Impolitic with John Heilemann

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

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

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

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

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

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

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