To The Contrary with Charlie Sykes

To The Contrary with Charlie Sykes

You are not the crazy ones. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

March 10, 2026 35 mins
Author and Senior Editor of Arc Digital, Nicholas Grossman, joins Charlie to discuss the White House's "hype videos" concerning the War in Iran, the economic consequences of the conflict and how the SAVE act may affect the upcoming midterms. 

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In this solo episode, Charlie is recapping the long awaited firing of Homeland Security Secretary. He also answers the questions you sent us on a wide range of current issues.



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Josh Barro, co-host of Central Air and author of the Very Serious Substack, joins Charlie to discuss a wide range of political news: the Iran war, the Texas primaries, Anthropic, and Trump’s tariff obsession.

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March 3, 2026 43 mins
The Atlantic's Anne Applebaum joins Charlie to try to figure out why we're at war with Iran. Is it about Trump's friends and business partners in Gulf states and Israel? Was Iran a long-term obsession of Trump? Or is it just the ultimate wag-the-dog move for him at this moment?

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February 28, 2026 54 mins
The Atlantic writer, Tom Nichols, joins Charlie to discuss the rise of extremist ideologies within the Republican Party, the Epstein files, and whether we're going to war.

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February 26, 2026 45 mins
Voters have soured on Trump, but polls suggest they still have their doubts about Democrats. Long time Democratic strategist and president of The Searchlight Institute, Adam Jentleson, joins Charlie to discuss past mistakes and the challenges now facing the Democratic Party. Also, Trump's State of the Union, and Senator John Fetterman.

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Jamil Smith, a columnist at The Guardian, and lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, joins Charlie to discuss the State of the Union, Trump's blatant racism, and the latest environmental policy shift you probably didn't hear about. 

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February 21, 2026 45 mins
Former Congressman and now children’s book author, Adam Kinzinger, joins Charlie to discuss Lindsey Graham’s behavior at the Munich Security Conference, the Trump administration inching closer to a conflict with Iran and how all this foreign policy affects the political landscape at home. 

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February 19, 2026 43 mins
Tara Palmeri, host of The Tara Palmeri Show and the author of the newsletter “The Red Letter”, joins Charlie to discuss the latest on the Epstein scandal that shadowed almost every aspect of the second Trump presidency.

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Susan Glasser of The New Yorker joins Charlie to talk about Trump's attempt to arrest and indict six sitting members of Congress, Marco Rubio in Munich, and DHS asking tech companies to expose the personal details of "anti-ICE" social media accounts. 

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February 14, 2026 51 mins
David Frum of The Atlantic joins Charlie to break down the shifting public opinion on Trump, Pam Bondi’s congressional testimony, and how AI is changing us.

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February 12, 2026 47 mins

Reporter Ashley Parker spent eight years at The Washington Post before joining The Atlantic. She’s been watching the recent moves by owner Jeff Bezos and the paper’s leadership, and explains to Charlie why she believes they may be leading the paper toward its demise.



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February 10, 2026 39 mins
Peter Wehner, a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, joins Charlie to explain why some evangelicals see Trump as a defender of their values. Also: Bad Bunny.

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February 7, 2026 52 mins
Following Jeff Bezos's gutting of the Washington Post, economist Justin Wolfers joins Charlie to try to unpack billionaires' actions. Also, how's the American economy really doing these days?

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February 5, 2026 54 mins
Garrett M. Graff, a contributing editor at WIRED and former editor of POLITICO Magazine, joins Charlie to try to answer that question. Also (not unrelated): where did the Proud Boys go?

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February 3, 2026 47 mins

Legal analyst and Talking Feds host, Harry Litman, joins Charlie to talk about Trump shutting down Kennedy Center, the release of 5-year-old Liam Ramos, and the dire state of the U.S. Attorney office for the District of Minnesota.


To read Litman's piece on the Kennedy Center: Trump Meets Lincoln, Doesn’t Recognize Him



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Kristy Greenberg, former Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and a legal analyst for MS Now, joins Charlie to dive into the current legal landscape and discuss the integrity of our justice system.




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January 29, 2026 51 mins

Mike Pesca, host of The Gist, joins Charlie to unpack how the administration’s “chaos is a ladder” approach to immigration enforcement is failing. Public perception is shifting and ICE is increasingly viewed as the problem, not the protesters.



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Katherine Stewart, journalist and author of the book Money, Lies, and God joins Charlie to process the killing of Alex Pretti and share insights from her work on the New Right. 

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January 24, 2026 44 mins
New York Times Opinion writer David French joins Charlie to discuss the rising tensions in Minneapolis and Trump's newly formed "Board of Peace."

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