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Master Plan: Daily Summaries Delivered
by The Lever & David Sirota
Master Plan, the award-winning investigative podcast series from The Lever, reveals the hidden forces behind today’s biggest problems — and how small groups of powerful people engineered those problems to serve their own interests. We are exposing their schemes. Narrated by David Sirota, an award-winning investigative journalist and Oscar nominee for his work on the film Don’t Look Up. Master Plan has received the 2025 National Press Club Award for Audio Journalism, the New York Festivals Radio Award for Best Investigative Journalism Podcast, multiple Signal Awards for Best News & Politics Podcast and Best Writing. It was an Ambies finalist for Best Politics podcast and was named a Webby Awards Honoree. SEASON ONE: LEGALIZING CORRUPTION SEASON TWO: THE KINGMAKERS SEASON THREE: DON'T F#*K IT UP, DEMOCRATS
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- Today54 min
Will Democrats Take On The Tech Oligarchs? | Gil Duran & Saikat Chakrabarti
Silicon Valley's billionaires have amassed enormous economic and political power. Some have even embraced an ideology that sees democracy itself as an obstacle to progress. Now that Democrats are heading back into power in Washington, will they finally take on the broligarchy? In Episode 2 of Don't F#*k It Up, Democrats, David Sirota examines the growing power of tech billionaires, the threat of an AI economic crisis, and what Democrats can do about it. WATCH: The video version of this episode is available on The Lever's YouTube channel. Journalist Gil Duran, author of The Nerd Reich, explains the anti-democratic movement emerging from Silicon Valley and why Democrats have been so slow to confront it. Then Saikat Chakrabarti, co-founder of Justice Democrats and former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, discusses how Democrats can rein in Big Tech, protect workers from AI disruption, and prevent a taxpayer bailout for tech billionaires if the AI boom goes bust. CHAPTERS 00:00 The Age of the Broligarchy 02:27 Gil Duran: Inside the Nerd Reich 09:57 Why Tech Billionaires Want to Replace Democracy 16:28 Have Democrats Lost Silicon Valley? 23:47 How to Break the Tech Oligarchs' Power 28:34 Saikat Chakrabarti: The Coming AI Bailout 35:27 Will Washington Bail Out Big Tech Again? 40:55 AI Is Coming for Your Job. What's the Plan? Get episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Yesterday56 min
The Fight for the Democratic Party's Future | Robert Reich & Patrick Gaspard
After losing big in 2024, Democrats have staged a historic comeback, riding a massive blue wave back into power in Washington. Now comes the bigger question: What will they do with it? That's the idea behind Don't F#*k It Up, Democrats, a new video series from The Lever hosted by David Sirota. In conversations with politicians, economists, activists, and political insiders, Sirota asks how Democrats can use whatever power they win — without repeating the mistakes that brought them here. In Episode 1, we explore the civil war dividing the Democratic Party. As the party returns from the wilderness, will it once again bend to wealthy donors, or will it embrace voters’ populist demands, rebuild working-class trust, and finally deliver on its promises? Joining Sirota are Robert Reich, who served as Labor Secretary under Bill Clinton and has become a leading progressive voice on economic inequality, and Patrick Gaspard, a longtime Democratic strategist and labor organizer who served as political director in Barack Obama's White House and recently advised Zohran Mamdani's successful mayoral campaign. WATCH: The video version of this episode is available on The Lever's YouTube channel. Watch the series on YouTube. CHAPTERS 0:00 A Note From Sirota 1:12 Democrats Have a Habit of Blowing It 4:50 Robert Reich: How Democrats Can Fight Back 10:53 The Democratic Party's Corporate Problem 15:46 How Do Democrats Avoid F#*king It Up? 23:13 Patrick Gaspard: What Democrats Got Wrong 30:16 When Billionaire Donors Call the Shots 34:52 What Democrats Can Learn From Zohran Mamdani 39:50 What Democrats Need to Deliver, Now 46:15 The Lesson Trump Taught Democrats Get episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 1 weeks ago1h 3m
ENCORE: The Inside Story Of Citizens United
You’ve probably heard of Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision that helped unleash billionaire money into American elections. But few know the inside story of how a network of conservative lawyers and activists carefully orchestrated the case. With the 2026 midterms just days away, we're revisiting Episode 9, “Going Big,” from Season 1 of Master Plan: Legalizing Corruption. We travel to Indiana to meet James Bopp Jr., the conservative lawyer who helped engineer the Citizens United case, and uncover how it evolved from a decades-long campaign to dismantle America's campaign finance laws — and how one particular Supreme Court justice pushed its impact far beyond what anyone anticipated. Read the transcript and explore original archival documents from our investigation. Want the full story? Get the book Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America, featuring additional reporting and material beyond the podcast. Lever subscribers save 20%, and new paid members receive a special offer. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 1 weeks ago59 min
ENCORE: How The Powell Memo Changed America
With the 2026 midterms approaching and billions of dollars flooding into American elections, we're revisiting one of our most popular episodes of Master Plan. In 1971, corporate lawyer Lewis Powell wrote a manifesto explaining how corporations and oligarchs could fight back against New Deal-era reforms and use their money to hijack American politics. For decades, the Powell Memo seemed like an urban legend — until our investigation uncovered new details about the people behind it, and how the memo’s author snuck his radical ideology into the Supreme Court. Read the transcript and explore original archival documents from our investigation. Want the full story? Get the book Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America, featuring additional reporting and material beyond the podcast. Lever subscribers save 20%, and new paid members receive a special offer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 2 weeks ago36 min
Introducing “The Future of Our Former Democracy: Season 3”
Today, we are sharing the Season 3 premiere of The Future of Our Former Democracy, the Signal Award-winning podcast from More Equitable Democracy and Mori Strategies. The Future of Our Former Democracy has spent two seasons exploring what the U.S. can learn from democracies around the world, most recently Germany and then Ireland. This season, host Colin Cole, Director of Policy, Outreach, and Communications at More Equitable Democracy, is joined by new co-host Ruth Greenwood, Director of Harvard Law School’s Election Law Clinic and proud Australian expat, as the show heads to the other side of the world. Australia built its democracy using America’s blueprint, then kept innovating. Today, its elections are famously “boring, boring, boring,” and voters across the political spectrum trust the results in a way Americans rarely do. With the 2026 midterms approaching and confidence in American democracy continuing to erode, Colin and Ruth explore why, with help from Dr. Marija Taflaga (Australian National University), Professor David Smith (University of Sydney), and Professor Thalia Anthony (University of Technology Sydney). Along the way, they ask a provocative question: if Australia learned from the United States, what can the United States learn from Australia? Follow and listen to more episodes of The Future of Our Former Democracy here: https://play.megaphone.fm/lmfwb0zrqham8b4xmpo43q Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Oct 1, 202653 min
Introducing “You Might Be Right:” Will Redistricting Shape the Midterms?
This week we’re sharing a special episode from You Might Be Right, the chart-topping politics podcast from the Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee. It was recently named a “must-listen” by both NPR and Spotify. The show is hosted by former Tennessee Governors Phil Bredesen and Bill Haslam. Coming from opposite parties, they bring leading experts into substantive conversations about the public-policy questions that affect all of us. Their new season looks at the forces shaping the 2026 midterms, including the topic of redistricting. What does it mean for voters when the politicians get to choose their constituents, instead of the other way around? In this episode, Governors Haslam and Bredesen pull back the curtain on gerrymandering, the once-obscure process now at the center of America’s fiercest political battles. They sit down with Jonathan Rodden, professor of political science at Stanford University, and Sam Wang, founder and director of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project and the Electoral Innovation Lab, about fair maps, how the newly drawn district lines might impact this midterm election and the implications for future elections. It’s a thoughtful conversation about the incentives, institutions, and public pressures that will shape the next election, without the usual cable-news shouting match. For more episodes like this, make sure to follow You Might Be Right on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And tell them we sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Sep 14, 202657 min
Episode 8: The Inheritance | The Kingmakers
In the season finale of Master Plan: The Kingmakers, we ask Democratic leaders what the next U.S. president should do with the expanded executive powers that Trump will leave behind. Featuring exclusive interviews with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y), Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I), Sen. Michael Bennet (Co.), and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore bonus archival documents related to the episode. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Aug 25, 20261h 3m
Episode 7: The King’s Man | The Kingmakers
A little-known conservative operative spends years figuring out how to bend the machinery of government to a president's will. By the time Donald Trump returns for his second term, a shadow government is ready to seize control. TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore archival sources related to the episode. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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About Master Plan
Master Plan, the award-winning investigative podcast series from The Lever, reveals the hidden forces behind today’s biggest problems — and how small groups of powerful people engineered those problems to serve their own interests. We are exposing their schemes. Narrated by David Sirota, an award-winning investigative journalist and Oscar nominee for his work on the film Don’t Look Up. Master Plan has received the 2025 National Press Club Award for Audio Journalism, the New York Festivals Radio Award for Best Investigative Journalism Podcast, multiple Signal Awards for Best News & Politics Podcast and Best Writing. It was an Ambies finalist for Best Politics podcast and was named a Webby Awards Honoree. SEASON ONE: LEGALIZING CORRUPTION SEASON TWO: THE KINGMAKERS SEASON THREE: DON'T F#*K IT UP, DEMOCRATS
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