Why The Intercept Should Court Libertarian and G.O.P. Donors and Vice Versa

Politics Has Made For Stranger Bedfellows.

An Intercept article from February 2014 (Jon Russell, Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0 DEED)

The Intercept is in trouble. The adversarial publication founded to mine the Snowden trove is on pace toward insolvency as early as May 2025.

But The Intercept’s editorial stances offer much with which Libertarians and a good chunk of the G.O.P. agree. The Intercept, for example, backs Wikileaks-founder Julian Assange and opposes FISA. And, in The Intercept’s heyday, perhaps no outlet on the left made the administrative state feel uneasier. Then, last election, The Intercept ran with Tara Reade’s sex-assault allegation against Joe Biden.

Ironically, perhaps, The Intercept’s financial troubles are largely the result of the Democratic establishment’s displeasure.

The potential for the other side should be obvious.

If, for example, Hunter Biden’s laptop had broken at The Intercept in Summer 2020 instead of at The New York Post in October, Bernie Sanders supporters likely would have gotten their nomination, and the G.O.P. likely would have had the presidential opponent it preferred. Facebook and Twitter, I also wager, would have thought much more carefully about “throttling” the story from The Intercept or suspending its accounts, as they did with the Post.

As it stands, The Intercept already enjoys significant support on the right. (Fox’s Sean Hannity has referred to The Intercept’s D.C. bureau chief as “our liberal friend Ryan Grim.”)

For its part, The Intercept would benefit from a more diverse readership, and not just from a wider donor base. On a host of matters, like those above, where progressives agree with blocs on the right, The Intercept’s influence stands to rise.

As for partisan distaste, politics has certainly made for stranger bedfellows. Democratic donors backed pro-Trump 2022 primary candidates, betting they would be easier to beat in general elections.

Above all, however, progressives and conservatives both stand to lose if The Intercept goes dark.

Martin Gottesfeld has written for The Intercept.