Lever Time
Episodes
Project 2025 Is Even More Radical Than You Think
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If elected, former president Donald Trump has promised to implement mass deportations, target journalists, and carry out other unprecedented actions. ...
The New Movie Trump Doesn’t Want You To See
01 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A biopic of former president Donald Trump released right before the election seems ripe for box office success. But when screenwriter Gabriel Sherman ...
Did Elon Musk Just Buy The Presidency? (PREMIUM PREVIEW)
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, major labor unions like the Teamsters have endorsed the Democratic ticket in presidential elections — but not this year. In a surprise ...
The Real Reason Trump Is Demonizing Immigrants
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump is heading to Aurora, Colorado, on Friday — a city that Trump has repeatedly portrayed as crime-ridden and taken over by Venezuelan gan...
The Corporate Corruption Behind Hurricane Helene
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Millions in the Southeastern United States recently endured one cataclysm after another. First, Hurricane Helene left chaos and destruction across a t...
Is Harris’ Big Tent About To Burst?
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Vice President Kamala Harris has built a broad coalition that stretches from climate activists to a former oil company CEO, all of them aligned agains...
The Secret Plot To Buy American Democracy
20 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1971, Lewis Powell, a tobacco industry lawyer and future Supreme Court justice, penned a memo calling on conservatives and business interests to ma...
Will The Real Kamala Harris Please Stand Up? (Part 2)
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When Kamala Harris first ran for president in 2019, she promised to deliver Medicare for All to the people — but that changed. Early in her campaign...
Will The Real Kamala Harris Please Stand Up? (Part 1)
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In television commercials, at speeches, and on the campaign trail, Vice President Kamala Harris frequently boasts that she stood up to big banks as Ca...
Fear And Corporate Loathing At The DNC
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Lever’s David Sirota reports on his adventures at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, sharing his on-the-ground reporting on Democrat...
Are We Allowed To Ask What President Harris Would Do?
16 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Vice President Kamala Harris’ ascent to presumptive Democratic nominee has upended the presidential contest and energized Democratic voters — but ...
The American Roots Of The World’s Right-Wing Nationalism
09 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For more than a decade, global politics have been rocked by the rise of right-wing nationalist governments. Similar to Donald Trump’s rise in the Un...
Is Tim Walz the Real Deal?
07 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, a move that drew praise from a wide swath of the party,...
When Will The Climate Killers See Their Day In Court?
02 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Floods, heat waves, wildfires and other climate extremes are becoming a way of life for millions around the world — and tragically a way of death. A...
Can Harris Fight – And Win?
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the presumptive Democratic nominee, her party is facing an uphill battle to defeat Donald Trump and his attemp...
Will Democrats Decide To Lose The Election?
19 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With Trump last night becoming the GOP nominee and now having his largest polling lead — and with Biden reportedly on the verge of dropping out — ...
How DNC Delegates Could Oust Biden
12 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Should he stay or should he go? President Joe Biden’s decision to remain in the presidential race has consequences for hundreds of millions of peopl...
Who Broke The Economy?
05 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today on Lever Time, we unpack how corporations built and then broke the supply chain — and more importantly, how they took advantage of the COVID-1...
The Democrat Banished For Warning Us About Biden
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How is it that the Democrats’ main bulwark between America and a Trump regime is an impaired president whose White House reportedly tried to hide hi...
Why Hasn’t Biden Stepped Down?
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last night’s debacle of a presidential debate raised a huge question: Why did Democratic Party powerbrokers prevent a serious, contested presidentia...
The World After Billionaire Media
21 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with Semafor co-founder and editor-in-chief Ben Smith to grapple with journalism’s industry-wide reckoni...
The NBA Is Monetizing A Public Health Crisis
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The National Basketball Association wants you to gamble. Since 2014, the league has championed the legalization of sports betting nationwide, partiall...
The $220 Billion Medical Debt Problem (With Rep. Ro Khanna)
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Yesterday, the government introduced a new rule to remove $49 billion in medical debt that’s currently listed on Americans’ credit reports. Rep. R...
"Lauren Boebert Can't Lose" from City Cast Denver
09 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we're excited to share the first episode of a new series from our friends over at the podcast City Cast Denver. City Cast Denver is a daily new...
America’s Biggest Tax Scam May Finally End
07 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is the TurboTax era over? Recently, the IRS announced they plan to roll out a free program that will let Americans directly file their taxes online wi...
The Lunch-Meat Mafia
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Behind nearly every hamburger or chicken nugget handed out in a school cafeteria is JBS Foods, a multi-billion dollar conglomerate run by a billionair...
What Will It Take to Defeat Ticketmaster?
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is Ticketmaster too big to fail? It’s the question some musicians and small venue owners are asking in the wake of the Justice Department’s decisi...
Credit Card Companies Want To Keep You In Debt Forever
24 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today on Lever Time, we dive into the heart of Capital One and hear from a former employee about the credit card titan’s tactics to keep customers f...
What Will It Take For Israel To End Its War?
17 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with Jerusalem-based journalist Nathan Thrall to discuss what life has been like in both Gaza and the West...
Why Does America Provide So Much Support To Israel?
10 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For months, Joe Biden has struck a defiant tone in his support of Israel despite the concerns of allies and nationwide protests. Biden has been a ferv...
What A Fracking CEO’s Text Messages Tell Us About Inflation
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Since 2021, economists and pundits have tried to blame inflation on workers and rising wages. But a new bombshell exposé spotlights a different cause...
Big Brother Is Watching The Protesters, Sponsored By Corporate America
03 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As colleges and police departments crack down on campus protests, law enforcement are using tools borrowed from corporate America’s ballooning surve...
Congress Wants To Make Sure Flying Still Sucks
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After years of pressure, the Department of Transportation announced it would require airlines to automatically refund flyers the cost of canceled or s...
Amazon is Eating the Economy
26 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Thirty years ago, Amazon was a quirky internet bookseller. But even back then, founder Jeff Bezos wanted to build an empire. Today, Amazon has inserte...
Dissent Will Not Be Tolerated in the Democratic Party
19 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we’re excited to announce the relaunch of The Lever’s flagship podcast Lever Time. In this week’s episode, David Sirota and Senior Podcas...
The Future Of Lever Podcasts
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota introduces the Lever’s brand new podcast, Master Plan, which tells the gripping inside story of...
Amazon Is Afraid Of Its New Union Organizers
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, producer Frank Cappello and reporter Amos Barshad are joined by union organizers Griffin Ritze and Fatou Souar...
The Anxious Generation, Brought To You By Smartphones
08 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by scientist Zach Rausch, lead researcher for social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, autho...
The Wonk Attempting To Change Republican Economics
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by Oren Cass, executive director of the conservative economics think tank American Comp...
The State That Could Cost Biden The Election
24 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with Hill Harper, a Democratic candidate for Michigan’s open senate seat, to discuss ...
Trump Won Iowa – Can He Beat The Supreme Court?
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota speaks with Denver Post columnist and longtime Republican Krista Kafer, one of the plaintiffs in ...
Amid Boeing Crisis, Is It Still Safe To Fly?
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by Bill McGee, a Senior Fellow for Aviation and Travel at the American Economic Liberti...
DECONSTRUCTED: “The Squad,” Part 2: From Obama to Bernie, a Crisis and a Crossroads
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we’re sharing another episode of the podcast Deconstructed, from our friends over at The Intercept, an award-winning investigative news organ...
DECONSTRUCTED: “The Squad,” Part 1: The Rise and (First) Fall of Bernie
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we’re sharing an episode of the podcast Deconstructed, from our friends over at The Intercept, an award-winning investigative news organizati...
We Need To Talk About Zionism
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by Vox senior correspondent Zack Beauchamp, who recently authored a provocative article...
How Big Oil Buys The News
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by award-winning climate journalist Amy Westervelt to discuss her recent bombshell repo...
Sound And Fury Over Israel-Palestine
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by author and Washington Post Editorial board member Shadi Hamid to discuss the ongoing...
Artificial Intelligence Is Denying Americans Health Care
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, producer Frank Cappello and senior editor and reporter Andrew Perez are joined by health care journalist Bob H...
How Shareholder Advocates Transform Corporations
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, news editor Lucy Dean Stockton is joined by researcher Rosanna Landis Weaver and Andrew Behar, CEO of the non-...
What The Sam Bankman-Fried Verdict Means For Crypto
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, producer Frank Cappello is joined by researcher, software engineer, and cryptocurrency critic Molly White, who...
Pennsylvania Matters In 2024 (w/ Gov. Josh Shapiro)
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) to examine his first year in office as well as Pr...
BONUS: The Lobbyists Who Don’t Want A Ceasefire
06 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) to discuss the House’s Israel-Palestine ceasefire resol...
How Conservatives Won The Courts
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by lawyer Caroline Fredrickson, who recently penned an op-ed for The Atlantic titled, “...
BONUS: The Corporate Takeover of Music (Lessons From Bandcamp)
30 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s bonus episode of Lever Time Premium, The Lever’s Nick Campbell speaks with music writer Robin James and drummer Greg Saunier from t...
How To Talk About Gaza (w/ Naomi Klein & Omar Baddar)
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On Wednesday, October 18, The Lever’s David Sirota hosted a live event with Canadian journalist and activist Naomi Klein and Palestinian-American po...
The King Of The ‘Self-Help’ Grift
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by journalist and Citations Needed podcast co-host Adam H. Johnson to discuss the contr...
The Fog Of War In Israel And Palestine
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy think tan...
The Hidden Flaws Of ‘Bidenomics’
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by Matt Stoller, the director of research at the American Economic Liberties Project, w...
American Intervention And Its Blowback
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by Brendan James and Noah Kulwin, producers and hosts of the wildly popular historical ...
The Serious Science Of Extraterrestrial Research
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s Lever Time, David Sirota and journalist Laura Krantz are joined by Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb to discuss his research into extr...
Inside The U.S.-China War Over Clean Energy
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota and Peter Goodman, The New York Times’ global economics correspondent, explore the pivotal role...
The American Masculinity Crisis
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota talks with author Richard Reeves about the growing evidence that men are struggling in modern Ame...
Autoworkers Are Ready To Strike
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, producer Frank Cappello speaks with Labor Notes staff writer Luis Feliz Leon about why a potential autoworkers...
The Deadliest Wildfire In 100 Years
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, Lever news editor Lucy Dean Stockton speaks with former Hawaii state representative and national director of t...
Montana’s Monumental Climate Win
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, Julia Rock and Frank Cappello speak with environmental lawyer Julia Olson to discuss a recent historic win for...
How PragerU’s Propaganda Machine Infiltrated Florida’s Schools
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s Lever Time, Audit hosts and friends of the show Josh Olson and Dave Anthony are joined by journalist and media expert John Knefel to ...
Heat Is The Deadliest Type Of Weather
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by Jeff Goodell, author of the new book The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on...
The Great Bank Robbery Of 2023
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On today’s Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with law professor and policy advocate Robert Hockett and former FDIC attorney Todd Phillips, to expla...
The Do-Or-Die Stakes Of The Hollywood Strikes
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by The Bear writer and Writers Guild of America (WGA) union member Alex O’Keefe to discuss the s...
Deconstructed Podcast: An Inflation Solution That Doesn’t Screw Workers
18 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we’re sharing an episode of the podcast Deconstructed from our friends over at The Intercept, an award-winning investigative news organizatio...
The Stealth Supreme Court Rulings No One Is Talking About
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by law professor Stephen Vladeck, author of the new book, The Shadow Docket: How the Su...
Deconstructed Podcast: Inside Joe Manchin's Rise, Alliances, and Potential Presidential Ambitions
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we’re sharing an episode of the podcast Deconstructed from our friends over at The Intercept, an award-winning investigative news organizatio...
The Supreme Court Has A Billionaire Problem
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota and Andrew Perez are joined by ProPublica’s Justin Elliott, who recently co-authored an exposé...
Deconstructed Podcast: Why Dems Must Play “Chess, Not Checkers” With Political Messaging
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we’re sharing an episode of the podcast Deconstructed with Ryan Grim, D.C. bureau chief of The Intercept, an award-winning investigative news...
Boots Riley On The Writers Strike, Organized Labor, And His New TV Show
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As the Writers Guild of America strike enters its eighth week, David Sirota sits down with writer, director, musician, and activist Boots Riley to dis...
Pentagon Whistleblower: The Government Is Hiding “Non-Human” Technology
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David sits down with prominent investigative journalist Leslie Kean, who earlier this month published a blockbuster report about a potential secret go...
The Fix Was In With Biden’s Debt Ceiling Deal
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The country may have narrowly avoided a debt default catastrophe by passing a debt ceiling deal on June 3, but that doesn’t mean we should allow the...
Social Media Is Killing Our Kids — Sen. Chris Murphy Has a Plan
31 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Sirota sits down with U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) for a wide-ranging interview. They discuss the proposed debt ceiling deal and whether ...
What Succession Taught Us About Corporate Media (w/ Frank Rich)
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota sits down with writer and executive producer Frank Rich to discuss the series finale of HBO’s S...
Meet The Pundits Who Falsely Blamed Inflation on Workers
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time: After corporate pundits spent the last year gaslighting the American public into believing that rising corpora...
This Right-Wing “University” Is Coming For Your Kids
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota is joined by Josh Olson and Dave Anthony, hosts of The Audit podcast, to discuss the dangerous in...
Will Artificial Intelligence Destroy Us or Set Us Free?
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Sirota sits down with Dr. Max Tegmark, president of the Future of Life Institute and one of the world’s leading experts in artificial intellig...
Did AstroTurf's "Forever Chemicals" Cause The Deaths Of Pro Athletes?
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota speaks with Philadelphia Inquirer journalists Barbara Laker and David Gambacorta about their rece...
The Clarence Thomas Secret Money Trail
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota and Andrew Perez talk with ProPublica reporter Justin Elliott, who helped break open the explosiv...
Biden’s First Primary Challenger (w/ Marianne Williamson)
12 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota talks with author and political activist Marianne Williamson. They discuss her repeat candidacy f...
AOC Sounds the Alarm About Biden 2024
07 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s special episode of Lever Time, progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) sits down for an extended interview with David Siro...
Who Created America’s Free Market Mythology?
29 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, David Sirota speaks with Naomi Oreskes about the mythology of “market fundamentalism” that exists deep within the American psyche. A Ha...
The Bank Regulator Who Was Blocked for Being Right
22 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, David Sirota delves into the bank panic of 2023 with Saule Omarova, a Cornell Law School professor whose nomination to be one of the govern...
Regulatory Rollbacks and The Bank Panic of 2023
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s episode of Lever Time explores the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and its impact on the U.S. financial system. Lever reporter Julia Ro...
Why Have Dems Lost Working Class Voters? (w/ Nina Turner)
08 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Sirota is joined by progressive icon Nina Turner to talk about Ohio politics and why Democrats like Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg completely fumb...
How to Derail the Anti-Safety Train Lobby
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Sirota talks with U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Penn.) about the fear, anger, and mistrust felt by many of his constituents in the aftermath of the...
INSIDE THE STORY: Private Equity’s Senator Gets Big Payout
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists w...
How The Lever Forced Buttigieg To Do His Job
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time: Producer Frank sits down with journalists Julia Rock, Rebecca Burns, and Matthew Cunningham-Cook for an in-dep...
The JFK Files And The CIA
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota is joined by investigative journalist Jefferson Morley, one of the foremost experts on the assass...
INSIDE THE STORY: Rail Companies Blocked Safety Rules Before Ohio Derailment
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists w...
Meet Alaska’s First Democratic Rep. In Almost 50 Years (w/ Rep. Mary Peltola)
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota sits down with freshman Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), who recently made history as the first woma...
INSIDE THE STORY: Fear And Loathing Among The Union Busters
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists w...
Why Republicans Want To Defund The IRS
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s episode of Lever Time: A few weeks ago, House Republicans passed a bill to cancel new Internal Revenue Service funding. David Sirota ...
INSIDE THE STORY: The Lawsuit That Could Freeze Speech Against Billionaires
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists w...