The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

A clean-shaven Michael Strain joins the perennially bearded Jonah to talk about the topic that always brings encouraging news: the economy. Lowering the national debt and the closing of movie theaters are two bullets in this chin-stroking chamber, complemented by banter about barbecue sauce and how to retrieve small children from the sewers. Show Notes: -Michael Strain’s new book, The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It) -Jonathan Chait’s book on Obama’s legacy (got awkward when Trump won) -The Montreal Cognitive Assessment -2001 anthrax attacks -Ayanna Pressley’s wise words to cancel everything -G-File in which Jonah talks about how the House Freedom Caucus is a bunch of hacks -DonorsTrust.com/Dingo for your free resource, “6 Reasons to Use a Donor Advised Fund” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do canned meats and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment have in common? Are there any real rebels in American culture? Why shouldn’t gerbils be allowed to eat beets? Join Jonah in the passenger seat of his car to have all of these pressing questions and more answered on this weekend’s Ruminant. Show Notes: -The latest G-File -The most horrifying term: Forcemeat -The test Trump took, in case you want to test yourself -Silliness in our law enforcement conversations -The longstanding Marxist focus on heightening contradictions -David’s controversy-causing newsletter -David Brooks on nonconformity -Hegel’s Dialectics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The punditry is strong today as Jonah and Luke Thompson meet at the intersection of conservatism and the Constitution. Stopping briefly for some quick jabs at Rep. Mike Gallagher and some comments that will definitely be taken out of context, we hear deep insights about big-kid words like “impoundment” and “rescission.” Show Notes: -Constitutionally Speaking, a podcast with Luke and Jay Cost -The Wisdom of Conservatism by Peter Witonski -Anti-impoundment act -Luke’s article in the Spectator about the veepstakes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rank punditry and eggheadery dominate the docket today as Matt Continetti joins Jonah on a mournfully swampy day in D.C. From Biden huddling in his basement to William F. Buckley Jr. naming his boat “Splendid Isolation,” the guys go backward from politics today to politics yesterday in a convention of nerd-dom, spiced up by mentions of Klingon weddings and Dungeons and Dragons. Show Notes: -Andy Kessler’s WSJ piece on June 1 being Trump’s official downfall date -Nate Cohn on a tiny but influential portion of American voters -A squirrel with bubonic plague in Colorado -Chris Wallace interviews Trump (transcript) -In which Jonah references Albert Jay Nock’s preference to living in Belgium over the United States -Conor Friedersdorf’s list of conservatives to follow on Twitter, scroll for associated bashing and criticism -Conservatism as an Ideology, by Samuel P. Huntington -What is Conservatism? -George Nash: -Bob Novak’s The Prince of Darkness -Gabi.com/Remnant to stop overpaying for your insurance -ExpressVPN.com/Remnant for 3 months free off a 12-month plan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A rental-car bound Jonah invites his research assistant Nick Pompella onto the show from the reclusive Zoom cave in which Nick usually resides — or in this case, the dankness of Jonah’s basement as Nick housesits. Topping the docket today is a discussion of “whiteness,” along with verbal distress over how to pronounce “Parler” and the chilling acknowledgment that the government is the only entity that can legally kill you. Show Notes: -Barton Fink -Page about “Whiteness” from the NMAAHC -Pew data on church attendance by race/ethnicity -Michael Burleigh’s The Third Reich -Fukuyama’s Origins of Political Order -Slavoj Žižek -David Skarbek on the Remnant -The article Nick found about Slack channels as the new water coolers -David French’s hosting of the Remnant earlier this week -Wednesday’s G-File, written from Alaska Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Jonah traipsing about somewhere in the Alaskan wilderness, David French takes over the hosting duties to welcome David Bahnsen back on. David and David talk COVID, policy, and faith. After a jab at Jonah — will he really write a book on bigfoot erotica? — the Davids discuss team good vs. team lesser evil, noting that while Scripture anticipated the Assyrians, it didn’t predict Hillary Clinton. All hail King Dave! Show Notes: -Jonah, off the grid in Alaska -Bahnsen’s daily missal -Tennessee COVID-19 response -Francis Schaeffer -Crisis of Responsibility (with a foreword by your host!) -The abandonment of Reagan’s 3-legged stool -God’s warning for the people of Judah not to seek help from Egypt against the Assyrians -“Jonah’s first book.” -Advisory Opinions, with Official Jonah Impersonator David French -ExpressVPN.com/Remnant for an extra 3 months free on a 12 month plan -Gabi.com/Remnant to get free quotes and to stop overpaying on your insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, Jonah ruminates from his igloo (we hope - wouldn’t that be cool?) on some Alaska stories, the American founding, relativism in language, and why good manners are more important (and more complicated) than you might think. Show Notes: -Alaskans plug in their cars -The mighty Gavora Mall -The members-only Wednesday “news”letter -Remnant with John McWhorter -Tony Montana … asserts his dominance? … by eating the lemon in the washing bowl -Orwell’s Orphans -Jonah’s dueling essay with Patrick Deneen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andy Smarick, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, joins a sleep-deprived Jonah in a discussion of schools in the time of COVID — all 14,000 districts’ worth. After nerding out over Supreme Court cases, civics, and badly misremembering an episode of M*A*S*H, Andy ends on a note of optimism while Jonah (hopefully) goes to get some sleep somewhere in Alaska. Show Notes: -Adrian Vermeule’s common-good constitutionalism -Sohrab Ahmari vs. David French debates, because why not -What is Conservatism? With a foreword by Jonah -Bostock v. Clayton County, court opinion delivered by Gorsuch -AEI survey about parents’ feelings with the approaching school year -Smarick’s piece on how pundits ought to have governing experience -Lyman Stone on The Remnant -Thomas Sowell’s recent book on charter schools -Andy: What the Espinoza Decision Means for Other Aspects of Religious Freedom -Blaine Amendment -Pierce v. Society of Sisters -Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer -CarShield.com, promo code “dingo” to save 10% Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonah has long awaited the chance to have Columbia University linguist John McWhorter on the show, and now he’s finally here. In a particularly un-rank episode of The Remnant, Jonah asks John about the shifting nature of language, and if it’s really a good thing that usage shifts so rapidly (e.g. “literally”). Also, what grammar police campaigns have been successful in preserving grammatical order, and where have they failed? Show Notes: -John’s many, many books -John’s podcast, Lexicon Valley -Jonah’s piece on Biden’s use of “literally” -Once more, Paul Bloom’s Just Babies -DrinkHydrant.com, use promo code “dingo” for 25% off your first order Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonah gratefully drags a harried Niall Ferguson onto the show, which begins with Angela Merkel and ends with “copious quantities of claret.” Listen to Jonah and Niall — mostly Niall, of the Mellifluous Voice — speak in tongues, lament the destruction of critical thinking in universities, and sneak in a jab at Woodrow Wilson [dun dun dun]. Show Notes: -Angela Merkel on “the toughest situation” in Europe’s history -Communities of fate, coined by our grave German friends -The New Republic’s contest for the most boring headline -Rescuing the nation-state, commentary by Alan S. Milward -Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire by Niall Ferguson -That whom Niall is not -The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations, by Paul Kennedy -Cornell, guns-on-campus -Too many educated men, by Boyle -NBER paper on how more people actually stayed home during the protests -Schumpeter’s Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy -Civilization: The West and the Rest, by Niall Ferguson -Piece by Niall and Eyck Freymann -Faces At The Bottom Of The Well: The Permanence Of Racism, by Derrick Bell -For fun, the Yale Course Catalog, which Jonah perused a few years ago -ExpressVPN.com/Remnant for 3 months free off a year-long plan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices