Podcasts

Retired Gen. H.R. McMaster—Hoover Institution senior fellow, former national security adviser, and foreign policy expert—makes his first appearance on the Remnant to discuss China, Russia, and Afghanistan. He and Jonah examine what led to the war in Ukraine, the likelihood of Xi Jinping invading Taiwan, and whether institutional failures were to blame for the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal. They also dig into America’s shifting role on the world stage and what our defense budget should look like. By the end, one question remains unanswered: What’s the best war movie ever made?

Show Notes:

– McMaster’s page at the Hoover Institution

– “GoodFellows,” McMaster’s group video show at Hoover

– “Battlegrounds,” McMaster’s interview program

– Battlegrounds, McMaster’s latest book

– Dereliction of Duty, McMaster’s first book

– Putin’s case for invading Ukraine

– The Remnant with Klon Kitchen

– Sergei Lavrov compares Zelensky to Hitler

– The Remnant with Hal Brands on Cold War history

– The Economist on countries faking their COVID numbers

– Operation Market Garden

On the mend from his sudden bout of illness, Jonah approaches today’s Ruminant with his standard level of nerdy panache. After offering a few thoughts on how The Tyranny of Clichés holds up today, he commences a lengthy rant on why canceling student debt would be a serious moral and political blunder, before turning to Francis Fukuyama’s work on liberalism. What does the relationship between virtue and responsibility look like? When is grad school worthwhile? And is John Rawls one of history’s greatest monsters?

Show Notes:

– The Remnant with David French 

– The Remnant with Francis Fukuyama

– Wednesday’s totally uncontroversial G-File

– Game of Loans, by Beth Akers and Matthew M. Chingos

– Puppet Master

– Shoshana Weissman on occupational licensing

– WSJ: “The Elite Master’s Degrees That Don’t Pay Off”

– Jonah reviews Nine Days

– The Moynihan Report

– Charles A. Reich’s The Greening of America

– Jonah’s notes on nationalism

On today’s Remnant, Francis Fukuyama finally stops by to discuss his new book, Liberalism and its Discontents, and Jonah can barely contain his enthusiasm. The resulting conversation is a feast of philosophical nerdery, which explores the origins of the liberal tradition, the state of liberalism in contemporary America, and the future of the free world. How did “neoliberal” become such a popular pejorative? What are the limits of federalism? And should we be optimistic about the political trajectory of the United States?

Show Notes:

– Liberalism and its Discontents

– The End of History and the Last Man

– Our Posthuman Future

– The Origins of Political Order

– Dr. Fukuyama previews Liberalism and its Discontents in American Purpose

– Justice Scalia’s commencement speech

– Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s The Coddling of the American Mind

Sick with a nasty fever, Jonah approaches today’s Remnant not as an emergency podcast, but a podcast imbued with a sense of emergency. His guest is David French, who returns for a lengthy discussion of Ron DeSantis’ feud with Disney and what it reveals about American polarization. Also on the docket is what we can expect from Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and how Jonah and David would change the site if they were given control. Stick around until the end for obligatory discussion of TV, movies, and other items of nerdy miscellanea.

Show Notes:

– David’s page at The Dispatch

– The Morning Dispatch breaks down Florida’s plan to annex Disney World

– Charlie Cooke: “Ron DeSantis’s Misguided Attack on Disney’s Legal Status”

– An extra-feisty Charlie Cooke on National Review’s “Editors” podcast

– Jonah’s latest column on the Disney saga

– David: “How Twitter Beclowns the American Elite”

– Nate Cohn and Kevin Quealy on the Democratic electorate

– Francis Fukuyama’s Liberalism and its Discontents

On today’s Ruminant, Jonah serves up a typically eclectic potpourri of rank punditry and historical nerdery. After exploring how, in almost literary fashion, Kevin McCarthy’s hidden normalcy has proved to be his undoing, Jonah turns to the origins of socialism, and what the Soviet approach to collectivism can tell us about Putin’s ambitions for Russia today. He also shares his thoughts on Florida’s Disney kerfuffle, modern architecture, and what we can expect from the upcoming midterms. 

Show Notes:

– The Remnant with Thomas Chatterton Williams

– Kevin McCarthy’s political malpractice

– Jonah: “Karl Marx’s Jew-Hating Conspiracy Theory”

– The Remnant on Marx and antisemitism

– The Remnant with Klon Kitchen

– Elizabeth Warren’s midterm proposal

– Jonah: “More Sandwiches, Less Kale Foam”

– Ruy Texiera: “Eyes Wide Shut”

– Charlie Cooke: “Ron DeSantis’s Misguided Attack on Disney’s Legal Status”

Thomas Chatterton Williams, nonresident AEI fellow and writer at The Atlantic, joins the Remnant for the first time to discuss race and ethnicity in America. Thomas, who describes himself as “ex-black,” believes we need to “unlearn race” to fulfill the promise of the Declaration of Independence. But what would that entail in practice, and how can we move away from racial categories while preserving a diverse culture? Moreover, why is it beneficial to spend time residing in a foreign country? What are “American values?” And will France soon annex the United States?

Show Notes:

– Thomas’ page at AEI

– Thomas’ latest book, Self-Portrait in Black and White

– Thomas: “My Family’s Life Inside and Outside America’s Racial Categories”

– Thomas: “Saving Classics From Identity Politics”

– Albert Murray’s The Omni-Americans

– The Remnant with John McWhorter

– Emmanuel Macron rejects wokeism

– Jonah: “What if we Ran Our Elections Like France?”

– James Baldwin: “The Discovery of What it Means to be an American”