Ashley Parker & Michael Scherer: It’s Good to Be the King

Impolitic with John Heilemann

Audacy | Puck

News, Politics

4.8 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John is joined by Atlantic staff writers Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer to discuss their new cover story on the remarkable political resurrection that returned Donald Trump to the White House and imbued him with a patina of invincibility—and the recent signs that this veneer is starting to crack. Parker and Scherer weigh in on Trump’s tete-a-tete with Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney; the differences between his first and second-term states of mind; and whether becoming an avatar of tariff-induced austerity is a good look for him. They also opine on whether Trump’s talk about reopening Alcatraz is serious, yet more trolling, or a sign that he’s been watching too many old movies on cable. 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

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm making a robot head with an Amazon box.
0:04.0	I've painted it silver and Daddy helped me make it.
0:07.0	At Amazon we're actually using paper bags for more of our deliveries.
0:10.0	And now I'm making a paper hot air balloon and I even made a little brown basket
0:14.0	and I'm making a dog that looks just like Monty.
0:17.0	Just one of the ways we've reduced the weight of our packaging by more than 40% since 2015, which is still good for playtime.
0:23.9	Mom, where's the scissors?
0:26.8	To learn more, visit aboutamazon.com.com.combeau-at-Uk forward slash sustainability.
0:36.8	Aloha and namaste everyone and welcome Tim Politick with John Heilman, a puck and Odyssey Joint,
0:42.0	featuring lively in-depth conversations with the people who cruise the corridors of power in America,
0:46.6	sculpting and shaping the ebb and flow of our politics and culture.
0:51.5	Last week, The Atlantic published on its website, the cover story of its June print edition.
0:57.9	Nearly 12,000 words on Donald Trump by Ashley Parker and Michael Shearer.
1:03.3	Parker and Shearer, both former national political reporters at the Washington Post, recently
1:07.8	hired away by The Atlantic, have covered Trump since he entered the
1:11.2	national political fray a decade ago. In an editor's note accompanying the Trump piece,
1:15.4	Atlantic Grand Puba, Jeff Goldberg, writes that in the time that Ashley and Michael have
1:20.4	covered Trump, they quote, have developed complicated and intriguing ideas about the brain
1:25.7	of Donald Trump and the nature of Trumpism.
1:28.0	A simple question animates their story.
1:30.5	How did Trump rise from political ruin in 2021 to seize the commanding heights of government
1:35.1	and the world economy?
	...

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