Today, we’re sharing the re-launch of The Lever’s flagship podcast Lever Time. In this week’s episode, David Sirota and senior podcast producer Arjun Singh discuss the 2024 presidential election, and the Democratic Party’s efforts to prevent a primary challenge to President Biden.
Since 2008, Democratic Party leadership have worked to suppress primary challengers and support incumbent politicians. It’s not uncommon to see the party intervene in a primary on behalf of their preferred candidate in congressional and presidential races. That mentality was on full display during the 2024 Democratic primaries, where the DNC worked with its state affiliates to ensure that, in some cases, Biden’s two primary challengers didn’t even appear on the ballot.
Given Biden’s consistently low approval ratings and now palpable anger over his handling of the war in Gaza, it raises the question: did the party intentionally prevent a proper primary from taking place because they wanted to suppress any challenges to Biden?
Sirota and Singh unpack Biden’s popularity, and look back at what happened in the 1980 Democratic primary, when Democratic senator Ted Kennedy challenged incumbent president Jimmy Carter.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Andrew Quilty and Ilhan Omar on Afghanistan
Anand Gopal And Richard Ojeda On Afghanistan
The Era of Climate Denial is Over
Cori Bush on the Shame and Power of Poverty
The Coup That Wasn't
Antitrust Makes a Comeback
How “The People’s Mayor” Saved Public Power
Chelsea Manning Meets Ken Klippenstein
Joe Manchin Gets Candid With Billionaire Donors in Leaked Audio
Banishing the Ghosts of the Great Recession
Race and Taxes
Losing the Asymmetric War
Life and Death in Occupied Palestine
The System That Killed Berta Cáceres
The Deconstructed May Day Special
Matt Bruenig on Joe Biden's American Families Plan
The Whistleblower Trying to Stop the Next Financial Crisis
The New Mexico Spring
A Big New Idea to End the Border Crisis
From Coyotes to Coffin Ships: Joe Biden and the Border
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Jim & Bill (It‘s Another Day)
HauntingLive
Dr. Paul’s Worldviews
The Ben Shapiro Show
Morning Wire