Impolitic with John Heilemann

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

College holds a mythic place in American culture, but behind the polished campus tours and glossy brochures lies a far more complicated reality. Each episode of Campus Files uncovers a new story that rocked a college or university. Consider this your unofficial campus tour. 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 2027 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 2012, 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 one of the most prodigious federal prosecutors of the modern era, for the first of two back-to-back episodes on the pitched battle playing out in the federal courts over Donald Trump’s agenda. 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 to remake the DOJ are so ominous; and the claims on the right that court rulings against Trump are tantamount to a judicial coup aren't merely crazy or hyperbolic but actually dangerous. Despite all this, Preet also makes his case for why it’s crucial that, instead of freaking out, 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