Shows / On with Kara Swisher
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.
Episodes
- On with Kara Swisher
How Ava DuVernay Made a Hit with ‘Origin,’ and Without Big Studio Backing
Today, our guest is acclaimed director and screenwriter Ava DuVernay, known for the Oscar-nominated films “Selma” and “13th.” Her latest film “Origin” is an…
- On with Kara Swisher
Judy Woodruff on Polarization, Politics, and the Media
How does someone with more than five decades of political reporting under her belt assess the current state of the union? For the past year, former PBS…
- On with Kara Swisher
PA Governor Josh Shapiro’s “Get Sh*t Done” Attitude
As Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, Josh Shapiro successfully defended the state election process in 2020 against suits brought by former President Donald…
- On with Kara Swisher
Hope for American Democracy, According to Heather Cox Richardson
Donald Trump is an American figure decades in the making. That’s the argument historian and professor Heather Cox Richardson makes in her latest book…
- On with Kara Swisher
Psychedelics with Joe Green
From therapeutic-assisted MDMA to decriminalized psilocybin and microdosing, movements to legalize psychedelics are everywhere. California-based Joe Green is a…
- On with Kara Swisher
Fei-Fei Li and a Humane Approach to AI
Before the OpenAI Drama which pit AI enthusiasts (accelerationists) against doomers (decelerationists) we had a conversation with Stanford computer scientist…
- On with Kara Swisher
A Close Read of Trump’s 2024 Strategy
Trump’s back. Today, we go to a panel of experts to discuss his 2024 legal woes, dangerously escalating rhetoric, and what he might do if he retakes the White…
- On with Kara Swisher
COVID Lessons Learned with Donald G McNeil Jr.
Four years after the start of the global pandemic, COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency, but in the U.S., every week, the virus is still…
- On with Kara Swisher
OpenAI Drama to Trump to Elon Musk: What It Means for 2024
Kara and Nayeema look forward to the characters and moments that may define 2024 by looking back at the coverage of the last year. We unpack the drama at…
- On with Kara Swisher
Stay Tuned with Preet: The Many Lies of George Santos
On is off for the holidays, so today we have an episode of friend-of-the-pod Preet Bharara's podcast Stay Tuned with Preet. In this episode, Preet is joined by…
- On with Kara Swisher
The Man Taunting Mike Johnson, Ron DeSantis and George Santos
Randy Rainbow is a four-time Emmy and Grammy-nominated musical comedy sensation famous for his viral taunts of anti-LGBTQ+ politicians, hateful celebrities…
- On with Kara Swisher
Will Big Bets to Solve Climate Change Pay Off? With Rajiv Shah
Are world hunger, pandemics and climate change “fixable” – or is mitigating their impacts the best we can hope for? Is there any point in making them…
- On with Kara Swisher
God, Money and Trump with Tim Alberta
Tim Alberta is a fantastic reporter whose profiles of 2024 hopeful Nikki Haley and former CNN boss Chris Licht proved illuminating and impactful (Licht lost…
- On with Kara Swisher
Mark Esper on Gaza, Iran, China and (of course) Trump
Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper details the threats and dangers we face. On the agenda: hot wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, a cold war with China…
- On with Kara Swisher
Is Liz Cheney the GOP Cassandra?
Former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney is on a mission to defeat Donald Trump - and says she’ll do “whatever it takes” to prevent him and his “enablers” from…
- On with Kara Swisher
Washington’s Top China Hawk Talks TikTok, Taiwan & Trump
Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin is on a mission to raise the alarm bell on the Chinese Communist Party and rethink America’s approach to China. As chair of…
- On with Kara Swisher
Martina Navratilova on Transgender Athletes, Pay Equity and Trump
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova is no stranger to controversy. But the battle she’s picked these days, which has pit her against inclusion of trans women in…
- On with Kara Swisher
Olympian Caster Semenya on Fighting to Run
Who gets to compete as a woman? And who decides whether someone is “woman enough”? When it comes to South African runner Caster Semenya, it could be the…
- On with Kara Swisher
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on the OpenAI Debacle
In the swirl of drama around Sam Altman’s exit from OpenAI, one company seems to be the winner: Microsoft. It has both a significant partnership with, and an…
- On with Kara Swisher
The Fox News ‘Lying Tax,’ Tucker and More with Brian Stelter
Why did Fox News knowingly air unhinged conspiracy theories about Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic and then fire Tucker Carlson, its most popular host…
- On with Kara Swisher
Dan Doctoroff on Living with ALS and Building the Future
Dan Doctoroff had a storied career as Deputy Mayor of New York City during the first two Bloomberg administrations. In six years, Doctoroff helped rebuild the…
- On with Kara Swisher
Adam Grant on Your Potential, Gen Z and — oops — Elon
Are tech bros successful because of some innate talent, or could any of us be like them? Organizational psychologist and Wharton School professor Adam Grant…
- On with Kara Swisher
Can Mike Johnson Survive As House Speaker?
After three incredibly chaotic weeks, the House Republican Conference elected a relatively unknown (and startlingly retrograde) Louisiana congressman, Mike…
- On with Kara Swisher
The Twitter Fantasy from Land of the Giants
Today we’re playing you an episode of Land of the Giants that takes a walk down memory lane to the early days of Twitter and how the platform became the best…
- On with Kara Swisher
How Elon Broke Twitter — and Twitter Broke Elon — with Ben Mezrich
What does a dramatic narrative nonfiction account of a dramatic tech CEO look like? To find out, we turn to Ben Mezrich, the author whose books have been…
- On with Kara Swisher
Uber’s Profit, Power and Problems with CEO Dara K
Uber: hard to live with it, or without it. In this episode Kara grills CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on the company’s sky-high prices, high take rate, treatment of…
- On with Kara Swisher
Alexis Ohanian and Deb Roy on Big Tech’s Effects on Democracy
Democracy is challenged, at home and abroad, and at least some of this blame falls on “Big Tech.” Kara talks to Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder and venture…
- On with Kara Swisher
The Fog of War: Navigating Disinformation Now
Social media has been inundated with disinformation about the Israel-Hamas war — from a flood of graphic visual content, to unsubstantiated claims and…
- On with Kara Swisher
Christiane Amanpour on Covering This War
In the fog of war, we’re joined by CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour. She’s covered the Middle East for decades and brings her signature…
- On with Kara Swisher
Why Fei-Fei Li is Still Hopeful About AI (… and Elon)
What are the most immediate, and potentially catastrophic, risks posed by AI? According to pioneering AI researcher, Dr. Fei-Fei Li, they include…
- On with Kara Swisher
The Politics of Disagreement with Steve Inskeep
In a time of a divided House (and divided GOP) — not to mention polarized social media — how can you engage through disagreement? Abraham Lincoln may have some…
- On with Kara Swisher
Martha, Martha, Martha (ICYMI)
Today we’re replaying you a summer episode where Kara and Nayeema took a field trip to Martha Stewart’s 156-acre estate for an interview with the media mogul…
- On with Kara Swisher
Jon Lovett Talks Trump, Biden & the Podcasting Biz
After Kara and Nayeema discuss the defenestration of Kevin McCarthy, we turn to podcaster and political savant Jon Lovett of Crooked Media fame. Kara and Jon…
- On with Kara Swisher
Do Never Trumpers Matter? We Asked Adam Kinzinger
After Kara and Nayeema discuss Dianne Feinstein’s death and her legacy as a leader, we turn to Kara's interview with Adam Kinzinger. The former Republican…
- On with Kara Swisher
The Yoel Roth-Linda Yaccarino Showdown
On Wednesday, two Twitter-related interviews rocked the stage at the 2023 Code Conference. Kara interviewed the former head of trust and safety at Twitter/X…
- On with Kara Swisher
Sheila Johnson Talks BET, Entrepreneurship and Why She Doesn’t Love Being Called “America’s First Black Female Billionaire”
Sheila Johnson is best known for co-founding BET, a network she launched with her ex-husband, Bob Johnson, and which they eventually sold to Viacom for…
- On with Kara Swisher
Is Biden the Best Democrats Can Do?
Biden’s poll numbers are atrocious, and in recent columns from The Washington Post to The New York Times and The National Journal, the punditocracy has started…
- On with Kara Swisher
The Walter Isaacson-Kara Swisher Showdown
Walter Isaacson and Kara are friends — but that doesn’t mean she’s going to go easy on him as they discuss Isaacson’s new hit biography: Elon Musk, which is…
- On with Kara Swisher
How Twitter Took Alex Edelman to IRL White Supremacists
A Jewish comedian walks into an apartment in Queens to meet a group of white supremacists … This isn’t the setup to a bad joke — it’s the inciting incident in…
- On with Kara Swisher
Conan O'Brien Talks to His Accountant
Late-night legend and podcasting impresario Conan O’Brien joins Kara to talk about the decline of late night, the writers’ strike, his $150 million deal with…
- On with Kara Swisher
What Naomi Klein Found Down the Steve Bannon Rabbit Hole
For years, Naomi Klein has had a problem: the author and Guardian columnist has been chronically confused with Naomi Wolf, a conspiracy theorist and favorite…
- On with Kara Swisher
Elon Musk: Somebody That I Used to Know
This Labor Day, we are re airing a fan-favorite episode about, who else, Elon Musk and Kara Swisher. Nayeema interviews Kara — who’s covered Musk since the…
- On with Kara Swisher
Barry Diller on Biden, AI and the Hollywood Shutdown
Billionaire mogul and power broker Barry Diller doesn’t hold back (at all) as he takes us inside Washington, Silicon Valley and Hollywood. The legendary…
- On with Kara Swisher
WTF Can We Do About Deadly Wildfires?
From the tragedy in Hawaii — which has left at least 115 dead, and over a thousand more missing, making it the deadliest blaze in the last century of US…
- On with Kara Swisher
Why We Can’t Quit Elon with Ronan Farrow & William Cohan
We’re talking about Elon – again – but this time we're looking at the big picture: the tech titan’s “unprecedented power” over our the federal government and…
- On with Kara Swisher
Ron DeSantis Won’t Stop Imani Rupert Gordon
Today after Kara and Nayeema take a quick walk down Rudy Giuliani memory lane, we turn to our guest: Imani Rupert-Gordon, Executive Director of the National…
- On with Kara Swisher
Big Companies Are Scared of These Lawyers
Kara and Nayeema are back with a fresh episode, and this time they’re tackling the DOJ’s antitrust efforts. Our guests are Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney…
- On with Kara Swisher
Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel: Friendship — My Reliable Gift
Today, we’re sharing an episode of Where Should We Begin?, a Vox Media podcast hosted by the iconic psychotherapist Esther Perel. Listen in as real people in…
- On with Kara Swisher
Aging, Death and other Uplifting Topics with Mike Birbiglia
Today, we’re re-airing one of Blakeney Schick’s favorite episodes: an interview with her former yoga student, comedian and writer, Mike Birbiglia. Aging…
- On with Kara Swisher
Esther Perel on Grief — In Memory of Blakeney Schick
Kara & Nayeema are joined by Esther Perel in a tribute to our colleague and friend, senior producer Blakeney Schick, and a conversation about how to live…
- On with Kara Swisher
Is Chris Christie Really the Anti-Trump?
Today, we turn to Chris Christie. The former governor of New Jersey and Trump sidekick is running to be president (again). His most avid supporters? Folks who…
- On with Kara Swisher
Vinod Khosla’s View of the Future, From AI to China
After Kara and Nayeema discuss Senators Warren and Graham’s unlikely alliance on tech regulation, we turn to today’s guest: longtime venture capitalist Vinod…
- On with Kara Swisher
Barbie & Oppenheimer & Strikes, Oh My
Hollywood is still shut down by its historic dual strike, but this weekend the industry saw its most explosive box office numbers of the year. So far, Barbie…
- On with Kara Swisher
The Rewards of Stepping Out of Line: A Commencement Address from Kara
This May, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art invited Kara to deliver its commencement address. Today, we’d like to share her speech with…
- On with Kara Swisher
Fran Drescher on the SAG Strike and Hollywood’s "Fat Cats”
Today, a conversation with one of the most impassioned leaders of Hollywood’s historic double strike: Fran Drescher, star of The Nanny turned SAG-AFTRA…
- On with Kara Swisher
The Crypto Founder Who Won a “Landmark Victory” Against the SEC
Hollywood may be shut down, but one industry seems to be enjoying a surprising upswing: crypto. Kara interviewed Ripple co-founder and Executive Chairman Chris…
- On with Kara Swisher
The Fox News Love Triangle: Tucker, Murdoch and Trump
Fox News and social media are two arenas that will define the next presidential race. Today, after Kara and Nayeema discuss the implications of the recent…
- On with Kara Swisher
Jake Tapper on Trust, Trump and CNN
When political spectacles abound, how can the media focus on the substance and avoid the clickbait? And is there a market left for nonpartisan cable news?…
- On with Kara Swisher
Oliver Stone on Nuclear Energy, Putin and the Path to Conspiracies
After a quick rundown of the summer’s hottest films, Nayeema and Kara turn to our guest today: acclaimed (and controversial) filmmaker Oliver Stone. The man…
- On with Kara Swisher
Mark Zuckerberg: Oops! I Did It Again (Again)
After a review of the last 6 months of “Meta” a.k.a. Facebook (including a looming Elon-Zuck cage fight and the VR hit from the Apple Vision Pro), Nayeema…