episode-header-image

Jan 2023

23m 22s

America’s hard right

Financial Times

About this episode

A small group of Republican party zealots, backed by former president Donald Trump, have forced their way into a position of power in the US Congress. Gideon talks to Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of the National Interest magazine in Washington and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, about what they are seeking to achieve and whether they will end up playing into the hands of President Joe Biden if he seeks re-election.

Clips: ABC, CNN

More on this topic:

Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces tough first week seeking to unify Republicans

Joe Biden’s claim to presidential greatness

The debt ceiling is scarier this time

Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next

Is the US heading for a debt crisis?

Gideon talks to Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund and author of a new book: How Countries Go Broke. They discuss the size of the US debt and what history tells us about identifying warning signs. Clip: CBSFree links to read more on this ... Show More

Nato’s moment of truth

Gideon talks to Oana Lungescu, Nato's former and longest-serving spokesperson, about what to expect from this month’s summit and what's at stake? Can Europe convince the Trump administration that Russia is a risk they need to take seriously, and will an agreement to increase defe ... Show More

What drives China’s strongman?

Gideon Rachman and China historian Rana Mitter discuss the evolution of Xi Jinping from internal exile, to party apparatchik, to strongman leader. What motivates Xi and what’s behind his friendship with the Russian leader? This episode is an edited recording of an event organised ... Show More

Recommended Episodes

Sound On: Dems Flip Senate Seat, Georgia Runoff

Joe spoke with Nathan Gonzales, Editor & Publisher of Inside Elections on the midterm election results and the too close to call Senate races, Bloomberg Congress reporter Billy House live from Atlanta on the runoff election for Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker, Bloomberg Gover ... Show More

State of the Union: Biden's Pitch to the Nation

Under the close gaze of his critics - and millions of American voters - Joe Biden delivered arguably the most significant State of the Union address in recent times.The president chose to focus on his economic record, his plans to to fix America's immigration system and repeatedl ... Show More

Swamp Notes: Did Biden's State of the Union hit the mark?

Joe Biden was in the spotlight this week as he made his annual State of the Union address. It was his chance to not only speak directly to the American people, but also prove that he’s up to the task of campaigning for re-election. So how did he do? The FT’s US national editor an ... Show More

Workers Are Striking And Americans Are Into It

Welcome aboard the Acela, listeners. Today on the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, we are taking a break from the campaign trail and heading to Washington, D.C., where there’s quite a lot going on. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced last week that Republicans are opening an ... Show More

US midterm elections: what we know so far

Binance backs out of its deal with FTX, Joe Biden and the Democrats avoided sweeping defeats but still risked losing control of Congress to the Republicans, and the FT’s Rob Armstrong explains why a potentially divided Congress could hurt investors. Mentioned in this podcast:Rep ... Show More

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer On Climate Law

The New York Democrats discussed the landmark climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, a year after he helped to pass the legislation. He said it will take time to for its provisions to be felt by the American public. This episode: political correspondent Susan Davis, congressio ... Show More

We Need To Talk About Kevin McCarthy

For the first time in US history, a speaker has been kicked out. A group of Trump-supporting Republicans carried out a coup to remove him from the chair of the House of Representatives. How did it come about? What does it say about the Republican Party? Put simply, what the hell ... Show More

House Republicans Begin Investigations Into President Biden

The House Oversight and Judiciary committees, helmed by Repulican representatives James Comer of Kentucky and Jim Jordan of Ohio, will be the venues for a series of investigations into the President Joe Biden's administration and personal life. The party campaigned on an aggressi ... Show More

Ageing populations hit government credit ratings

Democrats and Republicans are confident they can pass a deal to avert a US debt default, the lira slides after Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is re-elected, and ageing populations are causing government credit ratings to take a hit. Mentioned in this podcast:Debt ceiling ... Show More

276. Why Joe Biden must step down

"Last night was a game changer. And the change that now has to come is to produce another game changer, which is a new Democratic candidate." In an emergency episode of The Rest Is Politics, Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell follow on from Katty Kay and Anthony Scaramucci's reac ... Show More

Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami