Impolitic with John Heilemann

John welcomes Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to discuss his city’s harrowing battle this winter with ICE, CBP, and Donald Trump. Frey explains what it was like living under violent federal occupation; the combination of fierce resistance and neighborly love that enabled Minneapolis not just to emerge triumphant but set an example for other cities around the country; and why the embrace of Bruce Springsteen—who kicked off his spring No Kings tour in the Twin Cities this week—was so vital and important. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal to discuss the ongoing impasse on Capitol Hill over funding D.H.S. (and the resulting T.S.A-related chaos at America’s airports) and reforming ICE, as well as the fierce debates over the SAVE Act and the war in Iran. Regarding the war, Blumenthal argues that “Donald Trump is boxing himself into putting troops on the ground”—and that the only winners in the conflict so far are Russia and Vladimir Putin. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes John Ellis, founder and editor of the newsletters News Items and Political News Items, to discuss the military, economic, and political dynamics at play in the war in Iran; how Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's political stature has been enhanced by playing David to Donald Trump's Goliath and its influence on America's allies in Europe; and why the question of Trump’s mental fitness is the most important story in the world that journalists aren’t covering. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes Jason Zengerle, author of the new book “Hated by All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind,” to discuss Carlson's opposition to Donald Trump's war in Iran. Zengerle explains Tucker's evolution from conventional (if contrarian) Republican to a leader of the nationalist, nativist, America First faction of the MAGA movement; how his embrace of racist and anti-Semitic tropes have only increased his influence in forging the post-Trump future of the G.O.P.; and why the prospect of him running for president in 2028 seems more plausible every day. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes erstwhile neocon stalwart and current Bulwark seditor-at-large Bill Kristol to discuss the war in Iran, amid mounting signs that it is spiraling out of control. Kristol weighs in on the economic and military dynamics propelling the conflict; whether the U.S. is in danger of being ensnared in an escalation trap; the resignation of Trump’s top counterterrorism adviser, Joe Kent; Israel’s role in the war’s inception; and the rapid unraveling of Donald Trump’s rationales for why he started it in the first place. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes acclaimed documentarian Ken Burns to discuss his latest PBS magnum opus, “The American Revolution.” Burns recounts the 10-year gestation of the six-part, 12-hour series, culminating with its fortuitous (but entirely coincidental) debut on the eve of the U.S. Semiquincentennial; how he assembled the remarkable array of Hollywood stars—Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, and dozens more—who voice the story’s key historical figures; and the case for George Washington as the revolution’s indispensable man, without whom America would not exist. Burns also reveals the five (yes, five) embryonic series on which he’s currently at work. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to discuss the war in Iran. Sherman, who led the U.S. team that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, assesses the current state of the conflict as its scope widens and economic reverberations intensify; the ever-shifting rationales offered by Donald Trump and his administration for attacking Iran and their miscalculations as to how it would respond; and scenarios for what might come next, including the possibility of American boots on the ground. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes Jake Sullivan, former National Security Adviser to Joe Biden and a key architect of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, to discuss the war against the regime in Tehran as it enters its second week — with no clear plan, strategy, or end game in sight, and having blown the lid off a Pandora’s Box of potentially calamitous unintended consequences. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

First, John welcomes Arizona Democratic senator, retired U.S. Navy captain, and former combat pilot Mark Kelly to discuss the Trump administration's shifting rationales for, and the huge strategic risks of, the war in Iran. Then John’s Puck partners Leigh Ann Caldwell and Abby Livingston assess the domestic political reaction to the unfolding conflict, plus the results of Tuesday’s Senate primaries in Texas and Kristi Noem’s travails on Capitol Hill ahead of her ouster as DHS secretary. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes back podcasting Ubermensch and personal-finance guru Scott Galloway to discuss his recent foray into activism with Resist & Unsubscribe—an “economic strike targeted at the companies driving the markets and enabling” President Trump. Galloway also weighs in on Sam Altman’s apparent preference for machines over humans; A.I. founders loudly fretting over the technology they created after cashing in and peacing out; and the critiques of his New York Times No. 1 bestseller, “Notes on Being a Man.” To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes former Republican Senate staffer Amanda Carpenter, who currently works for the non-profit Protect Democracy, to discuss the first State of the Union address of Donald Trump's second term — the interminable length and apparent aimlessness of which, she argues, obscured the ways it was designed to further lay the groundwork for Trump to interfere with the 2026 and 2028 elections. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes former Treasury Department chief of staff and Quadrangle Group cofounder Josh Steiner to discuss his new book, with former Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton, “From Mistakes to Meaning: Owning Your Past So It Doesn’t Own You.” Currently a partner at SSW Partners, Steiner delves into the news-making screwup that headlined his career in government and the broader topic of life-altering blunders – how and why we make them, what they tell us about ourselves, and the importance of confronting rather than suppressing them. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes Reverend Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, to discuss the life and legacy of Reverend Jesse Jackson. Sharpton, whose relationship with Jackson – his friend, political mentor, personal taskmaster, and father figure – stretched back nearly 60 years, reflects on Jackson’s place in history as the preeminent civil rights leader of his time and pathbreaking political figure whose campaigns for president in 1984 and 1988 paved the way for Barack Obama's election. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes back Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias to discuss Donald Trump’s recent slew of suggestions about changing the way elections are run in the U.S.—and his apparent plans to mess with the November midterms. Elias also analyzes Attorney General Pam Bondi’s cringeworthy performance last week before the House Judiciary Committee, the Justice Department’s failure to secure indictments (at Trump’s behest) of the half-dozen congresspeople who released a video reminding soldiers that they had no obligation to follow illegal orders, and the Republican push to enact Voter ID. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes acclaimed sportswriter and bestselling author Sally Jenkins to discuss the twin mega-stories this week where politics, culture, and elite athletics invariably come crashing together: the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics. Jenkins also weighs in on the heedless obliteration of the Washington Post’s vaunted sports desk, where Jenkins worked for three decades before joining The Atlantic last year. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes Bulwark economics editor and MS Now host Catherine Rampell to discuss the fragile state of the Trump 2.0 economy and how the president’s policies — on China, tariffs, tech, manufacturing, and more — are undermining it in both the short and long term. Catherine also explains why Wall Street’s collective view that Trump’s pick to be the next Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, is an inflation hawk and fierce defender of the Fed's independence may prove to be wishful thinking ... or downright delusional. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes back his pal Alex Wagner, host of the new Crooked Media podcast “Runaway Country” and author of “How The Hell with Alex Wagner" on Substack, to discuss the week’s three biggest political stories: the ongoing saga of Operation Metro Surge, which Alex covered on the ground in Minneapolis; fallout from the DOJ’s release of three million documents from the Jeffrey Epstein files; and Donald Trump’s ominous suggestion that the midterm elections be nationalized in 15 blue states. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes Harvard legal eminence Laurence Tribe back to the show to discuss the constitutional dimensions of the chaos in Minneapolis, the fragile state of the rule of law in the Trump 2.0 era, and whether the Supreme Court will salvage or sacrifice what remains of its public legitimacy with its rulings on a handful of key cases in the months ahead. Tribe also discusses his new essay in the New York Review of Books critiquing his colleague Jill Lepore’s recently published history of the U.S. Constitution. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes former Democratic U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill back to the show to discuss the execution-style shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and its political and cultural fallout. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the second installment of John’s two-part talk with Patrick Gaspard, the former Obama political director, DNC executive director, and U.S. Ambassador to South Africa explains how he came to be Zohran Mamdani’s political sherpa; the qualities that fueled the new mayor’s rise; his similarities to Obama (and how they differ); why his advocacy of abolishing ICE makes political sense (for him); and how his impact on the Democratic Party could be as disruptive—and transformative—as Donald Trump’s on the GOP. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes longtime Democratic strategist, former White House adviser and U.S. Ambassador to South Africa for Barack Obama, and current Zohran Mamdani political sherpa Patrick Gaspard back to the show for a special two-part episode. In this installment, Gaspard assesses the first year of Donald Trump’s second term; how Democrats are faring in their efforts to counter and cope with a pathological president; and what the national party can learn from Mamdani’s refusal to tamp down the loftiness of his rhetoric or the scale of his policy ambitions. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes pop culture savant and bestselling author Chuck Klosterman back to the show to discuss his new book, “Football.” Klosterman explains how America football went from overtaking baseball as the country’s favorite sport and national pastime to utterly dominating its cultural landscape – and why, despite its power, pervasiveness, and influence today, football is all but certain in the next few decades to become a marginal, more or less irrelevant enterprise. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ahead of Donald Trump's return to Davos next week, John welcomes Harvard professor and former Council of Economic Advisers chair Jason Furman to discuss the DOJ’s bungled attack on the Fed, Jerome Powell’s unlikely emergence as an anti-MAGA paladin, and the state of the American economy under Trump’s second-term stewardship. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the second installment of a two-parter with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul on American foreign policy in Donald Trump's second term, Mike and John look back on 2025 and ahead to 2026, focusing particularly on the president's approach to Russia, Ukraine, and China. McFaul also discusses his new book, “Autocrats vs. Democrats," which examines the struggle between authoritarianism and classical liberalism among the world's great powers, and argues that this is also the central battle taking place within the United States in the Trump 2.0 era. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes back Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and the author of “Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, & The New Global Disorder,” for a special, two-part deep dive into Donald Trump’s foreign policy. In the first installment, McFaul weighs in on the headline-making, world-shaking events of the past week — from America’s invasion of Venezuela and exfiltration of Nicolas Maduro to Trump’s increasingly insistent (and apparently serious) intimations that Greenland could be next. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes former federal prosecutor and top Justice Department and FBI official Andrew Weissmann back to the show for a look back on 2024 and look ahead to 2026 when it comes to the rule of law – in particular, its prospects for surviving the sustained assault by Donald Trump and his administration. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes New York Times columnist and podcasting dynamo Ezra Klein back to the show for the second installment of a two-part, year-end review of the national political scene in 2025 See all the ways bp is investing in America at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bp.com/InvestingInAmerica⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes two of the Pod Save America dudes, Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett, to the show for the first installment of a two-part, year-end review of the national political scene in 2025. See all the ways bp is investing in America at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bp.com/InvestingInAmerica⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes celebrated photojournalist Christopher Anderson to discuss the controversy over his portraits of Donald Trump’s inner circle in Vanity Fair. Anderson explains his trepidation over taking the assignment and his approach to it once he did; why the outrage over his pictures in some quarters is a result of a growing confusion between political figures and celebrities, the proliferation of photo filters and A.I. image distortion on social media, and a lack of comprehension that photojournalism is, in fact, journalism; and why no one should be shocked that he didn’t conceal signs of Karoline Leavitt's cosmetic enhancements or shoot Stephen Miller as if he were Brad Pitt (beyond the obvious, that is). See all the ways bp is investing in America at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bp.com/InvestingInAmerica⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper back to the show for a fond remembrance of the lives and legendary film and television careers of Rob and Michele Singer Reiner. Klepper also discusses his latest Daily Show special, which took him from Mississippi to Norway to Portland, Oregon, where he took part in a naked anti-ICE protest and got pepper-sprayed in the process; the challenges of finding the funny amid the fear and loathing that have typified the Trump 2.0 era; and the sword of Damocles that hung over late night comedy in the year of Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension and Stephen Colbert’s cancellation. See all the ways bp is investing in America at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bp.com/InvestingInAmerica⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes lapsed Republican strategist and Lincoln Project cofounder Rick Wilson back to the show to discuss the mounting signs that, less than one full year into his second term in office, Donald Trump has reached his sell-by date – and the implications of Trump's political decline for the MAGA-fied Republican Party. See all the ways bp is investing in America at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bp.com/InvestingInAmerica⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes retired four-star U.S. Army General Barry McCaffrey to discuss the rapidly escalating conflict between America and Venezuela. McAffrey argues that Donald Trump appears to be hellbent on regime change in Venezuela; that his stated motivations related to narco-terrorism make virtually no sense at all; and that his primary motivations instead revolve primarily around seizing the South American country’s oil reserves. McCaffrey also assesses the recently unveiled official U.S. National Security Strategy, the elements of which he regards as ranging from incoherent to farcical to flat out “horrifying.” See all the ways bp is investing in America at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bp.com/InvestingInAmerica⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes retired Major General Steven Lepper, a former Deputy Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Air Force, to discuss the legal dimensions of the Trump administration’s Venezuelan boat strikes. Lepper contends that there is no basis in domestic or international law for any of the 23 boat strikes and 87 related fatalities that have taken place so far; that the now infamous second strike on September 2 is more likely to have been straight up murder than a war crime on the part of Pete Hegseth (and others in the chain of command); that the firing of the top Army, Air Force, and acting Navy JAGs early in Trump’s second term was the first sign of an concerted and ongoing effort remove the rule of law from the armed forces; and that the boat-strike scandal portends more (and worse) lawless military orders to come. See all the ways bp is investing in America at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bp.com/InvestingInAmerica⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling to discuss the Trump administration’s air strikes against alleged Venezuelan drug boats and the mounting charges that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may be guilty of a war crime – or just plain murder. Hertling, who served as commander of U.S. Army Europe among other posts, offers a withering perspective on Hegseth’s explanations of his role in the disputed strike and his leadership of the Pentagon writ large; a stark assessment of where the metastasizing story is headed next; and a fraught view of the fragile state of civilian-military relations in Trump 2.0. See all the ways bp is investing in America at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bp.com/InvestingInAmerica⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl to discuss his new book, “Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America.” The author of three previous bestsellers about 45/47, Karl describes how Trump has – and hasn’t – changed in the 30-plus years since the two first met; how Trump's desire for vengeance against his political foes became the driving force of his 2024 campaign and has dominated his second term in office; and his complex love-hate relationship with the press (with Karl as a prime example). Karl also weighs in on how much sway Steve Bannon actually has with Trump, and Nancy Pelosi's behind-the-scenes role in ending Joe Biden’s reelection campaign. See all the ways bp is investing in America at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bp.com/InvestingInAmerica⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this special episode taped live onstage in New York, John interviews his pal Jonathan Freedland – Guardian political columnist and co-host of the Unholy podcast – about his new book, “The Traitor’s Circle: The True Story of a Secret Resistance Network in Nazi Germany – and the Spy Who Betrayed Them.” Freedland, the author of nine thrillers under the pen name Sam Bourne, describes how "The Traitor's Circle," like its predecessor “The Escape Artist,” marries rigorous research with the techniques of genre fiction to create a serious work of historical non-fiction that reads like an Agatha Christie mystery. The two also discuss how pop culture has processed the Holocaust, from “Shoah” to “The Odessa Files” and “Inglorious Bastards.” To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes former Republican consultant, Lincoln Project/Lincoln Square bigwig, and bestselling author Stuart Stevens back to the show to discuss Donald Trump’s sudden political senescence. Stevens discusses the emerging dynamics and incentives driving GOP congresspeople to break with Trump; the continued risks he poses to American interests at home and abroad, especially in connection with Ukraine; and the vast talent gap between the two parties when it comes to the 2028 presidential race—and the particular problem Republicans are facing in the form of a de facto frontrunner, J.D. Vance, whom Stevens sees as “super creepy.” To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes Tim Miller, host of The Bulwark Podcast, back to the show to discuss the signs this week that Donald Trump’s fabled base — and broader political coalition — may be starting to unravel. Tim dissects the two main stressors creating fissures within MAGA: Trump's efforts to deep six the Epstein files in the face of his coalition's concerns about pedophilia among the political and financial elite; and the normalization of anti-Semitism on the right as personified by Groyper godfather Nick Fuentes. Tim and John also wax lyrical about the band of this moment, Geese, and ponder the possibility of a previously unreported anatomical commonality between Trump and Epstein. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John welcomes Democratic congressman Pat Ryan—a 43-year-old West Point grad and Iraq War vet whose 14-point victory in his deep purple upstate New York district in 2024 elevated him to national rising-star status—to discuss the lessons of his party’s off-year election gains and signs that Donald Trump’s lame duck era is at hand. Ryan also explains his crusade to end the scourge of sports TV blackouts in the age of streaming, and why it’s not merely good policy and good politics, but the kind of effort that could help Democrats regain entry into the manosphere. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices