One week ago, The Contrarian did not exist. Yes, there had been some musings between me and my dear friend Jen Rubin about the possibility of creating a new media project, but we had only spoken about it in a kind of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, “Let’s put on a show” kind of way. Jen was still at The Washington Post; I was getting ready for my annual CNN contract renegotiation. Between that and my many other jobs, I was more than busy enough. But then, after a series of shocks, including the Post’s rejection of Ann Telnaes’s all-too-accurate depiction of billionaires laying piles of money at the feet of Donald Trump, Jen said, “Let’s do this thing.”
It just no longer felt like an option to stand by idly and observe the anticipatory obedience of figures in new and old media. It was not just Bezos; he had plenty of company with the LA Times, ABC News, Zuckerberg, and many more. So Jen and I agreed to launch the venture, rounding up an astonishing All-Star crew of over two dozen regular contributors in a matter of days.
We kicked off on Monday with the springboard of Jen’s Post resignation letter. While we had high hopes, we never could’ve imagined what happened next. A quarter of a million subscribers poured in (perhaps not coincidentally, roughly the same number that left The Post when Bezos halted its Kamala Harris endorsement before the election). And the engagement was through the roof, with over 1,000,000 views per day.
Speaking of engagement, we will be doing a Substack live with our paid subscribers on Sunday at 2 PM ET. We want your feedback on what the Contrarian should be. Join us here. And if you have not subscribed, please consider doing so to support our work.
It turns out there is a hunger for reported opinion that is unabashedly pro-democracy, does not kiss the ring or bend the knee, and is fast and often first. Even though the Jack Smith report dropped after midnight on Monday, Jen and I were both up with our columns first thing the next morning explaining why too many in mainstream media were getting it wrong. This was a story about a coup meister who is recovering the power to do the things detailed in the report again. As I wrote, “That return should be viewed roughly like the British march on Washington during the War of 1812. And yet normalization has been common.”
But that was not my favorite Contrarian line of the week. The prize went to Jen’s Wednesday piece on Pete Hegseth, which asked, “Is the Trump administration running a DEI program for incompetent, unqualified, and/or ethically compromised Whites?” She also had great video coverage of the hearings, and our contributors offered columns like prosecutor Mimi Rocah’s sharp feedback to the dangerously evasive pivots she witnessed in Pam Bondi’s testimony.
From there we went on to offer insight into all the breaking news this week:
*from TikTok stars Olivia Julianna, Aaron Parnas, Joshua Martin, and Kiera Spann speaking out in favor of TikTok, followed by the great Joyce White Vance discussing SCOTUS upholding the ban (and explaining Biden’s commutation of low-level drug offenders’ sentences);
*to legal luminaries Larry Tribe and Kathleen Sullivan applauding President Biden’s decision to make way for the Equal Rights Amendment;
*to a thoughtful and lucid explanation of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal from Ilan Goldenberg.
But it takes more than politics and law to fight for democracy, and that’s why one of the Contrarian’s most-read pieces this week was Andy Borowitz’s humor column on alternative new slogans for WaPo… (send us yours at info@contrariannews.org).
We also published a personal, candid, and profoundly American story entitled “From the Trailer House to the White House” from twenty-two-year old Olivia Julianna, as well major essays stepping back and thinking deeply about the moment we are in like a dissection of Trump‘s playground blame game tactics from the authoritarianism scholar Kim Lane Schepple and Barb McQuade’s distillation of the legitimate dangers posed by Meta abandoning fact-checking. Jen debuted her weekly “Undaunted” feature highlighting a democracy champion of the week.
Finally, we introduced you to The Contrarian’s first pet of the week, Jen Rubin’s English Setter, Amos. Subscribers can submit their own furry friends’ entries. It was another one of our most popular offerings!
We’re truly just beginning! Please join us for our Substack live with our paid subscribers on Sunday 1/19 at 2 PM ET.
And on Monday 1/20, for all our subscribers—and especially those who can't stand the idea of the inauguration of a man who openly admits he intends to be a dictator on day one—the Contrarian will be right there with you. Jen and I will be joined by George Conway and other special guests broadcasting on Monday on Substack Live from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm ET. The stream will be here on our Contrarian Substack page. No corporate interests will prevent us from mercilessly mocking the activities. Everyone is welcome to tune in.
I’m not going to lie, Monday and all of next week are going to be tough. But I am energized because community, coalitions, and culture are requisite tools for combating autocracy. At the Contrarian next week and every week, we will give you the comprehensive coverage you’re seeking, unencumbered by invested restraints, absent of equivocations or excuses. And we’ll find a way to laugh our way through it all. But we need your ideas, feedback, and participation!
Thanks for a great first week. Jen, all of our contributors, and I look forward to fighting with you for this democracy that we love.
Warmly, Norm
Congratulations for your new venture. I'm looking forward to subscribing for many years ahead. And, thank you for standing up for truth and journalism.
Please develop a podcast? Heather Cox Richardson reads her daily letters out loud where it can be listened to (for those of us who like to listen while we walk or before sleep in the dark). Hoping this can be a Cronkite reporting of the facts without heavy opinion, or at least save the editorial comments for the end. I'm so tired of being told how to think about something.