The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

Jonah returns for the weekend Ruminant to address the growing unease he gets from the national protest movements. What’s going to be more damaging: the protests, or the massive overcorrection from the critics of the protests? With a little bit of perspective, it should be easy to see that everyone is manipulating data for their own ends - the epidemiologists, the protesters, and, of course, the Executive (to put it politely).Show Notes:-This week's G-File-Wednesday's "news"letter-Epidemiologists shift from social distance to social justice-The Remnant Twitter AI asking for audience suggestions-Epidemiologists insisting that you can’t go to church-The heartening history of American racial attitudes over time-Part of Jonah's review of The Defining Moment-The St. John’s Church photo op - already adorned with a Wikipedia page Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this crazy time we’re living in, what’s the most accurate historical parallel? 1968? The 1420s? UMass Boston historian and all-around smart dude Vincent Cannato returns to the show for the second time to remind us of the scary-but-true reality: we are actually living in an unprecedented era. As the ancient faux-Chinese curse says, “May you live in interesting times.”Show Notes:-Vin’s books-Just in case you’d like to get admitted to the Vatican archives-Blue check-mark Twitter in an uproar over a Tom Cotton op-ed-Jonah’s review of A Return to Modesty-The Power Broker by Robert Caro-The Confucius Institute, quite literally on the dole of their Chinese paymasters-If you have a subscription, read the wonderfully-named Francois Furstenburg in the Chronicle-Is Bill Barr right that history is written by the winners?-Ronald Radosh’s Prophets on the Right Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How does liberty die? According to Padmé, with thunderous applause. According to The New York Times, with an ill-timed op-ed ghostwritten by Putin. And according to John Pitney, professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna, maybe with Trump? John joins the show to play Remnant bingo, but also to make the case that Trump’s oft-praised abrasiveness isn’t actually very American — and that his behavior usually stifles liberty instead of promoting it.Show Notes:-Pitney’s book, Un-American: The Fake Patriotism of Donald J. Trump-Pitney's piece on Obama and Trump-Richard Weaver, Ideas have Consequences-The Federalist Papers, free and online-So this is how liberty dies-P.J. O’Rourke talks about Hillary-Trump wants to protect Article XII-Claremont’s 10 years in review-Pitney’s book After Reagan: Bush, Dukakis, and the 1988 Election-'We're dying at the box office,' Schwarzenegger tells GOP-East/West coast Straussians feuds-Pitney being interviewed about expanding the House-Elaine Kamarck talking about her role as a superdelegate-Vladimir Putin’s uh, op-ed in the Times?-Jonah’s appearance with Andrew Klavan-TommyJohn.com/remnant for 25% off site wide Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonah ruminates on why we can't have nice things, darling. A journey that takes us from Julien Benda’s Treason of the Intellectuals to John Courtney Murray's The Return to Tribalism. From the cigar shop to the primitive Greek usage of the word "idiot."Show Notes:-Jonah's piece Cigars: A Love Story or Two-Jonah's piece Democracy in the Tobacconist’s-Sen. Ben Sasse's civics lesson-This week's G-File-Wednesday's "news"letter-How to educate an American webinar-John Courtney Murray's The Return to Tribalism Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Has the 1 percent really rigged the economy? Why do Argentinians believe the Vatican is hiding aliens? And finally, what’s the deal with Bigfoot (and the associated erotica therein)? University of Miami political scientist and conspiracy theory expert Joseph Uscinski joins Jonah to answer these questions, explain who believes such things, and why. We suggest you listen to this truly bizarre episode before the Lizard People take it off the air.Show Notes:-FiveThirtyEight podcast with Joe-The 1 percent rigs the economy, according to Bernie-Princess Diana conspiracy theories-8 out of 10 French people believe a conspiracy theory-How not to write about the Koch brothers-Rothschilds (Rothschildren?) control everything-QAnon-Yuval’s book, A Time to Build-Secret oil billionaires are out to get Obama-Oliver Stone's JFK-SaneBox.com/dingo for a $25 credit on your subscription Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last time Matt Ridley was on, Jonah was left with so many questions that he knew he had to get him on again in short order. So he’s here again to answer more questions on the themes of his new book, How Innovation Works. Matt talks about how bureaucracy gets in the way of innovation, not by saying no to innovators, but “by saying yes too slowly,” and presents the one bit of scientific wisdom he would pass on to a future civilization. Come for the enlightenment, stay for the LED lightbulb.Show Notes:-Matt’s new book, How Innovation Works; tell us on social media if you buy it!-John Nestor’s wild ride-Matt Ridley: speed up bureaucratic decision making-Thomas Young, The Last Man Who Knew Everything-Britain’s proud history of… water abstraction reform?-Innocentive: an innovation crowdsourcing platform-Pill cameras-Anton Howes’ blog-Jonah’s piece on the RadioLab debacle-Lucretius: De Rerum Natura-Steven Pinker: what scientific concept ought to be more widely known?-Jevons Paradox-The 1890 Russian Flu pandemic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everything has a price - except The Remnant, of course. That’s free. But regardless, Jonah flies solo once more and shares some advice he learned from his father about how to appraise the worth of any activity in life. On that theme, it turns out that he puts little worth in political eschatology, partisan psychological research, and the dichotomy implied by the terms ‘left-” and “right-wing.”Show Notes:-Pastor Douglas Wilson’s show, coming soon with a Jonah Goldberg episode-Marxist eschatology-David French’s recent Remnant appearance-This week’s G-File-The worst example of left-wing political-psychological drek-Conservatism as an Ideology Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David French joins the Five-Timer’s Club on this edition of The Remnant. The conversation has just about the widest scope possible, including everything from end times prophecy, to Protestantism versus Restorationism, to methods for surviving the zombie apocalypse, to the blessed Snyder cut.Show Notes:-David’s newsletter, The French Press-David's podcast with Sarah Isgur-David, supposedly “breathing on the embers” of #BelieveAllWomen-The (very involved) eschatology of Assemblies of God-The Left Behind novel series-The Restoration Movement-The timelines of pre-and-post-millennialism-The Late, Great Planet Earth-Albrecht Durer’s fascinating series of Revelation woodcuts, Apocalypse-Best places to be in a zombie apocalypse-ExpressVPN.com/remnant for 3 extra months free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amy Walter, national editor of The Cook Political Report, joins the show to talk about which polling numbers actually convey useful information during an election season. How can Trump’s job approval ratings remain relatively high, while lots of people still say they won’t vote for him? What do the parties actually need to do to keep their coalitions intact? And how strongly does Jonah feel about quality underwear? Tune in to find out.Show Notes:-Amy’s work at The Cook Political Report-Amy’s podcast-A more holistic approach to Trump’s numbers-Negative polarization-“Taking the parties out of politics”-TommyJohn.com get up to 30% off sitewide with code: remnant Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonah’s back for another roundup of the week, where he takes on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, R. R. Reno, Napoleon - that’s right, Napoleon - and many more. In addition to addressing current events, he also discusses the necessity of the right to police its own side, and how old-school leftists ruined the word “ideology” for the rest of us.Show Notes:-Jonah’s spat with AOC-Suicide of the West (now out in paperback!)-Jonathan V. Last, one of the early-on disparagers of R. R. Reno, on an old Remnant-A Man for All Seasons: “Would you give the devil the benefit of the law?”-The (underrated) Tyranny of Cliches-The edition of What is Conservatism? Foreword by Jonah-The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America-DrinkHydrant.com/dingo for 25% off your first order Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices