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Ben Mathis-Lilley

Ben Mathis-Lilley

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There Are Some Giant Holes in One Popular Explanation for Why Kamala Harris Lost

Tweet Share Share Comment The recrimination game among Democrats and pundits is on in a big way, and a major theme is the idea...

previous day 8

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Some Ideas About What Vice President J.D. Vance Will Be Like

Tweet Share Share Comment Not too long ago, things did not look that great for J.D. Vance. He’d decided to run as a Republican...

thursday 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

The Polls Are Tied. Whoever Wins, the Explanations Are Starting to Become Clear.

Tweet Share Share Comment Welcome to  How Good Is This, Really? —renamed from the original  How Bad Is This, Really? ...

05.11.2024 4

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

There’s a Parallel Universe Where Biden Is Still in the Race

Tweet Share Share Comment Slate takes final stock of just how Not Normal this election was. Joe Biden’s exit from the...

04.11.2024 6

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Trump Is Trying to Win Over Undecided Voters by Making One of His Most Horrifying Promises Yet

Tweet Share Share Comment In the final few days of a campaign, candidates try to project a “closing message” that they...

01.11.2024 3

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Will This Giant Jam Bun Cost Kamala Harris the Election?

Tweet Share Share Comment Almost exactly two years ago, the New York Times’ Cooking section printed a delightful piece of...

25.10.2024 4

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

You Might Think That These Stories Would Be an October Surprise for Trump

Tweet Share Share Comment On Tuesday, the New York Times and the Atlantic each published stories about Donald Trump’s history...

24.10.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Are the Polls Frightening You? Read This!

Tweet Share Share Comment Welcome to  How Good Is This, Really? —renamed from the original  How Bad Is This, Really? ...

23.10.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

There Is a Very Wrong Lesson to Take From Kamala Harris’ Performance Among Black and Latino Voters

Tweet Share Share Comment Why is Kamala Harris doing worse with Black and Latino voters than previous Democratic presidential...

19.10.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

The Phrase the Right Uses to Explain Why It’s OK That Trump Makes Things Up

Tweet Share Share Comment At an Oct. 5 rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump told a seemingly apocryphal story about a decades-old...

12.10.2024 40

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Trump Is Doing His Best to Make the Hurricane Into a Bad Issue for Him

Tweet Share Share Comment About a month ago, polling guru Nate Silver wrote a (paywalled) piece for his Substack called “This...

09.10.2024 8

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

This Could Be Great News for Kamala Harris

Tweet Share Share Comment Welcome to  How Good Is This, Really? —renamed from the original  How Bad Is This, Really? ...

09.10.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

I Have a Wild, Spooky Idea for the Harris Campaign. Hear Me Out.

Tweet Share Share Comment Kamala Harris is holding steady at a 3-point national lead in polling averages—enough to make her...

02.10.2024 5

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

J.D. Vance Had a Darkly Hilarious Response to the Debate Question About Jan. 6

Tweet Share Share Comment For most of Tuesday’s debate in New York City, Republican Ohio Sen. and vice presidential nominee...

02.10.2024 40

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Is Harris—Dare We Say It?—Actually Doing a Good Job Talking to Voters About the Economy?

Tweet Share Share Comment Kamala Harris, by most available measures, has run a successful campaign so far. Since she became the...

30.09.2024 6

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

The State That’s Emerging as Harris’ Biggest Potential Pickup

Tweet Share Share Comment Welcome to  How Good Is This, Really? —renamed from the original  How Bad Is This, Really? ...

24.09.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Vance Says Haitians Are “Illegal” Because He Doesn’t Like the Legal Program That Admitted Them

Tweet Share Share Comment Since I started writing about J.D. Vance in 2022, I’ve repeatedly noticed his use of a certain...

19.09.2024 5

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

So How Much Did the Debate Actually Help Kamala Harris? Let’s See What the Polls Say.

Tweet Share Share Comment Welcome to  How Good Is This, Really? —renamed from the original  How Bad Is This, Really? ...

17.09.2024 5

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Harris Won the Debate—but There’s One Issue She Still Needs to Work On

Hello and welcome back to the Surge, Slate’s weekly roundup of the newsmaking-est figures in U.S. politics! I’m Ben Mathis-Lilley, filling in for...

14.09.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Harris Set a Series of Traps, and Trump Fell Into Every Single One

Tweet Share Share Comment Kamala Harris had two goals in Tuesday night’s presidential debate. The first was to convince the...

11.09.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

There’s a Glaring Flaw in Trump’s Push for Young Men

Tweet Share Share Comment Kamala Harris isn’t in terrible shape right now, but her supporters don’t have to look too far to...

10.09.2024 6

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Donald Trump Jr. Is Not Exactly One of the Great Political Strategists of Our Time

Tweet Share Share Comment On Friday, Donald Trump accepted Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement and appeared with the...

27.08.2024 5

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

RFK Jr. Endorsement May Not Help Trump Beat the “Weird” Allegations

Tweet Share Share Comment It’s been quite a ride for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the presidential race—filled with memories,...

23.08.2024 6

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Breaking: Beyoncé Did Not Perform at the Democratic National Convention

Tweet Share Share Comment All day Thursday, rumors swirled online (and apparently in person in Chicago) that someone big was...

23.08.2024 7

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

What “Coach Walz” Tells Us About Why the Democratic Ticket Is Surging

Tweet Share Share Comment You could argue—and many have—that American football is a fundamentally conservative activity....

21.08.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

For Kamalamentum, the Next Three Weeks Are Critical

Tweet Share Share Comment Welcome to  How Good Is This, Really? —recently renamed from the original  How Bad Is This,...

19.08.2024 3

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Media Complaints About Kamala Harris Clash Wildly With Media Consensus of Five Seconds Ago

Tweet Share Share Comment Last Thursday, standing on a tarmac in Michigan in front of Air Force Two, Kamala Harris took some...

14.08.2024 7

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Vance Nomination Reignites Age-Old Question of Whether Women Should Be Allowed to Vote

Tweet Share Share Comment Since he was nominated for the vice presidency, Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance has been in the news...

02.08.2024 40

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

J.D. Vance Is Not the Crudest and Most Offensive Member of the Republican Ticket

Tweet Share Share Comment There’s a lot of regret inside the Republican Party right now about the selection of Ohio Sen. J.D....

30.07.2024 6

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

One VP Contender Will Give Kamala Harris Her Best Chance With Swing Voters

Tweet Share Share Comment Kamala Harris has one job: Persuading currently undecided, indifferent, or loosely Trump-attached...

27.07.2024 60

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

How Good Are Things Looking for Kamala Harris, Really?

Tweet Share Share Comment Welcome to  How Bad Is This, Really? —or maybe this time we should call it How Good Is This,...

24.07.2024 5

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

A Very Quick but Completely Authoritative Guide to the Kamala Harris Veepstatkes

Tweet Share Share Comment Very slowly and then all at once, Joe Biden got out of the presidential race. In a Sunday afternoon...

22.07.2024 40

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Kamala Harris Could Probably Wrap This Thing Up Pretty Quickly

Tweet Share Share Comment Heading into the weekend, there seem to be few remaining obstacles to Joe Biden stepping down from the...

19.07.2024 7

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Biden Got Three Weeks to Maintain His Dignity. Now It’s Time to Get On With It.

Tweet Share Share Comment Looks like it’s all over but the shouting. The question is, how much shouting is there going to be?...

18.07.2024 6

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

The Election Forecast That Team Biden Likes Is Just a Ticking Time Bomb

Tweet Share Share Comment Something strange is going on in Poll World. Simply put, FiveThirtyEight’s model gives Joe Biden a...

18.07.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

The Biden Age Question Is More Urgent Now, Not Less

Tweet Share Share Comment On Saturday, what was already one of the more unusual presidential elections in U.S. history took...

15.07.2024 4

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

J.D. Vance Might Become Trump’s VP. But His Ascent Looks All Too Similar to Someone Else.

12.07.2024 5

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Good News! There’s Still Plenty of Time for Joe Biden to Prove That He Should Definitely Drop Out.

Tweet Share Share Comment Welcome to  How Bad Is This, Really? , a recurring feature in which we take the temperature of...

10.07.2024 20

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

The Fundamental Problem With Biden’s Defenses

Tweet Share Share Comment Over the weekend, several more mainstream (i.e., nonleftist) elected Democrats said that they are...

09.07.2024 9

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Even the Bright Side for Biden Isn’t Very Good News

Welcome back to the Surge, Slate’s guide to the most notable figures of the week in politics. I’m Ben Mathis-Lilley, filling in for Jim Newell,...

06.07.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Joe Biden Doesn’t Seem to Realize How Much Trouble He’s In

Tweet Share Share Comment Heading into the weekend, Joe Biden’s political standing is not great. The Washington Post reported...

06.07.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Democrats Keep Saying “Democracy Is on the Ballot.” Here’s How They Could Act Like It.

Tweet Share Share Comment There are a lot of pundits and reporters and sources out there speculating about what an open...

03.07.2024 6

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

The Democratic Party’s Biden Talking Points Are Cruel and Tragic

Tweet Share Share Comment Last Thursday, 81-year-old president Joe Biden responded to one of the first questions at his debate...

02.07.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Biden Has Landed on His Justification for Staying in the Race

Tweet Share Share Comment Hey, how was everyone’s Thursday night? Things didn’t go so well for President Joe Biden or the...

28.06.2024 4

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

So, Just How Bad Was the Debate? Are You Sitting Down?

Tweet Share Share Comment Welcome to  How Bad Is This, Really? , a recurring feature in which we take the temperature of...

28.06.2024 8

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

A GOP Lawmaker Was Arrested After Chasing a Stripper With a Gun in the Middle of the Night

Tweet Share Share Comment On Wednesday, no less credible a source than Slate.com announced that Lansing, Michigan, is the most...

21.06.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Police Departments Have Shrunk. Crime Is Plummeting. Now What?

Tweet Share Share Comment In late May, Politico ran an article with the trollish headline “White House to the left: We told...

20.06.2024 8

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

The Biden and Trump Campaigns Just Offered a Fun (Excruciating) Preview of the Next Five Months

Tweet Share Share Comment Fascinating and important stuff in presidential politics this weekend as the Joe Biden and Donald...

17.06.2024 6

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

I’m Wading Into a Political-Media-Bro Debate About Joe Biden to Set the Record Straight

Tweet Share Share Comment It all started, as the most exciting moments in Western thought tend to do, with a provocative but...

13.06.2024 9

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

Left-Wing Group Chats Share a Secret About Trump. It’s a Big Part of His Appeal.

Tweet Share Share Comment Welcome to  How Bad Is This, Really? , a recurring feature in which we take the temperature of...

12.06.2024 10

Slate

Ben Mathis-Lilley

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