In The Drift's founding essay published June 24, 2020, Barrow and Panovka wrote that they were "committed to offering a forum for young people who haven’t yet been absorbed into the media hivemind, and don’t feel hemmed in by the boundaries of the existing discourse.

"[1][2] They told The New York Times that they were inspired by podcasts like Red Scare and Chapo Trap House and that they aspire to be "the intellectual arm" of "the leftist resurgence of the past few years and figuring out what’s next, post-Bernie, to people now awakening to leftist radicalism.”[2] Both of The Drift's founders attended elite private New York City schools before studying at Harvard College.

[2] Rebecca Panovka, the daughter of corporate lawyers Alexandra Korry and Robin Panovka, worked as a tutor and fact checker, and attended Dalton School before studying English and philosophy and editing The Harvard Book Review.

: Some Thoughts on the ‘Inspiresting,’” which criticizes the TED conference's focus on contrived, oversimplified content and elitist undercurrents; a criticism of Anthony Fauci's celebrity status by Know Your Enemy co-host Sam Adler-Bell; and "Case Sensitive," an argument for not capitalizing the term Black by the philosopher Nicholas Whittaker.

[7][8] Story ideas go through many rounds of editing even before they are green-lit, receiving contributions from at least four editors by the final draft.