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

January 22, 2026 50 mins
Peter Wehner, a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, joins Charlie to discuss the latest DHS video and why many evangelical pastors are not standing up to Trump.

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Charlie invites Joe Klein, political commentator and author of Primary Colors, to discuss the 1961 film Judgment at Nuremberg and the 2025 film Nuremberg, and why they resonate today. They also talk about some of the latest news, their political trajectories, and their disagreements. 

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Olivia Troye, a former DHS official who served under Trump during his first term, joins Charlie to talk about the week’s news and what’s been worrying her lately, including the dangers of DHS messaging on social media.

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January 15, 2026 43 mins

Jonathan Rauch, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and contributing writer at The Atlantic, joins Charlie to explain why he thinks Trump is following a European authoritarian playbook. 




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January 13, 2026 49 mins
Miles Taylor, a former DHS official during Trump's first term, joins Charlie to dissect the administration's response to the ICE killing of Nicole Renee Good in Minneapolis. 

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January 10, 2026 55 mins
In this episode, Charlie answers your questions about the ICE killing in Minneapolis, the Donroe Doctrine, and the psychological and physical burdens of living under Trumpism.

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January 8, 2026 49 mins

Laura K. Field, the author of the new book "Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right," joins Charlie to explain why we should pay attention to the new right intellectuals and the seductive nature of their ideas.


Field is a nonresident fellow in the Governance Studies program at Brookings Institution. She holds a Ph.D. in political theory and public law from the University of Texas at Austin and has held faculty ...

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Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum joins Charlie from Poland to discuss the troubling start to 2026 with Trump's actions in Venezuela.

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January 3, 2026 61 mins
Charlie and The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols reflect on the upheavals of 2025 and debate whether Trump really has three more years in office — or only one, if Democrats retake the House in 2026.

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December 30, 2025 50 mins
Charlie invites Matt Lewis, author of Filthy Rich Politicians and Too Dumb to Fail, to look back at the year. They also look ahead and ask how the next president can fix the culture and repair the harm done by Trump. (Hint: it’s going to be extremely hard.)

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December 27, 2025 52 mins
Charlie and The New Yorker writer Susan Glasser summarize the year for TTC listeners: The erosion of guardrails, the collapse of institutions, and the differences between 2025 and the first year of Trump 1.0, 2017. They also ask: what the hell is the point of Congress anymore?

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December 23, 2025 53 mins

In this episode, Charlie speaks with former GOP political strategist Lucy Caldwell. They discuss the botched release of the Epstein files, Bari Weiss's decision to spike a 60 Minutes segment, MAGA infighting, the problem with RFK, Jr., and a heated Senate race in Maine.




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Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger came on TTC to talk about Trump's insistence on marking his territory everywhere -- from the Kennedy Center to the Presidential walk of fame, where he installed new plaques mocking Biden and Obama. 



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Charlie speaks with TTC regular Tom Nichols, The Atlantic writer and retired professor at the U.S. Naval War College, about Trump wagging the dog in Venezuela and his continued attacks on director Rob Reiner. 




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December 16, 2025 45 mins

Charlie speaks with former US Attorney Harry Litman about the beloved director Rob Reiner and Trump's response to his murder, Admiral Holsey who retired after overseeing the military boat strikes, and some of the latest court decisions. Litman also explains why there's no area of greater corruption than Trump's use of the pardon power. 



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But we are also not as good as we thought we were before the Trump era, according to David French, a New York Times opinion columnist. He argues that Stephen Miller is miscalculating, and that it's possible to awaken the country's sleeping conscience. 


In this episode, he and Charlie also discuss the Indiana Senate's rejection of Trump's redistricting bill, the upcoming Supreme Court decision on tariffs, and&...

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December 11, 2025 40 mins

Charlie speaks with Rachael Bade, political reporter and host of The Huddle, who says the constant rumors about Trump planning to fire his cabinet members are utterly unsubstantiated. They also discuss the affordability "hoax,” Nancy Mace, and what Trump expects in return for a pardon.



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We recently learned that AG Pam Bondi had issued an 8-page memo that orders the FBI to “compile a list of groups or entities engaging in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism". It's now becoming clear that is not just an aggressive memo, it creates a secret domestic terror list Congress never approved. In this short, special episode, Charlie explain more.




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In this episode, Charlie speaks with Charlie Dent, former Congressman from Pennsylvania and National Co-Chair of Our Republican Legacy. Together, they're trying to figure out whether Speaker Mike Johnson has a problem with women, what’s next for health care legislation, and just how much weaker Congress can get.

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December 6, 2025 52 mins

In this solo episode, Charlie answers readers' questions about RFK Jr., the murderous boat strikes, the ranking of stupidity among cabinet members, and how it's all connected to our children's education. As a bonus, he also talks about his dogs. 



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