Today's guest on The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie is Jonah Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Dispatch, a publication that launched a half-dozen years ago and whose contributors include conservatives such as cofounder and former Weekly Standard editor Steve Hayes, libertarian-leaning Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle, and liberal science writer and Blocked & Reported cohost Jesse Singal. A longtime fixture at National Review (where he launched the magazine's website and created its popular staff blog The Corner), best-selling author, and podcast host (The Remnant, GLoP Culture), Goldberg and Gillespie discuss the Iran war, President Donald Trump's second term, the rise of the populist right, and the prospects of a coalition consisting of centrist liberals, conservatives, and libertarians.
"I have no sense that the Republicans are my team in any way. And that's very, very liberating intellectually and journalistically," says Goldberg.
Long known for withering takes on the left—one of his books is titled Liberal Fascism—it's the right wing that is currently piquing his anger. "All presidents have lied," he says. "But the scale of lying with Trump is different….Bullshit does not care what the truth is, and I think that that's sort of the essence of Donald Trump, going back to his days as a condo salesman. He just says whatever he has to say to get through the moment."
