594 | Steve Teles: Hard Lessons for Centrists Trying to Overcome the Mediocrity Challenge + Last Call for Niskanen Summer Institute Applications

The Realignment

Saager Enjeti, Technology, Policy, News, Marshall Kosloff, International Relations, Politics, News Commentary, Public Policy, U.s. Politics, National Security, Economics

4.8 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2026

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Steve Teles, Niskanen Center Senior Fellow, returns to The Realignment. Marshall and Steve discuss how moderates, centrists, and the Abundance movement can navigate the anti-status quo/economic populist moment, why the modern center naturally trends towards milquetoast, aesthetic moderation, instead of boldly picking fights, and how the fights over school reform in the 2000s and 2010s (regardless of one's opinion of charter schools and unions) offer a better model. Plus, Marshall reminds undergraduates in the class of 2026 and later that Niskanen Summer Institute applications are due February 27th.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Marshall here, welcome back to the realignment.
0:03.7	Before we jump into my latest conversation with my Niskanin-centric colleague, Steve Talley's.
0:08.7	I want to shout out the Niskanin Summer Institute, our week-long academic program for undergrads
0:14.9	interested in the intersection of politics, policy, and all of the issues and themes covered
0:20.0	on the realignment. The program is fully funded, so we'll cover your logic, policy, and all of the issues and themes covered on the realignment.
0:21.5	The program is fully funded, so we'll cover your logic, travel, and offer a $250 stipend
0:27.4	to participants. Students in the class of 2026 or later are eligible. Applications are due
0:34.2	on February 27th. You could find the link to the application in the show notes.
0:39.7	On to today's episode,
0:41.4	Steve and I cover a lot of ground,
0:43.1	but the main focus is the challenge raised by last week's episode,
0:46.6	how moderates, centrist,
0:48.8	and technocratically coded movements like abundance
0:51.0	can meet an increasingly populist anti-status quo electorate.
0:56.3	I hope you all enjoy the conversation.
0:59.0	Steve, welcome back to the realignment.
1:02.3	Happy to be here, Merle.
1:04.3	The cost of lots of travel in January and the fact that I have actual day-to-day responsibilities
1:10.7	at our think tank, the Niskenon Center, means that I have actual day-to-day responsibilities at our
1:11.2	think tank, the Niskanin Center means that we have not been able to hop on a recording yet
1:16.7	this year, so I'm very excited to do that. Here's the overall theme for the episode.
1:22.0	2025 was a big year. A lot of feces were put out there. A lot of takes were had and a bunch of things were either validated or invalidated.
	...

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