On with Kara Swisher
It's on. Twice a week, award-winning journalist Kara Swisher gets to the heart of the story through no-holds-barred interviews with power players across business, tech, media, politics and beyond. So why do her guests show up? “Smart people,” says Kara, “like difficult questions.”
Mondays and Thursdays from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Mondays and Thursdays from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Episodes (97)
Is AI Hollywood’s Newest Star? Runway AI’s Vision for the Future of Film
AI video generators are making storytelling more affordable — and one day, the tools may allow anyone with enough creativity to become a filmmaker. But the same technology can power convincing...
How A ‘Brittle’ Constitution Broke U.S. Politics with Historian Jill Lepore
In her latest book, We the People, the historian, New Yorker staff writer, and Harvard University professor Jill Lepore turns her attention to the history of the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, she...
Liberal Media Bias, Trump & Taming Big Tech with Cable Impresario John Malone
While media pioneer John Malone may not be a household name, he’s had a hand in shaping how all of us watch TV. Malone built Denver-based Tele-Communications Inc. into the largest cable company in the...
Labor Day Special: Hacks On Tap
Happy Labor Day! Today, we’re bringing you a special episode from our friends at Hacks on Tap. This one is hosted by David Axelrod and John Heilemann, and they’re joined by Rahm Emanuel, the former...
Joy Reid on Dems, Gaza & Independent Media
Joy Reid was an early social media adopter — which didn’t always go over well with her former bosses at MSNBC. But after her primetime show, The ReidOut, was canceled as part of MSNBC’s shakeup, this...
Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art
How do artists hold the powerful to account? Graphic novelist Alison Bechdel and editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes have been grappling with that question for decades, in their own very different...
Why Trump’s Economic Illiteracy Might *Not* Tank the Economy
Tariffs are up, but inflation is still holding steady. Job numbers are down, but the stock market is booming. Meanwhile, President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and he’s...
Why Trump’s Cartoonish Fascism Is So Effective with Jason Stanley
As federal troops patrol the capital and masked men whisk away immigrants in unmarked cars, it’s reasonable to ask: is President Trump a fascist? According to Jason Stanley, the answer is a resounding...
What Makes A Man? Richard Reeves on Addressing the Struggles Facing Boys and Men
Are boys and men in crisis? Kara tackles the "male malaise" head-on with Richard Reeves, founding president of the American Institute for Boys and Men and author of "Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern...
Unpacking the Myth of John F. Kennedy Jr.
More than 25 years after his tragic death, John F. Kennedy Jr. remains one of the most captivating figures in American public life. He was handsome, charming, and born into political royalty — and...
Kids These Days: The Impact of Tech, Social Media and AI on Adolescents
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in 2022, more than one in three U.S. adolescents between the ages of 18 and 25 had some form of mental health disorder,...
Robert Reich on Democrats’ Failures, Trump’s Fascism & Populism
Democrats have abandoned the working class, according to former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, leading working people to fall for President Trump’s hollow and hateful cultural populism. But he argues...
Journalists or Creators? How Media Entrepreneurs Are Reshaping News
Legacy media isn’t dead, but journalists are leaving traditional outlets in swarms to launch their own newsletters, podcasts and social media ventures, and they may be forcing a reboot. As one of the...
Epstein, Trump & the MAGA Meltdown — Sorting Fact from Fiction
Ever since Trump was re-elected in 2024, his MAGA base has been eagerly awaiting the release of the Epstein files. So it came as a shock when, in July, a Justice Department memo said they had reviewed...
When AI F*s Up, Who’s to Blame? With Bruce Holsinger
What happens when artificial intelligence collides with family, morality and the need for justice? Author and University of Virginia professor Bruce Holsinger joins Kara to talk about his new novel,...
TikTok Is Changing How We Talk & How We Vote
Social media algorithms are leading to the creation of new words, new accents, and even new identities. And while using the apps may seem like a fun, trivial way to waste time, they’re actually having...
Making Trump Pay with E. Jean Carroll and Roberta Kaplan
“Not my type” is what President Donald Trump said about writer and former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of sexually assaulting her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman....
Science vs. Silicon Valley with Adam Becker
How skeptical should we be about the bill of goods (often marketed as needs) sold to us by Silicon Valley? Very, says Adam Becker, an astrophysicist and author of the new book, More Everything...
Taking on Trump Family Corruption with Rep. Robert Garcia
Rep. Robert Garcia was recently elected as the ranking member of the powerful House Oversight Committee by his fellow House Democrats. He won a top job that usually goes to a senior lawmaker who has...
The 2024 Election Post-Mortem: How Trump Beat the Odds
Despite the chaos of January 6th, 34 felony convictions, and his party’s underperformance in the 2022 midterms, Donald J. Trump is once again president.
How did he defy political gravity to win...
How did he defy political gravity to win...
The Red Scare Returns? Lessons from McCarthyism in the Age of Trump 2.0
President Trump and other Republicans keep throwing around the C-word — Communist — to smear anyone slightly progressive, including Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s new Democratic mayoral candidate....
Jerrod Carmichael on Truth in Comedy, Coming Out Late & Religion
Kara Swisher sits down with Emmy-winning comedian Jerrod Carmichael for a raw and revealing conversation about truth, family, faith — and the art of standup. They dig into Carmichael’s work, including...
Trump's Iran Strikes: Triumph, Stalemate or Setback?
President Trump’s decision to bomb Iran shocked much of the world — but America’s involvement was over almost as soon as it began, and so far, it hasn’t sparked a broader war, like so many...
Molly Jong-Fast on How to Survive Anything
Molly Jong-Fast is best known as a writer and political commentator. But before she became the host of Fast Politics with Molly Jong-Fast, a regular on MSNBC, and a novelist and memoirist, she was...
MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on Iran & the Limits of Trump’s Power
As President Trump considers striking Iran, Kara talks to Nicolle Wallace — host of MSNBC’S Deadline: White House and the new podcast The Best People.
They unpack President Trump’s mixed messaging...
They unpack President Trump’s mixed messaging...
Young Democrats vs. the Gerontocracy
“Democrats in disarray” is more than just a trope — after last year’s disastrous elections, Democrats are openly fretting about how to pull the party out of its crisis. Kara speaks to a panel of...
Never Ever Getting Back Together? The Trump/Elon Breakup
After reportedly speaking to President Trump on the phone, Elon Musk took to Twitter, on Wednesday, to say he regrets “some” of his tweets about President Trump — but that doesn’t mean all is...
NPR CEO Katherine Maher on GOP Attacks, Editorial Criticisms & Digital Evolution
For the past five decades, every Republican president except Gerald Ford has tried to cut funding for public media. But NPR and PBS have never dealt with a moment like this, where the Trump...
“Mountainhead” Writer/Director Jesse Armstrong on Tech Bros, Murdoch and AI
From media moguls to tech billionaires, Oscar-nominated and Emmy award-winning writer, producer and director Jesse Armstrong knows how to tap into the psyche of the rich and powerful. In the...
The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg on the Long-Term Consequences of Trump 2.0
Jeffrey Goldberg has been a thorn in President Donald Trump’s side since the real-estate developer–turned reality-show host first ran for office in 2016. Back then — ten months before he took over as...
The Revenge Presidency with Maggie Haberman
As the One Big Beautiful Bill Act lumbers through Congress, President Trump lobs threats at Russian President Vladimir Putin on Truth Social, and the administration continues its war against Harvard,...
Can Smaller Startups Compete in the AI Race?
Last year, AI and machine learning startups raked in about half of all VC funding in North America. And so far this year, AI is still leading the pack. But a huge chunk of the money in the Q1 — $40...
Sam Altman, OpenAI and the Future of Artificial (General) Intelligence
Few technological advances have made the kind of splash –– and had the potential long-term impact –– that ChatGPT did in November 2022. It made a nonprofit called OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman,...
Barry Diller Unfiltered: on Family, Fortune, Elon, Trump & AI
Barry Diller’s fingerprints are all over pop culture. From inventing the Movie of the Week and pioneering the television mini-series to launching the FOX broadcast network, redefining home shopping...
The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper Takes on Next-Gen MAGA and the Manosphere
Few people have as much knowledge of the MAGAsphere as Jordan Klepper, co-host and correspondent for The Daily Show. Klepper has been covering President Trump and his supporters since the 2016...
Christiane Amanpour on Hot Wars, Trade Wars & Potential Wars
Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor, joins Kara to unpack current and potential conflicts — from simmering tension between India and Pakistan to escalating violence in Gaza, attempts...
Trump’s First and Next 100 Days
The first few months of President Trump’s second term have been chaotic, to say the least. There have been an unprecedented number of executive actions that have triggered an equally impressive number...
Gov. Wes Moore Talks Trump, Democrats, DOGE — and Running in 2028?
Governor Wes Moore of Maryland was elected less than three years ago, but he’s already on the shortlist of potential Democratic presidential candidates for 2028. In 2022, the former combat veteran,...
AMD CEO Lisa Su on AI Chips, Trump's Tariffs and the Magic of Open Source
In 2014, when Lisa Su took over as CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, AMD was on the verge of bankruptcy. Su bet hard on hardware and not only pulled the semiconductor company back from the brink, but...
From The Office to SNAFU: Ed Helms on History, Politics & Comedy
Ed Helms is best known for playing Andy Bernard in The Office and Stu in The Hangover trilogy. But the comedic actor is also the politically engaged, banjo-playing, podcast-hosting, TV...
Judith Butler on Why Gender Is in Trump’s Crosshairs
Philosopher and critical theorist Judith Butler, Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School at UC Berkeley, has been at the forefront of gender theory for 35 years. But while their work Gender...
Trump, Immigration & the Erosion of Due Process
President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has led to a series of legal skirmishes with major constitutional implications. To unpack it all, Kara speaks to three experts:
Caitlin Dickerson is a...
Caitlin Dickerson is a...
Why Melinda French Gates is Betting On Women in Politics, Business and Tech
Melinda French Gates is a businesswoman and philanthropist, as well as an advocate for women and girls both in the U.S. and abroad. And over the past few years, she’s also become a force in Democratic...
Trump's Tariffs: Chaos, Confusion & Consequences
President Trump's chaotic rollout and partial rollback of tariffs has roiled financial markets and confused many allies, both domestically and internationally. Although he temporarily calmed bond...
The Daily Show’s Josh Johnson Can Make Even A Recession Funny
Emmy-nominated writer, stand-up comic and actor Josh Johnson may be the most prolific comedian on the internet right now. You might recognize him as a regular correspondent on The Daily Show, or maybe...
The Onion’s Owner on Satire, Infowars, Defending Democracy & Trump
Last year, after pressure from activist investors, Jeff Lawson stepped down from his perch as CEO from Twilio, the cloud communications company he co-founded. But he didn’t spend any time twiddling...
Trump’s Attacks on the Press and Freedom of Expression
President Donald Trump has always bashed the press. But his attacks are no longer just rhetorical — he’s using lawsuits to intimidate the news media, and he’s inspired a conservative legal movement to...
Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle
Comedian Michelle Buteau is a true mutli-hyphenate — actor, standup comic, TV host, podcaster, and executive producer — and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Kara spoke to Buteau about the season 2...
Graydon Carter on Vanity Fair, Editing & a Short-Fingered Vulgarian Named Trump
Graydon Carter is the co-founder of Spy Magazine and Air Mail, and for 25 years, he was the editor of Vanity Fair. His memoir, When The Going Was Good, chronicles a time when the going was extremely...
Fired Up: FTC Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter Say They’ll Fight Trump
President Trump fired Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter, the two Democratic commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission, last week, sending shock waves through political and business circles. The...
Is America Ready for a Full-Blown Cyberwar? with Nicole Perlroth, Michael Schmidt & Lt. Col. Vindman
Everything, everywhere, all at once — but not the movie. This is how cybersecurity experts describe a scenario where a foreign adversary shuts off critical infrastructure, like oil pipelines, water...
Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson: Less Obstruction, More Government
Scarcity is a policy choice — one liberals need to reject and replace with abundance, according to journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson in their new book, Abundance. They say that by building a...
Chelsea Handler on Men, Trump & Money (+ Excellent Parenting Advice)
From spiking her childhood lemonade stand drinks with vodka to launching Netflix's first talk show, Chelsea Handler has always had an entrepreneurial instinct. Case in point: the comedian’s new book,...
How Sen. Elizabeth Warren Is “Fighting Like Hell” Against Trump, Musk & Big Tech Billionaires
How is Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) pushing back against the Trump/Musk “co-presidents” wreaking havoc in Washington?
Speaking to Kara at SXSW, Warren talks about what Musk has to gain by shutting...
Speaking to Kara at SXSW, Warren talks about what Musk has to gain by shutting...
Geraldine Brooks On the Art of Grieving and Spanning the Political Divide
On May 27, 2019, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, best-selling author (and Kara’s friend) Tony Horwitz was on book tour for his latest work, Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American...
Can Kara Save The Washington Post From Jeff Bezos?
For months, Kara has been assembling a group of investors to buy The Washington Post. Although it's not actually for sale, an ongoing exodus of journalistic talent, combined with Bezos's decision to...
How Trump's Policies Will Shape the Stock Market with Aswath Damodaran
For years, Wall Street veterans have been saying that a market correction is around the corner, and last week's jitters have only intensified concerns. To find out if the party is ending sooner rather...
Comedian Ronny Chieng on Political Satire, Trolling Algorithms and Cerebral Dick Jokes
Emmy Award-winning comedian and actor Ronny Chieng is a self-described grumpy Malaysian who get to tell it like it is to Americans as aco-host and correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show....
Rahm Emanuel’s Tough Love Intervention for the Democratic Party
After a three-year stint in Japan, Ambassador Rahm Emanuel is back in the States. And now that he's freed from diplomatic constraints, Rahm is bluntly telling fellow Democrats where they went wrong in...
Oren Cass, Paul Krugman & Mariana Mazzucato on Trumponomics
Last week, President Trump signed a memorandum calling for reciprocal tariffs on countries that charge fees on US exports and called his 25% tariff order on all steel and aluminum imports “the...
Unchecked and Unbalanced: Trump’s Executive Power Moves and the Rule of Law
In just a few weeks, President Trump has flooded the zone with executive orders, which have been met with dozens of lawsuits by state attorneys general, unions and non-profits and complaints by...
Wicked’s Cynthia Erivo on Defying Gravity, the Attack on Diversity and (Maybe) Getting an EGOT
Is it strange that Wicked, a film about a marginalized person discovering her magic and rising up to fight against government oppression, has been a box office success under Trump 2.0 – or does the...
Dissecting Elon Musk’s Hostile Takeover with Anne Applebaum, Eoin Higgins & Ryan Mac
Elon Musk and a band of young DOGE engineers are taking control of key government infrastructure. The scale and speed with which they’re hijacking control of the federal government is shocking, and...
Why Ben Stiller Made Severance (and Doesn’t Care about What Elon Says About Him)
Ben Stiller knew he needed to make Severance the moment he read an early version of the show in a writing sample its creator, Dan Erickson, submitted to his production company. Now, years later,...
Trump’s J6 Pardons, the Militia Movement, and the Border
President Trump’s executive action granting clemency to all of the January 6th insurrectionists – violent and non-violent alike – has been met with concern by legal experts and people who have been...
Social Media’s Original Gatekeepers On Moderation’s Rise And Fall
Since the inception of social media, content moderation has been hotly debated by CEOs, politicians, and, of course, among the gatekeepers themselves: the trust and safety officers. And it’s been a...
From Trump to TikTok: Chris Hayes on the Rise of Attention Capitalism
Attention is our world’s most endangered resource — and whoever commands it, commands power. That’s the thesis of Chris Hayes’s new book, The Sirens’ Call, which chronicles the rise of attention...
On Trump’s “Day One” Promises: Former DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas Talks Immigration, Terrorism, and Cybersecurity Threats
President Donald Trump has vowed to tackle immigration on “day one,” and that includes promising to close the southern border and begin mass deportations almost immediately. So who better to discuss...
Put Your Phone Away: Yondr CEO on the Philosophy Behind Phone-Free Spaces
They’re incredible pieces of technology, they’re unbelievably useful, and we feel lost without them. Nonetheless, smartphones have become the bane of our existence. So Graham Dugoni started Yondr with...
Laverne Cox on Meta, Conservatives and The Battle For Trans Rights
Transgender kids and adults have become a political punching bag for conservatives — but Laverne Cox is stepping into the ring. Kara talks with the transgender activist, Emmy award-winning producer...
Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Regulating Tech, Antitrust, Trump’s Picks & More
Senator Amy Klobuchar has been legislating on Capitol Hill for 18 years. She recently won reelection and is now the number three Democrat in the Senate. And even though Big Tech has blocked her...
Trump Whisperer Maggie Haberman On Trump 2.0
After MAGA rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, many people thought Donald Trump's days as a political force were over. A notable exception was Maggie Haberman – senior political...
AI Ethics and Safety — a Contradiction in Terms?
We’re kicking off the year with a deep-dive into AI ethics and safety with three AI experts: Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, the CEO and co-founder of Humane Intelligence and the first person to be appointed...
Samantha Bee on Being “Democrat-Celibate” (from The Assignment with Audie Cornish)
Samantha Bee is a comedian, author and former late-night host who hosts the podcast Choice Words with Samantha Bee and co-hosts The Daily Beast Podcast with Joanna Coles. Her weekly late-night comedy...
Sarah Silverman on Being Wrong – and Treating Trolls with Kindness (from ReThinking with Adam Grant)
Happy Holidays! We have a special episode from our friend Adam Grant and the folks at the TED Audio Collective.
Sarah Silverman is a comedian, actor, and writer who doesn’t shy away from saying what...
Sarah Silverman is a comedian, actor, and writer who doesn’t shy away from saying what...
The Best (and Most Overrated) Books of 2024
Which subpar books actually warrant writing a bad review? Do best sellers usually live up to the hype? And how does our relationship with technology affect the publishing industry? Kara sits down with...
Meta's Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun Makes the Case for Open Source
Kara sits down for a live interview with Yann LeCun, an “early AI prophet” and the brains behind the largest open-source large language model in the world. The two discuss the potential dangers that...
RFK Jr., Vaccines, Bird Flu & Health Under Trump 2.0
RFK Jr. was on the Hill, on Monday, working to persuade senators he’s capable of running the Department of Health and Human Services and its almost $2 trillion budget. Ever since the news his lawyer...
Chef Matty Matheson of ‘The Bear’ on Culinary Stardom, On and Off The Screen
Canadian chef Matty Matheson has been a force in the culinary world for over two decades, but the non-foodies of the world recognize him as Neil Fak, the goofy, handyman-come-waiter-in-training on the...
Rep. Ro Khanna on Tech, Trump & Elon
Representative Ro Khanna represents the wealthiest congressional district in the country, but he wants to show Democrats how to speak to the working class. And perhaps surprisingly, he’s pretty good...
Marc Benioff on Elon, AI Agents, and the “DOGE”
How will AI agents change the economy and the workforce — and are Americans ready? Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has some thoughts. After a stellar quarter boosted by the customer resource management...
Why Tubi CEO Anjali Sud Says Free Is the Future of Streaming
How does an ad-based streamer compete with subscription-based models like Netflix, Hulu, Max, and all the rest? By charging nothing. At least that’s what Tubi is doing. And despite being seemingly...
Did a Chatbot Cause Her Son’s Death? Megan Garcia v. Character.AI & Google
What if the worst fears around AI come true? For Megan Garcia, that’s already happened. In February, after spending months interacting with chatbots created by Character.AI, her 14-year-old son Sewell...
Nathan Myhrvold: Tech’s Renaissance Man
Nathan Myhrvold likes to challenge conventional wisdom. When the founder and CEO of Intellectual Ventures (and former Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft) isn’t running one of the world’s leading...
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus: Billie Jean King
Happy Thanksgiving, On listeners — today, we’re featuring a special episode of Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, one of our favorite podcasts! On Wiser Than Me, Julia shares funny, heartfelt...
Leaving X? Where Next? On Bluesky, Threads and the “Fediverse”
Elon Musk’s social media platform X lost more than 280,000 global users the day after the US presidential election. Meanwhile, sites like Threads from Meta and newcomer Bluesky have seen huge surges...
Charlamagne tha God on Trump, Journalism and that Anti-Trans Ad
Lenard McKelvey is a best-selling author, entrepreneur and media mogul, but you probably know him as Charlamagne Tha God: host of The Breakfast Club. It’s an insanely popular and influential radio...
Jon Chu on Wicked, Silicon Valley, and Defying Hollywood’s Gravity
Jon Chu grew up in Silicon Valley, in the shadow of Apple Park. His father, Chef Chu, still runs his eponymous restaurant there, and Jon worshiped Steve Jobs as a kid. As a teen, he used Apple...
Ta-Nehisi Coates On Trump, Palestine and Journalism as a “Contact Sport”
What role will writers play as we head into a second Trump term? Author, journalist and Howard University professor Ta-Nehisi Coates has some thoughts. The man who has been called “one of the most...
Trump’s Second Term: How He Did It & What to Expect
What does a second Trump presidency mean for America? Kara hosts a panel of experts and reporters to reflect on the results of the election and to find out what we can expect going forward. They...
Trump vs Democracy: Two Historians’ Perspectives
President-elect Donald J. Trump has won a resounding victory against Vice President Kamala Harris, and now, the man who promised political retribution and said he may use the military to go after “the...
The “Elon Election”: What It Means For America and Musk
Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, isn’t on the ballot for the 2024 U.S. election, but he might as well be. Elon has become one of the Trump campaign’s top surrogates, top donors (over $119...
Timothy Snyder and Bill Adair on the War on Truth & The Fight for Freedom
Lying has always been a part of politics, but in recent years, political lies have come to dominate our elections and their outcomes. Even the notion that facts and truths can be objective and shared...
Reid Hoffman on Trump, Elon, Peter Thiel and Lina Khan
Reid Hoffman isn’t just one of the most influential entrepreneurs and investors in Silicon Valley — he’s also one of the most important mega-donors supporting the Democratic party. A member of the...
Seth Meyers on Parenting, Podcasting & Late Night
Has late-night TV passed its peak? Ticket sales for live comedy shows are booming and there’s no shortage of streaming stand-up specials, but the same is hardly true for late-night television. Is it...
Robert Downey Jr., Ayad Akhtar and Bartlett Sher on “Truthful Lies” in AI, Art and Politics
“Digital machines are not just remaking stories, they're remaking us.” So says Oscar-winning actor Robert Downey Jr. as the titular character in his Broadway debut, MCNEAL. Kara talks with Downey Jr.,...
Signal’s Meredith Whittaker on Surveillance Capitalism, Text Privacy and AI
What do cybersecurity experts, journalists in foreign conflicts, indicted New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Drake have in common? They all use the Signal messaging app. Signal’s protocol has been the...
About this Podcast
Copyright
2022
Language
en