The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

Latest Episodes:

Vexatious Voting Jan 05, 2022

Show notes

On 2022’s first Remnant, a COVID-addled Jonah is joined by fan-favorite guest Yuval Levin for a discussion of voting rights in America. Voting, Yuval argues, has never been easier, despite claims to the contrary made by progressive and conservative commentators alike. The real problem is that both parties are fueling a loss of public confidence in elections, and trust must be restored for American democracy to continue to function. Jonah also quizzes Yuval on his case for expanding the House of Representatives and what it means to be a “recovering political scientist.” Grab your bingo cards for a thoroughly wonky beginning to the year.

Show Notes:

- Yuval: “Democrats, Voting Rights Are Not the Problem”

- Does high voter turnout help one party?

- A war on democracy?

- The Policy State, by Karen Orren and Stephen Skowronek

- Ben Sasse’s Schoolhouse Rock moment

- Yuval: “One way to reform the House of Representatives? Expand it.”

- Jonah, Yuval, and an expert panel discuss expanding Congress

- The Remnant with Michael Strain

- The Remnant with Sally Satel

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Burrito Incident Dec 22, 2021

Show notes

With 2021 drawing to a close, Jonah invites his vocal doppelganger, Chris Stirewalt, back to The Remnant for a recap of this bizarre year. The show begins with a small but satisfying amount of rank punditry on the fate of Build Back Better and the state of voting rights in America. After that, Jonah and Chris look back at the last 12 months by conducting a mock award ceremony, naming winners in various categories. Who was 2021’s biggest loser? What was the year’s most delightful pop culture surprise? And in which category will Chris select “America” as a surprise answer? Tune in for all of this and more, and remember: There’s no harm in revisiting and sharing some of your favorite Remnant episodes from earlier this year over the holiday season. See you in 2022!

Show Notes:

-Give someone a Dispatch subscription this Christmas

-Jonah on Joe Manchin and Build Back Better

-Jen Psaki slams Manchin

-Chris on #FreeBritney

-The nerdiest Remnant ever on the new Dune movie

-Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death

-The Remnant with Paul Bloom

-The year’s final, holly jolly GLoP

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Privilege and Principles Dec 18, 2021

Show notes

Today’s Ruminant is all about privilege, and Jonah has many nerdy thoughts on the subject. He also offers plenty of anecdotes about day drinking, a few meditations on Build Back Better hitting a brick wall, and a disquisition on the nature of consumerism. How many varieties of privilege are there in America today? Why do certain people tend toward conservatism? And why has Jonah finally decided to open up about Fox News? Brace your bingo cards, too, because Jonah still can’t stop complaining about Theodor Adorno and his mythical authoritarian personality.

Show Notes:

- The Morning Dispatch breaks down the Build Back Better stalemate

- Let’s talk about privilege

- The Remnant with Sally Satel

- Sumptuary laws

- Veblen goods

- Huntington’s “Conservatism as an Ideology”

- Sally Satel: “The Experts Somehow Overlooked Authoritarians on the Left”

- Politics and Prose lawyers up

- Harvard stops requiring SAT scores

- Jonah opens up about Fox

- Matthew Mehan’s new children’s book

- AEI Today

- Give someone a Dispatch subscription this Christmas

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bad Medicine Dec 16, 2021

Show notes

Sally Satel, a psychiatrist and lecturer at Yale, makes a long-awaited return to the Remnant to discuss the influence of woke culture on medical science. In our woke moment, Sally argues, doctors are at the mercy of “indoctrinologists” who want them to become more concerned with social activism than healing the sick. What’s driving this trend, and should we fear for the future of science? Furthermore, how has psychotherapy changed over the years? What can be done to address the opioid epidemic? And will people only get crazier as the COVID-19 pandemic refuses to end?

Show Notes:

- Sally’s page at AEI

- Sally’s previous Remnant appearance

- Sally: “What is Happening to My Profession?”

- Sally: “Taking on the Scourge of Opioids”

-Sally: "Keep Social-Justice Indoctrination Out of the Therapist’s Office"

- Critical race theory and medicine

- The cardiologist suing the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

- False advertising

- Political religions

- Barry Goldwater’s mental fitness

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

- The Remnant with Paul Bloom

- John Tooby on coalitional instincts

- How the Mind Works, by Steven Pinker

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leader of the Pack Dec 15, 2021

Show notes

Brush up on your legalese, because Keith Whittington is back on the Remnant to poke plenty of fun at Advisory Opinions. Over the course of an exceptionally nerdy hour, he and Jonah explore the pros and cons of court packing and judicial term limits, occasionally stopping to discuss what would happen if the world were taken over by giant, hyper-intelligent ants. Are Supreme Court justices all partisan hacks? Why did Joe Biden establish the Supreme Court reform commission? And is there any real difference between lawyers and vampires?

Show Notes:

-Keith’s scholar page on Princeton’s website

-Keith’s previous Remnant appearance

-The Supreme Court commission’s final report

-Inside the Supreme Court commission

-The Constitution in exile?

-Keith: “Court Packing is Discreditable as Ever”

-The genius of Mark Meadows

-The Soldier and the State, by Samuel P. Huntington

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Going Loco Dec 11, 2021

Show notes

Broadcasting live from Fargo (the movie is still better than the TV series), Jonah can’t help but spend most of today’s Ruminant gloating about how he’s been correct on recent issues ranging from the silliness of “Latinx” to the craziness of Tucker Carlson. Political demographics, the Omicron variant, and the future of conservatism are also discussed, but at the end of it all, one question remains: Is “I informed you thusly” a more satisfying phrase than “I told you so?”

Show Notes:

- The Wednesday G-File

- No one uses “Latinx”

- Are Hispanics evenly split between the parties?

- The Commentary podcast on Democrats and Hispanics

- Rich Lowry on the WSJ poll

- Sean Trende on what motivates Hispanic voters

- Whitelash, by Terry Smith

- Can’t hold it back anymore

- Jim Geraghty on good news regarding Omicron

- Well-known progressive Mitch McConnell

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Accentuate the Negative Dec 09, 2021

Show notes

Jonah reopens the emergency punditry supply on today’s Remnant, recorded live from the Bozeman Public Library. His guest is A.B. Stoddard, who believes the Democratic Party is poised to implode thanks to poor governance and the strange influence of wokeism. Together, they explore why both parties have alienated ordinary voters, why Nancy Pelosi stepping down could send the legislative branch into further disarray, and why Trump could win re-election in 2024 if Biden’s poll numbers don’t improve. Optimism, who needs it!

Show Notes:

-A.B.’s page at RealClearPolitics

-A.B.’s previous Remnant appearance

-A.B. on congressional decline

-A coming Democratic crack up?

-Tom Wolfe: “The Intelligent Co-ed’s Guide to America”

-The Remnant with Chris Stirewalt

-Jonah on superspreaders of asininity

-Kamala Harris’ disastrous vice presidency

-Bill Clinton and Ricky Ray Rector

-The Morning Dispatch on reforming the Electoral Count Act

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crazy Rich Uncles Dec 08, 2021

Show notes

Michael Strain, economist at the American Enterprise Institute, returns to the Remnant today to explore the strange state of the American economy. Consumer demand for goods has skyrocketed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and supply chain chaos is dominating the headlines. In these unusual times, should conservatives embrace common good capitalism, or does zombie Reaganism still have plenty to offer? For that matter, which industries have been permanently changed by the pandemic? Have our lives actually improved since March 2020? And can even the most devoted Remnant listener tolerate more than 30 minutes of Jonah and Michael rambling about Battlestar Galactica?

Show Notes:

- Michael’s page at AEI

- Michael’s previous Remnant appearance

- Jonah and Scott Lincicome kvetch about the supply chain

- Michael on the need for an economic cooldown

- Michael: “Republicans Battle Over ‘Socialism-Lite’”

- Hungary eyes

- Jonah on how politics destroyed Battlestar Galactica

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Drive-Time Ruminant 8: Worst. Episode. Ever. Dec 04, 2021

Show notes

The Remnant returns to the drive-time format to end the week, and the results are predictably unusual. Feast your ears on the eighth installment of this curio, in which Guy discusses the end of America’s “Remain in England” policy, Jonah ponders the appeal of cow brains and potted meat, and Ryan recounts his time as a Celtic warrior in the Irish mountains. Plenty of serious punditry is also included on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic, the appeal of right-wing grifters, and the rise of victimhood culture on college campuses. Tune in for a celebration of the legendary Tom Wolfe, but stick around to learn about some of the most depressing movies ever made.

Show Notes:

- George Costanza’s prison girlfriend

- Apu Nahasapeemapetilon’s citizenship test

- The Commentary podcast on COVID panic

- Tom Wolfe’s “The Great Relearning”

- Oakland reverses its plan to defund the police

- Thursday’s shameful solo Remnant

- Wednesday’s weird G-File of weirdness

- Tom Wolfe’s brilliant Brown speech

- Jonah’s first eggheady publication

- Guy’s history of Uncommon Knowledge, featuring plenty of Wolfian goodness

- The battle of Smith College

- Alex Jones, ace reporter

- Milo Minderbinder, statue salesman

- Jonah and Steve on their departure from Fox

- The New York Times report that broke the Fox story

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Generation Turnip Dec 02, 2021

Show notes

Isolated and sleep-deprived in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, Jonah once again attempts to fuse the classic Ruminant format with that of a supplemental episode. With the possibility that Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade, a sea change could soon occur in American politics. Using an extract from The Tyranny of Clichés (still available wherever books are sold!), Jonah explores some of the most challenging questions surrounding the jurisprudence of abortion. When does life truly begin? Why are taboos so important? And are dogmas, religious and otherwise, fundamental to the health of a civilized society?

Show Notes:

- The Morning Dispatch breaks down Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

- Jonah’s previous ruminations on abortion

- The Remnant with Will Saletan

- The (eternally underrated) Tyranny of Clichés

- Barbara Boxer’s blunder

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices