The New Right Tries to Reinterpret the Midterm Results

Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Kevin Williamson, and Mike Warren to discuss the new right’s efforts to reinterpret the midterm results, the leadership elections in the House and Senate, and the resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. The Agenda —Reaganism and the new right —Who gets to define the midterms? —The Heritage Foundation and Kevin Roberts —Jim Jordan, Brian Jack, and House Republicans’ choice to double down —John Thune’s reelection —Chuck Schumer’s shaky hold on Democratic leadership —Who’s winning the fight inside the Democratic Party? —The Jensen Huang story —NWYT: Vivek Ramaswamy leaves social media Show Notes Want to see more of The Dispatch in Google search? Add Us as a Preferred Source Steve Hayes is CEO and editor of The Dispatch, based in Annapolis, Maryland. Prior to co-founding the company in 2019, he worked at The Weekly Standard for 18 years, covering Washington, politics, and national security. Steve is the author of two New York Times bestsellers. He also worked as a contributor at CNN and Fox News, and currently serves as a political analyst at NBC News. When Steve is not focused on The Dispatch, he’s probably traveling with his family, grilling, or riding his mountain bike. Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Dispatch, based in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, enormous lizards roamed the Earth. More immediately prior to that, Jonah spent two decades at National Review, where he was a senior editor, among other things. He is also a bestselling author, longtime columnist for the Los Angeles Times, commentator for CNN, and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. When he is not writing the G-File or hosting The Remnant podcast, he finds real joy in family time, attending to his dogs and cat, and blaming Steve Hayes for various things. Kevin D. Williamson is national correspondent at The Dispatch and is based in Virginia. Prior to joining the company in 2022, he spent 15 years as a writer and editor at National Review, worked as the theater critic at the New Criterion, and had a long career in local newspapers. He is also a writer in residence at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. When Kevin is not reporting on the world outside Washington for his Wanderland newsletter, you can find him at the rifle range or reading a book about literally almost anything other than politics. Michael Warren is politics editor at The Dispatch and is based in Washington, D.C. A former on-air reporter at CNN and a senior writer at The Weekly Standard, he has spent more than 15 years covering lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the White House and the executive branch, the conservative movement, and political campaigns. When Mike is not reporting, writing, editing, and podcasting, he is probably spending time with his wife and three sons. The podcast transcription below was generated using artificial intelligence and may include occasional errors or misspellings. Steve Hayes 0:00 [upbeat music] Welcome to the Dispatch Podcast. I'm your host, Steve Hayes. On today's roundtable, shaping the narrative. In the 10 days since the massive Democratic wave blew up the electoral map and reshuffled government in DC, everyone's been working hard to win the fight about what it all means. Who's right? Democratic socialists versus moderates in the Democratic Party, the Trumpists versus sane conservatives on the right. And then, what to make of Jensen Huang and the spy scandal roiling markets and unsettling Washington, DC? What did President Donald Trump know, and when did he know it? And finally, for not worth your time, goodbye to Vivek. I'm joined today by Dispatch Editor in Chief Jonah Goldberg, Dispatch National Correspondent Kevin Williamson, and Dispatch Politics Editor Mike Warren. Let's dive right in. [upbeat music] Morning, gentlemen. With the election now just more than a week behind us, we have been able to see how various parties, I mean that in the literal sense, the political parties themselves, but actors have responded to the election. And what was clear, I think, to most of us, that this was a, an obvious, unmistakable rebuke to Donald Trump, a repudiation of the president, his party, its ideas, his behavior, what have you, seems, at least in some corners of the right, to be less obvious. Or maybe it's obvious, but it's so problematic for different factions on the right that they're choosing to treat it as somehow disputable. Jonah, I want to start with you. You had a terrific G file, and it pains me to say that, that we published Wednesday evening. Looking at a column written for the New York Times by Oren Cass. Oren Cass is this non-economist who sort of plays an economist. He's the founder of American Compass. This is this new right sort of... They would think of themselves as kind of an intellectual engine of the new right, a policy shop for the new right. And he wrote a piece, in effect, saying the Republican Party has two paths, and there's this big fight between the Reaganites on the one hand and sort of new right types on the other, and people are going to have choices to make. You didn't find his column persuasive. Why not? Jonah Goldberg 2:49 Yeah, so like, I think some of you may recall that one of my favorite bits from the stand-up comedian geek performer Harry Anderson was where he talks about how he's got this... He's about to juggle an axe, and he says, "You know, this is a very valuable axe because it's George Washington's original axe, the one he used to chop down the cherry tree." And he says, "Of course, you know, years ago, last-- in the 19th century, the blade broke, and that had to be replaced. And then just last week, the handle broke, and that had to be replaced. But in essence, it's George Washington's axe," right? And- Steve Hayes 3:24 Way, way to not talk about the ship of Theseus, Jonah. Jonah Goldberg 3:27 I know. Well, but the ship of Theseus, there are fewer laughs. And, um, you read this thing where he says the entire fight for the future of the Republican Party is between the Reaganites and the new right. Jonah Goldberg 3:42 And the reason why the Harry Anderson bit about George Washington's axe comes to mind is that except for the definition of the new right and the definition of the Reaganites, it's still completely wrong. [laughing] Um, and, and so, like, first of all, he gets the history of Reaganism completely wrong. He also, but more annoyingly, he gets the history and current moment reality of the new right completely wrong. He wants to pretend that basically if it doesn't come out of an American Compass policy paper, it doesn't qualify as new right. Interactive transcripts are available to Premium members. 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