John is joined by Joe Scarborough, co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, to discuss the kickoff of Trump 2.0 Joe riffs on the contradictions within Trump’s official, State of the Union-style inaugural address, and between that speech and the backward-looking, aggrieved oration he uncorked immediately thereafter; the tension between Trump’s yearning for establishment approval and his inclination to stoke the MAGA base; his inability to put January 6 behind him; and Joe Biden’s at-the-buzzer pardon spree. He also opines about the glories of Severance, Liverpool’s Premier League prospects, and, yes, Timothee Chalemet's turn as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.

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John is joined by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Time scribe Michael S. Schmidt on the eve of Donald Trump’s second inauguration to discuss the road ahead. Proceeding from the premise that what Trump says matters less than what he actually does, Schmidt details the myriad ways in which 45/47 attempted to weaponize the government against his enemies in his first term; analyzes the confirmation hearing of Trump’s AG nominee, Pam Bondi, and public statements of FBI director-designate Kash Patel through that lens; and revisits his story last fall in which Trump's former chief of staff, General John Kelly. described Trump as a “fascist” and wannabe dictator. Schmidt also dishes on Zero Day, a Netflix limited series dropping in February that Mike co-created starring Robert DeNiro as an ex-president called back into service to deal with the fallout of a global cyberattack.

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John is joined by Scott Galloway to discuss the impending Tech Bro tableau at Donald Trump’s inauguration and Joe Biden’s warning about America’s incipient transformation into an oligarchy. Galloway—professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, host of the Pivot and Prof G podcasts, and author of The Algebra of Wealth, The Algebra of Happiness, and The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google—argues that the U.S. isn’t just turning into an oligarchy but a kleptocracy as well; that Mark Zuckerberg’s rollback of content moderation and other safeguards on Facebook will be far more socially damaging than what Elon Musk has done to X; and that Musk is all but guaranteed to crush Steve Bannon in the escalating battle between the two men and the political factions they represent. Scott and John also wax lyrical about the joys of Great Dane parenthood and the brilliance of David Lynch (RIP).

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John is joined by Democratic Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow to discuss the commencement of Trump 2.0 and where her party goes from here. Mallory opines on the Pete Hegseth confirmation hearing and explains why women are greeting Trump's second term so differently than his first, despite the profusion of appointees and advisers accused of sexual misconduct; the importance of paying less attention to what Trump says and more to what he actually does; why Kamala Harris lost and Joe Biden never should have sought a second term; and what her party needs to do to start winning again. Mallory also reflects on the viral speech that catapulted her from obscurity to national prominence nearly three years ago—and her love for pumping tokens into classic video games at her local Barcade.

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John is joined by his pal Tim Miller—OG Never Trumper and host of The Bulwark Podcast—for an extended therapy session a week out from the start of Donald Trump’s second term. Tim explains why he finds it impossible to care about Trump non-sentence sentencing or the impending release of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump’s role in January 6; his take on the collective tongue bath being given 45/47 by the tech billionaire class; and the long-run political implications of the face-off between Steve Bannon and Elon Musk. Tim also describes his strategy for combating his impulses towards nihilism in the face of what Trump 2.0 signifies and may hold in store: from hitting Tipitina’s and gorging himself on crawfish to trekking to the UK to see Oasis reunite (hopefully!) this summer.  

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John is joined by Jim Fallows—former Atlantic national correspondent, National Book Award winner, and author of Breaking The News on Substack—to discuss Jimmy Carter’s life and legacy. Fallows, who served as Carter’s chief White House speechwriter, discusses the qualities that made Carter an initially mesmerizing but deeply flawed and historically misunderstood figure; his long-underrated policy accomplishments; the personal attributes that made him formidable (focus, toughness), those that were his downfall (vanity, naivete), and those people saw in him that weren’t there at all (niceness). Fallows also opines on the importance of Carter’s surprising relationships with artists and outlaws such as Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Hunter Thompson—arguing, in fact, that Thompson’s advocacy of Carter was what put him in the White House.

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John is joined by Jiore Craig—next-gen Democratic digital strategist, counter-disinformation specialist, and senior research fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue—to discuss the role of social media in the 2024 election and where the political information ecosystem is headed in 2025. Jiore argues that, for all the focus on deep fakes, A.I., and foreign influence operations in last year's campaign, the online action that mattered more was subtler and more pervasive; the Harris campaign’s digital playbook was wildly out of date and the Trump team’s vastly more in tune with how voters consume information today; and the rise of right-leaning podcasts as a medium for reaching men (especially young men) should have surprised no one—complete with a must-hear deconstruction of the Jordan Peterson phenomenon.

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John is joined by Kara Swisher—longtime chronicler of the Silicon Valley cinematic universe, host of two hit podcasts, and author of the bestselling Burn Book: A Tech Love Story—to discuss why 2025 will be the year of slap fights among bitchy tech billionaires competing for Donald Trump's affections. Swisher analyzes the relationships between Trump and Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and other infobarons; why the tech elite's eagerness to cash in on the “coin-op president” promises to turn Trump 2.0 into a pay-for-play free-for-all; and the future of BlueSky as Musk accelerates X’s transformation into a “Nazi porn bar.” She also speculates on Elon’s ultimate objective: not to conquer DC but to relocate to Mars—a goal that Kara and John both heartily endorse.

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John is joined by Wright Thompson, master of long-form narrative non-fiction and author of the book Heilemann adjudges the best of 2024 — The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi. Wright explains how he came to write The Barn, in which he blends history, journalism, and memoir to offer a new account of the 1955 torture and murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till a few miles from Wright’s boyhood home in Mississippi; what he learned in the process about race, the South, and himself; and why, now more than ever, the story still matters. Wright also discusses his previous book, Pappyland, about Pappy Van Winkle, the most magical bourbon known to man, and the family that makes it, and his career writing seminal magazine profiles of iconic athletes such as Tiger Woods.

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John is joined by Deadspin founder, New York magazine columnist, and rising-star novelist Will Leitch, and Pablo Torre, former ESPN tyro and current host of the endlessly entertaining podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out to discuss the year in sports and sports culture. The guys discuss Caitlin Clark and the rise of the WNBA; the remarkably hitch-free, thoroughly engrossing, perfect-for-streaming Paris Olympics; how America turned to sports for refuge from the tribal toxicity of the presidential campaign; and why athletes who once embraced woke activism were suddenly more than happy to shut up and dribble. They also dunk repeatedly on Aaron Rodgers—and who’s gonna quarrel with that?

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John is joined by his partner and Puck Superfriend Dylan Byers to look back on the year that was on the Byers beat. John and Dylan shake their heads and let the brickbats fly at the sight of a procession of mega-rich entertainment and tech CEOs bowing and scraping before Donald Trump. They also dig into Dylan’s year-end lists of the media industry’s most significant macro trends, its three biggest winners and three sorriest losers; and theorize on why 2024 saw a resurgence in the commercial fortunes and cultural sway of the podcast game.

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