Amber A’Lee Frost is a socialist writer and co-host of the podcast Chapo Trap House. She is the one who coined the phrase “dirtbag left” which describes a more vulgar opposition to not just conservatives but to more establishment left-of-center types. Frost is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Her most notable written work is a 2016 op-ed in Current Affairs that argued for a more vulgar politics on the left. She compared vulgar opposition to the upper class and other opponents of the socialist left to slanderous pamphlets mocking the French royal family before and during the French Revolution. She also noted that the rise of Donald Trump on the right was due to his vulgar rhetoric and his blunt style. She called for the left to reclaim vulgarity “from the Trumps of the world.” ³

Frost has also clashed with the more woke left in the past. She views her politics as more based on class and not identity, unlike many on the left. Although she got into politics through feminist organizing, she does not identify with modern feminism because of its lack of focus on the issues of working class women. ¹⁰

1.    Frost, Amber A Lee. 2016. “The Necessity Of Political Vulgarity”. Current Affairs. https://www.currentaffairs.org/2016/05/the-necessity-of-political-vulgarity.
2.    Johnson, Jake. 2019. “Here’s The Pro-Bernie Sanders 2020 Op-Ed The Baffler Decided Its Readers Should No Longer See”. Common Dreams. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/23/heres-pro-bernie-sanders-2020-op-ed-baffler-decided-its-readers-should-no-longer-see.
3. “The Pied Pipers Of The Dirtbag Left Want To Lead Everyone To Bernie Sanders”. 2020. Lipstick Alley. https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/the-pied-pipers-of-the-dirtbag-left-want-to-lead-everyone-to-bernie-sanders.3312863/#:~:text=The%20Pied%20Pipers%20of%20the%20Dirtbag%20Left%20Want,Trap%20House%E2%80%D%20wanted%20them%20to%20stay%20that%20way.
4. Myers, Fraser. 2019. “Meet The Anti-Woke Left”. Spiked. https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/07/04/meet-the-anti-woke-left/.
5.             Myers, Fraser. 2019. “Meet The Anti-Woke Left”. Spiked. https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/07/04/meet-the-anti-woke-left/.
7. Frost, Amber A’Lee. 2016. “Confession Booth”. The Baffler. https://thebaffler.com/salvos/confession-booth-frost.[/note]

   Frost became a member of the Democratic Socialists of America sometime before 2015 and eventually became a supporter of Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign. She wrote an article for Salon criticizing U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) from the left in that year. ⁶Frost, Amber A’ Lee. 2015. “”Screwing With The Democratic Party”: Fear And Loathing On Champagne Trail As A Bernie Sanders Admirer Travels To Elizabeth Warren Utopia”. Salon. https://www.salon.com/2015/04/30/screwing_with_the_democratic_party_fear_and_loathing_on_champagne_trail_as_a_bernie_sanders_admirer_travels_to_elizabeth_warren_utopia/.

8.           Tolentino, Jia. 2016. “What Will Become Of The Dirtbag Left?”. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/what-will-become-of-the-dirtbag-left.
9.    Soave, Robby. 2019. “At The Democratic Socialists Of America Convention, Clapping, Chatter, And Gendered Language Are Considered Triggering”. Reason. https://reason.com/2019/08/05/at-the-democratic-socialists-of-america-convention-clapping-chatter-and-gendered-language-are-considered-triggering/.
10.            “The Pied Pipers Of The Dirtbag Left Want To Lead Everyone To Bernie Sanders”. 2020. Lipstick Alley. https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/the-pied-pipers-of-the-dirtbag-left-want-to-lead-everyone-to-bernie-sanders.3312863/#:~:text=The%20Pied%20Pipers%20of%20the%20Dirtbag%20Left%20Want,Trap%20House%E2%80%9D%20wanted%20them%20to%20stay%20that%20way.