Why the IDW Fell Apart

In 2018, the journalist Bari Weiss crowned a heterodox group of writers and cultural figures the “Intellectual Dark Web.” The IDW, the story goes, promised to deliver a substantive critique of left-wing orthodoxy that had not emerged from the traditional Right. These new figures were also using new media, especially podcast platforms, to reach younger audiences and generate buzz for their intellectual movement. But now, five years later, the IDW has become a spent force. As the group was confronted with a series of real-world political decisions—the rise of Trump, the COVID crisis, and the anti-CRT movement—it fractured, splintered, and decomposed.