Skip to content
TrackPodcasts
newsAug 20, 202613:22pending

Tim Unboxes a Republican Candidate’s “Medical Device”

Bulwark Takes

About this episode

Note (August 27, 2026, 3:30 p.m. EDT): FirmTech has requested that we mention that “FirmTech is a health-technology company developing smart wearables that provide objective, personal, and actionable data concerning sexual function, vascular wellness, and broader health,” and that FirmTech’s “patented technology is designed to objectively measure and monitor erectile function.”

Zach Lahn is the Republican candidate for governor of Iowa with a very unusual résumé and some very unconventional positions. Tim Miller and Brendan Hartnett dig into Lahn’s ties to Kansas and the Koch network, his investment in FirmTech and its award-winning “sex tech” device that Lahn insists is not a sex toy, and questions about whether he’s really an Iowan. They also examine Lahn’s opposition to mRNA vaccines, support for a total abortion ban, MAHA politics, his defense of Trump’s tariffs, and the other positions putting him on the far edge of the Republican field.

Read Brendan's article: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/zach-lahn-please-stop-calling-the-award-winning-sex-toy-a-sex-toy-firmtech-iowa-governor-campaign

Watch Tim’s take on Mike Collins: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/republicans-found-a-way-to-blow-georgia

Get every episode summarized

Each time Bulwark Takes publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.

Email me new episodes

Free for 3 shows. No card needed.

Hosts & guests

No transcript yet

This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.

Tim Unboxes a Republican Candidate’s “Medical Device”

Bulwark Takes

0:00
13:22

More episodes

More from Bulwark Takes

View all episodes →