Impolitic with John Heilemann

In a special two-part episode, John Heilemann talks with Lis Smith, the Democratic communications guru best known for her role in guiding Pete Buttigieg's long shot presidential campaign, and now author of a new memoir, Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story. In Part 1 of the podcast, Heilemann and Smith discuss the 1/6 committee hearings and their potential impact on Donald Trump's political f...

In a special two-part episode, John Heilemann talks with Lis Smith, the Democratic communications guru best known for her role in guiding Pete Buttigieg's long shot presidential campaign, and now author of a new memoir, Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story. In Part 1 of the podcast, Heilemann and Smith discuss the 1/6 committee hearings and their potential impact on Donald Trump's political f...

John Heilemann talks with Marie Brenner, Vanity Fair writer-at-larger and author of the new book, The Desperate Hours: One Hospital's Fight to Save a City on the Pandemic's Front Lines. The book provides a detailed account of the struggle of New York’s largest hospital system, New York Presbyterian, to combat the brutal Covid-19 surge in the initial months of the pandemic. Heilemann and Brenner di...

John Heilemann talks with Jason Kander, an army veteran and former secretary of state of Missouri who was one of the Democratic Party's brightest young rising stars ... until his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder caused him to walk away from politics four years ago. Heilemann and Kander discuss the latter's new book, Invisible Storm: A Soldier's Memoir of Politics and PTSD, along with t...

John Heilemann talks with Alyssa Mastromonaco and Dan Pfeiffer, both former senior advisers to Barack Obama in the White House and on his two presidential campaigns, both best-selling authors, and both members of the Crooked Media team. Heilemann spoke with Mastromonaco and Pfeiffer just hours after the historic Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson that overturned Roe v. Wade. They discuss the...

John Heilemann talks with Liev Schreiber, the acclaimed actor, director, and narrator who recently co-founded the non-profit BlueCheck Ukraine to identify, vet, and fast-track financial support to humanitarian groups on the ground in that war-torn country. Heilemann and Schreiber discuss the actor's close bond with his maternal grandfather, a Jewish Ukrainian immigrant, and how that relationship a...

John Heilemann talks with Symone Sanders, former senior adviser and spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris, top aide on Joe Biden's 2020 campaign and Bernie Sanders's 2016 bid, and now host of a new weekend show on MSNBC, Symone. Heilemann and Sanders discuss the launch of the January 6th House Select Committee's televised hearings, the strength of Liz Cheney's performance, and the shocking...

In this special two-part episode previewing the forthcoming hearings of House Select Committee on January 6, John Heilemann talks with Denver Riggleman, former Republican congressman from Virginia, and, until recently, 1/6 committee staffer. Heilemann and Riggleman discuss the staggering scope of what the committee has learned since its inception (including the explosive text messages to and from...

In this special two-part episode previewing the forthcoming hearings of House Select Committee on January 6, John Heilemann talks with Denver Riggleman, former Republican congressman from Virginia, and, until recently, 1/6 committee staffer. Heilemann and Riggleman discuss the staggering scope of what the committee has learned since its inception (including the explosive text messages to and from...

John Heilemann talks with former Attorney General Eric Holder and speechwriter Sam Koppelman, co-authors of the new book Our Unfinished March: The Violent Past and Imperiled Future of the Vote — A History, a Crisis, a Plan. Heilemann, Holder, and Koppelman discuss the importance of the right to vote and why it has been under siege since the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder,...

John Heilemann talks with Mallory McMorrow, the 35-year-old Democratic state senator in Michigan whose fiery, 5-minute floor speech last month denouncing the Republican Party's divisive rhetoric and demagogic tactics on cultural issues (and its targeting of LGBTQ Americans in particular) went wildly viral .... turning her into an overnight national political sensation. Heilemann and McMorrow discu...

John Heilemann talks with two-time Peabody Award-winning comedian Hasan Minhaj, best known for hosting six seasons of the Netflix series Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj and his widely acclaimed Netflix special, Homecoming King. Heilemann and Minhaj discuss his early career as a comic and the centrality of his background as a first-generation Indian- and Muslim-American to his work; his breakout stin...

John Heilemann talks with Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin, national political correspondents for the New York Times, political analysts for CNN, and authors of the newsmaking account of the 2020 election This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future. Heilemann, Burns, and Martin discuss revelations in their book about the chaotic days following the attack on the US Capi...

John Heilemann talks with Bob Crawford, bassist for The Avett Brothers and creator of Concerts of Change: The Soundtrack of Human Rights, a new audio docu-series on SiriusXM. Through conversations with artists including U2's Bono, Bob Geldof, and Joan Baez, historian Douglas Brinkley, and civil rights icon Andrew Young, Crawford explores the surge in humanitarian and political activism by musician...

John Heilemann talks with Andrew Ross Sorkin, co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” columnist and assistant editor at the New York Times and founder and editor-at-large of the paper’s financial news franchise, DealBook, and author of the best-selling book Too Big to Fail. Heilemann and Sorkin discuss the two enormous business stories dominating headlines in the past week: the stunning $44 billion acqu...

John Heilemann talks with comedians Mike Birbiglia, best known for his acclaimed one-man shows Sleepwalk With Me, Thank God for Jokes, and The New One, and Alex Edelman, whose buzzy new monologue Just For Us, produced by Birbiglia, is one of New York's hottest tickets.  Heilemann and the two performers discuss why Birbiglia took Edelman under his wing and how their mentor-pupil relationship works;...

John Heilemann talks with Michael Beschloss, NBC News Presidential Historian, host of Fireside History with Michael Beschloss on Peacock/MSNBC, and author of ten books focusing on occupants of the Oval Office – Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and more. Heilemann and Beschloss discuss Joe Biden’s handling of Russia-Ukraine war, and why Biden isn’t benefitting politically from his leadershi...

In this special two-part episode, Heilemann talks with his pal Nicolle Wallace, host of Deadline: White House on MSNBC, about the battle between democracy and autocracy at home and abroad. In Part One, Heilemann and Wallace focus on recent developments surrounding the House 1/6 committee: the seven-plus hour gap in Donald Trump’s White House phone logs from the day of the attack on the Capitol; Gi...

In this special two-part episode, Heilemann talks with his pal Nicolle Wallace, host of Deadline: White House on MSNBC, about the battle between democracy and autocracy at home and abroad. In Part One, Heilemann and Wallace focus on recent developments surrounding the House 1/6 committee: the seven-plus hour gap in Donald Trump’s White House phone logs from the day of the attack on the Capitol; Gi...

In which John Heilemann talks with Neal Katyal and Robin Lenhardt, two of the sharpest legal minds of their generation, about the Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Katyal is a former acting solicitor general and professor at Georgetown Law Center, where he sits on the faculty with Lenhardt, the co-director of Georgetown's Racial Justice Institute. B...

A special two-part episode in which John Heilemann talks with international affairs and national security guru Tom Nichols, contributing writer at The Atlantic, longtime senior faculty member at the U.S. Naval War College, and author of eight books on foreign policy and politics, including, most recently, Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault from Within on Modern Democracy. Heilemann and Nichols asses...

A special two-part episode in which John Heilemann talks with international affairs and national security guru Tom Nichols, contributing writer at The Atlantic, longtime senior faculty member at the U.S. Naval War College, and author of eight books on foreign policy and politics, including, most recently, Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault from Within on Modern Democracy. Heilemann and Nichols asses...

In which John Heilemann talks with actor Adam Scott, best known for his roles in beloved sitcoms including Parks and Recreation and The Good Place. Heilemann and Scott discuss his latest role in Severance, the new Apple TV+ sci-fi series directed by Ben Stiller; why the comedy veteran was eager to take part in the psychological drama; and how the backdrop of Covid-19 and the Trump presidency contr...

In which John Heilemann talks with John Avlon, senior political analyst and anchor at CNN and author of the new book, Lincoln and the Fight for Peace. Heilemann and Avlon discuss the escalation of Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine, the staggering scale and velocity of the Ukrainian refugee crisis and the implications for neighboring countries, and whether Biden is right to predict that Putin’s invas...

In which John Heilemann discusses the Russia invasion of Ukraine -- and its far-reaching implications for Europe, Joe Biden's presidency, Vladimir Putin's place in history, and the global security writ large -- with former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul and Puck News correspondent Julia Ioffe. Heilemann, McFaul, and Ioffe talk about Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified assault on Ukraine; P...