Brace Belden: LARP and Destroying the US Government | Doomscroll

[@MrVile738]

Mr. Belden simultaneously being the most and least normal person alive is something we should all aspire to

[@nefm]

love to see my friend in high res 1080p instead of the weekly hour long voice calls i have with him

[@pr1mu]

Ready for weekly 4k

[@QueefMcGeesHouse]

Can you recommend some of your favorite episodes. I've preferred episodes where guests come on

[@benquesada-d7s]

@@QueefMcGeesHouse the octopus murders are good and jfk series is classic style apple pire

[@lilacrain3283]

@@benquesada-d7s*classico

[@QueefMcGeesHouse]

@@benquesada-d7s thanks bae

[@Kid_Ikaris]

It's a sign of a great interviewer to bring out new stuff from someone most of us have listened to for hours at this point.

[@rcrztt]

"Hours" lol (but yes, your point stands)

[@discountchocolate4577]

I was not expecting Brace to all but namedrop the Kaiserreich mod of HOI4. Which is pure cope and fanfiction by anarcho-syndicalists but also a significantly more plausible scenario than the A24 Civil War movie.

[@Kid_Ikaris]

@@discountchocolate4577 Did you hear A24 is doing the Kaiserrech mod movie?

[@agent923]

best line of the entire podcast "you're autistic?" "yes."

[@drobbi]

Also good: "Lenin writes in plain English."

[@DepressedHandsomeSpaceCop]

How did he not give brace shit for this

[@pipefx64]

wasn't ready for seeing brace in this fideltiy

[@hj-hh4gc]

Brace yourself for that 4k

[@henriraja8982]

Too hot to handle

[@faheyfan1]

Ginger beard is wigging me out

[@connormehaffey1838]

it's cray-seeee

[@kaihaskins6154]

I was listening to this at the gym and my earbuds fell out and it played at full volume and everyone pointed at me and laughed especially the bad bitches

[@horserage]

Why would they? A good lifter would see a man enriching his life and lift with him.

[@2003jackb]

I can't fathom not listening to music when working out, but you should totally own it

[@horserage]

@@2003jackb If you're doing long term cardio, you tend not to need high burn music, and can just consume something you find intellectually stimulating.

[@2003jackb]

@@horserage Yeah that's fair. I don't really do long term cardio, but I know if I ever did a marathon I'd need a break from the music at some point lol

[@horserage]

@@2003jackb Or long form music, like how payday soundtracks work.

[@hellostove]

was this filmed in heaven

[@randyhendrickson4735]

You are in the house of Elrond. And it is ten o'clock in the morning, on October the twenty-fourth, if you want to know.

[@johnwaynesmom]

Soon. Also it's my birthday​@@randyhendrickson4735

[@BleskerOner]

They are both dead

[@joshinthewoods]

wish they would've kissed but Brace is just too damn straight

[@youtubecommenter-c9g]

feels like stolen valor when a male podcast host is handsome

[@benanderson6542]

Noticing a troubling trend, Brace loves hanging out with handsome and incredibly buff men

[@michaelthemanmalloy]

Concerning. Looking into it.

[@winstonwithay1980]

@@michaelthemanmalloy im also looking into handsome and incredibly buff men

[@fromthebackseat4865]

I am currently larping as a loving but cold abuela, come- taste my delicious homemade Molé

[@Salazatl]

Man I haven't had molé in a while

[@Jerseystructureunderboss]

Damn, this was my grandmother 😢

[@FloyDJode]

Agua de Sapo?

[@diamondsprince]

come, comé mi mole

[@fromthebackseat4865]

@@diamondsprince shhh hijo esta bien

[@MrMollusk7]

Hearing Brace bring up the eggs are dairy argument again but in 720p with perfect audio quality must be what people felt like when they saw the guy walking around in a pepe costume irl

[@dudestep]

he's right

[@GalenAus]

Increidble podcast, as someone who is a socialist but only has friends who are normies I love how grounded in reality this was

[@QueefMcGeesHouse]

Thank you Brace Boldenski for inspiring me to start my politically motivated youtube channel!

[@mtcuppers]

Lovely that you call your friends normies

[@markedgecliff7412]

@@mtcuppers my mates are normies too. It’s good to be a normie. I keep it on the downlow but I am unfortunately *not* a normie. I’m consumed by hatred for Capital 24/7 and think about how Marxism-Leninism applies to the present constantly. I’m aware that bringing this up all the time though makes me look like a freak, and not in a cool way

[@jonicastewart9071]

Same!

[@theelastog1580]

@@markedgecliff7412 behind all those isms , are the same people. There is no such thing as supporting your preferred side , more like preferring a brand of many that are all owned by a mega conglomerate

[@BenkaiDebussy]

I think the actual answer to the stuff Brace is talking about early on is that many/most of these people essentially have this liberal mindset where simply "having the right answers" is the end goal and a sort of victory. So these people seek out "the correct identity," and view that as inherently worthwhile somehow. It's a similar mindset to the ones liberals have when excitedly calling out the lies Republicans say or whatever. There's a feeling that "something is being accomplished" through carefully honing their worldview and arguments. Edit: All that being said, it's important to keep in mind that there are a lot of literal teenagers online. Younger people tend to be heavily invested with curating their identities in general, and sometimes this manifests as weird political stuff.

[@ultravioletiris6241]

Yup that’s true, it’s literally virtue signaling and not action. Most people are interested in feeling superior not making sacrifices for the greater good

[@deadmorgan]

Watching on a 50” television is like having a full-sized Brace right here in the room with me.

[@MozTS]

The closeups of Brace are needlessly sexual

[@markedgecliff7412]

That’s just Brace being brace, dude

[@pizzacheeseman2854]

Needless you say

[@goodluck5642]

Needlessly?

[@pinkmatter8488]

most surprising information i learned from this interview is that Brace is not autistic.

[@horseman8249]

He’s said the only mental illness diagnosis he’s ever had was substance abuse disorder which I find hard to believe but also totally see

[@onthewattle]

just not diagnosed

[@moasto02]

Brace 'The greatest common denominator' Belden

[@ploob906]

The Gay Pussay Eatah

[@usa_dumpsterfire]

"my biggest problem is I'm not autistic" felt that

[@LivingBreathingRedFlag]

I'm fucking diagnosed autistic myself and I felt that

[@samvogel4179]

this genuinely was one of the first conversations on contemporary leftism i have seen in a while that didn't contain all of the same recycled takes i have seen a million times. super refreshing, caught a sub from my joshua!

[@nopasaran191]

I love brace because I grew up as like a serious like hard drug addict super involved with the diy punk/crust/powerviolence type of scene and went into drugs really deep and ended up in jail repeatedly before I actually started to get back into skating and reading and shit. I had to level out the skating with being super into politics again to make sure I don’t start getting laid or a successful job or anything like that.

[@Dannutts]

lmao

[@bw4656]

But did you join the armed forces to serve our country?

[@TrggrWarning]

Like DIY drug addiction and jail sounds like really important to achieve, congratulations.

[@corpse-in-orbit]

I'm never gonna encourage addiction to hard drugs, but it's undeniable that anyone with a longtime serious drug problem will know things about society and history that other people won't. Whether they know what to MAKE of it all, c'est autre chose

[@Spartoksilverhand]

Did you, like brace grow up the inheritor of an immense fortune?

[@TheMovingEye]

Kudos to Josh for being such a good interviewer. Podcasts try to force in jokes whenever they can and jump from topic to topic fast. Even quality staff like Novara are atrocious when it come to interviews. You really manage to calmly and precisely coax out your guest's thoughts without breaking up the flow.

[@semjonsays]

I am not larping, I am manifesting my niche leftist ideology 💅

[@molochfrolics8443]

bro literally ran off the fight for the same, he just ashamed now

[@buck_swope]

@@molochfrolics8443 He also realized that he was just a CIA pawn. Maybe he still is?

[@theelastog1580]

@@buck_swopetruly curious, how was he manipulated by the agency ?

[@GuildistGuevara]

​@@theelastog1580 I mean, he was literally helping american geopolitical interests by fighting with the YPG against the Assad regime in Syria.... I'm no fan of Assad and his quasi-nazbol endeavors but you ought to be delusional to think that fighting for Kurdish rebels that help weaken the assadist regime isn't directly benefitting American and by extension, western interests in the middle east.... it's like 80's Afghanistan all over again, but instead of mujahideens it's leftist militants... Brace is literally a pawn of the state department.

[@spacetimevortex]

@@GuildistGuevara right but as usual there's no real reason to think the *CIA* was actually involved, because the US is great at indoctrinating its citizens tbh. just because an American idiot did something stupid for American interests unfortunately doesn't mean the CIA was involved lol

[@gaughen]

hasbara budget is insane

[@IAmTheWalrus6700]

On Lenin: "because he writes in plain English."

[@selfdribblingbasketball9769]

Such a rockabilly thumbnail

[@dougwitte4533]

Semi tearing up at the sweetness and optimism of Brace’s last mention: (rephrased) “It’s up to us to try to be there for other people and make others (and yourself) into human beings that can withstand the weird social pressures and psychic assaults that’s we’re constantly under and emerge as a bastion of humanity and normalcy… that is also disciplined and organized enough to destroy the United States government.” So based

[@FlawdaFootball]

There is no disciplined and organized left in the United States. Our so-called socialist party, the DSA, cannot even get on the same page internally and publicly hold a position critical of Israel, the US government's proxy terror regime currently committing genocide The Western left is beyond saving unless there is a dramatic collapse of material conditions. The only hope presently is the Global South and further collapse of NATO and other G7 affiliated organizations through pressure by national bourgeois forces (who are admittedly not socialists) in Russia and Iran capable of standing up to the West

[@Rosecrucian]

Neither of these men are married or have children, this is just more LARP.

[@stfuomgdude]

@@Rosecrucian A lot of people in their 30s aren't married or have children...?

[@stfuomgdude]

@@Rosecrucian Also as much as it is lame to defend my favorite nerd podcaster asshole, Brace is pretty far from LARP. The dude was a volunteer soldier in the revolutionary YPG during the Syrian CIvil War and has been a labor organizer in the past. I wouldn't call that LARP.

[@ssppo4703]

Same

[@whatisamodel8252]

This changed my life and got me laid.

[@darbyjacc]

Sooooo pumped for this pod

[@tomstein3165]

480p is the highest resolution this man has ever been viewed in before this

[@crisismethodactor]

The Al-qaeda cave camera they use over at macrodosing was the closest. this new cam allows listeners to really get into the apolitical mindset

[@aidanhasaknife]

Beautiful production. I particularly appreciated the shot of the people walking outside and the angle of both of you with the box

[@ericclaptonsrobotpilot7276]

You forgot to refer to him as a veteran. Thank him for his service.

[@KILLA_BEA_ARTHUR_O.D.C.R]

It's so amazing the glow up Brace has since the punk days running into him at the AT house

[@PoolNoodleGundam]

I'd like to say I'm not part of the online larp but I'd also like to not lie to myself

[@CrimeEnjoyer]

At the end of the day LARPing is fun and we all do it for a reason. Treat yourself, in moderation

[@gaspode4185]

New to you Joshua, but what a great interview. Definitely excited to see more

[@Fili_.]

Ah yes, the gourmand

[@QuarrelsomeLocalOaf]

Delectable

[@khwiik4706]

This was absolutely amazing. Thanks so much for doing this

[@markedgecliff7412]

Crazy to see my asset in video form! We usually just have scheduled phone calls

[@bonosghost446]

Great convo thanks lads

[@anannon8384]

"Of course there is the anonymity of online. No one knows I am role-playing Pol Pot online" CIA: Am I a joke to you?!

[@CrimeEnjoyer]

I'm also a 37 year-old autist leftist who likes DnB so I'm glad I found this channel lmao

[@RadioFreeUS]

AuDHD 37 year-old leftist checking in too lol

[@spencer8218]

Dave N' Busters?

[@PGouges35]

​@@spencer8218Drum and Buster's

[@TheRealLachlan]

​@@spencer8218 dick'n'balls

[@ParagonDerp]

Dick and Balls

[@TooSphexy]

It's a powerful experience to watch this podcast and realize how much Brace has done for my transition from annoying Gen X anarchist burnout to annoying Gen X socialist burnout

[@leonardowatch6997]

"I think my biggest problem is that I'm not autistic" hahahahahahahahahaha ok Brace

[@DominieDirtch]

Incredible interview. Deeply insightful on both sides.

[@Jake_Hanrahan]

‘Nick Fuentes, gay Mexican!’ 😂

[@doomscrollpodcast]

🤣🤣

[@thechallenger456678]

I'm so proud of you Joshua, I've been a long time viewer,

[@rtaylor2682]

As I clicked the like button I heard a little “brace sound”

[@roastbeefy0weefy]

HEHAWW

[@xalrath]

its a good gong

[@DepressedHandsomeSpaceCop]

@@roastbeefy0weefy ah a fellow democrat

[@HonestDepression101]

I read every single column that Brace Beldon wrote for MRR. So needless to say i was pretty surprised later on when i found out he had developed solid beliefs and was interested in political ideas.

[@vfloev]

Brace Belden: America's sweethart

[@auditmail4842]

Such a raw transition at 43:24

[@unreaall]

Guess I found my new favorite podcast

[@selfpityingslogan]

1:50 what was yr screamo band josh

[@ElliottSmithCommenter]

Very informative. I love learning!

[@TheRealLachlan]

I love boobies

[@typon1]

I wish Brace and I hung out on weekends or after work some weekdays

[@DepressedHandsomeSpaceCop]

you can watch him play Deus Ex but you're not allowed to talk to him

[@TheRealLachlan]

Wtf.

[@aaronenold4326]

Glad brace didn’t talk about gay sex the entire time like the last interview I saw of him

[@andylouie6217]

This was great. Helped remind me to avoid or not lean too hard into some cringe and counter productive tendencies.

[@Drklownprince]

"it'll go back to normal where it will be weird to be a socialist" Not my experience at all. Seems to me more people than ever are absolutely disgusted by the duopoly and the genocide. Normies are going left in a big way imo. Your analysis couldn't be further off. The contradictions are intensifying and we poor people are really coming to consciousness I think.

[@zucchinisurprise6347]

I think both takes are right in their own way. I can tell you among my friends and acquaintances it's about a 50/50 split between those who have been pushed further left and those who are becoming increasingly annoyed by and hostile to the leftists in their spaces. The latter group is pretty genuinely angry at the people around them who do not want to fall in line with the Harris hype and vote blue, I've had some of those people outright tell me that Palestine for example is a sacrifice they're willing to make to ensure their comfort and relative protection at home. Many, many people who claimed to be amenable to socialism just within the past year or so have done a 180 and committed harder to outright liberalism than they ever did before. Turns out that aesthetics are effective on millenials especially, and when you need to believe that things will get better for you and your in-group badly enough, you're generally willing to overlook just about everything that would contradict that outcome in reality. If anything I think those inclined to continue moving left will become much more ideologically committed, and the split between us and the radlibs will only continue to become wider and more bitter as time goes on.

[@Hmoney0]

I mean eventually it will when material conditions improve enough for long enough but we aren’t anywhere near that

[@Drklownprince]

@@Hmoney0 it ain't happening imo. The american century is over, players in the world are forming power independent of the American empire. The order of the day and probably the coming decades in the imperial core is gradually increasing austerity I think.

[@twentylush]

LARP

[@ishaanpota1541]

Almost everyone in my family and even some of my friends will randomly say stuff like “oh i heard they’re making kids trans now” or like specific to india “oh muslims are doing xyz horrible thing” In my experience which mostly has to do with middle class and upper class ppl they have moved rightward in a major way

[@RobbedTheBank]

"It's important to not just come from a place of complete resentment and hatred. I love humanity. I love progress. I want to make the world a beautiful place to live in." ❤

[@minamur]

gretchen beldin is my favorite podcaster

[@Horsemanray]

The CIA really has been keeping Brace busy lately.

[@theelastog1580]

Lol what do you mean ???

[@Horsemanray]

@@theelastog1580 I kid, but Brace reminds me of the sketchy CIA agent who betrays James Bond 30 mins into every film. I also can't help but notice that under all the layers of snark and snappy one liners Brace's political philosophy at this point boils down to telling people to just give up and accept that we're all done for because real systematic change is impossible and you're just a lazy online LARPer anyway. Which strikes me as the kind of message a spook would promote. But that's just me.

[@williamtesting3468]

@@Horsemanray I think it's more about accepting the reality that there's no political base whatsoever in the US for revolutionary change, and that US people should get to work on building that instead of LARPing and infighting on Twitter.

[@Horsemanray]

@@williamtesting3468 How would you know that exactly?

[@williamtesting3468]

@@Horsemanray By simply looking at how things are? You have no party, no labor unions, how do you expect to do any sort of revolutionary change? By hopes and thoughts?

[@ajChampigny]

Hell yea great interview

[@c.andrew3944]

I completely disagree with the idea that we should be wary of friendless people joining the movment. Wary, sure, but shutting down and out and getting all conspiratorial about it isnt 'normal'. It's in contradiction with everything Brace was saying about online interaction being deteiment, our society is currently trying to atomize everyone. So grit your teeth and try and be nice to the weirdos, as its literally social reeducation and is necessary to build strong, reliable, members of the working class. The most popular union events we organized were social events, low stakes, no marching or organizing - come out and have a beer or something. It's literally the most normal thing you can ask someone who's lacking a friend, and doesnt come preloaded with ideology or workplace politics that may or may not interest them. Because, if you want to be practical, we don't need every supporter to be an organizer - but we want everyone in the unit to think they have a friend in us, and that were organizing for them.

[@nopasaran191]

@@c.andrew3944 we basically need anyone who isn’t a cop, a fascist or a rapper

[@lana-jg4ho]

@@nopasaran191gshagahaha why no rappers??! 😂😂

[@foodchewer]

​@@nopasaran191But if you can win over cops, fascists, or rappers then that's a colossal step in the right direction, no? That's building a coalition.

[@seancatacombs]

Exactly. I know a lot of these elder millennials who got an early start organizing are leery of socialist orgs being used as social clubs or dating pools for the isolated, but that's literally how a lot of orgs drew in much of their membership and support in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This Cool Kid exclusionary attitude about it is fortunately something I've never actually seen anywhere except among online left celebs - another form of LARPing in and of itself. Call me crazy but I think we should be willing to encourage anyone who wants to live in a more just world, not simply people we think aren't cringe.

[@nopasaran191]

@@lana-jg4ho sorry I said “rapper” I meant to say sexual predator. I meant to put the “”s around it but I guess I didn’t. Actual rappers are cool. But not the kind with one p that are on the registry.

[@Drmoosha]

Brace Beldan is the suburban hero Bam Margera never could be

[@isaacehrler]

Haircut looks great Brace

[@alexamoon4592]

fantastic convo

[@ihavenojawandimustscream4681]

Brace Belden talking about HoI4 mods is not on my bingo card today but here we go

[@turnthonkee]

I hadn't heard the word NazBol in like 6 years 😂

[@drewgon13]

HOI4 mods have created a wealth of fringe political stances, alt history fictions, and expanded My Little Pony lore. All that from a game about building factories that make tanks.

[@cn4rc]

This was gold

[@neuroprodukt]

Great discussion

[@maxim6918]

Why is this not filmed in a basement

[@streeetlamp]

this is great, instantly followed. admittedly a little taken back at first with Brace in 1080p

[@homsar315]

sorry to say but the sexual tension here was insane

[@f0rl0rner]

Great first guest

[@jeremywright1351]

Love that boy Brace!

[@ooookay8106]

My favorite Fed finally appears in 4K

[@yungmexedrine]

this podcast is going to do well

[@nogrimley4663]

Brace is so great. Thank you.

[@havanaradio]

It's just larping all the way down.

[@campbelllogan7617]

Awesome discussion. This really highlighted some crucial pitfalls in political organization and identity. How often will new episodes be released? I’m really looking forward to the next one!

[@turingmachine7905]

Oh, hey . . . this is the guy from the True Anon podcast!

[@WoahGeeWow]

Fantastic interview.

[@noceb0]

Brace Belden, one of my fave people of all time!

[@alexsonofjohn]

thats my podcaster!

[@busterbrown1851]

He's so right about the dairy

[@LukeLavablade]

Farmyard pregnancy related products (or FPRPs) really needs to supplant Dairy in the lexicon

[@ANuStart8]

That last minute was key 🔑 👌

[@benquesada-d7s]

brace in margielas....fly as hell

[@dangerousd1312]

Now this is that good stuff

[@sandrasim46]

at the end you guys talk about how leftists should not alienate themselves from normal people or society, but in the very next breadth talk about you dislike people becoming interested in socialism to... make friends? not defeating the fringe subculture allegations lol.

[@SnarkyMarx]

Enjoyed the discussion, thanks! You might consider having Rathbone on, would be a perfect fit with his journey in music, media, culture and politics. Thanks again

[@spence086]

I’m 38. DSA for me I feel like was the only place a normal person could go to see what direct democracy looked like, at a time our national and even local municipal/city politics could not have looked bleaker. It was kind of amazing: I’d never participated in anything like it before then, in 2016

[@wyatt1017]

I need more of this kind of discussion around how to relate more to my workplace and how to make organizing more appealing

[@sleeptalkenthusiast]

i think you first need to relate to your coworkers in general

[@tylerharris1]

I thought brace was like, 5’ 1”, Im impressed, he’s actually HUGE!

[@tofubutcher7456]

Wait this means Nick Mullen and Catherine Liu are in the same cinematic universe

[@dsyy90210]

those chairs look so uncomfortable

[@Zahramasseyart]

LOVE THIS

[@mariomint7856]

Was not ready for the Hearts of Iron mention

[@thefeltt8259]

Get Bevins on the show, wanna hear you two talk

[@Colonel_Flanders]

There was a Dean Preston attack ad at the beginning of this video. Lol.

[@caitlain8720]

On the discussion of socialism in mainstream discourse, I kept being reminded of this idea, but I don't remember who said it. Someone said that Republicans kind of set the stage for someone like Bernie in a strange way, because they continued to call President Obama a "socialist", using this supposedly "dirty word" to make people distrust him and his policies. But what happened, is that a generation of younger voters (or even younger people who couldn't vote yet, but still liked him), heard that and basically said, "That's what socialism is? I like that!" Then, when someone like Bernie comes around, they've already made that positive association. I'm not sure I totally agree with it 100%, but I do think it's interesting and that there may be a drop of truth in it.

[@thatmountain]

What was that cutaway at 43:25? Haha??

[@schadowizationproductions6205]

34:45 that's actually an interesting point about the professional managerial class. It might present itself as leftist and proletarian but there is a certain need to justify its importance as big brain managers while betraying the interests of working class people working in manufacturing. It's the entfremdung of each other if you will.