The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

Jonah Goldberg, still reeling from the harsh tones and rank punditry of Brother Stirewalt and Eli Lake, has turned to the most euphonious man in podcasting—who conveniently happens to be a Lincoln scholar on the side—to dig deep into the question: Who was Abraham Lincoln? Join Jonah and Allen Guelzo as they dive into Civil War alternative histories, Lincoln’s origins, economic and moral attitudes toward slavery, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln’s reading, Andrew Jackson, Whigs, 19th-century conservatism, Shakespeare, Burke, Lincoln’s war leadership, and the Declaration of Independence. 

Show Notes:

—Allen Gu...

Some people just don’t mind being a cheap date, and of all the names in Jonah Goldberg’s little black book, Eli Lake is probably the easiest catch. Nonetheless, listeners are in for a raucous good time, as Jonah and Eli jump straight in on their reevaluations of Iran, Donald Trump’s desired deal, Trump’s “own goals,” Eli’s upcoming history deepdive, the Bush family’s unfair legacy, elites, celebrity culture, envy, Michael Anton, immigration and culture, and whether we needed Trump in 2016. 

Show Notes:

—Eli’s podcast, Breaking History

—Ken Pollock Remnant

...

Having spent 12 hours in near World War I-trench conditions at the Georgetown hospital, Jonah Goldberg is feeling grateful for penicillin and ready to pile in on some good ol’ fashioned eggheadery. After reminiscing about a battlefield experience at a different Washington hospital some years ago, Jonah indulges in some I-told-you-so on Iran, before getting into the midterms, SpaceX, investment regrets, 60 Minutes, Bari Weiss, media bias, Sam Francis, Italian Elite Theory, middle American radicals, Gramsci, and societal restraints on violence. 

Show Notes:

—Friday’s Dispod

—Jonah’s LA Times column on Schrödinger’s ceasefire

Do you feel swampy? Well, do ya punk? We hope you do, because none other than the kingpin of news himself is here to malodorously pontificate on the fusty, fetid sewer that is the 2026 midterms. There ain’t no ninja turtles in these tunnels. Chris Stirewalt joins Jonah Goldberg to hold forth on the Maine primaries, the Los Angeles mayoral race, election fraud claims, Donald Trump at the New York Knicks game, America 250, Todd Blanche, the decline of moral political norms, Scott Pelley, 60 Minutes, and our changing news landscape. 

Show Notes:

—Broken News: Why the Media...

Having grown tired of Sarah Isgur’s vulgar ways, Jonah cast about for a more grounded and respectable guest to grace today’s Remnant. Upon thumbing through the index cards on his vintage rotary address file, Jonah remembered that Luke Burgis went to seminary and decided he would do. Jonah and Luke discuss institutions, rites of passage, the parable of the lost sheep, integralism, transcendence, crowds, groupthink, fragile children, family time, and AI.

Show Notes:

—The One and the Ninety-Nine: Forging Identity in the Age of Social Contagion

—Last Luke Burgis Remnant

—Nisbe...

Jonah Goldberg, like Plato’s cave-man philosopher, has briefly returned from the land of book writing and enlightenment to ruminate before us poor, shadow-watching mortals. Jonah considers the origin of the term slush fund, waxes poetic on military etymology, and reflects on the Lewinsky scandal, all before getting stuck in on feminism, John Bolton, the republican spirit, Graham Platner, party self-sabotage, and the cult of authenticity. 

Show Notes:

—The Dispatch at the 92nd Street Y

—Robert Nisbet - Prejudices: A Philosophical Dictionary

—Jonah’s underrated second book

—Jonah’s mom on TV

Coming at you from the scene of one of America’s greatest political scandals, Jonah Goldberg and Sarah Isgur are geared up to spill the tea and answer listeners’ most pressing questions: Was Sarah Ted Cruz’s mistress? Has Jonah’s second wife been born yet? How long could a homeless Jonah sleep on Sarah’s couch? Also find out about finding a mentor, manicuring résumés, the most improbable part of Air Force One, how to be a pundit, first dates, finding a wife, making connections at events, staying positive, the Cartesian self, and being the person your dog thi...

The Remnant’s collection of chivalrous gentlemen has been expanded with the addition of Sir Roderick Beaton, renowned scholar of Greek history, language, and literature. And while Jonah Goldberg’s love of Greece goes all the way back to his infatuation with Helena Paparizou, today Beaton is here to talk about something slightly grander: Europe. Follow Jonah and Roderick as they dive into this age-old topic, covering history, geography, Christendom, Russia, ancient Greece, race, Brexit, and micro-nationalism.

Show Notes:

—Roderick Beaton—Europe: A New History

—Georgios Varouxakis—The West: The History of an Idea

...

Jonah Goldberg indulges in a little Democrat-bashing after “Doctor” Jill Biden’s interview with CBS before picking fights on the right among the various criticisms of the Iran War. Then, a little divulging into Jewish identity, leviathans, and postliberalism history.

Show Notes:

—Why Postliberalism Failed | Interview: James M. Patterson and Thomas D. Howes

—Liberalism’s Sibling Rivalry | Interview: Michael R.J. Bonner

—Can Humanity Be Protected from Artificial Intelligence?

—Pigeons and Pickle Jars

—Douglas Murray on School of War podcast 

—Joseph Epstein on Dr. Jill Biden

How ⁠to...

Jonah Goldberg is infamous for muttering venomous curses against postliberalism at odd moments, such as while flossing or playing backgammon with Steve Hayes. Recognizing that to the layman this might seem rabid or antisocial, Jonah has invited two authors of a recent book on postliberalism to give some background on this puzzling phenomenon. The trio discusses postliberalism vs. anti-liberalism, integralism, Adrian Vermeule, elite capture, national conservatism, Viktor Orbán, ISI, the Heritage Foundation, subsidiarity, the wish to political violence, postliberalism's institutional future, ground-level antisemitism, right-wing Hegelianism, and Peter Thiel. 

Show Notes:

—Why Postliberalism Failed

—J...

For nearly three decades, Jonah Goldberg has rightly abused Canada for its many crimes: its adoption of the metric system, slanderous contentions about bacon, and dubious claim to Machias Seal Island, to name a few. Recent events have put Jonah in a more conciliatory mood, however, and he has resolved to bring more of our northern neighbors on the show. 

Today’s token Canadian, Michael R.J. Bonner, joins The Remnant to talk about his recent book on liberalism. Michael and Jonah run the gamut, talking about Steven Pinkerism, liberalism’s virgin birth, Cold War liberalism, the Rawls...

With the wife out of the house and the hounds egging him on, Jonah Goldberg is hyped up on 5-Hour Energy and ready to talk for four hours straight about 1930s isolationism. However, understanding that some of our dear listeners lack the constitution for such a strenuous journey, our talented sound editors have reduced Jonah’s rumination to a more digestible size. Join Jonah as he skips through America the Sandwich, Trump’s slush fund, impeachment, the control-f presidency, whataboutism, John T. Flynn, antisemitism, Charles Lindbergh, the women’s history museum, channel surfing, The Walking Dead, the broken windows theory...

For years, Jonah Goldberg’s enemies, acquaintances, and wife have accused him of being little more than a slightly advanced proboscis monkey. Today’s guest, author Jonathan Leaf, is here to prove them definitively wrong. Jonah and Jonathan explore how similar humans and apes actually are, while also touching on warlike animals, humans and the herd, chimp violence, the Jets, polygamy, language, hardwiring, Jane Goodall, and preferential homosexuality along the way. 

Show Notes:

—Jonathan Leaf - The Primate Myth: Why the Latest Science Leads Us to a New Theory of Human Nature

—James C. Scott...

Jonah Goldberg is infamous for throwing around his feminist credentials, but today he comes face-to-face with the real deal. Helen Lewis joins the show to put an end Jonah’s performative feminism and to talk about the feminization thesis, Doug Wilson, Christopher Hitchens, right-wing women, based rituals, shibboleths, feminist rhetoric, weird Oregon cheese, protests as carnival, Handmaid’s Tale cosplay, abortion, institutional drift, male/female differences, and parenthood.

Show Notes:

—⁠Helen in The Atlantic “The Men Who Want Women to Be Quiet”⁠

—⁠Atlantic piece about gambling⁠

—⁠The Wilson/Hitchens book for which Jonah wrote the fo...

Coming at you from his new digs in the AEI annex (which is where they hide the bodies), Jonah Goldberg is Twitter-brained and ready to ruminate. After kicking off with some recent SCOTUS decisions and whacky historical facts, Jonah jumps into the Nick Kristof New York Times story, moral equivalence arguments, Iran, Trumpometry, impeachment, presidential misconduct, corruption, Venezuela as the 51st state, and The Great Canadian Annexation.

Show Notes:

—NPR interview 

—This week’s LA Times column

—Friday’s Dispod

—Nick Kristof NYT piece

—Commentary Podcast on the Kristof pie...

After beating Noah Rothman senseless with a stick for months in abstentia, Jonah Goldberg has finally agreed to a fair, gentlemanly cage fight here at Remnant MMA. After talking about Noah’s new book on left-wing violence (which also discusses right-wing violence), Jonah and Noah work through their disagreements on the war in Iran.

Show Notes:
—Noah’s book: Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence in America
—Noah’s previous book: The Rise of the New Puritans: Fighting Back Against Progressives’ War on Fun
—Commentary: “A Clockwork Blue: How the Left Has Come to Excuse A...

Jonah Goldberg, weary of the grind, needs some R&R. Not being much of a beach man and finding ping pong boring, he turns to the one activity which puts the pep back in his step and color in his cheeks: day drinking. Wait … checks notes … rather, Jonah turns to his other favorite recreation: talking about conservatism.

Today Jonah’s partner in crime is political scientist and notorious conservatism nerd George Hawley. Join this dynamic duo as they dive into the meaning of “right” and “left,” the many new rights, populist tension, the cult of unity, the progressive er...

After reading a mildly depressing script handed him by the suits in the Dispatch C-suite, Jonah Goldberg rallies to take a bludgeon to democratic economic illiteracy. Along the way, he ruminates on the Indiana primaries, RINOs, Trump as a caricature, Rubio vs. Vance, sycophant tryouts, AOC’s voice, California’s gubernatorial race, billionaires earning their money, Napoleon, liberalism’s definition, and Iran.

Show Notes:
—How to Access Your Members-Only Remnant Feed
—Friday’s Dispod
—Jonah’s book: Suicide of the West
—AOC on billionaires
—Klein and Thompson: Abundance
—Last week’s Ruminant on Hegel
—Re...

It’s Brit week here on The Remnant, and after starting off  with a crowd-pleaser (Charlie Cooke), Jonah Goldberg decided to follow up with someone new. Adrian Wooldridge, global business columnist at Bloomberg Opinion, joins Jonah to talk about the meaning of liberalism, limiting principles, immigration, tolerance, individualism, non-Western liberalism, Big Tech, kids, public broadcasting, FDR, positive liberties, John Stuart Mill, and the transatlantic A\alliance.

Show Notes:
—Adrian Wooldridge: The Revolutionary Center: The Lost Genius of Liberalism
—David Brooks: Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There
—Daniel Burns in Nation...

In honor of King Charles’ visit to the United States, Jonah has invited his favorite Brit (by birth) to come on The Remnant for some knockdown, drag-out sparring over the unitary executive theory and the threat posed by illiberal conservatives. Along the way, Jonah and Charlie also discuss vaccines in Florida, gerrymandering, Clarence Thomas’ recent University of Texas speech, progressivism, classical liberalism, Donald Trump’s “mean tweets,” and court packing.

Show Notes:
—Charlie’s last appearance on The Remnant
—Sarah Isgur on The Charles C.W. Cooke Podcast
—The Clarence Thomas Lecture at the University of Texa...

Plus: Peruvian spiders.
People go to Los Angeles for lots of reasons: fame, money, food, outstanding weather, love of the movies, hatred of themselves, etc. Jonah Goldberg, perhaps uniquely, goes to philosophize. After ruminating on his attendance at a super swanky film festival, Jonah gives a crash course on Hegel, Trump as a world-historical figure, the imperial Roman Republic, Marxism as a shibboleth, unpatriotic librarians, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Baptists and bootleggers, and Maine’s new Nazi-tattooed Democratic Senate nominee.
Show Notes:
—John B. Judis: “What Hegel Knew About Trump”
—“The YOLO Presidency: Trump is focused o...

Sometimes, even intellectual heavyweights like Jonah Goldberg can’t make out what’s going on on the other side of the aisle. Finding himself in need of an interpreter, Jonah turns to Atlantic columnist Tyler Austin Harper for a liberal-inflected look at Hasan Piker, the uses of Marxism, name-checking, human nature, the increasing appeal of the Butlerian Jihad, evolution, taboos, the failures of centrism, limits, and much, much more.

Show Notes:
—Last Remnant with Tyler Austin Harper
—Time to Say Goodbye Pod
—Jonah’s Los Angeles Times column
—Hayek's Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capita...

What will the war in Iran do to global markets? Does Donald Trump have a consistent approach to the economy? Should Jonah Goldberg invest in Flex Seal? For answers to these questions and more, join Jonah as he sits down with business and finance journalist Liz Hoffman to talk about the state of the economy, AI, the Fed, inflation, Polymarket, crypto, the dollar, bonds, COVID, supply chains, and where the market goes from here.

Show Notes:
—Compound Interest from Semafor Business
—Marketplace Podcast
—John Arnold on Compound Interest
—Crash Landing: The Inside Story of How t...

Jonah Goldberg ruminates on the Iran war and the confusion coming out of the White House, the Whole Foods bandit and why theft is bad, and Justice Clarence Thomas' speech at the University of Texas at Austin.
Show notes:
—The Tolentino backlash
—Justice Clarence Thomas' speech at the University of Texas
—Friday's Dispatch Podcast
—G-File on JCPOA+
—Friday's G-File 

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To the great dismay of fans of Jimmy Carter and Herbert Hoover, John Quincy Adams has been officially awarded The Remnant’s not-so-endowed chair of American public service. Joining Jonah Goldberg on the show today to make the case for Adams is Bob Crawford, historian and former bass player for The Avett Brothers. Bob and Jonah discuss Adams' brilliant career, his relationship with Andew Jackson, and his powerful rhetoric, along with the populist/elitist dynamic, the oddity of majority parties, abolitionism, the Amistad case, and Congress’s infamous gag rule.

Show Notes:
—America's Founding Son: John Quincy...

Aussie-Remnant relations have always been strong, so we bring you yet another guest from the antipode continent. Retired Australian Army Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan joins Jonah Goldberg to talk about the war in Iran, Putin’s predicament in Ukraine, Russia’s long-term strategy, Trump’s mob-boss mindset, the gamification of drone warfare, civilian/military relations, American preparedness for war with China, Taiwan’s willingness to defend itself, and the future of war.

Show Notes:
—Mick Ryan’s Substack

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

Buckle up! Jonah’s back and ready to ruminate on the Windy City, Eric Swalwell, Trump vs. Leo, Orbán and J.D., just war, Father Coughlin, Israel, the unified antisemitic front, and Ralph Nader’s sweet, sweet humus.
Plus, a red-hot take on the Trump-as-Jesus pic.
Show Notes:
—Jonah in The Dispatch: “The American Revolution Was a Really Big Deal”
—NYT: “How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran”
—Ramesh Ponnuru on just war
—Last Friday’s G-File
—Jonah’s LA Times column
—Mike Pesca: ‘What Kind of Autocrat Loses an Election?”

The Remnant has proudly hosted guests of many titles: 5th Viscount Ridley, Sen. Ben Sasse, and even Dispatch CEO Steve Hayes have graced our proverbial stage. Yet, as longtime listeners have likely noted, we’ve never had a judge on the show. That changes today!
Join Jonah Goldberg as he sits down with Judge Roy K. Altman to talk about the credibility of the genocide, apartheid, and colonialism allegations commonly levied against the state of Israel.
Show Notes:
—Roy Altman: Israel on Trial: Examining the History, the Evidence, and the Law
—Walter Russell Mead on The Re...

It’s here! Though scurrilous critics have long slandered Sarah Isgur as a one-trick pony and partisan hack, her friend Jonah Goldberg has stood with her through thick and thin. Now, with the publication of Sarah’s new book, Last Branch Standing, Jonah’s unflagging faithfulness has been vindicated. Join Jonah and Sarah as they discuss the great judicial issues of our day, including the anatomy riots, textualism vs. originalism, Sarah’s novel breakdown of the court, Buckley particles, big-case criteria, Clarence Thomas, Tom Brady’s underwear, the unbearable lightness of precedent, and fun facts about every justice.
Show Notes...

Coming at you from the forests of Maine, Jonah kicks off the day’s ruminations with reflections on his father and his legacy, before turning to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the importance of rhetoric, Vice President J.D. Vance’s visit to Hungary, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s appeal to postliberals, groypers, victimhood culture, Iran, the ceasefire, Russia, antisemitic “realism,” and President Donald Trump’s rating as a war time leader.
Plus, order Sarah Isgur’s book here.
Show Notes:
—Last weeks Ruminant
—Last Friday’s G-File
—Jonah’s underrated second book
—Wednesday’s G-File

In a blast from the past, Jonah sits down with his former job foreman and slumlord, Arthur Brooks, to discuss finding meaning in a complicated and empty world. Arthur and Jonah talk about the difficult conditions of modernity, phone discipline, living like your grandparents, identity portfolios, religion, love, friendship, starting The Dispatch, and Arthur's six steps for finding life's meaning.
Show Notes:
—Arthur Brooks: The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness
—Charles Murray: Taking Religion Seriously
—Charles Murray on The Remnant
—Malcolm Muggeridge: Something Beautiful for God: The Classic Work on...

When Theodore Roosevelt needed a work break, he invited champion martial artists to the White House to spar. When Jonah Goldberg gets tired of the grind, he calls up National Review movie critic Ross Douthat for some good ol’ fashioned intellectual judo. Jonah and Ross get stuck in on Iran, working through the political current state of play, the changing use of the term “regime,” the justifications for the war, and whether Trump betrayed MAGA. They conclude with a brief recap of their disagreement in writing over the future of conservatism.

Show Notes:
—Ken Pollack Remnant
—Mark...

After a week of maniacally running The Dispatch in Steve’s absence—firing employees at will, publishing screeds against pickled herring, etc.—Jonah Goldberg takes up his usual post to ruminate about Pam Bondi, Trump’s speech on the Iran war, his old grievances on Cuba and the Times, the recent Meta case, receipts on John Rawls from last week’s Ruminant, Hannah Arendt on truth in politics, Plato and the divine, and the future of the podcast.

Plus, stick around for Jonah’s spicy take on birthright citizenship.

Show Notes:
—“Trump Says ‘I Love’ People Who A...

Who was Hannah Arendt? What did she believe about truth and politics? Was she wrong about the American Revolution? Today on The Remnant, Jonah Goldberg and Roger Berkowitz dive into these questions and more, discussing what intellectual category Arendt falls in, her understanding of truth, the question of human nature, Arendt’s relationship with Martin Heidegger, the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation, Adolf Eichmann, the meaning of the banality of evil, Arendt’s view of the American Revolution, and whether or not she was a small-“L” liberal.

Show Notes:
—Berkowitz’s website
—Arendt: The Origins of Tot...

Continuing our epic series of first-time Remnant guests, Jonah Goldberg sits down with the political economists Samuel Gregg to discuss Adam Smith, the Scottish Enlightenment, the social question, shiny shoe buckles, the East India Company, mercantilism, liberalism’s origins, Burke, and the new-right’s rejection of free markets.

Show Notes:
—Samuel Gregg’s Law and Liberty article on Adam Smith
—Jonah’s book: Suicide of the West
—Jamelle Bouie’s attack on Suicide of the West
—Jonah’s response to Jamelle Bouie
—Daniel B. Klein - “‘Liberal’ as a Political Adjective (in English), 1769–1824”
—Que...

oin cornhole champion Jonah Goldberg as he asks the most important questions of our time, including:

Show Notes:
—GLoP Culture Podcast
—Friday’s Dispatch Podcast
—Jonah’s LA Times column
—Chris Caldwell: “The End of Trumpism”
—Jonah’s G-File on what Trumpism looks like
—Carl Trueman Remnant
—Harvey Mansfield Remnant
—Jonah’s review of Nine Days in The Dispatch
—John Rawls: A Theory of Ju...

Today The Remnant welcomes Harvey Mansfield, longtime Harvard professor and philosophical paragon. Though thoroughly intimidated, Jonah Goldberg plucks up his courage and dives into a brilliantly winding conversation about effectual truth, rationalism, virtues in the modern academy, Straussianism, Christianity’s inheritance from the ancients, law and the state, autonomy, American pragmatism, Marx, postliberalism, John Rawls, Locke’s labor theory of value, and the future of America.

Show Notes:
—Mansfield: The Rise and Fall of Rational Control
—National Affairs article on envy
—Remnant: Straussian Summer School

The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a...

In a stunning debut performance, new friend of The Remnant Carl Trueman joins Jonah Goldberg to discuss America’s renewed interest in religion, society’s need for God, the moral questions of technology, the Butlerian Jihad, transhumanism, Nietzsche, antisemitism, sources of meaning, eugenics, and the desecration of man.
Show Notes:
—Trueman’s book: The Desecration of Man: How the Rejection of God Degrades Our Humanity
—Trueman on TRIGGERnometry
—Charles Murray on The Remnant
—Tom Holland’s book: Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World
—Trueman on The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan
—Sam Altman's descent...

Coming at you from Baton Rouge, Jonah Goldberg is ornery and looking to settle some scores. After covering his bases on Iran, the ethics of criticizing the war, and the metrics of success, he moves on to lazy media criticism, ethnic humor, goyslop, and James Fishback. Finally, in a Pulitzer-worthy climax, Jonah definitively dismantles the legacy of Paul Ehrlich and annihilates Steve Hayes’ obsession with the word “junto.”

Show Notes:
—Wednesday G-File: “An Anti-Manifesto on the Iran War”
—The Intelligence from Economist Podcasts+
—Eli Lake and Andrew Sullivan Debate the Iran War
—Last week’s Ruminant

Not since the Marquis de Lafayette’s triumphant 1824 tour of the United States has a return been more welcome than Yuval Levin’s to The Remnant. After greeting our patriot hero with laurels and kisses, Jonah Goldberg sets Yuval up for a philosophical tour de force, covering the president’s war powers, cultural and institutional change, education in republicanism, the effects of new technology on our Constitutional order, the Scottish Enlightenment, rationalism vs. reason, Hayek vs. Burke, and the new right in the post-Trump world.

Show Notes:
—Yuval’s book, American Covenant
—AEI’s First Branch Society...