To The Contrary with Charlie Sykes

Tara Palmeri, host of The Tara Palmeri Show and author of the newsletter "The Red Letter," joins Charlie to unpack Trump's attack on Kaitlan Collins at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Todd Blanche's role in the Epstein cover-up, and Lindsey Graham's fraught legacy.

Nicholas Grossman, editor of Arc Digital and professor of international relations at the University of Illinois, joins Charlie to discuss Trump's frenzied posting of AI slop about Iran, the bizarre White House Correspondents' Dinner, and the global implications of the newly announced Saudi nuclear deal.

Jonathan Rauch is a Brookings Institution Senior Fellow and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. In this episode, he joins Charlie to explain how the "postmodern right" thinks it can manipulate reality, how Trump's people thought they could change civil society — and why all of this is failing. They also discuss the continuing casualties from the war with Iran, Trump's obsession with numbers, and Lindsey Graham's legacy.

In this special solo episode, Charlie answers your questions about the latest crisis in US-Canada relations, Jay Clayton's confirmation hearing, and the US-Saudi nuclear deal. 

Ben Wikler served as the chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin for six years. In this episode he joins Charlie to talk about his new book This Is the Plan: How to End America's Meltdown and Save Democracy. Inevitably, they also talk a lot about Wisconsin politics.

Michael Tomasky is the editor of The New Republic and author of a new book titled Killing Baby Hitler. It's part sci-fi thriller, part satire and even though it takes place in the future and the past, it tells us a lot about the present. 

On today’s episode, Charlie welcomes back friend of the show and former US Representative, Adam Kinzinger. The two discuss Graham’s passing and his legacy in relation to Trump, Trump’s mysterious upcoming broadcast on Thursday and the latest on the Iran War.

Justin Wolfers is a professor of economics at the University of Michigan and author of the Platypus Economics Substack. In this episode, he joins Charlie to discuss the economic and political implications of current global events, AI advancements, and Trump's corruption. 

Atlantic writer Tom Nichols joins Charlie to discuss the Maine Senate election fiasco, Trump's antics at the NATO summit, and the Administration looking for a plan C in Iran.