Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Click here for the full episode, including an extended interview with Branko Marcetic about Ukraine, Epstein & more, plus a chat about Vaush. Note: This episode was recorded before Russia invaded Ukraine. The interview with Branko Marcetic provides a lot of useful context on how we got here. When we look at the progression of this war, the Biden administration and cable news hosts will tell you that Mastermind Putin foresaw this six moves back in his chess game, and that the only thing we could’ve done was impose sanctions earlier. They won’t tell you about the US escalating tensions for years, stoking the 2014 coup and aiding neo-Nazi protesters for its own benefit. Now, two war-mongering countries, both with bloated militaries, whose people are neglected in favor of raising military spending, whose politicians profit from war, are back to causing destruction. And Ukraine is stuck in the middle. Jacobin’s Branko Marcetic joins us to breakdown everything happening in the region and the steps that led to Russia’s deadly aggression. See the extended episode for the full discussion on Ukraine plus a look at his in-depth reporting on Jeffrey Epstein’s death. It’s a dark day, but Useful Idiots will always keep spreading our anti-war message. Join us as we follow the news and keep the people of Ukraine in our thoughts. It’s this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full episode, including an extended interview with Rania Khalek. Breakthrough News’ Rania Khalek recounts her horrifying travel nightmare: “So I went to Cuba and it was terrifying… just like Marco Rubio said.” Then she laughs and proceeds to share an enlightening and inspiring story of a country perpetually beat down by the US that still continues to survive. Seeing the stellar healthcare, education, and public safety of a poorer nation only underscores that we’re doing something wrong here. She explains: “When you see how this poor country, which is poor because of the US, spends all of its revenue providing medical care and education for everybody, it really tells you something about the US system.I walked around all of Havana and not one person begged for money. That was astounding to me after being in New York. Plus, Rania, who’s currently based in Beirut, gives her on-the-scene takes on Syria, ISIS, and Ukraine mania. Subscribe now to hear it all. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full episode, including an extended interview with Margaret Kimberley: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-episode-how-obama-failed?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Black Agenda Report’s Margaret Kimberley is fed up with the US progressive caucus. With zero politicians in Congress calling out Biden for escalating tensions with Russia or doing little more for progressive causes than sending hopeful tweets, she believes that US politicians who call themselves left are finally revealing their true colors. This loss of true progressives worsened under President Obama: “I think Obama’s presidency is one of the worst things to happen to Black people politically.” “No one talks about what he did to Libya. What he tried to do to Syria. When you see a story about migrants drowning at sea, that’s Barack Obama.” And yet, in the halls of Democratic Congress, he remains infallible. To Kimberley, if you’re silent on war mongering and profiteering, you shouldn’t be considered left. Plus, Margaret shares her thoughts on Joe Rogan, Biden’s terrible Covid response, and the fall of progressive news: “Would the Pentagon Papers be published today? I don’t think so. I think if there was some bombshell revelation about Ukraine, the New York Times and Washington Post wouldn’t touch it. We need people with more courage.” It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

There is only one truly bipartisan issue in the United States Congress these days: increasing military spending. Every year it passes, and every year we spend trillions of dollars on weapons and soldiers. Money that could be spent on education, homelessness, and infrastructure all goes to the war chest. The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel joins the Useful Idiots to warn of the dangers of the US escalating tensions with Russia over Ukraine. It’s not about helping Ukraine, she explains. It’s about money and power. We’re at war to show that NATO matters. We’re at war to save Biden’s sinking poll ratings. We’re at war so politicians, lobbyists, and pundits can make money. “That is not a good reason for a soldier to be away from his family. They’re being used for symbolic fodder.” And while anti-war groups are speaking up to stop this, mainstream media is a lot louder. CNN, Fox News, and the New York Times are helping shape the propagandist narrative that a Russian invasion is imminent and US troops and weapons are needed to stop it. So don’t listen to them. Let’s find the facts and figure out for ourselves: are there peaceful solutions? Plus, attempted cancellations of Joe Rogan and Whoopi Goldberg, Trump’s biggest protest this country has ever seen, and please, don’t inject stuff into your penis. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. And stay tuned for the full interview with Katrina vanden Heuvel on Monday at 7am. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Hear the ad-free version at http://usefulidiots.substack.com “But if Obama knew,” Aaron and Katie ask Status Coup’s Jordan Chariton, “why didn’t he go to Flint and bust Wall Street and the Republicans for poisoning the city? It would’ve been an easy political win.” “If Obama didn’t go after Wall Street for tanking the global economy,” responds Chariton, “what makes you think he would’ve done anything to go after them for a fraud financial deal that led to a city being poisoned?” Today, Chariton is breaking stories in Flint about Obama’s complicity, Wall Street’s greed, a state-government coverup, and the continued pandemic of Flint residents who are still dying. “I talk to people who are still getting rashes, whose hair falls out in the shower, whose children are growing with learning disabilities, people with early development of Parkinson’s. If you just look at the cherry-picked data, it seems like everything’s fine. These people are still in an 8 year pandemic. It’s not over.” But why don’t we hear about it? No one wants to run the story. “The hardest part of investigative journalism should be breaking the story, not getting outlets to pick it up.” Chariton laments. “But the amount of time and money is not worth the amount of clicks for the New York Times and CNN. Some, like Mother Jones, even asked: ‘Is there a connection to Trump?’” And, darker still, when he publishes his reports himself, it’s hard for people to see them. Youtube refuses to send video notifications even to his subscribers and they dampen every video and livestream. It’s the reason we couldn’t put “Flint” in the title and why Jordan thinks it might be easier to just start making videos about who’s feuding in the political punditry world. So go subscribe to Status Coup on Youtube. It’s real journalism that you will miss if you look anywhere else. One silver lining, however, is that the children of Flint may be reassured that the US Government just sent 200,000 pounds of new weapons to Ukraine. So they’ve got that going for them. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. Plus, watch the ad-free episode here, and stay tuned for the full interview with Jordan on Monday at 7am. Peace out, Useful Idiots. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

“There’s an underestimation of how dangerous the United States government is right now.” Prolific and esteemed historian Dr. Gerald Horne, who holds the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies and has authored over 40 books, warns that the greatest threat to world peace is the US government. Whether taking down civil rights leaders, starting countless wars, killing foreign civilians, using imperialism to rule other countries, causing economic ruin for entire regions… need we go on? Just this week, we got to see the FBI cheer on Dr. Martin Luther King after aiding his assassination. Plus, measures were introduced in the Senate to block the Nord Stream 2 pipeline…in another country. It’s US imperialism that would cause economic disaster in Europe. It’s not easy being the world’s policeman, but someone’s gotta do it. So join us as Dr. Gerald Horne unravels the danger of the United States government. But make sure not to speak up too much about it, or who knows what will happen. As the FBI wrote to Dr. King: “You are done.” It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. And come back Monday for the extended interview with Dr. Horne. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Hear the ad-free version at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Mansoor Adayfi shares his harrowing story of being kidnapped and brought to Guantanamo: “Then I was dragged to my cage, naked. Six of the guards beat me and tied me with a hood and duct tape. It was messaging. When they took the hood off, I couldn’t see for hours because of the bright light and my eyes were swollen from the beating.“I was asking: Am I in Hell? Am I dead?” Fourteen years later, Mansoor was proven innocent and released to Serbia. He still lives with years of trauma and the social shame of being formerly-labeled a suspected terrorist. And after all that, our government does nothing to help him. Now, Adayfi is working to shut Guantanamo down with activism, paintings, and his book Don’t Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantanamo. The US government tries to hide and mask their torture of innocent people. It’s time for us to learn what’s really going on. Listen to Mansoor Adayfi’s story. It’s tragic, evil, and in the end, inspiring. Plus, terrible Dems love Dick Cheney, Tucker Carlson’s awful joke, and virtual reality cows. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. And stay tuned for the extended interview on Monday, in which Adayfi discusses his hunger strike, the cruelty of American torture, and how he’s learned to live with trauma. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The infinitely funny and smart David Cross stopped by for a chat and we couldn’t contain our excitement. You know him from Mr. Show, Arrested Development, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (tip from Wilson: the best hidden gem show you’ll find), and his hilarious standup specials. And now you know him as a Useful Idiot. We talk comedy: creating a standup special, using audience feedback to perfect his set, and how he felt when Netflix took down an episode of w/ Bob and David for having a character in blackface. We talk politics: why Bernie would’ve won, why (some) Hillary Clinton supporters were blinded by tribalism, and why Andrew Yang should “fuck all the way off.” And for good measure we geek out about our favorite David Cross roles and bits. Come back Monday for the extended interview where we take a deep dive into his new special “I’m From the Future,” politics, and more. Plus, Joe Manchin and the crackhead daughters, military-grade snow removal, and naked but masked. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. And subscribe to hear the ad-free version. Your subscription goes to help the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press and independent journalists everywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Hear the ad-free episode at http://usefulidiots.substack.com 2021 was a shit show, so who better to help us dig through it than friend-of-show Thomas Frank, author of Listen Liberal and What’s the Matter with Kansas. So what happened in 2021? Democrats and Republicans definitely both sucked. Covid got better and then a lot worse. Dems didn’t do the one thing to ensure they’d never lose another election. And politics turned from policy to pure culture war. We go through it all, why it happened, why it sucked, and what it means for 2022. Plus, Biden’s giving up on Covid (and has something in his throat), Republicans embrace unemployment for certain people, and a sad announcement before a final penis story. It’s all this, and more, in this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. And become a subscriber to get the ad-free version and an extended interview on Monday. You're helping independent journalists with funding, legal fees, and more. Happy new year, from Useful Idiots! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Hear the ad-free version at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy