13 April 2026 | Partisanship Pose

The American Radicals Podcast dismantles the myth of bipartisan compromise, arguing that what passes for 'bipartisanship' is actually a coordinated pose by a single elite club that consistently advances expansive government power under the guise of unity. Host Steve Friend dissects a Washington Post op-ed celebrating 1990s legislative achievements—Clean Air Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Temporary Protected Status—as proof of a golden era of cooperation. He exposes the illusion: these bills were not compromises between opposing ideologies, but policy victories for a left-leaning agenda disguised as bipartisan consensus. The Clean Air Act’s market-based pollution credits, he argues, are a socialist mechanism masquerading as free-market innovation. The ADA, he claims, birthed a lawsuit industry that profits from accessibility violations. TPS, he asserts, was a Trojan horse for mass immigration, enabling 2.7 million undocumented immigrants to gain citizenship under Reagan. The episode then pivots to the real cost of this 'compromise': runaway federal spending. With the national debt rising $1.2 trillion in six months and Congress using backdoor maneuvers to erase $3.4 trillion in deficits, Friend reveals a system where tax cuts are paired with spending increases, not shrinkage. He mocks the narrative that inflation is 'under control' when core prices exclude food and energy—'as long as you're not eating or using energy, prices are stable.