PELLEY TO WEISS: “It’s not a part-time job.” 🔥 ALFONSI TO WEISS: “Disagreement requires discussion.” 🔥 Bari getting dragged by her own team. #CBSNewsMAX

I mean yeah it’s an authoritarian takeover but can we take some comfort in the fact that the people doing it are INSANELY stupid?

Charlie Sykes: It feels like a fitting bookend to the year of groveling: CBS’s Bari Weiss spikes a 60 Minutes story about Trump’s Salvadoran gulag. The Epstein cover-up continues, as redactions and retractions continue. And, in Phoenix, we’ve seen the future of MAGA, and it is nasty, brutish, weird,

It’s 'debatable' if conservatism is 'even an intellectual movement': Charlie Sykes

Joining @morningjoe-msnow.bsky.social in 7 EThour to discuss…

We’ve seen the future of MAGA, and it is nasty, brutish, weird, and dangerous. JD Vance declares no “purity tests” for neo-Nazis; while Ben Shapiro calls out the bigots, conspiracists, and grifters. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

“we find ourselves in a land of confusion. Trump pays off a porn star and yet is hailed as a champion of Christian values. He mocks prisoners of war and calls dead soldiers “suckers,” and his MAGA base is thrilled by his patriotism…” @sykescharlie.bsky.social

“Mind-bending, also, is that, despite Trump’s fire hose of lies, 71 percent of Republicans describe him as “honest and trustworthy.” @sykescharlie.bsky.social

This @sykescharlie.bsky.social newsletter perfectly encapsulates how I’ve felt about this upside down year we’ve collectively lived. We are not the crazy ones. (You should subscribe). ❤️ open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Kimmel: “You grow up reading Superman and you learn to value truth, justice, and the American way. And then you start to realize, especially over the last year, you don’t know where that all went. You don’t know what the American way even is anymore.” open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Adam Kinzinger on today’s “To the Contrary” podcast: The sick dynamic of Trump’s royal court. Subscribe to get the full video when it’s posted. Subscribe to get the full video when it's released.

Kimmel: “You grow up reading Superman and you learn to value truth, justice, and the American way. And then you start to realize, especially over the last year, you don’t know where that all went. You don’t know what the American way even is anymore.” open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

“Nearly 250 years after American colonists threw off their king, this Trump presidency is arguably the closest the country has come during a time of general peace to the centralized authority of a monarch” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/u...

On the day Donald Trump vandalized the Kennedy Center, Adam Kinzinger predicts that every red state will eventually have a Donald J. Trump Airport (and highway and schools). Because, well, you know… open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

On the day Donald Trump vandalized the Kennedy Center, Adam Kinzinger predicts that every red state will eventually have a Donald J. Trump Airport (and highway and schools). Because, well, you know… open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Adam Kinzinger on today’s “To the Contrary” podcast: The sick dynamic of Trump’s royal court. Subscribe to get the full video when it’s posted. Subscribe to get the full video when it's released.

This take (from yesterday's newsletter) aged pretty well. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

“In effect,” writes the NYT’s Peter Baker, “he bronzed some of his cartoonish social media juvenilia and bolted it to the taxpayer-owned building where two Roosevelts, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan once lived.” charliesykes.substack.com/p/waiting-fo...

This week, I’ve gotten an unusually high volume of emails asking me whether this can actually be real: “Trump disparages presidential foes in plaques attached to White House.” Indeed, it is very real, my friends, beyond the wildest excesses of parody. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

This may be the only time in his life that Donald Trump does not want to see his name plastered all over something. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

A Dark Weekend: Rob Reiner's Tragic Death, Bondi Beach Hanukkah Massacre, and the Rising Tide of Antisemitism Charlie Sykes and I grapple with shocking violence — plus GOP pushback on #Trump's gerrymandering, why Republicans can't fix healthcare, & more! #uspoli open.substack.com/pub/mattklew...

open.substack.com/pub/charlies... Please read this well written column by Charlie Sykes and share it with your friends and neighbors (MAGA included) @sykescharlie.bsky.social well done sir from a former political and government reporter and pleased supporter who’s a registered democrat

Charlie Sykes explores the potential shift among Republicans considering distancing from Trump as midterms approach.

@radiofreetom.bsky.social's photo on the right while being interviewed by Charlie Sykes is how I always imagine Tom looks like when he sees our latest posted replies...

Trump’s shout-fest was, undoubtedly, a big hit with the innumerate and the gullible but, in a sign that he may be losing his touch, even some die-hards found it cringe-worthy. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Trump’s speech exposed a broad spectrum of unwellness. Rushed, ranty, grievance-laden and a brutal slog for fact-checkers, the diatribe was a dog’s breakfast of barking self-pity, finger-pointing, statistical bullshit, and political tone-deafness. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Trump’s shout-fest was, undoubtedly, a big hit with the innumerate and the gullible but, in a sign that he may be losing his touch, even some die-hards found it cringe-worthy. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Trump’s speech exposed a broad spectrum of unwellness. Rushed, ranty, grievance-laden and a brutal slog for fact-checkers, the diatribe was a dog’s breakfast of barking self-pity, finger-pointing, statistical bullshit, and political tone-deafness. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

“Oil… oil… oil… oil… oil… oil…” TLDR: It was never about drugs

FFS

This is a man who mocks the disabled; calls women pigs; who joked about the hammer attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband; who relishes cruelty; and delights in the suffering of his critics. this is who Trump is, and who he has always been. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

So, what did we actually learn yesterday about the soul of the man who sits in the Oval Office? I apologize for the trick question, because the answer is: Nothing. We learned absolutely nothing. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Joining @lastwordmsnow.bsky.social shortly to discuss…

Why Indiana's Defiance of Trump Matters A recording from Charlie Sykes and Julian Zelizer's live video #USA #Trump #uspoli open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Trump threatens democracy in Europe and the US Interview with Charlie Sykes on the menace from the far right comment.press/charlie1512

On the CBS townhall — where Erika Kirk was given a chance to “open up on faith, grief, [and} political violence — she was asked: “Will you condemn the violent rhetoric of Donald Trump, the most powerful and influential person on earth?” She would not. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

On Saturday, CBS hosted a televised townhall with Erika Kirk, the widow of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, who was murdered in September. All of which raises the question: Where’s the network townhall for Melissa Hortman? open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

On the CBS townhall — where Erika Kirk was given a chance to “open up on faith, grief, [and} political violence — she was asked: “Will you condemn the violent rhetoric of Donald Trump, the most powerful and influential person on earth?” She would not. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

On Saturday, CBS hosted a televised townhall with Erika Kirk, the widow of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, who was murdered in September. All of which raises the question: Where’s the network townhall for Melissa Hortman? open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

@sykescharlie.bsky.social and David French discuss that the American public is less bloodthirsty than Stephen Miller wants, and less morally sound than we think of ourselves. Topics include Indiana's gerrymandering rebuke and upcoming SCOTUS tariff ruling. charliesykes.substack.com/p/the-anti-t...

We are not as bloodthirsty as Stephen Miller wants us to be. French argues that Stephen Miller is miscalculating, and that it’s possible to awaken the country’s sleeping conscience. It may already be happening. French thinks we are already seeing a “vibe shift.” substack.com/profile/4298...

Amidst all the various threats, unknowns, sturm und drang of our age, is it possible that this ends not with a bang, but with a pandemic? open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

David French: We are not as bloodthirsty as Stephen Miller wants us to be. (But we are not as good as we thought we were before the Trump era). From today's "To the Contrary" podcast.

This is NOT what voters wanted…. David French explains the difference between the 17 million voters who backed Trump on the primaries and the 77 million who voted for him in the general election. From today's "To the Contrary" Podcast.

Enjoy @sykescharlie.bsky.social and @mollyjongfast.bsky.social conversations. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...