Impolitic with John Heilemann

John welcomes erstwhile neocon stalwart and current Bulwark seditor-at-large Bill Kristol to discuss the war in Iran, amid mounting signs that it is spiraling out of control. Kristol weighs in on the economic and military dynamics propelling the conflict; whether the U.S. is in danger of being ensnared in an escalation trap; the resignation of Trump’s top counterterrorism adviser, Joe Kent; Israel’s role in the war’s inception; and the rapid unraveling of Donald Trump’s rationales for why he started it in the first place.

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John welcomes acclaimed documentarian Ken Burns to discuss his latest PBS magnum opus, “The American Revolution.” Burns recounts the 10-year gestation of the six-part, 12-hour series, culminating with its fortuitous (but entirely coincidental) debut on the eve of the U.S. Semiquincentennial; how he assembled the remarkable array of Hollywood stars—Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, and dozens more—who voice the story’s key historical figures; and the case for George Washington as the revolution’s indispensable man, without whom America would not exist. Burns also reveals the five (yes, five) embryonic series on which he’s currently at work.

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John welcomes former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to discuss the war in Iran. Sherman, who led the U.S. team that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, assesses the current state of the conflict as its scope widens and economic reverberations intensify; the ever-shifting rationales offered by Donald Trump and his administration for attacking Iran and their miscalculations as to how it would respond; and scenarios for what might come next, including the possibility of American boots on the ground.

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John welcomes Jake Sullivan, former National Security Adviser to Joe Biden and a key architect of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, to discuss the war against the regime in Tehran as it enters its second week — with no clear plan, strategy, or end game in sight, and having blown the lid off a Pandora’s Box of potentially calamitous unintended consequences.

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First, John welcomes Arizona Democratic senator, retired U.S. Navy captain, and former combat pilot Mark Kelly to discuss the Trump administration's shifting rationales for, and the huge strategic risks of, the war in Iran. Then John’s Puck partners Leigh Ann Caldwell and Abby Livingston assess the domestic political reaction to the unfolding conflict, plus the results of Tuesday’s Senate primaries in Texas and Kristi Noem’s travails on Capitol Hill ahead of her ouster as DHS secretary.

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