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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 keep pushing the Trump administration for answers. To read more of Julie K. Brown’s groundbreaking reporting about the Epstein case, check out her book “Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story.” Get Lever Time Premium, with ad-free episodes, bonus content, and extended interviews by becoming a member at levernews.com/subscribe You can also leave a tip for The Lever. It helps us do this work. levernews.com/donate

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 devious (and absurd) 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 did these crazy handouts make it into the Big Beautiful Bill? What’s the larger agenda? And how is this going to affect you? Read Luke Goldstein’s reporting here. Read David Dayen's article here. As an exclusive bonus, click here to listen to an additional 35 minutes of this interview. Get Lever Time Premium, with ad-free episodes, bonus content and extended interviews by becoming a member at levernews.com/subscribe If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/donate

Even before the deadly floods in Texas last week, the United States had a problem. For years, the federal government has been ignoring calls for a nationwide network of flood monitors in American waterways. According to reporting from The Lever, 99 percent of waterways in the U.S. are not being tracked, largely because of governmental funding limitations. Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with Lever reporter Freddy Brewster to explore how underutilized sensors called streamgages could protect communities from flooding disasters — and why they haven’t been fully funded. You can read The Lever's exclusive reporting on streamgages here. Get Lever Time Premium, with ad-free episodes, bonus content and extended interviews, by becoming a member at levernews.com/subscribe If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/donate

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 many have trouble using the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s mass violence, why that word must be in the discourse, and why linguistic choices can have lasting consequences. You can read Shadi Hamid’s op-ed here. Get Lever Time Premium, with ad-free episodes, bonus content and extended interviews, by becoming a member at levernews.com/subscribe If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/donate

Why are Republicans rushing their massive tax cut bill through Congress? What are they hiding? And can it be stopped? As the media focuses on the vote wrangling over 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 would hurt working-class voters and why its rationale is, in his words, “total bullshit.” They also talk political fear, arson, and whether lawmakers will be held accountable. If you'd like access to Lever Time Premium, which includes extended interviews and bonus content, head over to levernews.com/subscribe to become a member. If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/donate

Are we closer than ever to nuclear winter? 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 Jacobsen, author of Nuclear War: A Scenario, the big bombshell questions: What scenarios are most likely to trigger a nuclear conflict? What can be done to pull us back from the brink? And just how close are we to the worst-case scenario? As a special bonus to our paid subscribers, we’re also airing our full, uncut interview with Annie Jacobsen on the Lever Time Premium feed. Click here for access.

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 his fellow Democrats to follow his lead. The big question: Will there be enough votes from Democrats and MAGA Republicans to halt a conflict that could escalate into World War III?

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 Lever Time, David Sirota speaks with one of the race’s surprising front-runners, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, to explore how he’s using campaign finance reforms and other innovative approaches to take on New York’s former governor, Andrew Cuomo. David also talks with former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to understand what’s truly at stake in the election

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 David Sirota speaks with Matt Duss, former Senate foreign policy aide for Bernie Sanders and current executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, to explore what triggered this new offensive and what role the U.S. government is playing. Is the endgame here World War III?

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 the U.S. is no longer a reliable borrower — a move with potentially disastrous, far-reaching consequences for the global economy. To unpack what’s at stake, David Sirota sits down with Stephanie Kelton, a world-renowned economist and pioneer in Modern Monetary Theory, to ask her big questions: What does a credit downgrade mean? Should we really be thinking about America’s spending and debt like it’s a household budget? And how exactly could too much national debt bankrupt the country? The answers, argues Kelton, necessitate transforming our perception of money itself.

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 Goldstein to understand the GENIUS Act, how it could turn Big Tech companies into unregulated banks, and why this should be a concern for the rest of us. You can read Luke’s full story on the GENIUS Act and the future of “ZuckBucks” here.

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 America’s most infamous oligarch? Today on Lever Time, David Sirota talks to Michael Scherer, a reporter for The Atlantic who has the inside scoop on what happened to Musk and what kinds of ticking time bombs he and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency may have left inside the federal government.

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 President J.D. Vance, and the architect of Trump’s first presidential campaign, Steve Bannon. On the finale of “Tax Revolt,” senior podcast producer Arjun Singh sits down with Norquist to understand: Is the antitax movement’s grip on the Republican party as strong as ever? Want more? Become a paid subscriber to get ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content, like an exclusive interview we conducted with the godfather of trickle-down economics. By doing so, you’ll be supporting independent journalism: levernews.com/subscribe

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 the anti-tax movement making sure no Republican ever dared cross them again — and that included Bush’s son. This is Part 3 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 exclusive interview we conducted with the godfather of trickle-down economics. By doing so, you’ll be supporting independent journalism: levernews.com/subscribe

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 exclusive interview we conducted with the godfather of trickle-down economics. By doing so, you’ll be supporting independent journalism: levernews.com/subscribe

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 to get ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content — and support independent journalism: levernews.com/subscribe Plus, read a bonus companion article about the anti-tax zealot behind Proposition 13, written by producer Ariella Markowitz.

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 Lever: 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. They discuss whether Trump’s new tariffs will end up doing more harm than good. They also discuss Fain’s assertion that Democrats have too often taken the labor movement for granted — especially when it comes to championing corporate-written trade policies, which he says have ended up alienating Democrats from the working class.

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 the time hammered America’s industrial heartland amid warnings of a “giant sucking sound” of jobs and factories leaving the United States. But will Trump’s new tariffs do more harm than good? And will they open the floodgates to another deluge of corruption? To answer those questions and understand what the tariffs mean for you, David Sirota sits down with veteran New York Times reporter Peter Goodman to discuss the real-world effects of what Trump is calling “Liberation Day."