Ben Burgis
political commentator and author
Ben Burgis is a political commentator and author. He has written articles for Jacobin and The Daily Beast.
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Ben Burgis
MS NOW Opinion
The 9/11-era roots of Trump’s war on ‘antifa’
The seeds of what Trump is doing were planted and nurtured by presidents of both parties during the “war on terror.”
MS NOW Opinion
Hulk Hogan’s ‘real American’ peak was fun to watch. It was also a warning.
It’s hard to overstate just how violent and commie-hating American pop culture was in the 1980s. The late wrestler was among its biggest stars.
MS NOW Opinion
The ridiculous right-wing panic over government-owned grocery stores
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s proposal for a few city-run stores in food deserts isn’t even radical by American standards.
MS NOW Opinion
Trump’s ‘America First’ supporters feel duped by his hawkishness on Iran
The president was never a dove, even if a lot of his supporters kept believing his noninterventionist rhetoric.
MS NOW Opinion
Trump’s Russia-Ukraine war negotiation strategy is incredibly unusual — and not in a good way
Trump’s right to want an immediate, diplomatic end to the carnage in Ukraine. He’s wrong if he thinks what he’s doing is “diplomacy.”
MS NOW Opinion
Trump is bragging about ICE arresting a legal immigrant for ‘bad’ speech
Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest is part of a post-9/11 tradition of American presidents citing “terrorism” as an excuse to ignore due process.
MS NOW Opinion
How Trump and Musk are eviscerating workers’ rights
Trump’s National Labor Relations Board won’t defend its own constitutionality, and the Labor Department is in Elon Musk’s crosshairs.
MS NOW Opinion
RFK Jr. won’t do a thing to help vulnerable Americans get health care
Kennedy casts himself as “anti-establishment,” but he doesn’t object to the cruel profit-driven health care system that leaves many Americans desperate.
MS NOW Opinion
Trump’s new obsession with William McKinley undermines his ‘populist’ reputation
McKinley was the literal enemy of the original populists.
MS NOW Opinion
Obama still doesn’t get why Trump won. That’s the problem.
The 44th president’s message at his democracy forum was just his same old brand of centrism, which is unsuited to the current populist era.