The Bulwark Daily
The Bulwark Daily

Andrew Egger: Donald, You’re Rattled

September 21, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Donald Trump is rattled. That is the central argument Andrew Egger makes in this episode of The Bulwark Daily, and he builds the case across three distinct fronts: the administration’s flailing economic spin, the president’s erratic media war, and his unserious approach to the most consequential technology policy question of the decade.

The economic spin has run out of road

The administration’s core problem is that the Iran conflict has metastasized into a permanent energy shock with no off-ramp. Egger points to White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett’s disastrous Fox News appearance as a symptom of a deeper strategic failure. Hassett argued that gas prices would go “down like a rocket ship in reverse” once the Iran situation resolved—a line that, as Egger notes, describes something nobody actually wants. The administration bet that Iran would buckle quickly, allowing Trump to spike the football on a foreign policy win while the economy returned to its pre-war trajectory. Instead, the conflict is expanding: the Houthis are attacking Saudi Arabia and Red Sea shipping, Iran’s foreign minister says no demands will be met, and diesel prices are setting new records daily. The only rhetorical card left is a transparently desperate one—MAGA influencers circulating a memo comparing the price of gasoline unfavorably to vanilla extract and wine, as if the cost of energy doesn’

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (01:36) **Introduction: Tim Miller and Andrew Egger** - Host Tim Miller welcomes Andrew Egger, author of the Morning Shots newsletter, as a substitute for Bill Crystal on Yom Kippur.
  • 2 (02:32) **The White House's Failing Economic Spin** - Andrew analyzes the White House's desperate and failing messaging on rising gas prices, exemplified by Kevin Hassett's Fox News appearance.
  • 3 (07:11) **The Rosetta Stone of Trump's War Stalemate** - Andrew explains that the defining crisis of Trump's term is the Iran war, which he never expected to become his central problem.
  • 4 (09:51) **MAGA Influencers' Absurd Spin on Gas Prices** - Andrew and Tim review a collection of laughably bad talking points from MAGA influencers trying to downplay the cost of gas.
  • 5 (13:07) **Trump's "Triumphal Arch" and the National Security Pretext** - Trump proposes converting a planned D.C. arch into a military complex with snipers and drones, a plan Andrew and Tim see as a transparent legal dodge.
  • 6 (20:50) **Trump Bans Press Outlets, Shows He's "Rattled"** - Trump bans CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from White House press briefings, a move Andrew and Tim argue is a sign of weakness, not strength.
  • 7 (25:16) **The Depressing, Bipartisan Future of Partisan Press Access** - Tim worries the precedent of partisan press bans is permanent and will be adopted by both parties.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

As Trump’s war of choice continues to expand in the Middle East, it’s clear that the president is desperate not to show how weak he really is. The administration is out of time and out of both strategic and rhetorical options in Iran. Another sign that he is flailing: Trump is trying to ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House press pool. But other TV outlets are pushing back in solidarity, forcing Trump to choose between two of his favorite things: punishing his critics and dominating the airwaves. Plus why the triumphal arch would be the silliest possible place for a military installation, Trump’s American Idol-style vote on what to call AI, and the unaddressed, ongoing education crisis.

Sitting in for Bill Kristol, Andrew Egger joins Tim Miller on the Monday pod.
show notes:

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