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Jonathan Chait | |
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| Education | University of Michigan |
| Occupation(s) | Political commentator, editor, author |
| Notable credit(s) | senior editor atThe New Republic; former assistant editor ofThe American Prospect; author ofThe Big Con; former fellow atNew America Foundation; frequent guest onBloggingHeads.tv |
| Spouse | Robin Chait |
| Children | 2 |
Jonathan Chait (/ˈtʃeɪt/) is an Americanpundit and writer forThe Atlantic.[1] He was previously a senior editor atThe New Republic and an assistant editor ofThe American Prospect and wrote forNew York magazine. He writes a periodic column in theLos Angeles Times.[2][3][4]
Chait is the son of Illene (née Seidman) and David Chait.[5]
Chait began working atThe New Republic in 1995. In January 2010,The New Republic replaced The Plank, TNR's group blog, with the Jonathan Chait Blog. His writing has also appeared inThe New York Times,The Wall Street Journal,Slate, andReason. He took overThe New Republic's TRB column fromPeter Beinart in March 2007. Chait was named a finalist for the 2009 Ellie (National Magazine Award) in the Columns and Commentary category for three of his 2008 columns.[6]
On March 16, 2009, Chait appeared on Comedy Central'sThe Colbert Report to counter conservative arguments thatthe New Deal was a failure. The impetus for that appearance was an article that he wrote forThe New Republic, "Wasting Away in Hooverville".[7]
Chait appears inThe Rivalry, a 2007HBO documentary about the history and culture of the Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry. Chait joined the staff ofNew York magazine on September 6, 2011, leaving his post as senior editor ofThe New Republic.[8] He explained his move: "Obviously, I loveTNR and had no plans to leave, but the opportunity atNew York was irresistible. Everybody who works there raves about it, and my friends in journalism have noticed for a while it's become phenomenal – 'the best magazine in America', as one editor friend of mine told me."[8]
Chait usually writes about domestic politics and policy. Many of his writings are critiques of what he perceives to be illogical conservative positions. A self-describedliberal hawk,[9] he has written pieces critical of left-wing figures such asNaomi Klein and wrote aNew Republic cover article condemningDelaware'stax haven policies.[10]
Chait was a supporter of the2003 Invasion of Iraq.[11] One year later, he drew considerable attention with his "Case for Bush Hatred," in which he defended his dislike not only of Bush's policies but also his personality and mannerisms.[12]
Chait occasionally writes about sports, particularly stories involving his alma mater, theUniversity of Michigan (A.B. 1994)[13] where he was a columnist forThe Michigan Daily. He strongly criticized the editorial staff ofThe Detroit Free Press after a controversial article by Michael Rosenberg that alleged systematic infractions ofNCAA rules bythe university's football team under former head coachRich Rodriguez. Chait suggested Rosenberg's editor should "lose his job" and referred to the investigation's methodology as "journalistic malpractice."[14]
On February 22, 2010, following an investigation stemming from allegations raised in Rosenberg's article, the university announced that the NCAA has foundprobable cause that the school committed five major violations,[15] corroborating some of the allegations in Rosenberg's article. On May 24, 2010, theUniversity of Michigan responded to the NCAA Notice of Allegations, stating in part, "the University is satisfied that the initial media reports were greatly exaggerated if not flatly incorrect."[16][failed verification] Chait then claimed Rosenberg's allegations that Rodriguez "operated a football sweatshop has been totally debunked."[17]
On September 26, 2011, Chait wrote a column aboutJohn Mearsheimer's blurbs aboutGilad Atzmon's book,The Wandering Who. In this column Chait admits that he had not readThe Wandering Who. In the column Chait does not quote Mearsheimer's comments about the book, instead he cites passages in Atzmon's book which he regarded as characteristicallyantisemitic.[18]
On January 27, 2015, Chait wrote an article forNew York magazine onpolitical correctness, which he labeled "a system of left-wing ideological repression" and cited examples from academia and social media.[19][20] Chait's piece drew parallels between forms of political correctness popular in the 2010s with those popular in the 1990s. However, he also argued that the advent of social media had contributed to a form of political correctness that was more ubiquitous and less constrained to academia.
In February 2016, Chait wrote a piece forNew York magazine titled "Why Liberals Should Support a Trump Republican Nomination," in which he predicted that a Trump presidency would develop similarly to the governorship ofArnold Schwarzenegger in California (who, like Trump, was a celebrity who became a Republican politician without any public service experience).[21] In 2019,The Outline selected this piece as one of the "worst takes of the 2010s", opining that "Chait's immensely confident take [...] is a humiliating crystallization of the wrongheaded thinking that propelled [Trump] to the White House."[22] Chait now considers Trump a "threat to theAmerican democracy."[23][24]
Chait has written extensively in support ofcharter schools.[25][26] On January 14, 2019, he accused SenatorElizabeth Warren of selling out to "powerful interests" for her opposition to an initiative which would have expanded the number of charter schools inMassachusetts.[27] WriterAlexander Russo criticizes Chait for not consistently disclosing his wife's charter school advocacy.[28]
Chait opposesMarxism, arguing that "Marxist governments trample on individual rights because Marxist theory does not care about individual rights. Marxism is a theory of class justice ... Unlike liberalism, which sees rights as a positive-sum good that can expand or contract for society as a whole, Marxists (and other left-wing critics of liberalism) think of political rights as a zero-sum conflict. Either they are exercised on behalf of oppression or against it."[29]
Chait is married to Robin Joy Chait, an analyst and pro-charter school advocate.[30] He has two children.[5] Chait isJewish.[31][32]
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{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Two of New York Magazine's Jewish staffers, Jonathan Chait and Jesse Singal, decided to discuss the question.
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