Chapo Trap House

Alex Nichols is back to recap Turning Point USA’s alternative halftime show featuring Kid Rock, Lee Brice, Brantley Gilbert, and Gabby Barnett. We also read a Tablet article complaining that Robert Kraft’s #StopJewishHate Super Bowl ad was too woke and before checking in on some old friends (including Megan McArdle) trying to downplay the significance of the Epstein scandal.

Tickets for our ten year show are going fast, so buy now: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0900643BE404F182

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David Roth returns to talk about the newest avalanche of Epstein files and what they tell us about the depravity of our elites and the West as a whole. We run through a gauntlet of incriminating emails with Larry Summers, Peter Mandelson, Peter Attia, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and more. Then, to lighten the mood, we talk about a profile of Woah Nancy and her poor staffers, plus a tip about Marie Concentrationcamp Perez.

Find David’s work at Defector here: https://defector.com/author/david-roth
Tickets for our ten year show are going fast, so buy now: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0900643BE404F182

Follow the new Chapo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chapotraphousereal/
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Will and Felix talk about the horrific killing of Alex Pretti. We talk about the execution, the man Alex was, why the right despises him, the inspiring response of the people of Minnesota, and reasons to hope that we haven’t irreversibly opened the gates of Hell. We also talk about the public responses, ranging from the bizarre justifications from Mike Cernovich and JD Vance to Sohrab Amari’s attempt at aloofness to the [???] from Tom Friedman. Plus: Marie Glusenkamp Perez dealing the shittiest weed in the world.

Katherine’s article at The Intercept is out: https://theintercept.com/2026/01/25/tony-dokoupil-cbs-evening-news/ 

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Chapo Foreign Policy correspondent Derek Davison returns to talk about the decades that have been happening these past few weeks. We stop at Iran and cover the protests and the possible involvement of Israeli weaponry; at Syria, where Rojava and the SDF have all but capitulated to Ahmed al-Sharaa; at Greenland, where the potential of an inter-NATO conflict grows, and in Israel, where Trump attempts to do freemium diplomacy. Finally, we read a piece about the Brandon administration acquiring The Device.

Find all of Derek’s foreign policy coverage at:
www.foreignexchanges.news
www.americanprestigepod.com

Over the holiday, Will and Chris caught up with Donald Borenstein, Andrew Epstein and Debbie Saslaw of the Mamdani media team to discuss how their video and online strategy helped win the campaign’s stunning victory. We look at their team’s success as the result of years of NYC organizing, how the candidate’s principles and policy informed the media strategy, the right and wrong lessons on political communication from their campaign, and the bizarre outsider art of Adams & Cuomo’s video output. PLUS: production, editing, color grading & gear talk for all you A/V heads.