Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Useful Idiots, LLC

Useful Idiots is an informative and irreverent politics podcast with journalist Aaron Maté and podcaster/writer Katie Halper. Episodes feature analysis of the political news of the week and exclusive interviews, with humor, commentary and dissection of why both Republicans and Democrats suck. Join Aaron and Katie 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.

  1. 2D AGO

    Iran Strikes on US Bases Shock World—Here’s What US & Israel Hid

    Go to https://groundnews.com/useful to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan. Visit www.functionhealth.com/USEFUL and use gift code USEFUL25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Check out the Peace Corps at https://peacecorps.gov/serve Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/useful ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Click here for the ad-free version: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/subscribers-only-iran-strikes-on?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Watch the Friday Free-For-All: Somebody Check In On Pete Hegseth... https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/somebody-check-in-on-pete-hegseth?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. Despite recent attacks from both sides, a ceasefire is technically in effect between the US and Iran: Is peace at hand? Or are these shaky truce talks just a break before the return to full-scale military conflict? What’s likely to move the scale in one direction or another are recent embarrassing headlines that could push President Trump to panic: the Washington Post reports that the CIA “says Iran can outlast Trump’s Hormuz blockade for months,” as opposed to days or weeks, which the administration has been claiming. Another headline claims that “Iran has hit far more U.S. military assets than reported, satellite images show.” And just this week Marco Rubio announced that the new goal of the war is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and get everything "back to the way it was" before Trump launched the first attacks. Will these revelations force Trump into a corner and get him to take the win of a ceasefire, claim victory in Iran, and leave? Or does the embarrassment of losing on the global stage send him and Cartoon Pete Hegseth back out to war? To analyze all the latest in Iran, from a technical weapons level to the geopolitical ramifications of it all, we spoke with Dr. Sajjad Safei, researcher, lecturer, and analyst specializing in Middle Eastern geopolitics. Plus, we watch the latest right-wing commentator to once again prove the Useful Idiots thesis: “At this point, I think it’s in Israel’s interests to act against Iran in a way that blows up this deal.” 00:00 Intro 03:49 Israel Aims to Sabotage Trump in Iran Peace Deal 06:01 Why no one talks about Israel's nukes 10:57 ADL releases ridiculous list of "antisemitic incidents" 16:09 Dr. Sajjad Safei interview 26:34 Rubio wants Iran to go "back to how it was" 35:01 Trump admin MELTDOWN Our Sponsors: * Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/USEFUL * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/useful Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    48 min
  2. 6D AGO

    Over Two Months Into the War on Iran, The Trump Admin Still Can't Decide If We're At War with Iran

    Go to https://groundnews.com/useful to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan. Visit www.functionhealth.com/USEFUL and use gift code USEFUL25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Check out the Peace Corps at https://peacecorps.gov/serve Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/useful ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Click here to see the full interview on cracking the code to expose the Canary Mission: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/full-episode-journalist-reveals-israelis?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Watch the Friday Free-For-All: "Gas prices may be up, but you'll be happy to know that Iranians can't feed themselves." http://usefulidiotspodcast.com Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. Our Sponsors: * Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/USEFUL * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/useful Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1h 15m
  3. MAY 1

    Journalist REVEALS Israelis Behind Secret Doxxing War on Americans

    Go to https://groundnews.com/useful to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan. Visit www.functionhealth.com/USEFUL and use gift code USEFUL25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Check out the Peace Corps at https://peacecorps.gov/serve Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/useful ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Click here to see the full interview on cracking the code to expose the Canary Mission: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/full-episode-journalist-reveals-israelis?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Watch the Friday Free-For-All: "Gas prices may be up, but you'll be happy to know that Iranians can't feed themselves." http://usefulidiotspodcast.com Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. “Being anonymous is very important to this group. And they had really good OPSEC, which is security to make sure they’re not found. When we saw their internal documents and communications, we found a marketing PowerPoint where they listed core values. And one of the core values was Anonymity to Scare the Enemy.”This is from independent investigative journalist Jacqueline Sweet, who recently exposed and revealed members of the Canary Mission for DropSite News. The Canary Mission is a pro-Israel doxxing site which has been notoriously secretive since its creation in 2015, exposing and creating blacklists to target college students involved in anti-genocide protests. The Trump Administration has used their blacklists to kidnap, imprison, and deport students. One of those students who was doxxed by the Canary Mission and resultantly kidnapped by ICE was Mohsen Mahdawi, Palestinian refugee, Columbia University graduate student, and organizer who was detained and targeted for deportation over his pro-Palestine speech and activism in April 2025. So for this week’s episode we spoke with both Mohsen and Jacqueline about how the secretive Canary Mission found and exposed Mohsen to the Trump Administration, how Jacqueline is “doxxing the doxxers” by naming Canary Mission members, and why Mohsen isn’t backing down after the fear tactics from both the Canary Mission and the government: “If they succeeded in silencing me, it would have a much larger effect on others. So come at me harder and I will show you how I will continue to smile and I will speak up even louder.I go around and people are sometimes surprised. They say, ‘What happened to you is really scaring me.’ And I would say, ‘If you react to them, to their intimidation, that’s what they want us to do so we can lose sight, so we can’t envision, so we can’t imagine, so we can be pushed into survival mode.’And I refuse to do that. I continue to plan. I continue to envision. And I keep telling them, keep coming harder because every time you do that, you’re pushing my profile much higher and you’re bringing more people into my life and you’re bringing me into more people’s life. So I’m making an opportunity out of it. And every crisis has an opportunity. This is my belief.Subscribe for the full interview where Jacqueline explains how she and DropSite News were able to break into the Operational Security (OPSEC) of Canary Mission to expose its members. Subscribers keep us going by supporting our work, and also get Katie and Aaron’s analysis of the craziest moments of the week, the Friday Free-for-All: “Gas prices may be up, but you’ll be happy to know that Iranians can’t feed themselves.” 00:00 Intro 03:26 DNC Chair Refuses to Show 2024 Election Autopsy 07:10 Trump thinks he can "do Venezuela" to Iran 08:26 Ro Khanna destroys Pete Hegseth 10:39 Mohsen Mahdawi interview 11:30 What's happening in Gaza and the West Bank? 30:22 Exposing the Canary Mission 33:16 How Trump used the Canary Mission blacklist to kidnap Mohsen 57:30 How journalists broke through Canary Mission's OPSEC Our Sponsors: * Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/USEFUL * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/useful Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    59 min
  4. APR 27

    "Tone Down the Rhetoric!" Say US Officials Who Want to Destroy All of Iranian Civilization

    Go to groundnews.com/useful to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan. Visit www.functionhealth.com/USEFUL and use gift code USEFUL25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Check out the Peace Corps at https://peacecorps.gov/serve Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/useful ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Click here to support our work and get the ad-free version of our show: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/ad-free-iran-forces-israel-to-backpedal?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Watch the Friday Free-For-All: Washington Post Columnist: "Kill the Iranian Leaders That Don't Want a Deal." https://usefulidiotspodcast.com Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. Our Sponsors: * Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/USEFUL * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/useful Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1h 4m
  5. APR 24

    Iran Forces Israel To Backpedal in Lebanon w/ Mohamad Hasan Sweidan

    Go to groundnews.com/useful to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan. Visit www.functionhealth.com/USEFUL and use gift code USEFUL25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Check out the Peace Corps at https://peacecorps.gov/serve Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/useful ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Click here to support our work and get the ad-free version of our show: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/ad-free-iran-forces-israel-to-backpedal?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Watch the Friday Free-For-All: Washington Post Columnist: "Kill the Iranian Leaders That Don't Want a Deal." https://usefulidiotspodcast.com Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. This week we’re looking at the latest in Trump’s regime-change war on Iran and how it’s spilled over into Lebanon, where Israel has just killed another journalist, Amal Khalil. Khalil was assassinated in a “double tap” strike while she was reporting in South Lebanon: the Israelis first hit her car, and then the house she fled to in an attempt to seek refuge. Israeli soldiers then blocked rescue workers from reaching her and she died under the rubble. She is the latest in the hundreds of journalists who have been targeted and killed by Israel since October 7th. To discuss Amal Khalil, the broader regime-change war in Iran, and why Israel is “afraid” of invading Lebanon, we speak with Mohamad Hasan Sweidan, researcher and academic based in Beirut. Useful Idiots: What explains Hezbollah’s resilience? They lost their leader, they suffered very big setbacks with the pager attacks, and lost their land bridge in Syria, through which they could receive arms from Iran.But yet on the ground in Lebanon, they’re still able to fight toe-to-toe with Israel and impose serious costs, to the point where now Israel is afraid of invading and engaging in another land war.So what explains how Hezbollah, which many people thought was on its last legs, has been able to persevere and still be effective militarily?Mohamad Hasan Sweidan: There are three main reasons.Number one is ideology. Hezbollah has a very strong religious ideology that doesn’t believe in backing off. It believes it should continue fighting the oppressor until the end.Number two is that Hezbollah doesn’t have a choice. If they don’t rebuild themselves and if they don’t return to the fight, then all of Hezbollah will be destroyed. It’s a battle of no choice. And when you are in a battle of no choice, you continue till the end.Number three: Hezbollah represents a huge amount of the people inside of the country. There are Lebanese people who believe in resistance. So if Hezbollah decides to disarm, then you have other Lebanese people who will hold the weapons and go defend the land. Because history proved that the only way to defend the land is when you become a resistance.So there are three main reasons. Ideology, battle of no choice, and the people. When you have these main factors, you don’t have really a choice other than trying to resist, even if the cost or the price of resistance is very high.00:00 Intro 01:50 "We're starving them!" Congressmen celebrate killing Iranians 07:28 Washington Post columnist: "Kill the Iranian leaders who don't want a deal!" 09:23 Mohamad Hasan Sweidan interview 10:36 Israel murders journalist Amal Khalil 49:39 Why Israel is AFRAID of invading Lebanon Our Sponsors: * Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/USEFUL * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/useful Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    56 min
  6. APR 20

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

    Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan. Visit www.functionhealth.com/USEFUL and use gift code USEFUL25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Check out the Peace Corps at https://peacecorps.gov/serve Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/useful ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Click here for the full hour-long extended interview with the Makdisi Brothers: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/full-episode-us-and-israel-plummet?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Watch the Friday Free-For-All: Alan Dershowitz Threatens Trump If He Doesn't Follow Israeli Orders https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/alan-dershowitz-threatens-trump-if?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Check out the Makdisi Street Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@MakdisiStreet Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. Our Sponsors: * Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/USEFUL * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/useful Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1h 11m
  7. APR 17

    US & Israel PLUMMET Globally After Iran and Cuba Disasters

    Go to groundnews.com/useful to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan. Visit www.functionhealth.com/USEFUL and use gift code USEFUL25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Check out the Peace Corps at https://peacecorps.gov/serve Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/useful ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Click here for the full hour-long extended interview with the Makdisi Brothers: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/full-episode-us-and-israel-plummet?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Watch the Friday Free-For-All: Alan Dershowitz Threatens Trump If He Doesn't Follow Israeli Orders https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/alan-dershowitz-threatens-trump-if?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Check out the Makdisi Street Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@MakdisiStreet Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. We’ve got another Useful Idiots Double Header this week: Second Secretary of the Cuban Embassy to the US David Ramirez Alvarez, as well as the Palestinian-Lebanese hosts of the Makdisi Street Podcast Professors Ussama and Saree Makdisi. And while their respective topics take place a world away from each other (Cuba and Lebanon), a common theme connected both discussions: the US and Israel are losing global support rapidly as they kill and starve innocent people for sinister political reasons. Saree Makdisi: There’s a fundamental split taking place before our eyes. The recent polls show this very, very dramatic shift in American negative perceptions of Israel and Zionism. It’s most pronounced on the left of the spectrum, eighty-plus percent of Democrats. But when you look at people under fifty, even on the right, even among Republican Evangelicals, they’re souring too because they’re like, ‘What the hell, what are we supporting?’Ussama Makdisi: I mean, you can’t slaughter children. You can’t starve a population the way they did in Gaza.David Ramirez Alvarez: We don’t say that the US has sponsored terrorism against Cuba. What we say is that many of the terrorist actions that have been executed against Cuba have been financed and organized from the US. And polls have shown that the American people don’t even support the US blockade. They’re losing support as they make [the people of Cuba] suffer.The US and its Israel arm have been increasing their attacks against civilians, schools, hospitals, and children, either through outright war crimes and terrorism or a brutal criminal blockade. Subscribe for the full hour-long interview with Saree and Ussama Makdisi for a debate on whether the US is being controlled by Israel or if they have their own motive for following Israel into war. 00:00 Intro 00:53 Hillary Clinton reveals she's working BEHIND THE SCENES to bomb Lebanon 04:31 The 7 Dems who voted to send MORE BOMBS to Israel 05:39 Chuck Schumer told by Dems: Step Aside! 07:31 Second Secretary of the Cuban Embassy to the US David Ramirez Alvarez interview 12:33 Trump threatens to bomb Cuba after Iran 40:29 Makdisi Professors interview 58:31 Debate: Is the new 'ceasefire' legit? Our Sponsors: * Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/USEFUL * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/useful Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1 hr
  8. APR 13

    “No one is willing to trade lower gas prices for Iran becoming a nuclear state.”

    Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan. Visit www.functionhealth.com/USEFUL and use gift code USEFUL25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Check out the Peace Corps at https://peacecorps.gov/serve Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/useful ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Click here for the full interviews with former State Dept Official Alan Eyre and Iranian Journalist Séamus Malekafzali: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/full-episode-americas-strategic-weakness?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Watch the Friday Free-For-All: Dana Bash's Obsessive Hatred for Hasan Piker Reveals CNN's Fake Journalism Mentality https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/dana-bashs-obsessive-hatred-for-hasan?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Check out Séamus' podcast Turbulence: https://turbulencepod.substack.com/ Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. Our Sponsors: * Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/USEFUL * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/useful Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1h 8m
4.4
out of 5
347 Ratings

About

Useful Idiots is an informative and irreverent politics podcast with journalist Aaron Maté and podcaster/writer Katie Halper. Episodes feature analysis of the political news of the week and exclusive interviews, with humor, commentary and dissection of why both Republicans and Democrats suck. Join Aaron and Katie 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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