Impolitic with John Heilemann

In the second installment of a two-parter with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul on American foreign policy in Donald Trump's second term, Mike and John look back on 2025 and ahead to 2026, focusing particularly on the president's approach to Russia, Ukraine, and China. McFaul also discusses his new book, “Autocrats vs. Democrats," which examines the struggle between authoritarianism and classical liberalism among the world's great powers, and argues that this is also the central battle taking place within the United States in the Trump 2.0 era. 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 welcomes back Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and the author of “Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, & The New Global Disorder,” for a special, two-part deep dive into Donald Trump’s foreign policy. In the first installment, McFaul weighs in on the headline-making, world-shaking events of the past week — from America’s invasion of Venezuela and exfiltration of Nicolas Maduro to Trump’s increasingly insistent (and apparently serious) intimations that Greenland could be next.  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 welcomes former federal prosecutor and top Justice Department and FBI official Andrew Weissmann back to the show for a look back on 2024 and look ahead to 2026 when it comes to the rule of law – in particular, its prospects for surviving the sustained assault by Donald Trump and his administration. 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 welcomes New York Times columnist and podcasting dynamo Ezra Klein back to the show for the second installment of a two-part, year-end review of the national political scene in 2025 See all the ways bp is investing in America at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bp.com/InvestingInAmerica⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . 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 welcomes two of the Pod Save America dudes, Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett, to the show for the first installment of a two-part, year-end review of the national political scene in 2025. See all the ways bp is investing in America at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bp.com/InvestingInAmerica⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . 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