177 episodes
On with Kara Swisher Vox Media Podcast Network
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4.2 • 160 Ratings
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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.
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Are Elon’s Best Days Behind Him? with Kirsten Grind, Tim Higgins & Becky Peterson
Tesla is bleeding execs, and it appears to be reaching a crisis point; over at Twitter/X, new reporting shows that Elon uses the platform to cozy up to right-wing leaders around the world and then presses them to enact policies that benefit to his companies; and while SpaceX continues to dominate in space, serious questions remain about the Pentagon’s reliance on the mercurial industrialist with a seeming soft spot for Putin and Xi. So it’s time to gather three of the best reporters covering Musk and get their take on all things Elon.
Kirsten Grind recently joined The New York Times as a tech investigations reporter. Previously, she was at The Wall Street Journal, where she reported on Elon’s drug use and the shockingly acquiescent Tesla board. Tim Higgins is the author of Power Play, Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century, and he writes a weekly column at The Wall Street Journal that is mostly about Elon Musk. And Becky Peterson covers Tesla, SpaceX, and all things Elon at The Information, where she consistently publishes scoops on the inner workings of Elon’s companies.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find Kara on Instagram/Threads as @karaswisher
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On Journalism, Activism and Hope with Nicholas Kristof
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has been reporting on protests, wars and conflicts for more than 40 years, and he’s used his platform to highlight human rights issues at home and abroad. But despite being a proponent of "ethical journalism", he flinches at being called an “activist”. Kara talks to Nick about the swashbuckling adventures detailed in his new memoir, Chasing Hope: A Reporter’s Life, his take on the situation in Gaza and the student protests against the war, and why he’s more hopeful than cynical about the state of the world – even with Trump back on the ballot.
This interview was taped on May 14, 2024.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find Kara on Threads/Instagram @karaswisher
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War in Gaza, Ukraine & Space, plus Biden vs. Trump with David Ignatius
David Ignatius, a foreign affairs columnist for The Washington Post and the author of twelve novels, is also a noted expert on Middle East politics, one of the preeminent national security writers in the country, and perhaps, most importantly — the person who first assigned Kara Swisher to cover tech news.
Kara talks to her old boss about his new spy thriller, The Phantom Orbit, the upcoming presidential election, the war in Gaza, and the war in Ukraine.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find Kara on Threads/Instagram @karaswisher
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Walt Mossberg & MKBHD Break Down The Art of the Tech Review
To savvy tech consumers, Walt Mossberg and Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, need no introduction. Before he retired in 2017, Walt was the undisputed dean of tech reviewers. As Senator Maria Cantwell, a recent guest and former tech executive put it, “all our product reviews lived or died by Walt Mossberg.”
MKBHD began reviewing tech products on YouTube, as a high schooler, and he now has more than 18 million subscribers to his channel. He has become this generation’s Walt Mossberg, and as Jimmy Donaldson/MrBeast, the king of YouTube, put it, “you’re the video producer that decides what tech everyone in America buys.”
Yet, somehow, the titans of tech reviews had never met before. Kara rights this wrong, and she, Mossberg, and Brownlee discuss the art, philosophy and ethics of reviewing tech, as well as the Tesla Cybertruck, Apple Vision Pro, AI-in-a-box and Taylor Swift.
Click here to listen to Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find Kara on Instagram/Threads as @karaswisher
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Radical Self-Acceptance, Cancel Culture, and Forgiveness with Writer Anne Lamott
Author Anne Lamott has penned novels, but is most famous for her confessional memoirs about sobriety, raising her son as a single mother (Operating Instructions), being a liberal Christian and writing (Bird By Bird). Kara and Anne talk about her 20th book, Somehow: Thoughts on Love, why she thinks love is like Wi-Fi, how she dealt with nearly being canceled over a tweet, how to practice radical self-acceptance, and finding forgiveness — even for Donald Trump.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find Kara on Threads/Instagram @karaswisher
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Can Chipotle Founder Steve Ells Strike "Fast-Casual" Gold Again?
Thirty-one years after founding Chipotle, Steve Ells is back with what he hopes will be another fast-casual dining revolution: the highly-automated, plant-based food chain, Kernel. Ells says that streamlining and automation will allow him to pay workers well above minimum wage and give them more benefits – all while reducing labor costs. But don’t call it a robot restaurant! Kara and Ells discuss the mechanics and philosophy underpinning Kernel’s concept and the downstream effects of integrating tech into our food.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find Kara on Threads/Instagram @karaswisher
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Customer Reviews
Elon Musk
Stop talking about Elon Musk already! It’s sooooo tiresome.
Thank you Kara for MOST of your work
Hey Kara, I always listen to and read your work because you are incredibly intelligent, insightful, and geared to providing objective analysis in language that technophobes like myself can understand.
However, the way you and your ultra-PROGRESSIVE assistant ridiculed and diminished Martina Navratilova using the same editing and pre as well as post interview editorializing that Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon use diminished your stellar reputation.
I have always believed that the only reason anyone MAGA or PROGRESSIVE resort to such gutter level tactics is because their position and analysis cannot defeat the victim's argument.
And by the way, the nauseating fawning over Martina the athlete before you and your assistant demeaned and ridiculed Martina Navratilova as a woman rivaled anything produced by FOX NEWS.
Carry on, you're the multi millionaire PROGRESSIVE superstar, and i am just a classic democratic liberal.
Cheers
Too self important
I really wanted to like this show but between Kara's self serving narcissistic outbursts (I interviewed so and so) and her tendency to interrupt every guest with her half thoughts, it is to frustrating to listen to her. She claims to be a great journalist but a great journalist doesn't continuously insert herself and her opinions into the interview. Maybe she was a good journalist earlier in her career but she is terrible now.