Jessica Tarlov on Winning Arguments and Elections

Kara Swisher (0:00)

Is Scott behaving? Do you need any help?

Jessica Tarlov (0:02)

No, I don't. Your vibe is very different than our vibe.

Kara Swisher (0:05)

Yeah, yeah, I would say so.

Jessica Tarlov (0:06)

I mean, you've been together so long, I'm new. New and sparkly some days, but sometimes just not his Kara.

Kara Swisher (0:13)

He hates it. He hates the idea that he has to keep coming back to me. No. Oh, he does. It's okay. I don't care. I'm very flexible. I'm very bendy.

Jessica Tarlov (0:20)

Yeah, that's what I think of when I think of you.

SPEAKER_3 (0:21)

So flexible, that Kara Swisher.

Kara Swisher (0:23)

Bendy is different than flexible.

Hi everyone from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. This is On with Kara Swisher and I'm Kara Swisher.

Jessica Tarlov says that she has, quote, the coolest job in media for a liberal. This may come as a surprise to a lot of people, including myself as the lone liberal co-host of The Five on Fox News. She gets interrupted a lot. Nevertheless, she's outspoken and self-assured, presenting arguments based on research and data, and she often wins the arguments on that show, despite being a four to one competition. That makes sense once you find out she has a PhD in political science from the London School of Economics. When she's not working at Fox, Jessica also hosts the podcast Raging Moderates from the Vox Media Podcast Network with my pivot co-host, Scott Galloway.

Now she's got a new book coming out called I Disagree, Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends. In it, she talks about her surprising career path and shares strategies for finding common ground with others during a time of intense polarization. She also offers research-backed insights on elections and political strategy based on her years as a political strategist and pollster. I have wanted to talk to Jess for a long time. I wrote her when she was in arguments with, I think Jesse Waters, I'm sure, and said, I don't know how you do this and have gotten to know her better over the years. I've wanted to have Jess on for a long time. Fox News has not allowed her to come on my podcasts and different things like that. I don't know why that is, but I'm thrilled to have her here now. I think she's a really smart person in a very difficult situation over there at Fox, and she manages to articulate and win people over, and I find that really interesting, although I don't know how she does it. I would be perplexed every single day and rage, really. I would be raging, and so I really admire it, and I want to hear from her about what she thinks about. She's not a moderate voice exactly, although she is on that show Raging Moderates, but more of someone who is trying to be more commonsensical, and I think it's important we talk about that. Our expert question today comes from Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital, who in 2017, of course, famously spent 10 days as White House Communications Director. So, stick around.

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