MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on Iran & the Limits of Trump’s Power

On with Kara Swisher

New York Magazine

News Commentary, News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As President Trump considers striking Iran, Kara talks to Nicolle Wallace — host of MSNBC’S Deadline: White House and the new podcast The Best People. They unpack President Trump’s mixed messaging on Iran and his growing credibility gap with the American public, the political calculus behind his domestic shows of force, and the disturbing rise of political violence in America. Plus, a look back at the 2008 presidential campaign and a candid conversation about how journalists can remain relevant in a rapidly shifting media landscape. Please note: This conversation was recorded on the morning of Tuesday, June 17th, before Senator Mike Lee deleted his heinous posts on X about the assassinations in Minnesota, and before President Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” on Truth Social. 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

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, everyone from New York Magazine in the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:15.7	This is On with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher.
0:18.3	Today I'm talking to Nicole Wallace, a White House communications director
0:22.1	during the George W. Bush administration and a senior advisor to John McCain's 2008 presidential
0:27.6	campaign. She is now the host of Deadline White House on MSNBC and the host of a new podcast
0:33.7	called The Best People. I recently went on The Best People because I am one of the best people, clearly. And I actually had a great time. I've always been a fan of Nicole's and thinks she's a very canny and smart observer of politics and a lot of other things. On this podcast, I'm turning the tables on her and we're going to talk about the media business, turmoil in the Middle East, domestic politics, the Republican Party, and her experience on John McCain and Sarah Palin's 2008 campaign
0:58.9	and the challenges facing journalists and civil society.
1:02.7	Our expert question comes from Charlie Sykes,
1:05.2	the host of To the Contrary Podcast,
1:07.9	and co-founder of The Bullwork, an author of How the Right Lost Its Mind. So stick around.
1:27.3	Support for this show comes from ServiceNow,
1:30.3	who are enabling people to do more fulfilling work,
1:32.8	the work they actually want to do.
1:34.6	You know what people don't want to do?
1:36.2	Boring, busy work.
1:37.4	But now with AI agents built into the Service Now platform,
1:40.7	you can automate millions of repetitive tasks
1:42.7	in every corner of your business,
1:44.3	IT, HR, customer service, and more. And that means your people can focus on the work that they want to do.
1:50.1	That's putting AI agents to work for people. It's your turn. Get started at servicenow.com
1:56.1	slash AI dash agents.
2:05.2	Support for the show comes from Trinet.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from New York Magazine, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of New York Magazine and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.