Master Plan

Master Plan

SEASON TWO COMING MARCH 16. SUBSCRIBE NOW. Master Plan, the award-winning investigative podcast series from The Lever, reveals the hidden forces behind today’s biggest problems — and how small groups of powerful people engineered those problems to serve their own interests. We are exposing their schemes. Narrated by David Sirota, an award-winning investigative journalist and Oscar nominee for his work on the film Don’t Look Up. Master Plan has received the 2025 National Press Club Award for Audio Journalism, the New York Festivals Radio Award for Best Investigative Journalism Podcast, multiple Signal Awards for Best News & Politics Podcast and Best Writing. It was an Ambies finalist for Best Politics podcast and was named a Webby Awards Honoree. Season 1: Legalizing Corruption. How did our democracy become a kleptocracy? The Lever unearthed never-before-reported documents revealing this 50-year plot as a coordinated effort by wealthy individuals and political ideologues. Across 11 episodes, the series traces this historic thread from the Watergate scandal in the 1970s to the Citizens United decision, current Supreme Court outrages, and the 2024 election. It’s a story of infamous figures like President Richard Nixon, Senator Mitch McConnell, and Fox News founder Roger Ailes—plus operatives and oligarchs you’ve never heard of. For early access to future episodes and exclusive bonus content, click here to upgrade to a paid subscription to The Lever. www.masterplanpodcast.com

Episodes

Season 2 Trailer: The Kingmakers

March 2, 2026 • 1 min
A new season of Master Plan debuts on March 16. For early access to new episodes and exclusive bonus content, click here to upgrade to a paid subscription to The Lever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The Master Plan Book Is Here

October 17, 2025 • 4 mins
We’ve got big news — Master Plan is now a book! Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America, co-authored by David Sirota and Jared Jacang Maher, is now available from all major booksellers. The 265-page book expands on the award-winning podcast with exclusive archival documents, new reporting, and never-before-seen photos. It tells the story of how corporate interests and political operatives spent decades resha...
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BONUS: The Master Planners’ Election (With Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse)

November 4, 2024 • 55 mins
In a special Master Plan bonus episode, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse joins David Sirota to break down the impact of the Supreme Court’s’ 2010 Citizens United ruling on 2024's super PAC spending spree. The two dig into billionaires like Elon Musk openly backing candidates and the hidden power of dark money, and discuss current reforms efforts to bring transparency back to democracy. Plus, the Master Plan team answers audience question...
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Episode 11: Hell Or High Water

October 29, 2024 • 68 mins
We all live in the master planners’ world now, immersed in an ocean of corruption. The 2024 Republican presidential campaign is bankrolled by billionaires, while corporate interests’ power was in full display at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. What will it take to reclaim our democracy? Is there any hope of reversing the master plan?  Get ad-free Master Plan episodes by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, ⁠...
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Episode 10: The Heist

October 22, 2024 • 68 mins
Unleashed by the Citizens United ruling, the master planners launch a three-part heist to crack the vault protecting democracy itself. First, the schemers take out the security cameras monitoring dark money. Then, they disarm the last campaign finance cops on the beat. Finally, they pull off a getaway so prosecutors can’t charge them as they run off with the loot.  Get ad-free Master Plan episodes by becoming a paid subscriber. En...
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Episode 9: Going Big

October 15, 2024 • 64 mins
An anti-abortion legal activist starts using the federal courts to chip away at campaign finance restrictions, setting his sights on the Supreme Court. Indiana lawyer James Bopp Jr. engineers the Citizens United case and hand-tailors it for Justice Anthony Kennedy’s storied swing vote — setting him up for an explosive 5-4 ruling that would devastate campaign finance law. Get ad-free Master Plan episodes by becoming a paid subscrib...
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Episode 8: Shock and Awe

October 8, 2024 • 53 mins
As President George W. Bush declares “Mission Accomplished” in the Iraq War, his administration wages a different war with swing-state senators defying his judicial nominees. Operatives like Leonard Leo and Brett Kavanaugh seize the moment to try to dramatically shift the balance of the Supreme Court. But when Bush goes off script and nominates a trusted legal aide for a Supreme Court vacancy, the conservative legal movement launch...
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Episode 7: Rise of the Machine

October 1, 2024 • 58 mins
After a series of setbacks in the push to legalize corruption, the master planners know they must take over the U.S. Supreme Court and halt the trend of Republican-appointed justices siding with campaign finance reformers. So in the early 2000s, they deploy their new judicial machine in an epic battle to try to permanently change the courts from the bottom up. This is part one of a two-part story about how the Roberts Court was bui...
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Episode 6: The Maverick

September 24, 2024 • 62 mins
When five U.S. senators get caught pressuring a regulator on behalf of a financial magnate, they become known as the “Keating Five.” The public is predictably outraged. But what no one expects is that one of those senators will learn from his mistakes and become the staunchest campaign finance reformer in decades.  Get ad-free Master Plan episodes by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support...
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Episode 5: Corporations Are People, My Friend

September 17, 2024 • 53 mins
You might remember Mitt Romney’s infamous line: “Corporations are people, my friend.” But where did this idea come from? In this episode: how the Ford Administration and the Powell Memo movement turned to the Supreme Court to establish the precedent that legalized corruption: money is speech, and corporations are entitled to First Amendment rights.  Get ad-free Master Plan episodes by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episod...
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Episode 4: The Secret Task Force

September 10, 2024 • 51 mins
How did corporate executives and politicians turn Lewis Powell’s memo from a blueprint into a master plan — and begin executing it? In this episode, we uncover proof of a secret “Powell Memo Task Force,” as well as clandestine meetings involving America’s most powerful businessmen, a future president, and an ambitious young media consultant. The results would change history. Get ad-free Master Plan episodes by becoming a paid subs...
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Episode 3: The Powell Memo

September 3, 2024 • 56 mins
A seemingly moderate corporate lawyer grows alarmed by anti-corruption reformers’ policy wins and writes a manifesto detailing how corporations and oligarchs can dominate American politics. Months later, he’s confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court by senators unaware that his manifesto is going viral among the business elite.    View related materials here. Get ad-free Master Plan episodes by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonu...
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Episode 2: The Other Watergate

August 27, 2024 • 47 mins
There’s a lost tale behind Watergate: corporate bagmen, suitcases of illegal cash, and Nixon circumventing the very campaign finance rules he’d just signed into law. Amid the blowback, Nixon leaves a ticking time bomb in the heart of Washington. Get ad-free Master Plan episodes by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit masterplanpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices...
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Episode 1: Milk Money

August 27, 2024 • 36 mins
Ever wonder how America became so corrupt? It didn’t have to be this way. Our series begins in 1971, a time when hot pants were hot, bell bottoms were swinging, and campaign cash flowed like… milk.  Get ad-free Master Plan episodes by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content and support this show. Visit masterplanpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Season 1 Trailer: Legalizing Corruption

August 5, 2024 • 2 mins
A secret plot. A public theft. A democracy corrupted. Discover the truth. The first season of Master Plan, a new podcast from The Lever is avalable now wherever you get your podcasts. Listen early and ad-free at masterplanpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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