On with Kara Swisher

Today, we’re bringing you a new episode of “Stay Tuned with Preet” from CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

A panel joins Preet Bharara to break down the midterm election results: historian Joanne Freeman, The New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser, and political commentator and author of the Substack publication “To the Contrary,” Charlie Sykes.

They discuss what led to President Trump and the Republican Party’s sweeping defeat, what to expect from Trump in his final two years in office, how Democrats might wield their newfound power in Congress, and the implications for the 2028 presidential election.

Show notes and a transcript of the episode are available on our website.

Watch this episode on our Youtube channel.

Shop Stay Tuned merch and featured books by our guests in our Amazon storefront.

Have a question for Preet? Ask @PreetBharara on BlueSky, or Twitter with the hashtag #AskPreet. Email us at staytuned@cafe.com, or call 833-997-7338 to leave a voicemail.

Stay Tuned with Preet is brought to you by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Kara will be back on Friday with a special episode of “High Stakes” with Hillary Clinton. They’ll unpack what the midterm results mean for the country and for the Trump administration's next two years.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Authors Michael Lewis and Jacob Weisberg have built careers on writing deeply researched books about the ways human judgement shapes powerful institutions, especially the U.S. government. Their latest books are a study in contrasts. In “Profiles in Cowardice,” Weisberg scrutinizes the people in positions of great power who folded to President Donald Trump’s power grab at the start of his second term. Lewis’s “Blockers” highlights the opposite: the nameless career bureaucrats who tried to defend federal laws and norms in the early days of DOGE.

Kara, Michael and Jacob talk about the ways the second Trump administration has been dramatically different from the first, whether Elon Musk and his DOGE “musk-rats”really intended to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, and why gutting the civil service left all of us worse off. They also talk about the upcoming midterm elections and how Democrats can work to hold the Trump administration accountable should they win back power in Congress.

Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With less than a week to go until Election Day, Elon Musk is once again at the center of American politics. The world's richest man has poured nearly half a billion dollars into the midterms to stave off Democratic gains. Meanwhile, Republican and Democratic lawmakers have called for an investigation following revelations that Musk restricted Ukraine’s access to Starlink. And last week, Musk threatened Kara with jail time on X after she said he could face investigations if Democrats return to power.

Kara brings together a panel of experts to unpack the business interests behind Musk’s political bets: why he's spending big on the Texas Senate race, what’s driving a potential Tesla–SpaceX merger and whether a post-election reckoning could bring accountability and check his power.

Kirsten Grind is an investigative business reporter at The New York Times covering Silicon Valley and tech executives, including Elon Musk. Catherine Rampell is the Economics Editor for The Bulwark and an MSNOW contributor. Faiz Siddiqui is a tech reporter at The Washington Post and author of the book Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk.

Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome back to another episode of High Stakes, a limited series from Kara Swisher and co-host Hillary Clinton. It’s the last week before the midterms. Kara and Hillary hone in on the nation’s tightest deadlocks and most consequential House, Senate, and gubernatorial races. The Secretary touches on what it feels like to experience the pre-midterm week from the other side of the ballot. The two discuss final hail-marys in the mis- and disinformation space leading up to the vote…and remember Pizzagate.

Remember: vote! Also: Happy birthday, Ma’am.

Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After nearly 30 years building Netflix – from its humble beginnings as a DVD-by-mail outfit to a streaming service powerhouse – co-founder and former chairman Reed Hastings fully walked away from the company when he stepped down from the board of directors this past June. His departure came at a tumultuous time in Hollywood and at Netflix itself. On top of the fallout from its failed bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix has also been struggling with stagnating engagement and slowing revenue growth, prompting a big C-Suite shakeup and a mass layoff earlier this month.

Speaking at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco, Kara and Reed talk about Netflix’s future and why he thinks making better content is the key to turning its fortunes around. They also talk about why Reed remains bullish on AI’s future, especially when it comes to education.

Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices