Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Click here for the full interview, where Kit Klarenberg reveals plots from UK operatives to blow up Ukrainian bridges, more Western destruction of peace talks, and how the US uses Britain to spread propaganda Journalist Kit Klarenberg’s latest article at the Grayzone, “ FTX partnership with Ukraine is latest chapter in shady Western aid saga ,” sheds new light on the money-grabbing schemes emergin...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Norm Finkelstein. Norman “X” Finkelstein returns to Useful Idiots, fired up and with a scathing critique of Bernie Sanders and The Squad. He begins with a definition of radicalism and The Left, citing the writing of Rosa Luxemburg: “The whole job of The Left is to constantly point out the conflict of interest between the ruling...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Ken Klippenstein on the DHS leak. “This isn’t a Biden story. It’s not a Trump story either. This is a national security state story.” This week Ken Klippenstein and Lee Fang at The Intercept broke a huge story: Leaked Documents Outline DHS’s Plans to Police Disinformation . Ken joins Useful Idiots to share how he uncovered the...

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get the extended interview with Jemima Pierre, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your question answered on the show in the Absurd Arena While independent media like Useful Idiots try to cover all the important news that corporate media purposefully ignores, Haiti is an especially overlooked story. The US, with its hooks deep in Haiti’s elections, busi...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Medea Benjamin on the AOC protest and the benefits of activism. With AOC (and the Squad by extension) being recently heckled for their support of sending weapons to Ukraine and prolonging the proxy war, Useful Idiots had anti-war activist Medea Benjamin on to explore the question: when did US progressives become pro-war? Benjam...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Wyatt Reed. “Welcome to Donetsk. You survived your baptism by fire.” Wyatt Reed, a US journalist who writes for Sputnik, a Russian-state media outlet, is reporting from the front lines in Ukraine. His hotel was bombed by a Ukrainian strike just hours after he had arrived there — and while he was just steps away. He shares with...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Col. Macgregor on Russian and Western war strategies, his views on “globalism”, and his prediction for the future of NATO. Who bombed the Nord Stream pipeline? Will we have nuclear war? These are today’s two big questions puzzling journalists (and not really bothering Western politicians, it seems). So who better to break down...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Assal Rad on why Biden won’t reenter the Iran nuclear deal, the historic suppression of the Iranian left stemming from the Cold War, and how sanctions are crushing Iranian workers. “The state is responsible. Period. There’s just no question.” Author and historian Assal Rad joins Useful Idiots to discuss the Iranian protests ove...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Ben Abelow where the expert plays political chess to show the previous and predicted moves of these cold war leaders. Researcher and writer Dr. Ben Abelow, a scholar who lobbied Congress on nuclear arms policy, joins Useful Idiots to explain, as his new book argues, how the west brought war to Ukraine . “The goal of the US,” Ab...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Matt Taibbi: Matt and Aaron ask why hasn’t Hillary Clinton been questioned for her Russiagate involvement, Matt remembers pranking General Secretary Gorbachev, and we take Matt’s new media quiz. Once a Useful Idiot, always a Useful Idiot. Matt Taibbi, who’s taken a hiatus from this pod to write his next book (he gives a sneak p...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Katrina vanden Heuvel on her friend Mikhail Gorbachev. “We need to not treat the idea of peace as subversive.” Katrina vanden Heuvel , publisher and editorial director of The Nation , predicts a dark cold war ahead if our leaders continue their craven militarism. The first step, she says, is talking about it openly, which, sadl...

Click here for the full interview with comedian Kurt Metzger. Emmy-winning comedian Kurt Metzger , who wrote for Who is America? and Inside Amy Schumer , stops by to talk comedy with the Useful Idiots. We figured since August is wrapped, it’s probably time we all had a Summer Friday. So instead of talking death in Ukraine and poverty in the US, Kurt shares stories of running from Chinese cops, ill...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview in which Noam Chomsky explains his worst fear if the Republicans took control of Congress, calls out politicians against forgiving student loans, and attacks the US response to climate change. Professor Noam Chomsky has a stark prediction for the future of humanity if the US refuses to cooperate with other countries: “It is absolute...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview where Chairman Yeshitela describes the full raid, the dark history of American colonization, and how he and the APSP are making real change — not “malign influence” — in cities all around the country. “It’s the US’s attempt to crush the Black liberation movement.” On July 29th, members of the African People’s Socialist Party were ra...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Vijay Prashad on the US expanding control over South America and why Jordan Peterson needs a hug. “The jaws of Hell have opened wide.” Historian and author Vijay Prashad is worried about the next war that the US will provoke. Nukes in Ukraine, a new missile crisis in Taiwan, destabilizing sovereign South American nations, asser...

Lindsey Snell, journalist at ishgal.com , crossed the Ukraine border to talk to soldiers and civilians. What she found surprised her: There are Ukrainian forces who are “openly Neonazis, and we’re still giving them weapons and calling them something that they’re not.” All across the frontlines Lindsey found swastikas, SS symbols, and Wolfsangels. But negative news in Ukraine undermines the West’s...

Click here for the extended episode, including the full interview where Claire and Mick discuss abortion rights in Ireland and the US, mainstream media’s constant attacks and misinformation about them, and why our government and media are too afraid to talk about Assange, the realities of the Ukraine proxy war, and US hegemony. “Democracy is about having a say in how your country is run. Right now...

Click here for the full interview with Michael R. Jackson on the culture war, racism on Broadway, and his next musical. Plus, Aaron’s heated call with the Guardian’s Mark Townsend. Michael R. Jackson had no idea that a monologue he wrote two decades ago would turn into a Broadway musical that would win countless awards, including a Tony and Pulitzer Prize. And when he criticized the political esta...

Click here for the full interview where Chris talks psychedelics, paradigm shifting experiences, and how the government is lying to us. Chris Ryan, author of Civilized to Death and Sex at Dawn , as well as host of the podcast Tangentially Speaking , wants to help you live happier. He’s studied hunter gatherers; our closest relatives in the animal kingdom; and human philosophy/history to learn why...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Professor Wolff on how to stop inflation. Finally! A Marxist economist you can show to your parents and say “See?” Class is in session with economics Professor Emeritus Richard Wolff. He’s here to teach us about inflation, what steps could be taken to tame it, and why the hell no one’s doing anything about it. He doesn’t want t...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Briahna Joy Gray, where we pick 2024 candidates, rank the squad, and Briahna and Aaron debate the importance of Jan 6 hearings. Host of Bad Faith podcast and Rising and former Bernie Sanders press secretary Briahna Joy Gray explains why dems are rapidly losing voters: Trump gets mocked for failing to put up his wall, but his su...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Ryan Grim. The Intercept ’s Ryan Grim shares his new article Elephant in the Zoom , which explains how internal struggles have progressive advocacy groups at a standstill during a critical political moment. He argues that workplace problems, while important to deal with, are distracting these groups from the issues they were cr...

To clear up the confusion, Aaron and Max’s livestream on the Grayzone got censored from Youtube. Youtube is still allowing this episode of Useful Idiots. So check it out now! And click here for the full interview. In secret meetings and leaked emails, Paul Mason and Nina Jankowicz work to silence journalists who don’t promote the approved message. In public, they complain that journalists bully th...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Max on leaked emails, Bellingcat, and 60 minutes. In secret meetings and leaked emails, Paul Mason and Nina Jankowicz work to silence journalists who don’t promote the approved message. In public, they complain that journalists bully them, and do vile things like publish past things they’ve said. And who does Youtube side with?...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Glenn Greenwald on Jan 6, Ukraine, and Biden’s failures. There’s a whole lot of terrible stuff going on which means Glenn Greenwald has a whole lot to say: •Biden’s failure at the Summit of the Americas: Latin American leaders are boycotting Biden’s summit because he refused to invite the dictatorships of Cuba, Nicaragua, and V...