The Return of the Kingmakers

Democrats won big in the midterms, but the threat to American democracy is far from over. The authoritarian movement goes well beyond Donald Trump, and it’s not clear whether Democrats are ready to take on the powerful forces fueling it. WATCH: Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube, or catch up on the full Don't F#*k It Up, Democrats series. #DontFuckItUpDemocrats In Episode 4 of Don’t F#*k It Up, Democrats, David Sirota speaks with bestselling authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor about their new book, End Times Fascism, and the powerful coalition of billionaires, tech oligarchs, and corporate interests they say is fueling a new form of authoritarianism. They discuss why simply opposing Trump isn’t enough, how economic insecurity and climate crises create openings for the far right, and whether Democrats can confront the corporate power they’re also financially tied to. With Democrats heading back into power in Congress, what would a real strategy for defending democracy look like? CHAPTERS 00:00 The Threat Beyond Trump 02:59 The Threat Goes Beyond Trump 04:38 What Is End Times Fascism? 13:01 Why Democrats Keep Missing the Real Crisis 21:24 The Corporate Power Behind the Crisis 27:56 How Democrats Can Fight Fascism 32:47 Can Democrats Build an Anti-Fascist Movement? Get episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Billionaires and corporate interests poured staggering amounts of money into the midterms. But many successful Democratic candidates, like Texas Senator-elect James Talarico, campaigned against corruption and big-money influence. Now comes the hard part: Will Democrats take on the corrupt political system they pledged to fight? WATCH: Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube, or catch up on the full Don't F#*k It Up, Democrats series. In Episode 3 of Don’t F#*k It Up, Democrats, David Sirota speaks with Michael Beckel, director of money in politics reform at the bipartisan organization Issue One, about how wealthy donors, corporate lobbyists, and super PACs influence Washington — and what Democrats can do to break their grip. GET THE MASTER PLAN BOOK: Want to know how America's campaign finance system became so corrupt? Check out Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America, featuring additional reporting and material beyond the podcast. Lever subscribers save 20%, and new paid members receive a special offer. CHAPTERS 00:00 The Big-Money Corruption Machine 02:48 Michael Beckel of Issue One 03:40 Part 1: How Big Money Controls Washington 08:25 The Hidden Influence of Corporate Think Tanks 11:35 Congress's Secret Fundraising Quotas 18:13 What Democrats Can Do With Their New Power 19:53 Can Super PAC Money Be Limited? 25:16 Part 2: How to Break the Big-Money Machine 31:16 The Case for Publicly Funded Elections 36:57 Don’t F#*k It Up on Money in Politics Get episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. #DontFuckItUpDemocrats Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Silicon Valley's billionaires have amassed enormous economic and political power. Some have even embraced an ideology that sees democracy itself as an obstacle to progress. Now that Democrats are heading back into power in Washington, will they finally take on the broligarchy? In Episode 2 of Don't F#*k It Up, Democrats, David Sirota examines the growing power of tech billionaires, the threat of an AI economic crisis, and what Democrats can do about it. WATCH: The video version of this episode is available on The Lever's YouTube channel. Journalist Gil Duran, author of The Nerd Reich, explains the anti-democratic movement emerging from Silicon Valley and why Democrats have been so slow to confront it. Then Saikat Chakrabarti, co-founder of Justice Democrats and former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, discusses how Democrats can rein in Big Tech, protect workers from AI disruption, and prevent a taxpayer bailout for tech billionaires if the AI boom goes bust. CHAPTERS 00:00 The Age of the Broligarchy 02:27 Gil Duran: Inside the Nerd Reich 09:57 Why Tech Billionaires Want to Replace Democracy 16:28 Have Democrats Lost Silicon Valley? 23:47 How to Break the Tech Oligarchs' Power 28:34 Saikat Chakrabarti: The Coming AI Bailout 35:27 Will Washington Bail Out Big Tech Again? 40:55 AI Is Coming for Your Job. What's the Plan? Get episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. #DontFuckItUpDemocrats Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After losing big in 2024, Democrats have staged a historic comeback, riding a massive blue wave back into power in Washington. Now comes the bigger question: What will they do with it? That's the idea behind Don't F#*k It Up, Democrats, a new video series from The Lever hosted by David Sirota. WATCH: The video version of this episode is available on The Lever's YouTube channel. In conversations with politicians, economists, activists, and political insiders, Sirota asks how Democrats can use whatever power they win — without repeating the mistakes that brought them here. In Episode 1, we explore the civil war dividing the Democratic Party. As the party returns from the wilderness, will it once again bend to wealthy donors, or will it embrace voters’ populist demands, rebuild working-class trust, and finally deliver on its promises?  Joining Sirota are Robert Reich, who served as Labor Secretary under Bill Clinton and has become a leading progressive voice on economic inequality, and Patrick Gaspard, a longtime Democratic strategist and labor organizer who served as political director in Barack Obama's White House and recently advised Zohran Mamdani's successful mayoral campaign. WATCH: The video version of this episode is available on The Lever's YouTube channel. Watch the series on YouTube. CHAPTERS 0:00 A Note From Sirota 1:12 Democrats Have a Habit of Blowing It 4:50 Robert Reich: How Democrats Can Fight Back 10:53 The Democratic Party's Corporate Problem 15:46 How Do Democrats Avoid F#*king It Up? 23:13 Patrick Gaspard: What Democrats Got Wrong 30:16 When Billionaire Donors Call the Shots 34:52 What Democrats Can Learn From Zohran Mamdani 39:50 What Democrats Need to Deliver, Now 46:15 The Lesson Trump Taught Democrats Get episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats have spent two years arguing about what went wrong in 2024. Now they have a chance to regain power. But winning elections is one thing. Actually delivering on promises is another. Don't F#*k It Up, Democrats is a new series from The Lever hosted by David Sirota, creator of the award-winning Master Plan podcast. Through conversations with politicians, economists, activists, and former White House officials, the series explores the big choices facing Democrats: How do they fight corruption and billionaire influence? Make life more affordable? Fix a broken health care system? And win back working-class voters who have heard promises of change before? Don't Fuck It Up, Democrats. More at https://levernews.com/DFIUD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’ve probably heard of Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision that helped unleash billionaire money into American elections. But few know the inside story of how a network of conservative lawyers and activists carefully orchestrated the case. With the 2026 midterms just days away, we're revisiting Episode 9, “Going Big,” from Season 1 of Master Plan: Legalizing Corruption. We travel to Indiana to meet  James Bopp Jr., the conservative lawyer who helped engineer the Citizens United case, and uncover how it evolved from a decades-long campaign to dismantle America's campaign finance laws — and how one particular Supreme Court justice pushed its impact far beyond what anyone anticipated. Read the transcript and explore original archival documents from our investigation. Want the full story? Get the book Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America, featuring additional reporting and material beyond the podcast. Lever subscribers save 20%, and new paid members receive a special offer. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the 2026 midterms approaching and billions of dollars flooding into American elections, we're revisiting one of our most popular episodes of Master Plan. In 1971, corporate lawyer Lewis Powell wrote a manifesto explaining how corporations and oligarchs could fight back against New Deal-era reforms and use their money to hijack American politics. For decades, the Powell Memo seemed like an urban legend — until our investigation uncovered new details about the people behind it, and how the memo’s author snuck his radical ideology into the Supreme Court. Read the transcript and explore original archival documents from our investigation. Want the full story? Get the book Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America, featuring additional reporting and material beyond the podcast. Lever subscribers save 20%, and new paid members receive a special offer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we are sharing the Season 3 premiere of The Future of Our Former Democracy, the Signal Award-winning podcast from More Equitable Democracy and Mori Strategies. The Future of Our Former Democracy has spent two seasons exploring what the U.S. can learn from democracies around the world, most recently Germany and then Ireland. This season, host Colin Cole, Director of Policy, Outreach, and Communications at More Equitable Democracy, is joined by new co-host Ruth Greenwood, Director of Harvard Law School’s Election Law Clinic and proud Australian expat, as the show heads to the other side of the world.  Australia built its democracy using America’s blueprint, then kept innovating. Today, its elections are famously “boring, boring, boring,” and voters across the political spectrum trust the results in a way Americans rarely do. With the 2026 midterms approaching and confidence in American democracy continuing to erode, Colin and Ruth explore why, with help from Dr. Marija Taflaga (Australian National University), Professor David Smith (University of Sydney), and Professor Thalia Anthony (University of Technology Sydney). Along the way, they ask a provocative question: if Australia learned from the United States, what can the United States learn from Australia? Follow and listen to more episodes of The Future of Our Former Democracy here: https://play.megaphone.fm/lmfwb0zrqham8b4xmpo43q Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the season finale of Master Plan: The Kingmakers, we ask Democratic leaders what the next U.S. president should do with the expanded executive powers that Trump will leave behind.  Featuring exclusive interviews with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y), Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I), Sen. Michael Bennet (Co.), and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore bonus archival documents related to the episode. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A little-known conservative operative spends years figuring out how to bend the machinery of government to a president's will. By the time Donald Trump returns for his second term, a shadow government is ready to seize control. TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore archival sources related to the episode. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices