Eleanor Clift
Political columnist and correspondent
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- Washington Correspondent, The Daily Beast
- McLaughlin Group Panelist
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Eleanor Clift is a columnist for the Daily Beast, an online publication where she writes about politics and culture. She was formerly with Newsweek, where she covered the White House and was a key member of the magazine’s election team. When Newsweek merged with the Daily Beast under the editorial direction of the legendary Tina Brown, Clift wrote for both publications.
Her cover story about the television show, Mad Men, won acclaim for capturing the era when women were relegated to the secretarial pool. When the Daily Beast sold Newsweek in 2013, Clift stayed with the Beast, betting on its digital future as opposed to the shrinking world of print journalism.
Clift is perhaps best known as a panelist on the syndicated talk show, “The McLaughlin Group,” which returned in January 2018 after an eighteen-month hiatus following the death of host and creator, John McLaughlin. Clift also offers insights each Friday on the Michelangelo Signorile Show on Sirius XM Satellite radio, and has appeared as herself in several movies, including “Dave,” “Independence Day,” “Murder at 1600,” and the CBS show, “Murphy Brown.”
She has authored or co-authored several books, including, “Selecting a President,” “Founding Sisters and the 19th Amendment,” “Two Weeks of Life: A Memoir of Love, Death and Politics,” “Madam President: Blazing the Leadership Trail,” and “War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics.”
Clift lives in Washington, D.C., where she is on the advisory council of the International Women’s Media Foundation, the boards of the American News Women’s Club and RespectAbility, an advocacy group for people with disabilities, and the Board of Governors of the National Hospice Foundation.
Two thirds of voters had doubts about Donald Trump’s fitness to be president, yet they voted for him to shake up Washington. He’s defied all kinds of norms. Can he survive?
Democrats need new leadership now that the Obamas and the Clintons are leaving the national stage. How do the Democrats shape a message that appeals to working-class Americans? Who are the future leaders?
What is the future of conservatism? Is there such a thing as Trumpism? The new president is not ideological. He wrote “The Art of the Deal.” Will he reshape the GOP in his image?
Republicans promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, but health care policy is too complicated for an easy fix. Can Obamacare withstand the assault from the Trump administration?
The Me Too movement captured the cultural moment in 2017, and its ramifications continue to be felt in Hollywood and the business world, and across the political and media landscape. Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump was a wakeup call to women.
Colorado became the fifth state to adopt legislation to give people facing terminal illness the freedom to have some choice in how to end their life by making it legal to receive a lethal dose of a prescription drug. Clift can talk about the politics as well as offer a personal perspective on end- of-life care and the choices before us individually and as a society. Doctors can tell us what we can do; they can’t tell us what we should do.
Michelle Obama fully understood the power of her platform, and used it to convey the priorities and values she shares with her husband. Her campaign against childhood obesity and the garden she planted on the South Lawn as a teaching tool for inner-city kids touched on important issues yet steered clear of controversy. Melania Trump, her successor, faces different challenges as only the second First Lady born in another country, and the mother of a young boy, the first to live in the White House since John F. Kennedy, Jr.
The media took a lot of heat for how they covered the 2016 election, and how they forecast a Hillary Clinton win for months, dismissing Donald Trump as a clown and potentially affecting the outcome. How does the media adjust to Trump’s Reality Show style of politics where facts are often disregarded and fake news is more believed than reported news stories? Clift can talk personally about the changing media landscape. After spending most of her career at Newsweek magazine, she made the conversion to new media and writes for the Daily Beast web site.
Donald Trump won the Electoral College and Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, a split decision that underscores the divisive nature of our politics. Trump says as president he will continue to hold his signature rallies while Democrats vow to take to the streets if necessary to protest Trump from thinking he has a mandate. Aside from marching, can Democrats turn their disappointment in the 2016 election outcome into a new political activism that can rebuild the party?
From Nixon to Clinton to Trump. What are the standards, and what is the likelihood that Trump will not finish out his term?
Trump campaigned on promise to upset the elites and install a new brand of conservative populists. What has he actually accomplished, and what policies has he disrupted?
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