In this Best Of episode, we revisit our 2020 conversation with Jimmy Kimmel! We go through his long career, beginning with his start in radio and his transition to television.

We discuss the birth of Jimmy’s late night show back in 2003 and how, in his own words, the show was "genuinely terrible.” With time, Jimmy figured it out and established a template for what makes a good show and learned what makes a good guest versus a bad guest. 

A major turning point for Jimmy was when his son battled health challenges. He became more vocal on issues like healthcare, which led to him butting heads with the GOP over their attempts at repealing the Affordable Care Act. 

While this interview was in 2020, Jimmy continues to butt heads with the GOP, which resulted in his censorship battle with ABC and the Trump administration earlier this year.

WATCH Jimmy Kimmel Live! https://www.youtube.com/jimmykimmellive

READ what I wrote when Kimmel was (temporarily) taken off air: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/trump-attack-political-satire-kimmel-colbert-1235431290/

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Throughout the 2024 election, we all heard about the dangers of Project 2025, yet somehow it’s worse than we imagined. Trump continuously said he didn't know anything about it (but he did), and nearly a year after his swearing in, we've seen a huge portion of it already implemented. We're joined by The Atlantic’s David A. Graham, author of the new book, “The Project: How Project 2025 is Shaping America.”

In just 138 pages, David covers the entire 920-page document. He explains how many of the authors of Project 2025 saw Trump's first term as a failure because he was stopped from accomplishing his core goals - like building the border wall and repealing Obamacare. The answer was to create a shadow administration that would guide his policy decisions if he made it back to office.

We run through a variety of issues that are being influenced by Project 2025, including immigration and border security, education, and trade. And we discuss the most influential figure, Russell Vought, current Director of the Office of Management and Budget. One of his main priorities? Inflict pain on government employees.

Plus, Al remembers his friends, Rob and Michele Reiner.

READ David's book, “The Project”: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/800230/the-project-by-david-a-graham/

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As we approach the end of 2025, we take a look back at what happened around the world in Trump’s first year back in office. We're joined by two of the best foreign policy writers we know: Franklin Foer and Anne Applebaum from The Atlantic! 

We discuss the EIGHT wars and conflicts that Trump has single handedly ended, while also examining the ongoing conflicts in The Middle East, Ukraine, Venezuela, and more.

Anne and Frank explain why Trump's Middle East peace plan isn't holding up and why we all should have been skeptical of it from the start. We also look at why the administration's plan for peace between Russia and Ukraine looks like it was written by the Russians themselves. And, of course, we discuss Trump's blatant corruption in both of those theatres.

Anne also shares her heartbreaking firsthand account of what the USAID cuts have done to the rest of the world. It highlights the shortsightedness of the entire first year of Trump’s second term.

READ Franklin's work in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/franklin-foer/

READ Anne's work in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/anne-applebaum/

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We're joined by the great Mark Leibovich from The Atlantic to run through some of the wild stories fresh out of Washington. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is facing criticisms on multiple fronts: Not only was it reported that he ordered the killing of two survivors from a bombed alleged drug trafficking boat, a Pentagon Inspector General also found that he put American troops' lives in danger with his reckless messages on Signal. Could we see Trump turn on Hegseth?

We also recap the marathon Cabinet meeting. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spent his time kissing Trump's ass, and Trump (when he was awake) broke out into an maliciously racist rant about Somalis.

Plus, we talk MORE shady pardons (including the former Honduran President and convicted drug trafficker), Trump's sinking approval ratings, and Dick Cheney!

READ Mark's writing in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/mark-leibovich/

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One of Donald Trump's most successful initiatives in his second term has been making himself and his family richer than ever. We're joined by The New Yorker’s David Kirkpatrick, who earlier this year wrote a piece outlining all the ways the legendary grifters have cashed in during Trump’s presidency. 

The Trump family has long been associated with shameless cash grabs, but we have reached new levels of corruption by using his office for their money-making schemes: international real estate deals, Trump-branded merchandise, and cryptocurrency.

David lays out the long list of ethical implications involved and calculates the staggering amount of money Donald Trump and his family have made off of his presidency.

READ David's piece “The Number” in The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/08/18/the-number

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In Donald Trump's second term, we've seen a flurry of pardons and commutations. Of course, every President is granted the pardon power, but with this administration, pardons often seem to have a price tag. We're joined by Liz Oyer, former US pardon attorney (appointed by Biden and fired by Trump), to discuss some of the shadier pardons doled out during Trump's second term (so far). 

Oyer lays out how several of Trump’s pardons are motivated by money, loyalty, and retribution. Of course, we discuss the blanket pardon of the January 6th rioters, but we also examine the pardon of cryptocurrency-crook Changpeng Zhao, who Oyer says "might be the most corrupt pardon in American history."

We dig into Trump's current pardon attorney, Ed Martin, a political operative who believes in "No MAGA left behind." Even Republicans found him too extreme to be a US Attorney, so Trump put him in charge of pardons and commutations. 

Plus, we get Oyer's unfiltered opinion of the Ghislane Maxwell/Jeffrey Epstein saga AND Hunter Biden's pardon at the end of Joe Biden's term. 

READ Liz Oyer's Substack at https://www.lawyeroyer.com/

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After 43 days, the longest government shutdown in American history has finally ended. We're joined by Catherine Rampell from The Bulwark and MSNBC to talk about how it finally came to a close and why a lot of Democrats are mad at their party. Catherine details how the Trump administration used the shutdown as an excuse to inflict as much pain as possible on SNAP recipients. Not only did the administration go to court to stop SNAP payments, they also punished any stores that might have tried to help them with discounts. As always, the cruelty is the point.

Trump’s promise to fix the economy was one of the biggest reasons he was re-elected, but prices are higher on nearly everything around the country. Trump's approach is to lie about affordability while Americans struggle with economic anxiety. All the while, he's flopping around on his tariff policies, creating more and more chaos and confusion. 

Plus, the average age of first time homebuyers is now 40 years old and the Trump administration has floated the idea of a 50-year mortgage plan. Catherine explains why that could be disastrous for would-be homeowners.

READ Catherine in The Bulwark: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/how-the-supreme-court-could-save-christmas-trump-tariffs

WATCH Catherine on MSNBC's The Weekend Primetime: https://www.msnbc.com/weekend-primetime

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The Democratic Party showed signs of life all around the country with last week's off-season elections. Helping us make sense of it all is Molly Jong-Fast, opinion writer for The New York Times and host of the Fast Politics podcast!

Molly examines NYC's new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, and why his campaign was so successful. Can he actually deliver on the promises he's made in the campaign? Molly shares her thoughts on some lessons Democrats nationwide could learn from his win.

All of this is going on during the longest-ever government shutdown with a President holding a "Great Gatsby”-themed party at Mar-a-Lago while the economy struggles and Trump continues his tariff wars.

Plus, Molly gives her perspective on the redistricting battles around the country, the nationwide ICE raids, Trump corruption, and more!

LISTEN to Molly's podcast “Fast Politics”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fast-politics-with-molly-jong-fast/id1645614328

READ Molly’s latest piece in The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/opinion/trumps-great-gatsby-party-did-not-accept-snap.html 

We are approaching the longest government shutdown in American history with no end in sight. But it seems like this is exactly what the Trump administration wants. How much longer can this go on? We are joined by David Weigel from Semafor to discuss the damage of the shutdown and how the White House believes it's winning this fight.

Weigel examines how the Trump administration seems to be disconnected from reality over the state of the economy despite concerns over tariffs, the cost of living, and, of course, the $300-million ballroom Trump is building after demolishing the East Wing of the White House. 

Plus, with 70% of Americans believing that the Democrats are out of touch, how does the party fix their broken image? Could a change in leadership be the answer Americans are looking for?

READ David Weigel in Semafor: https://www.semafor.com/author/david-weigel 

Every day brings a new constitutional crisis. Donald Trump isn't just breaking norms... he's weaponizing the entire justice system against anyone who dare cross him. We're joined by former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman to cut through the chaos and explain what the hell is happening.

Trump promised that he would bring "retribution" to his second term - turns he wasn’t lying. So far he’s gone after James Comey, Letitia James, John Bolton. Harry breaks down why these prosecutions represent "rock bottom, ninth circle of hell" for the Justice Department—and why they're likely unconstitutional.

Harry also discusses Trump sending the National Guard into (Democratic-led) cities despite their objections. Is that legal? Some courts say yes, some say no. Now it's at the Supreme Court, which has already enabled Trump's overreach at every turn. Harry tells us why this is the single most dangerous thing happening right now.

We also delve into the complexities of  Louisiana v. Callais, the Voting Rights Act case before the Supreme Court which could eliminate Section II and allow for the elimination of majority-minority districts (we’ll explain this!), likely imperiling 15 House seats now held by Democrats.

Plus, it turns out that it's easier than anyone thought to demolish the East Wing of the White House! At least we're getting a new ballroom.... Harry walks us through why this unprecedented destruction is probably illegal, but so outrageous that no legal framework even exists to stop it.

LISTEN to Harry's podcast, Talking Feds: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-feds/id1456045551

READ Harry's Substack: https://harrylitman.substack.com/

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