Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Click here for the full episode, with the Ali Abunimah extended interview on Israel’s racist and violent flag marches, the Biden administration’s hypocritical policies, and the collapsing support for Israel around the world. After another Israeli murder of a Palestinian journalist, The Electronic Intifada ’s Ali Abunimah shares a scary truth: “The message Israel drove home with the killing of Shir...

Become a Useful Idiot to get the extended interview, where Mike Prysner interrupts George Bush and explains how US violence abroad breeds violence at home. Amid growing scrutiny of the police response to the Uvalde school massacre, Mike Prysner, producer of the Empire Files and Iraq war veteran, tell us: “In a way, they were accomplices to the mass shooter. The number of dead was aided by the poli...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Lev Golinkin on disinformation, weapons manufacturers, and Aaron’s fight with a Nazi denier. The Nation ’s Lev Golinkin has an important message that most people in mainstream news can’t seem to wrap their heads around: “Russia is committing war crimes. That is true. And not everyone who is fighting Russia is a good guy. That i...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Alan MacCleod and fan suggestions for military-grade baby names. This week, Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli forces. The way the New York Times reported it was that she “die[d]”: The Times , CBS News, the Associated Press , and more corporate media outlets all referred to the incident, in...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended episode with Mnar Adley, proof that Nancy Pelosi doesn’t care about Roe v. Wade, and a bonus Biden Stoned Moment. MintPress News ’ Mnar Adley has bravely reported on Israel, Ukraine, and national security agents running TikTok. In response, PayPal shut down MintPress’s account and threatened to take their money. PayPal has begun doing this wi...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Michael Hudson. We asked economist and “futurist” Michael Hudson , economic advisor and professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, his thoughts on the people who have run our country for the 50 years he’s studied US politics. “They’re sociopaths. They think it’s a game. They don’t care about the things you and I care...

Click here for the full episode, including an explosive extended interview with Scott Ritter. Former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and Chief UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter resigned his post in protest of US war mongering. Immediately, he was mocked by Joe Biden. And when the FBI came after him, well, as he puts it, it went something like: So when he joined the Useful Idiots to discuss Jo...

Click here for the full episode, including an extended interview with Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly. Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly, professor at Carlton College, coordinating committee member of the Black Alliance for Peace, and author of many books including the upcoming Black Scare/Red Scare , has had it with liberals pretending to care about regular people. Biden promises to help people with student...

Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with David Sirota and a Biden Stoned Moment. David Sirota, whose site Daily Poster is now The Lever , returns to Useful Idiots as an Academy-Award nominee for his movie Don’t Look Up . And he’s got a message for the Oscars: We’ve got to do something today about climate change. It’s like a giant comet is headed towards earth and no o...

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 invas...

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 Acad...

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 agains...

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 o...

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 a...

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 th...

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 stella...

Click here for the full episode, including an extended interview with Margaret Kimberley. 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 fin...

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 es...

“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...

“There’s an underestimation of how dangerous the United States government is right now.” Prolific and esteemed historian Dr. Gerald Horne, who holds the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies and has authored over 40 books, warns that the greatest threat to world peace is the US government. Whether taking down civil rights leaders, starting countless wars, killing foreign civ...

On the 20 year anniversary of the opening of the GITMO torture center, we speak to Mansoor Adayfi, GITMO survivor, activist and the author of the book Don’t Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantanamo . Mansoor shares his story which is full of not just harrowing pain but surprising beauty. In the interview, Mansoor recalls arriving to Guantanamo “Then I was dragged to my cage, naked. Six of the...

On the 20 year anniversary of the opening of the GITMO torture center, we speak to Mansoor Adayfi, GITMO survivor, activist and the author of the book Don’t Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantanamo . Mansoor shares his story which is full of not just harrowing pain but surprising beauty. In the interview, Mansoor recalls arriving to Guantanamo “Then I was dragged to my cage, naked. Six of the...

The infinitely funny and smart David Cross stopped by for a chat and we couldn’t contain our excitement. You know him from Mr. Show , Arrested Development , The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (tip from Wilson: the best hidden gem show you’ll find), and his hilarious standup specials. And now you know him as a Useful Idiot. We talk comedy: creating a standup special, using audience fe...

2021 was a shit show, so who better to help us dig through it than friend-of-show Thomas Frank, author of Listen Liberal and What’s the Matter with Kansas . So what happened in 2021? Democrats and Republicans definitely both sucked. Covid got better and then a lot worse. Dems didn’t do the one thing to ensure they’d never lose another election. And politics turned from policy to pure culture war....

Matt and Katie consistently critique the Military Industrial Media Complex. But it’s different when actual veterans do it. On this week’s episode, Matthew Hoh, a former Marine and USG Official, who resigned from The State Department in protest over Obama’s escalation of the war in Afghanistan, and Army Officer Danny Sjursen, an anti-war author and activist who served multiple tours in Iraq and Afg...