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Klon Kitchen, The Dispatch’s resident foreign policy maestro, takes control of the Remnant today with predictably wonky results. His guest is Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who shares his expertise on national security. Together, they take a deep dive into the ongoing Ukraine conflict, exploring how things have changed since it began and what we can expect in the coming months. What tactics have the Ukrainians been employing? At this point, what is Putin’s goal? And could Russia use a nuclear weapon?
Show Notes:
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Luke’s Hudson Institute webpage
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Klon’s page at The Dispatch
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Luke: “Prepare Ukraine for Victory in a Long War”
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Klon: “Putin’s Petulance”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
An Alabama redistricting case receives a contentious Supreme Court hearing, weighing race neutrality against a history of racial discrimination. Donald Trump files an emergency request with the Supreme Court and it’s… technical. Oh, and did we mention The Onion’s amicus brief? Also: stick to the end for a letter from the best compliance supervisor in America.
Show Notes:
-The Onion’s amicus brief
-Merrill v. Milligan
-Trump’s emergency request
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Axios Senior Political Correspondent Josh Kraushaar joins Sarah to explain what happens when the Democrats’ sugar rush drops. Are the fundamentals still favoring Republicans in the midterms? Can candidate quality block a red wave? And how’s 2024 shaping up? Join for a healthy fix of pre-midterms political punditry and prognostication.
Show Notes:
-Josh's Axios piece on the state of play for November
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
On the mend from a hectic book tour, the ever-reliable Chris Stirewalt returns to the Remnant for some old fashioned rank punditry on partisanship, the midterms, and America’s changing demographics. After discussing the Herschel Walker situation, MAGA’s hatred of Mitch McConnell, and the allure of strange aspects of Japanese culture, Chris and Jonah answer some of the most pressing questions of the moment. Will the Dobbs decision have much influence on the midterms? Is there anything good about primaries? And why can’t politicians talk about how great it is to be alive right now?
Show Notes:
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Chris’ page at The Dispatch
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Chris’ new book, Broken News
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GLoP enters the Uberverse
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GLoP does cornhole
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Herschel Walker’s bad night
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Nick Catoggio: “Forget the Polls. Let’s Talk About Vibes.”
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Sean Trende: “Setting Expectations for the House in 2022 Midterms”
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The Remnant with Ruy Teixeira
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The Remnant with Elaine Kamarck
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David Frum: “If Liberals Won’t Enforce Borders, Fascists Will”
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Dexter Filkins profiles Ron DeSantis
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David Foster Wallace’s Kenyon College commencement speech
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Join The Dispatch’s What’s Next conference in Naples, Florida
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Trump’s legal drama — Judge Cannon returns! Ken Paxton opines! Fraud alleged! — will be discussed at last... But first, Sarah and David preview what promises to be a spicy term for the Supreme Court (with not one, but two Section 230 cases!). They then pass through a culture war cul-de-sac via Judge James Ho’s clerkship boycott of Yale law students, and conclude with a tribute to Judge Laurence Silberman.
Plus: the committed listener will learn the truth about how Sarah ended up in The Federalist Society.
Show Notes:
-David’s amicus brief
-Twitter at the Supreme Court
-Ken Paxton’s amici for Fulton County v. Lindsey Graham
-David Lat on Ho v. Yale reactions
-Josh Blackman supporting on Yale Law sellouts
-Laurence Silberman’s WSJ obit
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Raise yourself up by your own bootstraps. This is a refrain we hear all the time, especially as Americans catechized in the dogma of personal responsibility. But what if some people don’t have bootstraps? What if some don’t even have boots?
This week David and Curtis welcome educational expert and Rice University sociology professor Ruth López Turley. Raised on the U.S./Mexico border, Ruth’s own educational story is fascinating, and lends special weight to her observations about educational equity and how the scriptures (including Mary’s Magnificat) might lead us to some surprising and challenging conclusions.
Show Notes:
$50M Kinder Foundation grant will expand Kinder Institute’s work to solve challenges facing Houston
Claire Cain Miller, Josh Katz, Francesca Paris and Aatish Bhatia (The New York Times) - Vast New Study Shows a Key to Reducing Poverty: More Friendships Between Rich and Poor
Cynthia M. Allen - Want economic mobility? Make friends at church
Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
Produced by Kris Carter
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
On today’s characteristically rambly Ruminant, Jonah seeks to weave a web between current events, history, and philosophy. After briefly theorizing about the identity of the Nord Stream pipeline’s saboteur, Jonah returns to his Liberal Fascism roots to explore the differences between German and Italian fascism and their shared reliance on hyper-nationalism. Next, he addresses the conservative movement’s roots in American exceptionalism and the new right’s embrace of European-style populism. Then, in a contemplative end to the episode, Jonah reflects on his newfound knowledge of rodentology by considering the potential consequences of incestuous rat relationships.
Show Notes:
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The Dispatch Podcast on the Nord Stream sabotage
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Wednesday’s G-File: “Slouching Towards the Old World”
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TheRemnant with rat expert Michael H. Parsons
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
As the editors of The Morning Dispatch eloquently put it, Nord Stream went boom. But who’s responsible? Sarah, David, and Jonah leave no conspiracy theory unexamined. Turning to the midterms, they discuss the power of low expectations, ask when spending money stops being useful, and wonder what it takes to be a good leader (or at least a good politician) during natural disasters. Also: the trio displays heroic restraint in today’s Not Worth Your Time, as they refrain entirely from making any kind of double entendre.
Show Notes:
-Tucker Carlson, literally wall-to-wall on Russian TV
-Lizzo playing James Madison’s flute
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Understanding The Electoral Count Act, as it’s currently worded, requires a team of legal experts. So we got one! Sarah is joined by John Fortier, senior fellow at AEI, and Matthew Seligman, fellow at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School. Together they try to make sense of the law’s history, explain the difference between the two reform bills coming up through the House and the Senate, and debate whether either one goes far enough to prevent a constitutional crisis in 2024.
Show Notes:
-Matthew in support of the Senate bill
-What the Vice President can’t do
-John’s guide to the electoral college
-Matthew’s 2024 risk assessment
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Richard Reeves of the hated Brookings Institution joins the Remnant for the first time to discuss his new book, Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It. In a moment where the family unit is collapsing, gender differences in education are becoming more pronounced, and large numbers of men are withdrawing entirely from the workforce, it’s vital to explore what’s driving these trends and whether they can be reversed. Why is fatherhood important? What defines true masculinity? And how have young men changed psychologically in recent years?
Show Notes:
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The Remnant (on rats!) with Dr. Michael Parsons
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Richard’s page at Brookings
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Richard’s new book, Of Boys and Men
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Richard: “No, the Boys Are Not Doing Just Fine”
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Richard: “Why Boys Should Start School a Year Later Than Girls”
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The Remnant with Nick Eberstadt
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Jonathan Haidt: “Facebook’s Dangerous Experiment on Teen Girls”
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Richard joins Coleman Hughes’ podcast
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Richard and Jonathan Haidt’s illustrated guide to John Stuart Mill
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The Remnant with Brent Orrell
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“The Tenuous Attachments of Working-Class Men”
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Daniel Cox: “American Men Suffer a Friendship Recession”
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Jonah: “The Descent of Men”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
From the first legal challenge to President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program to a bad precedent in the making involving the NRA, from nation-wide injunctions to budding Supreme Court friendships — today’s show is packed with non-Trump content! (For a hard look into the ex-president’s legal woes, tune in again on Monday!). Also: Sarah and David put on their tin foil hats as they try answering once and for all whether our devices are listening in on us.
Out of context: “I don’t like this outcome, Sarah.”
Show Notes:
-Frank Garrison v. Department of Education
-Second Circuit Decision on NRA v. Vullo
-The man who prevented nuclear war
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
For years, Jonah roamed the moors of the internet in search of a particular kind of expert to host on the Remnant, but his efforts seemed in vain. At last, however, his sacrifices to Baal have been answered. Today, Dr. Michael H. Parsons, an expert on rodentology at Fordham University, joins the program to discuss everything you could possibly want to know about rats, their behavior, and why controlling them in urban areas is so difficult. What does rat culture look like? How do rats really feel about people? Why are certain cities plagued by them while others seem untainted? And should you be concerned by Jonah’s exceptionally good mood?
Show Notes:
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Dr. Parsons: “Better rat control in cities starts by changing human behavior”
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Dr. Parsons: “Revealing the secret lives of urban rats”
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The Norway rat
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Dr. Kelly Lambert’s rat research
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Rats vs. feral cats
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Does New York have more rats than people?
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The Remnant with Matt Ridley
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Sarah and David tape a live episode at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan and they have a special guest: Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Chad Readler. After making it very clear on how to pronounce the judge’s name, David and Sarah discuss what the judge looks for in clerks, his career as a judge and at the Department of Justice, and Wolverine football. Stick around to the end to hear where the judge comes down on David and Sarah’s great law school debate.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Evil is certainly a powerful force in our world. We are witnessing it live in the form of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But is evil ultimately as powerful as it is popularly portrayed? Does evil perhaps contain in itself the seeds of its own destruction? Join David and Curtis in this week’s fascinating discussion about the inherent weakness of evil.
Show Notes:
Why the Allies Won by Richard Overy
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
N.T. Wright: “Paul and Caesar: A New Reading of Romans”
Good Faith Podcast with Tish Harrison Warren: “Praying Through Wars, Real and Imaginary”
Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
Produced by Kris Carter
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
Coming to you from a thunderous Sioux Falls, today’s Ruminant features a distinctly Goldbergian potpourri of rank punditry and eggheadery. Jonah begins by discussing the merits of the Letitia James lawsuit, his general distaste for enthusiasm, and Trump’s cavalier treatment of classified materials. After a not-so-brief foray into the consequences of the left’s pro-truth hypocrisy, things end on an esoteric note as Jonah contemplates pragmatism and the philosophical differences between the New Deal and the Great Society.
Show Notes:
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Eli Lake: “Framed and Guilty”
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The Atlantic: “Separating Sports by Sex Doesn’t Make Sense”
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The Fair Jessica’s review of The Frailty Myth
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Chelsea Conaboy: “Maternal Instinct Is a Myth That Men Created”
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Jonah: “Both Parties Are to Blame for the Immigration Crisis”
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The Remnant with Nick Eberstadt
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
What happens when Vladimir Putin starts feeling cornered? Sarah, David, Steve, and Jonah react to Russia announcing military mobilization and think through the implications of Putin’s nuclear chest-thumping. They then turn to the politics of immigration (still very bad), and conclude with some rank punditry: is the Democrats’ momentary surge in the polls already bust?
Out of context: “To me, it’s a little like the fight: Hiter-Stalin – who is worse?”
Show Notes:
-NBC poll showing decline in GOP loyalty to Trump
-Politico: using cartoons as political ads
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Texas joins an amici brief in Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago case, and Sarah and David ponder… why? Plus: a listener’s astute follow-up question about Yeshiva University gets the full AO treatment.
Show Notes:
-David’s French Press on “Segregation Academies”
-Trump’s response to DOJ’s motion for partial stay
-Red states amici brief for Trump v. USA
-Class action lawsuit against Ron DeSantis
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Nicholas Eberstadt, AEI’s Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy, makes an overdue Remnant return to discuss his new book, Men Without Work: Post-Pandemic Edition, an expanded version of his 2016 release which examined the collapse of work for men in modern America. Why are increasingly large numbers of men abandoning the workforce? Is something similar going on with women? And what will be the social, cultural, and economic effects of this trend? Tune in to hear these questions answered, and to hear some reflections on why work is valuable in the first place.
Show Notes:
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Dr. Eberstadt’s page at AEI
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Men Without Work: Post-Pandemic Edition
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Dr. Eberstadt: “What’s Behind the Flight from Work in Post-Pandemic America”
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The Remnant with Michael Strain
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Charles Murray’s Coming Apart
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The Remnant with Marian Tupy
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Keynes: “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren”
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China, unquarantined
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Allahpundit, unmasked
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Dispatch Live introduces Kevin D. Williamson
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Michael Strain, Remnant regular and beloved economic policy wonk at AEI, returns to the program to explore the state of inflation and kvetch about the Federal Reserve. He and Jonah also provide some unwashed commentary on House of the Dragon, discuss whether economics really is a dismal science, and mix in some thoughts on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Can inflation be fought at the state level? When should economics and politics mix? And is it possible for a Remnant episode to be too long and nerdy?
Show Notes:
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Michael’s page at AEI
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Jonah: “Not Everything Is a Morality Tale”
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Russia’s oil riches
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Celebrate Kevin D. Williamson’s arrival at The Dispatch with a 30-day free trial
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Back in the saddle, Sarah and David explain the Supreme Court’s decision on Yeshiva University v. Youth Pride Alliance (spoiler: this isn’t over yet). Plus: Who gets to censor who in the battle between Texas and tech platforms?
Show Notes:
-Yeshiva University v. Youth Pride Alliance
-NetChoice v. Ken Paxton
-Donald Trump v. the United States
-Ilya Somin Reason Magazine piece on Texas’ social media law
-Andrew Sullivan on monarchy and pre-Enlightenment institutions
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Live and under-caffeinated from a mysterious compound buried deep in the Adirondacks, Jonah focuses today’s Ruminant on nationalism, liberalism, and the American tradition. After providing an update on the state of The Dispatch and a few thoughts on integrity in politics, he launches into an epic rant on the recent National Conservatism Conference in Miami and the movement behind it. Throughout, he’s keen to stress a particular point: Our constitutional order still works.
Show Notes:
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Peter Thiel, losing Arizona
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Jonah: “Mugged by Fallacy”
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The Ahmari-French debate
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National conservatism: a primer
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Jonah: “Bellamy’s Children”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
At long last in the same room, Sarah, Steve, David, and Jonah debate whether the conversation around abortion is changing, why it doesn't feel like Republicans are out of power, and whether lawmakers will ever do the right thing on border security. Plus: Sarah offers a troubling glimpse of the gents' problematic footwear.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
In this special re-release, we at the Good Faith podcast want to honor the life of Jonathan Tjarks, who passed away last week. Jonathan was an NBA beat writer and podcaster for The Ringer, but he was so much more! Just 6 months ago we had the pleasure of having Jonathan join us to talk about his cancer diagnosis, the role of his faith community in caring for his family, and even a little NBA talk. Whether you caught this episode or not, we believe his hard-earned wisdom is worth hearing over and over again. Rest in the peace of God Jonathan.
Show Notes:
Jonathan Tjarks: “Does My Son Know You?”
Jonathan Tjarks “Blogs About Books (Of The Bible)”
Melissa Tjarks announcement of Jonathan’s passing
Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
Produced by Kris Carter
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
Determined to reclaim his Remnant throne from Chris Stirewalt, Jim Geraghty returns to the program to discuss his new thriller, Gathering Five Storms. The novel also provides a launch pad for some exceedingly rank punditry on Russia, the midterms, and the state of the Republican Party. Earlier in the year, it seemed certain that the GOP would make significant gains in November, but is that still the case? For that matter, why does the foreign policy establishment seem to get so many things wrong? How does writing fiction compare to writing about politics? And can any pundit match Jim’s Trump impression?
Show Notes:
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Jim’s page at National Review
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Jim’s new novel, Gathering Five Storms
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Jonah and Yuval Levin’s first Remnant encounter
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Jim: “Control of the Senate Is Still a Jump Ball”
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Jim: “Does AOC Want to Be Anything More Than a Celebrity?”
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Jonah: “Principles vs. Partisanship”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
While David is still away on his well-earned vacation, it’s time for some career advice! Megan L. Brown – partner at Wiley Rein LLP – joins Sarah to talk about choosing (and getting hired by) the right law firm. How to get your best self across in interviews? How to judge a firm’s work culture? Is it wise to inquire about a firm’s work-life balance? And, most importantly, should you take career pointers from Netflix’s Partner Track? All shall be answered.
Oh, and by the way, the views expressed in this episode are Megan’s and Sarah’s, they do not represent necessarily the views of Wiley Rein, its partners or clients.
Editor's Note: Views expressed are not necessarily the views of Wiley Rein, its partners or clients.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
On today’s Ruminant, Jonah provides a distinctly Goldbergian fusion of punditry and nerdery. After evaluating Joe Biden’s use of the phrase “MAGA Republicans” and offering a few further thoughts on the Philadelphia speech, he discusses Steve Bannon’s arrest, the ongoing fallout from the Mar-a-Lago raid, and Gov. Greg Abbott’s migrant busing policy. It all ends on a philosophical note, as Jonah reflects on the distinction between conservatism and radicalism.
Show Notes:
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Last weekend’s Remnant
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Last Friday’s G-File
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Texas’ migrant bussing
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Muriel Bowser declares a public emergency
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Steve Bannon’s arrest
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Andy McCarthy on Bannon’s indictment
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The Dispatch Podcast on the Mar-a-Lago investigation
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Greta Van Awful
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The pandemic erased two years of progress in math and reading
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The Remnant with Matt Continetti
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Leo Ribuffo’s The Old Christian Right
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Ukraine lures Russian missiles with fake HIMARs
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Attend The Dispatch’s What’s Next summit in Naples
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
In a previously recorded (but never released) episode, David and Curtis tackle the particularly vexing challenge of justice when crimes are committed. For those who do not engage regularly with the criminal justice system, these questions can feel distant, or even irrelevant. But as we are reminded, God’s repeated calls for justice throughout the scriptures don’t give the Christian such an easy out.
Show Notes:
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
The rapid developments in the Justice Department’s investigation of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago may be hard to follow, but not to worry, Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and Declan are here to clarify and discuss. Plus: a look at the long-term impact of COVID-19, and the internal battles as both parties look to the midterms.
Show Notes:
-TMD: How Sarah Palin Lost Alaska’s House Special Election
-The Dispatch: Trump Is Hurting the GOP’s Midterm Prospects
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
A federal judge ordered the appointment of a special master to review the sensitive documents seized at Mar-a-Lago. Orin Kerr, law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, joins Sarah to break down the ruling. Then, Sarah is joined by Thomas Lee, former associate chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court, for another discussion of corpus linguistics.
Show Notes:
-A Corpus Linguistic Analysis of 'Foreign Tribunal'
-Corpus Juris Advisors
-Judging Ordinary Meaning
-Data-Driven Originalism
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
It’s been a while since the Remnant featured an expert on crime, but today, Manhattan Institute fellow Rafael Mangual joins the program to fill that void. Recently, Rafael published Criminal (In)Justice, in which he argues against decarceration and depolicing. Using that book as a launch pad, he and Jonah discuss the sociological factors behind criminality, how crime can be deterred, and why the U.S. is an outlier in its incarceration rate. Plenty of policy wonkery is also mixed in.
Show Notes:
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Rafael’s Manhattan Institute webpage
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Rafael’s new book, Criminal (In)Justice
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Rafael: “The Cost of Decarceration”
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The D.C. sniper attacks
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Jonah: “Abolishing Police Departments Is Insane”
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Stanton Samenow’s Inside the Criminal Mind
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Rafael: “Are Democrats Serious About Gun Crime?”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Cato Institute uberwonk Marian Tupy returns to the Remnant to discuss his new book, Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet. For some time, the idea that overpopulation will deplete the world of its resources has been popular in sociology. In this extra-long, extra-nerdy outing, Marian explains why its proponents are mistaken. He and Jonah also explore how nations become prosperous, the problem of collapsing fertility rates, and the appeal of apocalyptic predictions.
Show Notes:
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Marian’s page at the Cato Institute
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Marian and Gale L. Pooley’s new book, Superabundance
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HumanProgress.org
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The Simon-Ehrlich wager
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Jane Goodall and Prince Harry on sustainability
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Nick Eberstadt: “The Americans Who Never Went Back to Work After the Pandemic”
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Jonah’s review of The Reactionary Mind
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The Morning Dispatch breaks big news
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
With no preparation and last minute coordination, the drive-time Remnant format returns. Today’s pointlessly random audio adventure covers Biden’s polarizing speech in Philadelphia, Jonah’s unique theory of what happened at Mar-a-Lago, and the dark connection between fast food magnates and conservative think tanks. Musings on TV, movies, and the strange nature of the solo Ruminant are also mixed in. Plus, stick around until the end for some breaking news about The Dispatch.
Show Notes:
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Biden’s Philadelphia speech
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Marc Thiessen: “Biden is disgracing the institution of the prime-time presidential address”
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Jimmy Carter’s malaise speech
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The gap between Trump and his lawyers
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Michael D. Higgins…
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…and his dogs
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The Thailand cave rescue
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
This week David and Curtis dive into the issue of time and how our understanding of time horizons can profoundly impact our perspective on the world, whether it is getting worse or better, and what actions that should lead us to take. As Christians who believe in eternity, we should be good at “playing the long game,” but we often let ourselves get caught up in the issues of the moment, and let our compressed time horizons lead us to fear or despair, rather than hope.
Show Notes:
-Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling
-“Imagine That” by Picture This
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah are here to make sense of the latest back and forth between the Justice Department and Trump’s legal team over classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. Plus: a closer look at the legal merits of the student loan forgiveness plan and two religious liberty cases.
Show Notes:
-DOJ response to Trump's special master request
-OLC opinion on student loan forgiveness plan
-Fellowship of Christian Athletes v. San Jose Unified School District Board of Education
-Yeshiva University v. YU Pride Alliance
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
This week saw the Justice Department disclose new evidence that the former president and his legal team likely sought to conceal classified documents from investigators. Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and Declan are here to discuss. Plus: Alaska says no to Sarah Palin, and how should we view Mikhail Gorbachev’s legacy?
Show Notes:
-TMD: Trump Team Likely Sought to Conceal Classified Documents From Investigators, DOJ Says
-The Sweep: How Will Abortion Play in the Midterms?
-G-File: Grading Gorby on a Curve
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Katherine Mangu-Ward is back on the Remnant, and although Jonah had planned on hosting her for an episode of rank punditry, their conversation takes a more philosophical turn instead. After digging into the weeds of libertarian philosophy, the nature of the social good, and the relationship between libertarianism and feminism, they explore a potpourri of topics ranging from drug liberalization to the transgender debate. Be prepared for unfettered nerdery.
Show Notes:
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Katherine’s page at Reason
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The Remnant with Sarah Isgur
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David Friedman on medieval Iceland
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The Remnant with Megan McArdle
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Nate Cohn: “How Educational Differences Are Widening America’s Political Rift”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Steve is joined by Mark Leibovich to discuss his new book Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission. How did the Republican Party get to its present predicament? Leibovich gives us his eyewitness account of how the former president transformed Washington, and a major American political party.
Show Notes:
-Thank You for Your Servitude by Mark Leibovich
-Leibovich’s page at The Atlantic
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
It’s a Dispatch crossover on today’s Remnant, as Sarah Isgur returns to the program to explore the aftermath of the Mar-a-Lago raid, the meaning of executive privilege, and whether this situation can be compared with the Hillary Clinton email controversy. There’s also an extended discussion of child-rearing and the neuroscience of motherhood prompted by a recent New York Times op-ed. Oh, and a look at Sarah’s strange relationship with spiders.
Show Notes:
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Who gets to classify (and declassify) government secrets?
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Chelsea Conaboy: “Maternal Instinct Is a Myth That Men Created”
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Caroline Criado-Perez’ Invisible Women
-
Radiolab’s “The Unsilencing”
-
The Remnant with Paul Bloom
-
Paul Bloom’s Just Babies
-
James Q. Wilson’s The Moral Sense
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah are joined by Will Baude, professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School, to discuss his review of Adrian Vermeule's new book Common Good Constitutionalism. What is “common good constitutionalism” and can David and Will convince Sarah that it’s a thing? Is international law real? And does anyone have standing in any upcoming legal challenges to President Biden’s student loan debt relief plan?
Show Notes:
-The American Prospect: What Common Good?
-Reason: The "Common-Good" Manifesto
-Ius & Iustitium: The Bourbons of Jurisprudence
-Reason: The "Common-Good" Manifesto: Vermeule Responds
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Poised to return from Maine, Jonah’s in especially scatterbrained form on today’s eclectic Ruminant. He begins the program by expanding on Wednesday’s “news”letter and offering some further thoughts on the problematic relationship between data and audiences in today’s media space. Afterward, he addresses Biden’s “morally and politically indefensible” student loan forgiveness plan, the foolishness of politicians who don’t know what they believe, and the nature of a life well lived. Stick around until the end for ruminations on nationalism and fulfillment.
Show Notes:
-
The Wednesday G-File
-
James C. Scott’s Seeing Like a State
-
The Remnant with Klon Kitchen
-
The Remnant with Chris Stirewalt
-
Jason Furman’s critique of Biden’s student loan plan
-
The Washington Post editorial page blasts Biden
-
The Remnant with Beth Akers
-
Blake Masters backtracks on abortion
-
The Remnant with Russ Roberts
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
This week David and Curtis are joined by Meghan Sullivan, philosopher, teacher, and creator of the most popular class at the University of Notre Dame, “God and the Good Life.” As many of us send our kids off to college (or head off to college ourselves), Meghan helps us appreciate the role of education–and of philosophy in particular–in helping students take on the big questions of life.
Show Notes:
-The Good Life Method by Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko
-God and the Good Life (Notre Dame course)
-What is Philosophy?: Crash Course Philosophy #1
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
President Joe Biden announced a plan to provide tens of millions of Americans with student loan debt relief. The fallout was swift. Our hosts are here with their reactions. Plus: Jonah, David, and Declan discuss the results of this week’s primary elections.
Show Notes:
-TMD: Biden’s Base Gets a Student Loan Gift
-The Dispatch: The GOP Is Shrink-Wrapping Itself Around Trump
-The Dispatch: Tim Ryan Keeping the Pressure on J.D. Vance in Ohio
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
This week's Dispatch Live, which is a weekly live stream for Dispatch members only, ran into some issues because Substack was completely down on Tuesday. So, because most members did not get to hear it we are offering it in its entirety as The Dispatch Podcast. If you're not a member of The Dispatch and liked what you heard here, click the link below to join so you can tune into Dispatch Live weekly on Tuesdays at 8 pm ET.
In this episode, David, Declan, Andrew, and Audrey discuss the Senate GOP candidates for the midterm elections, the latest in the Mar-a-Lago search, and the chances of DeSantis 2024.
Show Notes:
- Join The Dispatch community
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah are joined by Bruce Friedrich, founder and CEO of the Good Food Institute, to discuss cultivated meat and the next agricultural revolution. What’s the difference between plant-based meat and cultivated meat? What’s the environmental impact of reimagining meat production? If it’s August, it’s our meat episode.
Show Notes:
-Bruce Friedrich’s TED Talk
-Good Food Institute
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
The Remnant offers two guests in one today, as AEI scholars Hal Brands and Michael Beckley join the program to discuss their new book, Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China. With the United States and China running a “superpower marathon,” how can we expect the competition to resolve, and is there an appropriate historical analogy for China’s current state? Furthermore, what foreign policy should we pursue toward China? Can China make a stable transition to democracy? And will Michael go down in Remnant history as the only guest to join from the back of an Uber?
Show Notes:
-
Hal and Michael’s new book, Danger Zone
-
Hal and Michael: “What Does China Want?”
-
Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson’s Why Nations Fail
-
Hal: “The Dangers of China’s Decline”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Chris Stirewalt makes his long-awaited twentieth Remnant appearance today to discuss his new book, Broken News: Why the Media Rage Machine Divides America and How to Fight Back. It’s a giant-sized extravaganza of an episode, which covers the evolution of America’s major news networks, the need for journalism to be vocational rather than professional, and the nature of “fair and balanced” media coverage. Ultimately, Chris is keen to stress a particular point: Americanism is central to American journalism.
Show Notes:
-
Chris’ new book, Broken News
-
Chris previews Broken News in The Dispatch
-
Yuval Levin’s The Fractured Republic
-
Andrey Mir: “How the Media Polarized Us”
-
William Raspberry: “In Praise of Hypocrisy”
-
The New York Times on Chris’ book
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah discuss two Florida free speech cases and a very strange North Carolina one too about whether a court can strike down legislation if some of the legislators were elected from gerrymandered districts. And there's a very special guest at the end with a song to share.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Entering the final week of his sojourn in Maine, Jonah begins today’s Ruminant with an account of a drive he recently took to Chautauqua, New York and a reflection on the joys of travel. He also offers a few thoughts on free speech and the stabbing of Salman Rushdie, as well as the nature of patriotism and the importance of gratitude for the things we’ve inherited. The episode concludes with some especially ranty punditry on Liz Cheney’s defeat and ludicrous explanations for why Trump took classified documents to Mar-a-Lago. Plus, there’s an appeal for you, our listeners, to suggest future guests for the program, provided they meet certain strange criteria.
Show Notes:
-
The Remnant with Russ Roberts
-
Yuval Levin: “Conservatism is Gratitude”
-
“The jerk store called…”
-
Jonah on “fundamentally transforming” America
-
Bananification
-
Duke’s bipartisanship leaderboard
-
The Remnant with Carlos Lozada
-
The Dispatch Podcast on Liz Cheney’s defeat
-
Jonah: “The Only Adult in the Room”
-
Advisory Opinions on the history of English
-
Advisory Opinions on orc battle tactics
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
This week David and Curtis are joined by Karen Swallow Prior, writer, thinker, and research professor of English and Christianity and culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Karen talks to us about the current state of affairs in social media, particularly Twitter, and compares its impact on culture and the church to another critical technology, the printing press. She discusses how these modern technologies are impacting our brains, and how we can push back against this through the simple act of reading, especially the (necessarily slow and contemplative) reading of literature.
Show Notes:
-National Endowment of the Arts - “Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America”
-Caleb Crain (The New Yorker) - “Why We Don’t Read, Revisited”
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
Rep. Liz Cheney lost her re-election bid to her Trump-backed primary challenger in the Wyoming Republican primary on Tuesday. Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David discuss the result, and share their thoughts as the primary season wraps up. Plus: What’s the latest from Ukraine? Our hosts discuss the state of the conflict.
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch: Liz Cheney: ‘There Is Actually Precedent for ... Vice Presidents to Testify’
-The Dispatch: Choosing to Lose
-The Sweep: Warning Signs for the GOP’s Senate Hopes
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. Scott Lincicome, director of general economics at the Cato Institute, joins Declan to help us better understand the legislation. What’s actually in the law? How questionable is the budget math?
Show Notes:
-Uphill: Breaking Down the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
-Read Declan in The Morning Dispatch
-Read Scott in Capitolism
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Bret Devereaux is an ancient and military historian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is here to discuss military tactics of some of fiction's biggest battles from The Lord of the Rings to Game of Thrones. Can David contain his excitement? Does Sarah understand anything being said?
Show Notes:
-A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
What constitutes a life well lived, and what does it mean to truly flourish? Noted economist Russ Roberts provides answers to these pressing questions on today’s Remnant, which concerns his new book, Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us. In life, we’re faced with many big decisions that can’t be solved by calculation, like when to marry, what career to choose, and whether to have children. Russ is here to explain how we should approach these problems, and to reassure us that it’s okay to make mistakes. Plus, he explores how it feels to be a “recovering economist.”
Show Notes:
-
Russ’ podcast, EconTalk
-
Russ’ new book, Wild Problems
-
Russ: “How to Make a Decision When There’s No ‘Right’ One”
-
Jonah’s hatred of new ideas
-
An inefficient Christmas
-
Sebastian Junger’s Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Ed O'Callaghan, partner at WilmerHale and former principal associate deputy attorney general, joins David and Sarah to discuss the news that the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s home is part of an investigation into possible violations of the Espionage Act. What does that mean? How does this all work?
Show Notes:
-French Press: Apply the Hillary Clinton Rule to Donald Trump
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
It’s been an eventful week, and for many a deeply troubling one. But of course, no matter what end of the political spectrum you come from, weeks like this seem increasingly common. The hits just keep on coming, as do the feelings of loss and fear. So how are we as Christians to navigate such deeply troubled times? This week, David and Curtis dive into this question with some interesting thoughts from Rudyard Kipling, and some even more important (and eternal) wisdom from the Psalms.
Show Notes:
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
Jonah continues to swelter in Maine on today’s Ruminant, as he examines the aftermath of the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago and how we should interpret Merrick Garland’s response. There’s also an extended discussion of Trump’s psychology, the allure of conspiracy theories, and the nature of American exceptionalism, as Jonah explains how he made peace with being part of the Remnant.
Show Notes:
-
The latest Dispatch Podcast
-
Jonah: “Did the GOP Peak Too Soon?”
-
Wednesday’s bananified G-File
-
The Remnant with Kevin Williamson
-
First Things: “Abortion and a Nation at War”
-
Andrew McCarthy: “Thoughts on AG Garland’s Remarks”
-
Kevin Williamson: “Big Lies Matter”
-
Advisory Opinions on the Mar-a-Lago raid
-
Greatest country in the world?
-
Trump’s “a nation in decline” video
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
It was a busy week for the former president, the FBI searched his home at Mar-a-Lago, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a New York deposition, and Attorney General Merrick Garland moved to make public the legal authorization for the FBI’s search. Sarah, Jonah, and David are here to discuss the fallout. Plus: Our hosts have new inflation numbers, and primary results to chew on.
Show Notes:
-TMD: The FBI Raids Trump’s Home
-French Press: Thinking Through the Trump Search
-G-File: Yearning for a Banana Republic
-Stirewaltisms: Of Presidents and Precedents
-The Dispatch: A Tale of Two GOP Responses to the Trump Search
-TMD: A Hint of Inflation Relief
-The Dispatch: Trump-Endorsed Tim Michels Prevails in Wisconsin Gubernatorial Primary
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Kevin Stroud, creator and voice of the History of English podcast, joins David and Sarah for an exciting deep dive into the history of the English language and the roots of legalese. Stroud traces the complex history of Old English, Old Norse, French, and Latin words within the American legal system, and details the story behind the first written Old English code of law. Plus: What roles do poetry and alliteration play in the court? And why does language evolve so much over time?
Show Notes:
-History of English podcast
-Law of Æthelberht
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
With his faithful canine in tow, Kevin Williamson saddles up for another Remnant escapade. This time, he and Jonah explore the Mar-a-Lago raid, the problem with new ideas in politics, and the Texas midterm elections. Plus, there’s plenty of dingo discussion mixed in for your edification. Is the president above the law? Should dog shows be banned? And can Kevin’s neighbors convince him to vote for Beto O’Rourke?
Show Notes:
-
Kevin’s page at National Review
-
The Remnant: AMA edition
-
Jonah: “Westminster Eugenics Show”
-
Kevin: “Do We Believe Our Own Dogma?”
-
An emergency Advisory Opinions on the Mar-a-Lago raid
-
Mike Huckabee’s crazy argument
-
This week’s Dispatch Live
-
Kevin: “Big Lies Matter”
-
Jonah: “Bonfire of the Asininities”
-
Jonah: “The Descent of Men”
-
Kevin: “Thanks For the ‘Memory’”
-
Jonah: “All Quiet on the Black-Ops Front”
-
The Remnant with David Bernstein
-
Hillary’s cows
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Jonah’s aversion to preparation catches up with him on today’s sweaty Remnant. Stuck without a guest, he’s forced to spend an hour answering listener questions selected by Guy, his AEI research assistant. The result is an eclectic throwback to the Remnant AMAs of old, which covers everything from the disappearance of “The Couch” in the G-File to the prospect of a Ron DeSantis presidential bid. How do Liberal Fascism and The Tyranny of Cliches hold up? Did Jonah enjoy his time at Goucher College? And can Jonah and Guy discuss episode 11 without turning to ash?
Show Notes:
-
Dingos in Maine
-
The Remnant with Tom Sowell
-
Guy and Jonah’s first encounter
-
Jonah: “What I Got Wrong About Fascism”
-
Jonah’s recent G-File adapted from The Tyranny of Cliches
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Sarah and David get together for this special Advisory Opinions crossover episode to discuss the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago on Monday. What does it all mean? How does a federal investigation of a senior official work, and what happens next? Plus: some possible theories and explanations that might shed some light on the events of yesterday.
Show Notes:
-TMD: The FBI Raids Trump’s Home
-Andy McCarthy in National Review: The FBI’s Mar-a-Lago ‘Raid’: It’s about the Capitol Riot, Not the Mishandling of Classified Information
-Marc Elias Twitter thread
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Sarah and David get together for an emergency episode to discuss the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago on Monday. What does it all mean? How does a federal investigation of a senior official work, and what happens next? Plus: some possible theories and explanations that might shed some light on the events of yesterday.
Show Notes:
-TMD: The FBI Raids Trump’s Home
-Andy McCarthy in National Review: The FBI’s Mar-a-Lago ‘Raid’: It’s about the Capitol Riot, Not the Mishandling of Classified Information
-Marc Elias Twitter thread
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Sarah and David tackle the events of last week: the verdict in the Alex Jones case, and the story of Breonna Taylor and the court’s surprising indictments of several police officers. Should there be monetary limits on punitive damages? And why, in this day and age, does everything need to be entertaining? Plus: Our hosts explore what court precedent actually lurks behind the concept of shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater.
Show Notes:
-New York Times: What To Know About Breonna Taylor’s Death
-French Press: Supreme Court Precedent Killed Breonna Taylor
-U.S. v. Perez
-Schenck v. United States
-New York Times: I Didn’t Want It to be True, But the Medium Really is the Message
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
This week David’s theological wingman Curtis returns from his July sabbatical. He’s rested and raring to go, but rather than dive into another hot political or cultural issue, Curtis actually has some remarkable insights to share about the nature of sabbath rest and the spiritual discipline of letting go, stepping away from our illusions of ultimate control and placing all our striving in God’s hands. In the second half of this episode Curtis also shares some important thoughts about the nature of remembrance and loss based on his experience at the 9/11 Memorial. If you’re a regular listener who is tempted to skip this episode because it’s not Good Faith’s regular political/cultural fare, then this episode is even more for you.
Show Notes:
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
Live from an undisclosed location in heat-struck Maine, Jonah gets ranty on today’s vigorous yet thoughtful Ruminant. In light of his surroundings, he begins with a few reflections on Ted Kennedy’s incident at Chappaquiddick before launching into a passionate tirade against the foolishness of the new right. In distinctly nerdy fashion, Jonah leaves no room for interpretation: There is no place on the right for racist politics, and white supremacist and anti-semitic ideas must necessarily be treated with moral outrage.
Show Notes:
-The Cover-Up podcast on Chappaquiddick
-The Ted Kennedy incident
-Leo Damore’s Senatorial Privilege
-The July jobs report
-Jonah’s column on the Inflation Reduction Act
-The Dispatch: The New Right Finds a Home at the Intersection of Populism and Elitism
-The Economist on the new right
-Kevin WIlliamson on Trump the manly man
-Last Friday’s G-File on the descent of men
-Rockefeller’s diet
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Sarah, David, Steve and Jonah are back for an action-packed show today including the primary elections, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, and the demise of al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri on Sunday. Will tensions over abortion issues cause bigger voter turnouts in the future? Plus: The Senate overwhelmingly voted to approve Sweden and Finland for acceptance into NATO on Wednesday with a lone dissent from Sen. Josh Hawley.
Show Notes:
-The Sweep: What We Learned
-TMD: Another Blockbuster Primaries Tuesday
-The Current: Killing Zawahiri: How the CIA Hunts Monsters
-TMD: Tensions Flare in the Taiwan Strait
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
David Axelrod, chief strategist for former President Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns and host of The Axe Files and co-host of Hacks on Tap podcasts, joins Steve to tackle the complex questions about the midterm primary elections this week. What’s up with the Democrat Party’s tactic of funding extremist Republican candidates? And what is the outlook for the upcoming general elections? Plus: Axelrod gives listeners the big picture of what’s happening in Kansas as well as what the abortion rights issue means to both sides of the political aisle.
Show Notes:
-The Axe Files with David Axelrod
-TMD: Another Blockbuster Primaries Tuesday
-The Dispatch: Peter Meijer Falls to Trump-Endorsed John Gibbs in Michigan
-The Dispatch: Eric Schmitt Wins the Missouri GOP Senate Primary
-The Sweep: What We Learned
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Sarah and David have a lot to talk about as the midterm primaries wrap up and federal lawsuits are filed stateside. What is former President Trump’s role in the midterm elections, or does he even have one? Also on the agenda: near-total abortion bans and pro-life amendments face a difficult path in Idaho and Kansas, and Justice Samuel Alito goes to Rome.
Show Notes:
-The Sweep: What We Learned
-Blake Masters campaign ad
-Washington Post: Justice Dept. sues Idaho over near-total abortion ban coming Aug. 25
-Idaho Statutes
-French Press: A Crucial Court Case Exposes the Darkness of America’s Worst Industry
-Fleites v. MindGeek
-Justice Samuel Alito delivers keynote address in Rome
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Back in the Remnant driver’s seat, Jonah invites newly minted AEI fellow Joshua Katz onto the program for a nerdtastic discussion of language and how free we are to use it. Inevitably, their conversation touches on Joshua’s departure from Princeton, cancel culture, and broader illiberalism in American life. But it also explores current issues in linguistics, how much we can really know about classical civilizations, and what “literally” actually means. Tune in to find out whether Socrates had it coming.
Show Notes:
-
Joshua’s page at AEI
-
Joshua: “Status and ‘Virtue’ at the Dalton School”
-
Philology
-
Socrates deserved it?
-
Joshua on his departure from Princeton
-
Joshua’s Declaration of Independence
-
College essay prompts get absurd
-
The latest issue of Sapir
-
Adrian Goldsworthy’s Caesar: Life of a Colossus
-
Barry Strauss’ The Spartacus War
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Filling in for an absentee Jonah, Chris Stirewalt is joined by A.B. Stoddard to provide some overpoweringly rank punditry on the state of the midterms. They begin by analyzing how current trends may affect the election results, before turning to the prospect of a political realignment in 2024 and the fear that the Inflation Reduction Act might fail to reduce inflation. Could a third party candidate win the next presidential election? Is Nancy Pelosi ready to step down? And is August an appropriate time to eat roast pork?
Show Notes:
-
A.B.’s page at RealClearPolitics
-
Chris’ page at The Dispatch
-
NewsNation’s recent election poll
-
Joe Manchin on Bret Baier
-
A.B.: “Biden Should Announce in 2023 That He Will Not Run Again”
-
Hakeem Jeffries: The next face of the Democratic Party?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
It’s August, and so David and Sarah are taking a break from court coverage and legal issues. Steven Pressfield, author of A Man at Arms, joins Sarah and David to kick off the month with a deep dive into what it’s like to write historical fiction set in the ancient world. Pressfield explains his mechanisms for creating fascinating stories and three-dimensional characters. What is the key to bringing history back to life? Plus: Steven gives some tried-and-true advice to aspiring writers.
Show Notes:
-A Man at Arms
-Steven Pressfield’s books
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
While Curtis is still on sabbatical, David talks to Justin Giboney, co-founder of the AND Campaign, about racial justice, political tribalism, and the “God gap” in the Democratic Party. They discuss the problems with left and right as they grapple with extremism, and they talk about Justin’s experiences talking about hot-button topics from a politically heterodox (but theologically orthodox) point of view.
Show Notes:
-Good Faith Debates: How Should the Church Address Racial Injustice?
-AND Campaign
-Compassion (&) Conviction by Justin Giboney
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
It’s a man’s, man’s world—or so Josh Hawley would have you believe. On today’s Ruminant, Jonah takes a deep dive into the new right’s obsession with masculinity and what it really means to be manly. He also assesses the pros and cons of codifying gay marriage into law, rants about Joe Manchin’s deal with Chuck Schumer, and gives some further thoughts on whether it’s right to launch criminal prosecution against a former president. It’s a radioactive episode.
Show Notes:
-
Wednesday’s “news”letter
-
The Remnant with Charles C.W. Cooke
-
Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin make a deal
-
Josh Hawley’s book announcement
-
Tom Klingenstein: “Trump is a manly man”
-
Kevin Williamson: “The Virile Style”
-
Madeline Kearns: “Marital Clash”
-
The Editors on Congress’ gay marriage bill
-
Andrew Sullivan’s case for gay marriage
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David are back to discuss big pieces of legislation coming down the pipeline. Will the Inflation Reduction Act find footing in the House? The White House’s stretched definition of a recession is digging the administration into a deeper hole of messaging problems. Plus, Is President Biden gunning for another term in 2024, and are ordinary Democrats distancing themselves from his leadership?
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch: Who Decides What a Recession Is?
-G-File: Merrick Garland’s Playing It Right
-The Current: The CHIPS Act: Far From Perfect, but Still Very Good
-The Dispatch: Dem Campaign Chiefs Tell Different Stories on GOP Primary Meddling
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Mo Elleithee, founding executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service, joins Sarah to talk about the complexities of politics. Results from a new Battleground Poll are in, and it’s clear that most Americans believe that the state of our politics is “really bad.” What happened and what can we do to fix it? Also on the agenda: Alaska’s interesting nonpartisan primary system, and the Democratic National Committee’s recent decision to make states bid for early waivers.
Show Notes:
-Georgetown Institute of Politics & Public Service Battleground Civility Poll
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Arkansas federal district judge Lee Rudofsky joins Sarah and David to give a guided tour of corpus linguistics, a recent but fascinating tool for jurists. How do corpus linguistics help define constitutional concepts and definitions? Plus, our hosts pick apart an article about the possible leaker of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health opinion.
Show Notes:
-Wilson v. Safelite
-New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen
-Salt Lake City Corp. v. Haik
-Muscarello v. United States
-United States v. Rice
-CNN: The inside story of how John Roberts failed to save abortion rights
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
With inflation increasing and the prospect of recession making headlines, David Bahnsen returns to the Remnant to answer a pressing question: How should conservatives approach economic policy? It’s an ultra-wonky conversation that also touches on common errors made by media outlets in their economic coverage and the relationship between moral and economic well being. Plus, tune in to find out which nefarious supervillain organization David secretly funds.
Show Notes:
-
David’s webpage
-
David’s Capital Record podcast
-
The New York Times headline that ruined Jonah’s morning
-
Bastiat’s parable of the broken window
-
The Remnant with Robert Sirico
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Klon Kitchen returns to the Remnant for another round of vigorous wonkery on all things national security. This time, he’s primarily concerned with the threat of Chinese espionage and the prospect of a geopolitical confrontation between China and the U.S. But he also has thoughts on the Ukraine conflict, the morality of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, and the nature of quantum computing. Plus, tune in to hear his case for why you should delete TikTok.
Show Notes:
-
Klon’s page at AEI
-
The Current, Klon’s Dispatch newsletter
-
CNN’s Huawei exclusive
-
Klon: “Ban TikTok Now”
-
China’s “thousand grains of sand” approach to intelligence collection
-
Klon: “When the Chips Are Down”
-
Last weekend’s Ruminant
-
Klon: “Quantum Q&A”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Former federal judge John Michael Luttig joins Sarah and David to detail his involvement in the events leading up to January 6, 2021. He reveals the story behind his tweet thread on January 5 that ended up on the front page of the New York Times, and the problems with the Electoral Count Act of 1887. Plus: Luttig walks us through his comprehensive, published study refuting election fraud claims in the 2020 election.
Show Notes:
-Judge Luttig’s January 6 testimony
-Judge Luttig’s January 5 tweet thread
-Lost Not Stolen: The Conservative Case that Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Election
-The Dispatch: A 2020 Election Report ‘By Conservatives, For Conservatives’
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
David talks to Georgetown professor and Bush administration alum Paul Miller about Paul's new book, The Religion of American Greatness: What's Wrong With Christian Nationalism. Paul defines Christian nationalism, discusses what's wrong with it theologically, what's wrong with it politically, and how it invariably leads to conflict and illiberalism. They also discuss Christian underrepresentation in the academy and other elite spaces, including its causes and consequences.
Show Notes:
-“The Religion of American Greatness” by Paul D. Miller
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
Refreshed from his Adirondack vacation, Jonah begins today’s Ruminant with an update on the January 6 hearings and a rant on the strange phenomenon of “capture the flag” media coverage. He also explores the merits of the MAGA republicans testifying in Congress, the silliness of the idea that there’s a “right side of history,” and the general awfulness of Steve Bannon. Stick around until the end to hear why you should subscribe to The Dispatch if you haven’t already.
Show Notes:
-
The Remnant with David Bernstein
-
The Remnant with Brent Orrell
-
Adam Davidson’s podcast advice
-
Jan 6 and Secret Service agents
-
Pence refused to get in car
-
Cassidy Hutchinson stands by her testimony
-
The Holy War over Hunter Biden’s laptop
-
The Rolling Stone UVA story
-
Jonah on Honestly with Bari Weiss
-
Steve Bannon’s trial
-
Steve Bannon’s leaked audio
-
“The right side of history”
-
What a second Trump administration would mean
-
Join The Dispatch
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Sarah and David are joined by The Morning Dispatch editors Declan Garvey and Esther Eaton to discuss the vivid testimonies during Thursday night’s January 6 committee hearing. Also on the agenda: In the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Republicans are wary of giving Democrats a win with a contraception bill currently on the Senate floor, and a same-sex marriage bill faces an unclear way forward after Tuesday’s House vote.
Show Notes:
-TMD: The January 6 Committee Presses the Secret Service
-TMD: Donald Trump’s Inaction on January 6
-The Dispatch: A Timeline of What Trump Did—and Didn’t Do—on January 6
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah return to discussions they had with their last guest, professor Akhil Amar, including living constitutionalism and the question of whether to let voters or jurists decide issues of justice. Then our hosts dive into the University of Pennsylvania controversy concerning the limits of academic freedom at the private Ivy League institution. Plus: the Biden administration’s bid to clarify abortion protections in the Emergency Treatment and Active Labor Act.
Show Notes:
-AO: Akhil Amar Talks Liberal Originalism
-University of Pennsylvania Law Dean’s Report Regarding Amy Wax
-Biden admin looks to protect doctors providing emergency abortions, and warn those who don’t
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
AEI Senior Fellow Brent Orrell joins the Remnant for a cheerfully wonky exploration of the modern workplace. With institutions and communities collapsing, Americans are increasingly looking to work as their main source of fulfillment, but is this a healthy development? For that matter, how does immigration alter the workforce? Will artificial intelligence have a positive or negative effect on the American economy? And what should we make of the “Great Resignation?”
Show Notes:
-
Brent’s page at AEI
-
Brent’s podcast, Hardly Working
-
Arthur Brooks on earned success
-
Brent: “The Great Resignation Shows It’s Time to Rethink Worker Dignity”
-
Brent’s “Dignity at Work” report
-
Brent: “How AI Is Being Transformed by ‘Foundation Models’”
-
The Remnant with Jim Pethokoukis
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Images from the James Webb Space Telescope have taken the internet by storm, and Declan is here with two guests who worked on it for a fascinating conversation about its long journey into reality. Dr. John Mather, a Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the senior project scientist for the JWST, and Dr. Scott Acton, a physicist at Ball Aerospace and JWST’s Wavefront Sensing and Controls scientist, relay their exploits in achieving the most incredible and ambitious space images ever taken of thousands of galaxies, black holes, and dust clouds. And we have to ask: Are we alone in the universe, really?
Show Notes:
-First Images from the James Webb Space Telescope
-Dr. John Mather
-TMD: This Is Something That’s Going to ‘Change Our Understanding of the Universe’
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
The Remnant’s wonky streak continues as David Bernstein, professor at Antonin Scalia Law School, joins the program to discuss his new book, Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America. Racial classifications are ubiquitous in American life, but David believes they are becoming increasingly arbitrary and incoherent. His solution is to abolish official racial classification altogether and replace it with a separation of race and state. But what would this look like in practice, and how did terms of racial classification originate in the first place?
Show Notes:
-
David’s webpage
-
David’s new book, Classified
-
David: “How Well Do You Know America's Racial Classification System?”
-
Sean Trende’s The Lost Majority
-
The Remnant with Noah Phillips
-
The Remnant with Ruy Teixeira
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Sarah and David kick off the week with an exciting discussion of liberal constitutional originalism with Akhil Amar, author of The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, and constitutional law professor at Yale University. Our guest gives a dynamic perspective of the decision in Roe v. Wade, as well as dives into the nitty-gritty of the varying modes of constitutional interpretation. Who gets to decide what the common good is? Are philosophers really as smart as they think they are?
Show Notes:
-The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation
-Amarica’s Constitution
-Eradicating Bush-League Arguments Root and Branch: The Article III Independent-State-Legislature Notion and Related Rubbish
-Time: Why Liberal Justices Need to Start Thinking Like Conservatives
-New York Times: The Constitution Is More Than a Document—It’s a Conversation
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
David talks to Scott Sauls, an author and pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. They talk about handling the exhaustion of the current moment, whether winsomeness "works," and the challenges facing pastors in the face of relentless criticism. They also address Scott's prescient warnings about the dangers of culture war obsessions--warnings that date well before the present extreme polarization.
Show Notes:
-“Beautiful People Don't Just Happen” by Scott Sauls
-“Jesus Outside the Lines” by Scott Sauls
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
July’s drive-time Remnant extravaganza is here, and it’s as deprived of substance as you’d expect. Wedding proposals, cruises, road trips, and other offbeat subjects are all discussed at unnecessary length, but a modicum of serious punditry is also mixed in on the upcoming midterms and the potential for a Trump re-election campaign announcement. Plus, tune in to hear Jonah detail his bygone days as an opera supernumerary and the rebranding of Bloggingheads.tv.
Show Notes:
-
What’s Next Summit Tickets
-
Last month’s drive-time
-
Guy’s Kiss trip
-
Breezewood, PA
-
The Daily on the James Webb Space Telescope
-
Bad strategy
-
Nonzero, formerly Bloggingheads.tv
-
The SmartLess podcast
-
The Dispatch Podcast on the James Webb Space Telescope
-
Ruy Teixeira joins AEI
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Sarah, David, and Jonah reflect on the problem of inflation, which surged to 9.1 percent this week and look ahead to the presidential race in 2024. Will there be a showdown between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump to win the Republican nomination? Our hosts wrap up with a discussion of shifting coalitions within the political parties.
Show Notes:
-TMD: June’s Very Bad, No Good Inflation Report
-New York Times: Most Democrats Don’t Want Biden in 2024, New Poll Shows
-Axios: The great realignment
-The Dispatch: How Joe Biden Set Himself Up for Failure
-Pew Research Center: Religiously, nonwhite Democrats are more similar to Republicans than to white Democrats
-First Images from the James Webb Space Telescope
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah cover a full spectrum of cases and interesting news today. First up: Will a judge order Elon Musk to buy Twitter? Our hosts address the Texas res judicata case (pronunciation courtesy of a Latin expert); Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) laws; and an abortion travel case. They also answer a question from listeners about the Second Amendment and militia precedent.
Show Notes:
-Twitter v. Musk complaint
-Skiriotes v. Florida
-Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Paul Miller, Georgetown professor and regular contributor to The Dispatch, returns to The Remnant to discuss his new book, The Religion of American Greatness: What’s Wrong with Christian Nationalism. In formidably highfalutin fashion, he and Jonah explore what drives mankind’s nationalistic impulse, why Christianity and nationalism have historically been intertwined in America, and what should hold our country together beyond the creed outlined in the Declaration of Independence. Stick around to hear Paul turn the tables on Jonah and ask him a few questions about the legacy of Suicide of the West.
Show Notes:
-
Paul’s page at The Dispatch
-
Paul’s new book, The Religion of American Greatness
-
Paul’s appearance on Dispatch Live
-
Jonah: “The Dangers of Unchecked Nationalism”
-
Chris Hedges’ American Fascists
-
Arlie Russell Hochschild’s Strangers in Their Own Land
-
Rich Lowry’s The Case for Nationalism
-
Michael Burleigh’s The Third Reich
-
Yuval Levin’s The Great Debate
-The Remnant with Charles C.W. Cooke
- David Bell’s The Cult of the Nation in France
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
An unwashed Charles C.W. Cooke returns to the Remnant for a predictably rank exploration of gun rights, criminal law, and electoral politics. There’s also a deep dive into linguistics prompted by Jill Biden’s taco gaffe, an discussion of America’s fondness for elderly political figures, and an examination of whether stop and frisk policies are constitutional. How is the 2024 presidential race shaping up? Should Trump be prosecuted for his actions on January 6? And what can we do about mass shootings?
Show Notes:
-
Last weekend’s Ruminant
-
Jill Biden’s taco blunder
-
Charlie: “Jill Biden’s ‘LatinX IncluXion Luncheon’ FiaXco”
-
Bill Bryson’s Mother Tongue
-
Jonah: “Where Did Biden Go Wrong?”
-
Charlie: “Democrats Prepare to Throw Biden Overboard”
-
Charlie on dismal polling for Trump and Biden
-
Brandenburg v Ohio
-
The Editors on prosecuting Trump
-
James Q. Wilson: “What To Do About Crime”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Robert O’Brien, former U.S. ambassador and national security advisor to President Donald Trump, joins Klon Kitchen for a discussion of international politics from a bird’s-eye view. They discuss his time working for the former president, and the job of national security advisor. Plus: How can the United States protect itself from Chinese economic espionage? China’s threat to Taiwan? And what is the future of the war in Ukraine?
Show Notes:
-Uphill: The Showdown Over the China Competition Bill
-The Current: Ban TikTok Now
-The Current: Getting Smart on Intelligence
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah are joined by Kannon Shanmugam, partner at Paul Weiss, for their now traditional end-of-term Supreme Court case roundup. Was this the most significant Supreme Court term of our lifetimes? Plus: it wouldn’t be a traditional episode with Kannon Shanmugam without another round of barbeque reviews.
Show Notes:
-TMD: The End of ‘Pen and Phone’
-Washington Post: A firm’s split with its star gun-case lawyer shows what ails the left
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
After kicking off today’s Ruminant with a few reflections on his pesky first name, Jonah soon embarks on a thorough analysis of Joe Biden’s rise to the presidency and the intellectual insecurities that often come packaged with the Oval Office. An eclectic potpourri follows as Jonah explores the distinction between assassination and murder, his relationship with a top British cabinet official, and the hypocrisy of European nations regarding the abortion debate. It all ends with a more lighthearted assessment of the differences between Hollywood movies and real life.
Show Notes:
- The Remnant with Noah Phillips
-
The Remnant with Noah Rothman
-
David Bernstein’s work for Reason
-
Dana Milbank: “Give Biden a Break”
-
Mitt Romney: “America is in Denial”
-
Vice presidents who became presidents themselves
-
The Shinzo Abe assassination
-
Boris Johnson’s resignation
-
Assasination versus murder
-
Michael Gove
-
The EU condemns Dobbs
-
The Remnant with Megan McArdle
-
Jonah’s twitter thread on political movies
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
This week Eboo Patel, a Muslim pioneer in interfaith work, joins David and Curtis to discuss his book, We Need to Build. They discuss the need to allow people of different faiths to be able to bring their whole selves, including real and significant religious disagreements, to these conversations. Eboo also helps us understand why it is so important to do more than criticize what we don’t like in the culture, but instead to adopt the more mature approach of actually building what we want to see in society.
Show Notes:
-We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy by Eboo Patel
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David discuss two major events from the last week, including the chaos across the pond with the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s resignation on Thursday morning. Near Chicago, at least seven are dead and dozens injured after the July Fourth shooting at Highland Park, prompting questions about whether red flag laws really work. An update on Ukraine is also in order, as well as 2022 midterm implications for the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Show Notes:
-TMD: Boris Johnson to Resign
-Stirewaltisms: Boris Johnson and the Survival of the Silliest
-TMD: Tragedy in Highland Park
-Harvard Center for American Political Studies/Harris poll on Roe v. Wade
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah begin by going through SCOTUSblog’s end-of-term Stat Pack. Then Hiram Sasser, executive general counsel for First Liberty Institute, joins for a deep dive into the Kennedy v. Bremerton School District Supreme Court case. Hiram, who was co-counsel on the case, explains the story and talks about Coach Joseph Kennedy from a more personal point of view. How did the facts become so muddled throughout the process? Our hosts have a lively debate about how the case could have—or should have—been handled.
Show Notes:
-SCOTUSblog Stat Pack
-Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Commentary ‘s Noah Rothman makes an overdue return to the Remnant to discuss his new book, The Rise of the New Puritans, which compares today’s woke progressives with their pious ancestors. Alternating between vigorous agreement and spirited debate, Noah and Jonah explore the morality of wokeism, the state of sex and comedy, and what’s behind mankind’s puritanical impulse. They also touch on the importance of staying in your lane, the future of safetyism in American life, and whether Mike Pence should be disqualified from pursuing another presidential bid.
Show Notes:
-
Noah’s page at Commentary
-
Noah’s new book, The Rise of the New Puritans
-
Noah: “Joyless on the Fourth”
-
Josh Barro on Elon Musk
-
George McKenna’s The Puritan Origins of American Patriotism
-
Noah: “The January 6 Commission’s Biggest Reveal”
-
The Remnant with FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips
-
The latest Dispatch Live
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Tim Miller, writer-at-large at The Bulwark, joins Steve to talk about his new book: Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell. Miller gives listeners a breakdown of the Washington, D.C. political culture and how it’s not what you might think. Plus: the book sparks a lively debate about the divides within the Republican Party, and whether there’s a way forward in the midst of the murk. Is there a place for center-right journalism to thrive?
Show Notes:
-Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Noah Phillips of the Federal Trade Commission brings his expertise to the Remnant today for an exceedingly wonky discussion of American law and bureaucracy. The debate over Big Tech has whipped up plenty of discussion about antitrust reforms recently, but how effective could such reforms actually be? For that matter, how problematic are monopolies? Is the FTC in good shape? And how can the harmful effects of social media be mitigated?
Show Notes:
-
Noah’s FTC webpage
-
Sen. John Cornyn booed at Texas GOP convention
-
Amy Klobuchar’s self-preferencing bill
-
Hipster antitrust
-
Scott Lincicome on the Jones Act
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Last week the Supreme Court ruled to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate carbon emissions. David and Sarah are here to discuss the decision’s fallout and what it means for the rest of the administrative state. Plus: What did the Supreme Court say about Migrant Protection Protocols? And, understanding the controversial election-law case that the Supreme Court agreed to hear.
Show Notes:
-West Virginia v. EPA
-Sarah in Politico: “Why Is Congress Broken? Because the Other Branches Are Doing Its Job”
-Biden v. Texas
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
If you’re hitting the road this weekend, today’s extra-long, extra-patriotic Ruminant should be a perfect accompaniment for your travels. Jonah begins by looking at the Dobbs decision, the relationship between the judiciary and the legislature, and why conservatives believe in originalism. Then, after offering some additional thoughts on consequentialism and a generous helping of rank punditry, he turns to the Fourth of July. In a moment where pride in America is particularly low, Jonah believes we should still be bullish about this country, and he has enough philosophical insights on hand to explain why.
Show Notes:
-
Last weekend’s Ruminant
-
Last Friday’s G-File
-
Joshua Zeitz: “The Supreme Court’s Faux ‘Originalism’”
-
Wednesday’s “news”letter
-
David French: “Roe Is Reversed, and the Right Isn’t Ready”
-
The Remnant with Megan McArdle
-
Only 38% say they’re extremely proud to be American
-
Calvin Coolidge on patriotism
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Dobbs; January 6 hearings; war in Ukraine; mass shootings. We are being overwhelmed on a weekly basis by a relentlessly heavy news cycle. In this week’s episode David and Curtis give us a break from all this to talk with us about anxiety, despair and weariness. Wait . . . what?! Yes that’s right, this is the Good Faith version of “lighter” fare! It’s actually a very uplifting conversation and you may even walk away with some helpful ways to navigate the overwhelming feelings all of us are experiencing these days.
Show Notes:
-Future Tense: Why Anxiety Is Good for You (Even Though It Feels Bad) by Tracy Dennis-Tiwary
-Anxiety as Opportunity for Spiritual Growth (online course by Curtis Chang)
-Al Pacino “Inches” speech from Any Given Sunday
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
Jonah and Chris Stirewalt join Sarah to talk about the political aftermath of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization as states begin to grapple legislatively with the post-Roe era. Will we reach a consensus on what life means in the womb? Our hosts also discuss the nature of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony during the surprise January 6 select committee hearing and the risks with the Democrats’ 2022 election strategy.
Show Notes:
-TMD: Surprise Witness Blows January 6 Investigation Right Open
-The Dispatch: Donald Trump’s Fractured Inner Circle
-The G-File: Democrats Have a Funny Way of Expressing Concern About ‘Our Democracy’
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that Oklahoma state authorities can prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians on Indian reservations. Narrowing its 2020 decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma. David and Sarah then debate the case for prosecuting Donald Trump after this week’s surprise January 6 hearing. They also look at a surprising death penalty decision from last week.
Show Notes:
-Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety
-Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta
-French Press: “The Case for Prosecuting Donald Trump Just Got Much Stronger”
-Nance v. Ward
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Megan McArdle is back on the Remnant to explore the Dobbs decision, the culture war over sex and gender, and America’s rising crime. Dingos and the innocence of childhood are also discussed, though you’ll have to tune in to see whether Jonah is willing to divulge more information about his youthful exploits as a supernumerary actor. How should the legislative and judicial branches balance their responsibilities? What does the future hold for the transgender movement? And what would Megan’s criminal justice reform agenda look like?
Show Notes:
-
Megan’s page at the Washington Post
-
The Remnant with Jay Nordlinger
-
Jonah: “How Dobbs Might Shape the Future of Conservatism in Unexpected Ways”
-
GLoP: “Occasionally Masculine”
-
Megan: “The Left is Counting on an Abortion Backlash That May Never Come”
-
Megan: “Don’t Forget the Other Women in the Pool”
-
Megan: “A Better Way for Democrats to Talk About Rising Crime”
-
Bill James’ Popular Crime
-
Jon Ronson’s So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
-
This week’s Dispatch Live
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Jay Nordlinger, Jonah’s conservative colleague and a senior editor at National Review, joins the Remnant for the first time to provide his uniquely measured blend of rank punditry and linguistic insight. Brace yourself for an eclectic potpourri of topics, including an exploration of the Dobbs decision and the future of abortion in America, a thorough discussion of what it means to be a conservative, and a few etymological asides. Also, tune in to find out whether conservatism’s three-legged stool is still standing.
Show Notes:
-
Jay’s page at National Review
-
Jay’s podcast, Q&A
-
Jay: “The Saudi Golf Tour Is Blatant ‘Sportswashing’”
-
Jay: “Roe, gone, &c.”
-
Jay: “What is Conservatism?”
-Frank Meyer’s What is Conservatism?
- The Remnant with John McWhorter
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
The Supreme Court has been making waves with two recent religious liberty cases, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District and Carson v. Makin. Sarah and David delve into the Kennedy opinion, involving a high school football coach who was fired for praying on the field. The case overruled the Lemon test, used in First Amendment cases for decades, but there’s still much to be decided in the future. Plus: More on the political fallout from the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Healthruling.
Show Notes:
-Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist.
-Advisory Opinions: Supreme Court Hears Football Coach Prayer Case
-French Press: Roe is Reversed, and the Right Isn’t Ready
-Advisory Opinions: Supreme Court Overturns Roe and Casey
-Wall Street Journal: The Law Firm That Got Tired of Winning
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
This is the audio version of the story documenting the creation and passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The story is based on more than 21 hours of interviews with more than two dozen people involved, including lawmakers, staff, and human rights advocates.
Show Notes:
-PDF: How the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Became Law
-Introduction and Part 1
-Parts 2 and 3
-Parts 4 and 5
-Parts 6 and 7
-Parts 8 and 9
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Today’s jet-lagged Ruminant finds Jonah haunted by uncomfortable memories of John Dean as he tries to make sense of what the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision means for gun laws in America. Afterward, he offers philosophical musings on an array of topics, including consequentialist ethics, stoplights, and religious edicts. It all ends with a brief reflection on why Jonah is a conservative in the first place. Also, please note that this episode was recorded before the Supreme Court released its decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Jonah will have plenty to say on the subject very soon.
Show Notes:
-
The Wednesday G-File
-
John Dean’s Worse than Watergate
-
The Bruen decision
-
The Fairbanks Midnight Sun Run
-
Consequentialism
-
Trump: “I whine until I win”
-
Rationalia?
-
Why stoplights use red
-
The Remnant (guest hosted by Chris Stirewalt) with Josh Kraushaar
-
The Remnant with Christine Rosen
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
The outcome might not have been surprising, but the official release of the Dobbs v. Jackson opinion on Friday was still earth shaking, as it overturned Roe v. Wade and a half-century of precedent on abortion. Sarah and David convened an emergency podcast, diving headfirst into the details of the majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, the concurrences by Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Chief Justice John Roberts, and the liberal dissent. What does this case mean for us and where do we go from here?
Show Notes:
-Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
-Sarah in Politico:“What Alito Should Have Written”
-David in The Atlantic: “The Pro-Life Movement’s Work Is Just Beginning”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
In part one of this two part podcast, Curtis and David respond to the breaking news that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade. Rather than dive into the legal or political dimensions of the ruling, they take a look at the social and spiritual dimensions, asking questions like:
What does this actually mean for abortion in America?
What are the opportunities and fears now in play?
How should a pro-life Christian respond to pro-choice friends and family members?
How should a pro-choice Christian respond to this decision?
What is the most important move to make now for Christians on both sides?
In part two they welcome guest Rachel Ferguson to discuss her new book “Black Liberation Through the Marketplace,” a classical liberal response to racial injustice in America.
Show Notes:
-Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
-Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of America by Rachel S. Ferguson and Marcus M. Witcher
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
The Supreme Court struck down a New York law that placed strict limits on carrying a gun outside the home, ruling that Americans have a broad right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. David and Sarah are together in DC, at The Fund for American Studies, to break it all down. Plus, we have a Supreme Court decision dealing with Miranda violations, and questions from law students from around the country.
Show Notes:
-Vega v. Tekoh
-New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Sarah, Steve, and Jonah dive into a delightful political potpourri, tackling everything from the Biden administration’s possible gas tax holiday to immigration and the Georgia congressional runoffs. They also discuss the House Select Committee’s January 6 hearing on Tuesday, which produced some interesting testimonies.
Show Notes:
-TMD: “Biden’s Mixed Messages on Oil”
-Karl Rove in the Wall Street Journal: “Biden Got the Energy Market He Wanted”
-Capitolism: “Fueling Uncertainty”
-TMD: “How Trump and His Aides Pressured State Officials”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Remember when filling up your gas tank didn’t cost the same amount as your weekly grocery bill? Leslie Beyer, CEO of the Energy Workforce & Technology Council, and Skanda Amarnath, the Executive Director at Employ America, join Declan to discuss the oil and gas supply issues America faces. The Biden administration’s current approach to the sector doesn’t inspire much confidence prices will come down any time soon, but there are levers policymakers could pull to ease the pain at the pump.
Show Notes:
-Capitolism: “Fueling Uncertainty”
-Employ America Research Report
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
With Jonah back from the harsh wilds of Alaska, Commentary’s Christine Rosen makes her long-awaited Remnant return. The duo explores the harmful effects of social media on young people, how pornography should be regulated, and what’s led to the rapid spread of transgender ideology. Why has trauma become a political tool? How can epigenetics explain political problems? And will this episode officially bring an end to Jonah’s friendship with John Podhoretz?
Show Notes:
-
Christine’s page at Commentary
-
The Commentary podcast
-
The Remnant (hosted by Jonah’s vocal doppelganger) with Josh Kraushaar
-
Christine: “Ban Kids From Social Media”
-
Christine: “The Mainstream Media Damaged our Children”
-
Jonah and Nick Schulz: “Gated or X-Rated?”
-
Christine: “How Trauma Became a Political Tool”
-
Jonah: “Who’s Oppressing Whom?”
-
The Remnant with Jonathan Rauch
-
The Fair Jessica: “Ms. Myths”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
While Jonah scrambles to escape the wilds of Alaska, Chris Stirewalt takes control of the Remnant to provide some exceedingly rank punditry. His guest is Josh Kraushaar, who joins to explore whether the Democrats really are doomed in the upcoming midterms and what we can expect from Republicans in the remaining primaries. Josh and Chris also consider some of the most pressing questions about the 2024 presidential election: Will Joe Biden run again? How will Trump affect the race? And have the January 6 hearings been helpful to Republicans?
Show Notes:
-
Josh’s page at National Journal
-
Josh’s podcast, Against the Grain
-
Chris’ page at The Dispatch
-
Democrats attack Mehmet Oz and David McCormick
-
Josh on the building Republican wave
-
How Brian Kemp crushed Trump in Georgia
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Sarah and David breeze through a few Supreme Court opinions released Tuesday to focus on United States v. Taylor, and how Maine is more rural than Alaska (go figure). David points out that Carson v. Makin, which held that Maine’s “nonsectarian” requirement in schools violated the Free Exercise Clause, is yet another victory for religious liberty in the U.S. And finally, a casual discussion of toddler yoga, skirt skepticism, and how to have fun at your job.
Show Notes:
-United States v. Taylor
-Carson v. Makin
-Peltier v. Charter Day School
-CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective, LLC v. Tex. Alcoholic Beverage Comm’n
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
How does The Godfather relate to the January 6 hearings? Jonah has the answer on today’s early-morning Ruminant, which also features disquisitions on the Democrats’ economic malpractice, the asinine argument that those who didn’t vote for Trump are responsible for Biden’s failures, and the future of American democracy. Did January 6 create a constitutional crisis? Will the hearings embolden sane Republicans to speak honestly about Trump? And is it time to say buona sera to American life as we know it?
Show Notes:
-
The Wednesday G-File
-
How Jonah learned to stop worrying and love the January 6 committee
-
The Remnant with Chris Stirewalt
-
The Editors on the January 6 hearings
-
A criminal referral of Trump?
-
Andy McCarthy on how Trump should have been impeached
-
Noah Rothman: “The January 6 Commission’s Biggest Reveal”
-
Newt Gingrich: “Pelosi’s Stalinist Show Trial”
-
Jonah: “What I Got Wrong About Fascism”
-
The Remnant with Fr. Robert Sirico
-
The 500th Remnant-palooza
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Some folks are fascinated by the unfolding narrative of the January 6 hearings, but many are simply tuning out, feeling it is just more politics. This week David and Curtis help us think through why we should be paying attention to these hearings. They explore some of the underlying stories around the key players involved and how those stories not only impact how we think of these people, but perhaps even how we think of ourselves.
Show Notes:
-Megan N. Fontenot - Exploring the People of Middle-earth: Boromir the Brave
-Brooke Singman (Fox News) - Barr says parents taught him 'not to care what other people think' growing up, calls faith 'indispensable'
-Rivka Maizlish - Alasdair MacIntyre on Narrative, History, and the Unity of a Life
-Hannah Natanson and Moriah Balingit (Washington Post) - Caught in the culture wars, teachers are being forced from their jobs
-Ryan Grim (The Intercept) - Meltdowns Have Brought Progressive Advocacy Groups to a Standstill at a Critical Moment in World History
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
It’s been another week of interesting primary elections, and Sarah, David, Jonah, and Andrew discuss what we learned from Texas and South Carolina. Then our hosts dive into the details of the framework for a possible Senate gun bill and whether the House will learn to settle for compromise, not perfection. Finally, what are the key takeaways from the January 6 House Select Committee so far?
Show Notes:
-The Sweep: The Value of a Trump Endorsement
-The Dispatch: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the January 6 Committee
-The Sweep: The Politics of the January 6 Hearings
-Uphill: The Way Forward for the Senate’s Gun Violence Bill
-The Dispatch: Can We Make Red Flag Laws Work?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Rev. Robert Sirico, co-founder and president of the Acton Institute, joins the Remnant to discuss his new book, The Economics of the Parables, which uses Biblical stories to offer economic advice. With many on the right now embracing theocracy, it’s tempting to argue that the Catholic intellectual tradition is inherently at odds with capitalism. But Rev. Sirico disagrees, and he also isn’t convinced by the common left-wing argument that Jesus was a socialist. How can we heal the American heart? Should religion influence politics? And which of Rev. Sirico’s relatives might have Jonah whacked for the end of this podcast?
Show Notes:
-
The Economics of the Parables, Rev. Sirico’s new book
-
Rev. Sirico’s column
-
Jonah on the microcosm and the macrocosm
-
Understanding Voegelin
-
Arthur Brooks’ Who Really Cares?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Sarah and David tackle six rather technical Supreme Court opinions released on Wednesday, including Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v. Texas, involving a Native American tribe. Plus: What does the term “mare’s nest” actually mean? Sarah sheds some historical insight and discusses the primary results in South Carolina and Texas with David. They also briefly cover the Southern Baptist Convention and a recent lawsuit in Florida: Does the right to life trump a religious exemption to have an abortion?
Show Notes:
-Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v. Texas
-The Sweep: The Value of a Trump Endorsement
-Guttmacher: Long-Term Decline in US Abortion Reverses
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Thiru Vignarajah, former deputy attorney general of Maryland, joins Sarah to talk about all things Baltimore: violent crime, reforming police practices, and the Baltimore City state’s attorney race. Plus: What might help bring down gun violence in major cities?
Show Notes:
-Justiceforbaltimore.com
-French Press: Against Gun Idolatry
-The Dispatch: Can We Make Red Flag Laws Work?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Chris Stirewalt, America’s favorite rodeo expert, is back on the Remnant to provide an inside view of the January 6 hearings. He and Jonah explore how the hearings have played out so far and what we can expect the outcome to be, occasionally stopping for a few strange existential digressions. Will the hearings influence the midterms? What happened on election night when Fox decided to call Arizona? And how well does Chris know his Hume from his Haidt?
Show Notes:
-
Chris’ page at The Dispatch
-
Chris: “The January 6 Committee and Me”
-
Chris: “Trump’s Faction of One”
-
The Hangover with Steve Kornacki
-
Greta Van Awful
-
Jonah: “This Was Always the Plan”
-
Charles Krauthammer: “Bungled Collusion is Still Collusion”
-
The Remnant 500th episode extravaganza
-
Jonah: “The Parliamentary-Election Problem”
-
Jonah: “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Jan. 6 Committee”
-
Tim Miller on team normal
-
Earth’s greatest tweet
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah give a rundown of two Supreme Court opinions this week: Shinn v. Ramirez and Denezpi v. United States. They discuss an interesting phenomenon called stochastic terrorism as they cover the attempted murder of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The gun safety legislative package reached bipartisan compromises in the Senate, but will the House be a bigger hurdle? Our hosts think so.
Show Notes:
-Shinn v. Ramirez
-Denezpi v. United States
-Strickland v. Washington
-AEDPA Act of 1966
-French Press: "There Is No Right Person to Hate"
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Weird, overlong, and predictably devoid of substance, the drive-time Remnant format returns for another broadcast. Although today’s program begins with analysis of the January 6 hearings, it swiftly takes a turn for the eclectically surreal, as Jonah describes his obsession with pharmaceutical fine print, Ryan ponders the greatness of American dining halls, and Guy provides an account of his visit to a Kiss convention (yes, really). Oh, and to prevent things from becoming too pointless and indulgent (yeah, right) a few thoughts are also sprinkled in on the weakening of institutions and our fragile culture.
Show Notes:
-
The Dispatch breaks down the Jan 6 hearing
-
Jonah: “What I Got Wrong About Fascism”
-
The New York Times’ Jan 6 reconstruction
-
Stanford’s problematic dining halls
-
Jonathan Haidt on our uniquely stupid decade
-
Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park
-
Marvel’s Kiss comic book
-
Damnation Alley
-
The Remnant with Mike Gallagher
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Joining David and Curtis this week is Russell Moore, the director of Christianity Today’s Public Theology Project. With the Southern Baptist Convention taking place next week in the immediate aftermath of a 3rd party report on sexual abuse and institutional coverup, Russell helps us unpack some of what went wrong in his former denomination. He also offers helpful guidance on how church leaders and all followers of Christ should be responding to such situations (hint: it’s not to ignore it or cover it up). He also discusses the issue of “crazy as a church growth strategy,” suggesting that while we are not called to crazy, we are called to the strangeness (in the world’s eyes) of biblical fidelity, mixed with a healthy dose of rational thought.
Show Notes:
-Russell Moore (Christianity Today) - This Is the Southern Baptist Apocalypse
-David French (The Atlantic) - The Southern Baptist Horror
-Curtis Chang - The Southern Baptist Convention Sacrifices Congregants on the Altar of Power
-The Russell Moore Show: David Brooks Wants to Save Evangelicalism on Apple Podcasts
-Russell Moore’s newsletter
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol held its first hearing Thursday night. Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David discuss its fact-based and substantive approach to investigating what happened at the Capitol riots, and whether the Republican Party will hold former President Donald Trump accountable. Then our panel turns to the question of political violence in America: Is our political rhetoric out of control? Our hosts then cover how the California primaries are off to an interesting start with progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s recall on Tuesday.
Show Notes:
-TheDispatch: “Primetime Hearing Focuses on the Plan Behind January 6”
-TMD: “January 6 Revisited”
-Uphill: “January 6 Through the Images and Words of Those Who Lived It”
-The Dispatch: “What Chesa Boudin’s Recall Says About Criminal Justice Reform”
-The Atlantic: “How San Francisco Became a Failed City”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
It’s been a while since a recovering Marxist joined the Remnant, but Ruy Teixeira, political demographer and senior fellow at American Progress, is here to fill that void. In predictably wonky fashion, he and Jonah examine the future of the Democratic Party and how the progressive movement has changed in recent years. They also explore racism in American life, wokeism in universities, and Jonah’s renowned distaste for primaries. Whatever happened to the FDR coalition? Is Maoism back in style? And should we still be optimistic about America?
Show Notes:
-
Ruy’s newsletter, The Liberal Patriot
-
Ruy and John B. Judis’ The Emerging Democratic Majority
-
Ruy’s The Optimistic Leftist
-
Ruy: “Eyes Wide Shut”
-
Ruy: “How to Fix the Democratic Brand”
-
The Remnant with Francis Fukuyama
-
David Shor and the Democrats
-
Jonah: “That Shor Sounds Good”
-
Tyler Cowen on the Turing test
-
The Remnant with Elaine Kamarck
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Early Wednesday, police arrested an armed man only a block away from Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home. The man, who was charged with attempted murder, said he wanted to kill Kavanaugh and reportedly was carrying a pistol, a knife, and pepper spray. David and Sarah discuss the dangers of releasing public officials’ personal information online and the darker story behind the false sexual misconduct allegations at Kavanaugh’s 2018 confirmation hearing. They also dive into Justice Clarence Thomas’ opinion in Egbert v. Boule, and tackle questions from the mailbag.
Show Notes:
-Washington Post: “Man with weapon arrested near Brett Kavanaugh’s home, officials say”
-New Yorker: “Senate Democrats investigate a new allegation of sexual misconduct from Brett Kavanaugh’s college years”
-Vox: “The rape culture of the 1980s, explained by Sixteen Candles”
-Egbert v. Boule
-Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents
-Jason Aldean: “I Use What I Got”
-Engblom v. Carey
-Harlow v. Fitzgerald
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Armed with a smorgasbord of booze, Jonah reunites with Rep. Mike Gallagher for another half-baked extravaganza, in which the duo’s efforts to annex Greenland may finally come to fruition. Trap doors beneath escalators, dad-centric dating apps, and various bovine innovations are among the undercooked ideas proposed for your listening enjoyment, as well as a few novel solutions for the domestic crises sweeping our nation. Tune in also for excessive pop culture discussion, ruminations on the existence of extraterrestrials, and a possible new name for the Remnant.
Show Notes:
-
Jonah and Rep. Mike’s previous career-ruining encounter
-
Leonard E. Read’s “I, Pencil”
-
Fully baked
-
Jonathan Haidt: “Facebook’s Dangerous Experiment on Teen Girls”
-
Yuval Levin on why we’re still governed by baby boomers
-
Jonah on capes
-
Don’t F- with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer
-
Tupac’s hologram
-
Is Al Gore an alien?
-
The David Weigel suspension
-
Yuval Levin: “The Changing Face of Social Breakdown”
-
Jonah: “I Think We’re Turning Japanese”
-
Geoffrey Household’s Rogue Male
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, joins Steve to discuss the public’s eroding trust in politicians and the political system. An alarming Pew Research poll turns the conversation to how context and nuance have been lost in political journalism and campaign coverage. Steve and Todd also cover the Trump divide within the Republican Party, what the January 6 Committee might tell us this week, and, of course, whether the Green Bay Packers will make the Super Bowl next season.
Show Notes:
-Pew Research: “Americans’ Views of Government”
-The Sweep: “Why Issues Don’t Change Votes”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah breeze past three boring Supreme Court cases before answering listener questions on everything from the Ninth Amendment to hearsay rules and to a brutal discussion of their greatest disappointments. It's a potpourri podcast as a prelude to the avalanche of Supreme Court cases that awaits us all.
Show Notes:
-Siegel v. Fitzgerald
-Gallardo v. Marstiller
-Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon
-Gallup: “Abortion Poised to Be a Bigger Voting Issue Than in Past”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Jonah plunges into the danger zone on today’s Ruminant, covering topics ranging from the somber to the downright bizarre. After offering a few thoughts on Wednesday’s indulgent “news”letter and the nature of writer’s block, he turns to television, republicanism, and superstition, providing exceptionally nerdy disquisitions on each. Does the djinn genie live on his back? How does Jonah really feel about the Second Amendment? And after the success of the 500th Remnant-palooza, could further live events be coming soon?
Show Notes:
-
The Wednesday G-File
-
Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special
-
Justin Fenton’s We Own This City
-
The Remnant with Yuval Levin
-
The Remnant with Tony Mills
-
The Remnant with Francis Fukuyama
-
When market failure is government failure
-
The Remnant with Stephen Gutowski
-
David French on red flag laws
-
The Ayn Rand poster saga continues
-
The 500th Remnant-palooza
-
Have a minute to share The Dispatch?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
This week David and Curtis tackle the tough subject of gun violence. They look at the various tensions between gun rights and gun control and the hyper-polarized responses we are apt to have on one side or the other. They also help us take a step back to think through the “how” of approaching such a complex issue versus just the “what” of our preferred policy outcome.
Show Notes:
-Rand Corporation - Gun Policy in America
-Rand Corporation - How Gun Policies Affect Mass Shootings
-Malcolm Gladwell (New Yorker) - Thresholds of Violence: How school shootings catch on
-French Press - Pass and Enforce Red Flag Laws. Now.
-David French (The Atlantic) - What Critics Don’t Understand About Gun Culture
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started almost 100 days ago. Our hosts are here to discuss the latest from the war and America’s role. Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David then turn to the gun debate at home: Will mass shootings in recent weeks produce different political results than past tragedies? Finally they preview next week’s January 6 hearings on Capitol Hill.
Show Notes:
-French Press: “The Tide Is Turning Toward Russia”
-The Dispatch: “A Marshall Plan for Ukraine?”
-TMD: “100 Days of War in Ukraine”
-New York Times: “Voters Say They Want Gun Control. Their Votes Say Something Different.”
-New York Times: “A Timeline of Failed Attempts to Address U.S. Gun Violence”
-RAND: “How Gun Policies Affect Mass Shootings”
-RAND: “Facts About the Effects of Gun Policies Are Elusive but Important”
-The Reload: “NRA Revenue Dropped $47 Million in 2021, Down $130 Million From Just 3 Years Prior”
-San Diego Zoo Condor Cam
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Tony Mills, a senior fellow at AEI whose work focuses on science policy and political theory, joins the Remnant for an ultra-nerdy exploration of the American political tradition. He and Jonah examine whether liberalism alone can sustain the United States and why our experts have fallen into such low repute. Is free market capitalism corrosive? Why is civic republicanism important? And what are the advantages and disadvantages of bureaucracy?
Show Notes:
-
Tony’s page at AEI
-
The Remnant with Yuval Levin
-
Tony: “Liberalism is Not Enough”
-
Tony: “Illiberalism’s True Colors”
-
Russell Kirk and Lionel Trilling
-
The Remnant with Daniel Hannan
-
Daniel Burns: “Liberal Practice vs. Liberal Theory”
-
Schumpeter’s Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy
-
Daniel Bell’s The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism
-
James Burnham’s The Managerial Revolution
-
Orwell: “Second Thoughts on James Burnham”
-
Jonah on beastly bureaucracy
-
Tony: “Unmasking Scientific Expertise”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah cover a wide variety of topics, from the Amber Heard/Johnny Depp verdict, to the acquittal of Michael Sussman on charges of lying to the FBI in a case brought by special counsel John Durham, to a Pennsylvania election law dispute, and of course the Supreme Court’s decision in the Texas social media case. They end with a discussion of a new Gallup poll about abortion rights and a discussion of the many problems of issue polling.
Show Notes:
-NetChoice, LLC v. Paxton
-Sarah in Politico: “What Alito Should Have Written”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Edward B. Foley, professor and director of the election law program at Ohio State, and Nick Troiano, executive director of Unite America, join Sarah for a conversation about reforming primaries. What does primary reform look like? Their conversation covers political science, history, and math. That’s right math. Can math save democracy?
Show Notes:
-Requiring Majority Winners for Congressional Elections
-Foley in the Washington Post: “How our system of primary elections could destroy democracy”
-The Sweep: “A Focus on the Problem with Primaries”
-Unite America: “America Has a Primary Problem”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
At long last, the Remnant-palooza celebrating Jonah’s 500th episode is here for your listening pleasure. Recorded live at the American Enterprise Institute before a crowd of Dispatch devotees, the episode features two panel discussions featuring three of the program’s most cherished guests. To begin, Sen. Ben Sasse joins Jonah for an hour of high-minded eggheadery, covering the merits of Bigfoot erotica, the loss of a common American culture, and how we can heal the political wounds caused by populism and negative polarization. Then, Chris Stirewalt and A.B. Stoddard take the stage for rank punditry on the midterm elections and what we can expect from the next presidential election. Finally, Jonah fields questions from the audience, greets a special guest, and offers a few words of appreciation for those who’ve made The Remnant so successful. It’s been a weird and wonderful journey to 500 episodes, and we’re grateful to you all for sharing it with us.
Show Notes:
-
The Remnant’s first episode
-
Jonah on mandatory voting
-
Renaming natural gas
-
There he goes again…
-
A.B.: “Trump - Maker of Clusters, Not Kings”
-
Chris on the prospect of Trump 2024
-
Yuval Levin: “Trump Party or Trump Faction?”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Joining David and Curtis this week is special guest Nancy French. In a departure from her normal work as a best selling author, Nancy has spent the last 2 years investigating cases of sexual abuse and institutional coverup at one of the nations largest Christian summer camps, Kanakuk Kamps in Branson, Missouri. Going beyond mere reporting on what happened, our hosts help frame the sad situation at Kanakuk in the broader context of the calling we all have to first tell the truth about the institutions we engage with, but also to work toward their repentance and repair.
Show Notes:
-Frederick Buechner - Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale
-Nancy French (USA Today) - Survivors, ex-employees say Kanakuk Christian camp 'ministered' to its sexual predators
-Curtis Chang - The Southern Baptist Convention Sacrifices Congregants on the Altar of Power
-Check out Nancy French’s investigative work at NancyFrench.com
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
It’s another very, very early morning Ruminant today, yet somehow Jonah is annoyingly bombarded with texts at the start of the podcast. After figuring out how to stop the interruptions, he delves into what he thinks are the essential books for all conservatives to read. Then, sadly, he shares his thoughts on shootings, guns, body armor, and more. Stick around to hear Jonah’s thoughts on the latest iterations of Star Trek. Finally, a potpourri of topics: Is Jonah actually optimistic about the future of the GOP? Why are we obsessed with “having an honest conversation?”
Show Notes:
-
Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek
-
The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism by F. A. Hayek
-
The Use of Knowledge in Society by F.A. Hayek
-
Why I Am Not a Conservative by F. A. Hayek
-
Keeping the Tablets: Modern American Conservative Thought by William F. Buckley Jr. (Contributor), Charles R. Kesler (Editor)
-
The Portable Conservative Reader by Russell Kirk
-
Irving Kristol Essays
-
The Remnant with Stephen Gutowski
-
Sen. Ted Cruz's “American exceptionalism” interaction with reporter
-
GLoP Culture Podcast
-
Klon Kitchen on the Heritage Foundation
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
On Tuesday, an 18-year-old gunman fatally shot 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Our hosts are here to discuss the latest updates and what comes next. Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David then turn to this week’s round of primaries. What did they learn? They finish by discussing the latest from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. What does Russia’s Black Sea blockade mean for the world?
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch: “After Uvalde, What Now?”
-Uphill: “Mass Shootings Reignite Gun Control Debate in Washington”
-French Press: “Pass and Enforce Red Flag Laws. Now.”
-The Sweep: “A Focus on the Problem with Primaries”
-TMD: “A Big Night for GOP Incumbents”
-The Dispatch: “Georgia Republicans Stick With Kemp by a Wide Margin”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah talk about the Southern Baptist Convention sex abuse scandal, including the role that lawyers play in compounding the injustice of sex abuse in religious institutions. They also talk about an interesting insurrection election eligibility decision in the 4th Circuit and circle back to red flag laws. They also discuss the nature of courage and cowardice under fire.
Show Notes:
-Southern Baptist Convention sexual abuse report
-David in The Atlantic: “The Southern Baptist Horror”
-Cawthorn v. Amalfi
-French Press: “Pass and Enforce Red Flag Laws. Now.”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Jonah is both excited and sad for today’s Remnant guest because Stephen Gutowski might just be the smartest person in the media today to talk about guns and mass shootings, but that means there was another mass shooting to talk about. Gutowski, founder of The Reload, comes on to talk about guns, gun laws, and the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. What even is an AR-15? Should they be banned? What does the “media” get wrong every time something like this happens? What is a “mass shooting?” What, if anything, can be done to help prevent these events?
Show Notes:
-
The Reload: Sober, Serious Firearms Reporting and Analysis
-
Sign up for The Reload’s free newsletter
-
The Reload Podcast
-
The Reload Podcast with David French
-
National Institue of Justice study
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah talk about the terrible school shooting in Texas and explore various gun control proposals, including red flag laws. They also talk about a new Second Amendment case and its potential relationship to the First Amendment. Next up is the Florida social media law regulation. They end with a brief look at a Pennsylvania election law case that could decide the 2022 Republican Senate primary.
Please note this episode was taped the evening of the school shooting in Texas. Technical difficulties delayed its release.
Show Notes:
-French Press: “Pass and Enforce Red Flag Laws. Now.”
-USA v. Ignacio Jimenez-Shilon
-NetChoice v. Attorney General, State of Florida
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Erick Erickson, host of the Erick Erickson Show, joins Steve for a conversation about what we learned from the primary election results in Georgia, and what it all means for November and beyond. Steve is then joined by Khaya Himmelman to discuss her fact check of Dinesh D’Souza’s new documentary film 2,000 Mules.
Show Notes:
-Erick Erickson: “Trump's 2000 Mules Got Stuck in Georgia Clay”
-Erick Erickson: “The Democrats Don't Want a Solution to Gun Violence”
-Khaya’s fact check: “Fact Checking Dinesh D’Souza’s ‘2,000 Mules’”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
James “Jimmy P” Pethokoukis makes his long-awaited Remnant return to assure us that life really is better than it used to be. Alternating between gratuitous sci-fi references and shameless wonkery, he and Jonah explore dynamism in American life, the potential for a new Roaring ‘20s, and the future of technology. Is there a case for universal basic income? Will Elon Musk become the next Howard Hughes? And what can we expect from the new space age?
Show Notes:
-
Jim’s page at AEI
-
Jim’s Substack, Faster, Please!
-
Jonah reviews The Reactionary Mind
-
Jim’s idea of a “post-modern” U.S. economy
-
America’s new space age
-
Jim on Musk’s Twitter takeover
-
Kevin Williamson on the strange case of billionaires
-
Jim explores Americans’ views on trade
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
In this special episode of the Good Faith podcast we pause to reflect on the tragic shooting in Buffalo and explore its underlying racial motivations, so-called “white replacement theory.” Joining David and Curtis (and producer Kris) is our special guest Chuck Mingo, pastor and founder of Living Undivided. Chuck helps us unpack some of the history behind this insidious “theory” and why its scarcity mindset is in direct contradiction to the abundance of God revealed in the Bible. The discussion also explores the connection of this current tragedy and its motivations to broader understandings of immigration, as well as to the nation’s past history of racially motivated violence like the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
Show Notes:
-Cathy Young (The Bulwark) - The Replacement Theory -- And Terrorist Practice
-Jesse Curtis (Washington Post) - The mass shooting in Buffalo reflects deeply rooted American ideas
-Michael Gerson (Washington Post) - GOP leaders ought to banish officials who embrace ‘replacement theory’
-David French (The Atlantic) - The Truth About Extremism That America Likes to Forget
-The bloody history of anti-Asian violence in the West
-Andy Crouch - Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power
-Check out Chuck Mingo’s critically important work at Undivided.com
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
Jonah’s in especially ranty form on today’s Ruminant, which finds him once again deprived of sleep thanks to the wailings of a local fox. He begins by offering a few further thoughts on the relationship between religion and politics following Tim Alberta’s Remnant appearance. Afterward, rank punditry ensues, as Jonah explores how both parties are harming the United States through their concern for short-term power above all else. Stick around for lengthy disquisitions on the Great Replacement theory, immigration, and pluralism.
Show Notes:
-
The Remnant with Tim Alberta
-
Tim: “How Politics Poisoned the Evangelical Church”
-
Jonah ruminates on abortion
-
National Review’s “Editors” podcast on the Pennsylvania race
-
Last Friday’s G-File
-
Jonah: “Never Trump Nevermore”
-
The Remnant with Yascha Mounk
-
Wednesday’s “news”letter
-
The Dispatch Podcast on the Buffalo tragedy
-
The Remnant with Paul Bloom
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Following a man’s racist attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, in which he killed 10 people and wounded three more, our hosts are here to discuss what it means for our politics and culture. Sarah, Jonah, and Declan then discuss the baby formula shortage. How did the Biden administration drop the ball? And finally, reactions to the latest round of primaries around the country.
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch: “A Look at the State of Red Flag Laws After Buffalo”
-TMD: “Grappling With the Buffalo Mass Shooting”
-Capitolism: “America’s Infant Formula Crisis and the ‘Resiliency’ Mirage”
-The Sweep: “Headed Toward a Recount in Pennsylvania”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
At long last, David and Sarah address the biggest issue in America today--the state of the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard defamation trial. They also talk about Ted Cruz's Supreme Court win, ask whether the Fifth Circuit destroyed the Securities and Exchange Commission, discuss an interesting case against Alaska Airlines, and end with a bit of legal/political potpourri.
Show Notes:
-Axios: “America more interested in Depp-Heard trial than abortion”
-Patel v. Garland
-Federal Election Comm’n v. Ted Cruz
-Jarkesy v. SEC
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Tim Alberta of The Atlantic joins Jonah to talk about his latest piece How Politics Poisoned the Evangelical Church. The story and the evangelical church is personal to Alberta, as he grew up a “pastor’s kid” in Brighton, Michigan, and has witnessed a changing of the church from the frontlines. What surprised him about writing this piece? Why is he “angry”? Plus, stick around to the end for some rank, 2024 GOP presidential punditry.
Show Notes:
How Politics Poisoned the Evangelical Church by Tim Alberta
Tim’s Twitter
Tim’s Atlantic page
The Dispatch Podcast episode mentioning Tim’s piece
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Joining this week’s Dispatch Podcast with Sarah is former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. Esper was also secretary of the Army during the Trump administration, and in his new book, A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times, he talks about the challenges that came with working under President Trump. In the podcast, Esper and Sarah discuss life on the inside of the administration, Esper’s infamous “Four Nos,” and what he sees as the greatest threat to the United States today. Hint, his fears are more about things happening inside the country, not outside.
Show Notes:
-A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times
-Esper Paints Chaotic Picture of Trump Administration’s Middle East Policy, by Charlotte Lawson
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Yascha Mounk makes his second appearance on The Remnant, this time to discuss his new book, The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure. In a conversation tailor-made for holders of the Remnant bingo card, Yascha and Jonah discuss the dangers of tribalism and populism, America’s crisis of community, and what patriotism should look like. They also examine America’s shifting demographics and take a deep dive into the nuances of liberal philosophy.
Show Notes:
-
Yascha’s web page
-
The Great Experiment
-
Yascha’s previous Remnant appearance
-
The coalitional instinct
-
The cult of unity
-
The Remnant with Yuval Levin
-
The Remnant with Francis Fukuyama
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
It’s a special edition of Advisory Opinions as David and Sarah talk to Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The discussion ranges far and wide but includes a focus on a subject we don’t talk enough about: state constitutional law.
Show Notes:
-“51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law” by Judge Jeffrey Sutton
-“Who Decides?: States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation” by Judge Jeffrey Sutton
-Revisionist History: “The Tortoise and the Hare”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah spend serious time talking about social media censorship, modern "public squares," and the ability of Texas and Florida to moderate Twitter and Facebook. They also dive into the legality of picketing at home, answer listener questions, and start a conversation about abortion and philosophy that they'll finish live and in-person in Miami on Monday.
Show Notes:
-Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck
-Washington Post: “Yes, experts say protests at SCOTUS justices’ homes appear to be illegal”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
It is increasingly obvious that teenagers across the country are experiencing a spike in anxiety, often with serious and debilitating consequences. This week David and Curtis speak to one of the foremost experts on the subject, Kara Powell, executive director of the Fuller Youth Institute. Kara’s well-researched and empathetic insights are critical for all of us to help the teens in our lives navigate these challenging times.
Show Notes:
-Faith in an Anxious World: A 4-week High School Curriculum
-Faith in an Anxious World Parenting Podcast
-Matt Richtel (New York Times): “‘It’s Life or Death’: The Mental Health Crisis Among U.S. Teens”
-Tosin Thompson (Nature): “Young people’s climate anxiety revealed in landmark survey”
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org and specifically check out the course Anxiety as Opportunity for Spiritual Growth
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
Haunted by the wailings of a local fox, Jonah brings an elevated degree of curmudgeonliness to today’s wide-ranging Ruminant. After offering some further thoughts on the hyper-politicization of American society and the erosion of institutions, Jonah turns to abortion, dispelling a few common myths and outlining what post-Roe law should look like. He also explores inflation, the ongoing Ukraine conflict, and what separates a eulogy from a resume. Plus, tune in for more details on the Remnant’s upcoming 500th episode extravaganza.
Show Notes:
-
The Remnant with Yuval Levin
-
WeRateDogs
-
Washington Post journalists prove Yuval and Jonah’s point
-
Jonah explains his abortion views
-
The New Republic blasts Justice Alito
-
The Wednesday G-File
-
Midge Decter, R.I.P.
-
Biden’s recent inflation speech
-
The Wall Street Journal on the looming battle in eastern Ukraine
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
The economic state of America, which technically may be improving according to the latest inflation numbers, is still not good. The gang (with deputy managing editor Michael Scott Reneau stepping in for Steve) discuss it and home in on why that’s bad news for Democrats. Plus, Tim Alberta of The Atlantic just wrote a profile of evangelical churches in America and it is so good Sarah, David, Jonah, and Michael had to talk about it and the state of evangelicalism on today’s episode. And finally, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer held a vote on abortion access in America which failed miserably. What the heck was he thinking? Finally, what is the legacy of John Brown?
Show Notes:
-TMD on the latest inflation numbers and baby formula shortage
-Tim Alberta on the evangelical church
-Politico: Senate Democrats’ imaginary majority
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Yuval Levin returns to the Remnant to provide his signature brand of edifying eggheadery. Institutions, the culture war, and the necessity of staying in your lane are all covered in this high minded conversation. Jonah and Yuval also discuss America’s unique fusion of liberalism and republicanism and what we can expect from abortion law if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Plus, tune in for an update on the Remnant’s special 500th episode live event.
Show Notes:
-
Yuval’s page at AEI
-
Yuval: “How to Curb the Culture War”
-
The Wednesday G-File
-
Francis Fukuyama’s Liberalism and its Discontents
-
The Remnant with Francis Fukuyama
-
Daniel E. Burns: “Liberal Practice v. Liberal Theory”
-
Carl Eric Scott: “The Five Conceptions of Liberty”
-
Yuval on Obama’s second inaugural
-
Yuval: “Family Policy After Roe”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
There is no shortage of stuff to talk about in This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future, the new book by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns, and Steve does his best to discuss all of it in this week’s Dispatch Podcast. As Steve says, “The book makes you feel like you are in the room.” The trio breaks it all down—from January 6, those now infamous Kevin McCarthy recordings, and the early days of the Biden administration. Burns and Martin respond to McCarthy’s accusation that they took his comments “out of context.” Plus, why does Biden want to “do it all?” Finally, how do the authors deal with critics on the right that immediately write them off because they work for The New York Times?
Show Notes:
-This Will Not Pass by Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns
-Recordings of McCarthy saying he will urge President Trump to resign
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Beth Akers, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins The Remnant for extreme wonkery on student debt and the economics of higher education. Why have the Democrats become so fixated on the issue of forgiving student loan debt, and can a moral argument be made for forgiveness? Furthermore, are most graduate programs pointless? How can we fix America’s universities? And can anyone match Jonah’s raw disdain for journalism schools?
Show Notes:
-
Beth’s page at AEI
-
Beth’s first book, Game of Loans
-
Beth’s latest book, Making College Pay
-
Beth on why student loan cancellation will backfire
-
Jonah ruminates on student debt
-
The Remnant with Alex Tabarrok
-
Bryan Caplan’s The Case Against Education
-
Bryan on Beth’s podcast, “An Economist Goes to College”
-
Bryan on the Remnant
-
WSJ: “The Elite Master’s Degrees That Don’t Pay Off”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Sarah and David talk more about the leaked draft opinion in Dobbs, but this time with a First Amendment twist. Activists have encouraged protesters to demonstrate outside the homes of the conservative Supreme Court justices. Does it violate the First Amendment to ban protests outside a justice’s home? Is it dangerous and foolish even if it’s lawful? Also, they track the political fallout and discuss three very different polls. Each of them is interesting. One of them is an outlier.
Show Notes:
-Washington Post: “How the future of Roe is testing Roberts on the Supreme Court”
-Reason: “Washington Post Reports On More SCOTUS Leaks”
-Pew: “America’s Abortion Quandary”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
The drive-time Remnant format returns for another eclectic broadcast that, initially at least, comes dangerously close to providing actual substance. In predictably freewheeling fashion, Jonah, Guy, and Ryan explore the abortion debate and how the culture war manifests in various cultures, evaluate the merits of The Batman, and ponder when China’s influence on Hollywood will decrease. They also make an exciting announcement: On May 24th, the Remnant’s 500th episode will be recorded live at the American Enterprise Institute, and Dispatch subscribers are invited to attend. Tune in to hear all the juicy details, and keep a close eye on the site over the coming days for more information.
Show Notes:
- The Wednesday G-File
-The Remnant with Chris Stirewalt
-
Yascha Mounk’s The Great Experiment
-
Last week’s nerdtastic GLoP
-
Lady Liberty stands tall
-
Jonah: “A Slow Kowtow to China”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
What does the surprise leak of Justice Alito’s opinion in the highly anticipated case Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization reveal about the intellectual integrity of his legal argument? What does it perhaps reveal about the integrity of the institution of the Supreme Court itself? In the midst of all the controversy and preliminary conclusions, David and Curtis try to help us think through this complex cultural moment through the lens of integrity.
Show Notes:
-Caitlin Flanagan: “The Dishonesty of the Abortion Debate”
-Romney Discusses the State of Family Policy and the Child Tax Credit with AEI
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
What are we to make the Justice Samual Alito’s leaked draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health? Our hosts are here to discuss as the politics of abortion take shape. Sarah, Jonah, and David then pivot to what they learned from Tuesday’s primary elections. And finally, what does all of this mean for Trump’s chances in 2024?
Show Notes:
-David and Sarah’s podcast breaking down the Suprme Court leak
-French Press: “The Supreme Court Abortion Leak—Your Questions, Answered”
-G-File: “Why Joe Biden Hates Saying the A-Word”
-The Sweep: “What Does J.D. Vance’s Victory Tell Us About the Midterms?”
-Sarah in the Washington Post: “We in the ‘shallow state’ thought we could help. Instead, we obscured the reality of a Trump presidency.”
-Smithsonian’s National Zoo: “Tragic Loss of Animal Life at Smithsonian’s National Zoo”
-DCist: “There’s An Angry Turkey Attacking People On The Anacostia Riverwalk”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Fairy tales can come true, and it may happen to you on today’s Remnant, which sees Jonah reunite with Chris Stirewalt for more rank punditry, dated pop culture references, and gratuitous Clinton bashing. They begin by exploring the Roe leak, digging into what it means for abortion law and how Biden should handle the situation, before turning to J.D. Vance’s victory in Ohio and what we can expect from the Pennsylvania Senate primary. Tune in for political insight, but stick around to see whether Jonah and Chris can resist discussing testicle tanning.
Show Notes:
-
Chris’ page at The Dispatch
-
The Remnant with Francis Fukuyama
-
The Remnant with H.R. McMaster
-
The Remnant with Thomas Chatterton Williams
-
The Brimley/Cocoon Line
-
The Wednesday G-File
-
The Dispatch breaks down J.D. Vance’s win
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah spend more time on the leaked draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito on Dobbs and ask the question: If Alito's opinion holds, what does that mean for gay marriage? They also discuss last week's Supreme Court ruling that the city of Boston violated the First Amendment by refusing to fly a Christian group’s flag and then discuss "After School Satan" more than any podcast in human history. They finish with a discussion of a great concurrence in an infuriating case.
Show Notes:
-G-File: “Why Joe Biden Hates Saying the A-Word”
-Sarah in Politico: “Abortion Might Not Be the Wedge Issue It Used to Be”
-David in The Atlantic: “What Alito Got Right”
-Shurtleff v. Boston
-Wearry v. Foster
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney joins Steve for a discussion on the state of the economy and how to rein in inflation. Plus, the senator answers questions about canceling student debt, the Supreme Court abortion leak, J.D. Vance’s victory in Ohio, and the latest from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Show Notes:
-Romney in the Wall Street Journal: “Biden’s Errors Worsen Inflation”
-Capitolism: “Is President Biden Trying to Boost Inflation?”
-TMD: “Washington Gears Up for a Post-Roe Future”
-The Dispatch: “Non-Interventionist Republicans: A Small, Vocal Minority”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Retired Gen. H.R. McMaster—Hoover Institution senior fellow, former national security adviser, and foreign policy expert—makes his first appearance on the Remnant to discuss China, Russia, and Afghanistan. He and Jonah examine what led to the war in Ukraine, the likelihood of Xi Jinping invading Taiwan, and whether institutional failures were to blame for the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal. They also dig into America’s shifting role on the world stage and what our defense budget should look like. By the end, one question remains unanswered: What’s the best war movie ever made?
Show Notes:
-
McMaster’s page at the Hoover Institution
-
“GoodFellows,” McMaster’s group video show at Hoover
-
“Battlegrounds,” McMaster’s interview program
-
Battlegrounds, McMaster’s latest book
-
Dereliction of Duty, McMaster’s first book
-
Putin’s case for invading Ukraine
-
The Remnant with Klon Kitchen
-
Sergei Lavrov compares Zelensky to Hitler
-
The Remnant with Hal Brands on Cold War history
-
The Economist on countries faking their COVID numbers
-
Operation Market Garden
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
In an emergency podcast, David and Sarah discuss the leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s abortion opinion. Why did someone leak it? What are the ramifications for the Supreme Court? What should we make of Alito's opinion? What are the political consequences? All that and more in an unprecedented emergency pod for an unprecedented Supreme Court leak.
Show Notes:
-Politico: “Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows”
-TMD: “Supreme Court Reportedly Poised to Overturn Roe v. Wade”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah talk about the Supreme Court as they discuss the fate of Trump's Migrant Protection Protocols, talk about yet another win for the First Amendment, and revisit Coach Kennedy's prayers. Then they move on to analyze one of the wildest and strangest qualified immunity cases yet and the prospects of Florida's social media censorship bill. Sarah ends with a potpourri of topics, including tales from the White House Correspondents Association dinner.
Show Notes:
-Shurtleff v. Boston
-Biden v. Texas
-David in The Atlantic: “Let Coach Kennedy Pray”
-Supreme Court bingo
-SCOTUSblog: “In sequel to McGirt, justices will again review scope of state prosecutorial power in Indian country”
-Washington Post: “The suspect told police ‘give me a lawyer dog.’ The court says he wasn’t asking for a lawyer.”
-Eleventh Circuit oral arguments recordings
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
On the mend from his sudden bout of illness, Jonah approaches today’s Ruminant with his standard level of nerdy panache. After offering a few thoughts on how The Tyranny of Clichés holds up today, he commences a lengthy rant on why canceling student debt would be a serious moral and political blunder, before turning to Francis Fukuyama’s work on liberalism. What does the relationship between virtue and responsibility look like? When is grad school worthwhile? And is John Rawls one of history’s greatest monsters?
Show Notes:
-
The Remnant with David French
-
The Remnant with Francis Fukuyama
-
Wednesday’s totally uncontroversial G-File
-
Game of Loans, by Beth Akers and Matthew M. Chingos
-
Puppet Master
-
Shoshana Weissman on occupational licensing
-
WSJ: “The Elite Master’s Degrees That Don’t Pay Off”
-
Jonah reviews Nine Days
-
The Moynihan Report
-
Charles A. Reich’s The Greening of America
-
Jonah’s notes on nationalism
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
In this week’s episode David and Curtis explore the concept of the “partisan mind”; what it is, where it comes from, and why it is in conflict with the “mind of Christ”. They look at the social science behind partisan polarization and offer some practical tips on how we can tell when we are (and how we can avoid) falling into the snare of the partisan mind.
Show Notes:
-Nichole Argo Ben Itzhak (Over Zero) - The Science of Polarization and Insights for Bridge-building
-Barna: Pastors Share Top Reasons They’ve Considered Quitting Ministry in the Past Year
-Over Zero: Core Concepts on Social Identity, Negative Emotions and Group Norms
-Check out Biologos
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Follow Curtis’ work at RedeemingBabel.org
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
Most economic numbers paint a dire picture for Democrats in the upcoming midterms. Steve, Jonah, and David discuss who is exactly to blame for that. Then the trio wade into the debate over forgiving student loans. (Spoiler alert: They aren’t fans.) Will the woes in the Democratic Party produce a Ronald Reagan-type figure on the right? Plus, what is everyone’s opinion of the White House Correspondents Dinner?
Show Notes:
TMD on the economy numbers
Student loan forgiveness is regressive whether measured by income, education, or wealth | Brookings Institute
Kevin McCarthy recordings
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
It's a glorious podcast today as David and Sarah talk about a praying football coach, Miranda rights, and the hottest Supreme Court justices. They answer a key constitutional question: how undead is the Lemon Test?
Show Notes:
-SCOTUSblog: “Can you sue the police for Miranda violations?”
-Kennedy v. Bremerton School District
-PBS: “Chief Justice Roberts’ emotional tribute to retiring Justice Breyer”
-Hottest Supreme Court justices?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
On today’s Remnant, Francis Fukuyama finally stops by to discuss his new book, Liberalism and its Discontents, and Jonah can barely contain his enthusiasm. The resulting conversation is a feast of philosophical nerdery, which explores the origins of the liberal tradition, the state of liberalism in contemporary America, and the future of the free world. How did “neoliberal” become such a popular pejorative? What are the limits of federalism? And should we be optimistic about the political trajectory of the United States?
Show Notes:
-
Liberalism and its Discontents
-
The End of History and the Last Man
-
Our Posthuman Future
-
The Origins of Political Order
-
Dr. Fukuyama previews Liberalism and its Discontents in American Purpose
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Justice Scalia’s commencement speech
-
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s The Coddling of the American Mind
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Lanhee Chen is running for state controller in California, but what does a state controller do? Steve gets that answer, plus Chen’s thoughts on California’s fiscal state and his plan if he wins the election. Chen also discusses his experience running Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign’s policy shop.
Show Notes:
-Chen’s campaign website
-Los Angeles Times endorses Chen’s campaign
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Sick with a nasty fever, Jonah approaches today’s Remnant not as an emergency podcast, but a podcast imbued with a sense of emergency. His guest is David French, who returns for a lengthy discussion of Ron DeSantis’ feud with Disney and what it reveals about American polarization. Also on the docket is what we can expect from Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and how Jonah and David would change the site if they were given control. Stick around until the end for obligatory discussion of TV, movies, and other items of nerdy miscellanea.
Show Notes:
-
David’s page at The Dispatch
-
The Morning Dispatch breaks down Florida’s plan to annex Disney World
-
Charlie Cooke: “Ron DeSantis’s Misguided Attack on Disney’s Legal Status”
-
An extra-feisty Charlie Cooke on National Review’s “Editors” podcast
-
Jonah’s latest column on the Disney saga
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David: “How Twitter Beclowns the American Elite”
-
Nate Cohn and Kevin Quealy on the Democratic electorate
-
Francis Fukuyama’s Liberalism and its Discontents
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Sarah and David talk about the First Amendment, 14th Amendment, Puerto Rico, and progressive legal philosophy. They start with a big Supreme Court case that makes David fall asleep, move on to Clarence Thomas' musings, and then finish with an enlightening and interesting conversation with Steve Vladeck, law professor at the University of Texas, about the shadow docket, Kagan originalism, and much, much more. Oh, and David ends with a movie recommendation. Since his pop culture recommendations are infallible, you'll want to listen to the end.
Show Notes:
-City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, LLC
-Hill v. Colorado
-United States v. Vaello Madero
-New York Times: “Roberts Has Lost Control of the Supreme Court”
-The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent trailer
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
On today’s Ruminant, Jonah serves up a typically eclectic potpourri of rank punditry and historical nerdery. After exploring how, in almost literary fashion, Kevin McCarthy’s hidden normalcy has proved to be his undoing, Jonah turns to the origins of socialism, and what the Soviet approach to collectivism can tell us about Putin’s ambitions for Russia today. He also shares his thoughts on Florida’s Disney kerfuffle, modern architecture, and what we can expect from the upcoming midterms.
Show Notes:
-
The Remnant with Thomas Chatterton Williams
-
Kevin McCarthy’s political malpractice
-
Jonah: “Karl Marx’s Jew-Hating Conspiracy Theory”
-
The Remnant on Marx and antisemitism
-
The Remnant with Klon Kitchen
-
Elizabeth Warren’s midterm proposal
-
Jonah: “More Sandwiches, Less Kale Foam”
-
Ruy Texiera: “Eyes Wide Shut”
-
Charlie Cooke: “Ron DeSantis’s Misguided Attack on Disney’s Legal Status”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
How is it possible that the people who have harnessed technological progress to become the wealthiest nation in history are still so remarkably unhappy? Is it possible that we have asked technology to do too much? Is it perhaps impacting our ability to be fully formed humans? Join this fascinating conversation with David, Curtis, and Curtis’ old roommate Andy Crouch, who guides us in thinking about our relationship with technology and how to be more human.
Show Notes:
-Andy Crouch - The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World
-Jonathan Haidt - Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Check out Redeeming Babel’s job opening here
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
It was a busy week. The Justice Department is appealing a federal judge’s decision to strike down the CDC’s travel mask mandate. The Biden administration is standing by its plan to end Title 42, a pandemic-era border policy, despite pushback from Democrats. Texas and Florida have governors making their own questionable decisions. Netflix and CNN feel the full effects of the streaming wars. Plus, what did Kevin McCarthy say?
Show Notes:
-David and Sarah’s deep dive into the mask mandate decision
-Sarah’s immigration conversation with Ali Noorani
-Uphill: “Kevin McCarthy’s January 6 Lie”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah dive into the nationwide injunction ending the Biden administration's travel mask mandate, with Sarah adopting a "nope, yep, yep" approach to the decision and David countering with a "nope, yep, nope." They also discuss Gov. Ron DeSantis and the First Amendment and conclude with a rather amusing example of Uber getting exactly what it asked for… and not liking it at all.
Show Notes:
-Decision that struck down the federal mask mandate
-David Latt: “Musings On Mizelle's Mask-Mandate Magnum Opus”
-Ilya Somin: “Federal Court Rules Against CDC Transportation Mask Mandate”
-Andrew McCarthy: “What’s Wrong and What’s Right about Judge Mizelle’s Mask-Mandate Decision”
-O'Hare Truck Service, Inc. v. City of Northlake, 518 U.S. 712
-Bloomberg: “Trump Lawyer Sticks Uber With $91 Million Arbitration Bill for 'Reverse Bias' Claims”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Thomas Chatterton Williams, nonresident AEI fellow and writer at The Atlantic, joins the Remnant for the first time to discuss race and ethnicity in America. Thomas, who describes himself as “ex-black,” believes we need to “unlearn race” to fulfill the promise of the Declaration of Independence. But what would that entail in practice, and how can we move away from racial categories while preserving a diverse culture? Moreover, why is it beneficial to spend time residing in a foreign country? What are “American values?” And will France soon annex the United States?
Show Notes:
-
Thomas’ page at AEI
-
Thomas’ latest book, Self-Portrait in Black and White
-
Thomas: “My Family’s Life Inside and Outside America’s Racial Categories”
-
Thomas: “Saving Classics From Identity Politics”
-
Albert Murray’s The Omni-Americans
-
The Remnant with John McWhorter
-
Emmanuel Macron rejects wokeism
-
Jonah: “What if we Ran Our Elections Like France?”
-
James Baldwin: “The Discovery of What it Means to be an American”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
The Biden administration plans to end use of Title 42, the pandemic-era border policy, next month. The governor of Texas is busing migrants to the nation’s capital. Meanwhile, illegal border crossings are on the rise. Does anyone have a plan? Ali Noorani, president of National Immigration Forum and author of Crossing Borders, joins Sarah to discuss America’s immigration woes.
Show Notes:
-“Crossing Borders: The Reconciliation of a Nation of Immigrants” by Ali Noorani
-Room to Grow: Setting Immigration Levels in a Changing America
-Texas Tribune: “San Antonio and other Texas cities confront the spillover from the border migration crisis”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Jonah and Matt Continetti continue their tremendously nerdy adventure through the history of American conservatism today, taking us from the 1970s to the present. In a conversation tailor-made for holders of the Remnant bingo card, they discuss the Reagan Revolution, the Clinton years, the future of the conservative movement, and much more. Can the contemporary right hold off resurgent anti-Americanism? Could fascism happen here? And how many more times will Matt need to appear for Jonah to ask everything that’s on his mind?
Show Notes:
-
Matt’s page at AEI
-
The Right, available now
-
Part 1 of Jonah and Matt’s shameless nerdfest
-
Buckley’s The Unmaking of a Mayor
-
Barry Goldwater’s The Conscience of a Conservative
-
Milton and Rose Friedman’s Two Lucky People
-
Kevin Phillips’ The Emerging Republican Majority
-
John Patrick Diggins’ Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History
-
Stephen F. Hayward’s The Age of Reagan
-
Jonah: “Appetite for Power”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
In a glorious pod about which songs will be sung and tales will be told, Sarah and David talk about our puzzling and arbitrary death penalty, briefly discuss a pronoun case, and then talk about change. Why aren't we the people we were 10 years ago? Finally, they ask and answer the question: Do we need more trial lawyers on the Supreme Court?
Show Notes:
-Supreme Court order list
-Love v. Texas
-French Press: “American Racism: We’ve Got So Very Far to Go”
-National Review: “How the Supreme Court Became the Province of Cloistered Elites”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
After providing an update on his absence this week, Jonah begins today’s Ruminant on a note of uncertainty: He hasn’t decided whether an Elon Musk Twitter takeover is something we should welcome or fear. His mind is also occupied by the idea raised by Megan McArdle that Americans are increasingly “sidestepping institutions” in their daily lives, as well as Matt Continetti’s perspective on the term “right-winger.” Plus, tune in for a predictably nerdy disquisition on populism and why an old-fashioned liberal ethos is what separates conservatism from statism.
Show Notes:
-
The Remnant with Megan McCardle
-
Martin Kramer’s The War on Error
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The Remnant with Michael Brendan Dougherty
-
Part 1 of the Remnant’s Matt Continetti nerdapalooza
-
Father Coughlin: Man of the left
-
Louis Hartz’s The Liberal Tradition in America
-
Seymour Martin Lipsett’s American Exceptionalism
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Liberal democracy is under military threat abroad, and intellectual threat in America. And many of these domestic attacks are coming from within Christianity. So should Christians care about defending democracy? What are the connections between our Christian faith and America’s form of self-government? This week David and Curtis dive headlong into this deep and fascinating issue, including some history, some theology, and some critical guidance for why we Christians must indeed care about the state of our democracy and its institutions.
Show Notes:
-French Press: “A Christian Defense of American Classical Liberalism”
-Sarah Repucci & Amy Slipowitz (Freedom House): “Democracy Under Siege”
-From John Adams to Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Check out Redeeming Babel’s job opening here
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report this week, and our hosts are here to talk through it. What does this all mean for the upcoming midterms and 2024? They will discuss that too. Plus, Sweden and Finland are looking to join NATO. What does this mean for the Western alliance? What should we expect from Russia?
Show Notes:
-TMD: “Light at the End of the Inflation Tunnel?”
-The Sweep: “Tsunami or Ripple? What a Midterm Wave Might Look Like.”
-The Sweep: “To Agenda or Not? That Is the Question for the GOP.”
-TMD: “Finland and Sweden Weighing NATO Bids”
-New York Times: “Military Memo Deepens Possible Interstellar Meteor Mystery”
-WUSA: “Teens among seven people arrested after detectives find dog reportedly taken at gunpoint”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah start with a short talk about Elon Musk and his quest to buy Twitter, then talk about a fascinating 6th Circuit concurrence that's the best two-page explainer of nationwide injunctions that's available anywhere, and they wind up with an extended discussion of library book bans, and how to judge what's best for kids.
Show Notes:
-House passes bill to honor Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg
-Arizona, et al. v. Biden, et al.
-PEN America: “Banned in the USA: Rising School Book Bans Threaten Free Expression and Students’ First Amendment Rights”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
The Remnant ascends to a higher plane of nerdom today, as Matthew Continetti returns to discuss his new book, The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism. This episode presents the first half of a two-hour conversation between Jonah and Matt, which takes us on a freewheeling journey from the ‘20s to the ‘70s. They begin by exploring whether it’s possible to provide a simple definition of conservatism before digging deeply into the evolution of the movement. What did conservatism look like before the New Deal? How did William F. Buckley Jr. shape modern politics? Is fusionism still relevant? And how should we remember figures like Richard Nixon, Calvin Coolidge, and George Wallace? All of these questions and more are addressed within. But to learn about the Reagan era onward, and to hear some of Jonah’s quibbles with the book, you’ll have to tune in next week.
Show Notes:
-
Matthew’s page at AEI
-
The Right, available now
-
George Nash’s The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945
-
Richard Weaver’s Ideas Have Consequences
-
Russell Kirk’s The Conservative Mind
-
Matthew previews The Right in the Wall Street Journal
-
Frank Meyer’s reluctant and apologetic essay collection, What Is Conservatism?
-
Lionel Trilling’s The Liberal Imagination
-
The Remnant with Stephanie Slade
-
How William F. Buckley changed his mind on civil rights
-
Buckley’s The Unmaking of a Mayor
-
Barry Goldwater’s The Conscience of a Conservative
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Sarah and her guest are here to talk about sex. Christine Emba, a columnist for the Washington Post and author of the new book Rethinking Sex, examines our current sexual mores and finds them wanting. What’s the cause of today’s sexual malaise? What does a new sexual ethic look like? Listen (but maybe not with your young children) for those answers and more.
Show Notes:
-“Rethinking Sex” by Christine Emba
-Christine in the Washington Post: “Consent is not enough. We need a new sexual ethic.”
-David in The Atlantic: “Consent Was Never Enough”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
The Remnant gets wonky today as Klon Kitchen, AEI senior fellow and author of The Current newsletter for The Dispatch, returns to discuss Russia’s information war in Ukraine. With no end in sight for the conflict, Jonah and Klon explore what America’s intelligence support for Ukraine looks like and what other measures we could take to assist the country. They also touch on the veracity of Russia and China’s COVID statistics, what Putin’s war will mean for Taiwan, and how Klon would advise Joe Biden if he were summoned to the White House. Stick around until the end for obligatory dog discourse.
Show Notes:
-
Klon’s page at The Dispatch
-
Klon: “Why Russia’s Cyber Warriors Haven't Crippled Ukraine”
-
Daniel Hannan: “Vladimir Putin's kleptocracy will be his own undoing”
-
Mike Duncan on the Russian Revolution
-
The Remnant with Mike Duncan
-
Klon on semiconductors and the “splinternet”
-
The Remnant with Lyman Stone
-
Jonah: “Vladimir Putin, Brittle Oak”
-
The Remnant with Edward Carr
-
Klon: “School’s in Session”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Sarah and David address the very interesting announcement that Elon Musk won’t be joining Twitter’s board, including the clues about the reason that are not-so-hidden in Twitter’s announcement. They also discuss the acquittals in the alleged kidnapping plot of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and they talk to Catholic University law professor Joel Alicea about his new law review article, “The Moral Authority of Original Meaning.” Sarah ends the podcast with an interesting question.
Show Notes:
-Joel Alicea: “The Moral Authority of Original Meaning”
-“Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment” by Benjamin Storey and Jenna Silber Storey
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
This week David and Curtis offer a follow up discussion on fundamentalism, clarifying some key points from the previous episode and diving deeper into how we can become fundamentalists without even knowing it! Do our increasingly homogenous social groups perhaps push us toward fundamentalism and even radicalization? How might the presence of even a few diverse voices impact these groups? This then leads to a discussion about liberal democracy and how it is under assault, not just globally (as in Russia/Ukraine), but even here in the US. How should our Christian faith inform things like our system of government and our embrace (or rejection) of liberal democracy?
Show Notes:
-Cass Sunstein - The Law of Group Polarization
-Sign up for David’s French Press newsletter
-Check out Curtis’ series Anxiety as Opportunity for Spiritual Growth, available at RedeemingBabel.org. 20% discount for Good Faith listeners, use code: GoodFaith20
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
Jonah’s still in Chicago for today’s Ruminant, and he isn’t terribly comfortable with the pre-summer weather. Still, severe cold in spring is less frustrating than our political dysfunction, and Jonah has plenty to discuss on that front. After exploring the distinction between disinformation and misinformation and the state of American media bias, he turns to the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, Florida’s controversial education bill, and why misusing the term “groomer” is both immoral and tactically foolish for Republicans. Ready your bingo cards for a predictably freewheeling ride.
Show Notes:
-
The Remnant with Megan McCardle
-
Jonah on disinformation at the UChicago Institute of Politics
-
Soviet disinformation
-
The paradoxes of media bias
-
Jonah on the Kavanaugh allegations
-
Anne Applebaum’s UChicago panel
-
Anne Applebaum on Hunter Biden’s laptop
-
David French: “Against the ‘Groomer’ Smear”
-
The Remnant with Adam White
-
How Title IX became a political weapon
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
On Thursday, the Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Our hosts are here to discuss what her confirmation foreshadows for future Supreme Court fights. Plus, the Biden administration announced plans to end use of Title 42, a pandemic-era border policy, next month. What does that mean? Sarah, Jonah, and David finish the show discussing the practicality of bringing charges of war crimes as we learn more about the atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine.
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch: “The Bucha Massacre and the Horrors to Come”
-G-File: “Is It Okay to Use the ‘G-Word’?”
-The Dispatch: “What are Secondary Sanctions?”
-TMD: “How Will the U.S. Admit Ukraine's Refugees?”
-Uphill: “Congress Finally Meanders to a Russia Trade Bill”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Live from the Windy City, Jonah returns to the Remnant driver’s seat. He’s joined by Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle, who has plenty of thoughts on America’s strange plague of mobocratic thinking and workplace safetyism. The pair also explore Jonah’s distaste for public sector unions, Megan’s opposition to student loan forgiveness, and the circumstances in which populism can be put to good use. Plus, for all you bingo cardholders, there’s plenty of dingo discussion and kvetching about primaries mixed in.
Show Notes:
-
Megan’s page at the Washington Post
-
Megan: “It’s time for major institutions to make their employees get off of Twitter”
-
Grace Metalious’ Peyton Place
-
Sleeping with the fishes
-
The New Yorker “flyover country” cover
-
Jonah and Elaine Kamarck talk primaries
-
Megan on student loans
-
The Remnant with David French and Jonathan Rauch
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah talk about a fascinating Supreme Court case that no one is discussing, unleash again on Yale Law School, and then spend the last few minutes on Sarah’s game show idea—a revolutionary combination of social science and dating advice. Plus, book recommendations!
Show Notes:
-Louisiana v. American Rivers
-Thompson v. Clark
-“Rethinking Sex: A Provocation” by Christine Emba
-David in The Atlantic: “Consent Was Never Enough”
-Christine Emba: “Consent is not enough. We need a new sexual ethic.”
-“Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages” by Dan Jones
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Rep. Cheri Bustos is leaving Congress at the end of this term. What has she learned from her five terms in the House and—as the former leader of the House Democrats’ campaign arm—from the 2020 election? How can Democrats improve their prospects in the 2022 midterms? Sarah gets these answers and more in a candid conversation with the Illinois congresswoman.
Show Notes:
-Hope from the Heartland: How Democrats Can Better Serve the Midwest by Bringing Rural, Working Class Wisdom to Washington
-How Dems Win in Trump Districts
-The Sweep: “Tsunami or Ripple? What a Midterm Wave Might Look Like.”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
While Jonah traverses the Virginia woodlands, David French assumes control of the Remnant. His guest is Jonathan Rauch, who returns to provide a refreshingly calm perspective on our debates over gender and inclusion. After breaking down the history of the LGBTQ movement, Jonathan and David evaluate the Lia Thomas situation, Florida’s controversial education bill, and how conservatives should approach radical gender ideology. They also discuss a potential academic pushback against cancel culture, and the dangers of misusing the term “groomer” for political gain.
Show Notes:
-
Jonathan’s previous Remnant appearance
-
Jonathan’s latest book, The Constitution of Knowledge
-
The French Press
-
Jonathan: “Walking the Transgender Movement Away from the Extremists”
-
Jonathan: “What’s Happening on the Left Is No Excuse for What’s Happening on the Right”
-
David reviews Andrew Sullivan’s Out on a Limb
-
David and Nancy’s Kanakuk Kamps exposé
-
Does the anti-woke right pose a threat?
-
Scott Alexander on liberalism
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah have much to discuss in today's podcast. They walk through a troubling 4th Circuit decision on race-motivated changes to a Virginia school's admissions policy, discuss a huge defamation verdict against Oberlin College, dive into the Disney wars in Florida, and finish with a quick (fake) legal battle over the titanic Duke/UNC clash at the Final Four.
Show Notes:
-Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board
-Gibson's Bakery v. Oberlin College
-UNC law students got results
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
In a continuation of our “What the Heck is . . .?” series, David and Curtis help us think about the concept of fundamentalism and how it fits into the current cultural moment. Is fundamentalism just a set of beliefs? Is it a way of approaching belief? Does it perhaps even extend beyond traditional religious belief to certain political beliefs? And where do uncertainty and humility fit into all of this? Join us as we unpack how fundamentalism functions both within the church and in the wider culture.
Show Notes:
-Richard Hofstadter (Harper’s Magazine): “The Paranoid Style in American Politics”
-Please consider taking our Podcast Survey (podsurvey.com/faith) to help us determine what types of advertisers you want to see on the Good Faith podcast
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodfaith.thedispatch.com
The drive-time Remnant format returns for another predictably eclectic broadcast. Today’s episode finds Jonah, Guy, and Ryan perplexed by Madison Cawthorn’s claims about D.C. debauchery, amused by conspiracy theories about Will Smith’s Oscars slap, and fascinated by the lowest moments of otherwise great TV shows. They also touch on Jonah’s latent arachnophobia, Guy’s animated obsessions, and Ryan’s fondness for Lucky Charms. By the end of it all, the Remnant may have conclusively jumped the shark.
Show Notes:
-
The Wednesday G-File
-
Hungary eyes
-
GLoP, slap edition
-
The Dispatch’s guide to Oscar nominees
-
The Remnant with Chris Stirewalt
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
President Biden announced he would tap our strategic oil reserves in an effort to fight high gas prices. Our hosts are here to discuss the economic realities of that decision. Plus, it was the slap heard around the world: Why can’t we stop talking about it? Sarah, Jonah, David, and Scott finish the show talking about gaffes, cocaine-fueled orgies, and standing in line.
Show Notes:
-TMD: “It’s a Petroleum Reserve Release, but Is It Strategic?”
-The Dispatch: “The Uncomfortable Truth of Biden’s Gaffe”
-G-File: “Madison Cawthorn’s Warped Washington”
-Capitolism: “Why You Should (Almost) Never Wait in Line”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
David and Sarah dive back into the free speech controversy at Yale and parse the difference between a statement being “disappointing,” “so disappointing,” and “bonkers town disappointing.” Then they talk about whether Trump committed a crime when he demanded that Mike Pence follow John Eastman’s legal advice. They end with a bit of fragrant Supreme Court potpourri that smells slightly like bacon.
Show Notes:
-A Message From Dean Gerken on the March 10 Protest
-Eastman v. Thompson
-Berger v. North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP
-Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith
-National Pork Producers Council v. Ross
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Chris Stirewalt, the Remnant’s official “break glass in case of emergency” guest, returns to explain why there actually is such a thing as a free lunch. Over a sumptuous breakfast of granola and omelettes, he and Jonah discuss Joe Biden’s dismal approval numbers and the state of the Democratic Party heading into the midterms. They also examine Madison Cawthorn’s wild claims about the GOP establishment, Ginni Thomas’ unfortunate texts, and the decline and fall of great TV shows. Stick around until the end to decide if “key bump” should be added to the Remnant bingo card.
Show Notes:
-
Chris’ page at The Dispatch
-
Jonah: “When Gaffes Become Policy”
-
Could Trump blow the midterms for the GOP?
-
Ohio’s Senate brawl
-
The Wednesday G-File
-
The Remnant with John Podhoretz
-
The Remnant with Adam White
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remnant.thedispatch.com
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1557 into law on Monday. The Parental Rights in Education Act—or “Don’t Say Gay” bill, as its detractors call it—is one of the most contentious and least understood pieces of legislation in recent memory.
On today’s podcast, Declan is joined by Gabriel Malor, an appellate litigator based in Virginia, and Eugene Volokh, a law professor at UCLA, for a thoughtful conversation that dives into the bill text and elucidates what the law does—and doesn’t—do. Plus: What are the benefits and drawbacks of writing legislation with vague terminology? And why is Florida passing this bill now? Are the political right and left swapping sides on the exercise of government power?
Show Notes:
-TMD: “Breaking Down the So-Called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.thedispatch.com
Adam White, AEI senior fellow and Jonah’s trusted law-talkin’ guy, makes his long-awaited Remnant return. The pair take a deep dive into the Ketanji Brown Jackson hearings and assess what we can expect from her jurisprudence before turning to the state of legal conservatism. With originalism under attack, will common good constitutionalism soon consume legal academia? Is “insurrection” an appropriate term for January 6? And can Jonah suppress his disdain for Adam’s profession and all it represents?
Show Notes:
-
Adam’s page at AEI
-
Adam on the Ketanji Brown Jackson hearings
-
Ketanji Brown Jackson, closet originalist?
-
Adam: “Mueller Agnoistes”
-
AEI’s nerdtastic event on Justice Alito
-
The Remnant with Cass Sunstein
-
Jonah: “Appetite for Power”
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David and Sarah welcome a special guest, Seth Kretzer, the lawyer who argued and won Ramirez v. Collier, the Supreme Court term’s biggest religious liberty case (so far). Sarah and David also talk about Ginni Thomas’s texts, vaccines at the Supreme Court (again), free speech, and Will Smith.
Show Notes:
-David in The Atlantic: “The Worst Ginni Thomas Text Wasn’t From Ginni Thomas”
-Houston Community College System v. Wilson
-Ramirez v. Collier
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This week David and Curtis start with confession time, each looking closely at the challenges of contrarianism and pride that impact all of us in our modern discourse. They unpack the tricky balance between knowing, certainty, and humility, including the possibility that we might be wrong.
In the second half, they dive into the spiritual challenge of staying attentive to the war in Ukraine without just watching it as a form of perverse entertainment. In another tricky balance, our hosts offer suggestions for staying connected in ways that are less personally destructive and more spiritually healthy.
Show Notes:
-French Press: “What the Russian Invasion Teaches us About the Right”
-French Press: “Questions and Answers After a Month of War”
-Adam Grant: “Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know”
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On today’s Ruminant, Jonah, now recovered from Monday’s birthday revelry, has thoughts on everything from hamburger conspiracies to the history of great societies. After beginning with another deep dive into the evolution of media bias, he turns to the Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmation hearings, which have turned out to be surprisingly boring despite a few moments of painful stupidity. Stick around to hear Jonah evaluate Nikole Hannah-Jones’ argument that tipping is a product of slavery, and to find out why truth is currently winning the day in American politics.
Show Notes:
-
The Remnant with Brian Riedl
-
Michael Barone’s Our Country
-
Wednesday’s “news”letter
-
The media bias paradox
-
The Cornell “guns on campus” crisis
-
The Remnant with Kevin Williamson
-
Mayor Quimby
-
Noah Rothman on “credible accusation”
-
The Economist on the siege of Mariupol
-
Why Nations Fail
-
Last Friday’s G-File
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Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings have wrapped, and our hosts are here to break down the week on Capitol Hill. Jonah, David, and Andrew then turn to the latest developments in the war in Ukraine. Plus, what do the guys make of those Ginni Thomas texts to Mark Meadows? Or Trump dropping his endorsement of Mo Brooks in the Alabama Senate race?
Show Notes:
-TMD: “Biden, World Leaders Huddle on Russia”
-The Dispatch: “Inside the First Ukrainian City to Fall to Russia”
-Washington Post: “Virginia Thomas urged White House chief to pursue unrelenting efforts to overturn the 2020 election, texts show”
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David and Sarah discuss Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings and a disruption at Yale Law School. They drill down on claims that Judge Jackson is soft on child porn crimes and amplify their objection to both intolerant students and cowardly administrators. Throughout the podcast, a courageous Sarah fights through COVID to podcast in the face of adversity.
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch: “Ketanji Brown Jackson Weathers a Marathon Day Two”
-National Review: “Senator Hawley’s Disingenuous Attack against Judge Jackson’s Record on Child Pornography”
-National Review: “Ho-Hum: The Cases Senator Hawley Cites Show Judge Jackson Is an Unremarkable Sentencer in Child-Porn Cases”
-Washington Post: “Josh Hawley’s misleading attack on Judge Jackson’s sentencing of child-porn offenders”
-Original Jurisdiction: “Free Speech At Yale Law School: One Progressive's Perspective”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Kevin Williamson, the Remnant’s cheeriest regular, is back for another voyage through the strange realm of contemporary America. A free society is messy, and life is all about contradictions, inconsistencies, and trade-offs. But this can be an uncomfortable truth for many to face. In a conversation that will send you scrambling for your bingo cards, Kevin and Jonah explore the problem with social homogeneity. They also touch on the weaknesses of autocratic regimes, realistic climate change solutions, and Kevin’s hatred of Ohio. Plus, tune in to hear Kevin give a rousing reading of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
Show Notes:
-
Kevin’s page at National Review
-
Kevin: “Autocracy’s Fatal Flaws”
-
Kevin: “Make Putin Pay”
-
Hayek: “Why the Worst Get on Top”
-
Christopher Caldwell’s The Age of Entitlement
-
Yuval Levin’s The Great Debate
-
Kevin’s The Smallest Minority
-
The Remnant with Brian Riedl
-
Jonah and Deirdre McCloskey at the Cato Institute
-
The Books of Jacob, by Olga Tokarczuk
-
The Remnant with Shadi Hamid
-
Jonah: “Rise of the Underminers”
-
Unintentional confession
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Steve talks with Taras Byk, a political consultant now working with the Territorial Defense Forces in Kyiv, to get a sense of what’s happening on the ground in Ukraine. What’s changed since the last time they talked? Steve then has a conversation with Tom Karako, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Why has Russia not been able to establish air superiority? What do we need to know about those hypersonic missiles that Russia launched? Tom has those answers and more.
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch: “Just How Many Russian Soldiers Have Died in Ukraine?”
-French Press: “Questions and Answers After One Month of War”
-New York Times: “How Ukraine’s Outgunned Air Force Is Fighting Back Against Russian Jets”
-CSIS report: “Complex Air Defense: Countering the Hypersonic Missile Threat”
-Bayraktar song
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Brian Riedl, the Remnant’s “unofficial budget guy,” returns to discuss our economic woes. After kvetching about inflation, the deficit, and supply chains, he and Jonah dig into the mistaken idea that the president can control every needle of the economy. Brian has noticed an interesting trend: Since Reagan, we’ve consistently elected Republican presidents during booms and Democratic presidents during recessions. But what are the implications of that for the economy? Furthermore, did the New Deal make the Great Depression worse? Is Build Back Better dead? And should anyone take Rick Scott seriously?
Show Notes:
-
Brian’s webpage
-
Brian: “Presidents as Economic Managers”
-
Jonah: “The Raw Deal”
-
The forgotten depression of 1920
-
Scott Lincicome on fixing our supply chains
-
Velocity of Bahnsen
-
Rick Scott’s “Rescue America” plan
-
Last Friday’s G-File
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After plotting world domination at AEI’s World Forum, Jonah is back in the D.C. swampland for today’s Ruminant. He begins by elaborating on the strange metaphysical ideas discussed in last week’s episode before turning to the war in Ukraine, and the baffling idea peddled by some on the right that Zelensky is trying to incite a global thermonuclear war. From there, things get nerdy, as Jonah explores whether populism may be falling out of style and indulges in a lengthy rant on Woodrow Wilson. Tune in for the cherished sound effects, but stick around to hear a few ideas for the Remnant’s 500th episode.
Show Notes:
-
Last weekend’s bizarre Ruminant
-
Metaxy
-
The Wednesday G-File
-
The Remnant with Shadi Hamid
-
Ross Douthat: “Will the Ukraine War End the Age of Populism?”
-
Michael Brendan Dougherty: “Wartime’s Macabre Predictions of a Populist Defeat”
-
The Remnant with Vin Cannato
-
The hater’s guide to Woodrow Wilson
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Joining David and Curtis this week are two of the most influential voices speaking to Christian faith in the public square, David Brooks and Peter Wehner. Both Peter and David recently wrote landmark pieces analyzing the current landscape of American evangelicalism. In this podcast, they discuss the signs of hope and restoration for the troubled movement. Also, in a bit of self-revelation, they share about the books that most influenced their own faith journeys.
Show Notes:
-Peter Wehner: “The Evangelical Church is Breaking Apart”
-David Brooks: “The Dissenters Trying to Save Evangelicalism From Itself”
David Brooks’ Most Influential Books:
A Severe Mercy (Sheldon Vanauken)
The Long Loneliness (Dorothy Day)
The Confessions (St. Augustine)
My Bright Abyss (Christian Wiman)
Peter Wehner’s Most Influential Books:
A Grief Observed (CS Lewis)
The Resurrection of the Son of God (NT Wright)
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As we pass the third week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, our hosts are here to discuss the latest: The Biden administration looks to make a deal on Iran’s nuclear program. What are we to make of the president’s foregin policy? Plus, Sarah and the guys talk about inflation and the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates.
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch: “Concessions to Iran, Russia Pile Up in Nuclear Talks”
-Uphill: “The House Hits Russia on Trade”
-TMD: “An Interest Rate Increase”
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On today’s podcast, David and Sarah discuss red state crime rates versus blue state crime rates, environmental law as a vehicle for rescuing the American constitutional structure, why senators make better presidential candidates than they used to, and the evolutionary psychology behind bad gamer behavior.
Show Notes:
-Axios: Dem group points to "Red State Murder Problem"
-Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency
-SCOTUSblog: Greenhouse gases and “major questions”: Justices to hear argument on EPA’s power to tackle climate change
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Listen now | Vincent Cannato, noted historian and Jonah’s fellow deracinated New Yorker, returns to the Remnant for a nerdily random discussion of cops, neoliberalism, and latent Russophobia. With tensions rising between East and West, Vin believes we are in the midst of an “ideological Cold War,” but Jonah (whose pronunciation of “Pokémon” may distract from any serious points he raises) is less convinced. How will America’s conflict with Russia and China unfold, and what strategy should the United States pursue? For that matter, is New York heading back to the ‘70s? What’s fueling America’s crime wave? And will safetyism soon destroy Vin’s university from within?
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Listen now | On today’s episode, Steve speaks with Eric Edelman, a member of the U.S. foreign service for 28 years who served as a U.S. ambassador, a national security adviser to the vice president, and an under secretary of defense. They discuss Vladimir Putin and his strategy going into the invasion of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to Congress, and finish with the latest on the Iran deal.
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Listen now | Shadi Hamid returns to the Remnant to discuss America’s role in maintaining a safe global order. For years, many on the far left and isolationist right alike have argued that the United States should withdraw from the world stage and take a self-limiting approach to foreign policy. But Shadi believes Russia’s aggression has proved that Western power is essential. Will we soon see renewed support for Pax Americana? Should a no-fly zone be imposed over Ukraine? And how many bingo card items can Jonah insert into such an inappropriate conversation?
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Listen now | David and Sarah hit a ton of topics in today’s podcast, but with an emphasis on state law, including some terribly drafted state laws. They start with the latest on that abortion law in Texas, move on to an abortion law in Missouri, and then discuss the avalanche of misleading commentary about Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law (including how "don't say gay" is itself misleading). They wind up talking about teachers' free speech rights, pronouns, and critical race theory.
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Listen now | David and Curtis are honored this week to share the microphone with Jonathan Tjarks, famed NBA beat writer and podcaster for The Ringer. Jonathan’s recent piece “Does My Son Know You?” was a rare moment of candid sharing and distilled wisdom in light of his recent cancer diagnosis. This is truly a must listen as Jonathan shares a poignant perspective on faith, family and the power of community. Be sure to stay tuned to the end where he also breaks down a potential Grizzlies-Warriors matchup in the NBA playoffs, leaving one of our hosts happy and one sad.
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Listen now | Jonah gets metaphysical on today’s mumbly Ruminant, recorded live in a chaotic hotel room not far from Stonecutter world headquarters. Unsurprisingly, his under-caffeinated mind is awash with thoughts on conservative intellectual history. Be prepared for an exceedingly nerdy disquisition on the philosophical differences between left and right and the importance of understanding that life is about trade offs. Plus, tune in to permanently change your perception of the theme from
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Listen now | On today’s episode, Steve has a conversation with Taras Byk, a political consultant and former journalist now working with the Territorial Defense Forces in Kyiv, Ukraine. What’s he seeing on the ground? How are the people of Ukraine holding up as we pass the second week of Russia’s invasion? Plus, Sarah, Steve, and Jonah are here to discuss the latest fallout around the world and here at home.
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Listen now | On today’s episode, Sarah and David spend serious time discussing the Supreme Court’s latest voting rights decision, then they launch into their long-awaited, much anticipated analysis of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s “most controversial” opinion (spoiler alert: it’s not that controversial). They end with a chat about free speech on campus and why the culture matters.
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Listen now | John Podhoretz, the Remnant’s self-professed Paul Lynde, returns to the program to play a game of “Name that Crank.” Throughout history, many brilliant people have also been extremely bizarre. Murray Rothbard hated elevators, Arthur Conan Doyle believed in fairies, and Gandhi was obsessed with bowel movements. John and Jonah dedicate today’s episode to exploring the harmless and not-so-harmless quirks of such figures, before turning to rank punditry on American power, Biden’s floundering presidency, and the awfulness of the ‘70s. Tune in for shameless GLoP-plugging, but stick around to find out which Academy Award nominees are actually worth watching.
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, Sarah and Steve talk with Natalie Jaresko, Ukraine's former minister of finance. They discuss the history of Ukraine, its people, and what the last two weeks have meant for the country. Show Notes: -NPR: “Kenyan U.N. ambassador compares Ukraine's plight to colonial legacy in Africa”
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Listen now | Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy at the American Enterprise Institute, joins the Remnant for the first time to discuss the state of the liberal international order. As Putin’s invasion of Ukraine continues, what will the next year hold in store for the conflict and his leadership? For that matter, should Ukraine join NATO? What have been the Biden administration’s biggest foreign policy mistakes? And is America’s role in the world in doubt? Tune in to hear these questions answered, and to find out what most people get wrong about Francis Fukuyama.
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah talk about five, yes, five Supreme Court opinions, including cases involving criminal law, state secrets, and social media moderation. They mainly focus on a fascinating case that asks, when are ten crimes one crime?
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Listen now | This week David and Curtis help us look at leadership and what it is about certain leaders that seems to resonate so deep in our souls. Why does President Zelensky’s stand in Kyiv inspire us? Is it possible that a man who claims no Christian identity can be bearing the image of God? How do we recognize these images while not falling for the temptation of idolatry and worship of leaders as false images? Join us for this fascinating and timely discussion of the spiritual power of leadership.
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The drive-time Remnant format returns for another freewheeling broadcast, one that finds Jonah, Guy, and Ryan preoccupied with questions of loneliness and fulfillment following Arthur Brooks’ recent appearance on the program. Together, they explore the malign effects of social media, whether internet access should be regulated, and how the “Japanification” of America’s youth can be reversed. Plenty of nerdish tomfoolery is also mixed in on the nightmares of American bureaucracy, the threat of World War III, and a recent congressional embarrassment. But at the end of it all, one question remains: What movie should win Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards?
Show Notes:
-
The Remnant with Charles C.W. Cooke
-
Social media goes to war
-
The Remnant with Arthur Brooks
-
The Federalist on bagel-snarfing warmongers
-
The Remnant with Paul Miller
-
Bari Weiss on America’s sex recession
-
Caught in the act
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Listen now | As the first week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine passed, our hosts are here to discuss how the world has changed. Plus, President Biden delivers his first State of Union address and Texas holds the first primary elections of 2022. What have we learned from the last week?
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True happiness can feel elusive, especially in our chaotic age. Thankfully, former AEI president and current Harvard professor Arthur Brooks seems to have cracked the code for achieving it. On today’s Remnant, he joins Jonah to explore common mistakes people make in the pursuit of fulfillment, lies the world tells us about satisfaction, the “fear-based cultural polarity” consuming Western society, and what we can do to address America’s alarming loneliness problem. Be prepared to revise your bucket list.
Show Notes:
-
Arthur’s webpage
-
Arthur’s Atlantic column
-
Arthur’s new book, From Strength to Strength
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Family formation in post-COVID America
-
Yuval Levin: “The Changing Face of Social Breakdown”
-
Jonah: “I Think We’re Turning Japanese … I Really Think So”
-
Arthur: “The Kind of Love That Makes People Happiest”
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Listen now | On today’s episode, David and Sarah start with a Supreme Court update that features cases about adoption and religious freedom before moving on to an extensive discussion of a court filing contesting John Eastman's claims of attorney-client privilege. Does this filing indicate that Donald Trump committed a crime? Also David and Sarah briefly discuss international law and whether European Union membership for Ukraine would mean that the EU would have to fight for Kyiv. Finally, Sarah ends the podcast with the first date story the listeners all wanted to hear.
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, Steve is joined by Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our response to it, and his thoughts on the State of the Union. Steve is then joined by Barbara Comstock, former representative of Virginia, for a conversation about President Joe Biden’s speech last night and the future of the Republican Party.
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Listen now | Paul Miller, regular Dispatch contributor and professor of international affairs at Georgetown, joins the Remnant to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the difference between patriotism and nationalism. With a new Cold War looking increasingly likely, how should America prepare itself for what may be a major global conflict? For that matter, what does it mean to be a “foreign policy realist?” Has Putin always been this crazy? And what should unify all Americans?
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah discuss a new case striking down a high school admissions policy in Virginia, digress into a talk about the power of Ukrainian courage, return to the law to talk about Clarence and Ginni Thomas and conflicts of interest, and then finish with an extended discussion of the role of legislation in regulating the dissemination and discussion of ideas in public schools.
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Listen now | David and Curtis talk to Tish Harrison Warren, an author, Anglican priest, and writer for The New York Times. Their conversation about prayer gets very real, as they first talk about prayer in wartime. Then they move back to the American cultural struggles, and discuss the disturbing tendency to compare peace to war and the toxic effect on our lives and hearts.
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No babies were harmed in the making of today’s Ruminant, which features puppy parades, obscure German philosophers, and an appropriately large supply of bagels. Putin’s use of Nazi rhetoric to demonize the Ukrainian government has reminded Jonah that we don’t talk enough about the importance of language in public life. The invasion has also prompted him to think about the relationship between language and nationalism, and how national interests should influence foreign policy. Are babies born as blank slates? How would isolationism change America? And will the end of this episode cost Jonah most of his long-term friendships?
Show Notes:
-
The return of Dispatch Live
-
Johann Fichte’s “Addresses to the German Nation”
-
Johann Herder
-
The Remnant with Paul Bloom
-
Paul Bloom’s Just Babies
-
The Remnant with John McWhorter
-
Jonah’s Twitter thread on nationalism
-
Jonah debates Rich Lowry on nationalism
-
The Morning Dispatch breaks down the Ukraine invasion
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Listen now | Right before recording today’s episode started, news broke that President Joe Biden is nominating Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Our hosts take a quick look at that and what it means for SCOTUS. Then the conversation moved to the dire situation in Ukraine. David cautioned against believing all of the information we receive in the fog of war and the group discusses how many people on the right have flip-flopped on Putin. Tune in, too, for a preview of next week’s State of the Union address.
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah take a trip to New Haven to speak with the law students of Yale University. It’s another packed show. The Supreme Court heard oral argument in a case that dealt with whether a state can defend a rule when the United States stops doing so. Plus, they discuss public-accommodation law and a redistricting lawsuit in Arkansas, but that’s not all, sparks fly when our hosts open the floor for questions.
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Katherine Mangu-Ward, editor in chief of Reason magazine, joins the Remnant for the first time today to explore whether America’s libertarian spirit is still intact. In a moment where Americans are losing faith in authority, the right is succumbing to power worship, and pluralism is becoming increasingly unpopular, how can we avoid a “squishy apocalypse?” Moreover, is hypocrisy really a problem? Why can’t the government love you? And would the United States be a better place if dog catchers were defunded?
Show Notes:
-
Katherine’s page at Reason
-
The Remnant with Peter Suderman
-
The Remnant with Leon Aron
-
Katherine on why you almost certainly shouldn’t vote
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The Declaration of Independents, by Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch
-
The Libertarian Mind, by David Boaz
-
Obama’s second inaugural address
-
The Remnant with Mike Gallagher
-
Leon Aron: “The Invasion of Ukraine, and Regime Change”
-
Dispatch Live on the Ukraine situation
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Listen now | In a lively discussion about who Vladimir Putin is and the danger he poses to the world, Steve is joined by Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, and Susan Glasser, staff writer at The New Yorker. The two, who are married, offer insights to their book,
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Listen now | While Jonah traverses the sunny wilds of California, Chris Stirewalt steps in to host today’s Remnant. He’s joined by Amy Walter, publisher and editor in chief of the Cook Political Report, for exceptionally rank punditry on what we can expect from this year’s midterms and the 2024 presidential race. Would the American people accept a second Trump presidency? Why do certain states stay purple while others become firmly partisan? And could peace and goodwill soon be restored in Congress?
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Listen now | Today’s podcast is more fast-paced than the NBA All-Star game. David and Sarah talk about the Supreme Court and immigration, Trump and free speech, vaccines and drama in the Fifth Circuit, qualified immunity, and no podcast would be complete without a quick conversation about treason. Buckle up, this pod never slows down.
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Sleep-deprived and bracing for a lengthy flight, Jonah begins today’s Ruminant with an insatiable thirst for coffee. Conveniently, he has plenty of topics to ramble about while enjoying his morning brew. First on the docket is the San Francisco school board recall, which prompts Jonah to ponder why Democrats keep getting the culture war so wrong. From there, a potpourri of nerdery begins, as Jonah explores the origins of rights and freedoms, Russia’s potential invasion of Ukraine, and the importance of distinguishing between “liberal” and “progressive.” Plus, stick around for a tribute to the late, great P.J. O’Rourke.
Show Notes:
-
Try a free 30-day Dispatch membership
-
Peggy Noonan: “Republicans, Stand Against Excess”
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“Alarmingly potent”
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Jonah: “It Takes Two Sides to Fight a War”
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The San Francisco school board recall
-
Ruy Texiera’s Substack
-
“Ugly freedoms”
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Jonah on the Ottawa freedom convoy
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The “Revolutions” podcast covers the English Civil War
-
The Remnant with Mike Duncan
-
The Remnant with Leon Aron
-
Jonah on the passing of P.J. O’Rourke
-
The return of Dispatch Live
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Curtis tackle Christian nationalism. What is it? Is it an ideology? A theology? An emotional, visceral connection? Or some combination of all three? Then they talk about healthy patriotism and how to love your national home, warts and all.
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Listen now | According to polling from Gallup, Americans are as happy as they’ve almost ever been. Yet their feelings toward the country as a whole are near an all-time low. Why is that? Sarah, Steve, David, and Declan discuss that and more. Plus, in San Francisco, the left seemed to do some self-correcting after a successful recall of a number of school board members. And finally, as Steve promised members on this week’s
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah are amazed by developments in the Sarah Palin trial, and they explain why. They discuss some excellent commentary on the latest Durham allegations, and spend some time talking about Florida's "don't say gay" law and wonder whether it might have constitutional problems. They end with the Rule 22.4 discussion that the people demand.
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New developments in John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe are electrifying conservative media and dominating the headlines. But for those who haven’t kept up with the story, it may be difficult to fully understand what’s going on. Thankfully, Dispatch associate editor Andrew Egger is on The Remnant to break things down. Together, he and Jonah discuss everything you could ever want to know about the Durham probe. Plus, they indulge in some obligatory kvetching about media bias and share a few tears over the joys of fatherhood. The whole thing may leave you feeling just a little verklempt.
Show Notes:
-
Andrew’s page at The Dispatch
-
Andrew breaks down the Durham probe
-
Jonah’s fondness for Sidney Blumenthal
-
Furorstarter
-
Philip Bump on Durham and Trump
-
The return of Dispatch Live
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Listen now | Today on the podcast, Sarah and Steve are joined by Klon Kitchen, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, to discuss the latest in Ukraine after the country was hit by cyberattacks. Plus, how much is the Republican Party’s foreign policy views changing? And what exactly can the Chinese government do with all that TikTok data?
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Listen now | Tevi Troy is back on The Remnant to explore the strange state of the American presidency. In recent years, presidents have used the power of the executive branch to profoundly alter our system of government—indeed, the presidency Joe Biden inhabits is far removed from that which Bill Clinton left behind. But could the increased importance of the presidency to American life actually be a good thing? Furthermore, why have our recent presidents failed to become figures of national unity? What went wrong with the government’s COVID response? And will the American Egg Board soon seize control of
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Listen now | On today’s episode, David and Sarah pop from topic to topic, including a discussion of a very strange letter, a brief foray into the Electoral Count Act, a few observations about the Trump top secret document revelations and the most recent John Durham filing. They wrap up with Olympic nonsense. The Russians are at it again.
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Listen now | David and Curtis talk to Dr. Derwin Gray about his career path from college football to the NFL to seminary and, ultimately, to the founder and pastor of Transformation church, a multi-ethnic congregation in South Carolina. Dr. Gray talks about his new book,
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Listen now | Haunted by a certain infectious Swedish pop song, Jonah begins today’s Ruminant by expanding substantially on a recent point from the G-File: Americans are addicted to despair even though life has never been better. In a moment where anger merchants dominate the media and environmental pessimism is spreading rapidly, how can the optimistic spirit on which our country was founded be restored? And what responsibilities do prominent figures in journalism and politics have in this regard? Also, stick around until the end to hear Jonah elaborate on his departure from Fox and his new contributor agreement with CNN.
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, Sarah and Steve talk with Todd Rose, author of Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions. How much of our thinking about each other is informed by false assumptions? What are the consequences of a society this mistrustful? And what are we to do about it?
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Listen now | It's a day of disagreement! David and Sarah walk through a critical Supreme Court voting rights case, and come out in a different place. They walk through the Sarah Palin trial, and come out in a different place. But then, unity reigns when Sarah concludes the podcast by dunking on Russia and hanging on the rim.
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Listen now | Demographer and Institute for Family Studies research fellow Lyman Stone returns to The Remnant to make the case for having more babies. With America’s birth rate in decline and increasingly large numbers of people living lives devoid of real connections, Lyman believes that we urgently need more pro-family policies. But though Jonah agrees completely that babies are good, he’s less sure about Lyman’s proposal of lowering the voting age to zero. Tune in for distinctly nerdy debate, but stick around to learn about the many varieties of natalist philosophy.
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, our hosts discuss the Republican Party’s decision to censure two of its own members, Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, over their involvement in the January 6 investigation. Plus, a growing list of states have lifted their mask mandates. What’s changed?
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Listen now | Remnant regular A.B. Stoddard is back for more exceedingly rank punditry on our dysfunctional state of affairs. In light of the RNC’s decision to censure Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, is the GOP now committed to normalizing January 6? For that matter, why are major Republican figures continuing to suggest that the election was stolen? Does anyone want Mike Pence to be president besides his wife? And why can’t President Biden celebrate America’s recovering economy? Also, be sure to stick around for discussion of A.B.’s two favorite topics: canine companions and Nancy Pelosi’s reelection bid.
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Listen now | On today’s episode, David and Sarah dive into multiple issues. Is Ketanji Brown Jackson still Biden's frontrunner? Also, she wrote her first D.C. circuit opinion. What does it say about her jurisprudence? They also talk about an odd case about Yelp reviews before turning to more serious subjects--deadly no-knock raids and once more about NFL coaches, and how cultures can develop unfair systems.
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Listen now | How should we react when people say or do things we find offensive in public discourse? What is the role of forgiveness and grace in these contexts? How do we determine if apologies are sincere and the offending party is worthy of an opportunity for repentance and repair? Join David and Curtis as they discuss this timely topic and offer some guidance for how we can make some space for grace in our public discourse.
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Donald Trump, Whoopi Goldberg, Young Frankenstein, and dentistry - all unrelated in ordinary circumstances, but strangely intertwined on the latest drive-time Remnant. Today’s episode begins with Jonah, Guy, and Ryan exploring the juvenile group chats of esteemed scholars and reacting insensitively to a tragic news story. Afterward, the gang turns to rank punditry, rambling nerdily about current events while stopping occasionally to discuss Yiddish slang, extreme skiing, and whether all animals really do taste like chicken. When should you give up on a political party? What would a film adaptation of Trump’s attempted election theft look like? And should Mel Brooks do us all a favor and run for president in 2024?
Show Notes:
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China’s continued respect for human rights
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The New York Post’s unapologetically craven news item
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The Wednesday G-File, released to the masses
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John Podhoretz blasts Whoopi Goldberg
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Trump doubles down on January 6
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Mel Brooks’ bad drive
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Listen now | Ohio Sen. Rob Portman joined The Dispatch Podcast to talk about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. What is Vladimir Putin doing? Why should Americans care? Plus, Steve and David ask Sen. Portman about efforts to reform the Electoral Count Act. Show Notes:
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah talk about all aspects of Brian Flores's lawsuit against the NFL, with a deep dive into law and culture. They then turn to he who shall not be named and pour water on a specious vision of the apocalypse. They wind up with an impromptu discussion of Whoopi Goldberg, Roseanne Barr, grace, and accountability.
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Are we living through a new Cold War? Possibly. But we’re certainly in a new era of great-power competition between China and Russia and the United States. In a Remnant surprisingly lacking in ‘80s references, historian and American Enterprise Institute scholar Hal Brands joins Jonah to explore what America’s victory over the Soviet Union can teach us about how it should prosecute today’s global conflicts. Hal and Jonah also take a deep, extra-nerdy dive into Cold War history and the nature of American foreign policy during that strange era. Was the Cold War just about economics? Should Joe Biden pursue a modern version of Harry Truman’s containment strategy? And was China’s authoritarian turn inevitable?
Show Notes:
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Hal’s page at AEI
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Hal’s new book, The Twilight Struggle
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Hal Brands and John Lewis Gaddis: “The New Cold War”
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Charles Krauthammer: “The Greatest Cold War Myth of All”
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The Truman Doctrine speech
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Henry Wallace’s divided mind
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Jonah on the perils of our virtual reality
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The Remnant with Leon Aron
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The Remnant with Edward Carr
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, our hosts discuss the latest round of statements from former President Donald Trump and new reports about his role after the 2020 election. How are elected Republicans reacting? Plus, President Joe Biden has a Supreme Court seat to fill, and the world turns its eyes toward China as the Winter Olympics get underway.
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Listen now | In a brief respite from the horrors of book writing, Chris Stirewalt returns to The Remnant for another round of overpoweringly rank punditry. Mixing shameless self-promotion with nicotine-fueled insight, he and Jonah explore some pertinent political questions. Why do Americans frequently change their party alignment? Are hardcore progressives crazier than members of the House Freedom Caucus? And what is Joe Biden’s biggest weakness? There’s also a lengthy aside about what life in America was like when Jonah and Chris were young and horse drawn carriages had yet to be replaced by cars, but you’ll need to stick around until the end.
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Listen now | On today’s episode, Sarah details yet another animal rescue because of course. Then David and Sarah dive into the Electoral Count Act and a mixed-up, messed-up Supreme Court case about pulling books from school libraries. And finally, can Sarah get David to talk about Rep. Madison Cawthorn?
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Jonah’s in a professorial mood on today’s nerdtastic Ruminant, which features disquisitions on censorship, pragmatism, and vestigial partisanship (be sure you tune in to find out what the latter actually means). Also included in this weekend’s potpourri is a lengthy discussion of Stephen Breyer’s retirement and Joe Biden’s pledge to appoint an African American woman to the Supreme Court. Plus, for those still confused by Jonah and Charlie Cooke’s argument about Congress during the Anglo-Floridian’s appearance on the program this week, there’s a detailed explanation of how the two disagree.
Show Notes:
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The Wednesday G-File
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Adam J. White on the Commentary podcast
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Jonathan Chait on affirmative action for the Supreme Court
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John Podhoretz still likes Ike
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The Remnant with Charles C.W. Cooke
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The Remnant with Yuval Levin
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The Remnant with Leon Aron
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Charles Sanders Peirce
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Richard Rorty and William James
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Bertrand Russell’s critique of pragmatism
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Jonah: “Banned Books Week is Just Hype”
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Listen now | David and Curtis are excited to welcome the inaugural guest of the Good Faith podcast, Mike Cosper. Mike is the Director of Podcasting for Christianity Today and is most well known as the producer and host of The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. Join David, Curtis and Mike as they discuss some of the lessons Mike took away from the process of diving deep into such a painful story. As you will see, the lessons are sometimes hard (just like the gospel itself), but they are also surprisingly hopeful (just like the gospel itself).
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, Steve moderates a conversation about the politics of replacing Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court. Joining Sarah on the panel is Gregg Nunziata, who worked on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and John McCormack, Washington correspondent for
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah respond to all the questions about Justice Stephen Breyer's retirement and replacement. Who are the leading candidates? Why is all the talk about Justice Kamala Harris or Justice Michelle Obama a bunch of rubbish? Do we expect any real change in the philosophical composition of the court? They wind up with a discussion of seditious conspiracy and all the reasons why it's tough to charge anyone with trying to overthrow the government.
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Charles C.W. Cooke, senior writer at National Review and Anglo-Floridian golf cart enthusiast, returns to The Remnant for another round of exceptionally rank punditry on Joe Biden’s dismal first year in office. Before assuming the presidency, Biden made some big promises that he hasn’t been able to keep. But is his problem that he refuses to adjust to political circumstances, or that he’s simply a hack who was never qualified for the job in the first place? Mixing hearty debate with vigorous agreement, Jonah and Charlie discuss this question at length, while also touching on mandatory voting, the perils of public opinion, and how thrilled we should be to live in a moment where journalists and politicians can regularly insult each other. Oh, and Charlie also can’t resist rambling about firearms.
Show Notes:
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Charlie’s page at National Review
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Charlie on Biden’s year of failure
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Jonah’s uncontroversial third-party proposal
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Jonah’s words with friends
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Biden’s first-year report card in Politico
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“You guys were almost separated at birth”
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Michael Tomasky’s attempted mic drop
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The Remnant with Josh Kraushaar
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Jonah contemplates mandatory voting
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Mad Dogs and Englishmen on the bumbling Mr. Biden
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DontBrowbeatMyPete
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Big time!
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Charlie’s upcoming course on the history of the Second Amendment
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Listen now | The problems in Ukraine are getting worse. Our hosts discuss what led to the current situation and the role President Biden played in getting to this point. Then Sarah, David, Jonah, and Steve talk about two issues that are not getting enough attention as we head to the midterms: immigration and crime.
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Listen now | As Sting once sang, “in Europe and America, there’s a growing feeling of hysteria.” With war in Ukraine looking increasingly likely and tensions mounting between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, it feels an awful lot like we’re back in 1987. To explore how Russia’s bellicosity might affect the global stage, Jonah is joined by Leon Aron, director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Together, they address heady questions on Russia and narrowly resist performing a duet of “99 Red Balloons.” Would the Russian people support an invasion of Ukraine? How is Russia influencing European politics? And is there any chance of Russia becoming a quasi-democratic country in the near future?
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah celebrate 200 episodes with a discussion of two key college admissions cases the Supreme Court took up. Plus, they preview Sarah Palin’s defamation trial, and look at a circuit court judge’s unusual opinion. Show Notes:
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Jonah returns to the solo Ruminant format to end the week, reflecting on Joe Biden’s dismal first year in office and contemplating what the next three years might hold in store for the country. After what John Podhoretz labeled the “worst press conference in presidential history,” can Biden recover, or will his poll numbers continue to sink to increasingly humiliating lows? For that matter, is unity its own virtue? How would the Russian people and the global community react if Vladimir Putin conquered Ukraine? And do negative comments on his writing hurt Jonah’s feelings?
Show Notes:
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GLoP’s latest grand adventure
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Chris Stirewalt’s latest newsletter on Biden’s political flailing
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The Morning Dispatch on the threat of war in Ukraine
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Jonah on Biden’s Georgia speech
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Be like Ike
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Literally
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The Dispatch Podcast reflects on Biden’s first year
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Bob Driscoll on the Voting Rights Act
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The Remnant with Michael Shellenberger
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The Remnant with Edward Carr
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Listen now | Why are so many pastors considering leaving the ministry? Is it the pandemic? Is it the political and racial polarization? Is it something else? Join David and Curtis as they delve into the growing crisis of pastoral burnout, including a very personal story from Curtis about his own journey to becoming a “former senior pastor”.
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Listen now | On today’s episode, Sarah and Steve speak with Heidi Heitkamp, former North Dakota senator and founder of One Country Project. They cover everything from the filibuster to President Biden’s first year in office. What doesn’t work about the Senate? Can Biden turn things around before the midterms?
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah break down "Maskgate," the claim that Justice Neil Gorsuch refused to show basic courtesy to Justice Sonia Sotomayor by refusing to wear a mask and find the claims wanting. They ask, "When a report seems to fall apart, what should a reporter do?" They also talk about how Sarah is setting Supreme Court precedents, wonder if a Satanist flag will soon fly over Boston, and discuss for just a few seconds Ted Cruz's very, very boring case at the Supreme Court. They close, however, with a dash of English cultural history that you won't want to miss.
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The Remnant’s British invasion continues as Economist deputy editor Edward Carr joins to provide a perspective on how the pandemic has affected nations beyond the United States. Together, he and Jonah examine how issues such as vaccine skepticism, excess deaths, and pandemic-related insanity vary between countries, all while kvetching vigorously about teachers’ unions and the politics of marmite. Can we trust China’s COVID statistics? Are things as weird in Russia and the U.K. as they are in America? And are we in the early stages of a new Roaring ‘20s?
Show Notes:
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England prepares to drop COVID restrictions
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Boris Johnson’s latest scandal
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“There’s no such thing as learning loss”
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Steven Brill: “The Rubber Room”
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The Remnant with Paul Bloom
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Jonah: “Fear and Loathing in the Time of COVID”
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Apollo’s Arrow, Nicholas Christakis’ book on pandemic madness
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The Remnant with Matt Ridley
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The Remnant with Michael Shellenberger
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Listen now | A year ago, almost to the day, Joe Biden was sworn in as president of the United States. The gang looks back at a year full of shifts to progressive policies from Biden. Is he living up to his promise of restoring normalcy in America? Plus, Gallup says 2021 saw the greatest shift in party preferences for as long as Gallup has been around. What does that mean for the country and our politics? Finally, are we on the brink of World War III with Russia threatening to go into Ukraine?
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Listen now | As a young man, Jonah left his heart in San Francisco. But after today’s conversation with Remnant first-timer Michael Shellenberger, he probably won’t be going back for it any time soon. Michael joins the show for an exceedingly wonky discussion of his new book,
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Listen now | On today’s episode, David and Sarah take a quick look at an intriguing cert grant at the Supreme Court and then dive into a fascinating discussion about amending the Constitution with University of Texas law professor Sanford Levinson. He thinks the Constitution has some structural problems, and David and Sarah walk through his critiques. By the end, they ask, is there any constitutional reform that can save us if we’re determined to be dysfunctional?
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Listen now | Conflict feels like it’s everywhere these days. Church communities, old friendships and even families are being pulled apart by tensions over politics, the pandemic, race and more. When should we stay in a church or relationship? When should we perhaps leave? Is there a biblical model to navigate these decisions and what comes in the aftermath? Join David and Curtis to discuss how we as Christians should approach these perplexing questions.
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We’ll do it live! 2022’s first drive-time Remnant is here, and it’s predictably lacking in substance. With Guy and Ryan currently starring in their own production of The Odd Couple, Jonah invites them both into the Dispatch studio for a freewheeling discussion of vocabulary, D.C. geography, and movies ranging from The French Dispatch to Howard the Duck. There’s also plenty of serious punditry mixed in on America’s nightmarish immigration process, the awfulness of Biden’s Georgia speech, and the difficulty of finding purpose in modern society. Tune in and be led to glory!
Show Notes:
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Bill Buckley on the art of big words
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Advisory Opinions on the Supreme Court’s vaccine mandate dismissal
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Make my funk the P-Funk
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Bill Oakley’s fast food reviews
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The Remnant with Ross Douthat, featuring generous Don’t Look Up criticism
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The Remnant with Ryan Bourne
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“It’s not a comedy”
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Spider-Man: No Way Home reviewed in The Dispatch
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Howard the Duck and the evil of George Lucas
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The Wednesday G-File, released to the masses
-
Tapper, Biden, and the Bull
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What’s the deal with fascism?
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Listen now | Rep. Dan Newhouse, one of the 10 House Republicans to impeach Trump, joins Sarah and Steve on today’s podcast. They discuss why he is against Biden’s new voting rights legislation and how much influence the federal government should have over elections. Plus, the congressman talks about his view of the filibuster, and the rightward shift of rural America.
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Listen now | It's an emergency podcast! (Well, at least in part). David and Sarah recorded a mailbag podcast Thursday morning, complete with fretting about when the Supreme Court would rule in the vaccine mandate cases. Then, SCOTUS ruled! So this podcast keeps the mailbag and cuts the fretting. Instead David and Sarah spend the first half walking through the vaccine opinions. It's exactly the kind of conversation that everyone loves, a deep discussion of administrative law.
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Ross Douthat takes his place in the Remnant five-timers club today, joining Jonah for a discussion of (what else?) the dysfunctional state of American politics. Unlike last time, however, the nudity is tasteful, the Exorcist references are sparse, and the tone is (slightly) more optimistic. Is the United States on the cusp of a new civil war, and what would that look like in practice? For that matter, why is Biden a less effective president than Bill Clinton? Can a case be made for mandatory voting? And is there anything worthwhile about Don’t Look Up?
Show Notes:
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Ross’ previous Remnant appearance
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Ross: “Let’s Not Invent a Civil War”
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Ross on the Remnant discussing The Decadent Society
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Jonah’s latest G-File on Biden’s Georgia speech
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David Brooks: “How the Bobos Broke America”
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Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works
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The Remnant with Yuval Levin
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Jonah’s distaste for Don’t Look Up
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Ross on why the movie needs a second cut
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Eric Levitz dissects Don’t Look Up
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The latest Dispatch Podcast
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Listen now | President Biden ran his 2020 campaign on the promise he’d bring back “normal” life in America. Almost one year later, there is still an ongoing pandemic, record-high inflation, and a serious lack of food in grocery stores. The gang discusses it all and what it means for the country. Plus, President Biden spoke about voting rights in Atlanta yesterday and the speech aggravated all four hosts. They discuss the speech and how it adds to the tearing of the social fabric in America.
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Listen now | Cato Institute economist Ryan Bourne joins The Remnant for the first time to discuss his new book, Economics in One Virus, which offers a crash course in economics using the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. Over the last two years, many questions have been raised about America’s preparedness (or lack thereof) for the pandemic, and Ryan has answers. Did any country get COVID right? Why is testing still a mess? And is the libertarian movement as divided as the conservative movement?
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Listen now | On today’s episode, David and Sarah do a deep, deep dive into the vaccine mandate oral arguments at the Supreme Court. Sarah walks us through the HOP's (husband of the pod) arguments, and she and David decide the vital question of which basketball analogy to use to describe the likely outcome. They also take a quick look at the health care worker mandate and make their predictions.
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Listen now | What exactly is a Christian nation? Is America becoming post-Christian? Is it easier or harder to be a Christian in America today than it was 30 years ago? What about 70 years ago? Join David French and Curtis Chang to think through these important questions and to consider some perhaps quite surprising answers.
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A still Covid-brained Jonah does his first Ruminant of the new year today. Assuming most listeners are over the January 6th coverage, a brief point on the politics of that day leads the pod. Then, let’s talk about Fascism, baby. Then a potpourri of topics for you to enjoy this weekend. Why is the GOP so uncomfortable with January 6? What’s the deal with Fascism? How accurate was Ted Cruz’s impression from John Belushi in The Blues Brothers? What do pizza and sushi have to do with the role of the federal government?
Show Notes:
Wednesday G-File
January 6 piece for Bari Weiss’ site
The Dispatch Podcast on January 6
Jonah on MTP Daily
Sen. Ted Cruz grovels to Tucker Carlson like John Belushi to Carrie Fischer in The Blues Brothers
The Remnant with Yuval Levin
Pod’s niche podcast with Matthew Continetti
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, Chris Stirewalt fills in for Steve and Sarah and has a discussion with Josh Kraushaar of National Journal. They talk about the teacher strike in Chicago, which leads to a broader discussion of Biden and the Democratic Party’s unwillingness to challenge the extremes of the party. Plus, they discuss the upcoming midterms and the projected Republican landslide that could be the party’s largest majority since the 1920s.
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Liquor connoisseur and noted Wisconsinite Christian Schneider joins The Remnant for the first time to discuss America’s strange plague of misinformation. In an age where politicians are incentivized to embrace ludicrous positions and all facts are negotiable, how can sanity be restored? For that matter, what’s wrong with modern political campaigns? Did God create Listerine? And what does the future hold for college education?
Show Notes:
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Chrisitian’s page at The Dispatch
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Christian’s page at The College Fix
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Christian’s new book, Anti-Knowledge
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Christian: “Our Elected Officials Are a Threat to Civic Knowledge”
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The (ostensible) madness of Ron Johnson
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Critical Path, by Buckminster Fuller
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Institutional comedy
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Listen now | On today’s episode, David and Sarah start with a husband-of-the-pod update, debate a federal district court judge’s ruling temporarily granting more than two dozen Navy SEALs a religious exemption from the Navy’s COVID vaccine mandate, and spend the lion’s share of their time talking about the infernal Electoral Count Act and saving America from electoral chaos.
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Listen now | On the eve of the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, the podcast is dedicated entirely to the events at the Capitol. The gang recounts their memories from that bleak day in Washington and what it has meant for the country over the past year. A lively discussion about what role Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the left played in the lead-up and aftermath ensues. Finally, what will be different about how we talk about January 6 in 20 years?
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Listen now | On the eve of the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, the podcast is dedicated entirely to the events at the Capitol. The gang recounts their memories from that bleak day in Washington and what it has meant for the country over the past year. A lively discussion about what role Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the left played in the lead-up and aftermath ensues. Finally, what will be different about how we talk about January 6 in 20 years?
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Listen now | On 2022’s first Remnant, a COVID-addled Jonah is joined by fan-favorite guest Yuval Levin for a discussion of voting rights in America. Voting, Yuval argues, has never been easier, despite claims to the contrary made by progressive and conservative commentators alike. The real problem is that both parties are fueling a loss of public confidence in elections, and trust must be restored for American democracy to continue to function. Jonah also quizzes Yuval on his case for expanding the House of Representatives and what it means to be a “recovering political scientist.” Grab your bingo cards for a thoroughly wonky beginning to the year.
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Listen now | David and Sarah talk about everything from COVID, to goat rescues, to the Supreme Court, to TikTok in this wide-ranging first pod of 2022. Do you wonder how you rescue a goat? Why is John Roberts the most popular federal official in the land? Is it lawful to discriminate on the basis of race in medical treatment? What's it like to live with a person who's set to argue the biggest SCOTUS case of the new year? Are kids on TikTok fair game for the media? If these are your questions, this podcast has the answers.
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Listen now | Why would a 53-year-old man decide that this is the year he will finally become an adult? Find out in this special New Year’s episode where David and Curtis discuss the urgent need for all of us to step up and be the grown ups, both in the church and in the broader culture.
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Listen now | In a special Christmas episode, David French and Curtis Chang talk about the ultimate act of empathy (God becoming human) and the somewhat surprising debate going on in certain corners of the evangelical church; the idea that empathy can be a sin. How far should we go to understand another’s pain? Does empathy require moral agreement? Is our empathy sometimes selective, reserved for those we agree with and withheld from those we don’t?
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Listen now | On our last podcast of the year, Sarah takes you to the 2021 National Lawyers Convention at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., and introduces you to a dozen judges from all levels of the federal judiciary. You get a little law, singing, bourbon and bullets, and some important advice for law students. Did you expect David and Sarah to end the year any other way?
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Listen now | In the final episode of “The Dispatch Podcast” in 2021, our hosts talk about Joe Manchin’s non-reliability for the Democrats, the increasing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and the growing spread of the more-infectious Omicron variant. They close by asking a question: How will historians in 100 years view the past two decades?
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Listen now | With 2021 drawing to a close, Jonah invites his vocal doppelganger, Chris Stirewalt, back to The Remnant for a recap of this bizarre year. The show begins with a small but satisfying amount of rank punditry on the fate of Build Back Better and the state of voting rights in America. After that, Jonah and Chris look back at the last 12 months by conducting a mock award ceremony, naming winners in various categories. Who was 2021’s biggest loser? What was the year’s most delightful pop culture surprise? And in which category will Chris select “America” as a surprise answer? Tune in for all of this and more, and remember: There’s no harm in revisiting and sharing some of your favorite Remnant episodes from earlier this year over the holiday season. See you in 2022!
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah dive back into vaccine mandates, as the CMS mandate for healthcare workers and the OSHA guidelines for private businesses head to the Supreme Court. Then it’s First Amendment and compelled speech time at the Fifth Circuit with a student from Sarah’s rival high school from back in her football orchestra days. This case has it all: free speech, communists, and Bruce Springstein. It's also a conversation about the similarities— and differences—with one of David’s long-time favorite cases:
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Listen now | This week David French and Curtis Chang take a hard look at the silent killer of loneliness. Why is loneliness on the rise in America? What might hope look like, and how do we access it? Join us for this Advent episode where the reality of God’s incarnation in Jesus takes center stage, and the true story of hope in dark times is revealed.
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Today’s Ruminant is all about privilege, and Jonah has many nerdy thoughts on the subject. He also offers plenty of anecdotes about day drinking, a few meditations on Build Back Better hitting a brick wall, and a disquisition on the nature of consumerism. How many varieties of privilege are there in America today? Why do certain people tend toward conservatism? And why has Jonah finally decided to open up about Fox News? Brace your bingo cards, too, because Jonah still can’t stop complaining about Theodor Adorno and his mythical authoritarian personality.
Show Notes:
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The Morning Dispatch breaks down the Build Back Better stalemate
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Let’s talk about privilege
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The Remnant with Sally Satel
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Sumptuary laws
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Veblen goods
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Huntington’s “Conservatism as an Ideology”
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Sally Satel: “The Experts Somehow Overlooked Authoritarians on the Left”
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Politics and Prose lawyers up
-
Harvard stops requiring SAT scores
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Jonah opens up about Fox
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Matthew Mehan’s new children’s book
-
AEI Today
-
Give someone a Dispatch subscription this Christmas
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Listen now | In today’s episode, Sarah and David discuss the Supreme Court's decision not to enjoin the New York vaccine mandate for health care workers and focus on a very interesting, super-intriguing dissent. Then, they have a conversation with Virginia Solicitor General Michelle Kallen about the Equal Rights Amendment, its ratification by Virginia, and whether the ERA is now part of the Constitution. Finally, with the help of a listener, they finally realize that Sarah's name is a sentence.
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Sally Satel, a psychiatrist and lecturer at Yale, makes a long-awaited return to the Remnant to discuss the influence of woke culture on medical science. In our woke moment, Sally argues, doctors are at the mercy of “indoctrinologists” who want them to become more concerned with social activism than healing the sick. What’s driving this trend, and should we fear for the future of science? Furthermore, how has psychotherapy changed over the years? What can be done to address the opioid epidemic? And will people only get crazier as the COVID-19 pandemic refuses to end?
Show Notes:
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Sally’s page at AEI
-
Sally’s previous Remnant appearance
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Sally: “What is Happening to My Profession?”
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Sally: “Taking on the Scourge of Opioids”
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Critical race theory and medicine
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The cardiologist suing the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
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False advertising
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Political religions
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Barry Goldwater’s mental fitness
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Jonah: “Fear and Loathing in the Time of COVID”
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The Remnant with Paul Bloom
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John Tooby on coalitional instincts
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How the Mind Works, by Steven Pinker
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Listen now | On today’s episode, our hosts discuss the House’s vote to hold Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, in criminal contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the January 6 Select Committee. Plus, are we taking threats to vote counting seriously enough? Is Jonah right about Omicron? And, is President Biden being unfairly treated by the media?
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Listen now | Brush up on your legalese, because Keith Whittington is back on the Remnant to poke plenty of fun at Advisory Opinions. Over the course of an exceptionally nerdy hour, he and Jonah explore the pros and cons of court packing and judicial term limits, occasionally stopping to discuss what would happen if the world were taken over by giant, hyper-intelligent ants. Are Supreme Court justices all partisan hacks? Why did Joe Biden establish the Supreme Court reform commission? And is there any real difference between lawyers and vampires?
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Listen now | If you woke up this morning thinking about Jussie Smollett, the Texas abortion law, California gun rights, and California vaccine mandates, then this is the podcast for you. David and Sarah dive into a legal issue that might overturn Smollet’s conviction, analyze the Supreme Court’s decision to permit a very narrow facial challenge to S.B. 8, discuss Gavin Newsom’s swing-and-miss, and wrap up the main portion of the pod with a discussion of vaccine mandates in San Diego schools.
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Listen now | In a follow up to last week’s Deconstructing Faith episode, David French and Curtis Chang dive into the sometimes murky and contradictory political views of Christians. All too frequently, the political stances we think are biblical are actually just cultural.
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Listen now | Broadcasting live from Fargo (the movie is still better than the TV series), Jonah can’t help but spend most of today’s Ruminant gloating about how he’s been correct on recent issues ranging from the silliness of “Latinx” to the craziness of Tucker Carlson. Political demographics, the Omicron variant, and the future of conservatism are also discussed, but at the end of it all, one question remains: Is “I informed you thusly” a more satisfying phrase than “I told you so?”
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, Sarah and Steve are joined by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In 2020, Georgia was at the center of claims of voter fraud that kept President Trump from returning to the White House, and before that in 2018, the state was the site of claims of voter suppression that kept Stacey Abrams from the governor’s mansion. Raffensperger, author of the new book
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Listen now | David and Sarah have another action packed pod. First, the US Solicitor General weighs in on whether the Court should hear the case about whether Harvard’s admission policy violates race discrimination laws. Then they talk about a case that was argued this week at the Court that looked at (once again) whether states could refuse to allow voucher money to go to religious schools. Then the 9th Circuit had some feisty dissenting opinions when it upheld California’s ban on high capacity magazines for guns. And lastly, should judges be able to pick their replacements?
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Listen now | Jonah reopens the emergency punditry supply on today’s Remnant, recorded live from the Bozeman Public Library. His guest is A.B. Stoddard, who believes the Democratic Party is poised to implode thanks to poor governance and the strange influence of wokeism. Together, they explore why both parties have alienated ordinary voters, why Nancy Pelosi stepping down could send the legislative branch into further disarray, and why Trump could win re-election in 2024 if Biden’s poll numbers don’t improve. Optimism, who needs it!
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Listen now (81 min) | Michael Strain, economist at the American Enterprise Institute, returns to the Remnant today to explore the strange state of the American economy. Consumer demand for goods has skyrocketed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and supply chain chaos is dominating the headlines. In these unusual times, should conservatives embrace common good capitalism, or does zombie Reaganism still have plenty to offer? For that matter, which industries have been permanently changed by the pandemic? Have our lives actually improved since March 2020? And can even the most devoted
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah discuss charges in Michigan against a school shooter's parents, the possible demise of a key Supreme Court precedent (not Roe), and an intriguing new appeal to the Supreme Court. At the end of the podcast, Sarah answers her critics. Does she get as spicy as Alito?
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Listen now | David French and Curtis Chang discuss the hot topic of “deconstruction,” a term with multiple meanings, from reevaluation of specific faith related issues to a deeper questioning of Christian faith itself. For many the discussion around deconstruction stems from some sense of pain or hurt caused by the church. David and Curtis (and producer Kris) explore the complex and deeply personal dimensions of this process, including practical suggestions for listeners.
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The Remnant returns to the drive-time format to end the week, and the results are predictably unusual. Feast your ears on the eighth installment of this curio, in which Guy discusses the end of America’s “Remain in England” policy, Jonah ponders the appeal of cow brains and potted meat, and Ryan recounts his time as a Celtic warrior in the Irish mountains. Plenty of serious punditry is also included on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic, the appeal of right-wing grifters, and the rise of victimhood culture on college campuses. Tune in for a celebration of the legendary Tom Wolfe, but stick around to learn about some of the most depressing movies ever made.
Show Notes:
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George Costanza’s prison girlfriend
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Apu Nahasapeemapetilon’s citizenship test
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The Commentary podcast on COVID panic
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Tom Wolfe’s “The Great Relearning”
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Oakland reverses its plan to defund the police
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Thursday’s shameful solo Remnant
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Wednesday’s weird G-File of weirdness
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Tom Wolfe’s brilliant Brown speech
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Jonah’s first eggheady publication
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Guy’s history of Uncommon Knowledge, featuring plenty of Wolfian goodness
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The battle of Smith College
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Alex Jones, ace reporter
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Milo Minderbinder, statue salesman
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Jonah and Steve on their departure from Fox
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The New York Times report that broke the Fox story
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Listen now | In his new book, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, Jonathan Karl, ABC News' chief Washington correspondent, details what was really going on in the final months of the Trump administration, and in the aftermath of the 2020 election. What was happening behind-the-scenes as Trump left the White House? How should the press cover a potential 2024 campaign by the former president?
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Listen now | It's an almost-all-Dobbs podcast, as David and Sarah discuss the oral argument that surprised the nation. Could Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey actually fall? David and Sarah talk about the court's decision-making process from here and the history of judge-flipping post-argument, and they identify the key moments in yesterday's argument. Also, they give their listeners a vital challenge--and if they can meet that challenge, then Advisory Opinions will be the indisputable flagship of the
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Isolated and sleep-deprived in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, Jonah once again attempts to fuse the classic Ruminant format with that of a supplemental episode. With the possibility that Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade, a sea change could soon occur in American politics. Using an extract from The Tyranny of Clichés (still available wherever books are sold!), Jonah explores some of the most challenging questions surrounding the jurisprudence of abortion. When does life truly begin? Why are taboos so important? And are dogmas, religious and otherwise, fundamental to the health of a civilized society?
Show Notes:
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The Morning Dispatch breaks down Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
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Jonah’s previous ruminations on abortion
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The Remnant with Will Saletan
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The (eternally underrated) Tyranny of Clichés
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Barbara Boxer’s blunder
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Listen now | With all eyes on the Supreme Court today, the gang starts with an explainer of what is happening in the oral arguments of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. What’s at stake? Is it as monumental as some are making it out to be? When might we know how the court rules? Plus, a new COVID variant emerges, Russia builds up its military presence near Ukraine, and blue states fail to live up to their own ideals.
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Listen now | After a Thanksgiving hiatus, Jonah is back and ready to break open the strategic rank punditry reserve. His guest today is Chris Stirewalt, who’s concerned with only the most important questions of the political moment: Why are Americans terrified of clowns? Is there a better parent than television? And was Pete Buttigieg raised in a refrigerator box? Serious discussion is also mixed in on what we can expect in 2024 and why Build Back Better is the “kitchen junk drawer” of policy proposals. Recent events surrounding a certain cable news network might even be mentioned.
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah open with the puzzling case of Project Veritas and James O'Keefe. Why is a New York appeals court appearing to let stand a prior restraint on the press? They then answer a fascinating reader mail question before wrapping up with an extended discussion of self-defense in the context of an incredibly troubling Texas shooting that was caught on tape.
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Listen now | David French and his theological wingman Curtis Chang dive into the term “evangelical”, defining it historically and discussing how it fits in the current American context. Is it really a set of religious beliefs, a set of cultural beliefs, or a set of political beliefs? How does evangelicalism compare with fundamentalism? Is evangelical a term worth salvaging for Christians, or has it become too closely tied to a political movement to retain any spiritual relevance?
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David Bahnsen, managing partner and chief investment officer at the Bahnsen Group, is back on The Remnant to explain why there really is no such thing as a free lunch, and to explore why some on the right now think we’d all be better off as serfs. With shameless book-plugging, David and Jonah also discuss the moral case for capitalism, the differences between cost-push and demand-pull inflation, and why the Japanification of the American economy won’t bode well for anyone. Zombie Reagan urges you to tune in!
Show Notes:
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David’s new book, There’s No Free Lunch
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David’s previous Remnant appearance
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David: “Sound Economics Enables Human Flourishing”
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The (still underrated) Tyranny of Clichés
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Robert Nisbet’s Prejudices
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Hayek’s “The Use of Knowledge in Society”
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Yuval Levin’s case for capitalism
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J.D. Vance’s serious nonsense
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Tucker Carlson debates Ben Shapiro on free markets
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The algebra of inflation
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Listen now | On today’s episode, David and Sarah take a deep dive into the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict with Damon Preston, Kentucky's Public Advocate and a criminal defense attorney with almost 30 years of experience. They discuss self defense law, the difference between the Rittenhouse trial and the trial of Ahmaud Arbery's killer, and the ways in which the criminal justice system could be reasonably reformed. Also, David exults in Mississippi's stinging defeat at the Supreme Court as the court turned back the Magnolia State's greedy attempt to keep Tennessee from drinking water from its own wells.
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Listen now | In the inaugural episode of the Good Faith Podcast, David French and his theological wingman Curtis Chang discuss some of the recent issues at Liberty University and how Christians should think about the concept of institutional sin. Curtis makes the theological case for how human institutions fit into the biblical narrative and that as such, they are both made in the image of God and also capable of sin and brokenness. They also discuss why it is important for Christians to place a high priority on being honest and open about institutional sin in our own ranks, amongst our own institutions.
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Today’s Ruminant finds Jonah preparing for an epic journey to the Pacific Northwest, and he’d appreciate podcast recommendations for the long and lonely trip. With Thanksgiving approaching, he’s feeling grateful, but he’s also concerned about the conservative movement’s gradual shift away from the classical liberalism embedded in American culture. How do societies emerge? Will mankind ever learn not to immanentize the eschaton? And has American life officially become crazier than a late night Japanese game show?
Show Notes:
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Wednesday’s regrettable G-File, released to the masses
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The Remnant with Will Saletan
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Nockian nerdery
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Nine Days and the making of an existential crisis
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Fukuyama’s The Origins of Political Order
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That time Bernie Sanders got kicked out of a commune
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I, Pencil
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The ultimate throwdown
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Paul Gosar gets censured
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Listen now | On today’s show, David and Sarah bring Neil Weare, president and founder of Equally American, on the pod to teach us interesting things about the Constitution and history, with an emphasis on the unique history of American territories. And then Sarah and David dive into the controversies at Yale Law School and try to answer the question, "What the heck is going on?"
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In preparation for Thanksgiving, Jonah invites the latest gold jacket-wearer Will Saletan back on The Remnant to consider what, if anything, is so uniquely great about America. Their conversation quickly develops into a discussion of nationalism, universal principles, and whether America is simply an idea, with a generous amount of rank punditry mixed in for good measure. Is the COVID-19 pandemic over? What does the Virginia result mean for both parties? And can Biden’s presidency recover after a disastrous few months?
Show Notes:
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Will’s page at Slate
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Will’s previous Remnant appearance
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Paxlovid Americana
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Will on critical race theory and the Virginia result
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Jonah: “What Inflation and CRT Have in Common”
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Rich Lowry: “Don’t Rewrite Mark Twain”
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Paul Gosar gets censured
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Jonah: “Mugged By Fallacy”
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Seymour Martin Lipset on American exceptionalism
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Jonah’s fondness for Thanksgiving
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Listen now | On today's podcast, our hosts discuss how to solve a problem like inflation. Will Biden's Build Back Better Act actually bring down prices? Plus, Sarah and the guys discuss pandemic fatigue driving voters to the GOP, what's going on at the Naval Observatory, and what the Kyle Rittenhouse and Ahmaud Arbery trials tell us about ourselves as a nation.
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Listen now | Remnant regular Matt Ridley is back to discuss the origins of COVID-19. Did the virus emerge from a lab? What would that mean for virological research? And how can we prepare ourselves for future pandemic? Broader scientific discussion is also mixed in on subjects ranging from climate change to mask-wearing. Lukewarm listeners are in for a treat.
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah dive into vaccine mandates, religious exemptions, and the Civil War. They analyze a recent court ruling blocking the Biden OSHA mandate, and then discuss what a “sincerely held religious belief” is in the eyes of the law. Finally, they conclude with a discussion of the Constitution, Abraham Lincoln, and whether he was an authoritarian who “broke” the Constitution before it was rebuilt by the Civil War amendments.
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On today’s Ruminant, Jonah is back in good health and high spirits, so much so that he can’t resist boasting about a meeting he enjoyed this week with former President Bush. He’s also concerned about the prospect of a second Trump presidency, intrigued by the debate over whether America was right to bomb Hiroshima, and fixated on George Will’s idea that history is shaped by “small, compact, idea-driven minorities.” Members of the ambivalent right will find much to appreciate.
Show Notes:
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The Remnant with George Will
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Jonah on elites and Pareto distribution
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The Remnant with Steve Teles
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Shor thing
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The Remnant with Jay Cost
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The Remnant with Brian Riedl
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Frankenstein revisited
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American prohibition, colorized
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Pew’s political typology test
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Nikole Hannah-Jones on Hiroshima
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Dan McLaughlin on the Meuse-Argonne Offensive
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Trump sours on DeSantis
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The Remnant with David Drucker
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Cognitive limitations
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Listen now | On today's episode, Sarah and Steve sit down with Scott Lincicome, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of The Dispatch newsletter Capitolism, to discuss the details of our global supply-chain issues. Plus, Lincicome answers questions about inflation, wages, and problems with our labor force participation.
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah talk to Erin Busby, Supreme Court co-counsel for John Ramirez in a critical death penalty religious liberty case. They walk through oral arguments and discuss the mysterious "silent justice." Then David and Sarah talk billboards. Yes, billboards. And they wrap with a discussion of misconceptions of self-defense and the Kyle Rittenhouse case.
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Listen now | Historian and AEI fellow Jay Cost is back on The Remnant to discuss his new biography of James Madison, which focuses on the political theory of Jonah’s favorite Founding Father. Jay and Jonah fuse rank punditry with historical nerdery to explore how a little Madisonian wisdom could go a long way toward solving our most pressing institutional challenges. What are the greatest misconceptions about Madison and the founding? How should the Declaration of Independence be understood? And could American politics use more smoke-filled rooms?
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Listen now | On today's show, our hosts discuss issues up-and-down the supply-chain, and the political fallout it brings. Plus, the ripple effects of the House passing the infrastructure package, what we think we know about the 2022 midterms, and the latest news around the Steele dossier.
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Listen now | David French takes control of The Remnant once again while Jonah is off to the long prairies of Texas. His guest is Curtis Chang, a theologian at Duke Divinity School and former Evangelical pastor. Together, David and Curtis explore the nature of vaccine skepticism among Evangelicals and the compatibility of Christianity and classical liberalism. They also preview a new podcast focused on the challenges facing American Christianity,
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah briefly preview key Supreme Court arguments before diving into the 5th Circuit's stay of the new Biden administration vaccine regulations, discuss the role of race in jury challenges (with an emphasis on jury selection in the Ahmaud Arbery murder case in Georgia), and finish with the latest developments in John Durham's investigation of the Trump-Russia investigation, complete with thoughts on the infamous Steele dossier.
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The drive-time Remnant format returns today for a deep dive into the horrors of social media and book promotion. Though Jonah is on the mend after yesterday’s brush with an unfortunate stomach ailment, he still isn’t back to 100 percent. Thankfully, Guy and Ryan have been prepared to provide him with medical assistance and ensure his rants remain coherent. Will the Lincoln Project ever cease to irritate? Is Blade still the best comic book movie? And will Jonah soon follow his secret dream of becoming a bestselling sci-fi author? Tune in to hear these vital questions answered, and to learn why Spider-Man was the world’s first neoconservative.
Show Notes:
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The Remnant with Matt Continetti
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Dog whistling
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The Lincoln Project’s tiki torch hoax
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Jonah on “let’s go Brandon”
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Online discourse
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Facebook’s timely rebrand
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The Remnant with Paul Bloom
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“I just feel lost”
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Eyes wide open
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Heretics of Dune
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Jonah debates Cenk Uygur
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Jonah on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
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Listen now | On today's episode, David and Sarah are on the road at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy on the campus of the University of Tennessee. Before a live audience they discuss Supreme Court oral arguments in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen
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Today’s episode of The Dispatch Podcast is a little bit different than the typical Friday version. Steve interviewed Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse at the Aspen Security Forum on the topic of America’s response to the digital revolution across the globe. Among some of the more interesting topics discussed: China and “chuckleheads,” as Sen. Sasse refers to some members of Congress. Sen. Sasse explains why even though the country faces an immense amount of problems he is still optimistic about the future.
Show Notes:
Link to video of the discussion
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Glenn Youngkin’s victory in Virginia has raised plenty of questions: Will Republican candidates in 2022 emulate his style? Has Trump’s grip on the GOP loosened? And where exactly did Terry McAuliffe go wrong? Remnant stalwart Matt Continetti returns today to provide answers and engage in punditry so rank your head may spin. Tune in also for discussion of critical race theory, the future of the conservative movement, and Biden’s faltering presidency. And make sure you have your bingo cards on hand.
Show Notes:
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Matt’s page at the Washington Free Beacon
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Matt’s previous Remnant appearance
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Matt’s upcoming book, The Right
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The Morning Dispatch breaks down Youngkin’s win
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Frederick Hess: “The Right Way to Reject Critical Race Theory”
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A smile and a fleece vest
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The Wall Street Journal’s editorial on Youngkin’s victory
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The Sean Parnell scandal
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The Remnant with George Will
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Jonah on the right’s Hungary obsession
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“Nobody elected him to be FDR”
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Democrats want another candidate on the ballot in 2024
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Listen now | Sometimes the news of the day calls for some good old-fashioned rank punditry and after Tuesday’s elections today’s Dispatch Podcast does just that. Sarah, David, Jonah, and Declan look at the results not just in Virginia, but New Jersey, Minneapolis, and Buffalo, too. What do the results mean for the 2022 midterms? Anything at all? Our hosts break it all down.
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Ross Douthat is back on The Remnant to discuss his new book, The Deep Places, a memoir of his six-year struggle with chronic illness. With numerous references to The Exorcist, Jonah and Ross take a deep dive into his ordeal, and even manage to mix in a generous amount of rank punditry on political tribalism and the conservative movement in the COVID era. Did Ross’ sickness cause him to reconsider his views on health care policy? How did he cope while enduring a period of prolonged suffering and isolation? And how has Donald Trump changed Republican politics?
Show Notes:
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Ross’ new book, The Deep Places
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Ross’ page at National Review
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Ross’ page at the New York Times
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Ross is profiled in The Dispatch
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Ross: “How I became a sick person”
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The Invisible Kingdom, by Meghan O’Rourke
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The Remnant with Paul Bloom
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Mom Genes, by Abigail Tucker
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John Tooby on coalitional instincts
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R.R. Reno: “Say ‘No’ to Death’s Dominion”
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Jonah: “The Treason of Epidemiologists”
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The Capitol rioters running for office
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Listen now | On today’s episode, David and Sarah react to the oral arguments in the Texas abortion law cases. The Supreme Court heard three hours of arguments in two different cases and from four different advocates. But after all of it, Sarah and David agree: it’s a mess…and it still doesn’t have anything to do with
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On today’s special Ruminant, Jonah assembles a Mount Rushmore of geekdom (David French, Haley Byrd Wilt, and Jack “Butlerian jihad” Butler) to review Denis Vileneuve’s movie adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Be prepared for perhaps the nerdiest episode ever, as the quartet explores why it took so long for a Dune movie to be produced (David Lynch’s doesn’t count), what the film got right, and whether any elements of the book were unjustly left out. There’s also broader discussion mixed in on the awfulness of the Star Wars prequels, the best movie adaptations of great sci-fi novels, and why sci-fi as a genre is inherently conservative. Muad’dib!
Show Notes:
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Frank Herbert’s Dune novels, for the uninitiated
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David Lynch’s Dune adaptation, best left forgotten?
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Haley’s Dune-filled Twitter feed
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Jack’s Dune review
-National Review now has a Dune tag
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The Chung Kuo series
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The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu
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The Time Traveler’s Almanac
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Listen now | On today's podcast, Sarah and David talk with Ian Prior, executive director of Fight for Schools, to discuss what exactly is happening in Loudoun County, Virginia. Critical race theory in schools? A sexual assault controversy? And how will this all affect the race for governor in Virginia?
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Listen now | On today’s show, it's a battle of Generation X versus millennials versus Generation Z as Sarah and David shout, "You kids get off my lawn!" But before the cultural rant, they explore parental rights in public schools, discuss the mixture of church and politics, and talk about the Kyle Rittenhouse case and the law of self-defense. Then, and only then, does Sarah lament "kids these days."
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Steve Teles joins The Remnant for a second time to explore what can be done to fix our dysfunctional parties. Like many of Jonah’s closest friends, Steve disagrees with his idea that a third party could cure what ails the GOP, and instead argues that we should build moderate factions within it. Brace yourself for an exceptionally wonky discussion, which covers Jonah’s distaste for primaries, why we need a better class of political moderate, and whether Joe Biden should be considered a centrist. There’s also plenty of gratuitous complaining about Congress and the Clintons, so prepare your bingo cards.
Show Notes:
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Steve’s page at the Niskanen Center
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Never Trump, Steve and Rob Saldin’s latest book
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The Captured Economy, Steve’s previous book with Brink Lindsey
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Steve’s previous Remnant appearance
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Jonah: “A Third Party Could Cure What Ails the GOP”
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Jonah: “Words with Friends”
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Steve and Rob: “The Future is Faction”
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“Cost Disease Socialism”
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Matt Yglesias: “Congressional Moderates Could Make a Party of Their Own”
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Mitt Romney’s child benefit plan
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David Shor: “How Democrats Can Save Themselves”
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Listen now | On today's episode, our hosts discuss a new proposal from Democrats to tax the unrealized capital gains of billionaires. Is it constitutional? Plus, Taiwan and “strategic ambiguity,” the Facebook files, and who will Virginia elect as governor next week?
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Listen now | If you thought Jonah turned into an excited fanboy when he interviewed Mike Duncan, just wait until you hear today’s Remnant, in which acclaimed psychologist Dr. Paul Bloom joins the program for the first time to discuss man’s search for meaning. Human beings are strange creatures: We often deliberately seek out things that cause us pain or discomfort, like horror movies and spicy foods. What is the cause of this “benign masochism,” and what does it really mean to be happy? Additionally, how should human nature be defined? Could video games and virtual reality destroy the world as we know it? And how can Jonah tie all of this in with neoconservatism?
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Listen now | On today’s episode, David and Sarah celebrate the Supreme Court finally bending to their will and then preview the upcoming oral arguments regarding SB 8, the Texas abortion law. They then move on to a discussion of a wild case involving videotaping police, highlight Liberty University's problems with sexual assault, and then wonder whether an important free speech case is dead or just "mostly dead."
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Today’s Ruminant finds Jonah irritated by back pain, enamored with California roller coasters, and concerned for the health of his loyal spaniel (send her your love!). It also features a lengthy exploration of whether China can still be politically liberalized, why the terms and conditions of Trump’s new social media network are so funny, and how executive privilege actually functions. Stick around until the end for updates about new features on The Dispatch, and a preview of upcoming guests.
Show Notes:
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The House votes to hold Steve Bannon in contempt
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Advisory Opinions explores January 6
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Jonah’s brief history of executive privilege
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Gimme some truth
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Fresh craziness from J.D. Vance
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Klon Kitchen on the dangers of China’s missile tests
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Lipset’s modernization theory
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Mike Pompeo on Special Report
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“We welcome stiff competition”
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Visions of China on The Dispatch Podcast
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The moral equivalent of war
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The Friday G-File
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Listen now | On today's episode, Sarah and Steve talk with Klon Kitchen, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and veteran of the intelligence community to discuss the latest news out of China. What do China’s hypersonic missile tests mean for the balance of power between the United States and China? Are we at the start of a new "cold war?" Kitchen answers these questions and more.
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Listen now | It’s weeping and gnashing of teeth for David in today's podcast as the Supreme Court deals a devastating blow to his dreams of abolishing qualified immunity. But Sarah saves the AO crew from despair by conducting another Supreme Court symphony regarding the Biden commission. Come for the despair, stay for the analysis, and relish a deep dive into Supreme Court reform.
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Presidential historian and Remnant fan-favorite Tevi Troy returns today for more seriously rank punditry. As you may have noticed, we’re living through a strange moment in which it’s becoming shocking to suggest that saying things people want to hear is an effective political strategy. How did we get here, and how can we prevent our institutions from succumbing to the cult of wokeness? For that matter, how can ordinary Americans resist cancel culture? Should conservatives build alternative institutions? And has Joe Biden replaced Jimmy Carter as history’s greatest monster?
Show Notes:
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Tevi’s page at National Affairs
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Tevi’s previous Remnant appearance
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Tevi on the Commentary podcast
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The GLoP podcast, for all your pop culture needs
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Tevi: “How to Defend Free Speech”
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Tevi: “Wokeness M.D.”
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Bob Woodward pays tribute to Colin Powell
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Michael Powell on Dorian Abbot’s cancelation
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The Morning Dispatch breaks down the Netflix protests
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The Wednesday G-File
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Bari Weiss on cancel culture
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The latest Dispatch Podcast
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Jonah on policing and slave patrols
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The Remnant with Scott Gottlieb
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Tevi: “Biden’s Legacy is on the Line”
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, our hosts tackle a wide range of topics. From China’s hypersonic missiles to the ongoing situation in Loudoun County, Steve, Sarah, Jonah, and David grapple with what those issues mean for the country with heavy doses of concern and skepticism. Plus, some good old-fashioned rank punditry. Sarah asks whether political operatives are responsible for ruining our politics? And some level-setting on Jonah’s third party idea that has caused a stir on the right.
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Listen now | David Drucker, senior political correspondent at the Washington Examiner, joins The Remnant for the first time to discuss the state of the Republican Party post-Trump and what the 2024 election cycle will bring. Why do so many Republicans choose to minimize Trump’s destructive tendencies? What can we expect from Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, and other major players going forward? And will the next presidential candidate redefine the GOP’s image?
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Listen now | What do court packers have in common with Hugo Chavez? Take a listen to this action-packed pod to find out. Sarah conducts a symphony of Supreme Court commission analysis, including guiding a walk through American legal history to explain the commission’s surprisingly conservative comments. David discusses the legal issues roiling the nation’s most controversial school district.
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On today’s Ruminant, a predictably sleep-deprived Jonah is haunted by distant memories of his time in Prague and the alluring restaurants that refused his custom. Thankfully, he’s able to process the pain by embarking on a lengthy rant about democracy, capitalism, and the charming brilliance of Irving Kristol. There’s also a disquisition on the philosophy of hit TV shows and the legacy of The Wire, which will delight Breaking Bad partisans. Tune in to find out if Jonah has adjusted to life as an empty nester, but stick around to see if he can get through the whole episode without mentioning third parties.
Show Notes:
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The Remnant with Michael Brendan Dougherty
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The Wednesday G-File
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Jonah and Steve Hayes on The Dispatch’s two-year anniversary
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“Opposing views”
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Jonah’s love of Breaking Bad
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Conservatism and The Wire
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Biden’s living on a prayer
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Scott Lincicome on America’s ports problem
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The Morning Dispatch
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The birth of The Remnant
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Broken windows
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James Q. Wilson: “Capitalism and Morality”
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The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism
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The Remnant with Graeme Wood
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Irving Kristol: “When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness”
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The Remnant with George Will
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The Remnant with Megan McCardle
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The Remnant with Charles Murray
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Former Rep. Dan Lipinski, Democrat from the Chicago area, and Reid Ribble, Republican from Wisconsin, join Sarah and Steve about how Congress works or doesn’t work, rather. The two former elected officials highlight the failures of the House of Representatives with troubling personal stories and insights. Fair warning, this conversation is as distressing as it is informative. Plus, stick around to hear what the Wisconsinite and Illinoisian think about this weekend’s Packers vs. Bears game.
Show Notes:
“The House of Representatives Is Failing American Democracy” - Lipinski in The Atlantic
“Confessions of a pro-life Catholic Democrat in a divided nation” - Lipinski in America Magazine
Dan Lipinski’s website
“Daniel Lipinski on Common-Good Republicans” - First Things Podcast
Reid Ribble’s Twitter
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Listen now | On today’s episode, we get a Supreme Court update from Sarah and not one but two entire Ted Talks from David. They cover a very obscure (yet interesting!) constitutional case, and then discuss two viral stories--one involving an elementary school and juvenile justice system in Tennessee, the other involving an absurd act of unfairness at Yale Law School. Our hosts talk poverty and privilege in the same pod. Oh, and Sarah winds it all up with a discussion of laches and estoppel that you don't want to miss.
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In light of the reaction to his call for anti-Trump conservatives to form a third party, Jonah invites Michael Brendan Dougherty onto The Remnant to discuss the potential benefits and drawbacks of such an approach. Things don’t entirely go as planned, as their conversation swiftly moves beyond that into the broader strangeness of contemporary politics and the conservative movement. With the American people increasingly defecting from the norms of constitutional government, what can be done to prevent our institutions from collapsing?
Show Notes:
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Michael’s author page at National Review
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My Father Left Me Ireland, Michael’s recent book
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Jonah’s uncontroversial column
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Michael’s response
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Charlie Cooke’s response
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Dan McLaughlin’s response
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The Wednesday G-File
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Trump urges Republicans not to vote
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Bill Kristol: “What About Joe?”
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The Remnant with George Will
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Remember the Obamacons?
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Yuval Levin on nationalism and exceptionalism
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Stalin’s War, by Sean McMeekin
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Macron’s plan to reindustrialize France
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Ross Douthat: “How Conservatives Can Reshape Education”
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Charlie Kirk at his worst
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Joe Rogan debates Sanjay Gupta
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The Merrick Garland letter
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The National School Boards Association letter
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The Daily Signal’s bathroom story
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The latest Dispatch Podcast
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Norse mythology
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David Harsanyi debates Sohrab Ahmari
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Listen now | To quote the great Ozzy Osbourne, “We’re going off the rails on the crazy train.” In today’s podcast, our hosts look at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on vaccine mandates, the DOJ memo aimed at school boards, an update to the January 6 committee, and President Biden's slumping numbers among independents. And finally, what does all of this mean for 2022 and (even though it’s way too early) 2024?
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Listen now | Dust off your calculators, because beloved economic policy wonk Brian Riedl is back on The Remnant to discuss everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the federal budget, spending, taxes, and deficits. He also touches on the right’s curious lurch toward industrial policy and common good capitalism, and why conservatives and progressives alike can’t resist the prospect of a free lunch. Is the Laffer Curve a force for evil? How progressive is the U.S. tax code? And why is Joe Biden so determined to outspend Mack the Knife?
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Listen now | It's executive privilege day on Advisory Opinions! After a brief update on the Texas abortion litigation, David and Sarah "dive right in" to a discussion of the January 6 commission subpoenas and the power of Donald Trump to use executive privilege to block testimony. Our hosts also talk about how "parents and pals" help debunk a Brett Kavanaugh conspiracy theory. And they wind up with a crazy clemency case that's likely to leave a man in prison because a Donald Trump sentence was just too ambiguous.
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Listen now | On today’s Ruminant, Jonah aims to set the record straight on a matter of international significance: Despite what the producers of American Crime Story would have you believe, he has never owned an oversized poster of Atlas Shrugged. Thankfully, this misunderstanding gives him an excuse to indulge in a nerdtastic exploration of the differences between objectivism and conservatism, the significance of religion to conservative belief, and the differences between conservatives and “men of the right.” There’s also a disquisition on social anxiety and Theodor Adorno’s idea of the “authoritarian personality,” as well as a rant on those who continue to minimize January 6. Plus, as a special treat for
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Listen now | On today's episode, Jonah hijacks hosting duties from Sarah to have a conversation with Steve as The Dispatch celebrates its second anniversary. How did we get here? What is the state of the company? And where are we going? Show Notes: -The Dispatch manifesto from 2019
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Listen now (80 min) | In today's pod David and Sarah discuss a federal district court injunction against Texas's heartbeat bill, dive into the deep waters of Mississippi's unbearable aquatic greed, and discuss whether ten robberies is one "occasion" for crime or, well, ten. But that's not all! They also engage in a brief but spirited debate about whether the DOJ's letter about threats against school board members. The pod finishes by talking about manners. In an interesting way. We promise.
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Listen now | Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb joins The Remnant for the first time to explore the state of the COVID-19 pandemic and what went wrong with America’s response last year. With cases falling nationally, Scott believes that the “pandemic phase” of the virus is drawing to a close. But we’re still remarkably unprepared for whatever the next pandemic might be. What were the successes and failures of Operation Warp Speed? How do natural immunity and vaccine immunity compare? And is Scott too deep in the pocket of Big Dairy to be trusted on the validity of yogurt expiration dates?
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Listen now | On today's podcast, our hosts discuss China's recent incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, and how seriously the United States should take the Chinese Communist Party’s aggression in the Indo-Pacific. Plus: Democrats are in disarray on Capitol Hill, a State Department official resigns over the Biden administration’s border policy, and Facebook is feeling the heat from all directions.
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Listen now | The incomparable George Will makes his long-awaited return to The Remnant to discuss his latest book, American Happiness and Discontents. As George writes in its introduction, “happiness has been elusive for this dyspeptic nation” in recent years. Together, he and Jonah examine why Americans have become so restless and what can be done to address the causes of their disaffection. They also discuss how populism should be understood, what it means to be a “faint-hearted originalist,” and how the degradation of America’s elite institutions can be reversed. Happy warriors and scowling primitives alike are encouraged to tune in.
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Listen now | On this week’s episode, Sarah is back from the Galápagos Islands just in time for the Supreme Court’s fall term. David and Sarah jump right in, starting with a rather spicy speech from Justice Samuel Alito. Our hosts also discuss a case with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, a professor who is suing UCLA, and the high court’s upcoming cases.
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If there’s one group Jonah has less patience for than post-liberal Catholic integralists, it’s progressives who want to replace Madisonian democracy with a parliamentary system. On today’s ranty Ruminant, he explores why America’s system of government is exceptional, why the Electoral College should stand, and why the Germans don’t always do it better. There’s also a disquisition on historicism and relativism, obligatory kvetching about Democrats spending money they don’t have, and an aside about conservative intellectuals turning their backs on light. Tune in for nerdy references to Leo Strauss, but stick around to see if Jonah can actually make it to the end without mentioning Woodrow Wilson.
Show Notes:
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Wednesday’s “news”letter
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Ben Sasse’s rant at the Kavanaugh hearing
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George W. Plunkitt, no relation to Harry S. Plinkett
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Jonah defends the Electoral College
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The Morning Dispatch breaks down Germany’s election
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Biden can’t read the room
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The Remnant with Mike Duncan
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The Remnant with Scott Lincicome
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Leo Strauss’ critique of historicism
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“Hello lamppost, whatcha knowin’?”
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Hillbilly lunacy
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Robert Kagan: “Our Constitutional Crisis is Already Here”
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The latest Dispatch Podcast
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Actually, it’s the common good
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Listen now | On today's podcast, Steve is joined by Haley Byrd Wilt, who writes Uphill for The Dispatch, and John McCormack, Washington correspondent for National Review, to discuss what exactly has been happening on Capitol Hill this week. After House Democrats delayed a vote on the infrastructure bill, can both factions find a way to end the stalemate?
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Listen now | Scott Lincicome, The Dispatch’s resident expert on all things free and economic, returns to The Remnant for a distinctly wonky discussion of tariffs, taxes, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Jonah and Scott tackle our most pressing regulatory questions. Is corporate personhood a legitimate concept? Has Biden undone any of Trump’s protectionist measures? And will supply chain shortages deprive us all of Tickle Me Elmos this Christmas? There’s also a bit about boar-cobra hybrids enslaving humanity, but you’ll have to listen to fully understand.
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Listen now | All eyes are focused on Capitol Hill this week as the debt ceiling, government funding, and infrastructure talks continue to heat up in both houses of Congress. Also happening in both chambers is testimony on Afghanistan from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and U.S. Central Command Commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie. Sarah has the week off, so Steve, David, and Jonah discuss it all on this week’s episode. And for dessert: the future of the Republican Party.
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Listen now | The revolution won’t be televised, but it will be broadcast to the world on today’s long-awaited Remnant, in which Jonah is joined by Revolutions podcast host and fellow history obsessive Mike Duncan. Over an exceptionally nerdy hour, they explore how Mike prepares for his podcast, whether America’s ghastly political situation really does resemble the decline of the Roman Republic, and why even
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Listen now | In a special edition of the podcast, David interviews his former colleague Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. The two discuss the state of free speech on college campuses and why it’s not just a higher education issue, but one that also impacts workforces and the United States in general. And of course, lacking Sarah’s moderating influence, there are also some (relatively minor) descents into nerdery over
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As if experiencing the Monica Lewinsky saga first-hand wasn’t strange enough, Impeachment: American Crime Story is now subjecting Jonah to it all over again. How did we get here? And when exactly did American politics stop making sense? Unable to answer those questions alone and with David Byrne ignoring his calls, Jonah summons Guy and Ryan for a journey into the world of book royalties, internet comment sections, and broadcasting secrets best left in the green room. Their ramblings also address the passing of Norm Macdonald, dark behind the scenes secrets of The Dispatch, and why political provocateurs usually don’t enjoy more than 15 minutes of fame. Plus, tune in to hear Jonah tell an epic story of identity theft.
Show Notes:
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Wednesday’s G-File, released to the masses
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The Remnant’s super-spectacular 400th episode
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Conan’s tribute to Norm Macdonald
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Guy’s Bret Stephens profile, shamelessly plugged
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Jonah’s return to National Review
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The Remnant with Will Saletan
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Florida, Florida, Florida
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The double
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“Schindler es bueno, señor Burns es el diablo”
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Duke Zeibert’s
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Milo Minderbinder
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Listen now | On today's episode, Brian Riedl, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, joins Sarah and Steve as Congress debates lifting America’s borrowing cap. Will Democrats and Republicans come to an agreement to lift the debt limit? Are we heading toward another government shutdown? Is anyone in Washington concerned about our ballooning national debt?
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To distinguish The Remnant’s 400th episode, Jonah thought it would be refreshing to bring on a guest renowned among fans for his cheerfulness: Kevin Williamson, National Review’s roving correspondent. Together, they take an extra long, extra nerdy voyage through the morass that is modern American politics to determine whether the end times will really be as awesome as Kevin predicted several years ago. Why are young men so dispossessed? Is there any harm in grifting to earn a living? And will January 6 be remembered for presaging the death of American democracy? It’s a conversation that covers everything from cattle trading to Satan’s balls, and we’re grateful to you all for listening.
Show Notes:
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Kevin’s previous Remnant appearance
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Kevin on the never-ending coup
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John Eastman’s plan to overturn the election
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Jonah: “This Was Always the Plan”
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Jim Glassman on Hillary’s cows
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Make bureaucracy great again
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Sidney Powell’s latest insanity
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Kevin’s time among the flat-earthers
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The decline in male college enrollment
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Twilight of Democracy, by Anne Applebaum
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The Smallest Minority, Kevin’s defense of the individual
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Charles C.W. Cooke: “Roe is the Problem”
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Kevin on Texas’ “heartbeat bill”
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Mad Dogs and Englishmen on the Met gala
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Kevin’s spat with Dan Bongino
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Kevin’s latest book, still in the running for “Greatest Subtitle Ever,” Big White Ghetto: Dead Broke, Stone-Cold Stupid, and High on Rage in the Dank Woolly Wilds of the “Real America”
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Listen now | In today’s episode, Sarah and David discuss a number of situations where events have proven their predictions true, starting with a challenge to the Texas abortion law and ending with a complaint over critical race theory. In between, our hosts also dissect the legal arguments underpinning the push to get Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 presidential election and discuss a new bill that would reign in presidential powers.
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Listen now | After the latest surge of migrants in the border town of Del Rio, Texas, our hosts discuss how the Biden administration has handled the immigration issue since taking office. Plus, President Biden continues to have foreign policy problems. What happened with the botched drone strike in Afghanistan? Why is France mad at us? All of that leaves Jonah with one big question: Is Biden just bad at his job?
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Chris Stirewalt returns to The Remnant for punditry so intense it could rival the summer heat of New Orleans. Religious definitions are first on the docket, as Jonah and Chris explore the voting habits of Catholics, whether “Evangelical” is an outdated term, and the relationship between political beliefs and church attendance. Afterward, a deep dive into party politics commences, covering the GOP’s embrace of working-class men, the right’s broader commitment to bogus election fraud narratives, and how the return of radical chic could spark a new class war. Ultimately, only German words are sufficient to express Chris’ horror at our current situation.
Show Notes:
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Trash of the titans
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Chris on dumping “Evangelical”
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Making the church great again
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Catholics and politics
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The New York Times on Harvard’s atheist chaplain
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Jim Banks’ push for a working-class GOP
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Jerry Seib on the California recall
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The Emerging Democratic Majority
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An excuse for whenever you break the law
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Coincidence? I think not!
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Tucker Carlson outcrazies himself
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah discuss a host of thorny legal issues starting with an indictment against a lawyer who lied to the FBI when he alleged communications between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank. They then dig into a Second Amendment amici brief, a defamation case, and the issue of misleading headlines. Listen to the end to hear Sarah explain how to get away with murder (or somewhat less sensationally, how to get away with interstate mail fraud).
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On today’s Ruminant, an addled and isolated Jonah is haunted by Muppets and their irresistibly catchy songs. He’s also fascinated by the Mark Milley affair, irritated by political figures who disregard the importance of rules, and amused by elites who’ve clearly never read “Radical Chic.” Why are politicians more interested in trolling the opposition than actually doing their jobs? Was the Cigarette Smoking Man really behind the Kennedy assassination? And how many people had to sample poison berries before mankind perfected the art of cooking?
Show Notes:
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The ultimate tweet
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You’re welcome
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Wednesday’s Dispatch Podcast
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Musings of a cigarette smoking man
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Griffin on Milley
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Wednesday’s “news”letter
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The hidden law
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That gala at Anna’s
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It’s unputdownable!
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Inside Tom Wolfe’s apartment, and more…
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The Remnant with Will Saletan on elite overproduction
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We already tax the rich
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Do CEOs make less than doctors?
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Politico annoys Jennifer Rubin
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On today’s episode, CNN’s S.E. Cupp joins Sarah and Steve to talk about the Biden administration, Congress, and why extremism is taking over the politics of today. Plus, the trio discusses the effects of social media on the news business and the challenges that come with being the target of internet trolls.
Show Notes:
“The Conservative Coma” by SE Cupp in Vanity Fair
S.E. opens up about living with anxiety
WSJ report on the effects of social media on teen girls
“Why You're Wrong About the Right” by S.E. Cupp and Brett Joshpe
“Losing our Religion” by S.E. Cupp
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Remnant fan favorite and National Review stalwart Ramesh Ponnuru returns today for a thorough discussion of the jurisprudence of abortion and state of the pro-life movement. Although it’s easy to talk about overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in the abstract, the real-world consequences can be difficult to envision. Jonah and Ramesh explore what a post-Roe United States could look like, touching on laws, the two parties, and public opinion. Along the way, they also examine the horrors of inflation and rise of common good originalism. Plus, all of this happens to remind Jonah of a certain Star Trek episode.
Show Notes:
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Ramesh’s author page at National Review
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Ramesh on overturning Roe v. Wade
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The latest polling on Roe
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Barack Obama’s record on abortion
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The Remnant with David French
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Return of the eco-Wilsonians
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Rick Perlstein’s “moral panic”
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Why Ramesh isn’t worried about inflation
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Listen now | Journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa have a new book coming out that is full of more scandals from the Trump era, most notably one involving Gen. Mark Milley possibly going around the chain of command in the final days of the Trump administration. Before that discussion, the gang discusses the legality and politics of the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate. Plus, a potpourri of topics pertaining to the GOP and what to make of the California recall election.
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Listen now | Accomplished attorney and longtime Jonah associate Shannen Coffin joins The Remnant for a deep dive into the constitutionality of Biden’s vaccine mandate and the dysfunctional state of our federal government. Together, they explore the role each branch of government should play in enforcing such a mandate, Biden’s failure to diminish the COVID culture war, and whether the conservative legal movement could fall victim to the ideology of owning the libs. Obligatory references to Robert Bork are also included. To paraphrase Lionel Hutz, can you imagine a podcast without lawyers?
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Listen now | In today’s episode, Sarah and David give you everything you need to combat half-baked hot takes about the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate as they discuss whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has the statutory authority to issue its rule. They then indulge in an exploration of the Commerce Clause. Lastly, our hosts discuss new legal updates to the abortion heartbeat law, as well as some potpourri.
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Listen now | Jonah begins today’s Ruminant on a reflective note, recalling where he was on 9/11 and how the tragedy affected him personally and professionally. Afterward, things get ranty, as Jonah digs into the constitutionality of federal vaccine mandates, the pervasive myth that he doesn’t criticize Joe Biden, and the question of whether America should export democracy to illiberal countries. Why is neoconservatism still so misunderstood? Is Biden really a Clinton in disguise? And how have we reached the point where the classic “Sideshow Bob Roberts” episode of
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Listen now | In today's episode, Sarah and Steve talk with Sen. Ben Sasse about the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and what to do next. For a longer summary of the interview, check out an article on The Dispatch website. Plus, Steve talks with Peter Wehner who was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush on September 11, 2001. They share reflections on that day at the White House and the last 20 years.
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Listen now (91 min) | Slate’s Will Saletan returns to The Remnant to discuss the anniversary of 9/11, the ongoing challenges of COVID-19, and oligarchs who can’t resist the sweet taste of candy. With America’s vaccine rollout gaining steam once again, Jonah and Will explore how calamity-ending miracle drugs became the subject of partisan debate, and whether any side truly got the pandemic right. They also touch on the deliciousness of GMOs and how political life may only get crazier in the coming decade. Tune in for violent agreement, but stick around for vigorous debate.
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Listen now | In today’s episode, Sarah and David discuss a fiery concurrence from Judge James Ho in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit’s opinion upholding a Texas ban on certain abortion procedures. They then discuss an indictment related to the Ahmaud Arbery killing, a death penalty case with religious liberty implications, and a Donald Trump Jr. defamation case. Lastly, listen till the end to hear about the cult (which centers around a current Supreme Court justice) that our hosts are vying to join.
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Listen now | President Biden is having a no good, horrible, very bad summer. The gang, with Chris Stirewalt subbing in for David, discuss whether Biden can recover from the last few weeks. Is the only thing that can save Biden a reemergence of former President Trump? Trump is slated to visit Iowa and the group discusses what that means for 2024. And finally, Afghanistan is still in shambles and we’re coming up on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Listen to hear what Sarah, Jonah, Steve, and Chris were doing 20 years ago and how it impacted the rest of their lives.
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Listen now | Get your black robes, white wigs, and legal dictionaries ready, because David French is back on The Remnant to evaluate Texas’ controversial new abortion ruling. He and Jonah also explore the Supreme Court’s history of inventing doctrines that can’t be found in written law, before turning to the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and what America’s response to such a tragedy would look like in today’s hyperpolarized moment. Does the Second Amendment protect ownership of surface-to-air missiles? What changes have occured in the pro-life movement? And will
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Jonah’s sailed the seas and seen the world over, but everything always draws him back to good ol’ New York, New York. Still, although today’s Ruminant ends with a discussion of the Big Apple’s terrifying floods (which may or may not have dealt a blow to the local rodent population), it also covers the Supreme Court’s controversial abortion ruling, the pervasive myth that big corporations are right-wing, and “closet normals” in the GOP who pretend to hold crazy views. With shameless book-plugging, Jonah also digs into how the definitions of left and right in politics have changed over time. If you’re a loyal listener, stick around until the end for a proposition you won’t be able to refuse.
Show Notes:
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David French breaks down the Texas abortion ruling
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Jonah’s previous ruminations on abortion
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Virginia’s late-term abortion bill
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Advisory Opinions takes a deep dive into abortion law
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Matt Continetti on the politics of abortion
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A disappointing August jobs report
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Richard Holbrooke’s damning diary
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The latest Dispatch Podcast on Afghanistan
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The Dispatch’s Afghanistan editorial
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The Remnant with Graeme Wood
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“Come home. America”
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Gabriel Kolko
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The Big Ripoff, by Tim Carney
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The pandemic’s effect on women in the workforce
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Ron Johnson says the quiet part loud
-
Leatherhead’s revenge
-
Someone call the Shredder
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Listen now | This week, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, declined to block a Texas abortion law from going into effect. In Thursday’s Advisory Opinions podcast, Sarah and David tackled the legal aspect of the law and the court’s decision. Today, they turn to the politics--not just of the Texas law, but of the issue of abortion itself. Where does the pro-life movement stand today? Where does it go from here?
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Listen now | Late Wednesday night, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, refused to block a Texas abortion law that went into effect earlier in the day. Sarah and David engage in a very detailed discussion of Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson, equipping intrepid listeners to combat any bad legal hot takes they might encounter. They cover what this means for states that want to challenge constitutional rights, for women in Texas with nonviable pregnancies, and, the million dollar question: what this means for the right to abortion established by
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Graeme Wood, staff writer for The Atlantic, joins The Remnant for the first time to discuss the future of the Taliban, the psychology of extremists, and why, depressingly, America’s political situation may only get crazier. For the sake of levity, Jonah is also sure to ask about Graeme’s experiences hitchhiking across Afghanistan and bootlegging liquor in Iraq, as well as the quirks of being bilingual. Tune in additionally for an update on Jonah’s book collection, but stick around for your periodical reminder not to immanentize the eschaton.
Show Notes:
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Graeme’s author page at The Atlantic
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Graeme on the future of ISIS
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Graeme on understanding the Taliban
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The overrepresentation of converts among jihadists
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Evangelicals who don’t go to church
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Eric Voegelin’s New Science of Politics
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Is the Muslim world ignoring the plight of the Uyghurs?
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Graeme’s profile of Peter Turchin
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The great man theory of history
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Listen now | There are no more troops in Afghanistan, and President Biden is telling us we had no other option. The gang talks about all the problems with Biden’s speech from the White House at the end of the war in Afghanistan. Plus, as political violence seems to be ticking up recently our hosts debate whether or not that is something to worry about. And finally, creeping a little bit into
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Listen now | Peter Suderman, Reason magazine’s features editor and cocktail connoisseur, makes his first appearance on The Remnant today to preach the gospel of Kanye West. He also gives his thoughts on the Afghanistan withdrawal, the potential of Bitcoin to replace currency as we know it, and the government’s propensity to, as Jonah puts it, “spend like a pimp with a week to live.” Is it finally time to buy gold? Does anyone still believe that
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Listen now | For today’s episode, Sarah is joined by special guest Ben Folds, storied American singer-songwriter, musician, and podcaster. They discuss how failure is baked into doing science, how Folds’ song about the Mueller investigation is the perfect place to start for the law-curious, and the song-writing process.
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In the last few years, the conservative movement has gone through a number of obvious changes. But Jonah believes he’s stayed consistent in his views, and uses today’s Ruminant to explain why. He also touches on the end of Biden’s eviction moratorium, the legacy of the “intellectual dark web,” and how hyperpolarization is rotting peoples’ brains. Tune in to hear Jonah’s final thoughts on the Afghanistan tragedy, but stick around to see if he can refrain from giggling at Sidney Powell’s potential disbarment.
Show Notes:
-
The Dispatch’s Afghanistan editorial
-
The Dispatch Podcast on the Afghanistan evacuation
-
The Economist on Afghanistan’s consequences
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Supreme Court ends Biden’s eviction moratorium
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Robert Reich, Jonah’s BFF
-
“Right-wing extremists”
-
The sweet taste of vaccines
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Just deserts
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“Leave the rest to me”
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Penetrating analysis from Bret Weinstein
-
Jonah on the “intellectual dark web”
-
Last week’s ranty-yet-sentimental Ruminant
-
“Our people hate the right people”
-
The Remnant with Charlie Cooke
-
The Wednesday G-File
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Rep. Mike Gallagher joins Sarah and Steve on the podcast and tries (with no luck) to understand the logic behind the Biden administration’s withdrawal plan in Afghanistan. Gallagher puts it quite bluntly, “The whole thing is a mess, and there are very few options we have right now.” The Marine Corps veteran explains what he’d like to see from the Biden administration going forward and how the GOP should handle national security issues going forward. Plus, find out what brutal book the congressman just finished reading (hint: it’s about Sarah’s home state).
Show Notes:
Office Space Michael Bolton scene
Rep. Gallagher’s Small Wars Journal piece with plenty of Office Space references
Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Qwynne
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On today’s episode, Jonah, now back in his empty nest in D.C., desperately requires a distraction from the oppressive August heat. Fortunately, RealClearPolitics associate editor and fan-favorite guest A.B. Stoddard has just the topic: infrastructure. Exceedingly rank punditry ensues, as they explore divisions within the Democratic Party, racial progress in America, and why moderate Democrats find it difficult to be loud about their moderation. Along the way, they also discuss whether COVID or the Afghanistan tragedy can be blamed for President Biden’s declining approval ratings. Brace your bingo cards.
Show Notes:
-
A.B.’s author page at RealClearPolitics
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The Wednesday G-File
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Uphill breaks down the latest infrastructure developments
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Hakeem Jefferies and Josh Gottheimer launch a PAC to defend incumbents
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Drive-thru voting in Houston
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The Remnant with Tim Carney
-
Suicide bombings in Kabul
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Biden’s plummeting approval ratings
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Jonah on invisible but deadly entities
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Republican anger at the unvaccinated
-
A.B. on Ron DeSantis and COVID in Florida
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Listen now | Today, the gang leads the podcast with yet another conversation about the crisis in Afghanistan. As they tick through all the bad takes floating around the internet surrounding the situation one by one, it’s clear the main takeaway is that it’s still really bad and sad to watch. Plus, more infrastructure talk! Has Nancy Pelosi lost her political touch?
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Listen now | David French guest-hosts The Remnant today while Jonah returns home from his western voyage. He’s joined by Klon Kitchen, expert on national security and defense technology at the American Enterprise Institute. Together, they explore the state of the Afghanistan withdrawal, deficiencies in American cybersecurity, and social media censorship at the hands of Big Tech. Should the Taliban be understood as a unified or factional entity? Can we expect meaningful Big Tech legislation to be implemented anytime soon? And will David’s DC Comics bias preclude any discussion of Tobey Maguire’s inevitable appearance in
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Listen now | Mitchell Berman, professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School, joins our hosts for a fascinating discussion on the jurisprudence of sports. In a wide-ranging discussion, David and Sarah adjudicate everything from how unwritten traditions are enforced in games to how robot umpires are changing the landscape. And of course, no sports law discussion would be complete without a dive into the Olympics.
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Listen now | On today’s Ruminant, recorded live from the pungent parking lot of a California West Marine, Yiddish terms are required to describe Jonah’s emotional state. With his daughter Lucy leaving home, he processes his grief by exploring John Rawls’ original position, existentialist movie-making, and why American popular culture is much more conservative than most people realize. Afterward, all sentimentality fades away as an epic rant on the situation in Afghanistan and the dismal state of American politics commences. Animated by unprecedented annoyance, Jonah argues that President Biden has revealed himself to be plainly unfit for office. But that doesn’t make Trump look any more appealing.
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Listen now | In this episode, Steve moderates a conversation with David French and Tom Joscelyn about the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan. They cover the Biden administration’s decision not to begin evacuations before the Taliban captured Kabul, intelligence failures, the state of the Afghan military, and much, much more.
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Listen now | In today’s episode, Sarah takes listeners along on a wildlife rescue mission that involves a baby turtle, a surprise rain storm, and mosquito netting. But don’t worry, it has a happy ending. Our hosts then turn to the Biden administration’s proposal to tie mask mandates to civil rights law and the latest development on the “remain in Mexico” policy. Finally, Sarah and David discuss the Texas Supreme Court ruling that is bad news for Texas Democratic lawmakers trying to avoid arrest.
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Listen now | For the large majority of today’s podcast, our hosts discuss the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan and how it will affect domestic politics in the United States. Perhaps David summed up the conversation around the Afghanistan situation as succinctly as possible, “There’s no way to spin this as anything other than a direct American defeat.” Plus, short conversations about the state of COVID-19 and the new census data.
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Listen now | On this episode, our hosts are joined by Matthew Barzun, an American businessman, diplomat, and longtime political fundraiser. Sarah and David dive into his paradigm-shifting book, The Power of Giving Away Power, and what it teaches about leadership. Along the way, they also discuss everything from what Barzun learned during his time fundraising for former president Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, to the etiquette of bowing to royalty while working as an American ambassador abroad.
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Listen now | Bloomberg Opinion columnist Eli Lake joins Jonah for a thorough discussion of the tragic situation in Afghanistan. Is President Biden’s leadership to blame for the catastrophe? Did Biden ignore warnings that withdrawal would result in a Taliban takeover? And how did the Afghanistan war go from being celebrated on
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Today’s Ruminant finds Jonah deprived of air conditioning in the middle of brutal D.C. heat, baffled by inexplicable decisions made by figures across the political spectrum. With the Taliban advancing in Afghanistan, progressives arguing that ACTUALLY, kids don’t need to master math and reading, and President Biden considering vaccine mandates for interstate travel, there’s plenty to be annoyed about. Tune in also to hear Jonah’s thoughts on liberal nostalgia, socioeconomic divisions, and the propensity of the politically-obsessed to freak out about minor things. Oh, and bring a squeegee.
Show Notes:
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The Morning Dispatch breaks down the Afghanistan situation
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An emergency Dispatch Podcast on Afghanistan
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The Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Honor Among Nations
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International community, eh?
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Trump’s enduring delusions
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Frederick M. Hess on Oregon’s “soft bigotry of low expectations”
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David Brooks reflects on Bobos in Paradise
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The Wednesday G-File
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Sombart on socialism
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Jonah on royalty, real and imagined
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The Remnant with Jonathan Adler
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Biden contemplates vaccine mandates for interstate travel
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Amy Coney Barrett upholds Indiana University’s vaccine mandate
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Listen now | In his first interview after voting yes on the historic bipartisan infrastructure bill, Sen. Bill Cassidy joins Sarah and Steve to talk about how it feels to see that bill pass the Senate. Plus, Cassidy puts on his doctor hat to talk about COVID-19. Then Steve is joined by Tom Joscelyn to discuss the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. How much longer until the Taliban seizes full control of the country?
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Listen now | In a jam-packed episode our hosts explore everything from vaccine passports on cruise ships to a shaky argument that eviction moratoriums violate the Third Amendment’s prohibition on quartering soldiers. First up on the docket, Sarah and David dive into attempts by Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Lindell’s to dismiss Dominion’s defamation lawsuit against them. Be sure to listen to the end for their analysis on whether a topless sunbathing case meets the intermediate scrutiny test.
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Charles C.W. Cooke, National Review’s Anglo-American purveyor of liberty and golf carts, returns to The Remnant for a spirited discussion of accents, constitutionalism, and all things Floridian. Although Ron DeSantis has faced persistent criticism, Charlie believes he got COVID right, and explains why. With many references to James Madison. Meanwhile, Jonah remains puzzled by the right’s fondness for Hungary, the increasingly imperialistic nature of the presidency, and Charles’ blissful ignorance of foreign policy. At the end of it all, a fundamental question remains that only listeners can answer: What’s the best theme song in TV history?
Show Notes:
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The Wednesday G-File
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The great debate
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Bill Maher defends Ron DeSantis
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Rabbit season
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Charlie’s takedown of Rebekah Jones
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Hungary eyes
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“The Salazar Option”
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Achieving our Country, by Richard Rorty
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Listen now | At long last, infrastructure week is here! The gang contemplates what the bipartisan plan and Democratic reconciliation package mean for the country and the economy. Also, how would Sen. Goldberg vote on the bipartisan bill? Then the discussion turns to what should be done about the latest damning climate report. Plus, everyone’s worst fears about Afghanistan from a few weeks ago seem to be coming true. And finally, for dessert, Andrew Cuomo.
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Listen now | Case Western University professor Jonathan Adler brings his fluency in legalese to The Remnant today for a conversation that would make Milton Hershey proud. In freewheeling fashion, he and Jonah explore the constitutional implications of the eviction moratorium, whether
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In this episode, David and Sarah continue their August tradition of looking outside the world of legal nerdery with Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and author of the book The Constitution of Knowledge. Rauch has been warning about the dangers to free speech for a long time. What is the state of free speech? And how much of a threat is illiberalism?
Show Notes:
-Rauch’s book The Constitution of Knowledge
-Rauch’s book Kindly Inquisitors
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The drive-time Remnant format returns today to prelude a new era for The Dispatch. With Nick Pompella now off to the wilds of Indiana, Jonah, Ryan, and Guy are left to explore the mad world of D.C. living and marmite advertising as a trio. Brace your bingo cards for a wild ride, as Jonah reflects on his conversation with Steak-umm social media guru Nathan Allebach, Ryan ponders the origin of “Republicans pounce,” and Guy previews an epic oral history of The Simpsons. Was Marbury v. Madison wrongly decided? What’s so funny about the sweet taste of candy? And who will succeed Nick as the Alfred to Jonah’s Batman?
Show Notes:
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The Remnant with Nathan Allebach
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Joe Isuzu
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Advertising reaches its peak
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Guy and Ryan on The Comments Section podcast
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Salty campaigning
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“These Superbowl commercials are weird”
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The Dispatch Podcast on the eviction moratorium extension
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Republicans pounce on Cori Bush
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Vindication for Jonah on “Latinx”
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The Wednesday G-File
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Jonah’s hatred of the Brookings Institution, colorized
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“We do, we do”
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Coalitional instincts
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Listen now | How do you solve a problem like Iran? Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, is here to talk with Sarah and Steve about the Biden administration's approach to Iran after six months in office. Was moving away from the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign the right move?
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Listen now | In today’s episode, David and Sarah discuss the Biden administration’s flip-flop on extending the eviction moratorium and how it’s almost certainly an unconstitutional violation of the nondelegation doctrine. They then take on the legal implications of Andrew Cuomo’s sexual harassment controversy, with Sarah explaining why Cuomo’s office was a textbook case of a severe and pervasive hostile work environment. Next, our hosts review a ruling from the 7th Circuit upholding Indiana University’s vaccine mandate and discuss how Twitter posturing on vaccines doesn’t always hold up in court. Finally, David and Sarah talk Facebook and antitrust law—something that, according to Sarah, may just be made up anyways.
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In the past, The Remnant has hosted prominent politicians, scholars, and media personalities. But none of them have made Jonah as excited as today’s guest: Nathan Allebach, manager of the Steak-umm Twitter account. In a conversation laden with meat-related puns, Jonah and Nathan take a deep dive into the bizarre world of social media, where fast food brands often offer greater intellectual nuance than most political commentators. Neil deGrasse Tyson, online abuse, and the origins of Nathan’s glorious enterprise are all discussed, as Jonah examines whether we’d be better off without the internet. At the end of it all, one vital hot-button question remains unanswered: Are hot dogs sandwiches?
Show Notes:
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Wednesday’s “news”letter
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Where the magic happens
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The Joe Rogan episode that changed everything
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The Twitter verification saga
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Major beef with Neil deGrasse Tyson
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Rationalia, eh?
-
Vindication for the Baconator
-
What a time to be alive
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, our hosts kick things off with a discussion about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who refuses to resign despite a damning sexual harassment report and calls from national Democrats, including President Biden, to step aside. They then dive into the CDC’s decision to extend the eviction moratorium again and debate the possibility of a federal vaccine mandate. Next, David talks about the right’s new obsession with Hungary and Viktor Orbán and how it mirrors the left’s fascination with Scandinavia. Finally, the gang discusses the recent dropoff in PAC contributions, and how the rise in small dollar donations may be contributing to American partisanship.
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Listen now | Chris Stirewalt is back on The Remnant to discuss how we can make politics boring again. As Chris observes, we’ve entered a “wilderness of grifts,” where opportunistic nationalism and Lincoln Project-style chicanery are all the rage. Meanwhile, a new group is trying to turn Joe Biden into FDR, factions on the right are embracing the progressive vision of government, and rage clicks are poisoning the political well. What can we learn from Lincoln in this bizarre moment? How do Americans really feel about abortion? And will Chris finally make a pious man out of Jonah?
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Listen now | Today on the pod, it’s a guest for whom David has been waiting for—Avi Loeb, an astrophysics professor at Harvard University who thinks it might just be possible that aliens have visited earth. Loeb talks about his research into Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object that’s passed through our Solar System, and gives his thoughts on the recently released UFO report from the Office of National Intelligence. Loeb also tells David and Sarah about his scientific philosophy—how science is like a fishing expedition where you throw out a hook and see what happens.
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Today’s ranty Ruminant finds Jonah alternately perplexed and irritated by the state of the COVID-19 pandemic, illiberalism in politics, and folks who think Twitter is real life. He begins by digging into the CDC’s revised guidance on masks and the possible implications of America’s stalling vaccine campaign. From there, things get nerdy, as Jonah explores the state of conservative institutions and weirdness of internet culture. Any cartoonists listening should stick around until the end for some striking inspiration.
Show Notes:
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Christian Schneider on anti-racism
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Jonah on the new mask mandates
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Wednesday’s “news”letter
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Last year’s kooky Washington Times piece on masks
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Crisis and Leviathan, by Robert Higgs
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The Dispatch Podcast on the CDC and January 6
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The Remnant with Tim Carney
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Marty Makary on the push to vaccinate children
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Laura K. Field’s essay on the Claremont Institute
-
The Remnant with Dan McLaughlin
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Scarlett Johansson sues Disney
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Listen now | Former U.S. Representative Will Hurd from Texas joins Sarah and Steve to talk about dysfunction in Congress, the January 6 committee, and the centralization of power in Washington. Hurd tells our hosts that there’s no incentive to solve real issues in Congress and we’re incapable of dealing with generation-defining issues because our political system is full of silly issues. Plus, why it’s imperative to teach students how to code. And why, contrary to Republican talking points, January 6 was not an ordinary day. Finally, how the Republican Party can be more competitive with people of color, young people, and suburban women.
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Listen now | Could it be time for the Supreme Court to revisit Masterpiece Cakeshop? In today’s episode, David and Sarah discuss a ruling from the 10th Circuit requiring a web developer to create a site for a same sex wedding and what that means for the ongoing debate about compelled speech and religious liberty. They then chat about some new developments involving the lawsuit against Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks for his involvement in the January 6 riot and yet another story involving Amy Chua at Yale Law School.
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American Enterprise Institute scholar and fan-favorite Remnant guest Tim Carney joins Jonah for a wide-ranging discussion of obscure political philosophy, the state of the COVID-19 pandemic, and why babies are good. In these strange, often distressing times, it can be easy to take a pessimistic view of the conservative movement and America more broadly. Tim, however, believes we should be hopeful on both of these fronts. What does it mean to be an old individualist? Will new mask mandates presage a return to lockdowns? And does it really take a village to raise a child?
Show Notes:
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Tim’s page at the Washington Examiner
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Khaya Himmelman’s profile of Mike Lindell
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The Remnant with Dan McLaughlin
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“Crisis actors”
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Laura Ingraham’s oscars
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“Pelosi Republicans”
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Patriotic cuisine
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The CDC revises its mask guidance
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The Wednesday G-File
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Washington Examiner: “Vaccinate India”
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Making the U.S. more family-friendly
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David Brooks: “The Nuclear Family was a Mistake”
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Listen now | The select committee to investigate the January 6 attack held their first hearing on Tuesday, our hosts are here to discuss the substance and politics of what we heard. Plus, the CDC is out with new guidelines recommending vaccinated Americans wear masks indoors in certain parts of the county. Can Jonah contain his anger at the CDC's messaging? And why are opinions on Simone Biles' decision to withdraw from competition a race to the bottom?
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Listen now | Unlike Ozzie Smith on his visit to Springfield, Jonah didn’t fall off the face of the Earth during his northeastern excursion last week. Today, he’s back in control of The Remnant, and invites National Review’s Dan McLaughlin onto the show for a discussion of what the future holds for the Republican Party. Together, they explore the creation of the January 6 select committee, how the role of a political commentator differs from that of a political operative, and whether fusionism will survive the challenges currently facing the right. It’s an episode dedicated to the common good.
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Listen now | On today’s pod, the discussion is (almost) all about abortion jurisprudence. After a brief look at Taking Offense v. California—a Third Circuit case striking down a California law criminalizing long-term care workers repeatedly misgendering their residents—David and Sarah dive into Mississippi’s challenge to
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Listen now | Patrick Ruffini, a co-founder of the predictive analytics and research firm Echelon Insights, joins Sarah and Chris to discuss his recent analysis of the American electorate. Ruffini tells our hosts where the ideological center of gravity seems to be and why cultural issues might be driving voter turnout. Chris asks whether a party can adopt a perfect policy position and if party bases tolerate ideological flexibility. Plus, why are moderate Democrats outperforming progressives? And why are educated voters drifting left, but non-educated voters are drifting right?
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Chris Stirewalt is back in the driver’s seat on today’s Remnant in place of Jonah. This time, his guest is Robert Pondiscio, a newly minted fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and expert on education policy. Together, they explore how various deficiencies in American schooling can be overcome. Can patriotic civics and history be taught without indoctrinating pupils? How significant of a threat is critical race theory? And will discussing their own high school experiences force Chris and Robert to confront painful repressed memories?
Show Notes:
-
Robert’s page at AEI
-
The National Assessment of Educational Progress
-
Robert: “How U.S. Schools Became Obsessed with Race”
-
The influence of Horace Mann
-
Robert on what the critical race theory debate overlooks
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Listen now | On today’s episode, David and Sarah talk about the recent Supreme Court term with Kannon Shanmugam, a Supreme Court litigant and a partner at Paul Weiss LLP. Our hosts ask Shanmugam what it’s like to argue cases remotely, how much the Supreme Court has changed during Amy Coney Barrett’s first term, and about the court’s judicial philosophy on issues like free speech and qualified immunity. Shanmugam talks about the cases he argued this term and explains how he chooses which clients to represent pro bono.
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Listen now | The White House has announced that it will be flagging misinformation on Facebook in an attempt to diminish vaccine skepticism. But could politicizing this issue even further actually embolden anti-vaxxers? Our hosts consider how we can sway the unvaccinated, and whether the world would be better off without online comment sections. Afterward, Steve introduces a potpourri of topics for Jonah and Sarah to dig into. How concerned should we be about inflation? Do Republicans have any interest in fully uncovering what happened on January 6? And can Biden convince the Democrats to accept a bipartisan infrastructure agreement after promising unity in his inaugural address? The gang concludes by discussing Jeff Bezos’ voyage to outer space, and Jonah considers whether we should build nuclear reactors on the moon.
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Listen now | It’s a First Amendment-themed pod today. First, David and Sarah discuss the city of Anaheim’s decision to cancel an America First rally with Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, and how it’s a textbook example of a free speech violation. They then dive into a ruling from a very divided 9th Circuit about a high school coach who was fired for praying publicly with students after football games. Next, they chat about an 8th Circuit case involving University of Iowa and its selective enforcement of free association policies for Christian groups. Finally, David and Sarah talk about the recent Texas district court ruling striking down DACA.
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Jonah’s vocal double Chris Stirewalt seizes control of The Remnant today in Dostoyevskian fashion. His guest? CNN’s Harry Enten, who shares Chris’ obsession with polling data. The two explore why polling in 2020 was so inaccurate, the quirks of online polling, and why Republicans who answer polls tend not to represent Republicans at large. They also dig into demographic divisions over vaccine uptake and how vaccine skeptics can be swayed. Tune in for incisive political analysis, but stick around for a considered discussion of which diet cola is America’s finest.
Show Notes:
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Harry’s author page at CNN
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Jeff Bezos casually visits outer space
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2020’s major polling blunders
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Inaccurate polling in 1980 and 2012
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How the polls did in 2018
-
Max Boot complains about vaccination rates in Republican states
-
Demographic trends in the vaccine rollout
-
The vaccine rollout’s partisan divide
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Listen now | Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie joins Sarah and Chris Stirewalt to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the Republican Party. They discuss why Republicans should make education a priority issue, why inflation is a liability for Democrats, and why Republicans are doomed if they continue to relitigate the past. Plus, how do Republicans win back the suburbs? Christie argues that suburban voters didn’t abandon Republicans because of issues; they just didn’t like Donald Trump. Finally, are we going to see Chris Christie run for office again?
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Listen now | It’s an (almost) Supreme Court-free podcast episode today. First, David talks about a ruling from the 4th Circuit striking down federal prohibitions on adults under 21 purchasing firearms, and Sarah gives her thoughts on whether the decision will stand. Then, our hosts dive into the latest in the Michael Avenatti saga, a ruling from a federal judge sentencing him to two and half years in prison for extortion. Finally, Sarah and David chat about a new Tennessee law requiring businesses to notify their customers about their transgender bathroom access policies.
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Get your bingo cards ready, because Yuval Levin is back on The Remnant today to counteract Alex Tabarrok’s libertarian influence. Which side is the aggressor in the culture war? How will history remember the Trump era? And why is the left substituting relativism for absolutism? Tune in for answers to these vital questions (which include plenty of ostentatious references to Leo Strauss), but stick around to hear Yuval deliver a heartening affirmation of American exceptionalism. The United States is facing challenges, and we have much to fix, but we have even more to be proud of. As any immigrant would tell you, there really is no greater country than America today.
Show Notes:
-
The week’s first Remnant with Alex Tabarrok
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Kevin Drum: “If You Hate the Culture Wars, Blame Liberals”
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Tim Miller: “Who’s Actually Responsible for the ‘Culture War?’”
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Jonah’s G-File responding to both Drum and Miller
-
Yuval’s third book, The Great Debate
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CPAC attendees applaud Biden’s missed vaccine goal
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Jonah’s Twitter debate with Nikole Hannah-Jones
-
The New York Times’ tragic January 6 video
-
Leo Strauss on liberal education
-
Gen. Mark Milley feared a Trump “Reichstag moment”
-
Fame and the Founding Fathers, by Douglass Adair
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Listen now | Cuban citizens have taken to the streets to protest the oppressive communist regime, but what can the United States do to help? Should we do anything to help? The gang considers the moral and political implications of United States foreign policy toward Cuba. David notes that vaccine hesitancy is having severe consequences as positive covid cases continue to rise. How should we go about persuading the vaccine-hesitant to get the vaccine? Plus, Texas Democrats have left the state in protest over a new voting bill, and Sarah has some thoughts. Is this bill an example of voter suppression or just over-eagerness from Democrats to have a talking point? Finally, tech companies face legislative threats from the state level. Chris questions the unintended consequences of big-tech bills.
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Listen now | Alex Tabarrok, perhaps the world’s sole Canadian libertarian, joins The Remnant today for the first time. Inflation is on the rise, the vaccine rollout is stalling, and illiberalism is resurgent. In other words, there are plenty of demanding issues for Americans to be concerned about. Thankfully, Tabarrok has a range of considered policy solutions for Jonah to explore. How can we revitalize democracy? Would open borders work? And should we abandon advanced civilization now before the machines destroy us all?
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Listen now | In today’s podcast, David and Sarah talk about the recent Supreme Court term and how Trump’s justices have changed the ideological makeup of the court. After some SCOTUSBlog stats analysis, Sarah explains how she would categorize the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence this year, and why a lot of commentators are leaving out part of the story when they discuss the justices’ ideological leanings. Plus, a dive into an anti-critical race theory lawsuit out of Evanston, IL, where elementary school students have been getting simplistic and controversial “anti-whiteness” training.
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On today’s Ruminant, Jonah discusses everything from obscure existentialist philosophy to the realism of zombie TV. Rank punditry is first on the docket, as Jonah examines Biden’s poor handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal and Republican efforts to whitewash the events of January 6. Afterward, Jonah defends his recent comments about Tucker Carlson and explores the world’s progress on vaccinations. Is Western civilization buckling under the weight of liberal guilt? Should America be the world’s policeman? And will Ramesh Ponnuru ever persuade Jonah to change his mind about the death penalty?
Show Notes:
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Biden brings the Afghanistan withdrawal date forward
-
The New York Times’ devastating January 6 video
-
The latest Dispatch Podcast
-
Jonah’s debate with Joshua Tait
-
Jonah’s final word on critical race theory
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The week’s second Remnant with Will Saletan
-
“I’m not getting anything…”
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Jonah’s Tucker tweet, which caused no controversy
-
Trouble in Tokyo
-
Republican craziness over Biden’s push to “knock on doors”
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Listen now | Earlier this week marked the six-month anniversary of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, but the criminal investigations are only beginning to hit full stride. Scott MacFarlane, a local investigative reporter at NBC4 Washington, who has reported extensively on the aftermath of January 6, joins Sarah and Steve to discuss the status of the ongoing criminal trials. MacFarlane also talks about the increase in threats against members of Congress.
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After some brief thoughts about Trump’s lawsuits against Facebook, Twitter, and Google, Sarah and David chat with a special guest: Peter Canellos, editor at large at Politico and the author of a new biography of Justice John Marshall Harlan. Tune in to hear Canellos share some of his research on a man whom he describes as “America’s judicial hero,” a justice who went from Southern slave owner to staunch segregation opponent. Our hosts ask Canellos about Harlan’s famous dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson and what Harlan’s legacy means for the country today.
Show Notes:
-Trump’s lawsuit against Twitter
-The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America's Judicial Hero
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Slate’s Will Saletan joins The Remnant once again to discuss Trump’s lunatic lawsuit against big tech, Biden’s first six months, and the endless debate over critical race theory in education. Plus, in a shocking turn of events, Will challenges Jonah on his oft-repeated line that America has two minority parties, instead arguing that both Democrats and Republicans are engaging in a war on reality fueled by the strangeness of the internet. Be ready with your bingo cards, because Jonah’s references to defunding the police, the term “Latinx,” and the annoyingness of teachers’ unions arrive at an unprecedented rate.
Show Notes:
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Will’s page at Slate
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Will on Trump’s crusade against democracy
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Trump’s insane press conference
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Jonah: “Yes, progressives. You really do need Joe Manchin”
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Yesterday’s “news”letter
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Tourism in 2021
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“The American Mythology of Racial Progress”
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Trigger warnings are triggering
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Facebook’s astonishing list of genders
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Listen now | In this podcast, our hosts indulge in a wide-ranging airing of grievances, starting with a reflection on the political salience of the January 6 Capitol insurrection, six months after the fact. The gang then discusses whether Republicans have lost the right to be called the party of ideas and what might be behind the GOP’s current allergy to nuance. Sarah also explores the tension between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump that cropped up over Trump’s recent Florida rally. Looking ahead to the 2024 elections, Chris argues that most pundits are missing who will be the biggest player, by far, in the contest: President Joe Biden. Lastly, Chris asks whether the abysmal state of election administration in some cases—as revealed by the recent New York City mayoral race—is proof that Democrats' are not taking threats to the American democracy seriously, and whether the failure to do so will make it easier for bad actors to steal elections.
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Only Remnant listeners fluent in legalese should subject themselves to today’s discussion of Supreme Court jurisprudence, in which fan-favorite classical liberal Ilya Shapiro returns to claim his coveted gold jacket. Jonah and Ilya explore what the court’s conservative majority will mean for future cases and whether the conservative legal movement should adapt its philosophy in the wake of Bostock v. Clayton County. They also touch on some of the most controversial issues raised by recent Supreme Court decisions, including Arizona’s voting laws and free speech in public schools. David and Sarah, eat your heart out!
Show Notes:
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Ilya’s latest book, Supreme Disorder
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The mysterious shadow docket
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Fulton v. City of Philadelphia
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“After Bostock, We’re All Textualists Now”
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Walter Olson in The Dispatch on HIPAA
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The Supreme Court upholds Arizona voting restrictions
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Ilya: “The Voter Suppression Lie”
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Advisory Opinions on the Supreme Court’s cheerleader case
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Ilya’s campaign for the Falls Church Schoolboard, shamelessly plugged
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Ilya explains why he’s running
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Listen now | On today’s not-quite-emergency pod, Sarah and David have thoughts to share about the Supreme Court’s orders from last Friday. David discusses the ins and outs of the Arlene’s Flowers case, where the court denied an appeal from a flower shop owner that refused to design arrangements for a same-sex wedding, and analyzes how Supreme Court justices don’t always rule the way people predict. Then Sarah goes into a slew of other orders from the court on qualified immunity for university admins, religious liberty for the Amish, defamation against public figures, and eminent domain. Plus, David and Sarah review a ruling from a Minneapolis judge that throws a wrench into “defund the police.”
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Listen now | Today’s ranty Ruminant features killer whales, hunter-gatherers, and a special appearance by Jonah’s importunate dingo. It also includes as much kvetching about partisan craziness and misunderstood aspects of intellectual history as you’d expect. Jonah begins by discussing the latest Trump tax scandal, the root cause of Tucker Carlson’s apparent insanity, and the GOP brouhaha over the Janury 6 commission. He then reflects on Donald Rumsfeld’s time in the White House. The show concludes with a mini-commercial for
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Listen now | Rep. Anthony Gonzalez returns to the podcast this week to discuss his re-election campaign against a Trump-endorsed challenger, the House’s new January 6 commission, how Democrats’ narrow majorities in Congress shape their behavior, what’s really on his constituents’ minds, and why embracing Trump’s election lies should be a non-starter for potential GOP candidates in 2024.
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Listen now | The Hangover has now concluded, and Chris Stirewalt thought it appropriate to provide an epilogue to the series. If the last four years have taught us anything, Chris observes, it’s that “people are terrible at predicting the future.” After the GOP’s victory in 2016, nobody could have guessed that the party would be swept out of power four years later, or that our lives would be upended by a pandemic. Going forward, there’s no way of knowing whether the GOP will overcome its current craziness or completely self-destruct, but the rot within the party reveals as much about America itself as it does Republican politicians. Making our republic healthier and stronger is a job for all of us, and we can accomplish it by engaging with our institutions and communities. This series has been a pleasure to put together, and we at
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Listen now (74 min) | Fan-favorite political strategist Mo Elleithee returns to The Remnant today for a discussion of Joe Biden’s first six months in office, America’s deepening polarization, and how we should understand the results of the 2020 election. With debates over issues like critical race theory and police reform continuing to intensify, has the Democratic Party really shifted as far to the left as conservatives believe? For that matter, what can Mo’s latest Battleground Poll tell us about the challenges America faces, and why is the political side of Twitter so inexpressibly hideous? It’s a dream come true for lovers of statistics and infrastructure.
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah start with a discussion about Bill Cosby’s getting released from prison after his sentence was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on due process grounds. Our hosts then turn to the two big final decisions from the Supreme Court on voting rights and anonymous donor disclosures, cases that divided the court along ideological lines. Sarah explores the ins and outs of Elena Kagan’s dissent in
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Listen now | The Hangover concludes on a unique note, as David Glade, rector of Virginia’s Christ the King Anglican Church, joins Chris Stirewalt to discuss what the future holds for religion in a divided America. Politics, the pair note, can be an especially alluring idol. Today, even shopping at Home Depot is seen as a political act, and the forces of populism and wokery have supplanted real faiths in the lives of many Americans. Committed Christians, meanwhile, increasingly focus on relatively trivial political issues rather than deeper ethical matters. With politics, David observes, “a little more disinterestedness may not be a bad thing” when true religion can offer so much more to human beings. He and Chris also reflect on the evolution of American Christianity and how the relationship between evangelicals and the GOP changed in the age of Trump.
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Listen now | Incompetence strikes again in New York’s mayoral race, a blow to American’s faith in government but not, our hosts argue, fuel for 2020 election fraud claims or a ding on ranked choice voting. The gang then discusses Vice President Kamala Harris’ belated visit to the U.S.-Mexico border. Steve points out that Harris’ clumsy handling of immigration is more than just a messaging failure, and says just as much about the Biden administration’s policy failures. David dives into why governors don’t call up the National Guard more (as South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem did recently for a border mission.) They also tackle an underreported aspect of infrastructure negotiations on the Hill and discuss what divides that drama reveals about the Democratic Party. Lastly, our hosts discuss Bill Barr’s defiance of former President Donald Trump on 2020 election fraud claims and whether the most hardcore Trump supporters qualify as a religion or a cult.
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Listen now | Start spreading the news: Esteemed historian Vincent Cannato is back on The Remnant to discuss all things New York City. After digging into the ongoing mayoral election, Curtis Sliwa’s rescue cats, and Rudy Giuliani’s descent into madness, Jonah and Vin explore what the Big Apple’s partisan divisions reveal about America’s broader political shenanigans. From there, they consider how the paranoid style in American politics can explain the right’s embrace of post-liberal Catholic integralism. At the end of it all, one question remains: Who will be the third man in Jonah and Vin’s upcoming production of
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Listen now | We’ve got a lot more first rate Supreme Court analysis for you in today’s pod. David and Sarah break down the most recent cert grant announcements and the court’s refusal to hear some contentious cases involving interstate conflict, transgender bathroom access, and marijuana. They then dive into the Supreme Court’s opinion in
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Listen now | Sleep-deprived following his return from Oklahoma and haunted by visions of Nick, Jonah begins today’s Ruminantwith the mother of all rants. Why, when there are so many urgent issues for Americans to be concerned with, is the New York Times more interested in denying objective reality and attacking the concept of motherhood? For that matter, why is the fight over critical race theory only getting crazier, and why is Sheldon Whitehouse seemingly sowing the seeds for a new Tyler Perry script? Tune in to hear these bizarre questions answered, and to learn of Jonah’s vehicular writing habits.
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Listen now | Sarah and Chris Stirewalt welcome RealClearPolitics associate editor and columnist A.B. Stoddard to the show today to run the gamut of the week’s political news. They discuss whether the bipartisan infrastructure deal is actually a compromise (and whether it can pass), why Kamala Harris is finally traveling to the border, and what needs to happen in Congress to preclude a nightmare scenario for the Republic in January 2025.
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Listen now | There was a big win for student free speech at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. In today’s pod, David and Sarah talk all about the long-awaited decision in Mahanoy Area School District v. BL, where the court ruled in favor of a high school cheerleader who was suspended from her team after posting a profanity-laden Snapchat. Our hosts discuss what Justice Stephen Breyer’s ruling means for free speech for students going forward and how much of an impact on schools it will actually have. They then analyze Samuel Alito’s concurrence and Clarence Thomas’ lone “curmudgeonly” dissent. Plus, a quick dive into
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Listen now | On today’s Remnant, recorded in the wilds of Oklahoma, Jonah once again attempts to fuse the weekend Ruminantformat with that of a supplemental episode. He begins by elaborating on his pro-life views and what abortion law would look like if he were made czar for a day. Afterward, a nerdtastic dive into the morass of intellectual history begins, as Jonah uses an extract from
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Listen now | Conservative journalism has changed markedly since John Podhoretz began his career at the Washington Times in the early 1980s. When Matt Drudge broke the Monica Lewinsky story in 1998, it was clear that things would never be the same. On today’s episode of
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Listen now | As the Biden administration seeks to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September, the Taliban is already on the offensive. How should the United States respond? And how should the United States take care of the thousands of Afghans who have aided the United States against the Taliban? The gang discusses. Then, David brings up interesting statistics regarding how often each Supreme Court justice is part of the majority. Does this undermine the traditional categorization of justices along the ideological spectrum? Plus, they talk about the preliminary results in the New York Democratic primary, in which crime was the top voter issue according to opinion polls. What does this mean for the 2022 elections and beyond? Lastly, our hosts discuss the recent backlash from the left against musical actor Lin-Manuel Miranda.
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Listen now | Scott Winship, director of poverty studies at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Jonah to discuss the history of poverty in the United States. The pair begin by digging into a new report from Scott and four of his peers that explores issues of black vs. white inequality, before they turn to examining potential solutions to these disparities. Is the success sequence outdated? Should America be based on bourgeois morality? And will Jonah ever forgive Scott for collaborating with scholars at the hated Brookings Institution?
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Listen now | Student athletes have reason to celebrate after Monday’s big Supreme Court NCAA decision. In today’s episode, David and Sarah discuss the ins and outs of National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston, a unanimous ruling that paves the way for college athletes to receive compensation beyond scholarships as long as it is tied to their education. Our hosts talk about how the case will set a precedent for the future, and analyze a concurrence from the court’s very own basketball coach, Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Also on the podcast, Sarah walks through two other Supreme Court rulings on security fraud and patents. Finally, David and Sarah chat about her recent Twitter spat with Case Western law professor Jonathan Adler about standing in the Obamacare case.
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Fair warning: Eating styrofoam may prove more constructive than listening to today’s drive-time Remnant, which contains even less substance than your average Seinfeld episode. Jonah (scourge of baggage agents across America), Ryan (softball hero of the think-tank league and true retainer to The Remnant’s legacy), Guy (who contributed nothing to this episode because “Talkin’ Softball” was stuck in his head), and Nick (full-time Renfield to Jonah’s Dracula) reunite to explore the pointlessness of various government departments, kooky conservative reactions to making Juneteenth a federal holiday, and political blogging in the dark ages of the internet. The quartet also has sad news to impart: Beginning next week, Nick will no longer be serving as Jonah’s research assistant. To mark his departure and celebrate his legacy, the guys talk about absolute guff for about an hour, and then retroactively stick some newsy things onto the front of the show.
Show Notes:
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The enduring strangeness of Jackie Butts (sorry, Jack)
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Darkest drilling
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The 2001 shoe bombing attempt
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Tucker Carlson outcrazies himself
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Andrew Egger on the latest January 6 conspiracy
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Charlie Kirk confirms his genius
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Listen now | Mo Elleithee, a longtime Democratic operative and executive director of the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service, joins Sarah and Chris Stirewalt to break down the results of the latest GU Battleground Poll. They talk about the implications of voters’ concerns about division, the nuanced differences between attitudinal and issue polling, and how the parties’ messaging on issues they respectively “own” are shaping political dynamics heading into the midterms.
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After several years worth of appearances, David Bahnsen (managing partner and chief investment officer at the Bahnsen Group) finally comes on to talk about his main gig: how money works. It only took five whole shows for Jonah to stop asking him about the postmillenial view about how the world’s going to end. But what better time to start asking about the economy than now, as the national conversation turns to taxing the rich, reopening the economy after a year and a half, and whether or not we’re entering an inflationary spiral? Oh, and David’s in the Five-Timer’s Club now.
Show Notes:
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That time that David Bahnsen started COVID
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David sub-hosts for Jonah, talks to David (the other one)
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Remember “flattening” the curve?
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David recognized a COVID/obesity connection in May 2020
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Jonah on the ProPublica story
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David’s somewhat mistimed book on Elizabeth Warren’s campaign
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David in Commentary on wealth tax proposals
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Larry Summers doesn’t like wealth taxes
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“Sticky wages”... gross
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Lacey Hunt thinks inflation ends with a whimper, not a bang
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Listen now | The big Supreme Court rulings have finally arrived! On today’s podcast, David and Sarah discuss two unexpected majorities in California v. Texas, which upheld the constitutionality of Obamacare (again!), and Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, which unanimously protected the religious liberty of Catholic Social Services after the city of Philadelphia excluded CSS from its foster parent program for refusing to certify same-sex couples as foster parents. Our hosts analyze how the Supreme Court denied standing to the states challenging the ACA and then dive into two spicy opinions from Alito. Plus, some “palace intrigue” discussion about whether Alito was denied his chance to write a majority opinion.
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Listen now | While it’s true that Chris Stirewalt came to perform an autopsy on the GOP’s 2020 election strategy and results, it’s worth pointing out that “the GOP” as a rule didn’t do all that badly in 2020 – the real problem was Donald Trump. Given this state of affairs, Chris decided to reverse course momentarily by speaking to Parker Poling, the 2019-2020 executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee and one of the primary architects of the GOP strategy for congressional elections in 2020. Parker helps to give us a better sense of why Republicans entering the party without Trumpian baggage were able to outperform the president in their own state and local elections and what it was like to make such strides in diversifying the GOP cohort to include more women and racial minorities at a time of revanchist populism. Parker even gives us her advice for freshman members of Congress (Hint: Most of them don’t follow it, even though they should).
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Listen now | The critical race theory battle has quickly invaded school boards all across the country - but is everyone arguing in bad faith? The gang considers the politics of CRT and the role of legislators in regulating public school curriculum. Plus, Sarah points out the flaws in issue polling and why we should be skeptical of the results. Finally, foreign policy galore. What should Biden say to Putin? Is this summit practice for an eventual showdown with China? Should Ukraine join NATO?
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Listen now | Recorded in anticipation of the change of government that Israel has undergone, Jonah brought back one of his oldest friends Tevi Troy, now a fresh face at the Bipartisan Policy Center. The pair discusses the differences between our chaos-filled presidential system and Israel’s chaos-filled parliamentary system, Bibi Netanyahu’s legacy, and why, in a world filled with limitless technological delights, Hollywood’s blockbuster movies are just so bad.
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Listen now | In today’s jam-packed episode, David and Sarah discuss the Supreme Court’s invitation to the Biden administration to weigh in on a pending challenge to Harvard’s affirmative action policy. Our hosts also untangle two criminal cases that united the justices unanimously in favor of the government, one on felons possessing firearms and another on sentence reduction. Then, Sarah shares insight from her own time at the Department of Justice into why a
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Jonah returns to the classic Ruminant format for the end of the week, which turned out to be a rather newsy, strange sequence of days. From Jeffrey Toobin’s seminal moment (not the one you’re thinking of), to Kamala Harris’ Skeletor-like tactic for dodging questions, all the way to a story about taxation that Jonah thinks has more going on in it than most people think (it may even break “one of the most sacred compacts of government”), this episode brings us reeling back through the mists of time all the way to… last summer, when Jonah was doing this every Friday.
Show notes:
Jeffrey Toobin continues to help himself on CNN, in spite of our protestations
Politico’s Playbook, and their analysis of Kamala’s Guatemala visit
“Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman.”
The painfully awkward Lester Holt/Kamala Harris interview
“Some of his sentences give me the same sensation as falling backward in one of those ‘trust’ exercises, in which you just have to hope things work out.”
Texas bans COVID vaccine passports
A black-owned bus company helped to fight segregation
.The ProPublica tax… thing
De Blasio thinks there’s enough money in NYC - it’s just in “the wrong hands”
The Remnant with Brian Riedl
“The Hop Bird”
The Wednesday “news”letter
Audrey Fahlberg’s piece on the Maricopa County “audit”
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Listen now | Purdue University President and former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels joins Sarah and Steve to talk about the state of higher education in America, wokeness on college campuses, and the national debt. Daniels explains Purdue’s new civics literacy test for all new students at the university, discusses his 2021 commencement speech and bringing back America’s “spirit of adventure,” and chats about riding into the ceremony on a motorized couch.
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Listen now | With a lot of big Supreme Court decisions on the horizon, David and Sarah discuss an unexpected concurrence from Justice Thomas in Borden v. United States, a case about how broadly the government can define “use of force.” Our hosts also review a decision from the 20th Judicial Circuit of Virginia about a school that suspended a professor for not using students’ preferred pronouns and an announcement that the Texas Bar Association will investigate Ken Paxton for his lawsuit to overturn the 2020 election. Finally, they chat about a controversy at Yale Law School involving the infamous “tiger mom” law professor Amy Chua.
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Listen now | The Remnant gets rank today as Josh Kraushaar, one of Jonah’s favorite party-obsessive pundits, returns to discuss everything electoral. As Jonah has mentioned more than a few times in recent months, America now has two minority parties, both of which seem to be trying to out-crazy the other. In distinctly wonky fashion, Josh explores why this is the case, and what the future holds for a country with two moons and no sun. Will the GOP ever be rid of Trump’s influence? Why do Democrats keep using “Latinx”? And will Jonah finally learn to stop worrying and love primaries?
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Listen now | NBC’s Steve Kornacki saw his star shine a little brighter on November 3rd, 2020 and the succeeding weeks as he walked Americans through the results of a long, arduous, and oftentimes confusing election. But Kornacki has been providing that kind of astute analysis for a long time, and he’s bringing it to this episode of
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Listen now | With President Biden’s domestic agenda breaking down as he heads off on his first foreign trip, the gang talks about what it will take to get anything done in Washington. One person responsible for a great deal of stress for President Biden is Sen. Joe Manchin. Is he helping or hurting the Democrats? Plus, as U.S. forces begin to withdraw from Afghanistan, Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David worry what will take its place. Finally: doom porn. Need we say more?
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Listen now | In a world increasingly subjected to discussions of Jewish space lasers, fake birth certificates, and luciferian pedophile cabals, the truth could use a spirited defense. Jonathan Rauch, whose work Jonah has cited on countless occasions, finally appears on
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Listen now | Today on the podcast, our hosts walk us through a bit of Supreme Court drama involving Sonia Sotomayor and some historical revision of a 1987 Supreme Court immigration case. They then dive into last week’s 94-page ruling from a federal judge striking down California’s assault weapons ban, a decision that includes references to COVID vaccines and the Swiss Army knife in its robust defense of gun rights in America. Finally, David and Sarah discuss whether civic education can reduce negative partisanship in America.
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Listen now (68 min) | You wanted the best and you got the best: the hottest FM radio imitation in the world, Friday’s drive-time Ruminant. Feast your ears on the third installment of this curio, as Jonah (unquestioned ruler of the fun side of The Dispatch), Ryan (cicada sous chef and alien aficionado), Guy (unofficial American and classic
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Listen now | The politicization of the China lab-leak theory has only gotten worse as more and more information surrounding it comes out. To talk about why that is, and the merits of the theory itself, is Josh Rogin of the Washington Post. Rogin has been doggedly reporting on this very subject and even wrote a book about it.
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In his younger and more vulnerable years, Jonah had a minor obsession with criminology (for no reason in particular, he says). Today, he rekindles that old passion by talking to Shawn Bushway, a scholar at the University at Albany and the RAND Corporation, about the history of crime in America. The pair begins by exploring whether crime is currently on the rise, before launching into a supremely wonky discussion of cities, statistics, and the root causes of criminal behavior. Is the broken windows theory on its way out? Has America made any real progress on race? And why are Democrats still talking about defunding the police?
Show Notes:
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Shawn’s page at RAND
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Racial disparities in criminal justice
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Is racial progress a myth?
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Trends and patterns in interracial marriage
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Marvin Wolfgang
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LBJ’s crime commission
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“The Racist Roots of Campus Policing”
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Only 25 percent of Americans favor decreased police spending
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Listen now | On today’s podcast, David and Sarah engage in a riveting discussion about the meaning of the word “so,” specifically in conjunction with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Van Buren v. United States, which deals with the legality of accessing a confidential government database for improper reasons. Our hosts then walk us through a free speech controversy at Stanford Law School involving a local Federalist Society chapter and a parody flyer, including discussing some previously hidden context. Finally, they review the 6th Circuit Court ruling striking down racial considerations for COVID loans.
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Chris Stirewalt’s third guest is AEI Fellow and Washington Free Beacon founder Matthew Continetti, who gives voice to the story of the GOP’s ascendant populism from the historical perspective of the American right and the conservative movement. As Matt says, while Trump may have proved the usefulness of populism as a last-ditch electoral strategy, the long-form history of right-wing populism shows that “apocalypticism is a feature, or even the dark side, of populist movements.” By Matt’s lights, conservative politicians in Washington had a vastly different understanding of what “constitutional conservatism” meant compared to the grassroots, but they kept in lockstep regardless. These contradictions simmered under the surface for years, only to explode into the Trump campaign. “For the Tea Partiers, [it meant] that the current government in Washington D.C. was something of an alien, invasive presence. And radical measures were necessary to beat it back.” Additionally, tune in for an analysis of Trump’s “mental jiu-jitsu” and a unique critique of the 2012 GOP autopsy.
Show Notes:
-Matt’s book on Sarah Palin
-Joe Wurzelbacher becomes ‘Joe the Plumber’
-Rick Santelli starts the Tea Party on live television
-“The Two Faces of the Tea Party”
-Matt discusses Bush’s immigration reform proposal
-Buchanan’s 1992 “Culture War” speech
-Obama, a pen, and a phone
-David Shor speaks to the importance of “ideological positioning”
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Listen now | Last week this podcast talked about Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko scrambling a military jet to force down a Ryanair flight carrying a dissident journalist. Now, as more reporting reveals how involved Russian President Vladimir Putin was, Steve asks whether President Biden should be holding a summit with Putin in a few weeks. Also in the foreign policy vein, Jonah laments the fact that translators who have been helping the U.S. military in the Middle East aren’t able to get the help they need to remain safe. Plus, check out the discussion on the merits of ranked-choice voting and Ezra Klein’s interview with President Barack Obama.
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Listen now (88 min) | Has conservatism always been a grift? Not according to Jonah and today’s guest, the illustrious David French. The pair ascend through various levels of wonkery, beginning with an assessment of critical race theory’s philosophical origins and ending with an exploration of superhero morality. Along the way, they discuss First Amendment jurisprudence, crippling video game addictions, and the ongoing debate over whether
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Listen now | After our hosts catch us up on the latest goings on at the Supreme Court, Sarah tells about another copyright case involving none other than the great Andy Warhol. Plus, David and Sarah chat about the legality of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s call for a coup, an updated indictment involving the Oath Keepers and their January 6 activities, a lawsuit against Florida’s Big Tech law, whether public schools should ban critical race theory, whether you should defer law school if you have the chance, and so much more!
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Listen now | Only those who own ties imprinted with portraits of Burke and Hayek should tune in for today’s Ruminant, which sees Jonah’s philosophical rumination reach dangerous instability. After assessing the increasingly credible COVID-19 lab-leak theory (and remembering the time Trump suggested using “the heat and the light” to cure the virus), Jonah examines what the debate over woke corporations reveals about the state of the conservative movement. He then dives headfirst into the morass of intellectual history, to explore how conservatives really feel about democracy. It’s an episode Albert Jay Nock couldn’t resist.
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Listen now | King of the gun beat and founder of The Reload Stephen Gutowski joins Sarah and Steve to talk about all things gun related on today’s episode. The topic of guns induces plenty of passion, and comes with plenty of stereotypes and myths. Stephen, Sarah, and Steve talk about all of that, plus gun culture in America, the politics of guns, the NRA, and more. Stick around to the end to hear what Stephen thinks action movies are getting things wrong about guns.
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Listen now | We’ve got another action-packed pod for you. On today’s episode, David and Sarah get listeners up to speed on all the latest legal topics, including a case involving a New Jersey pipeline, Georgia’s anti-BDS law, Florida’s new social media law, a case involving transcendental meditation in an Illinois public school system, ongoing congressional negotiations surrounding qualified immunity, and more! Alec Dent and Ryan Brown also join the show to reminisce on their cicada eating experience earlier this week.
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With a country split practically down the middle when it comes to politics, it’s a truism that the GOP needs to broaden its base if it wants to win elections. But it’s hard to make progress when the party’s leadership is struggling to make heads or tails of its own voters, let alone outsiders. Republicans could stand to take a few lessons from former Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, who was the House Majority Leader for the 112th Congress. Cantor tells The Dispatch’s Chris Stirewalt that he developed a necessary trait for a Republican coming to political consciousness in a deeply suburbanizing, ever-more purple Virginia: It was “a vision [to] add more people to the armies and champions of liberty,” and he makes the case that this should still be the priority for elected Republicans.
Show Notes:
-Richard Obenshain
-Virginia’s population boom
-Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders
-Boehner’s “Dollar-for-dollar” plans
-Eric Cantor talks about a refusal to tell the truth in our politics
Chapter 3: Chris and Matt Continetti look at the rise of the New Jacksonians
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Listen now | The Hangover begins with Richard Brookhiser (American historian and longtime editor at National Review) making a statement that is both clear and simple and yet seems like a revolutionary point to be made among Republicans: “Trump had his day, but it passed.” The question remains, why aren’t they acting like it? Furthermore, how did the Republican grassroots go from Tea Partiers tidying up after themselves on the National Mall to rioters breaking into the Capitol in the space of just over a decade? Brookhiser explains this populist overthrow within the tradition of political factionalism stretching all the way back to Madison.
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Listen now (76 min) | With Biden’s legislative agenda coming up against many roadblocks in Congress, Sarah, Steve, David, and Jonah debate which one of Biden’s main objectives will actually be made into law. Then, the gang explains even though Florida’s new “anti-Big Tech” law is likely to be unconstitutional, it could be a
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Listen now (82 min) | Fan-favorite Jonah soundalike Chris Stirewalt is back for a Remnant so nerdtastic that even Joe Biden could mock its lack of coolness. With antisemitic attacks on the rise, the GOP resisting a January 6 commission, and primaries continuing to exist, there’s plenty for Dr. Stirewalt to kvetch about, and Jonah has enough Hayek references on hand to join him. Yet Chris has more to reveal than his disdain for the common good. Starting this week, he’ll be hosting a new podcast focused on the history of modern conservatism that will (briefly!) replace the Thursday
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Listen now | What is The Hangover? Chris Stirewalt is here to answer that question and preview his limited-run podcast that aims to explain what went wrong for the GOP and how it got that way. How does a party go from total control in Washington to being swept out of power in the span of just four years? Join Chris for a podcast series that will not only dissect the 2020 defeat but fit it in a larger historical context.
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This weekend’s Ruminant sees Jonah “feeling particularly Remnant-y,” which means he’s leaned out of the punditry and into the historical eggheadery. That includes the history of the term “Jewish,” (why don’t we just say that someone is “a Jew,” and if you do, why does it sound like a slur?) the history of The Remnant’s title, and more. But at the end of it all, one question remains: Is Jonah a superfluous man?
Show notes:
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Joe Scarborough was very angry
-
DarkSide is at least somewhat honest
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Fredo and The Don play footsy
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Witless ape calls Lou Dobbs
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Jonah on Guy Benson’s show, about the January 6th commission
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Jonah talks Marx and antisemitism
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Wilhelm Marr was yucky (the technical term)
-
Did Hillary Clinton use a Jewish slur? Who even knows?
-
“Isaiah’s Job” by Albert Jay Nock, the origin of The Remnant
-
The “superfluous man”
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Father Coughlin: anti-Semite, leftist
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Listen now (56 min) | After being the only candidate to run against Rep. Elise Stefanik in a bid to replace Rep. Liz Cheney as the No. 3 House GOP leader, Rep. Chip Roy joins Sarah and Steve in this week’s episode. This wide-ranging interview touches on the January 6 commission, how Republican voters perceive the party, the Cheney ousting, and potential 2024 Republican presidential candidates. Below are excerpts from a rushed transcript of the interview, please check against the audio.
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Today’s Remnant combines features of both a weekend Ruminant and a “supplemental” episode, like the program’s recent incursion into social Darwinism. Jonah begins with further ruminations from his Wednesday “news”letter, replete with the observations that certain opponents of Israel veer into weirdly anti-Semitic territory when given the opportunity. Speaking of anti-Semites: Marx! After the rumination, Jonah reads from a great Commentary piece on the anti-capitalist tendencies of medieval antisemitism, and how such sentiments then transition into a more modern communistic ideology that nonetheless retained the suspicion of Jews, usury, and labor economics.
Show notes:
-
The Wednesday “news”letter on antisemitism
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Hamas’ Iron Dome: “Don’t Fire Rockets at Israel”
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Baseball, fatherhood, and racial disparity
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AOC seeks to block arms sales to Israel
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“If only the Czar knew!”
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Jonah in Commentary on Marx, Jews, and capital
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Jerry Muller’s response to Jonah
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Martin Luther’s “yikes”-inducing treatise
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Game of Thrones and the labor theory of value
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The “Middleman minority”
-
Marx’s vampire
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“The Political Economy of the Dead” by Mark Neocleous
-
Again, “frazzledrip.” sigh
-
Jerry Muller’s The Mind and the Market
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On today’s podcast, Sarah and David give their predictions on how the Supreme Court might rule next term in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the abortion case challenging a Mississippi law that prohibits most abortions after the 15th week of a woman’s pregnancy. Our hosts also chat about Texas’ new pro-life law, Justice Elena Kagan’s spicy dissent in Edwards v. Vannoy, the Mississippi Supreme Court case they talked about earlier this week, the University of North Carolina board of directors’ decision to block tenure for Nikole Hannah-Jones, and mugshots. Plus, they provide some listener wine pairing recommendations for lead fact-checker Alec Dent’s forthcoming cicada eating experience.
Show Notes:
-Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
-June Medical Services LLC v. Russo
-Edwards v. Vannoy
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Listen now (72 min) | The Israel/Palestine conflict has yet to cool down, but the rhetoric around the ongoing skirmish is heating up in the U.S. The gang talks about the pressure on Biden to help with the situation abroad. Plus, it seems as though a commission to look at the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 might not be getting much GOP support, if any at all. Sarah, Steve, David, and Jonah try to figure out who is to blame for that. David educates everyone on the abortion case the Supreme Court will be hearing, and the gang discusses the debate over the origins of COVID-19.
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Listen now (89 min) | Jim Geraghty, National Review’s esteemed purveyor of punditry and “Morning Jolt” mastermind, joins Jonah today to become the Remnant’s first 11-time visitor (his very own Episode 11, if you will…). The pair explore the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic, including recent rumblings that the virus might have originated in a Wuhan lab after all, before examining the Republican Party post-Cheney and ongoing confusion over masks. Should bats be anally swabbed? Are beets toxic? And will the Irish and English ever get along? Listen closely to hear these vital questions answered.
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The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear oral arguments for what will likely turn out to be one of the most intensely followed abortion cases in decades: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The case challenges the constitutionality of Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act, a 2018 law that prohibits abortions performed after the 15-week point in a woman’s pregnancy (with limited exceptions). David and Sarah walk us through the likely outcomes of the case and explain how it fits in with the court’s jurisprudence on abortion related questions. Also on today’s podcast, our hosts chat about Caniglia v. Strom, a separate court case involving the Mississippi Supreme Court, the cicada invasion, and more.
Show Notes:
-June Medical Services LLC v. Russo
-Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt
-Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
-Caniglia v. Strom
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Watch out, Howard Stern, because the FM radio Remnant format is back for another nerdtastic broadcast. Jonah is joined once again by Ryan, a covert NBC operative working to undermine The Dispatch from within, Guy, resident Anglophobe and Mark Steyn impersonator who will soon be releasing his own album of old standards, and Nick, Jonah’s long-suffering research assistant who might be America’s only involuntary Hoosier. The quartet explores pertinent topics of the moment, including Israel, mask mandates, all-American conspiracy theories, and the travails of Liz Cheney. But they also indulge in some less substantial discussion, and read some of their favorite listener reviews from recent months. How do you feel about the drive-time format? Enthusiastic, antipathetic, or indifferent? Whatever the case, let us know, because as this episode demonstrates, we pay attention to all of your feedback.
Show Notes:
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Liz Cheney clashes with Bret Baier
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The National Review editors discuss Cheney
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“The Paranoid Style in American Politics”
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February’s Remnant with Joe Uscinski on conspiracy theories
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Jonah on connecting police to slave patrols
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The kraken sleeps
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The great bamboo conspiracy
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The Wednesday G-File
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Guy’s Sinatra piece, shamelessly plugged
-
George P. Bush battles the English language
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Today’s Morning Joe, to be viewed at your own risk
-
The week’s first Remnant with Klon Kitchen
-
The week’s second Remnant with Niall Ferguson
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Minutes after New York Rep. Elise Stefanik was elected the House GOP’s new conference chairwoman, her predecessor, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney joined Sarah and Steve on today’s show to chat about the 2022 midterms, the future of the Republican Party, and the factors that precipitated her ousting from GOP leadership. Tune in to hear Cheney talk to our hosts about her relationships with her colleagues and why she won’t stop pushing back against the former president’s claims that the election was stolen: “Fundamentally for me, at the end of the day, if being on House leadership on the Republican side requires the embrace of that lie, that’s not something I’m willing to participate in.”
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Atlantic reporter McKay Coppins joins the show to chat about his latest profile of Brett Kavanaugh, which tracks the Supreme Court justice’s journey from his contentious 2018 Senate confirmation hearings to the bench. After what David calls a “frank exchange of ideas” about the piece, our hosts give us their take on a federal judge’s decision to dismiss the National Rifle Association’s bankruptcy case, the Facebook Oversight Board’s decision to uphold the platform’s ban on Donald Trump, and lower level judicial confirmation hearings.
Show Notes:
-Coppins’ Atlantic profile of Brett Kavanaugh
-Coppins’ Atlantic piece on stockpiling food
-David’s National Review piece on the Kavanaugh allegations
-David’s Time piece on the Facebook Oversight Board
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Listen now (70 min) | Historian Niall Ferguson returns to talk about his new book (with a glorious, darkly comic cover), Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe. As Sven from SNL might say, this episode has it all: monkey’s paw swag-bags, the phrase “Hunnish data,” and the frighteningly named “three-body problem.” Allow Niall to explain the human tendency to prepare for one disaster scenario while another hits us square in the jaw, the reason why “we may be forced by companies to do Zoom” even after the pandemic ends, and why book tours are still delirium-inducing even when done from the comfort of one’s home. Oh, and stick around for a particularly fantastic celebrity impression in the show’s final moments.
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With so much going on in the news this week, it’s hard to pick one headline. Is it Liz Cheney being ousted from her leadership role for telling the truth? Or the fact that a major oil pipeline was attacked by ransomware? Or maybe the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine heating up and heating up fast? The gang discuss all of those topics and why a rise in independent voters may not actually be a good thing.
Show Notes:
-Cheney speech on the House floor
-Cheney after her removal
-Why more independents is actually bad
-Latest version of “The Sweep”
-“Doom” by Niall Ferguson
-The Remnant with Klon Kitchen
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Newly minted AEI fellow Klon Kitchen joins Jonah today for an uber-wonky discussion of foreign policy and cybersecurity. The pair explore how the U.S. should respond to recent cyber attacks, the merits of Section 230, and the distinction between dumb and smart hawkishness in national security. Should we revive letters of marque? Can Jonah ever discuss China without cursing Tom Friedman? And will Klon’s love of all things canine lead him to join the fabled pantheon of Remnant regulars?
Show Notes:
-The Kitchen Sync
-The colonial pipeline hack
-Letters of marque and the Constitution
-Defending forward
-Jonah: “We’re not ‘competing’ with China. But politicians love to make that claim.”
-Jonah’s dear friend Tom Friedman on overpopulation
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Today, our hosts are thrilled to be joined by Federal Court of Appeals Judge Gregg Costa of the 5th Circuit. In today’s extra-nerdy pod, our esteemed guest gives Sarah and David his expert take on serial clerkships, amicus briefs, nationwide injunctions, and more. Plus, he offers up an inside scoop on how he approaches his judicial philosophy, what he thinks is the proper role for legal advocates in the courtroom, and why “the hardest job [he] ever had was before law school teaching fourth grade.”
Show Notes:
-Judge Costa’s case against second, third, and fourth clerkships
-Sarah’s Politico piece on serial clerkships
-Judge Costa’s piece on nationwide injunctions
-The Legal Analyst: A Toolkit for Thinking about the Law by Ward Farnsworth
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The Ruminant returns to its usual format today after last week’s drive-time diversion, as Jonah is once again placed under the unsettling eyes of several silent spectators. After exploring the history of American censorship and the current state of free speech, Jonah dives headfirst into the ongoing Liz Cheney controversy and lingering nuttiness of Donald Trump within the GOP. Will Josh Hawley ever cease to irritate? Is morality hardwired into babies? And why do the women in Jonah’s life all have awkwardly positioned birthdays?
Show Notes:
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Jonah’s latest column
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Jonah on political religions
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Ross Douthat: “When Wokeness Becomes Weakness”
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Banned in Boston
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“The movie's over, it's four o'clock, and we're in trouble deep”
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Charlie Kirk, political genius
-
Josh Hawley rants about free speech
-
Just Babies, by Paul Bloom
-
National Review: “Liz Cheney is Not the Problem”
-
The Wednesday G-File
-
The Paul Wolfowitz/Sam Tanenhaus controversy
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With Rep. Liz Cheney’s days as the No. 3 ranking House GOP official numbered, Sarah and Steve are joined by The Dispatch’s own Haley Byrd Wilt and Audrey Fahlberg to talk about what that means for the party. Next Wednesday, the Republican caucus will meet and a vote to oust Cheney is expected to take place. The four lay out what they see happening on Wednesday and what they expect the aftermath may be.
Show Notes:
-Haley’s latest Uphill
-Audrey’s piece from the GOP Orlando retreat
-Elise Stefanik on Steve Bannon’s show
-Ruthless Podcast
-Steve’s piece on the GOP leadership issues
-Liz Cheney’s op-ed in the Washington Post
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The Supreme Court wrapped up oral arguments for the term on Monday, so our hosts brought in an exciting guest to keep the legal nerdery barreling full steam ahead for our listeners. On Thursday’s episode, Sarah is joined by Jonathan Ellis, an assistant to the solicitor general of the United States. Tune in to hear Jonathan chat about what it’s like representing the U.S. government in front of the Supreme Court, how many cases he argues per term, how the solicitor general goes about assigning cases, briefs, and arguments to assistants, and more! Plus, Sarah shares a funny anecdote involving Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a trashcan, and Matt Damon.
Show Notes:
-Sarah’s piece in Politico on serial clerkships
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The Remnant returns to normalcy today with one of Jonah’s favorite guests: the illustrious Chris Stirewalt. The pair engage in pop culture-infused punditry, focusing on the GOP’s internal war between MAGA advocates and Liz Cheney supporters and America’s supposed entry into a new Progressive Era under President Biden. Prepare to be bedazzled by Chris’ peerless Sebastian Gorka impression, the raw craziness of Donald Trump, and Jonah’s secret history as an adolescent ice cream vendor.
Show Notes:
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Chris’ page at The Dispatch
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Cheneypalooza
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Trump backs Elise Stefanik
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Mike Pence trudges toward 2024
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What the heck is going on in Maricopa County?
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The members-only Wednesday G-File
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The road to Kenya
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Chris: “The era of big government is here”
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The Election Integrity Alliance, yeesh
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Dr. Gorka
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Jonah’s cordial, not-at-all controversial disagreement with Bill Kristol
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“If the paper turns clear, it’s your window to weight gain!”
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“Welcome to the new progressive era”
-
When Trump and the Clintons were BFFs
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The fight over who is in and who is out within the GOP leadership has reached a boiling point. Rep. Liz Cheney, who survived a vote in February to oust her from her leadership position, may not be there much longer. Sarah and the guys break down what’s happening and how much of a chance Cheney has to survive another attempt to replace her. Also, the special election in Texas shows a weak spot for Democrats, Jonah asks the group if competitiveness even matters in the global economy, and the gang discusses what happens next in the fight against COVID-19 now that the U.S. seems to be hitting a vaccine hesitancy wall.
Show Notes:
-Steve’s piece on GOP leadership fight
-Former President Trump’s statement on Liz Cheney
-Audrey’s piece from the GOP retreat in Orlando
-Texas 6th District special election results
-The Sweep on the Texas 6th special election
-Declan’s piece on cancel culture
-Jonah’s column on the “New New Deal”
-“The Liberals Who Can’t Quit Lockdown” - The Atlantic
-Mali woman gives birth to not seven, but nine babies
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Jonah flies solo on the week’s first Remnant, as he tries out a format that seeks to provide the footnotes to some of the most commonly landed-on items from the program’s bingo card. On this first explainer, Jonah tackles the straw man and frequent leftist punching bag called social Darwinism, and whether or not such an ideology ever even existed in the first place. Do any conservatives actually believe this stuff? And how did the tables turn on libertarians to such a degree that the most laissez-faire political ideology possible ended up facing accusations of eugenic sympathies? (You can also tune in to learn why you should never trust Wisconsinites.)
Show Notes:
-The (underrated) Tyranny of Clichés
-Obama calls the GOP budget “social Darwinism”
-Schoenwald has some strange opinions on Herbert Spencer
-The University of Wisconsin and progressivism
-Hofstadter’s book on social Darwinism
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Today’s episode is the jackpot for Supreme Court bingo players, as our hosts play a guessing game as to which justices will write some of the court’s most anticipated forthcoming opinions. Also on today’s episode, David and Sarah chat about two cases involving racial classification in the dispensation of government relief to “socially disadvantaged” farmers and ranchers, and debate which Supreme Court cases AP U.S. history students should be required to commit to memory. Plus, Sarah shares a fun story about her experience camping outside of the Supreme Court building to hear oral arguments for D.C. v. Heller.
Show Notes:
-Fulton v. City of Philadelphia
-Ferris v. United States
-Trump v. Hawaii
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After reflecting on The Dispatch’s interview with former President George W. Bush this week, David and Sarah discuss Justice Stephen Breyer’s controversial pronunciation of the word “amicus,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Second Amendment jurisprudence, and Justice Neil Gorsuch’s majority opinion in Niz-Chavez v. Garland, Attorney General. Stay tuned to hear our hosts chat about Supreme Court oral arguments for a First Amendment lawsuit involving a high school cheerleader.
Show Notes:
-Out of Many, One: Portraits of America's Immigrants by George W. Bush
-George W. Bush Paints E Pluribus Unum on the Dispatch Podcast
-“When a Justice Needs a Friend” by William Safire in the New York Times
-Heller v. District of Columbia
-Niz-Chavez v. Garland, Attorney General
-Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. Supreme Court oral arguments
-Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
-Morse v. Frederick
-French Press: “How an Angry Cheerleader Could Help Cancel Cancel Culture” by David French in The Dispatch
-Harper v. Poway Unified School District
-Dariano v. Morgan Hill Unified School District
-Saxe v. State College Area School District
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Listen now (42 min) | Former President George W. Bush has done a number of interviews recently to promote his new book, “Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants,” but none have covered as many topics as Sarah Isgur and Steve Hayes covered with him on The Dispatch Podcast
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Jonah and a brand new guest, Robert Draper of the New York Times, engage in punditry ranker than even the most devoted Remnant listener could imagine before gushing over Draper’s adorable canine companion. If that sounds like a retread of the week’s previous episode with A.B. Stoddard, fear not! Today’s dog talk is entirely spontaneous. The pair have Biden’s joint congressional address to dissect, and Draper has a fascinating new piece on Republican turmoil that stimulates plenty of conversation on internecine party warfare. Will partisanship destroy us all? Can the GOP be saved from insanity? And why do Jonah and Robert both recall Watergate with fondness?
Show Notes:
-
Robert’s page at the New York Times
-
Robert’s latest piece, “Liz Cheney vs. MAGA”
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“I’m a conservative, but I’m not angry about it”
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“I am a gaffe machine”
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Dispatch Live reacts to Biden’s first joint congressional address
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Ross Douthat: “Biden Should Go Big, and Then Brag About It”
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Ross Douthat: “What Bidenism Owes to Trumpism”
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The Jason Miller tweet that stole Jonah’s heart
-
Trump discovers “America First”
-
The week’s first Remnant with A.B. Stoddard
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Mark Leibovich on Kevin McCarthy
-
David Brooks: “The GOP is Getting Worse”
-
Jonah: “Unity Can Be Worse Than Partisanship”
-
Karl Rove’s “100-year majority”
-
The Wednesday G-File
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Today’s episode starts off talking about every political junkie’s favorite arbitrary threshold, a presidential administration’s first 100 days. Hear what everyone thinks are the Biden administration’s greatest strengths and weaknesses. The gang debates what’s the most important aspect of the John Kerry leaking info to Iran story and how the U.S. Census will affect our politics and our country going forward. Then, stick around to hear if everything has gone to [BLEEP].
Show Notes:
-Vice President Joe “put y’all back in chains” Biden
-President Joe “worse than Jim Crow” Biden
-Biden likes the FDR comparisons
-Iran’s Foreign Minister, in Leaked Tape, Says Revolutionary Guards Set Policies - New York Times
-U.S. Census Report
-TMD on the census
-Advisory Opinions podcast page
-The Remnant podcast page
-Stirewalt’s latest from The Dispatch
-The G.O.P. Is Getting Even Worse - David Brooks
-Latest French Press
-New York Post reporter claims she was forced to write fake story, resigns
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Remnant favorite A.B. Stoddard joins Jonah today for an episode of exceedingly rank punditry. The pair discuss how President Biden has fared in his first 100 days, Donald Trump’s lingering presence within the GOP, and why both parties can’t help but be nutty. Tune in for political eggheadery, but stick around for uplifting dog discussion. A.B. has just taken in a new puppy (Chief!), and Jonah is as excited as he can be.
Show Notes:
-A.B.’s page at RealClearPolitics
-Dispatch Live gears up for Biden’s first joint address to Congress
-A.B.’s last Remnant appearance
-Ramesh Ponnuru: “Biden’s Stalled Revolution”
-Joe Biden talks to Hunter “at least every night”
-Biden: GOP used “defund the police” to “beat the living hell out of Democrats”
-Robert Draper: “Liz Cheney vs. MAGA”
-Mark Leibovich: “Kevin McCarthy Still on Defensive Over Trump”
-The McCarthy-Cheney Trump divide deepens
-Mick Mulvaney on The Dispatch Podcast
-Lindsey Graham gave up on Trump, then embraced him again
-Don’t call John Boehner a squish
-Heeeere’s Chief!
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Buckle up, AO fans. There is a lot to cover on the Supreme Court front and David and Sarah talk about all of it on today’s episode. It starts with a definitive breakdown of the new Supreme Court portrait, then goes from a case that the Supreme Court will hear regarding the Second Amendment, to a case having to do with Guantanamo Bay, ending with the big First Amendment case being argued today. Plus, Sarah and David discuss the Netflix documentary about the college admissions scandal, Operation Varsity Blues, and why it’s damaging to tell kids that what college they attend is the most important factor in determining their success.
Show Notes:
-New SCOTUS Portrait
-Chief Justice Roberts talking to Justice Kagan Portrait
-Jones v. Mississippi case
-Texas v. California case
-New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Corlett
-SCOTUSblog page on Guantanamo Bay case
-SCOTUSblog page on Houston Community College System v. Wilson
-SCOTUSblog page on Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta
-Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta oral arguments
-Operation Varsity Blues on Netflix
-Sarah’s favorite Onion article
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In distinctly Goldbergian fashion, Jonah manages to combine musings on Home Depot, climate change, the Chauvin trial, and the classic “Deep Space Homer” episode of The Simpsons into a single, coherent Ruminant, which includes as many references to infrastructure as you’d expect at this point. Tune in not just for Jonah’s eggheadery, but to hear him face his greatest challenge yet: pronouncing the name “Greta Thunberg.”
Show Notes:
-
Ben Shapiro gets wood
-
“It’s an inanimate carbon rod!”
-
Jonah on Thanksgiving
-
The Wednesday G-File
-
Cornel West: “Howard University’s Removal of Classics is a Spiritual Catastrophe”
-
Rep. Karen Bass: “It’s open season on black folks”
-
David Brooks: “The GOP is Getting Even Worse”
-
Rep. Katie Porter’s daughter thinks we’re all going to die
-
“How dare you!”
-
GOP senators release their infrastructure plan
-
Greg Gutfeld on the Chauvin verdict
-
The week’s first, ultra-nerdy Remnant with Brian Riedl
-
The week’s second, Kissinger-loving Remnant with Thomas Joscelyn
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Now that Derek Chauvin has been found guilty of murder, what happens next? Sarah flies solo on today’s podcast in an interview with former United States Attorney in the Office for the Eastern District of Virginia Zach Terwilliger to talk about just that. Sarah and Zach break down all of the legal jargon you may hear about this case and explain what to watch out for next in Derek Chauvin’s sentencing. Plus, Zach offers some advice to all of the wannabe federal prosecutors out there.
Show Notes:
-Zach Terwilliger Bio Page
-Judge in Chauvin case talking about Maxine Waters
-Definitions of manslaughter and degrees of murder
-Minnesota Supreme Court/Chauvin case explainer
-Women’s hockey coach assault case
-Advisory Opinions podcast
-DOJ announcement on Minneapolis PD
-5 Minutes with Michele Roberts
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On today’s episode, Vital Interests author and national security extraordinaire Thomas Joscelyn makes his first Remnant appearance. With a healthy supply of Hayek references on hand, Jonah seems determined to outdo the wonkiness of Brian Riedl’s visit earlier this week. Al-Qaeda, Afghanistan, China, and the meaning of necrocracy are all discussed peacefully by the pair, until a certain name is mentioned; If you thought Jonah’s contempt for Woodrow Wilson was unparalleled, just wait until you hear the disdain that overtakes Tom at the mere mention of Henry Kissinger.
Show Notes:
-
Tom’s journal, Long War
-
Vital Interests at The Dispatch
-
Just in case you happen to know Siraj Haqqani
-
The history of the institutionalized form of al-Qaeda, the AQAP
-
Bin Laden’s files
-
Tom: “The Flawed Reasoning Behind Biden’s Afghanistan Withdrawal”
-
Jonah: “Biden Citing the Wrong Reasons for Afghanistan Withdrawal”
-
The Remnant with Bing West
-
Kissinger makes WWI metaphors in regards to China
-
Hitchens: “A necrocracy?”
-
The Remnant with Oriana Skylar Mastro
-
“The Longer Telegram,” by an anonymous official
-
Lin Wells’ memo
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Today, David and Sarah give us their reactions to the Derek Chauvin trial verdict, talk about potential issues on appeal, and break down Minnesota state law on the competency of a juror as a witness. Also on today’s episode, our hosts chat about an interesting court filing involving Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and a talk about whether the law can or should protect employees from political discrimination.
Show Notes:
-Last week’s Advisory Opinions episode on the ins and outs of the Chauvin trial
-Minnesota 606(b)
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People across the political spectrum had all sorts of different reactions to Officer Derek Chauvin being found guilty on all three charges in the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Jonah says most of those reactions have been far from encouraging, “While a lot of the right-wing reaction makes me ashamed and embarrassed and infuriated and disgusted … a lot of the left-wing reaction, or a lot of the MSNBC reaction, has been very bad, too.” Plus, the gang also discusses Biden’s plan to withdraw from Afghanistan and how the news of Officer Brian Sicknick’s cause of death will affect the history of January 6, and Chris Stirewalt explains the Cook Political Report’s new Partisan Voter Index.
Show Notes:
-Derek Chauvin found guilty
-The 1619 Project
-David’s French Press on racism in America, adopting a black daughter
-President Biden’s remarks on withdrawing from Afghanistan
-Latest casualty status from the Defense Department
-Cook Political Report’s Partisan Voter Index
-Latest Sweep from Sarah, Chris, and Andrew
-Officer Brian Sicknick dies of stroke
-Sohrab Ahmari’s tweet on January 6
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Senior Manhattan Institute fellow Brian Riedl joins Jonah on The Remnant for an uber-wonky discussion of economic policy. Fresh from testifying before the House Committee on Financial Services on President Biden’s madcap “infrastructure” plan, Brian provides insight on all manner of economic fallacies peddled by Republicans and Democrats alike. What’s to be done about infrastructure? Are inflation and debt really a big deal? And why is everyone turning on free markets? Also, take a shot of your favorite alcoholic beverage every time the words “infrastructure” and “buy gold” are uttered. You’ll soon realize how Jonah felt at the end of last week’s Mike Gallagher episode.
Show Notes:
-Brian Riedl - The Manhattan Institute
-Brian’s recent House testimony
-Last week’s astonishing Remnant with Rep. Mike Gallagher
-Jonah shakes his fist in the direction of infrastructure
-The good old days of complaining about Obama’s stimulus
-“That’s a shark”
-The GOP is more concerned with Green Eggs and Ham than spending
-Brian: “The Entitlement Crisis Ignored”
-David Beckworth and Ramesh Ponnuru: “Stop Worrying About Inflation”
-Brian: “Liberal Economists Say Debt Doesn’t Matter. They’re Wrong.”
-Brian: “Who Will Fund $24 Trillion in New Government Debt?”
-Brian: “Taxing the ‘Rich’ Won’t Pay for Politicians’ Promises”
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On today’s episode, Sarah and David walk us through Monday’s Supreme Court orders and oral arguments before diving back into the mailbag, where they respond to listeners’ questions about expert witnesses, sanctuary cities, vaccine passports, and immunity grants. Plus, David revises and extends his Friday Dispatch Podcast thesis on culture’s distortion of masculinity.
Show Notes:
-Monday’s Supreme Court orders
-Sanchez v. Mayorkas
-Hemphill v. New York
-Jacobson v. Massachusetts
-Friday’s Dispatch Podcast episode
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Today’s refreshingly (or regrettably, depending on your perspective) sober Ruminant finds Jonah surrounded by boxes of books so nerdy that even Goodwill won’t take them. Preoccupied with thoughts on the strange state of the right, and the equally strange state of Joe Biden, he swiftly reaches levels of wonkiness so high that they could cure sleep deprivation. What’s the matter with the Claremont Institute? Will the oft-discussed “Liberal Fascism Revisited” piece ever be completed? And what new euphemism for a mild hangover will soon be sweeping the nation?
Show Notes:
-
Jonah’s pre-coffee reproval of Ryan Williams
-
The Wednesday G-File
-
J.D. Vance’s Democrat-esque response to David French
-
The decline of the Lincoln Fellowship
-
The week’s first Remnant with Andy Smarick
-
The week’s second Remnant with Mike Gallagher, which must be heard to be believed
-
Horseshoe theory
-
Last Friday’s G-File
-
Jerry Nadler: “We are not packing the Supreme Court, we are unpacking it.”
-
The Decadent Society, by Ross Douthat
-
Biden wears a mask alone in Arlington National Cemetery
-
Jonah: “Biden Puts Feelings Over Facts in Afghanistan Withdrawal”
-
The Rectification of Names
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Sarah and David (who is stepping in for Steve this week) talk to the author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, Kristin Du Mez, about how the definition of masculinity for white Evangelical men has had a damaging impact on the whole country. “Once you have the eyes to see this, it’s hard not to see its pervasive reach,” she said. “The politics and the faith are so intertwined, and that’s what I try to pull through, those threads, and see how the influence really does go back and forth.” Plus, find out what friendly, neighborhood, sweater-wearing, former PBS television star is surprisingly not impressive to the mainstream Evangelical community.
Show Notes:
-Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
-Kristin’s Blog “The Anxious Bench”
-Kristin’s next book on Christian femininity announcement
-Kristin’s Twitter
-Donald Trump riding a velociraptor
-Kristin’s Faculty page at Calvin University
-“A Man For All Seasons”
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On today’s episode, David and Sarah discuss the ins and outs of Derek Chauvin’s murder trial, including why Chauvin didn’t take the stand and whether he’s likely to be convicted. Plus, our hosts chat about House Democrats’ latest court-packing bill—what Sarah calls “a press release in the form of legislation”—former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter’s fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, and an en banc 6th Circuit case involving abortion.
Show Notes:
-“Chauvin Defense Expert Destroyed on the Stand” by Andrew McCarthy in National Review
-Pre-Term Cleveland v. McCloud
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On today’s career-ruining episode, recorded deep within the headquarters of Half-Baked DARPA, Jonah is joined by frequent guest Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Packers) for a jaunt through the land of new and creative ideas that still need some more time in the oven. The show sees the guys return to the idea of annexing Greenland while also bringing new life to half-baked concepts such as spray-painted meteors, an $800 quadrillion infrastructure plan for salvaging the experience of the midpriced American hotel, and the joys of director commentaries when combined with drinking games. Emphasis on the drinking part. Also, find out what masterful modern novel Gallagher thought “sucked.”
Show Notes:
-Rep. Gallagher’s webpage
-Rep. Gallagher’s appearance on the Remnant’s super-spectacular 200th episode
-Trump’s hand on the Ohio Senate primary
-“We’re gonna have… tryouts”
-Jonah shakes his fist in the direction of infrastructure
-Jonah: “Greenland Should Be Ours”
-Obi-Wan v. Darth Vader, gloriously re-imagined
-It’s “I’m Eighteen,” Jonah
-The Jewish space lazer conspiracy
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This week, the FDA decided to pause the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following reports that six women—of the nearly 7 million Americans who have received the J&J vaccine—developed serious blood clots after getting the jab. Is pausing the vaccine worth the tradeoffs? Will the FDA’s move fuel vaccine hesitancy? Sarah, David, Chris and Jonah give us the scoop. Today, our hosts also chat about New York Times columnist Ross Douthat’s latest piece on what Bidenism owes to Trumpism, the GOP’s First Amendment retribution against woke corporations, and what Democratic pollsters have learned from their poor electoral forecasting leading up to the 2020 election.
Show Notes:
-“What Bidenism Owes to Trumpism,” by Ross Douthat in the New York Times.
-“Confronting 2016 and 2020 Polling Limitations” by Pew Research Center.
-“How Trump Steered Supporters Into Unwitting Donations” by Shane Goldmacher in the New York Times.
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Only those in the wonky 1 percent should subject themselves to today’s nerdtastic Remnant, in which Jonah is joined for a third time by the Manhattan Institute’s Andy Smarick. The pair use Andy’s recent Dispatch piece on the folly of never-ending school closures to launch a wide-ranging discussion of the pandemic culture war and divisions among conservatives. Should you be friends with politicians? Why are some Americans desperate for normalcy to never return? And is it wise for so many right-wing whippersnappers to reject the so-called “dead consensus”? Unsurprisingly, Jonah thinks Hayek has the answer to at least one of those questions.
Show Notes:
-Andy Smarick - the Manhattan Institute
-Jim Geraghty on opening with the 10th step of a 10-step argument
-Last week’s Remnant with Dan Crenshaw
-Jonah: “Giuliani's Sorry Path from Law-and-Order Mayor to Villainous Clown”
-Giuliani: “My attitude to my legacy is …”
-Andy: “What the Narrative on School Reopenings Has Missed”
-Randi Weingarten calls American Jews “part of the ownership class”
-The View of the World from 9th Avenue
-Joy Reid is too scared to enjoy life after she’s vaccinated
-Steven Petrow: “I’m Vaccinated, but I’m Not Really Ready to Leave My Pandemic Cocoon”
-Hadley Arkes and peers argue for a “better” originalism
-Catholics v. libertarians in the 1960s
-Marco Rubio: “Amazon Should Face Unionization Drive Without Republican Support”
-Mitt Romney’s child allowance proposal
-Jonah is flattered by R.R. Reno’s gushing review of Suicide of the West
-YouGov’s recent survey of 2020 Trump voters
-Hayek’s “The Use of Knowledge in Society”
-David French on nutpicking
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Fearing that death or disability will remove Justice Stephen Breyer from the Supreme Court when a Republican is in the White House, progressives have begun urging the senior Democratic appointed justice to retire so that Joe Biden can nominate a younger successor while he has a chance. Is Justice Breyer likely to retire anytime soon? David Lat joins today’s show to give us his take. Stick around to hear David Lat and our hosts chat about Biden’s 36-person Supreme Court commission, a new opinion involving California pandemic law, Google v. Oracle, and lawful orders from police officers.
Show Notes:
-David Lat’s Substack: Original Jurisdiction, and novel: Supreme Ambitions
-David Lat’s posts on Breyer: “Will Justice Breyer Retire? Reading The Clerk Hiring Tea Leaves” and “Confession Of Error: Justice Breyer Is Hired Up For October Term 2021”
-Ritesh Tandon v. Gavin Newsom
-Fraternal Order of Police, Newark Lodge No. 12 v. City of Newark
-Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.
-Orin Kerr’s Twitter thread on lawful orders and Pennsylvania v Mimms
-“A Tale of Two Rap Songs” by David French in The Dispatch
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On this freewheeling Ruminant, Jonah is accompanied by a smaller cast of off-putting onlookers than last time. Still on a high after the week’s earlier discussion of Bigfoot’s messianic powers, he approaches the questions of the day with extra verve. Is recycling a load of garbage? Is President Biden’s rhetoric on race any better? And, of course, has politics supplanted religion? Tune in to find out and, in case you missed it, to learn of the Sasquatch’s alien origins.
Show Notes:
-
The great plastic recycling lie
-
”Do you kids want to be like the real UN? Or do you just want to squabble and waste time?”
-
John Tierny: “Recycling is Garbage”
-
The week’s second Remnant with Dan Crenshaw
-
“She just dislikes me so much… it’s irresistible!”
-
The Suicidal Corporation, by Paul Weaver
-
Jonah: “No, Georgia’s Election Law is Not ‘Jim Crow 2.0’"
-
The week’s first Dispatch Podcast
-
Biden gets four Pinocchios
-
Minneapolis newspaper owner thinks we haven’t had racial progress in three generations
-
Biden: “They’re going to put ya’ll back in chains”
-
Jonah: “WaterGaetz”
-
Last week’s Remnant with Shadi Hamid
-
The “Religion of Humanity”
-
The Revolutions podcast
-
The week’s first Remnant with Denver Riggleman
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Are you a “scout” or a “soldier”? What do those terms even mean? In Julia Galef’s new book, The Scout Mindset, she argues the scout mindset is underrepresented in today’s world. “The scout’s role, unlike the soldier, is not to go out and attack or defend,” she says. “It’s to go out, and see what’s really out there as clearly as possible and to put together as accurate a map of the territory or a situation as you can.” Plus, listen closely for Steve’s John McLaughlin impression and why Julia believes bouncing between Airbnbs is way better than signing an actual lease.
Show Notes:
-“The Scout Mindset” by Julia Galef
-Rationally Speaking Podcast
-Julia Galef on Twitter
-Julia’s TED Talk
-The Dispatch Manifesto
-Dr. Tom Gilovich
-Julia’s Twitter thread about Airbnbs
-Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
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Jonah collaborates with Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw on their second Remnant together in an attempt to hash out their differences of opinion regarding why Congress doesn’t work. (Or does it?) Come listen, and discover why members of Congress feel the need to have such robust media teams on staff all the time, why Marjorie Taylor Greene is actually a swamp creature nowadays, and walk through Dan’s “favorite moment of 2021,” which features a shockingly bad instance of Spanglish.
Show Notes:
-Dan’s podcast, Hold These Truths
-Dan’s article on fighting, not performing
-Jonathan Rauch: Is Congress broken?
-Jonathan Haidt’s political Turing test
-Jonah’s article on Antony Blinken and China
-Dan’s Conservative Guide to the Culture Wars
-Almost nobody uses “Latinx”
-“Si, se pwadway!”
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Our hosts start today’s episode by diving into the Supreme Court’s 6-2 opinion in Google v. Oracle, a multibillion dollar copyright case involving whether Google unlawfully used Oracle’s programming code when the tech titan created its Android operating system. Also on today’s podcast, Sarah and David chat about Justice Stephen Breyer’s Scalia Lecture, misdemeanor prosecutions, a new study on religious liberty’s winning streak on the Roberts Court, and a Native American adoption law case.
Show Notes:
-Google v. Oracle
-Justice Breyer’s Scalia lecture.
-Misdemeanor prosecution explainer by Alex Tabarrok and “16 theories for why crime plummeted in the US” by Dara Lind and German Lopez in Vox.
-“An Extraordinary Winning Streak for Religion at the Supreme Court” by Adam Liptak in the New York Times and “The Roberts Court and the Transformation of Constitutional Protections for Religion: A Statistical Portrait” by Lee Epstein and Eric A. Posner in the Supreme Court Review.
-Native American adoption law case.
-Take the next 30-days to try a Dispatch membership
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If it’s a day that ends in “Y” in Washington, it’s probably a day during “infrastructure week.” The gang talks about President Biden’s infrastructure bill and debates whether or not it’s fair to call it an “infrastructure” bill. Plus, what should the U.S. do about the continued aggression coming from China and Russia, and the differences in voting laws in Georgia and Colorado. Finally, the controversy surrounding a 60 Minutes piece on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and whether or not “media bias” is the worst it’s ever been.
Show Notes:
-POLITICO’s Playbook on infrastructure
-What is Starlink?
-TMD on Russian aggression in Ukraine
-Danielle Pletka’s latest for The Dispatch on Chinese aggression towards Australia
-Oriana Skylar Mastro on The Remnant
-The Washington Post Editorial on boycotting the Olympics
-Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia/Colorado voting laws comparison
-60 Minutes and Gov. Ron DeSantis - Poynter
-Trump donors - The New York Times
-“Why Being ‘Anti-Media’ Is Now Part Of The GOP Identity” - FiveThirtyEight
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Listen now (71 min) | Denver Riggleman, former congressman for Virginia’s 5th District and noted Bigfoot enthusiast, joins Jonah on today’s episode for a colorful discussion of Americans’ freedom to believe anything they want. Sometimes, the consequences can be tragic, as in the case of January 6. But they can also be truly spectacular, and for proof, look no further than those who believe Bigfoot is an interdimensional traveler, psychedelic prophet, and alien scout. Before diving headfirst into Sasquatch lore, the pair also explore fine liquor, what it’s really like inside the House Freedom Caucus, and Denver’s experiences running for office. It’s a
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It was a slow day at the Supreme Court today, but our hosts are here to give us a breakdown of the latest orders. In a concurring opinion on Monday, Justice Clarence Thomas tore into the Supreme Court’s order in Biden v. Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which involves a government official’s control of his own Twitter account. Per Sarah, the purpose of Thomas’ concurring opinion is to determine whether social media platforms are “common carriers, whether they are places of public accommodation, or nothing.” Stay tuned to hear David and Sarah discuss a lawsuit involving Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and the GOP’s legislative blowback against corporate wokeness.
Show Notes:
-Google v. Oracle
-Supreme Court’s April 5 orders
-Biden v. Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University
-Jason Small v. Memphis Light, Gas & Water
-Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison
-Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board and Dr. Scott Brabrand
-Revisionist History podcast Season 3 Episode 10
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Today’s Ruminant features Jonah amid a group of silent watchers, staring at him while on mute in a Zoom meeting as he speaks to himself for an hour in the basement of an undisclosed location. On the docket today: Jonah returns to one of the most interesting political conundrums of our moment. Was our class of political nutjobs always crazy, or did they only get crazy in the last few years? On a completely unrelated note, why is Matt Gaetz the way he is? And, of course, Jonah speaks to the dangers of “thinking about politics like you’re watching a movie.”
Show Notes:
-
The ongoing Matt Gaetz scandal
-
Politico’s summary of John Boehner’s new book, On the House: A Washington Memoir
-
Boehner unloads on the GOP’s “crazy caucus”
-
Jonah: “I’m Not Going to Say I Told You So… But”
-
Last month’s Remnant with Elaine Kamarck
-
Steve Bannon and the “Island of Misfit Toys”
-
Kevin Williamson: “Peter Navarro: Trump’s Nutty Economics Professor”
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Peter Navarro believes Fauci created COVID
-
Memories of bleach
-
This week’s second Remnant with Shadi Hamid
-
Chelsea Handler on due process for Derek Chauvin
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Jonah: “Why Bipartisanship is a Weapon to Use Against Your Political Foes”
-
Romney pushes Biden on bipartisanship
-
The week’s first Remnant with Chris Stirewalt
-
Triangulation: the dirtiest word in politics
-
Bill Maher steals Jonah’s joke
-
Kevin McCarthy reads Green Eggs and Ham
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Listen now (66 min) | In a wide-ranging conversation spanning from his time working in the Trump White House, to his early days as a leader in the House Freedom Caucus (which we learned was supposed to be called the “Reasonable Nutjob Caucus), Mick Mulvaney talks with Sarah and Steve about his life in politics. During the conversation, Mulvaney opines on John Boehner’s new book, what being chief of staff is
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As the Houston Cougars and Baylor Bears prepare for their Final Four faceoff this Saturday, our podcast hosts break down Wednesday’s Supreme Court arguments for National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston, a case that will determine whether the NCAA’s rules restricting student athlete compensation violate federal antitrust law. Stick around to hear David and Sarah chat about developments in qualified immunity law, how nondisclosure agreements hide sex abuse scandals, and a new civil lawsuit brought by two U.S. Capitol Police officers against Donald Trump.
Show Notes:
-Supreme Court oral arguments for National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston.
-Taylor v. Riojas.
-Florida v. Georgia.
-“The Supreme Court Is Giving Lower Courts a Subtle Hint to Rein In Police Misconduct” by Joanna Schwartz in TheAtlantic.
-Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
-Facebook Inc. v. Duguid.
-French Press: ‘They Aren’t Who You Think They Are’ by David French in The Dispatch.
-James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby v. Donald Trump.
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On today’s episode, first-time guest of The Remnant, Shadi Hamid joins Jonah for a comprehensive discussion on religion, identity, and the bizarre wokespeak favored by Twitter’s blue checkmark crowd. Have wokeism and ethno-nationalism superseded religion on the left and right respectively? Are Islam and classical liberalism compatible? And, crucially, can Jonah contain the annoyance that consumes him at the mere mention of Adrian Vermeule?
Show Notes:
-
Shadi Hamid - Brookings Institution
-
Shadi: “America Without God”
-
Shadi’s podcast, Wisdom of Crowds
-
They’re always eating candy at Brookings…
-
Jonathan Haidt on moral psychology and religion
-
Shadi on the “Church of Woke”
-
Jonah: “The Definition of Dogma”
-
Trump’s improved Muslim support in 2020
-
Just 3% of Hispanics use Latinx
-
25% of black Democrats identify as conservative
-
Shadi’s latest book, Islamic Exceptionalism
-
Catholics vs. Libertarians in the 1960s
-
Muslim views on morality
-
Reopening Muslim Minds, by Mustafa Akyol
-
Why Liberalism Failed, by Patrick Deneen
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President Biden introduced a massive $2 trillion infrastructure plan in Pittsburgh, and the gang is wondering what type of fight the GOP is going to put up against the bill. Steve asks, “You’d think this might be something Republicans would object to and fight pretty strongly. Are you getting the sense that Republicans will do that?” To hear everyone’s dejected response to that question, just hit the play button. Other topics discussed are whether or not vaccine passports are a good idea, the first rumblings of 2024 presidential politics, and, finally, religion in America and what the growing number of “nones” means for the country’s future.
Show Notes:
-The latest version of The Sweep (read the whole thing!)
-Politico polling on infrastructure plan
-Israel’s vaccine passport protocols
-Echelon Insights 2024 presidential polling
-U.S. church membership falls below majority for first time - Gallup
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On this episode, it’s déjà vu all over again as Chris Stirewalt returns - this time in the guest seat. What do Georgia’s new voter laws, Arlen Specter, mandatory voting, The World According to Garp’s infamous “tongue scene,” Henry VIII, and Robin Williams’ illustrious career in drag have to do with one another? Well, the guys talk about all of it and more in this edition, and hopefully it puts you in a mood to believe that the living will not, in fact, envy the dead - “at least at the margins.”
Show Notes:
-Chris’ page at The Dispatch
-Chiller Theater
-New voting laws in Georgia
-Chris’ recent Remnant with Daron Shaw
-Jonah: “Voter Apathy Isn’t a Crime”
-Obama: the filibuster is a “Jim Crow relic”
-Jonah’s love of Arlen Specter
-Was the 1960 election stolen?
-Jonah “The Center is a Lonely Place to Be”
-Jonah: “We Have Two Moon Parties, No Sun Party”
-Patriotic Grace, by Peggy Noonan
-Boehner and Obama’s bad bromance
-Jonah: Congress is a “parliament of pundits”
-Revolutions Podcast - The English Civil War
-Divided We Fall, by David French
-James Kirchichick: “Why White-Nationalist Thugs Thrill to Trump”
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On today’s podcast, our hosts discuss the Supreme Court’s March 25 ruling in Torres v. Madrid, a Fourth Amendment case involving a failed attempt by police officers to restrain suspect Roxanne Torres using physical force. “She’s claiming that they violated her Fourth Amendment rights by unreasonably seizing her,” Sarah explains. “And the question becomes: Can you seize someone if they got away?” After a deep dive into Fourth Amendment jurisprudence, Sarah and David talk about the legal history surrounding hate crimes and the constitutionality of D.C. statehood. They end the episode with some career advice for their aspiring lawyer listeners.
Show Notes:
-Caniglia v. Strom, Torres v. Madrid, Terry v. Ohio, R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, Wisconsin v. Mitchell
-“Supreme Court agrees to hear first abortion case with 6-3 conservative majority” by Alice Miranda Ollstein in Politico.
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For this weekend’s Ruminant, hop into Jonah’s somewhat underwhelming time machine that goes only to the past – because, after all, “the future doesn’t exist.” Why is Jonah driving through the setting of a Mark Twain story? Why do conservatives look to the past for better times (even when the past is largely worse), and why do liberals look to a nonexistent future? Why are both left- and right-wing kids trying to make the entire world like a college campus? And who is Gabriel Kolko, and why does Jonah find him “useful”?
Show notes:
-
Jonah’s desert adventures
-
The week’s first Remnant with Tevi Troy
-
The week’s second Remnant, with David French and Greg Lukianoff
-
Jonah reviews Wendy Shalit’s book
-
Jonah’s filibuster column
-
Gabriel Kolko’s bibliography
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We heard from many of you that you are having trouble persuading people close to you to take the COVID vaccine. You wished there was something you could pass along to people with the actual facts about the vaccine, not scary myths about why a person should not get it. You asked, and we listened. Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden joined Sarah and Andrew Egger (subbing in for Steve) to discuss all things vaccine related. Not only is Frieden an expert on the COVID vaccines, but also on listening to those who are concerned about taking it and trying to give them the scientific facts that support getting the shot. As he says, “Effective communication starts with listening. … I understand your concern, but I’ll share with you some information that may be helpful to you.”
Show Notes:
-Dr. Frieden’s bio
-Resolve to Save Lives website
-Pew Research polling on who would get the vaccine
-Frank Luntz focus group with Dr. Frieden
-Impact COVID has had on the flu
-Dr. Frieden’s guide to a bike trip with his son
-VaccineFinder from CDC’s website
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David French graciously guest-hosts in Jonah’s place on today’s program, wherein he has a long-ranging conversation with a longtime friend, Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. David and Greg discuss some of the silliest and most sinister examples of censorship regimes on college campuses from recent history, the history of the campus free speech movement stretching back to the 1950s, David’s memories of being a conservative at Harvard Law School, and the moment that Greg realized that “the students themselves had become the main proponents of censorship.” By coincidence, it’s our second Remnantin a row that is largely about modern cancel culture and censorship, rounded out by a conversation about the Snyder Cut. The only difference, really, is that David and Greg seriously dig it.
Show Notes:
-
Greg Lukianoff of FIRE
-
The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt
-
Herbert Marcuse and campus free speech
-
Greg: “Speech Codes: The Biggest Scandal on College Campuses Today”
-
“Inappropriately directed laughter”
-
“Beirut on the Charles”
-
Greg’s first book, Unlearning Liberty
-
Indian River Community College bans The Passion of the Christ
-
The Eternally Radical Idea
-
The Ronald Zaccari Memorial Parking Garage
-
Greg debates Ken White on cancel culture
-
Greg talks about social justice graduate requirements in the Chronicle of Higher Education
-
Alexi McCammond fired from Teen Vogue over old tweets
-
Jonathan Rauch on how to tell if you’re being canceled
-
The Revolt of the Public, by Martin Gurri
-
Amazon pulls Ryan T. Anderson’s book on transgender issues
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On today’s pod, Sarah and David give us an update on the goings on at the Supreme Court, with an in-depth look at a union takings case out West. “A California regulation allows union representatives to meet with farm workers at their work sites for up to three hours a day for as many as 120 days a year,” Sarah explains. “And so the question is: Is this a per se taking under the Fifth Amendment?” After Sarah and David discuss oral arguments for the case, they do a deep dive on a 9th Circuit Second Amendment case, Twitter’s lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case on the ministerial exception. They wrap things up with some much needed Netflix recommendations and a conversation about D.C. statehood.
Show Notes:
-Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid and Supreme Court oral arguments.
-New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Corlett and Holloway v. Garland.
-Twitter, Inc. v. Ken Paxton.
-Deweese-Boyd v. Gordon College.
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Listen now (81 min) | This week (so far) we have seen a mass shooting, a crisis at the border, a major walkback from President Trump’s favorite lawyer, Sidney Powell, and more. On today’s Dispatch Podcast, Steve, Sarah, Jonah, and David talk about all of it and then some. Gun violence has been front and center in the news, and rather than yelling about it, the gang has a well-informed, meaningful discussion about how best to solve this problem in the U.S. Plus, after discussing the border and China, all four talk about just how ridiculous the motion by Sidney Powell to dismiss the case against her is and what it means for center-right media. As Jonah puts it, “If you gave her a platform on your network, on your radio show, either in person or by proxy or simply reading their stuff and then you don’t tell your audience that this woman … has treated you all like suckers … then you’re part of the problem.”
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Tevi Troy—presidential historian and all-around smart person—joins the program to talk about the mechanics of cancel culture, and what might be done to prevent it from taking hold in the future. Key to Tevi’s point is that “cancel culture is actually a distinct phenomenon from political correctness, which everyone largely disliked in the ‘90s.” They also talk about the larger culture of censorship in America before moving into the most vitally important topics of our time: Marvel vs. DC, in both their cinematic and comic book forms (Reminder: Sonny Bunch is always right), and the Snyder Cut—including methods for getting through the whole thing without falling asleep.
Show Notes:
-Tevi’s page at National Affairs
-Biden’s July 4 speech
-Jonah: “The Treason of the Epidemiologists”
-Lindsey J. Leininger and Harold Pollack: “We’re public health experts. We need to do a better job of talking to conservatives.”
-Tevi: “Presidents and Public Health Crises”
-Jake Sullivan and Anthony Blinken’s China summit
-Tevi: “How to Defend Free Speech”
-David Brooks: “Freakish Thinking”
-Kindly Inquisitors, by Jonathan Rausch
-Barbara Jordan’s 1992 DNC speech
-Irving Kristol: “Pornography, Obscenity and the Case for Censorship”
-Tevi: “The Fanny Hill Phenomenon”
-The Coddling of the American Mind, by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff
-Bari Weiss interviews Jonathan Haidt
-Jonah and Bing West laugh at Tevi
-Fight House: Rivalries in the White House from Truman to Trump, by Tevi
-Sonny Bunch reviews Zack Snyder’s Justice League
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On today’s action-packed pod, our hosts start with an interesting certiorari grant to U.S. v. Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bombing case. The appellate court overturned the trial court’s death sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the grounds that 1) the trial judge did not ask the jurors about their pretrial media consumption, and 2) that he did not allow evidence about the his brother Tamerlan’s alleged involvement in a previous murder to inform the case. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a shootout with police after the 2013 bombing. Sarah and David give us their predictions on how the Supreme Court is likely to rule. Also in the hopper for today: Our hosts introduce us to a union case and discuss speculation surrounding Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement, a D.C. Circuit dissent by Judge Laurence Silberman, the MAGA right’s rejection of originalism, and best picture nominee Promising Young Woman.
Show Notes:
-U.S. v. Tsarnaev.
-Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association et al. v. Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce, et al.
-Antiquities Act.
-Christiana Tah and Randolph McClain v. Global Witness Publishing, Inc. and Global Witness.
-New York Times v. Sullivan.
-“A Better Originalism” by Hadley Arkes, Josh Hammer, Matthew Peterson, and Garrett Snedeker in the American Mind.
-“Zack Snyder’s Justice League and America’s Second-Greatest Superhero Trilogy” by David French in The Dispatch.
Subscribe at advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
In the midst of carving a path to Yosemite, Jonah has graced us with a Ruminant that provides a weekly roundup of his writing – from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to an example from his past that indicates why our radicals should Czech their privilege. He moves into a rumination on subconscious conservative messages embedded within Hollywood entertainment before discussing the unintended consequences of the Senate re-embrace of earmarks as well as the perks of sleeping in Walmart parking lots. It suffices to say that this Ruminant has a positively buckshot-like spread in terms of topics, so have fun with it.
Show notes:
-
The Remnant with Professional Jonah Impersonator Chris Stirewalt
-
The member’s only Wednesday “news”letter from The Cleve
-
One of rock’s wildest singers has a permanent Vegas residency
-
Jonah’s Czech-cellent Adventure
-
Chekov’s Gun
-
“We made a person!”
-
The virtues of The Walking Dead
-
The weird Remnant with Nick and Guy
-
Jonah’s column on earmarks
Subscribe at remnant.thedispatch.com
Danielle Pletka, senior fellow and foreign policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Sarah and Steve to discuss all things foreign policy. The conversation starts with the fiasco that was the first bilateral meeting between the Biden administration and China, and then focuses on Pletka’s expertise related to foreign policy in the Middle East. The three also discuss Danielle’s recent piece for The Dispatch, a conversation she had with a Ph.D. candidate who was imprisoned in Iran for four years.
Show Notes:
-Danielle’s AEI page
-“What the Hell is Going On?” podcast
-Biden Administration/China bilateral fiasco
-Biden/Putin spat
-‘They Wasted Away Four Years of My Life’
-“How Mean Tweets—And Bad Predictions—Threaten to Derail Another Biden Nominee”
-Profile of Xiyue Wang by Graeme Wood
-“Internal Biden memo said to back 2-state solution along 1967 lines” - Times of Israel
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On today’s podcast, Sarah and David discuss a lawsuit in which a high school student sues his Nevada charter school “for repeatedly compelling his speech involving intimate matters of race, gender, sexuality and religion.” Our hosts explain why the critical race theory curriculum in question is unlikely to be deemed unlawful by the court. Per David: “You don’t have an inherent right, once your kid is in public school, to direct and control the curriculum that they see.” Stay tuned to hear special guest Chris Bogart chat about his career in commercial litigation finance.
Show Notes:
-Clark et al v. State Public Charter School Authority et al.
-Brown v. Hot, Sexy and Safer Productions, Inc.
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Live (well, at the time of recording) from Park City, Utah, Jonah is joined by his AEI handlers, Nick and Guy, for a pop culture-filled conversation with the help of listener-provided questions. Why does Jonah go on trips fit only for Survivorman? Why is Pam Grier so fascinating? Was Angel actually better than Buffy? And, the most important question of all, which one of Jonah’s former coworkers in conservative news media does Guy sound exactly like?
Show Notes
-
Onion: “Markle seen holding Prince Harry’s cadaverous hand for support”
-
Jonah’s G-File from a snow-wracked Texas
-
Jack’s defense of Weird Wendy’s
-
Scott Lincicome asking Jonah the hard questions
-
“Oh, come on, Gallagher!”
-
The members-only midweek “news”letter
-
The Remnant with Cass Sunstein, potential future dog-book co-author
-
Jasmine, true name unpronounceable by human tongue
Subscribe at remnant.thedispatch.com
In a St. Patrick’s Day edition of The Dispatch Podcast, Sarah, Steve, Scott, and Declan start off today’s discussion with the ongoing migrant crisis at the border. Plus, the gang explains how while most of the conservative world was talking about Dr. Seuss and Pepe le Pew, Democrats jammed through the biggest advancement of the welfare state since LBJ’s administration. Scott points out, “When you really dig into the details you see Democrats laying the groundwork for a very substantial increase in the welfare state, and in ways that Democrats have long wanted.” And, what’s the fallout after a Biden administration official actually spoke strongly against the North Korean regime?
Show Notes:
-The latest GOP attack on Biden has a huge hole in it - Greg Sargent/Washington Post
-Four people matching terror watchlist arrested at border - Axios
-'Migrant president' Biden stirs Mexican angst over boom time for gangs - Reuters
-Leaked NRSC polling data on immigration
-Scott’s latest Capitolism newsletter
-Conservatives Drift Leftward in the Plan to Rescue America - Ryan Streeter
-Biden officials comments on North Korea
-Biden Risks Repeating Mistakes of the Past if He Ignores the Evidence on Iran - The Dispatch
-Declan’s TMD item on filibuster reform
-Scott’s “Gridlock is good!” newsletter
-The Dispatch March Madness Tournament
Subscribe at podcast.thedispatch.com
Pinch-hitting for Jonah today is his vocal double Chris Stirewalt, who talks with his old friend from their shared years at Fox News’ Decision Desk, Daron Shaw. Chris and Daron go on a “mythbusting” expedition, explaining why the conventional wisdom that high-turnout elections benefit Democrats isn’t true (and has never been) as well as why campaign finance efforts have historically failed to attack corruption in favor of simply dismantling the “appearance of corruption.” It’s a punched-up episode that’s sure to complete a few of your Remnant Bingo cards.
Show Notes:
-Daron Shaw at the University of Texas
-Daron and John Petrocik’s book, The Turnout Myth
-Voter files
-2020 was largest turnout since 1900
-Was Edgar Allan Poe “cooped”?
-McConnell speaks about McCain-Feingold
-Daron’s book on Buckley v. Valeo, The Appearance of Corruption
-P.J. O’Rourke’s Don’t Vote
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Today, our hosts are taking a break from the news cycle to share some fun facts about the Supreme Court and answer a series of questions from their listener mailbox: Are Democratic-appointed Supreme Court justices more ideologically reliable than their Republican-appointed counterparts? What are some cases where you are inclined to agree with the legal reasoning but were bothered by the policy outcome? And perhaps most important, how should one go about hiring an attorney? Sarah and David have the scoop.
Show Notes:
-“Cleaning Up Quotations” by Jack Metzler in the Journal of Appellate Practice and Process.
-“ ‘(Cleaned Up)’ Parenthetical Arrives in the Supreme Court” by Eugene Volokh in Reason.
-“Larry Flynt’s Life in Contempt” by Ross Anderson in Los Angeles Magazine.
-“Empirical SCOTUS: Interesting meetings of the minds of Supreme Court justices” by Adam Feldman in SCOTUSBlog.
-Federal Tort Claims Act and Immigration and Nationality Act.
-Cases they mentioned: Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., Knick v. Township of Scott, Bostock v. Clayton County, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, Morse v. Frederick, Rucho v. Common Cause and Kelo v. City of New London.
Subscribe at advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
In this weekend’s Ruminant, Jonah has a lot rattling around in his mind, and now you're gonna hear about it. Why are elites inevitable? What explains the transformation of the Democratic Party into an ideological party? Stay for Jonah's thoughts on Covid relief, and President Biden's first prime-time White House address.
Show Notes:
-The Friday G-File
-The members-only midweek “news”letter
Subscribe at remnant.thedispatch.com
For the first time on The Dispatch Podcast, author of the Capitolism newsletter and neoliberal shill extraordinaire Scott Lincicome joins Sarah and Declan. On topics ranging from free-market fundamentalism to the crazy world of semiconductors, Scott brings his expertise to break it all down. As he says on today’s episode, “You know, Glengarry Glen Ross? It’s Always. Be. Shilling. … I will literally make any issue about trade and markets. It doesn’t matter what, whether it’s the chicken sandwich wars … or cheap T-shirts.” To cap it off, Scott speaks to being the reigning champion of the “Neoliberalism Shill'' tournament.
Show Notes:
-“Capitolism” newsletter
-Scott’s Cato bio
-Scott’s Twitter profile
-Scott’s latest Cato paper “Manufactured Crisis”
-Declan’s piece on semiconductors in TMD
-Scott’s article on semiconductors
-Vote your conscience in this year’s Neoliberal Shill Tournament
Subscribe at podcast.thedispatch.com
Steven Hayward enters the ranks of the three-timers on today’s Remnant, as he and Jonah engage in a discussion of the American right that manages to be both wide and deep. Jonah and Steve get the “dark clouds out of the way” (such as a pervasive illiberal cancel culture and the reappearance of especially nasty tribalism) first to make room for Steve’s heartening optimism. Such greener pastures involve an investigation into what remains of the old fusionist mindset among conservatives, why the right should not adopt basically left wing policies simply to conform with the “motivated reasoning” of certain activist conservatives, and how the right can do its part to stop the exporting of campus values into the general culture.
Show Notes:
-Steven F. Hayward - The Claremont Institute
-Steven’s first book, Churchill on Leadership
-Steven’s second book, The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980
-Amazon removes Clarence Thomas documentary
-Cancel Pepe Le Pew
-Macron more American than an American now
-Rich Lowry: “Don’t Rewrite Mark Twain”
-Ebay removes listings for canceled Dr. Seuss books
-Jonah: “America Has Two Minority Parties”
-James Clyburn: “Defund the police” cost Democrats seats
-The Great Debate, by Yuval Levin
-Steven’s latest book, M. Stanton Evans: Conservative Wit, Apostle of Freedom
-Oren Cass: “America Should Adopt an Industrial Policy”
-Oren Cass on The Dispatch Podcast
-Jonah: “Does Anyone Really Believe Free Market Fundamentalists Are ‘Running the Show’?”
-Christopher J. Walker: “The Federalist Society’s Chevron Deference Dilemma”
-Stephanie Slade: “Is There a Future for Fusionism?”
-Stephanie Slade’s latest Remnant appearance
-Daniel E. Burns: “Liberal Practice v. Liberal Theory”
-Blacklisted by History, by M. Stanton Evans
-Robert J. Zimmer stands up for free speech at UChicago
-Charles Murray attacked at Middlebury
-The Port Huron Statement
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David took the internet by storm last night when he joined a Clubhouse session called “David French, Based or Cringe?” As David puts it in today’s pod, “There’s kind of a subculture where people really hate me!” Joined by a very special guest on today’s episode, David and Sarah chat about nominal damages, the constitutionality of H.R. 1’s effort to federalize elections, and the increasing number of state laws that are aiming to ban critical race theory from being taught in K-12 classrooms.
Show Notes:
-H.R. 1, also known as the “For the People Act.”
-“The New War on Woke” by Jeffrey Sachs in ArcDigital.
-Garcetti v. Ceballos.
-“Beyond Originalism” by Adrian Vermeule in TheAtlantic.
Subscribe at advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Congressional Democrats’ omnibus voting rights, campaign finance, and ethics bill, H.R. 1—also known as the “For the People Act”—passed in the House last week, and our hosts are here for the breakdown. Stay tuned to hear the gang chat about retirements in the GOP Senate, whether arguments about cancel culture are trumping more substantive public policy debates, and a surprise tabloid-y topic you won’t want to miss!
Show Notes:
-Democrats’ For the People Act and Republicans’ Save Democracy Act.
Subscribe at podcast.thedispatch.com
On today’s show, Jonah speaks to Manhattan Institute fellow and CCNY professor Daniel DiSalvo (an expert on public-sector unions and their history) to find out how the sausage really gets made in the intra-organizational politics of these public-sector unions, and how their influence is often the result of “the breakdown of machine politics – especially within the Democratic Party – in big cities.”
Show Notes:
-
Dan’s page at the Manhattan Institute
-
“The Trouble with Police Unions”
-
Dan’s latest book, Government Against Itself
-
The first work on the “New Class,” by Milovan Djilas
-
Maya Wiley back by the SEIU in NYC
-
DeBlasio was also endorsed by SEIU
-
Terry Moe’s book on teachers unions
-
New York teachers’ all-expenses-paid “rubber rooms”
-
The OG happy warrior
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Listen now (49 min) | Katie Barlow, lawyer and media editor of SCOTUSBlog, sits in for David on today’s episode. Sarah and Katie kick off things by discussing the decision handed down in Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, in which an 8-1 majority ruled that even seeking “nominal damages” can be enough to give a plaintiff standing. Plus, Katie explains how her time working for Nina Tottenberg at NPR helped her prepare for translating SCOTUS decisions into one-minute TikTok videos. And, of course, she weighs in on the “should you go to law school” debate. Make sure you stick around to the end to hear Sarah and Katie sing the praises of Oprah and react to the Prince Harry and Megan Markle interview on CBS.
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This weekend’s edition of the Ruminant is a little bit like Christopher Hitchens’ D.C. apartment: a little bit of one thing right next to a little bit of the complete opposite thing. There’s a lot of ground covered in this, a practically record-breaking long episode of the podcast in which Jonah discusses his dad’s work for the wonderfully-acronymed NANA (North American Newspaper Alliance), dynamic scoring (a system in which this episode gets an A+), the necessity of telling the truth at a time in which even committed conservatives have a legitimate temptation to abandon their principles, the request from a listener for Goldberg Story Time, and much, much more.
Show Notes:
-
Tim Russert interviews Bob Kerrey
-
John Edwards’ bizarre stem cell comments
-
CDC director “speaking in her personal capacity”
-
TX Gov. Abbott lifts mask mandate
-
Thomas Kuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
-
“Rationalia”
-
Jay Nordlinger’s Q&A
-
Memogate/Rathergate
-
“Slackjawed troglodytes”
-
Voir dire, or, as Advisory Opinions likes to say, “Vwahr Dahr”
-
“I don’t like the… stumps”
-
Mit-Voche Epistle
-
The Remnant with Steve Hayward and Charles Murray
-
Kathryn Jean Lopez’ page at National Review
-
Matt Lewis speaks to Bill Kristol
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The Dispatch’s associate editor and Morning Dispatch guru Declan Garvey joins Sarah to ask Oren Cass what his mission is with American Compass, a center-right organization of which he is the executive director. Cass thinks it’s time the conservative movement reforms itself and he is trying to do so from within. Cass says, “What has been missing from American politics and policy making is a conservatism that takes seriously the ways that public policy could really take on and address failures in our markets and things that are not going well in the economy.” Chief among the issues debated in this episode is Sen. Mitt Romney’s new child allowance proposal. The trio also discusses what Donald Trump’s lasting legacy will be in the Republican Party, and what it would mean for the party if he won again.
Show Notes:
-American Compass website
-“The Once and Future Worker” by Oren Cass
-Sen. Mitt Romney’s child allowance plan
-Oren Cass’ op-ed in the New York Times
Subscribe at podcast.thedispatch.com
Elaine Kamarck of the Brookings Institution joins us for the first time. She and Jonah stray from pure rank punditry to instead discuss intra-party politics of primaries, the Democratic Party, and Elaine’s innate skepticism of the Electoral College. Jonah pushes back by saying that “When you start to dig under the surface, most people who oppose the Electoral College are really just saying that they don’t like the Senate,” to which Elaine has a great, balanced response (probably the best answer we’ve heard on this program from someone that dislikes the Electoral College). Join the program to see more light than heat on this episode.
Show Notes:
-Elaine Kamarck, the Brookings Institution
-Elaine’s latest book, Primary Politics: Everything You Need to Know about How America Nominates Its Presidential Candidates
-Elaine: “The urgent need for peer review in the presidential nominating process”
-The McGovern-Fraser Commission Report
-"I opened up the doors of the Democratic Party, and 20 million people walked out."
-81 percent of black Americans don't want less police presence
-NYT: “Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police”
-Lessons from Mike Bloomberg’s attempt to buy the 2020 election
-Why Presidents Fail and How They Can Succeed Again
-The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
-Elaine and John Hudak: “How to get rid of the Electoral College”
-Elaine with Jon Ward on The Long Game podcast
-The latest GLoP podcast
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Is the Equality Act necessary to codify Bostock v. Clayton County? How might the Equality Act affect religious liberty, if at all? How do we definitively differentiate between men and women? Today, our hosts chat about invidious sex discrimination as it relates to the Equality Act, and what this law means for the future of nondiscrimination law if it is passed by the Senate. Stay tuned to hear our hosts recap oral arguments for Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, a Supreme Court case that deals with the Voting Rights Act.
Show Notes:
-“The Equality Act Has a Foundational Legal Problem” by David French in The Dispatch.
-Radiolab Presents: Gonads.
-Bostock v. Clayton County.
-Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
-Fulton v. City of Philadelphia.
-Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee and its Supreme Court oral arguments.
-Shelby v. Holder.
Subscribe at advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
The Senate is set to debate the Biden administration’s COVID-19 relief package this week, and today the gang talks about the politics of getting it passed. Steve posits the administration’s strategy is more focused on public opinion, rather than what Republicans want: “They say ‘we care about bipartisanship outside the beltway, not inside the beltway.’” Along with the relief bill, the group discusses the ongoing situation in Afghanistan and debates whether an “endless war” in the country is a good idea or a bad one. Jonah and Sarah disagree on how important voting actually is. And finally, some good old-fashioned election punditry. The hosts talk about the strategy memo that came out from the GOP on how to retake the House in 2022.
Show Notes:
-The Remnant with Michael Strain
-Morning Consult polling on COVID stimulus
-“Last Exit From Afghanistan” by Dexter Firkins
-SCOTUSblog write up of the Arizona voting rights case
-House GOP 2022 strategy memo
-Democratic Party autopsy - New York magazine
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In an effort to explain the current state of the economy as well as the political ramifications of some parts of the Biden agenda coming down the pipeline, Jonah invited Michael Strain, his colleague at the American Enterprise Institute, for a return appearance. Strain explains complicated issues without confusing the plebeians among us who can’t look at numbers for very long before developing a headache. Speaking of headaches, near the end of the podcast the guys get into a relitigation of the ending of Lost, in addition to a brief discussion of WandaVision, Peaky Blinders, and Deep Impact, of all things.
Show Notes:
-Michael R. Strain, American Enterprise Institute
-Michael’s latest book, The American Dream is Not Dead (But Populism Could Kill It)
-Larry Summers: “The Biden stimulus is admirably ambitious. But it brings some big risks, too”
-Michael in National Review: “When Will the Pandemic End?”
-Consumers to unleash trillions of dollars in excess savings when pandemic ends
-Paul Volcker’s war on inflation
-Michael in Bloomberg Opinion: “How to Make a (Modest) Minimum Wage Hike Work”
-Josh Hawley’s minimum wage proposal
-Jonah’s love of public sector unions
-Lost as a metaphor for lack of payoff
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The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week for Lange v. California, a Fourth Amendment case that will determine whether a police officer’s hot pursuit of a person suspected of committing a misdemeanor counts as an exigent circumstance to justify the officer’s warrantless entry onto the suspect’s property. In today’s Supreme Court heavy episode, Sarah and David also talk about two other cases dealing with hostile work environments and whether women should constitutionally be required to register for the draft.
Show Notes:
-Lange v. Californiaoral arguments and transcript.
-National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System cert petition.
-Robert Collier v. Dallas County Hospital Districtcert petition.
-Rostker v. Goldberg.
Subscribe at advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
Jonah joins us on a feature-length Relaxed Fit™ episode of the Ruminant in which he discusses his innate wish to continue speaking as a conservative without the sacrifice of genuinely-held principles. An important trait for a moment where that simply doesn’t happen often. In the first half, Jonah also addresses the “autoimmune problem” (both literal and figurative) of American youth as they continuously fail to prove themselves in tests of emotional fragility, and he makes a shocking claim about the Jaws sequels that must only be heard to be believed.
Show Notes:
-Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs, Koji and Gustav, stolen
-The Friday G-File
-Kevin Williamson and Jonah talk “doubling down on yeehaw”
-BIG IF TRUE: Jaws 2 is good???
-Michael Powell on the insanity at Smith College
-Oberlin student mistakes person in blanket for Klansman
-A landmine-filled G-File on language
-The intentionally meandering G-File from two Fridays ago
- “The Murphy Brown thing”
-What might a “red meat hat” even look like?
-Bill Kristol’s “trial balloon”
-“The Irony of Bill Kristol”
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Fellow Dispatcher Declan Garvey joins Jonah on today’s program, wherein they discuss the parallels between the GOP’s current identity crisis and the last time that Americans witnessed a similar party realignment (the Whigs vs. Jacksonian Democrats). The guys discuss the prospects for a theoretically ascendant third party - “The people I spoke to said, ‘Yeah, I’d be happy to belong to a party that addressed my concerns even if I knew it might lose in the short term,’” says Declan - as well as early 2024 contenders and the validity of the “Red Dog Democrat” theory.
Show Notes:
-Declan’s page at The Dispatch
-“Hey, egghead, sing ‘Fair Harvard!’”
-Declan: “Is it Time for the Republican Party to Split Apart?”
-Steve Scalise won’t say the election wasn’t stolen
-Trump’s attack on Mitch McConnell
-Republican loyalty to Trump
-Mitt Romney says Trump is already a 2024 frontrunner
-Maine and Alaska should watch out for unintended consequences
-Bill Kristol: “What About Joe?”
-Tim Miller: “The Trade: Meet the New Red Dog Democrats”
-Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton propose a minimum wage hike
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas made headlines last week for his dissent to the majority’s denial of cert in Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Veronica Degraffenreid. Even though his dissent mainly focused on the mootness of the case, many media outlets seized on the opportunity to mischaracterize Justice Thomas’ argument by claiming he promoted President Trump’s baseless voter fraud claims. After Sarah and David give us their spiel about how media outlets often botch Supreme Court coverage, University of Chicago Law professor William Baude joins today’s show for an extremely nerdy conversation about the Supreme Court’s shadow docket that you won’t want to miss.
Show Notes:
-Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Veronica Degraffenreid.
-“Dissent by Justice Thomas in election case draws fire for revisiting baseless Trump fraud claims” by Mark Joseph Stern in Slate.
-“Clarence Thomas Promotes Trump’s Voter Fraud Lies in Alarming Dissent” by John Fritze in USA Today.
-“Foreword: The Supreme Court's Shadow Docket” by William Baude in the New York University Journal of Law & Liberty.
-Feb. 18 House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Supreme Court’s shadow docket.
-Supreme Court Practice by Eugene Gressman.
-South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom.
-Fulton v. City of Philadelphia.
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Is the Biden administration bungling their Covid-19 and vaccine messaging? As Steve put it to Jonah, “It’s awfully cynical of you to suggest that what they’re doing is withholding information because they want to pass their emergency relief bill, and you’re absolutely right to be that cynical.” Also up for discussion: why Xavier Becerra should have been the Biden nominee to have gotten the Neera Tanden treatment instead of Neera Tanden, U.S. relations with Iran and why Republicans who are not Trump loyalists cannot simply turn into Democrats.
Show Notes:
-The Case Against Xavier Becerra - The Dispatch’s David French
-Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and Created a Legacy That Will Prevail - Jonathan Chait
-What about Joe? - Bill Kristol
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Hot off of his latest policy proposal, Sen. Mitt Romney joins the podcast to discuss his and Sen. Tom Cotton’s plan to raise the minimum wage, a proposal that also mandates that businesses use E-verify to prevent the hiring of undocumented workers. Sarah asks him about partisanship in the Senate, what he thinks of the current state of the Republican Party, and whether he’ll start a third party. He said, “There’s no question I’m in the minority of the Republican party these days. … A lot of people talk about ‘Why don’t you start a third party?’ That’s just not realistic.” Then, the gang breaks down the interview. Everyone agrees that it’s nice to finally be talking about policy again. They also explore why Romney (and some others) is committed to staying in the Republican Party.
Show Notes:
-Romney’s Office Press Release - Minimum Wage Plan
-Is It Time for the Republican Party to Split Apart? - The Dispatch’s Declan Garvey
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Today, we confirm that Dispatch contributing editor Chris Stirewalt has indeed surpassed our gold jacket threshold while engaging in the rankest of punditry. Chris and Jonah discuss how Biden’s “poison pills” (Neera Tanden’s potential confirmation, a dogmatic insistence on a $15 minimum wage policy, et al) are quickly becoming … well, pills, simply put. While the administration continues to add progressive boxes to their checklist, Israel continues to speed ahead with vaccinations and, in the domestic realm, the lingering shadow of Trump still presents obstacles for the GOP. As a bonus, this episode should hopefully make up for the lack of a Ruminant last weekend, as the vocal similarities between Chris and Jonah make the whole thing sound like a gigantic monologue.
Show Notes:
-Chris’ page at The Dispatch
-The WKRP in Cincinnati theme
-The status of the U.S. vaccination rollout
-Israel’s vaccination strategy
-Fauci on normality and masking into 2022
-Jonah argued Biden should run a “return to normalcy” campaign before anyone else
-Brad Pascale: Trump would have won with a different approach to COVID
-Obama calling Bush “unpatriotic” for adding to the debt
-“Out, out, brief candle!”
-NYT: Biden should appoint a “reality czar”
-Will Chamberlain: “Platform Access is a Civil Right”
-Jonah’s college newspaper
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Originalists have recently come under fire for trying to reinvigorate an old principle in administrative law called the nondelegation doctrine, which holds that Congress cannot delegate its own legislative power to other entities. Are originalists correct in claiming that the nondelegation doctrine was present at the founding? What does the historical record have to say about it? Why should living constitutionalists even care about this debate? Nicholas Bagley, a law professor at the University of Michigan, and Ilan Wurman, an associate professor at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, join the show to answer all of these questions and more.
Show Notes:
-“There’s No Historical Justification for One of the Most Dangerous Ideas in American Law” by Nicholas Bagley and Julian Davis Mortenson in the Atlantic.
-“Delegation at the Founding” by Nicholas Bagley and Julian Davis Mortenson in Columbia Law Review.
-“No Nondelegation at the Founding? Not so fast,” by Ilan Wurman in the Yale Law Journal.
-Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States.
-Above the Law.
-The Second Founding: An Introduction to the Fourteenth Amendment by Ilan Wurman.
Subscribe at advisoryopinions.thedispatch.com
In a call with European foreign ministers on Thursday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said he would begin steps to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that was abandoned by the Trump administration. Today’s guest, Tom Josclelyn, thinks a series of upfront concessions to Tehran before the country’s leaders even come to the negotiating table would be an unwise foreign policy move for the Biden administration. “I’ve taken to calling it ‘servile diplomacy’ because it is very much from a submissive position,”Joscelyn tells Sarah and Steve. Tune in to hear our hosts’ take on China’s ongoing genocide against the Uighurs in Xinjiang, and the latest rocket attack on a U.S. airbase in Iraq.
Show Notes:
-“Biden Administration Formally Offers to Restart Nuclear Talks With Iran” by Lara Jakes, Michael Crowley, David E. Sanger and Farnaz Fassihi in the New York Times.
-“Biden dismisses Uighur genocide as part of China’s ‘different norms’” by Emily Jacobs in the New York Post.
-“‘Genocide’ is the wrong word for the horrors of Xinjiang” by the Economist.
-Tom Joscelyn’s Vital Interests newsletter.
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Jonah welcomes Kevin Williamson to discuss their shared status as Americans trapped within the final layer of Dante’s Hell (aka, Texas in the midst of a large-scale winter weather disaster). From the corporatism on display to the “stunning lack of entrepreneurialism” in response to the issues the state is currently facing, to every issue in between - such as the pointless populism being proffered as an explanation for Texas’ woes - this situation is proving to be a microcosm of everything that is dysfunctional in American politics. Who better to walk us through the sociopolitical ramifications of this situation, than two men who are known for their unadulterated joviality?
Show Notes:
-Kevin’s page at National Review
-Kevin’s new book, still in the running for “Greatest Subtitle Ever” - Big White Ghetto: Dead Broke, Stone-Cold Stupid, and High on Rage in the Dank Woolly Wilds of the “Real America”
-Baksheesh
-Jonah v. David on the zombie apocalypse
-NYT: “No, Wind Turbines Aren’t the Main Cause of the Texas Blackouts”
-“Solar power, when will people learn?”
-Rick Perry doubles down on yee-haw
-The FairTax movement
-Kevin on Satan’s balls
-Alex Jones’ lawyers admit he’s an actor
-Texas GOP chair Allen West suggests secession
-“They’re always eating candy in Shelbyville.”
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On Tuesday, Speech First, Inc. filed a free speech lawsuit alleging that the University of Central Florida and its officials “created a series of rules and regulations that restrain, deter, suppress, and punish speech about the political and social issues of the day.” David and Sarah walk us through the history of campus cat and mouse battles over restrictive speech codes and explain whether this lawsuit will matter in the long run. On today’s episode, our hosts also chat about the nondelegation doctrine, the possibility of further criminal prosecution against Donald Trump, and how Rush Limbaugh’s passing might affect the conservative media climate.
Show Notes:
-Speech First vs. Cartwright and Speech First, Inc. v. Gregory L. Fenves.
-Nondelegation doctrine cases: Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, J.W. Hampton Jr., & Co. v. United States and Gundy v. United States.
-“Trump’s Acquittal Exposed a Republic in Peril” by David French in Time.
-“There’s No Historical Justification for One of the Most Dangerous Ideas in American Law” by Julian David Mortenson and Nicholas Bagley in the Atlantic.
-“Opinion analysis: Court refuses to resurrect nondelegation doctrine” by Mila Sohoni in SCOTUSblog.
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At the beginning of the pandemic, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York drew ire from lawmakers of all political stripes for sending COVID-19 positive patients back into nursing homes. But resentment against the governor reached a tipping point in late January, when New York Attorney General Letitia James released a blistering report showing that his office significantly underreported the number of COVID-19 deaths in New York nursing homes. Cuomo has brushed aside those criticisms as a partisan smear campaign, and went so far as to write a book bragging about his leadership during the pandemic. “What is unforgivable, and really, frankly, kind of evil is this alleged covering up of what they did,” Jonah says on today’s show. Tune in to hear the gang chat about K-12 school reopening efforts, the Senate’s acquittal of Donald Trump, and Tim Alberta’s Nikki Haley piece in Politico. Stick around to hear our hosts chat about their Myers Briggs test results.
Show Notes:
-American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic by Andrew Cuomo.
-“Nikki Haley’s Time for Choosing” by Tim Alberta in Politico.
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This week, Jonah brings The Remnant to you from the ice-wracked void of Austin, Texas. His guest is Stephanie Slade, the managing editor of Reason magazine. Stephanie and Jonah provide some helpful explanations of what the oldest coalition of modern conservatism (i.e. “fusionism”) really is, who its members were, and what its political motivations were. Then, in an instance of “violent agreement,” our two intrepid intellectual explorers refute the idea that this fusionist project is a “dead consensus” or that it necessarily precludes membership from libertarians. Interestingly, Jonah thinks that the tensions within fusionism are strong enough that “it doesn’t make sense as a purely philosophical project,” but Stephanie is confident that American political history indicates that the tension between virtue and freedom is resolved within the fusion of these different branches of conservatism.
Show Notes:
-Stephanie Slade’s Reason archive
-Stephanie: “Is There a Future for Fusionism?”
-M. Stanton Evans: The Theme is Freedom
-Jonah: “Fusionism Today”
-Ramesh Ponnuru: “Fusionists and Fissionists”
-Murray Rothbard: “Frank S. Meyer: The Fusionist as Libertarian”
-Frank Meyer v. L. Brent Bozell Jr.
-Daniel E. Burns: “Liberal Practice v. Liberal Theory”
-Donald Devine’s The Enduring Tension: Capitalism and the Moral Order
-William James’ “blooming, buzzing confusion”
-Post-liberal conservatives
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The Supreme Court on Thursday granted Alabama death row inmate Willie Smith’s request to have his pastor present at his execution, rejecting the state’s claim that having a spiritual adviser present interferes with prison security. Tune in to hear how the Supreme Court’s religious liberty ruling in Dunn v. Smith might affect future death penalty cases. On today’s episode, our hosts also chat about Yuval Levin’s latest piece in National Review on the sorry state of Congress and the New York Times’ 2020 Hulu documentary about Britney Spears.
Show Notes:
-Dunn v. Smith, federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, and “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case Morse v. Frederick.
-“Congress’s Day” by Yuval Levin in National Review and “Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews Yuval Levin About the Future of the Republican Party” in the New York Times.
-Framing Britney Spears Hulu documentary.
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In this weekend’s Ruminant, Jonah figures that it is his duty to do what he can to clean the gigantic metaphorical Augean Stable that is Washington D.C. as recompense for missing a G-File. Thus, this is an episode filled with only the rankest of punditry: Grifters abound, both within Congress and in the fundraising and activism apparatchiks of both the right and the left. Not only is it the case that the grift was getting more intense on its own, but impeachment has just made it all the more self-aggrandizing. Listen as Jonah takes aim at the nepotistic relationship between conservative boosters and lobbyists, The Lincoln Project, and Congress itself for consistently living down to Americans’ expectations.
Show Notes:
-Frigid Austin
-The inklings of an Ivanka Trump campaign in Florida against Rubio
-Demosclerosis by Jonathan Rauch
-Lincoln Project awfulness
-The online Roget’s Thesaurus… just in case you are curious
-Matt Schlapp and pardon foolishness
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President Joe Biden has recently drawn ire from GOP lawmakers for lagging behind his stated goal of getting K-12 children back into the classroom for in-person instruction. Liesl Hickey, a partner at Ascent Media and co-founder of N2 America, joins the show to chat with Sarah and Steve about teachers unions, remote learning’s effect on student well-being, and whether the NRSC will play a bigger role in GOP primaries during the next election cycle.
Show Notes:
-“Remote learning failed my third-grader miserably. I pulled her out of public school.” by Liesl Hickey in USA Today.
-“Surge of Student Suicides Pushes Las Vegas Schools to Reopen” by Erica L. Green in The New York Times.
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This podcast is for those of us who feel like the state of our political parties makes us want a drink, or at least some reliable recommendations about what we should be drinking. Jonah is joined by AEI colleague Kevin Kosar, who writes on how Congress is failing to do its job - not simply because of populism and polarization, but also because “its smaller numbers of staffers mean that Congress is literally shrinking while the institution is being asked to do more than ever.” They discuss how to fix the backwardness of this system, before moving on to a discussion of Kevin’s true passion (proven by his pedigree as one of the earliest bloggers on the subject): whiskey and other fine spirits.
Show Notes:
-Kevin Kosar - American Enterprise Institute
-Moving Congress into the 21st Century
-Congress Overwhelmed
-Show horses vs work horses
-Kevin on the true use of earmarks
-A Time to Build, by Yuval Levin
-Jonah’s love of the term “co-equal”
-What’s a pager?
-Sen. Lamar Alexander’s farewell speech
-Bill Barr’s civilized hearing
-Floor Charts, doing important work
-Whiskey: A Global History
-Alcoholreviews.com, continually operating since 1998
-Connemara peated Irish Whiskey
-White whiskey, or, uhm, moonshine
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During the second day of the impeachment hearings on Wednesday, we got some more video evidence from the House impeachment managers exhibiting just how close the rioters got to lawmakers during the Capitol siege. “A lot of this was more fully fleshing out how dire the situation was on January 6,” David explains. Stick around for an update on the criminal prosecution of Paul Manafort, new developments at the Department of Justice, the super viral Zoom video of the cat lawyer, and a lament on football-splaining.
Show Notes:
-Video of police officer Eugene Goodman steering Sen. Mitt Romney away from the rioters and Zoom cat lawyer video.
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We’re on day two of the Senate’s second impeachment trial of Donald Trump and our hosts are here for the breakdown. On Tuesday, the House impeachment managers released a video montage of January 6 in an effort to tie former President Trump’s rhetoric and words to the storming of the Capitol. “[The video] had in many ways the effect that displaying a crime scene photograph has on a criminal trial,” David explains. “It tried to make it real again.” Tune in to hear Sarah and the guys chat about the constitutionality of impeachment, the mechanics of the trial, and the persuasiveness of Trump’s defense team. Stick around to hear our hosts chat about what National Pizza Day means to them.
Show Notes:
-Senate Impeachment Trial: House Managers’ January 6 Video Montage.
-French Press: “The Impeachment Trial Vote Will Set a Precedent. Make It the Right One.” by David French in The Dispatch.
-Brandenburg v. Ohio
-“McConnell Signals Trump Conviction Is a GOP Conscience Vote” by Jennifer Jacobs in Bloomberg.
-“The Constitution Doesn’t Bar Trump’s Impeachment Trial” by Chuck Cooper in the Wall Street Journal.
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Astute listeners may remember Europe’s immigration crisis circa 2015, in which more than 1 million people, many of them refugees, made their way to the continent. Today, Jonah is joined by one of the most informed public intellectuals on the matter, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. In addition to her first-hand account of leaving Somalia for the West, she also comes loded with information from her new book, Prey, which recounts many of the ways in which affected European nations have either struggled or outright failed to assimilate this largely Muslim population. Ayaan admires Jonah’s “chivalry” on these issues, but makes it clear that one of the direct effects of this failure is a continual erosion of women’s rights in countries that are otherwise considered beacons of social progress.
Show Notes:
-Ayaan Hirsi Ali - The Hoover Institution
-The Ayaan Hirsi Ali Podcast
-Prey, Ayaan’s new book
-Infidel, Ayaan’s first book
-China’s Uighur atrocities
-Modernization of Turkey under Kemal Ataturk
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After duking it out over their Super Bowl disagreement, David and Sarah get into the meat of today’s episode: The ongoing saga of religious liberty in the age of pandemic law. On Friday, the Supreme Court partly sided with a California church’s First Amendment challenge to religious service restrictions enacted by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Per David: “Pandemic law—while not entirely gone—is mostly dead.” Stay tuned to hear about technology company Smartmatic’s lawsuit against Fox News, Trump’s First Amendment defense in his impeachment trial, and more.
Show Notes:
-South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Gavin Newsom.
-Typography for Lawyers by Matthew Butterick.
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Go down the rabbit hole of conservative eggheadiness on this weekend’s Ruminant, where Jonah discusses both the validity of “Trumpism” as an ideological construct as well as how that plays with the idea of conservatism as the “negation of an ideology.” Jonah also explains how we are seeing the ratcheting effect of increased government authority take place in real time, why Chris Stirewalt is the greatest, why right wing populism is the worst, and much more.
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch Podcast with Chris Stirewalt and Jonah
-“Expressio Unius Exclusio Alterius”
-Crisis and Leviathan by Robert Higgs
-Milton Friedman and income tax withholding
-This Friday’s G-File
-Giuliani: My legacy? F*** it!
-Area man loses mind on live television
-Kirk: “Conservatism is the negation of ideology”
-Jordan Peterson: Reject ideology
-Murphy Brown and Dan Quayle
-Erewhon
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Former Fox News Decision Desk team member Chris Stirewalt joins Sarah, Steve and Jonah to chat about GOP leadership members' struggle to police their own. Stick around for a chat about Joe Biden’s foreign policy agenda, Stirewalt’s take on why “the way America is getting its news is not working for America,” and … lima beans! And also for a very special announcement.
Show Notes:
-“How Kevin McCarthy fought off a party revolt” by Melanie Zanona in Politico.
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Given the state of… things (imagine us gesturing wildly as we say this) as they currently are, Jonah figured that this might be an apropos time to bring back a popular guest for his second showing: Joseph Uscinski, a political scientist and professor at the University of Miami specializing in how conspiracy theories spread. Buckle up for the discussion of Jewish space lasers, QAnon, Frazzledrip, and much more. They also discuss why the conspiratorial tendency never seems to go away, thanks to its basis in personality type, as well as the fact that “politicians … use [them] as a cudgel to go around accusing their opponents of the worst things possible.” We’re sure you can imagine just what Joe is talking about with that one.
Show Notes:
-Joseph E Uscinski - University of Miami
-Our previous episode with Joseph
-Birtherism
-Every conspiracy theory promoted by Trump
-Conspiracy theories are for losers
-9/11 truthers
-70 percent of Republicans don’t think the election was free and fair
-Eric Voegelin and the roots of conspiracy theories
-The God of the gaps
-Conspiracy theories and evolutionary psychology
-The Koch brothers control everything
-Bernie and the rigged economy
-Alienated America by Tim Carney
-“Frazzledrip”???
-6 percent of Republicans and Democrats believe in QAnon
-NYT: Biden should appoint a “reality czar”
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On Wednesday, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney survived an intra-party effort to oust her from her GOP leadership position, meanwhile Republican Party Leader Kevin McCarthy decided he will not strip firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments. When it comes to all the latest intra-GOP squabbles, Sarah and David have the scoop. On today’s episode, our hosts also break down the Supreme Court’s latest orders and the good, the bad, and the ugly of the impeachment briefs.
Show Notes:
-“I’m Comic Sans, A*e” by Mike Lacher and Saturday Night Live’s Papyrus Skit.
-“U.S. Nazi hunter has one active case” by Evan Perez, Alexander Rosen, Wesley Bruer, Jeremy Moorhead, Alex Lee and Josh Gaynor in CNN.
-“Your Type May Be Ripe For Review” by Chris Mincher in the Maryland Appellate Blog.
-Rule 32. Form of Briefs, Appendices, and Other Papers.
-Democrats’ impeachment trial brief and Trump’s response to the impeachment article.
-Salinas v. United States Railroad Retirement Board, Republic of Hungary v. Rosalie Simon, Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, Wednesday’s Supreme Court orders, Howard J. Bashman’s “How Appealing” appellate litigation blog.
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On the coronavirus stimulus package front, Biden has refused to compromise on his commitment to sending $1,400 checks to Americans. Is it wise for the president to push such a bill through Congress in spite of Republican opposition? As Steve argues on today’s episode, “If Joe Biden’s intransigence this early is pissing off people like Rob Portman and Anthony Gonzalez, that’s a tough place.” Also on the menu for today: GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy’s intra-party spats with Rep. Liz Cheney, the media’s obsessive fixation on Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the United Kingdom’s decision to welcome Hong Kong citizens.
Show Notes:
-“The Challenge of Going It Alone” by Amy Walter in the Cook Political Report.
-“An Interview With Sen. Rob Portman” by Steve Hayes in The Dispatch.
-“Can We Have (Another) Conversation About Cancel Culture?” by David French in The Dispatch.
-“Republicans Are Playing a Risky Game in Elevating QAnon” by Jonah Goldberg in The Dispatch.
-“The GOP’s Conspiracy Theorist Problem” by Audrey Fahlberg in The Dispatch.
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Thanks to international supply chains, Scott Lincicome’s Five Timer gold jacket is in the mail today as he joins Jonah to discuss a whole panoply of economic trends. Scott and Jonah talk about some of his observations from his posts as a fellow Dispatch-er with his Capitolism newsletter, as well as through his role at Cato where he has just put out a ton of research refuting the too-clever-by-half idea that the government can seize the manufacturing industry for national security reasons. The guys also discuss how COVID has essentially reversed the consumer side of the American economy. (“The pandemic has temporarily converted us into a country that buys goods instead of services”), and they even manage to get in some Hayek (peace be upon him).
Show Notes:
-“Five Timers Club”
-Scott’s newsletter, Capitolism
-Democrats trying to push through $15 minimum wage
-Tom Sowell on the minimum wage
-More from Less by Andrew McAfee
-Scott’s latest for Cato
-Scott’s take on the ‘deindustrialization’ myth
-A rundown on the National Technology Industrial Base
-U.S. ventilator overproduction
-Sherrod Brown’s “Buy American” push to the Biden administration
-Jonah: Thank globalism for COVID response, not nationalism
-Jonah, microcosms, and macrocosms
-Invisible Wealth by Nick Schulz and Arnold Kling
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Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris ruffled West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s feathers when she sat down with local television stations in his state to chat about Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill without first giving him a heads up. On today’s episode, our hosts break down why these sorts of intra-party kerfuffles matter and how they might shape the Biden administration’s relationship with the Senate moving forward. Also in the hopper for today, Sarah and David put their trial lawyer skills on full display when they explain the former president’s best defense against impeachment.
Show Notes:
-“The Senate’s impeachment trial is illegal and a sham” by Rand Paul in the Washington Examiner.
-Explainer on bills of attainder and House Resolution 24 - Impeaching Donald John Trump, president of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
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On this Ruminant, Jonah explicates the sadly prominent “antisemitism in the gaps” theory of political history on both the left and right, his proud status as an ideologue of the lukewarmist school, and the GOP’s inability to take “yes” for an answer on winning cultural issues against the American left. He also touches on how the GameStop kerfuffle is really just a case where “the market should be left to sort it out,” and how it isn’t some kind of refutation of libertarian economics, in addition to pondering the ways that the virtual world has started to rewire our brains.
Show Notes:
-This week’s G-File
-Iranian conspiracies about the British
-“A lukewarmer”
-David French: “An ocean of possibility for a reasonable GOP”
-Madison Cawthorn’s staff is built around comms, not legislation
-A Remnant starter on impeachment
-The members-only midweek “news”letter
-“Every kiss begins with Kay”
-The LeafFilter commercial
-Take our podcast survey
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Ohio Representative Anthony Gonzalez was one of only 10 GOP House members who voted for President Trump’s second impeachment, and he’s faced quite a bit of backlash from his constituents for doing so. “In the long arc of history, I believe it was the right vote, and I believe it sends the right message,” Congressman Gonzalez tells Sarah and Steve on today’s show. But Gonzalez still fears for the future of his party, especially considering most Republican voters still believe the election was stolen: “I don’t know how to govern in a world where we believe things that aren’t real.” Tune in to hear Gonzalez talk about social media censorship, our country’s crisis of leadership, and his former NFL career playing for the Indianapolis Colts.
Show Notes:
-Take our podcast survey
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Will Saletan of Slate returns to discuss the looming possibility of a political conflict between the Biden administration and the public sector teachers’ unions who nominally support him, the ways in which the pandemic has shifted labor back into the private sphere of the American household, why both parties should be aiming to present themselves as “the ‘not crazy’ party” (and why they both seem to be doing the opposite), and much more. Will also provides a useful thought experiment as to whether or not one is engaging in hypocrisy in political discussions: “Always try to ask, ‘Am I doing the same thing I’m accusing others of?’”
Show Notes:
-Will’s page at Slate
-Will: “The Enemy isn’t Republicans. It’s Liars.”
-Biden now wants 1.5 million vaccinations a day
-Student suicides in Las Vegas
-Will with Charlie Sykes on The Bulwark podcast
-Jonah: “The Center is a Lonely Place to Be”
-Will: “Trump is the GOP’s warlord”
-Lucifer: “The very first radical”
-Tucker Carlson goes to bat for QAnon
-Newsweek edits 2015 story to conform to new attack on Tom Cotton
-Burke and the impeachment of Warren Hastings
-Jonah and Tom Friedman: BFFs
-Take our podcast survey
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A federal judge on Tuesday granted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request for a nationwide temporary restraining order blocking the Biden administration’s halt of a 100-day pause in deportations of noncitizens for 14 days. It’s safe to say our podcast hosts have some thoughts! Stick around to hear David and Sarah chat about an indictment against pro-Trump Twitter troll Ricky Vaughn in response to his voter disinformation campaign, a wonky First Amendment case, and what’s behind this week’s GameStop rally.
Show Notes:
-Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co. and Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman.
-Take our podcast survey
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Biden administration folks are claiming they inherited a nonexistent coronavirus vaccine rollout plan from the Trump administration, with one anonymous administration official going so far as to tell CNN last week that the team will “have to build everything from scratch,” a claim that even top epidemiologist Dr. Anthony Fauci later disputed as patently false. Joe Biden spent months on the campaign trail criticizing Trump for deliberately misleading the public. Is his administration now falling into the same trap? “It’s a meaningful stumble,” Steve says on today’s podcast, “and I think they got caught basically misleading the public about the status of the vaccine program.” After Sarah and the guys chat about vaccine distribution logistics, they discuss Trump’s upcoming second impeachment trial, the media and its rewriting of history, and the latest drama with former DOJ officials in the Trump administration.
Show Notes:
-“Come on, President Biden. Set some loftier COVID vaccination goals” by Jonah Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times.
-“Biden inheriting nonexistent coronavirus vaccine distribution plan and must start 'from scratch,' sources say,” by CNN’s MJ Lee.
-“The Washington Post Tried To Memory-Hole Kamala Harris' Bad Joke About Inmates Begging for Food and Water” by Eric Boehm in Reason.
-The New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project.
-“Send In the Troops” by Sen. Tom Cotton in the New York Times.
-Take our podcast survey
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A.B. Stoddard rejoins the show for the three-timer award, as well as to talk, well, politics of all things. What can we expect from Senate Republicans at the start of the new Biden administration. Especially with a vote on whether to convict Donald Trump in the pipeline? We also get some more chronicles in the saga of Mitch McConnell: Machiavellian, principled, or both? And what about the recent flurry of (largely) socially progressive executive orders from the Resolute Desk? Stoddard helps determine what of this recent political news is a signal, and what’s simply noise.
Show Notes:
-Stoddard at RCP
-Stoddard on McConnell
-The Hawaii GOP expresses its support for QAnon
-Is Jim Jordan about to get more influential?
-“The One Where Jonah Calls Matt Gaetz a Steroidal Playmobil Figurine”
-Updates on the Patriot Party
-Take our podcast survey
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The Supreme Court “munsingweared” several cases in its Monday orders, including two Trump emoluments cases. After a deep dive into the legal history of munsingwear precedent—a modern mootness doctrine—David and Sarah discuss a Texas deportation case filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, pretrial release conditions for those who were arrested during the January 6 Capitol siege, and a Supreme Court original jurisdiction case. A special guest also joins the show to chat about Wendy’s chicken sandwiches!
Show Notes:
-United States v. Munsingwear, Inc. and Trump v. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
-“The Great Chicken Sandwich (Meal) Wars, Settled” by Sarah Isgur in The Dispatch.
-Take our podcast survey
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The days of the 2012 GOP “autopsy” are long behind us. Listen as Jonah ruminates on the struggles of protecting serious conservatism at a time of supreme unreflectiveness among many adherents of the movement as to how it has been led astray. Jonah also expresses his optimism at the revitalized raison d’être of The Dispatch in a post-Trump America. Additionally, Jonah even previews a forthcoming idea that could be of supreme interest to The Remnant’s nerdier factions: “I owe it to readers to do a deep dive… into what Liberal Fascism has to say” about the revanchist populism of the Trumpian right.
Show Notes:
-
Take our podcast survey
-
This week’s G-File
-
The minimum wage and eugenics
-
Why are they calling all of Antifa “Biden voters”?
-
Hunter Baker’s article
-
Newt Gingrich, with another asinine thing
-
“Not my president?”
-
The Wednesday “news”letter
-
The Remnant with Mo Elleithee
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Join Jonah and special guest Jack Butler, his former research assistant for the tricentennial episode. It’s the best of both worlds as the program recalls its greatest hits (conspiracies about the Soviets, Bigfoot Erotica, The Episode that Shall Not be Named, and, of course, Jokes at Jack’s expense) while also breaking into new territory. The guys talk about the conflict between college Republicans who got into politics just to be edgy versus the more thoughtful millenials and Zoomers who actually hold convictions, and about how “for the first time in more than four years, conservative politics do not have to flow through the person of Donald Trump.”
Show Notes:
-
Take our podcast survey
-
Jack’s page at NR
-
The Remnant with Joseph Uscinski (or, as Jack said in an interesting instance of spoonerism, “Douglas Urbanski”)
-
Lost Cosmonauts
-
Werner Herzog being vaguely horrified by Grizzly Man audio
-
Bigfoot Erotica: Origin Stories
-
“The Swamp: An affectionate farewell”
-
The “Uncomfortable Learning” program at Williams College has a strange history
-
Jack’s profound disappointment with Madison Cawthorn
-
Jack ponders the possibilities of Amazon’s show in Middle-Earth
-
Dan McLaughlin on what comes after Trump
-
Zhou Enlai on the French Revolution: “Toon soon to tell”
-
Community: Nick Cage, good or bad?
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Will Joe Biden’s governing strategy be effective? “I don’t think Biden has ever been driven on ideological issues, what he’s driven on is keeping his party together,” NBC’s Chuck Todd tells Sarah and Steve on today’s episode. “There is a part of me that says Biden can be the Reagan for Democrats.” How does the filibuster fit into the president’s call for unity? Is Joe Biden really a centrist? What role will Kamala Harris play in this administration? Todd answers all of these questions and more. Stick around for their thoughts on the Democrats’ $15 minimum wage proposal, the future of immigration reform, Biden’s relationship with Congress, and the evolution of cable news over the years.
Show Notes:
-“Biden's centrist words, liberal actions” by Dion Rabouin, Courtenay Brown, and Jennifer A. Kingson in Axios.
-Take our podcast survey
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Can Joe Biden heal the rampant degree of polarization that’s currently plaguing our nation’s politics? “There is an element on the left side of the aisle that is every bit as hostile to their fellow citizens as there are on the right edges,” David tells Sarah on today’s episode. “But the thing is, Biden won the primary by specifically shunning that part of the Democratic base.” After their post-Inauguration Day reflections on Biden’s swearing in ceremony and the state of polarization in America, our hosts chat about the NRA’s bankruptcy status and Biden’s flurry of first-day executive orders.
Show Notes:
-Divided We Fall: America's Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation by David French.
-Take our podcast survey
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In an exercise of “dealing with liberalism’s best arguments,” Jonah plays host to returning guest Mo Elleithee, a Democratic political strategist. They talk about the first day of the Biden administration and many of the coming political realignments. Would Democrats relish the thought of a “Patriot Party” rising up in opposition to the GOP, or would they reel in horror? Are Americans cautiously optimistic about the incoming administration’s “unity” message, and if so, are they right to be? And in a shocking turn of events, every House Democrat must now bow before the Lord Regent of West Virginia, Joe Manchin.
Show Notes:
-Take our podcast survey
-Mo Elleithee - Georgetown University
-George W. Bush’s first inaugural address
-Trump’s “Patriot Party”
-Liz Cheney vs. the House GOP
-Chip Roy’s House speech on impeachment
-NYT: “Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police”
-The January 2021 Civility Poll
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Joe Biden was officially sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday. He assumes office at one of the darkest moments in United States history, when a global pandemic has taken the lives of more than 400,000 Americans and rampant polarization continues to test our nation’s character. Did his inaugural address meet the moment? Was his call for unity too idealistic? On today’s episode, our hosts discuss Biden’s day one executive orders and the once and future Republican Party before breaking down today’s inauguration ceremony, speech and all.
Show Notes:
-“Biden's Two Tasks: Repairing Deep Divisions and Defeating a Deadly Disease” by David French in The Dispatch.
-Take our podcast survey
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Who will preside over soon-to-be-former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial after he leaves office? Will it be the Senate’s president pro tempore? The chief justice of the Supreme Court? None of the above? On today’s episode of Advisory Opinions, our hosts also dive into the nitty gritty details of Trump’s forthcoming—and second—impeachment trial before they discuss the latest updates in social media regulation, David’s take on the South’s honor culture, and Sarah’s review of the five best chicken sandwich chains in America.
Show Notes:
-“Free Speech and the Regulation of Social Media Content” by the Congressional Research Service.
-Red Lion Broadcasting Co. vs. FCC, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC, and Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union.
-“Where Does the South End and Christianity Begin?” by David French in The Dispatch.
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On this weekend’s Ruminant, Jonah discusses how the essence of conservatism in all its variety has been distilled down to a single oversimplistic metric: The more one likes Trump, and the more libs one owns, the more conservative one is assumed to be. “If you agree with Donald Trump, you’re a conservative, and if you defend Trump at all costs, you’re a good conservative.” Jonah then talks about how the larger panoply of conservative ideas is not only more interesting, but more practical for achieving realistic goals in our politics. There’s also a healthy smattering of theology, dog-talk, and Buckley stories throughout.
Show Notes:
-
Take our podcast survey
-
This week’s Remnant with Yuval
-
This week’s G-File
-
DeSantis puts his kid in a MAGA onesie
-
Varieties of Conservatism in America
-
Varieties of Progressivism in America
-
Advisory Opinions talks about incitement standards
-
Pew polls attitudes about election results
-
This week’s Remnant with Keith Whittington
-
Last weekend’s Ruminant
-
Jonah combat’s J. V. Last’s dog-suspicion
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Listen now (51 min) | “I was proud that after the assault on the Capitol, we were back in the chambers a few hours later,” freshman GOP Rep. Peter Meijer from Michigan’s 3rd District tells Sarah and Steve on today’s episode. “There was someone’s blood drying, right? And we’re going back to work to send the message that our constitutional process—it got erupted—but you’re not gonna scare us away.” Rep. Meijer—who holds Justin Amash’s old seat—joined today’s show to discuss what it was like certifying the Electoral College vote, evacuating the House chamber on January 6 amid the Capitol siege, and undergoing impeachment proceedings just days after being sworn into office.
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Today, AEI’s Yuval Levin returns, and Jonah asks him something more important than “What happens next?” Rather, they try to think about “What should we do next?” They talk about what Congress’ institutional responsibility is in regards to impeachment. They also discuss the 10 Republican representatives who voted for impeachment (“Look, I’m Jewish: 10 is better than zero.”), and their hopes to move past the historically anomalous character of right wing discourse throughout the Trump years. “This period has just been devoid of policy conversations. … Keeping the left from crushing you is an important goal, but it’s not what matters most.”
Show Notes:
-
Yuval’s most recent book, A Time to Build
-
Yuval’s quarterly publication, National Affairs
-
Rich Lowry: “The Crash of the Flight 93 Presidency”
-
The Good Fight with Yascha Mounk
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William James and Charles Peirce’s “Cash value of an idea”
-
“’Coequal’ is my trigger word”
-
Federalist No. 10, where Madison discusses democracy vs. republicanism
-
Robert Putnam, The Upswing
-
“A Nation of Cowards,” by Jeffrey Snyder
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This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, a free speech case that will determine whether former Georgia Gwinnett College student Chike Uzuegbunam is entitled to nominal damages from an unconstitutional government policy when that policy has since been changed. “Arguably there is no more important constitutional law case that has come up before the court in the last several years from a philosophical standpoint,” Sarah says on today’s podcast. After our hosts discuss the legal mechanics of nominal damages and attorneys’ fees, they dive into Parler’s latest legal filings and the Constitution’s speech and debate clause.
Show Notes:
-Take our podcast survey
-Uzuegbunam v. Preczewskicase and oral arguments.
-“A Eulogy for a Friend, a Lament for our Nation” by David French in The Dispatch.
-New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Corlett.
-“Are We the Baddies?” sketch.
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“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” said Rep. Liz Cheney late Tuesday afternoon. “Everything that followed was his doing.” This week, our hosts discuss the brewing showdown over impeachment between Cheney—the House’s No.3 Republican—and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. How does one party accommodate vastly different levels of acquiescence to a rogue president? What is the value of impeachment and conviction over censure? Should the president be pardoned after conviction in a concession to Republicans? To David, one thing is clear: “He needs to be so thoroughly defeated in the here and now that there is no possibility of a later,” he says. “He has to be deplatformed, he has to be defeated, and he has to be discredited.”
Show Notes:
-Take our podcast survey
-Amazon filing in response to Parler’s lawsuit, citing violent content
-Rep. Liz Cheney’s statement in support of impeachment
-Video from Capitol Hill riot
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What is to be made of the concerns – practical or philosophical – about a second impeachment of Donald Trump? Keith Whittington of Princeton returns to The Remnant to encourage us not to take such concerns too rigidly. Since, as we got used to hearing, impeachment is a political process and not a legal remedy, the ability to get through an impeachment quickly – say, before January 20 – is “purely a matter of political will.” In addition to digging into some founding-period legal nerdiness (the original Constitution of Virginia says what?), Jonah also asks Whittington about the standards of impeachment, what the process might look like given the specifics of what happened at the Capitol on the January 6, and also asks him to address concerns, such as the idea that an impeachment would be an infringement on Trump’s free speech rights: “There’s a difference between what a private citizen can say and what someone like the president of the United States should say.”
Show Notes:
-
Take our podcast survey
-
Keith’s most recent book
-
Jonah’s Los Angeles Times column
-
“Look at him, he’s wearing a belt!”
-
Listen to Advisory Opinions, home of latches
-
David French: The conservative legal movement is actually looking pretty good
-
Byron York interviews Michael Luttig
-
The original Virginia Constitution said, “The Governor, when he is out of office, … shall be impeachable by the House of Delegates.”
-
Einstein’s friend finding a dictatorship loophole
-
John Turturro as Bernie Bernbaum
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In a break from our current news cycle, Advisory Opinions tackles “the more mundane issue of teenage girls complaining” in a discussion about Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L, one of the Supreme Court’s latest cert grants addressing the issue of off-campus student speech. Not to worry, our hosts also dig into the more pressing issues of the day. In an examination of the term “incitement,” David and Sarah ask: Were the president or other individuals guilty—in a criminal sense—of provoking tangible violence at the Capitol last week? Do their words and actions meet the Brandenburg test, which criminalizes inflammatory speech that is both “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action,” and “likely to incite or produce such action”?
Show Notes:
-Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L
-Thomas More Law Center v. Becerra
-David’s French Press newsletter on Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L
-Amendment 14: Section Three
-1974 memo on presidential or legislative pardon of the president
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On today’s Ruminant, Jonah takes care to push through the natural inclination to simply, well, be appalled at this past Wednesday’s “events” on Capitol Hill, and manages to talk about both the lead-up to them and their ramifications. He talks about how the rioters display all of the soul-sickness that conservatives normally only talk about in regard to far-left activists, and that while conservatives are quick to point out the failures to establish genuine communities with positive outcomes in peoples’ lives within progressive politics, “we very rarely say that these are problems for conservatives too.” This week, Jonah also closes with a personal rumination on the most important little platoon of all: the family.
Show Notes:
-This week’s G-File
- Jonah and Brit’s disagreement
-Josh Blackman: Can Trump be impeached for incitement?
-Ramen Noodle Guy
-The Ol’ Number Six
-Tucker provides a useless panacea to listeners
-Tim Carney: “Trump was something to believe in”
-“When God is invisible behind the world, the contents of the world will become new gods”
-Alienated America
-Bubba McDonald
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Wednesday’s storming of the Capitol should not have come as a surprise to anyone who has paid attention to Donald Trump’s election-related conspiracy-mongering in the weeks since November 3. Politico’s chief political correspondent Tim Alberta has been interacting with Trump supporters for months now and joins today’s show to explain why Wednesday’s Capitol siege was almost inevitable: “What we saw at every step of the way was a coordinated and deliberate campaign” by the president, high ranking Republicans, and far-right media personalities “to deceive the American public,” Alberta tells Sarah and Steve.
Show Notes:
-“Jan. 6 Was 9 Weeks — And 4 Years — in the Making” by Tim Alberta in Politico.
-American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump by Tim Alberta.
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During a press conference on Thursday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called for President Trump’s removal from office. “Yesterday, the president of the United States incited an armed insurrection against America,” Pelosi said, shortly before demanding the invocation of the 25th Amendment. On today’s podcast, our hosts talk about the possibility of impeaching President Trump, the legal machinations surrounding the 25th Amendment, and the social media crackdown against President Trump. Stick around for their thoughts on Merrick Garland as Biden’s attorney general pick.
Show Notes:
-Articles of impeachment prepared by Representatives Ted Lieu, David Cicilline, and Jamie Raskin.
-“Divided We Fall: America's Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation” by David French in The Dispatch.
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Was Wednesday’s storming of the Capitol by Trump rally-goers inevitable? Should President Trump be impeached? Where does the Republican Party go from here? Our staff members have been warning about the dangers of Trumpism long before The Dispatch was launched in October 2019. But as David says, “never has vindication felt so miserable.” After all, as he points out, “the vindication was while the republic was under direct attack.” On today’s episode, Sarah and the guys break down the series of events that led to yesterday’s violence. Andrew and Audrey join the show to discuss their on-the-ground reporting at the Capitol on Wednesday, where they spent all day interviewing rally attendees.
Show Notes:
-“The Storming of the Capitol” by Andrew Egger and Audrey Fahlberg in The Dispatch.
-“Impeach Donald Trump, Remove Him, and Bar Him From Holding Office Ever Again” by The Dispatch staff.
-“We in the ‘shallow state’ thought we could help. Instead, we obscured the reality of a Trump presidency.” by Sarah Isgur in the Washington Post.
-“A Day at the Million MAGA March” by Audrey Fahlberg in The Dispatch.
-“If He Loses, Trump Will Concede Gracefully,” by Mick Mulvaney in the Wall Street Journal.
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As The Remnant kicks back into gear, we figured it would be best to let Jonah make his trek back to D.C. and instead treat you to a secret artifact from a few days after the election. This is a conversation between Jonah and AEI emeritus scholar Charles Murray on the state of libertarianism and liberalism (both of the “small-l” variants) in the aftermath of November 2020. Murray explains why he’s pessimistic, while he and Jonah also extol the virtues of a Madisonian system, and upon reflection, they both relish in being on the right side of the debate that character is indeed destiny in the political realm: “The idea that the United States can continue to be … exceptional without character being a leading principle is ridiculous—it can’t happen.”
Show Notes:
-Fusionism
-John Adams: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
-Eric Voegelin on how lapses into fanaticism occur
-Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010
-Misreading Adam Smith
-Miracle At Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention
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After a holiday hiatus from podcasting, our hosts have quite a bit of news to catch up on. Did Trump commit election fraud during his phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger? Will Trump’s election conspiracy theorizing depress Republican turnout in Tuesday’s Georgia Senate races? What should we expect when Congress convenes on Wednesday to count the Electoral College votes? All things considered, Biden will take office on January 20. But when it comes to GOP officials’ ongoing attempts to overturn the results of the election, David argues that “the futility of this effort should not excuse its malice.” Our hosts wrap up their first episode of 2021 with David’s spirited defense of Wonder Woman 1984.
Show Notes:
-“POLITICO Playbook: The backstory of Trump’s Georgia call” by Marc Caputo.
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What does Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse think about the results of the 2020 election? The answer might come as a surprise: Even though the Democrats took the White House, on balance, Ben thinks the election proves that “We are a center-right nation, and even if people don’t have a philosophical embrace of limited government, [that idea] has a broad, functional embrace.” During this talk—originally part of The Dispatch’s post-election program What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond – Jonah asks Ben about how responsible Americans might stop our national politics from being run by political addicts, as well as asking him what he thinks about the assertion that he went through a “quiet period” in his Trump criticism, and addressing his controversial connections to Big Runza (Nebraska’s finest delicacy™).
Show Notes:
-“Straight-shooter” Ben Sasse wins re-election
-The Hidden Tribes of America
-Many Republicans are sure that the election was stolen
-Kate McKinnon’s bizarrely accurate Rudy Giuliani
-Jonah’s column on Trump loyalism
-There’s a horse in the hospital
-I Love Lucy’s ratings domination
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On today’s holiday mailbag edition of the podcast, David and Sarah answer a series of listener questions ranging from legal history to college football. Do you have to admit guilt to accept a pardon? Are there any wrongfully decided Supreme Court cases that are still on the books? Is there a secular argument for prohibiting abortion or does restricting the practice entirely depend on adopting religious doctrine in the public square? Are tier 2 or tier 3 law schools worth attending? What are the best books of the year? What is the constitutionality of factoring race into vaccine distribution? And MORE! Tune in to hear the breakdown.
Show Notes:
-A brief history of pardons from Smithsonian magazine.
-Korematsu v. United States, Buck v. Bell, Roe v. Wade, Kelo v. City of New London, Schenck v. United States, Employment Division v. Smith, Monell v. Department of Social Services, Brandenburg v. Ohio, Skinner v. Oklahoma, Trump v. Hawaii.
-38 states with fetal homicide laws.
-Qualified immunity doctrine.
-“Books to Read If You’re Tired of Hearing About Impeachment” by Sarah Isgur in The Dispatch.
-Sarah’s book recommendations: The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff, She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity by Carl Zimmer, How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom by Matt Ridley, Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill by Candice Millard.
-David’s book recommendations: Divided We Fall: America's Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation by David French, Rhythm of War: The Stormlight Archive, Book 4 by Brandon Sanderson, The Democratization of American Christianity by Nathan Hatch.
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As we close in on the end of the year, Jonah’s rumination proves to be a pretty sizable roundup of all the news that has been fit to print throughout the week. In addition to discussing attempts to relitigate the series of unfortunate events surrounding Jeffrey Toobin, the inaccuracy of our current Cold War metaphors in regards to China, and the ongoing conflict over wealth inequality, Jonah also finds the time to dip into several classically nerdy topics. Such subjects include the accidental genius of bad Kung Fu movies, how They Live isn’t nearly as Marxist as the academy would have you believe (and the fact that they try to prove that it is “just helps to prove how dumb Marxism is”), and how David French’s taste in films has made Jonah a nihilist.
Show Notes:
-This week’s G-File
-Fatman
-Caddyshack … II?
-The fight scene in They Live
-Kurt Thomas in Gymkata
-Jonah: Farce as Tragedy
-Adorno: “Thus one no longer learns to close a door softly, discreetly and yet firmly. Those of autos and frigidaires have to be slammed.”
-The origin of the “alien visitor” thought experiment
-A chin-stroking (so to speak) piece on Jeffrey Toobin
-Pleasantville
-This week’s Remnant with Matt Continetti
-Jonah’s “New Cold War” column
-This week’s Remnant with Scott Winship
-The success sequence
-Remnant Episode 100 with Thomas Sowell
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House Democrats are heading into next year with the slimmest majority either party has seen in two decades. How might this shape intra-party relations among Democrats moving forward? “The new dynamic will force Democratic leaders to change their tactics, both in drafting bills and in reining in the rank and file,” Haley Byrd Wilt writes in her debut piece for the website. Haley joined Sarah and Steve on today’s show to forecast these shifting dynamics as we approach the 117th Congress. Stick around for a breakdown of the latest drama in the House Republican conference, Donald Trump’s NDAA veto threat, and whether Congress can avert a government shutdown.
Show Notes:
-“Democrats Grapple With Slim House Majority” by Haley Byrd Wilt in The Dispatch.
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AEI Fellow, author, and Washington Free Beacon founder Matt Continetti comes back to the program, and Jonah gets to pick his brain about… well, a ton of different things. From his expectations for the Biden presidency, to the shockingly progressive staff of the incoming administration, to the Georgia runoffs and a critical reappraisal of the neoconservatives’ role in deradicalizing the left, Matt provides deep and nuanced answers to the biggest stories of the day as well as the issues of bigger philosophical significance to conservatives. He and Jonah also dial in on some of the upcoming decisions that those on the right will have to make in the near future – decisions that may define basic points of conservative doctrine for a long time to come: What should be counted as a conservative “win,” either in politics or culture? Is conservatism going to be big-tent or selective in its coalition-building? And what should the conservative position on China be, as it becomes clearer that the nation may have grown into a superpower that shares very few of our values?
Show Notes:
-Matt’s page at AEI
-Obama’s third term
- Biden’s campaign manager being… unkind to Republicans
-The Remnant with Andy Smarick
-“Bobos”
-The Polish Beer-Lovers’ Party
-The Remnant with Tim Alberta
-The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium by Martin Gurri
-The Roots of Modern Conservatism by Michael Bowen
-The Remnant with Carlos Lozada
-What Biden can learn from Nat Glazer
-Governing Priorities by AEI
-Conservatism has conserved a lot, actually
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The Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to hear a case concerning whether the NCAA’s eligibility rules for student compensation violate federal antitrust law. Should the NCAA have the right to create a universal regime of amateur athletics? Is this dispute more of a legislative problem? Or is it an antitrust problem that should be resolved by the courts? In their penultimate podcast before Christmas break, David and Sarah discuss whether private employers can mandate COVID-19 vaccines, some hypothetical legal scenarios related to double jeopardy, and the culture wars surrounding Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller. They also respond to a 3L listener’s email about Supreme Court original jurisdiction.
Show Notes:
-NCAA’s cert petition to Supreme Court, 9th Circuit ruling for NCAA antitrust case, and Supreme Court reversal statistics.
-“The College Athletes Who Are Allowed to Make Big Bucks: Cheerleaders” by Tess DeMeyer in the New York Times.
-NCAA v. Board of Regents.
-Trans World Airlines Inc. v. Hardison
-“Can Private Employers Mandate COVID Vaccines?” by Josh Blackman in Reason.
-End of Discussion: How the Left's Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun) by Guy Benson and Mary Katharine Ham.
-Miracle on 34th Street.
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In the weeks following November 3, a surprising number of state Republican parties have made it their mission to attack any high ranking GOP officials in their state who have certified or somehow acknowledged Joe Biden’s electoral victory over President Trump. How will this GOP infighting play out over the next few months? Declan joins Sarah, David, and Jonah on today’s show to discuss his new piece on the site explaining this strange phenomenon, with a close look at Arizona and Georgia in particular. Stick around to hear our hosts discuss the 2021 races they are keeping an eye on, all things Hunter Biden, and Joseph Epstein’s controversial Wall Street Journal op-ed about Jill Biden.
Show Notes:
-“Begun, the GOP Civil War Has” by Declan Garvey in The Dispatch.
-“Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D.” by Joseph Epstein in the Wall Street Journal.
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Jonah is joined by Scott Winship – the director of Poverty Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and fresh off the heels of his position within Senator Mike Lee’s Social Capital Project. Jonah asks Scott about the persistence of poverty in American society, and what progress has been made both recently and over the long term. Then, they get into why some of the obstacles that have to be removed in order to lift poor people up are more intractable than others. In part, Scott thinks that these difficulties “show how we’re hardwired to think about these problems in economic terms rather than in terms of social bonds,” and that certain data may blind us when searching for the real issues.
Show Notes:
-Scott’s research at AEI
-Richard Burkhauser on poverty in the 60s versus now
-The Social Capital Project
-Raj Chetty on people doing better than their parents
-Mr. Piketty’s big book of Marxiness
-Jonah and Peter Beinart
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The Supreme Court on Friday declined to hear Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit contesting the election results in four battleground states, ruling that “Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections.” What does the court’s order mean in plain English? Should the justices have said more? Why did Justices Alito and Thomas issue a separate statement? “The bottom line is all nine justices rejected this case,” David explains. “Seven clearly for one reason, two for any number of additional reasons that they didn’t specify.” After breaking down the Texas lawsuit, Sarah and David discuss Trump v. Wisconsin, Bush v. Gore, the counting of the electoral college votes, and what options President Trump might still have to contest the election. They wrap things up by answering some listener mail about the LSAT.
Show Notes:
-Arizona v. California dissent, Supreme Court’s Friday order on Texas lawsuit, Trump v. Wisconsin, Bush v. Gore, Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd, 3 U.S. Code § 15.
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After describing the inner workings of a longstanding lunch among his friends that has become an institution unto itself and envisioning what his ideal “no rules” podcast might be like, Jonah asks the fundamental political question of our moment: What’s the matter with Texas? Jonah talks about how the state’s election lawsuit has released another swathe of intellectual dishonesty among right-wing tastemakers, as well as the “Kraken Caucus'' (or is it the Kraken Kaukus?) more generally, and how the Constitution endorses trial by combat for picking elector slates (well, kind of). This is followed by a rumination on “corruption” in both its classical and modern sense, the updated Hunter Biden story (and the reaction to it), and how imprecise language mars our debates about censorship: “We use ‘censorship’ to mean both a government action as well as the exercise of editorial judgment that we don’t like.”
Show Notes:
-GLoP: Origin Stories
-This week’s Remnant with Reihan Salam
-Martin Shkreli, DBOY
-This week’s G-File
-The Duke brothers
-“One in quadrillion”
-Burke’s “Speech to the Electors of Bristol”
-The Five Thousand Year Leap
-Happy Safe Harbor Day
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How might the Supreme Court respond to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit contesting the results of the election? Why did so many House members and state attorneys general file amicus briefs in support of the lawsuit? Is Paxton’s legal effort just a political stunt? On today’s episode, Sarah and Steve are joined by Ilya Shapiro—director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute and publisher of the Cato Supreme Court Review—for the breakdown.
Show Notes:
-Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s new lawsuit against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
-106 House Republicans sign amicus brief supporting Texas lawsuit and Chip Roy’s tweet thread explaining why he will not join Texas’s lawsuit.
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Conservative commentary has managed to find at least one point of withering criticism when it comes to America’s cities. This critique points out that, while cities are the places where unique innovation and exciting things are happening all the time, the local Democratic political machines (and, strangely, their voter base within the city) are constantly trying to zone, regulate, and tax that innovation and excitement out of existence. But here he comes—a knight in shining armor, making a glorious return to The Remnant: Reihan Salam, president of the Manhattan Institute. Reihan talks to Jonah about how conservatives might be able to envision a way out of obstinacy in America’s metropolitan centers, as well as addressing concerns about the GOP’s electoral future in cities, and explaining why politics often take a more radical left-wing form in cities compared to everywhere else in the country. (“Democrats are living in places that are immensely unequal, so arguments around redistribution carry a lot more purchase.”)
Show Notes:
-Reihan at the Manhattan Institute
-Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream
-Most—not some—people are low information voters
-Jonah: It’s a mistake for the GOP to shun big cities
-Fusion voting
-The role of think tanks
-College-educated Democrats are often more wrong than their co-partisans
-Jill Biden wants community college to be free
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On Wednesday, 17 state attorneys general filed amicus briefs in support of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit contesting the presidential election results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin. To make matters more interesting, President Donald Trump has said he will join the lawsuit and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has agreed to argue the case in front of the Supreme Court. Tune in to today’s episode to hear why, in David’s words, “this Texas lawsuit as a legal and evidentiary matter is frivolous.” Today, David and Sarah also give us an update on Sidney Powell’s “Kraken” lawsuits and the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Facebook. They wrap things up by answering some reader mail about law school.
Show Notes:
-Supreme Court’s one-sentence order denying injunctive relief to Rep. Mike Kelly.
-French Press: “The Kraken Is Lackin’.”
-Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s new lawsuit against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
-The Morning Dispatch: “Checking in on the Trump Campaign Lawsuits.”
-The Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit against Facebook.
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The Supreme Court denied injunctive relief on Tuesday to Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly in a one-sentence order that unceremoniously ended the Republican lawmaker’s bid to overturn his state’s election results. “What distinguished this case was it actually had an interesting question of law in it,” David argues on today’s show, in reference to the Pennsylvania state legislature’s alleged violation of the state’s constitution in 2019. That Rep. Kelly brought this lawsuit after the presidential election was another question entirely, David concedes, as was Kelly’s requested remedy. On the menu for the rest of today’s episode: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s new Supreme Court election lawsuit, Biden’s latest Cabinet picks, and the origins of “believe-Trump-no-matter-what” syndrome among once-respected GOP figures.
Show Notes:
-Supreme Court’s one-sentence order denying injunctive relief to Rep. Mike Kelly.
-Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s new lawsuit against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
-University of California-Irvine law professor Richard Hasen’s December 8 blog post on the Paxton lawsuit’s legal shortcomings.
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On this edition of The Remnant, Jonah went around the (metaphorical) corner of the (also metaphorical) office and got colleague Sarah Isgur to come on the program for all sorts of legal-beagle nerdery. Sarah explains the constitutional provisions kicking into effect that are helping to slow down the chaos surrounding the November election results, what on earth is going on in Texas, and much more. Classic Remnant wonkery is then balanced out in the latter half of the show, as Jonah and Sarah both share their spiciest takes on The Queen’s Gambit and why it may not live up to the hype.
Show Notes:
-Sarah’s podcast with David French, Advisory Opinions
-Sarah’s newsletter, The Sweep
-Texas’ original jurisdiction suits against other states
-“The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes”
-Centennial Crisis: The Disputed Election of 1876 by William Rehnquist
-AEI’s After the People Vote
-The “witchcraft” of signature matching
-The Bailey Cranberry Separator
-Colorable argument
-Jonah and Queen’s Gambit
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U.S. federal law’s “safe harbor deadline” means that most presidential election law cases will be resolved by tomorrow, December 8. Today, David and Sarah discuss what’s next for Trump loyalists who have an unshakable belief that the election was stolen. Stay tuned for a conversation about changes to the citizenship test, a 9th Circuit transgender bathroom case where cert was denied, parental and student rights in public education, and why so many conservative lawyers don’t buy the Trump campaign’s legal strategy.
Show Notes:
-U.S. code on meeting and voting of electors, determination of controversy as to appointment of electors, and counting electoral votes in Congress.
-“Preparing for a Disputed Presidential Election: An Exercise in Election Risk Assessment and Management” by Edward Foley in the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal.
-“The ‘Safe Harbor’ Deadline Is upon Us” by Jim Geraghty in National Review.
-Parents for Privacy v. Barr.
-“Why Do So Many Americans Think the Election Was Stolen?” by Ross Douthat in the New York Times.
-Brown v. Hot, Sexy and Safer Productions, Inc.
-“Coronavirus: When a High-Trust Response Is Required in a Low-Trust Time” by David French in The Dispatch.
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Jonah flies solo once more in a podcast filled with the hottest of takes: Biden’s foot-breaking story is not only totally true – it’s also just kind of lame, weed saved George H.W. Bush’s life, and, most controversially of all, The Walking Dead still has some redeeming qualities. He also discusses why you should take John Bolton’s advice in The Dispatch seriously, and “Eurosclerosis,” the fanciest word of the day.
Show Notes:
-This week’s G-File
-The origins of Biden-Foot-Trutherism
-The week’s first Dispatch Podcast
-The Remnant with Jonathan Adler
-BREAKING: George H.W. Bush owes his life to hemp! Big If True!
-If you want… just … a font of wisdom in response to Jonah’s “I-told-you-so” moment, look no further than his Facebook page
-This week’s Remnant with Virginia Postrel; that’s the good nerd stuff, right there
-John Bolton’s piece for The Dispatch on the future of conservatism
-Jonah: “Too many Republicans just use conservatism as a tool”
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After Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling asked GOP lawmakers to tone down the unsubstantiated claims of vote fraud in his state earlier this week, the Trump campaign shared a 90-second video on Twitter alleging another Georgia related election conspiracy theory. “Video footage from Georgia shows suitcases filled with ballots pulled from under a table AFTER supervisors told poll workers to leave room and 4 people stayed behind to keep counting votes,” the tweet said. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and other GOP figures have since demanded a signature audit of the presidential election in the Peach State.
Where do we go from here? Sterling joined Sarah and Steve on today’s episode to debunk election conspiracy theories about his state and offer a pathway forward for the GOP. “To me, this is the playbook that was run by Stacey Abrams in 2018 in Georgia,” Sterling tells Steve and Sarah of the Trump campaign’s claim that the election was rigged.
Show Notes:
-90 second clip of Georgia election conspiracy theory shared by the campaign on Thursday and Lin Wood’s rally on Wednesday excoriating Gabriel Sterling.
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We have another Remnant first-timer on the show this week, as Jonah is joined by old friend, well-traveled military writer, and Marine veteran Bing West. With a discipline that only a Marine could muster, Bing joins the program to talk about his upcoming novel, The Last Platoon: A Novel of the Afghanistan War, which uses Afghanistan as a backdrop to tell the story of men in combat who “do their duty, even when it becomes clear that there will be no reward.” Jonah also probes Bing’s brain about the overall strategic value of the Afghanistan war, the abiding faith of American soldiers in an era of secularism, how to break up the perverse friendship between the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and most important, how a small, tri-fold shovel is sometimes the most valuable piece of equipment a soldier can have.
Show Notes:
-Pre-order The Last Platoon
-Afghani tribal groups and opium production
-Bing’s book embedded with Marines in Fallujah
-Bing in WSJ: “How to save Kabul from Saigon’s fate”
-Sebastian Junger’s Tribe
-How counterinsurgency (or COIN) really works
-The Dispatch addresses Pompeo’s thoughts on the Taliban turning on al-Qaeda
-The Pepper Dogs
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With the GOP’s Senate majority hanging by a thread, all eyes are on the Peach State and whether Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler can hold onto their seats in their January runoffs. But could all of these election conspiracy theories that are being circulated by conservative pundits and politicians ironically end up depressing turnout among GOP voters in these races? “Over last night and this morning,” David explains on today’s podcast, “there was suddenly a lot of people who were sowing unfounded accusations of voter fraud, realizing that they may be reaping the loss of the Senate.” Today’s jam-packed episode also features a breakdown of several religious liberty cases, the White House’s alleged pay-for-pardon scheme, the U.S. census case, Attorney General Bill Barr’s special counsel appointment, and HBO’s The Undoing.
Show Notes:
-Donald Trump v. New York oral arguments transcript
-Memorandum on Excluding Illegal Aliens From the Apportionment Base Following the 2020 Census
-Franklin v. Massachusetts
-General powers of special counsel CFR
-October 19 memo from Attorney General Bill Barr
-9th Circuit Harvest Rock Church case
-Supreme Court order on Harvest Rock case
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During an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday, Attorney General Bill Barr said that “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.” In what seems to be a clever attempt to appease the president, Barr also said during the interview that he had appointed John Durham as special counsel to investigate the Russia-Trump probe in October. Will news of Durham’s appointment appease Republicans? Is there a legal defect in the Durham appointment? Sarah and the guys give us the breakdown. On today’s episode, our podcast hosts also analyze Trump’s election litigation madness, the ethics of COVID-19 vaccine prioritization, and last week’s killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Show Notes:
-Attorney General Bill Barr’s interview with the Associated Press.
-“As Trump Rages, Voters in a Key County Move On: ‘I’m Not Sweating It’ ” by Elaina Plott in the New York Times.
-Statement from Sen. Ted Cruz urging SCOTUS to hear the Pennsylvania election challenge.
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Today, Jonah is joined by Virginia Postrel – former editor-in-chief of Reason magazine and author of many of the latter-day holy tomes of libertarianism, such as The Future and Its Enemies – to talk about her new book, The Fabric of Civilization. Virginia and Jonah do a deep dive into several moments in which the changes in textile manufacturing created giant, revolutionary, consciousness-shifting ripple effects regarding how civilizations viewed their relationship to markets and the economy. In particular, Virginia addresses how the un-guilded spinners of Europe were like the Luddites before it was cool, why textile-making would be one of the most laborious processes in the world without advanced technologies, and what made cotton fabric from India so special that “the French treated it much the same as the American government treats cocaine.” At least that kind of wild protectionism confirms a long-held American instinct: Never trust the French.
Show Notes:
-Virginia’s book, The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World
-“Isaiah’s Job”
-Our first episode with Matt Ridley (on technical innovation)
-Our second episode with Matt Ridley (on more technical innovation)
-Virginia at Volokh Conspiracy: The textile industry’s relationship to literacy
-The salaries of spinners may be higher than one thinks
-The High Sparrow and the Labor Theory of Value
-Some bits from “The Bad Polanyi” on ancient Assyria
-Virginia talks about Indian cotton prints
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Over Thanksgiving break, the Supreme Court struck down New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s strict coronavirus related occupancy limits to 10 or 25 worshipers in churches and synagogues located in orange and red zones in the state. In a 5-4 per curiam decision, the majority sided with Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel, who argued that Cuomo’s COVID-19 regulations treated houses of worship differently from comparable secular institutions, especially considering the religious plaintiffs in question went above and beyond in preventing COVID-19 outbreaks within their doors.
“From the standpoint of the plaintiffs,” David argues, “it’s sort of a double whammy of good facts. One, expressions of animus from public officials and hypocrisy from public officials. And two, they’re coming to the court with clean hands.” Later in the episode, David and Sarah also dive into a host of abortion related lawsuits and the U.S. census case before ending with some thoughts on election litigation.
Show Notes:
-Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York v. Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of New York, Jacobson v. Massachusetts, South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom.
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On this episode, Jonah is joined by Charles C.W. Cooke of National Review. It’s an eclectic mix today, as the duo gets into a good deal of punditry surrounding the Trump campaign’s election challenges and then move onto the future of conservatism (or “conservatarianism” in Charlie’s case) as a whole before tying the whole thing up around the Thanksgiving theme of gratitude. As a freshly minted American living through a relatively chaotic period in our politics, what is Cooke grateful for when it comes to the U.S.? During this holiday season, Jonah thinks we might all do well to be grateful for the fact that “we still live in a country where following politics is essentially a hobby … and isn’t a matter of survival.”
Show Notes:
-Charlie’s main podcasting gig
-Charlie’s, uh, other main podcasting gig
-Florida man saves puppy from alligator
-National Review and the John Birchers
-The Conservatarian Manifesto
-Max Boot: America’s A-Team
-Randoph Bourne: “The State”
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In Monday’s emergency episode of the podcast, David and Sarah bring us up to speed on the Trump legal team’s latest litigation drama, which has become nothing short of a clown show. One of the most puzzling aspects about all of this is the striking gap between the Trump campaign’s public rhetoric about widespread voter fraud during press conferences and its much more modest—albeit still meritless—legal arguments in the courtroom. No matter how you slice it, the president’s legacy is on the line here. In Sarah’s words: “This is what he’s going to be remembered by.” Our hosts discuss the Trump campaign’s failed Pennsylvania election lawsuit and Thursday’s rather unconventional press conference given by Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Jenna Ellis. Then Sarah’s husband, Scott Keller joins the podcast to spar with David about nationwide injunctions.
Show Notes:
-U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Brann’s opinion throwing out Trump’s Pennsylvania lawsuit.
-“Nationwide Injunctions Will Be a Vital Check if Biden Overreaches” by Scott Keller in the Wall Street Journal.
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After filing a more-spirited-than-average G-File, Jonah joins us for the weekend Ruminant. Today, he talks about how certain individuals associated with Trump seem determined to end their careers in ignominy, as well as discussing many other phenomena, such as America’s oversaturation of elites, the necessity of reading people with whom you disagree, the inadequacy of applying the left-right spectrum to American politics, what the possible consolidation of fringe-right news stations might look like, and how genuine post-Trump conservatism “is almost, in certain way, the same as [if it was] pre-Trump.” And, of course, the most exciting news in Jonah’s world right now? How a calmer political environment means that he can write about more interesting stuff.
Show Notes:
-This week’s G-File
-Tucker Carlson almost closes the circle, but doesn’t make it quite there
-The entire Dispatch team descends on the Cuomo Emmy news
-The “Iron Law of Oligarchy”
-The midweek “news”letter
-A legendary piece of Goldbergian hagiography – Gargoyles: Guardians of the Gate
-The quotable Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
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Charles Koch and Brian Hooks joined Sarah and David to discuss their new book, Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World, which is about social entrepreneurship, the principles of human progress, and empowering people to discover their gifts. On today’s show, Koch and Hooks explain how finding common ground with people across the ideological spectrum has helped reorient their approach to public policy reform as it relates to the criminal justice system, education, and more.
Show Notes:
-Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World by Charles G. Koch and Brian Hooks.
-Good Profit: How Creating Value for Others Built One of the World's Most Successful Companies by Charles Koch.
-After Life: My Journey from Incarceration to Freedom by Alice Marie Johnson with Nancy French.
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Jonah’s return to The Remnant features a guest with “The most important hair in public policy,” Ryan Streeter from AEI. While Ryan’s magnificent mane isn't captured in the final product, his spot-on analysis of the causes of American stagnation (and what we can do to get out of it) certainly are. Why is fulfilling work so hard to find for a great many Americans? Which of the structures meant to stand between the individual and the government do our current policy regimes totally fail to support? Are all politicians really just heartless hacks? And what factors are the advocates of working-class Republicanism forgetting when they envision the future of the party? Lucky for us, Ryan thinks about this kind of thing for a living, and therefore has more revealing answers than you may find anywhere else.
Show Notes:
-Ryan’s page at AEI
-Imagine Blue Steel from Zoolander, but it’s Ryan’s hair
-Longstanding anti-“poaching” measures within fast food companies
-AEI’s research into civil society and volunteerism
-To Empower People: The Role of Mediating Structures in Public Policy
-Rubio and the supposed face-heel turn of “market fundamentalism”
-Ryan called some of America’s restlessness back in 2011
-The UCLA loneliness scale
-Ben Carson, doing actual interesting things while no one pays attention
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Rudy Giuliani has come out of retirement for the first time in 28 years to litigate on behalf of the Trump campaign. To say his gears were a little rusty would be the understatement of the century: Giuliani walked into court this week and couldn’t remember the name of the judge, couldn’t remember the name of his opposing counsel, couldn’t remember the meaning of “opacity,” and couldn’t argue the proper standard of review in the case. As our podcast hosts remind us, effective lawyers not only know how to make a constructive argument, but also tailor their advocacy to the humanity of the judge. Giuliani did neither of these things. After catching up on the latest election litigation disputes, David and Sarah discuss imminent lawless action in the context of the First Amendment and two of their favorite television shows.
Show Notes:
-Morse v. Frederick.
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Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg were in the hot seat again on Tuesday, answering questions from Senate Judiciary Committee members about the policing of misinformation and controversial speech on their platforms. The biggest takeaway from the hearing? Both political parties want to regulate Big Tech, but for very different reasons. As David argues, it’s not just that liberals want more censorship and conservatives want less of it. “It’s that liberals want Big Tech censorship in exactly the areas where conservatives want less censorship,” especially as it pertains to hate speech and disinformation. Is there any room for compromise in the war against big tech? Our podcast hosts break it down in layman’s terms. Also on today’s episode: an update on COVID-19’s third wave, Biden’s Cabinet picks, and Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election.
Show Notes:
-Reuters poll on Republicans’ perception of election.
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Jonah the Globetrotter has once again scattered to the four winds, temporarily leaving The Remnant once more in the capable hands of David French. Today, David speaks with his good friend Yascha Mounk, contributor to The Atlantic and founder of Persuasion. Mounk talks us through the current conditions within mainstream media outlets and how those institutions have the opportunity to lower the temperature of American discourse now that Trump is leaving office. David also talks about how a Biden administration might be expected to behave, and Yascha mentions that much of the conventional wisdom about the presidential election results are not only misguided, but that they often “underestimate the intelligence of the American people.”
Show Notes:
-David’s newsletter, The French Press
-Yascha’s new publication, Persuasion
-David Shor’s 2020 postmortem
-The earliest mention of “nutpicking” that the Remnant crew could find
-Jonathan Haidt’s Heterodox Academy
-“Beirut on the Charles”
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A segment of the right-wing public has morphed into a conspiracy theory machine that is—in David’s words—propagating baseless voter fraud allegations at “a geometric rate that [bears] increasingly no relationship to the real world at the same time as the actual claims in court are just evaporating.” Why are people on the right and the left so susceptible to electoral conspiracy theories? After David and Sarah play catchup on the latest developments involving election litigation, they dive into a 1st Circuit race-based admissions case at Harvard, the latest updates on DACA, and The Mandalorian.
Show Notes:
-Andrew Fleischman thread on election lawsuits
-Harvard affirmative action case, DACA decision, history of discrimination with SAT and Jewish applicants
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This week’s Ruminant sees Jonah reach his final form, as he begins with post-election punditry before seamlessly transitioning into a brand of deep-cut, Grade A political-nerd eggheadery the likes of which are rarely seen even on this vaunted podcast. Listen as Jonah effortlessly bounces in a positively pinball-esque manner between Whittaker Chambers, Orwell, AOC, Joe Manchin, James Burham, Cicero, and obscure Italian Communist Party intellectuals, in a display that will both amaze and delight.
Show Notes:
-This week’s Wednesday “news”letter
-The genuine Friday G-File for this week
-“Second Thoughts on James Burnham”
-The Beaconsfield Position
-This week’s Remnant with Kevin Williamson
-Jonah’s column on Joe Manchin
-“That bit from Cicero”
-Jim Geraghty: “Trump was not stabbed in the back”
-The Bureaucratisation of the World by Bruno Rizzi
-Charles Murray’s By the People: Rebuilding Liberty Without Permission
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Is the Republican Party in the midst of a policy wasteland? Today’s guest, Ben Ginsberg, surely thinks so. According to Ginsberg, who is perhaps the most prominent Republican election lawyer of our time, the future of the GOP rests on its ability to transform its policy agenda into one that appeals to minorities and women. “If [the GOP] can avoid the circular firing squad and instead concentrate on positive policy ideas to appeal to voters,” Ginsberg warns, then “there is a chance for the resurrection of the party.” Stick around for a conversation about our democracy’s nonexistent voter fraud problem and the GOP’s concerted effort to restrict access to the polls.
Show Notes:
-“My party is destroying itself on the altar of Trump,” by Ben Ginsberg in the Washington Post.
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On today’s program, Jonah chats with an old friend who will definitely NOT polarize the Remnant audience whatsoever (If we wish hard enough then it has to come true, right?): National Review’s Kevin Williamson. Williamson is out with a new book, Big White Ghetto. Jonah sets up Kevin for a heaping helping of rank punditry to start things off before moving into some book-talk and some eggheadery. In addition to Jonah’s efforts to make Kevin explicate his self-described political ideology (“anarcho-capitalist Eisenhower libertarian”), the two also discuss the ways in which America’s titular big white ghetto actually, well, became a ghetto, and what the solutions might be for the people who feel trapped in struggling communities. In Kevin’s mind, part of the issue is that no one in politics is comfortable saying something that is obviously true: “Cities and towns disaggregate and disincorporate over time, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. But this is also why I’m not running for office.”
Show Notes:
-Kevin’s new book, definitely in the running for “Greatest Subtitle Ever” – Big White Ghetto: Dead Broke, Stone-Cold Stupid, and High on Rage in the Dank Woolly Wilds of the “Real America”
-Karl Rove: This election won’t be overturned
-Gangsters don’t have a retirement plan
-Conrad Black’s column
-Dee Dee Myers appearing generally confused
-Jonah’s piece on Republicans and cities
-Kevin, reporting from Eastern Kentucky
-The most recent Dispatch Podcast
-Eisenhower’s response to the prospect of dropping nukes on Dien Bien Phu
-The glories of Taco Villa
-The Remnant with John McWhorter
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The Trump campaign is swinging for the fences in most of its litigation efforts in hopes that at least some of its legal arguments will be successful. But as our podcast hosts remind us, most of the president’s post-election lawsuits are unlikely to change the outcome even if the Trump campaign scores a few victories along the way. “The Trump administration could win, dunk on the opposition, hang on the rim, taunt its opponents, and nothing changes,” David explains. On today’s podcast, David and Sarah explain the overall legal context surrounding the president’s ongoing election litigation efforts and give us the lowdown on the latest voter fraud conspiracy theories. Plus, David and Sarah break down Supreme Court oral arguments for the Affordable Care Act case and discuss a race-based admissions lawsuit at Harvard.
Show Notes:
-“Fact Check: Debunking the Hammer and Scorecard Conspiracy Theory” by Khaya Himmelman in The Dispatch.
-“Fact Check: Explaining the False Allegations About Dominion Voting Systems” by Alec Dent in The Dispatch.
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Secretary of Defense Mark Esper got the boot on Monday in a characteristic Twitter announcement from President Trump. Esper’s sudden dismissal was accompanied by a firing spree of numerous other Pentagon officials who were quickly replaced with Trump loyalists, raising a lot of questions and alarm bells in D.C.’s national security bubble. Sarah and the guys break down competing theories that have tried to dissect what the Pentagon purge is all about. According to David, “the moves only really make sense in the context of planning for a second term.” Tune in for a discussion of emerging arguments surrounding the future of the GOP, ongoing election lawsuits, and the conspiratorial trajectory of conservative media.
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch Fact Check.
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In the Before Times, when we’d all walk around bookstores putting our dangerously diseased digits on various tomes without a care in the world, did you notice a recurring phenomenon? It’s been the case for the past few years that the nonfiction sections of any major bookstore are filled with a glut of “Trump era” books – either memoirs from officials, books attempting to psychologize the man himself, or vaguely rant-y polemics that are big on rhetoric but light on substance. What if, hypothetically, you wanted to torture yourself by entering a purgatory-like state in which you read around 150 of those things? That’s what Carlos Lozada – book critic for the Washington Post – did so that you don’t have to.
Today, Jonah speaks with Lozada about how he was able to synthesize the “Trump canon” into a set of identifiable narratives about this moment in American politics, eventually resulting in his own new book, What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era.
Show Notes:
-Carlos’ book, What Were We Thinking
-Jonah on The Greening of America: “Stupendously awful”
-Miles Taylor, “senior administration official”?
-“LODESTAR!”
-The largely unread followup to Fire and Fury
-Don McGahn’s crazy 2 years in the administration
-Carlos reviews Michael Cohen’s bizarre book
-Solzhenitsyn in prison
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On this weekend’s Ruminant, Jonah asks why we have to make American politics even more difficult than they already are. Why is it that, in an election that reveals Americans’ contested preferences so obviously, that we have to continue to turn up the heat by piling on additional conspiracy theories about the rigging of the election? Maybe, as Jonah thinks, this simply reveals a series of “deeply unpatriotic commitments” among our political and commentariat classes. He makes his way to greener pastures by talking about our glorious canine companions, and by addressing some of the supposedly highfalutin concerns of those on the right looking to out-think the market in our populist moment.
Show Notes:
-Get tickets to The Dispatch’s event, “What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond”
-Chris Stirewalt, rightfully serene as always
-Gingrich: "You Are Watching An Effort To Steal The Presidency Of The United States"
-The Remnant with Razib
-The Remnant with Jim Geraghty
-Hayek’s “The Use of Knowledge in Society”
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Does a video show someone burning ballots with votes for Trump? No. Did Michigan ‘magically’ find 138,339 votes for Joe Biden? Nope. What about Wisconsin? Did voter turnout exceed the number of registered voters in the state? A thousand times no. But tight vote counts in battleground states have laid the perfect groundwork for election disinformation to explode online over the past few days. As Steve points out, some bad actors on social media and cable news simply “don’t care whether what they’re saying is actually true.” But not to worry, Dispatch fact checkers Alec Dent and Khaya Himmelman—along with staff writer Andrew Egger—join the podcast today to debunk conspiracy theories surrounding election fraud so you don’t have to.
Show Notes:
-Join The Dispatch for a post-election gathering featuring congressional leadership and top policy experts November 9-10: Sign up here!
-Click here for all of our latest fact checks.
-“Biden Had No Election Coattails,” by Karl Rove.
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At a moment where punditry can feel relatively grim – mostly due to the feeling of instability resulting from this endless election – Jonah wanted to have on someone who was capable of a different variety of punditry. Who fits the bill better for a political commentary of “pluckish optimism” than National Review’s Jim Geraghty, who displayed his infinite humility by choosing not to wear his brand new “Remnant 10-Timer” Championship Belt on the Zoom call? Jim gives his analysis regarding many of the questions that will remain for conservatives after the election is decided: Whither goes the GOP? (A “multi-ethnic, working class, populist party?) What is the correct story to tell about Latino voters and Trump? (And why is the mainstream media adopting the most racist interpretation of this situation rather than the most accurate?) And, most importantly, is Mar-a-Lago Trump’s Elba, or his St. Helena?
Show Notes:
-National ReviewJim’s page at
-Josh Hawley’s retweet of Adrian Vermeule
-“Two moon parties”
-Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row AmericaChris Arnade’s
-William Rusher, who often said that politicians will always disappoint you
-Wednesday’s “news”letter
-McConnell and Biden are, like, basically friends, guys
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Twitter is brewing with wildly unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud as election officials in battleground states continue to count ballots. For today’s myth busters edition of the podcast, David and Sarah discuss the nitty gritty details surrounding ballot-counting processes and whether the conspiratorial claims surrounding voter fraud allegations have any merit. “If voter fraud is a religion for you,” Sarah warns, “go find yourself another pod today.” They wrap things up with a conversation about exit polls and some Supreme Court punditry.
Show Notes:
-The Sweep: “Your 2020 Election Night Guide,” Employment Division v. Smith.
-Join The Dispatch for a post-election gathering featuring congressional leadership and top policy experts November 9-10: Sign up here!
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Minutes before 5 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, the president took to Twitter to claim victory in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. The president also said he “hereby [claims]” Michigan “if, in fact,... there was a large number of secretly dumped ballots as has been widely reported!” The president and his closest allies are also alleging that late-arriving votes are evidence of fraud. What should we make of all this? “This is the president of the United States acting like a Third World dictator,” Steve says on today's episode. “It’s complete nonsense. It’s made up. The only rhyme or reason to what he’s doing is he wants to count votes that he thinks are his and disqualify votes that he thinks are not.” On today’s show, our podcast hosts dissect this year’s polling catastrophe, where their electoral predictions went sour, and what our country might look like in January 2021.
Show Notes:
-Jonah’s Wednesday G-File: “The Most Chaotic Timeline,” The Sweep: “Your 2020 Election Night Guide,” The Morning Dispatch: “It Ain't Over Till It's Over.”
-Join The Dispatch for a post-election gathering featuring congressional leadership and top policy experts November 9-10: Sign up here!
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On this momentous day, in which the very nature of American politics may be defined anew for the foreseeable future, Jonah wanted to have on Razib Khan, director of science at Insitome, to talk about the most relevant, up-to-the-minute, topical subject so that, in this consciousness-shifting moment, we may be able to hold on for dear life and come up with a coherent worldview amidst the chaos. That subject, you ask? Dog genetics. How did Man’s Best Friend become such a highly variegated species – some big, some small, some smart, others dumb, and on and on with countless other variables? Razib fills us in on the state of research into canine development over the last 10,000 years, why the regional variations between lineages of dog are so distinct, and how the new frontiers of this genetic research seek to address “how these animals became what they are, and how they evolved alongside humans in response to environmental pressures.” We also get to hear Razib voice what may be the most controversial statement of our political era: “Wolves are smarter than dogs.” Tune in to hear Razib defend this heretical stance.
Show Notes:
-Razib’s freshly-minted newsletter
-Get tickets for The Dispatch’s event, “What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond”
-Razib in Quillette: “The Evolutionary History of Man’s Best Friend”
-The Remnant with Cass Sunstein
-Eusocial animals
-The Invaders: How Humans and Their Dogs Drove the Neanderthals to Extinction
-Przewalski’s Horse
-Origins and genetic legacy of prehistoric dogs
-NYT Science writeup of the magazine article
-Ancestry’s German-turned-Irish guy
-Border Collie intelligence
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It’s Election Day eve and our podcast hosts have their presidential race forecasting models at the ready. After a helpful breakdown on pivot counties in swing states, David and Sarah give us some punditry on the 15 Senate races they’re watching closely this cycle. “Generally speaking, the Senate and presidential numbers are getting closer together over the last few cycles, not farther apart,” Sarah says on today’s podcast. Check out this prediction heavy episode of Advisory Opinions, in which our hosts give us a state of play on the presidential race and offer their thoughts on a controversial election lawsuit in the Lone Star state.
Show Notes:
-David’s latest French Press, “I’m Here To Remind You That Trump Can Still Win” by Nate Silver in FiveThirtyEight, FiveThirtyEight’s presidential polling average in Pennsylvania, Texas election lawsuit.
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Seeing that there’s literally one story in the news right now (AN ELECTION IS HAPPENING SOON), Jonah decided to use his time on this weekend’s Ruminant to touch on some topics adjacent to the election, but also to incorporate some more evergreen topics into the mix. For example, there’s a discussion of the eternal return of the “get money out of politics” argument – and why Jonah thinks the argument is pointless in a world where the biggest benefit a candidate can get is a hysterical cycle of earned media – an unpopular defense of the slow, ungraceful politics of Mitch McConnell, equally unpopular opinions (at least in some quarters of the right) on the Biden scandal, and most importantly, why “your meatloaf is, like, 5,000 years old.”
Show Notes:
-Get tickets to The Dispatch’s post-election event, “What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond”
-This week’s G-File
-The Chronicles of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg
-Charles Cook: Don’t expect a contested election
-The Wednesday “news”letter from this week
-“I’m not a witch, I’m you!”
-McConnell’s 1998 opinion on campaign finance reform
-How Innovation Works, by Matt Ridley
-It’s a mistake for Republicans to leave cities out of their coalition
-A forum of Europeans talking about how their ghettos are in the suburbs
-Ten Global TrendsJonah’s column, inspired by
-ExpressVPN.com/Remnant to get 3 months free off a year-long plan
-Bradleyfdn.org/Liberty to listen to Andrew McCarthy on the latest episode of We the People
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What do Republican lawmakers want the Republican party to look like in a post-Trump era? “There’s a great fear of one scenario which is that Donald Trump loses in a race that is extremely tight,” Axios reporter Jonathan Swan tells Sarah and Steve on today’s show. “In that scenario, it would be much more difficult for elected Republicans to disown Trumpism and make the case that this was an aberrant cancer that needs to be excised.” Tune in for a discussion of Trump’s spending problem, the state of the polling industry, and what to expect from a Biden administration.
Show Notes:
-
Join The Dispatch for a post-election gathering featuring congressional leadership and top policy experts November 9-10: Sign up here!
-
Preview of Jonathan Swan’s HBO interview with Sen. Ted Cruz.
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Today two-thirds of the GLoP Culture podcast are together (a veritable biumvirate, one could say) to keep you up to date with some pre-election punditry while also distracting you just enough with pop culture news to prevent a sense of total crushing morosity. John Podhoretz of Commentary magazine joins Jonah to discuss the realities of Jewish political life in America, and to level with us about how realistic the chances of an upset are in the coming election. Then, John – with his It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia-style cork board at hand, interconnected strings and all – walks a perplexed Jonah through the evermore-confusing details of the Hunter Biden scandal, who seems to have done what, and what parts of the whole mess you should even care about. Then, in addition to a lightning round of pop culture questions, the guys also discuss their NYC-nostalgia, and their oddly specific memories for local television commercials from their childhood. While all of those lines seem cheesy now, John points out that “Maybe there’s something to be said for them, as it’s been nearly 60 years and I remember every word.”
Show Notes:
-
Get your tickets to The Dispatch’s post-election event, “What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond”
-
Commentary, the 75-year old monthly of intellectual analysis and political probity… you know the rest
-John on the possibility of Jewish conservatism
-The surge of American anti-Semitic violence
-“Timmy’s my Jewish friend”
- “Don’t cross the street in the middle of the block”
-The oddly sensual Carvel ice cream commercial
-New Yorker The giant excerpt of Obama’s memoir
-CommentaryIrving Kristol on McCarthyism in
-Tucker loses his mail
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We’ve already seen record early turnout this election cycle. Our hosts have three major takeaways from the surge: 1) It means the polls are more likely to be accurate (the registered voter number is likely to reflect the actual voter number), 2) It means that we’re going to see interesting shift in how both candidates’ spend time on the campaign trail before Tuesday, 3) It means we have a record number of absentee ballots, which will lead to a concomitant surge in election litigation. In the hopper for the rest of today’s podcast: judicial oaths of office, turnout in swing states, and election litigation galore (with a close look at Wisconsin and Pennsylvania!)
Show Notes:
-Join The Dispatch for a post-election gathering featuring congressional leadership and top policy experts November 9-10: Sign up here!
-Marquette Law poll on voters’ optimism that their preferred candidate will win, Wednesday’s Morning Dispatch: “Election Litigationpalooza,” a statement on the Pennsylvania ballot deadline litigation from Justices Alito, Gorsuch, and Thomas.
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The idea that Joe Biden will somehow heal America in a post-Trump era has become the closing argument of the Democratic candidate’s campaign. Will Biden’s “return to normalcy” pitch constrain his presidency? There’s a lot of ill will festering among congressional Democrats over coronavirus relief negotiations and the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Assuming post-Election Day Democratic majorities in both the House and the Senate, will Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi pull Biden further left? Our podcast hosts are here for the breakdown. With less than a week until Election Day, Sarah and the guys discuss both presidential candidates’ closing rally schedules, ongoing election litigation, and whether Mitch McConnell is the real savior of the Trump years.
Show Notes:
-Tim Alberta and Chris Stirewalt on the Remnant, David’s French Press: “The Curse of ‘Pandemic Law’ Strikes the Electoral Process,”today’s Morning Dispatch: “Election Litigationpalooza,” and “How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk” by Josh Katz and Wilson Andrews in the New York Times.
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Could Bigfoot Erotica influence the election? Fan-favorite Chris Stirewalt of Fox News says, “It’s a possibility.” (BIG IF TRUE) No, but really, Jonah wanted to have Chris back on The Remnant to cut through the vast amount of statistical noise being generated in the run-up to the election. With some polls suggesting a Biden landslide, other polls predicting a closer-than-expected outcome, and yet still more organizations suggesting a legion of silent-assassin-Republicans, waiting in the wings to shock the pollsters once again, Stirewalt clarifies these contradictory auguries with a brevity and hilarity rarely found in the mucky world of punditry. While the haruspicy might make for a very unhygienic office space, Stirewalt gets the job done, and that’s why we trust his expertise.
Show Notes:
-Get tickets to The Dispatch’s post-election event, “What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond”
-Follow Chris’s work at Fox News
-Vote SMOD 2020
-Muhlenberg College’s state polling for PA
-John Zogby
-Paul, proud octopus and FIFA Diviner
-Ron Johnson’s business background
-The Partisan Vote Index
-Perino & Stirewalt: I’ll Tell You What
-Harrys.com/DINGO to receive a Harry’s Trial Set
-TommyJohn.com/REMNANT to save 15% on your first order
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Echelon Insights predicts that we will see record turnout this election cycle. How might a surge in, say, 2omillion new voters this year affect the presidential race in battleground states? “If we’re talking the day after the election about why the polls were wrong,” Sarah warns on today’s episode, “it will be because of the extraordinary turnout, and [pollsters] were unable to figure out where those turnout increases were coming from.” Tune in to today’s episode to hear David and Sarah’s take on early voting in swing states, the importance of political rallies, and the DoJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Google.
Show Notes:
-Join The Dispatch for a post-election gathering featuring congressional leadership, top policy and political experts November 9-10: Sign up here!
-Most popular websites since 1993 ranked, Google’s statement against the DoJ lawsuit, and “For Trump Superfans, Huge Rallies Can't Resume Soon Enough,” by Andrew Egger in The Dispatch.
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At the end of an especially busy week in pundit-world, Jonah sits down with us all to ruminate on some of the more noteworthy topics that may have flown by too quickly to actually wrap one’s brain around them. On the docket: The final debate, some useful counter-programming on the Biden email hullabaloo, getting (erm…) a “grip” on Jeffrey Toobin, and much more. Plus, Jonah has some more evergreen thoughts on the gradual defining down of conservatism, and what the G-File has meant to him after all these years.
Show Notes:
-Get tickets to The Dispatch’s post-election event – What’s Next: Election 2020 and Beyond
-The Dispatch’s final debate wrap-up
-Star Trek: “Patterns of Force”
-This week’s G-File
-The “MacronLeaks”
-The Editors podcast talking about the Biden email scandal
-The members-only (so to speak) Midweek Epistle
-Lucy.co, use promo code DINGO to get 20% off of all products
-ExpressVPN.com/Remnant for 3 months free with a 1-year plan
-Bradleyfdn.org/Liberty to subscribe to We the People
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Is the presidential race where the polls say it is? What might pollsters be missing this election cycle? Is there a scenario in which Biden wins the electoral college handedly and Republicans somehow hold the Senate? Polls suggest that Republican senators’ reelection odds aren’t looking too sunny in Maine, Colorado, and Arizona. But what about Republican Senator Thom Tillis in North Carolina? “Everything comes down to whether a late breaking sex scandal in North Carolina can preserve a seat that Republicans a few weeks ago thought was lost,” says Josh Kraushaar, National Journal’s senior national political columnist, on today’s episode. “Ultimately, they’re hoping on a Democratic blunder on the last month of the campaign to save the Senate.” Join Sarah, Steve and Josh for a conversation about prospective voter turnout, party infighting on both sides of the aisle, and the senators who are distancing themselves from Trump to save the Senate.
Show Notes:
-TheEconomist’s presidential election forecast, “Republicans learn the benefits of diversity … the hard way” by Josh Kraushaar in National Journal, “McCarthy locking up support despite fears of GOP losses” by Melanie Zanona and John Bresnahan.
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Last time Tim Alberta, Politico’s chief political correspondent, was on the program, life in America was crazy, but in a typical, everyday, post-2016 kind of way. We figured that it was time to have him back now that we’re in the process of rushing towards a new form of crazy at Spaceballs-levels of ludicrous speed (“They’ve gone plaid!”). Tim takes us through some of the issues that voters in purple states actually seem to care about (Hint: The Hunter Biden drama isn’t one of them) while also touching on the confusing lack of a substantive foreign policy debate in this election cycle, the simpler times of the Christmas Tree tax and the Dubai ports deal, and the shocking value-add provided to one’s life by the purchase of an Arby’s gyro.
Show Notes:
-Get tickets for The Dispatch’s “What’s Next” event
-PoliticoTim’s page at
-American CarnageTim’s most recent book,
-Matt Glassman talks about the lack of a foreign policy discussion
-The Christmas Tree tax
-Jonah on the 2006 Dubai ports deal
-Congress slowly spending more time on memes
-Matt Gaetz’s raiding party
-KittyPooClub.com, enter promo code DINGO for 20% off your first order
-Bradleyfdn.org/Liberty to watch the latest episode of We The People with Justin Danhof
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The story that the New York Post published last week about Hunter Biden raised all sorts of red flags for veteran journalists. How did they come into possession of the information in the first place? How did they authenticate the story before publishing it? All things considered, the available reporting process indicates that the New York Post’s story was so shaky within the Post’s own staff that the person who wrote it didn’t want his name on the byline. “That doesn’t say that the information is false,” David concedes on today’s episode, “But what it says is that the procedures to vet the information before they put the information into the public square were inadequate.” Tune in to hear our podcast hosts discuss voter enthusiasm, liberal anxiety over a 2016 repeat, and what to expect from Thursday’s presidential debate.
Show Notes:
-Join The Dispatch for a post-election gathering featuring Congressional leadership, top policy and political experts Nov. 9-10:sign up here!
-Post-Debate Dispatch Live tomorrow, “Liberal Anxiety Over a 2016 Repeat May Be Why We Won't Have One” by Jonah Goldberg in The Dispatch, “The Hunter Biden Story: A Microcosm of Our Miserable Times,” by David French in The Dispatch.
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Co-founder of Echelon Insights, Golden Retriever companion, and professional Tea Leaf-Reader Kristen Soltis Anderson breaks a long hiatus from Remnant appearances by returning to the show today. As conventional wisdom on the right settles into the idea that “the polls were wrong in 2016,” Kristen gives us a bit of a reality check on why the conditions in 2020 aren’t that simple. She also talks about her newest research on the attitudes of young voters, with some surprising results. For one, young people aren’t nearly as pessimistic as you may have been led to believe: “Two-thirds of Gen Z and Millenials believe that they can achieve the American Dream … through their own actions.”
Show Notes:
-Sign up for The Dispatch’s “What’s Next” event
-Kristen’s latest research for the Walton Family Foundation
- KSA’s Twitter thread on how emotion continues to infiltrate election analysis
-FiveThirtyEight’s politics podcast
-Pew: Younger people remained far less likely to [view the Vietnam War as a mistake] than those age 50 and older.
-Grand New Party, by Reihan Salam and Ross Douthat
-Try ZipRecruiter for free at ZipRecruiter.com/Dingo
-DonorsTrust.org/Dingo to receive a free copy of “6 Reasons to Use a Donor-Advised Fund”
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Still shocked by the grand polling meltdown of 2016, many Americans on both sides of the aisle are convinced that Biden’s double digit national polling lead is inaccurate and that Trump will somehow win the election in a landslide. This theory has three main hypotheses: 1) Trump is such a uniquely divisive candidate that his supporters lie to pollsters and say they plan to vote for Biden, 2) the likely electorate problem, and 3) Republicans are less likely to talk to pollsters in the first place. Sarah and David break down these theories and explain why they’re overblown given the data we have at this point in the race. Stay tuned for a legal breakdown of the Supreme Court’s latest cert grants related to deer jacking, the hot pursuit doctrine, asylum seekers, and the southern border wall.
Show Notes:
-Join The Dispatch for a post-election gathering featuring Congressional leadership, top policy and political experts Nov. 9-10: sign up here!
-Nate Cohn for the New York Times and “Are Silent Trump Voters Real, or Just a Myth?” by Jonah Goldberg in The Dispatch.
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This weekend’s Ruminant sees Jonah starting off in some classic Remnant Bingo™, but peppered in with a healthy dose of interesting new information on those topics – in this case, anti-Enlightenment nationalism, and the establishment of fair rules under classically liberal societies. This comes along in addition to a rundown of the ham-fisted efforts by many outlets to pretend that “originalism” is actually something much more radical and antediluvian than it really is. Then, Jonah moves on to a topic that our culture could desperately use some clarification on: “Justice” and “social justice” are two different things – and “bending the will of every institution towards social justice … is how you end up with a kind of soft totalitarianism.” And, in this particularly relaxed-fit episode, we even get some rank punditry on the tail end on subjects like the censored New York Post story and much more.
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch’s “What’s Next”Get your tickets now to event
-The most recent G-File
-Against Empathy by Paul Bloom
-Mazie Hirono being weird
-Making fun of originalism to own the cons
-Live Not by LiesRod Dreher’s new book,
-Morning Joe Rod responds to his appearance
-Post The story in question
-ExpressVPN.com/Remnant to get three months free off of a year-long plan
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How do journalists and tech platforms determine what information is verifiable online? How can news consumers determine which media outlets to trust when the line between partisan bias and disinformation becomes hazier and hazier? On today’s episode, David and Sarah are joined by Renée DiResta—a technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory and a writer at Wired and the Atlantic—for a conversation about disinformation online. “Anybody with a laptop can make themselves look like a media organization, can use a variety of social media marketing techniques to grow an audience, and then can push out whatever they want to say to that audience,” DiResta warns. Where do we go from here? Tune in to learn about journalistic ethics surrounding the New York Post’s Hunter Biden story and what to expect from disinformation actors this election cycle.
Show Notes:
-“Emails reveal how Hunter Biden tried to cash in big on behalf of family with Chinese firm” by Emma Jo-Morris Gabriel Fonrouge in the New York Post, “The Conspiracies Are Coming From Inside the House” by Renée DiResta
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Here we are, in the wreckage of another simply wonderful Supreme Court confirmation hearing; who better to discuss the aftermath, next steps, and what these hearings do to the court than Ilya Shapiro? As Jonah says, Ilya is likely “the guest most consistently asked to make a comeback - mostly by the guest himself,” but it’s easy to see why. In addition to giving the 411 on why these hearings have transformed into so much “senatorial bloviation,” he also can talk about the bigger picture as a result of the research he did for his incredibly timely new book on the politicization of SCOTUS. It has been a long time coming for this return - and much like Ulysses’ journey back from Troy, it was worth the wait.
Show Notes:
-Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America's Highest CourtIlya’s book,
- Ilya in USA Today: End confirmation hearings
-Telefon, mind control scene
-Pete Buttigieg’s 5-5-5 Plan
-Barrett: Roe is not a super-precedent
-Barrett’s article on precedent
-Ginsburg’s history with Roe
-The history of an internecine fight on the right about judicial activism
-Ilya Shapiro on “Team Liberty”
- Shapiro on Shapiro
-Lucy.co, promo code DINGO for 20% off all products
-Bradleyfdn.org/Liberty to hear Trent England on the Electoral College
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It’s October 15, 2020, and 12.4 percent of the votes that were cast in the 2016 election have already been cast this election cycle. Sarah and David try to discern through the tea leaves what this means for voter turnout this year. “There’s two different schools of thought here,” Sarah says. “One is that we’re on pace to have record turnout and one is that we’re simply banking Election Day votes early this time.” On today’s episode, our podcast hosts also discuss the journalistic, political, legal implications of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden story before breaking down the key ingredients to a successful marriage.
Show Notes:
-Divided We Fall by David French, “Emails reveal how Hunter Biden tried to cash in big on behalf of family with Chinese firm” by Emma Jo-Morris Gabriel Fonrouge in the New York Post, Malwarebytes Inc. v. Enigma Software Group USA, LLC, “Why Only Amy Coney Barrett Gets to Have It All” by Katelyn Beaty in the New York Times.
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How is Amy Coney Barrett holding up in her Senate confirmation hearings? Well, her record is squeaky clean, she’s held fast to the Ginsburg rule, and she’s remained calm and collected despite the Democrats’ best efforts to break her composure. Another benefit from this hearing, as Sarah points out, is that “the media has finally come around to understanding that the Affordable Care Act is not going to be tossed in the trash.” On the flip side, the language of court packing on the left has shifted in the opposite direction, where Democrats now argue that the term simply refers to the act of filling existing vacancies with conservative judges they don’t like. On today’s podcast, Sarah and the guys walk us through the evolution of court packing in recent decades before giving us a temperature check on the presidential election, several competitive Senate races, and the unmasking probe commissioned by Attorney General Bill Barr.
Show Notes:
-Morning Consult poll on ACB’s confirmation, the Cook Political Report, and David’s latest French Press: “Amy Coney Barrett and the Obamacare Debacle, Explained.”
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Today, we bring you Will Saletan of Slate – after having struggled mightily against the malevolent whims of technology in order to get it ready. Not since Episode 11 has an installment of The Remnant so risked the sanity – nay, the very essence – of all participants involved. Luckily, the conversation more than makes up for these struggles. Jonah asks Will what it’s like to be a genuinely liberal guy in an industry space that has moved largely past actual liberalism, and then Will turns the tables on Jonah and asks him what it’s like to be genuinely conservative in an era of dwindling conservatism. Afterwards, stick around for SCOTUS punditry and what could be described as a worrying amount of Hegel-talk (for awareness: a worrying amount of Hegel-talk is any Hegel-talk).
Show Notes:
-SlateWill’s page at
-New River Media
-Dallas retcons itself
-Candidate Trump reacts to the crowd while announcing travel ban
-“The 5-5-5 Plan”
-“What I Learned From Amy Coney Barrett,” by Laura Wolk
-Fukuyama’s piece on social capital
-LiquidIV.com, use promo code DINGO at checkout for 25% off anything you order
-Keeps.com/Dingo to receive your first month of treatment for free
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The Senate Judiciary Committee kicked off its confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett today with a predictably partisan spin. There were dog whistles from Republicans about religious tests and procedural complaints from Democrats in defense of the Affordable Care Act and against advancing Barrett’s nomination before November 3. But all things considered, the first day of the hearings was relatively uneventful, which may have come as a shock to those who watched the rather lively Brett Kavanaugh hearings in 2018.
Our podcast hosts argue that boredom is a win for the Biden campaign’s Do No Harm strategy, as any sound bite attacking Barrett’s religion or character could depress the Democratic candidate’s current 10-point lead over Trump. David argues that if Democrats want to preserve Biden’s steady lead, they will do everything to avoid even “a single viral moment that puts them in the villain role” during these hearings. Check out our latest episode to hear David and Sarah discuss the Affordable Care Act’s lifespan, partisan judicial elections on the state level, and the Capitol Hill Baptist Church lawsuit.
Show Notes:
-FiveThirtyEight’s presidential polling average, and The Sweep: The Witching Hour.
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TO OUR FAVORITE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD! Not seniors this time around, but Remnant listeners, that is. Jonah returns to ruminate with some fire in his belly this week – on the wasting of energy on Twitter, the bizarre phenomenon of the mainstream-media respectable conservative, court packing, The Worst President in History™, a revisiting of the weed conversation from the last Remnant, and more. Also, the quote of the day – or maybe the month, or the year – might be this: “The very essence of serious thinking … is the ability to make distinctions between superficially similar things.”
Show Notes:
-G-FileThis week’s
-Steve Schmidt picks a pointless fight with Matt Lewis and Noah Rothman
-“Respectable Conservatives”
-Brian Morgenstern invokes HIPAA rights when talking about Trump’s negative COVID test
-“A switch in time saves nine”
-“Heil Woodrow,” something of a self-own in review form
-“TO MY FAVORITE PEOPLE!”
-Remnant This week’s with Jonathan Adler
-Star TrekIn case you also wanted to get addicted to a
-Bradleyfdn.org/Liberty to subscribe to We the People and listen to Frederick Hess on education policy
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Donald Trump is trailing in the polls by roughly 4.2 points in Arizona, a state Republican presidential candidates have won consistently in recent decades (with the exception of Bob Dole in 1996). Our podcast hosts are joined today by New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin, who explains the demographic changes that have resulted in such a quick political realignment in Arizona and the Sun Belt more broadly. If the polls are all correct and the GOP is at risk losing Arizona, then why is Trump spending so much time campaigning there? “The difference between a modest Biden victory and an electoral landslide is the Sun Belt,” Martin tells Sarah and Steve.
Beyond demographic changes in key battleground states, public opinion surveys have continuously shown that the American public is much more cautious about the coronavirus than the president. For months, President Trump has downplayed the pandemic by holding in-person rallies, refusing to wear a mask, and railing against the efficacy of mail-in-voting. Do Trump’s advisers simply not have the guts to tell him that his mishandling of the coronavirus is losing voters? “It’s just hard to use polling data to get him to act in ways that he does not want to act,” Martin argues. Listen to today’s episode for some thoughts about online campaign fundraising, Mitch McConnell’s last ditch effort to save the GOP’s Senate majority, and the life expectancy of “Anti-Fake News” Trumpism in the Republican Party.
Show Notes:
-Today’s Morning Dispatchabout Mitch McConnell’s GOP strategy, “Trump's Path to Victory (With a Nod to Washington State)” by Sean Trende in RealClearPolitics.
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Remnant first-timer Jonathan Adler joins Jonah today, not to watch Cheech and Chong over a bag of Doritos, but to talk about the politics of marijuana. Earlier in the year (right around the time that the world was ending, actually), Adler edited a volume entitled Marijuana Federalism, which explored the legal contradictions within the laws regarding cannabis in the U.S.; the situation is somewhat unprecedented, in that we now have a substance that is a federal crime to possess, while many states have had such an overwhelming turn in public opinion that this same substance has now become perfectly legal within their own jurisdiction. How do individual states get away with this without the feds swooping in? The amusing answer is something like: Eh, turns out that the feds are pretty understaffed.
Jonah then moves on to his role - well-known among the Remnant fan base - as Inquisitor of Libertarians, figuring out how Adler feels about total drug legalization. He gives one of the most grounded and logical responses to this inquisition we’ve ever heard on the program, continually emphasizing the fundamental fact of American federalism: “The freedom to live how you want to live also includes the freedom to live conservatively.” This brings the two gents down the avenues of nationalism, post-liberalism, and the hope for a return to localism, all wrapped up with a bow of “420” puns that Jonah just can’t help but put to good use.
Show Notes:
-Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane
-The origin of “laboratories of democracy”
-Vitamin E Acetate as the root cause of many vaping illnesses
-Libertarianism: A Primer
-The Office, a dinosaur in internet years, is Netflix’s most popular show
-For the uninitiated, the fusionist’s Bible
-Acton.org/Dingo to subscribe to the Acton Line podcast
-Gabi.com/Remnant to stop overpaying on your insurance today
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Sen. Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence faced off Wednesday evening for their first and only vice presidential debate. But analysis of the candidates’ performance was disrupted by Trump’s announcement Thursday morning that he will not participate in the October 15 virtual debate against Joe Biden. Is the president bluffing? Or is he simply trying to hide his COVID-19 symptoms from the American public? The president has released a series of videos via Twitter this week in which he assures the American public of his recovery. But these videos are produced by the White House, meaning they can do multiple takes and edit out any evidence of the president’s lingering symptoms. “You can’t do that when in a debate,” Sarah points out, reminding us that any of the president’s coughs or bouts of heavy breathing would instantly go viral if caught on-screen. After some punditry about what this means for the Trump campaign’s reelection strategy, tune in for Sarah and David’s thoughts on the forthcoming Amy Coney Barrett Senate confirmation hearings, the strategic ambiguity of Biden’s court packing comments, and the criminal allegations against Texas attorney general Ken Paxton.
Show Notes:
-30 day free trial at The Dispatch and Divided We Fallby David French.
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Do this week’s national presidential polling averages doom Donald Trump’s chance at winning the election? Joe Biden has maintained a steady national polling lead of 6 to 9 points for months now, with no signs of letting up as we approach November 3. The latest CNN, NBC, and Rasmussen polls from this week show Biden in a 16-, 14-, and 12-point lead, respectively. “Even if [these polls] are outliers on the top number,” Jonah says, “The unspoken story about all of this is Biden is running away with it with seniors.” Trump won seniors decisively in 2016 and a Democrat hasn’t won the demographic since former presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000. All things considered, our podcast hosts warn that this could be one of the biggest presidential sweeps since Bill Clinton defeated Bob Dole in 1996. Tune in for a conversation about the right’s transition to online social media trolling, the president’s Twitter addiction, and tonight’s upcoming vice presidential debate.
Show Notes:
-Post-debate Dispatch Live tonight, 30 day free trial at The Dispatch,CNN poll showing Biden in a 16-point lead, NBC poll showing Biden in a 14-point lead, Rasmussen poll showing Biden in a 12 -point lead, “4 Funny Feelings about 2020” by Tim Alberta in Politico,
-“Fan Service Is Not Serving Trump Well” by Jonah Goldberg in The Dispatch.
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Since the first six days of October 2020 have felt like 87 years, who’s better to sift through everything that has happened than one of TheDispatch’s own quadrumvirate of podcasters, Steve Hayes? Here to give Jonah the inside scoop on some of the background reporting he’s done for The Morning Dispatch, Steve has some ideas about how Trump’s overly-cinematic return to the White House could’ve been handled better, why there was a communication breakdown between Trump’s medical staff and his PR people, and, most mysteriously, what on God’s green earth Mark Meadows has been trying to do for the past few days.
Beyond these more Machiavellian machinations, they also delve into some of the downright silliness that’s gone on – such as the new pessimism that anything can even be done to stop COVID, since it’s a contagious disease (the stamping out of which has characterized (“Uh… literally the entire history of human civilization,” in Jonah’s words). They also give an update on the State of The Dispatch, and ponder what their place in the conservative media landscape may look like in a post-Trump era – whether that’s sooner or later.
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch30-day trial at , ends Thursday Oct. 8th at midnight
-The Morning Dispatch
-Watch as Sean Conley awkwardly flails
-A history of the administration’s bipolar relationship with Fauci
-“Why do we actually think we can stop the progression of a contagious disease?” – A thing unironically said by an elected official
-Mike Pence’s confessional piece on his negative campaign in Indiana
-The Joe Biden agenda
-The Dispatch’s opening manifesto
-DonorsTrust.org/Dingo to receive “6 Reasons to Use a Donor-Advised Fund”
-Go to CaucusRoom.com to experience a social network by and for conservatives
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Supreme Court oral arguments have resumed via telephone and our podcast hosts are nerding out. The court kicked off today with an interesting denial of cert from the Supreme Court on a case out of Kentucky involving Kim Davis, the county clerk who refused to certify marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2015 for religious reasons. “This petition provides a stark reminder of the consequences of Obergefell,” Justice Thomas wrote in a statement on Monday joined by Justice Alito. “By choosing to privilege a novel constitutional right over the religious liberty interests explicitly protected in the First Amendment, and by doing so undemocratically, the court has created a problem that only it can fix.” On today’s episode, our podcast hosts discuss the evolution of religious liberty and discrimination law, ongoing election disputes in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and the latest updates on the presidential campaign ad wars. Sarah and David wrap things up with a fun constitutional exercise by poking holes in the 25th Amendment and unpacking what happens when presidents die at different points in the cycle.
Show Notes:
-30 day free trial at The Dispatch, Divided We Fallby David French, Obergefell v. Hodges, Kim Davis v. David Ermold, “Applications and Implications of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment” by Akhil Reed Amar, “Is the Presidential Succession Law Constitutional?” by Akhil Reed Amar and Vikram David Amar.
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This weekend’s Ruminant features Jonah running through a set of possible scenarios that might play out given President Trump’s COVID diagnosis – if we do say so ourselves, it’s a positively David French-like methodology given the approach to David’s new book (Out now!). Will Trump be able to do a Zoom debate? Will Mike Pence have the opportunity to do more than he currently does (which, as of now, seems to be standing completely still in a pensive silence like a sculpture of a Roman general)?
Then, Jonah discusses the current partisan tendency for “both the right and the left [to] weaponized norms,” chastising opponents for hypocrisy while refusing to adopt responsibility for their own flubs that damage the constitutional order. He explores the ways in which this manifests in both the nationalism debates as well as the current SCOTUS mess, and how the more intellectually serious proponents of nationalism can’t seem to decide whether they actually like to play by the rules or make things up as they go. All of this is followed up by a veritable potpourri of quick hits: Inside baseball on how syndicated column publishing works, how dumb the tax code is, steaks, dogma, and more.
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch30-day trial at
-This week’s G-File
-Just in case you were wondering about how the Swiss executive branch works, since it comes up here rather often
-Trump’s battleground state polls are… not great
-Dispatch Podcast The on the debate
-“Facts have a liberal bias”
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Donald Trump shocked the world when he announced overnight via Twitter that he and the first lady tested positive for the coronavirus, a startling development in an already news-saturated week for the president.
Who better to discuss these momentous developments than Dr. Jonathan Reiner—a cardiologist, professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, former physician to Vice President Dick Cheney, and a consultant to the White House Medical Unit during the Bush, Obama, and Trump years?
Reiner joined Sarah and Steve for an insightful discussion that covered virtually all aspects of this significant development—from the details of the spread of the virus to the protocols of the White House Medical Unit, from the hopefully distant possibility of the need for continuity-of-government measures to the cardiological implications of COVID-19.
How did we get to this nightmare scenario? “It’s a failure of common sense,” Reiner tells our podcast hosts. “It’s a failure of masking.” Frankly speaking, the White House could have avoided this situation by limiting staffers’ and visitors’ proximity to the president, conducting meetings via secure video link, and instituting a universal mask-wearing mandate for all White House staffers at all times. None of this happened. Trump has downplayed the risk of the coronavirus for months now, interacting with White House staffers on a daily basis without a mask. “For those of us who know how viruses are spread—and it’s not that complicated—it was horrifying to see all these people in close proximity to the president,” Dr. Reiner said. “I thought it was really malpractice for the White House to allow so many people so close to the president.”
The president’s physician, Sean Conley, issued a statement on Friday saying he expects the president “to carry out his duties without interruption while recovering.” But how will the White House Medical Unit ensure a continuity of government if Trump becomes temporarily unfit for office due to COVID-19 complications? The 25th Amendment provides a pathway for a majority of the Cabinet secretaries to determine if the president is no longer fit for office or for the president to relinquish his duties voluntarily. “The Cabinet doesn’t have the medical capacity by themselves to make the determination so they would defer to the White House Medical Unit,” Reiner explained, which is staffed by career Army officers. “It would take a very mature, confident officer to say to the president, ‘Sir I don’t think you’re fit for duty right now, I think you should consider the 25th Amendment.’ Imagine that conversation with this particular patient.” Tune in for Reiner’s expert opinion on herd immunity, the nonsensical partisan split on mask-wearing, and how the country can move forward during such a perilous moment in American history.
Show Notes:
-Heart: An American Medical Odyssey by Jonathan Reiner, “Trump says he and first lady have tested positive for coronavirus” by Josh Dawsey and Colby Itkowitz.
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In true Remnant fashion, Jonah speaks to Seth Masket – a political scientist at the University of Denver – in an attempt to understand why so few people in American life actually get what they want out of their vote. In Seth’s new book, Learning from Loss, he traces the Democratic Party’s inability to come up with a coherent “autopsy” post-2016 as Republicans did post-2012 (which is not to say that the GOP actually followed its own advice; we wouldn’t have Trump if it did). There’s some debate punditry at the beginning, before Seth and Jonah swiftly move into the explanations that Democratic organizers and activists have developed for why Clinton lost to Trump. The primary explanations often focus on a contentious topic: identity politics. As Seth says, “Doing this research helped to remind me that all identity claims are essentially a construction,” but for something so artificial, they have a very outsized effect on our politics. While Seth and Jonah effectively take opposite sides on this issue, they generate much more light than heat, while also arriving at an answer to the fundamentally important question in 2020: For a party so concerned with diversity, how is it that the Dems ended up nominating a septuagenarian white guy?
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch30-day trial at
-Learning from Loss: The Democrats, 2016-2020Seth’s new book,
-White liberals have moved farther to the left
-Overdetermined phenomena
-Weather’s effect on elections
-The RNC’s 2012 “autopsy”
-The invisible primary
-The Party Decides
-White Identity PoliticsAshley Jardina’s
-Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop
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-Acton.org/Dingo to subscribe to the Acton Line podcast
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How will Amy Coney Barrett shake things up on the bench if she is confirmed by the Senate before November 3? “Amy Coney Barrett will not be as revolutionary as the left fears or the right wishes,” Sarah argues, “Because no justice really is, because it’s one vote.” On today’s episode, David and Sarah address the hysteria surrounding her upcoming Senate confirmation battle while breaking down what a 6-3 conservative majority would mean for the future of Supreme Court jurisprudence. Sarah and David are also joined by Ilya Shapiro—director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute and publisher of the Cato Supreme Court Review—for a conversation about the politics and history of Supreme Court nominations. To a certain degree, politics has always played a role in Supreme Court nominations. What makes this era unique? “What’s different is that you have divergent interpretive theories mapping onto partisan preference at a time when the parties are more ideologically sorted than they’ve been since at least the Civil War,” Shapiro argues. When it comes to divergent legal theories, “every decade provides a new escalation.” Tune in for a conversation about the future of First and Second Amendment jurisprudence, the left’s misconceptions surrounding Roe v. Wade, and the problems associated with public hearings for judicial nominations.
Show Notes:
-30 day free trial at The Dispatch, CBS post-debate poll, “Why Amy Coney Barrett Should Not Be On The Supreme Court” by Nathan Robinson in Current Affairs, Chevron doctrine, “Qualified and Absolute Immunity at Common Law” by Scott Keller and Jay Schweikert’s response in Cato.
-Ilya Shapiro’s new book: Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court and Ted Kennedy tirade against Judge Robert Bork
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Last night was the first presidential debate and it was … not a great moment for the country, to say the least. As Sarah reminds us, presidential candidates go into debates with a strategy, basing their metric of success on their ability to boost turnout among an already existing base. Did either candidate achieve what they wanted to achieve? Are undecided voters who watched the debate now more or less likely to show up to the polls? If you haven’t been following every twist and turn of the race, Trump appeared strong and forceful during the debate, interrupting the moderator and his doddering opponent in perpetuity. But were Trump’s interruptions strategic? As Jonah argues, “He didn’t let Biden talk when Biden was talking badly.” Rather than give Biden the opportunity to fumble, the president was just a “blunderbuss of interruptions,” a problem that was compounded by his refusal to condemn white supremacy.
Biden, on the other hand, somewhat succeeded in his do no harm, let Trump be Trump strategy, minor gaffes aside. But it was by no means a show-stopping performance from the Democratic nominee. All things considered, it mostly served as a reminder that maybe mute buttons would be a good idea next time around. After a debate recap, Sarah and the guys discuss the electoral and national security implications of the New York Times’ report on Trump’s tax returns, as well as the DNI Director John Ratcliffe’s letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham regarding the FBI’s handling of Crossfire Hurricane. Stick around for a fun conversation about our podcast hosts’ favorite cult classic films.
Show Notes:
-30 day free trial at The Dispatch, Dispatch Live Post-Debate Edition, Frank Luntz’s focus group, post-debate Telemundo poll, New York Times’ report on Trump’s tax returns, DNI letter from John Ratcliffe.
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Join Jonah on today’s episode of The Remnant with our first-time guest: CBS’s John Dickerson. The subjects included in John’s latest book, The Hardest Job in the World, will allow you to get a fix of incredible nerdiness about presidential history in equal proportion to your daily recommended dosage of rank punditry. Why is it that we’ve made the presidency, in John’s words “essentially an impossible job”? Another shock: Many of the parts of presidential decorum that we consider par for the course are actually pretty ahistorical, and John makes the case that this weird, patristic view of the presidency in which the Executive has to appear in person at every important going-on throughout the country actually erodes some of the prudential, quiet, considered principles meant to undergird the job. Oh, and there’s some mutual Wilson-bashing in store as well, which is always a bonus.
Show Notes:
-The Hardest Job in the World: The American PresidencyJohn’s book,
-Franklin’s final speech at the Constitutional Convention
-Theodore Roosevelt and “scientific management”
-FDR flying into Chicago to accept the nomination in person
-Book of VirtuesBill Bennett’s
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Several new polls were released over the weekend and Donald Trump is still trailing Joe Biden by roughly 7 to 10 points, depending where you look. Despite Biden’s steady lead, bad takes abound in the journalism world. “Here’s what happens when a race is not particularly close on the numbers,” Sarah explains. “People in the media try to make it more interesting by finding tea leaves and little nuggets that no one else has found and then blowing those up into their own narrative.” Sarah says it’s not always that the methodology of a particular poll is bad per se, “it’s that the causal relationship between the question and the result is assumed and not actually there.”
For example, a series of polls from this weekend show that a majority of Americans oppose Trump’s decision to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat before November 3. But as Sarah points out, this is a dumb survey question for two reasons: 1) the answers break down along party lines when you look a little closer at the survey responses, and 2) it doesn’t ask survey respondents whether it will change their vote, which is the only thing that matters at this point. That leads us to the New York Times’ bombshell report on Trump’s tax returns and whether it will be of any consequence during this election. David and Sarah argue that loyal Trump supporters are simply too attached to the president at this point to care about any new scandals that emerge between now and November 3. Tune in to this episode for an update on presidential polling in battleground states, electoral litigation in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and a fun conversation about our podcast hosts’ favorite new documentaries.
Show Notes:
-New York Times/Siena College poll, Washington Post-ABC News poll, FiveThirtyEight polling averages in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan.
-The New York Times’ report on Trump’s tax returns, Purcell v. Gonzalez.
-Republican party of Pennsylvania filed courtdocuments over the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Sept. 17 rulings.
-David’s French Press: “It’s Time for ‘Pandemic Law’ to End”, “The Social Dilemma” Netflix documentary and “The Real Story of Paris Hilton.”
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Why are Supreme Court vacancies more important to Republicans than they are to Democrats at the ballot box? It all goes back to conservative resistance to living constitutionalism, Judicial Crisis Network president Carrie Severino tells Steve and Sarah on today’s episode. “We know historically, it has been conservatives who are incredibly engaged by the Supreme Court,” Severino argues, because “it’s been conservatives on the receiving end of judicial activism.” In recent decades, the Supreme Court itself has made a point of constitutionalizing issues that simply aren’t in the Constitution, which can be traced to the left’s complete misunderstanding of our country’s founding charter.
Severino argues that the underlying logic of judicial activism is as follows: “If it’s constitutional it must be good, if it’s not constitutional it must be bad, and likewise, if it’s good, then it must be required by the Constitution, if it’s bad it must be forbidden by the Constitution.” Tune in for some punditry on Democrats’ religious tests for conservative Supreme Court nominees, the prudence of confirming a Supreme Court justice during an election year, and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s insistence that he won’t confirm a Supreme Court nominee who hasn’t vowed on record to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Show Notes:
-Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court, by Carrie Severino and Mollie Hemingway.
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Jonah’s longtime friend Tevi Troy makes his second appearance on the program, this time to discuss not only the history of presidential debates, but also to share some info on how the sausage gets made from his time doing debate prep for George W. Bush. Beyond simply recounting some of the best zingers in the history of these debates (“The youth and inexperience of my opponent…” “You’re no Jack Kennedy.”), they discuss the degree to which these moments are actually staged, and how the pretzel-like overcomplicated logic of certain debate preppers actually contribute to their candidate looking pretty silly on national TV. Keeping this history in mind, Tevi also talks about what he’ll be looking for in the upcoming debates (both campaigns should be taking notes, honestly), and happily discovers that he has reached “Vin Cannato Equilibrium” in the canon of the REU (Remnant Extended Universe).
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch30-day free trial at
-Fight HouseTevi’s latest book,
-George H. W. Bush looks at his watch
-“Conservatism as a Second Language”
-Intra-American migration due to COVID
-Quayle/Gore debate highlight
-Bush headchecks Gore
-Biden decides to be, uh, pugilistic towards Paul Ryan
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A Louisville grand jury on Wednesday indicted one officer in connection with the March 13 police raid that took Breonna Taylor’s life. The grand jury declined to charge the two officers who fired directly at Breonna Taylor and her boyfriend that evening, instead only charging the third officer, who was outside and fired indiscriminately, with wanton endangerment. David explains the basic facts leading up to Taylor’s shooting, as well as the legality surrounding police raids and the right of self-defense under Kentucky law. “You begin to see where we’ve backslidden in our commitment to key constitutional liberties,” David explains, where “decades of bad Fourth Amendment jurisprudence has empowered violent tactics even when the stakes are low.”
On today’s episode, David and Sarah also address how much the chief justice matters to the trajectory of the Supreme Court and the democratic prudence of voluntary judicial restraint. After a requisite foray into all things SCOTUS, our podcast hosts are joined by Federal Elections Commission Chairman Trey Trainor, who explains the ins and outs of election law, foreign election interference, and why the FEC is paralyzed right now. Trainor also explains how campaign finance laws like the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act have significantly weakened the national political parties while funneling money into the state parties in the process. “What’s happened is the smoke filled room has moved from Washington, D.C. to each of the 50 states.” Stick around for an inside scoop on the rise and fall of Kanye West’s presidential campaign.
Show Notes:
-30 day free trial at The Dispatch, FEC Chairman Trainor’s statement on the dangers of procedural dysfunction, “A Resignation in Time, that Saved Nine” by Josh Blackman in Reason, David’s French Press: “Supreme Court Precedent Killed Breonna Taylor.”
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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death on Friday immediately kickstarted a battle among conservative pundits and politicians over the prudence of pushing through a Supreme Court nominee before November 3. The first problem is that mail-in voting is already under way, meaning Republicans would technically be advancing a nominee during an election. Republicans have also been hypocrites about this in the past with their opposition to Merrick Garland’s hearing in 2016. Steve thinks we should push through a nominee, but David, Jonah, and Sarah are more sympathetic to arguments that Trump should nominate a justice and the Senate should wait to confirm until after the election, keeping in mind Democrats’ threats to throw out the filibuster, pack the court, and add Puerto Rico and D.C. to the union if Republicans have their way with Trump’s forthcoming nominee.
David and Jonah propose a deal: If Trump wins, the Senate confirms his nominee; if Biden wins, he agrees not to pack the court. Others argue that confirming a justice during an election year is just politics, meaning whichever party is in power gets to do whatever it wants. But what about principled conservatism? “My main critique of philosophical pragmatism is we are now talking about basically saying power decides every question of principle,” Jonah says on today’s podcast. This puts Republicans and conservatives in a bind, he argues, “particularly because for the last give or take 5,000 years, one of the jobs of conservatives has been to make a distinction between things you can do and things you should do.” Tune in for a conversation about the forthcoming attacks on Amy Coney Barrett’s Catholic faith should she be Trump’s nominee, the upcoming presidential debate next week, and the New York Times’ eagerness to rewrite its ownhistory surrounding the 1619 Project.
Show Notes:
-“As U.S. Supreme Court nomination looms, a religious community draws fresh interest” in Reuters, “Vote on President Trump’s Nomination, Senators—the Sooner the Better” by Matthew J. Franck in The Dispatch, and the New York Times’ 1619 Project.
-Check out our The Dispatch30 day free trial of .
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Fellow Dispatcher David French returns to the program on the publishing date of his new book, Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation. If you’ve looked around at American politics over the last few years, and you’ve started to view the coastal states and the middle of the country as a bickering couple – wondering, “Why don’t they just break up already? – David’s book is for you. Jonah asks David to outline some of the scenarios by which a fracturing of the republic could happen, and works through the ways that America’s spirit could be successfully restored – all while avoiding an Articles of Confederation-style mess in which the country’s regions become too individually weak to do anything. Join for this enlightening discussion, and stick around until the end for characteristic rankness on Tenet, Amazon’s The Boys, and the mighty Dune.
Show Notes:
-Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our NationDavid’s book,
-Don’t forget to take advantage of our 30 day free trial of The Dispatch
-Jonah’s piece on Supreme Court deal-making
-David’s piece on the same topic
-Cass Sunstein: “The Law of Group Polarization”
-Is Barack Obama the Messiah?
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday, rocking the nation and setting the stage for a blistering Senate confirmation fight should the Senate Judiciary Committee go through with the hearing process before the election. Today, our podcast hosts walk us through the history of SCOTUS vacancies, reflect on the legendary friendship between Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Antonin Scalia, and offer some rank punditry about what this SCOTUS vacancy means for the future of our republic. The question on everyone’s mind is: What happens next? Will Senate Republicans go through with the Supreme Court nomination process? Should they? Sarah and David have some thoughts. What’s clear is that Trump will fight tooth and nail to get a nominee through as a last ditch effort to energize his base. “The more the Democrats threaten him, his brand is that he cannot give in to threats,” explains Sarah. “It’s the ultimate ‘owns the libs’ move to fill the Ginsburg seat and enrage the left.” But who will president Trump nominate? Judge Barbara Lagoa of the 11th Circuit is in the running, but 7th Circuit judge Amy Coney Barrett’s cult of personality on the right—especially within the pro-life community—will likely give her the winning ticket. “If RBG is Michael Jordan,” Sarah explains, “ACB is Lebron James.” Stick around for a deep dive into the filibuster’s life expectancy, the possibility of a Democratic court packing scheme, and the likelihood of an Electoral College split this November.
Show Notes:
-David’s new book, Divided We Fall: America's Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation,Judge Jeffrey Sutton’s conversation with Justice Scalia about his friendship with RBG, and Sarah’s Sweep newsletter, “Yep, This Changes Everything,” and “Replacing Justice Ginsburg: Politics, Not Precedent”byAndrew McCarthy in National Review, the upcoming Dispatch Live with Sarah and David this Wednesday.
-David’s piece on the battle over Ginsburg's seat and don’t forget to take advantage of our 30 day free trial of The Dispatch.
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Just as there are different Enlightenments, there are different nationalisms, too. In both cases, it’s important to see what points they all converge on. On this edition of the Ruminant, Jonah walks through the ways in which we’ve seen this all before – even in spite of how strange this moment feels. Confucius says: “Enjoy your weekend!”
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch30-day free trial at
-The latest G-File
-Rectification of the Names
-Divided We FallDavid’s soon-to-be-out book,
-HumanProgress.org
-Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know: And Many Others You Will Find Interesting
-Brazil’s direct democracy
-Address to the German NationFichte’s
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“People ask me this all the time, ‘Why the hell did you stay?’ ” explains Miles Taylor, the former chief of staff for the Department of Homeland Security under the Trump administration and founder of the Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform (REPAIR). “And my response is: If you saw what was happening, why the hell wouldn’t you stay if you cared about your country?” On today’s episode, Miles Taylor gives Sarah and Steve an inside scoop as to what it’s like working for a president who constantly gives you orders to break the law and who believes he has “magical powers” to do whatever he wants. The most frustrating part of his job as DHS chief of staff, he said, was watching high officials who expressed disdain for the president in private but refused to speak up when it mattered most. “There was another time that we were in [the Oval Office] and he went off on a tirade about the Mexicans,” Taylor explains, “In the conversations he said, ‘Look, Mexico is just a total hellhole, isn’t it? It’s just a total hellhole.’ And he kind of looked around the room for agreement, and he was like, ‘Right? You know I can’t say shithole countries anymore but it’s a hellhole, right?” Taylor said most people in the room—except for one official who Taylor didn’t name—laughed it off and nodded rather than standing up to the president.
Taylor said he and his colleagues went into that administration recognizing that Donald Trump was a man of pretty poor character, but there was a hope that the office itself would perhaps change the president for the better. “I really think once he had the powers of the presidency, he got drunk on the powers of the presidency and they did not have that sobering effect, they had a very inebriating effect on President Trump and magnified some of his worst impulses.” Tune in to hear Miles explain what it’s like having a Trump tweet change the trajectory of your entire day as a DHS staffer, whether Republicans should vote for Biden this election cycle, and how REPAIR hopes to fix the GOP in the post-Trump era. If anything, tune just in to hear Taylor explain why “every single day in the Donald Trump administration was a pride swallowing siege.”
Show Notes:
-The Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform.
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After reflecting on the best and worst parts of our country’s founding document for Constitution Day, David and Sarah dive into Attorney General Bill Barr’s Constitution Day address at Hillsdale College yesterday, in which he defended political judgment in bringing prosecutions and railed against federal prosecutors’ propensity to punish as much misconduct as possible. Our podcast hosts agree with Barr that there is an effort by federal prosecutors to expand federal criminal law to an unreasonable degree. But David reminds us that federal prosecutors are not just the instrument to be wielded by the attorney general, they are charged with carrying out laws that have been passed by Congress. “Perhaps we have gone too far with civil service protections,” Sarah explains, “and that we are unable to remove anyone who is part of the permanent federal bureaucracy even for misconduct at this point really.”
Most of the news headlines referencing Barr’s speech highlighted his comparison between career federal prosecutors and preschoolers, as well as his rather distasteful comparison between coronavirus lockdowns and … slavery. “You know, putting a national lockdown, stay at home orders, is like house arrest,” Barr said yesterday in response to a question about the constitutionality of stay at home orders. “Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history.” Sarah suggests a new legal truism on today’s episode: If you compare anything to slavery, you’ve already lost your argument.
Stick around for a deep dive into Lochner v. New York its relation to coronavirus lockdown court order, as well as a discussion about whether Trump can win enough Electoral College votes without winning Florida. Sarah and David wrap up today’s episode with a reflection on their biggest career failures.
Show Notes:
-Bill Barr’s speech at Hillsdale College, Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocentby Harvey Silverglate, Yates v. United States, Lochner v. New York,Morrison v. Olson, and William S. Stickman IV’s Pennsylvania District Court decision, The Dispatch30-day trial at .
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“We need to agree that the Senate doesn’t work,” Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse tells Jonah on today’s episode of The Remnant. “The Founders had this great idea that you separate power vertically and horizontally if you believe in universal human dignity, and the Senate is kind of the most unique single institution that the Founders created in the Constitution.” Sasse’s appearance comes on the heels of his Wall Street Journal op-ed, in which he calls for modified Senate term limits, repealing the 17th Amendment, and cutting the C-SPAN cameras to improve debate on the Senate floor. “The cameras change the dynamic in the room because people don’t ask real questions if they’re instead trolling for a sound bite that they can hope goes viral,” Sasse explains. What’s worse, senators use the C-SPAN camera rules to trick their constituents into thinking they’re debating their colleagues when they’re not. “They regularly do this, hand gesturing to the senator right next to them that they’re supposedly rebutting, but the rules in the Senate require the C-SPAN cameras to be cropped right around their head and shoulders, so you don’t know as a viewer that there’s no one there in the Senate.” After railing against the senatorial political posturing that’s poisoning our parliamentary system, Sasse and Jonah discuss the filibuster, clickbait journalism, and the dangers of perceiving politics as religion. Learn alongside Jonah, and stick around to the end to hear Sasse school his colleagues in real time.
Show Notes:
-The Dispatch30-day trial at , Sasse’s article: “Make the Senate Great Again,”In celebration of Brian Lamb, what Sasse means by “agglomeration economy,” and Sasse’s opening remarks at the Kavanaugh hearing.
-LiquidIV.com, use promo code “DINGO” at checkout for 25% off and ExpressVPN.com/Remnant for three months off a year-long subscription.
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On Tuesday, Israel signed two historic peace agreements with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in a major step toward greater diplomacy in the Middle East. Though the Trump administration played a crucial role in brokering both peace deals—with the signing ceremonies themselves taking place in the White House—media coverage of the deals has been scarce, begrudging, and dismissive of the president’s involvement in the negotiations. How much credit should the Trump administration get for facilitating the deal? And more importantly, will other countries follow suit in normalizing relations with Israel? “The UAE is like a beta test of the bigger deal with Saudi Arabia if it is to come,” David explains on today’s episode. “This is sort of dipping the toe in the waters.” As we inch toward November 3, will this deal be a major selling point for Trump’s re-election campaign? According to Sarah, probably not. “Our politics goes in cycles of foreign policy having domestic policy relevance, normally when we’re talking about having our people overseas,” Sarah explains, “This is not one of those elections.” Much to the Trump administration’s chagrin, this deal is simply not getting the coverage it deserves and many Americans who are more focused on domestic issues may never even hear about it at all. After a foray into the foreign policy world, our podcast hosts discuss The Big Ten’s return, the conspiratorial trajectory of American politics, many Republicans’ conviction that Joe Biden is nothing but a cardboard cutout for the progressive far-left, and … Grover Cleveland!
Show Notes:
-The Remnant episode with Ken Pollack, yesterday’s Dispatch Live, and “Steve Bannon Is Behind Bogus Study That China Created COVID” by Adam Rawnsley in The Daily Beast.
-Make sure to take advantage of The Dispatch30 Day free trial.
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Let the waves of optimism wash over you as return-guests Ron Bailey (Reason) and Marian Tupy (Cato Institute) join forces as Jonah’s tour guides through the last several centuries of human progress. Listen to the first half to hear why there is actual good news about the human condition – even during a pandemic – and stick around in the second half for a satisfying helping of philosophical eggheadery on education, personal liberty, and the logic of nonviolent protest.
Show Notes:
-The DispatchTry a 30-day trial membership for
-Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know: And Many Others You Will Find Interesting
-Marian’s project, HumanProgress.org
-ReasonRon’s page at
-Jason Hickel refutes the World Bank’s measurement of extreme poverty
-Julian Simon’s bet with Paul Ehrlich
-Malthus, the original Thanos
-Famines rarely happen in democratic countries with a free press
-China’s Social Credit System
-University of Edinburgh set to remove David Hume’s name from building
-Jonah: Irradiating the Past
-DonorsTrust.org/Dingo to get a free copy of “6 Reasons to Use a Donor-Advised Fund”
-ExpressVPN.com/Remnant for an extra 3 months free with 12-month plan
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For the month of August, the Biden campaign outraised the Trump campaign by a whopping $150 million. (Biden raked in $360 million last month compared to Trump’s $210 million). As stark as this fundraising difference may be, is there any reason to believe it will be meaningful in the long run?A lot of this money will go toward television ads at this point, but campaign money starts diminishing in value once people start voting by mail. In other words … now. Not to mention that the fundraising difference doesn’t matter so long as each candidate meets a certain threshold. On today’s campaign update episode, our podcast hosts discuss these fundraising efforts while dissecting Trump’s surprising lead with Hispanic voters as well as the usefulness of yard signs, door knocking, and phone banking to a campaign’s overall success. Rather than waste time putting up yard signs or trying to persuade voters to vote with ideologically charged Facebook posts, Sarah argues that the most important—and statistically effective—thing you can do to boost voter turnout is text your closest friends and remind them to vote. As David points out, “It fits in with the sort of general reality that we have a large amount of influence over a small amount of people and a small amount of influence over a large number of people.” Stick around for a discussion about the newest additions to Trump’s Supreme Court list—also known as Sarah’s close friends list—as well as David’s latest Sunday French Press newsletter on the use and abuse of critical race theory.
Show Notes:
-Sign up for a 30 day trial at The Dispatch here!
-“The Sweep: Swing States and Voter Registration Trends” by Sarah Isgur and “Sorry campaign managers: Lawn signs are only 98.3 percent useless” by Philip Bump in the Washington Post, and three polls showing Trump winning Hispanic voters in Florida, The Emerging Democratic Majorityby John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira.
-“The Most Tremendous Reelection Campaign in American History Ever” by Olivia Nuzzi in New York Magazine, the newest additions to Trump’s Supreme Court list, David’s latest French Press,“On the Use and Abuse of Critical Race Theory in American Christianity,” the New York Times’ 1619 Project, and “A pandemic, a motel without power and a potentially terrifying glimpse of Orlando’s future” in the Washington Post.
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What happens when you make a pundit talk about Antifa, the Dune trailer, the Republic of Venice, and 60s Iron Man cartoons all in one go? Tune in to the weekend Ruminant to find out!
Show Notes:
-The DispatchStart a 30-day free trial of
-Jonah’s Wednesday G-File, un-paywalled due to popular demand
-RemnantThis week’s second , with Andy Ferguson
-Basically what Jonah means by “A Shoshana point.”
-Dune The little-known miniseries
-Iron Man The bizarre theme song to the 60s cartoon
-Neo-barbarism abounds
-Federalist no. 39, the one that talks about Venice
-Denis Dutton’s bad writing contest
-Keeps.com/Dingo to get your first month of treatment for free
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It’s the 19th anniversary of September 11, 2001, one of the most harrowing historical events in living memory. Today, our podcast hosts reflect on their personal memories of the day as a launching point into a discussion about the United States’ current understanding of al-Qaeda nearly two decades later. In reality, we don’t talk about al-Qaeda much anymore other than within the context of Trump’s “endless wars” rhetoric. Just this week, the Trump administration announced that troops in Iraq will be reduced to 3,000. What’s more, peace negotiations are taking place with Taliban representatives, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and representatives of the Afghan government this weekend. So as Steve points out, “You’d be forgiven for thinking this is all over.” But as Dispatch Podcast guest Tom Joscelyn reminds us on today’s episode, “Al-Qaeda is still very much alive.” Though Tom concedes that there’s a lot you can criticize about U.S. military intervention post-9/11, “It’s much more common, in my experience, that people who are against the U.S. using military force or U.S. military action to play disconnect the dots than it is for some sort of a so-called hawk to overconnect the dots.” On today’s episode, Tom, Sarah, and Steve discuss American intelligence officials’ current misunderstanding of al-Qaeda, the UAE and Bahrain’s plans to normalize their relationship with Israel, and the real and imagined foreign threats to the upcoming election.
Show Notes:
-“Why ‘Outside-In’ Diplomacy Could Be the Key to Middle East Peace” by Jonathan Schanzer, “This 9/11 anniversary arrives with the end of the war on al-Qaeda well in sight” by Christopher Miller, director of the National Counterterrorism Center in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and “The Falling Man” by Thomas Junod.
-Tom Joscelyn’s Vital Interests newsletter for The Dispatch.
-30-day free trial of The Dispatch
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Andrew Ferguson’s follow-up appearance on The Remnant has been a long time coming, and you can tell; he and Jonah are filled with plenty of wisdom on the state of modern journalism, what the conservative media landscape used to be like, and how to not go completely hollow while keeping up with the news cycle.
Show Notes:
-30-day free trial of The Dispatch
-The AtlanticAndy’s page at
-Bob Dole: “I’m not bound by the platform. I probably agree with most everything in it, but I haven’t read it.”
-Jonah: The center is a lonely place to be
-“The New Journalism”
-All Too HumanGeorge Stephanopoulos’
-Donald Rumsfeld releases transcript of Woodward interview
-“Springtime for Introverts”: Andy’s piece that was true… for a while
-ExpressVPN.com/Remnant for an extra 3 months on a year-long plan
-Gabi.com/Remnant to stop overpaying on your insurance now
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News broke overnight of President Trump’s plans to reduce U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, less than a week after Jeffrey Goldberg’s bombshell article in The Atlantic highlighted anonymous accusations of the president’s poor conduct toward American veterans. Sarah, Steve, and Jonah tackle some of the move’s political implications for Trump’s re-election campaign before launching into a lively debate over the ethics of using anonymous sources in journalism. “It is the case that reporters can pick and choose their anonymous sources to tell the story that their predetermined narrative would have them tell,” said Steve. “But I think you judge anonymous sources to a certain extent based on the amount of credence you give to the particular reporter who’s using them.”
The Dispatch Podcast also covers curveballs that could upset current polling favoring a handed Joe Biden victory—namely, the Hispanic vote and presidential debates. New data out of Florida reveals that the former VP might not have the Hispanic vote locked down, but as our hosts point out, assuming that a diverse group of people will vote as a monolithic bloc has always been a dangerous oversimplification. Steve, Sarah and Jonah also chat about the upcoming debates and how possible Biden blunders could either hurt him or paint him as a sympathetic figure, depending on how the president chooses to respond.
Show Notes:
-Jeffrey Goldberg’s controversial investigative journalism: Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’
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Last week, President Trump encouraged North Carolina voters to test their state's election security. David and Sarah discuss how, exactly, someone commits voter fraud, and what voters need to know as we close in on this November's election. But that's not all: Sarah gives us the latest on the state of the race and how the Trump campaign lost its cash advantage. Plus, David has some thoughts on Tenet.
Show Notes:
-The New York Times on “How Trump's Billion-Dollar Campaign Lost Its Cash Advantage”
-Sign up for Sarah's newsletter The Sweep
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Fresh off the heels of his new manifesto (not of the communist variety, though), Iain Murray, CEI senior fellow, joins Jonah on The Remnant to discuss The Socialist Temptation: what it is, who it hits hardest, why socialism isn’t really even an economic theory, and what to do about it.
Show Notes:
-The Socialist TemptationIain’s new book,
-BBC’s generously donated show sets, to spruce up your Zoom background
-Iain refuting Thomas Piketty
-Josh Muravchik’s “Theories of the New Class”
-“Socialism is the name of our desire”
-Corporatism and Comparative Politics: The Other Great “Ism”
-Ten Thousand Commandments 2020
-Violence and Social OrdersNorth’s
-#NationalizeMySpace
-Reagan’s speech at Hillsdale in the 70s
-Jonah at the Oxford Union
-“Socialism is so hot right now”
-DonorsTrust.org/Dingo for access to “6 Reasons to Use a Donor-Advised Fund”
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Who actually believes the media anymore? Can you really call yourself a liberal if you’re also a socialist? And what dog species does Zoë hate with a burning passion? It’s the weekend, and you know what that means: These questions and many more will be answered on this edition of Jonah’s Ruminant.
Show Notes:
-“Fiery, but mostly peaceful”
-The New Guinea Singing Dog
-The Socialist TemptationIain Murray’s
-is What… Debbie Wasserman Schultz doing with her life nowadays?
-NYT The always-lovely Op-ed page: “Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police.”
-The Conspiracy of Equals
-DrinkHydrant.com/Dingo for 25% off your first order
-Ancestry.com/Remnant to discover your family’s story
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Erick Erickson, host of 95.5 WSB’s Atlanta’s Evening News and creator of The Resurgent, joins Sarah and Steve on the latest Dispatch Podcast to state the case for the president’s re-election, despite his own wide-ranging reservations about Trumpism and the future of the Republican party. To Erickson, Trump represents the lesser of two evils—acting on the better judgement of behind-the-scenes administration officials to move forward beneficial policies like the Israel-UAE deal, the Trump Tax Reform Plan, and economic deregulation.
When pressed about dangerous outgrowths of the populist right, like the QAnon conspiracy theory, Erickson contends that the misinformation crisis coincided with the country’s lost faith in the media. He says that when journalists for self-described nonpartisan mainstream news sources publicly exposed their biases on verified Twitter accounts, many Americans abandoned orthodox news sources in favor of word-of-mouth and alternative media. “All of this plays into more and more people tuning out of media and tuning into their friends on Facebook, and not being able to distinguish truth from fiction,” Erickson said.
Listen to the end for a spirited discussion about the luxuries of adulthood, during which Steve inevitably brings up Spanish wine and Sarah shares her clever method to track down the best mattress in your area.
Show Notes:
-Erick Erickson’s online publication The Resurgent
-Atlanta’s Evening News with Erick Erickson
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