Mehdi Unfiltered

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A Civil War in America? Two Experts Sound the Alarm on Trump's Second Term Sep 19, 2024

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Jack Goldstone, Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University joins this episode of 'Mehdi Unfiltered' together with one of the top experts on fascism, New York University's History Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat, the author of 'Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.'

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EXCLUSIVE: Mehdi Interviews the Mother of the Palestinian-American Child Stabbed to Death After Oct. 7th Sep 18, 2024

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On October 14, 2023, a week after the Hamas attacks on Israel, and just days after Joe Biden falsely claimed he had seen photos of beheaded Israeli babies, a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy called Wadee Alfayoumi was brutally murdered in his home after being stabbed 26 times. His mother, Hanaan Shahin, was also stabbed and left critically injured.

Shahin's landlord, 71-year-old Joseph Czuba, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and, crucially, two counts of hate crimes. Czuba pleaded not guilty and faces trial later this month.

On Tuesday, in the wake of a contentious hate crimes hearing in the Senate in which Palestinian voices were not platformed and in which Wadee's name was barely mentioned, Mehdi sat down with Shahin and civil rights attorney Maaria Mozaffar, from the Muslim Civic Coalition, for an exclusive interview. They talked about Shahin's memories of Wadee, the 'Wadee Act' in the House and Senate, and her conversations with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

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Trump's Assassination Attempt; Banning the Word 'Zionist'; The Terrorizing of Haitian Immigrants Sep 17, 2024

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This week, we have a bonus episode of 'Mehdi Unfiltered' because there's no shortage of news to cover.

On Sunday, we saw another assassination attempt on former President Trump at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, with the alleged shooter having an AK47-type rifle on him. As upset as the Republicans are, their outrage over this second assassination attempt on Trump has its limits. It stops at gun control.

Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a Democrat from Florida, the first member of Generation Z to be elected to Congress, and the former National Organizing Director for March for Our Lives, the youth-led movement in support of gun control, joins Mehdi in studio to talk about the attempted attack and the failure of gun reform in in the US so far.

Also on the show, Zeteo contributor, award-winning actor and activist Cynthia Nixon discusses Barnard College's latest restrictions on its faculty when it comes to speech, freedom of expression, and pro-Palestinian sentiment on its campus. Nixon is a Barnard alumna and had a lot to say, including on the recent suspensions of students, which left many without health insurance and, in some cases, even housing.

And finally, justice correspondent for The Nation, Elie Mystal discusses Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance's dangerous peddling of fake stories about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. It's led to serious threats against Springfield schools, hospitals, city officials, and the city's Haitian population. Mystal is of Haitian descent and recently wrote for the Nation: 'White People Have Never Forgiven Haitians for Claiming Their Freedom'. He joins the show to talk about his piece; the racist, Republican-led narrative being pushed; and the bigger picture.

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EXCLUSIVE: Mehdi Interviews Jill Stein Sep 16, 2024

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In this special episode of 'Mehdi Unfiltered', Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein and her running mate professor Butch Ware join 'Mehdi Unfiltered' for a wide-ranging and challenging interview.

Stein sat down for an hour-long interview with Mehdi where he covered her stance on Israel and Gaza; whether she helped Trump in 2016 and whether she is helping him again in 2024; her own controversial record on Russia and Syria; and the long-standing failures of the Green Party on her watch.

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EXCLUSIVE: Jamaal Bowman on AIPAC, Losing His Seat, and Trump vs Harris Sep 11, 2024

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On this week's episode of 'Mehdi Unfiltered', Mehdi breaks down former President Donald Trump's "embarrassingly incoherent but shamelessly dishonest" debate performance on Tuesday night, after Kamala Harris successfully baited him and exposed "deluded Trump."

"Trump's people told Trump not to get baited. But the thin-skinned man-child that he is, he just couldn't stop himself. He took the bait. Every time," Mehdi says.

US Congressman and "Squad" member Jamaal Bowman joins Mehdi to discuss his recent primary defeat, the role AIPAC played in it, and his continued fight for social justice in all its forms.

On his frustration about how difficult it is to push for progressive change, Bowman says: "It seems like whenever we try to do a transformative piece of legislation, it has to include something like a thousand more police, or another billion to Israel, or tax cuts for corporations."

Watch Mehdi's full interview with Bowman above to hear him also discuss his views on the debate, and why he thinks so many House Democrats continue to remain silent about Israel's war on Gaza.

Israel's Ceasefire Protests: This past weekend, over 700,000 protesters took to the streets in Israel calling for a hostage deal, and criticizing the Netanyahu government.

Palestinian Lawyer and Zeteo Contributor Diana Buttu was one of many to witness those protests. She joins the show to discuss what they were like and how, despite the calls to release the hostages, many of those protesters did not appear very concerned with Israel's destruction of Gaza.

"People are angry about the economy. They're angry about the fact that this is continuing.

They're angry with Netanyahu. They're angry with the Haredi [Jews] not going to the army, but not at all any sort of reckoning with what they've done to Palestinians," Diana tells Mehdi.

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The Billionaire Oligarchs Funding Project 2025's 'Unpopular, Self-Enriching Policies' Sep 08, 2024

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Most Zeteo subscribers are already well-aware of Project 2025 and its anti-democratic agenda. But what a lot of people aren't aware of is all the billionaire oligarchs who are using dark money to fund it.

David Sirota, host of 'The Lever's' new podcast series Master Plan, joins Mehdi to explain what these groups have to gain from Project 2025, and how they've become so successful when it comes to thwarting democracy and its' rules.

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A Military Crackdown? Trump Is Planning to Use Troops Against Protesters Once He's Re-Elected Sep 05, 2024

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On this week's episode of 'Mehdi Unfiltered,' Mehdi breaks down one of Donald Trump's most fascistic plans yet – using the US military to crush dissent.

"It's not a conspiracy theory, nor is it a secret," Mehdi says, as he brings the receipts exposing Team Trump's plan to use the Insurrection Act to crack down on protesters via military force, starting on day one of his second term.

"We're not exceptional," Rosa Brooks, former Obama Defense Department adviser, tells Mehdi. "I think one thing that Americans tend to think is that somehow bad things that happen in other places couldn't possibly happen here, but we are not immune from the forces of history."

Watch Mehdi's monologue, and his full conversation with Rosa Brooks and Yale University fascism expert Jason Stanley, above.

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Christians in Gaza: Khalil Sayegh, a member of Gaza's Palestinian Christian community, joins Mehdi in the studio to discuss how Israel has repressed and attacked his community, both before and especially since October 7, 2023, and how the US evangelical elite has ignored the Christians of Gaza.

"My sister was entering a room with my infant niece, literally walking into the room and just before she got into this room, the room itself just collapsed," Sayegh tells Mehdi, referencing the recent Israeli strike on a house next to Gaza's Saint Porphyrius Church.

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Khizr Khan is back: Also on the show, Mehdi talks to legendary Gold Star father Khizr Khan, on set, about Trump's recent stunt at Arlington Cemetery, in violation of federal law, and why it matters. "Trump is void of accountability, sense of responsibility. That is why we see that civility in our political discourse is at its lowest," says Khan, who lost his son Humayun in Iraq in 2004 and famously denounced Trump at the Democratic National Convention back in 2016.

If you're a paid subscriber, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments, and who you would like to see Mehdi talk to next! And if you're not a paid subscriber, what are you waiting for? We want to hear from you too.

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Trump Isn't Anti-War. It's Time to Debunk This Dangerous Myth Sep 03, 2024

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"I was the first president in modern times to start no new wars," Donald Trump declaimed at the RNC in Milwaukee in July.

That statement, like pretty much every statement Trump makes, is false. On multiple levels.

And yet, I keep meeting people – in leftwing circles, in Muslim-American circles, in Arab-American circles, and beyond – who tell me that they're voting for Trump in November because they believe him; they think that he isn't a hawk and that he killed fewer Muslims than Democratic presidents have.

"At least he didn't do a genocide like Biden," I hear some say.

It's an argument that gives me a proper headache because it simply is not true. In fact, it's total and utter nonsense.

So, when it comes to Trump and the topic of war, and especially the killing of Muslims in the Middle East, it's time for a thorough debunking.

Please do watch and share my video explainer above.

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