Lever Time

President-elect Donald Trump’s penchant for exaggeration has pushed the boundaries of how elected officials communicate with the public. Trump’s conspiracy theories and shock-and-awe approach to campaigning propelled him back into the White House — leaving millions wondering how he was able to pull it off. Recent studies into the science of magic, examining how magicians utilize deception to manipulate their audiences, may provide an answer. Today on Lever Time, Lois Parshley, a senior investigative reporter at The Lever, explains why a recent groundbreaking magic contest holds the keys to understanding how people can be manipulated in a post-truth world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a special Lever Time post-election bonus episode, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) details how he was nearly excommunicated from the Democratic Party after he raised early concerns about the party's electability in 2023. The group discusses how Democrats’ culture of blind loyalty to the party elite and extreme deference to wealthy donors leave them hopelessly out of touch with voters — and what can be done to change that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arjun Singh interviews Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney about The Bibi Files, a new documentary he produced that uncovers explosive new police footage from the corruption trial of increasingly besieged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The podcast comes the same week the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu — and the U.S. Senate voted down a measure to block military aid to Netanyahu’s government. The conversation touches on the broader implications of Netanyahu’s actions, his role in the Gaza conflict, and how his leadership has contributed to widespread division within Israel. Gibney draws comparisons to other corrupt leaders he’s documented, exploring the psychology behind political misconduct, right-wing authoritarianism, and the lengths some will go to stay in power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No matter what, the cryptocurrency industry was going to win the election. After spending hundreds of millions to influence politicians in both parties, the industry defeated some of its fiercest critics and scored bipartisan support, particularly from President-elect Donald Trump, despite crypto’s potential risks for consumers and the financial system. Today on Lever Time, Lever reporter Freddy Brewster discusses crypto’s emergence as a political power broker and what industry insiders are hoping for in return for their massive donations. Then, Senior Podcast Producer Arjun Singh sits down with documentarian Cullen Hoback to discuss his new film Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, in which Hoback alleges to have discovered the identity of the enigmatic inventor of the groundbreaking cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump easily won reelection with the help of voters who were once considered bedrocks of the Democratic base. In this election, the former president managed to win over more working-class voters than in his 2016 campaign and made historic inroads with nonwhite voters. Why did this happen — and how can Democrats win them back? Today on Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh sits down with political analyst Krystal Ball, host of the show Breaking Points, to discuss why Trump’s authoritarian, populist rhetoric may have struck a chord with voters. Then David Sirota speaks with Jeff Weaver, architect of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) two presidential runs, to hear how Sanders built a similar multiracial coalition of working class voters during his campaigns and why those voters may have now migrated to Trump. Have a comment or a pitch about the show? Reach out to Arjun directly at [email protected] or follow him on X and Instagram at lever_singh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If elected, former president Donald Trump has promised to implement mass deportations, target journalists, and carry out other unprecedented actions. How could he pull it off? Project 2025, a radical plan to reshape the government under Trump, highlights the key to his sweeping agenda: Schedule F, a policy that would expose federal workers to political interference and give the president broad leeway to govern through fear. Today on Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh unpacks this radical strategy for Trump’s second term — and explores the religious fundamentalism and free-market ideology driving the creators of Project 2025, the right-wing think tank called The Heritage Foundation. In the early 1980s, the Heritage Foundation became the intellectual backbone of the conservative movement and today wields huge influence over the Republican party. Unlike other conservative think tanks, the Heritage Foundation was unique in blending the principles of free market capitalism with Christian nationalism, creating a blueprint for conservative politics that has now become the status quo. Over the past four years, a brain trust within the foundation has been drawing up Project 2025, laying the groundwork for how Trump could warp the tools of government and deliver ineradicable changes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A biopic of former president Donald Trump released right before the election seems ripe for box office success. But when screenwriter Gabriel Sherman looked for a distributor for his new film The Apprentice, Trump threatened legal action, and major studios got cold feet. Today on Lever Time, Sherman sits down with David Sirota and Arjun Singh to discuss the battle to release The Apprentice and how Wall Street’s Hollywood takeover is making it more difficult for political films to get made. In the early 2000s, a seismic shift happened in Hollywood. After decades of movie-studio dominance, media deregulation and favorable market conditions opened the doors for Wall Street to move in and consolidate the industry. the balance of power shifted from filmmakers to bankers. Now, with a potential Trump presidency looming, some filmmakers are concerned it could cast a chill over the industry and frighten studios from backing films that could be seen as critical of Trump or his allies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a preview of a bonus episode exclusive for premium subscribers. To become a premium subscriber go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades, major labor unions like the Teamsters have endorsed the Democratic ticket in presidential elections — but not this year. In a surprise move, the Teamsters declined to endorse either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris. The development — and Trump’s surprising levels of support from blue-collar and union voters — suggests something’s changing in the world of working-class politics. Today on Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh unpacks the cultural and economic trends that have turned working-class voters away from the Democratic Party and explores how the Republican Party is now working to win them over. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump is heading to Aurora, Colorado, on Friday — a city that Trump has repeatedly portrayed as crime-ridden and taken over by Venezuelan gangs, despite the refutations of city officials and police. Ahead of Trump’s Colorado rally on Friday, David Sirota joined the podcast City Cast Denver to explain why Trump has focused on Aurora and the signal he’s sending with his rally in the Denver suburb. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Millions in the Southeastern United States recently endured one cataclysm after another. First, Hurricane Helene left chaos and destruction across a trail of states. Then, in Georgia, a catastrophic chemical plant fire released plumes of toxic chlorine gas, forcing thousands to evacuate or shelter in place. Both disasters share a troubling backstory: regulatory failures fueled in part by corporate greed made the crises worse. On Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh sits down with reporter Katya Schwenk and news editor Lucy Dean Stockton to hear how government inaction and corporate meddling led to weakened climate adaptation infrastructure and lax oversight of dangerous chemical facilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vice President Kamala Harris has built a broad coalition that stretches from climate activists to a former oil company CEO, all of them aligned against former President Donald Trump. But if Harris wins in November and Trump’s out of the picture, what happens to this band of strange bedfellows, who frequently find themselves split on core issues like taxation and corporate power? What kind of a mandate will Harris have to lead? And is this arrangement setting her up for a rudderless administration? Today on Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh sits down with journalist Ben Bradford, host of the podcast series Landslide, to discuss what happened when Jimmy Carter built a similarly broad coalition in 1976 and ask if the Democrats’ big tent is about to burst. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1971, Lewis Powell, a tobacco industry lawyer and future Supreme Court justice, penned a memo calling on conservatives and business interests to make the nation’s legal system far more friendly to corporate power. A few years later, a lawyer named Michael Horowitz penned a follow-up memo calling for conservatives to indoctrinate generations of lawyers as the right’s foot soldiers on the ground. Today on Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh talks to David Sirota and Jared Jacang Maher about their deep-dive investigation into this 50-year plan in the hit new Lever podcast Master Plan. Then, he sits down with journalist David Daley to discuss his latest book, Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections. Daley’s book centers around Chief Justice John Roberts, whose ascent to the high court — and the conservative rulings he’s handed down — was the culmination of decades of work that began with Powell and Horowitz’s memos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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, she frequently referred to a 2017 bill she co-sponsored with Sen. Bernie Sanders that would have effectively abolished private health insurance. But when political winds didn’t look good, Harris changed course, and ultimately released her own, very different version of the bill, which sought to bolster and support private insurance companies by expanding their role in Medicare. It wouldn’t be the only time Harris bucked a campaign pledge for political gain. Today on Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh looks at two defining moments in Harris’ career to understand how the presidential hopeful acts when forced to choose between the values she campaigned on and political gain. In her current campaign, Harris has tried to play it safe. She’s consistently pushed the Biden administration’s agenda while remaining vague on how she’d respond to key issues. One of those issues has been how to handle Israel’s invasion of Gaza, a disaster that Harris will likely inherit if she wins the presidency. If so, the Gaza crisis will present one of the first tests of what a President Harris would do in office, but even close observers are unsure what the vice president ultimately believes is the best course of action on the matter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In television commercials, at speeches, and on the campaign trail, Vice President Kamala Harris frequently boasts that she stood up to big banks as California's attorney general. But her sloganeering obscures a sometimes-ugly record. Today on Lever Time, Arjun Singh looks back at Harris' early years as a district attorney and then state attorney general to see what they show us about the president she may soon become. When Harris first ran for District Attorney of San Francisco in 2003 — a time when prosecutors rarely described themselves as “progressive” — she campaigned as a crime fighter with few qualms about putting criminals behind bars. Later, as California’s attorney general, Harris continued to lean on her role as a tough prosecutor, vowing to go after mortgage lenders who utilized abusive tactics to strong arm Californians. But when it came time to fight the banks, did Harris let them off easy? Harris’ actions in that moment have left some observers with a pressing question: What does Kamala Harris actually believe? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Lever’s David Sirota reports on his adventures at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, sharing his on-the-ground reporting on Democrats’ fear of another Trump presidency and their rhetoric loathing the corporate takeover of politics. Sirota spotlights the tension between the convention’s populist framing and its corporate sponsors footing the bill. Sirota also talked to Democratic senators about whether any of Vice President Kamala Harris’ policy promises can become reality without the Senate first ending the filibuster. In her convention address, Harris pledged that as president, she will center her agenda around workers — not the corporations whose executives and lobbyists sponsored and monitored the party’s convention from the arena’s luxury suites. The big unanswered question: Will Harris deliver her agenda when those corporate forces inevitably push back? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vice President Kamala Harris’ ascent to presumptive Democratic nominee has upended the presidential contest and energized Democratic voters — but what’s the policy behind the vibes? On Friday, Harris unveiled a series of economic policies, including a proposed federal ban on grocery price gouging and plans to lower prescription drug and housing costs. It was a good step, but one that came after Harris faced pressure and criticism for not having a more robust policy platform. But amid viral trends like “coconut tree summer” and Harris’ “brat” era, do voters really care about what Harris actually wants to accomplish in office? Today on Lever Time, David Sirota and Arjun Singh sit down with Semafor’s Max Tani and The New Yorker’s Jay Caspian Kang to unpack why Harris’ great-taste-less-filling campaign has garnered the traction it has. Despite her twenty years as an elected official, it’s been surprisingly difficult for journalists to know what Harris wants to do with the presidency. In her 2019 presidential bid, Harris ran as a supporter of Medicare for All and an opponent of fracking — two positions her campaign has now renounced. And her approach to foreign policy and antitrust enforcement, cornerstones of the Biden administration, remains a mystery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 United States, countries like India, Hungary, Brazil, and Italy have seen the emergence of far-right governments who’ve channeled popular anger into support for nativist and anti-immigrant platforms. It turns out we’re largely to blame for it. Today on Lever Time, Arjun Singh sits down with Vox senior correspondent Zack Beauchamp to discuss his new book The Reactionary Spirit: How America's Most Insidious Political Tradition Swept The World, in which Beauchamp traces the roots of modern right-wing regimes to an antidemocratic tradition that began in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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, from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Sen. Joe Manchin. Though Walz was relatively unknown until recently, his stock within Democratic politics skyrocketed in the last few weeks. As governor, Walz passed legislation Democrats have long championed, including increasing taxes on corporations, providing free breakfast and lunch to all school students, and creating a paid family and medical leave program. On Lever Time, Arjun Singh sits down with Ryan Grim, co-founder of Drop Site, to dig deeper into Walz’s record — the good and the bad — and explore what Walz’s selection signals to voters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. After a historic, record-breaking flood in France killed her mother, a daughter wants to hold oil companies criminally responsible for her death, joining seven other plaintiffs in a lawsuit. Today on Lever Time, senior investigative reporter Lois Parshley examines a growing global movement of advocates and legal scholars trying to convince courts that fossil fuel companies should be charged with homicide after they knowingly caused climate change. Read the companion article to this episode exclusively on The Lever by clicking here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the presumptive Democratic nominee, her party is facing an uphill battle to defeat Donald Trump and his attempt to frame his corporate agenda as populism. In a wide-ranging interview on The Brian Lehrer Show on New York’s largest public radio station, David Sirota discusses his recent essay in The Lever about how Democrats must do a better job making clear the party is serious about fighting for America’s working class. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 — David Sirota, Arjun Singh, and The Atlantic’s Tyler Austin Harper review what is one of the wildest moments in American political history. The biggest question of all: Will the Democrats decide to lose the election, or will they actually fight to win? It's been an extraordinary three weeks in American politics. Biden's disastrous debate performance brought the questions about his age and mental fitness center stage, a gunman nearly assassinated former President Donald Trump, and Republicans went full MAGA by announcing former never-Trumper J.D. Vance as Trump's runningmate at the Republican National Convention. All while the Democrats squabble over Biden’s future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 people — and it has at least one Democratic National Committee member and convention delegate inquiring whether the party can force him off the ticket. But if Biden’s out, corporate lobbyists who’ve embedded themselves into the party could help select the new nominee. Today on Lever Time, Arjun Singh speaks withThe American Prospect’s Executive Editor David Dayen, Jacobin staff writer Branko Marcetic, and Sludge co-founder David Moore to unpack the divide fracturing the Democratic Party and look at how corporate power is woven into the fabric of the party’s convention, to be held in Chicago from August 19 to 22. Biden’s road to the 2024 presidential nomination has been anything but democratic. Team Biden crushed all attempts to have him prove his mettle against primary challengers. After his disastrous debate performance against Trump triggered a revolt within his own party, Biden didn’t hold a town hall to meet with the public — he hopped on the phone with his top donors. Now, those same donors could portend Biden’s downfall, with wealthy backers like George Clooney urging the president to step down, and others yanking their donations. Will the new alliance between a majority of Democratic voters and the party’s elite insiders all be on the same page regarding Biden’s potential replacement? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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-19 pandemic to price gouge everybody else. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it felt like we ran out of everything: toilet paper, hand sanitizer, microchips, exercise bikes, and more. High demand and supply shortages rocked the economy. Now we know that it was the corporations that did it to themselves. In his new book How the World Ran out of Everything: Inside the Global Supply Chain, veteran New York Times reporter Peter Goodman who covers the global economy unspools the long and sordid history of how the supply chain went global, then consolidated, and ultimately ended up in the hands of just three companies — creating a complicated and surprising crisis that has unfolded around the world. Then, as inflation began to set into the economy, corporations saw a huge opportunity to raise prices as consumers grew desperate — and they took it, giving us “greedflation.” In this episode of Lever Time, Goodman and Lindsay Owens, the executive director of The Groundwork Collaborative, sit down with senior podcast producer Arjun Singh to unpack how that gave us inflation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 his decline? On this episode of Lever Time, we talk to the Democratic operative who first tried to sound the alarm to avert this disaster — and who then faced a “quiet throat-slitting” by party bosses. We also explore how Democrats are trying to blackmail voters with an impossible choice: vote for a struggling Biden or get Trump and the potential end of democracy. Democratic strategist Jeff Weaver ran the presidential primary campaign of U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, the only elected Democrat who tried to challenge Joe Biden for the party’s 2024 nomination. Weaver also ran Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. On this episode, Weaver details his and Phillips’ experience when they tried to make sure voters knew about Biden’s decline. Weaver also explains exactly how the party could select a new nominee if Biden decides to halt his campaign — and how Democratic powerbrokers might try to tilt the process at the Democratic convention. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last night’s debacle of a presidential debate raised a huge question: Why did Democratic Party powerbrokers prevent a serious, contested presidential primary against Joe Biden? It’s a question that our podcast Lever Time dared to explore a while ago when it was a taboo topic. At the time, we were criticized for even discussing it — even though this morning, it seems everyone in America is now finally asking the question we had the temerity to ask. So today we’re re-releasing that original episode of Lever Time here — but with a new updated discussion about what happened at last night’s debate, and why it’s so important. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 reckoning — and explore why independent news might come out on top. There’s a crisis in journalism. Major media outlets like The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, NPR, and NBC News have laid off hundreds of staff this year, while other publications like Vice and Pitchfork have shut down their flagship websites. In January alone, one report estimated that more than 500 journalists lost their jobs — with local news outlets especially hard hit. One study found that more than half of U.S. counties have limited or no access to reporting about their communities. And yet amid the destruction, independent news outlets are emerging from the rubble. Can these digital media start-ups, subscriber-funded newsletters, and independent journalists fill the hole left behind by corporate media? In an in-depth, no-holds-barred conversation, Sirota and Smith seek to answer these questions, among other media matters. Smith is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the digital start-up Semafor, and co-host of the podcast Mixed Signals. He also worked as the editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed News and covered the media industry for The New York Times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Basketball Association wants you to gamble. Since 2014, the league has championed the legalization of sports betting nationwide, partially due to its own business interests in gambling. But the emergence of online gambling has coincided with a rise in troubling health outcomes like increased rates of depression and substance abuse. Today on Lever Time, we explore the recent growth of online gambling, sitting down with sports writers and an addiction expert to learn how it’s impacted society and changed the very nature of sports and fandom. Sports fans are familiar with the companies DraftKings and FanDuel. In the NBA, their commercials are now as synonymous with the game as slam dunks — and both have transformed how viewers watch the game. In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down a federal law prohibiting gambling in most states — within the same year several states swiftly moved to legalize sports gambling, leading to more widespread usage of online sportsbooks. Today, millions of fans include betting as part of their viewing experience, but it’s a trend that worries public health experts, athletes, and longtime fans, who believe the NBA’s promotion of gambling will have long-term negative consequences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yesterday, the government introduced a new rule to remove $49 billion in medical debt that’s currently listed on Americans’ credit reports. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) wants to go even further by establishing a grant program to actually cancel the $220 billion in medical debt that Americans owe. If signed into law, the program could relieve the debt burden for more than 100 million people. Today on Lever Time, Khanna sits down with senior podcast producer Arjun Singh to discuss the bill he’s cosponsoring with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the chances of the legislation making it through the Republican-controlled House, and his thoughts on the upcoming presidential election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 news podcast that connects listeners with what's happening in and around Denver. In their first spinoff series, "Lauren Boebert Can't Lose," the team at City Cast Denver look at key moments from Congresswoman Lauren Boebert's life just ahead of Colorado's June 25th Republican primary, where Boebert's congressional career could come to an end. You can find the rest of the series here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 without using expensive tax-assistance programs. The move could have happened more than two decades ago, if not for corporate lobbyists. Today on Lever Time, we look at the 20-year war waged by tax-prep companies like Intuit and H&R Block to stop the government from letting people file online for free. In the early 2000s, alarmed by calls from the George W. Bush White House to create a public tax filing platform, Intuit, the parent company of TurboTax, went on a lobbying blitz. The government agreed to back down, but only if tax-prep companies allowed low-income taxpayers to file for free. On paper, the tax-prep firms agreed — but in reality, they used deceptive tactics to manipulate taxpayers into paying for their software. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Behind nearly every hamburger or chicken nugget handed out in a school cafeteria is JBS Foods, a multi-billion dollar conglomerate run by a billionaire butcher family who bribed their way to become the world’s largest meat processor. Today on Lever Time, we look at how JBS captured the meat market, harmed workers, pulverized the environment, and generally tainted all your lunch meats with a hefty dose of corporate corruption. Every year, the U.S. government gives JBS Foods millions of dollars in subsidies, on top of the millions more it pays the company to supply meat for school lunches and the military. Despite JBS’ long history of illegal behavior, its market dominance has made it impossible for the government to avoid working with them, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. JBS isn’t an outlier; today, a handful of companies control most of the country’s agricultural supply. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 decision to sue Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment over its alleged monopoly in the music industry. Today on Lever Time, Morgan Harper, an antitrust expert, and Greg Saunier, founder of the indie band Deerhoof, debate the strength of the Justice Department’s case, and whether a win in court would meaningfully benefit musicians, independent music venues, and fans themselves. Ticketmaster has drawn the ire of musicians for decades. In 1994, members of the rock band Pearl Jam went to Congress alleging Ticketmaster was engaged in price gouging — but nothing happened. Instead, the government allowed Ticketmaster to grow even bigger, giving it massive influence over most of the music industry, gouging customers, and strong-arming musicians into signing away the rights for their tours. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 forever submerged in debt. When President Joe Biden moved to cap credit card late fees in March, the financial industry revolted — filing multiple lawsuits against the administration of a man once dubbed one of the banking industry’s favorite senators. Why are the credit card giants so threatened by losing their junk fees? How exactly have they assumed so much control of our financial lives? In today’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota and Arjun Singh go deep into the heart of the credit card industry and its lobbying army to hear how the industry has muscled its way into people’s wallets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Bank since the Oct. 7 attack in Israel. The pair also explores what is motivating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue the war, and why Netanyahu’s iron-fisted approach to the Palestinian territories may be the norm, not an outlier, in Israeli politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 fervent supporter of Israel throughout his political career, but his current moves appear to be driven by three close advisors who have consolidated control over the administration’s Israel policy. Today on Lever Time, David Sirota and Arjun Singh look at the people shaping Biden’s Israel decisions and get an on-the-ground report on how the war has played out in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. The Lever is subscriber supported. To become a subscriber, and get access to exclusive bonus content, head here: https://www.levernews.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since 2021, economists and pundits have tried to blame inflation on workers and rising wages. But a new bombshell exposé spotlights a different cause: oil companies engaging in an alleged price-fixing scheme with Saudi Arabia and other countries that may have fueled roughly one-third of all U.S. inflation in 2021. A recent Federal Trade Commission case uncovered text messages and documents suggesting the founder of a big oil company colluded with the Saudi government and other oil-producing countries to keep energy prices high. Another lawsuit alleges multiple American oil companies were engaged in a price-fixing scheme. Today on Lever Time, Matt Stoller of the American Economic Liberties Project discusses his groundbreaking reporting on the matter — and explains how this alleged collusion could have played a major role in the country’s inflation crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As colleges and police departments crack down on campus protests, law enforcement are using tools borrowed from corporate America’s ballooning surveillance regime to spy on students — and anyone else they deem a threat. When New York City police raided Columbia University on Tuesday to remove student protesters from a building they’d occupied, Mayor Eric Adams justified the move by claiming “outside agitators” had infiltrated the group. If the claim was even true, how did authorities get that information? What sort of technologies are authorities using to monitor the protesters — and where did these spy tools come from? This week on Lever Time, David Sirota and producer Arjun Singh look at college protests in the age of total surveillance. They talk with Alistair Kitchen, a student journalist who’s been reporting from Columbia’s campus, and explore how corporate America has taught the intelligence community new ways to use consumer data to spy on people everywhere If you’d like to follow Alistair Kitchen’s reporting, subscribe to his newsletter here: https://substack.com/@alistair Our work is subscriber supported. If you want to support us, and hear exclusive podcast content, head to levernews.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After years of pressure, the Department of Transportation announced it would require airlines to automatically refund flyers the cost of canceled or significantly delayed flights. Days later, a bipartisan group of senators — who also happen to be some of the largest recipients of campaign cash from the airline industry — unveiled new legislation that could undermine that rule. In this episode of Lever Time, Lever reporter Katya Schwenk unpacks how a small line in a massive bill could quietly kill a consumer protection rule that was years in the making. Our work is subscriber supported. If you want to become a subscriber, and get access to exclusive podcast content and articles, sign up here at levernews.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thirty years ago, Amazon was a quirky internet bookseller. But even back then, founder Jeff Bezos wanted to build an empire. Today, Amazon has inserted itself into almost every facet of daily life, and it’s done so by ruthlessly muscling out competition — likely using illegal market tactics. For years, regulators watched Amazon’s growth and failed to investigate claims that the company violated federal law by engaging in predatory pricing. That changed last year when Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan announced she and 17 state attorneys general were suing Amazon and charging it with being an illegal monopoly. The thing is, Amazon probably could have been sued a long time ago. On this week’s Lever Time, David Sirota and Arjun Singh unpack how an ideological movement successfully suppressed efforts to challenge corporate monopolies in the United States for nearly half a century and enabled Amazon’s unprecedented rise. To become a Lever premium member and get access to exclusive bonus podcast content and more, head to levernews.com to subscribe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Podcast Producer Arjun Singh discuss the 2024 presidential election and the Democratic Party’s efforts to prevent a real primary challenge to President Joe Biden. Since 2008, the Democratic Party leadership has worked to suppress primary challengers and support incumbent politicians. That approach was on full display during the 2024 Democratic primaries, where the DNC worked with state affiliates to ensure that, in some cases, Biden’s two primary challengers didn’t even appear on the ballot. Given Biden’s consistently low approval ratings and palpable anger over his handling of the war on Gaza, the matter raises troubling questions: Did the party prevent a proper primary because they were afraid of what it could do to Biden? And if so, could their plan to suppress a primary contest backfire and end up hurting Biden in November? This week on Lever Time, David Sirota and Senior Podcast Producer Arjun Singh unpack Biden’s popularity and look to the 1980 Democratic primary, when Democratic senator Ted Kennedy challenged incumbent president Jimmy Carter. Our work is subscriber supported. If you'd like to become a Lever subscriber, and get access to our original reporting and bonus podcast episodes, head here: https://www.levernews.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of Lever Time, producer Frank Cappello and reporter Amos Barshad are joined by union organizers Griffin Ritze and Fatou Souare, who are both involved in a current union drive at an Amazon warehouse in Kentucky. Griffin, an Amazon employee who was recently fired as alleged retaliation, and Fatou, a local community leader with the Kentucky African Women’s Association, speak to The Lever about the unique challenges of organizing a large, diverse workforce in one of Amazon’s largest locations — and what their efforts mean for the larger fight ahead against Amazon. In 2022, workers at Amazon’s KCVG air hub kicked off their union drive, seeking increased pay, inclusionary policies for non-Native English speakers, and stronger workplace protections. Due to the size and diversity of KCVG’s workforce, local community groups have also gotten involved. In response, Amazon is apparently doing everything in their power to crush the union effort, including hiring union-busting law firms to hold “captive audience” meetings. In today’s interview, Frank and Amos speak with Griffin and Fatou about the unique challenges of organizing the Amazon hub, the different union-busting tactics the company employs, and how groups like the Kentucky African Women’s Association are working to educate and empower the community. A transcript of this episode is available here. Links: Amazon Labor Union, Northern Kentucky KCVG BONUS: Last week’s bonus episode of Lever Time Premium, exclusively for The Lever’s supporting subscribers, featured David Sirota’s conversation with media strategist Jason Kint about how Facebook’s parent company Meta is trying to protect the money it makes from harvesting kids’ user data. If you'd like access to Lever Time Premium, which includes extended interviews and bonus content, head over to LeverNews.com to become a supporting subscriber. If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/tipjar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by scientist Zach Rausch, lead researcher for social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of the new book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. According to new research, children in the U.S. are producing lower test scores, becoming more easily distracted, growing less sociable, and are generally feeling more anxious than they were several years ago. Now, researchers are drawing a connection between these detrimental effects on childhood development and modern technology like smartphones. In today’s interview, David and Zach discuss the modern trend of parents “overprotecting kids in the real world, while under-protecting them online.” Zach also explains the unique technological challenges facing young girls in particular, as well as what schools and parents can do to mitigate some of the damage. A transcript of this episode is available here. Links: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness (Penguin Press, 2024) BONUS: Last week’s bonus episode of Lever Time Premium, exclusively for The Lever’s supporting subscribers, featured David Sirota’s conversation with media strategist Jason Kint about how Facebook’s parent company Meta is trying to protect the money it makes from harvesting kids’ user data. If you’d like access to Lever Time Premium, which includes extended interviews and bonus content, head over to LeverNews.com to become a supporting subscriber. If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/tipjar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by Oren Cass, executive director of the conservative economics think tank American Compass, for a long-form discussion about Oren’s new brand of conservative economic policy — one that calls for empowering workers and labor unions, rather than crushing them into dust. According to American Compass’ website, their work focuses on “developing the conservative economic agenda to supplant blind faith in free markets with a focus on workers.” In today’s episode, David interviews Oren about his new vision for Republican economics, which includes the idea that the labor movement is one of the best mechanisms for delivering material gains to working families. They also get into a friendly debate over the effectiveness of the social safety net, the best policy prescriptions to combat climate change, and the culture war around identity politics. A transcript of this episode is available here. Links: American Compass BONUS: On Monday's bonus episode of Lever Time Premium, exclusively for The Lever’s supporting subscribers, we shared David Sirota’s conversation with media strategist Jason Kint about how Facebook’s parent company Meta is trying to protect the money it makes from harvesting kids’ user data. If you'd like access to Lever Time Premium, which includes extended interviews and bonus content, head over to LeverNews.com to become a supporting subscriber. If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/tipjar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 how the state could swing the 2024 presidential election. Michigan, which proved to be a key battleground in 2016 and 2020, is currently heavily leaning towards Donald Trump. That could spell trouble for President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign — not to mention down-ballot races in a state that, until recently, appeared to be increasingly shifting blue. In today’s interview, David and Hill discuss the political stakes in Michigan, and how issues in the state such as the auto strikes, the Israel-Hamas War, the Enbridge pipeline, and abortion rights are influencing the electorate. Hill, a well-known actor, also talks about the challenges of running as a progressive candidate against the Democratic establishment’s chosen candidate, Rep. Elissa Slotkin, and the influence of big money in American politics. The two discuss the phone call Hill received last November from a wealthy donor who offered him $20 million to drop out of the senate race and instead mount a primary challenge against Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of Congress. A transcript of this episode is available here. Links: Biden Has a Michigan Problem, Endangering His Re-Election HillHarper.com BONUS: On Monday's bonus episode of Lever Time Premium, exclusively for The Lever’s supporting subscribers, we’ll be sharing David Sirota’s conversation with media strategist Jason Kint about Facebook’s parent company Meta, which is currently suing the Federal Trade Commission to prevent regulators from reinforcing a 2020 privacy settlement regarding the company’s monetization of user data from children. If you'd like access to Lever Time Premium, which includes extended interviews and bonus content, head over to LeverNews.com to become a supporting subscriber. If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/tipjar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 the landmark Colorado lawsuit that resulted in the state’s Supreme Court removing Donald Trump from the presidential ballot. On Dec. 19, the Colorado Supreme Court decided in a 4-to-3 ruling that former president Donald Trump would not be allowed to appear on the state’s primary ballot because of the Constitution’s “Insurrection Clause,” which bars anyone from running for public office if they’ve engaged in insurrection against the United States. The lawsuit alleged that Trump had engaged in insurrection during the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up the case, which will determine whether Trump can be disqualified in Colorado. Now that Trump has won the Iowa caucus with a record 51 percent of the vote, it’s looking increasingly likely that Trump will become the Republican nominee for president, making the Supreme Court’s decision even more pivotal for the 2024 election, as it could have far-reaching implications for lawsuits in other states seeking to prevent Trump from appearing on the ballot. The high court is expected to reach a decision shortly after arguments are heard on February 8th. In today’s interview, David speaks with Krista about why she decided to join the Colorado lawsuit and why she believes a Trump re-election needs to be stopped. They also question if legal challenges against Trump may have the unintentional side effect of empowering him within his base and whether defeating him legally is enough to defeat Trumpism for the long term. A transcript of this episode is available here. BONUS: Last week’s bonus episode of Lever Time Premium, exclusively for The Lever’s supporting subscribers, features our interview with journalist and sports writer Matt Brown, about how the private equity industry could soon be getting its claws into college football. If you’re a fan of college football who cares about the integrity of your favorite team, this interview goes into detail about how Wall Street could fundamentally change how college football works, for both players and fans. If you'd like access to Lever Time Premium, which includes extended interviews and bonus content, head over to LeverNews.com to become a supporting subscriber. If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/tipjar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Liberties Project, and investigative journalist Maureen “Moe” Tkacik to discuss how the air travel industry has been transformed from the paragon of engineering and innovation into cost-cutting, regulation-dodging piggy banks for Wall Street investors. Last Friday, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 experienced what could have been a deadly disaster when a plug door was ripped from the plane mid-flight. Luckily, no one was killed and there were only a few minor injuries. But this incident spotlights what critics say is a systemic problem in airline manufacturing and oversight: years of cutting costs, spurred by the Wall Street-ification of companies like aircraft manufacturer Boeing. This past week, The Lever reported that employees at Spirit AeroSystems, Boeing’s main subcontractor for plug doors and other parts of the frame, allegedly warned the company about safety issues but were instructed to falsify documents instead. Incidents like these may have resulted from companies like Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems chasing higher profit margins at the expense of quality manufacturing and service. In today’s interview, David, Bill, and Moe discuss how airlines' demands to cram passengers into planes may have resulted in this past week’s Alaska Airlines technical malfunction. Bill and Moe also explain how the airline regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration have been asleep at the wheel for decades when it comes to oversight, and how the profit-driven corporate governance at companies like Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems has contributed to this sprawling crisis. A transcript of this episode is available here. Links: Boeing Supplier Ignored Warnings Of “Excessive Amount Of Defects,” Former Employees Allege (The Lever, 2023) BONUS: This past Monday's bonus episode of Lever Time Premium, exclusively for The Lever’s supporting subscribers, features our interview with journalist and sports writer Matt Brown, about how the private equity industry could soon be getting its claws into college football. If you’re a fan of college football who cares about the integrity of your favorite team, this interview goes into detail about how Wall Street could fundamentally change how college football works, for both players and fans. If you'd like access to Lever Time Premium, which includes extended interviews and bonus content, head over to LeverNews.com to become a supporting subscriber. If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/tipjar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we’re sharing another episode of the podcast Deconstructed, from our friends over at The Intercept, an award-winning investigative news organization. The 2008 economic crisis changed the world. In the United States, the meager response by Barack Obama and the Democratic Party produced a recovery that was far too slow, drove an eviction crisis, and fueled a populist backlash. On the left, that backlash took the form of Occupy Wall Street, which put the problem of wealth and income inequality — the 99 percent versus the 1 percent — into the national political conversation for the first time since the Great Depression. Followed a few years later by the Movement for Black Lives and an upsurge of climate activism, the new radical energy among young people prepped the ground for the first Bernie Sanders campaign. In 2016, the Vermont senator came shockingly close to the presidential nomination. In the wake of Sanders’ campaign, a chunk of his staff that focused on organizing grassroots supporters decided to quit and try something new: They would recruit and support Bernie-style populists and take over the House. On this episode of Deconstructed, Ryan Grim brings us another audio documentary, adapted from an excerpt of his newest book, The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution. This episode chronicles the 2008 economic crisis, Obama’s election, and zeroes in on how individual members of the Squad became politicized. If you like Lever Time, be sure to check out Deconstructed on all podcast platforms and subscribe. Links: The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution (Macmillan, 2023) A transcript of this episode is available here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we’re sharing an episode of the podcast Deconstructed, from our friends over at The Intercept, an award-winning investigative news organization. When Bernie Sanders launched his first presidential campaign in 2015, the political world could not have been more different than how it is today. His run set in motion a movement — or, really, a series of movements that clashed and blended over the ensuing years, reshaping both the Democratic Party and the country. In this episode of Deconstructed, host Ryan Grim narrates an excerpt of his new book, The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution. Throughout the narrative, the team at Deconstructed has spliced in with interviews, speeches, and newscasts, turning it into an audio documentary. The first episode takes you inside the first Sanders campaign, and explores the tension between the right wing of the Democratic Party and Sanders’s “political revolution.” Part two, which will be published next week, looks back at the historical forces that pushed members of the Squad into politics — and the spotlight. If you like Lever Time, be sure to check out Deconstructed on all podcast platforms and subscribe. Links: The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution (Macmillan, 2023) A transcript of this episode is available here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota is joined by Vox senior correspondent Zack Beauchamp, who recently authored a provocative article about how Israel’s mass violence against Palestinians in Gaza could prompt a backlash to right-wing Zionism and a resurgence of the “Liberal Zionist” political tradition. The modern debate surrounding Zionism tends to be fraught, accompanied by decades of historical baggage and confusion over the term’s many meanings. In a literal sense, Zionism is defined as, “the belief that there should be an independent Jewish state.” Today, the dominant concept of Zionism is embodied by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is using the term to justify the mass murder and displacement of Palestinians. But historically, Zionism also encapsulated the concept of liberal Zionism, which imagines an independent, democratic Jewish state that could offer equal rights to all of its citizens, including Palestinians. In today’s discussion, David and Zack explore whether the war in Gaza will ultimately result in the return of the liberal Zionist tradition. They also break down the definition of liberal Zionism and how it’s differentiated from other forms of Zionism. And they discuss the collapse of the liberal Zionist movement within Israel, and the inherent tension between liberal Zionists’ desire for a Jewish homeland and their stated support for creating a real democracy. A transcript of this episode is available here. Links: The Return Of Liberal Zionism? (Vox, 2023) BONUS: This past Monday’s bonus episode of Lever Time Premium, exclusively for The Lever’s supporting subscribers, features David Sirota’s interview with Princeton history professor D. Graham Burnett, who recently co-authored an op-ed in The New York Times about the detrimental effects of our ever-diminishing attention spans. This is due to what Graham and his co-authors have dubbed “attention fracking” — Big Tech’s profit-driven strategy to keep your eyes glued to the screen for as long as possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices