Jonathan Chait

Jonathan Chait (/ˈtʃeɪt/; born 1972) is an American commentator and writer for New York magazine. He was previously a senior editor at The New Republic and an assistant editor of The American Prospect. He writes a periodic column in the Los Angeles Times.

Chait began working at The 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 in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, and Reason. He took over The New Republic's TRB column from Peter 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.

On March 16, 2009, Chait appeared on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report to counter conservative arguments that the New Deal was a failure. The impetus for that appearance was an article that he wrote for The New Republic, "Wasting Away in Hooverville".

Chait appears in The Rivalry, a 2007 HBO documentary about the history and culture of the Michigan-Ohio State football rivalry. Chait joined the staff of New York magazine on September 6, 2011, leaving his post of Senior Editor at The New Republic. He explained his move: "Obviously I love TNR and had no plans to leave, but the opportunity at New 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."

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-described liberal hawk, he has written pieces critical of left-wing figures such as Naomi Klein, and wrote a TNR cover article condemning the tax haven policy of Delaware.

Chait was an initial supporter of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

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 of his persona.

Chait occasionally writes about sports, particularly stories involving his alma mater, the University of Michigan, where he was a columnist for the Michigan Daily. He strongly criticized the editorial staff of the Detroit Free Press after a controversial article by Michael Rosenberg that alleged systematic infractions of NCAA rules by the Michigan football program under former head coach Rich Rodriguez. Chait suggested Rosenberg's editor should "lose his job" and called the investigation's methodology "journalistic malpractice."

On February 22, 2010, following an investigation stemming from allegations raised in Rosenberg's article, the university announced that the NCAA has found probable cause that the school committed five major violations, corroborating some of the allegations in Rosenberg's article. On May 24, 2010, the University 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." Chait then claimed Rosenberg's allegations that Rodriguez "operated a football sweatshop has been totally debunked."

On September 26, 2011, Chait, while admitting he hadn't read Gilad Atzmon's book The Wandering Who, in order to assess the context of a number of quotes, responded to John Mearsheimer's comment about Atzmon's book by citing passages which he regarded as characteristically antisemitic.

On January 27, 2015, Chait wrote an article for New York Magazine on political correctness, which he labeled "a system of left-wing ideological repression" and cited examples from academia and social media. His article was met with criticism, largely, although not entirely, negative. Chait later responded to the criticisms in a second article for New York Magazine.

In February 2016, Chait argued in New York Magazine that "Liberals Should Support a Trump Republican Nomination", predicting among other things that a Trump presidency would develop similar to the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger in California (who like Trump was a celebrity who became a Republican politician without prior public service experience). 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."

Chait has written extensively in support of charter schools. On January 14, 2019, he accused Senator Elizabeth Warren of selling out to "powerful interests" for her opposition to an initiative which would have expanded the number of charter schools in Massachusetts.

Chait's spouse, Robin Chait, is an analyst and pro-charter school advocate. Chait is Jewish.

• Chait, Jonathan (2007). The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
  • Reprinted as The big con: crackpot economics and the fleecing of America. Boston: Mariner Books. 2008.
• Chait, Jonathan (2017). Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and Created a Legacy That Will Prevail. Custom House. ISBN 978-0062426970.