A leaked Ken Paxton tape gives JVL and Andrew Egger twenty times a usual start
Their breakdown of the Texas attorney general's recorded complaint about Trump went far beyond what the channel's other new videos drew around it, including a Sarah Longwell short on the same subject.
The BulwarkStory of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 371,328 views a day, 21 times a normal first day on this channel (17,588).
Paxton’s Leaked Trump Comments Are a SPECTACULAR Own Goal
Ken Paxton apparently did not know he was being recorded. At a small fundraiser, the Texas attorney general told a handful of donors that Donald Trump's appearance at the Texas convention had hurt his Senate numbers rather than helped them. An attendee taped it, and The New York Times reported it first. Ten hours after Jonathan V. Last and Andrew Egger sat down to talk it over, their video had passed 228,000 views. A Bulwark upload usually gathers less than a tenth of that in a full day.
The episode goes well beyond the tape. JVL and Egger work through Paxton's trouble with donors, how much his campaign leans on Trump's financial support, and the race against Democrat James Talarico. They also take up Angela Paxton's argument that Republicans should keep the seat "in the family," even as the two go through a divorce. The description frames all of it as a sign of wider problems for Texas Republicans.
Much of the comment section is about how the hosts said it. Viewers keep repeating Egger's colorful descriptions of Paxton's "downsides," and several mention how often JVL is smiling. Many ask whether a reporter will put the recording to Trump himself.
The Bulwark stayed on the story. The same day it posted a short in which Sarah Longwell argues that Paxton is already preparing to blame Trump if he loses. That short is still in the low thousands. This is also the third straight day a Bulwark video has run far ahead of the channel's usual pace, after the Bulwark Daily episodes we reported here on Idaho and on midterm roadblocks.
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- Channel
- The Bulwark
- Subscribers
- 1,780,000
- Channel views, pace per day
- 3,807,785 (on a normal day: 1,860,493)
- Video published
- September 30, 2026
- Video views so far
- 228,122 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 371,328
The numbers
One video is doing most of the work. The channel as a whole is running at about twice its usual daily pace.
💡 Test your knowledge
Before joining The Bulwark, Tim Miller was communications director for which 2016 Republican presidential campaign?
Tim Miller served as communications director for Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential run.
