Dan Pfeiffer: Gavin’s Gamble, J.B.’s Jibes & Other Harbingers of 2028
John welcomes Pod Save America cohost, Message Box author, and former top Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer back to the show to discuss the burgeoning competition to be the face of the Democratic Party’s future. Pfeiffer assesses the risks and rewards of California governor Gavin Newsom’s redistricting gambit for his presidential ambitions; the efforts of Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker to make his billionaire status tolerable to the populist base of his party; and the communication skills of thirtysomething rising stars Zohran Mamdani and James Talarico. Dan also answers the question on the lips of Democrats everywhere: Seven months into Trump 2.0, just how fucked are we?
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1:03:27
Christine Brennan: Caitlin Clark’s Culture Wars & the WNBA’s Cluelessness
John welcomes USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan to discuss her runaway bestseller “On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women's Sports.” Brennan lays out the formative experiences that turned Clark into a national sensation; the WNBA’s lack of preparation to capitalize on the surge in popularity, income and impact that her arrival has unleashed; the troubling outbreaks of jealousy and resentment sparked by a white player becoming the face of a predominantly Black league; and how the Clark saga has been appropriated by both sides in America’s culture wars.
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1:29:17
Robert Garcia: “Things Are Fucked Up”
John welcomes second-term Democratic congressman and former mayor of Long Beach, CA, Robert Garcia to talk about the imperative for his party to move away from “respectability politics” to combat the Trump 2.0 agenda. Garcia explains why the Texas redistricting fight transcends the particulars of the Lone Star State as a central part of Donald Trump’s plan not just to steal the 2026 midterm elections but to stay in office past 2028—and the Jefrey Epstein scandal, far from subsiding during the congressional recess, is only gathering steam. Garcia also waxes poetic about his love for Superman, what the character means to many gay Americans such as himself, and why, for all of David Corenswet’s swagger in the role on the big screen this summer, Christopher Reeve remains (now and forever) the gold standard Man of Steel.
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Anne Applebaum: Nihilism in Sudan & Orbanism in the USA
John welcomes Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum back to the show to discuss her new cover story in The Atlantic on the devastating civil war in Sudan. Applebaum—whose 2004 tome “Gulag: A History” won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction and whose most recent book, “Autocracy, Inc.” comes out in paperback this month—explains how anarchy, greed, and nihilism have replaced the liberal world order in Sudan; the role that Donald Trump and Elon Musk played in the country’s downward spiral; and why the same forces are coming for the countries of the rich world next. She also lays out the evidence that Trump is bent on turning the U.S. into a bigger, badder, more authoritarian version of Viktor Orban’s Hungary.
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1:03:50
Adam Pritzker & Daniel Squadron: Detoxifying the Democratic Brand
John is joined by Adam Pritzker and Daniel Squadron, co-founders of a pair of increasingly influential Democratic groups trying to cure what ails their party by looking WAY beyond Washington, D.C.—to the nation’s state legislatures. Pritzker and Squadron explain the genesis of the States Project, which they formed eight years ago and is already the largest Democratic donor to state legislative races (to the tune of $130 million in 2022 and 2024), and the just-launched States Forum, which is focused on germinating, cross-pollinating, and exporting state-level Democratic policy innovations to the national level; the degree to which the party’s brand is a drag on down ballot candidates; and why the party would do well to look to its deep bench of governors for its presidential nominee in 2028.
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Join Puck’s chief political columnist, MSNBC/NBC News national affairs analyst, and best-selling author John Heilemann as he roams the corridors of power and influence in America on this twice-weekly interview show, taking you behind the scenes and beyond the headlines with the people who shape and shift our culture: icons and up-and-comers, incumbents and insurgents, moguls and machers in the overlapping worlds of politics, entertainment, tech, business, sports, media, and beyond. The conversations are rich and revealing, unrehearsed and unexpected … and reliably impolitic. A Puck-Audacy joint, new episodes drop every Wednesday and Friday.
USA