Impolitic with John Heilemann

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.

Episodes

June 23, 2025 72 mins
John welcomes The Bulwark’s Tim Miller back to the pod to discuss the split in Donald Trump’s base over his military gambit in Iran, the New York Democratic mayoral race, and more. Tim digs into why the stars of MAGA media are at each other’s throats over Trump's Middle East moves; how the political fallout could impact the GOP nomination contest in 2028; and why all this is already proving torturous for J.D. Vance. Tim also explai...
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John is joined by former C.I.A. and Pentagon chief of staff Jeremy Bash to discuss the decision facing Donald Trump about going to war with Iran. Bash explains the history of the Iranian nuclear program and where it likely stands today; what Israel’s dramatic new efforts to destroy it have and haven’t achieved; the intelligence, domestic political debate, and other factors Trump is weighing as he considers intervening; and the best...
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John welcomes U.S. Naval War College professor emeritus and Atlantic staff writer Tom Nichols back to the pod to discuss the implications of Donald Trump’s militarization of law enforcement in Los Angeles and an array of related topics. Nichols argues that Trump’s mobilization of the National Guard and the Marines to deal with protests of his deportation policies in L.A. is a dry run, on favorable political turf, to acclimate Ameri...
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John is joined by former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to discuss President Trump’s deployment of National Guard and Marine Corps troops to Los Angeles in the face of protests of his immigration policies. Johnson explains how he would have assessed the situation in LA if he were still leading DHS; the dangers of tasking the U.S. military with domestic law enforcement; and his view of the forcible removal of California ...
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John is joined by journalist Karen Hao to discuss her new book, “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI,” and both the promise and the perils of the coming age of artificial intelligence. Hao explains how OpenAI went from being an altruistic nonprofit dedicated to ensuring that A.I. would “benefit all of humanity” to a burgeoning commercial colossus valued at north of $300 billion; how Altman wrested control of ...
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June 6, 2025 93 mins
John is joined by former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor to discuss the recent executive order by Donald Trump directing federal law enforcement agencies to investigate Taylor (for unnamed and unknown crimes) and his fledgling efforts to fight back. Taylor—who rose to prominence during Trump's first term with a New York Times op-ed and No. 1 bestselling book, written under the pen name Anonymous, that de...
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John is joined by former CEO of UBS Americas and Democratic mega-donor Robert Wolf to discuss the exit of Elon Musk from the White House and Donald Trump’s latest economic-policy gyrations. The recipient of three presidential appointments from Barack Obama and one from Joe Biden, Wolf explains why Musk’s foray into government was always bound to end in tears; why Wall Street's TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) meme perfectly capture...
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John is joined by Parkland survivor, gun control activist, and embattled DNC vice chair David Hogg to discuss the controversies swirling around him and what his party needs to do to fix itself. Hogg explains the rationale behind his plan to spend $20 million through his Leaders We Deserve PAC to elect younger candidates who embrace a combative anti-MAGA stance; why that plan includes backing primary challenges to ossified, ineffect...
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John is joined by Mark Whitaker to discuss his new book, “The Afterlife of Malcolm X: An Outcast Turned Icon’s Enduring Impact on America.” A former editor in chief of Newsweek, Washington bureau chief for NBC News, and managing editor of CNN Worldwide, Whitaker lays out the two narrative threads at the heart of his book: the first, a deep exploration of the unsolved mystery over who killed the revolutionary Muslim minister and pro...
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John is joined by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios's Alex Thompson to discuss their scoop-filled, headline-spawning, controversy-stirring new book, "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again." Jake and Alex explain the nature and central players in the concealment of the decline in President Biden's mental acuity during his time in the White House; how the lack of transparency about hi...
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Pablo Torre, ESPN and MSNBC commentator and host of the Edward R. Murrow Award-winning video podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out, is back with John to weigh in on an assortment of red-hot stories at the intersection of sports, culture, and politics: from the backlash in Canada against Wayne Gretzky over his association with Donald Trump and the reinstatement of Pete Rose by Major League Baseball (and Trump’s rumored role in the decision)...
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John is joined by former Florida Republican congressman David Jolly to discuss Donald Trump’s trip to the Mideast and the naked corruption on display in his embrace of a $400 million 747 gifted by Qatar to serve as a new Air Force One; disarray among House Republicans over the “one big, beautiful bill," and Jolly’s defection to the Democratic Party ahead of an all but certain run for governor in the Sunshine State in 2026. To lea...
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John is joined by the Oscar and Emmy Award-winning documentarian Davis Guggenheim to discuss his new film for Apple TV +, “Deaf President Now!” Davis lays out the story behind the movie, which revolves around a student protest that erupted over eight days in 1988 at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, the world’s only university for the deaf, and explains why it stands as “the greatest civil rights movement in history you’ve ne...
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John is joined by Atlantic staff writers Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer to discuss their new cover story on the remarkable political resurrection that returned Donald Trump to the White House and imbued him with a patina of invincibility—and the recent signs that this veneer is starting to crack. Parker and Scherer weigh in on Trump’s tete-a-tete with Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney; the differences between his first an...
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John is joined by hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci to discuss the first White House personnel shake-up of Donald Trump’s second term and the culture of sycophancy in his cabinet. Scaramucci — who served a famously shambolic 11-day stint at Trump’s communications director in 2017 — offers his take on why Mike Waltz lost his job as national security adviser, Marco Rubio was chosen as his replacement (at least for now), and Trump...
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John is joined by Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith to discuss the role of private group chats in pushing Silicon Valley's politics to the right—and many of its most powerful figures into the arms of Donald Trump. Ben lays out how dozens of hush-hush Signal and WhatsApp groups emerged during Covid among the tech elite in reaction to what its members saw as the stifling woke conformity of social media; the seminal role of venture ca...
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On the eve of Donald Trump’s 100th day back in office, John is joined by his Puck Political Superfriend and partner Peter Hamby to look back on what 45/47 hath wrought since January 20 — what has mattered and what hasn’t; the most truly surprising, most entirely predictable, and most grievously overlooked developments and storylines; and both the state of the Democratic Party generally and the broader anti-Trump resistance specific...
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John is joined by Susan Morrison, articles editor of The New Yorker, to discuss “Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live,” her biography of SNL creator and producer Lorne Michaels. Morrison argues that no one has done more to shape modern America’s sense of humor than Michaels, an enigmatic Canadian about whom most Americans know nothing; and that while Michaels a figure of enduring obsession among comics, he remains a myst...
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April 24, 2025 11 mins
Imagine if you could ask someone anything you wanted about their finances. On What We Spend, people from across the country and across the financial spectrum are opening their wallets—and their lives—to tell you everything: what they make, what they want, and—for one week—what they spend. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choi...
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John is joined by a pair of former GOP panjandrums turned NeverTrump stalwarts — attorney George Conway and political strategist Stuart Stevens — to discuss the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case and Donald Trump’s efforts to turn the U.S. into a police state. Conway and Stevens argue that the guardrails preventing that outcome are banged up but still holding; that the real test of them will come when (not if) the administration defies the ...
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