Impolitic with John Heilemann

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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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