The Scott Jennings tour for his book Revolution of Common Sense entered hostile territory with his Friday appearance on the podcast On with Kara Swisher. The CNN contributor Scott schooled the former "mainstream" reporter over the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop bombshell before the 2020 Presidential election. Swisher dismissed the controversy as mere “politics."
Swisher brought up the book's theme on the conflict between Trump and the elitist media, and citing as example the Biden laptop story. When asked to explain what Swisher characterized as an “obsession with collusion,” Jennings defended the right’s built-up frustration:
JENNINGS: What were they so afraid of? I mean, the story was true, there wasn't really any dispute of that. Other than from these 50 people who come from government, who are in and out of government when Democrats are in power —
SWISHER: That's politics to me, Scott. That's — I mean, you're not naive. They were making their case just like you would say Trump just did with whatever he has.
It may be politics, but the media disguised it as just a nonpartisan set of intelligence experts.
Don’t worry, when the FBI deceived Twitter and Facebook into labeling that the Hunter Biden laptop story as a product of Russian disinformation, causing it to be suppressed on their platforms, that was just “politics” as usual.
Jennings also mentioned NPR’s refusal to cover the story, which described it as a “pure distraction.”
Even when Jennings explained the nature of the corruption involved in covering for then-candidate Joe Biden, Swisher doubled-down on her dismissal:
JENNINGS: Well, I don't agree that it is just a simple matter of making your case when you use your government title and you use your intelligence bona fides and you use all your credentials to flat out lie to the American people […] they were saying, “This is Russian disinformation. What you're reading is directly out of the Kremlin.” It was one of the biggest lies that was told to try to get Joe Biden over the finish line. […] Do you think that’s just politics as usual?
SWISHER: Yes, I do, actually. I think it's — I do.
After admitting to not liking that reality, Swisher then pivoted to the second Trump administration’s dealings with tech companies — a completely separate issue not at all related to government-driven censorship.
Jennings briefly mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic as another example of top-down narrative control, which has ultimately lead to "a general feeling that if the elites make a decision about what the narrative is gonna be, they can crush you and they can either coerce tech companies into crushing you, they can coerce media into crushing you.”
Swisher shot back: “I guess I could just say Brendan Carr right now making threats against Disney.”
Really? That’s the best she had? Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was suspended by Disney for his ludicrously false “joke” against MAGA supporters after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Carr never revoked any ABC station’s license or anything of the sort.
Jennings, rightfully, asked Swisher to prove how the Trump administration’s frustration with the biased liberal media compared to literal censorship. In response, the self-avowed critic of tech actually defended the media with a non-answer:
JENNINGS: What anti — what information about Donald Trump is being censored from the American people?
SWISHER: I think these are private companies, they can do whatever they want, Scott. And I don't think it was coerced or colluded.
When push came to shove, Swisher’s misdirection came up empty. Could you imagine the outcry if Trump actually tried to censor his opposition? That wouldn’t be excused.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" read:
On with Kara Swisher
November 21, 2025
35:51-41:14
KARA SWISHER: Let's talk about the book Revolution of the Common Sense, which is about Trump's first months in office, the conflict between Trump and the mainstream media, which we talked about already. His recurring theme, though, in your book, in Trumpism and one of the through lines of your book, for example, you reiterate the Hunter Biden laptop story. Quote, “The media colluded with more than 50 so-called intelligence experts in 2020 who claimed that Hunter Biden's laptop was classic Russian disinformation campaign.”
You and I had a fight about that last year on CNN. Let's play that.
(…)
SWISHER: I think the issue is this word, “collude.” I think one of — I mean, you might say Trump colludes with tech people now, like, they're at his dinners etc. etc., and he's applying a lot of pressure and influence to them at the same time. Explain what I think is an obsession with collusion.
SCOTT JENNINGS: Well, I think in that particular case what Republicans were exercised about was that they — this Hunter Biden story was emerging, there was something there and there was an immediate attempt by media outlets to say this is not a huge deal. I remember NPR saying, “We're not gonna cover this because it's not important to the American people,” which I totally disagree with. And then you had tech companies and platforms literally not putting the story on their platform. I mean, they were actively censoring it on the doorstep of an election. So the general criticism is — and then on top of that the Democrats go out and recruit 50 people with fancy titles, intelligence backgrounds to all say, "Oh, this is classic Russian disinformation." So, you had a number of things going on.
And what did we find out later? It was real. The information on it was real and it was valid stuff about whether the Biden family was, you know, involved in things that, you know, you and I might agree would be considered corrupt. And so, why was there such an effort to keep this information from broad distribution to the American people on the doorstep of an election? Republicans were mad about it then and they're still mad about it today.
What were they so afraid of? I mean, the story was true, there wasn't really any dispute of that. Other than from these 50 people who come from government, who are in and out of government when Democrats are in power —
SWISHER: That's politics to me, Scott. That's — I mean, you're not naive. They were making their case just like you would say Trump just did with whatever issue he has.
JENNINGS: Well, I don't agree that it is just a simple matter of making your case when you use your government title and you use your intelligence bonafidees and you use all your credentials to flat out lie to the American people. They don't — they didn't know that. That was a political argument. But they were saying, “This is Russian disinformation. What you're reading is directly out of the Kremlin.” It was one of the biggest lies that was told to try to get Joe Biden over the finish line.
SWISHER: Do you —
JENNINGS: Do you think that’s just politics as usual?
SWISHER: Yes, I do, actually. I think it's — I do.
JENNINGS: You like it?
SWISHER: I don't like it.
JENNINGS: Well, I don’t either.
SWISHER: I don’t like Trump meddling with Intel. I don’t like Trump meddling with the tech companies. I don't like the pay-per-play that looks like it's available right now for these companies.
I know why they're doing it. I know why they're paying this money. I know why they're giving them. This is not a new and fresh thing. And I think the tech companies will go wherever their bread is buttered. That's really pretty much how I look at them.
JENNINGS: Can I make one more comment about it? Because I — it's an important debate. It — you had that issue going on and then there was, you know, there's also been questions about what was kept from the American people or what information was, you know, downplayed from the American people during COVID. I mean, there were people that had opinions or ideas about COVID and what was going on during that time. And people lost access to social media. People, you know, had their opinions, you know, villainized. Turns out some of those people were right and the people who were censoring them were wrong.
And so, I guess my point is this. There is a general feeling that if the elites make a decision about what the narrative is gonna be, they can crush you and they can either coerce tech companies into crushing you, they can coerce media into crushing you. But the crushing of opinions and dissent in this case left a bad taste in people's mouth.
SWISHER: I guess I could just say Brendan Carr right now making threats against Disney. I guess I could say lawyers. I guess I could say — you know, it's quite similar. I mean, tastes the same, like, tastes like chicken to me, like, as the expression goes.
JENNINGS: What anti — what information about Donald Trump is being censored from the American people?
SWISHER: I think these are private companies, they can do whatever they want, Scott. And I don't think it was coerced or colluded. I think these — just as now is as law firms are backing down and making payments or in universities are worried and about their funding and they'll make payments. It's awfully similar in terms of what people can and can't say. I think these lawsuits against media companies, it's the same thing.
It's the same exact playbook if you want to compare them. And in fact, it's a playbook that's been, what's the word when you take steroids — it's on steroids is what's happening now. But let me ask — I think Donald Trump is an elite is — and is crushing dissent same way, and actually in a more brutal way, in many ways.
