The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg The Dispatch

With his faithful canine in tow, Kevin Williamson saddles up for another Remnant escapade. This time, he and Jonah explore the Mar-a-Lago raid, the problem with new ideas in politics, and the Texas midterm elections. Plus, there’s plenty of dingo discussion mixed in for your edification. Is the president above the law? Should dog shows be banned? And can Kevin’s neighbors convince him to vote for Beto O’Rourke?

Jonah’s aversion to preparation catches up with him on today’s sweaty Remnant. Stuck without a guest, he’s forced to spend an hour answering listener questions selected by Guy, his AEI research assistant. The result is an eclectic throwback to the Remnant AMAs of old, which covers everything from the disappearance of “The Couch” in the G-File to the prospect of a Ron DeSantis presidential bid. How do Liberal Fascism and The Tyranny of Cliches hold up? Did Jonah enjoy his time at Goucher College? And can Jonah and Guy discuss episode 11 without turning to ash?

Live from an undisclosed location in heat-struck Maine, Jonah gets ranty on today’s vigorous yet thoughtful Ruminant. In light of his surroundings, he begins with a few reflections on Ted Kennedy’s incident at Chappaquiddick before launching into a passionate tirade against the foolishness of the new right. In distinctly nerdy fashion, Jonah leaves no room for interpretation: There is no place on the right for racist politics, and white supremacist and anti-semitic ideas must necessarily be treated with moral outrage.

Back in the Remnant driver’s seat, Jonah invites newly minted AEI fellow Joshua Katz onto the program for a nerdtastic discussion of language and how free we are to use it. Inevitably, their conversation touches on Joshua’s departure from Princeton, cancel culture, and broader illiberalism in American life. But it also explores current issues in linguistics, how much we can really know about classical civilizations, and what “literally” actually means. Tune in to find out whether Socrates had it coming.

Filling in for an absentee Jonah, Chris Stirewalt is joined by A.B. Stoddard to provide some overpoweringly rank punditry on the state of the midterms. They begin by analyzing how current trends may affect the election results, before turning to the prospect of a political realignment in 2024 and the fear that the Inflation Reduction Act might fail to reduce inflation. Could a third party candidate win the next presidential election? Is Nancy Pelosi ready to step down? And is August an appropriate time to eat roast pork?

It’s a man’s, man’s world—or so Josh Hawley would have you believe. On today’s Ruminant, Jonah takes a deep dive into the new right’s obsession with masculinity and what it really means to be manly. He also assesses the pros and cons of codifying gay marriage into law, rants about Joe Manchin’s deal with Chuck Schumer, and gives some further thoughts on whether it’s right to launch criminal prosecution against a former president. It’s a radioactive episode.