Nathan Denzin:
Do you think that that poses a danger to the American political system?

Charlie Sykes:
Well, I think Donald Trump manifestly poses a threat to the American political system, and I don't think that's theoretical any longer. I don't think that there's any question after January 6th what he is capable of doing. This is a matter of record. Here is a president of the United States, the first president of the United States, to really prevent the peaceful transfer of power. He tried to overturn a fair and free election. He incited a mob to attack the Capitol. He built a wall of lies to incite his followers to try to disrupt the actions of Congress. If that is not a threat to American democracy, I don't know what is, and I think what's most alarming is that knowing what Donald Trump has done and what he is capable of doing, that we also know what perhaps might happen in the future. There was some resistance among Republicans, like Vice President Mike Pence, back in 2021. The great fear is the Republican Party has now gone all in, and will not stand as a guardrail against any of the abuses that Donald Trump, you know, might — that they will not stand as a guardrail against what Donald Trump might do to our liberal constitutional republic. In fact, I wrote a piece back in June for The Atlantic, where I said one of the extraordinary things about the Republican Party now is not only are they all in in defending Donald Trump after his convictions for multiple felonies, but they are also enlisting in his campaign of retribution and vengeance. Donald Trump has said that his next presidency would be a presidency of retribution. He's openly talked about using the power of the federal government to go after and punish his opponents. He's openly talked about jailing his political critics, and the Republican Party, instead of pushing back on that, appears to be all in, and I think that's very dangerous because I think that if there was the belief at one time that principled, old-school establishment Republicans would serve as a brake upon those impulses, I don't think that's the case anymore. In fact, if anything, the great fear is they would be cheering him on.