• The Bulwark, a news website that's fiercely critical of President Donald Trump, has grown rapidly.
• Since the 2024 election, The Bulwark has roughly doubled its paid subscriber base.
• Top editor Jonathan V. Last told Business Insider how they've grown, and what's ahead.

If President Donald Trump didn't exist, the staunchly anti-Trump news website The Bulwark might not either.

But the president isn't solely responsible for The Bulwark's success. Instead, its top editor credits email newsletters, podcasts, and YouTube for its impressive growth in recent years.

"We grew consistently, all the way through the Biden administration," Jonathan V. Last, editor of The Bulwark, said in an interview with Business Insider. "That's something I didn't expect."

To be sure, Trump's resurgence has added fuel to the fire that Last and his colleagues were kindling. The Bulwark surpassed 100,000 paid subscribers on Substack in early July, which the company told BI is more than double its total in late October — just before the 2024 election.

The Bulwark also now has 830,000 total subscribers, most of whom get its emails for free. The company said its total count has tripled in the last year and surpassed 500,000 a day after Trump retook office.

YouTube is another key part of The Bulwark's growth. It crossed 1 million subscribers on the platform in mid-February, and that count rose 34% between then and early July, thanks to a healthy mix of short-form snippets and long-form videos.

The news site uses YouTube Shorts, the platform's buzzy, TikTok-esque clips, as a foot in the door for newcomers. But long-form content of all kinds is crushing on YouTube, especially on TVs. The Bulwark's producers have taken note by making most of their videos at least 10 minutes long, and some run well over an hour.

"We no longer think of podcast and video as separate," Last said. "We just think of it all as broadcast."

The Bulwark was perfectly positioned for one of the wildest decades for news in the last century, complete with a pandemic, wars, and Trump's rise, fall, and rebound.

"It's been a crazy eight years," Last said. "People have been forced to pay attention to the news in ways which are reasonably unique, at least in our lifetimes."

Not just 'Never Trump'

The Bulwark has gained much of its notoriety for its sharp criticism of Trump. But when asked who he's writing for, Last said he's not necessarily targeting a certain political group.

"The target audience is people who take ideas seriously and aren't looking for confirmation bias and who think that the moment is important," Last said. He added: "I think of, honestly, our target audience as being indistinguishable from The Atlantic's."

While Last said many Bulwark readers are largely on the center left to the center right, he added that the main common thread among his reader base is a distaste for authoritarianism. To Last, that's synonymous with an unease, or outright disgust, with Trump and many of his policies.

"We're on a team, and the team is democracy," Last said.

However, Last said The Bulwark doesn't have a vendetta against Trump. If the president enacts policies that Last and his colleagues like — such as Operation Warp Speed, which accelerated COVID-19 vaccine development during the pandemic — he said they'll gladly tout them.

"We are not reflexively negative," Last said. "It's not like if Trump comes out and says that 'ice cream is good,' we have to say, 'ice cream is bad.'"

Still, Last's readers know that he sees Trump as a serious threat to American democracy.

"If I had described the events of 2020 to somebody in 2016, they would've said, 'You're crazy — that's "Trump Derangement Syndrome,"'" Last said.

Critics may shrug off The Bulwark's warnings as alarmist, but Last insists he's not crying wolf.

"The fact that people aren't freaked out by just the actual real things that have happened in front of our eyes is mostly a function of the pot being turned up while the frogs are in it," Last said.

Straightforward and direct

Authenticity sells in 2025, both in politics and media. Just look at the most popular podcasters, including Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper of "Call Her Daddy" fame.

Audiences also crave honesty, Last said. That honesty and authenticity, combined with strongly held convictions, have become cornerstones of The Bulwark's popularity.

"A lot of times, we'll sit around arguing with each other, and the argument will end with one of us going, 'Yeah, you guys are right. I got that wrong,'" Last said.

Unlike traditional media organizations, The Bulwark is built on Substack. The newsletter hub has been a huge part of the news site's rapid growth, Last said, since readers of other writers can discover The Bulwark and subscribe in a single click.

"Anything you can do to lower the friction just pays enormous dividends," Last said.

By building its business around newsletters, The Bulwark reaches readers directly, without intermediaries like search engines or social media.

Newsletters and podcasts can also build emotional connections. The Bulwark's publisher, Sarah Longwell, told Vanity Fair in May that "people feel like they are friends with us" since they hear their voices and can even reach their inboxes by replying to emails. This access makes The Bulwark feel fresher than newspapers or cable news channels, Last said.

"That's the sort of thing that you often get from independent media operators, if you're a one-man band on Substack," Last said. "But it's, I think, not as common to see that at an institutional level."

Putting MSNBC and CNN on notice

Although The Bulwark has roughly doubled its paid reader base since the election, Last sees much more room to grow.

The news site recently hired reporters to cover policy, immigration, and Congress, Last said. This can help The Bulwark add value through reporting, instead of just its opinions.

But the biggest potential for growth is YouTube, Last said, given that its subscriber base can scale far faster on the world's biggest video platform than on Substack.

The Bulwark could take its video strategy to the next level by producing shows in the style of traditional TV, Last said. He said his site is open to partnering with a streaming service, similar to The Daily Beast's deal with Netflix that was reported by Semafor.

MSNBC and CNN have been a go-to spot for the anti-Trump TV news audience for years. Last suggested that The Bulwark is willing to encroach on their territory and beat them at their own game.

"Cable news is dying," Last said. "All of the minutes of attention, which gets sucked up by CNN or Fox or whoever, those minutes are going to flow elsewhere. And I think that we should be a place where that attention goes."

Legacy networks like MSNBC may be able to coexist with new media outfits like The Bulwark, especially since its writers regularly go on the left-leaning cable network.

But regardless of who's pushing back against Trump, Last's hope is that American democracy is healthy. He doesn't want chaos, even if it can help his business, but he knows that's mostly out of his control.

"Given the choice between having half of our audience, but living in a normal time, I would absolutely take that," Last said.

The Madre fire has ballooned to more than 52,000 acres since it began on Wednesday.

"It's just cat stuff mom you wouldn't understand," one user said. Another added: "Girl just needed to touch grass for a bit."

Kirsty Woodhouse, 35, told Newsweek about the terrifying ordeal: "I was so scared in case I wasn't going to make it."

These 10 games scored the highest when reviewed by professional critics.

Los Angeles Lakers fans are buzzing after Damian Lillard's recent social media post.

The bet365 bonus code WEEK365 will give new users a $150 bonus or $1,000 safety net for July 4th MLB action.

The FanDuel promo code offer for July 4th MLB and Club World Cup action gives new users a bet $5, win $150 bonus this weekend.

Costco has urged customers who bought certain air conditioners and dumbbells to stop using them immediately.

"I 'manifested' him in a way but I knew what I wanted and deserved in a partner," Germaine Harney told Newsweek.

A WWE legend just sent a public message to Triple H... and he says he's ready to come out of the Bottomless Pit for one last run.

• Billionaires continue to set records when major league teams are on the market.
• Guggenheim Partners CEO Mark Walter is reportedly buying the Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion.
• Here are all the billionaires buying and selling teams in 2025.

Few assets are as exclusive as professional sports teams — just ask President Donald Trump, who tried and failed to buy a National Football League team first in the 1980s and later in 2014.

It's not just the exclusivity that makes ownership attractive.

In the streaming, cord-cutting era we're in, sports remain one of the few events that millions of people still watch live. In turn, top-tier leagues continue to sign lucrative TV rights deals that benefit owners.

It's why when teams do become available, record prices continue to get set.

Here's a look at all the billionaires buying and selling in 2025.

• My identical twin sons have been fiercely competitive with each other from toddlerhood.
• Their rivalry helped them thrive on the sports field, but brought tension in academics.
• Although they now attend different colleges in the same city, they'll still defend each other.

My identical twins have been competing since they were toddlers. When Thomas took his first steps, Charlie began walking the very next day, determined not to be left behind.

That dynamic never went away. From stopping the use of pacifiers to football goals to final exam scores, each has spent his life measuring himself against the other. Sometimes, this has pushed them to greatness, while other times, it has brought frustration, injuries, and tears.

As their dad, it's been both thrilling and challenging to watch them push each other to their limits.

Their competitive spirit transformed them into fearless athletes

Their competitiveness thrived on the sports field. While they celebrated victories alongside teammates and felt losses deeply, they always maintained their private scoreboard. After every game, one would inevitably tell me, "I scored more goals than my brother today," a sibling rivalry alongside their team spirit.

Although exhausting to witness as a parent who just wanted them to enjoy themselves, this rivalry created an unexpected advantage in Australian football. When other children their age feared being tackled and hesitated to go for the ball, Charlie and Thomas showed remarkable courage, diving for possession with ferocity.

Their talent didn't go unnoticed. At a friend's birthday party, while the kids played casual football in the yard, a local junior coach spotted their skills and their aggressive tackling style.

They had no fear of being tackled, likely because they'd been tackling each other ruthlessly for years. The coach told me that most kids take years to develop that fearlessness. He recruited them on the spot, and they joined his team the very next day.

Intense competition sent us to the emergency room

I tried channeling their competitiveness positively by encouraging them to view themselves as a "twin force" on the field, passing to each other and using their connection as an advantage. I half-jokingly hoped they'd develop some form of twin telepathy to dominate games.

But their rivalry occasionally went too far. After watching the Australian football grand final on television (our equivalent of the Super Bowl), they rushed into the backyard to play a game. Fueled by adrenaline and their unrelenting rivalry, they sprinted straight at each other, like a game of chicken. Neither backed down, and the resulting collision left both boys with gashed foreheads and a trip to the emergency room.

Another incident particularly tested my patience. Both qualified for an athletics tournament — Thomas in the long jump and Charlie in the 100 meters. Charlie checked the schedule and told me the event times so I could drive them the next day.

When we arrived, we discovered the long jump competition had already concluded. Thomas was devastated. Charlie just shrugged and said, "He should've checked the times himself."

Academic competition brought new challenges

As they entered their final years of high school, their rivalry shifted to academics. They focused more on outscoring each other than on their actual grades. Even if one failed an assignment, he'd still celebrate if he outperformed his brother.

This dynamic became particularly challenging during their final year. Thomas took a studious approach, selecting difficult subjects and dedicating countless hours to studying. He skipped parties and social events to prepare for exams. Charlie chose easier subjects and maintained a more laid-back approach.

In Australia, college admission depends entirely on final exam results; there is no formal application process. When the results were released, we were on a flight to Chicago. They opened their phones simultaneously to check their scores, then looked at each other, waiting for the other to speak first.

Despite putting in half the effort, Charlie scored higher than his academically driven brother. Charlie's look of satisfaction contrasted sharply with Thomas's neutral expression. As a parent, I found it challenging to celebrate Charlie's achievement while watching Thomas, slightly disappointed, despite getting a high grade. He'd done everything "right" and still come in second, at least in that moment.

They also protect each other

Parenting competitive twins has meant managing intense rivalry that can be heartbreaking at times. While most siblings compete, few are judged side by side so directly in sports, academics, and nearly every milestone.

I wanted them to strive for excellence, but not at each other's expense. What surprised me most was how quickly they'd transition from fierce competitors to staunch defenders. Despite their everyday battles, they've always protected each other when anyone else threatened either of them.

Fortunately, both got into their first-choice colleges and are now at different campuses. I hope their next phase of life will be shaped more by their own goals and less by their attempts to beat each other.

Though I'm pretty sure they'll still compare grades at the end of each semester. As long as it doesn't send us back to the ER, I'm OK with that.

She noticed something odd in the yard. The footage explained it.

Nika Diwa told Newsweek that she has seen "a positive difference" in her young kids since introducing them to older films.

Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest returns to Coney Island for the 2025 edition of the Fourth of July classic.

The embassy pokes fun at the U.S. as Americans celebrate the federal holiday.

The BetMGM bonus code NW150 will give new users a $150 bonus or $1,500 bet offer for July 4th MLB action, the FIFA Club World Cup and more.

The number of homes for sale in Texas has reached levels unseen in the state since the national housing recession in 2011.

The city plan was scrapped after years of delays and reported mismanagement.