Tag: charlie sykes
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and former President Donald Trump.

Far Right Republicans Wrote Putin’s Talking Points

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Far-right apologists for the January 6 insurrectionists, from Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia to Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin to Fox News' Tucker Carlson, have seriously downplayed the violence that occurred that day at the U.S. Capitol. Johnson has defended the rioters as "people that love this country" and said there was "no violence" during that attack; Clyde has compared the January 6 attack to a "normal tourist visit," while Carlson has defended the insurrectionists as "sad, disenfranchised people." But conservative columnist Charlie Sykes sees nothing innocent or harmless about the January 6 insurrection, and he emphasizes that Republican apologists for the rioters have given Russian President Vladimir Putin an anti-U.S. talking point.

In his latest column for The Bulwark, the Never Trump conservative writes, "Our current sludge of disinformation, bilge and crackpottery is thoroughly domestic, amplified by a million voices on social media, national networks, and until recently, the White House itself. And now, it has come full circle as Russian President Vladimir Putin feeds back our homegrown disinformation. [The Washington Post's] Dana Milbank notes the symmetry: 'For the past few years, Republicans in Congress have echoed Russian propaganda. On Wednesday, in Geneva, Vladimir Putin returned the favor: He echoed Republican propaganda.'"

Putin's allies in the Kremlin, Sykes laments, "have adopted the talking points of" American "right-wing media about January 6." On June 16 in Geneva, Switzerland, Sykes notes, Putin pointed out that the January 6 rioters are facing "very harsh sentences."

"Putin took the opportunity to emphasize the point," Sykes writes. "Asked about his repression of political dissent, Putin put on a bravura performance of whataboutism."

In Geneva, Putin brought up Ashli Babbitt, a Capitol rioter fatally shot on January 6 — and Sykes writes that comparing the shooting of Babbitt to human rights abuses in Russia is ludicrous.

"Afterward, President Biden called the comparison 'ridiculous,' as indeed it was," Sykes observes. "But the whole episode showed how our political world has devolved in just a few years."

Never-Trump Conservatives Mock GOP’s ‘Historic’ Wisconsin Defeat

Never-Trump Conservatives Mock GOP’s ‘Historic’ Wisconsin Defeat

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's Morning Joe, isn't the only Never Trump conservative who has been pouring salt on the GOP's wounds over Wisconsin's April 7 election: Charlie Sykes, co-founder of The Bulwark, is doing so as well this week — and, like Scarborough, is arguing that Republicans subjected themselves to a public relations fiasco over a right-wing candidate who didn't even win: incumbent Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly.

In Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers and other Democrats — fearing for the safety of voters during the coronavirus pandemic — called for postponing the election and encouraged mail-in ballots as an alternative to in-person voting. But Republicans in the state legislature resisted that idea, and on Tuesday, April 7, the election went ahead. Those who hadn't already mailed in absentee ballots had to vote in person — and Wisconsin voters, thanks to Republicans, stood in long lines on Election Day. Scarborough has been slamming the Wisconsin GOP for putting voters at a greater risk of being infected with coronavirus.

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Endorse This: A #NeverTrump Radio Host Grills Donald

Endorse This: A #NeverTrump Radio Host Grills Donald

Since this election season began, a handful of media outlets — including us — have wondered loudly and often why Donald Trump isn’t challenged on his inflammatory rhetoric, horrific business record, impossible policy proposals, and bleak general election chances.

Now, as the Republican frontrunner comes within closer reach of his party’s presidential nomination, we’re beginning to see the sort of scrutiny that would have been both badly needed (and surprisingly out of place) just a few months ago.

This morning, Trump called into Wisconsin broadcaster Charlie Sykes’s radio show to talk about the states’s upcoming primary. Wisconsin votes for its presidential preferences next Tuesday, and Ted Cruz currently leads polling in the state.

Sykes started the interview by explaining that Wisconsin Republicans value “civility, decency and actual conservative principles,” and things didn’t get better from there.

With a few minutes left in the segment, Sykes tells Trump that he’s one of a growing number of so-called #NeverTrump conservatives, who claim that they’d sooner stay home, or even vote for the Democratic Party’s nominee, rather than support Trump for president.

That might explain the line of questioning Sykes pursued — or, you know, he could just be doing what good journalists should have been doing since Trump proved early on that he wouldn’t be shedding any of his reality TV persona to run for president.

If you’ve been waiting for someone to confront Trump about his candidacy’s gigantic contradictions, the interview is worth a listen.

Photo: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Dallas, Texas, in this file photo taken September 14, 2015.  REUTERS/Mike Stone/Files