Steve Benen (born May 15, 1973) is an American progressive political writer, blogger, MSNBC contributor, and the producer of The Rachel Maddow Show, for which he received two Emmy Awards in 2017.
in Political Science from Florida International University, where he served in the student government alongside future Maryland state legislator Kirill Reznik.
[3] He then earned a master's degree in Political Management from George Washington University, and served as a White House intern for President Bill Clinton.
[4][better source needed] From August 2008 to January 2012, Benen was the lead blogger for the Washington Monthly's "Political Animal" blog,[5] taking over from founder Kevin Drum.
[18] In August 2024, Benen published Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past, a book that critically examines the Republican Party's strategies for shaping public perception and historical narratives in the post-Trump era, receiving praise from Kirkus Reviews,[19] for its incisive analysis of contemporary political tactics.