About American Thinker

American Thinker

American Thinker is a daily online magazine dealing with American politics from a conservative viewpoint, based in El Cerrito, California. Founded in March 2003 by attorney Ed Lasky, health-care consultant Richard Baehr, and sociologist Thomas Lifson — and publishing daily since its real debut on January 5, 2004 — the site has been one of the longest-running conservative web publications, producing hundreds of items per month from dozens of contributors. American Thinker rose to prominence in the lead-up to the 2008 presidential election with its critical coverage of Barack Obama, and it has remained a prolific engine of conservative essays and commentary ever since. Its history also includes a significant reckoning: after publishing false claims about the 2020 presidential election, the site faced a lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems and published a retraction acknowledging its claims were "completely false and have no basis in fact."

Founding: Three Friends and an Email Chain

American Thinker was founded in March 2003 by three friends — attorney Ed Lasky, health-care consultant Richard Baehr, and sociologist Thomas Lifson — who regularly shared political opinions and analysis via email. As Lifson later recounted, their email exchanges had become "a kind of tiny circulation webzine," so they decided to put it on the web where anybody could see it. Acquiring the software and server capacity to publish a website was more complicated in 2003 than today; after posting test articles late that year, the trio began publishing daily in January 2004, with the archive dating to November 2003 and the "real debut" on January 5. The founders brought serious credentials: Lifson, a Harvard-educated sociologist; Baehr, a chief political correspondent and health-care management consultant; Lasky, a lawyer and Kellogg MBA. Their ambition was thoughtful conservative analysis — "when you try to be thoughtful and fair, it's not polemical," Lifson noted — rather than red-meat partisanship.

Rise to Prominence: 2008 and the Obama Era

American Thinker initially became prominent in the lead-up to the 2008 U.S. presidential election for its attacks on then-candidate Barack Obama. The site's prolific output — five or six original essays plus around 15 blog commentaries daily, totaling more than 140 items per week and 600 per month — made it a constant presence in conservative online discourse. An early breakthrough came with Lifson's "GWB: HBS MBA," an analysis of George W. Bush as a Harvard Business School graduate that Rush Limbaugh read on the air, generating the site's first six-figure hit counts. In 2009, after Obama's election, the site joined a wave of conservative publications discussing radical scenarios including a second Civil War — a turn toward more apocalyptic rhetoric. A 2008 column on California's programmable thermostat proposal drew New York Times attention for its blend of populist, free-market, and civil-libertarian arguments. The site published notable conservative authors including Jerome Corsi.

Prolific Output and Contributor Model

American Thinker's production model is remarkable for its volume and leanness. As Lifson described it in 2022, the site normally publishes five or six original articles — essays addressing topics of interest — plus about 15 shorter blog commentaries daily, all produced without a full-time staff. Dozens of contributors provide the content; Lifson edits and publishes. This model — a small core operation amplifying a large network of writers — allowed the site to maintain a torrid pace for two decades. The Southern Poverty Law Center has called the site "a not so thoughtful far-right online publication," a characterization the site's supporters reject. Whatever one's view of its content, the operation's longevity and output represent an extraordinary feat of independent publishing endurance: nearly twenty years of daily conservative commentary produced essentially by one dedicated editor and his contributor network.

The Dominion Lawsuit and Retraction

In the aftermath of Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election, American Thinker published articles advancing claims of election fraud involving Dominion Voting Systems. Faced with a lawsuit from Dominion, Lifson acknowledged that the site had relied upon "discredited sources who have peddled debunked theories." American Thinker published a formal statement admitting that its election claims were "completely false and have no basis in fact" and that "it was wrong for us to publish these false statements." The retraction — a rare and humbling public admission for a publication — marked a significant moment in the broader reckoning over 2020 election misinformation, as Dominion's legal actions forced accountability from multiple conservative outlets. For American Thinker, the episode stands as a cautionary chapter in its long history: a reminder of the legal and ethical consequences when commentary outruns evidence.

Thomas Lifson: Editor and Publisher

Thomas Lifson is the co-founder, editor, and publisher of American Thinker — and for most of its history, its indispensable man. Now in his seventies, Lifson has maintained the site's prolific output for two decades without the benefit of a full-time staff or outside media appearances. As profiled by theRighting in 2022, Lifson's dedication to his craft is beyond question: thousands of posts, daily publishing, continuous editing — a one-man publishing institution. A Harvard man turned conservative publisher, Lifson embodies a particular tradition of conservative intellectual journalism: the engaged amateur in the best sense, writing and editing out of conviction rather than careerism. His stewardship — through prominence, controversy, and retraction — defines the site's character.

Editorial Character and Content

American Thinker's content spans essays on American politics, culture, national security, economics, and the conservative movement's internal debates. The longer essays aim for thoughtful analysis; the shorter blog posts offer rapid commentary on current events and material published elsewhere. The site's voice is unapologetically conservative, skeptical of progressive governance, and engaged with the populist-nationalist turn in Republican politics. Its comment sections host active reader debate. The site's El Cerrito, California, base — in the progressive Bay Area — gives it an ironic geographic distinction: a conservative institution operating from deep-blue territory, a daily reminder that political diversity exists everywhere.

Place in Conservative Media History

American Thinker belongs to the first generation of conservative web publications — launched in the early 2000s alongside the blogosphere's rise, before social media reorganized online discourse. Its longevity makes it a living archive of conservative thought's evolution: from Bush-era debates over Iraq and the war on terror, through the Tea Party revolt, through the Obama years' apocalyptic rhetoric, through Trump's hostile takeover of the Republican Party, to the present. Few conservative sites have published continuously across all these eras. The site's trajectory — from thoughtful essays to election misinformation to public retraction — also mirrors the broader conservative media's struggles with truth and accountability in the Trump era.

American Thinker's Longevity

Founded in March 2003 by three friends — Ed Lasky, Richard Baehr, and Thomas Lifson — as an email chain, American Thinker has published daily since January 5, 2004, making it one of the longest-running conservative web publications. Its prolific contributor model — dozens of writers producing essays on politics, culture, and policy — made it a hub of conservative intellectual life during the Obama era and beyond. The Dominion lawsuit and subsequent published retraction marked the site's most serious crisis, a cautionary tale about the legal risks of election-related claims. Under editor and publisher Thomas Lifson, American Thinker has endured where countless conservative blogs have faded — a testament to the durability of its community of writers and readers.

American Thinker Today

Today, American Thinker continues to publish daily at americanthinker.com — essays and commentary from a conservative viewpoint, edited and published by Thomas Lifson with contributions from Richard Baehr, Ed Lasky, and dozens of writers. More than twenty years after three friends decided to put their email chain on the web, the site endures as one of conservative media's longest-running independent publications: prolific, provocative, and — since its Dominion retraction — chastened by a hard lesson in the obligations of publishing. Its official website is https://www.americanthinker.com.