A Leader Doth Not a Statesman Make | Interview: Steven B. Smith

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Cite

Goldberg, J. (2026, October 26). A Leader Doth Not a Statesman Make | Interview: Steven B. Smith. The Dispatch. https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/a-leader-doth-not-a-statesman-make-interview-steven-b-smith/

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The Dispatch · collected 2026-10-26 · by Jonah Goldberg

Quick Summary

In this interview on The Remnant Podcast hosted by Jonah Goldberg, Yale University professor Steven B. Smith discusses his new book "On Statesmanship," which challenges the traditional views of statesmanship and leadership. The conversation covers various topics including national education, the qualities that differentiate a statesman from a leader, and critiques of leftist ideology. Goldberg highlights Smith's expertise in political science and philosophy while also jokingly referencing their previous discussion on Leo Strauss.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-26, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

In an interview with The Remnant's Jonah Goldberg on October 26, 2026, Professor Steven Smith of Yale University discussed the distinction between leadership and statesmanship. The conversation centered around evaluating leaders using the Lincoln-Wilson spectrum, where good leaders are akin to Abraham Lincoln and poor ones to Woodrow Wilson. Topics included national education, the concept of stateless statesmen, crisis management, noble ambition, and references to Charles de Gaulle. Smith also addressed issues such as illiberalism and the perceived lack of excitement in leftist ideology compared to demagoguery. The interview is part of a series evaluating political figures leading up to election day.

Written for “Interview With Steven B Smith” on 2026-10-26, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 107120 · logged 2026-10-26

Story

📰 Interview With Steven B Smith
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
21%
4 of 19 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
61/100
The Dispatch's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-26 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Dispatch · 364 article(s) · 1 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 1 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Jonah Goldberg
53 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Will the Democrats maintain their momentum, or could Republicans defy expectations?
🔮 Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Megan McArdle, and Kevin Williamson to discuss Vivek Ramaswamy's attack ad against Amy Acton and Williamson's reporting from Texas.
2026-10-23 · assertive framing · Vivek Ramaswamy’s Vicious Attack Ad May Backfire
🔮 Conventional wisdom will tell you to be well rested and sober before an interview to ensure peak performance.
🔮 On today's roundtable, we'll discuss a large number of Americans who say they want substantial change or complete and total upheaval in these midterm elections, and whether the prevailing anti-incumbent and anti-Trump sentiment will lead to a blue wave, a rogue wave, or something else entirely.
2026-10-16 · assertive framing · A Blue Wave or an Anti-Incumbent Wave?
🔮 Ladies and gentlemen, could I please have your attention?
🔮 For reasons that will baffle my many detractors, I am often asked for advice about being an opinion journalist.
2026-10-14 · assertive framing · When Politicians Are Entirely Too Online
🔮 And I figure if it's really important, Steve or Declan or somebody will send it to me, or I'll hear about it or whatever.
2026-10-10 · assertive framing · Modernity’s Big Bang | Ruminant
🔮 Dear Reader (even you Cornhuskers willing to shuck out three grand for one of them used urinal troughs), In 2023 there was that whole thing about how all men—or a lot of men—spend a shocking amount of time thinking about ancient Rome.
2026-10-09 · assertive framing · High-Minded Words for a Low Form of Politics
🔮 Will the redistricting efforts save some Republican seats, or will that backfire?
2026-10-09 · assertive framing · What Midterm Polling May Be Getting Wrong
🔮 Ladies and gentlemen. Could I please have your attention?
Also by Jonah Goldberg
Innuendoctober | Ruminant
2026-10-24 · The Dispatch
Addicted to Protest
2026-10-16 · The Dispatch
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 53 articles by Jonah Goldberg →

Topics

Claremonsters Dispatch Remnant The Remnant Yale University

Subjects

Jonah PERSON · 3× Jonah Goldberg PERSON · 3× Dispatch ORG · 2× Yale University ORG · 2× Abraham Lincoln PERSON · 1× Lincoln PERSON · 1× Steven PERSON · 1× Steven Smith PERSON · 1× The Remnant ORG · 1× Woodrow Wilson PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Listen in as Steven and Jonah discuss the difference between statesmanship and leadership, national education, stateless statesmen, crisis, noble ambition, Charles de Gaulle, Claremonsters, illiberalism, the boringness of leftist ideology, and demagoguery.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-26
🔮 Will the Democrats maintain their momentum, or could Republicans defy expectations?
2026-10-26 · The Dispatch
A Leader Doth Not a Statesman Make | Interview: Steven B. Smith · mixed framing

Claims (19 extracted, 4 hedged)

We here at The Remnant tend to evaluate statesmen according to the Lincoln-Wilson spectrum: The good ones are more like Abraham Lincoln, and the bad ones are more like Woodrow Wilson. uncertain
ones → tend → Wilson
But because Jonah Goldberg loves a good argument, we’ve invited friend-of-the-show Professor Steven Smith of Yale University to throw a few wrenches in our statesmanship formula. asserted
we → love → formula
Listen in as Steven and Jonah discuss the difference between statesmanship and leadership, national education, stateless statesmen, crisis, noble ambition, Charles de Gaulle, Claremonsters, illiberalism, the boringness of leftist ideology, and demagoguery. asserted
Steven → listen → ideology
The Remnant is a production of The Dispatch, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. asserted
Remnant → cover → perspective
To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including the Saturday Ruminant, audio versions of all our articles and newsletters, and Jonah’s twice-weekly G-File—click here. asserted
access → access → articles
Instructions on how to set up your members-only feed can be found here, and if you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member by clicking here. asserted
you → set → experience
Will the Democrats maintain their momentum, or could Republicans defy expectations? uncertain
Republicans → maintain → expectations
With less than two weeks left, that's four Zakarias, what could change in the final days before voters go to the polls? uncertain
voters → leave → polls
The episode will be released in "The Dispatch Podcast" feed as normal on Tuesday morning, but we hope you'll join us live on YouTube on Monday at 7:00 PM Eastern. asserted
you → release → PM
And you can subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking on the link in the show notes so you never miss a show. asserted
you → subscribe → show
[upbeat music] Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention? asserted
I → have → attention
Can you dig it? asserted
you → dig → it
This is Jonah Goldberg, host of "The Remnant Podcast," brought to you by "The Dispatch" and Dispatch Media. asserted
This → bring → Dispatch
Uh, you might recall him from his last appearance here on our, our, our special "Who Was Leo Strauss?" episode, which we settled dispositively, uncertain
we → recall → which
and no one has any more questions about Leo Strauss for all time. asserted
one → have → time
His books include "Political Philosophy: Modernity and Its Discontents" and "Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes." asserted
books → include → Extremes
His new book, which is really wonderful, I've been going in and out of it for a while now, is, uh, "On Statesmanship." asserted
I → go → Statesmanship
Professor, welcome back, and, uh, what's your book about? Well, Jonah, it's a pleasure to be back with you. asserted
it → welcome → you
My book, as ti- as you indicated in the title, is "On Statesmanship." asserted
you → indicate → Statesmanship
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