House of Horrors

Weak parties, weak congress.

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On today’s Remnant, Jonah joins GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas to discuss what we can do to fix Congress and our other broken institutions of government. Come prepared with your bingo cards, because the nerdery covers some of Jonah’s favorite bugaboos, including Congress’ transformation into a parliament of pundits, the weakening of our major parties, and the historical roots of antisemitism.

Note: this episode originally aired on We Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw.

Show Notes:

-Watch this episode on YouTube

–Dan’s podcast, Hold These Truth

–Jonah’s problem with small dollar donors

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Comments (37)
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  1. Edward Gijanto

    Tucker Carlson is a sniveling, lying scumbag!

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  2. Paulkohlhoff

    I believe the biggest issue with our federal level politics is that for some demographics who has little interest in politics and assumed every politician (with the possible exception of their own Representative) were mostly likely liars and hucksters. I grew up in rural Michigan and really can't recall my parents or any adults discussing politics. Today, the area is a hot bed of Trumpian fanatics.

    I don't know the numbers and maybe it's just a militant and loud minority that believe their way of life is fully in the hands in elected officials and government administrators.

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    Dougherbert

    Again and again, on Advisory Opinions, on the main Dispatch podcast, and now on the Remnant, Jonah Goldberg, David French, and Sarah Isgur trot out the factual assertion that TikTok does not tolerate any posts critical of the Chinese government's treatment of the Uyghurs. In this episode, to take only the latest example, Jonah says that if you post anything critical of China's treatment of the Uyghurs, "you'll get shut down."

    This point is made to "prove" that TikTok manipulates or outright censors reader input to further China's ideological aims.

    The problem with it is that this point -- at least in the way that Jonah states it here (and as it's been stated elsewhere) -- is that it is categorically false. I just entered "Uyghur" into the search engine on TikTok and it produces plenty of posts that are highly critical of China's treatment of the Uyghurs, many of which have remained on TikTok for months and even years.

    One example from just the first page of the results of this most recent search (done Dec. 16, 2023) is this: "Leaked police documents revealed the names and faces of more than 2,800 #Uyghurs, a largely Muslim ethnic miniority, detained by Chinese authorities in #Xinjiang. Many were jailed on dubious charges. Some Uyghurs in exile found their missing family members in the database. #uyghur #china #muslims" That post is illustrated with dozens of photos of imprisoned Uyghurs and has been up on TikTok since June of 2022.

    Another is a video of a Uyghur woman captioned, "Woman Talks About Her Experience in Uyghur Camp." It begins with her saying, "I see one Chinese man coming, suddenly stick my mouth, give my face black hood, give my hand handcuff. Take me from airport. They push me strongly, I fall down and break my nose. I need to scream but I cannot because he's stick my mouth." She goes on to tell of her son's death at the hands of the Chinese.

    There are many many other examples of extensive, explicit criticism of the Chinese government's treatment of the Uyghurs.

    It is very sad to me to hear people I respect continue to repeat this lie about the content of TikTok. Not because I bear any brief for TikTok, but because it makes me understand how McCarthyism gained purchase. People hear a false statement (e.g., TikTok does not allow criticism of China's treatment of the Uyghurs), which is easily testable and disprovable, but they don't bother because the statement fits their vendetta against the enemy of the moment (in this case, China).

    There is a crisis with the explosion of overt anti-semitism in the world. But it is sad to see Jonah, Sarah, and David try to hijack this problem into the service of their attacks on China.

    Whatever the sources of anti-semitism are in the world, the idea that it is caused by Chinese manipulation on TikTok is so bizarrely unfounded as to fit comfortably into the world of conspiracy theories.

    And it's sad to see the Remnant become a source for even one conspiracy theory.

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  4. Francislyo

    Jonah: “Congress as an institution ceased to be a zealous guardian of its prerogatives”

    Yes, but the real elephant in the room is, as Liz Cheney says, that Congress is no longer zealously guarding our democracy. And Jonah gave Dave Crenshaw a free pass on this, because you can’t both-sidesism this one: this is on Republicans. It was the Republican president and Congressional leaders who attempted to overturn Biden’s victory. And now Republicans have unanimously voted one of the chief architects as Speaker: Mike Johnson, who led the effort to throw out the votes of all the people of 4 states.

    Crenshaw excuses it: “If voters will continue to reward that kind of behavior, it will continue to happen”. And again, “The problem lays with the populace. It always does”. Paraphrase, “Not my fault.” “Not the party’s fault.” Actually, after Jan 6th, it was the Congressional representatives who led the effort to trivialize Jan 6th violence, often with lies and disinformation. Now that they’ve led the rank and file Republican to believe only MAGA sources, they want to be absolved of any responsibility. Grow up.

    If Republicans still control Congress during the 2024 election, will they stand up for democracy then, or cave to Trump and MAGA then blame it on the voters?

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    Ben Connelly

    Always good to hear Crenshaw on the pod

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    Anthonyjohnmartyr

    He's right - if you ever wanted to give someone a Jonah Goldberg Greatest Hits mixtape? This is it.

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  7. Randall Briggs

    Another Republican who voted twice not to impeach Trump. Why should anyone take his thoughts on any other subject seriously when he so badly whiffed on the most important decisions in his life that he has had to make?

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  8. Centrist

    Crenshaw lost me when he started blathering about "allowance of false premises" -- supreme hypocrisy coming from someone who espouses and proliferates the big lie. He also took campaign money from the With Honor PAC, which was created to help fight polarization in Congress and strengthen democracy by helping fund the campaigns of principled veterans, on the assumption that these are individuals who swore allegiance to country over party and whose past service creates bonds that transcend partisanship. Folks receiving campaign donations pledge to work in a bipartisan way, many of these once elected are part of the For Country Caucus, led by Tony Gonzales (R), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R), Jason Crow (D) and Mikie Sherrill (D).

    As one of the most partisan members of congress, Crenshaw hasn't lived up to either his stated values or the pledge he signed when taking money from With Honor.

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    Mark Hunter

    There was something that Jonah said near the end of the (very good) discussion that triggered an epiphany. This is something y'all are probably wise to, but it just occurred me.

    Trump is the WWE president and presidential candidate. Not only did he explicitly roll around in the mud of that sty, but his whole political schtick relies on his base who have the credulity of pro wrestling fans. That's why they get animated when he is indicted and don't give a damn when he wants to ' grab them by the p***y'. It is a WWE world where nothing is real and jumping off the high rope at your opponent is the way you win.

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      EmmyCab

      You should check out Jonah's The Remnant episode titled "The Kayfabe Coalition." I'd never heard of "kayfabe" (despite having watched some WWE in my past, lol) and had to look it up. It is defined as "(in professional wrestling) the fact or convention of presenting staged performances as genuine or authentic." It was a perfect analogy, lol. Jump to 58:50 if you don't have time for the whole episode.

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        Mark Hunter

        YES! I did listen to that one. Thank you for the reminder.

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    Earl King

    Jonah. Seriously one of the best. It’s messed up but there was a defeatism in him that said. Dude. This is reality. That’s just awful. No change at anytime.

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