Advertise on podcast: The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

Jonah attempts to avoid the straitjacket while The Fair Jessica is away, so he decides to spend an hour talking to himself in a dark basement. He goes through a number of topics to make even the most excitable eggheads nauseated, from the fad of stay-at-home girlfriends (why milk the cow ladies?) to Biden’s irresponsible dog ownership. Jonah regains sanity for a second to talk about the Alabama Supreme Court's IVF ruling before hallucinating about rodents and going gonzo on Tucker's trip to Russia. Show Notes: –Stay-at-Home Girlfriends Are Having a Moment – Brad Wilcox on The Remnant – Listen to Advisory Opinions on Alabama's IVF issue – Biden's German shepherd banished from the White House – Jonah's G-File: Nations, Nation-States, and Nationalism – The Lewis brothers on The Remnant Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marriage is a fundamental institution, so why is it under attack from both ends of the political spectrum? In his new book, Get Married, Brad Wilcox—a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a professor at the University of Virginia—makes the case that getting married and starting a family is the best way of leading a prosperous life. But how can law and culture encourage Americans to tie the knot? Why has public interest in marriage declined? And how does marriage make people better off? Show Notes: – Brad’s page at AEI – Brad’s new book, Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization – Brad: “Marriage Is Key to Living Your Best Life” – Brad: “Why You Should Get Married” – The Remnant with Russ Roberts – Elizabeth Grace Matthew: Can People Be Persuaded to ‘Get Married’?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode of The Remnant, Jonah’s disdain for the elderly leads him to step into the intellectual octagon with a man nine days his senior: novelist and CNN host Jake Tapper. Jake’s new show, United States of Scandal, takes a darkly comedic look at some of America’s wildest political controversies, and Jonah’s eager to discuss all the sordid details while keeping the nudity as tasteful as possible. Is Washington full of conspiracies? How many chemicals were in Larry King’s hair? And do scandals even matter anymore in the age of Trump? Show Notes: - Jake’s new show, United States of Scandal - Jake on the origins of the series - Watch this episode on YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Having woken up to the Alexei Navalny news, Jonah spends this Ruminant thinking through what the Russian opposition leader’s death might portend. From tzars and (real) settler colonialism to useful idiots a-la Tucker Carlson, the good listener should expect a very Russian episode. Пожалуйста. A more patient listener will also hear Jonah revisiting his conversation with the Lewis brothers, due to somewhat popular demand. Show Notes: -The Lewis brothers on The Remnant -Kevin Kosar on The Remnant -Bernie Sanders on Soviet chandeliers -Dan McLaughlin: "Tucker Carlson's Lowest Moment" -Kevin D. Williamson: "The Full Duranty" -WSJ: "China's Shipyards Are Ready for a Protracted War. America's Aren't" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Once again, Jonah has abandoned his Remnant duties to spend the week nibbling on sponge cake while watching the sun bake. Fortunately, Chris Stirewalt, America’s favorite simple country pundit, is on hand to take control of the program. He’s joined by Ruy Teixiera, author of Where Have All the Democrats Gone? and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, to discuss what the wretched state of our parties could mean for the 2024 election. The GOP has spent the last decade having an extended nervous breakdown, so why haven’t the Democrats used this opportunity to become the dominant party? For that matter, why can’t Democratic candidates get a grip on working class voters? And why can’t all politicians just be normal? Show Notes: - Ruy’s AEI webpage - Ruy’s Substack, The Liberal Patriot - Ruy’s latest book, Where Have All the Democrats Gone? - Ruy’s The Emerging Democratic Majority Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there really such a thing as left and right? Scholars Hyrum and Verlan Lewis don’t think so. In their book, The Myth of Left and Right, the brothers argue that this generalization is undermining sophisticated political discourse. And on today’s episode of The Remnant, they join Jonah to explain why, when two tribes go to war, a point really is all you can score. Do terms like conservative and liberal really have any use? Why are we having an election between two wretched candidates? How do industrialized democracies around the world think about the political spectrum? And will Jonah ever get sick of talking about Liberal Fascism? Show Notes: - Hyrum’s blog - Verlan on the myth of ideological polarization - Hyrum and Verlan’s book, The Myth of Left and Right Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tired and sunburnt, Jonah chimes in from somewhere in the Virgin Islands to share his thoughts (ramblings?) on the little he knows from the news of the past week. But stay tuned for a crossover of his appearance on Kevin Williamson’s podcast, How The World Works. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’ve never been a resident of the Washington egghead-osphere, you’re probably not familiar with the 20th-century political scientist Edward Banfield. But Kevin Kosar—a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and noted KISS fanatic—thinks that you should be. In 1951, Banfield published Government Project, an account of the U.S. government’s attempt to remake the lives of some of its citizens by establishing a cooperative farm in Arizona during the Great Depression. The project didn’t go so well, and Kevin believes it holds vital lessons about the limits of government planning that Americans across the political spectrum would be wise to recall today. Tune in for neocon nerdery, but stick around for some more contemporary wonkery on what’s gone wrong with Congress. Show Notes: - Kevin’s page at AEI - Kevin’s podcast, Understanding Congress - Edward Banfield’s Government Project, reissued with a new introduction by Kevin - Kevin on Banfield’s The Unheavenly City - Banfield’s The Moral Basis of a Backward Society - Kevin and Phil Wallach: “The Case for a Congressional Regulation Office” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s the meaning of life? 42? Pizza? The Remnant? David Bahnsen may or may not have the answer, but he’s at least certain of what makes life satisfying: honest, productive work. In his new book, Full-Time, he explores how work can allow us to find purpose and fulfillment. But is all work equally meaningful? Is the market best placed to determine its value? And does David have a higher net worth than Scrooge McDuck? Show Notes: – David’s webpage – David’s new book, Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life – David: “The Problem with a ‘Work–Life Balance’” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonah starts on a cheerful note with lessons from Groundhog Day, but quickly the grim realities of our fallen world drag him back to punditry. If you manage to get past the brooding about Taylor/Kelce, philosophical pragmatism, and the American propensity for conspiracies, then you'll be subjected to passages from Liberal Fascism and, worst of all, notes about anti-NATO Twitter. Good luck. Show Notes: –Jonah: “It’s Nietzsche’s World, You’re Just Living In It” -Jonah: "A Movie for All Time" -The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory -Jonah: "Look What You Made Me Do" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonah serves up a jumbo slice of rank eggheadery on today’s Remnant to compensate for yesterday’s shockingly (or perhaps mercifully) brief episode. He’s joined for the first time by Peter Berkowitz, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and prolific writer on politics and America’s liberal tradition, to wax Yiddish on topics of both broad and minimal interest. What do academics and philosophers have against the English language? Do ideas actually matter? And what does the nationalist right get wrong about freedom? Show Notes: -Peter’s webpage -Jonah: “It’s Nietzsche’s World, You’re Just Living In It” -Peter’s first book, Nietzsche: The Ethics of an Immoralist -Samuel Moyn’s Liberalism Against Itself -Peter’s Constitutional Conservatism: Liberty, Self-Government, and Political Moderation -Peter responds to Robert Kagan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Has America lost its sense of humor? In Jonah’s view, only a Brit with a distinctly stiff upper lip can answer that question. He’s joined on today’s Remnant by journalist and politician Daniel Hannan, who’s back on the show to explore when and why America began to take a turn for the crazy. Why do recessions lead to populism? Is political apathy actually a good thing? And has the United Kingdom become besotted by its own post-liberal movement? Show Notes: – Daniel’s webpage – Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature – Matt Ridley’s The Rational Optimist – The Remnant with Yuval Levin - Watch this episode on YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices