Charlie Sykes
Charlie Sykes has long been one of the most influential voices on conservative talk radio. That means he likely surprised some of his listeners when he became a co-founder of The Bulwark, one of the nation’s leading anti-authoritarian media platforms.
From 1993 to 2016, Sykes hosted a conservative radio program on WTMJ in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He also served as editor of Right Wisconsin. Since then, he has become a frequent commentator on MS NOW and contributor to publications including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
He has also authored several influential books, most notably How the Right Lost Its Mind, a sharp critique of the moral decline of modern conservatism published in 2017.
The rise of Donald Trump in 2016 led Sykes to conclude that much of his own political movement had lost its moral compass. Long before a scintilla of such criticism arose within conservative circles, he warned that Trumpism represented an assault on both conservative principles and democratic norms. In choosing moral conviction over party loyalty, Sykes demonstrated unusual independence and courage, risking his standing within his own political tribe.
He has since spoken forcefully about the toll imposed on our democracy by political extremism, conspiracy thinking, and the birth of alternative facts and parallel realities. Sykes has become a bridge figure - connecting traditional conservatives, independents, and pro-democracy liberals who have found common cause in the defense of democratic institutions and the rule of law.
As Sykes reflected on the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, he emphasized that the revolution of 1776 was fundamentally a rejection of absolute power concentrated in the hands of one individual. He argued that the principle of three co-equal branches, embedded in the architecture of the Constitution, was designed to check concentrated power.
The age of Trump has caused Sykes to fear that the founders may have been a bit naive. He described today’s Congress as little more than a “potted plant” in the face of unprecedented consolidation of executive authority. He argues that the Supreme Court’s 2024 presidential immunity ruling has pushed the nation toward a “unitary executive” rather than a tripartite government. The result, he contends, is a presidency above the law and increasingly insulated from accountability.
“I come from a conservative background, but there comes a time when the concentration of wealth, the inequality of wealth, is a real challenge to any democratic society and to any kind of social order. We may be about to reap that whirlwind.”
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - JANUARY 6, 2026