Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

They got money for wars but can't feed the poor

April 20, 2026·1h 11m
Episode Description from the Publisher

This week, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani gave an exclusive interview for Meet the Press where he proved that he’s been watching Useful Idiots by reciting Aaron’s favorite lyric:“I wish the words of Tupac from the 90’s weren’t still prescient,” Mamdani told Kristen Welker. “But they continue to be true for too many which is that we always have money for war and not to feed the poor.”This quote comes on a day when the corporate Sunday shows were flooded with US politicians defending Trump’s disastrous war-of-choice on Iran.The UN’s Mike Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Skeletor Senator Rick Scott, and even former Biden official (and IDF soldier) Amos Hochstein packed the Sunday shows to claim why this expensive war that’s splintering the global economy is so necessary, and why blowing up civilian infrastructure is not only “not a war crime,” but necessary.It’s this bipartisanship that helps us remember that we really do have a strong uniparty in the United States, all united in one goal: to make money off war instead of feeding the poor. And speaking of Zohran Mamdani, he met up this week with the king of bipartisan warmongering, Barack Obama:It’s a jam-packed episode, and that’s not even getting to the ELECTRIC debate between Jake Tapper and Rep. Elise Stefanik, where two of the most annoying people in the world fight live on CNN. It’s the kind of stuff Useful Idiots was made for.If you want to support our work, please consider subscribing to our show. You’ll also get tons of bonus content, like this:Thanks for watching! 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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