The OG roundtable returns with some rank punditry on the 2024 GOP field. But first, David returns from his Ukraine trip with insight on the war effort. Also:
-DeSantis officially in the race
-Tim Scott as the candidate we don’t deserve?
-Politics of 14th amendment and debt ceiling
-Jonah’s strong (and correct) opinion on restaurant dress codes
About Sarah Isgur
About Jonah Goldberg
About David French
Sarah and David react as SCOTUS weighs in on social media regulations. Sigh. Also:
-Justice Jackson cutting to the chase
-Patent Act and dad jokes
-Reader Comments
-Judicial side eye for banning platforms for speech
-West Virginia and the abortion pill
-Constitutional rights and admission standards
-Happy Memorial Day weekend
About David French
About Sarah Isgur
On today’s Remnant, Jonah’s brain is uniquely scrambled. He’s still disoriented after slipping into a near comatose state last week, and his nose hasn’t quite readjusted to the feeling of fresh air. Rather than forcing a guest to deal with his mental malaise, he brings Guy, his immigrant manservant, back onto the program to field another round of carefully cultivated listener questions. The resulting conversation—which touches on the 2024 election, the purpose of American conservatism, the shame of closeted Kiss fans, and Jonah’s deranged fondness for a blowtorch—is as peculiarly nerdish as you’d expect
Show Notes:
– The Remnant, hosted by Chris Stirewalt, with David Drucker
– Jonah: “Does the GOP Deserve Tim Scott?”
– Albert Jay Nock’s Memoirs of a Superfluous Man
– David Pietrusza’s 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents
– Jonah: “Goldberg’s Conservative Canon”
About Jonah Goldberg
While Jonah struggles with a nasal incident, Chris Stirewalt—more commonly recognized as Pooh Richardson’s number one fan—returns to the Remnant command chair. He’s joined by Dispatch Politics mastermind David M. Drucker to discuss a horrifying subject that’s inescapably consuming everything: the 2024 election. The punditry is uncut, the pop culture references are punchy, and the nudity is tasteful as they examine what we should expect from each GOP candidate. Can anyone match Donald Trump’s mastery of schmoozing? Can Tim Scott appeal to American families? And does Ron DeSantis qualify for carbon-based life?
Show Notes:
About Chris Stirewalt
About David M. Drucker
-Ukraine, through the eyes of Mr. French
-The Andy Warhol copyright skirmish
-The Progressive Justice League turns on itself
-Title 42 and civil liberties: The Gorsuch statement
-The future of Justice Jackson
-A Republic of Suffering
Show Notes:
-Watch: Sarah and David, Warhol Brings Down the House
–Mark Hamill voice, Air Raid app
-Two Weeks at the Front of Ukraine
–David French for The Dispatch: It’s Time for “Pandemic Law” to End
About Sarah Isgur
About David French
The Durham report finds serious problems in the FBI’s investigation of Trump, but finds no criminal wrongdoing and recommends no systemic changes. Sarah, who worked in the White House during the Mueller investigation, gives an insider’s perspective, as Steve and Mike try to make sense of the fallout. Also:
-Biden and McCarthy inch towards a debt ceiling compromise
-Congress mulls AI regulations… But is the future already sealed?
Show Notes:
-Listen: Steve and Sarah interview Sen. Bill Cassidy on Entitlement Reform
About Sarah Isgur
About Michael Warren
It’s that time again: Chris “Lil’ Enos” Stirewalt is back on the Remnant to provide his signature blend of square-eyed pop culture nerdery and fiendishly rank punditry. What do the size of Congress, James Comey’s ego, and The Dispatch’s profit margin have to do with one another? Was the Durham report an explosive game-changer or a damp squib? How’s the Republican primary shaping up? And are we really about to endure a Trump-Biden rematch? Only Chris and Jonah possess the knowledge of Smokey and the Bandit necessary to answer these questions with maximum insight.
Show Notes:
-Watch: Jonah Goldberg and Chris Stirewalt for the Remnant
– Subscribe to The Dispatch and watch an exclusive live Remnant with Jonah, Chris, and Steve Hayes
– The Remnant with Elizabeth Nolan Brown
– Chris: “The Republican Case for Lying Down for Trump Again”
– Noah Rothman: “GOP Voters Are Making Impossible Demands of a Trump Alternative”
About Jonah Goldberg
David Lat stands in for Host Emeritus once more to help Sarah catch up on the latest Supreme Court decisions. Too, they take a detour on penmanship.
-Why the justices make us wait
-On Puerto Rico’s sovereign immunity and Kagan’s stylistic quirk
About Sarah Isgur
Episode 642: The Great Unlearning
Last year, Remnant regular and AEI scholar Matt Continetti published The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism, a tome so nerdy that he and Jonah needed two full podcast episodes just to discuss the first half of it. Today, Matt returns to the program to continue working through the history of the right from the ‘80s to the present. Or, at least, that was the plan. Instead, the conversation ends up focusing on the nature of the new right, how Pat Buchanan changed conservatism, and what Donald Trump’s devotees actually want. Plus, listeners of the Commentary podcast will be delighted to find that Matt is actually allowed to speak.
Show Notes:
– The Right, now available in paperback
– Part one of Matt’s previous Remnant nerdfest…
– Lionel Trilling’s The Liberal Imagination
– Julius Krein: “I Voted for Trump. And I Sorely Regret It.”
– Christopher Lasch’s The Revolt of the Elites
– Tom Wolfe: “The Great Relearning”
– Ezra Klein: “The Problem With Everything-Bagel Liberalism”
About Jonah Goldberg
While host emeritus is off for a week on a mysterious mission, David Lat of Original Jurisdiction rejoins Sarah to sift through the latest Supreme Court decisions. On the docket:
-Gettysburg update
-Attempting to answer when individual members of Congress can go to court
-The unsatisfying end to Pork Producers
-Buffalo Billion, New York, and federal wire fraud
About Sarah Isgur
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy joins Sarah and Steve to talk debt and entitlements. The doctor gives a deadly prognosis for the country’s economic (and moral?) trajectory and breaks down what his office is proposing to do about it.
Show Notes:
-Cassidy says Biden and Trump have ‘same plan’ on Social Security, ‘which is to do nothing’
-Social Security can be saved by investing it in the stock market, says Sen. Bill Cassidy
-Refusing to Reform Social Security Is a Plan — and a Bad One
About Sarah Isgur
In what may be the most indulgent Ruminant ever recorded (which is really saying a lot), Jonah delivers a supremely curmudgeonly rant that encompasses everything from the formative years of Western civilization to the 2024 presidential election. After providing a pointless overview of his taste in political podcasts, he dives into the importance of taboos in society, and why throwing away centuries of inherited wisdom might not be the best idea. (Hint: Suicide of the West is still available from all good booksellers.) Then, it’s rank punditry all the way down, as Jonah offers musings on the Jordan Neely situation, rising crime in cities, the baby bust, and the continuing madness of Donald Trump. It’s as cheery an episode as you’d expect.
Show Notes:
About Jonah Goldberg
It’s been a week for the former president: new polls showing him beating President Biden, an already notorious CNN town hall, and a verdict on the E. Jean Carroll lawsuit. Sarah, Steve, and Jonah gather to collectively sigh at the seeming inevitabilities of the 2024 race, the Biden family’s international dealings, and the bipartisan hypocrisies about ethics in government. Also: will someone ever take the economy seriously again?
Show notes:
–Ben Shapiro’s tweet about the CNN town hall
About Jonah Goldberg
About Sarah Isgur
Sarah returns from her tick-filled trip from Gettysburg to discuss the E. Jean Carroll civil lawsuit against Donald Trump. Also:
-Santos detained
-Sci-fi hot takes
Show Notes:
About Sarah Isgur
About David French
In a twist on the standard Remnant formula that nobody asked for, Jonah is joined by noted chicken wing connoisseur Steve Hayes to co-host today’s episode. Their guest is Ben Smith, founder of Semafor, former editor in chief of BuzzFeed News, and author of the new book, Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral. The book takes us back to the early days of the internet to explore how the rivalry between Jonah Peretti of BuzzFeed and Nick Denton of Gawker paved the way for today’s climate of disinformation, and naturally, it raises a number of questions. How has journalism changed since the dawn of the internet? Why does the young right tend to confuse social media with real life? What can we do to fix the media landscape? And will Jonah ever get over the golden age of blogging?
Show Notes:
– Ben: “Confessions of a Media Chronicler”
– Semafor
– Benjy Sarlin: “Take Donald Trump seriously, not literally, on ‘fake news’”
About Jonah Goldberg
It’s been a while since the Remnant featured some pro-natal wonkery. To fill that void, Jonah’s joined today by Elizabeth Nolan Brown, a senior editor at Reason, to discuss her cover story for the latest issue of the magazine, “Storks Don’t Take Orders From the State.” Together, they discuss the many burning questions surrounding baby-making in modern America: Why are fertility rates falling (spoiler: Elizabeth doesn’t think it’s because there’s a crippling sex recession)? Are pro-natalist policies working in other places? What are the main reasons to have children? And will Jonah ever explain his hatred of old people?
Show Notes:
– Elizabeth’s author page at Reason
– Elizabeth’s cover story, “Storks Don’t Take Orders From the State”
– Jonah: “The Worst Fang Club”
– Yuval Levin: “The Changing Face of Social Breakdown”
About Jonah Goldberg
