Podcasts

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

Steve Teles joins The Remnant for a second time to explore what can be done to fix our dysfunctional parties. Like many of Jonah’s closest friends, Steve disagrees with his idea that a third party could cure what ails the GOP, and instead argues that we should build moderate factions within it. Brace yourself for an exceptionally wonky discussion, which covers Jonah’s distaste for primaries, why we need a better class of political moderate, and whether Joe Biden should be considered a centrist. There’s also plenty of gratuitous complaining about Congress and the Clintons, so prepare your bingo cards.

Show Notes:

– Steve’s page at the Niskanen Center

– Never Trump, Steve and Rob Saldin’s latest book

– The Captured Economy, Steve’s previous book with Brink Lindsey

– Steve’s previous Remnant appearance

– Jonah: “A Third Party Could Cure What Ails the GOP”

– Jonah: “Words with Friends”

– Steve and Rob: “The Future is Faction”

– “Cost Disease Socialism”

– Matt Yglesias: “Congressional Moderates Could Make a Party of Their Own”

– Mitt Romney’s child benefit plan

– David Shor: “How Democrats Can Save Themselves”

If you thought Jonah turned into an excited fanboy when he interviewed Mike Duncan, just wait until you hear today’s Remnant, in which acclaimed psychologist Dr. Paul Bloom joins the program for the first time to discuss man’s search for meaning. Human beings are strange creatures: We often deliberately seek out things that cause us pain or discomfort, like horror movies and spicy foods. What is the cause of this “benign masochism,” and what does it really mean to be happy? Additionally, how should human nature be defined? Could video games and virtual reality destroy the world as we know it? And how can Jonah tie all of this in with neoconservatism?

Show Notes:

–The Sweet Spot, Dr. Bloom’s new book

–Jonah: “Democracy in the Tobacconist’s”

–Dr. Bloom’s Google Scholar archive

–Conservatives are more easily disgusted than liberals

–Arthur Brooks on earned success

–Dr. Bloom: “Being in Time”

–“Benign masochism”

–Jonah: “Fear and Loathing in the Time of COVID”

–Political Bloods and Crips

–Back to the past

–Ezra Klein interviews Noam Chomsky

–The experience machine

–“We actually compete with sleep”

–Dr. Bloom: “Is God an Accident?”

–Just Babies

–Against Empathy

–How You Say It, by Katherine Kinzler

–The Remnant with Mike Duncan

–A Time to Build, by Yuval Levin

–Orwell’s review of Mein Kampf

Today’s Ruminant finds Jonah irritated by back pain, enamored with California roller coasters, and concerned for the health of his loyal spaniel (send her your love!). It also features a lengthy exploration of whether China can still be politically liberalized, why the terms and conditions of Trump’s new social media network are so funny, and how executive privilege actually functions. Stick around until the end for updates about new features on The Dispatch, and a preview of upcoming guests.

Show Notes:

– The House votes to hold Steve Bannon in contempt

– Advisory Opinions explores January 6

– Jonah’s brief history of executive privilege

– Gimme some truth

– Fresh craziness from J.D. Vance

– Klon Kitchen on the dangers of China’s missile tests

– Lipset’s modernization theory

– Mike Pompeo on Special Report

– “We welcome stiff competition”

– Visions of China on The Dispatch Podcast

– The moral equivalent of war

– The Friday G-File

Presidential historian and Remnant fan-favorite Tevi Troy returns today for more seriously rank punditry. As you may have noticed, we’re living through a strange moment in which it’s becoming shocking to suggest that saying things people want to hear is an effective political strategy. How did we get here, and how can we prevent our institutions from succumbing to the cult of wokeness? For that matter, how can ordinary Americans resist cancel culture? Should conservatives build alternative institutions? And has Joe Biden replaced Jimmy Carter as history’s greatest monster? 

Show Notes:

– Tevi’s page at National Affairs

– Tevi’s previous Remnant appearance

– Tevi on the Commentary podcast

– The GLoP podcast, for all your pop culture needs

– Tevi: “How to Defend Free Speech”

– Tevi: “Wokeness M.D.”

– Bob Woodward pays tribute to Colin Powell

– Michael Powell on Dorian Abbot’s cancelation

– The Morning Dispatch breaks down the Netflix protests

– The Wednesday G-File

– Bari Weiss on cancel culture

– The latest Dispatch Podcast

– Jonah on policing and slave patrols

– The Remnant with Scott Gottlieb

– Tevi: “Biden’s Legacy is on the Line”