Appearing as a panel member on Friday's Real Time with Bill Maher, MSNBC contributor and former talk radio host Charlie Sykes displayed the latest example of why he is the type of right-leaning figure that liberal outfits like MSNBC include who will join liberal analysts in bashing Republicans.
Sykes took aim at Fox News for supposedly not informing its Republican-leaning viewers on the nefarious activities of President Donald Trump, and likened conservatives to a "cult" that always supports the "Dear Leader" and "Orange Deuce."
At one point, even when he was actually taking a shot at Democrats over the "insanity" of keeping Nancy Pelosi for so long as their House leader, he oddly suggested that she had done "wonderful things" in the past.
At 10:33 p.m. ET, during a discussion of the recent Georgia special election, Sykes argued that Democrats need to find a point between "hysterical opposition" and "being boring" if they want to start winning again, and then managed to insert praise for Pelosi amongst criticism as he added:
How many elections are you going to put up, you know, a party led by Nancy Pelosi. That is kind of the definition of insanity, isn't it? I mean, she -- all the wonderful things that she's done -- 77 years old.
A bit later, after liberal host Bill Maher recalled that 90 percent of Republicans voted for Trump, with the HBO host wondering, "Can you get your party back? Do you have hope?" the right-leaning MSNBC analyst made an over the top reference to the horror film The Exorcist as he lamented:
Less every day -- 65 percent of Republicans don't even believe this took place, this Russian hacking. I mean, remember Linda Blair in The Exorcist? I honestly think that if Donald Trump came out and his head spun around 360 degrees and exploded with green projectile vomit, that 65 percent of Republicans would say it was brilliant performance art. (audience laughter and applause) And this is the challenge that we're up against.
The MSNBC contributor then took aim at Fox News and theorized that President Richard Nixon might have survived Watergate if the cable news network had existed during the Republican's presidency as he added:
You were talking about, you know, the alternative reality of Fox News. The reality is, is that you have a lot of Republicans that do not read these stories, do not read about this, and have quite frankly just decided that they're going to -- they're going to dismiss all of this. So this is the real challenge, that if you had Watergate with this media ecosystem, I'm pretty convinced that Richard Nixon would have survived, would have had Sean Hannity talking about the witch hunt. They would have all of that cover that would have allowed him to get away with the coverup.
Later on, as the group wondered why Republicans have remained so supportive of Trump, Sykes brought up his "cult" comparison as he explained:
Now, it is a cult. It is a cult of personality. And there's almost no other way to interpret it. I mean, I want -- and I've stolen this line, by the way, from Jonah Goldberg -- for me, watching the last few years has been like watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers, where people I've known for 20 or 30 years -- decent people who used to argue that character mattered and all of these things -- suddenly, they get them.
And they start, you know, figuring that, "No, we have to follow the Dear Leader -- whatever the Orange Deuce believes, we have to go along with." And so it makes it very, very difficult because the Democrats can come up with any line, but understand that, for the Right right now, you don't have to be pro-Trump, you just hate the Left and the media more.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Friday, June 23, Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO:
CHARLIE SYKES, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: The Democrats have to find that sweet spot between hysterical opposition with which the Trump folks feed upon and being boring and vanilla as Jon Ossoff was. And they haven't really figured out how to do that. And, by the way, you know, how many elections are you going to put up, you know, a party led by Nancy Pelosi. That is kind of the definition of insanity, isn't it? I mean, she -- all the wonderful things that she's done -- 77 years old. What the Democrats miss is they thought they were going to make this a referendum on Trump -- Republicans made it a referendum on Nancy Pelosi. Look, every party needs some fresh blood, some fresh faces at some point.
(...)
BILL MAHER: Only 10 percent of Republicans did not vote for Donald Trump, and they're still pretty much with him. What do you guys have to do to get your party back? Can you get your party back? Do you have hope?
SYKES: Less every day -- 65 percent of Republicans don't even believe this took place, this Russian hacking. I mean, remember Linda Blair in The Exorcist? I honestly think that if Donald Trump came out and his head spun around 360 degrees and exploded with green projectile vomit, that 65 percent of Republicans would say it was brilliant performance art. (audience laughter and applause) And this is the challenge that we're up against. You were talking about, you know, the alternative reality of Fox News.
The reality is, is that you have a lot of Republicans that do not read these stories, do not read about this, and have quite frankly just decided that they're going to -- they're going to dismiss all of this. So this is the real challenge, that if you had Watergate with this media ecosystem, I'm pretty convinced that Richard Nixon would have survived, would have had Sean Hannity talking about the witch hunt. They would have all of that cover that would have allowed him to get away with the coverup.
(...)
BRADLEY WHITFORD, ACTOR: Republicans understand that their party affiliation is like a union membership -- "Well, I may not agree" -- I think a lot of them think Trump's an idiot, but "Well, I'm going to stick with my group."
SYKES: No, no, no, it's way worse than that. ... I used to say it was, you know, tribal politics. Now, it is a cult. It is a cult of personality. And there's almost no other way to interpret it. I mean, I want -- and I've stolen this line, by the way, from Jonah Goldberg -- for me, watching the last few years has been like watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers, where people I've known for 20 or 30 years -- decent people who used to argue that character mattered and all of these things -- suddenly, they get them.
And they start, you know, figuring that, "No, we have to follow the Dear Leader -- whatever the Orange Deuce believes, we have to go along with." And so it makes it very, very difficult because the Democrats can come up with any line, but understand that, for the Right right now, you don't have to be pro-Trump, you just hate the Left and the media more.
