About this episode

Jay Nordlinger interviews Charlie Sykes about his political journey and the evolution of conservative journalism.

Charlie Sykes is a veteran journalist, of a conservative bent. He is a writer and broadcaster. Find Charlie at To the Contrary , his Substack. On Q&A , he and I have had a meaty, wide-ranging chat. He is a Wisconsinite, whose father was a newspaperman. “I always thought of the daily newspaper as a daily miracle,” says Charlie. I thought the same thing, by the way. When Charlie was in eighth grade, his dad was the Wisconsin campaign manager for Eugene McCarthy’s presidential campaign. Charlie traveled around the state that year. He was immersed in politics—the affairs of the nation and world—at an early age. Incidentally, Charlie’s father would move rightward, and so would Charlie himself. Charlie always had a zest for politics. So did I. Has this zest worn off, for both of us? Do we derive the same pleasure from politics—the debates, the rough-and-tumble, the game—that we once did? No. But it is our duty to hang in there, says Charlie: to make the points that need making, and to take the stands that need taking. In this Q&A , we spend a little time on the Iran war. I want to know: Was it worth it? And is “was” the right tense? I hope it was worth it; I’m not sure it was…

People in this episode

Host: Jay Nordlinger

Guest: Charlie Sykes

Topics covered

• politics
• conservative journalism
• right-wing populism
• Iran war
• personal political journey

Keywords

• Charlie Sykes
• Jay Nordlinger
• politics
• conservative journalism
• Iran war
• right-wing populism
• Eugene McCarthy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: To the Contrary, Substack

Places: Wisconsin

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