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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.
- 2 days ago1h 0m
After catastrophic midterm loss, CNN chooses its next battle
Don’t miss our weekly Midterms Recap Special:Watch this week’s Monday Mourning here:Beat CNN! Subscribe to independent media: 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
- 5 days ago49 min
JD Vance FAILS Attempt to Jump Ship After Trump’s Disastrous Midterm Loss
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. Watch and share the free version here:Subscribers also get our midterm recap special:The midterms, as predicted right here on Useful Idiots, turned out to be a huge rejection of Donald Trump, the Republicans, and their Israel-first agenda. Which brings up an exciting new question: will American political debate, for seemingly the first time ever, become a race to see who is less pro-war?And heading into 2028, which party will seize the antiwar mantle?Will Democrats realize that positioning themselves against war is good politics, or will they squander the opportunity as they did in 2024?And what happens inside the Republican camp where the stage is set for a nomination battle between neocons like Marco Rubio, who still cling to Trump’s disastrous war on Iran and claim it had no effect on the midterm loss, and JD Vance, who is now being attacked on all sides as he jumps ship and pretends to be against the war that he’s supported all year?We asked Kelley Vlahos, editor-in-chief of Responsible Statecraft and a senior advisor at the Quincy Institute, whether we could get our first election where both candidates see being a warmonger as a bad thing:Kelley Vlahos: I’m a little bit less optimistic about the prevailing feeling or conversation on the right in terms of war and peace.I do see from most polling that the majority of Republicans are still in favor of this war. They’re still in favor of Israel. Most of the dramatic shift you’ve seen on those two issues are because of Democrats and folks on the left and Independents. So this fight’s going to have to play out on the right before it becomes Peacenik versus Peacenik.I keep pointing back to Jonah Goldberg [in the episode we watch him bash Vance for abandoning Iran War aggression] because he’s such an easy target. But I could see a Jonah Goldberg leading the charge for Marco Rubio. And I mean, Marco Rubio would be a formidable force to fight for the primary nomination. Obviously, Trump is going to endorse somebody and that’s going to put a lot of energy behind either Vance or Rubio, but this is a fight that has to continue to happen before it becomes a full on anti-war fight.Watch and share our full interview with Kelley on why JD Vance is failing in his attempt to go antiwar after the midterms, how Fox News is suddenly changing its tune to sound like Useful Idiots, and whether Democrats becoming antiwar on Iran will extend to stopping the proxy war in Ukraine.Subscribers also get our Midterm Recap Special in which Katie and Aaron expose AI-generated reporting from the Free Press, watch Fox’s Jesse Watters realize what Israel and the military industrial complex actually are, and dance to the craziest Tupac-style diss track from New York’s newest-elected ZioCongressman.Thanks so much for supporting independent media. Beat CNN and watch the ad-free version of the episode by becoming a paid subscriber here:
- 1 weeks ago1h 16m
BOMBSHELL AT THE CIRCUS: Haley Stevens Jumps Ship for MAGA Mike Rogers Against Abdul El-Sayed
Watch our interview with Dr. Gabor Maté and UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese:Watch this week’s Monday Mourning here:CNN is working for Mike Rogers and Israel. Support independent media to stop them. 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 ago1h 0m
CNN Gives It’s Final Stump for MAGA Mike Rogers to Defeat Progressive Abdul El-Sayed
Don’t miss our weekly recap of the craziest moments in corporate media:Watch this week’s Monday Mourning here:Beat CNN. Subscribe to Useful Idiots. 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 ago1h 17m
Democrats MELT DOWN Over Trump’s Deal with Putin, Become “War Party”
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. Watch the free version here:Subscribers get Katie and Aaron’s weekly recap of the craziest moments in corporate media, the Friday Free-for-All:Let’s take a look at the midterms: Democrats are looking pretty good in the polls, especially because Trump has betrayed two of his key promises, which was to have No New Wars and to address the cost of living. In his second term, we’ve seen him do the exact opposite. He started a war on Iran, which has driven up the cost of living, especially energy prices. But are Democrats seizing the rage? Are they taking up the anti-war mantle? No!Here’s why: in an effort to escape this predicament of spiking energy prices and win back the polls from Democrats, Trump recently made a gas deal with Vladimir Putin to claim he’s bringing prices down. And rather than simply point out that Trump is only doing this to save face because he’s lost the anti-war lane, Democrats are instead accusing him once again of being a traitor, warmongering for Russia.That’s right: it’s Russiagate Part (10?)To discuss the Democrat blunder of missing the easy opportunity to pin Trump for his disastrous war of choice on Iran and potentially blowing their midterm lead, we speak with James Carden, author of the new book, The Great Betrayal: How the Democrats Became the Party of War.We also speak with journalist Kylie Cheung, author of the brand new book, Playing the Victim: How the Powerful Deny and Attack Survivors of Violence, From Domestic Abuse to Genocide, which makes the connection between the tactics of domestic abusers and the tactics of imperialism and Zionism.She explains how the perpetrators of Israel’s genocide on Gaza, from decision makers like Benjamin Netanyahu to his chief propagandists like CNN’s Dana Bash, enact the domestic abuse term known as DARVO: deny, attack, reverse victim and offender.Kylie shows us clips of Dana Bash and Vice President JD Vance and reveals how they manipulate their audience with each tactic of DARVO.These interviews are free to all, but to support our work and get the ad-free version of the episode, please consider subscribing to Useful Idiots.You’ll also get our Friday Free-for-All: Hillary Clinton unveils a new plan to take down Trump once and for all: The Pee Tape Part 2Thanks for being part of the Useful Idiots community, catch the full, ad-free episode here:
- 3 weeks ago1h 3m
“UNDER THE KAMALA HARRIS REGIME IRAN WOULD HAVE NUKED AMERICA” and other insane things said on corporate media this Sunday
Don’t miss our weekly recap of the craziest moments in corporate media:Watch this week’s Monday Mourning here:Useful Idiots needs your help to break the corporate media information siege 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
- Oct 12, 20261h 10m
MAGA Splits in Two After Trump Makes Diesel Deal with Putin: “You’re Tarnishing Lindsey Graham’s Memory!”
Don’t miss our weekly recap of the craziest moments in corporate media:Watch this week’s Monday Mourning here:Useful Idiots is supported by people, not corporations. Help us stay running by subscribing here! 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
- Oct 9, 20261h 18m
Israeli App EXPOSED: "It activates your camera and can view every piece of data on your phone"
Watch and share our full, unpaywalled interview with Muhammad Shehada:This week, we’re joined by Useful Idiots fan-favorite Muhammad Shehada, the political analyst and writer from Gaza who has guided us through the mirk of corporate media propaganda since the first week of Israel’s genocide three years ago.On the week of the third anniversary of October 7, and as Gazans prepare for their fourth winter in these unimaginable conditions, Muhammad shares what he’s heard about the conditions on the ground from his friends and family, many of whom have been killed by the Israeli military.My late friend, Ali, my closest friend, was in a refugee camp in the center of Gaza. I asked him how it was going. And he said, ‘Well, you know what? If there’s a God, if there is a judgment day, I would ask him for one thing, one thing only.‘I would ask him to force those Israeli soldiers to go on the same adventure that I have to take every single day to find water and food. Nothing more. That is enough punishment for them. The idea of going every day, out in the open under airstrikes, under constant gunfire, and walking around desperately from one place to another, ten hours just to find water, that is enough punishment.Recently, Israeli filmmakers premiered a new film called Naza in which they interview Israeli soldiers confessing to war crimes. The Israeli government has threatened the filmmakers and there have been protests at the homes of one of the filmmakers’ parents. We asked Muhammad about the film and what he makes of the backlash.The most striking thing in that movie was how casually soldiers describe the atrocities they unleashed in Gaza, as matter-of-fact with zero remorse or contortion, nothing. And the thing that strikes you the most is that those soldiers were not providing these confessions out of guilt or shame. They were providing it out of excitement. They were very eager to brag about the formidable force that was at their disposal. I’ll give you an example. I read an article in an Israeli newspaper describing soldiers who were coming back from Gaza and falling into severe depression. They interviewed a psychiatrist in that article to provide analysis about why soldiers feel depressed when they come back. The psychiatrist didn’t say it’s because the soldiers feel guilt or shame. He said it’s because the soldiers in Gaza felt like gods. They were superhumans. They decided who lives and who dies, like they are in charge of life and death of two million people. And then that psychiatrist says that when those soldiers come back home, they feel like nothing. Nobody knows them. Nobody recognizes them. Nobody opens the door for them. There’s no prestige. And that’s what tears them down the most. That’s why a lot of people go back to serve in Gaza, because of the adrenaline, because of the excitement, because of the euphoria of feeling like a god, feeling like a superhuman. And it seems to me that those soldiers in Naza were basically craving that sensation again. They were bragging.Watch our full, extended interview with Muhammad, and please share this episode. Corporate media has ignored Gaza for most of the genocide, so we rely on voices like Muhammad’s to break the information siege.You can support our work by subscribing to us here on Substack. You’ll also get our weekly recap of the craziest moments in corporate media, the Friday Free-for-All: It Doesn’t Go Well When JD Vance Tries to Define SocialismSupport independent media and the effort to share information about Gaza 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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