The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg The Dispatch

Unprepared, scatterbrained, and guestless, Jonah returns to the AMA format on today’s program, releasing Guy, his immigrant majordomo, from the grimy basement where he normally resides to field an unusual assortment of listener questions. Things get off to an innocuous start: There’s some shameless plugging of Jonah’s books, a hefty digression into the various strands of conservatism, and a rambly assessment of the recent controversy at Stanford Law. But though the latter half of this episode features no discussion of cruises, it still offers its fair share of bizarre images, one of which may forever change Jonah and John Podhoretz’s friendship.

Show Notes:

- Wolfram & Hart
- David Oshinsky: “Heil Woodrow”
- Yuval Levin: “Redeeming the Miracle”
- Sarah Isgur interrogates Jonah on Dispatch Live
- The Remnant with Philip K. Howard
- Skijoring
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Philip K. Howard, a prolific author and advocate for simplifying American government, joins the Remnant for the first time to discuss his new book, Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee Unions. The resulting conversation plays out like a Remnant greatest hits, offering insights on subjects as well-trodden as institutions, our dysfunctional parties, and the banging of spoons on high chairs. Come for some fiendishly nerdy ramblings on the nature of public sector unions, but stay for some hopeful thoughts on how America’s legal and legislative systems could be improved. 

Show Notes:
- Philip’s website
- Philip’s new book, Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee Unions
- Philip previews the book in National Review…
- …and in Reason
- Rachel Maddow’s “Lean Forward” ad
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Today’s Ruminant has been recorded in video form for your viewing pleasure, which raises a terrifying question: Does this spell the end for “No you won’t, this is a podcast”? In response to having been so rudely dragged into the future, Jonah delivers an outright curmudgeonly diatribe on just about every topic under the sun. From Kamala Harris saying her stage directions out loud, to the dangerous mirage of “new” ideas, no subject is safe from his ire. What’s going on with Silicon Valley Bank? What’s the difference between an explanation and an excuse? And does Jonah wear a toupee? (He does not.)

Show Notes:
- Kamala Harris’ Late Show Appearance
- The Remnant with Paul Bloom
- The Remnant with Jim Meigs
- Friday’s Dispatch Podcast
- The (underrated) Tyranny of Clichés
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James Meigs, Manhattan Institute senior fellow and contributing editor at City Journal, makes his Remnant debut in today’s wildly wonky exploration of clean energy, tech policy, and environmentalism. He and Jonah kick things off by talking about the elephant(‘s foot) in the room––nuclear power––before seamlessly transitioning to the terrifying subject of artificial intelligence. Come for the well deserved nuclear boosterism; stay for the existential dread provoked by the idea of malevolent chatbots ruling the meatspace.

Show Notes:
- James’s podcast, How Do We Fix It?
- James’ page at the Manhattan Institute
- David Blackman: “The Death of Manchin’s Permitting Reform Effort Is A Loss For Everyone
- The Remnant with Paul Bloom
- The Remnant with Michael H. Parsons
- James: “Elite Panic vs. the Resilient Populace”
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Paul Bloom—Jonah’s favorite psychologist and author of the new book Psych: The Story of the Human Mind—returns to the Remnant for some intensely eggheady conversation on the workings of the human brain (a three-pound wrinkly mass, as Paul puts it). The two spend the episode leapfrogging between different controversies in the field of psychology, each more complex than the last, with enough speed to make your head spin. From the nature of consciousness, to René Girard’s understanding of identity, to controversial conceptions of the mind, there’s something to delight—and confuse—everyone, least of all our future AI overlords.

Show Notes:
- Paul’s website
- Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil
- Psych: The Story of the Human Mind
- The Remnant with Joseph Uscinski
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Today’s dyspeptic Ruminant finds Jonah wading through the swampy wreckage of the Republican intellectual movement in an attempt to give new meaning to the phrase “crushing morosity.” From the GOP’s weakness in the face of populism to the loss of objective standards, Jonah tackles all the most important questions facing the right. Why do Fox viewers need safe spaces? What made Trump’s ineffectual trollishness so appealing to so many? And how much screaming of “I told you so” is too much?
Show Notes:
- Jonah: “Donald Trump’s Megaphone”
- Jonah: “In a Slow-Motion Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Media Figures Embrace Trump One by One”
- Jenna Ellis further beclowning herself on Twitter
- Conch shells and the Fibonacci sequence or something
- Jonah: “How Fox News Created a ‘Safe Space’ for Its Audience”

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