Al Sikes, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush and Assistant Secretary of Commerce under Ronald Reagan, was a Never Trump conservative Republican who said he voted for independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin . Originally from a small town in Missouri, Sikes, 77, joined Salon Talks in a discussion about his book “Culture Leads, Leaders Follow,” The book describes how Sikes is dismayed with cultural leaders who he says appeal to “the lowest common denominator, and when their coarseness is criticized, the companies wrap themselves in the flag of free speech, as if to coarsen society were somehow a patriotic act.”