Chapo Trap House

TrueAnon’s Liz Franczak helps us look at this week’s GOP debate, the candidates’ pandering to the weirdest freaks in their audience, and Ron DeSantis’ love of Calvin Coolidge. Subscribe today for access to the full episode and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

Felix is joined by Stef aka @iwrite4jacobin to discuss his investigation into Argentina’s AMIA bombing. The 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires has generated much speculation as to who the perpetrators actually were, accusations of irregularities in the investigation, suspicions of cover-ups, connections with intelligence agencies, and the probable suicide of a prosecutor related to the case. Stef takes us through the whole story and its implications for relationships between America, Israel, Iran and Argentina. Find Stef’s series of essays on the incident on Substack, starting with Part 1 here: https://whitesiadbarre.substack.com/p/interpreting-the-amia-i-peronism And follow him on twitter here: https://twitter.com/iwrite4jacobin

Sports journalist Karim Zidan returns to the show to catch up with Felix about the world of combat sports and their attendant politics. They discuss responses to Israel/Gaza in the MMA world, developments in Saudi Arabia’s use of sports for soft power, political use of fight sports in Chechnya, and the deep bromance between Dana White and Donald Trump. Find Karim's writing at: https://www.sportspolitika.news/ Follow Karim at: https://twitter.com/ZidanSports Prod note: we’re putting out two public episodes today, partially to re-align the episode numberings to keep Monday eps even and Thursday eps odd. Obviously something only I care about, but also just letting you know to expect a regular Patreon ep this Thursday.

TrueAnon’s Brace Belden returns to the show as the crew continues discussing the war in Palestine. We look at Israel’s military shortcomings, the IDF’s penile obsession, the domestic propaganda war, and some measures Biden could take we might actually support. We also touch on Gavin Newsom’s vetoing of an anti-Caste based discrimination law, and a Ron DeSantis aide who apparently willed himself to death. Catch Will at the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s 2024 Moby-Dick Marathon: https://www.whalingmuseum.org/program/moby-dick-marathon-2024/ And keep an eye on TrueAnon’s feed for an upcoming announcement that will “end politics as we know it”.

Matt begins his series on the Spanish Civil War with the wave of anti-clerical violence that engulfed the nation at the beginning of the 2nd Spanish Republic Subscribe today for access to the full episode and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

To celebrate Joe Biden’s 81st birthday, we’re joined by Delaware state representative Madinah Wilson-Anton to dish about all things Delaware. Rep. Wilson-Anton leads us through Delaware’s legal peculiarities that make it ripe for international corporate malfeasance, her personal experiences with Joe Biden and his “think tank,” and some tales of Delaware politics, ranging from corporate crime, feral senate dogs, chip thievery, and lots of casual racism.

Mark Ames recounts the absurd lengths the ADL went to spying on U.S. citizens on behalf of foreign regimes, including apartheid South Africa. Subscribe today for access to the full episode and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

Will, Felix and Amber pick up a few stories we missed last week, including Tim Scott girlfriend reveal (and campaign end), and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s father/son porn monitoring. We then look at a litany of increasingly absurd bungles and PR disasters from the Israeli government, all from just the last week. Pick up your copy of Amber’s new book Dirtbag here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250269621/dirtbag And find all the new Chapo offerings at our digital shop here: https://www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse/shop

Chief Foreign Policy correspondent Derek Davison returns to the show for updates on Palestine, including discussion of recent videos of Palestinian arms and tactics, the Biden administration’s response to the war, the potential for further regional conflict, and where the new American focus on Israel leaves Ukraine. Find Derek’s podcast American Prestige at: Americanprestigepod.com And find Derek’s newsletter Foreign Exchanges at: Foreignexchanges.new fx.substack.com

Felix muses on how belief in the paranormal requires all religions to be essentially true. Subscribe today for access to the full episode and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

Author Vincent Bevins returns to the show to discuss his new book “If We Burn” covering the “mass protest decade.” We discuss global protest movements from Brazil to Tunisia to Egypt to Chile, how they’ve affected or failed to affect global politics, and how the last decade of protest and activism relates to the ongoing conflict in Palestine. You can find Vincent’s book here: www.ifweburn.com

Taking a break from heavier war topics, the Will, Felix and David discuss the new NBC show Found and how it’s sure to continue the trafficking psychosis of suburban moms everywhere. Subscribe today for access to the full episode and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

David J. Roth joins us this week as we continue discussing the relatively limp and unconvincing propaganda emerging around the Israel-Gaza war. Then, David gives us his review of “Moneyball” Michael Lewis’ new book on Sam Bankman-Fried, and we take a look at a new Washington Post piece chronicling Jim Jordan’s career arc from college wrestling champion to almost-Speaker of the House. David’s review of Going Infinite is here: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/10/how-michael-lewis-got-duped-by-sam-bankman-fried.html

Will & Felix continue last week’s discussion on Gaza & Palestine with further thoughts on the brutality of the unfolding conflict, reactions and narratives pushed through the American media, shifts in public opinion, and the unstable positions of Israel & America. Here are a few Palestinian aid organizations worth your support: https://www.pcrf.net/ https://www.anera.org/ https://www.map.org.uk/

Journalist Mohammad Alsaafin returns to the show to cover the unprecedented new developments in the Israel-Gaza conflict. The piece from Séamus Malekafzali mentioned in the episode: https://www.seamus-malekafzali.com/p/a-siege-broken The playlist of AJ+ videos on Palestine Mohammad recommends at the end of the episode: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZd3QRtSy5LNqTTQagN3IgbqVPtEIQOp1

Will & Hesse bring you Horrotober Ghoulvie Screamset, a selection of Horror film bangers for this October. We start with two all-time classics of the genre: George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Tobe Hooper’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974). Both films redefined the genre into heightened levels of gruesome nihilism, creating vivid reflections of charnel-house America while serving up ghouls galore for your puerile titillation. As always, the first episode of this miniseries is free for all to listen, all subsequent episodes will be for subscribers only at: www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

We are back. What a week to take a break, huh? We catch up on Nazi officers in Canadian parliament, Sen. Bob “Goldbar” Menendez, Sen. Dianne “RIP” Feinstein, an assortment of madcap Trump statements, China repossesses its Pandas, and more. Thank you for bearing with us through all of this. Programming should continue as usual now. Movie Mindset Halloween Edition starts this Wednesday 10/4/23, and we have some more surprise treats coming to the Patreon when that’s wrapped up in November. If you’d like to join Will & Hesse this October 30th for screenings of The Fog and Halloween III at the Roxy Cinema in NYC, ticket links here: The Fog: https://www.roxycinemanewyork.com/screenings/the-fog/ Halloween III: https://www.roxycinemanewyork.com/screenings/halloween-iii-season-of-the-witch/

An important announcement about the show. https://www.patreon.com/posts/89694571

We cover a spurt of stories about politicians being horny, starting with of course Lauren Boebert’s broadway handy. Then, have you seen this plane?: the air force loses an F-35 somewhere in South Carolina. Finally, we have a reading series on Mitt Romney’s self-mythologizing retirement announcement that eventually morphs into a rumination on the fate of empires.

The creators of HBO’s Telemarketers discuss the Fraternal Order of Police’s involvement in a billion dollar telemarketing scam. Subscribe today for access to the full episode and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse