To The Contrary with Charlie Sykes

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. 

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. 

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.

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 positions at Rhodes College, Georgetown University, and American University.

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

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.

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.)

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?

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.