The Bulwark Podcast Michael Steele: The King of Debt Is Blowing Up the U.S. Economy
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Mar 27, 2026 
Michael Steele, former RNC chair and Maryland lieutenant governor, offers sharp conservative critique. He sounds the alarm on rising mortgage rates, inflation, and fiscal choices worsening affordability. They debate GOP priorities, threats to democratic norms, and the risks of warmongering and cults of personality. The tone moves between urgent and sardonic.
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How Trump Broke The Republican Party
- Donald Trump has converted the Republican Party into a vehicle for grift, culture war, and loyalty to him rather than governance.
- Michael Steele argues this transformation sacrificed institutional checks and turned 78 million voters toward a destructive, personality-driven project.
Trump's Moves Are Raising Costs For Everyone
- Trump's actions are tangibly worsening Americans' financial lives by disrupting markets and policy stability.
- Steele highlights supply shocks and administration mismanagement as drivers pushing prices and rates higher, worsening affordability.
Multiple Economic Shocks Are Converging
- The U.S. faces compounded economic stressors: rising yields, higher labor costs, and energy shocks from the Middle East.
- Tim Miller notes mortgage rates and tariffs are adding to restaurant and small-business margin pressures ahead of a lagged inflation impact.