Lever Time

The Trump administration just unveiled a sweeping AI Action Plan that aims to achieve global dominance in the industry. Hiding deep within the document? A previously rejected scheme to ban oversight of tech oligarchs and let artificial intelligence run wild.  Today on Lever Time , producer Natalie Bettendorf investigates the challenges and political realities of reining in AI — and why Congress an...

President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell are dueling over interest rates set by America’s secretive central bank, the Federal Reserve. Is the Fed’s secrecy and independence good for the economy? Who should control the institution — the people, the president, or Wall Street? And why are so many experts in media, politics and business afraid to even consider challenging the sta...

Why did CBS cancel Stephen Colbert’s show mere days after the company settled a lawsuit with Donald Trump? Are Trump’s lawsuits part of a larger movement to crush dissent? And which other billionaires, corporations, and politicians are trying to bully critics into silence? Today on Lever Time , David Sirota speaks with New York Times journalist David Enrich, the author of the book Murder The Truth...

Why is President Donald Trump’s right-wing voter base up in arms over Jeffrey Epstein? Which of the many conspiracy theories are based in truth? And what is Trump’s Department of Justice now trying to cover up?  Today on Lever Time , David Sirota speaks with the award-winning investigative journalist Julie K. Brown, who first broke the story of Epstein’s legal cover-up, to find out why we should k...

You’ve likely heard about the slashed health care for millions of Americans. Hospitals defunded. Massive tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. But guess what? Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" is even more absurd (and devious) than you think.  Today on Lever Time , David Sirota sits down with David Dayen of The American Prospect and The Lever ’s Luke Goldstein to dig into the hidden details: How...

Even before the deadly July 4th floods in Texas, the United States had a problem. Today on Lever Time , David Sirota sits down with Lever reporter Freddy Brewster to discuss a technology that could help alert communities about flooding disasters — and the underlying political battle that's leaving 99% of America's waterways unmonitored. You can read The Lever's exclusive reporting on streamgage te...

Since Israel launched its war in Gaza a year and a half ago in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack, Israeli armed forces have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in their quest to destroy Hamas. But more and more experts say what’s happening in Gaza isn’t just a war — it’s genocide. Today on Lever Time , David Sirota sits down with Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid to talk about why so m...

Why did Republicans rush their massive tax cut bill through Congress? What are they hiding? As the media focuses on specific provisions, David Sirota digs into the bill’s far-reaching consequences, warning it could reshape society for generations.  He calls up an old friend, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who explains how the bill will hurt working-class voters and why its rationale is, in his wo...

Seventy-two minutes. That’s how long it could take from a country launching a nuclear weapon to global nuclear winter and the end of human civilization.  If that’s not scary enough, the United States is right now involved in two proxy wars involving nuclear powers — one in Ukraine, and the other in the Middle East.  Today on Lever Time , David Sirota asks acclaimed investigative journalist Annie J...

Donald Trump just launched America into a war with Iran, and he’s done so without any authorization from Congress. A growing group of lawmakers says this is illegal and unconstitutional, and they are calling for an emergency session of Congress to force a vote to stop him.  Sirota talks to U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who is currently leading the fight to stop Trump’s escalation and pressure hi...

Early voting in New York City’s mayoral primary race is well underway, and the rest of the country is watching. That’s because this year’s publicly funded city election is a battle for the future of the Democratic party, and the two frontrunners — a disgraced, corporate-backed Democrat and an upstart, young progressive — reveal a political schism that stretches far beyond the Big Apple. Today on L...

Just when it seemed the geopolitical horrors in the Middle East couldn’t get worse, Israel went from leveling Gaza to launching a war against Iran. The offensive started while President Donald Trump was pressing for an Iran nuclear deal that would limit the country’s capacity to build nuclear weapons — and yet still Trump reportedly greenlit Israel’s attack.  Today on Lever Time, editor-in-chief D...

The national deficit usually feels like an abstract talking point: America’s permanent credit card bill that just keeps getting bigger, without ever coming due. But suddenly, our national debt has a real cost. As President Donald Trump’s proposed tax cuts threaten to add trillions to the deficit, every major credit rating agency has now downgraded the United States’ credit rating, suggesting that...

There’s a new evil genius on Capitol Hill, one that privacy experts warn could empower tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to issue their own private currencies. The Senate is poised to pass the GENIUS Act, which would give so much free rein to such “stablecoins” that it could destabilize the rest of the economy. Today on Lever Time , Arjun Singh sits down with Lever reporter Luke...

He came in with a bang but is going out with a whimper. After his 24/7 role on Trump’s election stage and his high-profile rampage through the federal government, billionaire Elon Musk says he’s scaling back his work for the administration and ramping down his political spending. With his image tarnished and businesses facing turbulence, is Musk down for the count — or planning his return as Ameri...

As part of the Tax Revolt series, Arjun Singh appeared on the podcast "Why is this Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast" to breakdown the latest developments of Trump's tax cut, which recently passed the House.  This is a preview of the discussion, for the rest of this conversation, download Why Is This Happening wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube at msnbc.com/withpod . 

One of the most powerful Republicans in the country has been called a teddy bear . Grover Norquist, the head of the activist group Americans for Tax Reform, certainly doesn’t come across as an anarcho-capitalist power player.  Recently, Norquist has waged a vendetta against “traitors” in the White House — staffers who are reportedly considering raising taxes on the rich, which may include Vice Pre...

Former President George H.W. Bush once thought supply-side economics was so ludicrous he deemed it “voodoo economics.” But that was before Ronald Reagan transformed the Republican Party into a trickle-down, tax-cutting cult.  To follow in Reagan’s footsteps, Bush promised conservatives that he would never raise taxes — but then did something nobody expected. That decision would seal his fate, with...

How a small group of economists shaped Reagan’s tax policy and the future of the Republican party.  This is Part 2 of Tax Revolt , a new miniseries from Lever Time revealing how free-market radicals hijacked American politics and set the stage for Elon Musk, DOGE, and Donald Trump’s presidency. Want more? Become a paid subscriber to get ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content, like an exclusi...

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. Want more? Become a paid subscriber t...

Listen to the 3-min trailer for Tax Revolt , a new limited series from Lever Time . Part 1 of 4 premieres April 18. Learn more at LeverNews.com/TaxRevolt Get ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content — and support independent journalism — by becoming a paid subscriber to The Leve r: levernews.com/subscribe

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....

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...

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...

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...