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Hello and welcome to the Americano podcast, a series of discussions about American politics and life.

My name is Freddie Gray. I'm the deputy editor of the spectator.

I am delighted to be joined today by Francis Herbert Buckley or Frank. If you hope you don't

mind me calling you Frank. Yes, please do. And he is the author of a number of books,

including most recently, Progressive Conservat republicans will become america's natural governing

party frank i thought i'd start by asking about two words in in that title one is progressive and the

other is will and i'd like to ask about progressive because as you talk about in the book it's it's

been sort of stripped of its meaning slightly and it now is used as a word to mean people on the radical left. And then I'd also ask you asked about the

word will, because you'd expect a title like that to say could become, but you are presenting it

as almost an inevitability that the Republicans are going to become America's natural governing

party. There might be a bit of wishful thinking in that, I admit.

But yes, I think it is where we're headed.

But let's talk about progressives, shall we?

Yes.

Right.

So I think the title was a little provocative,

but it was also meant to signal that people, Americans and Brits, have

an imperfect understanding of progressivism in the U.S. and also of conservatism, and of the

GOP, and indeed of America. So if you go back into the history of the GOP of the Republican Party, there have been a

number of strong progressive moments. Lincoln was one of them. Teddy Roosevelt called himself

...