Lever Time

Inside the fight to reform surveillance laws and stop the government from buying its way around warrants.

How the United States — a country based on the rejection of kings — ended up with a presidency on the verge of obtaining absolute power.

Trump attacked Iran. That’s when a coded global broadcast in Farsi began.

We trace the propaganda, dark money, and unanswered questions behind a war decades in the making.

The Supreme Court ruled Trump’s tariffs illegal. Now comes the messy question: Who will pay — and who gets paid back?

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security is weaponizing a little-known legal tool to crack down on free speech — and Big Tech is complying.

Lawyers flocked to East Palestine after a toxic train derailment in 2023, winning a $600 million settlement. Case closed? Not even close.

Why Silicon Valley giants want to build a superintelligence — at any cost.

Why the crypto industry spent $130 million buying the 2024 election.

Tech billionaires turned local politics into a laboratory. What they discovered was a formula for power.

How a Lever investigation exposed a darker side of big business’ reign over youth sports.

Why our economy wastes talent instead of solving the world’s biggest problems.

How $400 billion in AI spending became a gravitational force that's distorting the entire economy.

Why keeping your kids totally safe might be doing them more harm than good.

Author and activist Cory Doctorow has a grand unifying theory of why everything sucks now — and how to fix it.

Rep. Ro Khanna and journalist Julie K. Brown dissect the 23,000 Epstein documents that were released last week and bombshells yet to come.

The judge blocked a ban on Super PACs in Maine — but legal activists discovered a kill switch inside the ruling.

Democratic strategists say the party needs to move to the center. This week’s election winners found it — but not where the party was looking.

The New York City mayoral candidate used an undervalued political strategy to battle against dark money.

The Maine Senate candidate answers hard-hitting questions from The Lever’s audience.

A new state ballot measure could deal a winning hand against dark money in elections.

Could a constitutional amendment overturn Citizens United?

Two new Supreme Court cases are designed to end campaign finance laws, legalize bribery, and create Citizens United 2.0.

Your legal rights are being stripped away by the ticket company's new terms-of-use agreement.

The billionaire-backed overhaul of CBS News is the culmination of a decades-long master plan.

Buying a home has never been easier — so what’s the catch?

A new White House memorandum activates 9/11 counterterrorism units against the American public.

A dispatch from the legal battle against Trump’s agenda.

How “copaganda” is helping expand Trump’s authoritarian rule.

Bill McKibben, America’s real-life Lorax, says the climate apocalypse might be averted after all.

After decades advising presidents, the former Secretary of Labor is sounding the alarm.

Once we accept deadly violence as a normal part of American life, we’re done for.

Three candidates with bold plans to fix the Democratic Party and win back working-class voters.

The American government now has a 10 percent stake in computer company Intel — is Trump turning into a socialist?

A behind-the-scenes look at what billionaires are buying with the money you made for them.

Texas Democrats say Trump’s maps expose a nationwide attack on democracy

A much-needed history lesson on why we’re one SNAFU away from disaster.

A perfect storm is coming for Obamacare in 2026.

An in-depth look at the world’s dominant economic system

What happens to a country when men lose their closest friends?

Master of horror Ari Aster tackles the scariest film of his career — about the real-world villains hiding in our midst.

What Delta Air Lines’ ticket pricing controversy reveals about the growing threat of “surveillance pricing.”

President Trump wants to bail out private equity companies — by letting them loot your retirement plan.

After hiring MAGA lawyers, a tech giant got its antitrust case settled, and monopoly cops were fired. Can a Nixon-era law save the day?

President Trump’s new AI Action Plan aims to create a lawless future for artificial intelligence companies.

What’s really at stake in the showdown between President Trump and Chair Jerome Powell of the Federal Reserve?

The White House, billionaires and corporations are aiming to silence criticism and limit free speech

Journalist Julie K. Brown broke open the cover-up of Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme — and she says the government is still hiding the truth.

A vanity sculpture garden? A tax break for online bookies? Incentives for Wall Street to fire you? What actually passed in Trump’s massive “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Even before the deadly July 4th floods in Texas, the United States had a problem.

A frank discussion about Israel’s mass violence — and why linguistic choices matter

PA Gov. Josh Shapiro explains what Republicans don’t want you to know about their legislation

Seventy-two minutes until the end of the world

Donald Trump just launched America into a war with Iran, and he’s done so without any authorization from Congress. A growing group of lawmakers says this is illegal and unconstitutional, and they are calling for an emergency session of Congress to force a vote to stop him.  Sirota talks to U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who is currently leading the fight to stop Trump’s escalation and pressure his fellow Democrats to follow his lead. The big question: Will there be enough votes from Democrats and MAGA Republicans to halt a conflict that could escalate into World War III?

Early voting in New York City’s mayoral primary race is well underway, and the rest of the country is watching. That’s because this year’s publicly funded city election is a battle for the future of the Democratic party, and the two frontrunners — a disgraced, corporate-backed Democrat and an upstart, young progressive — reveal a political schism that stretches far beyond the Big Apple. Today on Lever Time, David Sirota speaks with one of the race’s surprising front-runners, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, to explore how he’s using campaign finance reforms and other innovative approaches to take on New York’s former governor, Andrew Cuomo. David also talks with former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to understand what’s truly at stake in the election

Just when it seemed the geopolitical horrors in the Middle East couldn’t get worse, Israel went from leveling Gaza to launching a war against Iran. The offensive started while President Donald Trump was pressing for an Iran nuclear deal that would limit the country’s capacity to build nuclear weapons — and yet still Trump <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-tells-reuters-its-unclear-if-iran-still-has-nuclear-program-2025-06-13/">reportedly</a> greenlit Israel’s attack.  Today on Lever Time, editor-in-chief David Sirota speaks with Matt Duss, former Senate foreign policy aide for Bernie Sanders and current executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, to explore what triggered this new offensive and what role the U.S. government is playing. Is the endgame here World War III? 

The national deficit usually feels like an abstract talking point: America’s permanent credit card bill that just keeps getting bigger, without ever coming due. But suddenly, our national debt has a real cost. As President Donald Trump’s proposed tax cuts threaten to add trillions to the deficit, every major credit rating agency has now downgraded the United States’ credit rating, suggesting that the U.S. is no longer a reliable borrower — a move with potentially disastrous, far-reaching consequences for the global economy. To unpack what’s at stake, David Sirota sits down with Stephanie Kelton, a world-renowned economist and pioneer in Modern Monetary Theory, to ask her big questions: What does a credit downgrade mean? Should we really be thinking about America’s spending and debt like it’s a household budget? And how exactly could too much national debt bankrupt the country?  The answers, argues Kelton, necessitate transforming our perception of money itself.

There’s a new evil genius on Capitol Hill, one that privacy experts warn could empower tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to issue their own private currencies. The Senate is poised to pass the GENIUS Act, which would give so much free rein to such “stablecoins” that it could destabilize the rest of the economy. Today on Lever Time, Arjun Singh sits down with Lever reporter Luke Goldstein to understand the GENIUS Act, how it could turn Big Tech companies into unregulated banks, and why this should be a concern for the rest of us. You can read Luke’s full story on the GENIUS Act and the future of “ZuckBucks” <a href="https://www.levernews.com/get-ready-to-pay-in-zuckbucks/">here</a>.

He came in with a bang but is going out with a whimper. After his 24/7 role on Trump’s election stage and his high-profile rampage through the federal government, billionaire Elon Musk says he’s scaling back his work for the administration and ramping down his political spending. With his image tarnished and businesses facing turbulence, is Musk down for the count — or planning his return as America’s most infamous oligarch? Today on Lever Time, David Sirota talks to Michael Scherer, a reporter for The Atlantic who has the inside scoop on what happened to Musk and what kinds of ticking time bombs he and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency may have left inside the federal government.

One of the most powerful Republicans in the country has been called a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2001/05/25/1123439/conservative-advocate">teddy bear</a>. Grover Norquist, the head of the activist group Americans for Tax Reform, certainly doesn’t come across as an anarcho-capitalist power player.  Recently, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jun6_Rce_rE&amp;t=4s">Norquist</a> has waged a vendetta against “traitors” in the White House — staffers who are reportedly considering raising taxes on the rich, which may include Vice President J.D. Vance, and the <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1263815032">architect</a> of Trump’s first presidential campaign, Steve Bannon. On the finale of “Tax Revolt,” senior podcast producer Arjun Singh sits down with Norquist to understand: Is the antitax movement’s grip on the Republican party as strong as ever? Want more? Become a paid subscriber to get ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content, like an exclusive interview we conducted with the godfather of trickle-down economics. By doing so, you’ll be supporting independent journalism: <a href="http://levernews.com/subscribe">levernews.com/subscribe</a>

Former President George H.W. Bush once thought supply-side economics was so ludicrous he deemed it “voodoo economics.” But that was before Ronald Reagan transformed the Republican Party into a trickle-down, tax-cutting cult.  To follow in Reagan’s footsteps, Bush promised conservatives that he would never raise taxes — but then did something nobody expected. That decision would seal his fate, with the anti-tax movement making sure no Republican ever dared cross them again — and that included Bush’s son. This is Part 3 of <a href="http://levernews.com/TaxRevolt">Tax Revolt</a>, a new miniseries from Lever Time revealing how free-market radicals hijacked American politics and set the stage for Elon Musk, DOGE, and Donald Trump’s presidency. Want more? Become a paid subscriber to get ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content, like an exclusive interview we conducted with the godfather of trickle-down economics. By doing so, you’ll be supporting independent journalism: <a href="http://levernews.com/subscribe">levernews.com/subscribe</a>

How a small group of economists shaped Reagan’s tax policy and the future of the Republican party.  This is Part 2 of <a href="http://levernews.com/TaxRevolt">Tax Revolt</a>, a new miniseries from Lever Time revealing how free-market radicals hijacked American politics and set the stage for Elon Musk, DOGE, and Donald Trump’s presidency. Want more? Become a paid subscriber to get ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content, like an exclusive interview we conducted with the godfather of trickle-down economics. By doing so, you’ll be supporting independent journalism: <a href="http://levernews.com/subscribe">levernews.com/subscribe</a>

In the 1970s, an eccentric anti-tax crusader launched a radical campaign to dismantle California’s tax system — a movement that still defines American politics today. This is Part 1 of <a href="http://levernews.com/TaxRevolt">Tax Revolt</a>, a new mini-series from Lever Time revealing how free-market radicals hijacked American politics and set the stage for Elon Musk, DOGE and Donald Trump’s presidency. Want more? Become a paid subscriber to get ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content — and support independent journalism: <a href="http://levernews.com/subscribe">levernews.com/subscribe</a> Plus, read a <a href="https://www.levernews.com/tax-revolt-part-one-the-man-who-started-the-war-on-taxes/">bonus companion article </a>about the anti-tax zealot behind Proposition 13, written by producer Ariella Markowitz. 

How Cutting Taxes Became an American Obsession

The president of one of America’s largest industrial unions made headlines last month when he declared that some of Trump’s tariffs are the beginning of the end of a trade policy that has harmed America’s working class. On this episode of Lever Time, David Sirota speaks to United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain about blue-collar workers’ experience with 30 years of existing free trade policies.  They discuss whether Trump’s new tariffs will end up doing more harm than good. They also discuss Fain’s assertion that Democrats have too often taken the labor movement for granted — especially when it comes to championing corporate-written trade policies, which he says have ended up alienating Democrats from the working class.

Trump’s costly trade policy is the culmination of a long-simmering backlash — but will tariffs hurt more than they help?

Delaware just passed a bill to prevent CEOs like Elon Musk from leaving their state. Lawyers and legislators sound the alarm about what this means for the rest of us.

Trump’s Tuesday Night Massacre

Big Tech’s Forever War

Do Democrats Have A Game Plan?

The Planet is Heating Up Whether You Care or Not

Is It Still Safe To Fly?

RFK’s Beef With Big Food

Trump’s Tariff War Explained

Elon Musk’s Hostile Takeover

American Chaos Is Trump’s Plan

The Supreme Court Case That Got Us Here

Oligarchy Now

How America Created Cities Built To Burn (Part 2)

The L.A. Fires And The Uninsurable Earth (Part 1)

MAGA’s Civil War Over Immigration

Editor's Choice: The NBA Is Monetizing A Public Health Crisis

How Marvel Helped Sell Us Forever Wars

Sirota: The Health Care Crisis Is The Democracy Crisis

Why America Is Mad As Hell About Health Care

Trump, Magic, and Misdirection

The Democrat Who Warned Us (w/ Rep. Dean Phillips)

The Secret Recordings Netanyahu Wants Censored

Welcome To The United States of Crypto

How Democrats Can Win Back The Working Class

Project 2025 Is Even More Radical Than You Think

The New Movie Trump Doesn’t Want You To See

This is a preview of a bonus episode exclusive for premium subscribers. To become a premium subscriber go here.

Why The Working Class Could Deliver A Trump Victory

The Real Reason Trump Is Demonizing Immigrants

The Corporate Corruption Behind Hurricane Helene

Is Harris’ Big Tent About To Burst?

The Secret Plot To Buy American Democracy

Will The Real Kamala Harris Please Stand Up? (Part 2)

Will The Real Kamala Harris Please Stand Up? (Part 1)

Fear And Corporate Loathing At The DNC

Are We Allowed To Ask What President Harris Would Do?

The American Roots Of The World’s Right-Wing Nationalism

Is Tim Walz the Real Deal?

When Will The Climate Killers See Their Day In Court?

Can Harris Fight – And Win?

Will Democrats Decide To Lose The Election?

How DNC Delegates Could Oust Biden

Who Broke The Economy?

The Democrat Banished For Warning Us About Biden

Why Hasn’t Biden Stepped Down?

The World After Billionaire Media

The NBA Is Monetizing A Public Health Crisis

The $220 Billion Medical Debt Problem (With Rep. Ro Khanna)

"Lauren Boebert Can't Lose" from City Cast Denver

America’s Biggest Tax Scam May Finally End

The Lunch-Meat Mafia

What Will It Take to Defeat Ticketmaster?

Credit Card Companies Want To Keep You In Debt Forever

What Will It Take For Israel To End Its War?

Why Does America Provide So Much Support To Israel?

What A Fracking CEO’s Text Messages Tell Us About Inflation

Big Brother Is Watching The Protesters, Sponsored By Corporate America

Congress Wants To Make Sure Flying Still Sucks

Amazon is Eating the Economy

Dissent Will Not Be Tolerated in the Democratic Party

Amazon Is Afraid Of Its New Union Organizers

The Anxious Generation, Brought To You By Smartphones

The Wonk Attempting To Change Republican Economics

The State That Could Cost Biden The Election

Trump Won Iowa – Can He Beat The Supreme Court?

Amid Boeing Crisis, Is It Still Safe To Fly?

DECONSTRUCTED: “The Squad,” Part 2: From Obama to Bernie, a Crisis and a Crossroads

DECONSTRUCTED: “The Squad,” Part 1: The Rise and (First) Fall of Bernie

We Need To Talk About Zionism

How Big Oil Buys The News

Sound And Fury Over Israel-Palestine

Artificial Intelligence Is Denying Americans Health Care

How Shareholder Advocates Transform Corporations

What The Sam Bankman-Fried Verdict Means For Crypto

Pennsylvania Matters In 2024 (w/ Gov. Josh Shapiro)

BONUS: The Lobbyists Who Don’t Want A Ceasefire

How Conservatives Won The Courts

BONUS: The Corporate Takeover of Music (Lessons From Bandcamp)

How To Talk About Gaza (w/ Naomi Klein & Omar Baddar)

The King Of The ‘Self-Help’ Grift

The Fog Of War In Israel And Palestine

The Hidden Flaws Of ‘Bidenomics’

American Intervention And Its Blowback

The Serious Science Of Extraterrestrial Research

Inside The U.S.-China War Over Clean Energy

The American Masculinity Crisis

Autoworkers Are Ready To Strike

The Deadliest Wildfire In 100 Years

Montana’s Monumental Climate Win

How PragerU’s Propaganda Machine Infiltrated Florida’s Schools

Heat Is The Deadliest Type Of Weather

The Great Bank Robbery Of 2023

The Do-Or-Die Stakes Of The Hollywood Strikes

Deconstructed Podcast: An Inflation Solution That Doesn’t Screw Workers

The Stealth Supreme Court Rulings No One Is Talking About

Deconstructed Podcast: Inside Joe Manchin's Rise, Alliances, and Potential Presidential Ambitions

The Supreme Court Has A Billionaire Problem

Deconstructed Podcast: Why Dems Must Play “Chess, Not Checkers” With Political Messaging

Boots Riley On The Writers Strike, Organized Labor, And His New TV Show

Pentagon Whistleblower: The Government Is Hiding “Non-Human” Technology

The Fix Was In With Biden’s Debt Ceiling Deal

Social Media Is Killing Our Kids — Sen. Chris Murphy Has a Plan

What Succession Taught Us About Corporate Media (w/ Frank Rich)

Meet The Pundits Who Falsely Blamed Inflation on Workers

This Right-Wing “University” Is Coming For Your Kids

Will Artificial Intelligence Destroy Us or Set Us Free?

Did AstroTurf's "Forever Chemicals" Cause The Deaths Of Pro Athletes?

The Clarence Thomas Secret Money Trail

Biden’s First Primary Challenger (w/ Marianne Williamson)

AOC Sounds the Alarm About Biden 2024

Who Created America’s Free Market Mythology?

The Bank Regulator Who Was Blocked for Being Right

Regulatory Rollbacks and The Bank Panic of 2023

Why Have Dems Lost Working Class Voters? (w/ Nina Turner)

How to Derail the Anti-Safety Train Lobby

INSIDE THE STORY: Private Equity’s Senator Gets Big Payout

How The Lever Forced Buttigieg To Do His Job

The JFK Files And The CIA

INSIDE THE STORY: Rail Companies Blocked Safety Rules Before Ohio Derailment

On this week’s Lever Time: David interviews Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska).

At a gathering of the National Restaurant Association’s legal arm, lawyers and executives grappled with a worker uprising.

On this week’s Lever Time: David unpacks the Republican-led effort to hobble federal tax enforcers.

A gas mogul’s case against Beto O’Rourke could deter candidates from ever talking about money in politics.

The pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, is using Semafor to brag about its generosity abroad as it hikes U.S. drug prices.

On this week’s Lever Time: we speak with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) about the current goings-on in Congress.

Health insurers are ready to sue the government if Biden officials don’t let them keep years of overpayments from Medicare.

On this week’s Lever Time: David explores the ramifications of the potential Kroger/Albertsons merger.

New research shows that pharmaceutical companies have spent more on enriching shareholders than drug research and development over the past decade.

On this week’s Lever Time: David speaks with a leading expert in airline history and regulation.

Lobbyists and their congressional allies are trying to protect secret deals that can enrich Wall Street insiders at workers’ expense.

Wall Street lobbyists are trying to stop a federal proposal designed to punish criminal banks.

On this week’s Lever Time: The team grapples with the Elon Musk Twitter scandal; and David speaks with a leading digital rights advocate

A massive investment company publicly touts its green credentials while quietly pressing to weaken a landmark climate disclosure rule.

The conservative activist’s dark money network is bankrolling groups pressing the high court to gut election, affirmative action, and discrimination laws.

On this week’s Lever Time: David delves into the recent nuclear fusion advancement.

On this week’s Lever Time: We explore why the Democrats sided with railroad barons; and dig into a new documentary on the student debt crisis.

On this week’s Lever Time: We explore the stakes of the upcoming debt ceiling fight, and talk comedy with David Cross.

On this week’s Lever Time: David breaks down the recent Ticketmaster debacle, explores a recent victory against dark money, and interviews former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart.

On this week’s Lever Time: a look at the new progressive members of Congress; and a full explainer on last week’s crypto implosion.

On this week’s Lever Time: David runs through the midterm election results with The Lever’s reporters; and speaks with political analyst Krystal Ball about big-picture takeaways.

On this bonus episode of Lever Time: David Sirota interviews candidates Summer Lee and Josh Shapiro.

On this week’s Lever Time: we explore troubling developments in this year’s secretaries of state races; and interview Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) about the rise of dark money.

On this week’s Lever Time: David is joined by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes for a midterm deep-dive; and an extensive conversation about the power of persuasion.

On this week’s Lever Time: David and The Lever team expose a cartoonishly corrupt senate candidate; and take a deep dive into how bankruptcy laws are being exploited by corporations.

On this week’s Lever Time: we speak with a drug policy expert about Joe Biden’s marijuana plan; and we interview U.S. Senate candidate Gary Chambers.

On this week’s Lever Time: David gets schooled by the hosts of The Lever’s new podcast, The Audit; and discusses the end times with media theorist Douglas Rushkoff.

On this week’s Lever Time: We dissect the “greenwashing” of Dems’ dirty pipeline deal and press a U.S. Senator on his support for it. We also expose the caught-on-tape corruption of a Republican House member.

On this week’s Lever Time: David breaks down the looming railroad workers strike; and interviews Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist.

On this week’s Lever Time: David follows up Barre Seid’s history of political donations; and interviews sportswriter Dave Zirin about the politics of the NFL.

On this week’s Lever Time: David examines Joe Biden’s recent rhetoric concerning democracy, exposes the dark side of Biden’s student debt policy, and dives into Amazon and Starbucks workers’ Labor Day march.

On this week’s Lever Time: David breaks down Biden’s student debt relief plan and discusses the rise of ‘Dark Brandon.’

On this week’s Lever Time: David breaks down the story of the biggest political donation on record; and interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning climate journalist Elizabeth Kolbert.

On this week’s Lever Time: David discusses a recent Lever scoop; breaks down the CHIPS Act; and interviews a progressive Dem in a red state.

On this week’s Lever Time: The Lever’s staff discuss Dems’ commitment to private equity; the “never-ending war on the woke;” and they interview Harvard economist Jason Furman.

On this week’s Lever Time: David breaks down Dems’ surprise climate bill; discusses the importance of the Pennsylvania governor’s race; and speaks with actor and activist Susan Sarandon.

On this week’s Lever Time: David discusses Biden’s climate inaction; explores the history of nuclear energy; and interviews human rights attorney and ex-Chevron prisoner Steven Donziger.

On this week’s Lever Time: David explores how Joe Biden can salvage his presidency; he speaks with Lucas Kunce, who’s running for a senate seat in Missouri; and The Lever’s interview with Amazon Labor Union president Chris Smalls.

On this week’s Lever Time: David explores what a Biden 2024 run would mean for the country; he breaks down the newest Supreme Court case legalizing corruption; and he speaks with the president of Planned Parenthood about the overturning of Roe v Wade.

On this week’s Lever Time: David exposes the dark money network that has been bankrolling conservative judicial nominees, speaks with lawmakers about how governments can protect abortion access post-Roe, and breaks down the upcoming Supreme Court case tha

On this week’s Lever Time: David discusses Lindsey Graham’s comments on cutting Social Security and Medicare; The Lever visits a pop-up medical clinic in Joe Manchin’s home state; and a discussion about how New York Democrats recently killed a renewable e

On this week’s Lever Time: David exposes the big problem with the January 6 hearings, explores how the Federal Reserve is approaching inflation all wrong, and interviews Kendra Brooks and David Zuckerman about winning third-party campaigns.

On this week’s Lever Time: David discusses the “military-entertainment complex;” explores why the Biden administration is raising Medicare premiums; and interviews Elisabeth Epps, a progressive Colorado candidate facing big-money corporate opposition.

On the inaugural episode of Lever Time, David speaks with civil rights lawyer and founder of Civil Rights Corps, Alec Karakatsanis, about how police in the US are not legally obligated to protect its citizens. Then, The Lever's Julia Rock discusses her re

Hosted by award-winning journalist David Sirota, 'Lever Time' is the flagship podcast from the investigative news outlet The Lever.