Fired Up: FTC Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter Say They’ll Fight Trump

Fired Up: FTC Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter Say They’ll Fight Trump

President Trump fired Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter, the two Democratic commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission, last week, sending shock waves through political and business circles. The FTC is an independent, bipartisan agency and, as a defender of antitrust and consumer protection laws, one of the most important government watchdogs. FTC commissioners serve seven year terms and, according to a 1935 SCOTUS ruling, can only be fired for cause. But even though, based on that decision, Bedoya’s and Slaughter’s terminations are illegal, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson has come out in support of Trump’s firing power. The White House says it’s ready to take the case to the Supreme Court. Kara talks to Bedoya and Slaughter about why this happened now, what Elon Musk and other tech billionaires stand to gain by getting rid of “minority commissioners,” and why business leaders are concerned that Trump’s move could affect other independent agencies, like the Federal Reserve. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episoder(381)

ACCESS with Alex Heath and Ellis Hamburger

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The Long Game with Jake Sullivan and John Finer

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Happy Holidays from the On with Kara Swisher team! To celebrate, we’re gifting you a recent episode of a new national security podcast from the Vox Media Podcast Network. “The Long Game” is hosted by ...

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From an unenforced TikTok ban and a chatbot calling itself MechaHitler to mounting fears that we’re in an AI bubble, 2025 was another messy year for the tech industry. We watched billionaire CEOs full...

22 Des 20251h 3min

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Kara sits down with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to dig into how applied artificial intelligence works at scale.  At Uber, AI powers everything from pricing, routing, and customer service to autonomo...

18 Des 202547min

Sam Harris on Silicon Valley’s Slide into Techno-Authoritarianism

Sam Harris on Silicon Valley’s Slide into Techno-Authoritarianism

One of 2025’s most memorable images was of Silicon Valley’s billionaire CEOs lined up in the front rows at President Donald Trump’s inauguration. It was visual proof of the tech industry’s embrace of ...

15 Des 20251h 3min

Rachel Maddow on Japanese Incarceration During WWII, Mass Deportation & Media Chaos

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Rachel Maddow is an author, podcast host and producer, documentary producer, and, of course, the anchor of her eponymous show on MS NOW. Her newest podcast, "Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order," unrav...

11 Des 202556min

Beyond ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Margaret Atwood on Memoir, Grudges, & Getting Older

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Margaret Atwood is one of the most famous and prolific authors of the modern era. Though best known for her 1985 hit “The Handmaid’s Tale,” her dozens of works span literary genres — poetry, novels, c...

8 Des 20251h 9min

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