The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

Latest Episodes:

They Saved Jonah’s Brain Jul 15, 2023

Show notes

If you thought the Ruminant was incoherent at the best of times, you may be completely unprepared for today’s unpredictable onslaught of twists and turns. Grappling with a serious hangover, Jonah begins with a reflection on the war in Ukraine and somehow ends by discussing his newfound love for The Bear, all the while emitting a distracting array of grunts and groans. Along the way, he also finds time for a few more substantial and vituperative rants, which primarily concern his disdain for Adam McKay and what we get wrong about college admissions.

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Show Notes:

- The M*A*S*H Up GLoP

- Scott Lincicome: “‘The Bear’ Is a Tribute to Dynamism—and What Blocks It”

- Jonah on friends on the life and legacy of Paul Cantor (skip to 2:55:35 to hear Jonah’s most despised question)

- Brown’s social contagion?

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The Great Couch Detectives Jul 13, 2023

Show notes

If you’re obsessed with pop culture but can’t stand Rob Long and John Podhoretz, today’s Remnant may be the weird, wonderful, and interruption-free GLoP alternative you’ve been waiting for. Jonah’s joined for the first time by Christopher Scalia, former academic suit turned scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Their paths recently crossed during an AEI panel on the legacy of cultural critic Paul Cantor, where they offered some exceptionally square-eyed geekery on TV shows both obvious and obscure. Jonah felt the event raised a number of urgent questions, so today, they provide answers: What happened to P.I. shows? Does The Godfather glamorize the mafia? How is wokeness influencing television? And is Chris really related to a famous justice? (Spoiler alert: Yes.)

Show Notes:

- Chris’ page at AEI

- Jonah and Chris discuss the life and legacy of Paul Cantor

- Joan Biskupic’s American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

- Chris: “‘Tom Jones’ Is No Masterpiece”

- The Remnant with Bret Devereaux

- Paul Cantor’s Gilligan Unbound

- Paul Cantor’s The Invisible Hand in Popular Culture

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As Crime Goes By Jul 12, 2023

Show notes

There’s been quite the media furore about rising crime rates in recent years. But now that COVID is behind us and cities are alive again, are the numbers on crime moving in a more positive direction? RAND Corporation criminologist Shawn Bushway is back on the Remnant today to answer this question, and to address a few other points of concern and uncertainty surrounding policing and criminal justice in modern America. What determines rates of recidivism? Are certain crimes becoming more common than in the past? Is there merit to broken windows theory? And have we finally got beyond defunding the police?

Show Notes:

- Dr. Bushway’s webpage

- Dr. Bushway’s previous Remnant appearance

- Dr. Bushway’s research on hiring people with criminal histories

- “Ex-Prisoners Face Headwinds as Job Seekers, Even as Openings Abound”

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High Times Jul 08, 2023

Show notes

Today’s Ruminant finds Jonah on an uncharacteristic high, and no, his good mood can’t be attributed to a certain substance that was recently discovered in the White House. He’s actually in elevated spirits because a recent AEI event prompted him to rediscover the work of Paul Cantor, a late scholar at the University of Virginia who analyzed pop culture through a conservative lens. He begins today’s program with a thorough exploration of Cantor’s work, before delivering similarly overlong rants on the American Founding and the purpose of the Supreme Court. Sometimes, the Remnant can feel like a wonderful drug.

Show Notes:

-Jonah and friends discuss Paul Cantor

-“The Macbeth of Meth”

-Vanity Fair: “America Has a Supreme Court Problem”

-The Remnant celebrates the Fourth of July

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Happy Birthday, America Jul 04, 2023

Show notes

Trapped on the island of Nantucket, a guestless Jonah uses today’s Remnant to provide an impromptu meditation on the Fourth of July. His musings explore the meaning of the Declaration of Independence, whether America is a nation or an idea, and why it’s vital to teach American history. Listen with a hot dog in one hand and a miniature flag in the other to feel like a true patriot.

Show Notes:

- Henry Fairlie: “The Shot Heard Round the World”

- The Gettysburg Address and the meaning of the 4th

- Irving Kristol: “The American Revolution as a Successful Revolution”

- Calvin Coolidge on the Declaration of Independence

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A Made Man Jul 01, 2023

Show notes

Rather than dedicating today’s Ruminant to another interminable rant about the state of the GOP (although if you’re interested in one of those, you might want to read Wednesday's members-only G-File, hint-hint), Jonah focuses his attention on topics less likely to drive him utterly insane. These include some major recent Supreme Court decisions, his shrinking skepticism of horseshoe theory, and our tendency to overlook the meaningful distinctions between friends, family, and strangers. Tune in also to hear Jonah thoroughly dispel all rumors of his anti-Italian bigotry.

Show Notes:

- The GLoP Culture podcast

- The Dispatch Podcast on the end of affirmative action

- The Remnant with Bret Devereaux

- Guy is released from the pit for a Remnant AMA

- Jonah: “Defending Conservatism—From the Right”

- Gertrude Himmelfarb’s The Roads to Modernity: the British, French, and American Enlightenments

- Violence and Social Orders: A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting Recorded Human History

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Pulling Teeth Jun 29, 2023

Show notes

Unable to find a guest who’s willing to tolerate his ramblings, an anesthetized Jonah is forced to return to the AMA format on today’s distinctly messy Remnant. Temporarily freed from his pit, Guy, Jonah’s immigrant manservant, offers a fresh batch of listener questions that cover everything from the latest in Supreme Court controversies, to the prospect of a Dispatch blogging section, to the conservative underpinnings of popular movies and TV shows. But although their conversation contains a few nuggets of genuine substance, most of it proves to be so pointlessly indulgent that you may be better served by simply listening to the week’s first episode again.

Show Notes:

-The Remnant with Bret Devereaux

-Advisory Opinions on Alito’s preemptive strike

-Justice Alito’s Wall Street Journal op-ed

-Jonah: “Stop Pining for the ‘Good Old Days’”

- he Daniel J. Boorstin Reader

-Jonah discusses Patrick Deneen on the Acton Institute podcast

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When in Rome Jun 28, 2023

Show notes

Jonah’s unwashed historical nerdery is usually unparalleled, but on today’s Remnant, he may finally have met his match. His guest? Ancient historian Bret Devereaux, who joins to discuss all things Roman. With topics including war and peace, political philosophy, and the cruelty of Spartan society, their conversation is sure to eliminate any misguided nostalgia you may have for the past.

Show Notes:

- Bret’s pedantic blog

- Bret talks Orc battle tactics on that niche legal podcast

- Bret on Ancient Greece and Rome

- Bret makes a correction on social conservatism

- Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

- Azar Gat’s War in Human Civilization

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There’s Something About Marjorie Jun 24, 2023

Show notes

Saddened by hate mail and addled by a dingo-related health scare, Jonah’s in an exceptionally frazzled state of mind on today’s predictably excessive Ruminant. He begins his ramblings by addressing a crude spat between Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Green in the middle of the House floor before pivoting to some recent Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Then, it’s nerdery all the way down as he revisits last week’s G-File, which inspires a rant on the philosophical origins of liberalism, what defines American culture, and why there really is nothing new under the sun.

Show Notes:

- The Remnant with Stephanie Slade

- The Remnant with Robert Kagan

- “Critical Trump Theory”

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Down in History Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

WARNING: The following episode contains multiple references to a certain American president who shall not be named. Due to the high volume of mentions, The Dispatch production team used discretion in playing the musical cue which normally follows all such mentions. We apologize in advance.

On today’s Remnant, Jonah is joined by Robert Kagan—leading scholar of foreign policy and senior fellow at the reviled Brookings Institution, where the sweet taste of candy never gets old—to discuss his new beach read, a 700-page history of America’s role in the world in the first half of the 20th century. Their conversation covers everything from the origins of the League of Nations to the wackiness of Charles Beard, with some fiendishly nerdy musings on isolationism, nativism, and conservatism mixed in for good measure. Predictably, Jonah does not make good on his initial promise to “not get too deep into the weeds.”

Show Notes:

-Due to the insane amount of "Wilson" name drops in this episode, there will only be one Wilson theme music play

-The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of the World Order, 1900-1941

-The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History

-American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis

-“Challenging the U.S. Is a Historic Mistake”

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