On with Kara Swisher

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NEWS COMMENTARY
UPDATED TWICE WEEKLY

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.

2 DAYS AGO

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 2024 and what they need now to do to salvage the brand. Kara and Rahm talk about Elon Musk’s takeover of the federal government; how Democrats should use legal challenges and procedural tactics to block President Trump’s agenda; and how they can rebuild their reputation by pivoting thematically to issues around education, quality of life, and the American Dream. They close with a rapid-fire assessment on global hotspots: China, Ukraine, and Gaza. This interview was recorded on Tuesday, February 18th. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram, TikTok and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1h 9m
5 DAYS AGO

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 beginning of making America rich again.” But is it? We turn to three brilliant economists for their takes (and disagreements) on the real impact Trumponomics will have on the U.S. economy. Kara leads a spirited and insightful conversation about industrial policy, the efficacy of Trump’s tariffs, how worried we should really be about the U.S. 's trade deficit, the odds of an AI bubble and bail out, and, of course, DOGE. Featuring: Oren Cass, the founder and chief economist of American Compass, a conservative think tank, and a contributing opinion writer for the Financial Times and the New York Times. Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist who writes a newsletter on Substack, teaches at the City University of New York Graduate Center, and recently retired his New York Times Opinion column after writing it from 2000 to 2025. And Mariana Mazzucato, a professor of economics at University College London, where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose and author of the hugely influential book, The Entrepreneurial State. This episode was recorded on Monday, February 10. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram and TikTok @onwithkaraswisher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1h 5m
13 FEB

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 Democrats in Congress. Some of the orders have been blocked in court. But last weekend, Vice President JD Vance posted a tweet implying that a judge can’t tell the executive what to do. So what recourse do the courts, Congress or states have if the administration were to just ignore judicial rulings against them? Kara discusses the strength of our constitutional “checks and balances” and whether we are in or on the brink of a “constitutional crisis” with former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara (host of the Vox Media Podcast Network’s Stay Tuned with Preet); lawyer and outspoken anti-Trump conservative George Conway; CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel; and former Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Jonathan Kanter. Note: This episode was taped the morning of 2/11/2025, before President Trump said in response to a reporter’s question in the Oval Office that he intended to abide by court rulings and appeal if his orders are blocked. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram and TikTok @onwithkaraswisher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1h 6m
10 FEB

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 movie's message actually meet the moment? Wicked has been nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Actress in a Leading Role for Cynthia Erivo, who already has Grammy, Emmy and Tony awards under her belt. This week, Kara talks with Erivo about why, as a queer, Black woman, the role of Elphaba was especially meaningful and how she made it her own; what she thinks about the current attack on diversity programs and the LGBTQ+ community; which projects she wants to lend her voice and other talents to going forward; and what becoming the youngest EGOT winner (if she wins the Oscar) would mean to her. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram and TikTok @onwithkaraswisher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

48 min
6 FEB

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 even President Donald Trump appears not to know all that Musk is doing. In order to analyze what’s actually happening and understand how and why other tech billionaires are also cozying up to Trump, we’re joined by Anne Applebaum, Eoin Higgins & Ryan Mac. Applebaum is a staff writer for The Atlantic, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, and author of the recently released Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run The World. Higgins is a reporter for the IT Brew and author of Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left. And Mac covers corporate accountability across the global technology industry for the New York Times, and he is the co-author of Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter. This episode was recorded on Monday February 3rd. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram and TikTok @onwithkaraswisher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1 hr
3 FEB

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, Severance is a hit, reportedly generating $200 million for Apple TV, and Stiller is the series’ executive producer and go-to director responsible for some of its most pivotal episodes. Kara talks to Stiller about the most poignant themes of the show, from its commentary on surveillance and technology to its meditations on trauma and identity. Plus, they chat politics — including Stiller’s reaction to an angry post about him by Elon Musk and his view on making political art now. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram and TikTok @onwithkaraswisher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1h 1m
30 JAN

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 studying and reporting on militia groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys for years. Kara speaks with Dr. Amy Cooter, director of research at the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and author of Nostalgia, Nationalism and the US Militia Movement; investigative reporter Tess Owen who has covered violent extremist groups, including the J6 protesters extensively; and Paul Rosenzweig, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security under George W. Bush, who specializes in issues relating to domestic and homeland security about the message the pardons send to violent militias, the impact of social media (and Elon Musk) on far-right extremism, and whether Trump has the authority to deputize these groups, especially on the border. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram and TikTok @onwithkaraswisher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

56 min
27 JAN

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 roller coaster ride — from an early hands-off approach, to bans and oversight boards, to the current rollback and “community notes” we’re seeing from big guns like Meta, X, and YouTube. So how do the folks who wrote the early rules of the road look at what’s happening now in content moderation? And what impact will it have on the trust and safety of the platforms over the long term? This week, Kara speaks with Del Harvey, former head of Trust and Safety at Twitter (2008- 2021); Dave Willner, former head of Content Policy at Facebook (2010-2013); Nicole Wong, a First Amendment lawyer, former VP and deputy general counsel at Google (2004-2011), Twitter's legal director of product (2012-2013), and deputy chief technology officer during the Obama administration (2013-2014). Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram and TikTok @onwithkaraswisher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1h 11m

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TRAILER

Coming Soon: On with Kara Swisher

It’s on. Kara Swisher is back, getting to the heart of what makes powerful people tick… by asking the questions that make them squirm. New episodes drop every Monday and Thursday starting September 26. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

03/09/2022

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3 min

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.