The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

Old men griping about the new generation is an old, venerable tradition, and Jonah Goldberg can grouse with the best of them. Unlike the other old men, however, Jonah gets to talk to one of the few people who can actually answer the question, “What’s wrong with the kids these days?” and back it up with data. The American Enterprise Institute’s Daniel Cox joins The Remnant to take us on a whirlwind tour of the gender divide, cultural expectations, parenting, LinkedIn, generational change, attention infidelity, TV, dating, sexting, teenagehood, social media, surveillance culture, porn, OnlyFans, incels, the manosphe...

While The Remnant has played host to many remarkable historians over the years, few have taken us on a more incredible ride than Simon Sebag Montefiore. As such, we’re proud to bestow on Simon our newly formed, not-really-endowed chair of Middle Eastern history. Tune in to hear Simon and Jonah Goldberg rove across time and space, covering Iran, Saudi Arabia, the 1979 revolution, the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Israel, antisemitism, moral hysteria, Western obsession with Jerusalem, colonialism, nationalism, ethnicity, modernization, Islam, historical perspective, and, most importantly of all, the proper pronunciation of Turkey. 

Show Notes:

—...

Happy Saddam Saturday! Just kidding, we don’t do that kinda thing around here. But you know who does? That’s right, Jack Posobiec and his fellow alt-right goons. And while today’s Ruminant features more than enough of such nonsense, Jonah Goldberg doesn’t leave the high-minded among you hanging. Tune in to hear about nationalism, the Middle East, the French Revolution, Yoram Hazony’s Israeli NatCon, socialism, J.D. Vance, Trump’s short hand, the death penalty, abortion, slavery, and Hegseth’s firing-squad spectacle. 

Show Notes:

—Simon Sebag Montefiore - The Cauldron: The...

Notorious misanthrope Jonah Goldberg is skeptical of the power of friendship in politics. Winning him over will be no easy task, but if anyone is up to the job, it’s friend of the Remnant and Hannah Arendt scholar Roger Berkowitz. Listen in as Roger and Jonah duke it out over friends, enemies, Zionism, the Nazis, fear of the people, facts, truth in politics, Alexis de Tocqueville, Madisonianism, local governance, the distribution of power, and much more. 

Show Notes:

—A World We Share: Hannah Arendt and the Power of Friendship in a Broken World

—Wh...

While AEI is filled with a lot of smart nerds, a select few have earned the Jonah Goldberg title of “great sage.” Nick Eberstadt is one of these sages, and he joins today for a banger of a Remnant on poverty, misery, social science, the economics of the family, Hungary’s pro-natal policy, the fertility crash, phones, generational stereotypes, technological adaptation, the entitlement problem, and North Korea. Put down the Tik Tok and listen up, kids. 

Show Notes:

—Adam and Eve After the Pill: Paradoxes of the Sexual Revolution

—Men Without Work

The Remna...

On today’s Ruminant Jonah makes his old man proud by holding forth on the new right’s attempted rehabilitation of Richard Nixon. Along the way, he also hits on dog movies, the problems of polling, the midterms, the red undertow, the death penalty, Sen. Eric Schmitt, and the uncertain future of the GOP. 

Show Notes:

—Heart of the Beast trailer 

—Far From Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog Trailer trailer

—Roger Berkowitz: A World We Share: Hannah Arendt and the Power of Friendship in a Broken World

—Jonah’s Los Angeles Ti...

Dear listeners: For years, you’ve been asking us to get Bill Nye the Science Guy on The Remnant, and we have heard you. Today, we are pleased to present … Wait, what? Oh, I see. Apologies, listeners, but we appear to have had a bit of a mix-up. I’m sorry to say that Bill Nye wasn’t available, and instead the booking agency has sent *checks notes* Tony Mills! While Tony is sadly unwilling to drop Mentos into a 2-liter bottle of soda and stand over it with his mouth open (yes, we did ask), he is absolutely willing...

This October will mark three years since Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza, igniting a complicated web of wars and regional conflicts across the Middle East. Jonah Goldberg is joined today by the authors of a new book that takes readers inside the minds of Israel’s decision-makers during these struggles, unveiling the complicated dynamics behind some of Israel’s biggest successes and failures. Join Jonah, Elliot Kaufman, and Yonah Jeremy Bob and they discuss Bibi Netanyahu, Iran, October 7, the beeper operation, the Biden White House, international opinion of Israel, Operation Midnight Hammer, Rafa, Hamas, Hezbollah, the 2015 nuclear deal, Students for...

You remember the scene: Robert Deniro’s wife screaming at him in their apartment for being a jerk about the steak and flipping the kitchen table; Joe Pesci trying to calm them down; the neighbor calling them a bunch of animals; Deniro threatening to eat the neighbor’s dog. It’s exactly what you expect from director Martin Scorsese. But you know what it’s not? It’s not what Jonah Goldberg expected to find himself in the middle of after walking in the door the day the Stephanie Slade Remnant aired. What’s that? You want more context? Well then yo...

What can and can’t the government do? Can it ban softball on Sundays? Or perhaps prohibit little old ladies from having Bible study at the local library? What about drag queen story hour? Can it—horror of horrors—tell you that you have to mow your lawn? Joining The Remnant to help us sort through these thorny political thickets is Stephanie Slade, author of a popular new book about fusionism. Listen in as Stephanie and Jonah Goldberg cover the dissident right, Frank Myer, Brent Bozell, liberalism, libertarianism, virtue, and everything in between. 

Show Notes:

—Stephanie...

As faithful Remnant listeners know, we try to avoid having politicians on the show. It just gets kinda awkward when you have to publicly rake them over the coals for eating mac and cheese on camera. But being good Burkeans, we know that all rules have their exceptions. Gov. Spencer Cox is one of those exceptions. He joins Jonah Goldberg on the show to talk about his new book, Off Ramp. Along the way, they cover political division, technology, Mormonism, social media, local politics, the 10th Amendment, executive power, contempt, cancel culture, congressional reform, coalition building, governorships, and the...

Gentle listeners, we know you’ve had a hard week, and we want to bring you a pick-me-up. Today’s episode has a little something for everyone: a riveting cult story, nudity, sports gambling, racist-bigot bashing, fanatic Texans, AI-pocalypse, an epic history of progressivism, and, most tantalizing of all, a detailed discussion of the myth of left and right. Tune in to hear Jonah Goldberg ruminate about being a grown-up, the long-forgotten BDX Cult, originalism, AI torts and liability, the social question, Bo French, bourgeois morals, Indian Americans, racism, the AP stylebook, and the left-right spectrum. 

Show Notes...

Despite repeated floggings, First Mate Steve Hayes is once again up to no good. With Capt. Jonah Goldberg having gone ashore to purchase more books about Abraham Lincoln, Hayes has seized the helm of the HMS Remnant and is once again joy-cruising with his friends. And while most of the freeloaders Steve invites aboard are scalawags and ne’er-do-wells, there is one particular exception. 

Jim VandeHei, the co-founder and CEO of Axios, is on deck to talk about how to simplify our lives in an increasingly complicated world. Jim and Steve cover how to confront and eliminate unn...

The Remnant has many dear old friends: Yuval Levin is the best-looking; Chris Stirewalt is the best kisser. But the oldest, going back to Episode 1, is Ben Sasse. Ben joins today’s pod for a conversation that traverses the high and the low, the sacred and the profane, starting with Gilligan’s Island and running through the healthcare system, scientific research, morphine, affluenza, being an adult, the effects of different media on our brains, screens, schools, the need for strong institutions, good and bad parenting, primaries, AI and work, and Senate reform. 

Show Notes:

—Not Dead Ye...

Coming off of a discussion about 9/11 on the DisPod, Jonah Goldberg is feeling ruminative and somber. Accordingly, he has decided to address one of the most important foreign policy issues of our century: the cheese-eating surrender monkeys. That’s right. Freedom fries forever, baby. And if that’s not exciting enough, The Dispatch’s legendary Francophobe-in-chief doesn’t stop there, taking up the Texas Trumpapalooza, the Media Research Center, Abdul El-Sayed, pinkwashing, the Muslim-Queer alliance, progressive Jews, Justice Antonin Scalia’s brilliant take on the Constitution, lawless e-bikes, and video podcasting.  

Show Notes:

—DisPod on the 9/11 anniv...

Today a *very sober* Jonah Goldberg is joined by the *mostly sober* friend of the pod, pickled alligator aficionado, and notorious West Virginian Chris Stirewalt to talk about the midterms, the Alaska primary, GOP expectations, J.D. Vance’s presidential campaign, right-wing social engineering, the Trump midterm convention, postliberal eggheads, post-Americanism, free money, America’s dirtbag political ethos, and … America the Sandwich. 

Show Notes:

—Jonah on NPR

—Jonah’s Los Angeles Times column

—NYT: “More Americans Are Identifying as Democrats Ahead of Midterms”

—Stirewalt: “Could Vance’s soccer mom bonus nudge married women...

Thought we’d forgotten about Venezuela here on The Remnant? Think again! As prone as Jonah Goldberg is to getting distracted by the finer things of life—Old English dialects, zombie movies, etc.—he’s kept a weather eye fixed southward on our Bolivarian neighbor. Jonah is joined today by James Story, the former ambassador to Venezuela, to take us deep into the recent history of U.S.-Venezuelan relations, Nicolás Maduro, Delcy Rodríguez, a possible democratic transition, the oil deal, the Venezuelan diaspora, Marco Rubio, the boat strikes, the professional foreign service post-DOGE, and Pax Americana.

Show...

Peacefully anchored on the Potomac, the HMS Remnant rocks gently from side to side. Captain Jonah Goldberg, peg leg and all, stands at the prow gazing at the darkening horizon. To the west, the storm clouds of AI apocalypse are gathering. In the east, a midterm squall quickly bears down. In such portentous circumstances, there’s only one thing for a man to do.

Captain Jonah retires to his cabin, lights a cigar, pulls down his dusty copy of Memoirs of a Superfluous Man, and girds himself to talk about Gloria Steinem. Listen in as Jonah ruminates on...

Who do you call it when American politics has got you scartchin’ your head? That’s right—the Mooch! Anthony Scaramucci joins Jonah Goldberg on today’s Remnant to talk about how the last four presidential administrations brought us to where we are today. Listen in as they dive deep into the Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, gerrymandering, Citizens United, China, the George Bush tax cuts, the status of the dollar, immigration capital, tariffs, Donald Trump, and the Marshall Plan.

Show Notes:

—Scaramucci: All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump<...

Jonah Goldberg is not a bigot. Yet, as we all know, there are exceptions to every rule. The French are one of those exceptions. In particular, Jonah sees the cheese-eating surrender monkeys’ refusal to embrace America’s foremost gift to the civilized world—air conditioning—as an offense against all reason and good sense. Nevertheless, being a fair-minded man, Jonah is willing to give the French a hearing. Having no desire to talk to an actual Frenchy, however, he’s turned to the next best thing: an American who lives in France. 

Sweat beading on his forehead, Thomas Chat...

For the first time in like, 100 years, Jonah Goldberg is bachin’ it up. With no dogs and no wife, The Ruminant is on time and cooking, diving into the Kennedy Center, the Indiana Dunes, Korean War-era debates, Donald Trump as the establishment, the three “M’s” of the midterms, postwar politics, sovereigntism, Canada, John Ratcliffe’s trip to Russia, Vladimir Putin’s designs on Europe, and guilty white liberals. 

Show Notes:

—School of War - “Inside America’s Fight for Drone Dominance”

—School of War - “Our Foreign Policy Divide Began with the Korean War”

—Frida...

There’s a certain ache in the bones—no, more like pain behind the eyes brought on by fatigue with the world—that overtakes a man when he’s gone too long without talking about etymology. We here at The Remnant have been feeling that deeply, and we know you have too. That’s why Jonah Goldberg is sitting down with fellow word nerd Colin Gorrie to talk about everything he’s ever wanted to know about language. Jonah and Colin cover Old English dialects, prescriptive vs. descriptive, the world’s biggest language, Latinization, early dictionaries, class, accents, linguistic hygiene, the S...

After basically pirating Jesse Walker’s ideas for several months now, Jonah Goldberg has decided it would be only fair to have Jesse aboard HMS Remnant to talk shop and swap yarns. In between sips of Captain Morgan and bites of the finest hardtack, Jonah and Jesse delve into the depths of the Remnant bingo card, pontificating on libertarianism, the myth of left and right, intellectual hyperlinks, conspiracy theories, populism, group pluralism, the rhetoric of unity, federalism, and the freedom to exit. 

Show Notes:

—Walker - The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory

—Ro...

Dear listener, I must ask you to take a seat. I fear you are not prepared for what I’m going to tell you. Jonah Goldberg appears on the show today… with… written notes. Granted, they contain about five words. But they exist! On paper! Marvel of marvels! And so it is with this boy-scout level of preparedness that Jonah embarks on his weekend ruminations, covering Jon Ossoff, Natalie Harp, savvy political baiting, Jason Arday, Jews and liberalism, race, social justice, group performance, Jacobin tariff rhetoric, data centers, and the Dupont Circle farmers market.

Show Notes:

—Jes...

General Jonah Goldberg can’t get war off his mind, so instead of losing another round of Battleship, he invites Hal Brands, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and hallmate, to discuss the ongoing war in Iran and whether or not we have an exit strategy, a possibility of a world war, and our commitment to allies.

Show Notes:

–Hal Brands’s upcoming book: The Landscape of Power: Geography and the Rise and Fall of Nations

The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture fr...

You thought it was over. After the Napoleon III Remnant ran nearly two hours, observers and pundits the world over said this had to be the end. How could anyone, even Jonah Goldberg, have an appetite for more? But wait—who’s that dark figure lurking in the wings? Oh no. It’s … Kevin D. Williamson. 

Apparently Jonah’s chemical addiction to 19th-century French politics stirred something in Kevin’s mind, so much so that the man began writing a book about “the sacrosanct presidency.” And they say deeply fruitful intellectual friendships are dead. But don’t worry, gentle liste...

After spending four days deep in the Adirondacks, Jonah has emerged like Rousseau’s noble savage: reflective, in touch with nature, and ready to talk for two hours as a disembodied podcast voice. If that seems incongruous to you, don’t worry—you’re not alone. Listen in as disembodied Jonah pontificates on disowning the establishment, J.D. Vance’s prospects for president, the iron law of oligarchy, elites, Locke vs. Rousseau, the general will, Tucker Carlson, the DSA, the Michigan Senate race, the meaning of progressive, etymological conundrums, Wisconsin politics, Iran, the meaning of The Remnant, the superfluous men, and A...

It’s time to be honest: Jonah Goldberg can’t remember if he’s ever had a Nobel Prize-winning guest on The Remnant. If that shocks you, calm down. It’s called getting old. After today, however, Jonah can say with certainty that he has, as he is joined by Nobel laureate in economics Daron Acemoglu. Listen in as Jonah and Daron light up the Remnant bingo card like a Hanukkah bush, covering liberal democracy, community, subsidiarity, the welfare state, status, prosperity gaps, AI, automation, China, abundance, the working class, Zohran Mamdani, and the Democratic Party.

Show Notes:<...

Jonah Goldberg scratches an intellectual itch in this 90-minute interview with British historian Edward Shawcross to discuss the rise and fall of Napoleon III. Is this the start of modern politics? Can we compare Trump to this unlikely political victor? Are elites and foreign powers the favorite boogeymen of populists everywhere? Stay tuned for a brief history lesson and indulgent wonkery. 

Show Notes:

—Edward Shawcross’s book: The People’s Emperor: The Unlikely Rise and Spectacular Fall of Napoleon III

—‘A dwarf atop a great wave’

—The Lost History of Liberalism

Le...

Jonah Goldberg records this week’s Ruminant days before his excursion to the woods (Bigfoot sighting anyone?), to discuss international law, hubris, whatever the mess is with the Iran war, and “common good” conservatism. And he answers questions from listeners. 

Show Notes:

—How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran

—Aaron MacLean Remnant 

—Aaron MacLean and Mark Montgomery on School of War

—The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Western Thought

—Yuval Levin Remnant

—The Neutrality Myth: Liberty, Order, and the Common Good

—Jonah’s X thr...

Bleary-eyed, scrambled, and in need of a second overpriced venti black coffee, Jonah Goldberg speaks with Brendan Simms, a Cambridge Don-guy who wears fancy belts, about his new book, Return of the Great Powers, which discusses how the Russia-Ukraine war sparked how the Russia-Ukraine War prompted the West to act, China’s potential defeat if Russia loses, Trump as a mob boss, and technology as a driver of cultural change. 

Show Notes:

—Brendan Simms: Return of the Great Powers

—Brendan Simms: Donald Trump: The Making of a Worldview

—Francis Fukuyama: The End of Hi...

Detractors frequently accuse Jonah Goldberg of being an irrelevant dinosaur. We at The Remnant are proud to say that only one of those accusations is correct. We are also proud to say that Jonah’s dinosaurness does not prevent him from conversing with young, hip, and cool members of today’s media landscape. “Prove it,” you say? Well, today we bring you a podcast with none other than Jerusalem Demsas, founder of The Argument and one of the coolest center-left pundits. Join Jonah and Jerusalem as they dive into positive and negative freedoms, the college landscape, the Democratic Socialists of Ameri...

As DSA and postliberal pirates storm the decks of the HMS Remnant, Captain Jonah Goldberg would seem to be in dire straits. Nonetheless, Captain Jonah—with an eerie air of calm—draws his cutlass, sets down his cigar, and smiles. Prepare, gentle listener, for a bloodbath. Today Jonah deftly handles every controversy on the docket, including Hasan Piker, Ukraine as Israel, the Michigan Senate race, Anthony Fauci, Covid in retrospective, rap music, Napoleon III, J.D. Vance, the common good, subsidiarity, the Constitution, and Hamas. 

Show Notes:

—Hasan Piker collar video

—Last week’s Ruminant ...

Every once in a while, The Remnant staff need to remind Jonah Goldberg that we’re running a business here, and that he can’t just putz around with Pod, Chris, or Sarah on every episode. Sometimes, you need someone respectable; sometimes, you need an expert. Today’s guest—the expert to rule them all—is Ken Pollack, here to tell us all about the war in Iran. Join Jonah and Ken as they discuss pain thresholds, public opinion inside Iran, the fallout of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death, the ideology of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Persian nationalism, the original...

Here at The Remnant, our hate list is rather long: Woodrow Wilson, electoral primaries, German romanticism … the list goes on and on. But if there’s one we hate that doesn’t get enough air time, it’s Chinese communism. We hate Chinese communism. That’s why we’ve recruited from the ranks of America’s foremost anti-CCP institution—that’s the American Enterprise Institute, for those of you who live under rocks—to bring you the latest on Chinese grand strategy. AEI’s Audrye Wong joins Jonah Goldberg to discuss Beijing’s international investment, Chinese diaspora, influence operations, Taiwan, bribery, Chinese...

First mate Steve Hayes strides across the deck, grinning maniacally at the cowering crew. “Mine” he crows to himself. “Mine! The HMS Remnant is finally mine! Muahahaha!” The crew, downcast, is near despair. Then suddenly, all eyes turn to the gangplank. Haggard, sunburned, stricken, and emaciated, Jonah Goldberg stumbles onto the deck, takes Hayes by the collar, and gasps, “Sand. Nothing but sand.”

After recovering down below, Captain Goldberg is back at the helm and ready to dive into the Grand Canyon, advertising, Vegas, Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey, the Christianization thesis, black Helen, DSA, voter turnout, the stupidity of a...

What does it mean to be an American? What is government for? What reforms will fix our political system? Join Jonah Goldberg, Yuval Levin, and 100 little policy gnomes at the American Enterprise Institute to find out! Jonah and Yuval cover America at 250 and reflect on the Bicentennial. They also discuss Graham Platner versus Ken Paxton, what it means to hold office, America’s 50/50 problem, unitary executive theory, the administrative state, civic virtue, election reform, Nixonian propaganda, and taking people as they find them. 

Show Notes:

—AEI’s America at 250 series 

—Remnant on E. E. Schatts...

Jonah Goldberg has been chewing over how to reduce the number of gray hairs in Congress for some time now. Unfortunately, the best that he and The Remnant team have come up with is shaving the heads of all the senior senators, which, seeming somewhat impractical, led Jonah to call in an expert. Science correspondent and longtime friend of the show Ronald Bailey joins the merry band today to set us all straight on RFK Jr., vaccines, MAHA, DOGE, libertarianism, bad analogies for government, transhumanism, gerontocracy, term limits, libertarian Shangri-La, Francis Fukuyama, institutions, economic growth, Thomas Jefferson, invention, and...

It’s summer, and in honor of the backyard cookouts and pool parties that make our country great, Jonah Goldberg and Dispatch multimedia producer Victoria Holmes have served up a smorgasbord of listener questions to help people get through the heat (and smog … thanks, Canada). Listen in to hear about how Jonah changed his mind about writing another book, the life of a pundit, reading habits, camper vans, jobs Jonah could’ve had, public speaking, Ares vs. Mars, what voting says about you, annexing Canada, Israel’s nukes, despair as a sin, writer’s block, and much, much more. 

Show...

Longtime listeners of The Remnant know well Jonah Goldberg’s hatred of the extremist, oligarchic, necromantic political conclaves holding our nation hostage, otherwise known as primaries. Nonetheless, listeners are left with many questions unanswered: How did populists seize the GOP in 2016? What should replace primaries for candidate selection? What will go down in 2028? Will Yuval Levin be on the ticket? 

Here to put an end to all speculation is political scientist Seth Masket, who joins Jonah to talk about the Tea Party, Donald Trump’s charisma, Bill Clinton as a precursor to Trump, primaries, county-scale politics, party leade...