Leftist Nation mag lies about Soros-funding after JD Vance blasts them for false claims about Charlie Kirk

The President of The Nation magazine has been called out for a deceptive about the publication's financial ties to controversial Democrat billionaire philanthropist George Soros. This comes after Vice President JD Vance, while hosting his slain friend's podcast The Charlie Kirk Show, slammed The Nation magazine for their article calling Kirk "an unrepetant racist, transphobe, homophobe, and misogynist."

"The Nation isn't a fringe blog," Vance said on Monday, "it's a well funded, well respected magazine whose publishing history goes back to the American Civil War. George Soros' Open Society Foundation funds this magazine, as does the Ford Foundation and many other wealthy titans of the American progressive movement."

In response, The Nation's president Bhaskar Sunkara lambasted Vance over his comments, saying that the outlet had not received funding from the Open Society Foundation. Vance also said that Kirk's assassination was in part attributable to leftwing media spreading fervent animosity and lies about Kirk and his work.

Sunkara denied the vice president's claim, writing in a post on X, "I'm not sure where he's getting his information, but JD Vance is lying about The Nation magazine. We'd welcome donations from anyone who respects our editorial independence, but we're not funded, not one dime, by Soros or Open Society Foundation."

However, according to Newsbusters, The Nation was directly associated with the non-profit media company The Nation Institute from 2004 to 2019, which took in $1,349,000 from Soros' organizations, according to Foundation Directory Online data. In 2019, the non-profit announced it was rebranding to the Type Media Center.

"When The Nation Institute was founded more than 50 years ago, we were a modest organization affiliated with The Nation Magazine - but that name no longer reflects the breadth and impact of what we do today," Type Media Center CEO Taya Kitman said in a statement at the time.

In a 2023 grant, the leftist donor organization MacArthur Foundation described the relationship, stating, "Type Media Center is a nonprofit organization that supports journalism and nonfiction writing through book publishing, fellowship programs, and The Nation magazine," Newsbusters reported.
 

Despite Sunkara's claim that The Nation has no affiliation with George Soros, the data appear to show otherwise. Soros' most recent grant to the Center was in 2022 for $150,000, according to records. The grant was for building "a more equitable future in the field of public interest journalism by strengthening publishing and independent media."

Additionally, Soros donated $60,000 to The Nation Institute in 2018 to provide "support for the editorial director fellowship, which will enhance the Nation Institute's ability to undertake and support activities with the emphasis on the independent media, civil liberties, social justice and peace."

After Kirk was murdered by a cold-blooded assassin during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on September 10, The Nation ran a hit piece on Kirk, which read: "Charlie Kirk was an unrepentant racist, transphobe, homophobe, and misogynist who often wrapped his bigotry in Bible verses because there was no other way to pretend that it was morally correct."

Vance's motive for mentioning The Nation's financing was to hold leftwing propaganda news publications responsible for the false, hateful rhetoric they have been brainwashing Americans with, which has increased hostility and violence against conservatives.

The Nation's president replied to the story on social media and said that the reporting cited was incorrect.

This article has been updated to reflect social media comments from The Nation's president.