Rural voters keep hearing about scandal in Washington, but most of it never gets past the surface. Tim Miller, host of the Bulwark Podcast, joins Heidi to dig into what's actually driving political corruption right now, from foreign money shaping U.S. policy to the insider trading scandals barely making headlines.

Tim traces how political corruption has evolved, from straightforward kickbacks to the foreign money now quietly steering decisions on war and energy. He and Heidi also get into what's happening back home in North Dakota, where data centers are reshaping local economies and testing what rural communities are willing to trade for growth.

In this episode:

• How decades of scandal have made it normal for politicians to profit off their power
• How foreign money, especially from the Gulf states, shapes U.S. decisions on war and energy
• Insider trading and bribery in how political campaigns get funded
• What the lawsuits against Trump show about deeper corruption
• The midterm outlook in Iowa and North Dakota, and why low voter enthusiasm could hurt incumbents
• How data centers are changing rural economies and who actually benefits
• Why Democrats keep losing the messaging fight, and what could turn that around

Connect with Tim Miller

Bulwark Podcast

Twitter

Corruption doesn't announce itself. Tim and Heidi tell you where to actually look.

The Hot Dish is brought to you by the One Country Project. To learn more, visit OneCountryProject.org, or find us on Substack (Onecountryproject.substack.com), and on YouTube, Bluesky, and Facebook (@onecountryproject).

• (00:00) - -- Opening: family updates and life outside politics
• (01:52) - -- Corruption in government, from foreign money to insider access
• (06:18) - -- Banking litigation and what discovery could reveal
• (08:44) - -- Why corruption feels different now
• (10:02) - -- Midterm strategy, Iowa, and the rural political map
• (13:51) - -- Redistricting, turnout, and the enthusiasm gap
• (17:06) - -- Corruption, broken promises, and the forever war
• (20:45) - -- Oil profits and Trump's shifting base
• (23:36) - -- Data centers and rural backlash
• (29:34) - -- Trump's declining visibility in rural America
• (31:41) - -- Democrats, socialism messaging, and the real majority
• (39:05) - -- How Democrats should respond

Trump is fighting to control how states run their own elections, and the fallout could shape the midterms before a vote is cast. Aaron Rupar, an independent journalist who's tracked Trump and the media covering him for years, joins Heidi and Joel to break down what's happening and why it matters outside Washington.

Aaron explains how he tells what's real from what isn't, in a news cycle built for speed, and why he left Vox to build Public Notice on his own terms. He also gets into how Twitter/X, Bluesky, and Substack have split the audience for political news, and what that means when rural voters end up with different versions of the same story depending on where they look.

In this episode:

• What Trump's push for more control over state elections actually means
• How Aaron fact-checks claims in real time without getting it wrong
• Why he left Vox to go independent, and what changed
• Platform fragmentation: Twitter/X, Bluesky, Substack, and what it does to political coverage
• The enthusiasm gap heading into the midterms, on both sides

Connect with Aaron Rupar:

• Substack
• Bluesky

Aaron's argument is simple. Watch the elections fight, not the noise around it.

The Hot Dish is brought to you by the One Country Project. To learn more, visit OneCountryProject.org, or find us on Substack (Onecountryproject.substack.com), and on YouTube, Bluesky, and Facebook (@onecountryproject).

• (00:00) - – Introduction: Aaron Rupar's role tracking political misinformation
• (02:09) - – Platform fragmentation and the shift in conservative messaging (Twitter, Bluesky, Substack, Threads, Facebook, Truth Social)
• (04:35) - – How platform diversification affects public trust in news
• (05:50) - – Fact-checking, legal risk, and misinformation from figures like RFK Jr.
• (08:15) - – Washington's press culture: independent journalists, source relationships, and Trump's war on the press
• (12:19) - – Media versus power at the correspondents' dinner, and journalism's growing accountability role
• (14:02) - – Election outlook: enthusiasm, turnout, and party dynamics
• (15:26) - – Trump's strategy and the risk of election interference
• (22:12) - – State races, endorsements, and local campaigning
• (23:21) - – Voter enthusiasm, fear-based messaging, and eroding democratic safeguards
• (31:38) - – Minnesota politics and party resilience
• (33:50) - – Local, coalition-based strategy over ideological purity

Data centers are showing up in rural counties across the country, and not everyone is happy about it. Isaac Wright, a strategist who's spent two decades working rural campaigns, joins Heidi and Joel to talk about why that is, what tariffs have cost farmers selling to Brazil and China, and why he sees real opportunity for Democrats in Iowa and Ohio in the midterms.

Isaac explains why rural voters respond to authenticity and local trust over national talking points, and what Rob Sand's win in Iowa says about how to build that trust. He also gets into AI regulation, and what it would look like for policy to actually reflect the values Democrats say they hold.

In this episode:

• Why Iowa and Ohio look like real opportunities this cycle
• Data centers: local jobs versus strain on water and power
• What tariffs on Brazil and China have cost farmers
• Building trust and likability in rural races
• What it actually means to "localize" a campaign

Connect with Isaac Wright:

• LinkedIn

Isaac makes a clear case for what it takes to win back rural voters, one county at a time.

The Hot Dish is brought to you by the One Country Project. To learn more, visit OneCountryProject.org, or find us on Substack (Onecountryproject.substack.com), and on YouTube, Bluesky, and Facebook (@onecountryproject).

• (00:00) - - Introduction
• (02:14) - - Isaac Wright's background in rural strategy
• (04:01) - - Midterm outlook: gains and voter disillusionment
• (06:04) - - Key races in Iowa and Ohio
• (09:23) - - Values and local issues in rural campaigns
• (15:07) - - Trust and likability in rural elections
• (18:09) - - Data centers: opportunities and community concerns
• (26:39) - - Messaging on tariffs and trade
• (34:05) - - Short-term realignment and national politics
• (39:16) - - Closing thoughts: the long-term opportunity for Democrats