The New Yorker Cover Controversy

The New Yorker Cover Controversy

Laura Flanders leads a panel discussion featuring Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker about the controversial Barack Obama cover.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

Shrewd satire or a potent symbol of The New Yorker‘s decline within a shlock-laden media landscape? An incisive commentary on the fear-mongering that has greeted Barack Obama’s presidential campaign or , as Nation columnist John Nichols argues, a canny marketing ploy with little satirical value? On GRITtv with Laura Flanders, a round-table discussion addresses the controversy surrounding the cover art of the July 21 New Yorker and its contentious caricature of an Obama White House.

Will Di Novi

Check out more great Nation videos on our YouTube channel.

Hold the powerful to account by supporting The Nation

The chaos and cruelty of the Trump administration reaches new lows each week.

Trump’s catastrophic “Liberation Day” has wreaked havoc on the world economy and set up yet another constitutional crisis at home. Plainclothes officers continue to abduct university students off the streets. So-called “enemy aliens” are flown abroad to a mega prison against the orders of the courts. And Signalgate promises to be the first of many incompetence scandals that expose the brutal violence at the core of the American empire.

At a time when elite universities, powerful law firms, and influential media outlets are capitulating to Trump’s intimidation, The Nation is more determined than ever before to hold the powerful to account.

In just the last month, we’ve published reporting on how Trump outsources his mass deportation agenda to other countries, exposed the administration’s appeal to obscure laws to carry out its repressive agenda, and amplified the voices of brave student activists targeted by universities.

We also continue to tell the stories of those who fight back against Trump and Musk, whether on the streets in growing protest movements, in town halls across the country, or in critical state elections—like Wisconsin’s recent state Supreme Court race—that provide a model for resisting Trumpism and prove that Musk can’t buy our democracy.

This is the journalism that matters in 2025. But we can’t do this without you. As a reader-supported publication, we rely on the support of generous donors. Please, help make our essential independent journalism possible with a donation today.

In solidarity,

The Editors

The Nation

Ad Policy
x