Podcasts

Jonah starts on a cheerful note with lessons from Groundhog Day, but quickly the grim realities of our fallen world drag him back to punditry. If you manage to get past the brooding about Taylor/Kelce, philosophical pragmatism, and the American propensity for conspiracies, then you’ll be subjected to passages from Liberal Fascism and, worst of all, notes about anti-NATO Twitter. Good luck.

Show Notes:

–Jonah: “It’s Nietzsche’s World, You’re Just Living In It”

-Jonah: “A Movie for All Time”

–The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory

-Jonah: “Look What You Made Me Do”

Jonah serves up a jumbo slice of rank eggheadery on today’s Remnant to compensate for yesterday’s shockingly (or perhaps mercifully) brief episode. He’s joined for the first time by Peter Berkowitz, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and prolific writer on politics and America’s liberal tradition, to wax Yiddish on topics of both broad and minimal interest. What do academics and philosophers have against the English language? Do ideas actually matter? And what does the nationalist right get wrong about freedom?

Show Notes:

–Watch this episode on YouTube

–Peter’s webpage

–Jonah: “It’s Nietzsche’s World, You’re Just Living In It”

–Peter’s first book, Nietzsche: The Ethics of an Immoralist

–Samuel Moyn’s Liberalism Against Itself

–Peter’s Constitutional Conservatism: Liberty, Self-Government, and Political Moderation

–Peter responds to Robert Kagan

Has America lost its sense of humor? In Jonah’s view, only a Brit with a distinctly stiff upper lip can answer that question. He’s joined on today’s Remnant by journalist and politician Daniel Hannan, who’s back on the show to explore when and why America began to take a turn for the crazy. Why do recessions lead to populism? Is political apathy actually a good thing? And has the United Kingdom become besotted by its own post-liberal movement?

Show Notes:

– Daniel’s webpage

– Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature

– Matt Ridley’s The Rational Optimist

– The Remnant with Yuval Levin

– Watch this episode on YouTube

Jonah is well-rested which means an extra long and digressive Ruminant in which he recounts his experience debating Ezra Klein at an event in Ohio. He then ruminates on conservative intellectual history (the free spot on your bingo cards), the left-wingification of the right wing, and the benefit of “invisible hand” systems. Ignore the sounds of the asylum staff trying to break through the door.

Show Notes:
— Jonah: Does Reality Change Ideas or Vice Versa?
— Adrian Vermeule: Liberalism and the Invisible Hand

Finally back from his escapades in the Midwest, Jonah invites Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and resident “debts and deficits” wonk, back on The Remnant. They discuss the necessity of raising taxes on the middle class, how much weed it would take to balance the budget, and the extinction of fiscally conservative Republicans. What can be done about the debt? What would happen if the IRS is abolished? Why is Jonah so afraid of monetary policy?

Show Notes:

— Brian’s page at the Manhattan Institute

— Brian: The Rich Aren’t Rich Enough to Balance the Federal Budget

On today’s special and prematurely released episode of The Remnant, Jonah is joined by Sarah Isgur, the host of the niche legal pseudo-podcast, Advisory Opinions, to explain Chevron deference and its prognosis at the Supreme Court. They explore the potential implications of overturning it—the good, the bad, and the ugly—and the likelihood of Congress getting its act together. However, the main event is the debate over whether our lizard brains truly care about policy. Did the abolition of slavery affect the 1860 election? Did Lincoln win because he was tall? Is Sarah a vulgar Marxist? (Plus, Sarah provides an update on Mailboxgate.)

Show Notes:
—Jonah’s LA Times column on Chevron
—Advisory Opinions on Chevron
—Ben Sasse on the third episode of The Remnant
—Last week’s episode of The Dispatch Podcast
—Kim Strassel: The Them-vs.-Us Election

Jonah is in a suspiciously pleasant mood coming off The Dispatch’s live event in New Hampshire but regular disclaimers of tiredness still apply. Before replaying the Ruminant’s greatest hits, he criticizes Rand Paul’s ironic response to Donald Trump’s claim of presidential immunity, explains how 2024 might begin to look like 2016, and kvetches about the anti-Trump crowd’s catastrophization. Stick around for some ruminations on doggy eugenics.

Show Notes:
— Trump’s “full immunity” truth

— Rand Paul’s filibuster against John Brennan

—G-File: The Unpopular Vote

—Jonah: Mau-Mauing the Dogcatcher