Continuing from Part 1, John Heilemann talks with international affairs and national security guru Tom Nichols about the debate over whether Russian President Vladimir Putin’s behavior and rhetoric suggest that he is losing touch with reality and becoming unhinged. Nichols argues that Putin has reached a “point of no return” given the mounting civilian casualties in Ukraine, President’s Biden’s recent characterization of Putin as a war criminal, and Russia’s increasing isolation on the world stage. They also discuss Biden’s successful rallying of NATO allies – as the president meets with European leaders in Brussels this week about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – as well as the difficult decisions facing Biden and the NATO alliance as Zelenskyy warns that we may already have entered World War III. Tune in to the full episode to hear about Nichols’s proud status as a five-time, undefeated Jeopardy champion, and his well-known – and well-deserved – reputation for having indefensibly and inexplicably bad taste in music.
