Lever Time

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota speaks with Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary and economics professor, about what he’s learned from working in multiple presidential administrations, where he believes that American politics went wrong, and what the Democratic Party needs to do to save itself — and the country.

Click here for more of this interview, in which Reich explains how the Baby Boomer generation failed America.

You can check out Reich’s new memoir, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, here. 

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A message from David Sirota about recent violence and what we must do to stop it.

The Democratic Party is in a rut. Democratic voter registration has been steadily declining since 2018, and the party’s approval rating in some polls has dropped even lower than President Donald Trump’s. 

Feeling pessimistic? We have some good news. On this episode of Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with three Democratic candidates — Michigan’s Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, California’s Saikat Chakrabarti, and New York Lieutenant Gov. Antonio Delgado — who are challenging the gerontocracy and forging a new direction for a party that has lost its way.

Click here for a full transcript of the episode.<...

The United States government is taking a 10 percent stake in Intel, blurring the lines between capitalism and state ownership. While critics say it’s a dangerous power grab, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is praising President Donald Trump’s move.

On this episode of Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with The American Prospect’s Harold Meyerson and Cornell University law professor Bob Hockett to tackle the deeper question: Should the U.S. government own pieces of big corporations?

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As American workers are fighting for their basic needs, the country’s richest are getting richer — while inventing perverse new ways to spend and hoard their money. Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with “greed beat” journalist Evan Osnos, who explains why ultrarich oligarchs are running away from the rest of us on luxurious gigayachts, decadent doomsday bunkers, and ill-advised spaceships.

Get Evan’s book, The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich, here.

Click here for a full transcript of the episode.

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As Trump presses states to redraw their district maps to favor Republicans, David Sirota gets the inside scoop from Texas Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett, who is on the frontlines of the gerrymandering war. Doggett this week announced a shocking act of self-sacrifice, jeopardizing his own career for the battle against Trump.  

Click here for a full transcript of the episode.

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On today's episode of Lever Time, comedian and writer Ed Helms (The Daily Show, The Office) takes David Sirota on a wild journey through some of history’s greatest screw-ups — from nuclear war near-misses to secret ice tunnels in Greenland to attempts to blow up the moon. 

Helms, who hosts the podcast SNAFU, explores the risks of putting our trust in leaders who could do things that put us on the brink of extinction. What do America’s biggest blunders teach us about our lack of control, our resilience, and what the future holds?

Click here to...

Health insurance premiums for some Americans could increase by a whopping 66 percent next year. Why are insurers jacking up their rates? And why are Republicans killing off Biden-era subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, despite their overwhelming, bipartisan popularity? Could such efforts backfire and make Medicare for All inevitable? And how can individuals and small businesses prepare for insurance hikes?

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with two of America’s leading experts on the health care system, Larry Levitt and Miranda Yaver, who are sounding the alarm about insurance rate increases. We explore the re...

Today, we’re sharing an episode from our friends over at Scene On Radio, the Peabody-nominated documentary podcast that asks big questions about who we are and how we got this way. This is the premiere episode of its season seven series, “Capitalism,” which explores the rise of the world’s dominant economic system — and examines why the concept is now being questioned in ways it hasn’t been in decades.

If you’d like to keep listening to Scene On Radio, visit sceneonradio.org.

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Men are struggling with friendships and feeling lonelier than ever. The male loneliness epidemic is seeping into many facets of life — including mental health, the economy, and American politics — but why are guys having such a hard time making and keeping friends?

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with journalist Sam Graham-Felsen to explore the collapse of male friendship — and why this quiet crisis has deeper political and social ramifications than anyone wants to admit.

You can read Sam Graham-Felsen’s New York Times article referenced in this episode here.

A transcri...

You might recognize director Ari Aster from his groundbreaking horror films like Hereditary and Midsommar. But Aster just dropped the scariest film of his career: Eddington, a dark COVID-19 comedy starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, and Emma Stone, about social media-driven polarization, gun violence, and the looming tech takeover.

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota speaks with Aster about the inspiration behind his all-too-prescient film. Did the coronavirus pandemic break our brains, leaving our communities with no commonly accepted set of facts? How do we navigate today’s AI slop-driven informational hellscape? And is it possible to av...

Delta Air Lines recently came under fire for announcing that artificial intelligence will be setting 20 percent of its ticket prices for its domestic flights by 2026. While Delta subsequently denied using the tech to engage in “personalized” price gouging, many airlines, big businesses, and data brokers have allegedly been dabbling in “surveillance pricing,” the growing corporate practice that exploits personal data to charge customers the most they’re willing to pay.

In this episode of Lever Time, David Sirota talks to Lee Hepner, antitrust expert at the American Economic Liberties Project, to learn how companies are tracking our online and...

The Trump administration appears ready to sign an executive order that would allow private equity firms to prey on Americans’ retirement savings. What happens if Wall Street can suddenly tap into the trillions of dollars tucked away in 401(k) accounts?

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota speaks with former federal regulator Ted Siedle and economist Eileen Appelbaum to understand what private equity could do to Americans’ hard-earned retirement funds — and how you can protect your money.

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In a stunning reversal, the Trump administration just gave the green light to a major tech merger — and then fired two Justice Department lawyers who opposed it. Was corruption at play in the merger decision?

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with The Lever’s Luke Goldstein and UnHerd Magazine’s Sohrab Ahmari, who first exposed the “mergers over martinis” story behind the reversal. They dive into the MAGA power struggle inside the Justice Department and tackle the big questions: What triggered the reversal? Could a Watergate-era anti-corruption law bring the truth to light? And if Trump i...

The Trump administration just unveiled a sweeping AI Action Plan that aims to achieve global dominance in the industry. Hiding deep within the document? A previously rejected scheme to ban oversight of tech oligarchs and let artificial intelligence run wild. 

Today on Lever Time, producer Natalie Bettendorf investigates the challenges and political realities of reining in AI — and why Congress and the president seem determined to terminate AI regulations.

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President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell are dueling over interest rates set by America’s secretive central bank, the Federal Reserve. Is the Fed’s secrecy and independence good for the economy? Who should control the institution — the people, the president, or Wall Street? And why are so many experts in media, politics and business afraid to even consider challenging the status quo?

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota speaks with two provocative economic thinkers about what is really at stake in this battle between Trump and Powell, and how this clash over the Federa...

Why did CBS cancel Stephen Colbert’s show mere days after the company settled a lawsuit with Donald Trump? Are Trump’s lawsuits part of a larger movement to crush dissent? And which other billionaires, corporations, and politicians are trying to bully critics into silence?

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota speaks with New York Times journalist David Enrich, the author of the book Murder The Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful. Enrich brings listeners inside the legal movement to end Americans’ first-amendment right to express opposition to what’s happenin...

Why is President Donald Trump’s right-wing voter base up in arms over Jeffrey Epstein? Which of the many conspiracy theories are based in truth? And what is Trump’s Department of Justice now trying to cover up? 

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota speaks with the award-winning investigative journalist Julie K. Brown, who first broke the story of Epstein’s legal cover-up, to find out why we should keep pushing the Trump administration for answers.

To read more of Julie K. Brown’s groundbreaking reporting about the Epstein case, check out her book “Perversion of Justice...

You’ve likely heard about the slashed health care for millions of Americans. Hospitals defunded. Massive tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. But guess what? Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" is even more absurd (and devious) than you think. 

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with David Dayen of The American Prospect and The Lever’s Luke Goldstein to dig into the hidden details: How did these crazy handouts make it into the Big Beautiful Bill? What’s the larger agenda? And how is this going to affect you?

Read Luke Goldstein’s reporting...

Even before the deadly July 4th floods in Texas, the United States had a problem. Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with Lever reporter Freddy Brewster to discuss a technology that could help alert communities about flooding disasters — and the underlying political battle that's leaving 99% of America's waterways unmonitored.

You can read The Lever's exclusive reporting on streamgage technology here.

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Since Israel launched its war in Gaza a year and a half ago in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack, Israeli armed forces have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in their quest to destroy Hamas. But more and more experts say what’s happening in Gaza isn’t just a war — it’s genocide.

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid to talk about why so many have trouble using the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s mass violence, why that word must be in the discourse, and why linguistic choic...

Why did Republicans rush their massive tax cut bill through Congress? What are they hiding? As the media focuses on specific provisions, David Sirota digs into the bill’s far-reaching consequences, warning it could reshape society for generations. 

He calls up an old friend, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who explains how the bill will hurt working-class voters and why its rationale is, in his words, “total bullshit.” They also talk political fear, arson, and whether lawmakers will be held accountable.

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Seventy-two minutes. That’s how long it could take from a country launching a nuclear weapon to global nuclear winter and the end of human civilization. 

If that’s not scary enough, the United States is right now involved in two proxy wars involving nuclear powers — one in Ukraine, and the other in the Middle East. 

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota asks acclaimed investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen, author of Nuclear War: A Scenario, the big bombshell questions: What scenarios are most likely to trigger a nuclear conflict? What can be done to pull us back fro...

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...

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...

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 reportedly 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...

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...

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.

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...

As part of the Tax Revolt series, Arjun Singh appeared on the podcast "Why is this Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast" to breakdown the latest developments of Trump's tax cut, which recently passed the House. 

This is a preview of the discussion, for the rest of this conversation, download Why Is This Happening wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube at msnbc.com/withpod. 

One of the most powerful Republicans in the country has been called a teddy bear. Grover Norquist, the head of the activist group Americans for Tax Reform, certainly doesn’t come across as an anarcho-capitalist power player. 

Recently, Norquist 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 architect 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...

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 Tax Revolt, a new miniseries from Lever Time revealing how free-market radicals hijacked Amer...

How a small group of economists shaped Reagan’s tax policy and the future of the Republican party. 

This is Part 2 of Tax Revolt, 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: levernews.com/subscribe

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 Tax Revolt, 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: levernews.com/subscribe

Plus, read a bonus companion article about the anti-tax zealot behind Proposition 13, written by producer Ariella...

Listen to the 3-min trailer for Tax Revolt, a new limited series from Lever Time. Part 1 of 4 premieres April 18.

Learn more at LeverNews.com/TaxRevolt

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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 —...

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump unveiled his plans for far-reaching new tariffs on almost all imported goods entering the United States. The move has plunged the global economy into turmoil amid fears of a wider trade war and higher consumer prices. 

The tariffs are the culmination of a populist backlash simmering since NAFTA and the 2000 China trade deal. The elimination of trade barriers at the time hammered America’s industrial heartland amid warnings of a “giant sucking sound” of jobs and factories leaving the United States. But will Trump’s new tariffs do more harm than good? And will...

If you own a Fortune 500 business, you probably incorporated it in Delaware. The state has long been favored by corporate America, offering tax benefits and a bespoke, pre-Revolutionary War court system tailored to business needs. But now Delaware’s standing as the country’s top corporate haven is under attack.

This week on Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh sits down with The Lever’s Katya Schwenk and Luke Goldstein to learn why the tiny East Coast state has been the United States’ corporate haven for decades. But there’s more to the story. Why are other stat...

In a special interview recorded just hours after his illegal firing, FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya speaks with David Sirota about Donald Trump’s unprecedented move to purge the Federal Trade Commission.

Echoing Nixon’s infamous Saturday Night Massacre, Trump has fired both Democratic commissioners at the FTC—an agency that by law is supposed to operate independently from the White House. The FTC had been investigating several of Trump’s biggest corporate allies.

Bedoya explains why this isn’t just about one agency, but about whether the presidency is becoming a corrupt monarchy—where only those who “k...

Does Donald Trump have what it takes to challenge Big Tech? Despite the elevation of Silicon Valley billionaires and insiders within his administration, the Department of Justice is still pursuing antitrust cases against Google and Microsoft. But some worry these efforts may be too little, too late. Today, technologies owned and operated by Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft are so deeply embedded in society that it’s hard to imagine life without them.

It’s a situation that has caught the eyes of regulators and politicians, sometimes resulting in unexpected political alliances. Today on Lever Time, Senior Podc...