The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

Today’s Ruminant finds Jonah deprived of air conditioning in the middle of brutal D.C. heat, baffled by inexplicable decisions made by figures across the political spectrum. With the Taliban advancing in Afghanistan, progressives arguing that ACTUALLY, kids don’t need to master math and reading, and President Biden considering vaccine mandates for interstate travel, there’s plenty to be annoyed ab...

Charles C.W. Cooke, National Review’s Anglo-American purveyor of liberty and golf carts, returns to The Remnant for a spirited discussion of accents, constitutionalism, and all things Floridian. Although Ron DeSantis has faced persistent criticism, Charlie believes he got COVID right, and explains why. With many references to James Madison. Meanwhile, Jonah remains puzzled by the right’s fondness...

Case Western University professor Jonathan Adler brings his fluency in legalese to The Remnant today for a conversation that would make Milton Hershey proud. In freewheeling fashion, he and Jonah explore the constitutional implications of the eviction moratorium, whether The Suicide Squad is worth watching, and how mitigating the threat of climate change through nuclear power won’t produce an abun...

The drive-time Remnant format returns today to prelude a new era for The Dispatch. With Nick Pompella now off to the wilds of Indiana, Jonah, Ryan, and Guy are left to explore the mad world of D.C. living and marmite advertising as a trio. Brace your bingo cards for a wild ride, as Jonah reflects on his conversation with Steak-umm social media guru Nathan Allebach, Ryan ponders the origin of “Repu...

In the past, The Remnant has hosted prominent politicians, scholars, and media personalities. But none of them have made Jonah as excited as today’s guest: Nathan Allebach, manager of the Steak-umm Twitter account. In a conversation laden with meat-related puns, Jonah and Nathan take a deep dive into the bizarre world of social media, where fast food brands often offer greater intellectual nuance...

Chris Stirewalt is back on The Remnant to discuss how we can make politics boring again. As Chris observes, we’ve entered a “wilderness of grifts,” where opportunistic nationalism and Lincoln Project-style chicanery are all the rage. Meanwhile, a new group is trying to turn Joe Biden into FDR, factions on the right are embracing the progressive vision of government, and rage clicks are poisoning t...

Today’s ranty Ruminant finds Jonah alternately perplexed and irritated by the state of the COVID-19 pandemic, illiberalism in politics, and folks who think Twitter is real life. He begins by digging into the CDC’s revised guidance on masks and the possible implications of America’s stalling vaccine campaign. From there, things get nerdy, as Jonah explores the state of conservative institutions and...

American Enterprise Institute scholar and fan-favorite Remnant guest Tim Carney joins Jonah for a wide-ranging discussion of obscure political philosophy, the state of the COVID-19 pandemic, and why babies are good. In these strange, often distressing times, it can be easy to take a pessimistic view of the conservative movement and America more broadly. Tim, however, believes we should be hopeful...

Unlike Ozzie Smith on his visit to Springfield, Jonah didn’t fall off the face of the Earth during his northeastern excursion last week. Today, he’s back in control of The Remnant, and invites National Review’s Dan McLaughlin onto the show for a discussion of what the future holds for the Republican Party. Together, they explore the creation of the January 6 select committee, how the role of a pol...

Chris Stirewalt is back in the driver’s seat on today’s Remnant in place of Jonah. This time, his guest is Robert Pondiscio, a newly minted fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and expert on education policy. Together, they explore how various deficiencies in American schooling can be overcome. Can patriotic civics and history be taught without indoctrinating pupils? How significant of a th...

Jonah’s vocal double Chris Stirewalt seizes control of The Remnant today in Dostoyevskian fashion. His guest? CNN’s Harry Enten, who shares Chris’ obsession with polling data. The two explore why polling in 2020 was so inaccurate, the quirks of online polling, and why Republicans who answer polls tend not to represent Republicans at large. They also dig into demographic divisions over vaccine upta...

Get your bingo cards ready, because Yuval Levin is back on The Remnant today to counteract Alex Tabarrok’s libertarian influence. Which side is the aggressor in the culture war? How will history remember the Trump era? And why is the left substituting relativism for absolutism? Tune in for answers to these vital questions (which include plenty of ostentatious references to Leo Strauss), but stick...

Alex Tabarrok, perhaps the world’s sole Canadian libertarian, joins The Remnant today for the first time. Inflation is on the rise, the vaccine rollout is stalling, and illiberalism is resurgent. In other words, there are plenty of demanding issues for Americans to be concerned about. Thankfully, Tabarrok has a range of considered policy solutions for Jonah to explore. How can we revitalize democr...

On today’s Ruminant, Jonah discusses everything from obscure existentialist philosophy to the realism of zombie TV. Rank punditry is first on the docket, as Jonah examines Biden’s poor handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal and Republican efforts to whitewash the events of January 6. Afterward, Jonah defends his recent comments about Tucker Carlson and explores the world’s progress on vaccinations...

Slate’s Will Saletan joins The Remnant once again to discuss Trump’s lunatic lawsuit against big tech, Biden’s first six months, and the endless debate over critical race theory in education. Plus, in a shocking turn of events, Will challenges Jonah on his oft-repeated line that America has two minority parties, instead arguing that both Democrats and Republicans are engaging in a war on reality f...

Only Remnant listeners fluent in legalese should subject themselves to today’s discussion of Supreme Court jurisprudence, in which fan-favorite classical liberal Ilya Shapiro returns to claim his coveted gold jacket. Jonah and Ilya explore what the court’s conservative majority will mean for future cases and whether the conservative legal movement should adapt its philosophy in the wake of Bostock...

Today’s ranty Ruminant features killer whales, hunter-gatherers, and a special appearance by Jonah’s importunate dingo. It also includes as much kvetching about partisan craziness and misunderstood aspects of intellectual history as you’d expect. Jonah begins by discussing the latest Trump tax scandal, the root cause of Tucker Carlson’s apparent insanity, and the GOP brouhaha over the January 6 co...

The Hangover has now concluded, and Chris Stirewalt thought it appropriate to provide an epilogue to the series. If the last four years have taught us anything, Chris observes, it’s that “people are terrible at predicting the future.” After the GOP’s victory in 2016, nobody could have guessed that the party would be swept out of power four years later, or that our lives would be upended by a pande...

Fan-favorite political strategist Mo Elleithee returns to The Remnant today for a discussion of Joe Biden’s first six months in office, America’s deepening polarization, and how we should understand the results of the 2020 election. With debates over issues like critical race theory and police reform continuing to intensify, has the Democratic Party really shifted as far to the left as conservativ...

The Hangover concludes on a unique note, as David Glade, rector of Virginia’s Christ the King Anglican Church, joins Chris Stirewalt to discuss what the future holds for religion in a divided America. Politics, the pair note, can be an especially alluring idol. Today, even shopping at Home Depot is seen as a political act, and the forces of populism and wokery have supplanted real faiths in the li...

Start spreading the news: Esteemed historian Vincent Cannato is back on The Remnant to discuss all things New York City. After digging into the ongoing mayoral election, Curtis Sliwa’s rescue cats, and Rudy Giuliani’s descent into madness, Jonah and Vin explore what the Big Apple’s partisan divisions reveal about America’s broader political shenanigans. From there, they consider how the paranoid s...

Sleep-deprived following his return from Oklahoma and haunted by visions of Nick, Jonah begins today’s Ruminant with the mother of all rants. Why, when there are so many urgent issues for Americans to be concerned with, is the New York Times more interested in denying objective reality and attacking the concept of motherhood? For that matter, why is the fight over critical race theory only getting...

On today’s Remnant, recorded in the wilds of Oklahoma, Jonah once again attempts to fuse the weekend Ruminant format with that of a supplemental episode. He begins by elaborating on his pro-life views and what abortion law would look like if he were made czar for a day. Afterward, a nerdtastic dive into the morass of intellectual history begins, as Jonah uses an extract from The Tyranny of Clichés...

Conservative journalism has changed markedly since John Podhoretz began his career at the Washington Times in the early 1980s. When Matt Drudge broke the Monica Lewinsky story in 1998, it was clear that things would never be the same. On today’s episode of The Hangover, John joins Chris Stirewalt to explore how the changing media ecosystem contributed to Donald Trump’s election in 2016. The pair r...

Scott Winship, director of poverty studies at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Jonah to discuss the history of poverty in the United States. The pair begin by digging into a new report from Scott and four of his peers that explores issues of black vs. white inequality, before they turn to examining potential solutions to these disparities. Is the success sequence outdated? Should America b...