MASTER PLAN
Start Listening To Season 2, The Kingmakers, Now
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.
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ABOUT THE PODCAST
Master Plan is narrated by David Sirota, an award-winning investigative journalist and Oscar nominee for his work on the film Don’t Look Up. He is the founder of The Lever, an award-winning news outlet dedicated to holding the powerful accountable.
Master Plan has received the National Press Club Award for Audio Journalism, the New York Festivals Radio Award for Best Investigative Journalism Podcast, and 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.
Season Two: The Kingmakers
Master Plan: The Kingmakers, uncovers the decades-long plot to build an all-powerful American presidency. From Richard Nixon’s downfall to Ronald Reagan’s legal revolution, Dick Cheney’s post-9/11 power grab to the the radical blueprint of Project 2025, the series traces how a fringe legal theory — the unitary executive — has been used to manipulate the machinery of the U.S. government.
Season 1: Legalizing Corruption
The first season of Master Plan revealed how extremists and tycoons orchestrated a system of legalized corruption in America. Season One traces the untold history from the 1970s to today, showing how a small group of operatives and oligarchs used vast wealth to manipulate key U.S. government policies for personal gain at the expense of everyone else — a plan that came to fruition in the 2024 election.
Get the book.
Master Plan: The Hidden Plot To Legalize Corruption In America is a new book adapted from the podcast's award-winning first season.
“If you want to understand what’s wrong with our democracy and why, read this book. It’s brash, insightful and incredibly important.”
— ALEX GIBNEY, Academy Award-winning filmmaker
🎧 Episode 1: Nixon’s Milk Money Prompts A Backlash
Master Plan’s first episode explores a scandal that inspired groundbreaking anti-corruption legislation — if only the reforms could have lasted.
🎧 Episode 2: Watergate’s Magic Window Of Corporate Cash
As brand-name companies fund the break-in, a White House memo envisions dark money and Nixon leaves a ticking time bomb in D.C.
🎧 Episode 3: The Powell Memo
Our third episode introduces the architect behind the master plan’s original blueprint, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell.
🎧 Episode 4: The Task Force That Took Over America
How a radical secret memo went from idea to reality.
🎧 Episode 5: How Corporations Became People
You might remember Mitt Romney’s famous line: “Corporations are people, my friend.” But where did the idea that businesses have the same rights as humans come from?
🎧 Episode 6: The Maverick Vs. The Corruption Machine
After John McCain got caught up in a corruption scheme, he went to war with his own party to try to make sure it never happened again.
🎧 Episode 7: The Federalist Society Strikes Back
To get the rulings you want, build the Supreme Court you need.
🎧 Episode 8: Shock And Awe At The Supreme Court
In a pivotal 12 months, the master planners transformed the judiciary, positioning it to deliver corruption-legalizing precedents.
🎧 Episode 9: The Swing Vote That Changed America
Indiana attorney James Bopp engineered the case allowing dark money in politics specifically with the court’s “swing vote” in mind.
🎧 Episode 10: The Master Planners’ Heist Of The Century
If you thought the master planners would be content to end their assault on democracy with Citizens United, think again.
🎧 Episode 11: Hell Or High Water
We all live in the master planners’ world now. So what can we do to resist?
Holding The Powerful Accountable
The Lever’s reporting follows the money, uncovers corruption, and educates readers so they can hold the powerful accountable.
If you have any questions, you can reach out to us at support@levernews.com.
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