Ditch the Rich

Swamp Creatures and Latte Liberals.

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Any malefactors of great wealth who also happen to be devoted Remnant listeners may wish to avoid today’s episode. Jonah’s guest is Matt Lewis, a senior columnist at The Daily Beast, who’s on the program to discuss his new book, Filthy Rich Politicians: The Swamp Creatures, Latte Liberals, and Ruling-Class Elites Cashing in on America. Together, they explore “how the rich get elected and the elected get rich,” and what that means for American politics. Some grouchy musings on the future of the GOP are also mixed in, as well as a few more wholesome reflections on Matt’s life in West Virginia.

This episode is sponsored by our friends at FIRE. FIRE’s mission is to safeguard and uphold the right of all Americans to freedom of speech. Be a part of the front line of a growing movement by joining the FIRE Update.

Show Notes:

–Matt’s new book, Filthy Rich Politicians

–Matt’s page at The Daily Beast

–Mike Murphy on why Trump won’t win the primary

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Comments (28)
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  1. Frank Lee

    Why do rank and file Democrats protect people like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi knowing about this behavior?

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    Bill Nelson

    I propose that anyone running for congress must have a net worth of a MINIMUM of $50 million. If you can’t accumulate wealth in the commercial world, you likely will in the political world.

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    SeanM76

    This is a really interesting topic. I am definitely going to get this book. I would like to hear more from this writer in the future.

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  4. David Nolin

    Best title of a memoir is Malcom Muggeridge’s two-volume(!) Chronicles of Wasted Time.

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  5. Mike Giamalis

    Jonah has something big to announce? New book?!

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    Seth B

    A potentially interesting topic, but I can't say I got much out of this particular discussion, which seemed riddled with poor reasoning.

    If A implies B... and B occurs, it does not mean that A occurred. (e.g. A = Nancy Pelosi engages in insider trading; B = Paul Pelosi makes money in the stock market.) I'm perfectly open to the possibility of A, but I do need more evidence than B, which is essentially no evidence at all.

    And then there was inattention to base rates. We were told that someone else (I don't recall who it was, or even if he was Republican or Democrat) came to Congress with $20 million and left a decade later with $40 million. That's supposed to be damning? The insinuation was that this must have been due to some sort of ethically questionable shenanigans. Really? Take out your calculators, boys and girls, and you can verify for yourself that raising 1.072 to the 10th power gives you... a bit more than 2. In other words, if you - non-Congressperson though you are - manage to invest a sum of money at 7.2% growth per year (which is hardly an unheard-of return on investment), then you too can double your money in 10 years.

    I was disappointed to hear this discussion briefly get sucked into the Hunter Biden vortex. Anytime Hunter comes up on the Dispatch, it feels like the shadow of People Magazine has fallen across this otherwise excellent journal, and I'm reminded of those who lost their minds over Obama's tan suit. To those not primed to be offended by all things Biden, it seems like so much Billy Beer.

    Incidentally, "journal" probably isn't the right word to describe the Dispatch, but... what *is* the right word for the class of which the Dispatch is one particular example?

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      CynthiaW

      " ... what *is* the right word for the class of which the Dispatch is one particular example?"

      "News and opinion media outlet"?

      "Journal" is a lot more succinct.

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    2. Jgandhi

      I would like to see analysis of congresspeople's returns over 10-20 years. Having 1-5 years of extraordinarily returns is not that that rare. Especially for someone that has a network or sophisticated investing strategy.

      But beating the market over 10-20 years approaches Bernie Madoff style returns and raises suspicions.

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    Ben Connelly

    I can see the tweet now: “First Jonah trashes Italian Americans, next he trashes Irish Americans!” I’m tempted to quote Animal House back to you, Jonah. You can’t say that about Irish Americans! Only people with names like O’Malley and Connolly can say those things about Irish Americans!

    Halfway through, great episode so far. Much more enjoyable than I expected.

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    1. Davidcurtin455

      As an Irish-American, I will have my vengeance. That's my promise as a Curtin.

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        Ben Connelly

        I bet we could start a movement among Dispatch subscribers. Especially if Jonah keeps it up. It’ll be the German-Americans and the Polish-Americans next!

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    Anne W (Raw5254)

    I just finished listening to the audio version of “This Town,” by Mark Leibovich, and I thought that was entertaining and depressing! I hope Matt sells a lot of copies of his book, but it might be awhile before I’m ready for more dirt on our politicians.

    It’s really discouraging, but what are we voters supposed to do? I have tried not voting, and that doesn’t help. I have tried voting for the least worst option, and who wants to do that? As you’ve pointed out more than once, Jonah, one of our main problems is weak parties. But so much of this is about money, and we all see how that is corrupting things, too.

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    Chris

    On the discussion at the end of the episode: I regularly go to the horse track in Houston. An incredibly “democratic” place in the way Jonah describes. I love it. Absolutely every type of person you can imagine.

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    1. Bigdonmck

      So true. If you want to see the variety of America and every class of people; go see the horses at the race track. And in my experience, this incredible mish mash of population and class intermingled better than any other place I can imagine.

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  10. Christine89

    David,
    Great, highly informative show* — as always (and I’m sincere about “always”!) I plan to by “Filthy Rich”.
    However🤨:
    A Fundamental Church: of course it’s going to be 99% Trump voters. And of course most of them are fine, kind people. That’s not news! Liberal church’s have 99% Biden voters — who are kind. Most people are kind.
    I’d love for the Remnant to have a show interviewing Jonathan Haidt or his ilk on churches/synagogue/places of worship he has found that have a fairly even mix of liberal and conservative members/attenders. Now that’s an interesting political/cultural topic!
    Christine Thomson
    * “Never leaves me where it found me.”

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    1. Halvor

      Yes, we all have our virtues, though virtues of different kind or measure. Hence, we all have something nice to contribute and there's a time and place for each of us. Kumbaya. I'd like to hear Jonathan Haidt talk about the dark side, the characteristic vices of our tribes. So far as I know, he doesn't go there. Maybe there's a time and place for avoiding each other. Cave canem.

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