The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg
The Dispatch
In “The Remnant," Jonah Goldberg enlists a “Cannonball Run”-style cast of stars, has-beens, and never-weres to address the most pressing issues of the day. Is America doomed? Has liberalism failed? And will mankind ever invent something better than ‘90s-era “Simpsons?” Mixing political history, pop culture, rank punditry, and shameless book-plugging, Goldberg and guests will have the kinds of conversations we wish they featured on TV. And the nudity will (almost) always be tasteful. Brace your bingo cards.
Episodes
Mentioned books
35 snips
Mar 3, 2026 • 1h 16min
Who Fills the Power Vacuum? | Interview: Ken Pollack
Ken Pollack, longtime Middle East policy expert and former AEI analyst, weighs in. He discusses whether airstrikes can topple a regime and lessons from Libya and Desert Fox. He explores risks of balkanization, regional rivals like Turkey, who might fill a power vacuum, and why the administration chose its timing. Short takeaways on likely U.S. operational plans and political blowback.
8 snips
Mar 2, 2026 • 50min
What Should We Want From China? | Interview: Andrew Collier
Andrew Collier, a China macroeconomy and financial-system expert and former Bank of China International USA president. He discusses China’s property boom and how local land-sale reliance and savings behavior created a bubble. He explains Xi Jinping’s economic mindset and why Beijing cracked down on tech firms. They also examine what practical aims the West should pursue with China.
31 snips
Feb 28, 2026 • 1h 16min
Reject Progressive Historiography | Ruminant
A sunlit rant on how progressive historiography reshapes our view of figures like Woodrow Wilson. Sharp takes on Trump’s theatrics and the incentives that breed sycophancy. A sober look at Ukraine’s long-term stakes and why its outcome matters strategically. Critiques of fraud policing, journalistic conflicts with betting markets, and the perils of treating government like a business.
19 snips
Feb 25, 2026 • 1h 7min
Conservatism Is Not White | Interview: Richard M. Reinsch II
Richard M. Reinsch II, longtime conservative intellectual and editor at Civitas Outlook, brings deep knowledge of conservative history and political thought. He traces Nixon’s influence on modern conservatism. He rejects framing conservatism as “white culture.” He emphasizes a creedal, Declaration-centered conservatism and debates tariffs, identity politics, and the costs of populist economic policies.
10 snips
Feb 23, 2026 • 1h 7min
Freedom Hasn’t Always Meant Choice | Interview: Sophia Rosenfeld
Sophia Rosenfeld, historian and author of The Age of Choice, explores how everyday acts of choosing reshaped modern freedom. She traces choice from commerce and the Reformation to department stores, secret ballots, and party politics. The conversation probes choice overload, algorithms, feminism’s use of choice language, and the American Revolution’s wider impact.
67 snips
Feb 21, 2026 • 1h 18min
Watch Jonah Goldberg Destroy Iran | Ruminant
A brash romp through international tensions and the risks of a conflict with Iran. Sharp takes on DOJ credibility, judicial mistrust, and partisan patterns. A cultural tour that tackles debates over 'white culture', identity politics, and the allure of authoritarian nostalgia. Tangents include Trump clips, Jesse Jackson recollections, and urban spectacle in Paris and DC.
27 snips
Feb 18, 2026 • 1h 11min
‘Aquavit,’ ‘Zebroid,’ and ‘Haole’ | Interview: Stefan Fatsis
Stefan Fatsis, author and Scrabble legend who embedded at Merriam-Webster, discusses modern lexicography. He talks about how dictionaries shifted from prescriptive to descriptive. They cover handling politically charged words, why dictionaries lag language, threats from digitization to paper archives, and how Scrabble and wordlists shape word use.
94 snips
Feb 16, 2026 • 1h 10min
Burkeans, Nutcases, and Originalists | Interview: Cass Sunstein
Cass Sunstein, law professor and constitutional scholar, discusses the six separations of power that protect liberty. He talks about limits on the executive, the courts’ role in checking pretextual rationales, deliberative democracy and reason-giving, Congress’s atrophy, and debates over removal powers, originalism, and institutional fidelity.
99 snips
Feb 14, 2026 • 1h 19min
Utopias Are Conspiracy Theories | Ruminant
A wide-ranging rumination on cameras turning Congress into theatre and how that harms deliberation. Reflections on grief and at-home euthanasia for pets. A critique of media and government pressure on platforms. A defense of Burkean prudence against utopian thinking and a takedown of conspiratorial overpromises. Calls for tougher penalties for doxing and warnings about public-health recklessness.
24 snips
Feb 11, 2026 • 1h 2min
Black Box ‘Realism’ | Interview: Elliott Abrams
Elliott Abrams, a longtime Middle East specialist and former U.S. national security official, joins to tour Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, India, and more. They debate Trump-era unpredictability, the limits of realism in foreign policy, democracy promotion versus realpolitik, and how alliances and reputations shift when leaders act personally and ad-hoc.
