And culture . What happened to us that led up tole that . This of course is a big question i had after the election. Look about and go what just happened . What did we miss . What were the things going on that i thought i understood that maybe i i didnt . . With the 2016 . Guest i started off with a thesis that donald trump was a black swan. He came in and took over sort of as a fluke, took over this otherwise healthy movement, but ultimately thats not a sustainable thesis. This was a dysfunction in the conservative movement and the Republican Party with preexisting condition. Hes a symptom and its been a Long Time Coming and i tried to go back and what were those moments, what were the signposts . Was it when the republicans adopted as the seven strategy or Newt Gingrich weapon eyes politics . The moment that they thought sarah palin should be the Vice President ial nominee . Was a weird the conservative media became the gatekeepers when we outsourced our thought leadership to the angry drunk at the end of the bar x theres a lot of potential answers. Host Charles Sykes is our guest and if you were watching earlier he walked up talked about his book about 45 minutes and at the point of this segment is to get your reaction to what you heard and what we will talk about. 2027088500. We will begin taking calls in a few minutes. Mr. Sykes, how do you define your conservativism . Guest interesting question because im not sure what the word conservative means in that term of trump. If conservativism is confined by populism of Steve Obannon and donald trump and roy more than i am out. Im not part of the movement, but for me conservativism is based on the principles of individual liberty, constitutional government, fiscal responsibility, those values but you wonder whether or not that is what the conservative movement is about anymore. Host lets go back to goldwater was this a similar problem with the Republican Party at that time when Barry Goldwater got the nomination and people were saying no hes too extreme . Guest i would argue no. Theres a book along the same lines at a different point of view. I actually think Barry Goldwater represented an ideological shift in the party and William F Buckley junior was at the point then of establishing integrate intellectual credentials where is donald trump represents the rejection of the conservative intellectual tradition. The rejection of many of those small government ideas. Remember in the 60s or . Buckley junior junior did something crucial. He said if conservativism is taken seriously when you get rid of our crackpots and extremists and get rid of the kkk, john Burke Society and fast board to 2016 and known as a position out who has the moral or Political Authority to do what William F Buckley did, so i think whats happening now is a rejection of that conservative tradition that dated back to their goldwater. That said whos a contemporary political favor of years . Guest i would say more in the political tradition of Charles Krauthammer or Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard and nurse i didnt mention politicians because one of the lessons of 2016 is put not your faith in all of this because one of the things the spokes this book talks about is take the focus of a donald trump and look to whats happened to the Republican Party and one of the most extraordinary things to watch now is their willingness to rollover even recognizing all of the problems with this administration and the rejection of many of the conservative principles. Host from a political standpoint what is the option see to what is the option . Host yes. Guest i am definitely in the political wilderness. I think a lot of conservatives who watch what happened with four in disbelief now find themselves excommunicated or exiled, i mean, i knew we would be in the wilderness one where another, but i did not know it would be such a small desert island. Host dan jones when he was talking about his book today said quote you have a great party in danger of being taken over by White Supremacists in regard to the gop. Is that a fair statement . Guest probably an overstatement. We have a great party that is on the verge you know, i would say being taken over by some of the darker impulses of american culture, White Supremacy is unfortunately one of them and after charlottesville life got to be something we confront, but theres more going on now i think rather than that one issue, but i will say if the Republican Party becomes the party of donald trump and roy moore then its headed for political oblivion and i think at some point there needs to be that kind of a reckoning. Host its been a year and donald trump did win. Was the message that resonated . Guest people wanted some sort of fundamental change, i mean, they wanted to burn it all down. I think the voters flipped the middle finger to the establishment politicians in america are donald trump thought that was a salute for himself when it was really a protest against a lot of things. The reality is theres a lot legitimate, legitimate grievances about the economy, about the inequities in the economy. The failure of washington to address these issues. The question is whether or not there was an alternative to going along with the sort of demagogic populism nationalism that we actually call with donald trump and i think there was a way of addressing legitimate grievances without going that far. Host often when an election happens and people are happy with results or they think the parties are going in the wrong direction they say we need a thirdparty. We need a third way. Are you a supporter of that issue to our will wait and see on all of that. I ended up voting for a thirdparty candidate, a writein, but if there was going to be a thirdparty it would have already happened, i mean, 2016 was the perfect year, the perfect story between two candidates the voters were not happy with so if you didnt get a thirdparty in 2016 when will you get a thirdparty . , but it would be nice to break the binary choice and i dont know how that would be because right now we have tribal politics with everyone in their corners and your party becomes your tribal identity and as a result you are willing to accept anything, willing to accept any falsehood, any sort of extreme behavior because this is your tribe. If you could break the binary choice i think you would be positive thing for the american democracy. Host if Jeb Bush Marco Rubio would have been nominated would you have supported them . Guest yes, without any problem. Host Charles Sykes is our guest and how the right write lost its mind is the broken. Offers caller is bernie. Caller good afternoon. First, i am from new york, never voted democratic. On totally astounded with the culture of this country is coming to. Its beyond my comprehension to believe that this man has been elected president of the united states. It just boggles my mind. Further, so i believe theres a problem with the culture we have. Something has happened with the culture. Nevermind the right. You can get 56 million votes just from the threat of the conservative. He got middle america. And its just a shock to me and i have one little faster on the side, something of note that i think in the first debate Carly Fiorina after he insulted her, got off that platform and slapped him that it would of been the end of his process of nomination. Bernie. Thank you. Problem with the culture guest i think he is correct. How many times did we say okay now that he is said this, he has mocked the disabled, mocked prisoners of war, made fun of womens looks and gone on tape bragging about sexually assaulting women and we kept saying the people will look at this and the horrified. They turned around and elected him president. That says more about us than him and thats why i went to turn the focus from i know we are riveted by watching the orange god king all the time in the ultimate reality tv show, but what does this say about our reality tv politics and what we are willing to accept. We are post ethics culture and i am old enough to remember when character matters and honestly something has changed which is why even agile after donald trump leaves im concerned about the gatt damage this is done to the culture and what we have learned about our political culture because that doesnt snap back at the end of Donald Trumps turn term. Host next call from maria. Caller hello. I just want to ask the fact that i was horrified that trump one and i thought it might not be so bad because it didnt have checks and balances and then the republicans will come to the floor and will debate and perhaps not let his agenda go forward and we will also be against trump in the sense that he is so immoral and things like that and then i grew up in queens new york with parents that were very republican and even a line of democrats that were very republican and they were very anticommunist and so the republicans not to be outraged absolutely outraged that. Host thank you, marie. Thank you. Charles sykes. Caller there is this the russia story will knock away anytime soon, but im actually of all the things that have disappointed and disillusioned me about the Republican Party their willingness to kind of rollover on the question of did the russians actually tried to attack our democracy because again im old enough to remember when conservative republicans would have thought that was a major issue that transcended partisan boundaries. Its a american issue. We will see where this goes, but this is one of the more troubling parts i think of whats happening right now, i mean, i understand some of my friends in the Republican Party say yes, but we will get big packs cuts. Well, was the price tag for that and will there be a reckoning on whats going on with the russia think . I do not think that should be something to divide republicans and democrats. Host what you think about the republican congress. Disappointing in the sense that they have aches accommodated themselves so much to this president , but its interesting that in trump world donald trump cannot fail. You can only be the trade. Theres a phenomenon that i find interesting is that kerry truman said the buck stops here. You notice with this president that the bug never stops with him. Its always someone else no matter how much goes on in the house and senate this president will always throw them under the bus and blame them. We will see what they do if we get anything done, but i think we are at a defining moment. Host herald is calling in from elroy, wisconsin. Herald, you are on with former radio talk show host Charles Sykes. Caller i know charlie well. I listen to him and i think sometimes hes more a democrat than republican. Hes so bitter. Trump has been so good. Foreignpolicy rolling back relations. He doesnt apologize and bow. Is a strong leader and the Supreme Court i will tell you something, everybody we have right now and this charlie is unbelievable work thanks for giving my opinion. Host Tommy Thompson. Guest i think its tommys birthday today or yesterday. Host that the random. Guest that was the era where leaders were able to work across the line to get things done, i mean, Tommy Thompson was one of the original reform governors of the upper midwest and i think we are willing to appreciate people like Tommy Thompson more. Host Charles Sykes, as the parties collect into the right first of all do you agree they are getting more extreme . I think the electorate is key more extreme and i think our politics has become more extreme work i think you watch where the voters are going and they are becoming more extreme and i think its reflected in the Political Party. Host are constantly from the viewers, im in the middle. Im lost. If there is such a middle where they not affected. Thats a fascinating question and its something im looking at as a question of is there some sort of Common Ground between centerleft and centerright and there ought to be on a number of crucial issues, but the reality is that the hardcore base, the jews of both parties tends to be at the extreme so if you are republican elected official you are not actually worried about the general election. You arent worried about independent monarch electorates. Your way about the primary challenge that forces you to the right. Similar things have happened on the left, but it will be interesting to see where we come out of this. At the other end of this will people be tired of these tribal politics or is this big did it our political dna . Host we are lie with the Miami Book Fair with author and msnbc contributor Charles Sykes with his new book called has the right lost his mind and kristi is calling in california. Caller hello. I wanted to thank you, charlie. Icu every once in a while on msnbc. Im very thankful for conservatives speaking up. Full disclosure im a democrat. I did vote for reagan and i voted for hw bush, but ive moved to the Democratic Party and have been there ever since. But, i think its importance for all of us to listen to voices of truth. We all need to find our moral compass in this country again. Its very important. We need to stop looking at party and start looking at what is right and whats wrong because i think at the heart of it all of us are hungry enough for truth. We have normalized the alt universe where facts dont matter anymore and they do in the press matters and people that have a moral conscious that can speak up like you, charlie and for other people that i follow also on the left, i followed stephen christie, lets get a response to what you had to say. Charlie . Guest thank you for the kind words and also i was on the show recently with another republican consultant who envisioned what he called the coalition of the defense and im like i wonder if there is that coalition out there, a coalition that says who matters. Decency matters. Im hoping that is the case. Sometimes you dont really appreciate what you have lost no matter how much you care about something until you run the risk of losing it and i think a lot of americans have been so shocked by the Political Development are willing to open their mind to some of these ideas. Another thing you write about and how the right lost its mind is the impact the internet has had on politics. Guest when you think back of how radical our politics have changed, when Ronald Reagan was president there really was no conservative media. s fox news was not on the air. There was no breitbart. Com. And people didnt get their news through facebook and sent out conservatives were able to win elections, so lets change . Its been this transformation of the thought leadership on the conservative movement, the dumbing down of the conservative movement. Unfortunately, its made it possible to be this post factual era. Im not against social media, its just the tools and it has the mark with ties information, which is a good thing. Its a great thing that the mob monopoly of the Mainstream Media has been broken, but we worked into this alternative reality silo where everyone has their own truth, narrative and really dont speak to one another and that is what is dangerous. Host have you thought about running for office . Guest never i never would. Host why . Guest because i like what im doing now some much and why would anyone put themselves through that . Host scott walker, how is he doing . Guest i think he will be reelected this year in part because i think the democrats hailed it to get their act together. I dont think they have a strong candidate, but the story of the scott walker is a cosh fairytale for democrats because remember all of the protests in wisconsin . The large effect of that was to turn the electorate against them to create a backlash of real support for scott walker. He was underwater in the polls on those collective bargaining until those protests and by overplaying the hand they basically gave him the reelection, so i would suggest to the democrats just yes, obviously you want to draw the line with donald trump, but dont make the same mistake. Host historically parties and they come in the power often overplay their hands dont they . Guest yes and it seems to be getting worse. Sort of everyone has a ramming speed. You have this moment of power and even if you have to do it by the smallest partisan margin you push your agenda as hard and fast as possible. The problem is that it does real damage. It damages the body politics because it means when the other side gets in there they will do the same survey and i think it is one of the things thats radicalized our politics. Host next call comes from kathy, Santa Barbara california. Caller hello. I would like to know if you think we can get rid of the Electoral College the Electoral College was set up originally to preserve the slavery and seems like we are still doing that very thing given trumps supportive wife supremacist . Guest im going to give you a straight answer is probably not the one you want to hear. No, we wont get rid of the Electoral College. I cant imagine any way in which it will go away and also, the reality is we are becoming a much more divided and tribal society. Irrespective of gerrymandering, which israel and the Electoral College that the larger problem is, is this tribe was asian, the fact that we are sorting ourselves out on social media to our own world and sorting ourselves out geographically. That the real problem and i think that the gerrymandering and the Electoral College in some sense is a symptom of a larger problem. Host goahead. Caller mr. Sykes, im watching you. Can you hear me to we are listening. Host go ahead and make your question or comment. Caller my question is, when donald trump was walking down the escalator and you saw him coming down, what was your instinctive feeling about that . How did you feel about that . Guest i thought it was a joke. I didnt think it would be taken seriously. I never thought it would get traction and i think a lot of people thought it wouldnt get traction. When i describe in the book 2015 as being this long soul crushing disillusioning slog, part of that was why do the republicans not see this. Also, it wasnt just when he came down the gold and ask later gave that incoherent speech, but republicans had 16 other candidates almost all of whom would have been strong president ial candidates. I think republicans had one of the strongest president appealed save ever had and yet ultimately chose this guy, so the short answer to your question is i thought it was a joke and probably that reflects how out of touch i am or perhaps how naive i was about how much american politics have changed and what the conservative movement was prepared to accept. Host jake in washington dc, what would you like to say . Caller thanks for taking my call. I wonder if mr. Sykes whose work am familiar with would feel that he and his msnbc colleagues are a bit hypocritical in their criticism of donald trump. For example, a fuse ago a few years ago in 2012 president obamas caught on tape telling about one of Vladimir Putin assistance to tell that he obama would have more flexibility after election. Ive seen no outcry from anyone back then demanding to know what flexible he was, what obama had in mind, why he is whispering and more than a few years ago, but certainly within mr. Sykes journalistic career, the left lionized senator ted kennedy, and never brought up the fact that he literally killed a woman at the chappaquiddick bridge, drove a car off the bridge, swam away while she gasped for her life and then lied about it. Do you think msnbc is a little of the critical in their criticism of President Trump . Guest first of all, im not msnbc. I am myself and so i never defended or rationalized Teddy Kennedys behavior and i think there will be reevaluation of attitudes toward people like teddy kennedy, so im not sure what secondly, back, from obama i remember that very very clearly and i remember that pretty much every conservative in america was outraged or pretended to be outraged. I remember talking about that, so whos the hypocrite, the people who were outraged and concerned when obama said that who will roll over for what donald trump is doing . I have to say again, this is one of the things thats so disappointing. Like an donald trump not bring himself to criticize Vladimir Putin why does he admire it authoritarian thug so much . I do think that look, if you are conservative and you want a conservative on the Supreme Court i get that. If you want lower taxes i get that, but why do you have to rationalize behavior that would have had your hair on fire if it had been barack obama . I am actually consistent saying if you dislike appeasement with the democrats and they did it, why are you willing to swallow this kind of slavish appeasement coming from donald trump . Host if Hillary Clinton had been elected president would you be saying . Guest i think i would probably be agreeing when she was right and also criticizing if she was pushing policies i disagreed with and thats it i found going going to happen that conservatives would have continued their critique, but the promises and the election of donald trump has exposed something which was the conservatives are good at what we are against and who we hates, not so much about what we are for and what we would like to accomplish and that is the problem. I think winning the election has kind of expose the fact that we have become very comfortable with the perpetual outrage machine were being in opposition. When given a chance to govern what is happening its not an accident that the republicans through every level of government with a man utterly without principle as the president and ultimately they also dont seem to have a coherent operative operating governing philosophy and i think that is one of the things that conservatives in the wilderness will have to reevaluate. Host how about right lost its mind is the name of the book. Charles sykes is the offer author. Evelyn, you are in the tv. Caller yes, charlie. I would just like to say that the right didnt lose its mind. The war right woke up to whats been going on with the Obama Administration just doing anything and everything they like to do. Syria to benghazi to other things we dont even know about just like the fact that they used this dossier to have the fbi help pay for it to give it some legitimacy so they could spy on donald trump. Thats more outrageous than anything. This went on so far. We are tired of the conservative people are tired of laying down and taking it from the left and being browbeaten like we have been. We kept quiet. Week went on with your elections and we choose who you give us to choose from, but this time you did not give us the choice to choose from. You gave us one person that really cares about nothing but herself and she used the russians. The russians are all up in her business and thats obvious and i think the russians were in trumps business he not put them down. Hes trying to say he respect the country, helps people, takes care of his country and his countrymen and thats exactly what donald trump is trying to do with america. Host thank you, evelyn. Guest Vladimir Putins authoritarian thug who murders people and murders his political opponents and journalists. She said we are tired of taking it from the left, look i did not take it from the left. I spent 25 years as a conservative talkshow host pushing back and making temperature making. However, what we have actually become is we have morphed ourselves into becoming what we claim to be against. We became what we despise. Weve adopted the tactics that a few years ago we would have rejected, so if you are upset about the weakness of the obama foreignpolicy how can you not be alarmed at the withdraw from the world leadership that you are experiencing now. America ought to be leading the world. We ought to be this Economic Freedom and whats happening now is that we are being supplanted, i mean, this is where we need to open our eyes and say if barack obama had them not things that had empowered china the way trump is empowering china, conservatives would have lost their mind quite literally peered. Host next call for Charles Sykes comes from arthur in port arthur, texas. Hello, arthur. Caller hello, gentlemen. Im looking forward to reading your book because i think its necessary because i think we have been as you indicated part of a process thats gone on for decades and i will say this as an independent that independence have been backed out of the possibility of electing someone on the National Level and in many cases on the state level because of the collusion between the two parties in doing so and preventing them by restricting their ability to raise money and function in primaries. They may be able to exist on a local level, but above that its very very difficult and both parties are guilty of that speed went thank you, arthur c2 i think both parties are guilty about it, but there is no quick fix here a quick fix of redistricting archive Campaign Finance reform. There is Something Else going on in our culture and its much more severe i guess its a little bit like i see the house burning down and people are saying we need a different lawn service. Thats not going to solve the problem and also the problem, if the American People dont ask more of their Political Class if we dont ask more government and raise our bar, lets not step back and try to blame someone for the situation we find ourselves in. Host when did you start writing this book and when did you finish . Guest i think i had in my mind throughout the entire campaign. I knew i was going to write and i thought it would be a different book before the election. I left my radio show in the middle of december and got up the next morning at 4 00 a. M. And began writing it in earnest, so basically wrote it from december through february, made additions throughout the year and could update it every week now. Host next call for Charles Sykes comes from linda, phoenix, arizona. Caller im a fan of yours. I watch you on msnbc and appreciate your point of view. My question is going back to earlier when you are asked if you think any republican politician he respect and i was wondering what you thought of jeff flake and his leaving the congress. By the way, im a progressive liberal in arizona, but i appreciate jeff flake. I feel terrible that hes decided not to run. Do you see any future for him . Hes a decent oldline conservative as i can see. Guest thank you, linda. I have tremendous respect for jeff flake. His broke was one of the greatest things ive seen politics in the long time because you pretty much up to know if you publish a book attacking donald trump in the correct environment that he would be committing political suicide and there was this extraordinary moment when you had former president bush, former republican nominee john mccain, jeff flake, bob corker chairman of the Senate ForeignRelations Committee are speaking out against donald trump saying this is not who we are not who we represent. This was quite a moment, but it was also notable that they were speaking for a lot of republicans who agree with them, but it that are afraid to speak out and all of them are leading the political field, set the moment, jeff flake is going to have to delete in the political wilderness, but in terms of where we are at now, for the Republican Party , if the Republican Party might embrace and send roy moore to the united state senate, but reject several like jeff flake, someone who is awful and decent in principle and yet they are embracing some of the nihilist out there who this is a perilous moment for the party. Host next call, a few minutes left with our guest. Victoria in kingman, arizona. Though had. Caller hello, gentlemen. Pay, charlie. I love watching you on morning joe quite often and so okay, its not really i dont know if its well, maybe its a question. Okay, so earlier i kind of got thrown for a loop with a couple of your guests. [laughter] host victoria, can you get to the point . Caller yes, yes, yes. You were talking about how the party had kind of split the parties, the constituents and stop split i forgot the term that you had used, but. Host what is your question . Caller im talking prior to it happening before trump. Im talking like back to party and i think that was having more, you know, Mitch Mcconnell kind of was making that happen and happen. Host victoria, im going to say thank you for calling and. Lets look at what she was getting too which is historically the party has always had kind of a split has it in some sense . Guest they have had political tensions and i think also the division between the parties was getting more extreme before trump came along. I know she mentioned that tea party and during the Obama Administration is where you really had i think the rise of or the continuation of the rise of hyper partisanship. You can trace this back over the decades, but the eight years prior to 2016, you really did have complete oppositional and really no compromise and nothing going on, so again these are the preexisting conditions if you have an american politics that donald trump has exploded. Again, i think sometimes observers like us are confused by politics and i put myself in this category because we think this is about ideas, policies, a couple shreds, but increasingly its about attitude and identity the politics become more tribal you will see that and donald trump has played this. He understands that his base will stick with him as long as he stays angry and makes the right enemies, as long as he makes the right people angry with him. Is that negative partisanship that is such a powerful force in our politics. Host what do you think of his political instincts . Guest well, its hard to argue with him considering he was elected president of the united states. Im in the camp of thinking sometimes he stumbles on these things opposed to having a grand vision. I think there is a lot of lack of impulse control. I think he is surprised by what hes been able to get away with, but clearly he was able to tap into something and the voices that should have held him to account failed to do that. I think that is also a big failure. Host i have heard it said that conservatives prefer to be in the minority because then they can be a little bit superior and fire shots from the backbench. Guest thats been true for a long time, but i think it really became true in the last i mentioned before about being in opposition and this is something the conservative movement has become over the last eight years you have to understand that whether its talk radio or fox news or the scam packs or there is conservatives, anger is what gets you clicks and email addresses and helps you raise money. Its good for ratings and so what happened is hes soaking and soaking the anger on the outside. Has talked about tom. Guest thats premature. I think that i agree that donald trump represents a danger, but on the other hand i also think that trying but on the othero hand, i also think that trying to overturn the election in that particular way at this point is just going to embolden and strengthen his support. Your powder dry because when the real stuff comes down, which i think its going toup want to play the camp flight talk about impeachment makes the Republican Base circumstance the wagons. Host marse, thank you for holding. Caller id like to give everybody a new rule. The rule of 37. Do not elect people to the left of three or to the right of seven. With that being said, i have such respect for republicans such as yourself, nikole wallace, steve schmid, but i see on msnbc, i dont understand how youre still republicans because you seem to understand and care about issues that are so important to me as a dem contract, suchs healthcare,sive rights, voting rights. Where do you go from here and do you wish you would have pushed moore for hillary to win, knowing what we know now . Guest well, let me answer that last one. I did not vote for Hillary Clinton. Wrote in mcmillian. I knew i lost. I dont get the candidate i want and either outcome would be something that frankly i decide not want to own and live with. In terms of being a republican, i dont think of myself as a republican anymore because i dont have the tribal instinct. Im a contrarian conservative and pat mean i cant be part of a Political Party that has sold itself in this way. Snow how much steve schmid smitted and nikole wallace wrestle with this. Democrats are horrified. Look at it from our point of view. This was our party at one time, these are people we know and have worked with for years and years, and theyre doing this, so theres special kind of horror re feel. Doesnt mean we have become liberal democrats. It means we are political ore fans right now. Host back in the 60s and 70s, Kevin Phillips worked for richard nixon, and over the years, through Ronald Reagan and be bushes, he became more and more disillusioned with the Republican Party. Guest yeah. Host has yours been sudden, been building up, your disillusionment with the current state of the party . Guest i dont know i would say 252015 and 2016 was a shock in part because i thought i understood where it was going and what it was about and believed in. What we found out in that period, this was not true. So, that disillusionment was come pressed for me. In retrospect i say in the book, what did i ignore . What did i miss . Obviously i perhaps was naive. I should have seen these things happening. Should have taken them more seriously. And because it didnt just happen overnight, but its clearly a totally disillusioning, disspiritting, disappointing experience. Host time for a few more calls for our guest. Margie pratts, west virginia, youre on the air. Caller hi. I wish i were healthy enough writer to write about how the left lost its mind, because i do believe that our Democratic Party, we lost our values for the Blue Collar Workerment im horrified by donald trump. Im barely in me idle class. I will be losing my medical deduction and my state income Tax Deduction on their the republican tax plan and the trump voters seem those voter are going to be hurt the most by this tax plan, and yet they seem to be willing to follow him off the proverbial cliff. I appreciate your commented. Host margie, you started by saying you should write a book called how the left lost its mind. What do you mean . Caller i just think that we somewhere along the way we just started the Blue Collar Work d discarded the Blue Collar Worker. Im from a coalmining union family. The democrats left us. They sealameal to have gone after the corporations the way the republicans had always done. I i dont think we have voice as the milled of the road democrat. Im not a liberal democrat but i am a democrat because i believe in helping the poor and needy, keeping social security, medicare. Thats my philosophy. Host margie, thank you. Guest something should write that book. Thats not the book i wrote because dish joked this morning, the problems of the left, the democrats, put in a box, not my problem, because im dealing with my side of this. This is my mine book and the previous ones were about how the left lost its mind. Theres something to be said here. This book for me, though, is trying to figure out what happened in the Political Party that i thought i understood, that i i had a lot of sunken cost here. 20 years being part of this movement to see it being taken over or giving up to donald trump. The point she is make us is we didnt get here overnight, and the democrats need to go through a period of intro entry specifics, too. How did wed abandon the white middle class. How did wed lose mural michigan and ohio and wisconsin, how did athlete voters who from families voted roosevelt. Is it something we said . Yes, it is. I ram not seeing that introspection on the part of the democrat. Host you have been on book tour so hasnt read Donna Brazils hoe hacks , but maybe thats the counter to your book. Guest if havent readite peter in vancouver, washington. Go ahead. Caller thank you. Watching a little bit of don in brazil and then van jones, think im losing my mind. They seem to be coming to the conservative side, not so much in their ability to see the crew consecutive, but i think that mr. Sykes, at least their what they believe in. I feel that today, the media is almost as much to blame for what happened in 2016 as it is the russians or anybody else. Im disheartened that a guy like you, who kyles himself a disillusioned conservative, can find himself how ick put this politely playing both ends against the middle. Thats what i feel, that our politics has come down to. Politics has become big business and ill let you comment on that. Thank you. Guest im not sure what playing both side against the middle is on that particular in that particular context. But,ey, this the media ha big role and need to have a wreckenning as well. Not only did they give donald trump way too much free, unked eeded Media Coverage which will look bizarre in media history. They also realize the consequences of squandering their credibility. The loss of credibility of the media is pushpull. A lot us unfair. The allegations its fake news. And also this is five decade of conservatives saying we think youre biased, could you try to be more fair and not getting much response. Conservatives responded to what they felt was the disdain and the dislike of the media by turning to other Media Outlets and thats part of the story. Host heres the book, its called how the right lost its mind. Its author, charlie sykes. Thank yo a familiar face on your screen on booktv, ed henry a fox news. We think of you when it comes to politics and the president but not Jackie Robinson. Guest are based for anything else that what i first are putting together this book i had a lot of peoples and white world to you write about baseball . They kind of want to cookiecutter and say we know youre the one thing, and i believe you have to a passion for Something Else. I eat drink and sleep politics and its also that we love cspan. But you have to have another passion and baseball something i would love since i was a. My father instilled that in me, passing it on to my son. We go to yankees games. Tenures guys out dinner party at the thought of as would get some political gossip gospel. The ambassador sir pigeon which was discussing. Started to open it up and there were little bones in there. The woman next to me said you can eat those bones. Its called squab. Its a delicacy. I said what is happening . The world series was going on because its october 2007. I said im going to leave early, go watch the world series. She said are you baseball fan . I said i love baseball. She said my late father had a major role but the story has never been told. I sat back down. I said what he talking about . Her fatherinlaw was a minister in brooklyn in 1945 and the general manager of the dodgers knocked on his door in despair and secretly was thinking but holding out of signing Jackie Robinson, the first black player for the brooklyn dodgers or for anyone. The point is no one had ever told this story. She told it to me. I set out as a journalist to confirm it. At the end of this 45 minute meeting with a minister said i will sign jackie, parsed decision of my life. I need to be in your presence, i need to be in gods presence to it was right thing to do. That gave me chills. I sat out on a journey to confirm it was true as a journalist but also dive deeper on the faith journey and maybe more important Jackie Robinson faith journey. Theres been 1 million books about jackie, civil rights, baseball, a wonderful and the movie 42 which was a big, big hit in 2013. We call it 42 faith rest of the Jackie Robinson story because as i was researching it and write a get i thinking that paul harvey, the great radioman who would say now you know the rest of the story. Theres baseball in here but i think faith was a secret ingredient that helped jackie overcome the discrimination. You have a white man, black men, almost nothing in common. Different generations, different parts of the country but they both love baseball and the both the deep faith in god. People have been reading it, caring that message and no more than ever when were subdivided its a story about coming together. Host was Jackie Robertson becoming part of the brooklyn dodgers, was it politicized at the time . Was a carried on the front pages . Guest it wasnt necessary politicized as i researched it, not that many people really noticed it at first. Some of the early gains you never people saying you probably come there millions of people who say they were jackies first game. I i think attendance at somethig like 25,000 people. Openingday Jackie Robinsons april, 1947 the wooden want would want to get that game at as and steal one of the great cathedrals of baseball . It wasnt a sellout. As i researched it there were other players who are rookies who got more writeups. They would say theres this also black player who might be the first. They werent sure what hes going to make it. Boy, did he make it. He wasnt just about baseball. He somebody changed america for the better. Host ed henry, thanks for a few minutes. I appreciate it. Booktv gets hundreds of other programs throughout the country all year long. Heres a a look at some of the fans we will be covering this week. Many of these events are open to the public. Look for them to air in the near future on booktv on cspan2. I want to talk about the future of technology, and that portion of the conversation starts in an unexpected place. He was born with Cerebral Palsy and your bike in detail very candidly about your early struggles with this. But it has totally changed your outlook on the world, technology, your life. Walk us through that. I was born has shaped a lot of oam, perhaps today, especially probably one of the more hardest parts of writing the book, to go back reflect on it in more concrete as to what he has taught me. As a 29yearold with both my wife and me, the only children of our parents and so when he was about to be born, all exciting in the house, looking forward to him and the nursery being ready and she would get back to her work or how quickly can she get back to work as an architect which she just started. But, of course, that night when is born everything changed. He was born with severe brain damage which is that subsequent to Cerebral Palsy. Quite frankly i struggled with it. I struggled for perhaps multiple years because none of the well laid out plans of mine as sort of a a midlevel and even in entrylevel engineer at microsoft were also out of the window. I need to recalibrate an eye for long time that what has happened to us and me . Its only by watching my wife who even right after recovering from her csection was driving up and down the bridges here to get into therapies, and given the best shot. Thats what perhaps really got me out of my stupor and said okay, what do i as a father have to do . Over the years weve been blessed in this community, whether its the childrens hospital, the physical therapist, the occupational therapist, speech therapist, the community that we have now around us, and the connections, and the role of technology. We have gone through many sort of hardships, medical surgeries and what have you, and it was even one incident i remember one day i was sitting waiting for him to come out of his surgery room. All of, i was saying is all better work. It just sort of gave me the feeling of the understanding of the responsibility of a platform company, technology company. Thats one of the things thats unique about microsoft is weird in every power grid, in every hospital, in every critical part of our society and our economy. You are going to take that responsibility very seriously. How has it shaped your views on accessibility of technology and making sure everyone can access the power of innovation . To me, my personal life, of course, has been a great influence on how i think about the importance. One of the things that i am seeing inside microsoft is this universal design and accessibility as a real driver of true innovation. I did a couple of things that one of the apps we launched recently which uses the cutting edge ai in our cloud, gives anybody with visual impairment that capability to secret in fact, angela mills was a coworker of mine who might work very early on as part of my microsoft career was telling me this story of how she now can go into our own cafeteria at microsoft, order with confidence because she can see the food, to read the ingredients, read the menu. She can walk into Conference Rooms. We have braille readers and what have you but the issue is she wants to walk into the Conference Room knowing that thats the right one, not barge into something thats not one that she do that with confidence so she can fully participate. She is in power because of ai to fully participate. You can hold it up to the world and it identifies people tell you the approximate age of somebody and its kind of like its really cool. We will try to make it, like it will recognize currency, and just because people more apartment who need it. Similarly what we do with learning tools. This is a very passionate group inside microsoft is said we had some Amazing Technology around reading which now makes where i can change the outcome for kids with dyslexia. In one note your learning tools, kids or anyone with dyslexia can start reading faster, better, more comprehend text. Steve gleason came to one of our hacker fonz, and to get a group of passionate people through said what can you do for als patient who has the ability to move a cascade, i gaze but all of the other muscles cant be moved but can they communicate. We have, in the fall creators update i gaze as an input mechanisms. I feel one of the things that has been unlocked is the fundamental recognition that its not just about accessibility as technology. We have historically at microsoft with think of it as this is something that you do as assistant technology. As a niche, as something you do on top of having built a product. The reality is, one thing that is true for all of us he has at some in our life, we all will need some help with some sense of hours. Thats going to be released the universal truth. So we better design products we can help everybody. And thats within quicktime to get involved in. The beauty of it is its not some topdown thing quite frankly. It is much more if you look at our hack upon but little in with just the one week we do. It takes life after that. We have a Long Distance to cover. What it can mean for accessibility, mixed reality can mean for accessibility because exciting frontiers and things going to make us better ai company, a better devices company, a better Everything Company by sort of focusing in this area. You can watch this and other programs online at booktv. Org. Good evening. Good evening to each one of you. [inaudible] i want i would like to welcome you to trent a. Im chairman of the board and director of the foundation. And also it is National Advisory board. Our mission is to preserve the literary legacy of eudora welty