The Bulwark

The Bulwark was founded by anti-Donald Trump conservatives with the aim of opposing him. It was launched in 2018 by Sarah Longwell, a former member of the Republican Party who founded Republican Voters Against Trump (or RVAT) during the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections and spent millions of dollars to defeat him. The launch was supported by neoconservative Bill Kristol, who is the site's editor-at-large, and political commentator Charlie Sykes, a former editor-in-chief of the Bulwark. 

AllSides will continue to conduct reviews of this outlet over time.

• The Bulwark Rated Lean Left in May 2026 Blind Bias Survey; Retains Left Overall Rating
• The Bulwark Bias Rated Left in March/April 2026 Blind Bias Survey of Americans
• The Bulwark Bias Rating Moved from Lean Right to Left following Dec. 2025 Editorial Review
   

The Bulwark Rated Lean Left in May 2026 Blind Bias Survey; Retains Left Overall Rating

The Bulwark was rated Lean Left (-1.60) by 576 respondents.  Respondents who rated their own bias Left, Lean Left, and Center rated it Center on average; respondents who identified themselves as Lean Right rated it Lean Left; Right respondents rated it Left.

Democrats rated it Center on average; Independents rated it Lean Left; Republicans rated it Lean Left.

After weighing this with previous reviews of this outlet, The Bulwark’s overall bias rating remained Left, but moved from -5.07 to -3.91 on the AllSides Media Bias Meter.

The Bulwark Bias Rated Left in March/April 2026 Blind Bias Survey of Americans

Regardless of self-reported political affiliation, The Bulwark was rated Left (-6.57) on average by 381 people across the political spectrum in the March/April 2026 Blind Bias Survey. This was consistent with AllSides’ rating of Left (-3.57) from a Dec. 2025 Editorial Review.

This resulted in AllSides moving The Bulwark’s overall rating from Left (-3.57) to -5.07 on the AllSides Bias Meter.

Respondents who self-identified as Republicans on average rated it further left on the scale than Independents and Democrats, but those groups still rated it Left. 

The Bulwark Bias Rating Moved from Lean Right to Left following Dec. 2025 Editorial Review

AllSides moved The Bulwark’s bias rating to Left (-3.57) following an Editorial Review in Dec. 2025.

Across the review, team members evaluated 15 headlines and 7 full articles, assigning bias ratings to each piece. When results were aggregated and weighted, the content overall exhibited a Left bias, with a majority of full articles perceived as Left.

There were two reviewers with a bias on the left, two in the center, and two on the right. Two reviewers — one on the left and one in the center — perceived The Bulwark as Lean Left, on average, while all others perceived the outlet as Left.

Examples of articles cited as Left by reviewers included:

• New Trump Security Strategy Turns Against the Free World – flagged for framing the Trump administration policies as aligned with far-right ideology and carrying a “strong whiff of white nationalism.” A Lean Left reviewer noted the article “arguably downplays the extent to which mass migration is affecting European culture” while a Right reviewer noted no right-leaning perspectives present. A Center reviewer noted left-leaning slant when the article described Trump’s 2020 election denials and the January 6th, 2021 capitol riot.
• “Heritage Americans” and the Nazi Horse – cited for drawing comparisons between immigration policy in the modern United States and Nazism, which reviewers across the spectrum noted as having left framing. The piece argues that Trump's border and immigration policies are "about ethnic purity and creating an illiberal order," which was noted by a reviewer on the right as being opinion presented as fact.
• Netflix and Chill Out—Trump Hasn’t Decided Yet – the article argues Trump has been “dozing off at cabinet meetings,” which a Lean Left reviewer regarded as presenting opinion as fact. A Lean Right reviewer noted mindreading in the article for saying, "Trump loves being sucked up to, and he loves distributing head-pat rewards to the suck-ups."

This review was conducted using an Editorial Review Survey, a structured review process conducted by AllSides’ multipartisan editorial team. Learn more about AllSides’ Editorial Review Survey method here.

AllSides conducted the Editorial Review after fielding internal discussion as to whether or not an anti-Trump outlet ought to be classified as being on the left. Editorial Review panelists placed the content in the Lean Left or Left categories. AllSides will continue to conduct reviews of this outlet. 

AllSides does not universally define anti-Trump content as always being in the left category, but the panelists on average felt that in this case, the anti-Trump content came from a Left place.”

The Bulwark Rated Lean Right in 2020 Independent Review

An independent reviewer assigned a rating of Lean Right to The Bulwark in 2020.