The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

Latest Episodes:

Despots and Boomsticks Jan 27, 2022

Show notes

Charles C.W. Cooke, senior writer at National Review and Anglo-Floridian golf cart enthusiast, returns to The Remnant for another round of exceptionally rank punditry on Joe Biden’s dismal first year in office. Before assuming the presidency, Biden made some big promises that he hasn’t been able to keep. But is his problem that he refuses to adjust to political circumstances, or that he’s simply a hack who was never qualified for the job in the first place? Mixing hearty debate with vigorous agreement, Jonah and Charlie discuss this question at length, while also touching on mandatory voting, the perils of public opinion, and how thrilled we should be to live in a moment where journalists and politicians can regularly insult each other. Oh, and Charlie also can’t resist rambling about firearms.

Show Notes:

- Charlie’s page at National Review

- Charlie on Biden’s year of failure

- Jonah’s uncontroversial third-party proposal

- Jonah’s words with friends

- Biden’s first-year report card in Politico

- “You guys were almost separated at birth”

- Michael Tomasky’s attempted mic drop

- The Remnant with Josh Kraushaar

- Jonah contemplates mandatory voting

- Mad Dogs and Englishmen on the bumbling Mr. Biden

- #DontBrowbeatMyPete

- Big time!

- Charlie’s upcoming course on the history of the Second Amendment

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A Tsar Is Born Jan 26, 2022

Show notes

As Sting once sang, “in Europe and America, there’s a growing feeling of hysteria.” With war in Ukraine looking increasingly likely and tensions mounting between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, it feels an awful lot like we’re back in 1987. To explore how Russia’s bellicosity might affect the global stage, Jonah is joined by Leon Aron, director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Together, they address heady questions on Russia and narrowly resist performing a duet of “99 Red Balloons.” Would the Russian people support an invasion of Ukraine? How is Russia influencing European politics? And is there any chance of Russia becoming a quasi-democratic country in the near future?

Show Notes:

- Leon’s page at AEI

- Leon’s contributions to The Dispatch

- Leon on what lies ahead for Putin

- The Morning Dispatch gives the latest on Ukraine

- Alexei Navalny profiled in Time

- Jonah on the dangers of conceding to Putin

- Putin on the nukes

- The Gerard Schröder controversy

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Ukraine in the Membrane Jan 22, 2022

Show notes

Jonah returns to the solo Ruminant format to end the week, reflecting on Joe Biden’s dismal first year in office and contemplating what the next three years might hold in store for the country. After what John Podhoretz labeled the “worst press conference in presidential history,” can Biden recover, or will his poll numbers continue to sink to increasingly humiliating lows? For that matter, is unity its own virtue? How would the Russian people and the global community react if Vladimir Putin conquered Ukraine? And do negative comments on his writing hurt Jonah’s feelings?

Show Notes:

- GLoP’s latest grand aventure

- Chris Stirewalt’s latest newsletter on Biden’s political flailing

- The Morning Dispatch on the threat of war in Ukraine

- Jonah on Biden’s Georgia speech

- Be like Ike

- Literally

- The Dispatch Podcast reflects on Biden’s first year

- Bob Driscoll on the Voting R ights Act

- The Remnant with Michael Shellenberger

- The Remnant with Edward Carr

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The Great Unmooring Jan 20, 2022

Show notes

The Remnant’s British invasion continues as Economist deputy editor Edward Carr joins to provide a perspective on how the pandemic has affected nations beyond the United States. Together, he and Jonah examine how issues such as vaccine skepticism, excess deaths, and pandemic-related insanity vary between countries, all while kvetching vigorously about teachers’ unions and the politics of marmite. Can we trust China’s COVID statistics? Are things as weird in Russia and the U.K. as they are in America? And are we in the early stages of a new Roaring ‘20s?

Show Notes:

- England prepares to drop COVID restrictions

- Boris Johnson’s latest scandal

- “There’s no such thing as learning loss”

- Steven Brill: “The Rubber Room”

- The Remnant with Paul Bloom

- Jonah: “Fear and Loathing in the Time of COVID”

- Apollo’s Arrow, Nicholas Christakis’ book on pandemic madness

- The Remnant with Matt Ridley

- The Remnant with Michael Shellenberger

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Bright Lights, Bad City Jan 19, 2022

Show notes

As a young man, Jonah left his heart in San Francisco. But after today’s conversation with Remnant first-timer Michael Shellenberger, he probably won’t be going back for it any time soon. Michael joins the show for an exceedingly wonky discussion of his new book, San Fransicko, which explores how progressive policies are enabling an addiction and mental health crisis in America’s cities. Together, they explore the causes of urban decay and what conservatives can do to reverse the trend in places like New York and San Francisco. Tune in for ruminations on nuclear power, Nietzschean philosophy, and criminology, but stick around to hear Jonah and Michael compare notes on what it’s really like to be mugged by reality.

Show Notes:

- Michael’s Substack on cities, energy, and the environment

- Michael’s new book, San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities

- Michael’s previous book, Apocalypse Never

- Tom Wolfe’s “The Great Relearning”

- San Fransicko reviewed in the New York Times

- Madness in the Streets, by Rael Isaac and Virginia Armat

- The Homeless, by Christopher Jencks

- The Remnant with Shawn Bushway

- Michael: “Why Wokeism is a Religion”

- Woke Racism, by John McWhorter

- John Dewey’s “universe with the lid off”

- Paul Tillich’s definition of religion

- Jonah on the case for nuclear power

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Drive-Time Ruminant 9: Immigration Breakdown Jan 15, 2022

Show notes

We’ll do it live! 2022’s first drive-time Remnant is here, and it’s predictably lacking in substance. With Guy and Ryan currently starring in their own production of The Odd Couple, Jonah invites them both into The Dispatch studio for a freewheeling discussion of vocabulary, D.C. geography, and movies ranging from The French Dispatch to Howard the Duck. There’s also plenty of serious punditry mixed in on America’s nightmarish immigration process, the awfulness of Biden’s Georgia speech, and the difficulty of finding purpose in modern society. Tune in and be led to glory!

Show Notes:

- Bill Buckley on the art of big words

- Advisory Opinions on the Supreme Court’s vaccine mandate dismissal

- Make my funk the P-Funk

- Bill Oakley’s fast food reviews

- The Remnant with Ross Douthat, featuring generous Don’t Look Up criticism

- The Remnant with Ryan Bourne

- “It’s not a comedy”

- Spider-Man: No Way Home reviewed in The Dispatch

- Howard the Duck and the evil of George Lucas

- The Wednesday G-File, released to the masses

- Tapper, Biden, and the Bull

- What’s the deal with fascism?

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A Pundit’s Progress Jan 13, 2022

Show notes

Ross Douthat takes his place in the Remnant five-timers club today, joining Jonah for a discussion of (what else?) the dysfunctional state of American politics. Unlike last time, however, the nudity is tasteful, the Exorcist references are sparse, and the tone is (slightly) more optimistic. Is the United States on the cusp of a new civil war, and what would that look like in practice? For that matter, why is Biden a less effective president than Bill Clinton? Can a case be made for mandatory voting? And is there anything worthwhile about Don’t Look Up?

Show Notes:

- Ross’ previous Remnant appearance

- Ross: “Let’s Not Invent a Civil War”

- Ross on the Remnant discussing The Decadent Society

- Jonah’s latest G-File on Biden’s Georgia speech

- David Brooks: “How the Bobos Broke America”

- Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works

- The Remnant with Yuval Levin

- Jonah’s distaste for Don’t Look Up

- Ross on why the movie needs a second cut

- Eric Levitz dissects Don’t Look Up

- The latest Dispatch Podcast

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Monetized Jackassery Jan 12, 2022

Show notes

Cato Institute economist Ryan Bourne joins The Remnant for the first time to discuss his new book, Economics in One Virus, which offers a crash course in economics using the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. Over the last two years, many questions have been raised about America’s preparedness (or lack thereof) for the pandemic, and Ryan has answers. Did any country get COVID right? Why is testing still a mess? And is the libertarian movement as divided as the conservative movement?

Show Notes:

- Ryan’s page at Cato

- Ryan’s new book, Economics in One Virus

- Ryan: “A Cure Worse Than the Disease?”

- Scott Gottlieb: “A Second Major Seasonal Virus Won’t Leave Us Any Choice”

- Strife in the fast lane with John Nestor

- Biden’s Pandemic Preparedness Plan

- Peter Nicholas: “There Are No Libertarians in an Epidemic”

- Jonah: “When Narrative Trumps the Facts”

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What’s the Deal with Fascism? Jan 08, 2022

Show notes

A still Covid-brained Jonah does his first Ruminant of the new year today. Assuming most listeners are over the January 6th coverage, a brief point on the politics of that day leads the pod. Then, let’s talk about Fascism, baby. Then a potpourri of topics for you to enjoy this weekend. Why is the GOP so uncomfortable with January 6? What’s the deal with Fascism? How accurate was Ted Cruz’s impression from John Belushi in The Blues Brothers? What do pizza and sushi have to do with the role of the federal government?

Show Notes:

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The Cheesehead Initiative Jan 07, 2022

Show notes

Liquor connoisseur and noted Wisconsinite Christian Schneider joins The Remnant for the first time to discuss America’s strange plague of misinformation. In an age where politicians are incentivized to embrace ludicrous positions and all facts are negotiable, how can sanity be restored? For that matter, what’s wrong with modern political campaigns? Did God create Listerine? And what does the future hold for college education?

Show Notes:

- Christian'spage at The Dispatch

- Christian’s page at The College Fix

- Christian’s new book, Anti-Knowledge

- Christian: “Our Elected Officials Are a Threat to Civic Knowledge”

- The (ostensible) madness of Ron Johnson

- Critical Path, by Buckminster Fuller

- Institutional comedy

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