The Great Bari Weiss Swindle

AKA pundit self-promotion masterclass.

When New York Times op-ed columnist Bari Weiss very publicly resigned from her job this week—in the latest installment of the ongoing Times op-ed section public drama—one thing was apparent:

Bari Weiss is amazingly good at self-promotion.

Now let’s take a step back. The New York Times is constantly engaged in a three-way frenemy fight with the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post for the most discussed op-ed pages in US media. The Wall Street Journal‘s op-ed section spans the spectrum fron center-right to far-right with a token liberal here and there. The Washington Post has been historically centrist but has veered slightly left thanks to the born again anti-Trumpism of writers like Max Boot and Jennifer Rubin. By contrast, the Times op-ed section has traditionally been less focused on ideology and more focused on featuring columnists who are culturally acceptable (read: upper-middle class, private university educated) to their readership in places like Park Slope, northwest DC …