A Christian conservative voter confronted Representative Andy Biggs during a discussion on C-SPAN on Monday.
Biggs, an Arizona Republican who is a staunch conservative and supporter of former President Donald Trump, appeared on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on Monday morning for a discussion about key issues shaping political discourse, including government funding, immigration and foreign policy. During the interview, a caller confronted him about the state of the modern Republican Party.
The discussion comes as Trump has appeared to lock down the GOP’s presidential nomination, with his final high-profile challenger, Nikki Haley, ending her campaign last week, likely setting up a rematch against President Joe Biden. His style of politics, at times described as more brash, has significantly reshaped the Republican Party, as he remains deeply popular with conservative voters.
Republican critics of Trump argue the “MAGA” brand has driven away moderate and suburban voters crucial to GOP victories in battleground states, pointing to his loss in 2020 and the subpar performance of some Trump-aligned candidates in the 2022 midterms. His supporters, however, say he has won over some longtime Democratic voters and can engage with more rural voters in a way other Republicans have struggled to do.
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The caller, who was identified as Nick from Berlin, Connecticut, said he has been “puzzled” by the alleged “divisiveness” within in the GOP, while arguing that the country has been “doing very well” under the Biden administration.
Berlin is a suburb of Hartford that backed Trump by about 5 percentage points in 2020, a shift from his 11-point victory in 2016.
Nick said he has moved around the country five times, registering as a Republican at each point, and that he views the country as being in a “strong” position based on his recent travels.
“I just registered as a Republican two months ago, for the fifth time yesterday, and I’m just going to leave with this comment. And that is I registered as a Republican because I’m a conservative, and I’m going to vote for Joe Biden because I’m a Christian,” he said.
Biggs responded to the caller, saying that he “probably should have re-registered as a Democrat,” while addressing his concerns about Trump and Republicans.
“If you’re not voting for Donald Trump because you think he’s not a Christian or not a moral man, I’m not going to say ‘Look at Joe Biden.’ I would just say we should all look at ourselves and see who’s casting the first stone,” he said.
Biggs said he is not sure divisiveness in the U.S. is at its worst point in history, pointing to the 1960s and the Cold War period.
“There’s been a lot of divisiveness throughout the country throughout history,” he said. “I also would not say that all of the division starts because of Republicans. To be frank with you, I think that’s a bit of an absurdity to say that.”
A spokesperson for Biggs declined to provide further comment when reached by Newsweek.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.