Impolitic with John Heilemann

John is joined by Marc Elias, the attorney whom Donaled Trump has cast as his bete noire in the legal profession, to discuss the president’s war on the judiciary, the bar, and the rule of law itself. Elias explains why the executive order titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections” is designed to do just the opposite, making it the most dangerous of Trump's myriad power grabs; why we aren’t yet in a constitutional crisis but soon could be; and why Trump’s threats have caused so many prestigious law firms to bend the knee. Marc also tells John why he hasn’t done the same despite being plenty worried by Trump’s singling him out as a “very bad" person and a “thug". 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 is joined by former AP Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier and current Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler to discuss a week in which America’s de facto co-presidents seemed trying to outdo each other in terms of wreaking havoc and stoking panic. Fournier assesses the motives behind Donald Trump’s market-crashing tariffs and their potential political implications; explains why the results of Tuesday’s special elections in Florida and Wisconsin are so ominous for Republicans; and issues a partial mea culpa for being dismissive about Cory Booker’s 25-hour Senate filibuster. Then Wikler takes listeners inside the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, detailing the ways in which Musk was the gift that kept on giving and laying out how Badger State Democrats plan to build on their big win in the country’s swingiest swing state. 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

The Bogie and Bacall of Beltway journalistic power couples — Peter Baker of the New York Times and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker — return to the show to discuss the fallout from the first true crisis of Donald Trump’s second term and an array of ongoing controversies embroiling the new administration. Peter and Susan explain why, despite the serious national security implications of Signalgate and the long knives being out for both Pete Hegseth and Michael Waltz, there’s a decent chance that both will keep their jobs; Steve Witkoff is entirely out of his depth serving as Trump’s envoy to Russia in the effort to end the war in Ukraine; and the decision to nix Elise Stefanik’s bid to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nation is a clear sign that the GOP's political standing is increasingly imperiled. Peter and Susan also reflect on the myriad unnerving ways in which Trump’s Washington reminds them of Moscow 25 years ago, when both were based there covering the dawn of the Putin 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 is joined by Mark Warner, ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Lincoln Project founder Rick Wilson to discuss the story eclipsing all other political news this week: Signalgate. Although Warner is a consensus-seeking moderate Democrat and Wilson a bomb-throwing NeverTrump Republican, in their long careers both have come across their share of recklessness, sloppiness, and stupidity in the realm of national security. But neither has seen a more extravagant display of those defects than the Signal group chat in which Trump 2.0 officials shared sensitive details about the recent U.S. attack on Houthi rebels ahead of the attack. Warner and Wilson try to fathom the unfathomable while cataloging the vast risks involved and the deep lack of seriousness the episode suggests about Trump’s foreign policy team. 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 is joined by Leigh Ann Caldwell, Puck’s newly minted chief Washington correspondent, to discuss how congressional Ds and Rs are coping with the new world order of Trump 2.0. Leigh Ann assesses the political aftershocks rippling through the Democratic ranks in the wake of what many in the party see as Chuck Schumer’s disastrous capitulation to the GOP in the government shutdown showdown; the grassroots potency of the Bernie Sanders/AOC road show and its unequivocally populist messaging; the uneasy combination of public denialism and private fear among Republicans about the continuing outbursts of anti-DOGE sentiment at GOP town hall meetings across the country; and the party’s barely concealed lack of appetite for heeding Donald Trump’s calls to impeach federal judges who rule against him. 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 is joined by former federal prosecutor and FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann to discuss Donald Trump’s escalating attacks on the judiciary and what it means for the rule of law. Weissmann explains why the showdown between the Trump administration and federal district judge James Boasberg over the deportation of some 200 alleged Venezuelan gang members last weekend amounts to the first genuine constitutional crisis of the Trump 2.0 era; Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts viewed Trump’s call for Boasberg’s impeachment as so improper that Roberts felt compelled to issue a rare public rebuke of a sitting president; and Trump’s recent speech at DOJ headquarters was even more ominous than it sounded. Andrew also reflects on why being targeted directly by Trump—who referred to him in that speech as “scum”—bothers him less than you might assume. 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 is joined by acclaimed actor Liev Schreiber to discuss his humanitarian aid work in Ukraine, his friendship with Volodymyr Zelensky, and the efforts to bring an end to the war in his ancestral homeland. Schreiber explains why the apparent strategy behind Donald Trump’s efforts to forge a ceasefire and force both sides to the negotiating table strike so many Ukraine allies as baffling at best; in the Oval Office dustup between Zelensky and Trump, it was the Ukrainian president, not the American one, who was standing up for American values; the sharp turn against Zelensky by so his once-steadfast Republican supporters is so shocking and infuriating; and the claims by many on the right that Zelensky doesn’t really want the war to end are so ludicrous—and insidious. Schreiber also breaks news by revealing his plans to return to the stage this spring as part of a new theater company, Together Productions, being founded by his friend, Hugh Jackman. 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 is joined by Massachusetts Democratic congressman Jake Auchincloss to discuss how his party is handling the clash over a government shutdown and the broader challenges of Donald Trump's second term. Jake argues that voting for the Republican measure to fund the government is a mistake in terms of both policy and politics; the freakout in the worlds of business and finance about Trump’s trade war is nothing compared to what we’ll see when (Jake predicts) Trump tries to take over the Fed; the cowering of Speaker Mike Johnson before Elon Musk is “pathetic”; and ordinary voters are “livid” about Trump’s nastiness towards Volodymyr Zelensky and cozying up to Vladimir Putin. Jake also avers that Rahm Emanuel has it right when he says his party should spend more time talking about what goes on in America's classrooms than its locker rooms or bathrooms. 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 is joined by New York Times opinion columnist M. Gessen to discuss Donald Trump’s affinity for Vladimir Putin and what it means for Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine, and the whole of Europe. Gessen, winner of the 2017 National Book Award for The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia, contends it’s now crystal clear that the U.S. has switched sides in the Ukraine war and offers a number of entwined explanations as to Trump’s motives for doing so; that Putin’s larger territorial/imperial ambitions are rooted in his fixation on the 1945 Yalta accords and the framework established there by FDR, Stalin, and Churchill; and that Europe's swift and dramatic response to Trump's turn against Zelensky may prove as historic as the other paradigm-shifting events of the past fortnight. 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 is joined by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich to discuss Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress and his already beleaguered economic agenda. Reich argues that Trump’s speech was most striking for its lack of focus on the concerns (notably, the high cost of living) most responsible for his reelection; his administration's policies (including but not limited to stiff tariffs on foreign goods) are bound to exacerbate those concerns; the worst fears of Wall Street—that America is headed for a bout of stagflation—are likely to prove prescient; and Elon Musk’s desire to mess with Social Security is a political disaster in the making for the White House and the GOP. Reich also addresses James Carville’s advice that Democrats play dead and let Trump 2.0 self-destruct: “It’s bullshit.” 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 is joined by Marty Baron to discuss the changes being wrought by Jeff Bezos at the Washington Post, where Baron served as executive editor from 2013 to 2021, and how the Fourth Estate is faring in the Trump 2.0 era. Baron explains his reaction (disgust, shock, fury) to Bezos's recent ban on opinions at odds with his own from the Post's op-ed pages; why that move and others by the paper's owner since Trump's reelection can only be interpreted as acts of obeisance; and how those actions undermine the Post’s credibility. Baron also argues that Team Trump’s decision to take control of the White House press pool, handpicking which reporters are granted close access to the president, is part of a broader effort—familiar from autocratic regimes around the world—to undermine and eventually eliminate the free and independent press in America. 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 is joined by Michael McFaul, director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford and former U.S. ambassador to Russia, to discuss Donald Trump's efforts to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. McFaul explains why the rare earth minerals deal between Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky amounts to an act of pure extortion by America against an ostensible ally; how Vladimir Putin views the U.S. siding with Russia at the U.N. and the reopening of diplomatic channels between Washington and Moscow; the depth of Trump’s admiration for Putin and disdain for Zelensky; and the clear-eyed if mortified European reaction to all of the above. McFaul also weighs in on whether Team Trump is effectively deep-sixing America’s role as the leader of the free world—and whether the U.S. electorate is, in fact, down with that program. 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 is joined by Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, to discuss the Eric Adams case. Joyce explains why the decision by Donald Trump’s Justice Department to dismiss the corruption charges against New York’s mayor was so unusual, unwarranted, and improper; why the extraordinary fallout from that decision—resignations by all of the SDNY lawyers central to bringing the charges; an open letter by more than 900 former federal prosecutors sounding the alarm over the DOJ’s effort to drop them; the unwillingness of the presiding judge to rubber stamp that effort—reflects its wider and more ominous implications for the rule of law in the Trump 2.0 era; and where the case might go from here. 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 is joined by Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and current host of the podcast Stay Tuned With Preet, for the first of two back-to-back episodes on the pitched battle playing out in the federal courts over Donald Trump’s agenda. One of the most prodigious federal prosecutors of the modern era, Bharara explains why the velocity, volume, and radicalism of Trump’s blizzard of executive actions are testing the legal system in unprecedented ways; Pam Bondi’s early moves as Attorney General are so ominous; and the claims by the right that court rulings against Trump amount to a judicial coup aren't just comically hyperbolic but actually dangerous. Despite all this, Preet also makes his case for why it’s crucial that Trump’s critics keep calm and carry on—for now. 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 is joined by New York Times Magazine writer and bestselling author Robert Draper to discuss his new profile of the unrivaled leader of the MAGA youth movement, Charlie Kirk. Draper explains how, at just 31 and without a college degree, Kirk has emerged as a dominant force on the right through a deft combination of donor courtship (bolstering his organization, Turning Point USA), social media savvy (amplifying his own voice via TikTok and podcasting), and high-level Trumpworld personal diplomacy (cultivating friendships with Don Jr. and J.D. Vance). Draper also weighs in on the first four weeks of Trump 2.0 and whether calling Elon Musk a “dick” is a fruitful path for Democrats seeking to find their voice as the opposition party. 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

On the eve of NBA All Star weekend, John is joined by former pro basketball reporter Adrian Wojnarowski, whose breaking news prowess and social media savvy made him a star at ESPN and ushered in a new era in sports journalism. Having shocked the world last fall by leaving his TV job to become general manager of the hoops squad at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure University, Woj discusses how his life has changed since dropping his final "Woj bomb;" how the end of restrictions on compensation for student athletes is transforming the NCAA; and whether history will judge the Dallas Mavericks trade of Luka Doncic to the LA Lakers the dumbest deal in NBA history. Woj also recalls the time he emailed Republican Senator Josh Hawley to say “fuck you"—and reveals what he does and doesn't regret about that missive. 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 is joined by constitutional scholar nonpareil Laurence Tribe to discuss the radical challenge to the prevailing legal order by Donald Trump's actions and agenda. Tribe maintains that it’s no exaggeration to say, just three weeks into the new administration, that Trump, Elon Musk, and their allies are engaged in an incipient coup d’etat; and that the courts — including the Supreme Court, despite its diminished reputation and recent bent towards overt partisanship — remain the last, best, and maybe only remaining guardrail against the unfolding assault on our democratic system. Once considered a likely pick for high court himself, Tribe also reflects on what it would be like to be one of the Supremes in this fraught and unprecedented moment. 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 is joined by New York Times columnist, podcaster, and idea merchant extraodinaire Ezra Klein to chop up his latest conversation-sparking Times essay “Don’t Believe Him” about Donald Trump's initial blizzard of executive actions, grifts, and power grabs. Ezra argues that, although Trump's flurry legal and constitutional trespasses has thrust us into dangerous new territory and poses risks to the country great and small, his behavior is more a reflection of political weakness than strength. Ezra also weighs in on whether Elon Musk is in fact more dangerous than Trump, the courts will continue to hold line for the rule of law, and Chuck Schumer is really the best possible face of the Democratic opposition. 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 is joined by Jonathan V. Last to discuss The Bulwark editor's contention that, less than three weeks into Trump 2.0, “we are in a constitutional crisis already.” JVL argues that the new administration’s early moves reflect a strategy of subjugating the legislative branch and daring the courts to stop it, then raises the question of whether the White House will comply with the judiciary’s rulings in any case. He also defends his position Democrats should expend no political capital to protect voters from Trump’s worst policy excesses—and explains why The New York Times is utterly unsuited to the meeting the moment in which our democracy now finds itself. 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 is joined by Brian Schatz, the senior U.S. senator from Hawaii, to discuss the second week of Trump 2.0 and where Democrats go from here. Schatz pulls no punches in describing Trump’s attempt to politicize the tragic midair collision over the Potomac by blaming DEI initiatives as“disgusting” and in arguing that “millions could die” if RFK Jr. is confirmed as HHS secretary; but he also warns fellow Democrats against reflexively taking Trump’s bait and letting themselves lose sight of what matters to the real lives of real people. Schatz also opines on the Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel nominations, Trump’s aborted attempt to freeze federal spending, and what it's ike to have attended the same high school as Barack Obama and Michelle Wie. 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 is joined by longtime Democratic communications strategist—for Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and, in the 2024 campaign, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff—to discuss the first week of Trump 2.0 and how Democrats are coping. Palmieri explains why her team’s loss in November didn’t feel as bad as in 2016, but the sucking-up to him by so much of the corporate and media establishment this time feels worse; which Democrats have performed well in the post-election period and which are likely to run for president in 2028; and what AOC and MTG have in common. Jen also discusses why, although the backlash against the #MeToo movement is real enough, reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. 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 is joined by presidential historians Michael Beschloss and Jon Meacham for a much-needed group therapy session at the end of the first week of Trump 2.0. The historians weigh in on Donald Trump’s decision to issue pardons and commutations to each and every one of the nearly 1600 individuals criminally implicated in the January 6 insurrection; Joe Biden’s eleventh-hour preemptive pardons of several of his family members; Trump’s crypto coin grift; and more. In the wake of Trump saying he will make good on his vow to declassify and release all government files on the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK, Jon and Michael also reveal which of those they’re jonesing hardest to see. 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 is joined by Joe Scarborough, co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, to discuss the kickoff of Trump 2.0 Joe riffs on the contradictions within Trump’s official, State of the Union-style inaugural address, and between that speech and the backward-looking, aggrieved oration he uncorked immediately thereafter; the tension between Trump’s yearning for establishment approval and his inclination to stoke the MAGA base; his inability to put January 6 behind him; and Joe Biden’s at-the-buzzer pardon spree. He also opines about the glories of Severance, Liverpool’s Premier League prospects, and, yes, Timothee Chalemet's turn as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. 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 is joined by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Time scribe Michael S. Schmidt on the eve of Donald Trump’s second inauguration to discuss the road ahead. Proceeding from the premise that what Trump says matters less than what he actually does, Schmidt details the myriad ways in which 45/47 attempted to weaponize the government against his enemies in his first term; analyzes the confirmation hearing of Trump’s AG nominee, Pam Bondi, and public statements of FBI director-designate Kash Patel through that lens; and revisits his story last fall in which Trump's former chief of staff, General John Kelly. described Trump as a “fascist” and wannabe dictator. Schmidt also dishes on Zero Day, a Netflix limited series dropping in February that Mike co-created starring Robert DeNiro as an ex-president called back into service to deal with the fallout of a global cyberattack. 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 is joined by Scott Galloway to discuss the impending Tech Bro tableau at Donald Trump’s inauguration and Joe Biden’s warning about America’s incipient transformation into an oligarchy. Galloway—professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, host of the Pivot and Prof G podcasts, and author of The Algebra of Wealth, The Algebra of Happiness, and The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google—argues that the U.S. isn’t just turning into an oligarchy but a kleptocracy as well; that Mark Zuckerberg’s rollback of content moderation and other safeguards on Facebook will be far more socially damaging than what Elon Musk has done to X; and that Musk is all but guaranteed to crush Steve Bannon in the escalating battle between the two men and the political factions they represent. Scott and John also wax lyrical about the joys of Great Dane parenthood and the brilliance of David Lynch (RIP). 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 is joined by Democratic Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow to discuss the commencement of Trump 2.0 and where her party goes from here. Mallory opines on the Pete Hegseth confirmation hearing and explains why women are greeting Trump's second term so differently than his first, despite the profusion of appointees and advisers accused of sexual misconduct; the importance of paying less attention to what Trump says and more to what he actually does; why Kamala Harris lost and Joe Biden never should have sought a second term; and what her party needs to do to start winning again. Mallory also reflects on the viral speech that catapulted her from obscurity to national prominence nearly three years ago—and her love for pumping tokens into classic video games at her local Barcade. 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 is joined by his pal Tim Miller—OG Never Trumper and host of The Bulwark Podcast—for an extended therapy session a week out from the start of Donald Trump’s second term. Tim explains why he finds it impossible to care about Trump non-sentence sentencing or the impending release of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump’s role in January 6; his take on the collective tongue bath being given 45/47 by the tech billionaire class; and the long-run political implications of the face-off between Steve Bannon and Elon Musk. Tim also describes his strategy for combating his impulses towards nihilism in the face of what Trump 2.0 signifies and may hold in store: from hitting Tipitina’s and gorging himself on crawfish to trekking to the UK to see Oasis reunite (hopefully!) this summer. 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 is joined by Jim Fallows—former Atlantic national correspondent, National Book Award winner, and author of Breaking The News on Substack—to discuss Jimmy Carter’s life and legacy. Fallows, who served as Carter’s chief White House speechwriter, discusses the qualities that made Carter an initially mesmerizing but deeply flawed and historically misunderstood figure; his long-underrated policy accomplishments; the personal attributes that made him formidable (focus, toughness), those that were his downfall (vanity, naivete), and those people saw in him that weren’t there at all (niceness). Fallows also opines on the importance of Carter’s surprising relationships with artists and outlaws such as Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Hunter Thompson—arguing, in fact, that Thompson’s advocacy of Carter was what put him in the White House. 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 is joined by Jiore Craig—next-gen Democratic digital strategist, counter-disinformation specialist, and senior research fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue—to discuss the role of social media in the 2024 election and where the political information ecosystem is headed in 2025. Jiore argues that, for all the focus on deep fakes, A.I., and foreign influence operations in last year's campaign, the online action that mattered more was subtler and more pervasive; the Harris campaign’s digital playbook was wildly out of date and the Trump team’s vastly more in tune with how voters consume information today; and the rise of right-leaning podcasts as a medium for reaching men (especially young men) should have surprised no one—complete with a must-hear deconstruction of the Jordan Peterson phenomenon. 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 is joined by Kara Swisher—longtime chronicler of the Silicon Valley cinematic universe, host of two hit podcasts, and author of the bestselling Burn Book: A Tech Love Story—to discuss why 2025 will be the year of slap fights among bitchy tech billionaires competing for Donald Trump's affections. Swisher analyzes the relationships between Trump and Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and other infobarons; why the tech elite's eagerness to cash in on the “coin-op president” promises to turn Trump 2.0 into a pay-for-play free-for-all; and the future of BlueSky as Musk accelerates X’s transformation into a “Nazi porn bar.” She also speculates on Elon’s ultimate objective: not to conquer DC but to relocate to Mars—a goal that Kara and John both heartily endorse. 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 is joined by Wright Thompson, master of long-form narrative non-fiction and author of the book Heilemann adjudges the best of 2024 — The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi. Wright explains how he came to write The Barn, in which he blends history, journalism, and memoir to offer a new account of the 1955 torture and murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till a few miles from Wright’s boyhood home in Mississippi; what he learned in the process about race, the South, and himself; and why, now more than ever, the story still matters. Wright also discusses his previous book, Pappyland, about Pappy Van Winkle, the most magical bourbon known to man, and the family that makes it, and his career writing seminal magazine profiles of iconic athletes such as Tiger Woods. 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 is joined by Deadspin founder, New York magazine columnist, and rising-star novelist Will Leitch, and Pablo Torre, former ESPN tyro and current host of the endlessly entertaining podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out to discuss the year in sports and sports culture. The guys discuss Caitlin Clark and the rise of the WNBA; the remarkably hitch-free, thoroughly engrossing, perfect-for-streaming Paris Olympics; how America turned to sports for refuge from the tribal toxicity of the presidential campaign; and why athletes who once embraced woke activism were suddenly more than happy to shut up and dribble. They also dunk repeatedly on Aaron Rodgers—and who’s gonna quarrel with that? 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 is joined by his partner and Puck Superfriend Dylan Byers to look back on the year that was on the Byers beat. John and Dylan shake their heads and let the brickbats fly at the sight of a procession of mega-rich entertainment and tech CEOs bowing and scraping before Donald Trump. They also dig into Dylan’s year-end lists of the media industry’s most significant macro trends, its three biggest winners and three sorriest losers; and theorize on why 2024 saw a resurgence in the commercial fortunes and cultural sway of the podcast game. 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 is joined by Rob Sheffield—longtime Rolling Stone writer and author of the recent bestseller Heartbreak Is The National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music—to size up the past year in music. Sheffield discusses the final show of the Eras tour (which, naturally, he attended), the otherworldly success of the tour and the album it spawned, The Tortured Poets Department, and Swift's vast cultural and commercial significance. Sheffield also weighs in on Rolling Stone’s Top 10 albums of the year and teases his own forthcoming list, gushes over the new Martin Scorsese-produced Beatles documentary, and reassures Bob Dylan devotees that their fears about A Complete Unknown, the imminent Dylan biopic starring Timothee Chamelet, are misplaced—it’s not bad, says Rob! 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 is joined by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy to discuss Murphy's view that the events of this week are a preview of the assault on the rule of law that Donald Trump intends to wage once he takes office. Murphy connects the dots between House Republicans’ call on the FBI to launch a criminal investigation of Liz Cheney, Trump’s lawsuit against pollster Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register, Elon Musk’s attack on the bipartisan efforts to avert a government shutdown (and Trump’s endorsement of it), the pre-capitulation to the incoming administration by an array of capitalist titans, and the abdication of the national stage by Joe Biden—arguing that these all are early signs of the onset of oligarchy, and that his fellow Democrats must to do more to rescue American democracy. 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 is joined by Pod Save America cohost, Message Box author, and former top Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer to discuss Donald Trump’s flood-the-zone transition strategy and the Democratic Party’s future. Pfeiffer argues that the Biden administration’s failure to address the mystery drone story is part of a larger abdication that has let Trump present himself as if he’s been president since Election Day; that Trump’s self-evident intent to turn his second term into a pay-for-play wet dream for plutocrats offers Democrats a chance to seize the mantle of reform and regain their populist mojo; and that Resistance 2.0 can only succeed to the extent it avoids focusing excessively on Trump. Pfeiffer also conducts a kind of autopsy on his own 2024 election post-mortem with the high command of Kamala Harris’s campaign. 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 is joined by writer/editor/producers Kurt Andersen and Michael Hirschorn—longtime friends, former business partners, and intellectual entrepreneurs extraordinaire—to take stock of the Trump Era in our politics and culture. The three old friends discuss the once and future president’s reelection, his cabinet picks (one of whom, Kurt reveals, was his college cocaine dealer), and the ways in which the spread of the logic and reality TV not only explains the Trump phenomenon but that of Elon Musk, RFK Jr, and Luigi Mangione. Kurt and Michael also riff on the books, movies, and TV shows that floated their boats this year, from Wicked and Somebody Somewhere to Kendrick Lamar’s GNX. 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 is joined by Alex Wagner, MSNBC primetime host and Heilemann’s former co-star on The Circus, to discuss the big news stories of this past week and cultural touchstones of this past year. Wagner explains how Trump’s efforts at appearing reasonable in his recent Meet The Press interview were foiled by his “spikes of insanity” around freeing imprisoned January 6 rioters, jailing Liz Cheney, and ending birthright citizenship; analyzes his naming of Kimberly Guilfoyle, Don Jr's former fiancee, to be the U.S. ambassador to Greece; and weighs in on the hero worship in certain quarters of Luigi Mangione, accused murderer of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Alex also reveals the music, movies, TV, and books that slayed her in 2024, as well as her secret history as the author of the beloved (by John, at least) fake food blog The Last Pancake. 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 is joined by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to discuss this year’s election, next year’s Congress, and the agita about his party’s future. Jeffries argues that although the Democratic performance on November 5 was undeniably “disappointing,” it was hardly catastrophic; that of all of Donald Trump’s disconcerting appointments, RFK, Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services may be the most dangerous; and that while he disagrees with Mike Johnson about much, he sees the speaker as a “good man” whom he can do business with (neither of which he could say so readily about Kevin McCarthy). Jeffries also describes how his new children’s book, The ABCs of Democracy, was influenced by Schoolhouse Rock, and offers his (solid) list of the all-time top five rap MCs and (unassailable) opinion that The Wire is the greatest TV show ever made. 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 is joined by Pete Wehner—veteran of the Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43 administrations turned eloquent Never Trumper—to discuss the once and future president's transformation of the GOP, his perplexing appeal to the Christian Right, and more. Wehner explains why the best summation of Trump’s agenda comes from Michel Caine as Alfred in The Dark Knight (“Some men just want to watch the world burn”); Pete Hegseth’s redemption narrative and invocations of his Lord and savior ring so hollow; and so many Evangelicals are so devoted to Trump in spite of his lack of godly virtues. Wehner and John also harken back to the magical duet of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car by Chapman and Luke Combs at this year's Grammy's, and riff on why the emotional outpouring it triggered was a hopeful sign for our politics and culture. 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 is joined by Tina Brown, the legendary magazine editrix and his former boss at The New Yorker, to discuss American politics and media at the end of a year of convulsive upheaval in both. Tina riffs on Donald Trump’s reality show transition and its freak show appointments; the soap operatic, still largely untold story of Joe Biden’s family and how it has driven him (notably but not solely by means of the pardon of his son, Hunter) to undermine his legacy as president; the death of the magazine business, her new incarnation as a Substacker, and the broader trends that have leeched both the vitality and sheer fun out of the journalism racket. Tina also explains why she found the new Netflix documentary on Martha Stewart at once so excellent and so sad. 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 is joined by two renowned veterans of the Federal Bureau of Investigation—Frank Figliuzzi, former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence, and Andrew Weissmann, former FBI general counsel under Robert Mueller—to discuss Donald Trump’s plan to appoint one of his most controversial loyalists, Kash Patel, to be the bureau’s next director. Figliuzzi and Weissmann weigh in on Patel’s qualifications for the job, his ideas for radically restructuring and reorienting the FBI, his vows to use federal law enforcement to target Trump’s adversaries, and his espousal of a panoply of far-right conspiracy theories. The two former G-men also assess Pam Bondi, Trump’s replacement pick for Attorney General after the withdrawal of Matt Gaetz; Joe Biden’s blanket pardon for his son, Hunter; and Steve Bannon’s focus on seeing Weissmann jailed for unspecified Deep State transgressions. 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 is joined by the actor, director, writer, and producer Griffin Dunne to discuss The Friday Afternoon Club, his recent memoir about his famous literary family. Dunne offers intimate portraits of his sister Dominique, an actress on the rise four decades ago (having starred in Steven Spielberg's Poltergeist in 1982) who was strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend; his father, Dominick, whose coverage of Dominique’s murder trial in Vanity Fair turned him into the marquee chronicler of celebrity true-crime cases of the Eighties and Nineties, from O.J. Simpson to Claus von Bulow to the Menendez brothers; and his aunt, the legendary Joan Didion, about whom Griffin made an acclaimed Netflix documentary. Dunne also discusses the highlights of own acting career, from playing the lead in the Martin Scorsese cult classic After Hours to his memorable cameo in the first season of Succession. 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

To kick off Thanksgiving week, John is joined by David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, to discuss what, if anything, we have to be thankful for. Remnick observes that, on the basis of all early evidence, the most alarmist prospective fears about Donald Trump’s second term are looking more prescient than paranoid; there are encouraging signs that Democrats understand the urgency of changing their tune regarding class and identity politics; the near-term future in Israel and the Middle East promises little but “horror all around;” and while art and culture can be a balm in troubled times, Remnick harbors scant hope for the forthcoming Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothee Chalemet—in fact, ”I’m dreading it,” he says. 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 is joined by Julian Castro, former mayor of San Antonio and secretary of Housing & Urban Development, and Paola Ramos, award-winning journalist and author of Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America, to discuss Donald Trump’s gains with Latino voters in 2024. Castro and Ramos argue that, given the inroads Trump made with Hispanics between 2016 and 2020, his improved performance with them this year is less surprising than it seems; that his appeal to the Latino community wasn’t simply about high prices or economic anxiety but culture, crime, and even immigration and race; that the jury is out on whether we’re witnessing a lasting realignment or a Trump-specific phenomenon; but that, either way, it should serve as a wake-up call to a Democratic Party that for years has taken brown-skinned voters for granted. 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 is joined by Tom Nichols, professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College and staff writer for The Atlantic, to discuss Donald Trump’s foreign policy appointments and the challenges he will face upon his return to the Oval Office. Nichols offers a tour d’horizon of global hotspots, from Ukraine to the Middle East, that will test Trump’s mettle immediately and with huge implications for U.S. vital interests; his assessment of how America’s foreign adversaries, from Vladimir Putin to Xi Jinping, view his return to power (spoiler alert: not unhappily); and his argument as to why, amid a raft of objectionable Trump appointments, the selection of Pete Hegseth to run the Department of Defense is the most irresponsible and dangerous, both abroad and at home. 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 is joined by America’s best-known presidential historians, Michael Beschloss and Jon Meacham, to discuss the first two weeks of the transition to Donald Trump’s second term. Beschloss and Meacham assess the most head-spinning of Trump’s initial appointments and their prospects for confirmation; why the sense of shock these picks have elicited, even among Republicans, is ludicrous on its face; the role of Steve Bannon as the intellectual architect of Trump’s radical governing agenda and its central goal of what Bannon calls the “deconstruction of the administrative state;” and why it’s safe to assume that what we’re seeing now is what the next four years will look like. 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 is joined by two up-and-coming Democratic congressmen—Seth Moulton, of the North Shore of Massachusetts, and Ritchie Torres, of the Bronx—to discuss what went wrong for Democrats in 2024. Moulton and Torres have little in common besides their relative youth; Moulton, 46, is white, straight, and holds multiple degrees from Harvard, while Torres, 36, is Afro Latino, openly gay, and never graduated from college. But their diagnoses of what ails their party (and, in particular, what allowed Donald Trump to make dramatic inroads with non-white working class voters) and their prescriptions for how to cure it are in sync: preach less and listen more; stop pandering to the left, especially on cultural issues; embrace pragmatism, competency, and open debate over purity tests, identity politics, and Ivory Tower condescension. 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 is joined by Claire McCaskill, former Democratic U.S. senator from Missouri, to discuss the fallout from the election and transition to Donald Trump’s second White House term. McCaskill assesses Trump's first batch of cabinet and White House staff appointments, calling it a “mixed bag," with some picks mildly reassuring and others decidedly not; the practical and political challenges of mass deportation; the potential for (or inevitability of) friction between Trump and Elon Musk; and the internal debates and internecine finger-pointing now consuming the Democratic Party as it seeks to apportion blame for, interpret the meaning of, and find a way forward from the shellacking it suffered on Election 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 is joined by political and cultural historian—and literary executor for Hunter S. Thompson—Douglas Brinkley to discuss the end of the 2024 election and Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Brinkley explains the harsh impact of Kamala Harris’s defeat on Joe Biden’s legacy, and how Biden only has himself to blame; how Trump managed, despite his clear political liabilities, to increase his share of the vote all over the country; why Harris’s extreme caution was her greatest weakness and Trump’s extreme incaution his greatest strength; and how much we should fear Steve Bannon and his pledge to deliver “rough, Roman justice” to MAGA’s foes. 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