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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 corporations and oligarchs could fight back against New Deal-era reforms and use their money to hijack American politics. For decades, the Powell Memo seemed like an urban legend — until our investigation uncovered new details about the people behind it, and how the memo’s author snuck his radical ideology into the Supreme Court. Read the transcript and explore original archival documents from our investigation. Want the full story? Get the book Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America, featuring additional reporting and material beyond the podcast. Lever subscribers save 20%, and new paid members receive a special offer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Communications at More Equitable Democracy, is joined by new co-host Ruth Greenwood, Director of Harvard Law School’s Election Law Clinic and proud Australian expat, as the show heads to the other side of the world.  Australia built its democracy using America’s blueprint, then kept innovating. Today, its elections are famously “boring, boring, boring,” and voters across the political spectrum trust the results in a way Americans rarely do. With the 2026 midterms approaching and confidence in American democracy continuing to erode, Colin and Ruth explore why, with help from Dr. Marija Taflaga (Australian National University), Professor David Smith (University of Sydney), and Professor Thalia Anthony (University of Technology Sydney). Along the way, they ask a provocative question: if Australia learned from the United States, what can the United States learn from Australia? Follow and listen to more episodes of The Future of Our Former Democracy here: https://play.megaphone.fm/lmfwb0zrqham8b4xmpo43q Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 substantive conversations about the public-policy questions that affect all of us. Their new season looks at the forces shaping the 2026 midterms, including the topic of redistricting. What does it mean for voters when the politicians get to choose their constituents, instead of the other way around? In this episode, Governors Haslam and Bredesen pull back the curtain on gerrymandering, the once-obscure process now at the center of America’s fiercest political battles. They sit down with Jonathan Rodden, professor of political science at Stanford University, and Sam Wang, founder and director of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project and the Electoral Innovation Lab, about fair maps, how the newly drawn district lines might impact this midterm election and the implications for future elections.  It’s a thoughtful conversation about the incentives, institutions, and public pressures that will shape the next election, without the usual cable-news shouting match. For more episodes like this, make sure to follow You Might Be Right on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And tell them we sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Josh Shapiro. TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore bonus archival documents related to the episode. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade Want the Master Plan book? Members save 20%, and new Lever Leaders can get a free signed copy while supplies last. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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-hand man — and how his "monarchical" view of the president laid the groundwork for Donald Trump. TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore bonus archival documents related to the episode. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. As a paid subscriber to The Lever, you receive early access to ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content. Your support makes this series possible — thank you!

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 Kenyan-born immigrant and a Ralph Nader-aligned lawyer unwittingly expanded presidential power — and left Congress believing it was powerless to stop unauthorized wars. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes like this, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade Want the Master Plan book? ⁠Members save 20%⁠, and new Lever Leaders can ⁠get a free signed copy⁠ while supplies last. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 bonus 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. Note: This bonus episode marks the start of our midseason intermission for Master Plan: The Kingmakers. We’ll be back this summer with the remaining four episodes. Until then, keep an eye out for exclusive bonus interviews with former attorney general Ed Meese, former UN ambassador John Bolton, legendary historian and podcast Dan Carlin, and more. Your support makes this series possible — thank you!

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 theory. TRANSCRIPT & BONUS MATERIALS: Click here to read a transcript and to explore bonus archival documents related to Episode 4. 🎧 BONUS: Listen to the full Ed Meese interview here. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade Want the Master Plan book? Members save 20%, and new Lever Leaders can get a free signed copy while supplies last. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 explore bonus archival documents related to the episode. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade. Want the Master Plan book? Members save 20%, and new Lever Leaders can get a free signed copy while supplies last. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit levernews.com/upgrade . Want the Master Plan book? Members save 20%, and new Lever Leaders can get a free signed copy while supplies last. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Get Master Plan episodes early and ad-free by becoming a paid subscriber. Enjoy bonus episodes, exclusive content, and support this show. Visit masterplanpodcast.com. Want the Master Plan book? Members save 20%, and new Lever Leaders can get a free signed copy while supplies last. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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