The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

On today’s Ruminant, Jonah serves up a typically eclectic potpourri of rank punditry and historical nerdery. After exploring how, in almost literary fashion, Kevin McCarthy’s hidden normalcy has proved to be his undoing, Jonah turns to the origins of socialism, and what the Soviet approach to collectivism can tell us about Putin’s ambitions for Russia today. He also shares his thoughts on Florida’...

Thomas Chatterton Williams, nonresident AEI fellow and writer at The Atlantic, joins the Remnant for the first time to discuss race and ethnicity in America. Thomas, who describes himself as “ex-black,” believes we need to “unlearn race” to fulfill the promise of the Declaration of Independence. But what would that entail in practice, and how can we move away from racial categories while preservin...

Jonah and Matt Continetti continue their tremendously nerdy adventure through the history of American conservatism today, taking us from the 1970s to the present. In a conversation tailor-made for holders of the Remnant bingo card, they discuss the Reagan Revolution, the Clinton years, the future of the conservative movement, and much more. Can the contemporary right hold off resurgent anti-Americ...

After providing an update on his absence this week, Jonah begins today’s Ruminant on a note of uncertainty: He hasn’t decided whether an Elon Musk Twitter takeover is something we should welcome or fear. His mind is also occupied by the idea raised by Megan McArdle that Americans are increasingly “sidestepping institutions” in their daily lives, as well as Matt Continetti’s perspective on the term...

The Remnant ascends to a higher plane of nerdom today, as Matthew Continetti returns to discuss his new book, The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism. This episode presents the first half of a two-hour conversation between Jonah and Matt, which takes us on a freewheeling journey from the ‘20s to the ‘70s. They begin by exploring whether it’s possible to provide a simple definitio...

The Remnant gets wonky today as Klon Kitchen, AEI senior fellow and author of The Current newsletter for The Dispatch, returns to discuss Russia’s information war in Ukraine. With no end in sight for the conflict, Jonah and Klon explore what America’s intelligence support for Ukraine looks like and what other measures we could take to assist the country. They also touch on the veracity of Russia a...

Jonah’s still in Chicago for today’s Ruminant, and he isn’t terribly comfortable with the pre-summer weather. Still, severe cold in spring is less frustrating than our political dysfunction, and Jonah has plenty to discuss on that front. After exploring the distinction between disinformation and misinformation and the state of American media bias, he turns to the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, Flori...

Live from the Windy City, Jonah returns to the Remnant driver’s seat. He’s joined by Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle, who has plenty of thoughts on America’s strange plague of mobocratic thinking and workplace safetyism. The pair also explore Jonah’s distaste for public sector unions, Megan’s opposition to student loan forgiveness, and the circumstances in which populism can be put to good...

While Jonah traverses the Virginia woodlands, David French assumes control of the Remnant. His guest is Jonathan Rauch, who returns to provide a refreshingly calm perspective on our debates over gender and inclusion. After breaking down the history of the LGBTQ movement, Jonathan and David evaluate the Lia Thomas situation, Florida’s controversial education bill, and how conservatives should appro...

The drive-time Remnant format returns for another predictably eclectic broadcast. Today’s episode finds Jonah, Guy, and Ryan perplexed by Madison Cawthorn’s claims about D.C. debauchery, amused by conspiracy theories about Will Smith’s Oscar's slap, and fascinated by the lowest moments of otherwise great TV shows. They also touch on Jonah’s latent arachnophobia, Guy’s animated obsessions, and Ryan...

Chris Stirewalt, the Remnant’s official “break glass in case of emergency” guest, returns to explain why there actually is such a thing as a free lunch. Over a sumptuous breakfast of granola and omelettes, he and Jonah discuss Joe Biden’s dismal approval numbers and the state of the Democratic Party heading into the midterms. They also examine Madison Cawthorn’s wild claims about the GOP establish...

Adam White, AEI senior fellow and Jonah’s trusted law-talkin’ guy, makes his long-awaited Remnant return. The pair take a deep dive into the Ketanji Brown Jackson hearings and assess what we can expect from her jurisprudence before turning to the state of legal conservatism. With originalism under attack, will common good constitutionalism soon consume legal academia? Is “insurrection” an appropri...

On today’s Ruminant, Jonah, now recovered from Monday’s birthday revelry, has thoughts on everything from hamburger conspiracies to the history of great societies. After beginning with another deep dive into the evolution of media bias, he turns to the Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmation hearings, which have turned out to be surprisingly boring despite a few moments of painful stupidity. Stick arou...

Kevin Williamson, the Remnant’s cheeriest regular, is back for another voyage through the strange realm of contemporary America. A free society is messy, and life is all about contradictions, inconsistencies, and trade-offs. But this can be an uncomfortable truth for many to face. In a conversation that will send you scrambling for your bingo cards, Kevin and Jonah explore the problem with social...

Brian Riedl, the Remnant’s “unofficial budget guy,” returns to discuss our economic woes. After kvetching about inflation, the deficit, and supply chains, he and Jonah dig into the mistaken idea that the president can control every needle of the economy. Brian has noticed an interesting trend: Since Reagan, we’ve consistently elected Republican presidents during booms and Democratic presidents dur...

After plotting world domination at AEI’s World Forum, Jonah is back in the D.C. swampland for today’s Ruminant. He begins by elaborating on the strange metaphysical ideas discussed in last week’s episode before turning to the war in Ukraine, and the baffling idea peddled by some on the right that Zelensky is trying to incite a global thermonuclear war. From there, things get nerdy, as Jonah explor...

Vincent Cannato, noted historian and Jonah’s fellow deracinated New Yorker, returns to the Remnant for a nerdily random discussion of cops, neoliberalism, and latent Russophobia. With tensions rising between East and West, Vin believes we are in the midst of an “ideological Cold War,” but Jonah (whose pronunciation of “Pokémon” may distract from any serious points he raises) is less convinced. How...

Shadi Hamid returns to the Remnant to discuss America’s role in maintaining a safe global order. For years, many on the far left and isolationist right alike have argued that the United States should withdraw from the world stage and take a self-limiting approach to foreign policy. But Shadi believes Russia’s aggression has proved that Western power is essential. Will we soon see renewed support f...

Jonah gets metaphysical on today’s mumbly Ruminant, recorded live in a chaotic hotel room not far from Stonecutter world headquarters. Unsurprisingly, his under-caffeinated mind is awash with thoughts on conservative intellectual history. Be prepared for an exceedingly nerdy disquisition on the philosophical differences between left and right and the importance of understanding that life is about...

John Podhoretz, the Remnant’s self-professed Paul Lynde, returns to the program to play a game of “Name that Crank.” Throughout history, many brilliant people have also been extremely bizarre. Murray Rothbard hated elevators, Arthur Conan Doyle believed in fairies, and Gandhi was obsessed with bowel movements. John and Jonah dedicate today’s episode to exploring the harmless and not-so-harmless qu...

Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy at the American Enterprise Institute, joins the Remnant for the first time to discuss the state of the liberal international order. As Putin’s invasion of Ukraine continues, what will the next year hold in store for the conflict and his leadership? For that matter, should Ukraine join NATO? What have been the Biden administration’s biggest foreig...

The drive-time Remnant format returns for another freewheeling broadcast, one that finds Jonah, Guy, and Ryan preoccupied with questions of loneliness and fulfillment following Arthur Brooks’ recent appearance on the program. Together, they explore the malign effects of social media, whether internet access should be regulated, and how the “Japanification” of America’s youth can be reversed. Plent...

True happiness can feel elusive, especially in our chaotic age. Thankfully, former AEI president and current Harvard professor Arthur Brooks seems to have cracked the code for achieving it. On today’s Remnant, he joins Jonah to explore common mistakes people make in the pursuit of fulfillment, lies the world tells us about satisfaction, the “fear-based cultural polarity” consuming Western society,...

Paul Miller, regular Dispatch contributor and professor of international affairs at Georgetown, joins the Remnant to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the difference between patriotism and nationalism. With a new Cold War looking increasingly likely, how should America prepare itself for what may be a major global conflict? For that matter, what does it mean to be a “foreign policy realist?...

No babies were harmed in the making of today’s Ruminant, which features puppy parades, obscure German philosophers, and an appropriately large supply of bagels. Putin’s use of Nazi rhetoric to demonize the Ukrainian government has reminded Jonah that we don’t talk enough about the importance of language in public life. The invasion has also prompted him to think about the relationship between lang...