Impolitic with John Heilemann

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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