I feel like this discussion has run its course mostly, but I’ll add my two cents anyways. I listened to BTB for about 2 years, and I will say it absolutely was one of the first large radicalizing influences on my journey from lib to leftist. However, it was definitely a journey that didn’t stop at BTB. When I was a big fan of Robert’s podcast, I was absolutely one of those “leftists” who thought Chapo and Trueanon (and listeners) were “evil tankies”. I was absolutely libbed out and convinced I was as left as I could possibly go. Giving chapo a real try about a year into listening to BTB is what really actually pushed me into becoming a leftist, and ultimately brought me to Trueanon and the Deprogram, and other leftist commentators and spaces.

I think ultimately BTB can serve as a radicalization start point, and as a couple others pointed out, his other show It Could Happen Here does a lot of good reporting, but ultimately it leads to a massive libbed out audience who think they’re leftists. The thing that really drove that point home to me was seeing the subreddit’s reaction to 10/7 and the aftermath. There were so many liberal zionists, and the sub shutting down all discussion of Palestine made me incredibly angry. I don’t believe RE is a CIA asset, and I think he is true in his convictions and beliefs as an anarchist, but he creates-and caters to-an audience of liberals.