The Bulwark Podcast Adam Serwer and Bobby Pulido: MAGA Got Proven Wrong
72 snips
Jan 28, 2026 
Bobby Pulido, Tejano music star and 2026 Democratic candidate from Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, talks border policy, the local economy, and his campaign. Adam Serwer, Atlantic staff writer and author, recounts Minneapolis community ICE-watchers and analyzes MAGA’s political narrative. They discuss protests, enforcement tactics, Second Amendment politics, and how local resistance reshapes national stories.
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Episode notes
Masculinity Redefined By Violence
- MAGA equates masculinity with domination and violence rather than sacrifice or bravery.
- Serwer contrasts masked agents' lethal power with unarmed residents' moral courage defending due process.
Defending Western Values, Not Race
- MAGA's rhetoric about 'defending the West' often meant racial exclusion, not classical liberal values.
- Serwer notes Minnesotans defended Western principles like due process, not ethnic homogeneity.
Reverse Reconstruction Dynamic
- The federal deployments resemble a reverse Reconstruction where the federal government oppresses residents.
- Serwer frames this as novel: federal power used to terrorize local communities by race and status.
