Impolitic with John Heilemann

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...

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 owne...

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 Pu...

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 bringin...

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...

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...

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 li...

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, despi...

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 t...

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 ruli...

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 f...

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 est...

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 se...

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...

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 confirm...

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, Faceboo...

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 at...

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 gi...

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 a...

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...

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 o...

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...

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 O...

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...

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 vas...