On with Kara Swisher: Kamala Harris on Trump, Tech’s Power Grab, and the Fight for Democracy

Date: October 13, 2025
Host: Kara Swisher
Guest: Vice President Kamala Harris

Episode Overview

In this live interview from the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C., Kara Swisher sits down with Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss her new book, 107 Days, her firsthand account of the whirlwind 2024 presidential campaign, and the current and future state of American democracy. The conversation covers Trump’s increasingly authoritarian tactics, the failure of legal and institutional guardrails, the complicity of tech industry elites, and Harris’s thoughts on resilience and civic action. The discussion is frank, urgent, and personal, capturing Harris both as a seasoned politician and as someone bearing witness to—and directly affected by—this tumultuous chapter in American history.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Stakes and the War on Science

• Harris describes how political misinformation is more than an abstraction for her, referencing her mother’s work as a cancer scientist and the harmful consequences of undermining science in government.
  • Quote: “When I see what these people are doing right now to end the war on cancer, to deny science and fire scientists, Kara, it’s personal for me. …It’s criminal. And people will die because of what they’re doing.” (04:03)
• Her visceral response sets the emotional tone of the interview: “It's fucked up.” (05:51)

2. Autocracy on the Rise: Trump’s Actions and Systemic Failure

• Swisher questions whether the justice system can endure three more years of Trump’s unchecked power, referencing the indictment of NY AG Letitia James and the President’s deployment of troops domestically. Harris is candid:
  • Quote: “Every day, something is coming out of this White House… I don’t know that it won’t get worse before it gets better… We have to fight. We cannot get used to this. We cannot be overwhelmed. We cannot be silenced.” (07:49)
• Harris notes the psychological toll: “I cannot tell you the number of people who come up to me crying... because people are in so much pain about what’s happening.” (10:24)
• Her message emphasizes hope, endurance, and community, referencing the “light inside us” that must not be extinguished. (09:44)

3. Legal Guardrails: Failing Institutions and the Supreme Court

• Harris discusses how most institutional checks—especially the courts—have failed in the face of Trump’s executive power:
  • Quote: “I predicted almost all of this, except I did not predict the capitulation. …They’re just bended knee at the foot of a tyrant.” (11:44)
• She attributes current conditions to a long-running, highly organized right-wing project: “What we are witnessing is a high velocity event that is about the swift implementation of a plan that has been decades in the making.” (12:33)
• On the Supreme Court: “The guardrails have failed for the most part, except one guardrail, which is the people.” (14:03)
• Swisher presses Harris about her personal security: “Have you felt that you could be targeted, Worried about being indicted?” Harris: “Sure, of course.” (15:41)

4. Power of the People and Political Survival

• Harris identifies the public as the last bulwark: “Ultimately, the power rests with the people.” (18:36)
• She critiques Republican legislators and corporate leaders as self-serving: “They want power and they’re not willing to compromise their power or access to power for the sake of the Constitution in our democracy. They are feckless and they are self interested.” (17:46, 18:55)

5. 2024 Campaign Experience: Time Pressure, Identity, and Policy

• Harris reflects on the unique constraints of a 107-day campaign, noting the challenges of getting her background and policies known:
  • Quote: “I was acutely aware, as I have talked about my prayer every night, was: God, please let me have done everything I could possibly do in this one day.” (22:04)
• She also notes the disconnect between her qualifications and public perception, and the difficulty breaking through the noise of social media and misinformation.

6. Media, Misinformation, and the Tech Industry’s Power

• Swisher and Harris examine the role of social media in muddying discourse and the tech sector’s increasing alignment with Trump.
  • Harris: “We cannot rely on Congress or the industry itself to provide guardrails on the abuse of technology… The other place of power… are the consumers. …We need to figure out how we’re going to help inform the public about how social media can be used in a way that harms our children.” (45:15, 47:34)
• On the tech elite’s abrupt shift toward Trump: “I was surprised. And the speed with which they did it, I was surprised. And people are showing themselves to be blatantly, unapologetically transactional… They are not uneducated. …They’re transactional.” (49:22, 49:44)
• Swisher: “If Kamala Harris had become president, you would have suddenly called yourself they/them or whatever it took. They will do whatever it takes…” (50:20)

7. The Democratic Party’s Path Forward

• Harris rejects the savior complex: “We have so many stars in the party… let’s focus on that instead of who is the one.” (54:04)
• She points to need for fighters at every level, naming Baltimore’s mayor, Jasmine Crockett, Robert Garcia, JB Pritzker, Gavin Newsom, and others as examples. (55:17)

8. Immediate Priorities and Long-Term Vision

• On policy and the future: “I really do think we should have done the families piece of Build Back Better before we did the infrastructure and the CHIPS Act… We have to really prioritize immediate needs because I think that is one of the main issues on which people vote.” (57:39)
• Swisher proposes a thought experiment: would Harris run for president in 2028? Harris: “Maybe, maybe not.” (57:07)

9. Resisting Autocracy: The Fight Going Forward

• Harris outlines tangible steps:
  • Focus on elections at every level: sheriff, DA, states’ attorney, attorney general, governor. (60:08)
  • Support and volunteer for under-strain advocacy organizations.
  • Run for office or encourage issue-focused candidates.
  • Build back community trust—between people and in government.
  • Be mindful about not being nostalgic for flawed pre-Trump systems: “When it comes time then to be about rebuilding and hopefully transformation, let’s not be too nostalgic because it’s not like what we had before was that perfect either.” (64:31)

10. Concluding on Hope and Endurance

• Harris’s self-characterization: “I’m still a joyful warrior, man… Emphasis on warrior.” (65:21)
• On the fight for democracy: “Sometimes the fight takes a while. So knowing that we have to have that level of endurance and we need some sustenance, let's allow ourselves to be joyful and to fight knowing that we can make a difference… They cannot defeat our spirit if we don’t let them.” (66:32, 67:23)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 04:03 | Kamala Harris | “It’s personal for me… It’s criminal. And people will die because of what they’re doing.” | | 05:51 | Harris/Swisher | “It’s fucked up.” | | 07:49 | Kamala Harris | “Every day, something is coming out of this White House… We cannot get used to this.” | | 10:24 | Kamala Harris | “I cannot tell you the number of people who come up to me crying... people are in so much pain.” | | 14:03 | Kamala Harris | “The guardrails have failed for the most part, except one guardrail, which is the people.” | | 18:36 | Kamala Harris | “Ultimately, the power rests with the people.” | | 22:04 | Kamala Harris | “My prayer every night was: God, please let me have done everything I could possibly do…” | | 45:15 | Kamala Harris | “Whatever guardrails there are on the abuse of technology, it will not come out of Congress.” | | 49:44 | Kamala Harris | “People are showing themselves to be blatantly, unapologetically transactional.” | | 54:04 | Kamala Harris | “We have so many stars in the party… let’s focus on that instead of who is the one.” | | 60:08 | Kamala Harris | “So one, it’s about elections. And that means focusing on… sheriff’s elections, DA’s elections…” | | 65:21 | Kamala Harris | “I’m still a joyful warrior, man. Emphasis on warrior.” | | 67:23 | Kamala Harris | “They cannot defeat our spirit if we don’t let them.” |

Critical Timestamps for Key Topics

• Personal war on science: 04:03–05:51
• Legal implications & lack of solutions: 06:46–09:44
• Failed institutions and right-wing strategy: 11:44–14:03
• Supreme Court as non-guardrail: 14:03–15:32
• Power of people & pain in the country: 17:20–18:36
• 2024 campaign, limits of time, identity: 22:01–26:29
• Media, social media, need for “flawlessness”: 28:08–30:16
• Pattern of political decline, misinformation: 30:34–32:57
• Hillary Clinton segment & Trump’s psyche: 33:39–36:23
• Tech billionaires’ influence and shift: 44:27–49:44
• Democratic Party’s future: 53:12–55:17
• Immediate vs. long-term policy: 57:39–59:19
• Fighting autocracy—concrete actions: 60:08–64:31
• Final thoughts: enduring, joyful resistance: 65:21–67:23

Conclusion

This episode is a bracing assessment of what’s at stake for American democracy, blending personal reflection, political critique, and a call to collective action. Harris is at once wounded by recent history, clear-eyed about the failures of multiple institutions—including the courts and the tech sector—and resolutely optimistic about the latent power of the American people. Swisher’s incisive questions drive the conversation beyond platitudes, pressing Harris on hard topics like technocratic complicity and the real avenues left for resistance in a country veering, in Harris’s words, into darkness. The message, ultimately: “Sometimes the fight takes a while. …They cannot defeat our spirit if we don’t let them.”