How Two-Party Politics Drives Out Moderates
Big Take16 Nov 2023

How Two-Party Politics Drives Out Moderates

Congress averted a government shutdown with days to spare. The way lawmakers did it — by leaving out deep spending cuts and relying on a bipartisan coalition to pass the bill — has already put House Speaker Mike Johnson on thin ice with some hardliners in his party.


That disdain for compromise among members of the right flank of the GOP is one of the factors that cost the previous speaker his job.

None of the infighting came as a surprise to former Representative Denver Riggleman, who served one term in Congress as a Republican for Virginia’s fifth congressional district before losing a primary challenge from a more conservative candidate. 


Like many in his party, Riggleman supported small government, the Second Amendment, and border security — but he also supported legalizing marijuana and providing some exceptions for abortion.


“I was told I was a new type of Republican,” Riggleman said on the Big Take podcast.


On this episode, Riggleman shares the story of his brief and explosive tenure in congress.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episoder(855)

Wall Street’s Predictions for 2026

Wall Street’s Predictions for 2026

Every year, Wall Street’s top minds — strategists, economists and portfolio managers — pack their best ideas into dense market outlooks, often running a hundred or more pages apiece. And every year, B...

1 Jan 16min

How Much Would You Pay to Buy Back Your Time?

How Much Would You Pay to Buy Back Your Time?

Tired Americans are increasingly willing to pay a premium for items or services that save time or ease their fatigue: a laundry machine that both washes and dries, a grocery delivery service that puts...

31 Des 202514min

How China Defied the Odds in 2025

How China Defied the Odds in 2025

China started 2025 with deflation, a property crisis and fears of a “lost decade” damping sentiment. By year’s end, it had stunned the world with an AI breakthrough, a trillion-dollar trade surplus an...

30 Des 202520min

Why African Startups Are Embracing DeepSeek

Why African Startups Are Embracing DeepSeek

Chinese tech companies Huawei and DeepSeek are teaming up to offer cloud computing and AI services. And they’re pitching African startups on using their offerings over Western competitors like OpenAI ...

29 Des 202518min

Tariffed: The Toymaker That Took on Trump Part Three

Tariffed: The Toymaker That Took on Trump Part Three

Since the start of his second term, US President Donald Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs – especially on China, where most toys are made. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host Oanh Ha talks with R...

26 Des 202523min

Tariffed: The Toymaker That Took on Trump Part Two

Tariffed: The Toymaker That Took on Trump Part Two

The US-China trade war has upended global manufacturing, forcing companies like Chicago-based Learning Resources to fundamentally change how and where its products are made, even as it challenges the ...

25 Des 202522min

Tariffed: The Toymaker That Took on Trump Part One

Tariffed: The Toymaker That Took on Trump Part One

President Trump’s trade threw American businesses, which source everything from aircraft parts to baby strollers from China, into chaos. Over this year, some companies challenged the president’s tarif...

24 Des 202528min

Why Instacart Backtracked on an AI-Pricing Experiment

Why Instacart Backtracked on an AI-Pricing Experiment

This month, the think-tank the Groundwork Collaborative, Consumer Reports and the news nonprofit More Perfect Union released a report finding that Instacart had been using an AI tool to run algorithmi...

23 Des 202519min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
forklart
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
aftenpodden-usa
popradet
i-retten
stopp-verden
det-store-bildet
fotballpodden-2
rss-gukild-johaug
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-ness
hanna-de-heldige
nokon-ma-ga
aftenbla-bla
bt-dokumentar-2
e24-podden
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk