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LSE: The Ballpark | Courage and partisanship in US politics with Rye Barcott

Given the potential repercussions of trying to work across the aisle, for many in Washington DC, working in a bipartisan manner has become an act of courage.
Given the potential repercussions of trying to work across the aisle, for many in Washington DC, working in a bipartisan manner has become an act of courage.
Tuesday 3 November 2026 | 27 minutes 3 seconds
Listen on SoundCloudDownload File | 37.18MB

The rise of polarization in American politics has made bipartisan cooperation on important policy issues much more difficult in recent years. Given the potential electoral repercussions of trying to work across the aisle, for many in Washington DC, working in a bipartisan manner has become an act of courage.

This kind of political courage is at the centre of a new book by our guest on this episode of The Ballpark, Rye Barcott. Rye Barcott is former officer in the US Marine corps and was deployed to Bosnia, the Horn of Africa and Iraq and has built a solar power investing firm. He has also founded nonprofit and civic minded organizations like With Honor, which advocates for veteran leadership in elected office and bipartisan cooperation in Congress.

In his book, Courage Can Save Us, he profiles 10 US military veterans, 5 Republicans and 5 Democrats, to examine political courage in the US today. In this conversation with the Phelan US Centre, Rye Barcott discusses the idea of courage in American politics and why it has become increasingly difficult to see, the role of veterans and service members in American and UK politics and the importance of the 2026 midterm elections for bipartisan cooperation on national security.

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Avan Fata.

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