Seeking a Fren for the End of the World: Episode 1 - This is Really Just the Beginning
In a new series by Felix, Josh (@ettingermentum), and Spencer, we ask: how did the Republican Party, once the dominant force in American culture for almost a generation, become a group of bowtied cosplayers and rapist streamers yelling about Litterboxes? We trace this development back to the empires built by two men—Paul Weyrich and James Dobson—as well as the failures of one Pat Buchanan.
This episode draws from Dan Gilgoff’s The Jesus Machine and David Grann’s “Robespierre Of The Right.” For a full list of sources, check our works cited doc here: www.chapotraphouse.com/seeking
We catch up briefly on news around the arrest of the alleged UHC CEO assassin. Then, journalist and musician Jael Holzman returns to the show to discuss a new piece she has for Rolling Stone on the potential threats to trans people in the coming Trump administration. We look at the rather grim potential of massively undermining of trans medical care, the equally grim state of Democratic opposition, and the general fecklessness with which Democrats have handled what Joe Biden once called the “civil rights issue of our time” in both policy and rhetoric.
Read Jael’s piece here: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-trans-health-care-republicans-democrats-1235198473/
Purchase Refaat Alareer’s “If I Must Die” here:
https://bookshop.org/p/books/if-i-must-die-poetry-and-prose/21530923?ean=9781682196212&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgdC6BhCgARIsAPWNWH3V8BcDXv-gg8uxdBjH7qVFtCKGHzt5Z5bMBSUunOfyar68lDFw5EwaAtCmEALw_wcB
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59:21
890 - Spare Us, Cutter (12/2/24)
We do the work of having conversations and connecting to people by reviewing last week’s Pod Save America episode featuring Kamala Harris’ top campaign staff. Through their telling, it was an amazing feat of data, precision and triangulation that somehow came up just slightly short, but we look at some different “stories to tell” from what they’re able to reveal about the campaign’s strategy. Plus, a Thanksgiving poem from Matt.
Felix’s new series “Searching for a Fren at the End of the World”, an examination of the last 50 years of Conservative media, premieres next Wednesday, December 11, right here on your Chapo feed.
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1:16:52
888 - Bustin’ Out feat. Moe Tkacik (11/25/24)
Journalist Moe Tkacik joins us to look at a number of issues she’s reported on recently. Starting with the alarming prevalence of sexual assault allegations among Trump’s new cabinet picks, we follow the trail of backlash to accountability among the ultra-rich to College campuses and of course, Israel. We then turn to Moe’s reporting on the growing tumor of private equity in the American healthcare industry, and how these financial barons are gutting our already threadbare hospital system.
Find Moe on Twitter: https://x.com/moetkacik
And here writing at the American Prospect: https://prospect.org/topics/maureen-tkacik/
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1:19:46
886 - Cabinet Curiosity feat. Alex Nichols (11/18/24)
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.
New Zealand