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:

- The ultimate tweet

- You’re welcome

- Wednesday’s Dispatch Podcast

- Musings of a cigarette smoking man

- Griffin on Milley

- Wednesday’s “news”letter

- The hidden law

- That gala at Anna’s

- It’s unputdownable!

- Inside Tom Wolfe’s apartment, and more… 

- The Remnant with Will Saletan on elite overproduction

- We already tax the rich

- Do CEOs make less than doctors?

- Politico annoys Jennifer Rubin

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Mau-Mauing the Wealth Taxers

In “The Remnant," Jonah Goldberg enlists a “Cannonball Run”-style cast of stars, has-beens, and never-weres to address the most pressing issues of the day. Is America doomed? Has liberalism failed? And will mankind ever invent something better than ‘90s-era “Simpsons?” Mixing political history, pop culture, rank punditry, and shameless book-plugging, Goldberg and guests will have the kinds of conversations we wish they featured on TV. And the nudity will (almost) always be tasteful. Brace your bingo cards.

News

Politics

Jonah opens up this week’s Ruminant with an indulgent diatribe against Top Chef and Wisconsin cheese. He then pivots toward even more divisive topics, such as Trump’s abortion statement and the messiah-like energy around Barack Obama. Then our culinary-political connoisseur goes on an epicurean journey of topics: hostile work environments, the problems with binary choices, and the definition of a liberal.
Show Notes:
—Jonah's Wednesday G-File
—Friday's Dispatch Podcast roundtable
—Top Chef Wisconsin Cheese Festival recap
—American Masters: "The Incomparable Mr. Buckley"
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Political Palates

Jonah is joined by Dr. Einat Wilf—a former member of Israel's Labor Party and author of The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace. They discuss Israel's failure to reckon with antisemitism in the pro-Palestinian movement, how the two-state solutions got derailed, and what bad leadership means for the future of the conflict.
Show Notes:
—Dr. Wilf’s website
—Dr. Wilf on the history of Zionism and UNRWA
—Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
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Bad Leaders, Wrong Turns

Was it your racism or economic despair that made you vote for Donald Trump? That’s the question media outlets are asking white people in the Rust Belt and Appalachia, much to the dismay of guest-host Chris Stirewalt.
In today’s episode of The Remnant, Chris is joined by Tyler Austin Harper—a professor at Bates College—to discuss his piece for The Atlantic critiquing White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy. Join the two as they break down coastal journalists’ mischaracterizations of rural America, the disdain for these Americans, and why it’s good to interact with people culturally different than yourself.
Show Notes:
—Harper for The Atlantic: Polyamory, the Ruling Class’s Latest Fad
—A new AP-NORC poll shows Americans still agree on most core American values
—Tim Carney’s book, Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be
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Hillbillies in the Mist

Frazzled and under-caffeinated, Jonah jogs through some sundry punditry, from the state of The Federalist Society to beltway media’s bipartisan fixation with pounces.
Show Notes:
—This week's Dispatch Podcast roundtable discussion
—Advisory Opinions episode on the Federalist Society
—Advisory Opinions episode on federal judges visiting Israel
—Gregg T. Nunziata's piece for The Dispatch
—Nigel Tufnel via The Simpson's fan Wiki
—Michael Weiss on Dispatch Live
—J. D. Vance's tweet on Havana Syndrome report
—Jonah's G-File on blowhards
—Chef José Andrés reaction to World Central Kitchen deaths
—No Labels reporting from The Dispatch
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Goldfish Memories

On today’s episode of The Remnant, Jonah attempts to live out his closeted dream of becoming an American spy by diving into a report titled "The Kremlin's Occupation Playbook: Coerced Russification and Ethnic Cleansing in Occupied Ukraine." He is joined by Karolina Hird, author of the report, to discuss the Kremlin’s heartbreaking tactic of deporting and forcibly adopting Ukrainian children, a ploy designed to alter the demographic fabric of the occupied territories. Hear about the critical issue of delayed aid to Ukraine, Russia's strategic use of timing on the battlefield, and the strictly censored Russian media landscape that stifles authentic discourse on the conflict.
Show Notes:
—Karolina Hird's profile at the Institute for the Study of War
—Interactive Map: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine
—ISW's Ukraine Conflict Updates page
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Mau-Mauing the Wealth Taxers

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