John Heilemann

New York

National Affairs Analyst at NBC News

National Affairs Analyst at MSNBC

Chief Political Columnist at Puck

Host at Impolitic with John Heilemann

@PuckNews partner @MSNBC analyst @HacksOnTap cohost @SHO_TheCircus creator Game Change/Double Down author. Great Dane valet. @jheil on BlueSky. #WuTang4Life 👐

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Articles

Banker Robert Wolf on the TACO Trade

3 days ago | puck.news | John Heilemann

For the duration of Barack Obama’s two terms in office, Robert Wolf was perhaps the only Wall Street mover and shaker in the White House orbit whom Obama actually liked. In the run-up to the 2008 presidential primaries, Wolf, then serving as chairman and C.E.O. of UBS Americas, had been at the forefront of a generational shift in the allegiances of Democratic megadonors, enabling Obama to build the fundraising juggernaut that helped beat Hillary Clinton.
The Story Behind the ‘Original Sin’ Book about the Biden Family

1 week ago | puck.news | John Heilemann

Every so often a book comes along that manages to become the incessant, inescapable talk of the town in Washington, while tapping into the highly polarized, beyond-the-Beltway political zeitgeist: a book that manages, in other words, to be applauded and pilloried in roughly equal measure but also proves impossible to ignore. Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, is just such a tome.
Former Rep. David Jolly on Making Florida Purple Again

2 weeks ago | puck.news | John Heilemann

David Jolly’s political transformation is almost a mirror image of his native Florida. Born in Dunedin, just west of Tampa, and raised in Dade City about an hour north, Jolly won a special election in 2014 to represent Florida’s 13th congressional district—replacing his moderate Republican mentor and former House Appropriations Committee chairman, Bill Young.
Confessions of a Never-Trump Florida Man

2 weeks ago | puck.news | John Heilemann

David Jolly’s political transformation is almost a mirror image of his native Florida. Born in Dunedin, just west of Tampa, and raised in Dade City about an hour north, Jolly won a special election in 2014 to represent Florida’s 13th congressional district—replacing his moderate Republican mentor and former House Appropriations Committee chairman, Bill Young.
Obama “Car Czar” Steve Rattner on the Affects of Trump’s Tariffs

1 month ago | puck.news | John Heilemann

Thanks to Donald Trump and his ChatGPT-enabled tariff jihad, last week was one of the most tumultuous, tempestuous periods for stocks and bonds and currencies that we’ve ever seen. What happened across those five days, and more importantly, what happens next, is a story that sits at the intersection of Wall Street and Washington, of financial mechanics and political mojo, of conventional plutocratic maneuvering and MAGA-fueled disregard for history, precedent, and institutional coherence.
Don't Waste a Constitutional Crisis

Feb 11, 2025 | puck.news | John Heilemann

Donald Trump's second presidential term, while different from his first in many ways, has remained perfectly consistent in one glaring respect: His behavior during his first three weeks back has once again served as a full-employment act for legal analysts-from law school heavyweights and white shoe partners to former federal prosecutors and public defenders-who have been called back into 24/7 service to guide the rest of us through the thicket of obscure, arcane, and often unprecedented...
Tropic Thunder

Feb 4, 2025 | puck.news | John Heilemann

In the face of Donald Trump 's blizzard of executive actions in his first two weeks back in the big chair-some of it purely performative, some legally dubious (at best), all plainly designed to disrupt established norms and long-standing precedents with respect to the division of power between the presidency and Congress-the Republican majorities in the House and Senate have shown little appetite for pushback. In fact, many seem to welcome the usurpation of their traditional prerogatives.
The Dems' Wilderness Map

Jan 28, 2025 | puck.news | John Heilemann

Almost immediately after Joe Biden left the presidential race last summer, my longtime pal and former Circus co-host Jennifer Palmieri, then doing a podcast for MSNBC with former senator Claire McCaskill and appearing regularly on the network, took a leave of absence from the commentariat to become the short-term, sprint-to-the-finish-line chief of staff to second gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Joe Versus the Volcano

Jan 21, 2025 | puck.news | John Heilemann

Inaugurations are, by definition, historic. But I can't think of one more eventful, newsy, or just plain weird than Donald Trump's sequel to the "American carnage" goat rodeo of 2017. Look no further than the fact that 45/47 delivered, in effect, two separate inaugural addresses: the scripted (and decidedly low-energy) official rendition in the Capitol Rotunda, followed by the grievance-laden, backward-looking screed he uncorked a few minutes later to supporters in the Capitol Visitor Center.
Reps. Seth Moulton and Richie Torres on Fixing What’s Broken

Nov 19, 2024 | puck.news | John Heilemann

What a year the past two weeks have been. In the head-spinning days since Trump’s history-making reelection and amid his wildly unpredictable cabinet-selection process, Americans could at least count on an old standby: Democrats are once again in disarray. Various factions and personalities within the party have been reprising comforting old classics such as finger-pointing, second-guessing, blame-casting, backstabbing, and shit-talking.