The Paradox of Bari Weiss’ Success

Bari Weiss would have been considered a center-left Democrat in 2008 or 2012. 

Today, much of the left views her as a right-wing fanatic and a threat to their cultural dominance, and they are freaking out about the success of The Free Press and Bari’s rise to the pinnacle of power at CBS News. 

We now live in a world where a female Jewish married lesbian with a kid and a wife is derided by the left, and in which conservatives like me breathe a sigh of relief that a bit of sanity might be returning to the Tiffany Network. 

The thing is she is not right wing, not even close.

10 years ago this would have gone exactly as you’ve said. The left has lost the plot biggly.

— David Simms (@DavidSi73959066) October 8, 2025

As my readers know, I like Bari Weiss a lot. Not because I agree with her all the time–hardly–but because she is smart, open-minded, reasonable, and willing to engage with people from all walks of life and viewpoints. 

Liberals hate her and people like her for the same reason. She is an apostate and opened the door for other similarly-minded liberals to dissent from the left-wing orthodoxy. She is one of the most successful of a breed of former liberals who have broken with the left’s suffocating totalitarianism. Ironically, many of the rising influencers on the center-right are gay apostates from alphabet ideology, and that drives liberals nuts. 

Goebbels was the chief propagandist for the Nazis who worked his hardest to have the entirety of the Jewish people exterminated.

Bari Weiss is a successful and thriving Jewish woman. She is Goebbels’ worst nightmare and everything he sought to destroy.

Hope that helps… pic.twitter.com/G6Q3oy0uET

— Rachel Moiselle (@RachelMoiselle) September 4, 2025

Bari Weiss inspires so much hate and such deranged commentary, not because she is conservative, but because she is not. If she were so easy to categorize and label as “conservative,” she would never have become the success she has been, or be seen as a potential savior of journalism. 

“Barry Weiss has an opportunity to not just fix CBS News, which needs fixing, but to set an example for all of the legacy media… Find great people, bring them in, and empower them. Fix these once great places.”
@MarkHalperin on why Bari Weiss’s next chapter at CBS could usher… pic.twitter.com/F7UsNqHIgw

— Next Up with Mark Halperin (@NextUpHalperin) October 8, 2025

The thing is, journalism doesn’t want to be saved. There has been a slander campaign against Bari Weiss since before she resigned from the New York Times after the Tom Cotton Op/Ed fiasco. You may recall that the Times newsroom erupted in anger at the Opinion Page editor for publishing a piece by Tom Cotton, a sitting U.S. senator. The fiasco led to the resignation/firing of the editor, and Bari’s ultimate resignation in disgust at the behavior of her colleagues. 

Bari came out of that smelling like a rose, of course, and the Times has been losing influence at an accelerating rate. Yet its reporters continue down the same path. 

It’s not even a big deal. Small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. Standard operating procedure. It’s just a bummer that when you read the NYT you have to do your own live fact-checking because you KNOW they are going to lie. When I read a NYT article, when I’m done, I…

— Jarvis (@jarvis_best) October 7, 2025

Phase 1:  Write NYT article about Bari Weiss. Tweet the article with the most negative slant you can muster. Don’t allow replies. 

Phase 2:  Conclude the article with a quote from Weiss that makes it look like she’s expressing undying devotion to the Federalist Society.  Omit the laughter and the next thing she said in that speech, which was “BUT SERIOUSLY FOLKS . . . “

Phase 3:  NYT economics reporter has a communist fit and says the Weiss quote proves she is a greedy capitalist or something. 

Phase 4:  When your friends point out that you are misrepresenting things, tell them that no, you are right, and refuse to elaborate further.

It’s not even a big deal.  Small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.  Standard operating procedure.  It’s just a bummer that when you read the NYT you have to do your own live fact-checking because you KNOW they are going to lie.  When I read a NYT article, when I’m done, I think to myself “hey that was interesting!  I wonder if it was true.”

Yep, about right. Chances are that what you are reading is a lie, omits important facts (to the point of inverting meanings, often), or is so slanted as to make the truth unrecognizable. 

Several CBS News employees I have spoken with said they are in “wait-and-see” mode.

One was more blunt: “A throwing up emoji is not enough of a reflection of the feelings in here.”

— Jeremy Barr (@jeremymbarr) October 6, 2025

Salon, in what must be an unintentional self-own, bemoans how far CBS News has fallen since the halcyon days of…Dan Rather. 

Dan Rather. One of the great hoaxers of our time is their model of a newsman in the left’s eyes. 

Chef’s kiss, 10/10, no notes, shower of Pulitzers, tenured chair at Columbia Journalism School, carve it on an obelisk in the lobby of the Newseum pic.twitter.com/vWBYpGpImL

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) October 7, 2025

The emergence of Bari Weiss as a star can be attributed entirely, and ironically, to the collapse of the “Mainstream Media” as we used to call it. In an earlier age, she would have been successful, of course, but not a gazillionaire entrepreneur who took on the media establishment and vanquished it. She would be making low six figures as an editor at The New York Times and would feel privileged for the opportunity. For that matter, it would have been a great job back then. I probably would have enjoyed it, even while being frustrated by the leftward tilt. 

Not surprised. Wikipedia describes Bari Weiss as a ‘conservative journalist’. Which of course, she isn’t. Utterly laughable. All because of her support for Israel.

These CBS prima donnas will need to go otherwise they’ll be sabotaging her at every opportunity.

— Cynehelm 🇺🇸☯️♌🇮🇱 (@Cynehelm_001) October 7, 2025

At least people were interested in ideas. No longer. The media acts like MiniTru. 

https://t.co/qiXsCRMce2

— Meghan Daum (@meghan_daum) October 9, 2025

There are a million reasons why I admire Bari and The Free Press, but perhaps the reason my admiration is almost elevated to the level of a crush is that she and the crew at that once-upstart news organization remind me of why I once wanted to be an academic. 

Passionate people searching for truth, engaging with ideas that challenge our own, and a willingness to engage even when doing so is uncomfortable. It’s why I love listening to Jillian Michaels or Dave Rubin, or–unlike many of you–take Van Jones and Ro Khanna seriously even when I disagree with them. 

They are honest, tell you what they think, and don’t resort to ad hominem attacks the moment a disagreement comes up. 

I can’t predict whether Bari’s tenure at CBS will be successful. She certainly will face resistance and sabotage. 

But at least there is a chance, and as Mark Halperin rightly notes, we can’t really do without massive news organizations vacuuming up data and dispersing it. We like to think we can, but the world is too big, and there aren’t enough independent journalists to cover it all. Mostly, they fill in the gaps. That’s vital, but not enough. 

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

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