The Bulwark Daily
The Bulwark Daily

Andrew Egger: Trump’s Travels with Natalie

August 17, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In the final days of the Ford Summer Sales event, Andrew Egger, White House correspondent for The Bulwark, sat in for Bill Kristal and argued that the defining story of the Trump administration—the one that will be remembered alongside the internment camps—is the open, systemic corruption that bleeds through every policy and personnel decision. Egger and host Tim Miller walked through a series of concrete examples to show how the administration has turned the presidency into a profit-extraction machine, using regulatory approvals, data destruction, and tariff chaos to enrich the president’s inner circle while hollowing out the rule of law.

The Crypto Bank and the Bribery Pipeline

The most tangible example Egger cited is World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s main crypto venture. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, now run by Trump appointees, gave preliminary approval for World Liberty to operate as a bank. This means corporations can now conduct transactions using the Trump-backed stablecoin, USD1, with the Trump family collecting a fee on every transaction—and the public will never have to be informed. Egger called this “bribes, plain and simple.” He pointed to Changpeng Zhao (CZ), a Chinese-born UAE citizen who purchased half of these stablecoins in circulation and later received a pardon from the Trump administration. “The offer being made,” Egger expl

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (02:38) **Trump Crypto Bank Story** - Tim and Andrew introduce the most tangible example of the administration's corruption: Trump's personal crypto firm getting approved to operate as a bank.
  • 2 (08:55) **Treasury Destroying Shell Company Registry** - Tim and Andrew cover the administration's decision to destroy the government's anti-corruption database of shell company ownership.
  • 3 (12:31) **Treaty of Versailles 2: 60 Days Later** - The hosts examine how the much-hyped Ukraine-Russia memorandum of understanding has collapsed with nothing to show for it.
  • 4 (18:18) **John Osof's Campaign Rally and the Natalie Harp Discourse** - The hosts discuss John Osof's viral campaign moment attacking Trump's corruption, specifically the "travel with Natalie" line.
  • 5 (24:43) **Osof's 2028 Campaign Modeling** - Tim argues Osof is clearly running a 2028 presidential campaign in his Senate race, using Friday night events and multiple camera angles to dominate weekend news cycles.
  • 6 (31:04) **Sherrod Brown's Anti-Tariff Ad** - Tim highlights Sherrod Brown's new ad attacking his opponent John Husted over tariffs, noting the irony of a pro-tariff Democrat finally going after Trump's policy.
  • 7 (35:12) **Media Curve-Grading Trump on Tariffs** - Tim criticizes a Politico headline claiming "How Trump Won on Tariffs," arguing the media continues to give Trump a curve grade for not crashing the economy.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Tim Miller

Show Notes

Thanks to a shrewdly-timed Jon Ossoff campaign event, a lot more people are suddenly learning about young and blonde Trump confidante Natalie Harp AKA ‘the human printer’—and one of only three aides who accompanied POTUS on his catering truck-secret flight escape. Meanwhile, Trump is lending a hand to white-collar criminals and expanding his extortion and bribery options with his crypto firm. Plus: the flat-out lies about Fauci and miscarriages, Andrew loves the Great Lakes, the tariffs have done so much damage that even Sherrod Brown is against them, and Tim has some choice words about the primary challenge against Jared Moskowitz in Florida.

Andrew Egger joins Tim Miller.

show notes:

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