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SEASON TWO: THE KINGMAKERS IS HERE
For early access to future episodes and exclusive bonus content, click here to upgrade to a paid subscription to The Lever.
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.
Learn more at masterplanpodcast.com
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ENCORE: The Inside Story Of Citizens United
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
ENCORE: How The Powell Memo Changed America
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 corporati
Introducing “The Future of Our Former Democracy: Season 3”
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 t
Episode 8: The Inheritance | The Kingmakers
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 Ocasi
Episode 7: The King’s Man | The Kingmakers
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 &
Episode 6: Obama’s Kill List | The Kingmakers
Obama vowed to restore the rule of law after the War on Terror. But behind closed doors, his administration created a secret system that allowed the president to decide who lived and who died. TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here (https
Episode 5: State of Emergency | The Kingmakers
September 11, 2001 brought chaos and terror to the United States. It also brought an unprecedented opportunity. After decades of watching what he felt was the erosion of presidential power, Vice President Dick Cheney leveraged a national em
The Return of the Kingmakers
Every crisis creates an opportunity. The final chapters of The Kingmakers reveal the plot to build an all-powerful presidency — and put it in the hands of a man who wants to be king. Watch the full video trailer on YouTube: [link]. Catch up
BONUS: The Untouched Power That Could Stop Trump's Iran War
As Trump’s war in Iran approached a critical 60-day deadline, we took a deep dive into the War Powers Resolution, the Nixon-era law designed to limit presidential war-making. But Congress had a little-known weapon to end the war — or any un
Episode 4: The Meese Doctrine | The Kingmakers
Rather than retreat from Iran-Contra and other scandals, conservative operatives inside the White House — led by Attorney General Edwin Meese — went on the offensive. Drawing on newly uncovered documents and exclusive interviews, we trace h
Episode 3: President Rambo | The Kingmakers
Emboldened by a landslide election, the president’s men began to see themselves as 1980s action-movie heroes, willing to break the law to get what they want. The result was the Iran-Contra affair, a secret arms deal that ignited a constitut
Episode 2: Mandate for Power | The Kingmakers
How did Project 2025 take control of the White House? It all began decades ago, when a beer-baron-backed think tank handed President Ronald Reagan an 1,100-page instruction manual for expanding presidential power. TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIA
Episode 1: After The Fall | The Kingmakers
Before Trump, there was Nixon. His attempts to seize the power of the purse and secretly expand the Vietnam War forged a constitutional crisis, a backlash, and a template for an imperial presidency. TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here
Season 2 Trailer: The Kingmakers
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 (https://www.levernews.com/#/join) to The Lever. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi
The Master Plan Book Is Here
We’ve got big news — Master Plan is now a book! Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America (https://www.levernews.com/master-plan-the-hidden-plot-to-legalize-corruption-in-america/), co-authored by David Sirota and Jared
S1 BONUS: The Master Planners’ Election (With Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse)
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 M
S1 E11: Hell Or High Water | Legalizing Corruption
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
S1 E10: The Heist | Legalizing Corruption
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 campa
S1 E9: Going Big | Legalizing Corruption
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
S1 E8: Shock and Awe | Legalizing Corruption
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
S1 E7: Rise of the Machine | Legalizing Corruption
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 2
S1 E6: The Maverick | Legalizing Corruption
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 h
S1 E5: Corporations Are People | Legalizing Corruption
You might remember Mitt Romney’s infamous line: “Corporations are people, my friend.” But where did this idea come from? In this episode (https://www.levernews.com/master-plan-ep-5-how-corporations-became-people/): how the Ford Administrati
S1 E4: The Secret Task Force | Legalizing Corruption
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 invo
S1 E3: The Powell Memo | Legalizing Corruption
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 C
S1 E2: The Other Watergate | Legalizing Corruption
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 Washin
S1 E1: Milk Money | Legalizing Corruption
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 becomi
S1 Trailer | Legalizing Corruption
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 https://masterplanpodcast.co
