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

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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

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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

- Justice Scalia’s commencement speech

- Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s The Coddling of the American Mind

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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

- David: “How Twitter Beclowns the American Elite”

- Nate Cohn and Kevin Quealy on the Democratic electorate

- Francis Fukuyama’s Liberalism and its Discontents

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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”

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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”

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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”

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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

- 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

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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

- George 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

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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”

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