Molly Jong-Fast on How to Survive Anything

On with Kara Swisher

New York Magazine

News Commentary, News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Molly Jong-Fast is best known as a writer and political commentator. But before she became the host of Fast Politics with Molly Jong-Fast, a regular on MSNBC, and a novelist and memoirist, she was the daughter of Erica Jong. Jong catapulted to literary stardom with her 1973 novel Fear of Flying. The bold — and, at the time — shocking story of a married woman looking for casual sex made her a literary icon of second-wave feminism. And although Jong-Fast was an only child, she grew up sharing her life with the fictional alter-egos Jong created and longing for a deeper connection with her alcoholic and mostly-absent mother. But now, Jong-Fast has turned the tables. She’s written an unsparing memoir about her relationship with her mother and Jong’s struggle with dementia titled, How to Lose Your Mother. Kara talks to Molly about difficult mothers, the perils of writing a memoir, her pivot to journalism, and what gives her hope for America. Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I did the thing that I had been taught to do one writing, which was to get on the page and open a vein.
0:07.4	And that was how my mom did it.
0:09.3	And that was how that was sort of, and everything else, I feel like I can't, you know, either people like it or don't.
0:16.4	Do you know what I mean?
0:17.2	I think you think more than I do.
0:19.1	That's why I'm vaguely happier, although we have
0:22.3	the same mother, I think.
0:39.0	Hi, everyone from New York Magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:41.6	This is on with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher.
0:46.0	My guest today is writer, podcaster, and political analyst Molly Jongfast.
0:55.2	Molly is also the daughter of writer and second wave feminist Erica Jong, known for her groundbreaking 1973 autobiographical novel, Fear of Flying. It made Erica Zhang incredibly famous back in the day, similar to Molly's grandfather, Howard Fast, who wrote Spartacus and dozens of other books.
1:03.7	Molly is a literary nepo baby of sorts.
1:06.7	I met Molly, though, not having anything to do with that in Washington, D.C. when she started writing columns about Trump for a variety of publications.
1:13.9	And she was very lively and had not been in the political scene for very long and started to really make a splash in terms of being much more out there and really going for it and being more, fashioning her career like a social media journalist in a lot
1:29.9	of ways. And I thought it was really interesting. Her latest book, though, is not about politics.
1:34.3	It's about her mother. It's called How to Lose Your Mother, a daughter's memoir about her
1:38.6	difficult relationship with her mother and how it changed when she started slipping into dementia
1:42.2	a few years ago in 2023.
1:53.0	I wanted to talk to Molly about all of that and also how she shifted gears from being a book writer to becoming a liberal social media, news influencer, and political analysts.
1:58.7	Our expert question this week comes from the great memoirist Anne Lamott, one of my favorite people.
2:02.5	Molly is very funny and heartfelt and the issue of how you deal with your parents as something near and dear to my heart. So stay with us.
2:10.7	Support for this show comes from Visit St. Pete Clear clear water what do you look for in a beach vacation
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