Close to the Edge

When things are disruptive to your cognitive peace, you have to think evil forces are responsible for them.

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The close of another week brings another indulgent Ruminant, in which Jonah dedicates an inordinately long rant to the one subject he’s unquestionably an expert on: his own beliefs. Today’s topics include the latest Republican presidential debate, Joe Biden’s prospects for 2024, the ongoing conflict in Israel, and David Brooks’ recent suggestion that Jonah belongs on the “right edge of the left,” all of which raises important questions: How likely is it that someone other than Biden will be the Democratic nominee? Is there really a distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism? Why will Jonah never consider himself a leftist? And will the Fair Jessica’s efforts to end the solo podcast ever prove successful?

Show Notes:

– The Dispatch Podcast, recorded live from New York, on the latest GOP debate

– An audience Q&A with Jonah and Steve, available exclusively for Dispatch subscribers

– Jonah: “How Anti-Zionism Shrugs Off Antisemitism”

– The Remnant with David Brooks

– Jonah’s review of Yuval Levin’s The Great Debate

– Bid to win a lunch with Jonah in D.C.

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Comments (29)
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  1. Avatar photo
    C C Writer

    "Eat your spinach." Spinach is good! I like spinach. Especially creamed.

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  2. Russell J

    Newt Gingrich...like so many figures, you tend to like him less and less the more you get to know the guy.

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  3. John Boland

    I was kind of hoping Jonah would have something clever to say about the great Yes song "Close to the Edge", but it was an enjoyable listen nonetheless. Jonah, please continue to your romp through the many rooms of the great mansion of "Never Trump". If you can get Jonathan V. Last on the pod, my brain might explode.

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  4. Bloodredinabluestate

    I will try to say this carefully because I truly believe that Trump is lower than a snake's belly. But the economy was better during his term. Now that we know what kind of president Biden is (definitely not a moderate, corruption problems of his own, inflation instigator, Iran abettor, and most important, senile-adjacent and if he dies, Kamala Harris promoter ) I'm not completely sure I would care much if Trump were reelected. If it's Trump-Biden, neither man would get to the presidency with my help. But if the parties insist on nominating these two buffoons, if it's the demonic over the demented, whatevs.

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    Dusty

    I’m late to comment on this one, but I would love more long rants (or columns) on Jonah’s own beliefs.

    I’m a fairly long-term listener, and while I’ve heard the English garden analogy a dozen or so times, this is the first I remember hearing about the “directional” orientation of the left versus the “spacial” orientation of the right (or at least the first time it registered). I found that fascinating and spot-on.

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  6. P Satter

    Just a comment, that there are apparently now two main orthodox churches in Ukraine. The one with ties to Moscow is the one which the Ukrainian parliament voted to ban. That same one with ties to Moscow, along with the Russian government, also had per reports apparently been trying to undermine the one recently granted autocephaly by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Russian Orthodox Church itself has broken off relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople when it approved the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to officially split from its counterpart in a ceremony on Orthodox Christmas Eve in Istanbul in 2019. Not a member of Orthodox Christianity, but apparently "one country, one church" is the accepted form.

    https://emerging-europe.com/news/the-explainer-the-split-in-ukraines-orthodox-church/

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    Ben Connelly

    I was bothered by that “rightward edge of the leftward tendency” line, too! I’m glad you addressed it, Jonah. I’m guessing Brooks meant that he believed in progress rather than returning to the past, but he wanted to move forward slowly. I think you’re right to reject that framing. Only literal reactionaries would fall on the right of that line. Brooks appears to reject a lot of conservatism while nonetheless contesting that he is a Burkean conservative. I respect him, but I think he’s right about his own position (rightmost edge of the left, rather than leftmost edge of the right), but I think the Remnant is just right-wing period. It never felt very centrist to me.

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    Jeff Walden

    Jonah, your refusal to try to remain relevant is exactly why you *are* relevant to some of us. :-) If all I wanted was someone to pander to me, well, what's even the point, what am I learning at all. Honest opinions are the only thing that matter, and if people are just constantly not saying what they actually think, it's hard to do anything other than just indulge in wild imagination.

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    Juan J

    Great podcast Jonah.

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