Ryan Lear on WNYC with us now Charlie Sykes editor at large for the bulwark the conservative but anti-Trump news organization Charlie was previously a long-time conservative talk show host based in Milwaukee which is where the

Republican convention took place this week. We'll talk about the situation in

both parties. Charlie thanks for coming on welcome back to WNYC. It's good to be with you. You wrote on the Atlantic during the week that for a moment after the shooting last Saturday a GOP tone shift seemed possible. Then the convention began. What kind of tone did you hear

coming out of Milwaukee this week? Well I think there was a lot of spin about you

know there was

don't sleep on the don't sleep on the screaming cognitive dissonance here.

Don't sleep on the screaming cognitive dissonance here.

This is still Donald Trump.

This is still a party that is

completely committed to the forcible deportation of maybe 10 million migrants.

And so I think it was somewhat naive to think that there was going to be a change into the tone and of course you have

I mean in any convention that features Marjorie Taylor Green or Tucker Carlson but it was

all overshadowed I think by the selection of J.D. Vance, who has been really one of the most outspoken MAGA advocates and somebody who put out a tweet within hours of the shooting on

Saturday essentially blaming the Biden administration for it so no real change in what Trump's party represents.

What do you think politically for the campaign or an implications for policy or democracy about the selection of J.D. Vance as Trump's running mate.

Well, I think it really put an exclamation point on the complete wrenching transformation of the Republican Party

represents a rejection of decades of internationalism.

Certainly raises questions about whether or not the United States will continue to be a reliable

ally for our European partners and for NATO. Clearly a very dangerous signal to Ukraine, but also

a signal that this party is not just with Donald Trump, but is moving

on from what Republicans used to say about free markets and free trade and certainly a

rather dramatic break with Reaganism. The selection of J.D. Vance is on one level not that important because of course vice presidential candidates never really in the end make a difference but this one is consequential because it signals that where the party I think is going and the direction and

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