We review the various freaks, toadies, goons, and TV personalities that Trump has tapped to build his second cabinet, and speculate how much damage Vivek & Elon can actually do with their kids-table DOGE advisory board. We also discuss the coalescing view among the pundit class that the Democrats need to abandon their various activist groups, as espoused in today’s reading series by Adam Jentleson. Finally, a new (hopefully semi-regular) feature from Matt.

We start off with some Monkey News, then continue our post-mortem on the 2024 election. Does America have a Boy Crisis? Was $450k a day to put Kamala’s name on the Sphere worth it? How many votes did Queen Latifah swing? Are there sharks in the pool? Can Rebecca Solnit construct a metaphor to save her life? Will anyone learn anything from this boondoggle? We discuss.

We have always lived in The Zone. We take in the stunning re-election of Donald Trump, the manifest failure of Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and the entire Democratic party, and all of the myriad obungles that have brought us to this moment. This has happened before, it will happen again…Reasons to be scared, reasons for hope, and assurance that we’re still ready to ride with you all every day. Unlocked from our Patreon for all to hear. To get every episode, subscribe at patreon.com/chapotraphouse.

We’re joined by Charles, Alex & Andrew from Episode 1 for a night of Election-themed spoofs and goofs live at the Aratani Theater in Los Angeles. Featuring the Dan Boeckner Christmas Time Players: Dan Boeckner, Nick Thorburn, Alex Fischel & Adam Halferty. And of course, a special visit from Santa.

[Note: these Movie Mindset Horrortober Season 1 episodes were already unlocked for free this year over on the Patreon feed, just adding them to the public feed to make them more widely available. To get every Movie Mindset episode, subscribe at patreon.com/chapotraphouse.] In this final episode of this year’s Ghoulvie Screamset, Will & Hesse take a look at Michael Wadleigh’s “Wolfen” (1981) and Bernard Rose’s “Candyman” (1992). Two films taking advantage of real urban environments the...

Chapo elections unit Dave Weigel and Josh “Ettingermentum” return for one last check-in on the state of the 2024 US Elections. We review Trump’s fascist clown show rally at Madison Square Garden over the weekend, and discuss its potential impacts on the final week of the race. We look at the closing arguments & strategies of both campaigns, the increasingly strained relationship between the electorate and the media, key senate races to watch, and give final chances for Trump &...

[Note: these Movie Mindset Horrortober Season 1 episodes were already unlocked for free this year over on the Patreon feed, just adding them to the public feed to make them more widely available. To get every Movie Mindset episode, subscribe at patreon.com/chapotraphouse.] Brendan James returns to take on two triumphant works from writers-turned-directors: Clive Barker’s “Hellraiser” (1987) and William Peter Blatty’s “The Exorcist III” (1990). Both films feature visions of Hell’s intrusion...

Journalist Max Read joins us to discuss his new piece on the proliferation of “AI Slop”: unwanted, low quality, often surreal content flooding the internet and degrading its various platforms. We talk about the dystopian quality of the trend, the economic factors encouraging it, and how it portends poorly for the future of online. Max’s AI Slop piece: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ai-generated-content-internet-online-slop-spam.html Subscribe to Max’s newsletter READ MAX at...

[Note: these Movie Mindset Horrortober Season 1 episodes were already unlocked for free this year over on the Patreon feed, just adding them to the public feed to make them more widely available. To get every Movie Mindset episode, subscribe at patreon.com/chapotraphouse.] Will & Hesse look at two starring God Tom Atkins: John Carpenter’s “The Fog” (1980) & Tommy Lee Wallace’s “Halloween III: Season of the Witch”. Also a Carpenter double feature of sorts, one from the director...

[Note: these Movie Mindset Horrortober Season 1 episodes were already unlocked for free this year over on the Patreon feed, just adding them to the public feed to make them more widely available. To get every Movie Mindset episode, subscribe at patreon.com/chapotraphouse.] Will & Hesse are joined by Nymphowars’ Theda Hammel to discuss two horror films from 1964 starring the legend Vincent Price: Sidney Salkow’s “The Last Man on Earth” & Roger Corman’s “The Masque of the Red Death”....

We start today with Alex and Felix explaining a notoriously filthy video game streamer and his repellent political views/personal hygiene to Will. Then, we check in on the Harris campaign as it continues to search for meaning, substance, moral clarity, strategic vision, & more while election day looms. Meanwhile, in MAGA-land, a look at the J6 defendants behind bars: putting on plays, podcasting, recording billboard #1 hits, punching holes in the prison drywall…is life in the big house...

It’s been one year since 10/7, so we discuss a bit of what’s changed - if anything - in perception and politics of the war in Palestine. We then look at the 2024 election, the effects of recent and impending natural disasters, and last week’s VP debate. We also discuss Kath’s recent piece in the Nation about the return of the #resistance, and Elon Musk’s funny little dance at Trump’s recent rally. Idk, we’re all starting to get that familiar icky feeling in the pits of our stomachs again...

Alex joins us to go in on now-indicted Mayor Eric Adams. We go through the many hilarious details of the unsealed indictment, the Turkish Connection, airline bribes, New York to Easter Island via Ankara travel, ice cream trickery, and windows literally falling off of Turkish buildings in NYC. We also look at Tablet magazines full-throated defense of Adams & the necessity for foreign bribes. ¡No Pasarán! Matt Christman's Spanish Civil War is available NOW along with a crop of new merch at...

BLOWBACK’s Brendan & Noah return to the show. We start off today’s show discussing Israel’s massive escalation into Lebanon, and Brendan & Noah point out the many parallels between America’s current position and the various atrocities and mis-adventures they’ve chronicled on Blowback over the seasons. Plus much more on Blowback’s current season focused on Cambodia, and the many crimes, colorful characters, and surprising sources of magnanimity they’ve uncovered through their show. ...

Journalists Christopher Robbins & Katie Way from the independent outlet Hellgate return to the show to help update us on NYC Mayor Eric Adams' chaotic administration. We look at the scandal and indictments surrounding a number of top Adams officials, including multiple sets of siblings, all embroiled in bribes, extortions, and various other forms of graft. We also discuss NYPD scandal in light of the recent subway shooting which left multiple people injured and one bystander...

Ben & Matt of the JUSTICE WARRIORS comic series join us this week. We look at the SECOND Trump assassination attempt in about as many months, Trump’s increasingly intimate relationship with Laura Loomer, and just his insane personal and political arc over the last few months. Then, more seriously, the continued blatant demagoguery around immigration stirred up by Republicans that Democrats and the Harris campaign seems unequipped to respond to. Finally, a few stories that seem to have...

Will, Felix & David Roth review Trump’s masterful rhetorica gambits from Tuesday night’s debate with Kamala Harris. Subscribe today for access to the full episode and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

Derek & Danny of the American Prestige podcast join us to review the new film Reagan. Can a film that accurately depicts the 40th president of the United States as a vacuous himbo who eagerly repeats the last thing told to him also portray him as a righteous colossus who single-handedly defeated the scourge of Soviet Russia. Sure! Why not? We consider the dim boomer hagiography presented to us by the director of other timeless classics such as Casper: A Spirited Beginning. American...

Long time friend of the show James Adomian stops by to catch up on some news, including the conservative rumor of bikers traveling to Colorado to fight Venezuelan gangs, the North Carolina GOP gubernatorial candidate who was a five-night-a-week customer at a porn store, and the Swifties for Kamala Zoom call. We also check in with some of our old friends Elon Musk & Sebastian Gorka. James’ new stand-up special Path of Most Resistance is available now for purchase at 800 Pound Gorilla:...

The Chapo 2024 Elections team returns to the pod to look at the state of the presidential race post-Democratic National Convention. Kamala’s positioning in the election remains strong, but what does her convention performance tell us about a potential Harris administration? Is the Trump GOP really bungling this? Exactly how s****y is JD Vance as a VP pick, and is Tim Walz committing Dog Fraud? And just how much can the Democrats cover their ears and pretend Gaza doesn’t exist after the...

Alex back on the pod today as we touch briefly on cranks from the past and Ye’s nitrous fixation. Then, Biden and his team continue to seethe about being kicked off the ticket, while Tim Waltz’s midwestern diet sends the right into some sort of race-based rage. Then, despite his possible PTSD, Trump is still able to toss off some casual insults to cherished American institutions that would get any other politicians run out of town and Bolsonaro attacked by bees.

Dan Boeckner recounts the saga of Canadian journalist being “elicited” by a nice Chinese man and his wife. Subscribe today for access to the full episode and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

We’re joined by video doc king Jon Bois to discuss some of his recent projects with Secret Base, specifically REFORM!, a history of Ross Perot and the Reform party. Jon shares his fascination and research into this bizarre eddy of American electoral politics, the various cranks and characters that populated it, and how the Reform Party prefigured a swath of our current political landscape. We also touch on James Rebhorn’s character in Independence Day, slipping on banana peels, and the best...

The Washington Post’s Jeff Stein stops by to discuss his extensive new piece investigating the ever-ballooning U.S. international sanctions regime. Despite Biden recently bragging he’s leaving office with the U.S. not involved in any foreign conflicts, the U.S. now has sanctions in place in over a third of all nations around the world, including more than 60% of “developing” nations. Jeff walks us through this increasingly central policy of worldwide economic coercion, how it shapes American...