Events Email Briefings
rotating globe
Privacy© 2026 Semafor Inc.
  • D.C.
  • BXL
  • Lagos
  • Riyadh
  • Beijing
  • SG
Events Email Briefings

Intelligence for the New World Economy

  • D.C.
  • BXL
  • Lagos
Semafor Logo
  • Riyadh
  • Beijing
  • SG
rotating globe
Intelligence for the New World Economy
Semafor World Economy
Ben Smith

Ben Smith

Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Semafor

Email Ben@semaforben

Ben is the former media columnist of the New York Times. He was previously the founding editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News from 2012 to 2020. Ben covered American politics for more than a decade at Politico and the New York Daily News, among other outlets, and launched a number of political blogs.

US releases powerful Anthropic model Mythos to some US companies

The move comes the same day as a new OpenAI model sees a limited release.
Reuters/Jessica Koscielniak

What if it’s not l’économie, stupid?

Éric Zemmour’s diagnosis is not the standard analysis of why centrist leaders everywhere have grown so profoundly unpopular.
Éric Zemmour
Benoit Tessier/Reuters

New book depicts how Trump hobbled his presidency

‘Regime Change’ reminds readers what’s to come from the narrator-in-chief, who at one point tells aides: “We need plot twists.”
The cover of ‘Regime Change’ and Donald Trump
Simon & Schuster; Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

How Washington fell for Nord Stream conspiracy theories

The true story of the Nord Stream pipeline explosion is even crazier than what Washington bought easily.
Divers
Marko Djurica/Reuters

Politicians couldn’t keep kids off social media. They’ll try again with AI.

Leaders of both parties in Washington and in state capitals are confronting AI before it becomes as omnipresent as vertical video.
Spencer Cox
Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

America’s negative-sum birthday

A nation gets the birthday celebration it deserves.
The Washington Monument
Tyrone Siu/Reuters

Bret Baier on golfing with Trump, his 2028 predictions, and making the case for civility

Fox News’ Special Report host Bret Baier joins Mixed Signals to talk about what it’s like to sit at the center of American political media.

Google’s Nick Fox on remaking its search engine

“It’s been clear that people don’t want incorrect information — and so that bedrock of trust and accuracy has served us well.”

A corruption election

Take if from Rahm. And brace for a very dark 2028.

Trump and the CEOs go to China

In Washington, a carefully constructed decade of political consensus on China policy lies in ruins.

Weiss deputy says CBS owners are ‘independent of the news operation’

“The convention in American journalism is that the owners are independent of the news operation, and that’s the case at CBS,” Charles Forelle told Semafor.

With ‘Morning Joe’ and ‘Squawk Box,’ Versant looks to market its influential audience at the upfronts

Versant’s decision to pair the two shows for advertisers suggests that its most valuable properties don’t have to be the ones with the largest reach.

Davos cracks down on the busy Promenade

The World Economic Forum’s official partners will have more control of the main street, as media and “social entrepreneurs” lose access.

Johnny Harris on building a journalism project that doesn’t sell out

Harris joins Mixed Signals to break down how he went from selling his own plasma to running a YouTube channel with over 7 million subscribers

Why it’s still JD Vance

The vice president remains the overwhelmingly likely Republican nominee in 2028, regardless of conventional wisdom.

A resilient economy, despite it all

There is a growing belief in the resilience of the US economy in the face of whatever gets thrown at it.

US commerce secretary lashes out at Canada ahead of trade talks: ‘They suck … Is this nuts?’

Howard Lutnick spoke at Semafor World Economy months before USMCA is due for an extension.

Bessent: US should ‘wait and see’ before lowering interest rates

The Fed is “doing the right thing by sitting and watching” the war in Iran, the Treasury secretary said at Semafor World Economy.