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

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

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!”

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 Remnant André the Giant wouldn’t want you to miss.

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Show Notes:

-Denver’s website

-Denver, QAnon, and Bigfoot erotica

-"The QAnon Conspiracy: Destroying Families, Dividing Communities, Undermining Democracy" - a report co-authored by Denver

-Denver’s new book, Bigfoot… It’s Complicated

-The Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film

-9/11 truthers

-NYT: “One Republican’s Lonely Fight Against a Flood of Misinformation”

-Mick Mulvaney on The Dispatch Podcast

-Denver and the church parking lot

-Silverback Distillery

-Is Bigfoot an interdimensional traveler?

-The Nashville bomber believed in lizard people

-Giuliani’s insane voter fraud claims

-Judean People’s Front vs. People’s Front of Judea

-The Six Million Dollar Man vs. Bigfoot

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”

-      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

-      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