897 - Urquellization (1/6/25)
We catch up with news over our long week off, including brief hits on the two new years truck attacks (more on that Thursday), MAGA civil war over immigration & visas, various instances of Musk buffoonery, Biden’s presidential medal of freedom recipients, and Semafor’s survey of what people in the media ‘got wrong’ about 2024.
Comments (189)
Mf was out there reenacting Dead Flag Blues
Matt chiming in with some one liners swells my heart
"You went to the Brandon store and got some Brandon" 😂😂😂😂 first time I've heard Matt in years. It's so nice 12:44
Big L from Will calling Whiplash one of the dumbest movies ever.
I think the criticism of the movie's obsession with speed in playing jazz is 100% valid (based on what I have heard from musicians/jazz fans that are much more knowledgeable than me), but yeah I agree that Will had a disappointing take. The main character's obsession with being great and pleasing his band director are both portrayed as being harmful (the MC breaks up with his GF to concentrate on music more, he's obsessed with pleasing a man who probably caused a student to commit suicide...) and I felt like it did a great job at depicting what this kind of person's life really might be like and what kind of sacrifices they really might have to make to become one of the greats.
Sooo nice to have Matt back!!!
This was a banger. Great success and fun for you all in 2025!
The thing is Stefan WAS smart. He basically had the same intellect as Steve Urkel but wasn’t a spaz. And Mayra was way hotter than Laura.
Long shot but if any chapo is somehow reading this, the PBD convo reminded me of Minnect, his incredibly stupid app where you can get business advice from former mob bosses, Terrell owens, and Charlie Kirk. Worth visiting if you want a laugh.
Yglesis, a man with an intellect as sharp as his physique
Ok that was unfair to overwhelm Felix with the Patrick Bet-David portrait live on the show, cmon
“Next episode on Thursday” Oh Will. My innocent sweet summer child. Episodes hardly ever come out on Thursday anymore. They usually come out on Friday evening.
i have been waiting lol
Hope and and family are doing ok in the LA fires.
Damn how good was it hearing Matt's voice again? Literally made my day.
Love to Matt and his family. Not having a great year of mental and emotional health and it was shockingly uplifting to hear my parasocial pal's voice again.
Hell yeah dude, me too. Hearing his voice has legit made my week. Good luck dude, hang in there 👍
Ben David whatever the fuck was talking to Phil leotaro?
Hearing Matt unexpectedly chime in was such a good surprise, I didn't expect him to come back for more than that episode! And we absolutely need to know the Yglesias/Menaker lore
Hope the boys in LA are staying safe this week
Messi was in the Panama Papers 😂
It hit me today how genuinely grateful I am that Matt is ok and now back on. Not just for his ability to add depth to the show and make sense of the world. Also because the world would suck a little bit more without him in it.
Zuck looks like he’s spent a couple billion just to look vaguely like an uglier version of someone who called him gay in HS
Wow big whiff from Will with his Whiplash take. Usually you’re spot on Mr Movie Mindset.
I’m a drummer but Whiplash never appealed to me because the plot seemed to be as Will described it, which is why I rejected that path— and my peers who followed that path ended up making poverty wages teaching high schoolers to play drums, while mired in debt
Felix, weekend science competitions are absolutely a thing! I was part of a two time bronze medal winning remote sensing team at the Minnesota state Science Olympiad. Our school also had a very strong Boomilever team. Come on!
To be fair Messi's charities are pretty much the only reason kids in Appalachia have had dental and pediatric care for the past decade
I'm gonna need the trillbillies to weigh in on this one
Uno dos tres catorce
I believe in the right to be mediocre
Was Matt’s reference of the socialist classic sitcom Dinosaurs? Regardless glad to hear him chime in with a zinger. First episode that I subjected my OG pinko mom to; glad I did. You had her laughing, especially once I explained Kekistan and valuetainment to her. HB1 makes me think of the Saudi system; Bottom line people move to the U.S. to work because of U.S. military fucking up their homes. It is by design, a feature not a bug regarding our economy being dependent on exploiting labor. The interesting thing about HB1 is just that it is the white collar version so not included in labor movement — many of the tech giants are in blatant non-compliance with the FLSA as are most large organizations, for starters. It isn’t a matter of whether HB1 should exist or not: it is a matter of overall enforcement of the labor protections that we do have and protecting non-citizens equally in our workforce. Then there’s the Gates rabbit hole so yeah scratched the surface and hit some jokes.
I got my far right MAGA boyfriend to listen to Chapo and he loves it. We listen to it together every week and bond over it. It’s one of my favorite parts of our relationship. lol.
Being a varsity athlete trains you in the art of shamelessly cheating which is a broadly applicable life skill.
Why did I think this had something to do with Czech beer?
Luv a gud plznr
After the And Intro episode about Bono now I support him getting the medal
“Most of all, [liberals] want to feel like they’re doing something for somebody while also exploiting them.” - Felix summing up the entire lib/neolib ideology in a single sentence.
I love how that Matt is proving all of the chuds wrong. I’m super pumped to see the gang!
Did he say, Felix? I love how it was just glazed. I really feel it hasn’t been off the show for a clean three years lol welcome back, bro.
whoops Felix begins speaking at 1 minute and fifty three seconds
Matt 🙌
Odd to take the cyber truck story at face value. No one heard the guy shoot the deagle in the video etc
Occam's razor, bud. We'll see what the full take is on Thu show.
Look who's back in the mf house with a bff for your mfm.
Incredible misreading of whiplash by the “movie guy”
🤣
Felix's Pentagon joke is an instant classic
As a first time parent of a 1 year-old, Matt talked a lot more than me during most 1 hour meetings. Glad Matt is back.
If Dunning-Krueger was a commissioned painting it’d be Patrick Bet-David’s “Thinking Room”
Love hearing Matt again
Vivek wants to be Dark Urkel from Dark Urkel Tribute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR61Pb0fznQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYhuEhC63NQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMdLUFKbhu8 And for a bonus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVjAGEvluAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgbJQl-aMnA
Ballcells SEETHING
The Based Replacement
The H1B thing is tricky. On the one hand my internationalist socialist principles tell me to oppose them. On the other hand, most of the players on my Gaelic football team are Irish on H1Bs here for the craic.
Love that Matt's on these, he really completes that golden honey chet baker chapo sound. Also Gattaca is one of the greatest and saddest movies ever.
Matt ❤️
Is Felix drunk? Lol never the less I’m loving it
Yeah, it was giving a little bit of Jacques energy
Haha didn’t catch that there was a 12/25 episode. Listened to this and it was just hey Matt’s back now. Really thought they were playing it cool. Welcome back!
I always thought Adrian Dittman was too well spoken to be Elon Musk.
Life Is Burger
That chapo hiatus was painful
Right? So much happened.
We are so back
I’m fucking dying at Messi I didn’t see that in the original picture
I can see the MAGAs getting behind Vivek’s post. Don’t underestimate how conditioned the poor have been to hate themselves.
Felix saying his version of the thinking room just has Trigger, Agent 47, and Master Chief really vindicates Khamenei when he said all of America's heroes are fictional.
petition to give Lionel Messi’s medal to a true American hero, Joel Hans Embiid
Again, so good that Matt back, and we can hear him regathering his strength. 🥲
So happy Matt is back
What’s the Rubenstein 9/11 connection?
go on the wikipedia page for the carlyle group and ctrl-f "farenheit" its all in there
Whiplash is good and the take is reductive
Yeah very un-Movie Mindset of Will. Especially if you listen to the director say anything about the film. The first thing he says agrees with Will, it's a tragic ending for the character. The audience stand in Paul Reiser, during the finale has 4 seconds of the best non verbal acting ever conveying the awe yet deep terror at what his son has been driven to. And given the diner convo in the second act, we know where Andrew's path leads.
Felix is getting gangstalked
stinking room
Didn't liz cheney also get PMF??
Stroking my shit with joy listening to Christman
MORE POLISH HATE!? THEIR LIVES ARE HARD ENOUGH!!!
I think Livelsburger was actually just a Trump fan was on his way to an extremely fun New Year’s Eve party when his car spontaneously combusted
Biden screeching over the lounge piano very Lynchian
Great to hear the trinity again.
Magic Johnson is not dead. lol
Lmfao
I was in the running for an H1B before I had to move back to India and I have a lot of friends on h1b it’s so exciting to be the center of discourse for a few weeks usually no1 in america cares too much about Indian. My take is that NRI types living in the US tend to be pretty casteist and conservative, don’t feel too bad 4 them lol 🤷♀️
the indian caste thing in the us is FASCINATING. didnt harris shoot down an anti-caste discrimination bill in california because it would piss off her and her brahmin friends? this shit is nuts
That’s the OPPOSITE point of whiplash Will!
I say this with love but Will’s Whiplash take is fucking CRAZY
I know he has a very refined movie taste but whenever he dislikes something it seems like he chooses the most dismissive interpretation possible of it lmao
Does Vivek think that other countries don't also enjoy cool athletic fictional characters? I won't pretend I'm an expert on global entertainment but I've seen a fair number of international action movies and they don't generally feature bookworms saving the world with math
Yeah, as far as I can tell, 90% of Bollywood movies are about dumb, irrationally optimistic ripped guys who hang and dance a lot. Nobody romanticizes male friendship and layabouts more.
Every time Will says Matt’s name now I make sure to do a 10 minute standing ovation in my car, complete with a heartfelt song tribute by the ghost of Marilyn Monroe
the "end of the rainbow" for Vivek was getting asked by the Ohio State football coach to give a motivational speech to the team. however, his youth of brute toil rendered him unable to notice that the texts were just the dude from The Rooster and the whole thing was a prank
I'm from/spent most of my life in/currently work at Livelsberger's hometown and went to his high school, if you all have some questions about what kind of depraved de-industrialized German settler environment he grew up in. Unsurprisingly, I'm also the guy with the dad that voted for the anti Christ for lower taxes. Those two things together probably say a lot.
Thank you for your service.
To say something good about the War Criminal medals, another podcast covered that Jane Goodall did not applaud for the other recipients-- guess she learned some humanity from those non-human primates she lived with. I'm only partway thru your discussion, hope you include the little Genocide sycophant David Pakman being invited to observe & get a pic with Brandon taken, but not worthy of an actual medal.
So there's a little known open secret in the special operations community that we all have varying degrees of CTE. That, combined with some fire ass cocaine that was really easy to track down, probably fries our brains faster than normal. We'd spend a year deployed standing basically next to breach charges, IEDs going off, and dropping frags into rooms down the hall then return to base to practice that, do coke, drink exessively every night, and pound Adderall. 100% my grape is going to degrade into jelly as I get older, but it'd probably have been worse if I was in the regiment for any longer than I was. Hell, I already deal with chronic headaches.
He apparently drove to Las Vegas, New Mexico before driving to Las Vegas, Nevada so seems likely he had brain damage.
I feel like prime Matt would've latched onto the Vivek/Elon vs. Groyers H1-B feud as some kind of cosplay of the 20th century conflict between international finance capitalism and the nationalist manufacturing capitalism. Like the war is over and finance won but the losers still get out to the park every weekend to reinact their chud grandfathers's Gettysburg.
The irony is that I think all sides of inter-groyper conflict are funded by the same sources, now. Trump 2024 was, among other things, a consolidation of internationalist anti-internationalism, vis a vis Bannon, Orban, and De Santis, and eco-fash futurism, via the Silicon Magisterium. The rival presidential campaigns were part of a process of rough wooing, and the beleaguered and sinking Trump Team caved.
Matt Yglesias' dad unfortunately wrote the basis for Peter Weir's Fearless.
THANK YOU Will for your opinion on Whiplash. There’s so much good drama that could have been squeezed out of the big band dynamic, real life stuff like with Buddy Rich. This movie could have been plug and play for any activity. Also JK Simmons is scary but he will say yes to anything, and Teller is only believable playing extreme sickos like in Too Old to Die Young. It dovetails with your also good opinion about Tár. Very realistic sociology for a conductor.
Right?? And didn’t they only play one really cheesy song? Did anyone involved step foot into a music school or talk to a musician? I’m not even talking about technical inaccuracies that are necessary for any narrative, but Whiplash just flattened that whole world.
Someone should make a whiplash parody where Vivek goes through intense training to become the best at lying about curing Alzheimer’s.
MAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTT
Will saying they're going to talk about the terrorist attacks and US military culture at Ft Bragg has me hoping they're going to have Seth Harp on the show.
They ride again
Matt and Felix truly rocking in this ep but let’s not miss an opportunity to recognize the exquisite sound clip editing in this one. What a good and fun job by Chris!
Love you Matt
Matt!!!!
“ Schizophranics “ …
This is Anti-Chicago hate
Are Indian and Chinese H1B tech workers “exploited” the like agricultural workers from Latin America? On its face, yes - both groups are unfairly forced to work harder than Americans for lower wages because they are trying to gain a foothold in their new country and really don’t want to go home. But in the case of tech workers, they are often incredibly successful at doing this, and within 2-5 years are making $150K+ at Facebook or some other company, and living the American dream in Seattle or the Bay Area, to the extent that such a thing exists anymore for anyone. That doesn’t happen for agricultural workers. Many tech workers are also educated in their home countries, and are fleeing economic conditions that make it undesirable to live there, but not impossible or in utter poverty the way that some agricultural workers are. I just think that’s a really important thing to point out, if you are trying to do the Leftist thing of “I am anti-globalist but not racist, because the workers being brought are exploited so I’m helping them too.” I don’t know what Bernie’s actual statement was on this so maybe I’m off-base, but I think it’s worth thinking about the differences.
I worked at MS. The tech companies pay the h1b workers about half an American wage, but then another third or more of their workers are contract working Americans who are desperate to go w2. When the tech companies want to inflate stock they lay off full time workers, keep going with contract and h1bs, and make some contract workers full time. The contract companies dont give contract workers days off, sick days, vacation, or health care. MS also hires the spouses of h1b workers in non tech jobs, like admin or tech writing. Its a scam. Total scam that depresses wages. H1bs, in the beginning were monitored by the DOL, and you used to have to prove that an American couldn't do the job, before you could use it. It's a scam that helps the tech companies not just in the US, but also at their hubs in India and China, especially, in that the h1bs have language abilities often not had by Americans. It's a scam that depresses American wages and assists with offshoring
I love Matt occasionally chiming in and dunking from half court.
Yeah let’s fucking go
Felix cooking
Matt lfg
The secret key is a fleshlight
That was my favorite part of the episode.
I'd love if given the years of bread the guys could give Dr. Wendy Painting and her book Aberrations in the Heartland of the Real about Tim McVey and the OKC bombing a shout out
I hadn't heard of that book, thanks!
May the best science win
Put the painting of White Goodman taking the bull by the horns in a thinking room
Stefan Urquelle had looks and brains
I wouldn't let Jane Goodall off the hook. She's been giving speeches at the WEF sounding like a maltusian eco fascist, citing overpopulation as the main problem behind climate change. She just likes junkets and luncheons
Nobody’s tracking that, they just loved her when she starred in GORILLAS IN THE MIST
We’re a nation of Waldo Faldos
Adam Curtis saying "HyperUrquelization"
"In the early 1990s, we watched Urkel ask 'Did I do that?' so that we didn't have to ask the same question of ourselves."
Imagining Vivek binging clips of 90s sitcoms on YouTube and then being like “truly western civilization has been in terminal decline, especially after what Mr. Feeny from boy meets world did to my friend Ben Shapiro.”
Hearing Matt in the background laughing and occasionally interjecting with "huge hog" is such a balm. It's good just knowing he is well enough to sit in.
Just knowing he’s there makes me happy.
Vivek isn't Steve Urkel or Stefan Urquelle. He's Urkelbot
Messi had the decency to not show up for the medal.
Didn't Zach from saved by the bell get the best SAT scores and get offered a prestige scholarship?
https://savedbythebell.fandom.com/wiki/S.A.T.S.
They should have given Matt a medal...
Screech was valedictorian of Bayside.
I miss the old-school science contests, where you competed to see who could build a ray gun the fastest, and the loser was shot with a ray gun.
Screech built a robot with human emotions
Adrien Dittman budded off of Elon’s back like an amoeba. As do all his reply guys. They’re placed in a nutrient bath given an X account.
Never thought I'd have an emotional moment over hearing the words 'huge hog' but I didn't expect Matt on back to back episodes lol
The fleshlight only opens the passage for the chosen one, it's literally custom dick fitted. And you gotta be hard. "...Doc I'm going to need stronger ED medication, I gotta get back in there and turn off the cloning machine. They probably got a whole society in there by now and I need to get it under control. Yeah blue chew does NOT work anymore I'm going to need ultra-violet chew"
Welcome back boys ❤️
its not dale earnhardt...
It'd be so much cooler if it was 😂
Fannie Lou hammer getting one of them medal of honors is crazy cause Biden woulda hated her
Proclaimed “movie mindset” will missed the point of whiplash entirely. Shame.
Sniping Tim Miller and Brian Lehrer in the same segment was innnsannneeee
It's a mall Micheal, how long could you hang out there, all weekend? Of the 6 malls that were within a 20 minute drive of my childhood home, 4 have been completely demolished, 1 is roughly half-sized (renovated into a health/rehab clinic) and the last stands as a bulwark of suburban consumerism and American excess. How dare Vivek call into question the Pinnacle of American Excellence that is the Mall. When the family needs new shoes, I know the best way to buy them is to go to the one big building filled with smaller buildings; first stop, Foot Locker, then down to the other end of the mall to Lady Foot Locker, then we double back past the food court, perhaps grabbing an Auntie Anne's pretzel along the way before we hit Kids Foot Locker. Finished the objectives of our shopping excursion, we stop at Jamba Juice to rehydrate before the long trek back to 2 sq Mile parking lot to find the car and drive 5 minutes back home.
Always love to hear Matt! I appreciate you!
I've been pointing out that Trump is a magnet for schizophrenics for years! And not just being glib. It seems like every time I encounter someone talking to themselves, from homeless people to general crazy people online, they've got Trump's name on their lips. There's definitely something there.
Matt's back baby!!
😳 I figured Matt coming back was just a one-off! Once again my ignorance knows no bounds.... 2025 lookin up, baby! #YearoftheDryBoy 🥰
I didn't think Juan Soto would go to the Mets. We all get things wrong sometimes
Let's keep getting matt quips on the pod y'all ❤️
In 9th grade I got a silver medal in astronomy at Science Olympiad. It's a thing but Vivek doesn't know about it either. He could cite specifics from every episode of 90s TV but not even the name of an actual existing science competition.
Zoroaster's Tomb got me 💀 lol
This is such a betrayal of the basic meaning of MAGA. Not because it supports immigration or the interests of elites over the hogs, all that stuff has long been compromised and indeciferable. It's not fun. These are the keep bigger boobs in my video games please people. The devoted disciples of treat culture, that elected hamburger president. That superficial throwaway jock culture is the whole substance of the ziggurat these small men are standing on
Tech wing won. Deep pocket
schizo-frantics my god felix try using words in front of people IRL
With a name like that, you're obviously an expert. ☝️🙄
Inside me there are 2 Steve Urkels. One is Steve Urkel, the other is also Steve Urkel
Okay, which one did that
The casual racist factory banter at around 14m made me play it back to get the full patter down. Laughed both times. Sue me.
Pvt Joker: TWO ALL-BEEF PATTIES,
God, Vivek is such a freakin' idiot and a tool.
The way Felix pronounces "schizophrenics" is going to give me schizophrenia.
I'm excited to find out how he pronounces it. I'm hoping for something really good like "shizzofreenics."
Welcome back Matt ❤️
the sleepover rule holds scarily true in my experience
Love hearing Matt on the pod again welcome back brother
happy new year chapo trap house
First
Having Matt back is such a delight
I don’t need of your MAGA war. It feeds the rich while it buries the poor (ain’t that fresh)
What’s so MAGA bout war anyway?
Here to jerk my urque
No sweat, my pet
Matt!! 🙌
Im dressed like a toddler to celebrate!
Welcome to the only good thing in 2025
I missed my large son Matt <3
We love cushbomb.
Slop slop slop slop slop
Get Jaleel White on the damn pod!
Foist