On with Kara Swisher Archiv

It’s been a bad week for Donald Trump. Herschel Walker lost the Georgia Senate runoff and a New York jury found the Trump Organization guilty of criminal tax fraud. But the former President (and current presidential candidate) still has something to look forward to: a busy conservative Supreme Court which has three Trump-appointed justices. Today, Kara and Nayeema discuss two of the cases the court heard this week. One focuses on a North Carolina election law case that could upend democratic protections in states like Florida, Arizona and Michigan. The other is about free speech and gay marriage and is close to Kara’s heart.  In the interview, Kara speaks to a panel of experts about this very case: 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, a free speech case brought by a web designer who doesn’t want to be penalized for not providing wedding websites for same-sex couples. She explores the impact this case could have with Louise Melling, Deputy Legal Director at the ACLU and Director of its Ruth Bader Ginsburg Center for Liberty; Dale Carpenter, the Judge William Hawley Atwell Chair of Constitutional Law, and Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University; and Sasha Issenberg, Washington correspondent for The Monocle and author of “The Engagement," about the battle for same sex marriage in America.  Stay tuned until the very end when Kara rants about how a onesie became a symbol of something far more important. You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Love them or hate them, chances are that you’ve watched at least one Darren Star series. Kara once called them the “hottest trash on TV” but for over 30 years she has devoured shows that Star has created and executive produced, including “Sex and the City,” “Beverly Hills 90210” “Melrose Place,” “Uncoupled” and — most recently — the Netflix hit “Emily in Paris.” In this conversation, Kara and Darren discuss how HBO paved the way for risqué television, how streaming has eclipsed network televisions and how Star got inside the mind of the straight girl. Before the interview, Nayeema and Kara discuss why TV — trash or not — is being recycled into nostalgia programming. And they dive into the dark days media is facing right now after layoffs at CNN, hiring freezes around the news industry and shutterings of small media outlets pave the way for a “bad winter.”   You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk's Twitter is a spectacle, and the drama and meaning of the last six months is perhaps best unpacked by Yoel Roth. The company’s former head of trust and safety survived the early flood of firings and resignations — in fact, he was ascendant, in the early days of this new Twitter, and he became the face Musk presented to advertisers. Kara asks Roth whether he felt “used” by Musk and why — having been embraced by Elon’s inner circle — he ultimately decided to abandon Elon.  Before the interview, Kara and Nayeema weigh in on Elon Musk’s seeming needling of Tim Cook, and they discuss whether Apple has too much power. Stay tuned until the end for Kara’s rant on this very topic. You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kara interviews Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi, a Stanford University scientist who, along with Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry earlier this year for developing bioorthogonal chemistry and click chemistry. Bertozzi explains what bioorthogonal chemistry actually is before breaking down how identifying different sugars in the body — which she calls “the dark matter of biology’’ — could lead to breakthroughs in treating diseases ranging from the flu to cancer. She also weighs in on the state of funding in biology, Twitter, being lesbian in STEM, and the never-ending feud between chemists and biologists. Before the interview, Kara and Nayeema briefly discuss former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's protest march (which was called off after this episode was recorded) and Trump's dinner with white supremacist Nick Fuentes. You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, we’re sharing a special episode of Into It: A Vulture Podcast with Sam Sanders about one of Kara’s favorites: Taylor Swift. What is the meaning of Taylor Swift? She's performed damsel in distress, but represents women’s empowerment. She’s a confessional artist, but is careful about how much she reveals. She's an adult, but is often still viewed as the teenager she used to be. On the eve of Midnights, Sam dives into the mythos and craft of Taylor Swift with NPR music critic Ann Powers about her place in history among the likes of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Adele, and Beyoncé. We also hear about the culture that's haunting us: Explain to us again why Bobby Cannavale's character in The Watcher wants to replace a Carrara marble countertop with butcher block? To make red sauce? To listen to more of Into It: A Vulture Podcast with Sam Sanders, follow the show: https://podcasts.voxmedia.com/show/into-it-a-vulture-podcast-with-sam-sanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Should anything be off-limits in comedy? Kara and Nayeema discuss this question, and the recent Dave Chappelle SNL monologue, before Kara’s interview with our guest today: writer-comedian Eric Idle who is an OG in the craft. When he and his fellow sketch artists launched Monty Python on the BBC in 1969, it was unclear whether anyone would even watch. Now there are generations of Python fans. Today, Idle talks about what made Monty Python unique and how they pushed the line and the social conversation with their unique brand of humor.  Both avid Twitterers, Kara and Idle also discuss their frustrations with Elon Musk (he’s a noted fan of Monty Python, though Idle is not a fan of Musk). And Idle describes how his recent bout with pancreatic cancer has made him a more accepting person.  You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris Licht faces an uphill battle at CNN. He got the CEO gig in the midst of a prickly merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery and right after the shocking exit of beloved long-time boss, Jeff Zucker. In his first six months, he’s shut down CNN+, ousted Brian Stelter, and shuffled anchors around, including Don Lemon and Jake Tapper. This week, the network chief held an internal town hall meeting where he faced a staff of thousands and discussed upcoming layoffs. Shortly afterwards, he sat down with Kara — who grilled him, of course.  She asks Licht whether he has any real actual power or if he’s simply executing orders from Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav — who is in search of cuts, as the company stares down the barrel at $50 billion in debt — and billionaire board member, John Malone, who has said he’d like to see more “centrist” programming from CNN. They discuss Licht’s vision for the newsroom, his plan to build trust with journalists who fear losing jobs, and how CNN will cover Donald Trump during the 2024 election.   Before the interview, Kara and Nayeema discuss the challenges facing journalism in an era of disinformation. Stay tuned for Kara’s closing rant on “citizen journalism” and Elon’s latest broadside against the press. You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk is a puzzle, but if there’s anyone who can make sense of him it’s Kara Swisher. She’s covered him since the late 90s – back in her early days as a beat reporter at the Wall Street Journal and she’s had many in-depth interviews and exchanges with the tech titan since, perhaps more than any other reporter. She’s also covered Elon’s latest fiefdom, Twitter, before it even was Twitter. So today we turn the tables, and Kara Swisher is “On” with Nayeema Raza.  We’ll unpack how Elon became Elon, why Kara came to believe he was one of the greatest visionaries in Silicon Valley, when exactly she soured on him — and why she still holds out some hope.  You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After Kara and Nayeema have a chat about — what else? — Elon Musk’s latest moves, we dive into democracy and the midterms. The results are (mostly) in, and the “red wave” that Republicans predicted never came. To understand why, Kara gets deep into political reporting in three key swing states: Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Our guests are three veteran journalists who know their respective states' politics inside out: Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, democracy reporter covering Arizona for The Washington Post; Tia Mitchell, Washington correspondent for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; and Chris Potter, government and accountability editor for WESA FM, Pittsburgh’s NPR news station. Together, the panel unpacks the midterm results and the decision by Democrats to focus on democracy, Dobbs and, yes, Donald Trump. Plus, stay tuned for Kara’s RANT about why she’s savoring John Fetterman’s win — and why President Biden deserves more credit than he’s gotten.  Do you want Kara’s advice? Send us your questions! Call 1-888-KARA-PLZ and leave a message.  You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kara is nervous about the elections — and she should be, control of the House and of the Senate is up for grabs, as are 36 governorships. She and Nayeema discuss the big day ahead, and specifically how social media and misinformation may sway results. They then turn to our guest today — the man who will be sharing those results with us, at least on CNN. John King and Kara talk about how he prepares to helm the “Magic Wall” and talk millions of viewers through the red and blue board. They go beyond the horse race and inside the pressure and process for making calls at CNN.  Stay tuned for the end of the episode when Kara answers a listener question about her spirituality and Nayeema surmises the sunglassed-one’s Holy Trinity (it’s not what you think).  If you want Kara’s advice, call 1-888-KARA-PLZ and leave a message.  You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema. Oh yes, and if you’re eligible: GO VOTE! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kara and Nayeema kick off this Thursday’s episode with a feisty discussion about Elon Musk’s Twitter and how he’s “kicking the most active users in the teeth.” They give us the run-down inside Elon’s band of merry advisors and Nayeema gets to the heart of why exactly Kara is so angry with Elon … and so sad. Today’s interview is with John Legend, the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony-winning artist (aka EGOT) who famously moonlights as a social justice activist. But before he was John Legend, he was John Roger Stephens: born to a socially conservative family, sent to an Ivy League university at age 16, and dabbling as a nerdy strategy consultant before his big break. In fact, the first person to credit him as “John Legend” was Kanye West. In this conversation, Kara and John speak about Kanye’s descent into antisemitism and how he makes sense of a friend he’s long last touch with. They also discuss how TikTok has changed the music business, and why John is so hyper-focused on politics and down-ballot midterm races (no, the artist has no plans to run for political office – he’s just downright worried about the country). Trigger warning: Kara does not hold back on her anger about Twitter and Elon these days, especially at the very end – so make sure you stay tuned for her final choice words ... or, as she calls it, her “rant!”  Disclosure: John Legend is on the board of directors at Vox Media. This did not change the nature of our interview. In fact, Kara started with what were probably the hardest questions for him. You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Twitter deal is done, and Elon Musk is now, officially, “Chief Twit.” Bloomberg Opinion columnist and “MoneyStuff” writer, Matt Levine, has been analyzing the deal (and the drama) over the past seven months. Now, Matt and Kara consider what the future of the social media platform might look like under Musk. They discuss whether Elon’s seemingly genuine belief in the utility of Twitter, paired with his business and engineering acumen, will be a game changer for the company. And they discuss how his principles will drive big decisions ahead, including potentially reversing the platform's ban of Donald Trump.  Before the interview, Kara and Nayeema talk about the violent attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the rising tide of violence against politicians. Plus, Kara gives Elon some unsolicited advice on the business, including how to avoid a version of Twitter that would make even Kara quit her favorite social media platform.  Do you want Kara’s (solicited) advice? Call 1-888-KARA-PLZ and leave us a voice mail with your questions!  You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Election Day is less than two weeks away, and Republicans are poised for some major midterm gains. So today, Kara talks to three Republican strategists about midterm predictions and the effect that Donald Trump is having on these elections. Our guests are veteran pollster Frank Luntz, Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson, and Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell. All three are long-time Republican operatives who believe that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy and to the party but they disagree on whether and how the party can move beyond MAGA and the Big Lie.  Before the interview, Kara and Nayeema talk about what Rishi Sunak’s rise to prime minister means for the UK and Nick Clegg: the Meta executive who will decide if Donald Trump’s stays banned from Facebook beyond January 2023. Plus, Kara shares her unsolicited advice for more civil, less cruel, political discourse.  Do you want Kara’s (solicited) advice? Send us your questions! Call 1-888-KARA-PLZ and leave a message.  You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, we’re sharing a bonus episode of Kara’s Twitter Spaces conversation recorded on Monday night. In the first part of the conversation, Kara talks to Jonathan Freedland, a British journalist and columnist for The Guardian, about the fall of Liz Truss, the rise of Rishi Sunak and the role of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in U.K. politics.  In the second part of the episode, Kara and Freedland are joined by yet another Jonathan: Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. The trio discusses the rise of populism and hate speech today. They cover Kanye West’s antisemitic remarks on social media and discuss Freedland’s — aka British Jonathan’s — new book, “The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World.” Follow us on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema to tune in for future Spaces. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices