Charles J. Sykes

George H.W. Bush and the legacy of the Greatest Generation

How to Make America Good Again by challenging Trump.

Trumpism (if not Trump himself) has given oxygen to some of the ugliest impulses among us.

Everything is terrible.

It's not accurate or helpful to imply that conservatism has always been racist, authoritarian, and morally bankrupt.

Not much about genealogy, alas. But we do see what effect Donald Trump has on his opponents.

Cutting off funding for Senate candidates and elevating Michael Avenatti are just two examples.

But that’s what happens when scholars elevate the “grievance industry.”

His anger wasn't the problem; the expression of it was.

The tribalization of conservatism.

Woke emotionalism is not a substitute for sober policy debate.

What's really going on here?

The depressing reality behind Cardinal Cupich's comments that the pope has "got to get on with other things."

The Republican Party will have to answer for Trump, Manafort, and Cohen.

Trump’s most prominent evangelical supporter displays an incredible mix of historical ignorance mixed with moral vacuity.

And Omarosa is, once again, the star.

The pace has been dizzying. With all the walk backs, reversals, dropped contractions, and various obfuscations: Russia week has been Peak Trump. Herewith some quick takeaways.

Donald Trump’s atrocious performance in Helsinki shows that nothing positive he might do is worth the downside.

(1) Naming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is the least Trumpiest thing Trump has done so far (tied with his appointment of Neil Gorsuch.) The often-erratic president followed a highly un-erratic path to this pick, outsourcing the vetting to groups such as the Federalist Society and working…

The Wisconsin Supreme Court rules for professor John McAdams

As America continues its downward spiral of incivility, we have entered the Summer of Jerkitude. (I had thought about using a different word that ended in “-holery,” but wasn’t sure it would pass muster with the editors of a tasteful and intellectual publication like THE WEEKLY STANDARD.)

A Trumpian rubric for our times.

On presidential pardons and commutations.

I get the grifting, I even get the graft.

The president's latest moves—and Steve Bannon’s lastest comments—raise the question.

Woke progressives have created a permanent storm of superiority and conceit.

There's no escape.

Come for the usual hypocrisy, stay for the bracing honesty.

Hannah Arendt proves indispensable in understanding the Trump era.

I wasn’t going to write anything about Matt Schlapp this week but I think it’s never a good idea pass up the opportunity to use the word “oleaginous.”

I wasn’t going to write anything about Matt Schlapp this week but I think it’s never a good idea pass up the opportunity to use the word “oleaginous.”

Mike Pence’s callout to Joe Arpaio was shameless and the sign of a larger problem.

It’s springtime for Pat Buchanan.

The president got quite an education last week from the Supreme Court and the 7th Circuit.

Give her credit: Ann Coulter is a woman of strong convictions. Those convictions may be wrongheaded, bizarre, and even bigoted, but she knows what she believes and is willing to hold Donald Trump accountable. Unless he builds the wall (and not just some candy-ass fence) she's done with him—ready to…

Give her credit: Ann Coulter is a woman of strong convictions. Those convictions may be wrongheaded, bizarre, and even bigoted, but she knows what she believes and is willing to hold Donald Trump accountable. Unless he builds the wall (and not just some candy-ass fence) she's done with him—ready to…

The Trump era, if nothing else, has shown that ideological alignments can be fluid and inconsistent. So fiscal conservatives can find themselves backing massive deficits, while evangelicals hand out mulligans for presidential payoffs to porn stars. But even by those fluctuating standards, the…

The other day on the Daily Standard Podcast, we mused about whether we could recognize an historic turning point at the time it was happening. Usually, we have to wait for historical perspective to distinguish world-changing moments from the usual alarms and blips of the news cycle.

I wish Ruth Marcus had come to the birthday party Wednesday night.