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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% 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.True90% confidence7 sourcesSep 15, 2026Donald Trump's executive order required states to use tracking barcodes on ballot envelopes.Said by BMultiple primary and tier1 sources (the EO text, the White House fact sheet, Reuters, and CRS) confirm that Trump's March 31, 2026 executive order (EO 14399) directed the USPS to require secure ballot envelopes with unique tracking barcodes, and tier2 CNN reporting describes the same requirement. The claim's wording is a slight paraphrase of the post, which said the order 'required states' to use barcodes; the sources say the order directs USPS rulemaking that applies to states mailing ballots through USPS, which is a standard reading and not a contradiction.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True90% confidence6 sourcesSep 15, 2026Donald Trump's executive order prioritized federal prosecution of state election officials who send or receive ballots to non-citizens or others ineligible to vote.Said by BThe executive order (EO 14399, signed March 2026) does direct the Attorney General to prioritize investigation and prosecution of state and local officials who issue federal ballots to ineligible voters, which matches the claim's core. The sources' wording is 'issue or distribute' rather than 'send or receive', a minor paraphrase that the post itself and CNN's report use interchangeably, so the claim is graded as accurate.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True90% confidence6 sourcesSep 15, 2026Senator Richard Blumenthal received information from a whistleblower regarding rules for mail-in ballots.Said by CMultiple tier1 and primary sources (AP, Minnesota Secretary of State, Blumenthal's own letter) confirm that Senator Richard Blumenthal publicly released a whistleblower disclosure about the USPS rule implementing Trump's mail-in ballot executive order. The claim's wording is a faithful extraction of the passage's correction to Blumenthal, and the sources support the core assertion; the post's rejected attribution to Whitehouse was corrected by the speaker.True85% confidence8 sourcesSep 15, 2026The Trump administration proposed a USPS mail portal software system for states to log and cross-check voter files.Said by CThe sources consistently describe a Trump executive order that directed USPS to build a portal where states would upload voter lists, which USPS would use to verify ballots. The claim's core assertion is supported, and the extraction faithfully tracks the passage. The sources do not say whether the portal was formally 'proposed' in a rulemaking separate from the order, but this is a peripheral detail.