The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

As Jonah continues his search for Spanish gold, Sarah Isgur assumes control of the Remnant once again for some predictably eclectic conversation. She’s joined by former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, who’s also a security expert and national park enthusiast. After briefly discussing the ravages of age, they turn to America’s immense beauty, the terrors of AI, the challenges of immigration reform, and every...

While Jonah shirks his podcasting duties to star in a one-man production of Pirates of the Caribbean, Chris Stirewalt takes his place at the helm of the Remnant for a characteristically wonky discussion of the coming presidential primary. He’s joined by Harry Enten, senior data reporter at CNN and host of the Margins of Error podcast, for a conversation that touches on all of the most pressing que...

As Jonah prepares to drop off the grid for a week, he brings Guy, his immigrant majordomo, back on the Remnant to ask an eclectic selection of listener questions. Predictably, things start innocently enough with some hyper-rank punditry on 2024 and a brief canine update, but afterward, they quickly get weird. From talk of ChatGPT and zombies overthrowing the established world order to musings on s...

Back from his sojourn in the Land of Lincoln, Jonah invites Coleman Hughes–host of the Conversations with Coleman podcast–onto the Remnant for a lively discussion of race and religion (everyone’s favorite topics). What’s the relationship between authenticity and identity? Is it possible to completely root out racism in American society? And what danger does audience capture pose to responsible jou...

Stranded without a guest in beautiful Springfield, Illinois, Jonah is forced to record another Ruminant, and the result finds his mind drifting from place to place like a wayward spy balloon. After a brief foray into dirigible-based punditry, he quickly turns to protectionism and Biden’s “Buy American” mantra, providing some extended thoughts on why both are so annoying. From there, his ramblings...

On today’s Ruminant, Jonah once again finds himself agitated by a veritable cornucopia of asininities. From the idea that every problem in San Francisco can be blamed on COVID to our embarrassing balloon response, no topic is safe from his ire. Can every problem be blamed on late-stage capitalism? What is the difference between good politics and good policy? And how should the Remnant advertise it...

In the wake of 2023’s raucous State of the Union address, Jonah invites Noah Rothman back to the Remnant for some obscenely rank punditry on a host of hot topics. They begin by exploring what we should make of Biden’s speech, and whether the rowdy atmosphere that accompanied it was actually a good thing, before turning to issues foreign and domestic. How does Biden look as a 2024 candidate given h...

AEI Senior Fellow Dalibor Rohac makes his Remnant debut in today’s outrageously wonky discussion of Eastern Europe. In light of the ongoing war in Ukraine, the conversation covers America’s foreign policy debate, Germany’s continued weirdness, and the European Union’s role in modern geopolitics. Will peace require a resounding Russian defeat? Can more can be done to support Ukraine’s defense? And...

On today’s Ruminant, unencumbered by any pretension to organization, Jonah waxes eloquent on everything from the spy balloon over Montana to the breakdown of organized religion. After beginning with a dive into the rhetoric surrounding the war in Ukraine, he directs his ire towards the cult of victimhood that seems to dominate public life. Stick around for a particularly eggheadish discussion on t...

John Podhoretz makes his triumphant return to the Remnant for a characteristically freewheeling discussion covering everything from Israeli politics to the classified document scandals. Who isn’t hoarding a classified document or two nowadays? What’s going on with Israel’s judiciary? How is the GOP doing? Will Joe Biden run in 2024? And is it ever appropriate to sing the Felix the Cat theme song?...

In an attempt to overcome the trauma that developed after his recent visit to Portland, Jonah invites the prolific author and journalist Nancy Rommelmann onto the Remnant for the first time to explore how the city descended into something resembling Escape from New York. They discuss when Portland’s decline began, whether it can fairly be compared to the New York of the 1970s and ‘80s, and whether...

Jonah’s eggheadery reaches a new extreme on today’s rambly Ruminant, which may leave you dreaming of the end times. After beginning with some brief thoughts on Biden’s document escapade and when it’s appropriate for the government to declassify information, he turns to a melange of nerdishly complicated questions. Is it the end of the world as we know it? How did the Bulletin of the Atomic Scienti...

Jonah makes an unexpected return to the AEI studio for another in-person Remnant, this time featuring Keith Whittington, beloved egghead and Princeton political scientist. A deep dive ensues into America’s unique preoccupation with free speech and the nature of academic freedom, which raises a number of pertinent questions. How concerned should we be about the state of free speech on college campu...

In what may be one of the most brazenly nerdy Remnant episodes ever recorded (which is really saying a lot) Duke University’s Bruce Caldwell joins the program to discuss the life and work of Friedrich Hayek. Dr. Caldwell, the pope of Hayekian geekdom, recently published the first installment of a two volume biography of the famed economist. Guided by Jonah’s gleeful prompting, he explores how Haye...

Today’s annoyingly whispered Ruminant comes to you live from Portland, where Jonah’s on a clandestine mission with his wife. Unfortunately, the city doesn’t seem to be doing so well, which prompts him to begin with a lengthy diatribe on urban decay, the crisis of homelessness in America’s cities, and what’s specifically wrong with Portland. Stick around afterward for some thoughts on Davos and the...

Brian Riedl, also known as the “balanced budget good government guy,” is back on the Remnant to answer a pertinent question: Should we believe that the GOP suddenly cares about fiscal responsibility? He and Jonah also provide some wonkified commentary on a whole host of other economic issues. What’s to be done about the national debt? How should conservatives approach the IRS? And is it possible t...

The Remnant gets back to basics today, as A.B. Stoddard returns to the show for some deeply rank punditry on (what else?) the dysfunctional state of our parties and the prospect of a second term for Biden. With insurgents rising among both Republicans and Democrats, how long will it take for the parties to get healthy again? For that matter, how concerned should Democrats be about the loss of blac...

Today’s Ruminant, a self-described “rambling, weird, incoherent hot mess,” can perhaps be taken as a reflection of Jonah’s addled brain. With his wife and daughter on a road trip, his mind has regressed into bachelor mode, and he’s begun to subsist on chicken eaten over the kitchen sink. Thankfully, he still has opinions on the biggest stories of the day, including the Biden administration’s poten...

Cass Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard and Jonah’s fellow disciple of the dingo, makes an overdue return to the Remnant to discuss his recent book, Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment. Noise, the book argues, is a deadly flaw in human judgment that clouds many of our decisions and produces errors in fields such as medicine, law, and public health. Dr. Sunstein and Jonah exa...

For no particular reason, the Remnant returns to an in-person format today, as Jonah drops by the AEI offices to chat about what the future holds for humans and technology with James “Jimmy P” Pethokoukis. Together, they explore why we still haven’t achieved some of the major advancements that wonks were predicting in the ‘70s, occasionally stopping to ponder the merits of popular sci-fi televisio...

Jonah’s in especially ranty form on today’s Ruminant as he explores the continuing war over the House speakership and where most commentators are going wrong in their analysis of it. He also examines the broader prevalence of annoying misconceptions about Congress, what media bias really looks like, and how conservatism should be measured. Plus, tune in for discussion of a controversial Daily Beas...

In what is sure to be the first of many appearances in 2023, Chris Stirewalt joins the Remnant to discuss the ongoing debacle that is Kevin McCarthy’s bid for House speaker. He and Jonah explore what McCarthy’s opponents hope to gain, whether it’s true that opposing him makes you more conservative, and why all of this actually may not matter very much. They also touch on whether wokeism has passed...

The Remnant kicks off 2023 in appropriately rank fashion today, as Megan McArdle returns to the program for some eggheady musings on what the new year could bring for our legislative branch, parties, and broader political culture. She and Jonah begin by examining the state of Congress and what we can do to fix it, before turning to some pressing questions. Will cryptocurrency conquer the world? Ho...

Jonah brings 2022 to a close in typically freewheeling fashion on today’s Ruminant, which aims to provide a minimal amount of crushing morosity. He kicks things off by exploring the Southwest Airlines meltdown and why airline disasters are uniquely infuriating, before turning to the inefficiency of big government, how pandemics and other crises can affect economies, and what can go wrong when we m...

As 2022 winds down, Kevin Williamson returns to the Remnant for some wide-ranging sociopolitical nerdery. He and Jonah explore what characterizes effective social policy, why it pays to be skeptical of new ideas, and what makes no sense about the American tax system. They also provide a modicum of more lighthearted punditry on the George Santos debacle and indulge in a lengthy discussion of the gu...