Impolitic with John Heilemann
Join Puck’s chief political columnist, MSNBC/NBC News national affairs analyst, and best-selling author John Heilemann as he roams the corridors of power and influence in America on this twice-weekly interview show, taking you behind the scenes and beyond the headlines with the people who shape and shift our culture: icons and up-and-comers, incumbents and insurgents, moguls and machers in the overlapping worlds of politics, entertainment, tech, business, sports, media, and beyond. The conversations are rich and revealing, unrehearsed and unexpected … and reliably impolitic. A Puck-Audacy joint, new episodes drop every Wednesday and Friday.
Fri, March 28, 2025
Mark Warner & Rick Wilson: You Cannot Be Serious (But Signalgate Surely Is)
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
Mon, March 24, 2025
Leigh Ann Caldwell: Capitol Hill as Capitol Hell
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
Fri, March 21, 2025
Andrew Weissmann: Law & Disorder
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
Mon, March 17, 2025
Liev Schreiber: Slava Ukraini!
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
Fri, March 14, 2025
Jake Auchincloss: Acquiescing to Chaos & Corruption
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
Bonus · Thu, March 13, 2025
Introducing: Campus Files
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
Mon, March 10, 2025
M. Gessen: What Putin Wants (Beyond Making Trump His Bitch)
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
Fri, March 07, 2025
Robert Reich: Donald Trump’s Stagflation Nation & Why Dems Can’t Play Possum
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
Mon, March 03, 2025
Marty Baron: Why Bezos Is Debasing the Post & Bending Both Knees to Trump
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
Fri, February 28, 2025
Michael McFaul: Whose Side Are We On?
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
Mon, February 24, 2025
Joyce Vance: Eric Adams & The Quid Pro Quo That Dare Not Speak Its Name
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
Fri, February 21, 2025
Preet Bharara: Canaries, Coal Mines & Batshit Crazies
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
Mon, February 17, 2025
Robert Draper: Travels with Charlie
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
Fri, February 14, 2025
Adrian Wojnarowski: Luka's Lebron Love, Boosting the Bonnies, & Life Beyond Woj Bombs
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
Mon, February 10, 2025
Laurence Tribe: God Save This Dishonorable Court
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
Fri, February 07, 2025
Ezra Klein: Don’t Call It A Coup — Yet
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
Mon, February 03, 2025
Jonathan V. Last: Bullet Train to the Dark Place
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
Fri, January 31, 2025
Brian Schatz: Signal v. Noise in Trump 2.0
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
Mon, January 27, 2025
Jennifer Palmieri: Deja Vu All Over Again
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
Fri, January 24, 2025
Beschloss & Meacham: We Don't Have the Words for What We're Seeing
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
Tue, January 21, 2025
Joe Scarborough: A Tale of Two Speeches – and Two Trumps
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
Mon, January 20, 2025
Mike Schmidt: If Past Is Prologue, Buckle Up
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
Fri, January 17, 2025
Scott Galloway: Oligarchy Or Bust
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
Fri, January 17, 2025
Mallory McMorrow: Women Are (Still) Pissed — But Also Patient
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
Mon, January 13, 2025
Tim Miller: Staving Off Nihilism in the Face of Trump 2.0
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
Fri, January 10, 2025
James Fallows: The Jimmy Carter Conundrum
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
Thu, January 09, 2025
Jiore Craig: The Year Ahead Online (Everything is Broken)
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
Mon, January 06, 2025
Kara Swisher: The Year Ahead in Tech & Politics (Elon for President — of Mars)
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
Fri, January 03, 2025
Wright Thompson: Why Emmett Till Still Matters
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
Mon, December 30, 2024
Will Leitch & Pablo Torre: The Year In Sports (Shut Up & Dribble? Sure!)
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
Fri, December 27, 2024
Dylan Byers: The Year In Media (Falling Stars, Tolling Bells, & Self-Abasing Billionaires)
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
Mon, December 23, 2024
Rob Sheffield: The Year in Music (Taylor’s Version)
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
Fri, December 20, 2024
Chris Murphy: “It’s Happening Right in Front of Our Eyes”
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
Wed, December 18, 2024
Dan Pfeiffer: Mystery Drones, Corporate Lackeys & Resistance 2.0
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
Mon, December 16, 2024
Kurt Andersen & Michael Hirschorn: Reality Used to be a Friend of Mine
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
Fri, December 13, 2024
Alex Wagner: Trump Gets Triggered, Luigi Gets Caught & Guilfoyle Gets Exiled
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
Wed, December 11, 2024
Hakeem Jeffries on Trump, Johnson, McCarthy, Biggie & Wu Tang (Oh, My)
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
Mon, December 09, 2024
Pete Wehner: Hegseth’s Redemption Bromides, Trump’s Rampant Blasphemies & Fast Car’s Radiant Beatitude
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
Fri, December 06, 2024
Tina Brown: Trump’s Extended Middle Finger, Biden’s Shambolic Exit, & Martha’s Sad Denouement
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
Wed, December 04, 2024
Figliuzzi & Weissmann: Trump’s Rough Justice & The Looming Kash Clash
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
Wed, November 27, 2024
Griffin Dunne: All in the Family
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
Mon, November 25, 2024
David Remnick: Fear & Loathing Over Trump, Israel & the Dylan Biopic
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
Fri, November 22, 2024
Julian Castro & Paola Ramos: How Trump Turned “Si, se Puede” On Its Head
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
Wed, November 20, 2024
Tom Nichols: Incendiary Nominations, Global Conflagrations, & Presidential Pyromania
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
Mon, November 18, 2024
Beschloss & Meacham: No One Should Be Surprised
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
Fri, November 15, 2024
Seth Moulton & Ritchie Torres: What Dems Can (Must) Learn From 2024
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
Wed, November 13, 2024
Claire McCaskill: Trump Staffs Up, Dems Hunker Down, & Musk Runs Amok
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
Mon, November 11, 2024
Douglas Brinkley: Extreme Incaution, Enemies Lists, & The Age of Trump
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
Thu, November 07, 2024
Trumpocalypse Now, Again: Puck Superfriends on 45 Becoming 47
John is joined by his Puck partners Dylan Byers and Peter Hamby to discuss Donald Trump’s reelection: the remarkable scale of his victory and the unexpected breadth of the coalition he assembled to achieve it; whether anyone paying attention to the campaign—or the Trump era in our politics and culture more broadly—should have been surprised; the Democratic finger-pointing that’s already begun in the wake of Kamala Harris's loss; whether VP Harris or President Biden bears more responsibility for the failure to dispatch Trump; and what might happen within the two parties, as well as the mainstream and upstart media, when Trump and his allies reassert themselves in the capital. 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
Tue, November 05, 2024
Nicolle Wallace: Happy Election Day — Everything’s Gonna Be Alright
John is joined by MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace for an Election Day special episode on the final hours of the presidential race. The two close friends examine Kamala Harris’s decision to close out her campaign by dropping all references to Donald Trump and returning to the themes of unity, change, and joy that animated her early days as the Democratic nominee; the contrast presented by Trump’s off-message, off-kilter, at times off-color turns on the stump, as he toggled between anger and exhaustion before dwindling crowds; the bolt-from-the-blue Iowa poll that stunned the political world by showing Harris with a 3-point lead in a state that Trump won easily in 2016 and 2020; whether the combination of Dobbs, Liz Cheney, John Kelly, and Trump’s Madison Square fiasco would put Harris over the top; and, if not, what Trump’s reelection will say about 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
Mon, November 04, 2024
Charlamagne tha God: Problematic Polling, Media Malpractice, & Trump Impunity
John is joined by radio host and burgeoning media mogul Charlamagne tha God—whose nationally syndicated morning show, The Breakfast Club, has emerged as a key conduit to Black America for political figures from Kamala Harris to Lara Trump—to dig into the interplay of politics, media, and culture that led to a photo finish in the 2024 election. Charlemagne discusses his staunch support for Harris and his reaction to seeing Donald Trump’s team weaponize his words against her in an anti-Harris (and anti-trans) TV ad; his on-air clash with Anderson Cooper over the failure of CNN and others in the press to hold Trump accountable for his authoritarianism; his disdain for Joe Biden and respect for younger Democrats such as Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, and Wes Moore; and what he makes of Tucker Carlson’s claim to have been mauled in his bed by a demon (yes, an actual demon). 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
Fri, November 01, 2024
Costa & JMart: Road to the White House or Highway to Hell?
John is joined by Robert Costa of CBS News and Jonathan Martin of Politico to discuss the state of the presidential race as it enters the final weekend before Election Day. Costa and Martin weigh in on Kamala Harris’s speech on the Washington Mall, her closing argument writ large, and the factors boosting her prospects and those weighing her down; Joe Biden’s garbled Zoom comments about Trump supporters (or one specific Trump supporter, depending on whom you believe), the kerfuffle they caused, and the Republican efforts to capitalize on them; the degree of confidence Trump and his campaign are projecting about winning; and the state of play in the Blue Wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, where the outcome is most likely to be decided. 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
Wed, October 30, 2024
The Bulwark Fab Four: Garbage Jokes, Racist Tropes, & The Garden Party From Hell
John is joined by George Conway, Bill Kristol, Sarah Longwell, and Tim Miller from The Bulwark—the #NeverTrump startup that emerged as one of the 2024 election cycle’s breakout media success stories—to discuss the presidential campaign's final sprint to the finish line. The Bulwark Fab Four discuss Donald Trump’s and Kamala Harris’s closing arguments; the tightness of the race in the battleground states and what might sway the tiny cadre of remaining undecided voters; Michelle Obama’s return to the hustings and Steve Bannon’s release from prison; and the political fallout from the profusion of provocations, out-front racism, and full-boil rage on display at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally. 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
Mon, October 28, 2024
Jason Bateman: Why SmartLess Soared & The Trump Show Jumped the Shark
John is joined by actor and director Jason Bateman to discuss the runaway success of SmartLess, his podcast with Will Arnett and Sean Hayes, which was recently snapped up by SiriusXm for $100 million. Bateman—whose Emmy and Golden Globe-winning career spans four-plus decades, carrying him from “Little House on the Prairie” and “Teen Wolf Too” to “Arrested Development” and “Ozark”—reveals the recipe for SmartLess’s secret sauce; why A-list Democrats (Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, and Tim Walz) find the show a low-key, high-impact place to visit; why the surreal reality show that is Donald Trump’s public life has finally jumped the shark; and how the hair required for his role in “Black Rabbit,” his forthcoming Netflix limited series with Jude Law, launched a thousand Jason/Jesus memes. 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
Fri, October 25, 2024
Anne Applebaum & Timothy Snyder: Love Letters To Adolph
John is joined by two celebrated scholars and best-selling authors on authoritarianism, autocracy, and tyranny—Pulitzer Prize-winning staff writer at The Atlantic, Anne Applebaum, and Yale University history professor, Timothy Snyder—to discuss this week’s headline-making reporting on the dark assessments of Donald Trump by former White House chief of staff John Kelly and other top military brass. Applebaum and Snyder argue that Trump’s fascism is beyond dispute; his use of language echoing Stalin, Mussolini, and other dictators is no accident; and his repeated expressions of admiration for Adolph Hitler is unsurprising given the degree to which his policy proposals, approach to politics, and yen for personal loyalty from the military resembled the Fuhrer’s. 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
Bonus · Thu, October 24, 2024
Presenting Gone South
Gone South, the Edward R. Murrow award-winning podcast, is back. Unlike previous seasons, writer and host Jed Lipinski brings listeners new episodes every week with no end in sight. Each episode of Gone South Season 4 tells a different story about one of the South's most interesting crimes. 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
Wed, October 23, 2024
Wes Moore: Trump Is No Friend Of The Military & Harris Isn't Biden
John is joined by Maryland’s Democratic Governor, Wes Moore, to discuss the state of the presidential race. Currently America’s second-youngest governor, only the third African American ever to hold that office, and a 16-year U.S. Army veteran, Moore discusses the challenge Kamala Harris faced in being elevated so recently to the top of the Democratic ticket; how serious a mistake it was for her to say she wouldn’t have done much differently from Joe Biden; and why Donald Trump’s attitude toward the military is so “heartbreaking and terrifying" that senior military officers should speak out about his unfitness for office—as it was reported just after Moore and Heilemann talked that General John Kelly has done. 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
Mon, October 21, 2024
David Plouffe: “I’d (Still) Rather Be Us Than Them”
John is joined by Obama 2008 and 2012 campaign guru and Harris 2024 senior strategist David Plouffe to assess the state of the presidential race two weeks out from Election Day. Plouffe explains why he believes his candidate has a higher ceiling and more appeal to the remaining pool of persuadable voters than Donald Trump; how most of the public polling you're obsessed with is so worthless that he doesn’t even look at it; what he’s seeing in the early vote data that buoys his optimism; why reports of Trump's exhaustion and last-minute scheduling disruptions suggests that “something really funky” is going on with him; and yet why Democrats should be ready for an extremely, nail-bitingly, uncomfortably close election outcome. 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
Fri, October 18, 2024
Debbie Dingell: Panic In Detroit, Dancing In Lansing, Stranded In Kalamazoo
John is joined by Michigan Democratic congresswoman Debbie Dingell to discuss the razor's edge race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump for the Great Lake State’s 15 electoral votes. Although national Democrats have recently begun to fret about Harris's standing in Michigan, Dingell—who was the among the first in 2016 to call out Hillary Clinton’s fatal weaknesses there—explains that she’s believed that the VP's position in the state has always been precarious; how Harris finally found her voice on the manufacturing economy; how her jousting with Brett Baier on Fox News revealed a key part of “the real Kamala;” and how, to close the sale in Michigan, Harris needs to set caution aside and “talk turkey” to blue-collar voters about a Trump agenda certain to sell them out and ship even more of their jobs to China. 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
Wed, October 16, 2024
Peter Baker & Susan Glasser: Where’s The Outrage?
John is joined by Beltway journalistic power couple Peter Baker, the New York Times's chief White House correspondent, and Susan Glasser, a staff writer for The New Yorker, to discuss the state of the presidential race three weeks out from Election Day. Baker and Glasser assess Kamala Harris’s shift to harder-edged attacks on Donald Trump; Trump’s threat to use the National Guard or U.S. military against American citizens, to terminate the Constitution, and to seek "retribution" against his political opponents; why non-MAGA Republicans such as Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin continue to stick with him; and the ongoing Democratic freakout over whether Harris and Team K are “doing enough” to win. 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
Mon, October 14, 2024
James Carville: Inside The War Room 2.0 & The Harris-Trump Endgame
John is joined by legendary campaign guru James Carville to discuss the new documentary about his life, “Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid,” alongside the film’s director, Matt Tyrnauer. James and Matt explain how they came together to make a kind of sequel to “The War Room,” the iconic 1993 documentary that helped turn James into a celebrity; how his boisterous campaign to convince his party to replace Joe Biden caused many allies to see him less as Cassandra than Brutus, until Biden’s debate with Trump turned him into Nostradamus; and how James’s wife and longtime TV sparring partner, Republican strategist and former Bush White House aide Mary Matalin, became the film’s essential ingredient. Plus, James and John take stock of Harris v Trump as we enter the final, three-week sprint to 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
Fri, October 11, 2024
Susanne Craig: How Trump Became America’s Luckiest Loser
John is joined by Susanne Craig, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times investigative reporter and co-author of “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created The Illusion of Success,” to discuss the divergent myth and reality of Trump’s career in business. Craig recounts the nine years she has spent delving into the former president’s finances and the revelations that work unearthed—from the staggering $1 billion in accumulated losses Trump once reported to the IRS to the hundreds of millions of dollars he inherited from his father, a bequeathment starkly at odds with his image as a self-made man; the story of how small-screen Svengali Mark Burnett made Trump a reality-tv star, a development that would change the course of political history; and how Trump’s unscrupulous, all-sizzle-no-steak approach to business carried over to his mode of campaigning and governance, only more so. 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
Wed, October 09, 2024
Mark Cuban: Out Of One Shark Tank & Into Another
John is joined by Mark Cuban, the billionaire former owner of Dallas Mavericks and recently departed star of ABC's Shark Tank, to discuss his new role as Kamala Harris’s most voluble—and arguably most valuable—backer in the business world. Cuban explains why he likens Harris to a start-up CEO in “founder mode;” how her policies would benefit business (especially small business) more than those of Donald Trump; why Trump’s push for sweeping tariffs is “lunacy,” his answers to economic policy questions are “gibberish,” and his business practices are the most unethical Cuban has ever seen. Cuban also opines about Trump’s most powerful business backer, arguing that there are “two Elon Musks”: one a brilliant entrepreneur, the other a “shitty-ass troll.” 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
Fri, October 04, 2024
Lawrence O’Donnell: Trump’s Jan 6 Reckoning, Kamala’s WH Destiny, & The Senate’s Post-McConnell Future
John is joined by the host of MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss the emergence, just five weeks before Election Day, of damning new evidence of Donald Trump’s central role in the January 6 insurrection. O’Donnell assesses the legal and political significance of that evidence, contained in a newly unsealed court filing by Special Counsel Jack Smith, well as the insight it offers into Mike Pence’s role in thwarting Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election—just one day after JD Vance, during the VP debate with Tim Walz, refused to say that the former president had, in fact, lost that election. O’Donnell, an early fan of Kamala Harris and former top Senate staffer, also foretells a bright future for the former and a dismal one for the latter. 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
Wed, October 02, 2024
“Christ, Have Mercy”: Puck Superfriends Chop Up The VP Debate
John is joined by his colleagues Dylan Byers and Peter Hamby to discuss the vice-presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz. The Puck Superfriends analyze Walz’s wobbliness in the debate’s first half, his recovery in the second, and his late-stage landing of the night’s strongest and most sound-bite-friendly attack (on the topic of January 6); Vance’s undeniable forensic chops, apparent allergy to factual accuracy, and stubborn refusal to admit that Donald Trump lost the last election; how well Nora O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan of CBS News acquitted themselves as moderators; how pleased (or not) the GOP nominee might be with Vance's performance—and whether it will affect the likelihood of Trump agreeing to debate Kamala Harris again. 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
Fri, September 27, 2024
Nate Silver: Harris v. Trump Is the Closest Election I’ve Ever Seen
John is joined by the world’s most celebrated data nerd, polling aggregator, and election forecaster, Nate Silver, to discuss the 2024 election. Nate offers unnervingly precise takes on just how close the race is (it won’t calm your nerves a bit); Kamala Harris’s likelihood of winning each of the battleground states; the thesis advanced in the New York Times that the GOP’s advantage in the Electoral College is shrinking; whether the polling industry has cured what ailed it in 2016 and 2020; the “contingency plans” you should be making ahead of November 5; having so many people displace their election-related anxieties directly on to him. He also talks about his new bestselling book, On The Edge: The Art of Risking Everything, his relationship with Peter Thiel, his poker addiction, and why the movies Rounders and Moneyball are, well, everything. 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
Wed, September 25, 2024
Andrew Ross Sorkin: Rate Cuts, Tax Cuts, & Jamie Dimon Dish
John is joined by Andrew Ross Sorkin of CNBC, The New York Times, and Too Big Too Fail fame to assess the state of the American economy and its political dimensions six weeks from Election Day, with Sorkin offering his takes on an array of related topics: how Jerome Powell stuck the landing and why that achievement isn't more widely heralded; the tax-cutting ardor of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump; why so much of the business world is backing Trump despite considering him a knucklehead, a loose cannon, and a threat to American democracy; and how Harris is making inroads with the financial class by not behaving like Joe Biden (or Barack Obama). Plus, Andrew’s theory that J.P. Morgan Chase poobah Jamie Dimon could wind up being Harris's treasury 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
Fri, September 20, 2024
Pete Buttigieg: Why Kamala Is Winning (It’s The Policies, Stupid)
John is joined by former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and once and future presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg to discuss the state of the presidential race with 45 days to go before November 5: why Kamala Harris is playing a stronger homestretch hand than Donald Trump; what Trump and J.D. Vance’s incendiary lies about the Haitian immigrants of Springfield, Ohio, have in common with Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare; and how Harris-Walz can seal the deal in the Blue Wall states of PA, MI, and WI. Mayor Pete also explains why he’s a Slow Horses junkie, his husband Chasten is merely Slow Horses curious, and whether the chronic flatulence of Gary Oldman’s character Jackson Lamb is a feature or a bug. 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
Wed, September 18, 2024
Doug Emhoff: On Being 2nd Gentleman, Kamala’s Arm Candy & A Kurt Cobain/Eddie Vedder Feminist
John is joined by Doug Emhoff for a wide-ranging discussion of his role as Second Gentleman of the United States and Mr. Kamala Harris. The two Gen Xers talk through Emhoff’s shot-out-of-a-cannon introduction to the American electorate; his current role on the hustings stumping for his wife’s presidential campaign and his prospective one as the nation’s first-ever First Gent; his otherworldly capacity to maintain composure when Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and the likes of Laura Loomer cough up Kamala-directed calumnies; how the feminism of Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder shaped his attitudes towards women; and whether Tim Walz is really the superannuated indie rock boy that he’s cracked up to be. 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
Fri, September 13, 2024
Dan Harris: Meditation, Mental Health, Six-Peckered Goats & The 2024 Election
John is joined by Dan Harris, former ABC News anchor of Nightline, World News Sunday, and Good Morning America’s weekend edition, to discuss Dan's transformation into a full-time meditation and mental health guru and entrepreneur — and accidental social media influencer. The longtime pals discuss strategies for staying sane in the face of the flood of anxiety and agitation unleashed by the 2024 election; why failure is often more productive and profitable (mentally, emotionally, spiritually) than success; how to maintain a sense of calm and balance while working harder than, in Dan’s phrase, a “six-peckered goat;” and some big changes happening in Harris’s 10 Percent Happier empire. 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
Wed, September 11, 2024
Slaughterhouse 45: Puck Superfriends Assess Kamala's Decimation of The Donald
John is joined by his Puck partners Dylan Byers and Peter Hamby to discuss the first (and maybe only) 2024 general election debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump—a mirror image and diametric opposite of Joe Biden’s debate debacle versus Trump in June. The Puck Superfriends analyze Harris's command of the sphere of battle, Trump's inability to avoid being triggered, baited, rattled, and enraged through much of the night; how ABC News’s David Muir and Linsey Davis handled the task of keeping the debate more or less on the rails; and how much, in the end, last night's round of Mortal Kombat in Killadelphia will impact the outcome of the 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
Fri, September 06, 2024
Jordan Klepper: Equal Oppty B.S.-Calling & The Daily Show Renaissance
John is joined by The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper to discuss the return of Jon Stewart to the show, the challenges of covering the RNC and DNC live, and his signature forays into the dark, savage, achingly comical heart of the MAGA-sphere at Donald Trump’s rallies. The two pals—who worked together when John dragooned Jordan into guest hosting his Showtime series The Circus—also debate the merits of Chicago’s iconic but disgusting local liqueur Malort (and even more iconic and appalling style of deep dish pizza), whether Klepper has a crush on former Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas, and his resemblance to Gregor Samsa, the man-turned-cockroach protagonist in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. 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
Wed, September 04, 2024
Dan Pfeiffer: No Sleep Till … Thanksgiving?
John is joined by Pod Save America co-host, New York Times bestselling author, must-read Substacker, and former Obama campaign and White House communications whiz Dan Pfeiffer to discuss the state of the presidential race as we enter the post-Labor Day home stretch: from Kamala Harris’s performance in her first post-nomination sit-down interview to Donald Trump’s ridiculously desperate shape-shifting on abortion and desperately ridiculous pandering on IVF, Barack Obama’s pearls of wisdom at the DNC, Joe Biden’s place in history—and why no polling lead for Harris will be big enough for Dan sleep soundly on Election Eve. 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
Fri, August 30, 2024
Nicholas Kristof: The DNC, Darfur Revisited, & The Pig-Dog Conundrum
John is joined by two-time Pulitzer-prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof to chew over the presidential race: from Joe Biden’s decision to bow out and the wave of enthusiasm that has greeted Kamala Harris to Bill Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s speeches at the Democratic convention. They also discuss Kristof's recently published memoir, Chasing Hope: A Reporter’s Life, the work that Nick is proudest of—on Darfur, global health, and international sex trafficking—and a thought-provoking recent Kristof column arguing that our disparate treatment of dogs and farm animals has no moral basis. 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
Wed, August 28, 2024
Alex Edelman: On Comedy, Politics & The Emmys at The DNC
John hooks up with his pal Alex Edelman—the young genius behind last year’s sold-out Broadway sensation and this year’s Emmy-nominated HBO comedy special Just For Us—at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to discuss his discovery that lobbyists bum him out but a roomful of Democratic delegates sets his heart aflutter; the bit of his about Joe Biden's age that some found unfunny but cracked Biden up; what professional joke-peddlers can do to help Kamala Harris's cause; and why, even though Alex has already won an Obie and a Tony by the age of 35, he really (really) wants to snag that Emmy. 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
Fri, August 23, 2024
Sweet Home Chicago Pt. 2: Kamala In Command
John is joined by CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Patrick Gaspard, and Politico senior political columnist Jonathan Martin to discuss the second two days of the Democratic National Convention. From the rat-a-tat succession of star turns by Bill Clinton, Tim Walz, and Oprah Winfrey on Wednesday to Kamala Harris sticking the landing on Thursday, the three friends chop up what worked and what didn’t, where the Harris-Walz ticket stands coming out of Chicago, and if exultant Democrats need to worry about trap doors as they race off toward November. 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
Wed, August 21, 2024
Sweet Home Chicago Pt. 1: Obamalamentum & Biden’s Bon Voyage
John is joined by James Bennet—Lexington columnist for The Economist and former editor-in-chief of The Atlantic and editorial page editor of The New York Times—to discuss the first two days of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago: from Hillary Clinton’s roof-raising revisitation of that highest, hardest glass ceiling she cracked but failed to shatter and Joe Biden’s way-past-prime-time political valedictory to Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff’s reminiscences of courting Kamala and forming their very own modern family to the Obamas' back-to-back oratorical tours de force touting Harris and torching Donald Trump. 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
Fri, August 16, 2024
Doug Sosnik: How Kamala Is Reframing the Race & Redrawing the Map
John is joined by veteran Democratic strategist and former Clinton White House political director Doug Sosnik, who helped guide his boss against the odds to a landslide reelection in 1996, to assess the state of this year’s campaign on the eve of the Democratic convention. Having concluded a month ago that Joe Biden no longer had a viable path to victory, Sosnik discusses the top-to-bottom transformation of the race in the weeks since then, why Kamala Harris is (so far) winning the battle to define her public imagine, and wisdom of her efforts to reframe the race as being about the future—while Trump remains stuck in the past. 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
Wed, August 14, 2024
Ezra Klein: Trump’s Broken Brain, Pelosi’s Bluff-Calling & Harris’s Ideological Rebirth
John is joined by Ezra Klein—pioneering blogger in his twenties, founder and editor-in-chief of Vox in his thirties, and now columnist and host of a popular, eponymous podcast at New York Times—to discuss Donald Trump’s round-the-bend behavior in reaction to Kamala Harris’s ascent, Nancy Pelosi’s preternatural intuition and how it fuels her political mastery, and why the Democratic Party didn’t flinch from the break-glass moment presented by Joe Biden’s faltering candidacy. Ezra also offers his theory as to Harris’s true political identity, and reveals (after John cites photographic evidence) that his body is festooned with not one but two tattoos. 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
Fri, August 09, 2024
Cari Champion & Pablo Torre On The Snoop Dogg Summer Olympics
John is joined by two rising stars of sports journalism and commentary, Pablo Torre (formerly of ESPN and now host of the hit podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out) and Cari Champion (also formerly of ESPN and now host of The Cari Champion Show on Amazon Prime Video) to talk about the Summer Games: from the athletic prowess of Simone Biles, Gabby Thomas, and Katie Ledecky to the cultural currency of Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart, and from the culture-war kerfuffle around Algerian boxer Imane Khelif to the genius streaming strategy that unleashed a ratings bonanza for NBC, and why Paris 2024 stands as the first truly postmodern Olympic Games. 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
Wed, August 07, 2024
Nicolle Wallace: To The Window, To The Walz
John is joined by Nicolle Wallace—host of Deadline: White House on MSNBC, former aide to George W. Bush and John McCain, and author of three bestselling novels (Eighteen Acres, It’s Classified, and Madam President) about life inside the White House—to discuss Kamala Harris’s selection of Tim Walz as her running mate and its potential impact on the election. The two close friends talk about the secrecy and mystery surrounding every veepstakes, the factors driving Harris to pick the relatively unknown Walz over popular Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and why Wallace says that the aftermath of Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance and his eventual departure from the presidential race was the hardest story she’s ever had to cover as an MSNBC anchor. 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
Fri, August 02, 2024
Michael Bennet & Errin Haines: Trump’s Losing Bet on Birtherism 2.0
John is joined by Michael Bennet, Colorado’s senior U.S. Senator, and Errin Haines, editor-at-large of The 19th, longtime Kamala Harris chronicler, and member of National Association of Black Journalists—whose annual meeting in Chicago this week was the site of Donald Trump’s latest spasm of racial animus and ignorance. The legislator and the journalist discuss the event where the former president’s desperation was evident from start to finish. Also: Kamala Harris’s rocket ride and J.D. Vance’s unrelenting weirdness. 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
Thu, August 01, 2024
Conway & Longwell Pt. 2: Donald’s Psyche, J.D.’s Weirdness, and Kamala’s No-Huddle Veepstakes
John is joined by #NeverTrump stalwarts George Conway (founder of the new Anti-Psychopath PAC and ex-husband of Kellyanne) and Sarah Longwell (publisher of The Bulwark and ubiquitous focus group impresario) to discuss the state of the presidential race after the mother of all resets. The trio assess why Kamala Harris’s unexpected elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket, the swift coalescence of her party behind her, and the wave of Momalamania sweeping mainstream and social media alike have left Donald Trump, his team, and the right writ large stunned, angry, and flailing. Also: how the J.D. Vance imbroglio is even worse than it appears, and who makes most sense for Harris to pick as her No. 2. 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
Wed, July 31, 2024
Conway & Longwell Pt. 1: Harris Stays Hot & Trump Melts Down
John is joined by #NeverTrump stalwarts George Conway (founder of the new Anti-Psychopath PAC and ex-husband of Kellyanne) and Sarah Longwell (publisher of The Bulwark and ubiquitous focus group impresario) to discuss the state of the presidential race after the mother of all resets. The trio assess why Kamala Harris’s unexpected elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket, the swift coalescence of her party behind her, and the wave of Momalamania sweeping mainstream and social media alike have left Donald Trump, his team, and the right writ large stunned, angry, and flailing. Also: how the J.D. Vance imbroglio is even worse than it appears, and who makes most sense for Harris to pick as her No. 2. 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
Fri, July 26, 2024
Maya Wiley & Tim Ryan on Kamala’s Craze & Trump’s Mania
John is joined by two faces of the Democratic Party’s future—former New York City mayoral candidate and current head of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Maya Wiley, and former presidential candidate and 10-term Ohio congressman, Tim Ryan—with different backgrounds and ideological moorings but a shared sense of optimism about Kamala Harris’s ascension and prospects against Donald Trump this fall. Also: why Biden’s Oval Office address met the moment and Trump is right to be freaking out. 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
Tue, July 23, 2024
Beschloss & Costa: Biden's Fall, Kamala's Rise & A Whole New Race
John goes deep on Joe Biden’s historic, campaign-upending decision to exit the presidential race with NBC News presidential historian and author of nine books on the presidency, Michael Beschloss, and Robert Costa, CBS News chief election correspondent and co-author (with Bob Woodward) of the New York Times No. 1 best-seller, “Peril." The three friends discuss the internal and external forces that compelled Biden to bow out; his decision to endorse his understudy, Kamala Harris; how the game-changing turn of events has fundamentally rebooted the presidential race; and how Donald Trump is likely to react to being deprived of his preferred foil, Biden, and instead having to face Harris (bottom line: unhappily). 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
Fri, July 19, 2024
Meet The New Trump, Same As The Old Trump—Except On Benzos
John is joined by a trio of prominent if disaffected (or fully lapsed) Republican strategists: former Trump White House staffer and current co-host of The View and political analyst for CNN, Alyssa Farah Griffin; former chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle, co-founder of The Weekly Standard, and editor-at-large of The Bulwark, Bill Kristol; and former Jeb Bush adviser and Republican National Committee spokesman turned host of The Bulwark Podcast and Not My Party on Snapchat, Tim Miller. At the close of a jubilant G.O.P. convention in Milwaukee, they discuss the political implications of the failed attempt to assassinate Donald Trump, Trump's efforts to recast himself as a kinder, gentler Emperor of the MAGA-sphere, and the continuing crisis in the Democratic Party over the fate of Joe Biden’s reelection bid. 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
Tue, July 16, 2024
Tim Miller & Stuart Stevens: Trump Can’t Change & Vance Won’t Fly
John is joined by two veteran G.O.P. operatives turned #NeverTrump stalwarts—Mitt Romney's 2012 chief strategist, Stuart Stevens, and The Bulwark's Tim Miller—to discuss the opening night of the Republican National Convention and the extraordinary weekend that preceded it, when an assassin’s bullet nearly claimed Donald Trump’s life. Tim and Stuart assess Trump’s subdued entrance and rapturous reception in the convention hall, his choice of J.D. Vance as his running mate, and the possibility he might emerge as a less incendiary, more unifying figure (which they deem close to nil). And they offer dramatically divergent points of view on whether Democrats should dump or double down on Joe Biden. 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
Fri, July 12, 2024
James Carville’s Case For Reshuffling The Democratic Deck
John is joined by James Carville, the most celebrated political strategist of the modern era—and one of the earliest and loudest influential Democrats to argue that voters’ doubts about Joe Biden’s capacity to serve well into his eighties could be his undoing. James explains his conviction that, despite Biden’s determination to stay in the race, he'll almost certainly have no choice but to drop out; why asking an electorate hungry for change and a champion who embodies the future to swallow a status quo candidate who embodies the past was unwise from the jump; and how a wide-open, multi-candidate bake-off showcasing his party’s deep bench of young talent—and presided over by Barack Obama and Bill Clinton—could be the cure for what ails Democrats (and rid us all of Trump in the bargain). 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
Tue, July 09, 2024
Labour’s Landslide, Macron’s Muddle, & Europe’s Biden Bedwetting
John is joined by Jonathan Freedland— Guardian columnist, BBC radio presenter, cohost of the podcast Unholy: Two Jews on the News , and author of the best-selling book The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World —for a tour d’horizon of political news in Europe and the U.S. as seen from across the pond. Jonny explains the electoral landslide last week that put Labour back in power in the U.K. for the first time in 14 years, why the French election a few days later produced such a muddle (and why so many, including Emmanuel Macron, are celebrating anyway), and how the European political-diplomatic establishment is panicking over Joe Biden’s debate debacle almost as much as Democratic donors and elected officials. 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
Fri, July 05, 2024
Steven Brill on SCOTUS & Social Media As Truth-Destroyer
John is joined by Steven Brill — founder of The American Lawyer, Court TV, and NewsGuard, and author of the new book The Death Of Truth — for a deep dive into the morass of fake news online. Steve discusses how and why the major social media platforms have turned into toxic, conspiracy-theory-spreading cesspools, and what might be done to fix it. He also assesses the Supreme Court’s landmark decision this week on presidential immunity, the debasement of the court by Justices Alito and Thomas (both of whom Brill first met as fellow students at Yale Law School), and how SCOTUS has lost much of its legitimacy with the public in the past two decades. 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
Tue, July 02, 2024
Should He Stay or Should He Go (Joe Biden, That Is)?
John is joined by the renowned political strategists David Axelrod and Mike Murphy to discuss the fallout from Joe Biden’s debate disaster, starting with the movement among Democrats to persuade Biden to bow out and let his party choose a new nominee to face Donald Trump this fall. What would an open convention look like? If Biden bails, would Kamala Harris be his inevitable replacement? And if Biden stays in, what should he do—what can he do—to recover? Axe and Murphy have the answers. 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
Fri, June 28, 2024
Puck Superfriends Break Down Biden’s Debate Breakdown
John is joined by his colleagues Dylan Byers and Peter Hamby in the immediate aftermath of the first (and maybe only) 2024 presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The three Puck political-media superfriends asses Biden's botched performance and the freakout among Democratic officials, strategists, and donors in reaction to it; analyze Trump’s calm and composed (by his standards) turn on the debate stage; and speculate on whether the suddenly ardent and increasingly public strategizing among elite Dems about how to get Biden to drop out of the race — for the good of both the party and the country. 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
Tue, June 25, 2024
Stevie Van Zandt’s Excellent Adventures On & Off E Street
John is joined by the legendary guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, arranger, and all around rock-and-roll legend Steve Van Zandt, equally famous for his roles as Bruce Springsteen’s longtime sidekick and as Silvio Dante in The Sopranos. In their freewheeling conversation, Stevie reflects on how his remarkable, up-and-down, 60-year career as a musician, actor, and activist has, time and again, placed him at or near the center of modern culture — and how his proudest achievement to this day is the unlikely, ultimately heroic part he played in freeing Nelson Mandela. 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
Fri, June 21, 2024
Biden Campaign Chief to Dem Bedwetters: Stop Worrying & Get To Work
John is joined by Jen O’Malley Dillon—the legendary Democratic field organizer for Al Gore, Jon Edwards, and Barack Obama, manager of Joe Biden’s general-election campaign in 2020, and deputy chief of staff in Biden's White House from 2021 to 2023—in her first extended, on-the-record interview since taking over as chair of his reelection effort. The two discuss next week’s debate, the state of the presidential race, Team Biden’s battleground-state strategy, and the nagging questions around the president’s age and fitness for office. Jen also addresses the anxieties of the myriad Nervous Nellies in her party and pledges, “Joe Biden is going to win.” 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
Tue, June 18, 2024
Reassessing the Kitchen Confidential Era & The Perils of Chef Stardom
John is joined by the legendary restaurateur Danny Meyer—whose Union Square Hospitality Group has built a fine-dining empire in New York City (Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, The Modern, Manhatta, Ci Siamo, and more) and spawned the multinational fast-casual juggernaut Shake Shack—to mourn the shocking, bewildering loss of a mutual friend, the fast-rising culinary superstar Jamal James Kent, at just 45. Danny also reflects on what has and hasn’t changed in restaurant culture since the heyday of bad boy celebrity chefs, the extent to which the industry has recovered from the pandemic, and the crucial differences between mere service and genuine hospitality. 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
Fri, June 14, 2024
Apple's A.I. Embrace & Elon's Tantrum
John is joined by Kara Swisher—celebrated chronicler of the titans of tech, host of the podcast On With Kara Swisher and cohost of the Pivot podcast with Scott Galloway, and author of the best-selling memoir Burn Book— to discuss Apple's embrace of A.I., Elon Musk's broadsides against the company, and Silicon Valley's newfound enthusiasm for Donald Trump. Then renowned political scribe and Primary Colors author Joe Klein stops by to mourn the passing of his and John's friend and former colleague, Howard Fineman. 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
Tue, June 11, 2024
George to Media: Stop Normalizing Trump
John is joined by ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos—co-anchor of Good Morning America, host of This Week , and author of the recently published New York Times No. 1 best-seller, The Situation Room —to discuss their industry’s ongoing failure to cover Donald Trump, the GOP, and this political moment for what they are: radically abnormal. George also reflects on his time in the White House, the similarities (and differences) between Trump and Bill Clinton, and how transcendental meditation “saved my life.” 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
Fri, June 07, 2024
Trump's Retribution Tea Leaves
John is joined by Maggie Haberman, the heralded Times reporter and Trump scholar, to discuss the bubbling retribution fantasies of the former president and the wider MAGA-sphere. Maggie also reflects on her seven weeks covering the hush money trial, and the two dig into the Trump campaign's strategy and the potential electoral fallout from his 34-count felony conviction. 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
Tue, June 04, 2024
Trump Sentencing Theories & Mueller Revisited
In the debut episode of Impolitic , John sits down with Andrew Weissmann, the former Enron prosecutor and Mueller lieutenant, for a candid and wide-ranging conversation across a number of pertinent topics: gaming out Trump's sentencing, the efficacy of his appeal, Mueller report reminiscences, and Alito's bewildering political 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
Trailer · Mon, June 03, 2024
Introducing: Impolitic with John Heilemann
Welcome to Impolitic with John Heilemann, in which Puck’s chief political columnist, national affairs analyst for MSNBC and NBC News, best-selling author of Game Change and Double Down, and host/creator of Showtime’s The Circus roams the corridors of power and influence in America on this twice-weekly interview show, taking you behind the scenes and beyond the headlines with the people who shape our culture—in politics, entertainment, tech, sports, business, media, and beyond. A Puck-Audacy joint, new episodes drop every Tuesday and Friday. 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
S2 E133 · Tue, February 28, 2023
Cecile Richards
In which John Heilemann talks with Cecile Richards, co-chair of the Democratic super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, co-founder of the women’s rights advocacy group Supermajority, and, from 2006 to 2018, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Heilemann and Richards discuss Roe v Wade's uncertain future in the wake of the recent Supreme Court arguments around restrictive abortion laws in Mississippi and Texas, and the effects that Roe's potential demise might have on women and politics in America; how Richards's mother, Ann, the former governor of Texas, propelled her towards a lifetime of activism; and how her broader agenda in favor of "women's equity" is faring in the Biden era. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E133 · Wed, February 22, 2023
Tom Nichols Part 2
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 assess the state of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s calculations in the face of the Russian military's inability to win a swift and decisive victory, and the emerging consensus in the West that war has reached what could prove to be a protracted and bloody stalemate; how President Zelenskyy has wielded a masterful media strategy to galvanize support around the world and dominate the information battlefield; and the difficult decisions facing Joe Biden and the NATO alliance as Zelenskyy warns that we may already have entered World War III. Nichols also discusses his proud status as a five-time, undefeated Jeopardy champion, and his well-known – and well-deserved – reputation for having indefensibly and inexplicably bad taste in music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E132 · Tue, February 21, 2023
Tom Nichols Part 1
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 assess the state of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s calculations in the face of the Russian military's inability to win a swift and decisive victory, and the emerging consensus in the West that war has reached what could prove to be a protracted and bloody stalemate; how President Zelenskyy has wielded a masterful media strategy to galvanize support around the world and dominate the information battlefield; and the difficult decisions facing Joe Biden and the NATO alliance as Zelenskyy warns that we may already have entered World War III. Nichols also discusses his proud status as a five-time, undefeated Jeopardy champion, and his well-known – and well-deserved – reputation for having indefensibly and inexplicably bad taste in music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E131 · Tue, February 14, 2023
Shannon Watts
Shannon Watts is the founder of Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America — a self-described “accidental activist” who, in less than a decade, went from being a stay-at-home mother in Indiana to the face of a national grassroots movement with more active members than the National Rifle Association. When Watts launched her advocacy group as a simple Facebook page in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting in December 2012, she had just 75 friends on the site but grand ambitions, boundless energy, and infinite chutzpah. Today, Moms Demand Action is part of Everytown For Gun Safety and a political juggernaut, deploying tens of thousands of volunteers and tens of millions of dollars to support candidates, legislative campaigns, and corporate reform efforts. Heilemann and Watts discuss the ways her group has changed the game on gun control, the role of women and young people in the movement, the crisis at the NRA, and why Watts believes the Biden administration will be “the strongest gun safety administration in history.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E130 · Tue, February 07, 2023
Kurt Andersen and Lawrence O’Donnell
Kurt Andersen and Lawrence O’Donnell first met 46 years ago as undergraduates at Harvard, forming a friendship that’s flourished alongside their careers as two of their generation’s most incisive, insightful observers of American politics and culture. Andersen made his mark in the 1980s as co-founder of the iconic Spy magazine, then went on to serve as editor-in-chief of New York magazine, host of the Peabody Award-winning radio program “Studio 360,” and best-selling novelist and non-fiction author. O’Donnell cut his teeth in Washington as staff director of the powerful Senate Finance Committee and protege to legendary New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then transitioned to the TV business — first as an Emmy Award-winning writer on “The West Wing” and currently as host of “The Last Word” on MSNBC. On this week’s Hell & High Water, Heilemann, a friend of both Andersen and O’Donnell, brings the two men together for their first-ever joint interview. They discuss the performances of Joe Biden and Amanda Gorman on inauguration day, O’Donnell’s insider’s perspective on the January 6 assault on the US Capitol, and Andersen’s “grand unified theory” of modern American life, as sketched out in his recent companion volumes, “Fantasyland” and “Evil Geniuses.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E129 · Tue, January 31, 2023
Fiona Hill
In which John Heilemann talks with Fiona Hill, the former national security official in Donald Trump's White House who made headlines with her testimony in the hearings over the Ukraine scandal that led to his first impeachment. Heilemann and Hill discuss her new memoir, There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century, including her reluctant decision to join the Trump administration, what she learned about his character, and his envious admiration for authoritarian leaders around the world and Vladimir Putin in particular; how Trump’s disregard for the rule of law and democratic norms led not only to his first impeachment but also his attempted coup in the weeks following the 2020 presidential election and culminating with the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6; and why it's no exaggeration to say that Trump is setting the stage for another attempt to subvert American democracy in 2024. Hill also discusses her unlikely journey from a working-class mining town in northeastern England to the rarified academic realm at Harvard, the inner sanctum of the U.S. foreign policy establishment, and upper reaches of political and policy-making power inside the White House. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E128 · Tue, January 24, 2023
Ken Burns
In which John Heilemann talks with documentarian Ken Burns, whose new four-part series, Muhammad Ali, premiered this week on PBS. Heilemann and Burns discuss Ali's life and legacy as the most important athlete of the 20th century, in particular how his story transcends sports, intersecting with the defining issues of his era (race, religion, politics, protest) and illuminating much about the American experience in the convulsive Sixties and Seventies; Burns's prodigious body of work, which has earned him two Academy Award nominations, 15 Emmys, and two Grammys, and has made him the dominant practitioner of his art form over the past 40 years; the landmark films within his oeuvre — multi-part television events such as The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, and The Vietnam War, some running nearly 20 hours in length — and how Burns found himself imbued with the power to get such sprawling projects made; and the central role that race has occupied in his work, and in the American story. Burns also reflects on his childhood and how it inspired his career, and what it was like to co-direct the Ali series with his oldest daughter Sarah and her husband. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E127 · Tue, January 17, 2023
Julia Ioffe and Michael McFaul
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; Putin’s miscalculations regarding the strength of the NATO alliance, internal Russian opposition to the war, and the resolve of the Ukrainian people; and what’s at stake for an already shaky international order. They also marvel at how elements of both the American right and left have improbably become full-fledged Putin apologists ... and even Putin admirers. One of the things that makes it possible for us to make this show is by selling sponsorships to advertisers. And one of the things that would be helpful in getting more sponsors is if you tell us a little bit about who you are. To do that, please fill out this quick survey at https://survey.fan/hhw. Thanks for your help! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E126 · Wed, January 11, 2023
Michael Bender, Part 2
In which John Heilemann talks with Mike Bender, senior White House reporter for The Wall Street Journal and author of Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, for a special two-part episode of the podcast. Heilemann and Bender discuss the latter's new book and its news-making account of Trump's cataclysmic final year in office and doomstruck reelection campaign; how the president mishandled the series of crises that beset the country in 2020, from Covid to the protests after the murder of George Floyd; his contraction of the coronavirus and obsession with Hunter Biden in the campaign's waning days; his actions behind the scenes and motivations in fanning the flames before and during the January 6 attack on the Capitol; the symbiotic relationship between Trump and the national media; Trump's continued post-presidential hold on the Republican Party; and both his and his party's future. Bender also discusses his career in journalism, his daily battle with his father for rights to the sports page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer when he was growing up, and the special challenges of writing about a White House filled with unreliable narrators. Check back tomorrow for the second installment of this special edition of Hell & High Water. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E125 · Tue, January 10, 2023
Michael Bender, Part 1
In which John Heilemann talks with Mike Bender, senior White House reporter for The Wall Street Journal and author of Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, for a special two-part episode of the podcast. Heilemann and Bender discuss the latter's new book and its news-making account of Trump's cataclysmic final year in office and doomstruck reelection campaign; how the president mishandled the series of crises that beset the country in 2020, from Covid to the protests after the murder of George Floyd; his contraction of the coronavirus and obsession with Hunter Biden in the campaign's waning days; his actions behind the scenes and motivations in fanning the flames before and during the January 6 attack on the Capitol; the symbiotic relationship between Trump and the national media; Trump's continued post-presidential hold on the Republican Party; and both his and his party's future. Bender also discusses his career in journalism, his daily battle with his father for rights to the sports page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer when he was growing up, and the special challenges of writing about a White House filled with unreliable narrators. Check back tomorrow for the second installment of this special edition of Hell & High Water. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E124 · Tue, January 03, 2023
Hasan Minhaj
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 stint as a correspondent for The Daily Show and how it shaped his political and social commentary; his 2017 performance at the White House Correspondents dinner and his return to the capital two years later to testify before Congress on the student loan crisis; and the embrace of Homecoming King as a "calling card for a new brown America." They also discuss The King’s Jester, Minhaj's current one-man show and the subject of his next Netflix special, in which he examines his pursuit of fame and social media clout — and the unexpected risks it ultimately posed both to him and his family. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E123 · Tue, December 27, 2022
Kara Swisher
In which John Heilemann talks with Kara Swisher, arguably the preeminent chronicler (and frequent critic) of the companies, personalities, and culture of Silicon Valley and the technology world writ large. Heilemann and Swisher, a protean reporter and pundit whose vast array of endeavors includes hosting the New York Times podcast Sway and serving as a contributing opinion writer at the paper, discuss Spotify’s handling of the Joe Rogan controversy, how the pandemic has shifted the tech landscape, the recent stock plunge that erased more than $200 billion from the market value of Meta, and what to make of two of the most powerful — and maddening — hyper-capitalists of the age: Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. They also look back at their parallel paths covering Silicon Valley during the first Internet boom (and bubble, and bust) in the late 1990s; how Swisher's lesbian identity affected her ability to cover the Valley's notorious tech bro culture; and how her restlessness, entrepreneurial itch, and proud status as a self-described "bad employee" sets her apart from the journalistic herd. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E122 · Wed, December 21, 2022
Stevie Van Zandt, Part 2
In which John Heilemann talks with Stevie Van Zandt, a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, co-star of The Sopranos, and author of a new memoir, Unrequited Infatuations. In this special two-part episode, Heilemann and Van Zandt discuss his early musical influences, the foundations of his best friendship with Springsteen, the extraordinary albums they made together in the 1970s—Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River—and the painful breakup that caused Van Zandt to commit "career suicide" by leaving the band on the brink of its becoming the biggest rock act in the world; his solo career as a musician and political activist, in particular his crucial part in the movement to dismantle the apartheid regime in South Africa; his unlikely emergence as a beloved actor in the role of Silvio Dante opposite James Gandolfini in David Chase's acclaimed HBO mobster series; and his reconciliation with Springsteen and return to the E Street Band two decades after his departure. Van Zandt also explains why he fought The Boss over calling his group The E Street Band — and still considers it a piss-poor name — and Van Zandt's view that the debate over "sways" versus "waves" in the lyrics of "Thunder Road" is no debate at all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E121 · Tue, December 20, 2022
Stevie Van Zandt, Part 1
In which John Heilemann talks with Stevie Van Zandt, a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, co-star of The Sopranos, and author of a new memoir, Unrequited Infatuations. In this special two-part episode, Heilemann and Van Zandt discuss his early musical influences, the foundations of his best friendship with Springsteen, the extraordinary albums they made together in the 1970s—Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River—and the painful breakup that caused Van Zandt to commit "career suicide" by leaving the band on the brink of its becoming the biggest rock act in the world; his solo career as a musician and political activist, in particular his crucial part in the movement to dismantle the apartheid regime in South Africa; his unlikely emergence as a beloved actor in the role of Silvio Dante opposite James Gandolfini in David Chase's acclaimed HBO mobster series; and his reconciliation with Springsteen and return to the E Street Band two decades after his departure. Van Zandt also explains why he fought The Boss over calling his group The E Street Band — and still considers it a piss-poor name — and Van Zandt's view that the debate over "sways" versus "waves" in the lyrics of "Thunder Road" is no debate at all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E120 · Tue, December 13, 2022
Tenacious D
When Jack Black and Kyle Gass formed the mock-rock band Tenacious D in 1994, they were just a pair of unknown members of The Actors' Gang in LA with a spiritual and satirical kinship with Spinal Tap, a penchant for R-rated lyrics about their sexual prowess and prodigious cannabis consumption, and surprisingly serious musical chops. Twenty-six years later, Tenacious D has accumulated a large and passionate following, released three platinum albums and a feature film, and won a Grammy Award — and Black, of course, has become a movie star. In this final 2020 episode of Hell & High Water, Heilemann talks with Black and Gass about the group's turn towards the political following Donald Trump's election, from its "South Park"-flavored album/YouTube series/graphic novel "Post-Apocalypto" to its viral, celebrity-studded, get-out-the-vote video cover of "Time Warp" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (which included Heilemann) ... as well as Black's breakout role in "High Fidelity," his wildly popular quarantine videos on TikTok, and Tenacious D's top five records for celebrating the end of the Trump era. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E119 · Tue, December 06, 2022
Aaron Sorkin
Over the past three decades, Aaron Sorkin has staked a claim as America’s most renowned film and television writer. With a list of credits that runs from "A Few Good Men," "The American President, "The Social Network," and "Moneyball" on the big screen to "Sports Night," "The Newsroom," and his crowning achievement, "The West Wing," on TV, Sorkin's work has achieved vast popular success, critical acclaim, and cultural resonance. On this week’s episode, Hell & High Water continues its year-end review, with Heilemann and Sorkin discussing how COVID-19, Trump's final year in office, and the racial justice movement affected Hollywood in general and three of Sorkin's projects in particular: his stage version of "To Kill a Mockingbird," the reunion episode of "The West Wing," and his film "The Trial of the Chicago 7." Sorkin also offers his lists of top TV shows and movies of the year — and his favorite political films of all time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E118 · Wed, November 30, 2022
Killer Mike, Part 2
Michael Santiago Render, aka Killer Mike, is one of the most vital figures in the worlds of both hip hop and progressive activism. Best known as one half of the acclaimed rap duo Run The Jewels, Render gained notoriety in the political realm as a prominent backer of Bernie Sanders and a fierce advocate for Black economic empowerment. In the wake of George Floyd’s killing, Render delivered a tearful televised plea to protestors not to torch his beloved home city of Atlanta; the video went viral and earned him a new legion of admirers around the country. A few days later, Run the Jewels released its fourth album, “RTJ4”, which captured the anger, despair, and calls for racial justice echoing from coast to coast and was widely hailed as the dystopian soundtrack of 2020. In this first-ever two-part episode of Hell & High Water, Heilemann and Render discuss race and police violence, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Georgia's outsized role in the 2020 election, Ice Cube, Kanye West, Dave Chappelle, and much, much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E117 · Tue, November 29, 2022
Killer Mike, Part 1
Michael Santiago Render, aka Killer Mike, is one of the most vital figures in the worlds of both hip hop and progressive activism. Best known as one half of the acclaimed rap duo Run The Jewels, Render gained notoriety in the political realm as a prominent backer of Bernie Sanders and a fierce advocate for Black economic empowerment. In the wake of George Floyd’s killing, Render delivered a tearful televised plea to protestors not to torch his beloved home city of Atlanta; the video went viral and earned him a new legion of admirers around the country. A few days later, Run the Jewels released its fourth album, “RTJ4”, which captured the anger, despair, and calls for racial justice echoing from coast to coast and was widely hailed as the dystopian soundtrack of 2020. In this first-ever two-part episode of Hell & High Water, Heilemann and Render discuss race and police violence, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Georgia's outsized role in the 2020 election, Ice Cube, Kanye West, Dave Chappelle, and much, much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E116 · Tue, November 22, 2022
Adam Scott
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 contributed to the dystopian nature of the show. They also reflect on Scott’s career – from his decade-plus as a struggling actor, his breakout role in Step Brothers , and his penchant for playing wanton assholes to hilarious effect – and look ahead to Scott’s highly anticipated return as Henry Pollard in the forthcoming reboot of the cult comedy classic STARZ series Party Down. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E115 · Tue, November 15, 2022
Jon Meacham
In the aftermath of the Democratic Party's successful showing in last week's midterm elections, John Heilemann welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham, author of the recent presidential biography, And Then There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle . Heilemann and Meacham, a friend of President Joe Biden, discuss Biden's buoyant mood after the midterms and how he'll determine whether he'll run again in 2024; Meacham's belief that Americans voted to support Democrats over Republicans in key swing states because they dislike having rights taken from them; that the ability of Democrats to put democracy on the ballot was a key determinant in their favor; how Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania's next governor, has become an an ascendant political star; and why presidents and vice presidents never have close relationships. They also talk about Ron DeSantis' recent deeply narcissistic political ad and why his anti-woke message may not play well on the national scene if he tries to be the Republican's presidential nominee in two years; debate Donald Trump's chances of becoming president again; and weigh the potential for election chaos if Republicans don't support the rational rule of law in 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E114 · Tue, November 08, 2022
Joe Scarborough
With Election Day upon us, John Heilemann welcomes Joe Scarborough, co-host of MSNBC's Morning Joe , to talk through the big themes, large lessons, and lasting takeaways from the 2022 midterm campaign. Heilemann and Scarborough discuss the high degree of uncertainty around the outcome of the contests for control of Congress and 36 governships across the country, and why these midterms might not produce the kind of resounding wave favoring one party or the other; the importance of the Hispanic vote in determining the final results and why Republicans have been able to capture a larger share of these voters; how Barack Obama in the election's final days put on a master class in messaging that Democrats would do well to learn from, and why Joe regards Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow and Pennsylvania attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro as two the party's most promising rising stars. S Scarborough also explains why he'll never return to his one-time home in the Republican Party (which he describes as "irredeemable") and Donald Trump will never (and can never) win another election. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E113 · Tue, November 01, 2022
Jordan Klepper
John Heilemann welcomes The Daily Show 's Jordan Klepper on the eve of his new election special, Jordan Klepper Fingers the Midterms -- America Unfollows Democracy , which premieres on November 1, and on the heels of of his turn as a guest host on Heilemann's Showtime series The Circus . Heilemann and Klepper dig into the all-important Pennsylvania Senate race and the eagerly awaited, much-discussed debate last week between John Fetterman and Dr. Oz; Klepper's comedy heroes, from British icons such as Monty Python, Chris Morris, and Steve Coogan to his Daily Show forerunners Jon Stewart, John Oliver, and Samantha Bee; his career on The Daily Show, including his trademark interviews with MAGA voters at Trump rallies; his new special, and how the election denialism he encountered in places such as Michigan and Arizona fed his fear that the midterms could be the beginning of the end for American democracy. Klepper also explains why he sees Bob Dylan (yes, Bob Dylan) as a comic genius— and the first verse of his song Highway 61 Revisited as the greatest joke in the history of rock lyricism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E112 · Tue, October 25, 2022
David Axelrod
With just two weeks to go before Election Day, John Heilemann welcomes former Obama strategic and message maestro (and bff of the podcast) David Axelrod back to #HHW for his third time in the fire pit/splash zone. Axelrod — director of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, host of The Axe Files podcast and co-host of Hacks on Tap , and senior political commentator for CNN — discusses the state of the midterm battlefield across the country, along with detailed analyses of key Senate races (AZ, GA, NV, OH, PA, WI) and gubernatorial contests (AZ, GA, OR, TX) that everyone will be watching on November 8; whether Democrats over-emphasized abortion rights at the expense of economics in their communications this fall; the impact of Republican demagoguery on crime in races such as Ron Johnson v. Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin and Dr. Oz v. John Fetterman in Pennsylvania (including his view that Fetterman has more to worry about in his debate with Oz related to that topic that concerning his health); whether Axe's former boss, 44, was right when he told Pod Save America that Democrats were doing themselves no favors politically with their ardent woke-ism and propensity for being a "buzzkill;" and the perils posed in the realm of international security by a Republican takeover of the House, as it becomes clearer every day that the likeliest next Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, is ready and willing to sign on to a foreign policy inspired by Marjorie Taylor Greene. Axelrod also waxes lyrical about a prominent New York politician who is currently waging war against the booming rat population in Manhattan — and whom Axe suggests might run for president one day, branding himself The Verminator. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E111 · Tue, October 18, 2022
Matthew Dowd and Jennifer Palmieri
Three weeks out from Election Day, John Heilemann kicks off the Hell & High Water Midterm Homestretch Scramble with Matthew Dowd, chief strategist on George W. Bush's 2004 and Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2006 reelection campaigns (and now a prominent #NeverTrumper), and Jennifer Palmieri, communications director for Barack Obama's White House from 2013 to 2015 and Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign (and now co-host of Showtime's The Circus alongside Heilemann). Heilemann, Dowd, and Palmieri discuss several of the key Senate races, all within the margin of error per current polling, that will likely determine which party controls the upper chamber in 2023: Herschel Walker v. John Warnock in Georgia, John Fetterman v. Dr Oz in Pennsylvania, Mandela Barnes v. Ron Johnson in Wisconsin, and Tim Ryan v. JD Vance in Ohio. They also discuss some intriguing gubernatorial contests — including in Arizona, where election-denier Kari Lake has momentum against Democrat Katie Hobbs, and in South Dakota, where Dowd believes MAGA darling Kristi Noem is more vulnerable than most realize -— as well as Trump’s subpoena from the 1/6 committee, Nancy Pelosi’s badassery during the attack on the Capitol, and the politics of weed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E110 · Wed, October 12, 2022
Maggie Haberman, Part 2
John Heilemann sits down with the New York Times's Maggie Haberman — the dominant/defining reporter on the Donald Trump beat for the past decade and the author of the instant best-seller Confidence Man — for an epic, two-part episode of the podcast. Haberman discusses her most recent scoop that the Justice Department believes the Former Guy still has classified documents in his possession and how it might increase his degree of legal peril; her long history of covering Trump and what it's taught her about how the outer borough, 1970-80s New York milieu from which he emerged shaped his essential character; what Trump most loves and hates about his media coverage; his performance as a candidate, president, insurrectionist, and potential future criminal defendant — and whether he will run for president again in 2024. Haberman also addresses the criticism that she withheld critical news about Trump for her book; provides an exclusive, never-before-heard audio clip from one of her book interviews with Trump on his handling of Covid; and explains why the Herschel Walker abortion scandal may prove to be a replay of Trump's own Access Hollywood imbroglio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E110 · Tue, October 11, 2022
Maggie Haberman, Part 1
John Heilemann sits down with the New York Times's Maggie Haberman — the dominant/defining reporter on the Donald Trump beat for the past decade and the author of the instant best-seller Confidence Man — for an epic, two-part episode of the podcast. Haberman discusses her most recent scoop that the Justice Department believes the Former Guy still has classified documents in his possession and how it might increase his degree of legal peril; her long history of covering Trump and what it's taught her about how the outer borough, 1970-80s New York milieu from which he emerged shaped his essential character; what Trump most loves and hates about his media coverage; his performance as a candidate, president, insurrectionist, and potential future criminal defendant — and whether he will run for president again in 2024. Haberman also addresses the criticism that she withheld critical news about Trump for her book; provides an exclusive, never-before-heard audio clip from one of her book interviews with Trump on his handling of Covid; and explains why the Herschel Walker abortion scandal may prove to be a replay of Trump's own Access Hollywood imbroglio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E109 · Tue, October 04, 2022
Jennifer Psaki
John Heilemann sits down with President Biden's first White House press secretary, Jennifer Psaki, who recently left the administration to join MSNBC as a political analyst and host of a new show that will launch next year on Peacock. Psaki discusses how it feels to be free of the burdens of discussing current events from the podium in the White House briefing room, with the eyes of the world scrutinizing every word; her take on the biggest stories of last week, from Hurricane Ian to Iranian women cutting their hair as a form of protest; Psaki's tangles with Vladimir Putin and the degree to which he seems to be losing control of the narrative over the war in Ukraine; the moment in nearly a decade of working for Barack Obama that moved her the most and she knew instantly she'd remember forever; and Psaki's struggles with imposter syndrome — her recurring worry that she wasn't really qualified for any of the jobs she's done so well. Psaki also admits that no one was more surprised than her to see her regular smackdowns (aka, #psakibombs) of reporters trading in bullshit or bad faith turn into a social-media sensation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E108 · Tue, September 27, 2022
Stuart Stevens and Rick Wilson
Six weeks out from midterm Election Day and on the eve of what may be the January 6 committee's final public hearing, John Heilemann sits down with Rick Wilson and Stuart Stevens, co-founder and senior adviser (respectively) at The Lincoln Project and two of the savviest and most savage #NeverTrump ex-Republican strategists in the political universe. Wilson and Stevens discuss the myriad legal threats Trump is facing and whether, at long last, accountability may be at hand for him; how and why Trump's chances of winning the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 would actually improve were he indicted on federal criminal charges; the possibility that, rather than challenging Trump, Florida governor Ron DeSantis could wind up being his running mate; and the degree to which fears of physical (in addition to political) harm animates the slavish obeisance to Trump by Republican elected officials. Heilemann also asks Wilson and Stevens about the controversies that engulfed The Lincoln Project last year, including the investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by one of its co-founders, and the five-part Showtime docu-series about the group set to premiere on October 7. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E107 · Tue, September 20, 2022
Peter Baker and Susan Glasser
New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker and New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser join Heilemann for a discussion of their new book The Divider: Trump in The White 2017-2021 , which aims to be the first soup-to-nuts account of the 45th president's tenure in the Oval Office. Baker and Glasser — both long-time, much-admired Washington reporters, spouses, and co-authors of previous books on Vladimir Putin's Russia and the life of James A. Baker III — discuss their thesis that Trump is the sole POTUS in history who never saw national unity as a goal, and in fact sought to profit politically from dividing the country; how Trump's 2017 inaugural address, with its invocation of "American carnage," augured the darkness (and strangeness) that would follow; Trump's disregard and disdain for democratic and institutional norms, from his politicization of the Justice Department and efforts to co-opt the military to his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election; how his foreign policy came closer than anyone knew to leading to armed (even nuclear) conflict and diplomatic chaos (including a U.S. exit from NATO) abroad; the transactional nature of Trump's relationship with his wife, Melania; and the mind-bending experience of interviewing Trump for the book and finding his mental stability as questionable as many of his top advisers did. They also assess the various investigations currently encircling Trump, along with the very real prospect that he could run for president in 2024 while under federal indictment ... and win. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E106 · Tue, September 13, 2022
Amy Walter and David Wasserman
Eight weeks out from Election Day, John Heilemann welcomes The Cook Political Report's publisher and editor-in-chief, Amy Walter, and its senior editor, House of Representatives, Dave Wasserman, for a preview of what may be the most consequential midterm election of our lifetime. Walter and Wasserman assess the prospects of both parties at the House, Senate, and gubernatorial levels; the marked shift in the national political environment that has given Democrats an outside chance of retaining control of the House and picking up seats in the Senate; the factors that still favor Republicans, from the persistence of inflation to President Biden's approval ratings; the impact of Donald Trump (in light of both his success as a king-maker in the GOP primaries and his metastasizing legal woes) on the fall campaigns; and the potentially game-changing electoral fall-out from the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v Wade. They also offer analysis of some of the country's most closely watched races — John Fetterman v. Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania, Raphael Warnock v. Herschel Walker and Stacey Abrams v. Brian Kemp in Georgia; Tim Ryan v. J.D. Vance in Ohio; Beto O'Rourke v. Greg Abbott in Texas; and more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E105 · Wed, September 07, 2022
Allen Hughes, Part 2
In a special two-part episode, John Heilemann talks with visionary film and television director Allen Hughes about Dear Mama — the sprawling, spellbinding documentary series about the lives and times of hip hop icon Tupac Shakur and his mother, Afeni, a prominent member of the Black Panther Party in the Sixties and Seventies — that Hughes has been working on for much of the past three years. The first episode of Dear Mama premieres on September 15 at the Toronto International Film Festival, with the entire five-part series airing on F/X later this year; Hughes's conversation with Heilemann is the first time he has spoken in detail about the project. They discuss the director's tumultuous relationship with Tupac in both of their early years in show business, which led to Hughes being brutally beaten by gang associates of the young rapper; how the relationship between Tupac and his mother shaped his outlook, politics, and attitude toward violence; the hot-eyed feud between hip hop's East Coast and West Coast factions in the Nineties; and the still much-debated circumstances surrounding Tupac's murder in Las Vegas in 1996. In second part of the episode, Hughes and Heilemann explore the director's groundbreaking career, from Menace II Society, Dead Presidents, and The Book of Eli to the game-changing HBO doc series, The Defiant Ones , about music-industry titans Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine, as well as Hughes's tantalizing next undertaking: a biopic of Motown legend Marvin Gaye, entitled What's Going On. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E104 · Tue, September 06, 2022
Allen Hughes, Part 1
In a special two-part episode, John Heilemann talks with visionary film and television director Allen Hughes about Dear Mama — the sprawling, spellbinding documentary series about the lives and times of hip hop icon Tupac Shakur and his mother, Afeni, a prominent member of the Black Panther Party in the Sixties and Seventies — that Hughes has been working on for much of the past three years. The first episode of Dear Mama premieres on September 15 at the Toronto International Film Festival, with the entire five-part series airing on F/X later this year; Hughes's conversation with Heilemann is the first time he has spoken in detail about the project. They discuss the director's tumultuous relationship with Tupac in both of their early years in show business, which led to Hughes being brutally beaten by gang associates of the young rapper; how the relationship between Tupac and his mother shaped his outlook, politics, and attitude toward violence; the hot-eyed feud between hip hop's East Coast and West Coast factions in the Nineties; and the still much-debated circumstances surrounding Tupac's murder in Las Vegas in 1996. In second part of the episode, Hughes and Heilemann explore the director's groundbreaking career, from Menace II Society, Dead Presidents, and The Book of Eli to the game-changing HBO doc series, The Defiant Ones , about music-industry titans Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine, as well as Hughes's tantalizing next undertaking: a biopic of Motown legend Marvin Gaye, entitled What's Going On. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E103 · Wed, August 31, 2022
Jeremy Allen White and Christopher Storer
John Heilemann goes all-in on The Bear — the FX series set in the fictional sandwich shop The Original Beef of Chicagoland that came out of nowhere (Yes, chef) to become the breakout show of the summer (Heard, chef), the source of a jillion Internet memes (Hands!), and a full-blown cultural phenomenon (all day) — with its star, Jeremy Allen White, and creator, Chris Storer. White and Storer discuss the show's surprising runaway success; their passion for and commitment to creating the first scripted series ever to capture the realities of the world of restaurant kitchens accurately and authentically; their many, varied, and unlikely inspirations for The Bear , from The Panic in Needle Park to Terms of Endearment, Taxi, and Rounders ; and how the rapturous reception of the show has changed both of their lives almost overnight. White, heretofore best known for his 11 seasons and 10 years playing Lip Gallagher (a gifted kid from a dysfunctional working-class Chicago family) in the signature Showtime series Shameless, reflects on his wariness about taking on the superficially similar character Carmen Berzatto in The Bear, and his approach to the seven-minute, show-stopping soliloquy in the show's finale that could make him a mortal lock for an Emmy Award next year — while Storer teases some elements of Season Two of The Bear that the show's legions of newly minted, hyper-obsessive super-fans (including Heilemann) are sure to find deliciously tantalizing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E102 · Tue, August 23, 2022
Dan Pfeiffer
John Heilemann welcomes former Obama campaign and White House communications guru and Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer back to the podcast just two months after his last visit — when the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v Wade preempted a proper discussion of Pfeiffer’s new book, Battling the Big Lie: How Fox, Facebook, and the MAGA Media Are Destroying America . This time, John and Dan go deep on that subject: the right-wing disinformation and propaganda machine, how it works, why it's so powerful, and what we can do to fight back; how Donald Trump’s birther conspiracy theory bedeviled Obama in his first term; and the moment in Obama's second term when Pfeiffer realized Facebook had turned into "Trump on steroids." They also discuss last week's headlines — from Liz Cheney's drubbing in Wyoming to Joe Biden's biggest legislative win of 2022 to Dr Oz's ill-fated visit to a supermarket with cameras rolling, and how Dan and his Pod Save America pals helped Crudité-gate go viral ... a behind-the-scenes story that's just one of many reasons that you do NOT want to sleep on this week's episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E101 · Tue, August 16, 2022
George Conway and Asha Rangappa
John Heilemann goes deep with two leading voices at the intersection of law, national security, and Trumpworld – George Conway and Asha Rangappa — into the fallout from the FBI’s search-and-seizure operation at Mar-a-Lago and the Justice Department’s investigation of Donald Trump for illegally being in possession of classified documents, including top secret material ... some of which may pertain to nuclear weapons. Conway, an erstwhile conservative superstar litigator and one of the sharpest and most savage Never Trump Republicans – and also, ahem, husband to Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway — and Rangappa, senior lecturer at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale and a former FBI special agent focusing on counterintelligence, discuss the severity of the crimes that Trump appears to have committed; why, despite the continuing probe of Trump's culpability for the January 6 insurrection and an array of other legal threats, the document case now represents, as Conway puts it, "the shortest distance between Trump and an orange jumpsuit;" why, even so, Attorney General Merrick Garland might choose not to prosecute him; the appalling chorus of Republican elected officials and media magpies demonizing the FBI and stirring up animus, threats, and actual violence against federal law enforcement officials; and Trump’s bizarro-world (but not necessarily errant) belief that, despite the imminent legal jeopardy he faces, last week’s events were actually a boon to him politically. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E100 · Tue, August 09, 2022
Derrick "D-Nice" Jones
On the 100th episode of the podcast, John Heilemann welcomes hip hop veteran, DJ extraordinaire, and one of the inspirations for Hell & High Water: Derrick "D-Nice" Jones, fresh off a sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall in New York. Heilemann and D-Nice discuss Club Quarantine, the experiment in Instagram Live DJing that D-Nice began in the darkest early days of Covid, and how his socially distanced dance parties exploded into an overnight sensation, with hundreds of thousands of housebound partiers around the world logging on to find community and solace (and fun!) in the face of the extreme isolation imposed by the pandemic; his musical philosophy and what he's learned from other elite DJs, including Q-Tip, Mark Ronson, and Questlove; and his experiences spinning for Barack and Michelle Obama both inside and outside the White House. They also explore D-Nice's storied history in rap music, starting with his role as as founding member of the legendary old-school hip-hop collective Boogie Down Productions, his self-reinvention as a DJ after his solo career fizzled in the 1990s, and what the future holds for D and Club Quarantine. It’s a centenary saturnalia that you won’t want to miss! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E99 · Wed, August 03, 2022
Mark Leibovich and Tim Miller, Part 2
In a special two-part episode, John Heilemann talks with Mark Leibovich, former chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine , current staff writer for The Atlantic , and author of This Town, the iconic skewering of the culture of pre-Trump Washington, DC; and Tim Miller, former Republican strategist, current #NeverTrump gadfly-cum-firebrand, writer-at-large for The Bulwark , and host of Not My Party on Snap. Leibovich and Miller are also the authors of a pair of hot new books — Thank You For Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission and Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell, respectively — that tell essentially the same tale from different sides of the looking glass: the story of "the supplicant fanboys" and "parasitic suck-ups" who "permitted Donald Trump's depravity to be inflicted on the rest of us" (Leibovich); of "the army of [GOP] consultants, politicians, media figures" who "recognized all the risks but still climbed aboard for a ride on the SS Trump Hellship " (Miller). Heilemann and the authors discuss the dom-sub nature of the relationship between Trump and Mike Pence, Lindsey Graham's soulless craving for proximity to power, Miller's own flirtation with the dark side, and the broader pattern of Republican complicity, corruption, and cowardice that enabled Trump's rise, his rule, and his violent plot to overturn a presidential election and trash American democracy ... all of which, terrifyingly, persists unabated to this day. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E99 · Tue, August 02, 2022
Mark Leibovich and Tim Miller, Part 1
In a special two-part episode, John Heilemann talks with Mark Leibovich, former chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine , current staff writer for The Atlantic , and author of This Town, the iconic skewering of the culture of pre-Trump Washington, DC; and Tim Miller, former Republican strategist, current #NeverTrump gadfly-cum-firebrand, writer-at-large for The Bulwark , and host of Not My Party on Snapchat. Leibovich and Miller are also the authors of a pair of hot new books — Thank You For Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission and Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell, respectively — that tell essentially the same tale from different sides of the looking glass: the story of "the supplicant fanboys" and "parasitic suck-ups" who "permitted Donald Trump's depravity to be inflicted on the rest of us" (Leibovich); of "the army of [GOP] consultants, politicians, media figures" who "recognized all the risks but still climbed aboard for a ride on the SS Trump Hellship " (Miller). Heilemann and the authors discuss the dom-sub nature of the relationship between Trump and Mike Pence, Lindsey Graham's soulless craving for proximity to power, Miller's own flirtation with the dark side, and the broader pattern of Republican complicity, corruption, and cowardice that enabled Trump's rise, his rule, and his violent plot to overturn a presidential election and trash American democracy ... all of which, terrifyingly, persists unabated to this day. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E98 · Tue, July 26, 2022
Jonathan Lemire
John Heilemann talks with Jonathan Lemire, White House Bureau Chief at Politico, host of Way Too Early on MSNBC, and author of the new book, The Big Lie: Election Chaos, Political Opportunism, and the State of American Politics After 2020. Heilemann and Lemire discuss the January 6 select committee's final hearing of the summer; the scandal over the Secret Service's purge of text messages from the day of the Capitol riot; and the growing impatience among top White House officials with Attorney General Merrick Garland's Justice Department over its apparent lethargy around bringing criminal charges against former President Trump related to the insurrection. Lemire also unpacks the history of Trump's Big Lie as an idea; recalls what it was like to see his face on every TV screen in the world for days after asking the question at the 2018 Helsinki summit that led Trump to declare that he sided with Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence officials regarding Russia's interference in 2016; and discusses various 2024 scenarios, from a Biden v Trump rematch to potential presidential runs by Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom, the ultra-thirsty governors of Florida and California. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E97 · Wed, July 20, 2022
Lis Smith, Part Two
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 future; the early years of Smith's career working on campaigns; the saga of her romantic involvement with former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, and the furor that erupted when the relationship became tabloid fodder. In Part 2, Lis looks back fondly on her time with Mayor Pete and much less fondly on her role as a member of former New York governor Andrew Cuomo's kitchen cabinet as he faced a wave of sexual harassment charges that ultimately forced him to resign. Lis also waxes (unaccountably) rhapsodic about her beloved Cincinnati Bengals, and explains why she refers to herself as a "competitive motherfucker." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E96 · Tue, July 19, 2022
Lis Smith, Part One
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 future; the early years of Smith's career working on campaigns; the saga of her romantic involvement with former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, and the furor that erupted when the relationship became tabloid fodder. In Part 2, Lis looks back fondly on her time with Mayor Pete and much less fondly on her role as a member of former New York governor Andrew Cuomo's kitchen cabinet as he faced a wave of sexual harassment charges that ultimately forced him to resign. Lis also waxes (unaccountably) rhapsodic about her beloved Cincinnati Bengals, and explains why she refers to herself as a "competitive motherfucker." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E95 · Tue, July 12, 2022
Marie Brenner
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 discuss the divide between the corporate side of New York Presbyterian, which put a gag order on its personnel, and the medical professionals who wanted to tell the truth about the city’s, the state's, and the federal government's unpreparedness in the fight against COVID; the difficulties New York Presbyterian faced because of the Trump administration’s anti-science rhetoric; and the heroism of hospital employees as the pandemic raged on. John also takes Marie for a walk down memory lane and through her storied career in journalism, focusing on three stories she wrote that were adapted into critically acclaimed films ( The Insider, Richard Jewell, A Private War ); her experience writing about the late Marie Colvin, the legendary war correspondent; and Brenner's run-in decades ago with Donald Trump, who was so enraged by a profile she wrote about him that he took revenge on her in a public, scene-making, cowardly, incompetent -- all of which is to say, perfectly Trumpian -- fashion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E94 · Wed, July 06, 2022
Jason Kander
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 the blockbuster testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson before the House Janary 6 committed. Kander lays out his long and torturous battle with PTSD and how it affected every aspect of his life; his decision to turn away (at least temporarily) from public life and seek help in 2018; how his recovery has progressed and what he's learned about living with the disorder; and whether he might ever run for office again. Kander also assesses the 1/6 committee hearings and their potential impact on the midterms in November; the worldwide struggle between democracy and authoritarianism; and the flat-footed response by Democrats to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. And he shares his experience meeting with Barack Obama, who called Kander "the natural" and encouraged him to run for president ... while Kander was still in his thirties. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E93 · Tue, June 28, 2022
Dan Pfeiffer and Alyssa Mastromonaco
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 political implications of the decision and how Democrats might combat its effects; the possibility that Republicans ultimately aim to ban abortion nationwide; the profound erosion of the public legitimacy of the Supreme Court and Mitch McConnell's role in that development; and the apparent lies by Justices Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh regarding Roe during their Senate confirmation hearings. They also assess the impact of the January 6 committee's hearings and Matthew McConaughey's emotional remarks at the White House about the Uvalde school massacre. And Pfeiffer gets in a few words (too few ... he'll be back on the pod with more) about his new book, Battling the Big Lie: How Fox, Facebook, and the MAGA Media Are Destroying America . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E92 · Tue, June 21, 2022
Liev Schreiber
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 and his Ukrainian roots helped motivate him to start BlueCheck; Schreiber's experience feeding refugees in Poland with chef and World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés; and his assessment of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine's prospects in the war with Russia. Schreiber, who earned three Emmy Award nominations for his performance in the title role in the Showtime series Ray Donovan, also reflects on the emotional toll that inhabiting that dark and violent role for seven seasons took on him; what it was like to play newspaper legend Marty Baron in the renowned film Spotlight; and his unique working relationship with director Wes Anderson, in whose forthcoming movie, Asteroid City, Schreiber co-stars -- and about which he spills some beans, along with uncorking an unforgettable tale involving his big screen debut, the foxtrot, and the embarrassing form that Schreiber's excitement took during one dance rehearsal with Steve Martin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E91 · Tue, June 14, 2022
Symone D. Sanders
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 evidence of Donald Trump's dereliction of duty on 1/6; Symone's memories of being at the DNC that day with VP Harris when they learned that a bomb had planted there; her assessment of whether Trump will run again in 2024, whether President Biden will do the same, and whether Biden would support Harris if he doesn't run and she does . Symone also reminisces about growing up Black in Omaha, Nebraska, how she convinced Bernie Sanders to hire her (at just 24 years old, with no presidential-campaign experience) as his campaign press secretary, and a childhood spent acting out (with the help of an imaginary alter ego named Donna Burns) the very role she's playing now as a TV host. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E90 · Wed, June 08, 2022
Denver Riggleman, Part 2
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 former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, which Riggleman helped uncover) about the involvement of Donald Trump and his inner circle in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election; how the story of the pressures placed on Mike Pence to prevent Joe Biden from taking office will be among the key facets of the hearings; and Riggleman’s assessment of the case for bringing criminal charges against Trump for his role in the 1/6 insurrection. They also discuss the part Q-Anon played in ending Riggleman's career in Congress, the centrality of conspiracy theories to the identity of today's GOP, and strange tale of how Riggleman's interest in Bigfoot became part of his public profile. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E89 · Tue, June 07, 2022
Denver Riggleman, Part 1
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 former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, which Riggleman helped uncover) about the involvement of Donald Trump and his inner circle in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election; how the story of the pressures placed on Mike Pence to prevent Joe Biden from taking office will be among the key facets of the hearings; and Riggleman’s assessment of the case for bringing criminal charges against Trump for his role in the 1/6 insurrection. They also discuss the part Q-Anon played in ending Riggleman's career in Congress, the centrality of conspiracy theories to the identity of today's GOP, and strange tale of how Riggleman's interest in Bigfoot became part of his public profile. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E88 · Tue, May 31, 2022
Eric Holder and Sam Koppelman
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 , which gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act; their wide-ranging prescriptions for saving the American democratic process, including not just protections of voting rights but fundamental reforms to the Supreme Court, the U.S. Senate, congressional redistricting, and the Electoral College; and Holder’s reluctant embrace of the arguments in favor of indicting former President Donald Trump for his actions related to the January 6 insurrection. They also discuss the fatal shooting of 19 schoolchildren and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, the Republican Party’s intransigence on the Second Amendment, and what might be required to shock voters and their representatives in Congress into reforming the nation's gun laws. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E87 · Tue, May 24, 2022
Mallory McMorrow
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 discuss her decision to speak out after being baselessly accused of "grooming” children by a GOP colleague; how Democrats can and should fight back against the Republican culture war and reclaim the language of faith from those using it as a weapon; why the recent racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo is connected to the rising trend of hate speech on the right; how the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade will impact the midterm elections; and why the future of American democracy may be decided this fall in places like Michigan. McMorrow also explains why she agrees with James Carville that Democrats have a "wokeness problem" — and why her method of arguing in favor of progressive goals in language suited to the factory floor, not the faculty lounge, is the solution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E86 · Tue, May 17, 2022
Hasan Minhaj
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 stint as a correspondent for The Daily Show and how it shaped his political and social commentary; his 2017 performance at the White House Correspondents dinner and his return to the capital two years later to testify before Congress on the student loan crisis; and the embrace of Homecoming King as a "calling card for a new brown America." They also discuss The King’s Jester, Minhaj's current one-man show and the subject of his next Netflix special, in which he examines his pursuit of fame and social media clout — and the unexpected risks it ultimately posed both to him and his family. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E85 · Tue, May 10, 2022
Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin
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 Capitol on January 6, 2021, including secret audio recordings of House minority leader Kevin McCarthy telling colleagues that he planned to urge President Trump to resign; the depth of the private disdain for Trump among other GOP stalwarts such as Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell; why the moment in which Republicans seemed determined to purge Trump from the party proved so fleeting; how President Biden's ambitions to be the next FDR or LBJ blinded him to his own team's warnings of the political peril he faced due to inflation, immigration, and crime; the thinly veiled rivalry between Biden and President Obama; the tenuous relationship between Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and its potential implications for the 2024 Democratic ticket. They also unpack the stunning leak of a draft opinion suggesting that Supreme Court is on the verge of overturning Roe v. Wade, and what it might mean for this year's midterm elections — and beyond. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E84 · Tue, May 03, 2022
Bob Crawford
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 musicians -- particularly focused on Africa -- in the seventies and eighties. Heilemann and Crawford discuss the rise of star-studded benefit shows from George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh to Live Aid; the genesis and behind-the-scenes stories of the chart-topping charity singles "Do They Know It’s Christmas?" and "We Are The World"; the singular influence of Geldof in launching Band Aid and Live Aid; the role played by Steven Van Zandt's "Sun City" in ending apartheid in South Africa; and how Bono institutionalized his activist impulses to help combat poverty and AIDS in Africa. They also reflect on Crawford’s career with The Avett Brothers, and how his daughter Hallie's battle with cancer changed him and his band. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E83 · Tue, April 26, 2022
Andrew Ross Sorkin
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 acquisition of Twitter by SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose roughly $275 billion net worth makes him the world’s richest person, and the Walt Disney Company’s increasing embroilment in the culture wars, particularly as a whipping boy for Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida. They also reflect on Sorkin’s precocity as a young journalist at the Times, his role as co-creator of the hit Showtime series Billions , and the apparently insatiable appetite for movies and TV shows about the one percent — from Succession to WeCrashedto Super Pumped. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E82 · Tue, April 19, 2022
Mike Birbiglia and Alex Edelman
John Heilemann talks with comedians Mike Birbiglia, best known for his acclaimed one-man shows Sleepwalk With Me, Thank God for Jokes, a nd 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; what Just for Us — in which Edelman unfurls an extended, acutely observed, often hilarious yarn about the night he crashed a meeting of white nationalists in Queens — says about broader questions of identity in American culture; and what drove Edelman’s decision to focus the show on his Judaism, which has long been central to his sense of self but not his comedy. They also assess the arc of Birbiglia’s career from stand-up to storytelling; his biggest influences, from Mitch Hedberg to Steven Wright; the personal experiences that have inspired him to be vulnerable on stage and take emotional risks; and why, for both Birbiglia and Edelman, a pair of comics who readily and repeatedly land killer jokes, there’s a lot more to comedy than making people laugh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E81 · Tue, April 12, 2022
Michael Beschloss
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 leadership on the world stage; the ongoing risk of Russia deploying nuclear weapons and the lessons from the Cuban Missile Crisis; and how foreign policy crises have reshaped American presidencies from World War II's effect on the legacies of FDR and Truman to Vietnam's on LBJ's. They also discuss the historic dimensions of Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation to the Supreme Court, along with Mitch McConnell’s hint that, if Republicans take control of the Senate, he might take the unprecedented step of denying Biden the opportunity to put another justice -- any justice, under any circumstances -- to SCOTUS. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E80 · Wed, April 06, 2022
Nicolle Wallace, Part 2
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; Ginni Thomas’s text messages with Trump’s chief of staff advocating the overturning of the 2020 election, and the subsequent failure of her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, to recuse himself from cases involving the insurrection; the ruling of a federal judge endorsing the theory that Trump is likely guilty of committing federal crimes related to 1/6; the pressure on the Department of Justice to indict him; and how the same struggle against authoritarianism is playing out in both Ukraine and the U.S. In Part Two, Heilemann and Wallace focus on the rot afflicting the GOP, Wallace's former party: how Republicans went from embracing her former boss, George W. Bush, to worshipping Trump; the role of Fox News and Tucker Carlson in particular in turning the right into a movement fueled by conspiracy theories and anti-democratic impulses (with Wallace averring that Trump, Carlson, and Vladimir Putin comprise a new “axis of evil"); and how the radicalization of the GOP establishment is, says Wallace, “the most underreported story in America.” Plus: Wallace reacts to the return of Sarah Palin — her bête noire as a staffer for John McCain in the 2008 presidential campaign, as famously recounted in Heilemann's book and film, Game Change — as a candidate for Congress in Alaska. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E80 · Tue, April 05, 2022
Nicolle Wallace, Part 1
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; Ginni Thomas’s text messages with Trump’s chief of staff advocating the overturning of the 2020 election, and the subsequent failure of her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, to recuse himself from cases involving the insurrection; the ruling of a federal judge endorsing the theory that Trump is likely guilty of committing federal crimes related to 1/6; the pressure on the Department of Justice to indict him; and how the same struggle against authoritarianism is playing out in both Ukraine and the U.S. In Part Two, Heilemann and Wallace focus on the rot afflicting the GOP, Wallace's former party: how Republicans went from embracing her former boss, George W. Bush, to worshipping Trump; the role of Fox News and Tucker Carlson in particular in turning the right into a movement fueled by conspiracy theories and anti-democratic impulses (with Wallace averring that Trump, Carlson, and Vladimir Putin comprise a new “axis of evil"); and how the radicalization of the GOP establishment is, says Wallace, “the most underreported story in America.” Plus: Wallace reacts to the return of Sarah Palin — her bête noire as a staffer for John McCain in the 2008 presidential campaign, as famously recounted in Heilemann's book and film, Game Change — as a candidate for Congress in Alaska. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E79 · Tue, March 29, 2022
Neal Katyal and Robin Lenhardt
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. Both are longtime friends of Judge Jackson, with whom they share a formative bond as members of the elite club of former clerks to retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, whose seat KBJ is all but certain to fill. Heilemann, Katyal, and Lenhardt discuss Jackson's historic status as the first Black woman ever chosen to sit on the high court; how the culture-war preening of a handful of Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee turned the proceedings into something more venal and ugly than mere Kabuki; and the degree to which the hearings will further undermine public confidence in the court's distance from petty partisanship and naked ideological warfare. They also reflect on Justice Breyer’s legacy and whether Jackson will take up his mantle as a consensus-builder on a sharply divided court. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E78 · Wed, March 23, 2022
Tom Nichols, Part 2
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 assess the state of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s calculations in the face of the Russian military's inability to win a swift and decisive victory, and the emerging consensus in the West that war has reached what could prove to be a protracted and bloody stalemate; how President Zelenskyy has wielded a masterful media strategy to galvanize support around the world and dominate the information battlefield; and the difficult decisions facing Joe Biden and the NATO alliance as Zelenskyy warns that we may already have entered World War III. Nichols also discusses his proud status as a five-time, undefeated Jeopardy champion, and his well-known – and well-deserved – reputation for having indefensibly and inexplicably bad taste in music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E78 · Tue, March 22, 2022
Tom Nichols, Part 1
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 assess the state of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s calculations in the face of the Russian military's inability to win a swift and decisive victory, and the emerging consensus in the West that war has reached what could prove to be a protracted and bloody stalemate; how President Zelenskyy has wielded a masterful media strategy to galvanize support around the world and dominate the information battlefield; and the difficult decisions facing Joe Biden and the NATO alliance as Zelenskyy warns that we may already have entered World War III. Nichols also discusses his proud status as a five-time, undefeated Jeopardy champion, and his well-known – and well-deserved – reputation for having indefensibly and inexplicably bad taste in music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E77 · Tue, March 15, 2022
Adam Scott
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 contributed to the dystopian nature of the show. They also reflect on Scott’s career – from his decade-plus as a struggling actor, his breakout role in Step Brothers , and his penchant for playing wanton assholes to hilarious effect – and look ahead to Scott’s highly anticipated return as Henry Pollard in the forthcoming reboot of the cult comedy classic STARZ series Party Down. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E76 · Tue, March 08, 2022
John Avlon
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 invasion will leave “Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger.” They also unpack Abraham Lincoln’s view that to win the Civil War would require also winning the peace through reconciliation and reuniting the nation — a plan foiled by his assassination — and the lessons his approach holds for presidential leadership, especially in times of extreme polarization. One of the things that makes it possible for us to make this show is by selling sponsorships to advertisers. And one of the things that would be helpful in getting more sponsors is if you tell us a little bit about who you are. To do that, please fill out this quick survey at https://survey.fan/hhw. Thanks for your help! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E75 · Tue, March 01, 2022
Julia Ioffe and Michael McFaul
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; Putin’s miscalculations regarding the strength of the NATO alliance, internal Russian opposition to the war, and the resolve of the Ukrainian people; and what’s at stake for an already shaky international order. They also marvel at how elements of both the American right and left have improbably become full-fledged Putin apologists ... and even Putin admirers. One of the things that makes it possible for us to make this show is by selling sponsorships to advertisers. And one of the things that would be helpful in getting more sponsors is if you tell us a little bit about who you are. To do that, please fill out this quick survey at https://survey.fan/hhw. Thanks for your help! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E74 · Tue, February 22, 2022
W. Kamau Bell
In which John Heilemann talks with comedian W. Kamau Bell, host of CNN's Emmy-winning series United Shades of America and the writer, director, and executive producer of the new Showtime documentary series We Need to Talk About Cosby . Heilemann and Bell unpack America’s fraught relationship with Cosby, the legendary entertainer and stand-up comic who was once known as “America’s Dad” and is now almost universally reviled, after being credibly accused of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, battery, and/or misconduct by at least 60 women and convicted and imprisoned for aggravated indecent assault (before being freed from prison on the basis of due process violations). They discuss Cosby's role in integrating primetime television, on screen and off, and more broadly as a progressive force in American race relations; his unexpected late-career pivot into a hectoring, respectability politics scold; why Bell decided to take on a project he describes as a “third-rail conversation" among many African Americans; and Bell's assessments of some of today's greatest working stand-up comics, including Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E73 · Tue, February 15, 2022
Kara Swisher
In which John Heilemann talks with Kara Swisher, arguably the preeminent chronicler (and frequent critic) of the companies, personalities, and culture of Silicon Valley and the technology world writ large. Heilemann and Swisher, a protean reporter and pundit whose vast array of endeavors includes hosting the New York Times podcast Sway and serving as a contributing opinion writer at the paper, discuss Spotify’s handling of the Joe Rogan controversy, how the pandemic has shifted the tech landscape, the recent stock plunge that erased more than $200 billion from the market value of Meta, and what to make of two of the most powerful — and maddening — hyper-capitalists of the age: Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. They also look back at their parallel paths covering Silicon Valley during the first Internet boom (and bubble, and bust) in the late 1990s; how Swisher's lesbian identity affected her ability to cover the Valley's notorious tech bro culture; and how her restlessness, entrepreneurial itch, and proud status as a self-described "bad employee" sets her apart from the journalistic herd. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E72 · Tue, February 08, 2022
Brian Cox
In which John Heilemann talks with the Emmy, Golden Globe, and Olivier Award-winning actor Brian Cox, whose buzzy performance as billionaire media tycoon Logan Roy in the HBO series Succession has turned him into a pop culture phenom at age 75. Heilemann and Cox dissect the hit show and how the struggles of Logan and his scheming, hapless progeny reveal the corrosive effects of money, power, and privilege; Cox’s delightful and at times dishy new memoir, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, and some of his most famous roles on stage and screen (from Titus Andronicus and King Lear to the first cinematic incarnation of Hannibal Lecktor in Michael Mann's Manhunter) ; his withering disdain for method acting and mischievous pride in being a "good old-fashioned shit-stirrer"—as demonstrated by the well-publicized shade-throwing in his book at Johnny Depp, Edward Norton, and Quentin Tarantino. Cox also discusses his performances as big historical figures such as Churchill, Goering, and LBJ, and whether he'd ever be keen to play Donald Trump (spoiler alert: nope). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E71 · Tue, February 01, 2022
Mike Murphy
In which John Heilemann talks with #NeverTrump Republican political strategist Mike Murphy, co-director of the USC Center for the Political Future, co-host of the Hacks on Tap podcast, and NBC News political analyst. Heilemann and Murphy discuss the two biggest stories in politics right now — the pending retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and the escalating crisis around Russia's aggression toward Ukraine — and the opportunities and challenges each present for President Biden and his beleaguered administration; the outlook for Democrats and Republicans in the November midterm elections; whether Trump really plans to seek his party's presidential nomination in 2024, and the implications if he does ... or doesn't. Murphy also reminisces about his storied career as a Svengali to the type of conservative candidates (John McCain, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Arnold Schwarzenegger) for whom today's GOP has vanishingly little use. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E70 · Tue, January 25, 2022
Andy Slavitt
In which John Heilemann talks with Andy Slavitt, former senior adviser to the Biden administration’s COVID response team, the man who led the turnaround of the botched rollout of the Obamacare website, and author of Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response, a withering indictment of the Trump administration's handling of the greatest public-health crisis of our lifetime. On the two-year anniversary of the first Covid-19 case detected in America, Heilemann and Slavitt discuss the past, present, and future of the pandemic; the Biden administration's successes (in particular its aggressive distribution of vaccines) and missteps (on testing, messaging, dealing with vaccine resistance, and preparedness for new variants such as Omicron); and whether we are on the cusp of a new era, in which Covid morphs from pandemic to endemic, and a new normal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E69 · Tue, January 18, 2022
Patrick Gaspard
In which John Heilemann talks with the longtime Democratic strategist Patrick Gaspard, currently president and CEO of The Center for American Progress and previously president of George Soros's Open Society Foundations, U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, executive director of the Democratic National Committee, and political director for Barack Obama's 2008 campaign and in his first term in the White House. Heilemann and Gaspard discuss President Biden’s push for voting rights legislation and filibuster reform in the Senate, and the political realities standing in the way of both; the prospects for Democrats heading into the 2022 midterm elections, and why Gaspard remains optimistic despite the enormous headwinds facing Biden and his party; and how the legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Frederick Douglass have shaped Gaspard's philosophy and approach to politics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E68 · Tue, January 11, 2022
Jeff Goldblum
In which John Heilemann talks with Jeff Goldblum, venerable and venerated actor, chart-topping jazz musician, and enigmatic cultural icon. From roles in star-making blockbusters Jurassic Park and Independence Day to revered performances in smaller films such as The Fly; from turns on network TV staples such as from Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Will & Grace to new streaming series such as Search Party; and from his late-life role as leader of The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra to his online ubiquity in Internet memes, Goldblum has one of the most diverse and beloved oeuvres of the past 50 years in American life. In this special episode, Heilemann and Goldblum discuss the state of Hollywood, the second season of The World According to Jeff Goldblum on Disney+, his side hustle as a jazz pianist, and why the 69-year-old believes he is (finally) peaking creatively. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E67 · Tue, January 04, 2022
Anne Applebaum and Brian Klaas
In which John Heilemann talks with Anne Applebaum and Brian Klaas on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. Applebaum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and staff writer for The Atlantic , and Klaas, an associate professor at University College London and columnist for The Washington Post , are experts on the breakdown of democratic institutions and the rise of autocratic movements in America and around the world. Heilemann, Applebaum, and Klaas look back on what took place a year ago at the U.S. Capitol and what we know about it now; gauge the progress and prospects of the House Select Committee investigating those events; and assess what the potency of Donald Trump's Big Lie and the embrace of political violence on the right could portend for America’s increasingly fragile democracy. They also discuss Klaas’s new book, Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us , and Applebaum’s latest, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E66 · Tue, December 28, 2021
LZ Granderson and Will Leitch
In which John Heilemann talks with sports commentators and writers LZ Granderson and Will Leitch, co-hosts of The Long Game with LZ and Leitch, a new podcast from The Recount covering the intersection of sports, culture, and society. Looking back at the most consequential stories of 2021 on that terrain, the trio goes deep on Covid’s impact on the sports industrial complex; the groundbreaking stances of Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka with respect to mental health; and two high-profile film/tv projects (“King Richard” and “Colin in Black and White”) tackling race in sports. They also dive into LZ and Will’s personal biographies and the professional paths that brought them together as partners on The Long Game — which you can and should check out wherever you get your podcasts! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E65 · Tue, December 21, 2021
David Axelrod
In which John Heilemann talks with David Axelrod, former senior White House adviser and top campaign strategist for Barack Obama, and currently director of the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics, senior political commentator for CNN, and host of The Axe Files podcast. As 2021 comes to an end, Heilemann and Axelrod sit down together in New York City for a look back at the year in politics, from the Biden administration’s successes and mishaps, Covid-19, the polarization and paralysis in Washington, and Donald Trump’s continued stranglehold on the Republican Party. Axelrod reminisces about his storied career as a political reporter, Democratic strategist, and architect of Barack Obama's rise to the White House. Looking ahead to 2022, Axelrod lays out what he sees as the greatest challenges ahead for Democrats — and American democracy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E64 · Tue, December 14, 2021
Cecile Richards
In which John Heilemann talks with Cecile Richards, co-chair of the Democratic super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, co-founder of the women’s rights advocacy group Supermajority, and, from 2006 to 2018, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Heilemann and Richards discuss Roe v Wade' s uncertain future in the wake of the recent Supreme Court arguments around restrictive abortion laws in Mississippi and Texas, and the effects that Roe's potential demise might have on women and politics in America ; how Richards's mother, Ann, the former governor of Texas, propelled her towards a lifetime of activism; and how her broader agenda in favor of "women's equity" is faring in the Biden era. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E63 · Tue, December 07, 2021
Rep. Karen Bass
In which John Heilemann talks with Karen Bass, the six-term California Democratic congresswoman, former speaker of the State Assembly, and current frontrunner in next year’s mayoral election in her home town of Los Angeles. Heilemann and Bass discuss the Omicron variant and the politics behind vaccine resistance in the US; Los Angeles’s homelessness crisis and why it’s the single most important issue motivating Bass to run for mayor; why her party’s messaging isn’t always resonating with voters; and her view that the Biden administration isn’t doing enough to fight for voting rights. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E62 · Tue, November 30, 2021
Gary Ginsberg
In which John Heilemann talks with Gary Ginsberg, the author of First Friends: The Powerful, Unsung (And Unelected) People Who Shaped Our Presidents . Heilemann and Ginsberg discuss the bestselling book, Ginsberg’s innovative approach to writing about the presidency (via the presidents’ relationships with their best friends), and how his role as corporate consiglieri to powerful men, such as JFK Jr., Rupert Murdoch, and former Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, helped him find this new angle. Ginsberg also dishes on Murdoch’s behind-the-scenes dalliance with Barack Obama in the run-up to the 2008 election, and he discusses how Donald Trump’s friendlessness affected his presidency. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E61 · Tue, November 23, 2021
Chris Krebs
In which John Heilemann talks with Chris Krebs, founding director of the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the last Donald Trump appointee to be fired by tweet (after he declared that the 2020 election was the “most secure in American history”). Heilemann and Krebs discuss his work as a co-chair of the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder and its recently released final report, which focuses on the root causes of America’s mis- and disinformation crisis and its proposals to combat it, his tumultuous experience in the Trump administration, and his fears that 2022 and 2024 could propel the country into an "anti-democratic death spiral." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E60 · Tue, November 16, 2021
Danny Strong
In which John Heilemann talks with Danny Strong, the creator, showrunner, and writer of Dopesick, the eight-part Hulu miniseries chronicling the Oxycontin epidemic and the broader opioid crisis it unleashed on America. Heilemann and Strong explore the human costs of that crisis, along with the corporate malfeasance of Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, who relentlessly, deceptively, and indeed criminally marketed Oxycontin as non-addictive; Strong's early work as an actor on popular TV shows such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Gilmore Girls ; and his career transition to acclaimed screenwriter on movies including Recount and Game Change (his Emmy Award-winning adaptation of Heilemann's book about the 2008 election), co-creator and executive producer of the runaway hit series Empire, and director of the final two episodes of Dopesick as well as the J.D. Salinger biopic Rebel in the Rye. Strong also discloses his own addiction to the recent HBO series White Lotus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E59 · Tue, November 09, 2021
John Doerr
In which John Heilemann talks with John Doerr, the billionaire Silicon Valley venture capitalist who financed Google, Amazon, and other household names of the digital age, about his transformation into a greentech pioneer and environmental policy advocate. Heilemann and Doerr discuss the sweeping agenda laid out in Doerr's new book Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now and his takeaways from the UN climate summit COP26 taking place in Glasgow, Scotland; the evolution of Doerr’s career from engineer at Intel to one of prime movers behind the PC boom of the 1980s and the Internet explosion in the Valley from the mid-1990s through today; his relationships with high-tech titans such as Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs; how Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth sent his career in a new direction; the critical role that the private sector can and must play in tackling climate change; and why Doerr believes it’s far cheaper to save the planet than to destroy it. Doerr also explains why he finds himself agreeing with Greta Thunberg more often than you might imagine of one of the world's richest men. For more details on Doerr's ambitious plan for solving the climate crisis, click here . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
Trailer · Wed, November 03, 2021
Introducing: The Long Game with LZ & Leitch
The intersection of sports, culture, and politics is at the heart of the new weekly podcast from The Recount, "The Long Game with LZ & Leitch", premiering Wednesday, November 3rd. Hosted by LZ Granderson, formerly of ESPN, now an op-ed columnist for the L.A. Times and a political contributor to ABC News, and Will Leitch, founder of the late website Deadspin, a contributing editor at New York Magazine and the author of "How Lucky", "The Long Game" dives into the most relevant sports topics of the week to not only break down the games, but the games people play. From vaccination hesitation, to online betting, to all of the wonderful "isms" and "phobias" we've come to know and love, sports not only reflect our culture, they drive our culture. Join Will and LZ as they explore the events on and off the field that collide with the political, business, and social concerns that captivate the American conversation. Listen to new episodes every Wednesday: https://therecount.com/podcasts/the-long-game-with-lz-and-leitch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E58 · Tue, November 02, 2021
Paul Begala and James Carville
In which John Heilemann talks with Paul Begala and James Carville, the fabled Democratic strategists who famously led Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign. Heilemann, Begala, and Carville discuss the travails of Joe Biden’s ambitious domestic legislative initiatives as they hit repeated roadblocks in Congress; this week's bellwether Virginia gubernatorial election and what its outcome might foreshadow for both parties in next year's midterm elections; the implications of the fierce infighting between moderate and progressive Democrats for the party's future prospects; what lies behind Biden's eroding approval ratings and the intense backlash against his agenda in some parts of the electorate – and what, if anything, he can do about it. Heilemann also takes Begala and Carville, longtime partners and best friends, on a trip down memory lane, in the process achieving the host's true objective: making the Ragin' Cajun cry on air. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E57 · Tue, October 26, 2021
Fiona Hill
In which John Heilemann talks with Fiona Hill, the former national security official in Donald Trump's White House who made headlines with her testimony in the hearings over the Ukraine scandal that led to his first impeachment. Heilemann and Hill discuss her new memoir, There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century, including her reluctant decision to join the Trump administration, what she learned about his character, and his envious admiration for authoritarian leaders around the world and Vladimir Putin in particular; how Trump’s disregard for the rule of law and democratic norms led not only to his first impeachment but also his attempted coup in the weeks following the 2020 presidential election and culminating with the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6; and why it's no exaggeration to say that Trump is setting the stage for another attempt to subvert American democracy in 2024. Hill also discusses her unlikely journey from a working-class mining town in northeastern England to the rarified academic realm at Harvard, the inner sanctum of the U.S. foreign policy establishment, and upper reaches of political and policy-making power inside the White House. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E56 · Tue, October 19, 2021
Maya Wiley
In which John Heilemann talks with Maya Wiley, the longtime progressive activist and civil rights lawyer who waged a spirited campaign for mayor of New York City earlier this year. Heilemann and Wiley discuss her entry in the race, the highs, lows, and surprises of the campaign, and what the victory of centrist Eric Adams means for NYC and the future of the Democratic Party; the fragile state of American democracy and the threat posed by Trump, the Republican Party, and their perpetuation of the Big Lie about the 2020 election; the Jan. 6 Committee and the stakes of getting to the bottom of the Capitol insurrection; whether Democrats are doing enough to enact voting rights legislation; and the mounting frustrations among Black voters that Biden is falling short on delivering on his campaign promises. Wiley also discusses her plans for the future and ways people can mobilize and fight for change. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E55 · Tue, October 12, 2021
John Dickerson
In which John Heilemann talks with CBS News chief political analyst and CBS Sunday Morning contributor John Dickerson. The former moderator of Face the Nation, co-host of CBS This Morning , and correspondent for 60 Minutes, Dickerson is also the author of three books, a former writer for Slate and Time , and a co-host of Slate Political Gabfest. Heilemann and Dickerson discuss Republican and Democratic wrangling over the debt ceiling, the controversial Texas abortion law, the Facebook whistleblower, Donald Trump's Big Lie, and whether Joe Biden is doing enough to push back against the threats to American democracy; the evolution of Dickerson’s career from print to television and his relationship with his mother, Nancy Dickerson, CBS News's first female correspondent. Heilemann and Dickerson also discuss their mutual grief over the deaths of their dogs last summer, Dickerson's recent piece in The Atlantic about coping with that loss, and what both men believe that humans can learn from their canines about empathy, loyalty, and unconditional love. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E54 · Wed, October 06, 2021
Brian Koppelman, Part 2
In which John Heilemann talks with Brian Koppelman, co-creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the hit Showtime series Billions . Heilemann and Koppelman discuss the genesis of Billions and why Brian was drawn to the world of hedge funds; the fifth season of the show (its finale aired on October 3) and the challenges posed by a months-long, Covid-imposed break in production; the feud between megalomaniacal financial titan Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) and Machiavellian lawman Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti), and why the addition of rival master of the universe Mike Prince (Corey Stoll) this season is central to the show's future—as Koppelman and his partner, David Levien, explore whether a "good billionaire" is a contradiction in terms. Making a drop-in appearance on the podcast, Billions co-star David Costabile talks about playing Axelrod aide-de-camp and fan favorite Mike "Wags" Wagner; Costabile's history with Koppelman, with whom he went to college; and the evolution of their relationship and Wags's character over six years on the show. Koppelman also reminisces about his early career in the music business and his discovery of Tracy Chapman while he was still an undergraduate; his decision to pursue screenwriting with Levien and their first film, Rounders ; Koppelman's struggles with ADHD and the career setbacks he faced before the runaway success of Billions; and the new series he and Levien are making for Showtime, which chronicles the rise and fall of Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E54 · Tue, October 05, 2021
Brian Koppelman, Part 1
In which John Heilemann talks with Brian Koppelman, co-creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the hit Showtime series Billions . Heilemann and Koppelman discuss the genesis of Billions and why Brian was drawn to the world of hedge funds; the fifth season of the show (its finale aired on October 3) and the challenges posed by a months-long, Covid-imposed break in production; the feud between megalomaniacal financial titan Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) and Machiavellian lawman Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti), and why the addition of rival master of the universe Mike Prince (Corey Stoll) this season is central to the show's future—as Koppelman and his partner, David Levien, explore whether a "good billionaire" is a contradiction in terms. Making a drop-in appearance on the podcast, Billions co-star David Costabile talks about playing Axelrod aide-de-camp and fan favorite Mike "Wags" Wagner; Costabile's history with Koppelman, with whom he went to college; and the evolution of their relationship and Wags's character over six years on the show. Koppelman also reminisces about his early career in the music business and his discovery of Tracy Chapman while he was still an undergraduate; his decision to pursue screenwriting with Levien and their first film, Rounders ; Koppelman's struggles with ADHD and the career setbacks he faced before the runaway success of Billions; and the new series he and Levien are making for Showtime, which chronicles the rise and fall of Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E53 · Wed, September 29, 2021
Stevie Van Zandt, Part 2
In which John Heilemann talks with Stevie Van Zandt, a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, co-star of The Sopranos, and author of a new memoir, Unrequited Infatuations. In this special two-part episode, Heilemann and Van Zandt discuss his early musical influences, the foundations of his best friendship with Springsteen, the extraordinary albums they made together in the 1970s—Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River—and the painful breakup that caused Van Zandt to commit "career suicide" by leaving the band on the brink of its becoming the biggest rock act in the world; his solo career as a musician and political activist, in particular his crucial part in the movement to dismantle the apartheid regime in South Africa; his unlikely emergence as a beloved actor in the role of Silvio Dante opposite James Gandolfini in David Chase's acclaimed HBO mobster series; and his reconciliation with Springsteen and return to the E Street Band two decades after his departure. Van Zandt also explains why he fought The Boss over calling his group The E Street Band — and still considers it a piss-poor name — and Van Zandt's view that the debate over "sways" versus "waves" in the lyrics of "Thunder Road" is no debate at all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S2 E53 · Tue, September 28, 2021
Stevie Van Zandt, Part 1
In which John Heilemann talks with Stevie Van Zandt, a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, co-star of The Sopranos, and author of a new memoir, Unrequited Infatuations. In this special two-part episode, Heilemann and Van Zandt discuss his early musical influences, the foundations of his best friendship with Springsteen, the extraordinary albums they made together in the 1970s—Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River—and the painful breakup that caused Van Zandt to commit "career suicide" by leaving the band on the brink of its becoming the biggest rock act in the world; his solo career as a musician and political activist, in particular his crucial part in the movement to dismantle the apartheid regime in South Africa; his unlikely emergence as a beloved actor in the role of Silvio Dante opposite James Gandolfini in David Chase's acclaimed HBO mobster series; and his reconciliation with Springsteen and return to the E Street Band two decades after his departure. Van Zandt also explains why he fought The Boss over calling his group The E Street Band — and still considers it a piss-poor name — and Van Zandt's view that the debate over "sways" versus "waves" in the lyrics of "Thunder Road" is no debate at all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E52 · Tue, September 21, 2021
Ken Burns
In which John Heilemann talks with documentarian Ken Burns, whose new four-part series, Muhammad Ali , premiered this week on PBS. Heilemann and Burns discuss Ali's life and legacy as the most important athlete of the 20th century, in particular how his story transcends sports, intersecting with the defining issues of his era (race, religion, politics, protest) and illuminating much about the American experience in the convulsive Sixties and Seventies; Burns's prodigious body of work, which has earned him two Academy Award nominations, 15 Emmys, and two Grammys, and has made him the dominant practitioner of his art form over the past 40 years; the landmark films within his oeuvre — multi-part television events such as The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, and The Vietnam War , some running nearly 20 hours in length — and how Burns found himself imbued with the power to get such sprawling projects made; and the central role that race has occupied in his work, and in the American story. Burns also reflects on his childhood and how it inspired his career, and what it was like to co-direct the Ali series with his oldest daughter Sarah and her husband. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E51 · Tue, September 14, 2021
Frank Figliuzzi
In which John Heilemann talks with Frank Figliuzzi, former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence, author of The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence , and current MSNBC and NBC News national security contributor. Heilemann and Figliuzzi discuss the upcoming “Justice for J6” protest in Washington by those who consider the January 6 insurrectionists "political prisoners" and why, especially in the wake of President Biden's vaccine mandate, law enforcement and intelligence officials are bracing for violence in the capital and elsewhere around the country; far-right domestic extremism and the central role of white nationalist movements in fomenting it; how Donald Trump's Big Lie about the 2020 election and the culture wars he ignited over Covid have created an especially toxic and volatile atmosphere in America today; Figliuzzi's views regarding the need to regulate social media platforms to curb their role in spreading mis- and disinformation; and how Figliuzzi recognizes a similar pattern in the radicalization of the far right at home to what occurred abroad around the spread of Islamic fundamentalism before and after 9/11. Figliuzzi also reflects on his 25-year career in the FBI, and the ways in the which the bureau has—and hasn't—adapted to the new threats the United States faces from within. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E50 · Tue, September 07, 2021
George Packer
In which John Heilemann talks with George Packer, staff writer for The Atlantic and National Book Award-winning author of The Unwinding, The Assassin's Gate, Our Man, and, Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal. Heilemann and Packer discuss Joe Biden's handling of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and how it spurred the first foreign policy crisis of his presidency; the twentieth anniversaries of 9-11 and the global war on terror, and how they changed America in ways large and small; and Packer's argument in Last Best Hope that, over the past forty years, the two dominant national narratives of the post-war era—the stories espoused by Democrats and Republicans to explain the country's identity and aspirations—have subdivided into four: Free America, Smart America, Real America, and Just America. Heilemann and Packer also discuss the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, and whether it represents an even greater threat to the country than the horror at Ground Zero on September 11, 2001. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E49 · Tue, August 31, 2021
Derek DelGaudio
In which John Heilemann talks with magician and performance artist Derek DelGaudio, best known for his Off-Broadway one-man show turned Hulu special. In & Of Itself . Heilemann and DelGaudio discuss the difficulty of discussing the show, which Derek has described as "a theatrical existential crisis," to anyone who hasn't seen it; his attempts to transcend the stereotypes associated with being identified as a magician; his evolution from a student of sleight-of-hand to a card mechanic (aka, a dealer who fixes hands) at a high-stakes poker game in LA, which he recounts in his recent memoir, AMORALMAN: A True Story And Other Lies; and his time as as assistant to the renowned illusionist Ricky Jay. DelGaudio also reflects on how his insights about rigged games apply to our current political situation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E48 · Tue, August 24, 2021
Dr. Michael Osterholm
In which John Heilemann talks with renowned epidemiologist Dr Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and a former member of Joe Biden's Covid-19 presidential transition advisory board. Heilemann and Osterholm discuss the past, present, and future of the pandemic as the Delta variant lays waste to the sense, just weeks ago, that America had gained the upper hand against Covid; the ways politicians have misjudged the virus and mismanaged our response to it; the Biden administration's scramble to employ tougher tactics to incentivize vaccination and quash the anti-mask crusade; the dangers posed by alarmingly low rates of vaccination in many countries around the world; and the likelihood of a new variant emerging that is even worse than Delta. Osterholm also reflects on his reputation in some quarters as Dr. Doom, and suggests one reason for continued optimism about the future no matter how grim the news on the Covid front may be: dogs. (Duh.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E47 · Tue, August 17, 2021
Claire McCaskill
In which John Heilemann talks with Claire McCaskill, former two-term Missouri Democratic senator and current political analyst for MSNBC. Heilemann and McCaskill discuss the Senate passage of Joe Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure bill and its outlook in the House, along with his proposed $3.5 trillion expansion of the social safety net; whether Biden is doing enough to press for voting rights legislation in the face of a slew of GOP efforts to curtail them; an array of gender-tinged topics, from Andrew Cuomo's resignation and McCaskill's own #MeToo experiences as a young state legislator to the epidemic of sexual assault in the military (an issue she sought relentlessly to address in her time in the Senate); and politics in the Show Me State, including the futures of ultra-conservative Senator Josh Hawley (who defeated McCaskill in 2018) and ultra-progressive St. Louis congresswoman Cori Bush. McCaskill also waxes hopeful about the playoff prospects of her beloved but underperforming St. Louis Cardinals, and professes her (as yet unrequited) love for Charles Barkley. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E46 · Wed, August 11, 2021
Chris Matthews, Part 2
In which John Heilemann talks with Chris Matthews, the longtime MSNBC commentator and host for more than 20 years of one of the network's flagship programs, Hardball. Matthews, whose career before becoming a cable news fixture included stints as a speechwriter in Jimmy Carter's White House and an aide to former House Speaker Tip O'Neill, is also the author of nine best-selling books, the most recent of which, This Country: My in Politics and History , was published in June. Heilemann and Matthews discuss This Country and how Matthews's work in government informed his analysis as a TV host; Joe Biden's presidency and the tensions between progressives and moderates in the Democratic Party; the sexual misconduct allegations against New York governor Andrew Cuomo; and the long-run implications of the January 6 insurrection and Donald Trump's Big Lie about the 2020 election for America's future as a democratic republic. Matthews, who served for a time as a member of the Capitol police force, also reflects on the heroism of the officers who risked their lives on January 6 and the appalling disparagement of them by many on the right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E46 · Tue, August 10, 2021
Chris Matthews, Part 1
In which John Heilemann talks with Chris Matthews, the longtime MSNBC commentator and host for more than 20 years of one of the network's flagship programs, Hardball. Matthews, whose career before becoming a cable news fixture included stints as a speechwriter in Jimmy Carter's White House and an aide to former House Speaker Tip O'Neill, is also the author of nine best-selling books, the most recent of which, This Country: My in Politics and History , was published in June. Heilemann and Matthews discuss This Country and how Matthews's work in government informed his analysis as a TV host; Joe Biden's presidency and the tensions between progressives and moderates in the Democratic Party; the sexual misconduct allegations against New York governor Andrew Cuomo; and the long-run implications of the January 6 insurrection and Donald Trump's Big Lie about the 2020 election for America's future as a democratic republic. Matthews, who served for a time as a member of the Capitol police force, also reflects on the heroism of the officers who risked their lives on January 6 and the appalling disparagement of them by many on the right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E45 · Tue, August 03, 2021
Roger Bennett and Jon Wertheim
In which John Heilemann talks with Roger Bennett, cohost of Men in Blazers on NBC Sports, and Jon Wertheim, executive editor of Sports Illustrated. Heilemann, Bennet, and Wertheim discuss the Tokyo Summer Olympics, how the games have been affected by our deeply polarized politics (with conservatives trashing Team USA for excessive wokeness), and the controversy around Simone Biles's decision to prioritize her mental health over winning at all costs. They go deep on recently published books by the two guests: Bennett's Reborn in the USA: An Englishman's Love Letter to His Chosen Home and Wertheim’s Glory Days: The Summer of 1984 and the 90 Days That Changed Sports and Culture Forever , both of which explore the lasting impact of the 1980s on sports and culture—from the birth that year of the modern NBA (Magic v. Bird in the NBA Finals, Michael Jordan joining the Chicago Bulls, David Stern becoming the league's commissioner) to the triumph of 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Bennett and Wertheim also reflect on the legacy of 1985-86 Chicago Bears, and in particular the cultural landmark that was “The Super Bowl Shuffle." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E44 · Tue, July 27, 2021
Cey Adams and Shepard Fairey
In which John Heilemann talks with the visual artists and graphic designers Cey Adams and Shepard Fairey. Heilemann, Adams, and Fairey discuss the artists' common roots in the graffiti and street art scenes of the 1980s; Cey's seminal role as founding creative director at Def Jam Recordings—where his collaborations with the Beastie Boys, Run DMC, LL Cool J, and Jay-Z defined the look and feel of hip hop in its formative stages—and his more recent work with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture; Shepard's evolution from the breakthrough "Obey Giant" sticker campaign and the iconic HOPE poster for the 2008 Obama campaign to his grand-scale public murals around the world, three covers for Time magazine, Obey Clothing line, and recent redesign of the official logo for the city of Los Angeles; Adams's and Fairey's takes on politics, propaganda, and art; and their shared appreciation of the anti-establishment power at the nexus of music and street art. Also, unsurprisingly, Heilemann, Adams, and Fairey find common ground in their mutual worship of Public Enemy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E43 · Tue, July 20, 2021
Kurt Andersen
In which John Heilemann talks with Kurt Andersen, the host, writer, and co-producer of the podcast series "Nixon at War," a seven-part exploration of Richard Nixon's downfall through the less of Vietnam. Heilemann and Andersen discuss Andersen's thesis that the war in Southeast Asia and the Watergate scandal, the twin disasters of Nixon's time in office, are not separate stories but deeply entwined; the astonishing archival audio, much of it from Nixon's White House taping system, that makes the series come alive; the striking similarities between Nixon and Donald Trump, personal (insecurity, paranoia, resentment) and political (us versus them divisiveness, appeals to white grievance, demonization of the press); and the direct line between Nixon's criminality and disregard for democratic norms and today's Republican Party. Andersen also reminisces about growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, during the Vietnam era, and his transformation from a Nixon-supporting eighth-grader to a pot-smoking, McGovern-backing, Abbie Hoffman-loving high schooler. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E42 · Wed, July 14, 2021
Michael Bender, Part 2
In which John Heilemann talks with Mike Bender, senior White House reporter for The Wall Street Journal and author of Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, for a special two-part episode of the podcast . Heilemann and Bender discuss the latter's new book and its news-making account of Trump's cataclysmic final year in office and doomstruck reelection campaign; how the president mishandled the series of crises that beset the country in 2020, from Covid to the protests after the murder of George Floyd; his contraction of the coronavirus and obsession with Hunter Biden in the campaign's waning days; his actions behind the scenes and motivations in fanning the flames before and during the January 6 attack on the Capitol; the symbiotic relationship between Trump and the national media; Trump's continued post-presidential hold on the Republican Party; and both his and his party's future. Bender also discusses his career in journalism, his daily battle with his father for rights to the sports page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer when he was growing up, and the special challenges of writing about a White House filled with unreliable narrators. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E42 · Tue, July 13, 2021
Michael Bender, Part 1
In which John Heilemann talks with Mike Bender, senior White House reporter for The Wall Street Journal and author of Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, for a special two-part episode of the podcast . Heilemann and Bender discuss the latter's new book and its news-making account of Trump's cataclysmic final year in office and doomstruck reelection campaign; how the president mishandled the series of crises that beset the country in 2020, from Covid to the protests after the murder of George Floyd; his contraction of the coronavirus and obsession with Hunter Biden in the campaign's waning days; his actions behind the scenes and motivations in fanning the flames before and during the January 6 attack on the Capitol; the symbiotic relationship between Trump and the national media; Trump's continued post-presidential hold on the Republican Party; and both his and his party's future. Bender also discusses his career in journalism, his daily battle with his father for rights to the sports page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer when he was growing up, and the special challenges of writing about a White House filled with unreliable narrators. Check back tomorrow for the second installment of this special edition of Hell & High Water. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
Bonus · Tue, July 06, 2021
Introducing: The Recount Daily Pod
Every morning on The Recount Daily Pod, host journalist Reena Ninan will break down the most important news of the day, both domestically and abroad. In 5 minutes or less, you’ll walk away feeling smarter and more in sync with the world. Then, tune in for an interview with journalists who are on the forefront of the stories that affect us all. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E41 · Tue, June 22, 2021
Best Of Hell & High Water: Entertainment Edition
On a special episode of Hell & High Water , John Heilemann revisits some his favorite interviews with guests from the entertainment industry, whose work was honored during this past awards season. Aaron Sorkin discusses the pandemic-related challenges of wrapping and releasing The Trial of the Chicago 7, for which he was nominated for an Oscar and won the Golden Globe for best original screenplay. Daveed Diggs, Ethan Hawke, and James McBride recount their collaboration on The Good Lord Bird , the Showtime limited series about the legendary abolitionist John Brown, for which Hawke was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award. And Academy Award-nominated screenwriters (and standup comics) Kenny and Keith Lucas describe the challenges of creating Judas and the Black Messiah , which tells the story of the assassination of Fred Hampton, the 21-year-old chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, in 1969. To listen to the full episodes from which these highlights were drawn, you can download them here: https://therecount.com/podcasts/hell-and-high-water Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E40 · Tue, June 15, 2021
SNEAK PREVIEW: Elie Mystal on “Battleground with Amanda Litman and Faiz Shakir"
In which Hell & High Water is pleased to introduce you to another podcast in the Recount family: Battleground with Amanda Litman and Faiz Shakir. Battleground episodes normally drop on Thursdays, but we're giving you a sneak preview of this week's edition, which features Elie Mystal – justice correspondent for The Nation and a frequent guest on MSNBC. If you're interested in the future of the Democratic Party — or American democracy — you're going to love Battleground . Amanda Litman is a co-founder and executive director of Run For Something, an organization that recruits young progressives to seek elective office and helps them do it. Faiz Shakir has been a leading progressive voice for more than a decade, most recently serving as campaign manager for Bernie Sanders's 2020 presidential bid. Every week, Litman and Shakir and their guests — reporters, activists, operatives — explore the internal debates and external strategies of Democratic Party and the issues facing America's fragile democratic process through a progressive lens. Whether you're left-leaning, a political junkie, or simply care about the country, Battleground is essential listening. Subscribe to “Battleground” with Amanda Litman and Faiz Shakir here: recount.co/BAT Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E39 · Tue, June 08, 2021
Christopher Jackson
In which John Heilemann talks with Christopher Jackson, the Tony award-nominated and Grammy and Emmy award-winning actor, singer, musician, and composer best known for playing George Washington in the original Broadway cast of Hamilton . Heilemann and Jackson discuss his journey from growing up in Cairo, Illinois to becoming a bona fide theater and television star; how the traumas of Covid-19 and the post-George Floyd racial reckoning impacted the creative community; how Broadway is faring as it prepares for its long-awaited reopening in September; how Hamilt on reflected the political zeitgeist of the Obama era but remains relevant today, and how it felt to perform at the White House for the first Black president; and his pride at seeing the hit Broadway musical In the Heights, in which he played a key role (Benny), turned into a splashy Hollywood film that is among the first to be widely released in movie theaters in the wake of the pandemic. Jackson also discusses his relationship with Lin-Manuel Miranda, the genius behind both In The Heights and Hamilton, and why their friendship is one of the most important in his life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E38 · Tue, June 01, 2021
Rick Doblin
In which John Heilemann talks with Rick Doblin, the pioneering champion of psychedelics who has waged a decades-long crusade to bring about mainstream acceptance of psychoactive drugs for therapeutic and recreational use. Heilemann and Doblin have known each other for more than 30 years, and they discuss Doblin’s path-breaking work at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which he founded and has turned into a multimillion dollar research and advocacy group employing 130 neuroscientists, pharmacologists, and regulatory specialists; his focus on paving the way for MDMA (aka Ecstasy or Molly) to be used in clinical settings as a treatment for depression, addiction, PTSD, and other maladies; how the cultural acceptance of marijuana (first as a medicine and then more broadly) is a leading indicator of where things are headed with MDMA, psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, and other mind-altering compounds; the future of psychedelic medicine, now that FDA approval is on the horizon; and the coming psychedelics investment bubble. Doblin also describes his personal experiences with psychedelics and how they changed his life, as well as the potential for backlash to the psychedelic renaissance, especially from fundamentalist groups, as social mores change. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E37 · Tue, May 25, 2021
Will Leitch
In which John Heilemann talks with writer Will Leitch, sports columnist for MLB.com and New York magazine, founder of Deadspin, and author of a new novel, How Lucky. Heilemann and Leitch discuss the inspiration for How Lucky , including a friend of his young son with spinal muscular atrophy, the genetic disorder that Leitch gives to Daniel, the book's hero; Leitch's love for Athens, Georgia, where he and his family now live and where the book is set; how a complimentary tweet from Stephen King is tantamount to an Oprah's Book Club seal of approval; Leitch's time at Deadspin , including a famous televised confrontation with Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissinger; the real reason for Major League Baseball's decision to move the All-Star Game from Atlanta; and how the NBA is leading the way in political activism in sports. Leitch also discusses his hesitation about getting too excited about the recent success of the New York Knicks, with villainous team owner Jimmy Dolan forever lurking in the wings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E36 · Tue, May 18, 2021
Steven Johnson
In which John Heilemann talks with Steven Johnson, New York Times best-selling writer on science, technology, and their intersection with human behavior. Heilemann and Johnson discuss his latest book, Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer , and the new four-part PBS documentary series of the same title based on the book, which explore what Johnson calls "one of our greatest achievements: the doubling of global life expectancy over the past century;" the historical roots of the anti-vax movement; the importance of networks of collaboration in discovery and what he regards as the myth of the "lone genius;" the cholera epidemic in London in the mid-1800s and what we can learn from it today; and the rarely examined environmental consequences of our great strides in public health. Johnson also shares his qualms about the possibility that medical advances might—just might—allow us to live forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E35 · Tue, May 11, 2021
News Items Podcast with John Ellis and Rebecca Darst
In which John Heilemann talks with John Ellis and Rebecca Darst, co-hosts of "News Items Podcast," a new daily show from The Recount. "News Items Podcast" is based on the influential "News Items" daily newsletter founded and run by Ellis, a longtime veteran of the news business. Both the podcast and newsletter focus on three big topic areas, with occasional forays into a fourth: (1) World in Disarray; (2) Financialization of Everything; (3) Advances in Science and Technology; (4) Electoral politics in the US and around the world. On this special episode of Hell & High Water, Heilemann, Ellis, and Darst discuss these topics, including the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic in India; the importance of crypto currencies such as Bitcoin and their potential effects on the global economy; the forces shaping this moment in American politics, from Joe Biden's ambitious agenda to the trajectory of Fox News; and the massive near-term impacts of the arrival of quantum computing and rapid progress on artificial intelligence. They also mull over recent research suggesting that too little sleep may lead to dementia, with Ellis comforting Heilemann—who, if the research is right, is in serious trouble—with the news that, by the time he reaches seventy, there will likely be a drug that cures Alzheimer's. (Phew.) Subscribe to “News Items Podcast with John Ellis” here: http://recount.co/NewsItemsPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
Thu, May 06, 2021
BONUS: Mika Brzezinski on "Just Something About Her" Podcast with Jennifer Palmieri
Hell & High Water brings you a bonus episode from another podcast in the Recount family: "Just Something About Her" with Jennifer Palmieri. Palmieri spent more than two decades as a big-time political and communications strategist, serving as communications director for Barack Obama's White House and Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. “Just Something About Her" was born out of Jennifer's experience working for Hillary, when she kept hearing people say, "I don't know, there’s just something about her I don’t like...". With her podcast, Palmieri is flipping that script, interviewing women who made it to the top of their fields on their own terms. This week's guest is Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," a best-selling author, and the founder of "Know Your Value," a movement in partnership with NBCUniversal that empowers women to recognize their worth and endeavor to get paid accordingly. Mika recently partnered with Forbes to create its first "50 Over 50" list to highlight women who have achieved success later in life. Palmieri and Brzezinski discuss how Mika "walks the walk" when it comes to supporting women. They discuss common mistakes they have made during pay negotiations, what women can learn from men about how to behave at the bargaining table, and what it might take for women to make a comeback from setbacks during the pandemic. Plus, Mika shares a traumatic experience from when her daughter was a newborn that taught her to slow down and focus on what matters. Subscribe to "Just Something About Her" with Jennifer Palmieri here: https://therecount.com/podcasts/just-something-about-her Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E34 · Tue, May 04, 2021
Don Lemon
In which John Heilemann talks with Don Lemon, host of CNN Tonight and author of the new book, “This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism." Heilemann and Lemon, who opens his book with a letter to his nephew describing his emotional response to George Floyd's murder, discuss his reaction to the Derek Chauvin trial and the spate of police shootings during and after the proceedings; Lemon's place in the media landscape as the only Black male anchor in primetime cable news; his childhood in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the challenges he faced as he rose in the news business due to being both Black and gay; how Lemon sees the role of journalists at a time when democratic institutions are under threat; and his famously contentious relationship with Donald Trump. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
Wed, April 28, 2021
Introducing: News Items Podcast with John Ellis
Ninety percent of the news out there tells you nothing about where the world is going — ten percent of it tells you everything. On the News Items Podcast with John Ellis, John and Rebecca Darst dissect news items that help you understand where the world is going. Tune in every Monday through Thursday afternoon to hear decades of journalistic experience packed into 20 minutes of insight, plus guest interviews on finance, U.S. politics, foreign affairs, science and technology. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E33 · Tue, April 27, 2021
Dr. Vin Gupta and Dr. Leana Wen
In which John Heilemann talks with Dr. Vin Gupta and Dr. Leana Wen, two public health rising stars who have emerged as influential and indispensable voices on Covid-19 in the past year. Heilemann, Gupta, and Wen discuss the Biden administration’s response to the pandemic and whether its success in exceeding its vaccination goals portends victory in the fight against Covid; the controversies over the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines in America and Europe, respectively; the factors behind vaccine hesitancy and what measures might be taken to overcome it; and the imperative of restarting the economy and why vaccine passports may be a big part of the solution. Drs. Gupta and Wen also share their fears about the future, especially on the international front, where new variants of the virus are springing up all the time; their views about whether Covid will ever be eradicated and what the new normal might look like; and what they would do if granted god-like powers to implement any regime they wished to combat the pandemic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E32 · Tue, April 20, 2021
The Lucas Brothers
In which John Heilemann talks with Kenny and Keith Lucas, the 35-year-old identical twin comedians, actors, producers, and writers who share a 2021 Oscar nomination (with Will Berson and Shaka King) for Best Original Screenplay for "Judas and the Black Messiah." Heilemann and the Lucas Brothers discuss their decade-long quest to persuade Hollywood to green-light the story of Fred Hampton, the precocious and charismatic chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party in the late Sixties, and his assassination by the Chicago Police Department and the FBI; Keith and Kenny's unlikely rise from rough family circumstances and the mean streets of Newark, New Jersey through elite law schools (from which they both dropped out days from graduation) to acclaim in the world stand-up comedy, culminating in their 2017 Netflix special, "On Drugs"; the role of illicit substances in their art and lives; their mutual struggles with PTSD, addiction, depression, and suicide; their out-front, at times hilarious, codependency; their passions for politics and philosophy; and how "Seinfeld" saved their lives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E31 · Tue, April 13, 2021
Senator Cory Booker
In which John Heilemann talks with Cory Booker, Demoratic senator from New Jersey. In the first single-topic episode of the podcast, Heilemann and Booker do a deep dive into an issue that's been central to Booker's career: criminal justice reform and racial equity. They discuss the Derek Chauvin trial and their fears if justice isn't served; the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, just recently passed by the House, and the criticism it has received from Black Lives Matter and others on left for not going far enough; the legalization of marijuana and the need to address the widespread inequities in America's drug laws; and Booker's view of Biden as ally in the cause of police, prison, and sentencing reform despite Biden's checkered history on these issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E30 · Tue, April 06, 2021
Nicolle Wallace, Part 2
In which John Heilemann talks with Nicolle Wallace, the host of Deadline: White House on MSNBC. Heilemann and Wallace discuss Joe Biden’s first 11 weeks in office and the striking boldness of the agenda he's pursuing; the state of the Covid-19 pandemic amid the vaccination boom and the series of moving COVID eulogies (Lives Well Lived) that Wallace has delivered on her show each day for the past year; the Republican Party as it struggles to define itself in the post-Trump era; the aftershocks from the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol; the Derek Chauvin murder trial in Minneapolis for the killing of George Floyd and America's ongoing racial reckoning; and the wave of voter suppression measures in Georgia and elsewhere and their implications for our democracy. Wallace also shares what she’s missed most during the pandemic and is most eager to recover when things return to normal ... whatever that means. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E30 · Tue, April 06, 2021
Nicolle Wallace, Part 1
In which John Heilemann talks with Nicolle Wallace, the host of Deadline: White House on MSNBC. Heilemann and Wallace discuss Joe Biden’s first 11 weeks in office and the striking boldness of the agenda he's pursuing; the state of the Covid-19 pandemic amid the vaccination boom and the series of moving COVID eulogies (Lives Well Lived) that Wallace has delivered on her show each day for the past year; the Republican Party as it struggles to define itself in the post-Trump era; the aftershocks from the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol; the Derek Chauvin murder trial in Minneapolis for the killing of George Floyd and America's ongoing racial reckoning; and the wave of voter suppression measures in Georgia and elsewhere and their implications for our democracy. Wallace also shares what she’s missed most during the pandemic and is most eager to recover when things return to normal ... whatever that means. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E29 · Tue, March 30, 2021
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell
In which John Heilemann talks with Michigan congresswoman Debbie Dingell, co-chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. Heilemann and Dingell discuss the continuing fallout from the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and ongoing violent extremist threats; her recent grilling of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the role of social media in spreading misinformation and disinformation; her view of President Biden's first ten weeks in office and the major items on his agenda going forward, including infrastructure, climate change, and voting rights. Dingell also addresses her experiences with domestic violence and drug abuse in her family growing up, as well as her late husband—the legendary Michigan congressman John Dingell, who held the seat his wife now occupies for 59 years before she succeeded him—and his evolution regarding gun control, in the context of the renewed debate over new gun safety measures following the horrific shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, and Boulder, Colorado. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E28 · Tue, March 23, 2021
Franklin Leonard
In which John Heilemann talks with Franklin Leonard, the founder and CEO of The Black List, a company best known for its annual survey of the most popular screenplays among Hollywood executives that remain unproduced. Heilemann and Leonard discuss this year's Oscar nominations, and in particular the historic levels of diversity among the slate of nominees, as well as the epic fail that was the recent Globe Globes; filmmaking amid the continuing threat of Covid-19, the explosion of streaming fueled by the pandemic, and what it might mean for the future of the industry; the story of how and why Leonard started the Black List and the long-term effects he hopes that his work and other democratizing influences will have on the entertainment industry; structural racism in Hollywood and new initiatives, including one led by Leonard, designed to combat it; and the powerful legacy of the late Chadwick Boseman. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E27 · Tue, March 16, 2021
Clint Watts
Clint Watts has built his career around the study of extremism: online and off, foreign and domestic, from Russian disinformation campaigns and cyberwarfare to homegrown conspiracists, militia movements, and white supremacists. A former Army infantry officer and FBI special agent, he has served on the bureau's Joint Terrorism Task Force and consulted for its National Security Branch. Currently a distinguished research fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a non-resident fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, and a national security contributor for NBC News and MSNBC, Watts is the author of “Messing with the Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians, and Fake News.” Watts first came to national prominence as one of the first experts to raise concerns about Russian online activity during the 2016 presidential campaign. But in the run-up to 2020, even as he kept an eye on the nefarious cyber exploits of foreign actors, Watts focused increasingly on the domestic front, where MAGA-fueled extremist activity was proliferating online and coalescing into a tangible terror threat. Watts warned that the threat would come to a head on or before Election Day — a fear that proved prescient, albeit ever so slightly premature. On this episode of Hell & High Water, Heilemann and Watts discuss the developments and dynamics that led to the insurrection at the US Capitol, with Watts laying out a taxonomy of extremism and suggesting that what lies ahead may prove even more violent, chaotic, and destabilizing than what took place on January 6. To read Watts's new "Selected Wisdom" Substack, subscribe here: https://clintwatts.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E26 · Tue, March 02, 2021
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Andrew Ross Sorkin is arguably the country's most important and influential financial and business journalist — and, without doubt, its most plugged in. Having started his career at the New York Times as intern when he was still in high school, he now presides over DealBook, which began its life in 2001 as a newsletter about Wall Street and the mergers and acquisitions game, but over the past 20 years has grown into a sprawling finance, business, and economic news fiefdom within the larger Times empire. At the same time, Sorkin is a co-anchor of Squawk Box, the daily CNBC morning show avidly watched by titans of industry and hopped-up day traders alike. He is also the author of "Too Big To Fail," the definitive chronicle of the 2007-2008 financial crisis, which was adapted into a star-studded movie of the same name by HBO; a co-creator of the hit Showtime series "Billions"; and is currently developing another film for HBO on the GameStop/Robinhood meme-stock saga. On this episode of Hell & High Water, Heilemann and Sorkin discuss how big business sees the new political era dawning in Washington, DC: from President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief and economic recovery legislation to the possibility of raising the minimum wage to the deep polarization that continues to hobble American politics in the wake (and still under the influence) of Donald Trump. They also dive into the many speculative manias currently gripping the financial markets, whether this latest Big Casino moment presages a long-predicted crash, and what if anything regulators might do about the stunning power being amassed by Big Tech. Finally, Heilemann asks Sorkin to list his top five Wall Street films, and the two men riff on the unique place that the financial masters of the universe occupy in popular culture — as objects of fascination, fetishism, reverence, and revulsion in roughly equal measure. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E25 · Tue, February 23, 2021
Daveed Diggs, Ethan Hawke, and James McBride
The story of John Brown and Harpers Ferry is a pivotal piece of American history that's neither well-known nor well-understood — to the extent it's known or understood at all. In 1859, Brown, a militant white abolitionist and religious zealot, led a raid on the federal armory in that small Virginia (now West Virginia) town to acquire weapons and spark a slave revolt to end the peculiar institution and cleanse America of its original sin. The raid was a debacle, failing utterly in its immediate objectives, but ultimately helped to set in motion the chain of events that led to the Civil War. In 2013, the writer and musician James McBride published a novel, "The Good Lord Bird," that was a heavily fictionalized but also historically rooted account of Brown's life. The book went on to win the National Book Award for Fiction that year, and, last fall, spawned a seven-part Showtime mini-series, produced by Blumhouse Television, starring and co-created by the celebrated actor Ethan Hawke as Brown (a performance for which Hawke has been nominated for a Golden Globe this year) and Grammy and Tony Award-winning "Hamilton" phenom Daveed Diggs as the Black abolitionist icon Frederick Douglass. The TV incarnation of "The Good Lord Bird" is an incendiary, irreverent, at times hilarious, at times moving entertainment — beautifully written, gorgeously shot, studded with standout performances. But it's also something more than a stellar costume drama. In its treatment of racism not as an individual moral failing but a system of oppression; its examination of white guilt, ally-ship, and redemption; its illustration of the arguments between incrementalism and radicalism; and its forcing of the question of nonviolence versus by-all-means-necessary-ism, "The Good Lord Bird" is, as Matt Zoller Seitz put it in his review for Vulture, “a historical epic of real vision ... [that] speaks to the present as well as the past ... lead[ing] us to connect what happened back then with what’s happening on American streets right now.” As Black History Month comes to a close, Heilemann sits down with Diggs, Hawke, and McBride to discuss the series, their collaboration, and what Hawke has called the "dangerous" territory where art and race intersect — and that "The Good Lord Bird" illuminates so incandescently. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E24 · Tue, February 16, 2021
Jaime Harrison
Jaime Harrison is one of the brightest young rising stars in the Democratic Party. Born and raised by a single mother in Orangeburg, South Carolina, educated at Yale and Georgetown Law, and mentored by legendary Palmetto State congressman Jim Clyburn, Harrison became the first African American chairman of his home state's Democratic Party in 2013, at the age of 37. After a stint as an Associate Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Harrison launched a campaign to topple incumbent South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham — a bid widely seen as a distant longshot at the outset, but that ultimately turned into one of the marquee races of the 2020 election cycle, with Harrison shattering all South Carolina fund-raising records with a $133 million haul. In the end, Graham beat back the upstart challenge, but Harrison's emergence as a national figure left no one surprised when President Biden chose him in January to be the new chairman of the DNC. In a conversation recorded as the Senate was rendering its verdict in Trump's historic second impeachment trial, Heilemann and Harrison delve into the short and long-term implications of Trump's acquittal for Republicans and Democrats alike, the existential questions it raises about our constitutional republic, and the inescapable racial dynamics at play in the terrible events of January 6. They discuss Harrison's youthful infatuation with politics, his quasi-filial relationship with Clyburn, and his ambitious plans for the DNC — from grassroots organizing to combating voter suppression to crafting a true 50-state strategy — as the national party gears up for the 2022 midterm elections and beyond. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E23 · Tue, February 09, 2021
Joyce White Vance and Jill Wine-Banks
Joyce White Vance and Jill Wine-Banks entered the Trump era with gold-plated resumes and sterling reputations in the legal world but modest public profiles outside it. Today, however, they are widely known as two members of a cadre of MSNBC legal analysts who conducted a four-year national civics lesson about the rule of law when it was being tested in unprecedented ways — a cadre notably dominated by women, many of them pioneers in their profession. Wine-Banks earned that status in the 1970s, when, after serving as one of the first female attorneys in the Department of Justice's organized crime section, she joined the staff of Watergate special prosecutor Leon Jaworski; she later became the first female General Counsel of the U.S. Army and first female executive director of the American Bar Association. Vance, too, is a trailblazer: the first woman appointed U.S. Attorney (for the Northern District of Alabama) by President Obama, she established for the first time a civil-rights enforcement unit in that office, prosecuted numerous high-profile public corruption cases, and launched a statewide investigation into inhumane conditions in Alabama's prisons. Along with two other female legal analysts. Vance and Wine-Banks recently launched a new podcast, #SistersInLaw. And with Trump's second impeachment trial commencing this week, Heilemann invites his friends and colleagues to discuss the case against Trump and why it matters so much — even if Trump, as most expect, is ultimately acquitted. They also delve into the wave of defamation lawsuits and legal threats aimed at right-wing media companies and the former president's lawyers, the degree of legal peril facing Trump as a private citizen, and the challenges facing Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland in repairing the damage wrought by Trump at the Justice Department. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E22 · Tue, February 02, 2021
Sean Penn
If you looked up the hyphenate "artist-activist" in an illustrated dictionary, next to the entry would likely be a picture of Sean Penn. In a film career spanning forty years, Penn has appeared in more than 50 features, received five Best Actor Oscar nominations and won the award twice — for his leading roles in "Mystic River" and "Milk" — and staked a plausible claim to being the preeminent actor of his generation. He has directed five films, three of which he wrote, as well as publishing two novels. At the same time, Penn has courted political controversy with high-profile trips to Iraq, Iran, and Cuba, and in particular with his friendship with former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. But alongside his controversial forays on the world stage, much of Penn's time and energy in the past decade has been devoted to humanitarian relief efforts. In 2010, he founded a non-profit now known as CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) to mobilize emergency workers and distribute aid in Haiti after a devastating earthquake rocked Port-au-Prince that January. CORE did the same in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian, and in Florida after Hurricane Michael. When COVID struck, CORE responded by opening 49 testing sites in the US, including the largest in the country at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. That facility has now been converted into a massive Covid vaccination center — without a dollar from the federal government. On this week’s episode of Hell & High Water, Heilemann brings Penn on to discuss the fight against COVID, Penn’s activism and acting career, and the lasting cultural significance of Jeff Spicoli, his character in "Fast Times At Ridgemont High." To learn more about CORE or make a donation to support their work, please visit coreresponse.org . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E21 · Tue, January 26, 2021
Kurt Andersen and Lawrence O’Donnell
Kurt Andersen and Lawrence O’Donnell first met 46 years ago as undergraduates at Harvard, forming a friendship that’s flourished alongside their careers as two of their generation’s most incisive, insightful observers of American politics and culture. Andersen made his mark in the 1980s as co-founder of the iconic Spy magazine, then went on to serve as editor-in-chief of New York magazine, host of the Peabody Award-winning radio program “Studio 360,” and best-selling novelist and non-fiction author. O’Donnell cut his teeth in Washington as staff director of the powerful Senate Finance Committee and protege to legendary New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then transitioned to the TV business — first as an Emmy Award-winning writer on “The West Wing” and currently as host of “The Last Word” on MSNBC. On this week’s Hell & High Water, Heilemann, a friend of both Andersen and O’Donnell, brings the two men together for their first-ever joint interview. They discuss the performances of Joe Biden and Amanda Gorman on inauguration day, O’Donnell’s insider’s perspective on the January 6 assault on the US Capitol, and Andersen’s “grand unified theory” of modern American life, as sketched out in his recent companion volumes, “Fantasyland” and “Evil Geniuses.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E20 · Tue, January 19, 2021
Robert Reich
Over the course of the past four decades, Robert Reich has worn a multitude of hats: professor and professional idea merchant; federal official in three presidential administrations, candidate for governor of Massachusetts, and economic adviser to Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Bernie Sanders; author of 18 books, creator of heralded documentaries, and wildly popular social media dynamo. But in all these roles — including the one for which he's best known, Clinton's first secretary of labor — Reich has staked out a unique and uniquely influential position at the nexus of policy and politics. All of which makes Reich an ideal guest to help sort through the cataclysmic events that have shaken Washington, DC, this month. Conveniently, Reich also happens to be so close to Heilemann that he officiated the host's wedding. So on this, the final Hell & High Water episode of Donald Trump's tenure, these two old friends come together to discuss the insurrection at the Capitol and Trump's second impeachment, how big business has reacted and how, more broadly, it has undermined our democracy, and whether the arrival of Joe Biden holds out hope of fundamental economic change. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E20 · Tue, January 12, 2021
The Lincoln Project, Part 2
The Lincoln Project launched in late 2019 with an op-ed in The New York Times under a headline that made the group’s identity and intentions clear: “We are Republicans, and We Want Trump Defeated.” Since then, the group has established itself as a leading force in the fight against Trumpism, becoming a household name in the process. Led by an array of lapsed Republican operatives including Heilemann’s guests this week, Jennifer Horn and Rick Wilson, the Lincolners have raised tens of millions of dollars, cranked out a stream of memorable ads and viral videos, and waged a devilish campaign to get inside Trump’s head. In this two-part episode, Heilemann talks with Horn and Wilson about Trump’s role in one of most terrible weeks in modern American political history, in which the US Capitol was stormed by far-right insurrectionists; the move to impeach him for a second time or remove him from office via the 25th Amendment; his banishment from Twitter (news that broke while the episode was being recorded); and the clear and present danger he poses to the country in final days as president. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E19 · Tue, January 12, 2021
The Lincoln Project, Part 1
The Lincoln Project launched in late 2019 with an op-ed in The New York Times under a headline that made the group’s identity and intentions clear: “We are Republicans, and We Want Trump Defeated.” Since then, the group has established itself as a leading force in the fight against Trumpism, becoming a household name in the process. Led by an array of lapsed Republican operatives including Heilemann’s guests this week, Jennifer Horn and Rick Wilson, the Lincolners have raised tens of millions of dollars, cranked out a stream of memorable ads and viral videos, and waged a devilish campaign to get inside Trump’s head. In this two-part episode, Heilemann talks with Horn and Wilson about Trump’s role in one of most terrible weeks in modern American political history, in which the US Capitol was stormed by far-right insurrectionists; the move to impeach him for a second time or remove him from office via the 25th Amendment; his banishment from Twitter (news that broke while the episode was being recorded); and the clear and present danger he poses to the country in final days as president. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E18 · Tue, January 05, 2021
Shannon Watts
Shannon Watts is the founder of Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America — a self-described “accidental activist” who, in less than a decade, went from being a stay-at-home mother in Indiana to the face of a national grassroots movement with more active members than the National Rifle Association. When Watts launched her advocacy group as a simple Facebook page in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting in December 2012, she had just 75 friends on the site but grand ambitions, boundless energy, and infinite chutzpah. Today, Moms Demand Action is part of Everytown For Gun Safety and a political juggernaut, deploying tens of thousands of volunteers and tens of millions of dollars to support candidates, legislative campaigns, and corporate reform efforts. Heilemann and Watts discuss the ways her group has changed the game on gun control, the role of women and young people in the movement, the crisis at the NRA, and why Watts believes the Biden administration will be “the strongest gun safety administration in history.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E17 · Tue, December 29, 2020
Tenacious D
When Jack Black and Kyle Gass formed the mock-rock band Tenacious D in 1994, they were just a pair of unknown members of The Actors' Gang in LA with a spiritual and satirical kinship with Spinal Tap, a penchant for R-rated lyrics about their sexual prowess and prodigious cannabis consumption, and surprisingly serious musical chops. Twenty-six years later, Tenacious D has accumulated a large and passionate following, released three platinum albums and a feature film, and won a Grammy Award — and Black, of course, has become a movie star. In this final 2020 episode of Hell & High Water, Heilemann talks with Black and Gass about the group's turn towards the political following Donald Trump's election, from its "South Park"-flavored album/YouTube series/graphic novel "Post-Apocalypto" to its viral, celebrity-studded, get-out-the-vote video cover of "Time Warp" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (which included Heilemann) ... as well as Black's breakout role in "High Fidelity," his wildly popular quarantine videos on TikTok, and Tenacious D's top five records for celebrating the end of the Trump era. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E16 · Tue, December 22, 2020
Aaron Sorkin
Over the past three decades, Aaron Sorkin has staked a claim as America’s most renowned film and television writer. With a list of credits that runs from "A Few Good Men," "The American President, "The Social Network," and "Moneyball" on the big screen to "Sports Night," "The Newsroom," and his crowning achievement, "The West Wing," on TV, Sorkin's work has achieved vast popular success, critical acclaim, and cultural resonance. On this week’s episode, Hell & High Water continues its year-end review, with Heilemann and Sorkin discussing how COVID-19, Trump's final year in office, and the racial justice movement affected Hollywood in general and three of Sorkin's projects in particular: his stage version of "To Kill a Mockingbird," the reunion episode of "The West Wing," and his film "The Trial of the Chicago 7." Sorkin also offers his lists of top TV shows and movies of the year — and his favorite political films of all time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E15 · Tue, December 15, 2020
Rich Eisen
Rich Eisen has been a fixture in the sports media firmament for a quarter century. Sharp and funny, as well-versed in pop culture as in the prevent defense or the pick-and-roll, Eisen was still in his twenties when he first lit up ESPN during its heyday in the 1990s, before becoming the face of the NFL Network and his eponymous talk show and podcast. But what sets Eisen apart from many of his peers is his comfort in the place where top-flight athletics collide with broader social and political dynamics — which set him up perfectly to cover the traumas and dramas of 2020, as the sports world was shaken by a raging pandemic and the upheaval spawned by the killing of George Floyd. With our annus horribilis finally coming to a close, Heilemann and Eisen reflect on the lessons that players, owners, and leagues have learned from grappling with COVID-19, the unprecedented wave of sports activism unleashed by Black Lives Matter, and the media's response to it all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E14 · Tue, December 08, 2020
Joe Scarborough
Joe Scarborough is a rare figure in the news business: a broadcaster who has known both Donald Trump and Joe Biden well for years and will be as influential in the political era now dawning as the one quickly coming to a close. Though he first came to prominence in the 1990s as a firebrand Republican congressman from Florida, Scarborough is best known as the co-host and namesake of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" — and an outspoken GOP refugee and relentless critic of President Trump. On this week's episode of Hell & High Water, Heilemann, a regular "Morning Joe" panelist since its launch in 2007, invites Scarborough to assess the 2020 election, Trump's efforts to overturn its results, and the future of the Republican Party. They also discuss Scarborough's new book, “Saving Freedom: Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization," and what Biden can learn from Truman's presidency. Le Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E13 · Tue, December 01, 2020
Killer Mike, Part 2
Michael Santiago Render, aka Killer Mike, is one of the most vital figures in the worlds of both hip hop and progressive activism. Best known as one half of the acclaimed rap duo Run The Jewels, Render gained notoriety in the political realm as a prominent backer of Bernie Sanders and a fierce advocate for Black economic empowerment. In the wake of George Floyd’s killing, Render delivered a tearful televised plea to protestors not to torch his beloved home city of Atlanta; the video went viral and earned him a new legion of admirers around the country. A few days later, Run the Jewels released its fourth album, “RTJ4”, which captured the anger, despair, and calls for racial justice echoing from coast to coast and was widely hailed as the dystopian soundtrack of 2020. In this first-ever two-part episode of Hell & High Water, Heilemann and Render discuss race and police violence, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Georgia's outsized role in the 2020 election, Ice Cube, Kanye West, Dave Chappelle, and much, much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E13 · Tue, December 01, 2020
Killer Mike, Part 1
Michael Santiago Render, aka Killer Mike, is one of the most vital figures in the worlds of both hip hop and progressive activism. Best known as one half of the acclaimed rap duo Run The Jewels, Render gained notoriety in the political realm as a prominent backer of Bernie Sanders and a fierce advocate for Black economic empowerment. In the wake of George Floyd’s killing, Render delivered a tearful televised plea to protestors not to torch his beloved home city of Atlanta; the video went viral and earned him a new legion of admirers around the country. A few days later, Run the Jewels released its fourth album, “RTJ4”, which captured the anger, despair, and calls for racial justice echoing from coast to coast and was widely hailed as the dystopian soundtrack of 2020. In this first-ever two-part episode of Hell & High Water, Heilemann and Render discuss race and police violence, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Georgia's outsized role in the 2020 election, Ice Cube, Kanye West, Dave Chappelle, and much, much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E12 · Tue, November 24, 2020
Lawrence Lessig & Laurence Tribe
Lawrence Lessig and Laurence Tribe are among the most important and influential legal minds of this or any era. Lessig, a pioneer in the field of cyber-law, is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School and founder of Equal Citizens, a non-profit focused on the cause of electoral reform. Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor Emeritus at Harvard, is arguably the preeminent constitutional scholar of his generation, has argued 35 cases before the US Supreme Court, and was a key member of Al Gore's legal team in the 2000 Florida recount. Heilemann invites the Legal Larrys, as he calls them, to discuss Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the results of the presidential election, how his efforts have revealed serious weaknesses in our democratic processes, and the increasingly urgent arguments for scrapping the Electoral College. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E12 · Tue, November 17, 2020
Laurie Garrett
Laurie Garrett has been tracking epidemics and outbreaks since the early 1990's. She is the author of The Coming Plague, Betrayal of Trust, and I Heard the Sirens Scream and has won a Pulitzer Prize, a George Polk Award (twice), and a Peabody Award. With Thanksgiving approaching, and Covid-19 infection rates shooting up in all 50 states, Heilemann turns to Garrett, one of the foremost science journalists in the world, for her incisive and unflinching look at the pandemic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E10 · Tue, November 10, 2020
Jon Meacham & Maya Wiley
Maya Wiley is a nationally recognized racial justice and equity advocate. She is the former Counsel to the Mayor in New York City, the former Chair of the NYPD Civilian Complaint Review Board, and she founded the Digital Equity Laboratory on universal and inclusive broadband at The New School. Jon Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer, a contributing writer for The New York Times Book Review and a contributing editor of Time magazine, and he holds the Rogers Chair in the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, lives in Nashville. Heilemann brings these two brilliant mind together in order to step back and look at Joe Biden and Kamala Harris election victory through the lens of history, civil rights, and the upcoming fights to keep America democratic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
Bonus · Sat, November 07, 2020
The Recount's Election Bonus Episode
For the first time ever, all four of The Recount podcast hosts team up for a bonus episode. Jennifer Palmieri, host of "Just Something About Her," David Plouffe and Steve Schmidt, hosts of "Battleground," and John Heilemann, Executive Editor of The Recount and host of "Hell & High Water," discuss the collision of expectations and reality, poll trouble, what may have held Democrats back from bigger wins, and what's next for the country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E9 · Tue, November 03, 2020
Nicolle Wallace
Nicolle Wallace is a journalist, author, and the host of " Deadline: White House" on MSNBC. But, most importantly for the purposes of this podcast, she’s a dear friend of Heilemann’s. Their friendship began when Nicolle was the White House Communications Chief to George W. Bush and deepened after Heilemann published " Game Change." The book chronicles the 2008 Presidential campaign and, with it, Nicolle's role as a senior advisor to Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. In this episode of Hell & High Water , Heilemann and Nicolle discuss the Biden campaign, how Sarah Palin was a harbinger of what was to come for the GOP, and what America might look like after the election. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E8 · Tue, October 27, 2020
Axe, Plouffe, and Mastromonaco
As former President Barack Obama hits the campaign trail, Heilemann chats with the crew that helped Obama get elected: David Axelrod, chief strategist for the '08 and '12 Obama campaigns and currently Director of the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics; David Plouffe, the '08 Obama campaign manager, former Senior Advisor to the President, and host of the podcasts Battleground (also from The Recount) and Campaign HQ ; and Alyssa Mastromonaco, Director of Scheduling and Advance for the Obama '08 campaign and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff. Or, as Heilemann calls them, "the Obama Brain Trust." The three of them discuss the state of the race and President Obama's role in it, before taking a trip down memory lane and reliving some of the most emotional moments from Obama’s ’08 and ’12 campaigns. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E7 · Tue, October 20, 2020
Mike Murphy & Stuart Stevens
Mike Murphy and Stuart Stevens are two of the most storied consultants in Republican history. Before 2016, they competed against Democrats in races and against each other for clients. Their combined list of clients includes all three Bushes, Mitt Romney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John McCain, Bob Dole, and many more. But for these Republican stalwarts, Donald J. Trump was a bridge too far. Both are actively involved in the fight to defeat him – Murphy with the group Republican Voters Against Trump and Stevens with The Lincoln Project. They join Heilemann to discuss their take on the state of the race, and use Stuart's new book, It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump, as a jumping-off point for exploring what happened to the GOP. Finally, the two look forward and imagine what a post-Trump party looks like – and what Trump may do as he fights to hold onto power. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E6 · Tue, October 13, 2020
James Carville
James Carville is one of the most famous political strategists of all time. Known around the world as the "Ragin' Cajun," Carville came to national attention in 1992 as the presiding guru behind the campaign of Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. Since then, his hot temper, southern-fried charisma, and theatrical squalls of fury at the media have turned him into a cable news celebrity. Carville has never been shy about expressing his opinion, and in this episode of Hell & High Water , he expounds on his theory that Trump is running to stay out of jail, discusses his disdain for activists, and predicts a Biden landslide. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E5 · Tue, October 06, 2020
Ashley Parker & Jennifer Palmieri
Ashley Parker is a Pulitzer Prize-winning White House reporter for The Washington Post. Jennifer Palmieri is a best-selling author and the former White House Communications Director for President Obama and Director of Communications for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Heilemann, Parker, and Palmieri discuss the unsurprising – nonetheless, jaw-dropping – news that President Donald J. Trump has contracted COVID-19 and its implications for the election. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E4 · Tue, September 29, 2020
Neal Katyal
Neal Katyal is the former Acting Solicitor General of the United States under Barack Obama, a distinguished lawyer who has argued 41 cases before the Supreme Court and the Paul Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University. In this episode, Heilemann and Katyal explore all things SCOTUS. They discuss the late RBG, the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, the high stakes at play and why Neal is still optimistic about the future of the Supreme Court. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E3 · Tue, September 22, 2020
Jeff Daniels
Jeff Daniels is a celebrated film, television, and stage actor, who stars as former FBI director James Comey in the forthcoming Showtime mini-series “The Comey Rule.” Heilemann and Daniels discuss how the actor approached playing the controversial Comey, a rare public figure despised equally by the left and the right. They explore the motivations of the man who presided over the FBI's investigations of both Hillary Clinton's email and Russia's interference in the 2016 election and its ties to Donald Trump – and was later fired by Trump after refusing his demands of loyalty. Finally, they turn to Daniels's assessment of the existential stakes of the election, and his predictions of a bleak and dark future should Trump be reelected. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E2 · Wed, September 16, 2020
Dave Chang
Dave Chang is one of the most influential restaurateurs of the 21st century. He's the presiding genius behind the Momofuku empire, the star of “Ugly Delicious” and “Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner” on Netflix, the host of The Dave Chang Show podcast, and the author of a new memoir called Eat a Peach . John talks to Dave about the new role he’s taken during the course of the pandemic, as a leading voice talking about the restaurant apocalypse brought on by COVID-19. They discuss how the industry is threatened with extinction, not just because of the virus and its implications, but because of structural flaws that existed even before the pandemic. Dave also tells John about his fears and motivations around the writing of a bracingly, brutally honest memoir about his mental health struggles and addiction to rage, and what he hopes people take away from the book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
S1 E1 · Tue, September 08, 2020
Marques Johnson
In the first episode of Hell & High Water, Heilemann talks to Marques Johnson, legendary point forward for UCLA and the Milwaukee Bucks in the seventies and eighties, now a broadcaster for the Bucks. They talk about race, sports, and the NBA playoff boycott, led by the Bucks, in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI. Johnson discusses his experiences with racism growing up in Louisiana and Los Angeles, how a new generation of players is embracing social activism, and Donald Trump's efforts to politicize sports with his attacks on LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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
Tue, September 01, 2020
Introducing: Hell & High Water with John Heilemann
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