Ken Pollack, a Remnant all-star and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Jonah for an extended discussion on the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the race to be the supreme leader’s successor. The two also get into the various Iran appeasement campaigns, Biden’s approach to Israel, and the necessity of the United Nations.

Show Notes:

—Reuters reporting on the Ayatollah’s successor

—Ken’s profile at AEI

—Ken’s profile at Georgetown

—Ken’s most recent book, Armies of Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military Effectiveness

—This week’s Dispatch Live

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Jonah invites Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, to discuss the ideal way to raise little barbarians—also known as human babies. The two weed through the metaphors of garden parenting vs. carpentry parenting and the need of being needed before making a small segue into caregiving policy ideas. (The government can’t love you, Jonah!)

Show Notes:

—Friedrich von Hayek’s Nobel Prize speech

—Jonathan Haidt on The Remnant

—Tim Carney on The Remnant

—Sarah Hardy’s book on mothers

—Paul Bloom on The Remnant

—AEI’s social survey

—Alison Gopnik’s “Theory theory”

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Stranded on a highway, gazing into the smoggy horizon, Jonah contemplates plaintively social media's latest display of statistical illiteracy demonstrated by a proclaimed preference of many women to be stranded alone with a bear, rather than a man. If you were wondering why you all didn't receive a G-File today, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it.

Show Notes: 

—Nick Catoggio’s “Never Trump” piece

—Wednesday G-File

—Last week’s Dispatch Podcast

—Megan McArdle on man vs. bear

—Jean Twenge on The Remnant

—Jonathan Haidt on The Remnant

—Liberal Fascism

—Yesterday’s Dispatch Podcast

—The Remnant on prices

—Ghosted by Nancy French

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Get your bingo cards at the ready, because Jonah is joined by Ryan Bourne—a policy scholar at the Cato Institute and author of The War on Prices: How Popular Misconceptions about Inflation, Prices, and Value Create Bad Policy—for a decisively wonky Remnant on all things prices. What are prices? Why doesn’t price fixing work? And what's up with the libertarians?

Show Notes:

—Ryan's new book The War on Prices: How Popular Misconceptions about Inflation, Prices, and Value Create Bad Policy

—Ryan’s profile at Cato

—Economics in One Virus: An Introduction to Economic Reasoning through COVID-19

—Suicide of the West

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Voters weighing actual policy positions? A man can dream. No, it’ll be vibes—not issues—driving voters to the polls in November. Jonah invites Seth Masket, director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver, on today’s episode of The Remnant to commiserate over the sorry status of the current American electorate, Sister Souljah strategies, and the lack of centrist Democrats.

Show Notes:

—Seth’s newsletter

—Why anti-Biden books aren't selling

—Seth's previous appearance on The Remnant

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What peeves Jonah about the Biden administration’s increasingly hostile stance towards Israel isn’t just the geopolitical recklessness, but also the political incompetence. This Ruminant is a fuming rant about abandoning allies, the Cult of Youth, and the war against all things normal. Jonah also responds to the drama he stirred up among the anti-Trump (and anti-anti-Trump) crowd.

Show Notes:

—This week’s episode of The Dispatch Podcast

—Jonah’s tweet about anti-Trumpers and Biden

—Tim Miller’s response

—Chuck Toddcast with Jonah

—The Fierce Urgency of Tao

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Back from his trip to the Commentary offices in New York, Jonah is joined by Kevin Williamson to discuss his review of fatherhood so far, Jonah’s thoughts on the Broadway production of Tommy, and the corrupting influence of populism. The two also get into the state of U.S.-Israel relations and why rooting for your team is easier than reading Hayek. Stick around to learn about Kevin’s sorry football career.

Show Notes:

—NYT article on a pro-Trump non-profit

—Revolutions podcast

—The Remnant with John Podhoretz

—Michael Brendan Dougherty’s piece on Sam Francis

—Biden interview with CNN

—Poll on the most important issues for college kids

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Jonah drops by Commentary’s New York headquarters and holds John Podhoretz hostage for an hour and a half to discuss the Jews, Suicide of the West, and the allure of fame and TV. Stay tuned for a history of Commentary’s geographical history (who asked?), the decline of American journalism (spoilers!), and optimism about the future (really?). Also, happy birthday to The Fair Jessica.

Show Notes:

—"MIT ends Diversity Statements in Faculty Hiring"

—Civil War (2024)

—"The Collapse of the News Industry Is Taking Its Soul Down With It"

—"Conservatives in the Mist" coverage by NYT

—Jeff Goldberg's loss is our gain

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Spurred by Robert Kagan’s new book, Rebellion: How Antiliberalism Is Tearing America Apart--Again, and by Thursday’s Remnant, Jonah spends the majority of this interminable episode responding to Kagan’s critique of conservatism, from contextualizing William F. Buckley’s role on the right to recounting the left's history of intellectual anti-liberalism. Also, kudos to the frat bros who saved the American flag.

Show Notes:

—Jonah’s Wednesday G-File

—"Metabolic rift" wiki page

—King-Slutzky answers questions

—Gee Officer Krupke

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Jonah is joined by Robert Kagan—a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of Rebellion: The Antiliberal Tradition That Is Tearing America Apart - Again—to debate Robert’s theory on the anti-liberal history of conservatism and why he thinks Trump is a logical product of the American right.

Show Notes:

—Robert’s profile at Brookings

—Robert’s new book

—Why the South Must Prevail

—Miles Taylor’s book, Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump

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