This week, in a special live interview, David Sirota sat down with Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner. Platner is a military veteran and oyster farmer who is a first-time political candidate running in the Democratic primary in the race to challenge Republican Senate incumbent Susan Collins. His rough-around-the-edges campaign has resonated with Maine’s working-class voters, sending him surging in the polls. But his past social media comments have surfaced in the last few weeks, thrusting him...
Nov 01, 2025•49 min
A group of Montana activists is pushing a ballot initiative attacking Citizens United , the U.S. Supreme Court decision that granted corporations the right to spend unlimited money in politics. While Montana’s Republican Attorney General attempted to block the ballot initiative this week, the fight is far from over. In the third episode of Lever Time’s MONEYBOMB series , David Sirota sits down with political strategist Tom Moore from The Center for American Progress. That nonprofit is spearheadi...
Oct 30, 2025•48 min•Season 6Ep. 3
For 15 years, lawmakers have been trying — and failing — to overturn Citizens United, the landmark Supreme Court decision that allows corporations and billionaires to overrun our political system with money. Now, some Congressional Democrats are going big — by trying to enshrine campaign finance protections in the Constitution. In the second episode of Lever Time’s MONEYBOMB series , David Sirota sits down with Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), cosponsor of the new Citizens Over Corporations Act, which...
Oct 23, 2025•42 min•Season 6Ep. 2
Most Americans want to overturn Citizens United v. FEC , the landmark 2010 Supreme Court decision that unleashed unlimited corporate spending on U.S. elections. But two new cases before the high court — including one spearheaded by now-Vice President JD Vance — are instead set to expand that ruling and turn America into a kleptocracy. For the next several episodes of Lever Time , we’re taking a deep dive into Citizens United and how it’s transformed our lives. In this first episode, David Sirota...
Oct 16, 2025•27 min•Season 6Ep. 1
Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment have drawn the ire of consumers — and the Federal Trade Commission — for exorbitant ticket prices, misleading hidden fees, and shady resale tactics. But losing your right to sue Ticketmaster or join a class action lawsuit is now just a click away. Hiding in the company’s new terms-of-use agreement, The Lever found a clause that forces ticket buyers into arbitration, a private judicial system rigged in favor of the company. Today on Le...
Oct 13, 2025•45 min•Season 5Ep. 113
While media giants cave to frivolous Trump libel lawsuits and muzzle late-night hosts who step out of line, CBS News’ parent company has announced that the billionaire-backed conservative provocateur Bari Weiss will be the network’s new editor-in-chief. Today on Lever Time , we’re going back in time to understand how we arrived at this present-day media hellscape. Who set this plan into motion, and how do we fight back? Click here to pre-order our new book, MASTER PLAN: The Hidden Plot to Legali...
Oct 09, 2025•34 min•Season 5Ep. 112
Getting a home mortgage used to take weeks of phone calls and paperwork. Now, real estate search platforms like Zillow and Redfin offer comprehensive, nearly one-click homebuying. What are the hidden costs of trusting these industry giants with every step of the process? Today on Lever Time , producer Natalie Bettendorf speaks with Lever reporter Helen Santoro about her investigation into how these one-stop real estate shops may actually be hurting homebuyers — and the U.S. economy. You can read...
Oct 06, 2025•29 min•Season 5Ep. 111
Last week, President Donald Trump dramatically altered the U.S. government’s approach to domestic terrorism. NSPM-7 , a little-noticed national security directive, expands the list of terrorism indicators to include any behavior that is deemed anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-capitalist, extreme on gender, hostile towards “traditional American views” on family, and more. Today on Lever Time , producer Ariella Markowitz sits down with independent investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein, who ...
Oct 02, 2025•43 min•Season 5Ep. 110
In the first nine months of his second term, President Donald Trump has filed more than 200 executive orders. State attorneys general are filing lawsuits to block the Trump administration’s blatant power grabs, but will our legal system prove strong enough to save American democracy? Today on Lever Time , David Sirota speaks with Minnesota’s Attorney General Keith Ellison (D), who has sued the Trump administration dozens of times, for an on-the-ground look at the battle to stop the Trump agenda....
Sep 29, 2025•42 min•Season 5Ep. 109
President Donald Trump says that U.S. violent crime has spiraled so far out of control that he needs to send troops into Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Memphis. But is that really true? Today on Lever Time , David Sirota speaks with Alec Karakatsanis, award-winning civil rights lawyer and author of the book Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News , about how government officials are manufacturing fear to justify authoritarian rule. Click here to watch the full interview on our Yo...
Sep 25, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 5Ep. 108
Today on Lever Time , David Sirota talks with bestselling author Bill McKibben, who says the solar energy revolution has reached a tipping point and is now poised to reshape our world. Click here to learn about Sun Day, a nationwide action this Sunday, Sept. 21, to celebrate and advocate for solar power. To check out McKibben’s new book, Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization , click here . Click here for a full transcript of the episode. To leave a...
Sep 19, 2025•52 min•Season 5Ep. 107
First, they cancelled Stephen Colbert; now they’ve pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air. The common denominator? Corporate power. On today’s episode of Lever Time , David Sirota talks with media-consolidation expert Craig Aaron and monopoly authority Matt Stoller about how media corporations are transforming the news and information environment to curry favor with the Trump administration. Where is this all heading? Are our most basic freedoms going to survive? Click here for a full transcript of the...
Sep 18, 2025•53 min•Season 5Ep. 106
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 Ame...
Sep 15, 2025•43 min•Season 5Ep. 105
A message from David Sirota about recent violence and what we must do to stop it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 11, 2025•18 min•Season 5Ep. 104
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...
Sep 08, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 5Ep. 103
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? Get ad-free epi...
Sep 04, 2025•52 min•Season 5Ep. 101
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...
Sep 01, 2025•53 min•Season 5Ep. 101
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. Get ad-free episodes, bonus content and extended interviews by becoming a member at levernews.com/join . To leave a tip...
Aug 28, 2025•43 min•Season 5Ep. 100
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 r...
Aug 25, 2025•39 min•Season 5Ep. 99
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 t...
Aug 21, 2025•45 min•Season 5Ep. 98
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 . Get ad-free epis...
Aug 18, 2025•41 min•Season 5Ep. 97
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 re...
Aug 14, 2025•31 min•Season 5Ep. 96
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, lea...
Aug 11, 2025•44 min•Season 5Ep. 95
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 Ti...
Aug 07, 2025•51 min•Season 5Ep. 94
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. Get ad-fr...
Aug 04, 2025•47 min•Season 5Ep. 93
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: Wha...
Jul 31, 2025•46 min•Season 5Ep. 92
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. Get ad-free episodes, bonus content and ...
Jul 28, 2025•42 min•Season 5Ep. 91
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...
Jul 24, 2025•54 min•Season 5Ep. 90
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...
Jul 21, 2025•44 min•Season 5Ep. 89
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 rep...
Jul 16, 2025•58 min•Season 5Ep. 88
