As a Thanksgiving treat, Jonah invites Chris “Giblets” Stirewalt—his favorite Gen X nostalgist—back on The Remnant to dispense some ruthlessly rank punditry on the state of the 2024 election. With Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley now doing most of the fighting in the GOP primary, do either of them pose a viable threat to Donald Trump? And if the former president captures the nomination, what will that mean for an increasingly fragile-looking Joe Biden? You’ll also want to tune in to learn why men re...
Nov 23, 2023•1 hr 12 min
Twenty years ago, the Democratic Party seemed poised to dominate American politics. But having alienated many of their traditional working class voters, that dominance didn’t come to pass—and the party could be on the precipice of a political disaster. To understand how we got here, Jonah invites Ruy Teixeira—senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of The Liberal Patriot on Substack—back on The Remnant for some white hot wonkery on the shifting demographics of America’s maj...
Nov 22, 2023•1 hr 13 min
Jonah begins today’s Ruminant by staring blankly into the ether, but he’s quickly jolted back to reality by the latest in political asininity. Recently, America has faced an upsurge in antisemitism across the political spectrum, and Jonah has plenty of thoughts about why this is happening and how we can stop it. In predictably slapdash fashion, he also explores the astonishingly dumb trend of young Americans sympathizing with Osama bin Laden, and what 2024’s political coalitions will look like. ...
Nov 18, 2023•1 hr 23 min
Jonah’s even more sleep-deprived than usual on today’s Remnant due to dingo-related difficulties. Thankfully, however, his guest has more than enough rich insights on hand to keep him awake. He’s joined by Alexandra Hudson—writer, academic, and author of the new book, The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves. It’s clear that American society isn’t in a particularly civil state, and there’s plenty of appetite for improvement. But Alexandra thinks that we often fail ...
Nov 16, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Jonah teams up with Mike Rothschild (who, shockingly enough, is not a member of the Rothschild family) to discuss conspiracy theories and the fallacies that undergird them on today's Remnant . In a conversation that touches on wackiness ranging from Pizzagate to the Rothschilds' supposed lease on Israel, Jonah and Mike try to understand why conspiracy theories formulate and what makes people subscribe to them. What do pro-Trump conspiracy theories indicate about the state of our institutions? Wh...
Nov 15, 2023•1 hr 11 min
The close of another week brings another indulgent Ruminant , in which Jonah dedicates an inordinately long rant to the one subject he’s unquestionably an expert on: his own beliefs. Today’s topics include the latest Republican presidential debate, Joe Biden’s prospects for 2024, the ongoing conflict in Israel, and David Brooks’ recent suggestion that Jonah belongs on the “right edge of the left,” all of which raises important questions: How likely is it that someone other than Biden will be the...
Nov 11, 2023•1 hr 31 min
On today’s Remnant, Jonah welcomes Dan Senor, a prolific pundit, political adviser, and author of the new book, The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World. As tragic as the unfolding situation in Israel may be, Dan joins the program to bring a welcome degree of optimism to our discourse on the subject. Israel, it turns out, has become one of the happiest societies in the world in recent years. But simultaneously, levels of fulfillment have plummeted ...
Nov 09, 2023•1 hr 21 min
For the first time in far too long, New York Times columnist David Brooks is on the Remnant to dispense some of the hottest political wisdom you’ll find this side of Lake Michigan. Lately, David’s been concerned with a serious challenge to America’s social fabric: It seems like most of us can’t really get to know other people. Our country is full of people who feel unseen or misunderstood, and this is fueling our loneliness epidemic and the broader collapse of community. In his new book, How to ...
Nov 08, 2023•1 hr 7 min
Jonah seldom discloses his fears, but on today’s Ruminant, he’s forced to reveal his greatest weakness: the common cold. Despite the large amount of travel he’s undertaken in recent weeks—which he begins the episode by describing in needless detail—he’s managed to avoid getting sick, but germs are closing in on him. If there’s one thing Jonah hates more than man flu, however, it’s young people (or, at least, society’s misguided worship of young people). Today’s episode is all about youthful oppo...
Nov 04, 2023•1 hr 7 min
Is Joe Biden a secret genius? Today’s Remnant guest— Atlantic staff writer Franklin Foer—wouldn’t quite go that far, but he does believe that the president is much more politically adept than you might think. Foer developed a newfound respect for the commander in chief while writing his new book, The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future, and he joins Jonah to explain why. Listeners are also encouraged to tune in to hear Jonah and Frank yearnfully ...
Nov 02, 2023•1 hr 15 min
Jonah’s finally back from Europe after plotting world domination there for the last few months, and he’s ready to get the Remnant party started. Today’s episode features the overdue return of Greg Lukianoff, president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. He’s written a new book, The Canceling of the American Mind , which digs into the rise of cancel culture in American life and what we can do to reverse it. But how should cancel culture be defined in the first place? W...
Nov 01, 2023•1 hr 17 min
Jonah's never-ending vacation brings him to Prague on today’s worldly Ruminant , but fleeing deeper into Europe can’t help him escape his mid-life crisis . After a few brief musings on such intellectually stimulating subjects as toilet paper and Indonesian cuisine, he dives into less significant issues like the House speakership debacle, the ideological origins of left-wing opposition to Israel, and the ongoing dumbification of the GOP. Get your Che Guevara shirts ready for an interesting ride. ...
Oct 28, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Jonah’s Italian vision quest has nearly concluded, but he still has a few corners of his subconscious left to search. That leaves the Remnant in need of a guest host, and who better to captain the ship once again than Chris Stirewalt, America’s favorite country pundit? Chris has worn his egghead hat for his last few episodes, but today, he embraces his true nature as a political dirtbag driven solely by the pursuit of rank punditry. To that end, his guest is The Dispatch ’s own David Drucker, wh...
Oct 26, 2023•1 hr 12 min
The Remnant further affirms itself as America’s leading podcast in book promotion today, as journalist and NPR host Steve Inskeep brings his velvety tones to the program to discuss his new book, Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America . Though studies of Honest Abe aren’t exactly in short supply, Steve’s has a unique hook: It tells Lincoln’s life story by examining sixteen of his encounters with prominent figures, each of whom disagreed with him in some way. The questions rais...
Oct 25, 2023•1 hr 2 min
After yet another week of chaotic travel, Jonah can’t resist recording a Ruminant to settle his addled mind. Coming to you from the seas of Southern Italy, today’s offering is marginally less excessive than usual, as Jonah focuses his ornery energy on the Israel-Gaza war and how America’s political parties are reacting to it. Other, equally grim topics include the limits of the United Nations, the state of the Ukraine conflict, and Russian collaboration with Iran. Show Notes: - The Wall Street J...
Oct 21, 2023•51 min
It’s been a while since the Remnant featured some spirited kvetching about identity politics and wokeness in American life, but those issues haven’t exactly faded away. Today’s guest is Yascha Mounk, a prolific author and academic whose new book, The Identity Trap , examines where exactly woke ideology emerged from and how it became so influential. Yascha’s thesis is that an obsession with group identity is leading many progressives astray despite their good intentions, and that this is ultimate...
Oct 19, 2023•1 hr 7 min
Unable to secure an interesting guest or topic of conversation for today’s Remnant , Jonah is forced to invite Steve Hayes—his benevolent business partner and world-renowned cheese curd enthusiast—back to the program for their annual reflection on the state of The Dispatch . All of the obvious topics are addressed, including how The Dispatch is doing, what goals have been achieved, and what’s coming next as things continue to grow. But loyal listeners will also want to tune in for answers to som...
Oct 18, 2023•1 hr 3 min
It’s not everyday that people show you who they are, but the terrorist attack in Israel gave us a glimpse into the soul of America's overeducated elite - and it wasn't a pretty sight. In a contempt-fueled rant, Jonah blasts the left for its wishy-washy response to the massacre and the right for losing the plot on America's foreign interests. Stay tuned for some rank punditry before Jonah takes a break from this darkening world and absconds to the Italian coast. Show Notes: -Jonah’s Remnant with ...
Oct 14, 2023•1 hr 31 min
Is America a republic or a democracy? Jonah has forced many recent Remnant guests to answer this question, but only Jay Cost—a historian and senior fellow at AEI—has written a whole book on the subject. It’s called (creatively enough) Democracy or Republic? The People and the Constitution , and Jay joins the show today to flesh out its thesis. In an era of declining civic virtue and institutional trust, are the tools of government that the Founders developed strong enough to deal with today’s ch...
Oct 11, 2023•1 hr 32 min
On Saturday Hamas militants invaded Israel, gunning down and abducting civilians, firing rockets on city centers, and holding entire villages hostage. In response, Israel has declared war on Gaza and things are only about to get uglier from here. A sleep-deprived Adaam James Levin-Areddy, senior multimedia producer at The Dispatch and host of Uncertain Things , joined Jonah to discuss the past 24 hours in Israel, Hamas' brutal reign in Gaza, Adaam's theory of peace privilege, Bibi's legacy, and ...
Oct 09, 2023•1 hr 16 min
The end of another week brings another unfocused, ultra-rambling Ruminant , which finds Jonah aggravated by a fresh potpourri of political asininity. Featured topics today include the crisis at the border and Biden’s declining credibility, similarities between the radicalism of the young right and left, and the incoherence of arguments for student loan debt forgiveness. There’s even some brief criticism of the Clintons mixed in for anyone feeling nostalgic. Show Notes: - The Remnant , hosted by ...
Oct 07, 2023•1 hr 5 min
The future has a lot of enemies these days, and most of them seem to agree that progress is behind us while nothing but disaster lies ahead. Today, AEI’s Jim Pethokoukis is back on the Remnant to challenge that idea. His new book, The Conservative Futurist , makes the case for a risk-taking, future-oriented American society driven by technological change. But what would such a society look like in practice? How could it come into being? And what makes futurism and conservatism compatible? Show N...
Oct 05, 2023•1 hr 13 min
Why do men really think about the Roman Empire? If that question has been keeping you up at night in recent weeks, you’ll want to tune in to the latest Remnant for some conclusive answers. Jonah’s away again on a wild expedition through the commonwealth, which means it’s up to Chris Stirewalt to host today’s crash course in Ancient Roman politics and history. His guest—making an eagerly anticipated return to the program—is Mike Duncan, host of the oft-plugged Revolutions podcast, bestselling his...
Oct 04, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Though his wife and RA continue to plead for him to stop, Jonah can’t be deterred from following the self-destructive path of the weekly Ruminant , especially with a legion of overly eager wedding guests on his side. Today’s episode features a predictably peculiar melange of topics, among them the hideous second GOP debate, the misguided fondness for autocrats present on parts of the right, and the validity of the Biden impeachment inquiry. Remnant devotees should stick around until the end for ...
Sep 30, 2023•1 hr 14 min
Get your bingo cards ready once again, because today’s Remnant offers a greatest hits of Goldbergian geekdom. Jonah’s joined today by libertarian writer Brink Lindsey, a senior vice president at the Niskanen Center and the author of The Permanent Problem on Substack. Together, they dig into urgent matters of social policy—institutional decay and the challenges of modern capitalism among them—libertarian philosophy, and Thailand’s problematic geography. Did the libertarian project fail? Do intell...
Sep 28, 2023•1 hr 3 min
Jonah’s travels have concluded and he’s back on the homefront, which can only be good news for holders on the Remnant bingo card. To celebrate his return, the ever-reliable Matthew Continetti is back on the program for some piping hot punditry on the latest in political dysfunction. Matt recently abandoned Jonah’s department at the American Enterprise Institute to become the director of its domestic policy division, and this betrayal won’t go unpunished. But when they aren’t viciously attacking ...
Sep 27, 2023•1 hr 19 min
Frank Sinatra once observed that “you’ve either got or you haven’t got style,” but when you’re living out of an RV in the wilds of Iowa—or, for that matter, representing your state in the halls of the US Senate—that doesn’t really matter. Jonah’s still on the road today, but he can’t outrun his existential dread. To drown it out for a while instead, he delivers yet another unfocused, inordinately long Ruminant to end the week. This time, much of his irritation is directed toward the renewed jack...
Sep 23, 2023•1 hr 17 min
Jonah’s vision quest isn’t ending anytime soon, which means there’s an opening for a continuing stream of guest hosts to captain the lumbering vessel that is the Remnant . Today, Sarah Isgur takes the leading role, and her guest is fellow Texan Kevin Williamson, who joins primarily to discuss everything you could imagine about the Lone Star State. Topics include recent impeachment drama, Ted Cruz’s chronic case of annoying-itis, the strange state of local politics in the state, and the heresy th...
Sep 21, 2023•59 min
Hurry up and pay your union dues, because today’s Remnant is all about labor. It’s been more than a week since his departure, but Jonah’s still lost in the wilds of the heartland, vainly attempting to overcome his mid-life crisis from an RV living room. In these desperate times, Chris Stirewalt reassumes control of the program to bend it to his West Virginian will, but thankfully, he’s joined by a special guest who brings some leaven to the Goldberg-less loaf. That guest is renowned historian Am...
Sep 20, 2023•1 hr
In a brief respite from his latest cross country adventure, Jonah camps out beneath the Idaho mountains to record another rambling Ruminant . As usual, the questions raised cover a little of everything: How should we think about Mitt Romney’s legacy? Is Russia still a terrible country (spoiler alert: Jonah’s answer is yes)? What’s the difference between authoritarianism and totalitarianism? And will Jonah’s ignorance of music allow him to discuss Nicaraguan Sandinistas without once referencing t...
Sep 16, 2023•1 hr 7 min
