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Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Katie Halper and Aaron Maté
Useful Idiots is an informative and irreverent politics podcast with journalist Aaron Maté and podcaster/writer Katie Halper. Episodes feature on-the-road coverage of the 2020 campaign and exclusive interviews, with humor, commentary and dissection of the politics news of the week. Join Katie and Aaron as they examine important stories that have slipped through the cracks and what the media got wrong – and laugh about whatever is left to laugh about.
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The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- Yesterday1h 8m
Trump Announces New Peace Deal with Iran, Causing Bipartisan Panic
Don’t miss our weekly recap of the craziest moments in corporate media:Watch this week’s Monday Mourning here:Since the beginning of Trump’s war-of-choice on Iran, the administration has been telegraphing its inability to defend US aggression by refusing to let real decision-makers like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth do interviews on the Sunday morning news shows, instead only sending economic advisors to struggle to justify the war.And in a move that only confirms this acknowledgement of indefensibility, this week Pete Hegseth finally gave Sunday morning interviews on the day that a peace deal was announced, allowing him to claim victory without being pressed on why the US lost the Strait of Hormuz and broke the economy.Unfortunately for Pete, however, peace these days doesn’t warrant cheers: Katie and Aaron watch every AIPAC crony from Mark Levin to Cory Booker to Morning Joe melt down over Trump’s peace announcement, complaining that the US is “sending a lifeline” to the Iranians. Because Dems and Republicans agree that death is what is best for the people of Iran.Watch our full Monday Mourning, and please subscribe to keep us going!Join the Useful Idiots community! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe
- 4 days ago47 min
Rep. Ro Khanna Exposes Israel's Secret PANIC
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.comSubscribe for the full episode at the bottom of the page. Watch a free preview here:Subscribers also get our Friday Free-for-All:This week we’re welcoming back to the show Useful Idiots fan-favorite California Congressman Ro Khanna to discuss his efforts to reign in Trump’s war on Iran, what’s happening with the Democrats in the aftermath of Graham Platner’s victory in Maine, and why he’s calling out other Dems like the AIPAC-owned Chuck Schumer and Josh Gottheimer.Useful Idiots: You’ve been critical of Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on multiple issues, including on Iran because he opposed the Iran nuclear deal and he supported regime change inside Iran. How has he been on this issue?Rep. Ro Khanna: He’s been weak. He opposes the war, but he was not clear when Trump was threatening the genocide of the Iranian people. He basically issued a weak statement saying ‘consult Congress’ instead of saying that this is a war crime that an American president should never contemplate. He’s not clear in saying that this is an immoral, illegal, unstrategic war.Useful Idiots: What do you think the connection is between people’s support of this war, especially Democrats, and their support of Israel?Rep. Ro Khanna: It’s correlated. There’s no secret that Netanyahu has been wanting this war for the past thirty years. There’s no secret that he has talked Trump into it and that Trump basically went along with it.And even when Democrats oppose it, you hear many of them saying, ‘Well, we agree there should be action that takes out Iran’s nuclear capability. We just don’t agree that Trump did this without consulting Congress or consulting our allies.’ Well, there should not be a military solution there. Can there be negotiation like Obama did to have a JCPOA of the modern times? Absolutely. But there are a number of Democrats who are secretly applauding this goal of striking Iranian sites because that is something that Netanyahu also has wanted for two decades.Useful Idiots: Want to name any names?Rep. Ro Khanna: I don’t think there’s much to hide. I mean, [NJ Congressman] Josh Gottheimer, et cetera, he’s very open about it. They’re very clear that they support the goal of the military destruction of the Iranian people. But the military has not been affected. We may have degraded Iranian capability, but they still have a nuclear capability. If anything, you’ve told Iran that the way to prevent America from attacking is to develop a nuclear weapon. And now Iran is less willing to have a fatwa banning nuclear weapons. Now they’re not willing to. So they’ve actually strategically made a blunder.Watch our full interview with Rep. Ro Khanna on Graham Platner’s victory, working with Republican Congressman Thomas Massie on Iran and the Epstein Files, and why he’s working to lift the fuel blockade on Cuba and oppose Trump’s illegal regime change war.Plus, subscribe to watch our full second interview with journalist Adam Johnson, author of How to Sell a Genocide, which focuses on the liberal media’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We go through his reporting and data which shows a bigger difference than we realized in the media’s reporting of Israelis vs Palestinians, plus, what he found most shocking in his research.And don’t miss this week’s recap of the craziest people on corporate media, the Friday Free-for-All: Trump Accidentally Tells Iran He’s Secretly Stealing Their OilThanks for supporting independent media, watch the full interviews here:
- 1 weeks ago1h 12m
Watch Katie and Aaron OWN Trump in Disaster NBC Interview
Don’t miss our weekly recap of the craziest moments in corporate media:Watch this week’s Monday Mourning here:Trump met up with Meet the Press’s Kristen Welker for a literally and metaphorically stormy interview in which he failed to defend his disastrous war on Iran and insisted that he never promised to be an anti-war president.Right from Welker’s welcome, Katie and Aaron turn on the gas and don’t let up on the lying president, right up to the point where he storms out of the interview.It’s a beautiful takedown, watch the full, free episode on YouTube. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe
- 1 weeks ago46 min
Israel CAN’T BEAT Iran in Lebanon War
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.comTo support our work and go ad-free, click here.Subscribers get our recap of the craziest in corporate media, the Friday Free-for-All:The Trump Administration just announced their latest achievement: it’s a ceasefire in Lebanon!One problem: they excluded from their ceasefire talks Israel’s main target, Hezbollah. The US is fully backing Israel’s continued assault, which has included the bombing of civilian infrastructure, killing over 3,000 people since March and displacing over 1.2 million.What this means for the so-called ceasefire: Hezbollah must withdraw from its own territory in the south of Lebanon and Israel has no terms. Unsurprisingly, Hezbollah has rejected this deal, declining the opportunity to freely hand over their own territory to the invading Israeli army.While corporate media has reported this simply as Hezbollah refusing peace, we’re digging deeper into the story to find out what’s actually happening in Lebanon: where is Israel attacking, what is Hezbollah’s goal, to what extent will Iran back Hezbollah, and why are the US and Israel failing to take control in Lebanon.To do this, we speak with Michael Young, senior editor at the Carnegie Middle East Center and author of The Ghosts of Martyrs Square. He is based in Lebanon.Michael has a different perspective on Hezbollah and Lebanon than most of our guests, but rather than giving you the same perspective every week, we want to feature different voices who may disagree with us, which gives us a fuller picture of the conflict. So speaking from Lebanon, Michael Young gives his take on the dilemma that Lebanon faces and what he thinks is the best way to stop Israel’s invasion.Subscribe to support our work! You’ll get the ad-free version of our episode PLUS our Friday Free-for-All: Former Biden and Obama Official Wants You to "Put Aside the Horrors of Gaza" For a While...Get it all here:
- 2 weeks ago1h 3m
Trump Accidentally Admits His Strikes Haven't Damaged Iran's Military At All
Don’t miss our weekly recap of the craziest moments in corporate media:Watch this week’s Monday Mourning here:After months of struggling and failing to inflict enough damage on Iran that they reopen the Strait of Hormuz to US ships, Trump is now coming out with a new talking point that he hopes will convince the world that defeating Iran militarily was never actually his goal:“Their military we’ve sort of left it alone because we think their military is somewhat moderate. Mistakes have been made in wars where you wipe out everybody and then you have a country that for 40 years can never rebuild. You look at what happened with Iraq, we did so bad that was such a foolish thing. Shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”Donald, you’re so close! Just change the word ‘Iraq’ to ‘Iran’ and you’ve got it! You won’t have to do this embarrassing backpedaling about the military, you can just go home and not have a war!Maybe he’s been listening to Useful Idiots but on double speed so he missed some key points…Also in this Monday Mourning: Democratic Senator Chris Murphy claims he OPPOSES the war on Iran (but only because it somehow “strengthens Russia”), Ukrainian President Zelensky also wants peace in the Middle East (so that Ukraine can go back to being the US’ primary weapons recipient), and Chuck Schumer speaks at a “Jew Klux Klan” rally.Thanks for supporting our work, please consider subscribing to get extended interviews and bonus content!Become a Useful Idiot! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe
- 2 weeks ago49 min
Ukrainian Journalist DESTROYS Zelensky for Nazi Support
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.comSubscribe for the full episode at the bottom of the page. Watch a free preview here:Subscribers also get our Friday Free-for-All:It’s been a while since we’ve covered the proxy war in Ukraine, so who better to give us an update than Useful Idiots fan-favorite Lev Golinkin, the Ukrainian-American journalist and author of A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka.The big takeaway: remember Ukraine’s whole neo-Nazi problem? It’s gotten worse.Lev explains how this began:Lev Golinkin: Right when Zelensky came to power, a TV company in Ukraine wanted to set up something called the Telemost [Russian for TV bridge]. It’s an echo back to the Soviet days in the 80s where you had television studios in Moscow and television studios in America and everyday people in the studios could talk to each other. The whole idea was for them to try to see each other as human beings.So there was somebody who wanted to revive that and do it between Kiev and Moscow. Andriy Biletsky, the main neo-Nazi who is being whitewashed right now, put out a short video telling Zelensky, ‘You have until tomorrow morning to cancel this, or if not, we’re going to have our next conversation in your office.’ Within a half hour, the program was canceled.Lev reveals why Biletsky wanted war with Russia, and why he can be considered the real winner of the war:“If there’s one guy from this war who is winning,” he tells us, “it’s Beletsky. He went from being a street gang leader, a thug, to having untold number of men at his command, to being a general, and to being blown by Reuters and by other media institutions”So now, with the nation’s top neo-Nazi installed as brigadier general, Zelensky, whose own family died in the Holocaust, is using his power to give a re-burial ceremony and high honors to a man named Andriy Melnyk, a World War II Nazi collaborator who helped hunt down Ukrainian Jews in the Holocaust.In case you had any doubts, Fraudfather Jonathan Greenblatt and the ADL have been completely silent on this.To see the full interview where we watch Reuters’ (as Lev himself describes it) metaphorical “blowing” of the neo-Nazi Biletsky, as well as Zelensky’s former press secretary reveal some huge secrets about Zelensky to Tucker Carlson, please subscribe here!We also speak with Irish activist Cat Graham, who journeyed to Gaza this month on the Global Sumud Flotilla, and was kidnapped and detained by Israeli forces. In a now infamous video posted by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Cat can be seen bravely chanting ‘Free, Free Palestine!’ at Ben Gvir, before being violently wrestled to the ground.She joins us to share the story of Israel’s brutal treatment of global activists and the far worse and less-televised treatment of Palestinian prisoners.It’s a Useful Idiots double header: subscribe to watch the full episode as well as our Friday Free-for-All: AIPAC PANICS As It Realizes It’s Losing Control Over VotersWatch the full interviews here:
- 3 weeks ago50 min
“WORST CASE SCENARIO” Leaked in Secret Cuba Files—Here’s What They Hid
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.comTo support our work and go ad-free, click here.Subscribers get our weekly recaps, the Friday Free-for-All:After starting two regime change wars in Venezuela and Iran, Donald Trump is now ramping up his campaign to overthrow the government of Cuba, and in the process impose serious misery on its people by tightening his blockade and deepening the country’s humanitarian crisis.And much like in Venezuela and Iran, there are suddenly reports of an imminent threat from Cuba, the tiny, starving island off the coast of the United States: Members of the Trump administration have begun claiming that Cuba has hundreds of Russian and Iranian drones that they will use to attack Florida.It seems to be the same exact playbook each time: claim an “imminent” threat, increase sanctions, take out the leader, and start a regime-change war.And as if to prove to the world that this is indeed the game plan, the CIA just made an uncharacteristically overt trip to Cuba.So to discuss the humanitarian crisis and potential regime-change war in Cuba, we’re speaking with Peter Kornbluh, Director of Cuba and Chile Documentation Projects for the National Security Archive, who has been unearthing classified documents showing the reality of US foreign policy in Cuba.In his latest piece, The CIA Goes to Cuba, Kornbluh examines the CIA’s aggressive operation in Cuba, including CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s “do or die” ultimatum to the Cuban government. Kornbluh reveals documentation that proves US officials “don't believe Cuba is an imminent threat, or actively planning to attack American interests,” and explains how Marco Rubio seeks to benefit from a false flag attack.It’s the latest in Trump’s “empire-building” scheme that now spans across the globe, all fueled by neocons like Marco Rubio, and would be a sizable “Cold War trophy” to boost Trump’s imperial ego. Watch and share Peter Kornbluh’s full analysis (ad-free version):
- 4 weeks ago1h 8m
Lindsey Graham: "The Iran War is worth losing my job" (and how to make that happen)
Don’t miss our weekly recap of the craziest moments in corporate media:Watch this week’s Monday Mourning here:From Lindsey Graham’s mouth to God’s ears: when asked on Meet the Press if the Iran War was worth losing the midterms over, Senator Lindsey Graham proclaimed: “It’s worth losing my job!”Finally, something to agree with arch-Zionist warmonger Lindsey Graham on!And speaking of God’s ears, Trump held a Christian Nationalist party to celebrate the US’s 250th birthday, where speakers claimed that it took God two centuries to bring us Donald Trump so that he could finally put a ballroom in the White House. That’s not a joke they really said that.From Lindsey Graham to Mike Johnson to John Fetterman to former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, we’ve got a Monday Mourning that oscillates between the importance of bombing civilian infrastructure in Iran to the importance of that ballroom. It’s a ridiculous and jam-packed episode.Thanks for supporting our work! Subscribe to the show to become a Useful Idiot and get bonus content! Plus, join our new fundraiser on YouTube for Global Health Partners to help get urgent medical aid to Cuba – click donate next to the video on YouTube linked above!Useful Idiots is supported by YOU This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe
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About Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté
Useful Idiots is an informative and irreverent politics podcast with journalist Aaron Maté and podcaster/writer Katie Halper. Episodes feature on-the-road coverage of the 2020 campaign and exclusive interviews, with humor, commentary and dissection of the politics news of the week. Join Katie and Aaron as they examine important stories that have slipped through the cracks and what the media got wrong – and laugh about whatever is left to laugh about.
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