Joshua Rush
Appearances
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
What's up? That's probably the weirdest thing that you could possibly know me from. Really? Well, you know, a voice character that I did... Oh, well, yeah, there you go. Well, then I'm sorry for all of the headaches that my very, very high-pitched pre-teen voice was doing on that show.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
I have hit puberty. I no longer can do the voice. It's way up there.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
That's the coolest thing that he could remember me from. And that's the most similar to how I sound now. And also, it's the most similar animated character that I ever played that looked like I actually do in real life.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
We held hands and he said, I'm gay, which as we know is the pinnacle. That is the most progressive thing that you're allowed to do.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
This was me in real life. Yeah, this was me in real life. I was on a show for four years called Andy Mack on Disney Channel. We were the number one children's show in America for quite some time. So, you know, thanks for remembering, Tim. And yeah, played the first openly gay character on Disney Channel and then quit that pretty much immediately after.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Now I'm the communications director for the Texas house democratic caucus. Um, which is, uh, yeah, a little bit of a left turn. Um, but I've been doing professional political communications, uh, first, uh, alongside my acting work, uh, and then full-time pretty much once I turned 18. Um, and I've been doing it basically for the last seven years now, I've been a professional political operative.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
I've been taking a extended vacation from being famous and, uh, have instead been trying to make other people famous and trying to fix the world.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
You know, I was a Bernie guy, 2016, 2020, convinced both of my like, you know, sort of moderate dem parents to vote for Bernie in 20, which I was very proud of. I was a surrogate for him. Yeah. But have worked for basically everyone at this point, have worked for Democrats, have worked for Republicans, have worked for independents.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
My political philosophy is dictated by the work that I'm able to do and my personal goal, which is to be the absolute best Swiss army knife for beating fascism that I can possibly be. That's the that's the political philosophy is that there are bad people. They are on the rise. They're becoming more powerful. We're watching it happen.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
And the opposition to the bad people is not doing a very good job at fighting back. And so we need to be as creative and different as we could possibly be.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
It's the Swiss that didn't. That's a fair point.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Cam and I have known each other for kind of a long time now, right? It's been, it's probably been upwards of, yeah, I was going to say five, six, seven, Cam's saying seven years. But like, yeah, Cam and I often talk about how we sort of switched positions. Cam was sort of starting to leave his advocacy universe that he had been in and was heading towards the performing arts.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
and I was walking away from that and headed towards it. I, you know, like, I think there's a lot of reasons to get jaded. There's a lot of reasons to feel jaded. Um, at the same time, like the, um, The people that we serve cannot afford for us to be bored and half-assing our work. The people who need an opposition to fascism, it has never been more urgent than it is right now.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
And you should know, like, you're hearing me at, like, my least jaded that I've been in years. Cam can probably tell you this pretty well. Right now? This is right now. February 25th? That's right. February 2025, I'm probably the least jaded that I've felt in years.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Not that I don't feel like we have a very big fight ahead of us, and not that I don't feel demoralized by it, but more so in the sense that I do not feel like I can afford to be doing anything right now other than working and trying. What the fuck are we supposed to do if we are not trying to beat them right now? Aren't you guys doing a white man podcast right now?
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
I mean, it's none of that's not none of it's not to say that I don't feel nihilistic right now. None of it's not to say that I don't feel like we might be pretty cooked, you know, but you know, right. But at the same time, it's like, you know, like, we're fucking good.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Like, I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to sit here all day and then I'm going to leave at five. And nobody's going to be any better for it. But I show up every day. I make these people as uncomfortable as they possibly can be. I make it as hard as possible for them to exercise their agenda.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
I make it as loud as... I make it possible for Democrats to be as loud as possible in opposing their agenda. I am doing something. I am doing the absolute most that I can with these two hands that God gave me. Like...
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
And I do feel like if I'm in a position of power, and I'm not saying that everybody should be feeling like they have to do something right now, but I'm in a position where I have this ability, and I'm here, and I have been put in this position with the tools and the know-how to do what I need to do. Let's go. We should be making it as uncomfortable as we possibly can for them.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
It doesn't matter if we're hooked. If I'm going down, I'm going down swinging.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Not like I'm like noble or something. I don't want to give that impression too.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Among the many reasons that I really love working in Texas, which is like when we're when we're doing stuff, we're doing stuff because we can find like a level of unity around it. You know, in inside of the Democratic Party, we are beefing with each other about so many different things here in Texas.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
We can kind of all come together and we can be like, well, you know, like we think trans people should should be protected. We think that they should have some level of protections. Therefore, we're against what a lot of the Republican Party does in that context. We're against school vouchers, right, in basically every format.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
This is the really easy one because Republicans are trying to pass a school voucher scheme in Texas that's the largest – they just introduced yesterday the largest school voucher plan ever introduced into the Texas House, got introduced yesterday. It's very easy for us as Democrats to get together and say, well, we think that that sucks. We think that they shouldn't be doing that.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
So, like, I love – I think being in opposition is fantastic because it gives you this this opening to say, like, well, like we may not agree on all of our preferred implementations on school finance. Right. I worked in California for some time. That's you know, you get really into the policy weeds when you're arguing and debating among progressives and among the left here in Texas.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
I'm getting along with the furthest left members of the Democratic caucus and the furthest right members of the Democratic caucus. We've got a whole big tent because what they are doing on the other side is so insane and so bad that everybody can get in the same damn boat together and say like, all right, well, we think this is bad.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
I love being in opposition and I love fighting in like red and purple states where we actually have to fight against them.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
You know, Tim, my question to you would be, did that interaction that you had with a progressive activist make you decide to vote Republican?
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
So you got annoyed, and your knee-jerk reaction is just to fully vote against him in 2026. You are probably in the minority of Americans. I think that we should be annoying as fuck all the time, actually. I do, yeah.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Mostly towards Republicans, but I think that there's a lot of good reason to be annoying towards your Democratic representatives right now and make sure that they are being loud and outspoken against Democrats. You know, Donald Trump and his fascistic agenda. You know, I got a buddy of mine, my anarcho-communist friend, who keeps talking about what South Korean parliament members did. Oh, yeah.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Scaling the walls of their parliament building when they thought that their democracy was at risk. And, like, this is... What is happening right now is a four alarm fire to me. Like, I want our Democratic politicians scaling the walls at the Department of Education to figure out what's going on inside of there.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
I want us in there when they want us out. Right. Like they are they are actively attacking our institutions. But like beyond that, not only they're attacking our institutions, they're attacking our children, our futures, our families, our food system and our flights. I want our Democratic politicians to be showing up in every single possible way that they can. Sending letters is great.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Showing up at the doors is great. But like, I want to see that our Democratic politicians see this as a four or five, 10 alarm fire in the same way that I do.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
No, I see widespread political apathy in all directions. I'm an outlier. Maybe I should have led with that. I know certainly among people my age, Cam's age, what I'm hearing is overwhelming nihilism. And what I'm trying to respond to that every time with is like, okay. it's fine to feel bad. It's fine to feel nihilistic. It's fine to feel terrible.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Like, and at the same time, at some point we have to figure something out, um, organized.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Like an even split? I hear a lot of like, well, we're fucked anyway. Like there's, there's a very pervasive group, which will say like, well, we're fucked anyway, so we don't have to do anything. Um, There is another, like, very pervasive group of, like, America has always been fucked, so we don't have to do anything.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
I find myself sort of in the middle here of, like, okay, well, if we do nothing, then we've done nothing. And if we try and do something, then we can do something, maybe. Or maybe I, like, maybe I fail and end up in the camps, but, like, then at least I tried. Then at least I can, like, go home. I go home at night with a pretty clean conscience, and I feel like I've actually done something.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
I don't know if I could go home in my position every day and be like, all right, well, I did nothing. I'm going to go home and watch ESPN and go to bed.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
The bad guys are winning. The thing that I also want to say is we had to get through Hoover to get to FDR. There is absolutely a little deep cut, but there is absolutely nothing to suggest that we are.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
They were presidents in America. They were presidents back to back.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
hoover was bad and fdr was good that's he did do the third and fourth terms which is a little so so for us if we're going to be a pro-democracy movement but okay but we don't we don't need to you know there wasn't an amendment prohibiting that at the time so like now there is now i feel a little weirder about like i was doing that but like yeah
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
um i mean i won't i won't speak to the all red thing specifically just because i wasn't here for that i was working a different race in north carolina at the time um with with other insane candidates uh that i certainly can talk about but yeah i just mean in the context if you're going there now you're running and people got to be like god i mean all red you know if you're looking for a model on what you're supposed to do to do better yeah all right yeah
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Yeah, Colin Allred for sure has got like the bio that you create in the lab to like run as a democratic politician. The gender gap exists. It's real. There is a like, you know, a
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
counterculture almost movement of you know insurgent toxic masculinity um i think that certainly i wouldn't necessarily see it as like a counterculture movement but i know that like the people who live like that i've been going to comedy shows right since i moved to austin you know i'm you know this is this is elon told us the comedy was illegal and we have to make it legal again are you okay
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
No, comedy is legal in Austin as long as you drive a Cybertruck to and from the place that you're doing it at.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Yeah, here in Austin, you really can. Here in Austin, something I've learned is that this city has got just an overwhelming population of dudes in blue button-down shirts who do tech sales and make way more money than me. Yeah, keep it weird for sure. Those dudes are weird.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
But man, you could just say the R word a couple times on a stage in a comedy show and you can actually have a whole group like that laughing. So there's this idea that it's young men, it's Gen Z men. Millennials, you all need to check your men too. There's some weird ones all around. But there's also not a ton of... I don't know.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
I mean, you know, to the gist of what you're going for, we just got to be normal. We can't continue to define ourselves by the identity politics that we use. I also don't think that it's like...
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
terrible idea for democrats to continue to like have identity politics i don't think it's a bad idea that we like you know lift up minority communities within our midst i also don't think that it needs to be at the center of our message to undecided voters i think that our message to undecided voters should be about what we're going to do for you
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
And that message should be resonant with a large group of communities because the people who are making that message go out are from a large group of communities. Like, to me, that is the example. We just have to be normal about how we talk about shit. We cannot continue to be tremendously afraid of each other within our own party.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
You have anything else you'd like to add, Cam?
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
An otter is a twink who has some hair going for him.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Yeah, it's, let me just make sure I'm correct about this, but it's 500 Buena Vista Boulevard, Burbank, California.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
No, that's definitive. 100% agree. Cannot believe you're spewing such bullshit to our younger generation, Cam.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
So who cares about saving money? Who cares about, you know, me carrying over this credit card debt to next month, even though my APR is, you know, 45 percent.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Josh, I did a movie about Abraham Lincoln once, and I can tell you for sure you're 100% right, Cam.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
I say this as a bisexual person. I think we have a crisis of bisexuality in this country. I just think we need more people to pick a side, and we would get these numbers to somewhere stable. I'm desperate for Cam to book a non-bisexual.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Sure. Same shameless plug. Please, if you are a Texas resident and you're listening to this, please visit don't defund my school dot com. Please visit that website. Enter the school district that your children or you, if you are a child, go to find out how much it will lose under school vouchers. enter your zip code on that website, get a script to call your representative.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
Because if there is one thing that I am certain of from my perch right here in Texas is that we have got an opportunity to defeat school vouchers this year, which Republicans have been trying to pass in Texas for over 40 years now. This is a project that came out of segregation. They have been trying to pass school vouchers in Texas.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
They have been stymied every year by a bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans who have said, hey, this is a scam. This is bullshit. We want to stop this. We have still got an opportunity to defeat it here in Texas. If you are not here in Texas, Please don't call a Texas state representative because they won't care about what you have to say.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
But if you are not from Texas and you are feeling stressed out and you are feeling nihilistic about everything that is going on, just know that we have got a legitimate shot here in Texas at defeating school vouchers, which has been a Republican priority in damn near every state in the country and has won in damn near every state in the country.
The Bulwark Podcast
BONUS EPISODE from Tim's New "FYPod"
if we can do this here in Texas right now, you can get off your ass too. And you can start working for it for defeating them for at the very least, making sure that it is clear that you stood up against this. That's all I'm ready. We can beat them. You just have to give a shit.