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Master Plan

The Lever & David Sirota

SEASON TWO: THE KINGMAKERS IS HERE

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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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  • 26 episodes
  • fortnightly
  • Avg 48 min
  • English
Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.
  • Thursday · 53 min

    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 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

  • July 28 · 2 min

    The Return of the Kingmakers

    Season 2 of Master Plan continues with the final chapters in the rise of the all-powerful presidency.

  • July 14 · 40 min

    Introducing ‘The Political Scene’ from The New Yorker

    This week, we're sharing an episode from The New Yorker's The Political Scene examining the political forces reshaping America's intelligence community. The Washington Roundtable is joined by veteran political reporter and Spytalk founding editor Jeff Stein to discuss Donald Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte as acting Director of National Intelligence, despite his lack of intelligence or national security experience. They also unpack new reporting on former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and the questions surrounding her alleged ties to a controversial religious group. If you enjoy Master Plan's investigations into power, politics, and the people shaping American democracy, we think you'll enjoy this conversation from The Political Scene. Find and subscribe to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Oct 17, 2025 · 7 min

    The Master Plan Book Is Here

    We’ve got big news — Master Plan is now a book! https://www.levernews.com/master-plan-the-hidden-plot-to-legalize-corruption-in-america/ 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 operati

Showing 1–20 of 26 episodes