author and former talk show host
Charlie Sykes is the author of Fail U: The False Promise of Higher Education, Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism -- from Goldwater to Trump and Beyond, and How the Right Lost Its Mind. He is a former editor-in-chief of RightWisconsin.com and former host of WNYC's Indivisible, a public radio program about America in a time of change.
The state of the GOP and scrambled political lines Some Republicans feel like their party was the victim of a hostile takeover by Donald Trump. These #NeverTrumpers are still nursing their wounds -- and a number of them are reaching across the Left-Right divide to form unlikely alliances.
Sexual harassment hits both sides on Capitol Hill Segment description: Democrats may be in a precarious position on harassment allegations. Should the public differentiate between the Roy Moores and the Al Frankens?
The 'bully pulpit' in a divided nation After condemning Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan on Monday, President Trump spoke again yesterday of this weekend’s violence at the University of Virginia. The White House scheduled a press conference to change the subject from Saturday’s violence at the University of Virginia to infrastructure repair, but President Trump turned it into another defense of armed white racists and the demonstration they called Unite-the-Right. He seemed to find moral equivalence between armed white racists supporting a Confederate symbol and those who protested. David Duke and other white nationalists say they’re grateful for those words; Republicans are almost unanimous in their outrage. What are the consequences when a President provokes ideas and emotions that go back to the Civil War?
Trump attacks the integrity of the election in final debate Last night’s final presidential debate was almost traditional at the beginning—with disagreements on substantive issues crisply delivered by both candidates. But Hillary Clinton got under Donald Trump’s skin with a comment about his relationship with Vladimir Putin.
Trump versus the media: can either side win? Every politician battles the media, including Hillary Clinton. But her toxic relations with reporters are nothing like Donald Trump's. Now, after helping Trump start his campaign with $2 billion worth of free air-time, are the media turning against him? Even one right-wing talk-show hosts says, "We've created a monster." Mainstream reporters insist Trump's contradictions and outright falsehoods are changing the rules. But others say Clinton's getting a free pass. Is media credibility already too compromised to survive this year's campaign?
Venezuela spirals into economic and political chaos Venezuela, a country whose potential for prosperity is unmatched, finds itself on the verge of civil war. What sustains the repressive government? With time running out, guest host León Krauze looks at what the international community can do to pull the country from the edge of collapse.
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
