Impolitic with John Heilemann

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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