The Crime Crackdown Cop Out (With Alec Karakatsanis)

Lever Time

The Lever

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.8 • 560 Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Donald Trump says that U.S. violent crime has spiraled so far out of control that he needs to send troops into Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Memphis. But is that really true? Today on Lever Time, David Sirota speaks with Alec Karakatsanis, award-winning civil rights lawyer and author of the book Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News, about how government officials are manufacturing fear to justify authoritarian rule. Click here to watch the full interview on our YouTube channel. To check out Alec Karakatsanis’s book, click here. Click here for a full transcript of the episode. Get ad-free episodes, bonus content and extended interviews by becoming a member at levernews.com/join. To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the free ad-supported version of our podcast. For an ad-free experience,
0:05.5	visit levernews.com slash upgrade. When Donald Trump was inaugurated like all presidents, he swore
0:12.1	an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. Instead, Donald Trump has decided
0:16.9	to swerve, deflect, and append the Constitution and treat it like a terms and conditions
0:21.8	page. I'm Professor Corey Brett Schneider. And I'm deeply unqualified comedian John Fugleson.
0:27.3	We'd like to invite you to listen to the Oath in the Office podcast where every week we interpret
0:32.1	the Constitution and hold Trump accountable to his oath. It's a podcast that offers real insight on how to take action against tyranny and mayhem,
0:41.2	because despair is not a strategy.
0:43.8	We'll hold him to his pledge, despite his threats to democracy and the law itself.
0:49.3	It's a podcast that's all about hope for what a real democracy should look like from an esteemed, respected
0:54.9	constitutional scholar and a deeply neurotic comedian who thought the emoluments clause was a breakfast item.
1:01.1	Subscribe to The Oath in the Office where every week we talk about how citizens can preserve our democracy
1:06.7	and fight back against the threat to democracy.
1:10.1	Subscribe to The Oath in the Office on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast.
1:17.7	The Lever
1:18.7	From The Lever's reader-supported newsroom, this is Lever Time.
1:24.9	I'm David Sorota.
1:26.5	Crime and punishment have always been a source of debate in American politics.
1:31.4	But Donald Trump is now weaponizing the issue of policing in a way we've never seen before.
1:37.3	In the name of crime fighting during his second term, Trump has deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
1:45.0	He's also threatened to literally launch a war on the city of Chicago, and he's signed an executive
1:50.6	order to send troops to Memphis.
	...

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