In recent weeks, the Trump administration has escalated major U.S. military strikes against Iran while also exercising enormous power on matters ranging from Venezuelan regime change to immigration crackdowns at home — often with few effective checks.
But that power didn't appear overnight. To understand how it happened, you have to listen to Master Plan: The Kingmakers.
In The Kingmakers, the new season of Master Plan, David Sirota and our friends at The Lever expose how a small network of lawyers, operatives, and ideologues has been working for four decades on a project most Americans have never heard of. Their tool was an obscure constitutional doctrine called the unitary executive theory. Their goal was simple: build a presidency powerful enough to dominate the system it was supposed to serve.
Now that project has fully broken free of theory and into reality.
Start listening for free now:
The seven-episode investigative audio series follows the architects of executive power from the aftermath of Watergate through:
- Ronald Reagan's legal revolution
- Dick Cheney's post-9/11 expansion of presidential authority
- Supreme Court rulings that normalized it
- And the radical governing blueprint known as Project 2025
This isn't just a story about presidents. It's about the political and legal infrastructure that helped concentrate power at the top — often at the expense of democratic accountability, worker protections, and the institutions meant to constrain elite rule.
In other words, it's a story about how power in America actually works.
The first season of Master Plan reached more than a million listeners and won the National Press Club Award for Audio Journalism. The new season builds on that investigative reporting with narrative storytelling that connects elite legal strategies to the everyday consequences impacting millions of Americans.
Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, or click here.
If you want to understand how the modern presidency became so powerful — and who helped build it — this story is for you.
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