Lever Time

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RFK’s Beef With Big Food Feb 14, 2025

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was just confirmed to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, overseeing the nation’s food and health standards. He’s drawn controversy for opposing many positions of the medical establishment — except when it comes to junk food. Kennedy has repeatedly said ultraprocessed foods are harmful to public health, a position shared widely among medical professionals and nutritionists.

Food companies reportedly tried to thwart Kennedy’s confirmation, in part because they’ve known for decades just how unhealthy and addictive their products can be. Today on Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh unpacks the food industry’s colossal influence over the American food system — and how they’re using the same playbook as Big Tobacco.

To learn more about Andrew Gallegos' nonprofit Cultivating Community head here.

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Trump’s Tariff War Explained Feb 12, 2025

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President Donald Trump is implementing sweeping tariffs to ostensibly tighten border security and crack down on the fentanyl trade. The moves include a 25 percent tariff on all steel and aluminum imports, blanket 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports, and potentially steep tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods. These actions could have monumental consequences for the global economy.

Today on Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh sits down with economist Brad Setser to discuss the history of tariffs, the complexity of the United States' trade relationships with Canada, Mexico, and China, and how the effects of these tariffs could potentially make the illegal drug trade worse. Setser was a senior adviser to the U.S. Trade Representative and writes about China’s export economy in his newsletter Follow the Money.

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Elon Musk’s Hostile Takeover Feb 06, 2025

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Elon Musk has bought his way into the Trump administration and is now busy muscling his way into every federal agency. But the unelected billionaire who’s been forcibly installing his allies while purging career civil servants throughout the federal government just faced his first roadblock when a judge prevented him from accessing the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, a move that would have given him an unprecedented amount of leverage over trillions of public dollars.

Today on Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh sits down with journalist Nathan Tankus to discuss the depth of Musk’s control and how the tycoon’s recent actions could imperil the nation. Tankus is the author of the newsletter Notes on a Crisis and one of lead reporters covering Musk’s takeover.

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American Chaos Is Trump’s Plan Jan 31, 2025

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Donald Trump has been president for less than two weeks, and the government is already in chaos. Amidst a flurry of executive orders, Trump suspended all federal spending earlier this week. The move sent panic throughout the federal government and upended critical services like Medicare and school funding. Is there an ideology behind the chaos? Or was the chaos the point? And what should the country make of it?

Today on Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh recaps how Trump’s orders reverberated throughout the country — and explores what could come next.

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The Supreme Court Case That Got Us Here Jan 24, 2025

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Fifteen years ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling that fundamentally changed American politics — In a 5-4 judgment in Citizens United v FEC, the court struck down restrictions on corporate spending in elections and paved the way for the mountains of dark money in our politics today. But there’s more.

In The Lever’s recent series Master Plan, David Sirota and a team of journalists dove deep into the litigious roots of the Citizens United case, starting with the nearly-forgotten story of a small-town Indiana lawyer, as well as the vast political consequences of the high court’s landmark decision. Today on Lever Time, we’re sharing that episode with listeners to mark the anniversary of the ruling.

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Oligarchy Now Jan 20, 2025

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Donald Trump is back — and this time, he’s bringing corporate America. Trump’s decisive victory in November sent a shockwave through corporate C-suites. Now, Trump is preparing to outsource much of his governing to a small cabal of the nation’s wealthiest people. In anticipation, many of the nation’s most powerful CEOs have pledged loyalty to Trump. That includes Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who are funding his inauguration festivities and reportedly sitting with Trump’s cabinet during his inauguration.

To make sense of it all, David Sirota and senior podcast producer Arjun Singh sit down with David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, and Ryan Grim, co-founder of Drop Site News, discuss the power players in Trump’s orbit and the state of the nation he’s about to inherit on a special Inauguration Day episode of Lever Time.

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How America Created Cities Built To Burn (Part 2) Jan 17, 2025

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Los Angeles is infamous for its sprawling urban landscape that has prioritized low-density housing, often at the behest of the state’s powerful real estate industry. Despite the known risks of building in fire zones, developers continued to do so with the approval and encouragement of government regulators. But in the wake of the devastating fires in L.A., some are questioning the wisdom of urban sprawl, particularly in California.

Today on Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh unpacks how California’s housing policies contributed to the devastation of L.A.’s recent wildfires, and how the city can rebuild in an era when climate disaster is becoming ever more common.

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The L.A. Fires And The Uninsurable Earth (Part 1) Jan 10, 2025

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The Los Angeles fires pose huge questions about the future of life in America: Where is it safe to live? How can you protect yourself from such disasters? Is home insurance even obtainable anymore? And will our society finally respond in a serious way to the climate emergency?

In the first of a two-part Lever Time series, David Sirota speaks with New York Times writer David Wallace-Wells, New Yorker staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert, and former California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones about what makes this blaze different from past fires — and how we prepare for the next one.

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MAGA’s Civil War Over Immigration Jan 06, 2025

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Over the holidays, when President-elect Donald Trump said he would appoint an Indian-American immigrant to serve in the White House, key members of Trump’s base were apoplectic. On X, formerly Twitter, prominent Trump supporters like Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer argued the move was antithetical to Trump’s pledge to scale back immigration. That put them at odds with billionaire advisor Elon Musk and other tech executives who are leaning on Trump to embrace the use of H-1B visas, which allow highly skilled foreign workers to work in the U.S. and have proven to be a boon for the tech industry.

Today on Lever Time, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh unpacks the history of high-skilled immigration to the United States and why the matter has become a flash point within Trump’s coalition.

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Editor's Choice: The NBA Is Monetizing A Public Health Crisis Dec 27, 2024

Show notes

Lever Time is taking a break this week, but we'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Today, we wanted to re-air one of our favorite episodes from 2024.

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The National Basketball Association wants you to gamble. Since 2014, the league has championed the legalization of sports betting nationwide, partially due to its own business interests in gambling. But the emergence of online gambling has coincided with a rise in troubling health outcomes like increased rates of depression and substance abuse. Today on Lever Time, we explore the recent growth of online gambling, sitting down with sports writers and an addiction expert to learn how it’s impacted society and changed the very nature of sports and fandom.

Sports fans are familiar with the companies DraftKings and FanDuel. In the NBA, their commercials are now as synonymous with the game as slam dunks — and both have transformed how viewers watch the game. In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down a federal law prohibiting gambling in most states — within the same year several states swiftly moved to legalize sports gambling, leading to more widespread usage of online sportsbooks.

Today, millions of fans include betting as part of their viewing experience, but it’s a trend that worries public health experts, athletes, and longtime fans, who believe the NBA’s promotion of gambling will have long-term negative consequences.

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