The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

Every once in a while, The Remnant staff need to remind Jonah Goldberg that we’re running a business here, and that he can’t just putz around with Pod, Chris, or Sarah on every episode. Sometimes, you need someone respectable; sometimes, you need an expert. Today’s guest—the expert to rule them all—is Ken Pollack, here to tell us all about the war in Iran. Join Jonah and Ken as they discuss pain thresholds, public opinion inside Iran, the fallout of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death, the ideology of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Persian nationalism, the original sins of the war, the politics behind the scenes, civil-war spillover, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, oil, exit strategies, and end games.  Show Notes: —Pollack’s forthcoming book: The Iraq Wars —Last Ken Pollack Remnant  —Aaron MacLean Remnant —NYT: “Inside Israel’s Secret Operation to Cultivate Ahmadinejad” —Pollack’s webinar: “US Policy After Iraq: Getting Lebanon’s Disarmament Right” The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including the Saturday Ruminant, audio versions of all our articles and newsletters, and Jonah’s twice-weekly G-File—⁠click here⁠. Instructions on how to set up your members-only feed can be found here, and if you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First mate Steve Hayes strides across the deck, grinning maniacally at the cowering crew. “Mine” he crows to himself. “Mine! The HMS Remnant is finally mine! Muahahaha!” The crew, downcast, is near despair. Then suddenly, all eyes turn to the gangplank. Haggard, sunburned, stricken, and emaciated, Jonah Goldberg stumbles onto the deck, takes Hayes by the collar, and gasps, “Sand. Nothing but sand.” After recovering down below, Captain Goldberg is back at the helm and ready to dive into the Grand Canyon, advertising, Vegas, Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey, the Christianization thesis, black Helen, DSA, voter turnout, the stupidity of abolishing the Senate, “unfettered capitalism,” Hayek v. Friedman, conservative liberal or liberal conservative, Teddy Roosevelt, and postliberal collapse.  Show Notes: —John Podhoretz on The Odessey —Tom Holland on The Odyssey  —Matt Walsh tweet about The Odessey  —Charlie Cooke on abolishing the Senate —Jonah in Commentary:  “Socialism is so Hot Right Now” —Newsweek: “We Are All Socialist Now” —Escalon Insights poll on medicare for all —Live Sarah Isgur Remnant —Ron Bailey Remnant —Ask Me Anything Remnant  —Jonah’s book Liberal Fascism  —Live Yuval Levin Remnant —Irving Kristol: “The American Revolution as a Successful Revolution” The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including the Saturday Ruminant, audio versions of all our articles and newsletters, and Jonah’s twice-weekly G-File—⁠click here⁠. Instructions on how to set up your members-only feed can be found here, and if you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After waking up in a trash pile under the Francis Scott Key Bridge (his favorite haunt), Jonah Goldberg has walked his dogs, stumbled to his American Enterprise Institute office, and is ready to talk shop. Today Jonah gets into the Hinckley Hilton, Washington police, “Kant,” being late, wokery, the art of canine flatulence expression, Darializa Avila Chevalier, weak parties, the evils of primaries, the free beer party, Iran, J.D. Vance beclowning himself, Richard Nixon, “Me Too Republicans,” and his own car. Show Notes: —The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790 —92nd Street NY Dispod —Suicide of the West —Wednesday G-File —Nixon G-File —Ben Mankiewicz for The Dispatch’s The Next 250 —Dispatch Juntos The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including the Saturday Ruminant, audio versions of all our articles and newsletters, and Jonah’s twice-weekly G-File—⁠click here⁠. Instructions on how to set up your members-only feed can be found here, and if you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠. Instructions on how to set up your members-only feed can be found here, and if you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonah Goldberg invites John Podhoretz back to The Remnant to provide some much-needed cathartic release over the disastrous memorandum of understanding with Iran and to discuss JD Vance's future within the Republican Party. Show notes: —GLoP podcast —Abe Greenwald for Commentary —Jonah's G-File on Greenland The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including the Saturday Ruminant, audio versions of all our articles and newsletters, and Jonah’s twice-weekly G-File—⁠click here⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonah Goldberg, still reeling from the harsh tones and rank punditry of Brother Stirewalt and Eli Lake, has turned to the most euphonious man in podcasting—who conveniently happens to be a Lincoln scholar on the side—to dig deep into the question: Who was Abraham Lincoln? Join Jonah and Allen Guelzo as they dive into Civil War alternative histories, Lincoln’s origins, economic and moral attitudes toward slavery, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln’s reading, Andrew Jackson, Whigs, 19th-century conservatism, Shakespeare, Burke, Lincoln’s war leadership, and the Declaration of Independence. Show Notes: —Allen Guelzo’s website —The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Volume I: The Ancient World and Christendom —The Golden Thread Substack —Guelzo: The Political Writings of Abraham Lincoln —Previous Allen Guelzo Remnant —Remnant: Edmund Burke Was Not a Romantic | Interview: Yuval Levin —Lincoln’s Cooper Union Address —“Americans and Their Revolution: The First 100 Years – Allen C. Guelzo” The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including the Saturday Ruminant, audio versions of all our articles and newsletters, and Jonah’s twice-weekly G-File—⁠click here⁠. Instructions on how to set up your members-only feed can be found here, and if you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Having spent 12 hours in near World War I-trench conditions at the Georgetown hospital, Jonah Goldberg is feeling grateful for penicillin and ready to pile in on some good ol’ fashioned eggheadery. After reminiscing about a battlefield experience at a different Washington hospital some years ago, Jonah indulges in some I-told-you-so on Iran, before getting into the midterms, SpaceX, investment regrets, 60 Minutes, Bari Weiss, media bias, Sam Francis, Italian Elite Theory, middle American radicals, Gramsci, and societal restraints on violence. Show Notes: —Friday’s Dispod —Jonah’s LA Times column on Schrödinger’s ceasefire —Chris Stirewalt Remnant —The Cook Political Report: “Ohio Poll Could Portend Trouble for Republicans” —Eli Lake’s podcast with Michael Anton —Charles Fain Lehman on crime in The Dispatch —Jonah’s first book —Violence and Social Orders: A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting Recorded Human History —Jonah’s book Suicide of the West The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including the Saturday Ruminant, audio versions of all our articles and newsletters, and Jonah’s twice-weekly G-File—⁠click here⁠. Instructions on how to set up your members-only feed can be found here, and if you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices