Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Latest Episodes:

Colin Powell's Chief of Staff on Ukraine Apr 01, 2022

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Click here for the the full episode, including an extended interview with Larry Wilkerson on why the FBI is tailing him and why others don’t stand up to the machine. Larry Wilkerson, former US Army Colonel and high-ranking member of Bush’s White House as Colin Powell’s chief of staff, has spent his post-government career criticizing our war-mongering policies. Wilkerson discusses the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the US response from an inside-the-government perspective: He’s worked with Biden and understands his motives. He knows the US oligarchs whose wallets will be hurt if Russian oligarchs are hit. He’s been through the army and Washington and understands why the current strategy isn’t designed to help anyone but the US. So we think he’s a good person to listen to. We also think that may be why the FBI is suddenly following him around. And, it seems that Wilkerson’s advice on drone strike information doubles as a pretty good characterization of some of the politicians in power today: “Your intelligence is never as good as you think it is.” Plus, Dems are ripping up the shelters of the unhoused while Republicans are having cocaine orgies. Oh yeah, and @usefulidiotpod is now #truthing on Truth Social. 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/adchoices
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Oliver Stone: We're Living in a Censored State Mar 25, 2022

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This week, we’re unpaywalling our extended interview with multiple-Oscar-winner Oliver Stone. His new documentary Ukraine on Fire has been censored by Youtube, but you can still see it on Rumble. He wrote and directed multiple classic, culture-defining American movies. He created groundbreaking documentaries, interviewing Putin, debunking Russiagate, and uncovering JFK’s murder. He won three Academy Awards. There was only one thing left for Oliver Stone to do: Become a Useful Idiot. Stone’s new documentary, JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass, uses newly declassified and reexamined footage to present a case that conspiracy theories about the president’s death are actually “conspiracy facts.” And it creates a big debate on Useful Idiots. Watch the pod, watch the doc, then let us know: do you agree with Matt, Katie, or Oliver? Who really killed President John F. Kennedy? The Oscar-winning filmmaker shares stories of censorship, getting yelled at about Russiagate by Bill Maher (kinda like another Useful Idiot we know), and being pushed out of the mainstream for being a controversial filmmaker, cementing his legacy as a Useful Idiot. Plus, watch Matt’s reaction when one of his all-time favorite directors quotes his “vampire squid” piece. It’s pretty cool. It’s Oliver Stone on Useful Idiots. Don’t miss this one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Abby Martin on World War III Mar 18, 2022

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Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Abby Martin, the moment when Abby confronted Nancy Pelosi, the latest dishonest attack from The Young Turks against Aaron Maté, and Biden’s stoned moment. The Empire Files’ Abby Martin returns to Useful Idiots to speak out against censorship and the corporate media’s duplicitous and hypocritical coverage of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Censorship is something Abby knows quite a bit about, given that Youtube has removed every single episode of “Breaking The Set,” the show she hosted at RT from 2012-2014. Abby can’t help but notice how the corporate media is celebrating Ukrainians for doing things they condemn when the people doing it are, say, Palestinian. “I feel like I woke up in an alternate universe,” she says. “Where there’s wall-to-wall coverage of anti-war messaging and everyone decided: ‘We hate war and we support occupied people’s right to resist.’ “For people like us who have been sounding the alarm on so many heinous US atrocities that are committed in our names on a daily basis, this manufactured outrage is shocking.” “Why now?” she asks. “Where were you all these years? Because people have been dying this whole time.” Why didn’t Rachel Maddow cry on TV for Palestinians or Yemenis. Because they US supports the occupation of Palestine and the siege of Yemen. And it’s good for the arms industry. And now, Abby, who is bravely calling out the BBC and CNN and New York Times, is, you guessed it, censored. With her videos being scrubbed off Youtube and RT getting banned in so many western countries, it’s scary to think how far this censorship could go. “None of us should be okay with this and none of us should be celebrating this,” she says. “I believe in critical thinking and media literacy and the answer to all of this is not censorship.” And as we head closer and closer to war, the danger (and ignorance) grows: “Censoring media poses a big problem because when you are facing down a conflict that could potentially turn into a hot war with two nuclear-armed powers, don’t you want the Russian perspective? Don’t you want the Chinese perspective?” But say that on TV and you get blacklisted as a Russian apologist. So listen here, because it’s getting harder and harder to find real journalists anywhere else. And until we get taken out too, we won’t stop searching for reporting and analysis that challenges, and doesn’t merely regurgitate, state department talking points. Plus, Trump wants you to lay down your life to fight CRT, Iranian-revenge-killing dating apps, and our new favorite segment: ‘This Week in MSM Nazi Propaganda.’ 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/adchoices
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RT's Afshin Rattansi on Ukraine and Censorship Mar 11, 2022

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Click here for the extended episode, including the full interview with Afshin Rattansi. And don’t miss Aaron’s take on The Young Turks meltdown over him. Afshin Rattansi’s show Going Underground is becoming harder and harder to see as the US, UK, and EU have all censored the RT. But Afshin has some good news for viewers: “With a VPN, you can always say you don’t live in unfree places like the US or Europe or Britain, and say you live in Pyongyang where there is freedom to watch it.” Rattansi, whose channel RT has become known as pro-Russia propaganda, regularly calls out the Russian invasion and has guests who condemn Russian aggression. But that doesn’t fit with the western narrative for the channel, so we don’t actually get to see him. If only we lived in North Korea. In this interview, we examine the problems that led to the crisis in Ukraine and how world leaders dangerously get history wrong. “Scholars only talk about Putin and Putin’s mind. This is corollary to the idea that WWII was about Adolph Hitler and not the Treaty of Versailles and the impoverishment of the German people after the war of reparations.” Without understanding the structures around leaders, like the hawkish state department and Russian Duma, “we’re in the realm of Marvel comics and Hollywood individual good and evil.” This individualism is what leads people to blindly call for a no-fly zone, which sounds good in terms of good-against-evil, but in reality, will only cause more destruction. Or, as Rattansi puts it: “It’ll be the end of the earth.” In this episode of Useful Idiots, we analyze no-fly zones, media censorship, and the path to peace in Ukraine. And we get treated to a very fun letter from Donald Trump. 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/adchoices
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How the Ukraine War Helps US Empire Mar 04, 2022

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Click here for the extended episode, including the full interview with Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison. For a while, pundits have been predicting the decline of American superpower. Although some decline is inevitable, don’t expect Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to precipitate it. As the American Prestige podcast’s Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison explain, the US ability to invade another country and commit war crimes that would merit US sanctions if it was any other country, and without any backlash, underscores America’s overwhelming strength. “What would these scholars, who say Russian students should be kicked out of schools and that there are no good Russians, have thought if in 2003, scholars in Russia said there are no good Americans because we invaded Iraq? They would have been aghast.” “They can’t process the thought that those situations are analogous. We’re virtuous and everyone else is evil.” With the war ramping up, US ghoulishness runs rampant. Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, and Nancy Pelosi all giggle at the brink of war while Bucky is left to take the fall. 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/adchoices
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How the US Caused the Ukraine Crisis Feb 25, 2022

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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/adchoices
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Rania Khalek Debunks Anti-Cuba Propaganda Feb 18, 2022

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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/adchoices
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How Obama Failed Black People Feb 11, 2022

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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/adchoices
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Katrina vanden Heuvel on Putin & Ukraine Feb 04, 2022

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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/adchoices
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Did Obama Know? Jan 28, 2022

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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/adchoices
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