Chapo Trap House

Once more into the breach of Afghanistan takes: the media now turns to our precious abandoned military ordnance to hand-wring over, and Britain continues to feel the cold shoulder of the Biden administration. We also cover China’s new gaming ban, and an effort to gin up a BDS movement against the Taliban.

We start off discussing Jeopardy!, Tesla Bots, and how all these conservative radio hosts keep dying of COVID. Then we talk about Tony Blair crying about Afghanistan and step inside Tom Friedman’s mind palace to explore the Taliban’s strategic cousin and nephew reserves.

We look at the brutal, stupid, and embarrassing end of our brutal, stupid, and embarrassing twenty year occupation of Afghanistan.

We review Obama’s 60th Birthday Bash on Martha’s Vineyard, which we were all of course invited to. Then, we take a look at the ongoing “Havana Syndrome” phenomenon, in which U.S. intelligence operatives continue to report un-diagnosable symptoms supposedly generated by a non-existent superweapon. Finally, we take a look back at everyone’s early pandemic “cuomosexual” phase.

Subscribe today for access to all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

We start today looking at Democrats’ feckless failure to extend the eviction moratorium. That being a fairly dismal topic, we try to lighten things up with two reading series checking in with how some old friends of the show are handling their new post-election lives in DC.

We take a look at the 2007 Antoine Fuqua/Mark Wahlberg film “Shooter,” a fascinating relic of the 2nd G.W. administration that asks the question “what if a hardass marine sniper operator type fuckin merked Dick Cheney?” Also, Matt brings up some deep lore from the author Stephen Hunter’s other novels that really makes him seem like a fertile well of insane ideas.

This is the first episode of Chapo all-stars Derek Davison & Daniel Bessner’s new foreign policy podcast “American Prestige”. To get more, go here: http://patreon.com/americanprestige In the premiere episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek get into the US's withdrawal from Afghanistan. Did the military intentionally botch the withdrawal? Has the imperial frontier contracted in any meaningful way? Will the Taliban gain legitimacy with the Afghan people? Plus, an in-depth interview with Stephen Wertheim, discussing his new book “Tomorrow, the World”, which explores how and why during World War II U.S. elites decided that their nation should, indeed must, dominate the world.

We’re joined by Chapo foreign policy desk Derek Davison and Daniel Bessner to check in with America’s various “oopsies”, “uh-ohs” and “oh butterfingers” accidentally enforcing our hegemony around the world. Derek and Danny have a new podcast, American Prestige, covering just this type of thing. If you like them on Chapo, be sure to go checkout their new show and, as always, Foreign Exchanges on substack. We’re putting the first episode of American Prestige in the Chapo feed so you can get a taste. http://patreon.com/americanprestige fx.substack.com

Subscribe today for access to all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse