Master Plan
Master Plan is an award-winning investigative podcast series from The Lever, narrated by David Sirota. It reveals how small groups of powerful people engineer society's biggest problems to serve their own interests. The show has won multiple awards including the National Press Club Award for Audio Journalism and the New York Festivals Radio Award for Best Investigative Journalism Podcast.
Episodes
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 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 Co
Introducing “You Might Be Right:” Will Redistricting Shape the Midterms?
This week we’re sharing a special episode from You Might Be Right, the chart-topping politics podcast from the Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee. It was recently named a “must-listen” by both NPR and Spotify.
The show is hosted by former Tennessee Governors Phil Bredesen and Bill Haslam. Coming from opposite parties, they bring leading experts into su
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 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. Jos
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 & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore archival sources related to the episode.
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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 to read a transcript and to explore bonus archival documents related to the episode.
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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 emergency to shift the balance of power toward the executive branch. We trace Cheney's evolution — from Gerald Ford's chief of staff to George W. Bush's right-ha
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 on Episodes 1-4 now. New episodes begin dropping to our premium subscribers in early August. Become a paid member today with this special discount.
Lea
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 unauthorized war — whenever it wanted. So why had it never used it?
In this special bonus episode of The Kingmakers, David Sirota tells the wild story of how a K
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 how Meese helped turn a fringe idea into doctrine: that all executive power belongs to the president alone. This is the origin story of the unitary executive the
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 constitutional crisis. Would Congress roll over and play dead — or actually do something?
TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explor
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 MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore bonus historical documents related to the episode.
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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 to read a transcript and to explore bonus historical documents related to the episode.
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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 to The Lever.
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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, 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 polit
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 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
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 Convention. What will it take to reclaim our democracy? Is there any hope of reversing the master plan?
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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 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.
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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 Justice Anthony Kennedy’s storied swing vote — setting him up for an explosive 5-4 ruling that would devastate campaign finance law.
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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 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
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 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
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 his mistakes and become the staunchest campaign finance reformer in decades.
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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: 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.
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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 involving America’s most powerful businessmen, a future president, and an ambitious young media consultant. The results would change history.
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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 Court by senators unaware that his manifesto is going viral among the business elite.
View related materials here.
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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 Washington.
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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 becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content and support this show. Visit masterplanpodcast.com
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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 masterplanpodcast.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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