The New York Times described Never Trump stalwart Charlie Sykes as “racist” and accused him of hyping “false claims of voter fraud” in an article touting his support for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.
It was the latest example of the left — in this case, the Times — punishing a former conservative whose defection it nonetheless is happy to exploit. Sykes is hosting a Harris event in Wisconsin Monday with former Rep. Liz Cheney.
The Times wrote Saturday:
During his heyday on Milwaukee radio, he regularly suggested shadowy outside forces were engaging in voter fraud to rig local elections and on occasion referred to Mrs. [Michelle] Obama using the racist sobriquet “Mooch.” In 2009, he emceed an event with Sarah Palin for the anti-abortion group Wisconsin Right to Life.
Until 2016, when he emerged as a leading conservative critic of Donald J. Trump’s first presidential bid, Mr. Sykes was a reliable mouthpiece for right-wing causes in Wisconsin. He was instrumental in the political rise of Senator Ron Johnson and Gov. Scott Walker, Republicans he later broke with after turning on Mr. Trump.
More recently, Mr. Sykes wrote a book denouncing Trump-allied conservatives and became an explainer of the political right on MSNBC and the center-right outlet The Bulwark, which he founded in 2018 and left in February. In 2021, Mr. Sykes announced he was no longer a Republican. This month, he said he would vote for Ms. Harris.
The Times noted that Sykes has apologized for his remark about Michelle Obama and that local Democrats welcome his support for Harris.
Nevertheless, the Times saw fit to remind its readers of Sykes’ offensive remarks, in chronicling his political break with Republicans over Trump’s candidacy, suggesting all had not, in fact, been forgiven.
Sykes has often been offensive toward those who support Trump: last year, he referred to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) with a homophobic term. Asked by this author how he defended the use of such language, he called it “perfect.”
Other Republicans who have been treated similarly by Democrats and the mainstream media include former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who was rewarded for his service to the anti-Trump cause by having his congressional district redrawn to make it impossible for him to win. Kinzinger and Cheney were the token anti-Trump Republicans on the January 6 Committee, a scripted show trial that abused witnesses, broadcast false claims, and destroyed evidence.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
