

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

Apr 22, 2020 • 1h 46min
Cannato’s Way
This episode goes in The Remnant Hall of Fame for a few reasons: it’s both one of the longest episodes we’ve ever done, with one of the New Yorkiest guests we’ve ever had. Vincent Cannato, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, proves his New York credentials not just with stories of mayors from years past, but with the most authentic pronunciation of “Giuliani” you’ll ever hear. Stick around for Jonah and Vin reminiscing about AEI, Irving Kristol, and the least impressive Honda Civic in human history.Show Notes:-Live GLoP 2: Daydrinking Boogaloo - stay tuned for updates-Vin’s book on Mayor John Lindsay, The Ungovernable City-Lindsay’s, uh, “relations” with Florence Henderson-An archive of Lifebuoy Soap’s 1918 ads-Cuomo’s story about “wop”-Dunn and Shields’ book about conservative professors-More Kyle Harper on Gnosticism-Idea-laundering in academia-John Miller’s article on the slow death of military history-Ben Wattenberg’s book on who the average American really was in the 70s-SaneBox.com/DINGO for a $25 credit
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Apr 18, 2020 • 1h 5min
A Return to Smoke-Filled Cars
Another weekend, another Ruminant - this time with Jonah talking about the intellectual backdrop of conservatism, and what early conservative (and progressive) ideologies might have to say about today’s coronavirus response. Join Jonah in a cloud of cigar smoke inside his own car to talk about the New Deal, Trump’s call to LIBERATE [INSERT STATE HERE], and more.
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Apr 17, 2020 • 1h 15min
The Oklahoman Empire
The vox populi has been heard, so we went with a listener-suggested guest on this episode of The Remnant. Kyle Harper is an incredibly knowledgeable historian of the Roman Empire who specializes in the origins of Christianity, but that doesn’t quite do him justice. As Jonah (or, Jonas Magnus) discovers, he’s effectively a polymath who knows about everything from the gnostics to the history of infectious disease - which is, uh, convenient? Watch out for his Oklahoma nationalism, though; he might be trying to annex the rest of the country.Show Notes:-The deep human history of respiratory viruses-Kyle’s latest book, The Fate of Rome-Hunter-gatherers as the “original affluent society”-Romans were short-Calvin Coolidge’s son-Tacitus: “they make a desert and call it peace.”-Michael Munger on EconTalk, speaking to the ideological history of slavery-Jamelle Bouie’s argument about the Enlightenment and racism-“Climate essentialism” in Hippocrates-Let’s all move to Oklahoma-DoorDash, promo code REMNANT for $5 off, and zero delivery fees for the first month
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Apr 14, 2020 • 1h 14min
Jocular Jim, Jovial Jonah
On the new Remnant, Jonah talks with James Pethokoukis, a fellow at AEI, about how markets are reacting to coronavirus and what the recovery might look like. (V-shaped? U-shaped? Nike swoosh-shaped?) As a result of their isolation-based hallucinations, they also get particularly animated in the rank punditry and pop culture portions - so don’t miss out on their hottest Star Trek takes, or Jim’s shocking defense of the finales of Lost and Battlestar Galactica.Show Notes:-Jim’s podcast, Political Economy-Suicide of the West (now out in paperback!)-AOC’s late-stage capitalism tweet-Trump’s “Opening Our Country Council”-“Assume a can opener”-Bill Bennett saying that coronavirus isn’t a pandemic-Some craziness from Claremont-James’ column: is this really a black swan?-Pale Rider, about the 1918 flu-Star Trek’s transporter is a copy-kill-paste machine-DonorsTrust.org/dingo-Bound by Oath, a podcast by the Institute for Justice
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Apr 11, 2020 • 1h 16min
The Ruminant
Welcome back to Jonah’s Fortress of Solitude on this latest solo episode of The Remnant. On the docket today are topics like subsidiarity in a crisis, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (which Jonah struggles to pronounce), and listener feedback from The Dispatch comments section.Show Notes:-The Quart of Blood Technique-I, Pencil-A $1,500 chicken sandwich that was “just fine.”-Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads
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Apr 9, 2020 • 1h 25min
Cake or Death?
Steven Teles, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University, joins us on the heels of his newly released book, Never Trump. Stop sharpening your pitchforks, everyone! It’s an objective treatment of the Never Trump movement that doesn’t come down one way or the other on it. It also leads into some classic Remnant wonkery, with tangents into the problems with party strength, mediating institutions, and political history, and how these things relate to the tensions within modern conservatism.Show Notes:-Steve and Rob Saldin’s book, “Never Trump”-Milan Svolik: “Polarization versus Democracy”-The DNC commission that created changes in 1972-Eddie Izzard: “Cake or Death?”-Gorillas in the Mist Conservatism-Buckley’s function as conservative purgemaster-George Nash’s book on conservative intellectual history-Knightian uncertainty-Invasion of the Body Snatchers-Aldrich’s “Why Parties?”-Remnant 186, with Shoshana Weissmann-Bound by Oath, a podcast by the Institute for Justice
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Apr 7, 2020 • 1h 3min
Forget it, Lyman. It's China.
Through the magic of the internet, AEI's Lyman Stone joins The Remnant all the way from Hong Kong to talk all things coronavirus: how we got here, the numbers, China's role in the outbreak, and where we go from here.Show Notes:-Lyman’s work at AEI-Hong Kong’s relative laxity during the pandemic-Problems with getting an accurate coronavirus death count-Siddhartha Sanghi retracts his claim about reduced deaths from social distancing-Chinese doctors disappearing-Jim Geraghty’s reporting on the Wuhan virology lab-Fauci Truthers-NY churches being “converted,” if you will, to field hospitals-Taiwan’s coronavirus travel ban policy-John Barry’s book on the 1918 flu-DrinkHydrant.com, promo code “dingo” at checkout
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Apr 4, 2020 • 1h 2min
Little Platoons
Back by popular demand, Jonah flies solo as he expands on his thoughts from the week: the necessity of earned success, Adrian Vermeule's essay on originalism, and dogs.
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Apr 2, 2020 • 1h 20min
Dog-Lover, Scholar, Nudgemaster
The Remnant returns to its quarantine schedule with long-awaited guest and (possibly) the most-ever cited legal scholar, Cass Sunstein. Cass and Jonah have a longstanding camaraderie that began with a shared love of dogs - a subject they may write a book about - but they also have an uncanny ability to discuss flaws and weaknesses in one another’s political priors that’s rare in modern debate. There’s dog talk, bonobo talk, and some rank nudgery on this episode, so it’s a great pick-me-up episode with a little bit of something for everyone.Show Notes:-Self-domestication of dogs-Cass talking about the Russian Fox Experiment-The Tame Bonobo Theory-For Kant nerds: Christine Korsgaard’s deontological argument for animal rights-Cass’ book on “The Cost-Benefit Revolution”-Cass and Thaler’s “Nudge” theory-“Trusting Nudges”-Bound By Oath, the Institute for Justice’s 14th Amendment history podcast
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Mar 31, 2020 • 1h 16min
Jim Geraghty, COVID Watchman
In this episode, Jonah continues the great Remnant tradition of allowing senior National Review political correspondent Jim Geraghty to dispense genuinely unique and fascinating observations about current global issues. And what better time could there be for that than right now? During a moment in which even Americans’ feelings about a global health crisis break down along partisan lines rather than facts on the ground, Geraghty’s brand of succinct investigative reporting is a breath of fresh air.Show Notes:-Jim’s newsletter, The Morning Jolt-Latest updates on the lies that China has told-Tom Cotton talks about China re-closing movie theaters-Shortage of chemical reagents required to make COVID tests-Jonah’s column about Booker’s “moral imagination”-“Good luck”-Draft Cuomo 2020-Yamiche Alcindor/Trump weirdness-DonorsTrust.org/dingo
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