Today, I am taking off my economist’s hat and putting on the hat of a movie critic. Memorial Day weekend, my daughter Ivy is releasing Ask E. Jean (which she directed) an absolutely brilliant biopic about the life of the writer E. Jean Carroll. Ivy, herself, has described the process of making the film in an OP ED in the New York Times (“What E. Jean Carroll Taught Me”) print edition on May 21, 2026. (It appeared in the online edition the day before.)
For those who want a refresher course about Carroll’s efforts to hold Donald Trump accountable for attempting to rape her and later defaming her, here is the text of an expanded commentary from 2023. I put it on my substack.
The focus of Ivy’s OP-ED is on how E. Jean’s article about Trump’s assault, which was published in 2019 (over 20 years after the assault), inspired her to reach out to E. Jean and how working on the film has inspired her even further.
I quote from the final paragraph: “We are all hungry for inspiration. I didn’t know how much I craved it when I first reached out to E. Jean. Along the way, I was able to see how women forging bonds together can be a powerful antidote to fear. I saw how we can stand up to bullies and win. I saw how inspiration spreads and can take on a life of its own. The women of the #Me Too movement told their stories, which then gave E. Jean strength to tell hers. And now E. Jean telling her story provides strength to countless others, myself included.”
[IVY has her own You-Tube page at https://www.youtube.com/@ivymeeropolmedia]
After its premier weekend run, the film will have runs in all major cities. It will also be shown in a number of venues in the WAMC catchment. So far there are scheduled showings (with Ivy doing “Q and A”) at Jacob Burns Cinema in Pleasantville (June 7), Beacon (June 8), Rosendale (June 18) and Rhinebeck, June 24.
In the 1990s, Carroll was a well-known advice columnist for Elle magazine who also hosted her own TV show. She had moved to New York in her 30s and became a writer with her own style of gonzo journalism - and yes, she had a friendship with Hunter Thompson. Earlier in life at the University of Indiana she was recognized as Miss Cheerleader USA. Until very recently that was the only national title an Indiana unit had won! (There’s a clip in the film of her appearing on To Tell the Truth!)
In 1996 she bumped into Donald Trump walking out of the Bergdorf-Goodman Department Store in New York City. He recognized her as “that advice lady.” It’s hard to believe today but in the middle 1990s she was more famous in New York than he was. In fact, he was a many-time bankrupted, tabloid-publicity-hungry real estate tycoon whose company had been sued by the Justice Department for discriminating against Black people. It was in the course of defending himself against that lawsuit that he hooked up with the notorious Roy Cohn.
[The role Cohn played in mentoring Trump is developed in one of Ivy’s other films Bully, Coward, Victim, the story of Roy Cohn. The details of the case the Justice Department brought against the Trump organization are available at https://clearinghouse.net/case/15342/. Cohn was able to get the case settled without the Trump organization admitting wrongdoing but they did agree to a “consent decree” which promised not to discriminate in the future.]
Back in 1996, Trump attempted to rape E. Jean in an upstairs dressing room and she didn’t report it to the police. She did tell two friends which ended up being very important when she decided to sue.
It was 20 years later when the Me Too movement galvanized E. Jean to write about the assault. Her description of Trump’s attack was published in New York Magazine in 2019. Ivy had never heard of E. Jean despite her prominent role as columnist and television personality but she saw that article and reached out as did many other would-be film producers. E. Jean’s first reaction was a resounding “no” to all people who approached her.
And then E. Jean checked out Ivy’s Cohn film and decided to at least talk with her. That conversation began a now seven-year friendship that led to the production of the film Ask E. Jean.
The thing that is so important about this film is that it is not only about E. Jean’s two successful lawsuits against Trump. In fact it is mostly about E. Jean’s life and her incredibly strong, interesting, humorous personality. But those curious about how a good lawyer traps a lying witness will thrill to the fact that when shown a picture of E. Jean with himself, Trump mistakes her for his second wife Marla Maples.
This “mistake” beautifully caught on camera during an under-oath deposition was a complete refutation of Trump’s loudly trumpeted dismissal of E. Jean’s sexual assault claim --- with the words, “She’s not my type.” Trump was shown a picture of E. Jean, her then husband John Johnson, Trump and his wife Ivana. He looked at the picture and mistook E .Jean for his second wife Marla Maples.
E. Jean’s lawyer (the incredibly strong and successful Roberta Kaplan) pounced. She asked if Marla Maples and his other wives would be Trump’s “type” and of course Trump said she was. With that single exchange the jury knew he was a liar when he claimed E. Jean was not his type! That he was caught in that lie is no doubt one of many reasons the jury ended up believing E. Jean’s testimony. E. Jean testified at length in the trial and was subjected to a withering cross examination. Trump, on the other hand, despite appearing in a sworn deposition chose not to testify in his own defense at the first trial.
I don’t want to give the wrong impression. The investigation of E. Jean’s lawsuits against Trump constitute a significant part of the movie but definitely not even half the screen time. The best thing about the movie in my opinion is getting to know E. Jean. The film brings her life story to the screen - including the changes she went through. For example, the film shows her in 1990 saying that Anita Hill was too wimpy - that she should have just told Clarence Thomas to shut up when he started talking sex. In the film E. Jean admits that she regrets some of the advice she handed out in the 1990s. In other words, the film is in many ways an allegory for the growing self-awareness of so many women as exemplified by E. Jean’s personal trajectory. Lots of women can no doubt identify with those kinds of internal struggles and changes.
Meanwhile, despite the news coverage of her successful suits against Trump, too many of our fellow citizens do not know her story. Hopefully, this film will remedy that.
One more thing. Though two New York juries have spoken, the Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to grant Trump a hearing on either of his appeals. (They received the first request from Trump last Fall.). Much of the money awarded to E. Jean is sitting in escrow, but she has not received any of it. As of May 22, 2026, we wait on the decision of the Supreme Court in the appeal of the first ($5 million) judgment. The second judgment of $83 million is just about ready for Trump’s legal team to file a petition with the court.
Michael Meeropol is professor emeritus of Economics at Western New England University. He is the author with Howard and Paul Sherman of the recently published second edition of Principles of Macroeconomics: Activist vs. Austerity Policies.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
