Jennifer Rubin (journalist)

Jennifer Rubin
Born	(1962-06-11) June 11, 1962 New Jersey
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley
Occupation	Journalist, lawyer
Known for	"Right Turn" blog at The Washington Post

Jennifer Rubin (born June 11, 1962) is a Jewish-American leftist political writer, Zionist, and a noted opponent of former President Donald Trump. She has been condemned by those on the political right as being a false conservative, or more mildly a cuckservative media figure, and a member of the "controlled opposition". She wrote the so-called "Right Turn" blog for The Washington Post. Previously she worked at Commentary, PJ Media, Human Events, and The Weekly Standard. Her work has been published in media outlets including Politico, The New York Post, New York Daily News, National Review, and The Jerusalem Post.

Early life and education

Rubin was born in the New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia, and moved with her family as a child to California in 1968.

She attended college and law school at the University of California, Berkeley, finishing first in her class in law.

Career

Labor and employment law

Before moving into opinion writing, Rubin was a labor and employment lawyer in Los Angeles, working for Hollywood studios, for 20 years. She later described herself as a "recovering lawyer". Commenting on working with her from 2000–05, Hollywood animator and trade union leader Steve Hulett described her to Media Matters as "always funny, with sharp observations. I never got the impression she was anything but a Democrat ... she was mildly critical of some of Kerry's campaign moves during the '04 campaign, but she wasn't in the Bush camp ... it's somewhat startling to me that she is now hard right."

Editorialist

In 2005, she moved to Northern Virginia with her husband and two children. She offered a column to The Weekly Standard praising Mitt Romney, and continued doing freelance work for two years before joining Commentary.

Rubin's move to The Washington Post in November 2010 became a national news story and was discussed by mainstream media publications on the political left and center of the political spectrum, ranging from The American Conservative and The Weekly Standard, to Salon.com and Slate. In welcoming remarks, The Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt wrote, "her provocative writing has become 'must read' material for news and policy makers and avid political watchers." In 2011, she was included on the list of "50 Most Influential American Jews" by The Jewish Daily Forward. Slate blogger David Weigel positioned Rubin as being "one of the right's most prolific online political writers". The Commentary editor John Podhoretz writes that Rubin "She is a phenomenon, especially considering that for the first two decades of her working life, she was not a writer or a journalist but a lawyer specializing in labor issues."

In August 2013, former Washington Post ombudsman Patrick Pexton criticized Rubin in an open letter from his new desk at the Washington City Paper, saying that he received more complaint emails about Rubin than any other Post employee. Writing that her columns were "at best ... political pornography", he said "Have Fred Hiatt, your editorial page editor—who I like, admire, and respect—fire opinion blogger Jennifer Rubin. Not because she's conservative, but because she's just plain bad."

Fred Hiatt, editorial page editor for the Post, responded in a statement to Politico that "I appreciate Patrick's perspective but I think he is quite wrong about Jennifer Rubin. Regular readers of her blog know that she is an indefatigable reporter who is as hard on politicians on the right when she thinks they get things wrong as on the other side."

Political views and commentaries

Many of Rubin's editorials and posts seek to influence American foreign policy and what she describes as national security, particularly seeking increased military operations in or against the Middle East and Russia. Rubin has written in favor of some form of direct US military intervention in response to a variety of conflicts or perceived threats.

A noted Zionist, Rubin supports "traditional" US allies, particularly Israel, and opposes the governments of Iran, Russia, and Venezuela. A proponent of American exceptionalism, Rubin believes that the United States is the "leader of the free world" and is accordingly compelled to "act" to prevent "unacceptable" conduct against the US or its allies, such as Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons. According to Rubin, "the Carter era and the Reagan presidency sealed the deal" with respect to her views "on the role of the U.S. in the world as a force for freedom."

Rubin has supported the Likud government and other conservative factions in Israel, and has been a critic of Hamas and of the PLO leadership.

In November 2011, Rubin retweeted an anti-Palestinian blog post that Post ombudsman Patrick Pexton called "reprehensible". Rubin later told Pexton that she endorsed and shared the views in the Post that "expressed an understandable desire for righteous vengeance against the kidnappers and human rights abusers of Gilad Shalit". Pexton said "in agreeing with the sentiment, and in spreading it to her 7,000 Twitter followers who know her as a Washington Post blogger, Rubin did damage to the Post and the credibility that keeps it afloat." Andrew Sullivan wrote, "we have a blogger at the WaPo endorsing throwing Arab prisoners into the sea to meet righteous divine punishment." Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt defended Rubin, saying, "As a general matter I think it isn't wise for me to comment on the work of the ombudsman, who is entitled to his views, and over whom I do not have editorial control. However, I will say this: I think Jennifer is an excellent journalist and a relentless reporter. I think because she has strong views, and because she is as willing to take on her home team, as it were, as the visitors, she comes under more scrutiny than many and is often the target of unjustified criticism. I think she brings enormous value to the Post."

In 2011 Rubin wrote a blog post suggesting that the 2011 Norway attacks were carried out by Islamic jihadists. Columnist James Fallows of The Atlantic criticized the piece as "rushed" and noted the subsequent discovery that the attack was carried out by Anders Behring Breivik, a native Norwegian who was not a Muslim. Another Atlantic columnist, Jeffrey Goldberg, responded that the criticism was unwarranted, noting that other publications such as Wired and even The Atlantic itself had printed similar speculation; Goldberg concluded: "It is not perverse or absurd for normal people to think of al Qaeda when they hear of acts of mass terrorism. It is logical, in fact, to suspect al Qaeda." In a follow-up column, Rubin acknowledged that early suspicions of a jihadist attack had proven to be mistaken.

Criticism of Donald Trump

Rubin has been one of the most vocal critics of former President Donald Trump, as well as the overall behavior of the Republican Party both during and following Trump's term in office. Writing in the Huffington Post, even the left-leaning Dr. Munr Kazmir criticized Rubin for being "completely against policies she herself had championed for seemingly no other reason than Trump being in favor of them".

Rubin denounced Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement as "a dog whistle to the far right" and designed to please his "climate-change denial, right-wing base that revels in scientific illiteracy." Previously, after Barack Obama had approved the agreement, Rubin characterized it as "nonsense" and argued that it would not achieve anything. Rubin characterized Trump's 2017 decision to not implement parts of the Iran nuclear deal as the "emotional temper tantrum of an unhinged president." She had previously said that "if you examine the Iran deal in any detail, you will be horrified as to what is in there." Rubin had vocally supported the United States officially recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Early in his presidency, she criticized Trump for not doing so, saying that it was indicative of his tendency to "never keep his word." She concluded that Trump "looks buffoonish in his hasty retreat." In December 2017, after Trump announced that he would move the embassy, she characterized it as "a foreign policy move without purpose."

Rubin was criticized by Warren Henry of The Federalist for changing her view on John R. Bolton after he was named National Security Advisor of the Trump administration. After Bolton was appointed National Security Advisor, Rubin tweeted that the appointment was a "wake-up call to Rs who always assumed wise, calm advisers would be there to constrain Trump." In December 2016, Rubin had recommended that Bolton be given a high-level position in the State Department, and in 2011 had called on him to run for president. In a tweet referenced by CNN Media, Mike Huckabee questioned Rubin, writing "Jen Rubin is WAPO's excuse for conservative," and adding that Rubin's "contempt for all things Trump exposes her and WAPO as Fake News."

Domestic policy influence

Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic argued that after the 2012 presidential election, Rubin criticized aspects of the Mitt Romney campaign that she had previously praised, with Friedersdorf insisting that she had acted as "a disingenuous mouthpiece for her favored candidate".

In a November 21, 2013, column, Rubin called on the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) to end its campaign against same-sex marriage.

Controversial tweet about white demographic decline

In August 2021, Rubin garnered controversy when she tweeted "A more diverse, more inclusive society," in reference to the declining non-Hispanic white population in the United States. She then stated that "This is fabulous news."

Personal life

Rubin and her husband, Jonathan, have two sons. She and her husband moved to Oakton, Virginia from Los Angeles in 2005.

See also

• Max Boot
• David Brooks (journalist)
• Bill Kristol

External links

• Jennifer Rubin: Right Turn (The Washington Post)