Seeking a Fren: Episode 6 - Groyper’s Delight
Added 2025-01-15 12:00:10 +0000 UTCWhen a midterm blowout leaves the Trump White House in disarray, his fans turn towards unusual sources for comfort; things only get worse as Trump loses and the same people who rallied around him scramble for an answer. Meanwhile, the real legacy of the Trump administration sends a tidal wave crashing down on the American public.
This episode draws from Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider’s A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door. For a full list of sources, check our works cited doc here: www.chapotraphouse.com/seeking
Comments
Coming back to listen to this for no reason in particular
Koshin
2025-09-15 13:15:27 +0000 UTCStrong desire to hit Felix with a brick after that "Houston gays" line.
Jon W
2025-02-27 14:43:50 +0000 UTCThanks!
FDRomanowski
2025-02-06 02:08:06 +0000 UTCseconding everyone else in these comments who loved those scott walker cuts 😙👌
cosmia
2025-02-06 01:47:39 +0000 UTCfireworks by mitski!
cosmia
2025-02-06 01:40:22 +0000 UTCWhoever did the music picks for this series: MARRY ME! Great throughout, loved the Scott drops, but ending with the mickey-fickey Style Council? You could have just done well, but you did Weller... Wow.
Shauna Seroquel
2025-02-04 17:01:02 +0000 UTCwhy this not in the collection?
Chuck Skooch
2025-01-30 13:37:11 +0000 UTCScott Walker!
James Browning
2025-01-28 17:19:24 +0000 UTCHeys guys, am a new fan but loving your work!! I was trying to grab all of these, and wanted to let you know that this ep's not in the Seeking a Fren tags/on the main mini-series page. Thanks for all the incredible excavating and entertaining. :)
Zora McBride
2025-01-23 13:08:10 +0000 UTCFantastic ending
Simon Rosenberg
2025-01-22 22:55:28 +0000 UTCon set!
Chapo Trap House
2025-01-21 06:48:05 +0000 UTCI feel like it’s wishcasting saying fascism isn’t that popular, Dems are trash but we’re completely cooked on the whole now, it’s over.
Zackary Kelley
2025-01-20 12:58:03 +0000 UTCThis series is great because it’s like listening to Felix monologuing about his autistic special interest topic while I do the dishes
5 inches is plenty
2025-01-20 09:41:31 +0000 UTCI agree with John A and he does a much better job at explaining this than I do. But I feel like thumbing my phone. So. To respond specifically to what you asked. Does this need to have its arms wrapped around the moment? Of course not. However The crew on this is presenting like they do, which is the issue. Let’s take but one example. The Normal Whites thesis. It probably holds during midterms bc maybe it only applies to the “normal” subset of middle to upper class “whites” who pay attention to politics and would therefore more likely participate in a midterm election. But if another of chapos ideas, that voter turnout favors the right now, that would also suggest those numbers of normal paying attention to politics whites are actually decreasing. Which again runs counter to one of the thesis put forward by the show. The country as a whole is becoming more turned off by right wing weirdos who have more thoroughly captured the right writ large. Again. Maybe this was coherent for One Midterm Election but the Shore narrative they’re countering was already disproven when all the rahm troops got drubbed out. This is another mostly correct chapo take (why buy diet when you can get the real thing) Ultimately I don’t even really care. Their college vs no college seems more “arms around the moment” but again. It doesn’t really matter in terms of making this show interesting. I’m glad you liked it bc they gave you a works cited. But to make an 8 hour show for that is kinda weak. I mean I can hate a movie but enjoy the opening credits but I’d really not prefer to have that experience. For notes and suggestions. I wish they had treated the past in the granular fashion they did the current moment. Or they gave the current moment the same amount of attention as they did the past. It just got too poll heavy near the end and again to John A’s point this is where I suspect the “poll troll” was most influential. Maybe part 7 redeems this??? But this episode was by far the worst of a series steadily declining in value. Starting where they did and ending with the death of Roger ailes as the window and then to future cast from there would’ve been my big picture note. I came to these comments hoping that I’d see my ideas presented and articulated in a way that I found satisfactory and a number of listeners have done just that. In terms of stimulating those thoughts and this criticism, the series has provided value. And I’m not mad at it. I’m just not clapping and calling this good or “christman” level. But it is here and we are talking so that’s nice.
Hardcore Virgin
2025-01-19 12:05:24 +0000 UTCSecond episode where Felix mentions the Scotch-Irish What does he know about them that I don’t
Aidan O'Connor
2025-01-19 06:10:53 +0000 UTCAgreed. A very welcomed treat.
sixsceptres
2025-01-19 00:20:50 +0000 UTCButtface has always been awful. Also, he said he unsubscribed, but of course that was a lie.
Axel Herrera
2025-01-18 17:14:22 +0000 UTCIdk, I'd have a hard time if someone would ask me to summarize the argument of the series. So not sure how helpful it is in terms of counter-narrative. But maybe I was just inattentive. Also, the narrative relies so heavily on polling as an index for truth (if you have the skills to collect and interpret them correctly, which it is assumed that the author voice has) that it becomes a massive problem that the poll troll that wrote the script failed miserably at making sense of electoral polling just a few months ago.
John A
2025-01-18 15:07:58 +0000 UTCFar Right Ethno Nationalist
Matthew Krueger
2025-01-18 11:06:47 +0000 UTCI will say that having spent the entirety of their existence making fun of Nate Silver, a lot of this was very poll-data heavy. I'm not sure it needs to have its arms wrapped around the moment though (if you can point me to something that accomplishes that more effectively I'd appreciate it : ) because it does the real work it needs to do just by existing in contrast to the narratives most liberals and conservatives have inside of their heads, and therefore the ones most other forms of media have indoctrinated all of us with for decades now. It is, I think, a pretty effective speed run through the last few decades of the conflicts and overlaps of the fundamental tensions between religion and global capitalism on the right. Not to mention the whole thing is worth it just to have that list of sources all compiled in one place. Or, even more importantly, that "outdoor summer hoops" needed to be immortalized in exactly the way it was here.
Matthew Krueger
2025-01-18 10:57:45 +0000 UTCLove hearing some more Scott 4 in this one!
foreversincebreakfast
2025-01-18 02:34:19 +0000 UTCI said this elsewhere. This really feels like they thought their small redwave midterm prediction was the capstone of some 40 year narrative. It is actually pretty baffling they ran with this. Especially considering the volatility of the current moment and how warping these new tech mutagens are
Hardcore Virgin
2025-01-18 02:21:42 +0000 UTCCorrect. And also the scope. As we got closer to the present the scrutiny and the recitation of details became more pronounced. Which would’ve been more enjoyable or interesting had this focused on early 80s America. For example. The 22 Virginia gubernatorial election. This episodes spends like 15 minutes on it. Why isn’t the 78 Arkansas governor election covered in the same detail? The closer we get to the present the more dilated and bogged down this becomes. Ultimately This all feels like an explainer for how you guys said the midterm red wave wasn’t gonna be the jester waxing some predicted. I remember ettingermentum saying something like if Kamala wins it’ll help the thesis. But she didn’t. I don’t think there’s enough here for you guys to claim you’ve got your arms wrapped around moment. As historical analysis this is pretty dull.
Hardcore Virgin
2025-01-18 02:11:37 +0000 UTCGreat job gang 👍
Andrew
2025-01-18 00:46:38 +0000 UTCExcellent work thank you
Studio Novaya
2025-01-17 23:02:43 +0000 UTCCongrats on your new book Felix!!
Sam Nelson
2025-01-17 22:55:41 +0000 UTCI would absolutely love it if the scripts for this series were made available to read! would something like that be possible?
Callum Manson
2025-01-17 22:33:43 +0000 UTCHitting Jacque with the stray was beautiful.
Ascetic Blur
2025-01-17 17:05:45 +0000 UTCPennsylvania "called for Israel shortly after midnight." My god lol
James Blackmon
2025-01-17 16:03:07 +0000 UTC“The Seventh Seal” (lol) by Scott Walker
Charvis Blutchard
2025-01-17 14:55:06 +0000 UTCFeels like this actually was two podcast series mashed into one. One is about the history of conservative media, and one about electoral results and polls and stuff. The first one is fun and interesting, the other one is at times incredibly dull. I understand that these histories overlap, but I think trying to separate them, and focusing on the media stuff would have clarified the narrative of the series, and made the listen more entertaining.
John A
2025-01-17 09:28:22 +0000 UTCIt’s some dumb groyper speak and it’s not clear why Felix chose it as the title
Roland
2025-01-17 06:32:16 +0000 UTCFantastic series!!
Ryan Eiffert
2025-01-17 06:17:51 +0000 UTCVery cool, but did a 5 year old edit the writing on this? Getting motion sickness from listening.
Dan
2025-01-17 04:55:04 +0000 UTCBravo, Felix, on a series that I think can be called, at least, "Christman-worthy." I didn't know if you could do it by yourself (after all, 'Hell on Earth' and 'Hell on Presidents' were at least two-person hosting jobs), but you more than showed you were capable of it, and I look forward to whatever your next project is, even if it ends up just being a start-up tutorial for that oversold A-10C module for DCS from Eagle Dynamics.
Kainien Morel
2025-01-17 03:50:30 +0000 UTCReally enjoyed this series. Most I've enjoyed something from the Chapoverse since Hell of Presidents. I feel like I legitimately learned a lot about American politics, and this was deeply funny in a way only reality can be. Felt weirdly optimistic at the end, however I still feel like we're entering an age of Right wing political dominance it will take us a while to escape from due to the absolute wreckage Joe Biden left of the Democractic Party and the media landscape.
K U
2025-01-17 03:25:37 +0000 UTCLiked the series but the central premise of an increasingly unpopular and electorally doomed right is obviously wrong.
doodooass
2025-01-17 02:02:57 +0000 UTCDid.. Amy Terese finally get on Chapo?
ben Corio
2025-01-17 01:59:32 +0000 UTCNeed to know who wrote the line about Houston gays, is Amber involved in this?
Mitchell Butler
2025-01-16 23:32:03 +0000 UTCGreat series. Beautiful outro on this ep.
Geoff Allen
2025-01-16 19:22:04 +0000 UTCRufo as Godrick the Grafted was perfect
Axhole
2025-01-16 18:50:23 +0000 UTCThe Scott Walker and wax tax industrial makes me feel like a targeted individual
Eddy
2025-01-16 18:34:40 +0000 UTCExcellent series, I hope whoever did a lot of the research and writing on this is included in future projects
concernedmom420
2025-01-16 17:48:23 +0000 UTCgreat stuff guys. shout out to whoever loaded this up with scott walker songs
leonard
2025-01-16 17:34:02 +0000 UTCbuttface what is your problem these days, you've been a absolute menace all week in the comment section for essentially zero reason
etienne
2025-01-16 17:28:12 +0000 UTCDamn! That was good
Fabien Cesari
2025-01-16 15:52:26 +0000 UTCyeah that was definitely what mattered. kentucky teachers are not a socially progressive bloc, but there are a shit ton of them and they mostly loathed bevin.
Austin Williams
2025-01-16 14:21:22 +0000 UTCProbability that producing this episode required the google search "what is knetucky capital": 100%
Austin Williams
2025-01-16 14:16:33 +0000 UTCThat really how you want your first sexual experience to go buttface?
Chris Rose
2025-01-16 14:07:04 +0000 UTCI feel like I'm in a painting commissioned by Patrick Bet-David
Tommy
2025-01-16 12:52:40 +0000 UTCSports gambling will solve this
Tommy
2025-01-16 12:50:26 +0000 UTCMan, this series has been so good. I wish I understood what Felix is saying.
Craig
2025-01-16 08:08:23 +0000 UTCNo.
buttface
2025-01-16 07:47:27 +0000 UTCEat my ass alan
buttface
2025-01-16 07:34:32 +0000 UTC👏👏👏👏👏👏
Ben Chisholm
2025-01-16 06:54:21 +0000 UTCI hate to be the one to say atodaso, but atodaso, a-fuckin-todaso
Craig
2025-01-16 06:41:15 +0000 UTCScott Walker it's called the seventh seal and is pretty much him describing the movie
Jenkum Terry
2025-01-16 06:31:21 +0000 UTCAlways laugh at girlfriend in a coma music cue
Jenkum Terry
2025-01-16 06:29:15 +0000 UTCAmazing ep Felix
Pat
2025-01-16 06:16:44 +0000 UTCThank you Felix and friends for making my week 💦
FlubHo
2025-01-16 04:49:38 +0000 UTCIt's a pretty decent retelling of the overall history of the new right that arose from the anti new deal conservativism and had benefitted from the neo liberal turn.
Khemith
2025-01-16 04:37:12 +0000 UTCWhat's the song used toward the start that sounds like it's based on The Seventh Seal?
Will
2025-01-16 04:33:38 +0000 UTCsuck my dick from the back loser
buttface
2025-01-16 04:07:04 +0000 UTCGreat series, Felix and co. I wish I was dead
Craig
2025-01-16 03:09:52 +0000 UTCAtodaso! A fuckin atodaso!
K
2025-01-16 02:59:34 +0000 UTCMr Felix biederman goes to Washington find out everyone is a pedo
Adam Murphy
2025-01-16 02:57:32 +0000 UTCMajor props to a hell of a series. Hard to tell this insane story, but it was done magnificently.
Jackie “My Fatha” Jr.
2025-01-16 02:39:27 +0000 UTCLove the idea of an alternate universe where liberals are burning masks, and conservatives are locking down.
Matthew Dunn
2025-01-16 02:22:16 +0000 UTC“Josh Hallway” will make me laugh every time
Brendan Kneeland
2025-01-16 01:30:33 +0000 UTCFelix's pronunciation of "Pat McCrory" is making me feel like he is ESL
Jonathan G
2025-01-16 01:13:37 +0000 UTCif something is made hidden or secret it’s occulted. man’s never done a occulted blood test before
Andrew Cross
2025-01-16 01:11:13 +0000 UTCWhat a miserable comment
Goff Costello
2025-01-16 00:47:41 +0000 UTCthis "needle drop" nonsense has to stop. can't even begin to explain how reddit it makes you sound.
buttface
2025-01-16 00:40:50 +0000 UTCShut the fuck up, buttface
Alan
2025-01-16 00:34:49 +0000 UTCYes. It’s a great roundup of American conservative history. It’s also funny.
Jesse Svetlich
2025-01-16 00:22:07 +0000 UTCis this series worth listening to? Been skipping em for some reason 🤷♂️
Sai
2025-01-15 23:39:52 +0000 UTCMishima score needle drop rocks
Goff Costello
2025-01-15 22:44:21 +0000 UTC" godrick the grafted " as a metaphor is halarious , a runt of a terrifying litter desperately grasping for power while trying to prove himself as something more then he is .
bossbear the rock
2025-01-15 22:39:35 +0000 UTCsome mitski song I think
hamburglar
2025-01-15 22:37:25 +0000 UTCur mom
Christopher Price
2025-01-15 22:24:42 +0000 UTCAmazing series, well done guys ❤️
Eli Navvy
2025-01-15 22:13:54 +0000 UTCGreat finish
MUNDIAL
2025-01-15 21:55:37 +0000 UTCI remember in 2016 or so when ppl were saying that QAnon just captured and swamped out every other conspiracy but now I'm seeing ppl out there genuinely caring about the moon landing and flat earth. nature is healing
etienne
2025-01-15 21:55:14 +0000 UTCHe’s doing a malapropism schtick. It’s not really working lol
Luke
2025-01-15 21:46:19 +0000 UTCYes, it’s “doggo”-like internet speak for “friend” (cf. “snek” for “snake”) that came to be used on 4chan by alt-right types to refer to fellow alt-right types.
Axel Herrera
2025-01-15 21:41:12 +0000 UTCI'm in awe of Felix (and everyone he collab'd with) being able to keep this shit straight. Modern US conservativism has to be one of the most chaotic, self-obfuscated, bullshit-clouded entities in the history of American politics. We would be told one thing one day and the complete opposite the next - and not just by cranks, but by the self-appointed "cooler heads" of the lib entities of the MSM. Just the clear delineation of the first 1-2 years of Covid, that fucking hall of mirrors; or neatly thumbnail-sketching of the nature and influence of QAnon..... a great miniseries.
Rohmer Simpson
2025-01-15 21:23:48 +0000 UTC"for the rest of your life: go out, touch gloves, and fight."
Ricardo Pleasure
2025-01-15 21:14:46 +0000 UTCCreepy racists on Reddit (and maybe 4chan, idk) used it as a dog whistle. I think it came from having their usual haunts banned and having to search for fellow-travellers in whatever random places they scrambled off to. It was part of the weird vocabulary they liked to use so they could recognize each other.
Joe S.
2025-01-15 21:14:12 +0000 UTCYou are now banned from commenting - The Community
Jonathan G
2025-01-15 20:45:38 +0000 UTChey frens, what was that lovely chune playing at around 1:28?
FDRomanowski
2025-01-15 20:43:25 +0000 UTCShe was amazing and amazing!
Nimbly Bimbly As FUCK
2025-01-15 20:28:34 +0000 UTCA feast of slop. This is not a trough but a mighty pool.
K H
2025-01-15 20:20:58 +0000 UTCwishful thinking
buttface
2025-01-15 19:56:04 +0000 UTCWhy does Felix keep saying “occulted”. Does he mean to say “occluded”?
C. Ries
2025-01-15 19:49:18 +0000 UTCyeah, all the best books, films, and documentaries require you to separately research their title to understand its meaning
buttface
2025-01-15 19:40:31 +0000 UTCtrue but I don't think those people are listening to chapo
buttface
2025-01-15 19:38:14 +0000 UTCNo. I asked about this in the comments of a previous episode and was assured by many that the title is self explanatory (it is not).
buttface
2025-01-15 19:34:31 +0000 UTCGoogle it young player
Jonathan G
2025-01-15 19:33:28 +0000 UTCAt any point in this series do we learn what a “fren” is?
nick
2025-01-15 19:30:28 +0000 UTCGen z and younger I think, who wouldn’t remember bush, obama, trumps first term.
nick
2025-01-15 19:29:20 +0000 UTCGreat series, next up Will is back to watching movies he likes with his friends
JoeDotBiz
2025-01-15 19:06:09 +0000 UTCgreat ep. i too take a small amout of solace in the notion that the political hobbism which replaced sports etc will wane sooner or later
boo
2025-01-15 18:17:06 +0000 UTCI love this series except for Spencer, he's a burden on his friends and family!
Charlie Moe
2025-01-15 17:49:53 +0000 UTCOingo Boingo and Paul Weller drops were also sick
Ian H
2025-01-15 17:48:38 +0000 UTCI imagine that i am sitting in front of Felix but facing away from him, toward my PC.
Whucko Jaang
2025-01-15 17:30:27 +0000 UTCYou
Adam Burch
2025-01-15 17:20:37 +0000 UTC... people who follow politics?
William Jarvis
2025-01-15 17:13:51 +0000 UTCRead Lee Edelman
Pat
2025-01-15 17:05:12 +0000 UTCits a cohesive story linking almost all chapo-canon characters. who is this NOT for?
Rachel LaBerge
2025-01-15 16:32:32 +0000 UTCI like to imagine that I'm in a lecture hall at Chapo University when I'm listening to these lectures.
Patron
2025-01-15 16:04:10 +0000 UTC🎶 ballerina 🎶 you must've seen her 🎶 dancing in the sand 🎶
WhiteChocolatePipe
2025-01-15 15:40:19 +0000 UTC"She just died? Wow. I didn't know that. You're telling me now for the first time. She led an amazing life, what else can you say? She was an amazing woman. Whether you agreed or not, she was an amazing woman who led an amazing life actually. Sad to hear that. I am sad to hear that."
WhiteChocolatePipe
2025-01-15 15:38:43 +0000 UTC🎶 pretty eyed 🎶 pirate smile 🎶 you'll marry a music man 🎶
WhiteChocolatePipe
2025-01-15 15:32:45 +0000 UTCWho is the target audience for this?
buttface
2025-01-15 15:15:27 +0000 UTCThat fucking RBG death response clip makes me laugh til I cry every time I hear it.
Richard Cochnar
2025-01-15 15:11:56 +0000 UTCFelix Felix Felix
Where there’s a Wills there’s a Way
2025-01-15 14:48:18 +0000 UTC🎶blue jean baby🎶LA lady🎶seamstress for the band🎶
Christian Bendillo
2025-01-15 14:37:55 +0000 UTCcaptain olimar ?!
Brandon
2025-01-15 14:33:13 +0000 UTCOmg that vault story Lolol
KS
2025-01-15 14:19:03 +0000 UTCRemember, when a lot of Kamala supporters were getting their rocks off to the idea of Gaza getting worse?Turns out a vote for democrats was a vote for genocide
Ardy Rezv
2025-01-15 14:04:27 +0000 UTCThe Republicans lost the battle of Dr. Oz/Fetterman but won the war when having to wear a tie for the first time in his life cut the blood supply to his brain and delivered a depressingly non-lethal stroke to Braddok PA's "shorts in snow guy."
Mountain Dew Or Crab Juice
2025-01-15 14:02:51 +0000 UTCLmao at Vegeta reference
Blank
2025-01-15 13:40:26 +0000 UTCGreat eps but something missed about beshear beating Bevin. Bevin took hating teachers wayyyyyyyyyy too far as well. Well beyond normal republicans hate for educators
GnarlyRaeJetson
2025-01-15 13:37:14 +0000 UTC"You're telling me now for the first time" is such a incredible, meaningless sentence
Saying Monty Python Quotes In Lieu of Conversation
2025-01-15 13:30:05 +0000 UTCHell yeah
The True Horror
2025-01-15 13:07:38 +0000 UTCWhoever had the idea of punctuating this series with early Scott Walker tracks: thank you.
Chase Padusniak
2025-01-15 12:50:45 +0000 UTCbeen waiting on this one, thank you chapo
enjoyerofthings
2025-01-15 12:16:48 +0000 UTCVery appreciative of all the content this week. Makes a shitty week just that little bit smoother ☺️
Mr Tu Damn Quoque
2025-01-15 12:09:16 +0000 UTCwooo
kiteme
2025-01-15 12:03:07 +0000 UTC
