DOGE’S Downfall (with Michael Lewis)

This week on the Stay Tuned with Preet podcast, financial journalist and New York Times This week on the Stay Tuned with Preet podcast, financial journalist and New York Times best-selling author Michael Lewis joins Preet to discuss the unraveling of the Department of Government Efficiency, chronicled in Lewis’s new book, Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State. Preet and Lewis make sense of what went wrong with DOGE, discussing some of the influential figures who shaped the department’s decisions, both in front of the cameras and behind the scenes. They delve into how ideology drove DOGE’s mass firings and why the resulting suffering was not a coincidence, but part of the design. Finally, they examine the qualities that make some people more susceptible to corruption. At the end of the episode, Preet answers listener questions about Senator Eric Schmitt’s viral mistake during a hearing with former special counsel Jack Smith. Plus, how civic awareness and engagement is on the rise during the Trump era. In an exclusive segment for paying subscribers, Lewis reveals a surprising indirect victim of DOGE’s agenda: fire science and wildfire prevention. Join the Insider community for access to bonus content from Stay Tuned and weekly episodes of the Insider podcast hosted by Preet and Joyce Vance. Visit staytuned.substack.com to sign up. Thank you for supporting our work. Photo by David Levenson via Getty Images. Show notes and a transcript of the episode are available on our website. Watch this episode on our Youtube channel. Shop Stay Tuned merch and featured books by our guests in our Amazon storefront. Have a question for Preet? Ask @PreetBharara on BlueSky, or Twitter with the hashtag #AskPreet. Email us at [email protected], or call 833-997-7338 to leave a voicemail. Stay Tuned with Preet is brought to you by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network.