The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

In the Before Times, when we’d all walk around bookstores putting our dangerously diseased digits on various tomes without a care in the world, did you notice a recurring phenomenon? It’s been the case for the past few years that the nonfiction sections of any major bookstore are filled with a glut of “Trump era” books – either memoirs from officials, books attempting to psychologize the man himself, or vaguely rant-y polemics that are big on rhetoric but light on substance. What if, hypothetically, you wanted to torture yourself by entering a purgatory-like state in which you read around 150 of those things? That’s what Carlos Lozada – book critic for the Washington Post – did so that you don’t have to. Today, Jonah speaks with Lozada about how he was able to synthesize the “Trump canon” into a set of identifiable narratives about this moment in American politics, eventually resulting in his own new book, What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era. Show Notes: -Carlos’ book, What Were We Thinking -Jonah on The Greening of America: “Stupendously awful” -Miles Taylor, “senior administration official”? -“LODESTAR!” -The largely unread followup to Fire and Fury -Don McGahn’s crazy 2 years in the administration -Carlos reviews Michael Cohen’s bizarre book -Solzhenitsyn in prison Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this weekend’s Ruminant, Jonah asks why we have to make American politics even more difficult than they already are. Why is it that, in an election that reveals Americans’ contested preferences so obviously, that we have to continue to turn up the heat by piling on additional conspiracy theories about the rigging of the election? Maybe, as Jonah thinks, this simply reveals a series of “deeply unpatriotic commitments” among our political and commentariat classes. He makes his way to greener pastures by talking about our glorious canine companions, and by addressing some of the supposedly highfalutin concerns of those on the right looking to out-think the market in our populist moment. Show Notes: -Get tickets to The Dispatch’s event, “What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond” -Chris Stirewalt, rightfully serene as always -Gingrich: "You Are Watching An Effort To Steal The Presidency Of The United States" - The Remnant with Razib -The Remnant with Jim Geraghty -Hayek’s “The Use of Knowledge in Society” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At a moment where punditry can feel relatively grim – mostly due to the feeling of instability resulting from this endless election – Jonah wanted to have on someone who was capable of a different variety of punditry. Who fits the bill better for a political commentary of “pluckish optimism” than National Review’s Jim Geraghty, who displayed his infinite humility by choosing not to wear his brand new “Remnant 10-Timer” Championship Belt on the Zoom call? Jim gives his analysis regarding many of the questions that will remain for conservatives after the election is decided: Whither goes the GOP? (A “multi-ethnic, working class, populist party?) What is the correct story to tell about Latino voters and Trump? (And why is the mainstream media adopting the most racist interpretation of this situation rather than the most accurate?) And, most importantly, is Mar-a-Lago Trump’s Elba, or his St. Helena? Show Notes: -National ReviewJim’s page at -Josh Hawley’s retweet of Adrian Vermeule -“Two moon parties” -Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row AmericaChris Arnade’s -William Rusher, who often said that politicians will always disappoint you -Wednesday’s “news”letter -McConnell and Biden are, like, basically friends, guys Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this momentous day, in which the very nature of American politics may be defined anew for the foreseeable future, Jonah wanted to have on Razib Khan, director of science at Insitome, to talk about the most relevant, up-to-the-minute, topical subject so that, in this consciousness-shifting moment, we may be able to hold on for dear life and come up with a coherent worldview amidst the chaos. That subject, you ask? Dog genetics. How did Man’s Best Friend become such a highly variegated species – some big, some small, some smart, others dumb, and on and on with countless other variables? Razib fills us in on the state of research into canine development over the last 10,000 years, why the regional variations between lineages of dog are so distinct, and how the new frontiers of this genetic research seek to address “how these animals became what they are, and how they evolved alongside humans in response to environmental pressures.” We also get to hear Razib voice what may be the most controversial statement of our political era: “Wolves are smarter than dogs.” Tune in to hear Razib defend this heretical stance. Show Notes: -Razib’s freshly-minted newsletter -Get tickets for The Dispatch’s event, “What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond” -Razib in Quillette: “The Evolutionary History of Man’s Best Friend” -The Remnant with Cass Sunstein -Eusocial animals -The Invaders: How Humans and Their Dogs Drove the Neanderthals to Extinction -Przewalski’s Horse -Origins and genetic legacy of prehistoric dogs -NYT Science writeup of the magazine article -Ancestry’s German-turned-Irish guy -Border Collie intelligence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seeing that there’s literally one story in the news right now (AN ELECTION IS HAPPENING SOON), Jonah decided to use his time on this weekend’s Ruminant to touch on some topics adjacent to the election, but also to incorporate some more evergreen topics into the mix. For example, there’s a discussion of the eternal return of the “get money out of politics” argument – and why Jonah thinks the argument is pointless in a world where the biggest benefit a candidate can get is a hysterical cycle of earned media – an unpopular defense of the slow, ungraceful politics of Mitch McConnell, equally unpopular opinions (at least in some quarters of the right) on the Biden scandal, and most importantly, why “your meatloaf is, like, 5,000 years old.” Show Notes: -Get tickets to The Dispatch’s post-election event, “What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond” -This week’s G-File -The Chronicles of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg -Charles Cook: Don’t expect a contested election -The Wednesday “news”letter from this week -“I’m not a witch, I’m you!” -McConnell’s 1998 opinion on campaign finance reform -How Innovation Works, by Matt Ridley -It’s a mistake for Republicans to leave cities out of their coalition -A forum of Europeans talking about how their ghettos are in the suburbs -Ten Global TrendsJonah’s column, inspired by -ExpressVPN.com/Remnant to get 3 months free off a year-long plan -Bradleyfdn.org/Liberty to listen to Andrew McCarthy on the latest episode of We the People Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today two-thirds of the GLoP Culture podcast are together (a veritable biumvirate, one could say) to keep you up to date with some pre-election punditry while also distracting you just enough with pop culture news to prevent a sense of total crushing morosity. John Podhoretz of Commentary magazine joins Jonah to discuss the realities of Jewish political life in America, and to level with us about how realistic the chances of an upset are in the coming election. Then, John – with his It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia-style cork board at hand, interconnected strings and all – walks a perplexed Jonah through the evermore-confusing details of the Hunter Biden scandal, who seems to have done what, and what parts of the whole mess you should even care about. Then, in addition to a lightning round of pop culture questions, the guys also discuss their NYC-nostalgia, and their oddly specific memories for local television commercials from their childhood. While all of those lines seem cheesy now, John points out that “Maybe there’s something to be said for them, as it’s been nearly 60 years and I remember every word.” Show Notes: - Get your tickets to The Dispatch’s post-election event, “What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond” - Commentary, the 75-year old monthly of intellectual analysis and political probity… you know the rest - John on the possibility of Jewish conservatism - The surge of American anti-Semitic violence - “Timmy’s my Jewish friend” - “Don’t cross the street in the middle of the block” -The oddly sensual Carvel ice cream commercial -New Yorker The giant excerpt of Obama’s memoir - CommentaryIrving Kristol on McCarthyism in -Tucker loses his mail Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Could Bigfoot Erotica influence the election? Fan-favorite Chris Stirewalt of Fox News says, “It’s a possibility.” (BIG IF TRUE) No, but really, Jonah wanted to have Chris back on The Remnant to cut through the vast amount of statistical noise being generated in the run-up to the election. With some polls suggesting a Biden landslide, other polls predicting a closer-than-expected outcome, and yet still more organizations suggesting a legion of silent-assassin-Republicans, waiting in the wings to shock the pollsters once again, Stirewalt clarifies these contradictory auguries with a brevity and hilarity rarely found in the mucky world of punditry. While the haruspicy might make for a very unhygienic office space, Stirewalt gets the job done, and that’s why we trust his expertise. Show Notes: -Get tickets to The Dispatch’s post-election event, “What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond” -Follow Chris’s work at Fox News -Vote SMOD 2020 -Muhlenberg College’s state polling for PA -John Zogby -Paul, proud octopus and FIFA Diviner -Ron Johnson’s business background -The Partisan Vote Index -Perino & Stirewalt: I’ll Tell You What -Harrys.com/DINGO to receive a Harry’s Trial Set -TommyJohn.com/REMNANT to save 15% on your first order Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the end of an especially busy week in pundit-world, Jonah sits down with us all to ruminate on some of the more noteworthy topics that may have flown by too quickly to actually wrap one’s brain around them. On the docket: The final debate, some useful counter-programming on the Biden email hullabaloo, getting (erm…) a “grip” on Jeffrey Toobin, and much more. Plus, Jonah has some more evergreen thoughts on the gradual defining down of conservatism, and what the G-File has meant to him after all these years. Show Notes: -Get tickets to The Dispatch’s post-election event – What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond -The Dispatch’s final debate wrap-up -Star Trek: “Patterns of Force” -This week’s G-File -The “MacronLeaks” -The Editors podcast talking about the Biden email scandal -The members-only (so to speak) Midweek Epistle -Lucy.co, use promo code DINGO to get 20% off of all products -ExpressVPN.com/Remnant for 3 months free with a 1-year plan -Bradleyfdn.org/Liberty to subscribe to We the People Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last time Tim Alberta, Politico’s chief political correspondent, was on the program, life in America was crazy, but in a typical, everyday, post-2016 kind of way. We figured that it was time to have him back now that we’re in the process of rushing towards a new form of crazy at Spaceballs-levels of ludicrous speed (“They’ve gone plaid!”). Tim takes us through some of the issues that voters in purple states actually seem to care about (Hint: The Hunter Biden drama isn’t one of them) while also touching on the confusing lack of a substantive foreign policy debate in this election cycle, the simpler times of the Christmas Tree tax and the Dubai ports deal, and the shocking value-add provided to one’s life by the purchase of an Arby’s gyro. Show Notes: -Get tickets for The Dispatch’s “What’s Next” event -PoliticoTim’s page at -American CarnageTim’s most recent book, -Matt Glassman talks about the lack of a foreign policy discussion -The Christmas Tree tax -Jonah on the 2006 Dubai ports deal -Congress slowly spending more time on memes -Matt Gaetz’s raiding party -KittyPooClub.com, enter promo code DINGO for 20% off your first order -Bradleyfdn.org/Liberty to watch the latest episode of We The People with Justin Danhof Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Co-founder of Echelon Insights, Golden Retriever companion, and professional Tea Leaf-Reader Kristen Soltis Anderson breaks a long hiatus from Remnant appearances by returning to the show today. As conventional wisdom on the right settles into the idea that “the polls were wrong in 2016,” Kristen gives us a bit of a reality check on why the conditions in 2020 aren’t that simple. She also talks about her newest research on the attitudes of young voters, with some surprising results. For one, young people aren’t nearly as pessimistic as you may have been led to believe: “Two-thirds of Gen Z and Millenials believe that they can achieve the American Dream … through their own actions.” Show Notes: -Sign up for The Dispatch’s “What’s Next” event -Kristen’s latest research for the Walton Family Foundation - KSA’s Twitter thread on how emotion continues to infiltrate election analysis -FiveThirtyEight’s politics podcast -Pew: Younger people remained far less likely to [view the Vietnam War as a mistake] than those age 50 and older. -Grand New Party, by Reihan Salam and Ross Douthat -Try ZipRecruiter for free at ZipRecruiter.com/Dingo -DonorsTrust.org/Dingo to receive a free copy of “6 Reasons to Use a Donor-Advised Fund” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices