Christopher Michael Cillizza (; born February 20, 1976) is an American political commentator, who worked for the television news channel CNN from 2017 to 2022. Prior to joining CNN, he wrote for ''The Fix'', the daily
political blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', and was a regular contributor to the ''Post'' on political issues, a frequent panelist on '' Meet the Press'', and an
MSNBC
MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...
political analyst.
Currently, he maintains a political blog.
Windsor, Connecticut
Windsor is a New England town, town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The town is part of ...
, and graduated in 1994. He attended
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
After working as a novelist and later an intern for conservative writer George Will, Cillizza began his career in journalism. He later worked on the Washington, D.C. newspaper '' Roll Call'' prior to joining ''The Washington Post''. For ''
The Cook Political Report
Amy Elizabeth Walter (born October 19, 1969)"Profile: Amy Walter"
His freelance work has appeared in publications such as '' The Atlantic Monthly'', '' Washingtonian'', and '' Slate''. He has also been a guest on CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC. After multiple guest appearances on the network, he was named a MSNBC Political Analyst, a position he resigned when he accepted a position at CNN. He is also a frequent panelist on '' Meet the Press.''
He is an adjunct faculty at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications of
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...
.
''The Fix''
Cillizza founded the blog ''The Fix'' in 2005 and wrote for it on a regular basis until he joined CNN in 2017. The blog's focus was American electoral politics, with Cillizza commenting on gubernatorial, Congressional and presidential elections. He hosted the weekly ''Fix'' live chat.
Media
From 2007 to 2008, Cillizza was a co-host of the MySpace/ MTV Presidential Dialogues, which hosted
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...
,
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
, and others in a
live-streamed
Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming media, streaming of video or Digital audio, audio in real-time communication, real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature ...
, interactive Presidential event series. Cillizza and fellow ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
''
columnist
A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...
Dana Milbank appeared in a series of humor videos called ''Mouthpiece Theater,'' hosted by ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
''. An outcry followed a video in which, during a discussion of the White House " Beer Summit", they chose new brands for a number of people, including "Mad Bitch Beer" for
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
. Both men apologized for the video and the series was canceled.
In July 2012, Broadway Books (a division of
Penguin Random House
Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...
) released his book, ''The Gospel According to the Fix.'' Written in a
blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
-like format, it contains lists such as "The 10 Best/Worst Negative Ads", as well as coverage of the "deep personal hatreds that politics provoke" and predictions for the
2012
2012 was designated as:
*International Year of Cooperatives
*International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
Events January
*January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins.
* January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
and 2016 presidential elections.
Since 2014, Cillizza has served a regular co-host of ''The Tony Kornheiser Show''.
CNN
On April 3, 2017, Cillizza joined CNN as a "political reporter and digital editor-at-large," contributing online and on television.
On June 28, 2017, CNN Politics announced the launch of "The Point with Chris Cillizza." According to the official press release, the new "multiplatform brand" will include "daily columns, on-air analysis, an evening newsletter, podcast, and the launch of trivia night events in Washington, DC." The show which is on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
releases political analysis videos hosted by Cillizza every Tuesday and Thursday.
Cillizza also runs political trivia on his personal
Instagram
Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
account on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
On December 1, 2022, Cillizza was laid off from CNN.
Reception
'' Columbia Journalism Review'' has described Cillizza's informal, "everyman" style as being popular with readers. According to reviewers, "Chris Cillizza might be the only person in America who can have goofy fun talking about Trumpcare, Russian election interference, and the emoluments clause... Consequently, Cillizza tends to be a fly trap for criticism about his criticism."Jay Rosen has compared his approach to infotainment which turns political analysis into gamesmanship detached from real-world implications. Former CNN host Soledad O'Brien has described Cillizza's work as facile. David Weigel has criticized Cillizza for focusing on predictions rather than factual analysis. In September 2020, Cillizza wrote an article stating that election models showed Donald Trump as having "almost no chance" in the upcoming election. Political commentator Nate Silver criticized Cillizza's interpretation, tweeting "If you don't do any reporting, have never demonstrated any insight about politics, and don't even write particularly well, you'd think you could at the very least understand that 20% ≠ 0%." Cillizza, along with Mark Halperin and Ron Fournier, was cited by Felix Biederman and Virgil Texas as one of the inspirations for their parody political pundit Carl Diggler.