To The Contrary with Charlie Sykes

Jonathan Rauch is a Brookings Institution Senior Fellow and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. In this episode, he makes the case that the Trump administration is, as a whole, psychotic, erratic, and unpredictable.

Phillips O'Brien is a historian and Professor of Strategic Studies at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. In this episode, he joins Charlie to discuss the different ways Trump could operate in Iran right now and the biggest obstacle to it all — the fact that Trump is only motivated by personal gain and that many people have given up.

Former Congressman and Substack superstar, Adam Kinzinger, joins Charlie to discuss the economic implications of the Iran war, Trump's response to the death of Robert Mueller, and ICE deployment at airports.

On today’s episode, Charlie welcomes author, journalist, political commentator and former Congressional candidate, John Avlon. The two discuss the stark contrast between the decorum of past presidents and Trump, along with the broken incentive structures at the heart of the American political system, and how all this has brought political extremists to the forefront of American politics. 

Ed Luce from the Financial Times joins Charlie to discuss his recent phone call with the president, Trump's obsession with the British Prime Minister, and whether the US is opening another front in Cuba. 

Trying to make sense of Trump's incoherent approach to war and peace with the New Yorker's Susan Glasser, one of the nation's foremost Trumpologists.

Economist Justin Wolfers joins Charlie to explain the impact of rising oil prices but also to remind us that there are much deeper questions that need to be asked.

Molly Jong-Fast, host of the Fast Politics podcast and a contributing NYT Opinion writer, joins Charlie to discuss the miscalculations of the Iran war, the newly-streamable docu-bribe Melania, and Trump's troubles in Texas.

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.