America Is Haunted by the Ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi | Ruminant
From The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg by The Dispatch
June 6, 2026 · 13 min
About this episode
Jonah Goldberg reflects on various political and cultural topics, including the Lewinsky scandal and the concept of authenticity in politics.
Jonah Goldberg, like Plato’s cave-man philosopher, has briefly returned from the land of book writing and enlightenment to ruminate before us poor, shadow-watching mortals. Jonah considers the origin of the term slush fund, waxes poetic on military etymology, and reflects on the Lewinsky scandal, all before getting stuck in on feminism, John Bolton, the republican spirit, Graham Platner, party self-sabotage, and the cult of authenticity. Show Notes: —The Dispatch at the 92nd Street Y —Robert Nisbet - Prejudices: A Philosophical Dictionary —Jonah’s underrated second book —Jonah’s mom on TV —Friday’s DisPod —Wednesday G-File —NYT Graham Platner piece —The Argument —Cult of authenticity G-File —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…
People in this episode
Host: Jonah Goldberg
Topics covered
- politics
- feminism
- military etymology
- Lewinsky scandal
- republican spirit
- party self-sabotage
- cult of authenticity
Keywords
- slush fund
- military
- feminism
- John Bolton
- politics
- authenticity
- Republican Party
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: The Dispatch
Books & works: Suicide of the West, Prejudices: A Philosophical Dictionary, The Argument, cult of authenticity G-File
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