The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

Latest Episodes:

Feelin’ A Little Irish | Ruminant Sep 26, 2026

Show notes

You remember the scene: Robert Deniro’s wife screaming at him in their apartment for being a jerk about the steak and flipping the kitchen table; Joe Pesci trying to calm them down; the neighbor calling them a bunch of animals; Deniro threatening to eat the neighbor’s dog. It’s exactly what you expect from director Martin Scorsese. But you know what it’s not? It’s not what Jonah Goldberg expected to find himself in the middle of after walking in the door the day the Stephanie Slade Remnant aired. What’s that? You want more context? Well then you’re just going to have to tune in to this rager of a Ruminant, wherein Jonah not only recounts his domestic dust-up over drag queen story hour but dives deep into Trump Derangement Syndrome, Xi Jinping at the White House, the autopen incident, Nikole Hannah-Jones, progressives, teachers unions, Nick Kristof and the rape dogs, Macklemore and Israel, Jonah going woke, rationalism vs reason, family, fusionism, the Western Massachusetts lesbian bar, and how we’re all both conservatives and liberals.

Show Notes:

—The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11

—Jonah’s review of The Enemy at Home

—Wednesday G-File

—Nikole Hannah-Jones article

—Jonah’s book, Suicide of the West

—Jonah’s book Liberal Fascism

—Thomas C. Leonard: Illiberal Reformers

—Jonah’s LA Times column

—Slade Remnant

—Friday’s DisPod

—School of War podcast: “Why John Boyd Still Matters”

The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including the Saturday Ruminant, audio versions of all our articles and newsletters, and Jonah’s twice-weekly G-File—⁠click here⁠. Instructions on how to set up your members-only feed can be found here, and if you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.

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‘This Is Western Civilization, Bro’ | Interview: Stephanie Slade Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

What can and can’t the government do? Can it ban softball on Sundays? Or perhaps prohibit little old ladies from having Bible study at the local library? What about drag queen story hour? Can it—horror of horrors—tell you that you have to mow your lawn? Joining The Remnant to help us sort through these thorny political thickets is Stephanie Slade, author of a popular new book about fusionism. Listen in as Stephanie and Jonah Goldberg cover the dissident right, Frank Meyer, Brent Bozell, liberalism, libertarianism, virtue, and everything in between.

Show Notes:

—Stephanie Slade - Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right

—Reason magazine

—Dan Flynn’s Frank Myer biography

—Fusionism excerpt in The Dispatch

—Slade on David Bahnsen’s podcast

—Jacob Levy - Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom

—Helena Rosenblatt - The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century

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The Peacemaker of Utah | Interview: Spencer Cox Sep 21, 2026

Show notes

As faithful Remnant listeners know, we try to avoid having politicians on the show. It just gets kinda awkward when you have to publicly rake them over the coals for eating mac and cheese on camera. But being good Burkeans, we know that all rules have their exceptions. Gov. Spencer Cox is one of those exceptions. He joins Jonah Goldberg on the show to talk about his new book, Off Ramp. Along the way, they cover political division, technology, Mormonism, social media, local politics, the 10th Amendment, executive power, contempt, cancel culture, congressional reform, coalition building, governorships, and the greatness of Utah.

Show Notes:

—Cox: Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt

—Ben Sasse Remnant

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Let’s Talk About Sydney Sweeney | Ruminant Sep 19, 2026

Show notes

Gentle listeners, we know you’ve had a hard week, and we want to bring you a pick-me-up. Today’s episode has a little something for everyone: a riveting cult story, nudity, sports gambling, racist-bigot bashing, fanatic Texans, AI-pocalypse, an epic history of progressivism, and, most tantalizing of all, a detailed discussion of the myth of left and right. Tune in to hear Jonah Goldberg ruminate about being a grown-up, the long-forgotten BDX Cult, originalism, AI torts and liability, the social question, Bo French, bourgeois morals, Indian Americans, racism, the AP stylebook, and the left-right spectrum.

Show Notes:

—9/11 G-File

—Jonah’s “Canines of 9/11” piece in National Review

—AO pod wherein David French defends George Bush

—The Sweeney G-File

—Jonah yapping about AI

—Jonah’s first book, Liberal Fascism

—Tim Carney: The Big Ripoff

—DisPod on AI

—Erick Erickson’s newsletter

—NR editorial on Indian bigotry

—Lewis brothers: The Myth of Left and Right

—Jonah dunks on Macklemore

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News Media in an AI World | Interview: Jim VandeHei Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

Despite repeated floggings, First Mate Steve Hayes is once again up to no good. With Capt. Jonah Goldberg having gone ashore to purchase more books about Abraham Lincoln, Hayes has seized the helm of the HMS Remnant and is once again joy-cruising with his friends. And while most of the freeloaders Steve invites aboard are scalawags and ne’er-do-wells, there is one particular exception.

Jim VandeHei, the co-founder and CEO of Axios, is on deck to talk about how to simplify our lives in an increasingly complicated world. Jim and Steve cover how to confront and eliminate unnecessary tasks, prioritize what matters, and achieve informational simplicity in the age of AI, and discuss what the future of news reporting holds.

Show Notes:

—Simplify: Do 50 Percent More with 50 Percent Less

—Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More With Less

—The CEOs of C-SPAN, Axios, and The Dispatch on journalism and civil discourse

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How Are You Still Alive? | Interview: Ben Sasse Sep 14, 2026

Show notes

The Remnant has many dear old friends: Yuval Levin is the best-looking; Chris Stirewalt is the best kisser. But the oldest, going back to Episode 1, is Ben Sasse. Ben joins today’s pod for a conversation that traverses the high and the low, the sacred and the profane, starting with Gilligan’s Island and running through the healthcare system, scientific research, morphine, affluenza, being an adult, the effects of different media on our brains, screens, schools, the need for strong institutions, good and bad parenting, primaries, AI and work, and Senate reform.

Show Notes:

—Not Dead Yet podcast

—Neil Postman: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

—The Dispatch editors: “The Coming Post-Trump Reality”

—Jonah’s 9/11 G-File

—Napoleon III Remnant

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We Need to Crack Down on E-bikes | Ruminant Sep 12, 2026

Show notes

Coming off of a discussion about 9/11 on the DisPod, Jonah Goldberg is feeling ruminative and somber. Accordingly, he has decided to address one of the most important foreign policy issues of our century: the cheese-eating surrender monkeys. That’s right. Freedom fries forever, baby. And if that’s not exciting enough, The Dispatch’s legendary Francophobe-in-chief doesn’t stop there, taking up the Texas Trumpapalooza, the Media Research Center, Abdul El-Sayed, pinkwashing, the Muslim-Queer alliance, progressive Jews, Justice Antonin Scalia’s brilliant take on the Constitution, lawless e-bikes, and video podcasting.

Show Notes:

—DisPod on the 9/11 anniversary

—Chris Stirewalt Remnant

—Jonah’s LA Times column

—Jonah on NPR

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Telephone Killed the Convention | Interview: Chris Stirewalt Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

Today a *very sober* Jonah Goldberg is joined by the *mostly sober* friend of the pod, pickled alligator aficionado, and notorious West Virginian Chris Stirewalt to talk about the midterms, the Alaska primary, GOP expectations, J.D. Vance’s presidential campaign, right-wing social engineering, the Trump midterm convention, postliberal eggheads, post-Americanism, free money, America’s dirtbag political ethos, and … America the Sandwich.

Show Notes:

—Jonah on NPR

—Jonah’s Los Angeles Times column

—NYT: “More Americans Are Identifying as Democrats Ahead of Midterms”

—Stirewalt: “Could Vance’s soccer mom bonus nudge married women back to the GOP?”

—The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition

—Jonah’s book: Suicide of the West

—The Dispatch Editors: “The Coming Post-Trump Reality”

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The Open Veins of Venezuela | Interview: James Story Sep 07, 2026

Show notes

Thought we’d forgotten about Venezuela here on The Remnant? Think again! As prone as Jonah Goldberg is to getting distracted by the finer things of life—Old English dialects, zombie movies, etc.—he’s kept a weather eye fixed southward on our Bolivarian neighbor. Jonah is joined today by James Story, the former ambassador to Venezuela, to take us deep into the recent history of U.S.-Venezuelan relations, Nicolás Maduro, Delcy Rodríguez, a possible democratic transition, the oil deal, the Venezuelan diaspora, Marco Rubio, the boat strikes, the professional foreign service post-DOGE, and Pax Americana.

Show Notes:

—The Dispatch: “The U.S. Boat Strikes, One Year Later”

—MS Now: “The U.S. drone strike in Venezuela marks a dangerous new era”

—Jonah’s LA Times column on the oil deal

—Anthony Scaramucci Remnant

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Trump Has Made America Less Conservative | Ruminant Sep 05, 2026

Show notes

Peacefully anchored on the Potomac, the HMS Remnant rocks gently from side to side. Captain Jonah Goldberg, peg leg and all, stands at the prow gazing at the darkening horizon. To the west, the storm clouds of AI apocalypse are gathering. In the east, a midterm squall quickly bears down. In such portentous circumstances, there’s only one thing for a man to do.

Captain Jonah retires to his cabin, lights a cigar, pulls down his dusty copy of Memoirs of a Superfluous Man, and girds himself to talk about Gloria Steinem. Listen in as Jonah ruminates on Bill Buckley’s respectful listening, the freaky Hugging Face incident, Maria Bartiromo, the radicalization of the elderly, Albert Nock’s antisemitism, social Darwinism, Herbert Spencer, blood libel vs. blood guilt, Marcionism, Fox News, J.D. Vance, pretextual moral outrage, and confusing conservatives for Republicans.

Show Notes:

—Kevin Williamson on Gloria Steinem in The Dispatch

—NYT’s The Daily on the Hugging Face hack

—Michael Wreszin: The Superfluous Anarchist: Albert Jay Nock

—G-File: “The Rocks and the Orgy”

—Jonah’s NR piece on Albert Nock

—John Carey: The Intellectuals and the Masses

—Thomas C. Leonard: Illiberal Reformers: Race, Eugenics, and American Economics in the Progressive Era

—Nick Catoggio in The Dispatch: “J.D. and Tucker, Abdul and Hasan”

—Wednesday’s G-File

—Megan McArdle’s book

—Anthony Scaramucci Remnant