Podcast / The Time of Monsters / Sep 21, 2025

What Bari Weiss Is Really Up To

On The Time of Monsters: David Klion on Trump’s ideological enforcer.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

What Bari Weiss Is Really Up To | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

Bari Weiss, founder and editor of The Free Press, has often been profiled in the media, but usually in a superficial way that focuses on her personality and disputes with fellow journalists. She is currently on the cusp of great power, reportedly working on a deal to sell The Free Press and take a senior position at CBS.

David Klion, Nation columnist and frequent guest on the podcast, has written an exceptionally trenchant analysis for The Guardian of Weiss’s politics and the way they align with the Trump administration’s war on critical voices. I was pleased to talk to David about Weiss’s career and how she has used her influence as an ideological enforcer, one that has the support of many wealthy patrons and powerful political allies.

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com
* Check out BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/THENATION

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Bari Weiss hosts Ted Cruz at a live event on January 18, 2025, in Washington, DC.

(Leigh Vogel via Getty Images for Uber, X and The Free Press)

Bari Weiss, founder and editor of The Free Press, has often been profiled in the media, but usually in a superficial way that focuses on her personality and disputes with fellow journalists. She is currently on the cusp of great power, reportedly working on a deal to sell The Free Press and take a senior position at CBS. David Klion, Nation columnist and frequent guest on the podcast, has written and exceptionally trenchant analysis for The Guardian of Weiss’s politics and they way they align with the Trump administration’s war on critical voices. Klion writes:

Just as with CBS a year ago, Weiss and the Free Press were there to help reactionaries at elite institutions advance their internal turf wars—and unlike a year ago, those reactionaries can now count on the full weight of Trump’s authoritarian administration to back them up….

The pattern is clear: if you work at a liberal institution and you want the Trump-controlled federal government to step in and discipline it, Bari Weiss is there to help.

I was pleased to talk to David about Weiss’s career and how she has used her influence as an ideological enforcer, one that has the support of many wealthy patrons and powerful political allies.

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Jeffrey Epstein and the American Empire w/ Van Jackson | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

The scandal around Jeffrey Epstein, who trafficked and abused children and died in a prison cell

in 2019, has never gone away. It continues to explode now that House Democrats have

released thousands of emails from Epstein and his cronies. But while the political class and

mainstream media are understandably focused on the sex scandal, another dimension of the

scandal goes uncovered except by independent media outlets such as Drop Site: Epstein’s deep

ties to the national security state. I talked to international relations scholar Van Jackson about

this crucial part of the story.

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com
* Check out BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/THENATION

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Subscribe to The Nation to Support all of our podcasts

Jeet Heer

Jeet Heer is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also pens the monthly column “Morbid Symptoms.” The author of In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American Prospect, The GuardianThe New Republic, and The Boston Globe.

More from The Nation

A bronze-painted statue titled “Best Friends Forever, ”depicting Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands on October 2, 2025, in Washington, DC.

Jeffrey Epstein and the American Empire Jeffrey Epstein and the American Empire

Podcast / The Time of Monsters / Sep 21, 2025 What Bari Weiss Is Really Up To On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Van Jackson on how the late pedophile gained power and…

Podcast / The Time of Monsters

(Solar) Power to the People, With Elizabeth Yeampierre

(Solar) Power to the People, With Elizabeth Yeampierre (Solar) Power to the People, With Elizabeth Yeampierre

On A People's Climate: The path to climate justice is local.

Shilpi Chhotray

Visitors watch Magnus Carlsen and Nihal Sarin at the Esports World Cup 2025 online chess event on July 31, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia Is Using Games to Improve Its Image Saudi Arabia Is Using Games to Improve Its Image

Podcast / Tech Won’t Save Us / Sep 21, 2025 What Bari Weiss Is Really Up To On this episode of Tech Won’t Save Us: Nathan Grayson discusses Saudi Arabia’s (…

Podcast / Tech Won't Save Us

Zohran Mamdani, center, joined by members of his transition team, from left, Elana Leopold, Melanie Hartzog, Maria Torres-Springer, Grace Bonilla, and Lina Khan, in Queens, New York, on November 5, 2025.

Mamdani’s Momentum, Plus “The Radical Fund” Mamdani’s Momentum, Plus “The Radical Fund”

On Start Making Sense: Bhaskar Sunkara comments on the tasks facing New York City’s new socialist mayor, and historian John Fabian Witt talks about left politics in the 1920s.

Jon Wiener

Protesters passing by the Google building during a rally for Palestine on October 4, 2025, in New York City.

Silicon Valley and the Israeli Occupation Silicon Valley and the Israeli Occupation

On this episode of American Prestige: Omar Zahzah on the consolidation of Big Tech with Israeli colonialism and genocide.

Derek Davison and Daniel Bessner

The American Right’s Civil War Over Israel

The American Right’s Civil War Over Israel The American Right’s Civil War Over Israel

On this episode of The Time of Monsters: David Austin Walsh on the deep roots of the Zionism debate among Republicans.

Jeet Heer

x