On with Kara Swisher Podcast By Vox Media cover art

On with Kara Swisher

On with Kara Swisher

By: Vox Media
Listen for free

About this listen

 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.2022 Politics & Government Social Sciences
Episodes
  • The 2024 Election Post-Mortem: How Trump Beat the Odds

    The 2024 Election Post-Mortem: How Trump Beat the Odds
    Jul 7 2025
    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 again? Why did former President Joe Biden run despite overwhelming evidence that voters didn’t want him to? Was there a coverup to conceal his decline, as Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s book, “Original Sin” alleges? Why did former Vice President Harris run such a cautious campaign and refuse to distance herself from Biden? And was she doomed by Biden’s late withdrawal, or did her own mistakes cost her the election? As America enters its 250th year and a new political era, Kara speaks with the authors of 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America to answer these questions and understand how we got here. The trio breaks down how Trump beat back his Republican primary opponents, the Biden campaign’s fatal missteps, the Harris campaign’s stifling paralysis, and why Trump is now governing more like a king than a president. Isaac Arnsdorf is a senior White House reporter for The Washington Post. His reporting on the first Trump assasination attempt was essential to the Posts’s 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News, and he’s the author of "Finish What We Started," about the MAGA movement post January 6th. Josh Dawsey is a political investigations and enterprise reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Josh was part of teams at The Washington Post that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2022 for coverage of Jan. 6 and in 2024 for coverage of the role of the AR-15 in American life. And Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The New York Times. In 2022, he won the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    58 mins
  • The Red Scare Returns? Lessons from McCarthyism in the Age of Trump 2.0

    The Red Scare Returns? Lessons from McCarthyism in the Age of Trump 2.0
    Jul 3 2025
    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. But right-wing fearmongering isn’t the only reason it feels like McCarthyism is on the rise again. So, just in time for the 4th of July, Kara speaks to New York Times reporter and author Clay Risen about his latest book, Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism and the Making of Modern America. They unpack Joseph McCarthy’s insane antics, parallels between the Republican party of the 1940s/50s and today — and what lessons, if any, we can learn from McCarthy’s ultimate downfall. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Jerrod Carmichael on Truth in Comedy, Coming Out Late & Religion

    Jerrod Carmichael on Truth in Comedy, Coming Out Late & Religion
    Jun 30 2025
    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 his deeply personal special “Rothaniel,” his genre-bending documentary “The Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show” (which he describes as a sitcom), and his latest special, “Don’t Be Gay.” The two of them talk about class in America, the fears that kept him closeted, the role of religion and spirituality in his life, and why standup must evolve or die. Plus, why he’s the son his mother deserves, what he’s learned from artists like Jay-Z and Spalding Gray, and why he wants to “remove hyphens” from his name and focus on stand-up comedy. Happy Pride — and happy listening. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    53 mins
All stars
Most relevant  
Kara is good at drilling down in her interviews — she doesn't waste anyone's Time, Today's show was insightful.
At a time when media has so thoroughly exploited the
scripted-reality-show-business-model, it's refreshing to not be herded into a narrowly defined demographic of validation seekers on pre-programmed subjects.
... Plus the Added Bonus of a few juicy tidbits from spreading Covid to fearing jail time- neither surprising.

Trump Intentionally Gave Christie Covid? WhoKnew

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love it. Kara is intelligent and strong. Great role model for girls everywhere.

Great listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This host has no respect for her guests. She should not be hosting. Very hostile and plain rude.

Rude host

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.