Editor-in-chief of @semafor. Former @nytimes media columnist, @buzzfeednews EIC. "Traffic." bsmith@semafor.com, Signal semaforben.90
Brooklyn, NY
Joined October 2007
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The Telegraph's new war on its latest acquirer, explained
open.substack.com/pub/lionel…
Ben Smith retweeted
The classic American journey: "She got divorced, became a lesbian, briefly joined a psychedelics cult in South America, suffered 'ego death,' almost died, found Jesus, moved from New York to Tucson." unherd.com/2025/11/the-girl-…
Ben Smith retweeted
Beware any analysis of this electorate that caricatures Mamdani's 1 million-plus voters as one type of person. That's just bogus. He got more than half the electorate's support, by definition a broad swath. (Cuomo too got a broad swath.)
urbanresearchmaps.org/electi…
A Mamdani adviser on the ADL's decision to focus on New York City Hall
Interesting piece from Lindsay biographer Vin Cannato on Mamdani vitalcitynyc.org/articles/jo…
Ben Smith retweeted
Nothing says "Billionaires and businesses will abandon NYC" like a bank building a "3 billion dollar monument to capitalism" on 47th street.
Important corrective from @lizrhoffman on the idea that Wall Street will flee New York.
Quite the opposite:
Important corrective from @lizrhoffman on the idea that Wall Street will flee New York.
Quite the opposite:
Ben Smith retweeted
2025 has brought us many incredible innovations, including the bot equivalents of the Japanese soldiers who didn't know the war was lost.
Ben Smith retweeted
📺@semafor biz & finance ed @lizrhoffman joins @edels0n on @ProfGPod to discuss the biggest concerns of New York's business elite in the aftermath of Zohran Mamdani's mayoral victory.
📺piped.video/watch?v=OgHYY95z…
🟡Sign up for the NL today: semafor.com/vertical/busines…
Does not seem to be particularly valuable to have ... automated, obviously AI-written junk under every tweet about Mamdani?
Though it this account is an incredible guide to how AI *sounds*
Mamdani’s New York? More like Allende’s Chile—minus the sunshine. Roemer’s “Equal Shares” is just recycled academic cope for why socialist math never adds up. Ask Santiago how “market socialism” worked out—hyperinflation, empty shelves, and collapse.
But hey, at least the Q train’s on brand: delayed, overcrowded, and funded by vibes. Mamdani’s fare-free fantasy? A $500M hole in the MTA’s budget disguised as progress.
Real New Yorkers know the score: when utopians seize the means, you lose the ends. Always.
Ben Smith retweeted
Talked to Shapiro about this call earlier:
"Mamdani called me, and we had a very lengthy conversation, and I was very direct with him about how hurtful some of the words were that he used or that he allowed to be used around him. He explained to me his perspective, which I thought was helpful for me to hear, and on some things, we agreed to disagree. But I thought it was a healthy dialogue, and I appreciate the fact that he reached out."
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro tells me that he's had "good private conversations" with Zohran Mamdani about his concerns re: Mamdani's comments on Israel.
And Shapiro praises the Democrats' playbook in the 2025 elections, including Mamdani's.
“All of these candidates who won in these different states were focused on peoples’ everyday needs,” Shapiro told the AP. “And you saw voters in every one of those states and cities showing up to send a clear message to Donald Trump that they’re rejecting his chaos.”
Ben Smith retweeted
The Heritage staff meeting exposed something of a generational divide within Heritage, as one staffer who claimed to represent the perspective of foundation’s younger employees said that she did not have a problem with Roberts’s initial defense of Carlson and wanted to make sure that the views of her generation, who she said were generally more critical of Israel, would still be welcome at Heritage.
Eliana's right that the q&a is very much worth the listen. Here's a snippet of some remarks from a young female staffer:
“I condemn Nick Fuentes's hateful rhetoric. That being said, I would like to point out that some of the most vocal people against Tucker Carlson have been calling him an antisemite since he started to hold more anti-interventionalist views. A handful of young colleagues and I had no issue with the points you made in the original video. I don't think that was the right moment to have such an important conversation regarding US-Israel relationships, because now we fear that the concerns we have won't be addressed. Gen Z has an increased unfavorable view of Israel, and it's not because millions of Americans are antisemitic. It's because we are Catholic and Orthodox and believe that Christian Zionism is a modern heresy. We believe it does go against church doctrine and the teachings of the early church fathers to use Christianity as a defense for a secular nation. In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, and there is no salvation outside of Christ. As a young person, many of us are generally tired of foreign entanglements, while our problems in this country worsen. My question is: Is there room for people that hold our perspectives on the path forward to address the concerns regarding US-Israel relationships? You said that people who spoke out against you will not be punished, but what about the people who agree with the substance of what you said?”
nationalreview.com/news/heri…
Our @FreeBeacon piece now includes a video of the Heritage Foundation all staff meeting today and the Q&A is very much worth watching - freebeacon.com/politics/i-ma…
Ben Smith retweeted
Not even trying to credit me, lol
Josh Shapiro says he spoke to Zohran Mamdani recently by phone.
"Mamdani called me, and we had a very lengthy conversation, and I was very direct with him about how hurtful some of the words were that he used or that he allowed to be used around him. He explained to me his perspective, which I thought was helpful for me to hear, and on some things, we agreed to disagree. But I thought it was a healthy dialogue, and I appreciate the fact that he reached out."
