Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Useful Idiots, LLC
  • 4.5 (4.4K)
  • POLITICS
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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. 9H AGO

    “Total Clusterf**k”: Iranian Journalist Destroys Media Lies About Iran Protests

    Watch Samira's show On the Line Media: https://www.youtube.com/@samiramohyeddin 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. Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Click here for the full interview with Samira Mohyeddin: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-total-clusterfk-iranian?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Elon Musk Unknowingly Quotes Mel Brooks’ Hitler Character https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/elon-musk-unknowingly-quotes-mel?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. As protests, violence, and confusion continue to unfold and escalate in Iran, with media coverage somewhere between ignorance and propaganda, we try to break through the lies to learn about what’s actually going on. We spoke to Iranian-Canadian journalist Samira Mohyeddin about why Iranians are protesting the government, how Israel’s Mossad is involved in those protests, the purposefully crippling and murderous effect of sanctions on ordinary Iranians, and why anyone who tells you they know what Iranians think is “full of shit.” Useful Idiots: At this point, what’s your understanding of what’s happened with the protests in Iran: To what extent are they peaceful? Who’s responsible for the violence? And what is the extent of state repression? Samira Mohyeddin: This is sort of unprecedented in Iran during the successive number of protests that we’ve had throughout the years. The merchants in the Grand Bazaar have never really protested until now. This happened because Iran’s currency just plummeted to its lowest that it’s ever been, which reduced their ability to import items. And then things took a very decidedly violent turn, both on the part of the protesters and on the part of the state. All of a sudden you saw buildings being burned, police and security personnel being killed, some of them burned alive. This is very weird. We have been watching protests in Iran for decades. This is not how Iranians protest. I really need to just put that out there. And then the state repression and violence started with Iranian security personnel using live ammunition on protesters. Then the internet went out. So it’s a very muddied story right now both because of the internet blackout, and because you have all these bellicose, reckless statements being made by people like Mike Pompeo and Israel’s heritage minister, Amihai Eliyahu, saying things like, “We were on the ground in June, you better believe we’re on the ground now, we have a hand in this.” [In addition, on January 2, Mike Pompeo tweeted: Happy New Year to every Iranian in the streets. Also to every Mossad agent walking beside them...] Making such statements really provides fodder to the Iranian government, who already thinks all of its grievances that its citizens have are something to do with a foreign hand. So it’s a really awful clusterfuck, to be honest. Useful Idiots: It’s almost as if Mike Pompeo and people in the Mossad wanted to endanger the protesters to justify whatever their plans are for further bombings of Iran. Samira Mohyeddin: I mean, it feels like that. This isn’t solidarity, this is sabotage. You can’t pretend to care about Iranians and then write “Happy New Year to the Mossad agents walking beside them.” You are putting a target on the backs of protesters when you say something like that. Useful Idiots: This week at Davos, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent bragged that “President Trump ordered Treasury to put maximum pressure on Iran, and it’s worked! Their economy collapsed. They are not able to get imports. And this is why the people took to the streets. So this is economic statecraft. No shots fired. And things are moving in a very positive way here.” Subscribe to hear Samira’s response to this blatant brag about murdering ordinary Iranians, plus how she landed on the “Top 4 Antisemites” list for calling out the most racist podcast clip you’ve ever seen. 00:00 Intro 00:49 Jared Kushner reveals MASTER PLAN for New Gaza 03:39 Why didn't Russia and China veto Trump's Board of Peace? 05:15 Elon Musk's horrible joke delivery (it was a Nazi joke too) 06:31 Samira Mohyeddin interview 07:04 What is happening at Iran protests? 09:57 Is the Mossad behind them? 32:55 The most racist podcast clip you've ever seen Our Sponsors: * Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL * Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    34 min

  2. 4D AGO

    Katie Halper Destroys Kristi Noem on Blatant ICE Lie

    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. Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: GOP Senator Accidentally Blows Iran Secret https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/gop-senator-accidentally-blows-iran?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&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. 🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906030668972032 Kristi Noem did not do well on her Face the Nation appearance this weekend. And Katie and Aaron did not miss the opportunity to make fun of it. From accidentally calling her own agency’s statistics a fake news lie, to contradicting her claim that ICE agents aren’t using chemical weapons against protesters, to admitting the First Amendment no longer exists when it comes to ICE, to claiming that even mentioning the public case of ICE officer and alleged murderer Jonathan Ross is the same as doxxing, she dug herself into hole after hole. We feel bad making fun of someone so…intellectually challenged, but she’s currently in power running what this week’s guest Craig Mokhiber called “the modern day Brown Shirts,” so we’ve got no choice but to do our part in mockery. Also in this Monday Mourning: Republicans are tripping over themselves over the stupidity of Trump’s Greenland takeover plans, Democrats continue to only call out Trump’s regime change operations for being unsuccessful, mentioning nothing about their moral implications, and Israeli mega-donors Miriam Adelson and Haim Saban accidentally get outed by their own moderator. Our Sponsors: * Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL * Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1h 27m

  3. JAN 16

    Ex-UN Official EXPOSES Israel’s Secret Role in Venezuela

    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. Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: GOP Senator Accidentally Blows Iran Secret https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/gop-senator-accidentally-blows-iran?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&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. In October 2023, Craig Mokhiber resigned as director of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights over the UN’s failure to act to stop the genocide in Gaza. Since then, he has been writing and speaking out about Israel’s crimes in Gaza as well as the other wars launched by the US-Israel Axis. This week, we’re focusing on Israel’s secret role in destabilizing Latin America, the Maduro government in Venezuela in particular, and in training ICE. Useful Idiots: Can you talk about the Israeli regime’s nefarious role in Latin America?Craig Mokhiber: It’s a long story, the history of the Israeli regime supporting far-right governments and death squads in Latin America and attacking or supporting attacks on progressive governments and movements in the region. And that’s why in her first address after the U.S. attacked Venezuela, the vice president, who’s now the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, said that the attack on the country had “Zionist undertones.”People of the region are well aware that the hand of the Israeli regime in destabilizing progressive governments has been going on forever. We’re talking about Israeli weapons, Israeli equipment, Israeli surveillance technology, Israeli intelligence cooperation, spying on opposition, and so on. But what’s really sometimes missed in these conversations is that the Israeli regime has been exporting not just weapons and technology and tactics, but it also exports a kind of violent and racist ideology. Ideas that are very right-wing, very Zionist, very militarist, very anti-human rights, obviously deeply anti-Muslim and anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian and anti-left, and this general idea that tries to frame law enforcement as equivalent to military.That has been a big part of it. And that’s why, after the attack by the US on Venezuela, Israeli regime leaders were absolutely giddy celebrating the attacks on Venezuela and the abduction of the Venezuelan president.Useful Idiots: What about Israel’s role in U.S. crackdowns against its own citizens?Craig Mokhiber: This is what I refer to as the Zionist boomerang. This support for Zionism, fascism, apartheid, all of the crimes of the Israeli regime in Palestine, now it’s come back to our own cities. We’re talking about policing tactics that are entirely inconsistent with international human rights standards. You’ve got decades of the US underwriting apartheid, surveillance, repression, and genocide in Palestine. Those practices are now being brought home.We’ve seen it in the brutal persecution of student protesters. You see it in the distortion of US legislation by Israel. The official adoption of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism as an Israeli tool to try to silence dissent about Israeli abuses. You see it in the wholesale suspension of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in the U.S. on behalf of the Israeli regime.This is blowback from support for Zionism in Western Asia and you now see it in the corruption of U.S. law enforcement with this continuous structured flow of Israeli weapons and equipment and surveillance technology. A lot of these things come out of Israel’s so-called counterterrorism tactics. And whenever you hear that word counterterrorism, I think we’ve all learned, human rights runs for cover. It’s surveillance, it’s brutal crowd control techniques, racial profiling, intrusive intelligence gathering that’s now touching all of us.That is a product of this Zionist boomerang. And that alone should terrify everybody who lives in the United States.Watch and share our full, unpaywalled interview with Craig Mokhiber. And don’t miss this week’s Friday Free-For-All: GOP Senator Accidentally Blows Iran Secret 00:00 Intro 01:42 Lindsey Graham is DEVASTATED Trump didn't bomb Iran 03:58 Treasury Sec brags about destroying Iranian economy 07:40 Sen. Mullin accidentally admits he supports regime change 08:28 Craig Mokhiber interview 19:33 Israel's nefarious role in Venezuela 26:06 The Israeli Boomerang 51:09 Stephen Miller says ICE has full immunity 58:11 An update on genocide in Gaza 1:01:38 The end of the American empire Our Sponsors: * Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL * Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1h 6m

  4. JAN 12

    Kristi Noem PANICS As ICE Murder Story Unravels Live on CNN

    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. Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Click here for the full interview with Professors Gabriel Hetland and Alex Aviña: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-trump-shocked-after?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Surprise! Dr. Phil is in Israel's Pocket at https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/surprise-dr-phil-is-in-israels-pocket?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. 🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906030668972032 Our Sponsors: * Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL * Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1h 30m

  5. JAN 9

    Trump SHOCKED After Venezuela Oil Backlash, BRICS Conflict Looms

    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. Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Click here for the full interview with Professors Gabriel Hetland and Alex Aviña: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-trump-shocked-after?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Surprise! Dr. Phil is in Israel's Pocket https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/surprise-dr-phil-is-in-israels-pocket?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. Read our guests' books: Democracy on the Ground: Local Politics in Latin America’s Left Turn Specters of Revolution: Peasant Guerrillas in the Cold War Mexican Countryside The Trump Administration’s regime change operations in Venezuela are escalating rapidly, making it a challenge to keep up with the facts, lies, hypocrisies, kidnappings, and killings. That’s why we’re speaking with Professors Gabriel Hetland and Alex Aviña, two experts on the historical implications of US destabilization attempts in Latin America, who deep dive into why Trump is attacking Venezuela, the role oil and natural resources play in this, and the broader conflict it will bring with China and BRICS. Useful Idiots: Despite the invasion, Alex, you’ve argued that this can be read as a sign of weakness of the United States. Can you elaborate on that?Alex Aviña: The fact that they didn’t opt for a larger military operation could be read as a recognition of the difficulty of such an operation. The military assets that the US had moved in the Caribbean are not nearly enough for an Iraq-style invasion or even what they did to Panama in December of 1989.If we think about the broader context, and thinking about the national security strategy that the Trump administration published late last year, they more or less have conceded that they can’t frontally challenge China and Asia. So one way that they are going to proceed in the future is to indirectly challenge China.China is the largest trading partner for South America, right? Historically every time that the US “comes home” and starts taking it out on Latin America, it’s usually after a moment of defeat or an admission that the global designs of the United States have met obstacles. So they have to retrench their power within Latin America.Useful Idiots: Gabriel, you have a recent article at The Intercept: “The U.S. Desperately Wants Back in the Business of Empire With Venezuela. America carried out a coup in Venezuela to plunder the country’s resources. But Latin Americans will have the last word.” So what do you mean by that, Latin Americans will have the last word?Gabriel Hetland: Trump’s attempt to dominate Latin America doesn’t always work out the way the US wants it to. Specifically, when the US attempts to push Latin Americans around, it sometimes has an immediate or more long-term backlash. And we’ve seen this repeatedly in Latin American history just this year.Trump went after Lula, the president of Brazil, because he was prosecuting Jair Bolsonaro for attempting a coup. He talked about slapping 50% tariffs on Lula, and that helped Lula’s popularity. We saw something similar in 2002 with Evo Morales in Bolivia. The U.S. ambassador called him a narco terrorist and he immediately went to number two in the polls.There’s also going to be a backlash against U.S. imperialism in other countries. In Colombia, Gustavo Petro has had huge rallies all week. Santos, the conservative former president of Colombia, who’s not an ally of Petro, actually said it was good that Petro and Trump were having a conversation. So when the president of the United States goes after leaders in Latin America, it can put conservatives in Latin America on the back foot and force them to actually defend leftists. It can also provide an electoral boost for nationalists and leftists and anti-imperialism overall. I think that it’s very, very likely that we’ll see more of that.Subscribe to watch full interview with Alex Aviño and Gabriel Hetland on the nearly-satyrical levels of racism in the Venezuelan opposition that MAGA is propping up, as well as a controversial question from Aaron. 00:00 Intro 00:47 JD Vance CAUGHT Lying About Minnesota ICE Murder 07:12 Alex Aviña and Gabriel Hetland interview 09:28 What's happening in Venezuela? 13:50 Is the US weakening? 35:09 The real MAGA agenda in Latin America Our Sponsors: * Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL * Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    39 min

  6. JAN 5

    US Kidnaps Venezuelan President Maduro – We watched every corporate politician's reaction

    Watch the full Monday Mourning here: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/us-kidnaps-venezuelan-president-maduro?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Click here for our episode on Trump's Venezuela War: https://youtu.be/-R9OJP5K21A Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Katie & Aaron React to Ridiculous 'Melania' Trailer https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/katie-halper-and-aaron-mate-react?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. If it's Monday Morning, it's #mondaymourning 🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906030668972032 Our Sponsors: * Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL * Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1h 2m

  7. 12/31/2025

    "A couple of second chances" – Trump Bends the Knee to Netanyahu At White House Shower

    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. Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Click here for the full interview with Francisco Rodriguez: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-trumps-venezuela-war?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false Support local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Watch our Friday Free-For-All: Katie & Aaron React to Ridiculous 'Melania' Trailer https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/katie-halper-and-aaron-mate-react?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&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. Our Sponsors: * Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL * Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1 hr

  8. 12/22/2025

    What were those photos of Trump in the Epstein drawer...?

    Get the full episode, our Friday Free-For-All, and TWO MONTHS of Useful Idiots for FREE https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?coupon=d5e84c49 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. Click here for the full interview with Francisco Rodriguez: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-trumps-venezuela-war?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Katie & Aaron React to Ridiculous 'Melania' Trailer https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/katie-halper-and-aaron-mate-react?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. If it's Monday Morning, it's #mondaymourning 🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906030668972032 Our Sponsors: * Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL * Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1h 27m
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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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