Podcasts

On today’s Ruminant, Jonah is back in good health and high spirits, so much so that he can’t resist boasting about a meeting he enjoyed this week with former President Bush. He’s also concerned about the prospect of a second Trump presidency, intrigued by the debate over whether America was right to bomb Hiroshima, and fixated on George Will’s idea that history is shaped by “small, compact, idea-driven minorities.” Members of the ambivalent right will find much to appreciate.

Show Notes:

– The Remnant with George Will

– Jonah on elites and Pareto distribution

– The Remnant with Steve Teles

– Shor thing

– The Remnant with Jay Cost

– The Remnant with Brian Riedl

– Frankenstein revisited

– American prohibition, colorized

– Pew’s political typology test

– Nikole Hannah-Jones on Hiroshima

– Dan McLaughlin on the Meuse-Argonne Offensive

– Trump sours on DeSantis

– The Remnant with David Drucker

– Cognitive limitations

Historian and AEI fellow Jay Cost is back on The Remnant to discuss his new biography of James Madison, which focuses on the political theory of Jonah’s favorite Founding Father. Jay and Jonah fuse rank punditry with historical nerdery to explore how a little Madisonian wisdom could go a long way toward solving our most pressing institutional challenges. What are the greatest misconceptions about Madison and the founding? How should the Declaration of Independence be understood? And could American politics use more smoke-filled rooms?

Show Notes:

–Jay’s page at AEI

–Jay’s previous Remnant appearance

–Jonah and Jay on AEI’s Viewpoint

–James Madison: America’s First Politician

–Jay previews the book in the Wall Street Journal

–Jay’s previous book, The Price of Greatness

–Federalist 10

–Polybius (the historian, not the mythical video game)

–Jefferson and Madison on Malthus

–Why Nations Fail

–Inventing Freedom, by Daniel Hannan

–The Remnant with Steve Teles

–Jonah: “That Shor Sounds Good”

–The Remnant with Mike Duncan

–The Webster-Hayne debate

David French takes control of The Remnant once again while Jonah is off to the long prairies of Texas. His guest is Curtis Chang, a theologian at Duke Divinity School and former Evangelical pastor. Together, David and Curtis explore the nature of vaccine skepticism among Evangelicals and the compatibility of Christianity and classical liberalism. They also preview a new podcast focused on the challenges facing American Christianity, Good Faith, which will premiere on The Dispatch later this month. Despite Jonah’s absence, make sure you tune in with bingo cards at the ready!

Show Notes:

–Christians and the Vaccine

–Curtis: “Our Fellow Evangelicals Need to Get Vaccinated”

–David on Evangelical vaccine rejection

–Curtis and David’s previous vaccine discussion

–David Leonhardt on COVID’s partisan death toll

–Classical liberalism and Christianity

–David’s recent book, Divided We Fall

–The conflict between Evangelical elites

The drive-time Remnant format returns today for a deep dive into the horrors of social media and book promotion. Though Jonah is on the mend after yesterday’s brush with an unfortunate stomach ailment, he still isn’t back to 100 percent. Thankfully, Guy and Ryan have been prepared to provide him with medical assistance and ensure his rants remain coherent. Will the Lincoln Project ever cease to irritate? Is Blade still the best comic book movie? And will Jonah soon follow his secret dream of becoming a bestselling sci-fi author? Tune in to hear these vital questions answered, and to learn why Spider-Man was the world’s first neoconservative. 

Show Notes:

– The Remnant with Matt Continetti

– Dog whistling

– The Lincoln Project’s tiki torch hoax

– Jonah on “let’s go Brandon”

– Online discourse

– Facebook’s timely rebrand

– The Remnant with Paul Bloom

– “I just feel lost”

– Eyes wide open

– Heretics of Dune

– Jonah debates Cenk Uygur

– Jonah on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

Glenn Youngkin’s victory in Virginia has raised plenty of questions: Will Republican candidates in 2022 emulate his style? Has Trump’s grip on the GOP loosened? And where exactly did Terry McAuliffe go wrong? Remnant stalwart Matt Continetti returns today to provide answers and engage in punditry so rank your head may spin. Tune in also for discussion of critical race theory, the future of the conservative movement, and Biden’s faltering presidency. And make sure you have your bingo cards on hand.

Show Notes:

– Matt’s page at the Washington Free Beacon

– Matt’s previous Remnant appearance

– Matt’s upcoming book, The Right

– The Morning Dispatch breaks down Youngkin’s win

– Frederick Hess: “The Right Way to Reject Critical Race Theory”

– A smile and a fleece vest

– The Wall Street Journal’s editorial on Youngkin’s victory

– The Sean Parnell scandal

– The Remnant with George Will

– Jonah on the right’s Hungary obsession

– “Nobody elected him to be FDR”

– Democrats want another candidate on the ballot in 2024

Ross Douthat is back on The Remnant to discuss his new book, The Deep Places, a memoir of his six-year struggle with chronic illness. With numerous references to The Exorcist, Jonah and Ross take a deep dive into his ordeal, and even manage to mix in a generous amount of rank punditry on political tribalism and the conservative movement in the COVID era. Did Ross’ sickness cause him to reconsider his views on health care policy? How did he cope while enduring a period of prolonged suffering and isolation? And how has Donald Trump changed Republican politics?

Show Notes:

– Ross’ new book, The Deep Places

– Ross’ page at National Review

– Ross’ page at the New York Times

– Ross is profiled in The Dispatch

– Ross: “How I became a sick person”

– The Invisible Kingdom, by Meghan O’Rourke

– The Remnant with Paul Bloom

– Mom Genes, by Abigail Tucker

– John Tooby on coalitional instincts

– R.R. Reno: “Say ‘No’ to Death’s Dominion”

– Jonah: “The Treason of Epidemiologists” 

– The Capitol rioters running for office

On today’s special Ruminant, Jonah assembles a Mount Rushmore of geekdom (David French, Haley Byrd Wilt, and Jack “Butlerian jihad” Butler) to review Denis Vileneuve’s movie adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Be prepared for perhaps the nerdiest episode ever, as the quartet explores why it took so long for a Dune movie to be produced (David Lynch’s doesn’t count), what the film got right, and whether any elements of the book were unjustly left out. There’s also broader discussion mixed in on the awfulness of the Star Wars prequels, the best movie adaptations of great sci-fi novels, and why sci-fi as a genre is inherently conservative. Muad’dib!

Show Notes:

– Frank Herbert’s Dune novels, for the uninitiated

– David Lynch’s Dune adaptation, best left forgotten?

– Haley’s Dune-filled Twitter feed

– Jack’s Dune review

– National Review now has a Dune tag

– The Chung Kuo series

– The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu

– The Time Traveler’s Almanac