Nicolle Wallace Opens Up About Motherhood, Trump and Her New Podcast (Exclusive)

Nicolle Wallace is adding to her impressive resume.

The Emmy-nominated host of MSNBC’s Deadline: White House is launching her first podcast, The Best People, an idea she says she had after watching President Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election.

“I think after the reelection of Donald Trump, I went to my bosses and offered to do more, sort of realizing that this was a big story and recognizing that maybe not everybody is watching the news every day,” Wallace, 53, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I wanted to be sort of available in other mediums.”

The conversations will allow for “extended engagement. And I think that’s what I was hungering for.”

But she assures listeners: “We do not avoid the elephant in the room.”

“I think that I’ve made a mistake in separating the two because we’re not going to heal the divisions in our politics until we sit down at the table and talk about the common experiences of raising kids and worrying about screen time, of raising kids who play sports and worrying about injuries, of making sure we have enough time for date night with our partners,” she says of balancing conversations about life with politics.

Wallace continues, “These are the things that everybody can sit down and talk about. And when we separate out our politics, it’s separate from our real lives.”

To kick things off, she has an all-star line-up of guests including fellow actor, MSNBC host and friend Rachel Maddow, Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers and actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Jason Bateman.

The Best People joins MSNBC’s growing slate of original podcasts including Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra, Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast, Trumpland with Alex Wagner, The Blueprint with Jen Psaki,” and Into America with Trymaine Lee.

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The powerhouse news veteran, who has interviewed top politicians from President Joe Biden to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, doesn’t believe her voice will be lost in what she calls the “vibrant” space of podcasting.

“I’m not the variable,” Wallace says. “It’s the collection of amazing people that agreed to talk to us.”

The people, just as the title of her podcast suggests, is how she will judge its success.

“If the people that come enjoy it, we will feel like we served our listener. And that was how I felt the first day we started the show, that if the people that came to us for breaking news, or political news, or conversation liked what they saw, we would feel like we achieved what we set out to do,” she says.

Wallace, who was the former White House Communications Chief under President George W. Bush, says she’s carrying over some pre-show rituals of Deadline: White House to The Best People.

“It involves a lot of caffeine,” she jokes, before adding that she checks “in on the home front,” which includes her husband, New York Times journalist Michael Schmidt, 13-year-old son Liam and toddler daughter Isabella. 

“I have a one and a half year old, so I check in to make sure she’s doing okay. My son is 13, and by the time I go on the air, he’s usually out of school. So I check in with him. Sometimes I order him sushi, which is his favorite after school. For a 13-year-old boy, that counts as a mini meal. And then lots of caffeine,” she says. 

“And I always make sure I’ve run before I sit down to talk to anybody because that clears my head and my brain.”

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With this new venture, the anchor is charging full steam ahead and not worrying about how to decompress from the constant news cycle.

“I don’t think I do, but I don’t think anyone decompresses anymore, right?” Wallace says. “I think we’re learning how to live in our compressed state. I think there’ll be a moment to decompress. I think right now, I’m trying to grab and enjoy all the chances I have to connect.”

The Best People debuts on Monday, June 2 with new episodes dropping every Monday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever listeners get their podcasts. Deadline: White House airs weekdays at 4p.m. ET on MSNBC.