Lever Time

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.

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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...

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’...

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 Gol...

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 seve...

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 h...

Chris Deluzio, a young Democratic representative from western Pennsylvania, just penned an unorthodox op-ed in The New York Times urging Democrats to embrace Trump’s contentious tariffs. Could he be on to something? Deluzio, who outperformed his party in a working-class swing district last November, says Democrats’ failure to address the economic concerns of everyday Americans is the reason they lost the 2024 election — an...

Are extreme weather events becoming normalized? Over the past few months, devastating wildfires have scorched Los Angeles, and Hurricane Helene left a trail of carnage across the Southeast. The science is clear: The planet is heating up, and it’s because of us. 

But then why does it feel like nobody is taking the problem seriously? Despite the growing threat, climate change still struggles to capture people’s attention. Tod...

A Delta flight flipping over while landing in Toronto. A missing commuter plane in Alaska. A medical transport jet crash in Philadelphia. A catastrophic midair collision over Washington, D.C. Plane accidents seem to be happening at a greater frequency than ever before. But is that actually the case? And what, if anything, do these disasters tell us about the state of aviation safety?

Today on Lever Time, Senior podcast prod...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was just confirmed to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, overseeing the nation’s food and health standards. He’s drawn controversy for opposing many positions of the medical establishment — except when it comes to junk food. Kennedy has repeatedly said ultraprocessed foods are harmful to public health, a position shared widely among medical professionals and nutritionists. 

Food companie...

President Donald Trump is implementing sweeping tariffs to ostensibly tighten border security and crack down on the fentanyl trade. The moves include a 25 percent tariff on all steel and aluminum imports, blanket 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports, and potentially steep tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods. These actions could have monumental consequences for the global economy. 

Today on Lever Time, senior podcast prod...

Elon Musk has bought his way into the Trump administration and is now busy muscling his way into every federal agency. But the unelected billionaire who’s been forcibly installing his allies while purging career civil servants throughout the federal government just faced his first roadblock when a judge prevented him from accessing the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, a move that would have given him an unprecedented amount o...

Donald Trump has been president for less than two weeks, and the government is already in chaos. Amidst a flurry of executive orders, Trump suspended all federal spending earlier this week. The move sent panic throughout the federal government and upended critical services like Medicare and school funding. Is there an ideology behind the chaos? Or was the chaos the point? And what should the country make of it? 

Today on Le...

Fifteen years ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling that fundamentally changed American politics —  In a 5-4 judgment in Citizens United v FEC, the court struck down restrictions on corporate spending in elections and paved the way for the mountains of dark money in our politics today. But there’s more.

In The Lever’s recent series Master Plan, David Sirota and a team of journalists dove deep into the l...

Donald Trump is back — and this time, he’s bringing corporate America. Trump’s decisive victory in November sent a shockwave through corporate C-suites. Now, Trump is preparing to outsource much of his governing to a small cabal of the nation’s wealthiest people. In anticipation, many of the nation’s most powerful CEOs have pledged loyalty to Trump. That includes Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Tesla CEO E...

Los Angeles is infamous for its sprawling urban landscape that has prioritized low-density housing, often at the behest of the state’s powerful real estate industry. Despite the known risks of building in fire zones, developers continued to do so with the approval and encouragement of government regulators. But in the wake of the devastating fires in L.A., some are questioning the wisdom of urban sprawl, particularly in Ca...

The Los Angeles fires pose huge questions about the future of life in America: Where is it safe to live? How can you protect yourself from such disasters? Is home insurance even obtainable anymore? And will our society finally respond in a serious way to the climate emergency?

In the first of a two-part Lever Time series, David Sirota speaks with New York Times writer David Wallace-Wells, New Yorker staff writer Elizabeth K...