Chapo Trap House - 965 - A Chorus Line feat. Alex Nichols (9/2/25)

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Alex is back for some speculation about the health of Donald Trump (after his disappearance) and Rudy Giuliani (after his “not targeted” car crash). Then we turn to the weird world of Democratic Party influencers and the dark-money group secretly funding their American Girl Doll memes. Finally, we chat a little about phones in schools and Adam Friedland’s interview with Richie Torres. Follow Alex on Twitter @Lowenaffchen Check out his show Fortune Kit: https://www.patreon.com/fortunekit And stream “Hotel California” by Bob Marley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taTD0NPb8Do And listen to Felix’s new series about video games THE PLAYERS CLUB!

All I want to be it's a joke all I'm going to be is a joke all I'm going to be is a joke We need problems and pixels okay all right hello everybody it's tuesday september 2nd and we've got some chopo for you i hope everyone had a great labor day weekend and as summer draws to a close felix and i are joined once again by alex nichols who is back with us alex welcome back what's up well uh boys uh labor day weekend is over as i said in the you know waning hours of summer the nation i think that this weekend was sort of consumed by speculation.

Is Donald Trump dying? And it is my pleasure to report today that, no, he seems like he's doing fine. What did you guys make of that this weekend? Was Trump going out like Chera? You know, like, it's one of those things that always be cautious about things that you want to believe to be true.

But like, I have a strong suspicion that Donald Trump will live to be like 112 years old. Yeah, I mean that, like that is the thing. Like, you know, If you, anyone out there in the audience, I know that some of you, you're the type of Americans where your grandmother is like 34. I don't, I don't understand that, but that's most people. But for people more of my, my persuasion, where you have like a, you know, the youngest grandparent you have is 98. You know what it's like when they get sick.

Like when an 80 something, a 90 something year old, when they get cancer, it takes them like 30 years to die. Doctors explain this to me that their bodies, their cells are exhausted from doing body stuff their entire life. So it's like the cancer is walking through their body and not sprinting like when someone is younger. So I think he probably is like diseased in some ways. I've seen a lot of old people in my time usually when you have to put makeup all over their hands it's because either you've been burning them on purpose or because of a gross problem they have or both

but I think the stuff about him having like a serious with strokes was I don't know it's the same thing that happens every time whenever there's like a shot of like an old person and their ankles look weird And they're like, I'm, I'm a living nurse and this only happens when old people are going to die. And it's like, no, no, old people have gross stuff that happens to them all the time. They live another 50 years.

I do think something is off, though. Because he's just like, even during the Epstein thing, like Hassan pointed this out, when everyone, even as supporters were like, you're a pedophile, you're doing all the stuff a pedophile would do. he would he was still doing like 12 hours a day of media so I don't know I think the speculation started when he had like no public events scheduled for the week didn't even seem like maybe he was playing golf this weekend but I you know I think we should start worrying about him when he doesn't show up for the golf course but like fueling this speculation I feel like she mentioned it we have to begin with what's going on with his hand because in recent public appearances he has like a what appears to be a large amount of

like pancake makeup or just paint covering one of his hands. Now this could be a number of things. It could be covering up a very large liver spot or perhaps like bruising caused by the repeated removal of an IV. What do you think is going on with

Trump's hand? Um, I don't know. Like, um, he could have run out of like good van. Is he shooting between his toes? It happens to the best of us. Yeah. I don't, yeah. I mean, I would figure it's that. What else would it be?

Like, did he get it banged up doing boy tie? He saturned at too long, doing the friendly stranger routine. See, that's pedophilia because they're so small. He's basically pretending a child is jacking him off. And I'm not okay with that. And I suppose the other thing that led to speculation about Trump's well-being is just on several recent statements from J.D. Vance, where he was just like, hey just so you all know

I'm totally ready to be president the drop of a hat should anything happen I'm still here guys and I'm ready to serve day one do you think he used to say that to his mom or his grandma his me ma'am I'm ready to take over any time

if you have to go to the hospital or something it's hard it's hard to evince much meaning from that because it's like well what else would he say like if they ask the vice president hey if the president dies are you ready are they supposed to go

I'm going to kill myself if that happens like straight up I'm not ready for it I'm fucking terrified I don't know what I'm doing I'm probably gonna start cutting because you asked me

it's so scary to think about I only said yes to the VP position because I thought I would never have to do anything it's the most meaningless job in government I'm very scared I might have to become president please someone replaced me that is kind of the thing

I thought it was strange about people getting really excited about it. I mean, granted, it would be hilarious if he just, you know, just all the shitty habits and everything just instantly catches up with him. Like, he can't even take another year of being president. But like, I don't know. It's too hard to read the tea leaves on this one. I think on balance, it would probably be worse if JD was president, even though I doubt he could hold the coalition together quite as well. Right. I mean, like, because, you know, like, the, the, the common refrain you heard for a long time was, like, what if, what if what it was Trump's fascist policies, but someone who was competent or, uh, young, like J.D. Evans, but like, that may be true, but he just doesn't have the Riz because he's so, such a dower school marm and doughboy. But I mean, the other thing that people are speculating about is like, there, you know, there's some funny photos of Trump. And they were like, oh, he looks terrible. But like, I don't know how to gauge that either because like, he always looks terrible. Like, he always looks terrible. Like, he. he's looked like shit for as long as I can remember.

Like, he looked like shit when he was running for president back in 2016. Like, he never looks good. So, like, when you see a photo of him wearing a giant hat and his, like, mouth is slack jaw and his eyes look like two little pissholes in the snow, like, how am I supposed to judge that on like, oh, wow, Trump is really looking bad today. Something may be wrong with the president. Yeah, that's a great picture. He's giving dry SpongeBob and it's iconic.

And like SpongeBob The second he left Sandy's dome He was fine again Yeah I always I always think about like What it feels like to be him It might Probably really good

Yeah Probably good as fuck It has to feel like spending like A million years in purgatory But in a hotel Like that picture The picture of him with his mouth Just gaping open

I feel I just automatically feel thirsty When I see that is the exact sensation of like best very harsh best western ac completely drying your mouth out diet coke i need a diet coke um yeah i guess uh you know it's like people still want the they want the juice they want the excitement of when we all thought he was going to die of covid you know but i just i don't think we're going to be so lucky to have him go out like chara though i will say brandon out living Trump would be a hilarious quirk of history.

I mean, it might happen. He is, I mean, I think more funnier than him just dropping dead now is just this continued slide into brandonness, both physiologically and in a more figurative sense. Yeah, people don't really die anymore. That's the thing. At least rich people and celebrities. That's true. The only time someone dies is when it's like a Tom Seismore.

type. Yeah. Someone who would have died at any time in history. Or Gene Hackman and there's some sort of freak accident involving dogs. But he was still like 93. That's basically not dying. That's the youngest, the rich person dies now. It's crazy.

Yeah. You have to be like a real Coleman Francis type. Like you have to, you have to have specifically sort of the habits in the body of a of a drifter who's fat. They call that drifting would burn up some calories. That's like a Katamari. You pick stuff up as you go. Yeah.

So, like, he appeared today at a press conference. And, you know, people are like, oh, Trump press conference at 2 o'clock. He's going to come out there and go, hello, I am dead now. Goodbye. But unfortunately, it was just to announce that he was changing the location of the head of the space force from Colorado to Alabama. And, you know, this also comes amid his recent announcement that he was changing the location of the head of the space force from Colorado to Alabama. And, you know, this also comes amid his recent announcement that he was, would like to change the name of the Department of Defense, the Department of Defense to the

Department of War. And the Secretary of Defense to the Secretary of War, which is what it was called, you know, prior to World War II. It was right after World War II, they changed it to the Department of Defense rather than the Department of War. Yeah, then we started losing him. Yeah, exactly. You noticed that? Yeah. And, you know, he's not wrong about that. I got to say, Department of Defense is not really, I don't know, an accurate moniker for what that part of our government does. And then also, he is sending the Navy to Venezuela. I don't know if he's going to start a war with Venezuela soon,

but that certainly seems like it might be in the offing. Moving on, just another bit of news from Trump World from the weekend that involved somebody not dying, unfortunately. We'd like to, from the Chapa family here, extend our sympathies and get well soon wishes to Rudy Giuliani, who is recently the victim of a car accident in New Hampshire. I'm just going to New York Times covered this story. It says here, Rudolph W. Giuliani was expected to make a full recovery after a vehicle slammed into his car on Saturday,

leaving him with a fractured vertebrae and other injuries. Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and lawyer for President Trump, was riding in a Ford Bronco that was rear-ended in New Hampshire on Saturday evening. The police said the injuries suffered by Mr. Giuliani, 81, and the two drivers involved in the accident were not life-threatening. The driver of the Honda was a 19-year-old from Concord, according to the police. The Bronco was being driven by an advisor to Mr. Giuliani, Theodore Goodman. Michael Regusa, Mr. Giuliani's head of security, said the Bronco had been flagged down by a woman who was the victim of domestic violence. The former mayor called 911, waited for help to arrive and then left, Mr. Regusa said.

Andrew Giuliani, the former mayor's son, whom President Trump recently named Executive Director of the 26 Men's World Cup Task Force, acknowledge the crash on social media and said that his father was tough. Your prayers mean the world, he said. As a son, I can tell you I'm honored to have a dad. I can call the toughest SOB I've ever seen. What do you think's going on with that? I mean, like the details are that jumps out to me. Exactly as described.

Yeah, I think there's a woman who doesn't have a phone on a back road in New Hampshire. She was just waiting for a car to go by. Hey, are you Rudy Giuliani, America's mayor? Can you help me? out of domestic violence situation? Sure. Hold on. Can I crash my car first? Like, what, what is that? Well, yeah, it says that he was flagged down by a woman who was the victim of domestic violence. He called the police to help her, but like, you know, like this is pure speculation on my part. I want to make sure, make clear here. I'm not making, not alleging

anything. I would just imagine a situation like this could in fact be cover for an active solicitation, not by Mayor Giuliani, but I'm just saying if I was soliciting a pro on the side of the road on a dirt road in New Hampshire in the middle of the night and then got into a car accident as a result of it, I might like, I might say that I was trying to help her. You know, this is the old Eddie Murphy excuse. I was giving her a ride home because when I saw her walking on the side of the road, I decided to ask if she would like a ride. Yeah. I mean, Or, I don't know, the specific mention of a domestic violence victim flagging him down, it could be, do you remember that lawsuit that got filed? Like one of those, one of those sort of like Palm Beach looking women that always hangs around them around those guys.

Like she disappeared out of that orbit a few years ago. And it turns out she's has this long, like ongoing legal battle with Rudy over Rudy. like sexually harassing her. So like according to that lawsuit, he would he asked her to like, like give him a blowjob while he was on the phone with like whoever. So he could have just, he could have like, I don't know. Some grandma could have seen him and like asked him for a selfie. And then he was like, can you rub my ass while I face time with what with the mayor of Abu Dhabi?

and she said, ew, no, and he, like, grabbed her wrist really hard. It could be that. It could be any number of things, but I just, I don't know. I have a lot of questions. I don't know why his, if this is, if this is how they're describing it, like, why would his chief of security issue a letter? Why is his head of security issuing a statement of this regard? I mean, I was just glad to hear that he wasn't driving the car at 81.

one years old. I mean, maybe he was. Oh, wait. Yeah, they switch seats. Yeah. Yeah, they switch seats. That's a classic move. The Homer Simpson move there. Yeah. Why was he in New Hampshire? Running for president in 2028? I don't know. I hope so. New Hampshire is kind of a classic simpletons hangout. It's a bad place to get in a car accident because no one has insurance. Yeah. There's no requirement. That's why Vito killed that guy. Yeah. Oh, my God. Felix. I was thinking, I think that was the first thing that came to mind when I heard this story was I was like kind of the Johnny KX plotline

where Vito re-rends that guy and then just kills him to prevent him from like asking for his insurance. You know, I get that they were probably portraying that as like a bad thing to do. But I always thought like how relieving that most

feel. Even if you're not in like a veto situation. You just get to get like completely erase this car accident by just killing one guy. There's so many situations where I just picture Vito waddling up to that guy and just dumping around in the back of his head. And I don't want to kill the person in question. Like, I would never do that even if I had a gun and we were in this bullshit stretch of New Hampshire.

But you just, you have to figure that is the best feeling. People always talk about how good it feels when like a party gets canceled or whatever. I always think that's stupid. It probably feels great, though, when that's not even an enemy. Just an obstacle in your life is killed by you. I would like to interview David Chase. Was that supposed to be bad when Vito did that? Can you agree with doing that?

Because I think it's a good, I would do it. Yeah. I, you know, a lot of the Johnny Kicks plotline got a lot of, I think, unfair hate when it first premiered. But I love it. It's one of my favorite plot lines on the soprano's because I love the scene where Vito tries to do an honest day's work and can't get like two minutes into it. And he's like, don't check the clock. Don't check the clock. And then basically, like, flees having like a loving hot boyfriend and flees to certain death and being tortured by the hands of Philoio Tardo just simply.

to avoid having to work honestly for a living. Yeah, he doesn't even try putting on music or anything. Like turn on the radio. At least try it. He's like sawing wood and he's like, don't look at the clock. Don't look at the clock. And he's like, all right. Now it was a reward.

Look at the clock. And like four minutes at best. That's the worst feeling in the world. Yeah. That was what, like 2006, 2007? They had podcasts. Or, you know, talk radio at the list. What podcasts were out in 2006 or two?

That was always like Ricky Jervais show Maybe like Marron Ricky Jervais show Mark Maron and then like you know all the other podcasts

were like you know Rayne Wilson is going to interview a different member of a religion every week like bullshit like that

so I guess I see his point you could listen to Stern that's true yeah yeah that was when he went over to Sirius Artie was there that was kind of

on their wavelength Artie was kind of like a guy like that like a closeted gay guy pretending to be an Italian gangster It was kind of the perfect radio show for Vito. Yeah.

Plus he was fat. A fat gay slob who's in denial. Trying to be masculine. Well, best of like to be Rudy Giuliani and his head of security. I'm glad they got this situation resolved. And I'm glad he'll not suffer any lingering effects of a broken vertebrae. I always like when Vito. came home and just like telling his stupid kids like I'm on leave from the CIA I have to go back to

Afghanistan like all of their stuff it's so it's so sad I agree I totally agree with you I think it's great there's so much great just like depressing human behavior in all of that I love Vito when he meets with Tony by sandbagging him and he just brings his like severely brain damaged brother standing around like Hodor like he could do anything if Tony just like peeled out on them and I like like Tony's

sort of stab at being the socially progressive mob boss leader because like when he realizes how much money Vito brings in he's like maybe the rest of you guys just start sucking cock that yeah that was rainbow capitalism yeah he was the first guy to do it

it was like Trump with Roy Cohn yeah absolutely if it's useful to me I'm okay with it. So yeah, moving on from people in the president's orbit. I do want to get to this story that's the big sort of story about the democratic dark money and the democratic influencer sphere. I'm calling it the chorus kerfuffle.

And this is a story that has like a lot of layers. Because like there's the story itself and then there's like Taylor Lorenz who wrote the story and her involvement with the story. And there's just like it's like a sort of a hall of mirrors of sort of like competing endorsements, sponsorships and sort of, I don't know, democratic politicking. Basically like Taylor Lorenz wrote this story for Wired. And it basically involves this outfit called Chorus, which is, quote, the non-profit arm of a liberal influencer marketing platform.

And basically the article is about like that they have cultivated what they're calling like an incubator for sort of liberal, democratic online creators and influencers. And the crux of the story is about the contracts that these people were either signed or pressured into signing where basically they get, they were. were offered $8,000 a month to sort of be part of this chorus incubator program, but they couldn't tell anyone that they were being paid by this outfit. And the contracts themselves seem to come with some stipulations about the kind of topics they could talk about. And like, you know, their autonomy as creators in the sort of political entertainment sphere. Could they

talk about the veto, the gay arc? You know, because then I wouldn't do it. Otherwise, was I would. You know, that was actually included in the contract. They were very explicit about not discussing the Johnny Cake's hot. I would never do. I would never do it then. It says, I'm just going to read a little bit from Taylor's article here. It says, for years, Democrats have struggled to work with influencers. In 2024, President Joe Biden's White House snubbed several prominent content creators after they lightly criticized the administration over its policies on climate change, COVID, Gaza, and the TikTok ban. Content creators who challenged Kamala Harris, including Hassan Piker, or similarly unwelcome at

campaign events. After the Democrats lost in November, they faced a reckoning. It was clear that the party had failed to successfully navigate the new media landscape. While Republicans spent decades building a powerful and robust independent media infrastructure, maximizing controversy to drive attention and maintaining tight relationships with creators, despite their small disagreements with Trump, the Democrats have largely relied on outdated strategies in traditional media to get their message out. Now, Democrats hope that the secretive chorus creator incubator program,

funded by a powerful liberal dark money group called the 1630 Fund might tip the scales. The program kicked off last month and creators were told by chorus that over 90 influencers were set to take part. Creators told Wired that the contract stipulated they'd be kicked out and essentially cut off financially if they ever, even so much as acknowledged that they were part of the program. Some creators also raise concerns about a slew of restrictive clauses in the contract. Now, the people involved in this are some names that you might be familiar with, but most of them are people that are sort of, you know, I'm encountering them for the first time here.

And I just want to read this from Taylor. It says here, influencers included in communication about the program and in some cases an onboarding session for those receiving payments from the 1630 fund include Olivia Giuliani. I'm familiar with her. Juliana. Juliana. Oh, yes. Not Rudy's daughter.

Yeah, she got divorced from Rudy Giuliani after his car incident. She would not stand by him. Now, Olivia, I am familiar with. She's described here as a centrist Gen Z influencer who spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Lauren Pietra, a former Playboy executive turned political influencer who hosts a podcast for Occupy Democrats, It's Barrett Adair, and this is my favorite detail in the article, Barrett Adair, a content creator who runs an American doll-themed pro-DNC meme account. What?

I can read that again, an American girl doll-themed pro-DNC meme account. Hmm. Who does that appeal to? Like Smithers, if he was real. Yeah. Yeah. Next up is Suzanne Lambert, who has called herself a Regina George liberal. That's a mean girl's reference.

right that is yeah cool what does that mean she's like you know uh i think basically someone else has covered this but uh susan lambert the regina george liberal just means that she was a republican into like a year ago oh okay and i think regina george that that's that's the mean girl so she's like sort of a a mean girl yeah yeah it's so it's like i like politics but i won't just wear like a potato sack with a rope tied around it i'll wear a skirt i do fashion yeah isn't that just like Amy Klobuchar or Hillary like Hillary like snapping her fingers and saying get me gum now

isn't that just all those people? Isn't it just a type A politics person? Yeah and like you know like that I think that's like that's her brand and I think that's part of the appeal that they're paying $8 grand a month for. Yeah there's never there's never been a woman in Democratic politics who's like

I think that Stake and Blowjob Day should replace Valentine's Day. I get along with guys better. You know like a woman who like a woman character in control all delete. They could try it. Yeah. If I was a woman, that's what I would be. Yeah.

Yeah, that would be one of the guys. Because then I wouldn't have to change drama. Yeah. It'd just be easier that way. Yeah. I'll be like a football influencer. It's like talking about sports and things like that. Something for the fellas. Ariel Fodor, an education creator with 1.4 million followers on TikTok.

That's a crazy name. that's like if one parent was an orc. A half orc education creator. Sander Jennings, another great name, a former TLC reality star, an older brother of trans influencer Jazz Jennings, David Pac-Man, who hosts an independent progressive show.

I have heard of David Pac-Man, who hosts an independent progressive show on YouTube covering news and politics. Lay McGowan, who goes by the online moniker Politics Girls and Politics Girl, And dozens of others. The first two declined to comment. The rest did not respond to requests or comment.

Politics girl, that's cool. That's like if you wrote these people in a movie or a TV show, like a law and order episode about a political influencer. Her name is just politics girl. Yeah, yeah. Politics girl locked vote boy in a flooding basement to get more likes. That's a very, yeah, it's a very season 20. Yeah.

Like, why do you have to pay these people? Looks like politics girl is going to turn it. the politics one woman because she's going to be in prison for life. They're seeking out people who are doing it for free and then just giving them like $6,000. Well, I mean, yeah, that is the obvious question here. It's because like, you know, I mean, if someone already has 1.4 million followers on TikTok and like they're already doing this content, I mean, I think this is, you know, as Taylor identifies in the beginning of the article, this is like the Democratic Party's attempt to take the people who are already doing this for free and I don't know, like

corral them into a more sort of well-oiled sort of media and communications organ, like, you know, because, like, in the article, they talk about, like, there are sort of, like, tutorials and training sessions about, like, how to expand the reach of your posts and sort of, like, message coordination. I think, like, they're trying to, like, you know, I think after ignoring the internet for a long time, I think they're just trying to, like, shape what's already there into an even more, I don't know, effective means of political communications. communication. And this gets into like the contract stipulations about what they are are and aren't allowed to talk about. And it says here, following the initial outreach, many creators

express concern about some stipulations. According to copies of the contract viewed by Wired, creators in the program must funnel all bookings with lawmakers and political leaders through chorus. Creators also have to loop in chorus on any independently organized engagements with government officials or political leaders. Creators in the program are not allowed to use any funds or resources that they receive as part of the program to make content that supports or opposes any political candidate or campaign without express authorization from Chorus in advance and in writing per the contract. And it says the goal of Chorus, according to a fundraising deck obtained by Wired, is to build new infrastructure to fund independent progressive voices online at scale.

The creators who join the incubator are expected to attend regular advocacy trainings and daily messaging check-ins. Those messaging check-ins are led by Cohen. That's Brian Tyler Cohen. On rapid response days, the creators also have to attend at least two chorus newsroom events per months, which are events chorus plans, often with lawmakers. So like, Alex, I think that what's going on here is like they're taking a bunch of reliably to sort of partisan democratic online influencers and sort of putting them in Democratic Party boot camp to make them even more reliable surrogates and mouthpieces for whatever the Democratic Party is trying to do, whatever candidate they're trying to support or whatever message they're trying to promulgate.

And, you know, one of the details here was about, like, how they are allegedly not allowed to, like, if you take the money, you're not allowed to talk about Gaza, right? Because that makes the Democratic Party, puts them in an awkward position, makes them look bad. And I think the way to look at this is like, I don't think it's not, I don't think it's so much that this, you know, 1630 fund and chorus or whatever, I think the way to look at it is not so much that they're paying these people not to talk about Gaza, I think they're paying them because they've selected people who would never talk about it to begin with. Yeah. Yeah. And none of these people need the money to be towing the Democratic Party line. And I'm not

sure what that is either. Like, what is the messaging that they're putting out? Like, I don't, I don't see any democratic messaging other than the shit from Nusa. But that's more of like a, that's directed more towards like normies. It's not directed towards TikTok. Yeah, it's just like, I guess at this point, just like, no, Hakeem Jeffries is a competent adult. Like there's no message or like central set of policies that you could identify with the party at this point. It is just like, yeah, Gavin Newsom like retruhing things and nothing else. Well, I just, this has all the hallmarks of people trying to look busy. Yeah, which is, I mean, people try to look busy is why 90% of things happen.

Yeah, that's our economy. I mean, the thing about there being like two monthly briefings where they go, okay, everyone, just to remind you, we're still Democrats. Like, this is, this is Brian Tyler Cohn who, do any of you guys remember him? I've seen his post. I don't really know anything about him. He's like a news guy. Yeah, he's like a liberal influencer who has like really,

alarmingly prominent temples. Like he is, he reminds me a professor X for that reason. I think he controls all these people with his telepate. But he was early on the, uh, you know, influencers for Bloomberg

train. And it, it's very not, it's not very surprised to see him in charge of something like this, but this does have all the hallmarks of him approaching, you know, like David Geffen and people like that and going, okay, I think we're going to

do it, we're going to get a liberal Joe Rogan, and to show us serious I am, we're going to have three meetings a month, three entire Zoom calls, and whatever guy he was talking to went, sure, that sounds amazing, Brian. Yeah, I feel like I think. I think

you identified this. This is their incubator program not to like support someone who already might be, you know, who might have the mantle of the liberal Joe Rogan. This is like there are six million, you know, like the $6 million man project to create a liberal Joe Rogan through this incubator program. And Alex, I think you identify like the essential like sort of conundrum here is that like,

what is the message that they're paying for? Because what they're seeking to counteract either on the right or on the left are voices in the independent media sphere who are all very critical of the Democratic Party for varying reasons, either right wing or left wing. And like, they want their own sort of farm system of people who support the Democratic Party line, which is at this current moment, whatever it is that we're doing, that's good. And don't complain about it. If you have, if you're dissatisfied with Hakeem Jeffries or Chuck Schumer, you're wrong. And like, what do we stand for? I don't know, our politicians. What we stand for is the Democrats who currently hold office. And we should support all of them. It's trying to reverse engineer a liberal Joe Rogan from like the politics. mean girls and American doll influencers. An interesting thing in the article, though, is that it says, the influencers offered the funding were given just days to sign the contract,

which was essentially presented on a take it or leave it basis. At least one cohort was specifically told they could not have their lawyers redline it. In the group chat form to discuss contract negotiations, some creators discussed the clause prohibiting the disparagement of other creators. Not being able to criticize anyone else affiliated with Chorus felt restrictive to some, according to text messages posted to the chat. So I'm just going to like, you know, my sort of, here's my two cents, my advice for any sort of a budding influencer,

creator out there, or really anyone in any field in life. When someone offers you a contract and gives you an hour to sign it and doesn't let your lawyer look at it, they probably don't have your best interest at heart. Like, who the fuck are, who is Cora? Is this, are they Jerry Jones or something? I'm kind of I'm of two minds on this because like on one hand yeah that's pretty bad practices like to tell like don't let a lawyer look at this you like here's all these restrictions but also like judging by what I've seen if you at any point have been offered a chorus contract you should probably kill yourself so I don't like I don't know it's sort of like Amy Clovischer abusing her staff you know yeah that's It could be bad, but then again, they work for Amy Klobyshire.

Yeah, like, are those people going to disparage the other people? Are people just going to go really in on Olivia Giuliana? Like posting, like, the right-wing stuff, like the America First Post that was going around. Like, there's a DNC heavyweight, an influencer who puts everything on the table, like putting out all those hack jokes. Like, one of them's going to do that. They're just going to be like, oh, look at this fucking cow. it just seems like what's the point of any of this it's so weird like why do they need to pay these people why is it not that much money why do they need to put these stipulations in when none of them are

ever going to not post about that shit like these are people who are self-selected to just be democratic mouthpieces who are not even really like they don't even have that much influence like they have less influence than like jeff teedric yeah where's his money Jeff needs to get a bag now Honestly He's been out there He's consistent I like this one

One creator named Chesco Who goes by the speech professor online Applied to join the program Your name is Chesco And you go by something else Yeah go by Chesco At Chesco is cool yeah I've never heard of a Chesco

Before his username is the speech professor The speech prof online Man Yeah these are Democrats Yeah It's only Democrats who have usernames that are like the cool professor, the crunk professor. I love the crunk professor. I love the crump and lawyer. I went to college, but I'm a little

crazy. And yes, I do listen to gangster rap. It says, applied to join the program because he views it as an opportunity to get access to people that have the funding or backing and actual research that I could use, he says. I mean, like, you're just doing posts. Are you a professor or not? That sounds just sounds like a university, which you're supposed to belong to. Yeah. What does that mean? I'm doing this because it'll give me opportunities to have money put in my bank account.

Oh, okay. Yeah, I guess so. Going on here. She writes, the structure of the program highlights the vast differences between how Democrats and Republicans appear to attempt to am mass online influence. Republicans have spent decades building up a powerful independent media ecosystem, though the right-wing influencer world is far. from Transparent. In September 24, a federal indictment alleged that the Russian state-sponsored

network RT was covertly producing millions in funding to tenant media, a company working with major right-wing influencers, including Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Lawrence Southern. In 2024, the Republican National Congressional Committee spent nearly $500,000 on working with Creator Grid, an influencer marketing company whose website says it connects Republican candidates with Internet's most powerful conservative influencers, according to analysis of campaign finance filings from the Washington Post. And I mean, like, I think this is like, you know, because obviously like the whole like right wing media online new media sphere

is, you know, deeply corrupt and stupid as well. But I think like this does, this does accurately identify like an essential difference here is that like Russia will wait for someone to blow up before they start paying them to do fucking videos for them. Whereas like what these people are doing are just like trying to like, like I said, like pick someone in the fifth round who's going to win a Super Bowl, you know what I mean? Yeah, I don't, yeah, it's just, again,

it's hard to see any point in any of this besides Brian Tyler Cohn, like, justifying his $700,000. I don't know what he gets paid to lead all this bullshit. I'm assuming, you know, probably high six-figure salary running this thing.

I just, yeah, all these people, the highest profile among them have like you know 200,000 followers I think I don't think there's a lot of crossover in this group I don't think there's a lot of people who are like I'm a you know I voted for Trump in 2020 I didn't vote in 2024 but I love the DNC

American Girls account and Olivia Juliana I think they're so I love those two I it just um Yeah, again, like most things, appearing to be busy. But it seems like the right wing, like I said, like they'll, they'll sort of adopt and start funding guys who have sort of already created for themselves, not just an audience, but like a political line or point of view or like, you know, some weird conspiracy rabbit hole or just like they have a thing, right? Like Alex Jones had a thing. Like he had a sort of a brand, you know, Benny Johnson had a thing before he's for Russia started getting a money. They'll co-op people who have, like, an outsider credential.

I mean, that has happened in the past with, like, democratic stuff. But it seems like now there's such a siege mentality that they don't even, if you've appeared as an outsider at all, fuck off. You are not getting this $8,000 a month. We're not even going to try to co-opt you. And, like, you know, like, that's why, like, again, like, this all seems so pointless to me is because, like, they're trying to, like, gain purchase in. in the minds of young people or online

or in independent media but they're doing it all sort of but they're starting from a point of like we're only going to fund people who already agree with us and who are a thousand percent loyal Democrats already so it's just like where like where's the buying here like where's the juice you know like and like

and seemingly like creating contracts which make it so that you can't ever sort of buck the party line in any way that might be surprising or novel. Yeah. I if you're Taking them at their word that they're like trying to win back the online landscape, it's just, it's inherently self-defeating even by, even going just by their own words. Because I mean, according to them, this is all a messaging issue that has left to the Democratic Party in the state where all these, according to them, democratic beliefs are uncool.

So we're going to get the only people in this group who have any name at all have a, have a. name beyond just democratic circles because they are constantly made fun of for being uncool in various different ways. So it's just like, what, are they getting become cool by virtue of you paying them? I don't, yeah, I don't know. I mean, I got there, there's better, there's more evil things that I guess David Geffen could spend his money on. I guess it's good to just kind of waste his time, waste everyone's time.

but it's um i don't know this is this this is this is barely one step above like just paying people paying people to do like a one of those no work jobs where you just show up to a construction site and talk to other guys in lawn chairs back to veto again yeah but um no i mean i think you i think you got it exactly right felix is that like this is all indicative of the fact that like they still believe or need to believe that like the democratic party is so brutally unpopular right now because their messaging just isn't working. And that like the delivery vehicles for like people,

like the sort of vectors of delivery for the message that the Democratic Party is doing great and everyone loves them and their policies is just not working anymore online. So we need to have more people towing that line. And like I think the tell here is like all these sort of like incubator sessions about how to like how to make your posts have better reach

or how to get more, you know, more hits. or go viral or whatever. Like, all that shit is always doomed to fail because it's just like, if you want an audience, just do good content. Like, do good posts.

Be funny. Be amusing. Be entertaining. Be intelligent. Make, like, make good videos. I don't know. Like, you can't, like there's no strategy

that's going to sort of, I don't know, replace the fact that all these people are boring and have nothing to say other than Akeem Jeffries is cool. Yeah, I mean, this is, again,

if I am taking them at, their word. This is like if Poland, a week before Germany invaded them, was like okay, we're at this, we're at a severe technological disadvantage. We need to get four times as many horses and two times

as many biplanes. We need a penny farthing cavalry division. Yeah. Yeah. Like we're at this inherent disadvantage because they have tanks. We have horses. We're using the first planes ever, and they have snooka dive bombers. We just need more of those things, though, and then we'll be fine.

It could have done something. Yeah. If you throw enough horses in there, we'll fuck up the tanks. Like one horse, the tank can probably roll over. But like hundreds of them. Like, if you tried to run a tank through the Kentucky Derby, I think it would, like, it would really grind up the treads and shit. Like in saving Private Ryan, they did it with a sock.

It worked with a sock. So like, like 300 horses. And I guess if you, if Nazi Germany wins, you're losing all your horses no matter what. They're putting all those horses in the death camp. Yeah, they killed all the Polish elites, all the intellectuals, all the nationalists, and the horses. The horses they rode in on. I don't know. Yeah.

And it's just like the Democratic Party isn't popular because everyone hates them because like no one knows what they believe in and the things that they do. and say are also evil and awful and everyone hates it. So, like, the way out of that is just, like, uh, like try to counter the messaging of anyone who could theoretically be on your side, but it's critical of the Democratic Party. Um, guys, I think we need our own incubator program for online content creators. And I was thinking, what would that look like? And then I thought to myself, that is chopo FYM.

We need to start funding, you know, outlaws generation and people who review food in their cars. Well, I think he might support Trump now, but Well, we're going to get him back. That is it. We need to win people over. Democrats need to do more food, food influencership. I'm not going to say anything about Olivia,

Giuliana. I'm not going to say anything. No, yeah, I, yeah. I am looking at this American Girl doll account, and it does have a lot of likes on Instagram. And it is kind of interesting because it's Felicity. It's the American Girl doll that's like a revolutionary war, not soldier,

bystander, I guess, observer. But it's just kind of interesting. She was in the Continental Army's child soldier for getting. Yeah. We could have won faster if we had more child soldiers. And we like girls in the army. Couldn't you see Bede Skelton being into that American girl account? Oh, absolutely.

Yeah, they could win him over. But it's kind of interesting because it's like, it's almost like a liberal tea party. Because they used to wear the little hats and the tea bags. And they got really into the Revolutionary War cosplay. And I guess this is like the Democratic version of that against Trump is like dressing up as dressing up your doll as a revolutionary war era person in using that against the president somehow. I'm not sure how well that messaging goes over. It kind of doesn't sit that well with people on the left to do the, the, the revolutionary war was good kind of thing. I think you could probably make it work like Mad King George and all that.

You have to bypass, like, the slavery stuff. But, Alex, I'm confused. Like, how are they relating the American girl doll felicity to, like, the current Democratic Party and, like, current political debates that are beneficial to the, I don't know, liberal media creator complex? I think there are just dolls in the pictures. Yeah, that is really is. It's just, like, outsider art.

That would be generous to call it that. I don't know. I guess more likes on Instagram. than I do. I mean, there's some bullshit on Instagram. What is this account called on Instagram? Hellicity Merriman. Felicity Merriman?

Helicity. Hellless. Oh, I'm not sure what the bit is for that. That's pretty scary. Okay. Helicity Merriman. Is it, okay, so I assume it's going to be one of, oh, this is just fucking bullshit.

This is terrible. You know what I thought this was Oh God, I hate the I fucking hate this What did you think it was going to be? I thought Alex, I thought it was going to be one of those accounts

where it's like here's Nikki Minaj's ring pops and it's like her outfit looks like It's the same color As like a ring pop That someone posts People do that kind of bullshit

All the time But no it's like These very 2019 style Super wordy memes When you see memes in this font You are just You're about to see some absolute whoreshit.

Oh my God. This sucks. Here's the buzz. We need an American girl doll who costs pre-Trump prices. It's just photos of dolls with text, basically. And to be fair, it's like the creator herself is speaking to the camera a lot too. So it's like she's sort of her personality as well.

But these are just sort of doll-based memes. The dolls don't even need to be there. It's like trying to reach out to basic women. Not to be rude, but I guess it's like women who could be Republicans. Because like the woman, the woman who runs this, like, if you saw her and you said, and you heard she was a politics influencer, you would probably guess she's a Republican because she has like bleach blonde hair and she kind of fits like. And she's into dolls as an adult. Yeah. Yeah, it's a very like feminine coded, almost traditional aesthetic, but it's democratic.

So I kind of get their thinking, I guess, because this is the kind of thing. where it wouldn't automatically be democratic. Like, these people could go over to the Republican Party, but I don't know. I guess. I mean, if they're giving her like $8,000 a month, maybe it's worth it.

I don't know. Why not? It's not even that much money, so. They should do, like, just as a control group to see how well this kind of thing works. Do the same kind of account,

but it's one of those, like, terrifying anime guys who, like, fills a figurine in a, in a, filled with cum. Same style of meme and that same sort of like

didactic meme font that was very popular. Yeah, there should be guys posting about like their cum shirt like your mom taking your cum shirt out of out from under your bed and it's hard and it stands up

and she washes it. Like they should have guys like that and just say, I support the Democrats. Oh, they stole one of my jokes. We need an American girl doll who lost her virginity in a finished basement while the Disney movie played loudly

10 feet away. That's very specific. Yeah. We need an American girl dog who is Krusty White and named Bella. We need an American girl doll who had her first kiss under a sunset or retractable awning. We need an American girl doll who treated the Disney Channel games with more reverence than the Olympics.

Felix, they're stealing all your material. These are, this is all... What are the Disney Channel games? I mean, I would assume they're less, important than the Olympics, but I'm not the American girl doll who treats them with more reverence than the Olympics. I would have to assume that it's like, you know, the cast of the Sweet Life and Zach and Cody doing the shot put. But there's a Disney twist. I guess I would treat that with more reverence than the Olympics, because I don't really treat that the Olympics with much

reverence at all, honestly. No offense to the athletes and the organizers. No offense to all the countries of the world. Yeah. No offense to the global society we live in, but miss me with that shit. I love the Olympics, Alex. I always look forward to the Olympics. It's always fun to me.

Oh, Will, Will, this is one of yours that they stole. We need an American girl doll who tells SCOTS to fuck off in front of a crowd of 20,000 people. Wow. We need an American girl doll

who can't even parallel park. We need an American girl doll who builds, we need an American girl doll who builds bridges more iconic than the Golden Gate. I'm glad they named a famous bridge there. We need an American girl doll

who has spent the night crying on the floor of the bathroom. See, okay, I think this content, I think Alex, I think you're right that like this is maybe trying to like stave off women who would otherwise be you know,

seduced by far right wing politics and, you know, the doll collecting community. But I feel like a good chunk of this is just probably appealing to sexually depraved men as well. Yeah, yeah, like really alarming men, like the types

of men who were like first arrested for the John Bonnet Ramsey case. Well, those guys John Mark Carr type guys. We do need to win those guys over. Well, there's a lot of them out there. Terrifying perverts.

I think, I think this account more appeals to like, I don't know, people whose personality changed after a car crash. I just can't picture anyone who, like, knows when you're supposed to vote liking this. You know, like I, I, I think it's on Valentine's Day. Yeah, the people who like this, I just see them going, wait, we do we do that every year or every day? I, this is, this is for a very low functioning type of person. there's a group of American girl dolls

in a playhouse in the caption or the words on the meme are did you remember the weed that one's a little edgy for them I wonder if that was before the chorus deal oh man I've seen some bullshit meme accounts on Instagram but this is among the worst

well I guess like a sort of follow up to this story is that like in the week since it's come out like all of the people who are mentioned as being sort of part of this chorus incubator project have all issued statements like, you know, saying that the article is full of lies and distortions

and that like in no way is this some sort of coordinated messaging operation to sort of enforce Democratic Party group think. But the problem with that is that they all released virtually identical worded statements. Yeah. So not, but like I want to get to one last element of this story that I think is like,

an interesting sort of layer or reflection upon like meta commentary on the story is that like the fact that the article was written by Taylor Lorenz who is sort of something of a I don't know like a lightning rod herself but like particularly in this story because like didn't Taylor just get in trouble for like doing ads for some company that like sells cell phones to children or something like that okay so it is I think it's either an app or just an entire smartphone that like it doesn't go on like Facebook or something. I so apparently she didn't add but wasn't paid, which is one of the weird craziest things I've ever heard.

Yeah, she posted a video on her account that she labeled as a hashtag ad. And she said in the video that she's proud to partner with a company called Bark, which is it advises parents on phone software to purchase for kids like small kids. And I don't know, because, like, Taylor is, like, is, she's been very vocal about being opposed to, like, efforts to restrict the usage of smartphones among school children, which I find somewhat baffling because, like, I think, I'd be like, that to me, look, I don't have kids, but, like, it would seem to me that, like, I think it would be wrong to say that kids can't have access to the internet or phones or shit like that, but, like, I do not understand why anyone thinks it's a good idea to allow them to, like, be used in schools, like when you're supposed to be receiving an education. Yeah, if you're even kind of ambivalent on this, okay, get two kids, raise one of them unrestricted phone access, the other one, uh, normal style. See which one turns out better.

Yeah, I don't know. It's kind of a tough question because kids are going to get access to it no matter what. And everybody else at school is going to be talking about skibbitty riz and all that bullshit. So like, they're going to get inundated with it no matter what. And I think, like, even though it's objectively harmful, it is sort of helpful in a way and understanding the world. Because unfortunately, for better or worse, the world is kind of defined by that, by the dynamics of social media.

Kind of the same thing with TV. Like, it's objectively good not to let your kid watch a lot of TV, but we also live in a world right now that's completely shaped by TV. And we have the TV guy as president. And he plays the ratings and everything else. like he's completely defined by TV. So if you have no experience with that, it's kind of hard to understand the world

and that kind of fucks you. Like, I don't know. Yeah, but at the same time, this would be the equivalent of like, like, because, you know, like TV rots your brain. And like, when I was a kid, my parents tried as hard as possible to, like, limit how much TV I watched

during the day. But I think the difference is, is like, because of technology, I wasn't able to watch TV in school, like, in class. I wasn't able to watch TV constantly. Unless there was a disaster. Well, unless, you know, yeah, exactly.

Like they were launching a rocket that was about to explode. Yeah. They'll let you watch TV for that. We'll have to watch the Challenger take off on TV. Fuck, I'm not that old. But I don't know. Like I see like I think I think efforts to like make kids put their smartphones in like a bag during school hours so that they're like forcing them in some way to like not ravage their attention spans and just like learn something or pay attention in class. Like I did see.

My favorite comment Taylor made about this is. He was like, well, the internet is where people learn things. I was like, well, yeah, but it's not the only place people learn things. I think kids are more well-read and educated in certain ways because of that, but also it's really hard to guarantee that people use it for learning and they use it for the correct things because the profit motive encourages the worst aspects of it, like AI-generated Instagram reels and just the worst, like brain rock. It encourages brain rock.

It doesn't encourage, like, reading Wikipedia or whatever. Yeah. Or, like, I don't know. Like, to me, like, the purpose of education at any level should be, like, producing human beings who are capable and even desirous of reading an actual book on their own time. And, like, it's very hard for me to see how unlimited smartphone access is making that more realistic. Or a more, uh, yeah. You can read books on there.

I read books on my phone. I think that's true. the only way to really do this would be to just like that like a national like blanket band and that you can't kids can have jitterbugs but you can't have a smartphone until you're like 21 or something yeah i didn't have a smartphone until i was like 19 i think yeah i was older than that like i had an ipod touch before that but i like i could have got an iPhone when it came out technically but i just spent money on a gaming pc when i was working at mcdonalds i got my paychecks. I wanted to get a PC. I didn't want a phone. Well, I think that would,

in my ideal world, that would be part of it, is you don't get a phone until you're like, I mean, I'd like to be 25, but you get, you can, you get a gaming PC when you do like a summer service project. Yeah. Like a racing street art. Kids do need to learn how to use computers more. Yeah, but they're not learning how to use computers. They're learning how to use phones. Yeah. Like when I was that age, like to expose yourself to brain rot, you had to put in so much technical work, like learning how to torrent stuff and building a PC and like learning how to convert video and stuff. Like I was thinking about that recently about how so much of my technical knowledge, it comes from stuff like converting Simpsons episodes to watch on a Palm Pilot. Oh, yeah, I used to do that with the iPod video. I would rip it off the Simpsons DVDs that I had and create MP4 files that I loaded onto an iPad video.

Yeah, like so much of that. My pod video, sorry. The reason I did it was to get to the same place that kids can get to easier now, like just watching 24-hour family guy streams. Yeah. But it required more technical work to get it done. Same with obtaining pornography, you know? Yeah, the same thing.

The embarrassment of asking for a magazine from a sort of a skeptical-looking magazine clerk or news kiosk attendant. But these kids today, they got it too easy. And, you know, I mean, again, like, and once again, like, uh, so, like, if we're saying that, like, unlimited access to the internet is, like, okay for children, like, well, it certainly hasn't been okay for adults or even Taylor Lorenz herself, whose output on a lot of issues is, I would say, somewhat odd recently. Like, for instance, or contention that NYCDSA members are more fascist than actual Nazis at this point

towards disabled people. At an event for Trump's inauguration with literal Nazis, in attendance. I was masked. Multiple people there put on masks after if my health was okay. And one told me about his sick grandma. So, I mean, like, it just, it's, it complicates the issue. No one's ever seen her without a mask at an event. No, no, certainly not.

Certainly not. You know, you never hear about that. I will just say, I will just say, I think it's, I think in general, you need like three or four reporters who like the stories that they do when they they file a story it's like it's interesting it gives you something to talk about but they as a person they're insane i think it's socially healthy to have that because it i think a lot of there are a lot of reporters who are great reporters and they're regular you know like if i in a just day-to-day situation if it was like I have to choose between this reporter or a member of the general public to like water a

house plant while I'm gone. I'm picking that reporter. But then there are some types of reporters where it's like, all right, well, you should have an air tag on you on all times. You're a little bit nuts. Yeah. I think if I asked you to babysit someone, I might come home and you're your leg dropping, your leg dropping a toddler. The thermostat's at 87. Yeah. Yeah, I think the Democratic Party should pay her, honestly. Yeah, no, I, I should have paid her not to run this article.

You have to believe a lot of like really stupid things to be a reporter. And some of the reporters that I put in the crazy, you know, that I would put on my crazy person island, but who I still think, uh, they have done good articles. They're stupid in the way that they're, you know, credulous or uh that that is their form of mental illness it's rare to have one who's like they have the same thing driving them that like chrisa patus does you know what i mean right yeah like i think to be like a good journalist in a lot of ways you do have to have some sort of like oppositional defiant disorder yeah ever tell you about the time that like do you remember

the episode where you and adam were talking about uh when she uh talked to lives of ticot on CNN or whatever. That was a bizarre interview too. Yeah. Okay. So like months later, she like yelled at me about that. Because apparently you guys were like mean to her.

Wait, I don't remember. And I would, I don't, I was being mean to live to TikTok. I don't know. I don't remember. I don't remember what I said.

Adam might have said something that was like kind, but it wasn't really, it didn't warrant like her like messaging me months later being like, what the fuck? You know? It was, I, I didn't even see who was from first. I just saw like this message that was just what the fuck like first thing in the morning. And I was like, oh my God, do I owe someone money?

And she just, she was just like, heckering me about how like evil, evil and stupid the segment was. And I was like, yeah, sounds bad. Oh, you're putting it on me and Adam, right? Okay. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. I was like, they're getting fired. I was like, they're getting fired soon.

Don't worry. But I wasn't on the episode. So can you stop yelling at me? Yeah, you kind of have to have something a little wrong with you to be that committed to being a reporter in this media landscape right now. Like, that's the one thing you want to do and you won't stop. Even after getting, like, fired and getting in trouble and stuff and having all these controversies, like having to do that. Like, you have to have, something has to be a little bit wrong with you. But it's in a way that's kind of compelling and interesting.

There's no other reporter I can think of who, like, would. like message me about something that was on the show months ago and be like what the fuck you piece of shit like i even the reporters who are like credulous or believe stupid things that is a specific like trisha paidousness that i think is it actually is very novel among reporters um and i i will go as far as to say i'm glad that there is someone like that yeah That's what the guy from the 1975 does. Like if he gets a bad review, he'll just send a long email to the person, just ripping into him. But Adam kind of dodged that because he had him on the show.

So he doesn't have to deal with that. And he should have Taylor Lorenz on the show. I think that would be kind of interesting. That's kind of, it's kind of normal for musicians to do that, though. I mean, you expect that from a musician. Yeah, there's less professionalism required. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, yeah, Taylor, if you're angry about this. I mean, please direct all I or two, Alex Nicholas. Yeah, he told us to say all of this. It says, well, he did it. He goaded me into doing this. I think she posted one of my tweets on her Instagram story. Okay. In that song we made, the David Serota song where we referenced her and say Masked off.

Charles wrote that. I made the beat. I thought that was a really good line. I like the entire song, but that was a great punchline. I'm in the Lotus. I'm feeling like David Sorota. I'm puffing on Yoda I'm feeling like David Sorota

Don't look up as a jit I might run up with a stick Well it depends I'm in the bends Mask off Taylor Lorenz I might fuck around And be up next from DC Nova David Brooks

David from David Shore Move over Maddie Glacius Can't pay for this That subs that cash outragee is But don't look up I thought the wired piece is good I think she like does good reporting But like you know

Some of her public stances I find a bit strange That's all Strange is, I think, is the best way to put it. Yeah, I don't know. It's a charitable way to put it. I definitely don't agree with her thermostat takes for sure. And maybe not the mask stuff entirely.

I think she makes some good points. And in the stuff about the phones, like, one thing about that that I think about is that the internet sucks so bad now that I feel like at this point, kids are just going to turn it off by themselves. like it's going to go around like the amount of old people on there and AI shit and just garbage like yeah it's so like I think there's going to be a point where kids just say you know what I'm sick of looking at this

like I don't even really look at my phone when I'm at stuff I hope so I really I really hope so I just don't even have any desire to do it it's like you're right though because it's so it's so old person coded now it's so I don't know if it's a cliche boomerified you know like it seems like we're all living and they're kind of I don't know

decaying Miss Havisham like Mind Palace of Yeah, they colonized It puts me in a bad mood So fast when I spend like two minutes scrolling through videos Yeah Like if you've ever done that where you

You watch like an animal video That comes up on your feed And then you do the vertical scrolling thing It takes about I would say the longest it takes Is three minutes of doing that Before I see something that just Is so shodally made

and has such low expectations of anyone who will watch it that it just puts me in a bad mood for hours. Like, I'll see something where it's like an AI voice recapping the plot of Crank because they think the people that watch it will be too stupid to understand it. Crank explained.

Yeah. A YouTube video longer than the film Crank explaining what happens in the movie. Yeah, there's just, the AI stuff in particular. It's all so dreadful. I never really thought of it from that angle of the boomers colonizing all of this

but that is I think that's a very useful way to look at it there's a specific specific type of like small-mindedness and like credulity that is so specific to them and obviously younger people can be small-minded and myopic and stupid and hateful but there's a specific type of like something that only boomers do

where the stuff where it's like do you remember when the sky used to be a better color? Yeah. Yeah. It puts you in such a bad state. Drinking some of the hose. Not like they drink from the hose stuff.

I'm talking about people who will just like take a photo of the sky and being like, look at what they're doing to us. They're never used to be clouds of this shape. The moon used to be closer. Yeah. Yeah. And then we drove it away.

It's crazy how common that shit is now. like a couple decades ago that was universally regarded as like crazy person behavior. Yeah. It's insane person behavior. If you have like crank beliefs about chemtrails and like the sun being a different size and like all this shit and now it's just so common and no one really pushes back on it. Everybody just has these stupid theories and no one's really going to push back on you. And if they do, you can just isolate yourself and only talk to other people who think that

they're like there are codes on the TV and you can find them everywhere like yeah there are numbers everywhere with those for eyes to see them once you start seeing numbers you'll never stop there's no pushback other than people just pulling away from those people because they don't want to see or siloing themselves in communities that like reinforce their delusions yeah and like i don't know i guess like the younger zoomer equivalent that's like very disturbing is like i don't know like i know it's a small amount but like the kids who have just been groomed into being mass shooters by like neo-Nazi Satanists. I think that bears.

That's concerning to me. I will say. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's finally getting some exposure now, but that entire 764 thing, that is fucking horrifying. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't, yeah. One of the dog kids was linked to that group, too. The guy, the kid who got allegedly, like, beat up. Big balls. I think, yeah. Big balls.

well like you know like Rudy Giuliani he was just out late at night when he decided to help some people on the street and was beaten savagely as a result I guess one last thing guy you brought up Adam did you guys see Adam's interview with Richie Torres yeah yeah I mean I thought he did a great job

but like I I bring it up because like you know I I thought it had a lot of impact and like I thought he was you know I think he was like genuinely moving in the way he discussed the issue of, like, you know, being raised as a Zionist and sort of, like, you know, just sort of cleaving himself from that and the way he feels about it now.

But, like, I bring it up because it got a lot of positive, uh, feedback and reaction. I, like, I, I think it definitely had an effect on people. But, like, I have been noticing that, like, the, the sort of free press part of the internet have, like, now taken upon themselves to just do actual come down style anti-semitism to Adam. Like, post his photo and be like, look at this fucking disgusting. wretched bug and miser this weak neurotic bug who we

who's everything that people hate about Jews yeah I saw a lot of I saw a post where it was like basically just like look at this sniveling little kike and I would go oh who oh is this like an Adam Boffin guy and I would go to their

page and it was like author of the book Jewish in any skin one Jew's journey through being Jewish in New York I think one post said that he had four thousand years of anti-semitism beaten into him. It's just like,

what? Damn. They're like, I mean, they're doing like, yeah, like dear Sturmer cartoons about Adam Friedland because he happened to like be like, I don't think, I don't think Zionism can be supported anymore because of how many people they're killing.

Yeah, like he's not Jewish and Richie Torres is. Yeah, you know, I mean, because that was the insane thing about the interview that Richie Torres who's like a Dominican guy from the Bronx was like telling Adam that he doesn't know about being Jewish in America or that he's like misinformed or is being anti-Semitic or something

like and you know what like the thing is like I thought Adam did a great job in the interview and like and Richie Torres of course comes across like a complete psychopath like just a robot like just he should not have gone on that show but you say that very weird choice by him well here's the thing like I think I think that's like was my first

and obvious conclusion is that like why the fuck would he agree to do this interview? And he was like, oh, you're doing a gotcha interview? And it's just like the robotic recitation of his kind of talking points in the face of someone who was like trying to, you know, like was expressing genuine human emotion and, you know, anguish over like the, you know, mass murder of like hundreds of thousands of people done in his name. And then like his just dead-eyed resuscitation of facts.

I was just like, God, like what a poor choice on his communication staff. But the thing is keep in mind that like Richie. has been like sort of like they waffling or like a lot of the hardcore Zionist groups are sort of turning on him because like he made like tepid statements being like I think it's bad to starve people. But I think this was his way of reconnecting with them because like I think the thing is like if you can maintain your demeanor of absolutely like robotic ice cold detachment from human life in service of supporting the Zionist project, I think that that's like him doubling down and like showing the people who support him and who you know donate money to him and fund

his political career that like I still got it I've still got it like I don't experience shame I don't experience human emotion and like in no way am I ever going to have a human feeling ever so you can rely on me to safely resuscitate your talking points and uh you know like to toe the line essentially yeah it's like a test of discipline it's the same reason that hypocrisy doesn't really matter on the right like jd vant saying Trump is a horrible person and he should never be president. Like the fact that he did a complete 180. That means that's credibility.

That gives some credibility in their eyes because they're like, oh, like, here's someone who's willing to be based himself. Yeah, he can be bought. He can do someone who will debase themselves and has absolutely no limit to their cravenness in pursuit of power so long as it serves our agenda. Yeah, that's a good thing. That's what they want. They want people like that, like dead-eyed psychopaths who will just, they'll tow the line.

They'll say whatever gets them ahead. And, like, and Ritchie doing that interview with Adam, like, it's like the equivalent of, like, Gary Busey's character and lethal weapon where, like, he makes him do the demonstration of his loyalty, but, like, just holding his arm over a fucking lighter for, like a minute until the skin starts burning. Like, I think that was like, that was the Zionist equivalent of that. I think you would have to use a menorah. That would be the Zionist equivalent. Seven or eight candles in a menorah. Eight, right? I don't know.

I don't know. Yeah, yeah, what is the Adam Sandler movie? called? Eight crazy nights, right. Eight crazy nights, yeah. Yeah. It used to be seven until that movie came out. Yeah. They only had fuel for one crazy night, but it lasted for eight. All right. Well,

it wasn't actually oil. It was sugar. Sugar got the ancient Hebrews random. Oh, they got so hyper. That's where the Maccabian the hole came out of. It was red 40 and sugar. They were like, we only have enough sugar to get one guy random. for one night.

But it was, they had eight nights of randomness. Oh, man. Felix, before we leave today, Felix, do you have an announcement you'd like to make?

Yeah, the Players Club, which will examine a different series of video games every season, will be debuting this week. For our first season, me and Brendan

are going through the entire Metal Gear Solid saga. So beginning with MGS 1 and ending with the Phantom Pain, we may do a bonus episode on Metal Gear Rising, even though it's not part of the Solid saga, but is, you know, I think has gotten some unofficial canonicity by virtue of Riden being an unlockable skin in Phantom Pain. But we're, we're very happy with everything that we've put together so far.

the shortest episode is like three hours so if you if you really love you know just inundating your brain

with white noise just not thinking about it instead talking about what the hallways looked like in the arsenal gear we've got you covered you can listen to this

back to back and you'll have white noise for days whether you're flying to Austin or you're being held prisoner somewhere. This will get you through it.

Well, I, for one, I am very much looking forward to your, uh, the Players Club and, uh, your video, video game series and particularly, and just, and launching with Metal Gear solid. I mean, like, that's putting your best foot forward, Felix. Because like, there is so much, there is so much to go to analyze and, uh, expound upon in those games. And I, Brendan's been giving me updates on the recording. And I am very excited for that. So, uh, everyone, Be on the lookout for the launch of Players Club,

Felix's video game series beginning with the Metal Gear Solid games, featuring Brendan James, the occluded Chopo. Yeah, I am really excited for people to hear this. And yeah, no, the only episode being Brennan have left to do,

actually now is the Phantom Payne, the last one. But even just looking forward for after this one, there's just so many different series. want to do, um, and a lot of one-offs, like either games that didn't, uh, get a full franchise behind them or are, you know, considered not really part of the main canon for one reason or the other. I obviously, at some point, uh, we're going to have to do Resident Evil with you, Will. Yeah, no, I'm, I'm very much looking for it. In fact, like, I should start replaying

those games now. It's like, uh, sort of like bank that for when we, uh, when we, uh, when we get to that, but I would love, yeah, I would love to do the Resident Evil games with you. So I'm very much looking forward to the, uh, the next series you do on this. Or I don't know, like, are, like, are, like, are there any other game series that you're considering, uh, like, you know, like, I don't know, you're not a final fantasy fan. So you're probably not going to get to that. That might be, that might be interesting, though, because I've, I've never really played those. I'm obviously going to do.

That might be really interesting because I think those games are so fucking weird and I've never played them. I, um, I, I mean, just a. As far as straightforward stuff, I definitely am going to do Hitman because I think those are fascinating games and they're my favorite type of thing, which is when Europeans have to give their impressions of what they think America is like. And they're weirdly kind of dead on. I always think of in Hitman, Hitman Blood Money, where you have to go on the riverboat to kill the big fat riverboat crime boss who sexually harasses all of his waiters. And that's just what they think the average American is. It is my favorite voice line in the Hitman series.

Age 47, your target is Samuel Clements, also known by the alias Mark Twain. Well, he, you can dress up like a waiter, and he'll say to you, 47, he'll go, do you have any cake? It's a confectionary. It was so good. It always made me laugh because he just assumes that this weird bald man doesn't know what cake is. But I almost did Hitman first, but I realized that more people would probably want Metal Gear. Obviously, we're going to do the From Software games at some point.

I mean, yeah, that's the big one. That's the big one. Yeah. But I mean, yeah, there's just so many. And there's just a lot. There's a lot of one-offs or things that like, things like Max Payne where there's only three games, but I would really like to talk about it at some point that I'm in that there's no scarcity. of content to go after.

Well, you know, a listener, if you've ever wanted Felix's thoroughly, like thoroughly detailed exegesis of the Metal Gear Solid games, it's coming this week

to the Patreon. So that's very exciting. I could not be looking forward to that more. So once again, congratulations to Felix and Brendan for the Players Club, Series 1, Metal Gear Solid. All right.

Until next time, everybody, I want to thank Alex for joining us today and remind everyone to check out Fortune Kit and Chopo FyM. Alex, do you have anything else you'd like to plug? Check out Bob Marley Hotel California. It's my YouTube video that has 1.2 million views. It's a footage of Bob Marley live

and then I edited Hotel California into it. It has like 2,000 comments of old people from all different countries all over the world saying this is fake. And a lot of them thinking it's real too. And apparently if you ask AI about it, it says it's real, and it cites that as a source. And it's also like the sixth result for Hotel California, if you look it up. So check that out.

Excellent. We'll do. All right. That is a classic Alex gag. Yeah. Just the fact that Hotel California is a reggae song is so funny to me. Because like that was famously like one of the most cocaine-fueled sessions of all time. Like the band who came in afterwards, they had to clear.

cocaine out of the recording console literally they said that and uh what they got out of it was this really long reggae song about weed like a seven minute reggae song about weed that's like super pretentious and it's it's like yacht rock it's like the ultimate yacht rock song but it's also like the song that you would write when you're 15 and you smoked weed for the first time all right well uh links for all of that will be in the show description uh so yeah thanks again to Alex uh we'll talk to you soon, everybody. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. and I said, you know, my name,

that's all the color of the sky know, she's in a vela, and not enter the of the comming. So I'm the courier-day-to-day-to-day-see. I've been to California, such you love and place, such a lovely place. Welcome to the California,

such a lovely place. Such a lovely place Such a lovely place Such a lovely place