The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

Latest Episodes:

Trash Can Nachos May 12, 2020

Show notes

Why do international institutions have scary-sounding names? Why do we fall for dolphin propaganda, every time? What form does the true Platonic Nacho take? Return guest Scott Lincicome joins The Remnant to answer these pressing questions. This episode explains more of this international man of mystery’s backstory, revealing not only what irks him about modern China-hawkishness, but also the cherished memory that reliably brings a tear to his eye.

Show Notes:

-Scott’s Twitter poll about animal PR

-Evil dolphins

-China hawkishness

-American Mind wants to cancel Chinese debt

-The Jones Act

-How does a country become a WTO member?

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Social Capital vs. Social Justice May 09, 2020

Show notes

It’s that time again: on this weekend Ruminant, Jonah finds himself dealing with more 2016 déjà vu, as once again the public conversation turns towards the “binary choice” between two men who have been accused of sexual assault. How did we get to a point where our standards stooped so low? Jonah has a few ideas about that, and they have to do with the cop-outs of the intellectual class and the erosion of social capital.

Show Notes:

-Linda Hirshman’s NYT op-ed

-Julien Benda’s The Treason of the Intellectuals

-Background on the formerly pseudonymous author of “The Flight 93 Election”

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From Sea to Privatized Sea May 07, 2020

Show notes

Libertarian guru, wisdom-dispenser, and Jonah’s good friend Ron Bailey, science correspondent for Reason magazine, joins us on The Remnant. Ron guides us through the myriad reasons that the coronavirus pandemic doesn’t justify expanding the government and federal bureaucracies to unprecedented levels, before spending the second half of the podcast enticing Jonah to join him in the strange exotic land of the libertarians. If anyone can pull that off, it’s Ron.

Show Notes:

-Ron’s page at Reason

-Ron’s book with Marian Tupy - preorder now

-The CDC wasting time on COVID-19 tests

-Morgue trucks in NYC

-#PrivatizetheSeas2020

-Naomi Klein’s wacky This Changes Everything documentary

-Murder Hornets: I’m sure it’s fine

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Welcome to Steve's World May 06, 2020

Show notes

Steve Kornacki, national political correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC, joins Jonah to breakdown the state of the 2020 election, and take a trip through the history of political tribalism. It helps that Steve wrote a whole book, The Red and the Blue, on the subject. Come for Steve's keen knowledge of all things politics, stay for the discussion on weak parties.

Show Notes:

-Steve’s book, The Red and the Blue

-Ross Perot’s unique populism

-Tip O’Neill’s words getting taken down

-Greenwich piece

-Clinton’s Sister Souljah moment

-The unpopularity of “Latinx”

-WaPo’s Washington Redskins poll

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Your Daily Motte-and-Bailey May 02, 2020

Show notes

On this Ruminant, Jonah finds himself hearing the “binary choice” argument all over again, but this time about Trump vs. Biden. In his response, he also deals with the ways in which people are failing to take the Reade allegation seriously, how we have a political class of perpetual underdogs, and how dishonest arguments have snuck into our partisan debates.

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Where the Gators and Copperheads Play May 01, 2020

Show notes

Jonah and National Review’s Charles Cooke podcast with one another from the sunny paradise of Florida on this episode of The Remnant. Why is Florida so weird, really? What is to be made of GOP governors riding the Trump Train before promptly hopping back off? And what are people actually angry about regarding the Reade/Biden allegation? Tune in to witness a disagreement that sheds more light than heat.

Show Notes:

-Charlie’s author page at National Review

-Take a wild guess: just how many alligators does Florida have?

-What’s history’s biggest mistake?

-Why did the FBI need to pin Capone on taxes?

-Stealth-edits in NYT’s reporting on Tara Reade

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The Cheeseman Cometh Apr 28, 2020

Show notes

Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin makes a return appearance on this, the 200th episode of The Remnant. To celebrate, Jonah and Mike bring back the ever-popular theme of half-baked ideas, mixing many of their own ideas (that still need a bit more time in the oven) with some of our very own listener-submitted thoughts. They revisit their plan to (peacefully!) annex Greenland, Mike prolongs his beef with Rep. Dan Crenshaw, and our intrepid podcasters discover how to implement mortal combat into parliamentary procedure.

Show Notes:

-Mike at Heritage Hill Park, which closed shortly after

-The highly influential Justinian Code

-William Manchester’s bio of Douglas MacArthur

-The Federal Thrift Savings Plan

-Episode 151: Jawing with Crenshaw

-Shameless plug (now out in paperback!)

-Xi Jinping looks like Winnie the Pooh

-“Annoying” woman denied Swiss citizenship

-Taleb’s book, Antifragile

-The Svalbard Global Seed Vault

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The Veil of Ruminance Apr 26, 2020

Show notes

Jonah returns to ruminate on a smorgasbord of things this week: injecting bleach to cure COVID-19 (big if true!), an extended meditation on John Rawls’ "veil of ignorance," how the veil is nonsensical from the pro-life position, and the difference between “social justice” and a “just society.”

Show Notes:

-Ross’ book on social decadence

-Suicide of the West (now out in paperback!)

-The veil of ignorance

-Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors

-A shrubbery!

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Ridley Me This Apr 23, 2020

Show notes

How does technological innovation actually happen? We were able to speak to Matt Ridley, who has literally written the (upcoming) book on this subject, How Innovation Works. Matt brings up fascinating points, such as whether or not innovation really relies on “great men” miraculously coming up with brilliant ideas, why we are often resistant to new technology, and how we can get out of our current innovation slump, a product of our cultural risk-aversion. And tune in to see where he places on the ranking of Most British People Ever (™).

Show Notes:

-GLoP Live 2: God save us all

Members of The Dispatch are invited to join the GLoP live broadcast on

Sunday, April 26th at 6PM ET/5PM CT/3PM PT

-How Innovation Works - preorder now

-I, Pencil, yet again

-Kelly’s What Technology Wants

-Harris’ novel, The Second Sleep

-Matt’s bat facts

-Remnant with Vin Cannato

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Cannato’s Way Apr 22, 2020

Show notes

This episode goes in The Remnant Hall of Fame for a few reasons: it’s both one of the longest episodes we’ve ever done, with one of the New Yorkiest guests we’ve ever had. Vincent Cannato, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, proves his New York credentials not just with stories of mayors from years past, but with the most authentic pronunciation of “Giuliani” you’ll ever hear. Stick around for Jonah and Vin reminiscing about AEI, Irving Kristol, and the least impressive Honda Civic in human history.

Show Notes:

-Live GLoP 2: Daydrinking Boogaloo - stay tuned for updates

-Vin’s book on Mayor John Lindsay, The Ungovernable City

-Lindsay’s, uh, “relations” with Florence Henderson

-An archive of Lifebuoy Soap’s 1918 ads

-Cuomo’s story about “wop”

-Dunn and Shields’ book about conservative professors

-More Kyle Harper on Gnosticism

-Idea-laundering in academia

-John Miller’s article on the slow death of military history

-Ben Wattenberg’s book on who the average American really was in the 70s

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