Mona Charen

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American journalist, author, and political commentator (born 1957)

title: "Mona Charen" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["20th-century-american-journalists", "20th-century-american-non-fiction-writers", "20th-century-american-women-writers", "21st-century-american-journalists", "21st-century-american-non-fiction-writers", "21st-century-american-women-writers", "american-political-commentators", "american-political-writers", "american-women-columnists", "american-women-non-fiction-writers", "barnard-college-alumni", "cnn-people", "ethics-and-public-policy-center", "female-critics-of-feminism", "critics-of-feminism", "george-washington-university-law-school-alumni", "jewish-american-journalists", "jewish-american-non-fiction-writers", "jewish-women-non-fiction-writers", "jewish-american-women-writers", "journalists-from-new-jersey", "national-review-people", "women-political-writers", "writers-from-livingston,-new-jersey", "american-orthodox-jews", "20th-century-american-jews", "21st-century-american-jews", "1957-births", "living-people", "never-trump-movement", "jews-from-new-york-city", "jews-from-new-jersey"] description: "American journalist, author, and political commentator (born 1957)" topic_path: "philosophy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Charen" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American journalist, author, and political commentator (born 1957) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameMona Charen
imageMona Charen by Gage Skidmore (3x4 cropped).jpg
captionCharen in 2018
birth_nameMona Elaine Charen
birth_date
birth_placeNew York City, U.S.
educationBarnard College (BA)
George Washington University (JD)
occupationColumnist, writer, political commentator, journalist
spouseRobert Parker
children3
::

| name = Mona Charen | image = Mona Charen by Gage Skidmore (3x4 cropped).jpg | caption = Charen in 2018 | birth_name = Mona Elaine Charen | birth_date = | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | education = Barnard College (BA) George Washington University (JD) | occupation = Columnist, writer, political commentator, journalist | spouse = Robert Parker | children = 3 Mona Charen Parker ( ; born February 25, 1957) is an American conservative columnist, journalist, and political commentator. Charen has written four books, and is an outspoken critic of the Trump administration.

Early life and education

Charen was born in New York City and raised in Livingston, New Jersey, where she went to school with fellow journalist Ruth Marcus, starting "in fourth grade." She is Jewish. She received her B.A. degree with honors from Barnard College in 1979 and a J.D. degree from George Washington University Law School in 1984.

Career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Charen.jpg" caption="Charen in Paris in 2010"] ::

Charen wrote for National Review, where she was an editorial assistant starting in 1979. She later joined the staff of First Lady Nancy Reagan as a speechwriter. Charen then worked on President Ronald Reagan's staff, in the White House Office of Public Liaison and in the Office of Communications.

Charen served as Jack Kemp's speechwriter in his unsuccessful 1988 presidential bid. She launched her syndicated column in 1987. It is syndicated by Creators Syndicate and has been featured in more than 200 papers, including the Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Washington Times.

Charen was a regular weekly commentator on CNN's The Capital Gang, which appeared on Saturdays. Following an on-air heated exchange with fellow panelist Al Hunt, the two of them did not appear on the same panel for several weeks. Charen switched to Capital Gang Sunday when that program was launched, appearing until the program was cancelled.

In 2010, Charen won the Eric Breindel Journalism Award. In 2014, she became a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

In 2016, Charen was a member of the "Never Trump" movement, although she did not support Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

In 2018, Charen was invited to participate in a CPAC panel discussion. Her comments, which elicited boos and jeers from the audience, included the following:

I am disappointed in people on our side for being hypocrites about sexual harassers and abusers of women, who are in our party, who are sitting in the White House, who brag about their extramarital affairs, who brag about mistreating women—and because he happens to have an 'R' after his name we look the other way ... This is a party that endorsed Roy Moore for the Senate in the state of Alabama even though he was a credibly accused child molester. You cannot claim that you stand for women and put up with that.

Charen subsequently wrote a New York Times op-ed entitled "I'm Glad I Got Booed at CPAC". She has written four books: Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got it Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First (2003), Do-Gooders: How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim to Help (and the Rest of Us) (2005), Sex Matters: How Modern Feminism Lost Touch with Science, Love, and Common Sense (2018), and Hard Right: The GOP's Drift Toward Extremism (2023). Two of her books are New York Times bestsellers.

In 2020, Charen supported Joe Biden's presidential campaign, writing that “I want the Republican Party to feel spanked."

Charen was policy editor of The Bulwark website and hosted the Beg to Differ podcast before it ended in 2024. Charen hosts The Mona Charen Show, as of 2025.

Personal life

Charen is married to Robert P. Parker, a Washington, D.C., lawyer. They have three sons.

Bibliography

References

References

  1. (September 27, 2019). "Mona and Jay and Impeachment and More".
  2. (July 26, 1979). "Barnard Graduate". West Essex Tribune.
  3. "Charen, Mona 1957- | Encyclopedia.com".
  4. Center, Niskanen. (2022-01-05). "What’s a principled conservative to do about Trump? (with Mona Charen) - Niskanen Center".
  5. dianeravitch. (2025-03-06). "Mona Charen: Trump’s Spineless Enablers".
  6. (2024-09-27). "Why Jews Should Reject Trump, by Mona Charen".
  7. [http://www.c-span.org/video/?193124-1/qa-mona-charen-ruth-marcus Mona Charen and Ruth Marcus] {{Webarchive. link. (October 6, 2021 , [[C-SPAN]] [[Q & A (U.S. talk show)). Q&A (television)]], July 9, 2006. Accessed November 30, 2014. "Brian Lamb, C-SPAN: Ruth Marcus, can you remember the first time you met Mona Charen? Ruth Marcus, Author: I can't remember the first time but I can remember many other times in the middle there because we were – we both started in Livingston, New Jersey in fourth grade."
  8. Charen, Mona Charen. (March 2, 2004). "Hating the Jews".
  9. (2021-11-08). "Mona Charen - John Locke Foundation". John Locke Foundation.
  10. "Mona Charen".
  11. "Prentice-Hall biography".
  12. "About Mona Charen, author of an opinion column that is syndicated by Creators Syndicate.". creators.com.
  13. Creators Syndicate. [http://www.creators.com/opinion/mona-charen-about.html Mona Charen] {{Webarchive. link. (December 8, 2015 Retrieved January 23, 2009.)
  14. For Charen's version of the event and subsequent fallout, see [https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/prince-darkness-mona-charen/ "Prince of Darkness"] {{Webarchive. link. (November 3, 2023 by Mona Charen, ''[[National Review]]'', July 25, 2007)
  15. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704749904575292861941720060 "Columnist Charen Wins Eric Breindel Award"] {{Webarchive. link. (December 7, 2020 ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'', June 7, 2010)
  16. "EPPC Flash: EPPC Welcomes Mona Charen as Senior Fellow". Ethics & Public Policy Center.
  17. N. (2016-11-12). "'Never Trump' Conservative Calls Election 'Amazing Earthquake'". NPR.
  18. Alberta, Tim. (February 25, 2018). "Trump's Takeover of Conservatism Is Complete and Total". [[Politico]].
  19. Charen, Mona. (February 25, 2018). "I'm Glad I Got Booed at CPAC". The New York Times.
  20. (April 6, 2003). "Best Sellers: April 6, 2003". The New York Times.
  21. (January 23, 2005). "Best sellers: January 23, 2005". The New York Times.
  22. Khazan, Olga. (2020-11-14). "Never Trump, Forever".
  23. Charen, Mona. "Mona Charen: Proud of my vote for Biden".
  24. "Mona Charen, Author at the Bulwark".
  25. Charen, Mona. (2025-01-20). "The Final Beg to Differ".
  26. [http://www.nndb.com/people/400/000115055/ Mona Charen biographical data] {{Webarchive. link. (March 3, 2021 from the [[NNDB]] database)

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20th-century-american-journalists20th-century-american-non-fiction-writers20th-century-american-women-writers21st-century-american-journalists21st-century-american-non-fiction-writers21st-century-american-women-writersamerican-political-commentatorsamerican-political-writersamerican-women-columnistsamerican-women-non-fiction-writersbarnard-college-alumnicnn-peopleethics-and-public-policy-centerfemale-critics-of-feminismcritics-of-feminismgeorge-washington-university-law-school-alumnijewish-american-journalistsjewish-american-non-fiction-writersjewish-women-non-fiction-writersjewish-american-women-writersjournalists-from-new-jerseynational-review-peoplewomen-political-writerswriters-from-livingston,-new-jerseyamerican-orthodox-jews20th-century-american-jews21st-century-american-jews1957-birthsliving-peoplenever-trump-movementjews-from-new-york-cityjews-from-new-jersey