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. At the time, I texted Doug to congratulate him on the hire and told him it would work out great, as long as he followed one simple rule: Always do whatever Jen says. To the best of my knowledge,  Doug adhered to that rule to the letter—which is one reason, I’d suggest, why he exited the campaign with his public image both elevated and enhanced.
With Jen back in circulation, I asked her to come on my Impolitic podcast to share some pearls of wisdom one week into Trump 2.0. That wisdom, of course, derives from a career in politics during which she has quite literally seen it all, from working on Capitol Hill for then-congressman Leon Panetta; to a stint in Bill Clinton’s White House (Monica Lewinsky was her intern); and serving as a communications strategist for John Edwards and Hillary Clinton during each of their presidential runs, with a tour in between as Obama’s White House communications director. (She’s also the author of two books, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World, and She Proclaims: Our Declaration of Independence From a Man’s World.)