Master Plan

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.
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Today, we are sharing the debut episode of First America, the brand-new history podcast from Critical Frequency and Pushkin Industries.

Hosted by award-winning journalist Rebecca Nagle and featuring leading Native historians, First America unveils how the founders’ treatment of Indigenous nations – and their resistance – shaped U.S. democracy. The show does not simply add another blemish to the image of the founding fathers, it reveals the real story of why the colonists rebelled, what kind of government they created, and, crucially, how our current political moment was 250 years in the making.

In this premiere episode, Rebecca sits down with Ned Blackhawk, who is Western Shoshone and a leading scholar of Indigenous history. They explore why the drive to seize Indigenous land – not taxation without representation – fueled the American Revolution.

To listen to the rest of the series, follow First America on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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The Master Plan team is hard at work on the next batch of Season 2 episodes. In the meantime, we’re sharing an episode from our friends at Scene on Radio.

Their new season, The News, explores the crisis facing American journalism: collapsing local newsrooms, declining public trust, and a media ecosystem flooded with misinformation. In this first episode, the two-time Peabody Award-nominated series asks a simple but urgent question: What’s really wrong with the news?

To hear the rest of the series, search for Scene on Radio wherever you get your podcasts or visit sceneonradio.org.
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This week, the Iran War will reach its official 60-day mark. That’s a critical deadline under the War Powers Resolution, a Nixon-era law created to limit presidential war-making.

Under that law, President Donald Trump can claim a one-time, 30-day extension, so the Iran War will likely continue. But the War Powers Resolution also gives Congress a secret weapon to end this unpopular war — or any war — whenever it wants. So why has Congress never used it? 

In this special 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, please become a paid subscriber to keep receiving bonus episodes, updates, and more.

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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

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