In this interview, Dennis Prager welcomes journalist Bari Weiss to discuss her resignation from The New York Times and the broader ideological shift he describes as the "miseducation of American elites." Weiss explains that she left the Times because the newsroom no longer allowed the free‑wheeling, curiosity‑driven journalism she valued; the paper’s increasing intolerance for certain topics forced her to choose between prestige and principle. Prager expands the conversation to a larger narrative about liberal institutions—particularly the Times—being overtaken by a left‑wing ideology cloaked in "progress" and "social justice" language. He draws a sharp distinction between liberalism (which he says treats race as unimportant) and leftism (which makes race central), arguing that liberals often vote for leftist candidates despite opposing values. Weiss reflects on her personal background, mentions her father's influence, and suggests a possible alliance between "liberal liberals" and "conservative liberals" based on shared commitment to American founding ideals. The interview opens with a provocative subtitle about affluent parents secretly organizing against a new orthodoxy in private schools, hinting at a broader cultural battle over educational and cultural norms.
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Subtitle is: Affluent parents terrified of running afoul of the new orthodoxy in their children's private schools organize in secret. Imagine that, my friends, parents needing to organize in secret in the United States of America. All right, Barry Weiss, that might have been the longest introduction I ever gave a guest.
Thank you so much, Dennis. And I have to say that I grew up in a family where your book with Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism, was stacked very high on my dad's desk, and anyone who ever expressed interest in deepening their connection to Judaism or converting was handed a copy at Shabbat dinner. So you probably owe him some kind of royalty check. He told me to mention that.
I probably do, actually, now that you mention it. I'm very touched by that. I thank you. So there's a lot to talk about. Uh, how did you meet these parents? Let me explain for a moment. You, uh, you live where?
We're living this year in LA. We were kind of—
Oh, I didn't know you're living in LA.
Oh, COVID nomads.
Yeah, you should have come in. You should have come into the studio.
I'd love to. Oh, well, at another point.
Yeah. I know you lived in LA. I would have, uh, I thought, I thought you lived in New York for some reason.
No, no, no. I have been in New York for 15 years, but my fiancé, uh, Nelly used COVID as an excuse to take me to her native California and I've really been enjoying it.
I have to say, by the way, uh, Nelly, When, when I was told New York, the New York Times would write a feature piece on PragerU, my assumption was, given the piece that they wrote on me when I conducted an orchestra here in LA, that it would be somewhat of a hit job. And while it still was the New York Times, your fiancée did not write a hit piece. So I just want you to know, she'll be glad to hear that.
I think she's working in the other room, but, uh, thank you.
Yeah, that, that, uh, that, that was important for me to mention to you.
Okay, thank you.
So let's go to this article to begin with. No, you know what, I hate doing this and I rarely do it. I want to first ask you, why did you leave the New York Times?
I mean, I think I spelled it out pretty clearly in my resignation letter, but really the reason I left The New York Times is that all of the reasons that I went into journalism, to be able to pursue my curiosity, to tell the truth even if it was inconvenient, to talk to people that I disagreed with, And to do that in an atmosphere free of intimidation was no longer possible for me. And I had a hard choice to make, maybe a choice that some people listening to this are facing in their own lives. I certainly hear from a lot of, let's call them closeted people inside ostensibly liberal institutions right now. And the choice was basically, you know, sit on my hands, avoid an ever-increasing number of topics that are considered third rail, but cling on to, you know, maybe not in your world, Dennis, but in mine, you know, the incredible prestige that comes from telling someone you work at The New York Times. You know, my grandparents were subscribed to The New York Times for more than 60 years, and I remember so clearly when I FaceTimed them to tell them that, oh my God, I got this I got the job. Can you believe it? And they were crying. And like, that was the kind of response that, at least in the kind of blue world that I tend to live in, I would get. And also, let's be honest, love it or hate it, it's the most important newspaper in the world still with the greatest amount of reach. And knowing you can not just write your own articles, but in my case, I was a commissioning editor. So getting people into the New York Times, first-time writers, independent-minded people, people that would not otherwise think of the New York Times as a place that they would have the opportunity to publish. Like, that made me high. That was the greatest thing ever. And so I could have stayed and kind of clung on to all of that, or I could leave and kind of live up to the principles that I claim to, that I espouse. And when I look at what those principles are, there was kind of no other choice but to walk out the door, and in walking out the door, to pursue the kind of work that I came there in the first place to do. I will say also that, you know, people fixate on The New York Times for lots of understandable reasons, but the story of the ideological transformation of The New York Times is a much, much, much bigger story that The New York Times is only kind of one instance, one data point, and that is the story of ideological succession. It's the story of how liberal institutions have been upended, have been rotted out by a deeply illiberal ideology that comes cloaked in the language of progress and social justice. And that, I think, is one of the great undertold stories of our moment. Um, and it's one of the stories that I hope I'm delivering for my readers in my newsletter.
I'm quiet because I'm assimilating all of what you said. The— my listeners know how true what you said is. The New York Times is not a liberal newspaper. It is a left-wing newspaper, and I have to the consternation of many conservatives, drawn a huge distinction between liberalism and leftism. However, and I'd like you to react to this, liberals, and this is a challenge to you perhaps, liberals are not leftists. I wrote a piece in my column last week or two weeks ago, it was 32 questions to ask people to determine if they're a liberal or a leftist. And first, the obvious, the big example is race is unimportant is the essence of liberal views on race. Race is important is the essence of left-wing views on race. They're literally antithetical. Yet on every issue, every moral issue virtually, left and liberal are in opposition, and yet liberals vote for the left in the largest single instance of suicide that I am aware of as one who has studied history all of my life. How do you react to that?
There's a lot there to react to. I would say that, you know, me being on this show is a good test of whether or not I'm a leftist or a liberal in my own instance, because, you know, one of the things— frankly, I mentioned my dad at the top of the show— but one of the things that I used to argue with my dad about was your stance on gay marriage. And I was deeply disturbed by it, even as I admired your writings on Judaism, your writings on any number of topics. I feel right now that there needs to be a kind of laying down of arms over some old fights that might have divided between someone like me and someone like you, and a kind of alliance that needs to be built between what I think of as liberal liberals and conservative liberals. Because in the end of the day, if you and I both believe that our common humanity is more important than the lane that we are born into, if you and I both believe that we need to be fighting for a vision healthy American identity that's rooted in our— the ideals of the founders.
Yeah, keep that thought. Barry Weiss is my guest. We'll continue.
