Ben Dreyfuss
Mother Jones
New York, NY, United States
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Past articles by Ben:
Today Is a Bad Day For People Who Want to Overturn Election Results
What safe harbor means for Trump & co’s obscene, longshot legal challenges. → Read More
“That’s Steven Spielberg. He’ll Fix Everything.”
In 1989, my father starred in a film called Always. Our family was attending a pre-screening before the premiere, when suddenly the screen went dark. The film had broken! A man came running down the aisle, and my father whispered, “That’s Steven Spielberg. He’ll fix everything.” And he did! “He went up to the screen, […] → Read More
The Trump Official Who Hasn’t “Ascertained” Biden Won the Election Is Looking for a New Job
President-elect Joe Biden still hasn’t been recognized as the election winner by the General Services Administration because the administrator, Emily Murphy, has not “ascertained” that he won the election. Biden did win. The race was called over a week ago. But until Murphy and the GSA certify the win—as Walter M. Shaub Jr. writes in […] → Read More
Even Conservatives Think Trump’s Premature Declaration of Victory Was Bad
Donald Trump, who may or may not have won an election that it is impossible to know the result of because millions of ballots still haven’t been counted, took the stage at the White House shortly after 2am ET this morning to make good on his earlier signals that he would declare victory even if […] → Read More
The Polls in Some States Have Closed. The Beginning of the End (of the Beginning or the End) Has Begun.
At 7 p.m. ET, the polls closed in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia. CNN immediately called Indiana for Trump, which is not a surprise. Eventually they’re going to call Vermont and Virginia for Biden (probably) and Kentucky and South Carolina for Trump (again, probably). That leaves Georgia, the hour’s big kahuna. The […] → Read More
An Election Prediction From Someone Who Has Never Been Wrong (Except in 2016, When You Were Probably Wrong Too)
There is an election tomorrow. What do you think will happen? This is not a rhetorical question. What do you think will happen? Tell me. I want to know. Why do I want to know? Because you’re smart and good-looking, and I want to pass the time. I’ll tell you what I think is going […] → Read More
Everything Is About to Change Forever and Always: A Weekend Reading Guide
Is it almost over? Or has it only just begun? → Read More
The Anonymous Trump Official Who Wrote A Scathing 2018 NYT Op-Ed Has Revealed Themselves
The anonymous Trump admin official who wrote a scathing 2018 New York Times op-ed criticizing the president—and followed it with a whole book, “A Warning”—has revealed themselves. It’s…Miles Taylor. Wait, what? Miles Taylor served as chief of staff to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and the reason you know his name is because […] → Read More
I Know How to Improve Elections in This Country, But Everyone Thinks My Idea Is Stupid
But I think it’s good. → Read More
Now We Know Facebook Made Changes to Show You Less News From
We knew, but now we know. → Read More
What if the Election Results Are Actually Not Very Dramatic at All?
Last night, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat in Game Six of the NBA Finals, securing the franchise’s 17th championship. Two days earlier, the Heat had won a nail-biter. Game 5 had all the drama you want in a big match. I’m a Lakers fan. For me it was very stressful. I never […] → Read More
Stephen Miller Has Coronavirus
July 23: Stephen Miller, the extremist anti-immigrant Trump adviser who has promoted white nationalist ideas, lost a relative to the coronavirus pandemic, and his uncle tells Mother Jones that the Trump administration is partly to blame for this death. On July 4, David Glosser, the brother of Miller’s mother, posted a Facebook note announcing the death […] → Read More
I Don’t Know How You Should Feel About the News, but I Know It Pertains to You
Donald Trump has the coronavirus and as I was sitting down to write this, news broke that he is being moved to Walter Reed from the White House. I don’t really have much to add about this. It’s all so surreal. The president who downplayed the viral illness destroying his country and killing its citizens […] → Read More
Donald Trump Has Coronavirus
Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020 This is the craziest season of The West Wing ever. → Read More
Will Someone Rid Biden of This Meddlesome Filibuster?
Over at New York magazine, Gabriel Debenedetti has a long article on what President Biden would do about the filibuster if Democrats take the Senate. One of the people Debenedetti spoke to is Sen. Chris Coons, who represents Delaware in a seat once held by Biden himself. He says this: “When we get to January […] → Read More
This Was Maybe the Most Revealing Moment From Tonight’s Debate
Biden was challenged to say he supports “law & order.” He said it. Trump was challenged to denounce white supremacy. He did not say it. pic.twitter.com/nUysqkzKMA — Mother Jones (@MotherJones) September 30, 2020 → Read More
After Two Days of Golfing, Trump Touts His “Strong Focus” on Coronavirus
The little boy from Queens was finally set to take the mound. And not just any mound! The mound at Yankee Stadium! Generations of boys like him had only dreamed of being under the bright lights in the House that Ruth Built (an earlier version of)! But this would be his day, not theirs; his […] → Read More
Joe Biden Is a Nazi, Says Person Wearing Swastika Mask
Curiouser and curiouser! → Read More
In Defense of Woke Brands
Culture wars don’t win themselves. → Read More
A New Poll Has Bad News For Donald Trump—and He’s Only Making Things Worse
The election is in about six months, and at the moment polls have Joe Biden trouncing Donald Trump. Indeed, Trump has led the presumptive Democratic nominee in only two national head-to-heads all year. As the Atlantic put it, “It is slowly dawning on Trump that he’s losing.” Polls are polls. The election isn’t for a […] → Read More