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The Bulletin

A male doll in a plastic package, along with a tote bag, a record, headphones, and an iced matcha latte.

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Saudi Crown Prince Visit, GOP Realignment, and the Performative Male

Trump hosts Saudi royalty, Republicans navigate shifts in the party, and a TikTok trend jokes about masculine sensitivity.

This week, President Trump hosts the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman for a formal White House visit, despite the prince’s responsibility for numerous human rights abuses. National security expert Elizabeth Neumann joins Mike Cosper and Clarissa Moll to discuss how to interpret this visit. Then, New York Times columnist David French stops by to talk about shifts in the Republican party as the U.S. emerges from the government shutdown. Finally, CT’s Sho Baraka joins us to talk about the TikTok trend of the performative male, and how one man in Detroit is using jujitsu to teach boys and men to control their strength and be emotionally open. 

REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE:

GO DEEPER WITH THE BULLETIN

ABOUT THE GUESTS:  

David French is a columnist for The New York Times. He’s a former senior editor of The Dispatch and author of Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.

Elizabeth Neumann is a national security expert who has served across three presidential administrations: on the inaugural staff of the White House Homeland Security Council under President George W. Bush, as an advisor to the office of the director of national intelligence during the Obama Administration, and as the Department of Homeland Security’s deputy chief of staff and assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention in the Trump administration. Neumann is also a national security contributor for ABC News.

Sho Baraka is a recording artist, performer, culture curator, activist, and writer. Baraka is an alumnus of Tuskegee University and the University of North Texas. He is a cofounder of Forth District and the And Campaign, and he has served as an adjunct professor at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. He was an original member of influential hip-hop consortium 116 Clique, recording with Reach Records. In 2024, Baraka became the Big Tent editorial director for Christianity Today.

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