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:

- Christian Schneider on anti-racism

- Jonah on the new mask mandates

- Wednesday’s “news”letter

- Last year’s kooky Washington Times piece on masks

- Crisis and Leviathan, by Robert Higgs

- The Dispatch Podcast on the CDC and January 6

- The Remnant with Tim Carney

- Marty Makary on the push to vaccinate children

- Laura K. Field’s essay on the Claremont Institute

- The Remnant with Dan McLaughlin

- Scarlett Johansson sues Disney

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Return of the Mask

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

Eli Lake, The Remnant’s resident bloodthirsty war hawk, returns to the pod to break down the situation with Israel and Iran. The two get into why America has no strategic vision on Iran, the growing alliance of left- and right-wing isolationists, and how Tucker Carlson has become so unhinged.
Show Notes:
—Eli’s profile at The Free Press
—Eli’s piece on Tucker Carlson and Russia
—Eli's piece on the FBI
—The Remnant with Nancy French
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tucker Carlson, King of the Isolationists

Jonah is joined by author, speechwriter, and ghostwriter Nancy French to discuss her new book, Ghosted: An American Story. Nancy tells the tale of how she came to meet the permanent guest host of Advisory Opinions (who is now dead to Jonah), how the Republican Party’s embrace of Donald Trump left her and her family ostracized, and also gives an update on her battle with cancer.
Show Notes:
—Ghosted: An American Story
—Bristol Palin’s book, Not Afraid of Life: My Journey So Far
—Nancy’s investigation into abuse at a Christian camp
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fancy Nancy

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"
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Return of the Mask

Download our free app to listen on your phone