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Eleanor Clift
Eleanor Clift
Eleanor Clift
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Eleanor Irene Clift (née Roeloffs; born July 7, 1940)[1] is an American political journalist, television pundit, and author. She is a contributor to MSNBC and blogger for The Daily Beast.[2] She is best known as a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group.[3] Clift is a board member at the IWMF (International Women's Media Foundation).[4]

Key Information

Early years

[edit]

Eleanor Roeloffs was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn,[1] the daughter of German immigrants from the island of Föhr in the North Sea.[5] She grew up in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens, where her parents ran a delicatessen in Sunnyside.[6] Clift was raised a Lutheran.[7] She attended both Hofstra University and Hunter College, but left both schools without a degree.[8]

Journalism career

[edit]

Clift began her career in 1963 as a secretary at Newsweek, and was one of the first female reporters to earn an internship from the secretary pool. Working out of Atlanta, Clift became the reporter assigned to cover the then-unlikely candidate, Jimmy Carter. Clift traveled with the campaign and reported from the road. After Carter's win, Clift became White House correspondent for Newsweek and has covered every presidential campaign for the magazine since 1976. When Newsweek merged with The Daily Beast in 2010, Clift stayed on to cover politics for the online publication.

Broadcasting career

[edit]

She began a broadcast career on The Diane Rehm Show on WAMU-FM, Washington, D.C., as a Friday week-in-review panelist. She became known to listeners for her good-natured acceptance of ribbing from other panelists and callers to the program.[citation needed]

She became[when?] a regular panelist on the nationally syndicated show The McLaughlin Group, which she has compared to "a televised food fight".[3]

Her role as a talk show panelist has led to appearances in movies. Clift played a panelist in Rising Sun (1993) and appeared as herself in Dave (1993), Independence Day (1996) and Getting Away with Murder (1996). She was portrayed by Jan Hooks on Saturday Night Live. She was also portrayed by actress Mary Ann Burger in the 2009 film Watchmen.

In 2008, she wrote Two Weeks of Life: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Politics, which intertwines the events of her own life and those of the nation concerning the Terri Schiavo case during a two-week period in March 2005. In it she examines the way people in the United States deal with death, publicity and personality.[citation needed]

She was a keynote speaker at the 2012 Washington & Jefferson College Energy Summit, where the Washington & Jefferson College Energy Index was unveiled.[9]

Contributing to the anthology Our American Story (2019), Clift addressed the possibility of a shared American narrative and focused on America as a social movement, writing, "[S]ocial movements are America's story, and they're my story as a woman born in the middle of the last century whose life was made measurably better amid these broad strokes of history."[10]

Honors

[edit]

Personal life

[edit]

Clift married William Brooks Clift Jr. (1919–1986), the older brother of actor Montgomery Clift, in 1964 with whom she had three sons. They divorced in 1981.[12]

In 1989, Clift married Tom Brazaitis, a Washington columnist for ‘‘The Plain Dealer’’ in Cleveland, Ohio. They remained together until his death from kidney cancer in 2005.[13]

Bibliography

[edit]

References

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Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Eleanor Clift

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Eleanor Clift (born July 7, 1940) is an American political journalist and television pundit recognized for her longstanding career in Washington reporting and commentary. She began at in the 1960s as a secretary before advancing to reporter roles, including coverage of Jimmy Carter's gubernatorial tenure in , and later served as a contributing editor from 1994, focusing on political power dynamics and women's influence in politics. Clift has contributed columns to on policy and partisan conflicts, appeared as a regular panelist on , and provided analysis for MSNBC, often espousing liberal viewpoints amid mainstream media discourse. She has covered every U.S. presidential election since 1976, co-authored books on politics with her late husband Tom Brazaitis, such as War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics, and remains active in public speaking on electoral and cultural topics. While praised for her insider perspectives, Clift's commentary has drawn criticism for partisan leanings, reflecting broader patterns of ideological alignment in legacy journalism outlets.

Early Life and Education

Childhood and Family Background

Eleanor Clift was born Eleanor Roeloffs on July 7, 1940, in , New York, to parents who were German immigrants from the island of , located between and . As the youngest of three children, she had two brothers who were 10 and 16 years her senior, creating a significant age gap that positioned her somewhat as an within the dynamic. Clift's early years unfolded in an urban environment amid the tail end of the and the onset of , with her family relocating from to the Jackson Heights neighborhood in during her childhood. This working-class immigrant household emphasized resilience and adaptation, reflecting the broader socioeconomic challenges faced by many European newcomers in mid-20th-century New York, though specific family values or direct wartime impacts on her upbringing remain sparsely documented in her own accounts. Her lingering , traceable to these formative locales, underscores the cultural imprint of her roots.

Formal Education and Early Influences

Eleanor Clift attended for one year and later , both in New York, but departed from each without earning a degree. Her formal academic pursuits were brief and inconclusive, reflecting a pattern common among some mid-20th-century women who prioritized early workforce entry over extended higher education amid limited professional prospects. Lacking a college credential, Clift's intellectual formation drew from practical immersion rather than structured coursework, as she later recounted and leveraging basic office skills like typing to access media environments. This self-directed path aligned with the transition for many young women, where formal barriers in male-dominated fields such as often necessitated alternative gateways like administrative roles. Her early exposure to newsroom dynamics through such entry points foreshadowed a career built on on-the-job learning over academic pedigree. The era's ferment—encompassing civil rights activism and nascent —provided contextual influences, though Clift's public reflections emphasize pragmatic adaptation over ideological awakening; she has described entering with scant prior knowledge, driven by opportunity rather than doctrinal commitment. These elements collectively oriented her toward political reporting, where empirical observation supplanted theoretical training in shaping her analytical approach.

Journalistic Career

Initial Roles and Rise at Newsweek

Eleanor Clift joined in 1963 as a to the national affairs editor at the age of 22. She initially worked in administrative and research capacities in the New York office before relocating to the bureau in 1966. There, Clift transitioned to reporting, covering Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter's administration from 1971 to 1975 and his subsequent bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976. Following Carter's victory in the November 1976 presidential election, Clift moved to Washington, D.C., and was appointed Newsweek's White House correspondent in early 1977. In this role, she provided ongoing coverage of presidential campaigns for the magazine, beginning with the 1976 race and continuing through subsequent elections. Clift held the White House position until 1985, when she briefly served as White House correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. She returned to Newsweek the following year as congressional and political correspondent, a role she maintained for six years while reporting on legislative developments and national politics. In June 1992, amid Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, Clift was promoted to deputy Washington bureau chief and contributed to Newsweek's election team, tracking the Democratic nominee from the primaries through his January 1993 inauguration. She advanced to contributing editor in September 1994, focusing on Washington power dynamics.

Key Assignments and Reporting Milestones

Clift began her significant reporting on national politics in Newsweek's Atlanta bureau, where she covered Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign, including his unexpected rise from Georgia governor to Democratic nominee. Following Carter's victory, she relocated to , to report on his administration as Newsweek's correspondent, providing on-the-ground accounts of key events such as the 1977 inauguration and early policy initiatives like energy reform efforts. Her career featured extensive long-form coverage of every subsequent presidential election, from Ronald Reagan's 1980 reelection bid through Joe Biden's 2020 contest, often embedding with campaigns to document candidate strategies and voter dynamics. In particular, she contributed to Newsweek's 1992 election team analysis of Bill Clinton's primary challenges and general election matchup against , culminating in reporting on Clinton's January 20, 1993, inauguration amid economic and social policy transitions. Clift participated in the magazine's post-election special project teams for the 1984, 2000, 2004, and 2008 cycles, focusing on empirical dissections of electoral data and turnout patterns. Appointed deputy Washington bureau chief in June 1992, Clift oversaw coverage of partisan policy clashes, including budget battles and healthcare reform debates under the administration, emphasizing factual timelines of legislative negotiations over interpretive commentary. This role highlighted her emphasis on verifiable beats, such as tracking congressional responses to executive actions, though specific story breaks attributed solely to her reporting remain undocumented in primary journalistic records.

Publications and Authorship

Clift co-authored War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics with Tom Brazaitis in 1996, published by Scribner, which examines the strategic interpersonal dynamics and power plays in Washington through profiles of eight influential congressional figures, emphasizing how relationships beyond formal roles shape legislative outcomes. The book highlights tactics akin to without violence, drawing on Clift's reporting access to illustrate negotiations. In 2009, Clift published Two Weeks of Life: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Politics with , a personal account alternating between her husband Tom Brazaitis's final weeks battling metastatic in 2006 and the concurrent Terri Schiavo right-to-die case, critiquing shortcomings in U.S. systems and policy debates on and family decision-making. The narrative underscores empirical failures in integration and over , based on Clift's direct experiences and contemporaneous reporting. Other notable works include Madam President: Shattering the Last (1999, Turner Publishing), which analyzes barriers to female presidential candidacy with a focus on Hillary Clinton's prospects, advocating structural changes in political institutions to promote women leaders. Clift also authored Founding Sisters and the Nineteenth Amendment (2003, Wiley), part of the Turning Points in History series, detailing the movement's key activists and legislative battles leading to women's voting rights in 1920, supported by primary historical records and biographical data.
TitleYearPublisherCentral Theme
War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics (co-authored with Tom Brazaitis)1996ScribnerPolitical strategy and relationships in
Madam President: Shattering the Last 1999Turner PublishingChallenges and paths for women in U.S. presidential politics
Founding Sisters and the Nineteenth Amendment2003WileyWomen's suffrage campaign and ratification efforts
Two Weeks of Life: A of Love, Death, and Politics2009Basic BooksPersonal grief, cancer care, and end-of-life policy controversies
Clift's articles for Newsweek, where she served as a contributing editor from the onward, frequently covered election cycles and policy specifics, such as data and voter demographics, though often framed with interpretive commentary favoring Democratic positions. At since 2010, her pieces blend factual recaps of legislative votes and economic indicators with opinion on partisan divides, exemplified by analyses of healthcare reform metrics versus ideological critiques. Notable examples include data-informed examinations of Medicare funding trends intertwined with personal anecdotes on aging policy.

Broadcasting and Media Presence

Television Appearances and Panel Roles

Eleanor Clift joined as a regular panelist in , appearing in over 1,000 episodes through , where she engaged in the show's signature fast-paced, argumentative format involving journalists debating current events. The program, which debuted in 1982, featured Clift alongside figures like and host John McLaughlin, emphasizing verbal sparring over scripted commentary, a style credited with pioneering modern cable news roundtables. Following the death of McLaughlin in 2016, which temporarily halted the show after 34 years, Clift continued her broadcast presence, including a revival airing on public stations starting in 2018 with panelists like . Her role evolved to include guest spots on other networks, such as appearances on ' Hannity & Colmes beginning in 1996. Clift has served as a contributor to MSNBC, providing political analysis on programs like AM Joy and in election coverage discussions. This outlet work extended her panel expertise into cable news segments focused on legislative and campaign developments, distinct from her earlier syndicated debate format. Beyond television panels, Clift made cameo appearances as herself in films depicting media environments, including a 1996 role in Independence Day portraying a reacting to extraterrestrial events alongside fellow McLaughlin Group members. These portrayals highlighted her public persona as a combative commentator, bridging broadcast and entertainment media through the and into the .

Contributions to Modern Outlets

Eleanor Clift has served as a political for The Daily Beast since the 2010s, contributing opinion pieces on contemporary U.S. , including analyses of presidential transitions and debates. In November 2024, following the U.S. presidential election, she published "Trump Won. Now America Faces the Abyss," critiquing the incoming administration's implications for democratic norms. Her 2025 columns have addressed Trump administration appointments and controversies, such as a July piece predicting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's role in handling Jeffrey Epstein-related files would position her as a potential amid scrutiny. In parallel, Clift co-authors the syndicated column "Washington Merry-Go-Round" with Douglas Cohn, recognized as the nation's longest-running political commentary series, distributed to various newspapers and outlets. Recent installments have focused on congressional dynamics and executive nominations, including an October column on House Speaker Mike Johnson's avoidance of a vote on Epstein documents, highlighting procedural maneuvers in a polarized environment. Another October piece examined resistance in amid national political shifts, while an earlier entry in the year critiqued enablers of Pete Hegseth's nomination for Secretary of Defense, pointing to perceived qualifications deficits in military leadership selections. These syndications adapt traditional commentary to digital aggregation, reaching audiences through regional publications and online platforms.

Political Views and Commentary

Alignment with Democratic Perspectives

Clift has consistently expressed support for Democratic presidential candidates through her journalism and commentary, particularly the Clintons and Barack Obama. In a 2008 Newsweek column, she highlighted Hillary Clinton's personal resilience and policy acumen, portraying her as a capable leader amid the primary challenges. She covered Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign favorably as part of Newsweek's team, emphasizing his appeal to overlooked voters and framing his presidency as a shift toward inclusive Democratic governance. For Obama, Clift praised his broad appeal in early 2008, arguing it transcended traditional divides and positioned him as a transformative figure. Her endorsements aligned with Democratic primaries and general elections, where she critiqued intra-party tactics but ultimately backed the nominees' visions for expanded social programs and economic equity. On feminist issues, Clift has advocated for addressing subtle disparities in and political spheres, stating that "often, the disparities in the ways men and women are treated are subtle; there are not these clear barriers that you have to break down." Her writings from the onward, including coverage of women's political ascendance, emphasized the need for structural changes to counter cultural biases against female leaders, drawing from her own career breaking barriers at . This perspective informed her support for policies advancing , such as workplace equity and reproductive access, consistent with Democratic platforms. Clift strongly backed healthcare reform as a core Democratic priority, urging Obama in 2009 to aggressively defend the emerging (ACA) against compromises that could dilute its scope. She framed the legislation as essential for preventive care and cost containment, aligning with empirical goals of reducing uninsured rates through mandates and subsidies. Post-implementation, the ACA achieved measurable successes in coverage expansion: the national uninsured rate fell from 14.5% in 2013 to 8.0% by 2024, adding over 38 million insured individuals via marketplaces and expansion. However, causal analysis reveals mixed outcomes; while access improved, average premiums rose 20-30% in the individual market from 2013 to 2017 due to adjustments and regulatory costs, prompting ongoing debates over affordability despite subsidies covering 80% of enrollees. Clift's advocacy reflected optimism in government-led intervention, though real-world data underscored implementation challenges like state-level variations in adoption.

Critiques of Republican Figures and Policies

Clift has consistently criticized Republican administrations for what she describes as misguided decisions, particularly the 2003 under President . In a 2006 column, she attributed the invasion's "poor judgment" directly to Bush and , arguing that Cheney's influence perpetuated a flawed strategy amid escalating instability. Her opposition predated the war's execution; as a panelist, she voiced skepticism about the rationale of weapons of mass destruction, which subsequent investigations confirmed did not exist, aligning with her view that the conflict was predicated on erroneous intelligence. Post-invasion outcomes partially validated her concerns, including over 4,400 U.S. military deaths, an estimated $2 trillion in costs, and the emergence of ISIS from the power vacuum, though the operation initially succeeded in toppling and arguably contributed to post-9/11 by disrupting potential terrorist networks. Shifting to Donald Trump, Clift's commentary intensified following his 2016 election and persisted into his second term after 2024. In a November 2024 Daily Beast column, she characterized Trump's victory as ushering America into "the abyss," labeling him a "lunatic, boundary-breaking authoritarian" whose unpredictability threatened democratic norms. She has decried his administration's personnel choices as emblematic of incompetence, co-authoring pieces in 2025 asserting that Trump "sent in the clowns" with an "unqualified, incompetent" cabinet, including pointed opposition to Pete Hegseth's nomination as Secretary of Defense. Clift argued Hegseth lacked the requisite experience, citing his background as a Fox News host over military command roles, and urged Senate Republicans to resist confirmation amid reports of his controversial past statements. Counter-factually, Trump's first-term economic policies, which Clift critiqued as erratic, correlated with robust indicators—such as 2.5% average annual GDP growth and unemployment dipping to 3.5% in 2019—prior to the COVID-19 downturn, though federal deficits swelled by $7.8 trillion partly due to tax cuts she opposed. Clift's assessments of GOP domestic policies often predict electoral backlash against perceived , as in her 2024 forecast that issues like and —GOP focal points—would fade by November, potentially diminishing their platform's potency. On , she labeled Trump's "zero tolerance" measures as sowing "terror," particularly family separations affecting over 5,000 children in 2018, which drew legal rebukes and policy reversals. Yet empirical data under Trump showed border apprehensions averaging 400,000 annually pre-pandemic, lower than peaks under prior administrations, suggesting her emphasis on humanitarian costs clashed with enforcement reductions in illegal crossings via deterrence effects, though long-term asylum backlogs persisted.

Notable Predictions and Assessments

In May 2014, on , Eleanor Clift stated that U.S. Ambassador "wasn't murdered" during the September 11, 2012, , attributing his death from smoke inhalation to an "opportunistic" protest ignited by an anti-Islam video rather than a deliberate . She doubled down in a subsequent Daily Beast column, referencing a former ambassador's lament that the incident's complexity was being oversimplified into a , dismissing Republican portrayals of it as a scandalous failure of Obama administration policy. This assessment aligned with the initial State Department narrative but contradicted forensic and intelligence findings; the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's 2014 bipartisan report documented the as a premeditated terrorist operation by Ansar al-Sharia militants, with no evidence of video linkage, as attackers breached the compound with RPGs and heavy weapons in a coordinated strike lasting hours. Clift's causal framing minimized security lapses and foreknowledge risks, prioritizing a spontaneous-protest explanation over empirical attack timelines and perpetrator claims of responsibility. Clift's participation in The McLaughlin Group's "Predictions" segment, a staple since the , often featured forward-looking claims on electoral and policy outcomes, contributing to the show's documented low accuracy rate. Nate Silver's analysis in (2012) critiqued such TV punditry, including McLaughlin panelists like Clift, for favoring partisan heuristics and insider narratives over data-driven probabilistic models, yielding forecasts that underperformed simple polling averages; for instance, the program's election calls frequently erred by overemphasizing momentum stories absent in aggregated voter data. In the lead-up to 2016, Clift's columns expressed confidence in Hillary Clinton's viability, framing her June 2016 nomination as a barrier-breaking inevitability amid ' challenge, yet Trump secured victory with 304 electoral votes to Clinton's 227, capturing states via turnout shifts not anticipated in her optimistic assessments. Post-2016, Clift forecasted Trump's first 100 days as a resounding failure against his own benchmarks of rapid deal-making and infrastructure revival, emphasizing unfulfilled promises over enacted measures like executive orders on immigration and regulatory rollbacks. Empirical reviews, however, noted achievements including 22 executive actions on trade and energy, judicial confirmations, and groundwork for tax reform passed later in 2017, highlighting a disconnect between her narrative-driven critique and verifiable policy outputs. Her recurring assessments thus reflected a pattern of causal optimism for Democratic-aligned outcomes, often diverging from post-hoc data on voter behavior and implementation realities, as evidenced by the media ecosystem's collective underestimation of Trump's 2016 appeal rooted in socioeconomic grievances over elite polling interpretations.

Controversies and Criticisms

Partisan Bias Allegations

Eleanor Clift has faced accusations from conservative media watchdogs of displaying a consistent left-leaning partisan bias in her reporting and commentary, particularly in favoring Democratic figures and downplaying scandals involving them. The (MRC), a conservative organization monitoring media slant, established the "Eleanor Clift Award for Clinton Worshipping" in the mid-1990s to satirize what it described as her overly sympathetic coverage of President , including during investigations into his administration. Critics argued this reflected a broader pattern where Clift prioritized defense of Clinton over objective analysis, as evidenced by her contributions to that echoed administration narratives on policy and ethics. A notable instance occurred during the 1994 Whitewater controversy, when Clift defended Hillary Clinton's comments dismissing the inquiry as a politically motivated distraction in an Elle magazine interview, prompting even mainstream outlets to critique her for aligning too closely with White House talking points. The Washington Post described Clift's stance as having "gone too far," suggesting it undermined journalistic detachment by framing Whitewater scrutiny as unfair rather than substantive. Such defenses were seen by detractors as selective omissions of evidence, contributing to perceptions of favoritism toward Democrats amid ongoing probes into real estate dealings and related financial improprieties. Clift has countered these allegations by denying any ideological infection in journalism, stating on in 1997 that "there is no convincing evidence that journalists infect their reporting with political views." Supporters point to occasional positive commentary on Republicans, such as a 2001 piece praising President George W. Bush's handling of a , as evidence against . However, analyses of her op-eds and Daily Beast contributions reveal a predominant critique of Republican policies and figures, with quantitative reviews by trackers noting over 80% alignment with liberal viewpoints in sampled pieces from the to . These patterns, per documentation, underscore claims of partisan tilt rather than neutral analysis.

Specific Public Statements and Backlash

In May 2014, during a discussion on , Eleanor Clift stated that the death of U.S. Ambassador in the , 2012, Benghazi attack was "not murder" but rather the result of "chaos," arguing that the violence stemmed from unplanned anarchy rather than a . This remark came amid congressional hearings into the attack, which official investigations, including the House Select Committee on Benghazi, later determined involved premeditated assault by Ansar al-Sharia militants using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, resulting in Stevens' asphyxiation from amid the consulate's destruction. Clift doubled down in a May 15, 2014, Daily Beast column, reiterating that labeling it murder implied intent absent in the disorganized uprising, prompting backlash from conservative outlets like Breitbart and , which accused her of minimizing jihadist responsibility and echoing Obama administration narratives that initially downplayed . Following the June 2010 remarks by veteran journalist , in which she told in to "get the hell out of " and "go home" to , , or America—prompting her from Hearst Newspapers amid widespread condemnation for anti-Semitism—Clift defended Thomas in a July 22, 2013, Daily Beast tribute after Thomas's death. Clift portrayed the controversy as stemming from Thomas's criticism of Israeli "settlers" in the , omitting the full context of Thomas's suggestion that return to Nazi-occupied or the U.S., and framing the backlash as disproportionate to Thomas's long career. This selective recounting drew criticism from media watchdogs like the Committee for Accuracy in Reporting in America (CAMERA), which highlighted Clift's whitewashing of Thomas's explicitly bigoted statements, including Thomas's later disavowal of her initial apology on December 2, 2010, where she reiterated that were "not born" in Palestine. Conservative commentators further noted the irony, given Clift's receipt of the 2010 Helen Thomas Spirit of American Journalism Award from the American News Women's Club shortly after the remarks, viewing it as tacit endorsement amid ongoing fallout. Throughout the 1990s, Clift exhibited staunch loyalty to the Clintons amid multiple scandals, including and the affair, frequently dismissing investigations as partisan overreach on and in columns; for instance, she described the emerging Lewinsky evidence in early 1998 as a "drip, drip, drip" toll but attributed it to political motivations rather than substantive wrongdoing. This stance persisted despite empirical findings from Independent Counsel Starr's September 1998 report, which documented President Clinton's and obstruction of justice related to the affair and lawsuit, leading to his December 1998 impeachment by the House on two articles ( and obstruction), though acquittal by the in 1999. Critics, including outlets like the American Enterprise magazine, labeled Clift a "prominent defender" whose commentary prioritized narrative protection over the verified legal violations, contributing to perceptions of media enablement during the era's 15 separate probes into Clinton administration conduct.

Personal Life

Marriage and Collaborations

Eleanor Clift married Tom Brazaitis, a political and Washington bureau chief for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, on September 30, 1989. The couple, both established in Washington political reporting, collaborated professionally, co-authoring two books that examined political dynamics: War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics (1996), which analyzed negotiation and strategy in American governance through profiles of key figures, and Madam President: Shattering the Last (2000), focusing on barriers to women's advancement in elective office. Their partnership blended personal and professional spheres, with Brazaitis's insights from Midwest complementing Clift's national perspective, as evidenced in the books' emphasis on pragmatic political maneuvering over . Clift brought three sons—Edward, Woodbury, and Robert—from her prior to William Brooks Clift Jr., while Brazaitis had two children, Mark and Sarah, from his first , forming a blended family without additional joint children. Brazaitis died of metastatic on March 30, 2005, at age 64, after receiving care at home during his final months. Clift's subsequent , Two Weeks of Life: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Politics (2008), chronicled his decline alongside the contemporaneous , intertwining their shared experiences of end-of-life decisions with broader debates on policy and mortality, reflecting how his illness and death shaped her reflections on loss amid political turmoil.

Later Years and Health

In her later years, Eleanor Clift has maintained a robust output as a political , publishing multiple opinion pieces in 2025 despite turning 85 on July 7 of that year. For instance, she co-authored syndicated columns with Douglas Cohn in October 2025 critiquing political maneuvers related to files and urban unrest in , demonstrating sustained engagement with contemporary issues. Her contributions, often appearing in outlets like and regional syndications, reflect a in spanning over five decades, with no reported interruptions from personal challenges. Clift's resilience is evident in her continued media presence, including commentary on the 2024 U.S. outcomes and their implications, as shared in interviews and writings into 2025. While she has publicly reflected on through the lens of her husband Tom Brazaitis's 2005 from metastatic cancer—detailing experiences in essays and memoirs—no disclosures indicate analogous health impediments affecting her own productivity. This steadfast involvement underscores her adaptation to an evolving media landscape, prioritizing written analysis over earlier broadcast roles.

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  50. https://opentodebate.org/debate/bush-43-is-the-worst-president-of-the-last-50-years/
  51. https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-won-the-election-now-america-faces-the-abyss/
  52. https://www.reflector.com/opinion/editorial_columnists/douglas-cohn-and-eleanor-clift-president-trump-has-sent-in-the-clowns/article_9ee0fbef-4924-41bb-bfac-5226dd34c440.html
  53. https://www.reflector.com/opinion/editorial_columnists/douglas-cohn-and-eleanor-clift-hegseth-s-senate-enablers-should-join-pushback/article_b53d7bcb-1694-46d3-9636-551fc1939768.html
  54. https://www.reflector.com/apgstate/douglas-cohn-and-eleanor-clift-dems-poised-to-win-seats-thanks-to-trump/article_0b634b5e-530b-51c6-896f-88442312f753.html
  55. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-might-be-hiding-his-cankles-but-white-house-corruption-is-on-full-display/
  56. https://www.reflector.com/opinion/editorial_columnists/douglas-cohn-and-eleanor-clift-marquee-issues-propelling-maga-on-the-decline/article_1aad1262-eaca-11ee-8019-ab8e2f0db4d7.html
  57. https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/journalist-eleanor-clift-trump-s-immigrant-roundups-are-terror-62444613786
  58. https://www.yahoo.com/news/benghazi-scandal-094500555--politics.html
  59. https://www.reflector.com/opinion/editorial_columnists/douglas-cohn-and-eleanor-clift-first-100-days-a-failure-by-trumps-own-measure/article_3bfcf800-483d-4fa4-b9e8-cbf18ff4bf0f.html
  60. https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individuals/eleanor-clift/
  61. https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2014/03/14/the-daily-beast-goes-into-protect-hillary-mode/amp/
  62. https://www.clovisnewsjournal.newspaperarchive.com/clovis-news-journal/1995-12-26/page-7/
  63. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/04/04/backed-into-the-clintons-corner/37a20086-befb-457f-bd3e-cb089531d2b1/
  64. https://www.mrc.org/journalists-denying-liberal-bias-part-three
  65. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-challenge-to-rightwing-_b_15765
  66. https://theweek.com/speedreads/453516/liberal-pundit-chris-stevens-wasnt-murdered-benghazi
  67. https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2014/05/13/eleanor-clift-doubles-down-wont-answer-if-911-victims-of-smoke-inhalation-were-murdered/
  68. https://dailycaller.com/2014/05/16/eleanor-clift-puts-her-benghazi-stupidity-in-writing/
  69. https://www.camera.org/article/eleanor-clift-whitewashes-anti-jewish-comments/
  70. https://www.camera.org/article/the-helen-thomas-cover-up-media-whitewash-bigoted-record/
  71. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324783204578621731984706220
  72. https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/American-Enterprise-Magazine_Volume011_Issue005_american-magazine.pdf?x85095
  73. https://cqpress.sagepub.com/cqresearcher/report/download/political-scandals-cqresrre19940527
  74. https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1309&context=etd
  75. https://dianerehm.org/shows/2000-07-06/eleanor-clift-and-tom-brazaitis-madam-president-scribner
  76. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2005/03/31/tom-brazaitis/59de6fe0-58fa-45e0-bab0-d9e115247710/
  77. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0166701/
  78. http://eleanorclift.com/
  79. https://www.fbherald.com/opinion/eleanor-clift/article_594365d3-68db-521f-ab0d-6b7180d26c23.html
  80. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDIAa0N14kg
  81. https://www.disabilitybelongs.org/2025/07/eleanor-clift/
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