dave Phillips (spelled Philipps in one source) found a BLM sale loophole that let wild horses be sold cheaply and then exported for slaughter. The post said the loophole "could" allow this, and the claim drops that qualifier, but the core finding is confirmed by multiple outlets and a congressional request.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True80% confidence8 sourcesAug 21, 2026The U.S. Census Bureau released a paper this week claiming that at least 24,000 non-citizens voted in the 2020 election.Said by BThe Census Bureau's own August 18, 2026 report, 'Noncitizen Voting in the 2020 Election, A Beginning Analysis,' states that over 24,000 voter records represented noncitizens, so the core assertion that the Bureau released a paper this week claiming at least 24,000 noncitizens voted is supported. Fact-checkers dispute whether the report proves this, and Lead Stories notes it describes matched records rather than confirmed illegal votes, but that disputes the report's validity, not whether it makes the claim.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True80% confidence8 sourcesAug 21, 2026The Census Bureau paper regarding non-citizen voting in the 2020 election lists no authors.Said by BMultiple sources state the Census Bureau's 2020 noncitizen-voting brief lists no authors, and the claim matches the passage's point. Wired reports that documents name contributors, and a later source says the Census Bureau's own emails identify authors, but the published paper itself does not name them.