The decision by Ruy Teixeira and John Halpin to close down The Liberal Patriot due to a lack of financial resources should be a warning to everyone who cares about heterodox political coverage.

My concern is that the Substack (and YouTube channels etc.) that are succeeding financially in the independent creator space are purely (and predictably) partisan.

Orange Man always bad, mostly — although a few Orange Man always good too.

There’s a built-in funding mechanism for those partisan sites; activists who hate (or love) Trump.

But Trump won’t be around forever. And we will still need good journalism that attempts to call balls and strikes when he is gone.

The problem is that there isn’t really a stable funding mechanism for those sorts of sites. Yes, Nate Silver does great. And I do fine. As does Gabe Fleisher.

But the truth is that it’s a MUCH harder financial path to walk. Being in the middle-ish means that you rely on non-partisans or open-minded partisans to support your work. And too few of them do it.

We need more voices like The Liberal Patriot, not less. But unless and until we can figure out financial models that support balls-and-strikes journalism, I fear more sites will disappear just like it is.