Judith Butler on Why Gender Is in Trump’s Crosshairs
Philosopher and critical theorist Judith Butler, Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School at UC Berkeley, has been at the forefront of gender theory for 35 years. But while their work Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, which helped establish the idea of gender as a social construct in the 1990s, was lauded by the LGBTQIA+ community for opening the doors to queer theory, they’ve been vilified by those on the right for whom gender theory is a threat to “tradition.”
Kara and Judith talk about their latest book, Who’s Afraid of Gender, which analyses the growing attacks on gender and gender theory around the world; how Trump’s executive order redefining sex as binary impacts everything from personal rights to medical research; and why recent attacks on the independence of universities could have a chilling effect on academic freedom in the long term.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
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59:39
Trump, Immigration & the Erosion of Due Process
President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has led to a series of legal skirmishes with major constitutional implications. To unpack it all, Kara speaks to three experts:
Caitlin Dickerson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning staff writer for The Atlantic who covers immigration. She is currently writing a book on the impact of deportation on American society.
Maria Hinojosa is the host and executive producer of the Peabody Award-winning Latino USA and the founder of Futuro Media Group, which just released the second season of their Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast, Suave. She has won over a dozen awards in journalism, including four Emmys and the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award
Deborah Pearlstein is the director of the Princeton Program in Law and Public Policy at the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics. She is an expert in constitutional law and her book, Losing the Law, will be published next year.
This episode was recorded on Thursday, April 17th. While we were recording, the Supreme Court announced it will hear a case related to President Trump’s executive order to undo birthright citizenship. And on Saturday, April 20th, the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to temporarily halt the removal of Venezuelan migrants from the country.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram, TikTok and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
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1:01:27
Why Melinda French Gates is Betting On Women in Politics, Business and Tech
Melinda French Gates is a businesswoman and philanthropist, as well as an advocate for women and girls both in the U.S. and abroad. And over the past few years, she’s also become a force in Democratic politics.
Kara and Melinda talk about her new memoir The Next Day, which takes readers through some of the most important transitions in her life, including her very public divorce with Bill Gates and her decision to leave the Gates Foundation; how she is working to offset the impact of cuts to programs like USAID on the health of women and children around the world; where political lobbying works (and it’s not in the White House); and why she thinks it’s essential to get more girls into A.I.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
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53:37
Trump's Tariffs: Chaos, Confusion & Consequences
President Trump's chaotic rollout and partial rollback of tariffs has roiled financial markets and confused many allies, both domestically and internationally. Although he temporarily calmed bond markets by announcing a 90-day pause on his misleadingly labeled "reciprocal tariffs," the uncertainty he created continues. Meanwhile, China has responded to the 145% tariffs on their imported goods by imposing retaliatory tariffs on American products and halting exports of rare earth minerals.
To help us makes sense of the mess, Kara talks to three experts:
Raj Bhala is a professor at the University of Kansas School of Law and one of the foremost scholars on international trade law. He is also the author of Trade War: Causes, Conduct, and Consequences of Sino-American Confrontation.
Bill Cohan is an M&A banker-turned-financial journalist and a co-founder of Puck. He’s the author of a number of books, including Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon.
Catherine Rampell is a nationally syndicated columnist at The Washington Post who specializes in economics, politics, and public policy. She’s a special correspondent for PBS Newshour and she will soon anchor and co-host of MSNBC’s The Weekend.
This episode was recorded on Wednesday April 9th.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
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1:00:13
The Daily Show’s Josh Johnson Can Make Even A Recession Funny
Emmy-nominated writer, stand-up comic and actor Josh Johnson may be the most prolific comedian on the internet right now. You might recognize him as a regular correspondent on The Daily Show, or maybe you've come across his sharp political critique on TikTok (where he has 2 million followers), or watched one of his longer, philosophical stand-up routines on YouTube (where he has 1.5 million subscribers). Josh is currently touring the country (catch his Flowers Tour in a city near you), but he took a break this week to sit down with Kara at the Great Hall at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. They discussed Josh’s entrepreneurial approach to distributing and owning his work, how to make dry political topics like tariffs funny and relatable, what Elon Musk should really be doing with his money and how the ultimate antidote to fear is community.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
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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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