The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

If you’re seeking to slow the passage of time, you should consider a career in political punditry during the zenith of an election season. Jonah’s Saturday stand-up revisits a news week that has felt more like a news epoch. He reconsiders Tuesday’s vice capades to remind the people what “book banning” really means—outside of a wildly efficient marketing strategy—and opines upon the end of the Port...

Recording live from the Cosmo the Wonder Dog Memorial Studio in the catacombs of the American Enterprise Institute, it’s the rankest pundits east of the Mississippi: Jonah Goldberg and Chris Stirewalt! Chris is back in Remnant action and ready to talk Tim Walz’s anxieties, grocery store monopolies, and J.D. Vance’s personality disorder. A few things they know for certain—normie Republicans are fee...

Have you ever wondered what podcasting pundits would have discussed during the Great Schism? Today’s Remnant episode might give you a good idea. Jonah is joined by George Weigel, distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Policy Center, to talk all things Vatican City. George and Jonah evaluate Pope Francis, dig into the historical relationship between the Catholic Church and state actors, and...

It’s been a great week for The Remnant. Jon Rauch gave us a rundown on the formation of Goldbergism while Sam Harris broke runtime records, so consider today’s Ruminant the cherry on top. Jonah runs through some of his greatest hits, reminding listeners that Trump plays a much bigger part in the proliferation of wokeness than his grifter army cares to admit, negating the idea of stochastic terrori...

Are you there, God? It’s Sam Harris and Jonah. At long last, the neuroscientist-philosopher and father of the new atheism movement has come to The Remnant for a Horatian salon that is poised to discuss the really big questions—questions so big we had to double the length of the episode. Jonah and Sam debate dogma, epistemological free-for-alls, the emancipation of C-3PO, and truth as its own defen...

Twenty-one years after Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan revolutionized the chick-flick with Freaky Friday, the powers that be have finally greenlit a remake. Fans were surprised to discover that the studio has taken a different approach to the reboot; this iteration of the film will feature two of the foremost voices in American political punditry, and will concern the intellectual history of on...

Jonah is coming off an electric evening with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where he danced with fire eaters and geeked out with fellow think tank nationals. As a result, he is well prepared to dig into the Hezbollah-pager plot, Trump’s Freudian slip in his attempt to combat antisemitism, the Rich Lowry non-controversy, and the continued bad behavior of J.D. Vance. To close it out, Jonah sc...

Many have sung songs of change, from Charles Bradley to David Bowie to Tupac Shakur. The pace of social and economic changes—and the way they make us feel—is the subject of constant debate. Jonah is joined on today’s episode by Tom Standage, a historian and the deputy editor of The Economist, to make the case that rapid change caused by innovation is nothing new in the annals of history. Jonah and...

On today’s episode, Jonah is joined by Dispatchheavy-hitter Kevin D. Williamson to discuss his latest piece, “The Exotic Cat-Eaters of Springfield, Ohio.” Unlike many of those sharing unsubstantiated rumors of Haitian migrants eating pets, Kevin actually took a trip to Springfield and spoke with members of the community. This is not a tale of dystopian fur-baby slaughter, but instead a reckoning o...

Much like the crackpots that have descended upon his inbox, Jonah is disgruntled, paranoid, and cranky. This week’s Ruminant concerns the fallout of the Harris/Trump debate, bullies and Jew-haters, and Tenet Media’s insensible goons. Jonah later reminds us of the principle of “they hate us ‘cause they ain’t us,” the distinctions between the anti-left and the anti-state camps of the Right, and misp...

In a continued effort to provide you, dear listener, with a break from the incessant debate coverage, Jonah invites American Enterprise Institute foreign policy superstar Danielle Pletka on the show to find out what the hell is going on in the rest of the world. The tour begins with the Ukraine-Russia war, with Danielle and Jonah setting their sights on Kursk to discuss how the incursion will affe...

When Jonah isn’t wrangling spaniels into his sprinter van or running to and from the CNN studio, he moonlights as the assistant treasurer of the International Christine Rosen Fan Club. To thank him for his loyal service, Christine drops by the studio to discuss her new book, The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. Jonah and Christine dive into the downsides of the digital...

As much as it pains Jonah to admit it, Steve was right about the magic of Door County, Wisconsin. After he adequately disparages a few more of Steve’s opinions, Jonah cleans up after Tucker Carlson and his crackpot “historian” crony. He discusses the role of intellectual and moral corruption in the legitimization of dishonorable revisionism, negates the Zinn-ification of history, and namedrops som...

You asked, Jonah has answers. In order to secure his limited edition Blu-ray disc of Aquaman and the Sea-Monkeys, David French has abandoned his post as Remnant guest host, forcing Jonah to appeal to heaven and answer some listener questions. This installment of Remnant AMA features insider knowledge of the business side of The Dispatch, Jonah’s intellectual journey, fish farms, and the possibilit...

Gather around the campfire at the RV Park in Coon Valley, Wisconsin, to hear the tale of Brother Chris Stirewalt, who has traversed land and sea to tell Jonah legends of Costco demographics, the chief of the Minnesotan fiefdom, and the looming Trumpian hangover on the GOP’s horizon. Brother Stirewalt is benevolent enough to catch Jonah up to speed on the presidential race and shoddy polls, closing...

Jonah, under the anvil of God and parked outside a Colorado Walmart, gives an update on his current cross-country trek. He ruminates on Kamala Harris' first interview and whether her connection to the Biden administration will actually matter to voters. His psephological Tourette syndrome subsides so he gets into the minutiae of his Wednesday G-File on how Christianity rewired the Western mind and...

Jonah has chosen to heed the advice of Horace Greeley to go west and get away from the crowds of idlers and imbeciles, anointing none other than Dispatch senior editor Mike Warren as Remnant guardian extraordinaire. Mike is joined by Semafor’s Dave Weigel for some punditry a la carte. Mike and Dave (who do not need wedding dates) cover RFK Jr.’s recent Trump endorsement, the state of the undecided...

It’s been a very hot summer in Washington, and Jonah wants someone to blame. To get to the bottom of things, AEI scholar Roger Pielke stops by the studio to discuss the dissonance between politicized science and perspicacious reality. Jonah wants to know: How do we manage our energy supply? Is climate change really an existential threat? Should we nuke hurricanes? What happens when you mix science...

It’s a beautiful Friday morning in Washington, D.C., and Jonah has decided to pick a fight with Alexander Graham Bell. He ruminates upon the long decline of the convention (and who’s to blame), the insidious lying and mudslinging from both parties (Breaking: It’s wrong to bully children), and the parameters of minding your own business. Once Jonah has eaten his spinach and completed his convention...

All right, enough. It’s time for a break from all the news. To lighten things up, Jonah brings on AEI senior fellow Fred Kagan to talk about war. Fred is the director of AEI’s Critical Threats Project and a leader in strategic military analysis, so this installment of The Remnant gives you a front row seat in the situation room. Fred and Jonah discuss the next steps for the Ukrainian army, how the...

The 2024 Democratic National Convention is in full swing, leading Jonah to summon Mike Pesca of The Gist to provide ye loyal listeners with an insider look into the galactic gnostic council of podcasting elders. Mike and Jonah debate the existence of structural antisemitism and the weaponization of the term “genocide,” explore the contrast between the online perceptions and real-world implications...

On this week’s Ruminant, Jonah attempts to talk himself out of a hangover, which inevitably leads back to vintage Hillary Clinton punditry. Ah, the good old days. Jonah’s quest back to the world of the sober begins with the demystification of price gouging and federal minimum wage hikes, followed by further thoughts on the divorced parent interpretation of partisan politics. Then, we find Jonah re...

On this installment of The Remnant, Jonah bestows dear friend of the pod Tevi Troy with his black velvet eight-timer guest club blazer. To celebrate, Jonah and Tevi discuss Tevi’s upcoming book, The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry. This Trojan epic has it all: the tension between big government and big business during the rapid changes of th...

By rule of Remnant law, if Jonah doesn’t have fellow Dispatcher Chris Stirewalt on the show at least once every ninety days, frogs will fall from the sky and the oceans will turn to ice. To avert global catastrophe, Chris is back to check in on the electoral dumpster fire. Jonah and Chris discuss the difficulty of maintaining the upper hand in a vibes election, the Republican obsession with media...

There’s a lot on Jonah’s mind this morning. He’s gaslighting himself about being gaslit, lamenting the diminishing standards of acceptable presidential candidate behavior, and waltzing back some of his initial reactions to VP candidate Tim Walz. Critiques of Wednesday’s G-File are addressed (shame on you, Willem Dafoe), noting the death of true cultural criticism in the age of identity politics. O...