Lever Time
From LeverNews.com — Lever Time is the flagship podcast from the investigative news outlet The Lever. Hosted by the award-winning journalist, Oscar-nominated writer, and Bernie Sanders' 2020 speechwriter David Sirota, Lever Time features exclusive reporting from The Lever’s newsroom, high-profile guest interviews, expert analysis, ideas and opinions from the sharpest minds in media and politics.
Episodes
September 10, 2026 • 62 mins
Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats almost two to one in Nebraska, and the few elected Democratic politicians in the state overwhelmingly lean conservative. But like the rest of the country, Nebraska is feeling the strain of soaring prices, data center buildouts, and Trump’s tariffs. Is the state ready for a change?
Today on Lever Time, David Sirota visits rural Nebraska to meet Dan Osborn, the former union president ...
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September 3, 2026 • 30 mins
Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins (R) has won five elections in a row, and a Democrat has not won a United States Senate seat in the state since 1988 — but polls suggest Mainers have reached a breaking point. They’re tired of corruption and inaction from establishment politicians in Washington, D.C., and they’re clamoring for change.
Troy Jackson, a fifth-generation logger who spent nearly two decades as a s...
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August 27, 2026 • 39 mins
Earlier this month, a new Democratic machine scored a major victory in Connecticut. First-time congressional candidate Luke Bronin won his Democratic primary by a landslide, ousting 14-term progressive incumbent Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.). Bronin’s win is part of a larger, national push — funded by a secretive hedge fund manager — to elect more establishment-aligned Democrats. Who is this man pouring his millions ...
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August 20, 2026 • 76 mins
This week on Lever Time, we’re featuring our newest episode of Master Plan: The Kingmakers.
In this episode, President Barack Obama vows to restore the rule of law after the War on Terror. But behind closed doors, his administration creates a new secret system that allows the president to decide who lives and who dies.
You can check out the full season of Master Plan: The Kingmakers here.
Get Lever Time and Mas...
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August 13, 2026 • 39 mins
Oliver Larkin spent a decade battling the Democratic Party’s campaign machine as an organizer for candidates like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Now, in Florida’s Aug. 18 primary, he’s a democratic socialist going up against Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) — who once called himself a “twice-appointed, Ron DeSantis Democrat.”
Moskowitz claims Larkin is running against him “solely on my re...
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August 6, 2026 • 57 mins
Michigan just proved that money has its limits in elections. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed beat out establishment sweetheart Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) in what was likely the most expensive Democratic primary in U.S. history.
El-Sayed’s win was a major blow to the super PACs and shadowy nonprofits that spent tens of millions against him, but the story is far from over. AIPAC and its affiliates claimed five other vi...
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July 30, 2026 • 45 mins
Reed Galen was raised inside the Republican Party establishment, but in 2016, he left the party and later cofounded The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump political action committee. Now he has a warning for the Democratic Party.
Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with Galen to learn why the Democrats may be sleepwalking toward a dangerous point of no return.
Check out Reed’s Lever article, "Ignore Your Base, Lose Your...
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July 21, 2026 • 56 mins
The Wisconsin Democratic primary for governor has gone haywire. Over the last week, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez dropped out amid a campaign finance scandal, and a candidate who had suspended his campaign, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, rejoined the race — immediately nabbing an influential endorsement from Gov. Tony Evers. Meanwhile, state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, has surged in recent polls. Is this...
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July 16, 2026 • 62 mins
Ten years ago this week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ended his first presidential run and endorsed Hillary Clinton. Now, his chief strategist says the primary process was rigged.
Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with Tad Devine, longtime political consultant and chief strategist for Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign. Devine reveals why he believes the Democratic National Committee tilted the scales against Sande...
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July 2, 2026 • 51 mins
Last week, The Lever’s David Sirota traveled to Michigan to meet with Democratic Senate candidate and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed, who has become a political lightning rod as he campaigns in one of the country’s most consequential primaries.
Today on Lever Time, we’re airing Sirota’s exclusive interview with El-Sayed. Speaking at a coffee shop in Macomb County — the Michigan cou...
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June 25, 2026 • 56 mins
Candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani swept the state’s Democratic primaries this week, to the chagrin of corporate interests and party elite. Pundits are calling the political insurgency “Blue MAGA” or “the Democrats’ Tea Party,” but the group behind the victory already has a name — the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) — and its grassroots strategy is paying o...
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June 18, 2026 • 55 mins
California voters are poised to vote on a one-time billionaire tax that would fund schools, food assistance, and Medicaid. Silicon Valley is spending big to keep the precedent-setting initiative off the November ballot, but the campaign's most powerful opponent isn’t a tech oligarch — it’s California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the Democratic power broker and potential presidential candidate.
Today on Lever Time, Da...
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June 11, 2026 • 55 mins
Perhaps the key to understanding modern American politics isn't an academic think tank report, but instead rambunctious cult classic films, like Caddyshack and Animal House, that pit low-status underdogs against high-status bluebloods, preps, and jocks. In an essay for Politico, author Dan Brooks argues that movies like these hardwired Americans to root for the rude, rule-breaking outsiders over the buttoned-up establishment, and i...
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June 4, 2026 • 34 mins
Hawaii just enacted a groundbreaking law challenging Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision that unleashed unlimited corporate spending in elections. It’s a major victory against big money’s grip on democracy — but powerful interests are already gearing up for a legal showdown.
On today’s Lever Time, David Sirota speaks with Hawaii state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, one of the law’s architects, abou...
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May 28, 2026 • 35 mins
Everyone knows Jeffrey Epstein as a sex trafficker who died in 2019. But Epstein’s story goes further back than most people realize — and includes surprising links to the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s.
Today on Lever Time, producer Natalie Bettendorf speaks with Drop Site News journalist Murtaza Hussain about his investigation into Epstein's ties to Iran-Contra and how Epstein built his wealth and connections in the...
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May 21, 2026 • 53 mins
It’s primary season, and powerful political forces within the Democratic Party are stomping into local races, trying to pick winners and losers. Today on Lever Time, we’re diving into The Lever’s exclusive investigation that exposed billionaires and party operatives pulling strings behind the scenes.
Then, David Sirota sits down with two Democratic candidates, Randy Villegas from California and Matt Dunlap ...
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Despite recent claims from President Donald Trump that the war in Iran has “terminated,” hundreds of ships are still stranded in the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and the ceasefire has never fully taken hold. Meanwhile, gas prices keep climbing, shortages are spreading, and economic uncertainty is growing. Is this really Trump’s “best plan ever?”
Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down...
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May 8, 2026 • 78 mins
David Sirota buckles up for a drive through rural Maine with the Senate candidate that the Democratic establishment doesn’t want — but can't afford to lose.
Just two days after Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of Maine’s U.S. Senate race, David Sirota hopped in a car with Graham Platner — the long-shot candidate who is now the presumptive Democratic nominee — for an unfiltered, on-the-road interview.
In ...
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April 30, 2026 • 52 mins
Congress has the power to stop Trump’s unpopular war in Iran — but lawmakers have never used it before. Their excuse? An obscure immigration case from 1983. In this special episode, David Sirota tells the wild story of how a Kenyan-born immigrant and a Ralph Nader-aligned lawyer unwittingly expanded the powers of the president — and left Congress believing that it’s powerless to stop unauthorized wars. ...
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April 23, 2026 • 33 mins
Last week, California Democrats killed CalCare, a proposed single-payer health care bill. Will the state ever achieve its dream of universal health care?
Tom Steyer — a gubernatorial candidate who ran ads against single-payer health care in 2020 — says he is now the Golden State’s best bet. He also wants higher taxes for the rich, stronger environmental protections, and the abolition of ICE. The catch? He&r...
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