Charlie Sykes

Results may vary.

I'm Charlie Sykes, and this is To the Contrary podcast.

We are less than a month before the midterm elections, and Donald Trump's closing, uh, closing argument is what? He goes to Ohio, and he says, uh, "We're going to shove it up their..." Like, you know what? I don't want the explicit rating in the first five minutes of this.

Let's just say that it was not Abraham Lincoln in terms of presidential rhetoric.

Uh, good to talk with you again, David.

Not quite that long, but it's been a while.

Thanks, [laughs] thanks, Charlie.

Great to be here.

Plus, with the midterm elections just one month away, we're featuring conversations from The Bulletin archives about Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Tallarico and his desire to reclaim Christianity on the left.

Then, Russell Moore and Charlie Sykes analyze what we can glean from political polling data.

Welcome to the show.

Last week, Religion News Service published a report by Bob Smietana provocatively titled The Rise of the Jim Crow Theo Bros.

Polling data continues to show that likely U.S. voters are frustrated with cost-of-living issues and the Iran war, prompting rampant predictions that Democrats will win control of the U.S. House and Senate in next month's midterm elections.

This week, The Washington Post reported widespread alarm among Republicans in Iowa, which has been a GOP stronghold for the past decade.

One Republican strategist told The Washington Post, "...it feels like it could be a wipeout." In a conversation from May, Russell Moore and guest Charlie Sykes break down what we can learn from political polling, which 2028 presidential hopefuls we should keep our eyes on, and the impact that the midterm elections may have on the candidates.

They also discuss the one factor that matters more than anything else in our political system.

Uh, next, The Bulwark Daily, the leftists there talking about politics.

And yes, in the description it says conservative strategist Sarah Longwell, conservative commentators Bill Kristol and Charlie Sykes, which means that The New York Times hasn't listened to anyone at The Bulwark for the past six years, eight years or so to know they are no longer conservatives and haven't been for a long time.

Next, Know Your Enemy, a podcast hosted by, let's see, two leftists.

A leftist guide to the conservative movement.

Amongst her many awards and accomplishments, Stephanie was named a finalist for the Bastiat Prize for Journalism.

She was selected as a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow and has been a guest on a variety of influential podcasts before this one, including Jonah Goldberg's Charlie Sykes and Ezra Klein's.

This new book, Fusionism, is making a huge splash.

I see lots and lots of people talking about it, and I'm excited about it.

I'm Charlie Sykes, and this is the To the Contrary podcast.

When I was growing up in the last century, one of my favorite books was John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage.

Well, now journalist Jacob Weisberg has written a book for our century called Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump Era, case studies of eight key figures whose cowardice is emblematic of our time.

Thank you, Charlie.

And thank you all for listening to this episode of To the Contrary podcast.

I'm Charlie Sykes.

You know why we do this, because year in and year out, first of all, we're not gonna kowtow, we're not going to cave in, um, and we are going to remind you on a regular basis that if you don't cave in and you don't kowtow, you are not the crazy ones.

Thanks.

The 90s are so back with the balance of power in Congress on the line.

Let's bring in Charlie Sykes, author of the Substack newsletter to the contrary.

Democratic strategist and former communications director for Julian Castro's campaign, Sawyer Hackett.

Capitol Hill correspondent for Puck, Mariana Sotomayor, and our own MSNL Capitol Hill reporter, Kevin Fry.

Look out for it when you see those ads.

Always follow the money.

Jake Lahut, Charlie Sykes, thank you both so much for being with us.

Still ahead, allegations of a foiled terror plot in the UK involving five men near an airbase used by the US.