Ben Domenech

Ben Domenech is an editor-at-large of The Spectator World.

It’s a grim start to the night for Kamala Harris

This is a grim night so far, in terms of every piece of data that we have about how Kamala Harris is performing. Of the four different possible situations, one was obviously a big win for Harris, one was a small win for Harris, one was a small win for Trump, and one was a

Tonight’s vice-presidential debate might actually matter

Vice-presidential debates rarely matter in politics except as fodder for jokes and, for today’s lazier commentariat, memes of the lesser variety. The greatest moment in modern vice-presidential debate history is Lloyd Bentsen’s ‘you’re no Jack Kennedy’ zinger of Dan Quayle, a debate win so effective that Bentsen and Michael Dukakis lost 40 states. Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman’s

What’s happened to RFK Jr?

Third-party candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr is widely expected to drop out of the US presidential race soon, and possibly endorse Donald Trump. Live from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Freddy Gray speaks to Ben Domenech, the Editor at Large of The Spectator World, about how this could affect the election.  As the DNC approaches

2024 is America’s ‘lock him up’ election

It’s time to acknowledge the obvious truth about 2024: it’s going to be an election about who Americans want to go to the White House – and who they want to go straight to jail. There are, of course, all the normal caveats about unexpected crises, and typical issues like the economy, Ukraine, abortion, China

The intellectual journey of JD Vance

For someone who is not yet 40, the path JD Vance walked to become the next potential vice president of the United States is a long and winding journey from the holler to Silicon Valley to the halls of the US Senate. It encompasses four different names – from James Donald Bowman to James David

JD Vance is a loyal Maga man

The most surprising aspect of Donald Trump’s choice of JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate is how unsurprising it is, following months of debate as to the best choice for the GOP.  The number of candidates considered seriously by Trump was a much shorter list than the wide swathe initially announced as being

Who will replace Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell?

The announcement by Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the United States Senate, that he will step down in November came in anticipation that he would be bounced from his role regardless of the outcome of the 2024 election. Either Donald Trump’s victory would be deemed by populists as a chance to remake the Republican party,

Trump needs to win over some of Nikki Haley’s voters

The math is clear for Nikki Haley. Even though she outperformed polling expectations in her home state of South Carolina, getting 40 per cent of the vote to Trump’s 60 per cent, her path to the Republican nomination is only going to get harder now. Thanks to significant Republican rule changes that increased the number of winner-take-all

What went wrong with Ron?

40 min listen

Freddy Gray is joined in New Hampshire by Ben Domenech, editor at large of Spectator World. On the podcast they discuss the pro-Trump establishment of the Republican party; how the Republican cohort have changed since the Obama election and what issues Trump can identify that appeal to voters. 

The Last of Us is a video game adaptation that actually works

The Last of Us may be remembered as the point when Hollywood’s approach to video game adaptations finally changed. In this, it’s as significant a creative development as Jon Favreau’s Iron Man was in creating a new formula for Marvel superhero movies. The series, which began on Sky Atlantic last week, is set 20 years after a

We’re living through Barack Obama’s third term

One of the big questions in Washington and across the country as Joe Biden’s very public decline has accelerated is: who’s actually running the show at the White House? There have been various answers, including former White House chief of staff Ron Klain and former National Security Advisor Susan Rice; even Kamala Harris’s husband Doug

Could Trump’s indictments boost his election chances?

When Donald Trump’s attorney and spokeswoman Alina Habba took to the streets on Thursday in front of the federal courthouse in Washington, DC, she described the former president as ‘the leading candidate right now for president for either party’. It’s a slight stretch, but only slightly. Trump is within the margin of error against Joe Biden

Donald Trump’s arraignment was a circus

The scene in Miami was somewhat less than promised today. The predicted tens of thousands of protesters were replaced instead by the handful of eccentrics who always seem to find ways to show up at things involving Donald Trump – even historically significant things like the first federal arraignment of a president of the United

The ‘brutal’ poll that spells trouble for Joe Biden

The latest poll from the Washington Post and ABC News sent shockwaves through America’s media over the weekend, with numbers that are absolutely dire for president Biden. ‘This poll is just brutal’, announced former Democratic spokesperson turned ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos. He’s correct: with approval ratings at just 36 per cent, and lagging far behind Donald Trump and

Trump’s indictment has broken America

It was a bright blue-skied July day in 1861, so the Washington elite decided to have a picnic and take in a battle. They brought sandwiches and opera glasses to admire the scene of Union recruits, who had signed up for 90-day enlistments, march by in their unblemished uniforms to put the rebels down. But

Who would be the Republican House Speaker now?

The clash that has led to the historic abnormality of a House of Representatives without a speaker is fascinating in part because of the odd combination of factors at play. Rather than a battle over a single policy or ideological issue, the frustrations of the chaotic 10 per cent of House Republicans who voted against

Trump’s war on pro-lifers is a sign of desperation

Donald Trump just made his first significant political error of the 2024 nomination battle, and it’s a doozy. After being asked about the abortion issue, Trump took to Truth Social to post the following: ‘It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the MidTerms. I was 233-20! It was the “abortion