Jonah Goldberg has a bone to pick with John Podhoretz’s exuberance over the second Trump ascension. Once John has been adequately chastised, the pod couple covers Trump’s inauguration speech, discuss the new President’s slew of executive orders and foreign policy plans, and engage in some kvetching over Joe Biden’s final moves. Towards the end of the episode, John airs his grievances on the ceasefire deal in Israel and allows Jonah to play some Gen X pop culture bingo. Show Notes: — “The Anti-Wo...
Jan 22, 2025•1 hr 23 min
Dialing in from the mystical land of Indiana, Jonah Goldberg ruminates upon Lord Acton’s parable of absolute power and abject corruption, the distinction between good manners and draconian DEI policies, the distinction between market signaling and sound business decisions, and the vice signaling dominating the right in anticipation of Trump’s ascension. Show Notes: — The Arms of Krupp — A 2002 vintage Goldberg from the cellar — Further rumination on Trumpian corruption The Remnant is a productio...
Jan 18, 2025•40 min
Dr. Hal Brands joins Jonah to discuss the future of global alliance blocs, China and Russia’s material interests, and how to cut a nuclear deal with Iran. Stay tuned for a reality check on the Greenland acquisition plan. Brands is a professor of global affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, a senior fellow at AEI, and most recently author of The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern Century. Show Notes: — Purchase Brand’s book, The Eu...
Jan 16, 2025•1 hr 5 min
Dispatch in-house California expert James P. Sutton joins Jonah Goldberg to provide a sober, conspiracy-free evaluation of the catastrophic wildfires in Los Angeles County. James and Jonah weigh the extent of human error versus political error, disastrous insurance policy failures, and how public officials can best ensure that something like this never happens again. Plus: the role of climate change and what makes for a fair accusation of blame. Show Notes: — CalFire Dashboard — Best Friend’s Fo...
Jan 15, 2025•57 min
Sir Jonah Goldberg, the earl of The Dispatch, uses his teatime to discuss his preference for the Dutch masters, the Stranger Things play, and Henry VIII’s array of underwear models. Somehow, he ties it all back to personal pluralism, forestry management, the abject failures of democratic city governance, and Donald Trump's new imperial ambitions. Show Notes: — Cross & Country with Jonathan Rauch — The firefighter X discourse — Jonah’s appearance on The Charles C.W. Cooke Podcast — Catoggio o...
Jan 11, 2025•1 hr 20 min
Jonah Goldberg had an insatiable hankering for beans on toast and has thus opted to abandon ye loyal listeners for an English vacation. To fill the Jonah-shaped vacuum, Sarah Isgur and Michael Warren of Dispatch fame have revived The Collision to talk all things legal and presidential one last time. They cover the latest developments in Donald Trump’s New York criminal case and classified documents case before turning to the question of January 6 pardons. Say what you will about the president-el...
Jan 09, 2025•1 hr
Brookings Institution senior fellow and best-selling author Jonathan Rauch has returned to The Remnant once more to subject his latest book to Jonah Goldberg’s barrage of inquiry. The book in question, Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy, seeks to remind Americans that liberalism cannot function without strong Christian institutions and argues that living the Christian doctrine could help fix our democracy. Jonah and Jonathan discuss new ways to protect American pluralis...
Jan 08, 2025•1 hr 6 min
After attending to the various and sundry, Jonah Goldberg explains why you should read George Orwell's Politics and the English Language , why the conflation between "the swamp" and "the deep state" irritates him so much, and the issue with saying "Trump is Hitler." Show Notes: — Jonah's debate with Charles Kesler — Liberal Fascism — Kevin Williamson on the Deep State and Vikings — Kevin Williamson on Jimmy Carter The Remnant is a production of The Dispatch , a digital media company covering pol...
Jan 04, 2025•1 hr 14 min
On the first Remnant episode of 2025, Jonah Goldberg is joined by Chris Stirewalt to discuss the ethical implications of doing something “country style,” debate who made the biggest political mistake of 2024, and dive into the strategic value of “popularism.” Few are more qualified than Chris to kick off another year of punditry, eggheadery, rabbit holes, and rumination. Show Notes: — Jonah’s LA Times Column The Remnant is a production of The Dispatch , a digital media company covering politics,...
Jan 02, 2025•1 hr 26 min
Jonah Goldberg is joined by Virginia Postrel, the former editor of Reason magazine, best-selling author, and contributing editor for Works In Progress to discuss technocrat schadenfreude, selective dynamism, and Jonah’s Burkean sympathies. Plus: a discussion on the right-wing version of utopia and the myths of American nostalgia. Show Notes: — Virginia’s latest book, Fabric of Civilization — Virginia’s Substack — A Video Introduction to Dynamism The Remnant is a production of The Dispatch , a di...
Jan 01, 2025•1 hr 28 min
Jonah Goldberg jubilantly welcomes the new year with a responsible intake of schadenfreude, as MAGAworld tumbles into disarray over immigration. Will the unprecedented wisdom of tech bros solve all the intractable problems that have plagued our country for years or just most of them? Tune in to this Ruminant for a tour of the race-baiting and loathing on the far right. Warning: Please consult a doctor if your schadenfreude lasts longer than four hours. Show Notes: - Elon's God Complex, per Mr. G...
Dec 28, 2024•51 min
Once again, Jonah Goldberg has received countless requests from the children of the world for some serious conservative eggheadery for Christmas. Ever benevolent, Jonah has obliged by hosting Richard Reinsch, the Editor in Chief of the Civitas Outlook at the University of Texas to discuss how conservatives can reform existing institutions from the inside out. Jonah and Richard also cover the legitimacy of Trump’s perceived mandate, the merits of competitive federalism, the storied history of con...
Dec 26, 2024•1 hr 15 min
In the spirit of the holidays, Remnant -verse Uncle Tevi Troy joins Jonah Goldberg to lament the changing times, discuss the downstream effects of the Obama years, debate the best time travel references, and spitball some solutions to the chaos in the Democratic Party. Later in the show, Tevi and Jonah cover the future of Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s love affair and remind everyone to stay in their own lanes. Show Notes: — Tevi’s Commentary piece — Wall Street Journal report on Grandpa Joe The R...
Dec 25, 2024•1 hr 5 min
As the holiday season reaches its zenith, the gods of punditry have forced one Jonah Goldberg to cover a looming government shutdown at the hands of the de facto president. He predicts Elon Musk’s aims in his congressional meddling, expounds upon the difference between being wrong and being evil, and reminds us all that liberal democratic capitalism will not fill the gaping hole in the soul of man. Plus: Jonah makes a list of his favorite historians—check it twice in the show notes. Show Notes: ...
Dec 21, 2024•1 hr 6 min
It’s high time to start the postmortem of the latest Great Awokening. Jonah is joined by sociologist and author Musa al-Gharbi to discuss his new book, We Have Never Been Woke. Musa makes the casethat many of the maladies of the woke movement stem from a desire to achieve social justice without individual sacrifice and that wealth redistribution is much more complicated than the Macbook Marxists have been led to believe. Jonah and Musa discuss the capitalist soul of a seemingly altruistic elite,...
Dec 19, 2024•1 hr 18 min
Jonah Goldberg has been feeling censored by the tyranny of Sarah Isgur lately, so he’s decided to bring in the big guns: Greg Lukianoff, the president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Greg and Jonah discuss the current state of free speech writ large, the legal distinction between defamation and free expression as it relates to artificial intelligence and deepfakes, and what it really means to defend morally reprehensible speech. Plus: a closer investigation...
Dec 18, 2024•1 hr
It’s Friday the 13th, and little rodents are crawling around inside Jonah Goldberg’s brain. What else is new? This week’s Ruminant considers the drones flying over the Garden State, Jonah’s best Tucker impression, a redux of Liberal Fascism featuring Luigi Mangione, and a clapback to those opposed to impeaching Joe Biden. Plus: transport by elephant, a critique of Time magazine , and Trump’s faith in tariffs. Show Notes: — New GLoP — No ifs, ands, or buts about it — Jonah’s G-File: Impeach Joe B...
Dec 14, 2024•1 hr 25 min
There are many pressing questions plaguing the mind of modern man. Where do we go when we die? What is the meaning of life? Was Christopher Columbus Jewish? Razib Khan, the unofficial geneticist of The Remnant , stops by to answer the latter, arguing that cultural identities are very different from genetic identities. Jonah and Razib get into the 23&Me craze, the Dalai Lama’s microaggressions, and genomes from the old world. Plus: what happened to epigenetics, some Nazi myth debunking, and s...
Dec 12, 2024•1 hr 9 min
Amid a flurry of calls for Jonah Goldberg’s resignation as flagship podcaster lead by disgruntled Dispatch employee Sarah Isgur, our intrepid host has decided to dive into the question of impeachment power. Jonah is joined by Yale Law School professor Keith Whittington to discuss why the Founders included impeachment in the Constitution, what actually qualifies as high crimes and misdemeanors, and how presidential pardon power ought to be used. Show Notes: — Jonah calls for impeachment — Keith’s...
Dec 11, 2024•1 hr 21 min
Intra- Dispatch disputes dominate today's Ruminant . But don't worry, Jonah also talks about other things on this Ruminant , including some perennial questions: What is a deep state and how can I join? Why does Pete Hegseth want to be defense secretary? Will Sarah be pardoned by Joe Biden for her egregious crimes against lexicology? Show Notes: — Nick Catoggio on pardons — The history of Horatio Nelson — Vikings and Vivek The Remnant is a production of The Dispatch , a digital media company cove...
Dec 07, 2024•1 hr 15 min
Jonah may have readjusted to Eastern Standard Time, but his mind remains preoccupied with India. In order to get some further clarity, Jonah is joined by his American Enterprise Institute colleague and Wall Street Journal columnist Sadanand Dhume. Jonah picks Sadanand’s brain on the R.S.S. (the Indian right), the principles of conservatism in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the economic progress of the country. Later in the episode, they discuss what happened to Indian liberalism, Japan...
Dec 05, 2024•1 hr 18 min
The days are getting shorter, the weather is growing colder, and the Trump cabinet nominees keep getting stranger. Jonah is joined by Free Press columnist Eli Lake to discuss effective intelligence agency reform, what the term “deep state” actually means, and Jonah’s plan to abolish the FBI and negotiate the ransom price for Sarah Isgur with Kash Patel. Plus: ruminations on the Warren Commission, the debunking of the Eyes Wide Shut analogy, and a masterclass in making s—t up. Take out your bingo...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 27 min
For your Thanksgiving entertainment, Jonah rethinks his latest conversation with his non-mentor Yuval Levin and ruminates on how both the left and the right Gesellschaft all the Gemeinschaft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 30, 2024•53 min
As the masses prepare their turkey basters, side dishes, and psyches for Thanksgiving, Jonah is giving thanks to the things he holds most dear: institutions, conservatism, and Yuval Levin. Yuval and Jonah take some time to express their gratitude for the great American miracle, discuss the treason of the clerks phenomenon plaguing modern institutions, and consider how the exhausted majority can finally get what they want. Later in the episode, Jonah brings up politics at the table and forces Yuv...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 11 min
Move over, Kerouac: Jonah Goldberg is back from India, and he has some tales to tell. Delusional, exhausted, and chock full of new ideas, Jonah pontificates upon the scalable logic of Judeo-Christian frameworks, fermented Tibetan yak cheese, and the ongoing saga of who will be the next U.S. attorney general. His hallucinations grow more intense as the episode devolves into discussions of some in-house controversy, the plight of being caught in the middle, and some dental hygiene advice. Show Not...
Nov 23, 2024•1 hr
Earlier this week, Jonah took a visit to a sacred temple in India, where he engaged in several hours of deep meditation that eventually resulted in his ascension to nirvana. Those who have reached the highest plane of enlightenment tend to reject earthly concerns like podcasts, so the helm of The Remnant has been passed to a former theater critic operating under the alias of Kevin D. Williamson. Kevin is joined by Frank Bruni of the New York Times, primarily to discuss The Exorcist, which happen...
Nov 21, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Even as he embarks on a grand adventure in India, Jonah is seduced by the siren song of U.S. punditry. After providing a brief recap of the resoundingly successful inaugural Dispatch S ummit, he gives in to the uncontrollable urge to pontificate and punditrate. To mitigate his anti-malaria medication hallucinations, Jonah takes a break from the smog and samosas to discuss the deteriorating quality of the Trump cabinet nominations, the gross mischaracterization of neoconservatism, and the increas...
Nov 16, 2024•58 min
Twenty-five years ago, Jonah found himself stranded without a passport in a crowded street in Karachi. With nowhere else to turn, he spent the last of his rupees on a rescue call to none other than Commentary editor John Podhoretz. John obliged, and continued to rescue Jonah throughout the course of their friendship by coming on TheRemnant whenever Jonah is down and out for a guest. The two start the show by workshopping some potential design choices for their future podcast studio before diving...
Nov 14, 2024•1 hr 23 min
Jonah made one singular endorsement this election season; he cast his presidential ballot for Paul Ryan. To thank Jonah for his lonely, intrepid work on the Ryan ’24 campaign that wasn’t, the former Speaker joins Jonah for a very special live taping of The Remnant from this year’s Dispatch Summit . They discuss the pitfalls and peaks of Trump’s economic plan, why incumbent parties continue to lose (and ways to avoid an infinity of single term majorities), how to solve the debt crisis, and the fa...
Nov 13, 2024•1 hr
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Nov 09, 2024•1 hr 11 min
