Ziegler's first job in journalism was at the weekly trade magazine Radio and Records, which she described as, "an answer-the-phone and get-coffee kind of job, you know, take the faxes off the fax machine type of thing." In 2002, she moved to Gannett Publishing, where she worked at the Federal Times. She describes how her work there helped her shape her political views, writing about big government and its "waste, fraud and mismanagement." Ziegler contributed to many publications including the Wall Street Journal, National Review, and Ricochet, particularly writing about religion-related topics, and was one of the founding members of The Federalist. On March 26, 2017, it was announced that Fox News had signed her as a contributor. Her work has also been published in USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, CNN, and RealClearPolitics.
Views
Politico described Hemingway as "a reliably pro-Trump commentator", while Salon called her The Federalist's "most reliable Trump defender". Hemingway herself, meanwhile, writing in the Washington Post, says of her own view of Trump: In May 2017, Hemingway defended Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey. In July 2017, after Comey testified to Congress, Hemingway questioned Comey's character, saying "this is not a choir boy here. could teach masterclasses in how to cover your own behind and engage in typical Washington, DC shenanigans." In February 2018, she argued that Carter Page, a former Trump campaign advisor who had been subject to intelligence surveillance since 2014, had his civil liberties violated. Hemingway warned, "if the civil rights and civil liberties of Carter Page can be violated, they can be violated for anyone." Page, who had murky relationships with Russia and unusually pro-Putin views, had been the subject of attempted recruitment by Russian intelligence since 2013. In May 2018, Hemingway claimed that the theory that FBI spied on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, and said that this was "unprecedented and scandalous". Hemingway's claims were retweeted by President Trump. Vox countered Hemingway, stating that while an FBI informant did meet with several Trump campaign advisers, the FBI didn't actually intend to spy on Trump, but was instead "most likely part of a legitimate counterintelligence operation targeted at Russia’s election interference campaign..." In November 2018, Hemingway described Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election as "very Stalinist-type approach to criminal justice". In September 2019, Hemingway showed that a New York Times story containing allegations about Brett Kavanaugh omitted that there was no corroboration from a supposed victim. The New York Times corrected the omission after Democratic presidential candidates had used the story when advocating Kavanaugh's impeachment. In a November 2019 Fox News appearance, Hemingway purposely named the alleged whistleblower whose whistleblowing exposed the Trump-Ukraine scandal.
Reception
Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank criticized conservative panelists, including Hemingway, for concluding in a discussion that marriage is good for women. Hemingway responded with her own column, "Dana Milbank Is Incoherent On Marriage". Hemingway wrote another column later that year criticizing Milbank, “Friends Don’t Let Friends Read Dana Milbank". In 2016, New York Times writer Ana Marie Cox characterized Hemingway as "no fan of Donald Trump", despite writing for conservative publication The Federalist. Cox characterized Hemingway as surprisingly open on issues of marriage and sexuality for a conservative Christian, saying she "sound a little bit like a feminist in talking about sex..." Charlotte Hays of the Independent Women's Forum described her as "a lightning rod in the debates about feminism and religious liberty" and, "a big deal in conservative-leaning intellectual circles of the nation’s capital." Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine has said that Hemingway's work is becoming increasingly reactionary during the Trump era, adding that she has joined a cadre of conservatives whose "increasingly right-wing character has been mixed with a conviction that Democratic elections are inherently fraudulent, and that extra-legal processes can be justified as countermeasures".
Personal life
Mollie Hemingway is married to Mark Hemingway.
In fiction
In , the reporter Mollie Mullaney is based on both Mollie Hemingway and Calkins Media columnist J.D. Mullane.
