Folks, there a vibe in the American left before the pandemic hit, it was weirdly optimistic. I think the podcast this site is semi named after perfectly encapsulated it. There’s two parts to this story. The High Hopes Saga, and the Post Bernie Depression. Let’s start with High Hopes, which was peak chapo. I call it that because Pete Buttigieg used the high hopes song as his campaign themesong and he absolutely ate shit much like Chapo did. Let’s look at peak Chapo, there was the five main cast. Will, Virgil, Matt, Amber, and Felix. They had ran the podcast for years and were making bank while doing it. They had a whole community of leftist podcasts surrounding them like cumtown and redscare which not an endorsement here but they were popular then. Anyways they were interviewing presidential candidates, they voice acted in disco elysium, they were touring doing live shows, they were no longer dorks on Twitter but actual celebrities. I think it all culminated when they all sang solidarity forever while doing a makeshift Bernie rally not long before Bernie dropped out and the world was forever changed by the covid virus.
Post Bernie Depression Saga.
Chapo put its faith in electorialism and it failed. You could sense the depression in the air when Bernie dropped out. Then Virgil left the podcast for sex pest allegations and the Maoist friends/daily show monstrosity crumbled at the seams. Virgil left another podcast high and dry and now we don’t talk about Virgil anymore. Amber flirted the most with the stupidpol/terf crowd and she personally stepped back. Brandon James, or the guy behind the scenes editing the podcasts has become a semi regular now. Matt had a fucking stroke which sucks because he was the only one in that highly dysfunctional group of Brooklynite failsons who had personality. Felix has no personality, his personality is as malleable as wet cardboard, and Will, I fucking hate will. He is the dumbest, least funny, annoying Chapo, he would fit in much better with cumtown. And what about the other podcasts? Besides trueanon they all kind of fucking died. Trillbillies lost a host due to harassment, Proles of the Roundtable died because someone embezzled money from it, Red Scare needs to fucking die because they are just the bisexual hot chip version of Nick Fuentes at this point, Cumtown was never funny and it was recommended to people in the same way people in Chicago recommend out of towners drink Malort. Not sure if last podcast on the left fits into the dirtbag left but they fell off too, I think the patreon for chapo is so large still only because people forgot to cancel their subscriptions.
Part three: they shut down the subreddit as a joke and it was not okay
The only based thing reddit ever did was shut down Chapotraphouse. The “community” fractured at that point and it was funny. If I wanted to listen to daily show marvel quips by people who weren’t funny enough to get on snl I would probably still listen to the daily show which I don’t because im not stuck in 2004 hopelessly watching the invasion of Iraq on a loop like some millennial boomer. No, im perpetually stuck in 2020 reliving the what ifs of the only significant event in my lifetime so far I seem to remember. And what did I get from this experience of being a chapostan during the years of 2016-2020. Random internet jokes I cannot get out of my head, whenever I see a cat i intrinsically think in my Bernie Sanders voice that that cat can have a little a salami. I don’t even eat meat, why would I fucking think that? My mind is filled with all this useless esoteric knowledge only known by the most insufferable people on the planet, like a perpetual afterparty in purgatory. I just wanted socialized healthcare my guy and now im forever jaded towards society.
Ands what’s the worst part of this? Pod Save America is still fucking going.
Sorry, we already had today’s uselessly complaining about the podcast post.
I ain’t reading all that
rev left radio is still going strong anyways
I don’t know where all the hate comes from, it’s fine, it’s still a fun podcast although I really miss Matt. They make me laugh. If I want serious commitment to revolutionary left politics, I’ll listen to Rev Left, which is out there, and as good as ever.
Amber.
It’s fine. I listen to 10+ hours of stuff every day through work so Chapo is just one more on the pile. But yeah, it’s not special anymore.
Monday’s ep was pretty funny tho
is this the new bmf
i kinda hope not, because I agree with it and that would be scary
Me too — it reeled me in with “oh look, it’s me” and never let go
Bmf? The guy on Twitter constantly ending his posts with his own name like this
@johnmccainstumor
I remember people complaining about the podcast back in 2017 or so after Trump won. Everyone agreed that the years leading up to that were the prime of Chapo Trap House and everything after that has been a steady decline. Anyway, I never listened to the podcast save for that one time I had eye surgery and literally couldn’t watch anything for half a day, so I don’t really care too much.
This is because of the “xray your child’s shit filled.rectum” discourse isn’t it
They jumped the shark way before that. They were only relevant due to new millennial socdems temporarily believing in the power of electoralism. Like you mention, mirroring enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders.
Glad they helped folks get that hope and then watch it get crushed because I think that created a lot of commies.
whats chapo?
I think it’s the Australian word for chapstick
I agree. I haven’t listened to them since 2020.
However they were also a breath of fresh air for me at a time where inneffectual civility seemed to be all people were interested in.
So while I cringe at breadtube, chapo and all that other shit now, I can’t lie and say it didn’t help me and a lot of others question liberalism. At their peak, they were great. But Bernie losing broke them.
Hot take to flex on how much of an uncultured dummy I am: I think the show has changed but it’s as good as ever. Despite Matt being in recovery (do we know it was a stroke btw?), they’ve carried on quite well IMO. As unpopular as my stance may be, here is the kicker:
I actually joined the Patreon in 2022 and still have it and don’t miss an episode. And I didn’t realize that Virgil was gone until this post.
they had some real fking stinkers like in 2020 and 21 but i think its been ok since, reasonably funny, dont go in expecting like incisive analysis or whatever
Felix has no personality, his personality is as malleable as wet cardboard,
His personality is being a teenager stuck in 2006 as a man in his early/mid 30s. His manner of speech, hobbies, gaming addiction, and social media are all around this formation. Which is fine in the context of a podcast as the third chair as outlet for levity in the context of politics, but his audible gaming in the midst of the pandemic while doing his only job that pays him far more than he deserves was grating and eye-opening: These are podcasters and manchildren.
And not in the Cumtown way, where that trio were professional and aspiring comedians honest with their platform using it to levy and leverage their career prospects in stand-up. Chapotraphouse were aspiring advocates of new leftist politic in the dawn of the Trump era, legitimizing combativeness and hostility with liberalism, liberals, and civility fetishists who were all to eager to compromise with the right wing or pursue kayfabe theater of scolding; “dirtbag leftists” were there to fight, not to debate or patronize. And as you said, Bernie losing, just led them to lament in their own money and hedonistic pity. And when our podcast millionaires have the audacity to be so pessimistic, self-important, and defeated , all I had to think was in the midst of the pandemic “candidates lose! it’s not the end of the world, we’re all still here”.
I stopped listening for about a year afterward.
On a personal level, I think Felix’s persona is an encapsulation on how “free rider” success and financial comfort can negate a person’s drive and ambition. (Virgil had similar hobbies, but at least had aspirations to be a journalist of some sort before his past and sex pest behavior devoured him.) Which helps in validating one’s own sense of accomplishment, ambition, drive, and will to live a life of meaning and connection outside of video game engagement and spectating the world through twitter.
I think this is to say, we all grew up. Or grew into our realized adult selves. It’s fine to listen to Chapo still, but having a minor contempt for the hosts is almost necessary and cathartic to have to enjoy their program.
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