Mona Charen, now 67, has been a part of conservative journalism since 1979, when the National Review hired her as an editorial assistant. Charen has been a prominent figure on the right, working as a speechwriter for First Lady Nancy Reagan during the 1980s and penning books with titles like "Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got It Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First" and "Do-Gooders: How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim to Help (and the Rest of Us)."
But Charen, a blistering critic of President-elect Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, supported Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race. And she has made no secret of her view that Trumpism has had an extremely negative influence on the Republican Party and the conservative movement.
In an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on December 17, Charen blames "Trumpian populism" for the "decline of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page."
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"Sure, I understand that the Journal probably always rubbed progressives the wrong way, and perhaps that limits how much they can see the precipitous drop in the paper's standards," Charen argues. "But it seems clear to me that in the pre-Trump era, the paper had some integrity. While the board was broadly aligned with the Republican Party, its editorials didn't hesitate to differ with Republicans on major questions."
Charen continues, "The Journal was consistently pro-immigration, for example, strongly free-trade, and moderate on social issues like abortion and gay rights. It was a platform for serious writers and informed opinion. And even now, it still has flashes of its old self now and then. But those only underscore the sad corruption of a once great institution."
The former Nancy Reagan speechwriter cites the WSJ editorial board's endorsement of far-right conspiracy theorist Kari Lake in Arizona's 2022 gubernatorial race as a glaring example of their willingness to promote extremists.
"In the Trump era," Charen laments, "the Journal has become, if not Pravda, then something like The Nation. The Nation reliably whitewashed the sins of the Soviet Union and other communist regimes because it regarded anti-communism as a greater threat to the world than communism itself."
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Charen adds, "Similarly, the Wall Street Journal has gradually become a parody of itself on the grounds that Democrats are always and forever the greatest threat to the country. With that guiding principle, there is simply no Republican, no matter how deranged or unfit, whom the Journal will not prefer to a Democratic opponent."
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Mona Charen's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.