The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States, founded in 1865 in the aftermath of the Civil War. Originally conceived as a classical liberal outlet focused on civil discourse, The Nation has undergone a radical transformation over the decades. Today, it functions as one of the most ideologically left-wing publications in American media, promoting a progressive, often explicitly socialist worldview with clear affinities to anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, and anti-American narratives.
The magazine is currently published by The Nation Company, LLC, which is governed by a board and owned by a consortium of private investors, many of whom have strong connections to the progressive philanthropic elite, including figures tied to George Soros and other institutional donors. A portion of its funding comes through subscriptions and digital advertising, but a significant share is derived from left-leaning foundations and individual donors committed to causes such as climate justice, racial equity, and democratic socialism.
Its longtime editor and publisher, Katrina vanden Heuvel, embodies the publication’s elite progressive identity. She has deep ties to internationalist institutions and leftist political activism, often positioning the magazine as a defender of the “people” against global capitalism, U.S. foreign policy, and traditional moral norms. Under her leadership and those who have succeeded her, The Nation has evolved into a platform not merely for progressive reporting but for progressive activism, blurring the line between journalism and political campaigning.
Far from neutral or even center-left, The Nation rejects the foundational assumptions of American constitutionalism, often advocating policies that align more closely with democratic socialism than with liberal democracy. Its editorial stance is overtly oppositional to the military, free-market economics, biblical morality, and American exceptionalism. Instead, it frames its mission around building “solidarity” with the marginalized—defined not as the truly vulnerable but often as those aligned with identity-based or anti-capitalist ideologies.
The Nation is not just a publication—it is a cultural engine for the ideological Left, offering intellectual justification for movements like Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the Democratic Socialists of America, and global climate alarmism. Its worldview is steeped in critical theory, class conflict, postcolonial grievance, and gender ideology, making it a textbook case of the Cultural Marxist shift in modern media.
Typical Claims and Outlook
The Nation’s editorial outlook is not simply left-of-center—it is explicitly and unapologetically ideological. Unlike more mainstream progressive outlets that occasionally nod toward objectivity, The Nation openly declares its intent to challenge the structures of capitalism, militarism, nationalism, and traditional morality. It views the American founding not as a beacon of liberty but as a historical injustice to be dismantled, one oppressive system at a time.
The magazine’s content reflects this worldview in its relentless focus on the following themes:
- Systemic oppression: Whether the topic is policing, education, housing, or healthcare, The Nation attributes disparities primarily to systemic racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism. It denies the role of personal responsibility, cultural values, or moral agency in social outcomes.
- Anti-capitalism: The publication is openly hostile toward free markets, globalization, and private enterprise. It regularly features arguments for wealth redistribution, nationalization of industries, universal basic income, and state-controlled healthcare and education.
- Anti-American foreign policy: The Nation often sides with regimes or movements that are adversarial to the United States, particularly when they are perceived as resisting “Western imperialism.” Its coverage of the War on Terror, the Middle East, Russia, China, and Latin America routinely casts America as the aggressor and other powers—however authoritarian—as victims of American overreach.
- Climate alarmism: Like many progressive outlets, The Nation treats climate change as a civilizational emergency requiring the dismantling of industrial society. It frames the issue as a product of white supremacy and colonialism, calling for “climate justice” over scientific debate or technological innovation.
- Radical gender and sexual ideology: The magazine affirms every tenet of the LGBTQ+ movement, including gender self-identification, transgender activism in schools, and attacks on traditional sexual ethics. Religious opposition to these views is treated as dangerous bigotry.
- Deconstruction of traditional norms: The Nation celebrates the erosion of the nuclear family, promotes abortion as a moral good, and frames Christianity—particularly conservative expressions of it—as oppressive. In its worldview, the family unit is often seen as a patriarchal construct to be disrupted.
Importantly, these claims are rarely presented as one side in a debate. Instead, they are treated as settled truths, while dissenting views are dismissed as regressive, hateful, or simply irrational. In this way, The Nation functions not as a forum for ideas but as a catechism for the cultural Left.
Though the writing can be intellectually polished, it often leans into moral absolutism without moral foundations—denouncing injustice while rejecting any transcendent source for defining justice. The magazine’s narrative universe is Manichean: the oppressor and the oppressed, the activist and the reactionary, the enlightened and the bigoted. In such a framework, nuance is not welcome—it is seen as compromise with evil.
In summary, The Nation’s outlook is one of permanent revolution. There is no end goal, no stable order to be restored—only continuous dismantling of the systems that have undergirded Western civilization and Christian moral philosophy.
Specific Incidents of Bias
While The Nation does not pretend to be objective, its ideological slant frequently manifests in ways that distort facts, misrepresent opposing views, and serve as propaganda rather than journalism. The following examples highlight how The Nation has prioritized narrative over truth:
Russia and the Trump-Russia Narrative
In a rare break from progressive orthodoxy, The Nation raised eyebrows in 2017–2018 for expressing skepticism toward the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, questioning the motives of the intelligence community and Democratic leadership. This unorthodox stance, however, was not rooted in a defense of Trump or conservative principles. Instead, it reflected The Nation’s long-standing affinity for anti-interventionism and suspicion of U.S. intelligence agencies, particularly in their posture toward Russia.
Despite its skepticism, The Nation still portrayed Donald Trump as a dangerous figure, focusing heavily on racism, authoritarianism, and oligarchy—just not through the typical liberal lens of collusion with Moscow. The mixed messaging revealed how editorial priorities could shift when anti-Americanism overrode partisan loyalty.
Defense of Venezuela’s Maduro Regime
One of the most egregious examples of The Nation’s ideological bias was its defense of Nicolás Maduro’s socialist dictatorship in Venezuela. As the country spiraled into economic collapse, political repression, and mass starvation, The Nation ran op-eds downplaying the crisis and blaming U.S. sanctions rather than socialist mismanagement.
Writers such as Greg Grandin and Mark Weisbrot portrayed Maduro’s government as a victim of Western imperialism, rather than an authoritarian regime crushing its own people. Articles routinely ignored the human rights abuses, media censorship, and election fraud endemic to the Venezuelan regime—revealing The Nation’s willingness to excuse tyranny so long as it cloaked itself in anti-capitalist rhetoric.
Israel-Palestine Coverage
The Nation’s coverage of Israel is consistently hostile, and often indistinguishable from the talking points of anti-Zionist or openly anti-Semitic activists. The magazine frames Israel as a settler-colonial apartheid state, often refers to it as “a project,” and uses terms such as “ethnic cleansing” without nuance.
Notably, The Nation has run multiple pieces defending BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) and accusing Israel of war crimes, while largely ignoring Palestinian terrorism, antisemitic incitement, or the genocidal goals of Hamas. It downplays rocket attacks, human shields, and the complex legal and historical realities of the region—choosing instead to align with a neo-Marxist victim-oppressor model.
Coverage of the 2020 Riots
During the summer of 2020, when Black Lives Matter protests turned violent in dozens of American cities, The Nation refused to acknowledge the destruction wrought by arson, looting, and assaults on law enforcement. Its coverage consistently romanticized the unrest as righteous uprising, portraying law enforcement as the provocateurs and framing the violence as a reaction to centuries of systemic injustice.
Rather than offering a sober assessment of costs to minority-owned businesses or the trauma to urban communities, The Nation valorized chaos—as long as it targeted the “system.” Law and order were viewed as expressions of white supremacy, and the rule of law was itself considered unjust.
Gender Ideology and the Silencing of Dissent
The Nation is militantly aligned with transgender ideology, often attacking anyone who questions the logic or morality of gender self-identification. It has run hit pieces against feminist writers like J.K. Rowling and dissenting liberals such as Jonathan Haidt or Bari Weiss—accusing them of transphobia or “platforming hate.”
Biological realities, parental concerns, and the rights of women and children are cast aside in favor of an absolutist affirmation doctrine. The outlet has published content supportive of minors undergoing irreversible gender procedures, ignoring the explosion of detransitioners and the growing number of countries reversing course on so-called “gender-affirming care.”
In each of these cases, The Nation’s bias is not merely an editorial tone—it is a lens through which all facts are filtered, reshaped, and deployed for the purpose of ideological advance. The result is a publication where truth is subservient to narrative, and dissent from progressive dogma is viewed as an act of heresy.
Neo-Marxist Influence
The Nation is not simply a progressive outlet—it is arguably the clearest example of Neo-Marxist influence in American media. It champions the core tenets of Cultural Marxism: the rejection of objective moral standards, the replacement of class struggle with identity struggle, and the belief that social institutions—from the church to the family to the state—must be deconstructed and reengineered in the name of equity and liberation.
At its core, The Nation believes the problems of society are systemic, not personal; structural, not moral. This is a direct inheritance from the Frankfurt School, which reimagined Marx’s economic determinism into a broader cultural framework. The enemy is no longer merely the capitalist, but also the traditionalist, the theist, the patriot, and the parent.
Identity as Revolutionary Fuel
Whereas classic Marxism viewed the bourgeoisie as the primary oppressor of the proletariat, The Nation substitutes race, gender, and sexual orientation into the dialectic. White males, Christians, and traditional families are often portrayed as inherently oppressive classes, while LGBTQ+ individuals, racial minorities, and leftist activists are cast as the new proletariat.
The aim is not to reconcile but to polarize. As Neo-Marxist theorists like Herbert Marcuse taught, liberation requires unmasking and overthrowing dominant cultural norms, which are presumed to be tools of repression. The Nation operates squarely within this framework—its journalism is not about reporting facts but eroding consensus around American values and Christian moral order.
Class Struggle Reborn
Despite the rise of identity politics, The Nation never truly abandoned the economic critique of capitalism. Articles regularly call for the dismantling of markets, the taxation of wealth, and the expansion of state control. But this is no longer pitched as a purely economic issue—it is fused with racial and gender grievances, forming a potent cocktail of intersectional revolution.
This blend of identity and economics is a hallmark of Neo-Marxism. The solution is never individual empowerment or spiritual regeneration; it is always state intervention, cultural reeducation, and institutional inversion.
Anti-Theism and Moral Inversion
Consistent with the Neo-Marxist goal of uprooting traditional authority, The Nation routinely portrays biblical Christianity as a threat to human progress. It opposes Christian sexual ethics, mocks belief in divine revelation, and frames religious freedom as a smokescreen for discrimination.
In its worldview, moral truths are not discovered but constructed. Values are fluid, determined by the consensus of the marginalized. Biblical commands are cast as tools of control, while self-expression—particularly sexual and gender expression—is elevated as the highest good.
This inversion of the moral order is not accidental; it is ideological. It reflects what Francis Schaeffer and Carl Trueman have called the therapeutic revolution, a world where feelings replace facts, and where the gospel of personal salvation is supplanted by the gospel of sociopolitical activism.
In sum, The Nation is not just a magazine—it is a Neo-Marxist catechism. It catechizes its readers not in how to think, but in what to destroy. Its target is not just political or economic systems, but the very pillars of Western and Christian civilization: objective truth, natural law, biblical authority, and transcendent moral order.
Public Image and Conclusion
The Nation cultivates an image of intellectualism cloaked in resistance. Its readership tends to be college-educated, urban, left-leaning, and self-styled as culturally “woke” and morally enlightened. The magazine is not flashy or pop-culture driven like BuzzFeed or Vice; it presents itself as thoughtful, principled, and sophisticated—a publication for serious minds who believe that the arc of history bends toward progressive revolution.
Yet beneath the surface, The Nation is deeply sectarian and dismissive of alternative worldviews. It rarely engages conservative, libertarian, or even moderate liberal arguments in good faith. Instead, it frequently employs a tactic common to Neo-Marxist media: reducing disagreement to bigotry. Readers are encouraged not to weigh opposing views but to reject them as manifestations of systemic oppression or reactionary hate.
This cultivated public image—of scholarship, virtue, and righteousness—masks what The Nation actually represents: a radicalized media outlet committed to social deconstruction. Its goal is not simply to report on culture and politics, but to reshape the culture itself, using its platform to challenge, erode, and ultimately replace the institutions that undergird the American and Christian moral order.
For the discerning conservative Christian, The Nation serves as a textbook example of what happens when journalism becomes activism and truth becomes narrative. Its articles are not crafted to inform but to mobilize. Its worldview is not anchored in transcendent principles but in ideological power dynamics. And its legacy is not one of civic service, but of cultural agitation.
As such, The Nation deserves its place in the Hall of Shame—not simply because of its progressive politics, but because of its unapologetic commitment to a worldview that undermines truth, virtue, liberty, and faith. It is a mouthpiece for the spirit of the age, cleverly dressed in the garb of intellectual journalism.
And for all its polish and prestige, it is ultimately a tool for cultural subversion—one that Christians and conservatives must recognize, resist, and counter with truth.
Key Personalities and Cultural Tone
The influence of The Nation is driven not just by its editorial stance but also by the personalities who shape its tone and content. Over the past few decades, the magazine has become a pipeline for progressive academics, social critics, and activist-journalists, each reinforcing its ideological priorities and cultural agenda.
Katrina vanden Heuvel – Longtime Editor and Publisher
No name is more closely associated with The Nation in the modern era than Katrina vanden Heuvel. An outspoken progressive and foreign policy commentator, vanden Heuvel is a vocal opponent of American interventionism, a critic of capitalism, and an advocate for international solidarity with socialist and post-colonial states. Her tenure at The Nation was marked by a deliberate leftward drift and increased emphasis on cultural politics—especially gender, race, and class.
Chris Hayes
Before becoming an MSNBC host, Hayes was Washington editor for The Nation. His presence demonstrates the close-knit relationship between the progressive broadcast world and ideological print outlets. Hayes brought a polished media face to the publication’s ideas, elevating them into mainstream television while retaining their radical essence.
Joan Walsh, Eric Alterman, Melissa Harris-Perry, and Richard Kim
These frequent contributors and editors have maintained a consistent emphasis on systemic injustice, anti-racism, and the need for government-led social transformation. Their tone blends moral absolutism with grievance politics, fostering a sense that radical change is both inevitable and morally urgent.
Greg Grandin and Mark Weisbrot
Known for their apologetics on behalf of leftist regimes in Latin America, these writers have whitewashed authoritarianism under the guise of anti-imperialism, especially in Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia. Their scholarship—often presented as high-minded critique—serves the ideological aims of rebranding failed socialism as misunderstood idealism.
Style and Strategy
While The Nation rarely descends into the clickbait antics of some of its digital counterparts, its strategy is no less aggressive. Its strength lies in framing issues through intellectual and moral authority. Its long-form essays, academic citations, and appeals to justice give its articles the appearance of credibility—even when they promote deeply flawed premises.
The magazine uses a highbrow tone to insulate its claims from scrutiny, betting on the reader’s trust in progressive institutions and their disdain for conservative media. It rarely features debate or dialogue. Instead, it operates in a closed ecosystem—citing its own ideological allies in universities, activist nonprofits, and media collectives to reinforce consensus.
This echo chamber not only shields The Nation from opposing views but creates the illusion of unanimity among “thinking people.” The result is an audience that is deeply confident and deeply uninformed—one that views dissent not as alternate reasoning, but as a moral failing.
Examples of Cultural and Political Alignment
Over its long history, The Nation has positioned itself not merely as an observer of social movements, but as a direct participant in them. The magazine aligns itself unapologetically with the most radical edges of cultural and political discourse in America—and increasingly, across the globe. Its journalistic mission is not to inform neutrally but to advance an ideological agenda that champions “resistance,” “equity,” and “liberation” as defined by the far Left.
Support for BLM and Antifa-Aligned Protest Narratives
During the riots and unrest following the death of George Floyd in 2020, The Nation consistently downplayed or outright ignored the violent and anarchic behavior of far-left protestors, instead amplifying themes of police brutality and systemic racism. It framed looting as a form of protest and published sympathetic pieces toward groups aligned with Antifa, depicting them as defenders against “fascism.”
Critics noted that The Nation’s framing often normalized political violence when committed by those aligned with its values, while condemning law enforcement or conservative responses as oppressive. The magazine adopted the language of “abolition” for police forces, aligning itself with radical criminal justice reform advocates who wish to deconstruct rather than reform policing institutions.
Uncritical Celebration of LGBTQ+ Ideology and Gender Deconstruction
The Nation regularly publishes articles celebrating gender fluidity, transgender identity, and queer theory as acts of political resistance. It has published content sympathetic to puberty blockers for children, drag queen story hours, and the erasure of biological distinctions between men and women. Critics, including many feminists, have accused it of sacrificing women’s rights in the service of identity politics extremism.
In this domain, The Nation adopts a quasi-religious tone, framing transgender and nonbinary individuals as marginalized prophets exposing the faults of heteronormativity. It often vilifies religious institutions and traditional families as oppressive, casting them as barriers to “authentic self-expression” and sexual liberation.
Sympathy for Authoritarian Regimes Opposed to the United States
Perhaps most controversial are The Nation’s foreign policy stances. It has published favorable coverage of regimes such as Venezuela under Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, Cuba under the Castros, and even Iran’s theocratic government, so long as those governments frame themselves as anti-imperialist. Rather than confronting the authoritarianism or human rights abuses within these regimes, The Nation tends to blame American foreign policy for their economic or social failures.
This alignment is consistent with its broader Neo-Marxist instinct to invert moral authority, portraying traditional Western powers as inherently corrupt while treating revolutionary or “post-colonial” regimes with leniency—even when they suppress free speech, violate human rights, or commit acts of terrorism.
Obsession with Deconstructing American History
The Nation eagerly promotes the revisionist historical frameworks put forth by projects like the 1619 Project, which reframe America’s founding as a fundamentally racist endeavor. Its educational coverage praises Critical Race Theory and often implies that patriotism, constitutionalism, and Judeo-Christian influence are thin veils for white supremacy and capitalist oppression.
These views are not just opinion pieces—they are embedded in every area of the magazine’s journalism. Whether the topic is land use, labor laws, or tech policy, the narrative lens is always the same: America is a nation in need of perpetual deconstruction, and radical progressivism is the path to justice.
Legal Issues, Retractions, and Credibility Concerns
Though The Nation presents itself as a bastion of intellectual journalism, its long ideological entanglement and partisan advocacy have not been without controversy. While it has largely avoided high-profile libel settlements or televised courtroom drama, this is less a sign of trustworthiness and more a testament to its insulated audience and the culture in which it operates. Within progressive echo chambers, fact-checking becomes optional when narratives are convenient.
Retractions Are Rare—Even When Warranted
The Nation has a track record of publishing highly speculative, ideologically charged pieces without sufficient evidence. When errors are uncovered, full retractions are rare. Instead, the magazine may quietly append an editor’s note, or bury a clarification in a subsequent issue. Critics have pointed out that this is part of its strategy: use bold, sweeping claims to energize the base and shape public discourse, then walk them back subtly—only after the desired impact is achieved.
One example is its ongoing promotion of false or misleading narratives about American police shootings. In the aftermath of the 2020 riots, The Nation published and promoted statistics that misrepresented the frequency of police shootings of unarmed black individuals without appropriate context. Even as better data emerged to complicate the narrative, the outlet doubled down, framing critiques as right-wing talking points.
Sympathetic Platforming of Discredited Activists
Another recurring issue is the platforming of activists and academics whose reputations have later been discredited. For instance, The Nation has published glowing commentaries by or about public intellectuals later found guilty of academic fraud, exaggerated claims, or deeply partisan misinformation—particularly in fields like climate change activism, prison abolition, and gender ideology. This pattern underscores The Nation’s prioritization of ideological alignment over investigative rigor.
In some cases, these individuals were not simply contributors but recurring authors or quoted experts, shaping the magazine’s ongoing coverage on topics like race relations, sexuality, or education. Their influence long outlives their credibility—and rarely does The Nation follow up with critical evaluation once their reliability is questioned.
Credibility Among Mainstream Media is Largely Tribal
In the media world, The Nation enjoys praise and defense from similarly progressive publications like The New York Times, Slate, Salon, and Vox. But outside of that tribal feedback loop, its credibility is increasingly challenged. Among moderate and conservative media watchdogs, The Nation is often listed as a textbook case of advocacy journalism masquerading as objective reporting.
Organizations like NewsBusters, Media Research Center, and Accuracy in Media have cataloged examples of The Nation’s distortions, especially its frequent mischaracterization of religious liberty laws, pro-life legislation, and conservative policy proposals. Nevertheless, because of its elite reputation, these concerns are frequently dismissed by the progressive commentariat as irrelevant or politically motivated.
The “Credibility by Tenure” Illusion
Founded in 1865, The Nation is one of the oldest magazines in America. But rather than being a guarantor of objectivity, this long tenure has increasingly functioned as a shield against accountability. The outlet often relies on its historical prestige to dismiss critiques, adopting the posture of wise dissenters with a prophetic legacy.
This “credibility by tenure” illusion emboldens The Nation to push boundaries, politicize information, and radicalize its readers—all while cloaked in the respectability of literary tradition. But like many aging institutions, its moral clarity has dimmed, and its devotion to truth has been replaced by devotion to the revolution.
Summary Judgment and Final Verdict
The Nation is not a news outlet in the conventional sense. It is an ideological organ—one that employs the trappings of journalism to advance a revolutionary worldview rooted in grievance, materialism, and social deconstruction. It does not merely report; it reframes. It does not simply interpret; it indoctrinates. From its earliest days championing labor agitation and pacifism, to its current obsessions with gender theory, Critical Race Theory, and cultural Marxism, The Nation has consistently positioned itself against the philosophical and moral foundations of Western civilization.
Its editors and contributors may speak in the language of liberty, but their understanding of freedom is freedom from—not freedom for. Freedom from tradition, from objective truth, from biological reality, from religious conscience, and from moral restraint. In place of these, The Nation offers a politics of perpetual upheaval, a worldview where stability is oppression, dissent is hate, and history is little more than a tale of victims and villains.
For conservative Christians, constitutional originalists, and anyone who values ordered liberty rooted in natural law, The Nation stands as a cautionary tale. Its pages are filled with elegant prose and sophisticated citations—but beneath them lies a worldview deeply corrosive to the truths that make civil society possible. By exalting man as autonomous, by reducing morality to power structures, and by discarding transcendent principles in favor of class and identity warfare, The Nation reflects the very spirit of rebellion that Scripture describes as “calling evil good, and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20).
In sum, The Nation deserves its place in the Hall of Shame—not for holding left-wing views per se, but for actively and consistently subverting truth in service to ideology. It is not a mirror to the world, but a lens—one that distorts, simplifies, and radicalizes in equal measure. It trains its readers to mistrust the fabric of their own nation, to see oppression in order, and to conflate justice with revolution.
And for that, it is not merely biased. It is dangerous.
S.D.G.,
Robert Sparkman
MMXXV
christiannewsjunkie@gmail.com
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