1029 - The F-Files feat. Derek Davison & Ben McKenzie (4/20/26)
We have a Chapo Double Feature for you this week! First, Derek Davison returns for more coverage of the wars in Lebanon and Iran, including a Wall Street Journal article showing just how checked out Trump is from the apocalyptic destruction he’s bringing about on the world. Plus: more Ka$h Chronicles, as the FBI tries to take him down for the crimes of having too much fun and sleeping through an alarm. We’re then joined by actor Ben McKenzie (The O.C., Junebug) about his new crypto documentary Everyone Is Lying to You For Money.
Our 10 year anniversary merch is ready for pre-order through April 30! Order at https://chapotraphouse.store/
Find all of Derek’s foreign policy coverage at:
And go see Everyone Is Lying to You For Money when it’s near you!
Comments (140)
Kash is so deep undercover, he can’t even log into his work computer.
going all in on sucking off the mullahs? check
Will's chuckle makes me happy
So excited for Bitcoin to fail 🤠
46:40 I think Trump's obsession with "nuclear dust" comes from his experience as construction guy, which even Epstein, who we know used to gossip with Bannon behind Trump's back about how stupid Trump is, conceded is the one good thing Trump is good at. I think his obsession with "nuclear dust" comes from his knowledge of demolishing buildings, which naturally creates a lot of concrete dust, which then has to be removed before you can rebuild on the site.
5:16 that makes total sense. Not just because Trump loves musicals though. Not even because he loves Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals. It's because both Trump and Lord Andy are incredibly queeny straight guys, who are alleged sex-pest, with as many finacial failures as successes, seem to largely coast off the talent of others, are incredibly petty and vindictive, and will expend large amounts of social (amd actual) capital to crush someone who crossed them, because that's what really gets them off. They are basically two bodies with the same... well, soul isn't the right word for either of them,but you get what I mean.
FREE USMAN FREE FAILSON
nahhhhh what happened ?? those were my #1 and 2 draft picks... What kind of Sliwaian Travesty
FREE USMAN FREE FAILSON
til its backward
Fam triple tap is demented. But hammering the Jesus head? 😬
Watching ben mackenzie on his journalism steez its very hard not to see him as Ryan atwood-cohen, could totally see his as an investigative journo in his 40s. This is ur brain on tv kids 🍳
No matter how bad things get, at least we have Kash Patel suing a publication bc his employees leaked that he's annoying as fuck
Saddest thing about living in the Midwest is it's so hard to find movies like Ben's in theaters! Hope to see it soon
Benjamin Emanuel, Rahm's dad was not just a 'zionist' he was in irgun and personnally helped to blow up the King David Hotel! By israeli standards Benjamin Emanuel should have been bombed with his whole rotten family and little Rahm should've suffocated slowly under the rubble.
I absolutely get why people find it obscene that there is some panic in israel over the destroyed Jesus on a cross, but none over genocide, war crimes or, murder. However the lie about judäo christian values and the western civilized outpost in the land of the sand savages, CANNOT hold if you are destroying jesus like isis would. Bc it says in clear terms we will destroy every 'christian civilization' if we get the chance. You cannot sell that even to the dumbest rubes in western countries.
All the best detectives are alcoholics but get the job done, Rust Cole, Robbie Coltrane in Cracker, Sherlock Holmes. Let Kash have some booze, do you want to find that old bag or not?
Not scrolling through the comments- it’s J Edgar Boozer
along the lines of Israeli "shoot-and-cry" movies, I would describe Hegseth as a "weep-and-rape" drunk
Multiple sources say Kash Patel has been taking martini lunches in the Pink Room from Fire Walk With Me
A lot of people say the F stands for Federal but it actually stands for
Will was born to play Casey Kasem
I do mental health work with the schizophrenic population in baltimore city, I have a client who is Iraqi and I have befriended her niece who is a 28 year old chemical engineering grad who lives in Baghdad who has become my friend over the years translating for myself and her aunt over the phone. She’s super cool, currently watching the sopranos, likes American hip hop, etc… I talked to her yesterday and asked her if there has been any impact on her with another war a country away from her… she said a bomb shook everything off her walls last week that landed two blocks from her house and her neighbors found half a six year olds body in their yard. I looked it up and found that Iraqi militias have attacked the US embassy with fireworks (no injuries) and America had indeed been bombing in Baghdad last week. It is fucking sickening being from this country. What can I even say to her besides I’m so ashamed
I want my FBI fierce and serving cunt!!!
I love you guys but I have noticed as of late that a lot of will’s interview questions are extremely leading and a lot of yalls topics of discussion and analysis of public perception comes straight from Xitter. I know leading questions aren’t really a big deal when its not supposed to be a confrontational interview and you’re just teeing them up for each topic since you already know have a general idea of what they’ll say most of the time but I would love to see some more open ended stuff. And I just worry about you all spending too much time on Twitter that website really does melt peoples brains and most of the stuff you see on there is completely inconsequential or doesn’t reflect public opinions in real life
you noticed AS OF LATE? that they spend too much time on TWITTER??
Will’s impression of Casey Kasem sounds like Zach Hadel’s impression of Donald Trump.
Personally, I think it's an outrage how much time Kash Patel spends at the Pink Pony Club
What are you talking about? Why doesn’t anybody ask Trump about why he said Ron’s nuclear capabilities were destroyed last summer. This has been pretty widely covered. They replayed the clip on the fucking daily show like two weeks ago. I thought that that was pretty squarely under your definition of mainstream liberal media. You guys are behind the eight ball on this one.
Bro, thats not liberal media apart from to you and me, as far as i can tell these days the daily show is a comedy yotube channel... Them replaying the clips is not exactly cnn and msnbc anchors confronting republican talking-heads or NYT columns calling out congressional reps
Israel military aid is a small part of the package. There are also the tax-deductions tied to illegal settlement. There is the funding to the Egyptian military to be friends with Israel. There are the cost associated with multi-trillion dollar wars that have been pushed by the Israel lobby for the past 25 years. I'm assuming there is also going to be a massive money dump on Israel before the year is out which will be sufficient for Israel to buy weapons in the future. Emanuel is framing this issue as Israel being treated like a "normal" ally. Really the question we should be asking is: should we treat Israel more like a "normal" rogue, lawless, genocidal mafia state?
he said like hey why are we giving all this money to Korea and Israel to muddle the argument and open the door to cutting aid to Korea first and just punt on cutting Israel aid to whenever
This episode sucks
Kash had caps lock on, guaranteed
I think the nuclear dust thing is referring to the whole yellow cake nuclear material, which is powdered uranium. I remember lots of talk about the WMDs and yellow cake back from the global war for terror. I just imagine somebody telling him about yellow cake and he not really understanding that someone hadn’t brought something for him to stuff his face with so they described it as uranium powder or dust.
I have kind of a drinkin too much a bit thing and I really appreciate when guys are out there obviously having an Alcohol Problem that's obviously way worse than mine, it's like hey, at least I barely drink on the clock anymore, like I may show up hangover but at least I show up
This one is going out to AH
I can’t wait for the FBI-Affliction windbreakers
Kash on molly would look like a fucking Care Bear and I’d kill to see it.
Wow frosty reception for Will at the start of the interview
Alot of them probably don't even know who will is lmao
kash patel oding in the lincoln bathroom listening to lil peep
Ben was phenomenal
last
love when felix brings up the red dead redemption guy investing in the worst businesses ever conceived
kash wants the fbi guys to dress like chris angel mindfreak
idk i think that f stands for something other than fierce
that video of kash spraying champange in the us men’s hockey locker room while savannah guthrie’s mom had been missing for three weeks already was so disgusting. and that was two months ago! god i hope that little bug turns up like william colby in his kayak
Poor bill Colby . He was going to expose the Franklin Credit Ring! (Maybe)
Fbi getting sued by pissgrave for copyright infringement with their merch drops
I’ve never complained about their not being a video component before, but it’s a shame to have as big of a hunk as Ben McKenzie with no video
credit where it’s due, guy didn’t even need 2 full years of white house antics & already i know acid marxist supercut of kash patel segments is gonna slay fiercely.
Kaiser kasem is a real gem
Last night was a movie and this morning is a CS GO match.
"Go-fast boats"? I see Derek is a fiend for mojitos
It's actually the terminology used basically any boat that can go fast enough but still carry a weapon system of some sort ie a parisite submarine or like a machine gun or like a small rocket or grenade system. Often these boats are basically o Commerical speed boats with some tweaks to make them more stable at speed.
Will went to hear the What orchestra playing Bruckner? I’ve rewound about 5 times and still can’t make it out.
Fort Greene Orchestra, based in Brooklyn
It sounds like Kash is living the plot of the movie Me Play Joke, the 2018 cult classic written by Nick Mullen.
I've been microdosing gin and tonics for years now and no one suspects a thing
thank you Will for calling out the hypocrisy behind the reaction to an israeli soldier smashing a jesus statue vs the army quadruple tapping three ambulances. my fucking goat
Davison is so much better than Bessner the bozo it's not even funny. I want to kms every time you have Bessner on, I learn interesting things from Davison. Please keep it like this
wrong
i wonder what’s gonna be the number one tiktok song after trump dies. probably something by john legend
Someone like You by Adele
always love when Derek’s on
Jared kushner is a bug who eats nuclear dust, that’s why they sent him to negotiate
What the fuck is "tenth anniversary helium"
It's helium sold to commemorate CTH's 10th anniversary. At least it will be if the Chapocorps merchant marines can ever negotiate safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz
Please make Kaiser Kasem a recurring Chapo bit
Cummisoner Gordan
Cut Cashapp some fucking slack. Imagine your Mossad handler being some “country singer” from one of the numerous corn producer states. His entire mind is just a depository of words that rhyme with truck and small town. Alcoholism is the only way he can feel control over his life.
His wife is like swiss lmao that makes it funnier. She's not even from the states.
Opening bit about the Fort Greene Orchestra activated research I did last year. Very fishy organization. Orchestra basically popped up overnight a couple years back, posts ads all over social media touting their performances of classical music as more geared towards this cultural moment (bisexual lighting, conductor wearing a unique suit jacket). Conductor/founder served in the IDF, came to the US with help from an Israeli cultural fund, misrepresents his experience and schooling (essentially just has a Bachelors in music from an Israeli college), has enough money to hire an orchestra for himself to conduct (there is no consistent orchestra membership, they hire musicians for every performance, unlike say any other orchestra in the city), and essentially has no performance or conducting credits outside of this orchestra. Probably just rich guy shit from his other music ventures (providing music for events and a violin company) but the Israeli aspect always INTERESTING
Turns out all those times he kept referencing the story of the frog and the scorpion, he was talking about himself, who could have guessed (I don't know why he kept calling it a story about a snake but whatever I have foggy memories of 2016)
Trump keeps saying all the guys in charge in Iran are more rational and reasonable than "the crazy mullahs" that he murdered but not only are the new guys hard-liners, a lot have combat experience in the IRGC.
I think he still wants to win Iran - see all that hardware going into the ME since the "ceasefire" started - but he needs a break every now and then and has to spend 30 minutes on Mr. mistoffles or something before he's ready to get back to it
There are untold millions of Americans who can watch a lynching without blinking, but will lose their shit if you say god dammit in front of them.
Actually it was Israel that broke the truce within 10 minutes.
There was no "meeting" between each country's "diplomats", Iran sent an actual delegation and trump sent the 3 stooges and that was it
Per TrueAnon rules, two hours equals two podcasts. Thanks for the hard work fellas 💪
So Will laughs exactly like James Tolkan's FBI agent on A&Es classic show A Nero Wolfe Mystery. RIP to a real one
Also Becky Lynch catching strays
Beer and self loathing in ka$h vegas
Can we please just stop with the boring news and culture episodes? I speak for everyone when I say we're only here for the SVU content
The SVU epsiodes are unlistenable but I like your username so you get a like
43rd and Gay
Thats my street corner
Thank you Chris/Spencer/whoever, for shouting out Junebug, my favorite movie of all time.
Bruckner mentioned!
My sister had a poster of Ben McKenzie as Ryan Atwood hung in her room in the early aughts can't wait to update her on what he's been up to
Also- Will, you have to stop saying "nucular"
"The head of Iranian military intelligence is going to gargle my balls three times a week" didnt even get a chuckle from either will or felix
Funny line, but the timing didn’t work
Pete Hegseth is the type of drunk that spear tackles you out of nowhere at a beach party
And then has a nuclear meltdown and starts swinging when someone does it back
Felix begins speaking at 43 seconds
In this dumb world, i expect only the dumbest...could Iran itself be part of the charade of this dumb war? It's dumb. It sounds dumb. I feel dumb. But it also feels likely amid this landscape of dumb. "Let's all reap the benefits of market manipulation and the US taxpayers themselves." Either this, or Iran is like Beavis and Butthead in "Mr. Anderson's Balls" where Anderson keeps hitting his golf balls right to where B&B are hiding, and they repeatedly take his balls while laughing.
How is this podcast still going?
Omg Ebic comment good sir, hecking updoots to the left
Rahm Emanuel saying no more aid to Israel is an interesting case. On the one hand it's an obvious attempt at damage control to make Israel "just another foreign ally" people can mentally disengage from and protect from scrutiny rather than being perceived as a genocidal rogue state that we are in a suicide pact with. On the other hand, I think it's a sign of the deeper Ashkenazi diaspera / Mizrahi split within Zionism that's been brewing for decades. The moment Netanyahu dies there's going to be an inevitable confrontation between Mizrahi ex-Likudnik fundamentalists being completely rabid and uncontrollable while these western trained Ashkenazi Zionists say whatever they think they need to while desperately trying to shove the "not being perceived as a nation of critinous Hills Have Eyes freaks" down Israel's throat to keep it alive.
Please add Pacino owes IRS six figures gem 88 Minutes (2007) to McKenzie’s notable credits in the description
Jim Gordon go off
The woman on the L'Espresso cover is a lawyer with the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission named Meead Abu al-Rub. She was there in solidarity with those trying to reach their lands.
I lost thousands betting on Monsterjam
Will can you let the guy talk and stop blabbing over him?
Future Man posted up there you guys!!
DGAS are you alive or banned by zogware
Love that Felix still thinks Hesse's name is pronounced "Hessy" and no one is willing to correct him
I think its a nickname, I swear I’ve heard him pronounce her name correctly in older episodes
Does anyone remember what episode they fully discuss the 1940s billboard songs or have Hesse’s twitter post about it?
Super Nintendo Skinner
Ben’s book was great. Looking forward to the new project.
The F-files is my secret nickname for Seeking Derangements
Bruh
Second!
Last and gay
👆This
Palantir CEO Alex Karp should be known as the Jakarta Meth-head
could not have picked a better day to introduce the concept of a chapo double header
say what you will about Justin Trudeau but he fucking did it he legalized weed ... which retroactively made smoking weed lame and cringe and normie
oh yeah on the topic of funny numbers I have this pet theory that 67 hit it big because the new generation needed a replacement for 69 after Elon embraced it and made it completely unsavory
hey it’s that Lt. Gordon from Gotham (TV) !!!
Ya Heydar!
First
playing with fire
Oh yeah so is Matt gonna be just an occasional surprise guest or are we gonna start seeing him easing back into the show. Miss 'im.
I imagine when his kid gets over the hump and he gets through more therapy he probably will show up. Idk about his specific case but often a stroke can create a situation where literally trying to do the thing your brain isn't no good at anymore can incredibly tire you. Basically he has to expend like 9 times the effort to speak and that will probably be that way until the literal neural networks rebuild themselves. Like imagine if you knew what the word juice meant but you had to literally coach yourself saying it two hundred times to say it before stuttering and also having issues understanding others at the same time.
Where my SpiderKra$h goons at?
Things that make you say “hell yeah”
Can't wait.
Boofing 48 benadryl. The hat man owes me money
I was just thinking how the DJ Smokey - Salute 2 El Chapo has litteral sleigh bells and steel guitar and is thus technically Country Western
🍹🍹🍹
Second
Last
If anyone comments first i'm banning them
🤣
2 hrs let’s go
My trough runneth over